The Guardian's Andrew Sparrow has interviewed Leanne Wood.
Judge for yourself - Is she really just a plain old fashioned bigoted Anglophobe but does not have the guts to admit it?
And also is she even a nationalist at all? Look at her comments on national identity.
Also what kind of a welsh nationalist would want yet more handouts from the English?
Here is the key extract from the interview:-
"Q: Alex Salmond .. described himself as a "staunch anglophile". Are you an anglophile?
A: I would not say I'm not an anglophile, specifically. I'm a francophile, I like Spain, I like Scotland.
Q: But are you a francophile but not an anglophile?
A: I don't have to choose as far as I see it.
Q: No, but if you are happy to describe yourself as a francophile are you happy to describe yourself as an anglophile?
A: I would like to see myself as somebody who looks to nations all over the world. England would be one of those. But it would not be over and above any others particularly for me.
National identity
Q: Do you think it is sensible to talk about national identity? Is there such a thing as an English national identity and a Scottish national identity and a Welsh national identity?
A: I do think there is such a thing. My approach to politics is very much as a civil nationalist. So for me Wales is about who lives here now and what contribution they want to make to building up our communities and our civic body politics, if you like. In a world that is becoming more Coca-Cola or Pepsi or McDonald's or Big Mac, people are going to want to find ways that mark their identity out as a bit different, find aspects of culture that are unusual and quirky, because I think that everything being the same is a bit boring and bland."
Here is a link to the full interview >>> http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/sep/12/plaid-cymru-leader-wales-prosper
Judge for yourself - Is she really just a plain old fashioned bigoted Anglophobe but does not have the guts to admit it?
And also is she even a nationalist at all? Look at her comments on national identity.
Also what kind of a welsh nationalist would want yet more handouts from the English?
Here is the key extract from the interview:-
"Q: Alex Salmond .. described himself as a "staunch anglophile". Are you an anglophile?
A: I would not say I'm not an anglophile, specifically. I'm a francophile, I like Spain, I like Scotland.
Q: But are you a francophile but not an anglophile?
A: I don't have to choose as far as I see it.
Q: No, but if you are happy to describe yourself as a francophile are you happy to describe yourself as an anglophile?
A: I would like to see myself as somebody who looks to nations all over the world. England would be one of those. But it would not be over and above any others particularly for me.
National identity
Q: Do you think it is sensible to talk about national identity? Is there such a thing as an English national identity and a Scottish national identity and a Welsh national identity?
A: I do think there is such a thing. My approach to politics is very much as a civil nationalist. So for me Wales is about who lives here now and what contribution they want to make to building up our communities and our civic body politics, if you like. In a world that is becoming more Coca-Cola or Pepsi or McDonald's or Big Mac, people are going to want to find ways that mark their identity out as a bit different, find aspects of culture that are unusual and quirky, because I think that everything being the same is a bit boring and bland."
Here is a link to the full interview >>> http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/sep/12/plaid-cymru-leader-wales-prosper
No wonder Plaid Cymru's support is slipping and that the English Democrats won more than double Plaid Cymru's vote at the last EU election!
Please do write to Ms Wood, to politely but firmly protest! Here is her email address:- Leanne.Wood@wales.gov.uk
And here is the email of the Guardian's Andrew Sparrow if you would like to make the point to him too:- andrew.sparrow@guardian.co.uk
"No wonder Plaid Cymru's support is slipping and that the English Democrats won more than double Plaid Cymru's vote at the last EU election!"
ReplyDelete-Nothing to do with the fact that Plaid Cymru has an electorate of 3m, whilst the English Dems have over 51m then? If you can't even work that basic fact out, there's no wonder English voters don't take you seriously.
Doing rather better than your UKIP "anonymous" on a pound per vote basis. You are over £2.50 per vote aren't you? Work our ratio out.
DeleteThe English Democrats’ greatest electoral successes to date include winning the Directly Elected Executive Mayoralty of Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council and this year’s referendum; in the 2009 EU election we gained 279,801 votes after a total EU campaign spend of less than £25,000 (giving the English Democrats by far the most cost efficient electoral result of any serious Party in the UK!)
Looks like she is petrified to actually say things openly. ... hiding behind falsities all the time. What a fake. I do not think ANYONE could want this two-face attitude in government. Would tell us one thing just like 2-face Cameron ... and do something else.
DeletePersonally, I don't expect the Welsh to like us and I don't really care if they don't. After all, Edward the First hardly treated them very well either did he i.e. we have killed your prince but here's an English no Norman replacement. I still like the Welsh although I find North Walians a bit strange but so do South Walians and I don't know if I would always trust them. I find South Walians warm, generous and hospitable. The one problem I had when I was a member of a Welsh Male Voice Choir based in England was that if they beat us at rugby they rammed it down your throat. If we beat them you had to keep quiet or they turned nasty.
ReplyDeleteWhat concerns me more as with Alex Salmond is this refusal to say that Scotland is for the Scots or Wales for the Welsh and this horrible term civic nationality. I like the Welsh identity, like to hear their language spoken and love their music and singing and their hiraeth even makes me want to go home to Wales. I want it preserved. I would have a problem with Pakistanis speaking Welsh or a black Welsh Male Voice Choir. Sorry if that is prejudice but it just wouldn't seem right. That is why I ask the question will Europe still be European when Europeans are outnumbered by non-Europeans in their own continent, any more than China, India or Africa the same?
The girl put her finger on it. They are creating a coca cola world where the rich diversity which is contained in homogeneous nations across the planet will disappear. They revel in multicultural diversity but it is just a step in their plans. The way things are going everywhere will be mixed up like a bag of liquorice allsorts and everywhere will be the same with a coca cola culture. I will weep for a Wales that is reduced to that. But obviously this stupid young girl is too thick to realise that that is what she is condemning the beautiful country of Wales and its unique people and culture to. For a start I don't think a multicultural Wales will be Welsh speaking for long.
At least the Welsh have a national language. The speech of England hasn't been English for most of a thousand years. What is unusual about the previous sentence? Unlike the sentence which follows it, every word was English.
DeleteNew English*/"Anglish" (from Old English) needs to be brought into use as the national language of the English folk.
The English Democrats could learn from Plaid Cymru's commitment to the Welsh language. Commitment to true English, i.e., New English should be central to the English Democrats' philosophy.
The working language of the United Kingdom is not owned by the English, but by the world, primarily by the United States of America. It is not English but Ancwe (Ancillary World English).
* See David Cowley's books - "How we'd talk if the English had won in 1066", a.s.f. (and so forth).
Welsh is the most stupid sounding language on gods earth , keeping your language abd fuck off with Scotland .
Deletereally?...really??? you are an idiot xD you obvliously don't like the English.
DeleteThe biggest laugh is that the Welsh, or at least the ones who support Plaid might actually think she is for Wales and the Welsh. Any person who wholeheartedly is a 'diversity and equality and UN supporting nationalist' deserves utter contempt.
ReplyDeleteIt is rabid bigots like you that have earned utter contempt. enjoy!
Deletepff ! Edward the first? Edward the Nothing more like! Edward the Elder, Edward the Martyr and Edward the Confessor are our English Kings! Their lineage can be traced back to Cerdic and Cynric, first kings of Wessex, our founding fathers. All imposters after Harold treated the English as appallingly as anyone else (especially Stephen).
ReplyDelete"the first WEST SAXON kings". "WESSEX" is a nineteenth century invention, adopted and popularised by Thomas Hardy.
Deletelook back into history and you will find the southern countie's of "wales" were once part of england, whitedragon.com and hit the correct link....
ReplyDeleteAll of Wales was part of England until the repeal of the 'Wales and Berwick' act in 1967. The latest stage in the process of Wales becoming a country separate from England was its heraldic recognition in 2008.
DeleteWales is and always will be the largest county in England.
Deletewhitedragon.com???
DeleteIs this an official academic historical site?
@mona: Wales is a constituent country of the United Kingdom and is not a county of England. I know you English don't like it but that is tough!
DeleteGet your facts straight!
Ambiorix I happily admit the welsh are a nation and would like to work with them to reform the UK but the status of Wales is not a "fact", actually it is a question of constitutional law.
DeleteWales was incorporated into the "Kingdom of England" by the 1536 union legislation.
If Scotland becomes independant the United Kingdom, as formed by the Act of Union 1707, will dissolve with it. We shall then revert to the constituent Kingdoms. The one that Wales will be in is the "Kingdom of England".
Therefore the best hope of autonomy, for any welsh nationalist, is to have an Assembly for Englnd of the same status as the Welsh Assembly.
That would mean that the constitutional and legal framework of the archaic "Kingdom of England" (as stipulated in the 1707 Act)would be a federal one. Such a federal constitution would give both the English and the Welsh nations a workable chance of parity.
i have read the extracts from leanne's comments in the guardian ....and the text of the full discussion.... and there is nothing remotely 'anti-english' about her comments? perhaps robin tilbrook you would care to explain which parts of leanne's responses are anti-english?
ReplyDeletesurely the question that should be being asked is - is robin tilbrook a anti-welsh bigot? Given the enthusiasm with which you have publicly welcomed former members of the nazi british national party into the english democrats - among them the prominent BNP member Eddie butler - it wouldnt be too difficult for anyone to answer that question.
Leigh Richards
The point is, and would be to any fairminded observer, that she evaded the question.
DeleteIn court, her answer would lead to a finding of Anti-English Discrimination and the implication of it is crystal clear.
It is an old and discreditable tactic to "play the man and not the ball" but then you probably at a loss for a credible argument.
Your smear about ex BNP people is contemptable but perhaps typical of a supporter of a party which derives its support from welsh nationalism but is now run by people who are so leftwing that they gave up the chance of forming the government of their country simply because that would have required them to sit in cabinet with conservatives. lol!
The one eyed analysis of Leanne Wood's interview in this piece is risible. Failure to declare one's self an enthusiastic anglophile does not make one a fervent anglophobe, and anyone who suggests otherwise is struggling with the the English language.
ReplyDeleteThe point is, and would be to any fairminded observer, that she evaded the question.
DeleteIn court, her answer would lead to a finding of Anti-English Discrimination and the implication is crystal clear.
Robin, not worth wasting time answering them, if you don't agree with the left then you must be Nazi, Fascist, Racist or Homophobic!
ReplyDeleteI don't dislike anyone from any part of the UK, as long as they ain't a socialist, that's as low as life gets IMO