The numbers game

Tweet this article (and video)

On the mission statement for this site I state the following...

“It's become quite apparent to myself that this United Kingdom is anything but united. There is a focus on building up London and the South East to the detriment of every other "region" of the UK. It doesn't matter whether it is a Conservative or Labour government in charge, the end result of a weaker Wales is always reached by the time they are voted out.”

Congratulations Mr Cymru

Tweet this article (and video)

We've all heard the cliche, we're too small, too poor and too stupid to run our own country. Yes we're small but there are plenty of other, far smaller countries out there than have managed to make a success out of independence. Yes we are poor, and we have the UK governments constant desire to make the rest of the UK weak by destroying it's industry to thank for that. And yes we are stupid, otherwise we wouldn't keep falling for the same old lies again and again.

But what if there was another way? As Leanne Wood puts it, we're in a chicken and egg situation with the Welsh economy. “Wales won’t achieve independence whilst it is economically weak, but Wales will only achieve economic strength if it becomes independent. Ticking over is not enough for Wales”...

Hindsight is 2020

Tweet this article (and video)
You may have heard of the EU 2020 targets. But for those that haven't they are the five ambitious objectives the 27 EU member states have set themselves.

In this article I want to look at one of those objectives, specifically the one that deals with climate change and energy. Something that is is a fairly contentious subject in Wales. Just mention wind farms to anyone and see how they react.

Climate change / energy

• Greenhouse gas emissions 20% (or even 30%, if the conditions are right) lower than 1990

• 20% of energy from renewables

• 20% increase in energy efficiency
  

Is there such a thing as Welsh media?

Tweet this article (and video)

It's 2012, 90% of people own a mobile phone. Unless you own one of those jumbo button phones you can only get in the back of the Daily Mirror for your Mamgu then they should all have internet access.

Smart phone ownership is up to 50% and accounts for 70% of all sales so this figure is only going to go up. Free or inclusive data are standard on most tariffs, even the cheapest ones that are around a tenner a month.

So why then, with the entire world at our very finger tips do we insist on spending more money on media propaganda disguised as Welsh media?

Who owns Welsh water?

Tweet this article (and video)

Initially it might sound like a fairly bizarre question. Surely Welsh water belongs to Wales?
And once again the subject is being brought up in the media. Which isn't a surprise considering certain areas of the UK are almost in a continual state of drought. I'll come back to that later.

Let's look back to the 70s first, in particular to the Water Act 1973. This act restructured the water authorities in England and Wales ready for privatisation in the 80s. There is a full list of these here, but as always we only care about the ones that involve Wales. I will add that I will leave out Dee Valley Water and concentrate on the big two. I have also asked both Severn Trent and Dŵr Cymru for a complete list of their reservoirs in Wales to enable a more in depth analysis. Until then let's just focus on what can be found with a quick google.

The Crown Estate

Tweet this article (and video).

In a previous article I briefly mentioned The Crown Estate. Or rather, how MP Jonathon Edwards raised a bill in Parliament to have energy generation (and The Crown Estate) devolved to Wales. 25 of the 26 Labour MPs and 8 out of the 8 Conservative MPs that represent Wales voted no (or stayed in bed, either way they betrayed us all).

Clearly proving that Labour and the Conservatives are against devolution. No matter what their minions in the Assembly say.

What now for Labour voters?

Tweet this article (and video)

Welsh poltics used to be so simple. The average person in Wales just turned up at their polling station on election day, put a cross in the box next to Labour and went home safe in the knowledge they have played their part in the democratic act of "not letting those bloody Tories in".

Even after devolution and the formation of the Welsh Assembly the only thing that really changed for the average voter in Wales is that they were now able to vote for Labour twice as often.

Wales' representation in the EU.

To tweet this article (and video) click here

The European Parliament has 754 MEPs. These represent the 27 member states of the EU. Wales is not a member as it is a region of the UK. The UK has 72 MEPs. Of this 72 only 4 represent the 3 million people that live in Wales. That's 0.5% of the total number of EU MEPs.