Be interesting to hear what our Welsh members think of the above article.
A lot of truth in that for me but a lot of that is also down to history, we lack the weight of sufficiently vocal people to actually step forward and basically point out the wrongs. What is probably worse is the apathy towards finding out how we are and have been “robbed” for want of a better word. Not enough people know before actually standing up to it.
The coal tip issue is disgusting, as is the environmental destruction from decades of mining by private entities that made their money and left. And all around we celebrate these lords and their family legacies. Penrhyn Castle for example.
The water industry also. We supply water to large areas of England but get nothing in return but are tasked with managing that infrastructure from our budget hand out.
The biggest loss is however the language. It was literally beaten out of people. Search for Welsh Not if you want further info, yet this is a largely unknown and forgotten area of colonialism that was prevalent across the uk and the world and the UK celebrates this.
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I went there in the summer for the first time. I got chatting with one of the National Trust helpers (a woman from Rochdale who lives in Bethesda) and we soon got around to the unpleasant history of how the wealth was accumulated to pay for such a place. Interestingly , she told me that until fairly recently they had been forbidden from even discussing it with visitors and that the Trust itself was only now beginning to come to terms with the dubious legacy of many of the places they were preserving.
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The first , and most obvious , thing is that the author isn’t actually Welsh. I doubt many natives , even among the most diehard nationalists , would actually get too excited about many of the points he’s making.
Apathy is indeed the word. And as for the passion and pride thing of the diaspora , well that’s an easy pose to strike when you’re doing well for yourself elsewhere.
I don’t know how the numbers compare to Scotland or NI, but it certainly seems like there are more English living in wales than there are the other two. Growing up in the west coast, we had enough English kids in our school that the difference felt more regional than national. If that is actually represented in the data it might help explain some of it.
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I know a few that would but a very small minority for sure.
Yeah. Furthermore, you walk round and read the notes on rooms and furniture pieces and you realise that there’s rooms and furnture with the sole purpose of demonstrating wealth. They serve no purpose other than showing off. I honestly found it nausiating.
Thankfully the missus was more interested in the gardens. While it’s much the same thing looking at different trees was far more tolerable than the house. I will never go back.
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It was pissing it down when we went , never got to see the gardens. 