- Sorry is the hardest word - 11th August 2020
- From the substitute’s bench - 14th July 2020
- Carol singing – another verse - 6th July 2020
Our satirical writer Edwin Phillips writes an alternative article for controversial Welsh nationalist website Nation.Cymru (NC) which is supported by taxpayers’ money, after news on The Eye that an item on its Facebook (FB) site had prompted comments about burning holiday homes and that key workers had been threatened, while it was also revealed the contentious ‘Editor’ had contacted a Hollywood star asking for more funds to start a new service.
Foreigners like the English are not welcome in Wales.
That’s the message we want to push on Nation.Cymru (NC).
It’s not enough that we have public money from the Books Council of Wales (BCW), so our Editor Ifan Morgan Jones has asked for more cash for a new service from Hollywood actor Michael Sheen, because he will have little else to do with it!
We at NC know that Mr Sheen will be attracted to a website that says it is for “(all) the people of Wales”, and does NOT publish detrimental stories about Plaid Cymru (PC), but DOES post articles which show the Tories in an extremely bad light.
After all, he will know that we have headlined an item “Conservative AM has accepted more free international rugby tickets than any other UK politician”.
Dr Jones tweeted on Easter Day to Mr Sheen that any support for a ‘new service’ would be “gratefully received and the better the service will be”.
In another tweet Dr Jones proclaimed that we had “already reached an audience of some 2m readers digitally”.
Dr Jones had also superbly tweeted our ‘Donate’ section which declares: “We are now close to realise (sic) our dream of creating a lasting Welsh national media, by the people of Wales and for the people of Wales”
The tweets asking for money were also understandably sent to UndebPlaidCymru which is “The official trade union section of Plaid Cymru”.
In an earlier tweet, Mr Sheen asked about the cost and Dr Jones, with his usual enthusiasm, replied: “it’s very elastic – the more subscribers we have the more content we can produce”.
This made it clear that Dr Jones wanted more money than any he might have received from the public purse, when we get a measly grant of several thousand pounds from the BCW.
He has openly said: “Much of the current money we do have to spend is due to support through the kindness of the Welsh Books Council. But such public money is thin on the ground, and ideally, no news site should be dependent on grants that, in the current financial climate, may not last forever.”
Even so, our readers will proudly note that Dr Jones is keen to receive more cash than just taxpayers’ money, as his recent tweet to Mr Sheen makes obvious, and on his website he has urged them: “If just everyone who had attended the Yes Cymru march (in support of Welsh independence) over the last year gave us £5 a month we would be raising over half a million pounds a year”.
Regrettably several readers have stated (quite wrongly) they believe our site is “biased”, and have made interesting comments on our Facebook (FB) platform that key workers property was damaged during the lockdown and they have been threatened.
One unfortunately said: “It’s a biased online site for some of the people of Wales”.
A further one sadly stated: “If people are going to criticise one group they need to consider the actions of others, otherwise its called hypocrisy… we need to ensure all sides play by the rules”.
The so-called ‘revelations’ on that irritating website The Eye come soon after their other supposed disclosure that different remarks on our highly-regarded FB platform, have included intriguing ones that holiday homes should “burn to the ground”.
We are convinced everyone will be sorry to hear the news that this information may disappointingly put further pressure on our support by the Books Council of Wales (BCW).
Fascinating comments such as these were posted after we published a link to one of our news pieces, which rightly proclaimed that: “The county of Gwynedd in the north-west has seen the largest collapse in consumer spending as a result of Covid-19 in both Wales and England, according to business data”.
Unhappily another reader was apparently forced to write: “I am genuinely concerned by the amount of vitriol that comes out in the comments on the Nation.Cymru posts, and it makes me feel that we are uncomfortably close to the political posturing of 1930s Berlin.
“We have had property damage (mostly to key workers cars) and threats and insults made to people (again, often keyworkers going about their legitimate business) because “they’re not from round here.””
A further restrained piece we have published began accurately: “If it’s ‘coronavirus holiday’ season in rural Wales, the forecast is frosty for second home owners”, adding: “From spreading the virus and skipping lockdown to unfairly claiming business relief, second home owners have had bad pandemic press”.
It appears that very reasonable statements like these have prompted a string of other observations.
Apart from comments about burning holiday homes, another said: “I remember the sixties” which, we understand, may have been a reference to a time when the paramilitary organisation Free Wales Army (FWA) fantastically reigned supreme.
As these statements underline, the concept of journalism is well-understood by Dr Jones, and not (as The Eye have said) “something of a mystery”.
His CV proudly states: “I am the BA Journalism Course Leader at the School of Creative Studies and Media at Bangor University, and lecture on the subject of practical journalism”.
However, sensibly, nowhere in the details is mentioned qualifications by the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ), and we hear THAT is the accepted body for formally accrediting journalists.
Our readers will welcome the fact that we have boosted the Welsh independence movement by saying, for example, that “Support for Welsh independence has risen again”, because it was at 11 per cent whereas last year it was seven per cent, and that in a recent tweet we have proclaimed: “Welsh indy movement YesCymru sees membership surge as 500 join in five days”.
Last September an opinion piece was published in which Dr Jones correctly said: “In an independent Wales, the future of our nation wouldn’t be decided by politicians completely removed from our concerns, like gods playing dice with our fate on the summit of Mount Olympus”.
Meanwhile we at NC are very pleased to see that the Welsh Government (WG) has announced £750,000 of additional funding for the BCW to invest in a new digital system to manage the sale, supply and distribution of books.
It is evident that the BCW will also receive additional capital funding of £145,000 during the current financial year.
Emergency funding worth £150,000 to help the Welsh books sector to weather the coronavirus crisis was saluted by the BCW itself.
Helgard Krause, Chief Executive of the BCW said it “warmly welcomed” the extra money.
The Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism (formerly a leading figure in the excellent nationalist party PC), Dafydd Elis-Thomas MS, said that he was “delighted” to support the BCW to invest in this sector of the Welsh economy.
We were happy to hear him add: “This (original additional funding) will be a significant boost to the Books Council of Wales but also the whole publishing industry in Wales,”.
It is comments such as these ones that we appreciate, along with those about burning holiday homes, damaging property and threatening key workers…
Tomorrow – how times have changed for our Welsh Editor Phil Parry.
The memories of his astonishing 36-year award-winning career in journalism as he was gripped by the incurable disabling condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major new book which was NOT funded by the BCW, ‘A GOOD STORY’. Order the book now!
If you need something to keep the children entertained during these uncertain times (in Welsh) try Ffwlbart Ffred about the amusing stories of Ffred and his pet