Comments on: Keep our valleys, tidy

By: Rhys

Rhys — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 13:30:02 +0000

In the old days, members decided policy, and if governments acted otherwise they had at least to pretend to make a case. The total incompetent Shirley Williams and her incompetent friends deliberately sabotaged the Party and convinced all its would-be leaders that the only way they could ever win was to abolish party democracy, which they did, losing contact with any remaining members at the same time, since their careers no longer depended on them in any way. Their notion of ‘popular opinion’ in the drivel the Sun puts about. You have quite a good line in faux-naivitée and ill-mannered blather, by the way. You should ask Cameron for a job!

By: Adam Higgitt

Adam Higgitt — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 12:46:45 +0000

“Difficult to explain these things to the disciples of old Zuleika Dobson Williams and her Sun-worshipping successors in the ex-Labour Party.”

Apparently so, since I now have no earthly idea what you’re talking about, and I strongly suspect you may not, either.

I do, however, look forward to the illuminating examples of competitive inter-party politics in the south Wales valleys.

By: Rhys

Rhys — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 12:41:03 +0000

I took the trouble to look up ‘Godwin’s Law’. My intention was not to compare particular Labour poseurs with Hitler but to make the point that meaningful Valleys politics used to be democratic and pre-dated the fuhrer-prinzip that is now universal amongst the ex-democrats who worship the Westminster talking-shop. Difficult to explain these things to the disciples of old Zuleika Dobson Williams and her Sun-worshipping successors in the ex-Labour Party.

By: Rhys

Rhys — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 16:04:55 +0000

We did really well out of it, didn’t we? It was called the ‘British’ Empire because the magician Dee (Du) convinced Elizabeth Tudor there’d been and earlier ‘Welsh’ one under Arthur, so she could claim all sorts. When do you think then – Saturday nights?

By: Adam Higgitt

Adam Higgitt — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 12:34:35 +0000

It’s always good to see Godwin’s Law re-affirmed. What a pity you don’t take your own injunction about the benefits of thinking more seriously.

You also committed a typo: it was British imperialism.

By: Rhys

Rhys — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 12:28:43 +0000

It’s a pleasant article to read, but it is sentimental. I left the Valleys a lot longer ago than Tom Griffin, but I think I understand them better all the same. The Rhondda, where I come from, was once central to English imperialism, because it provided the coal that ran the fleet. That gave people confidence in the power of their own class, and from about 1910 to the early twenties they acted on it. The Valleys, by and large, had not only a rich community life but a strong class confidence. That, I think, is largely gone, and to identify the tradition with the modern Labour Party seems to me entirely ludicrous (compare the Milliband Fuhrer with Aneurin Bevan, for instance): Plaid Cymru is closest to it, but no-one is very close, at that. Take education, for a start: we used to be way ahead – and where are we now? Feeling is good, but thinking is better, if you ask me.

By: D.Gerrard

D.Gerrard — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 23:27:07 +0000

We are known as the Voices of the valleys, but some people who live in Risca say they are not being listend to and feel neglected by the council. For two decades we have petitioned for the Palace cinema to be restored to its former glory, as it is the landmark and the heart of Risca. It is a pre-First World War listed cinema – a national rarity, especially within the Welsh context. It is also a grade 2 listed building.

The palace cinema was opened in 1912 with the seating capacity of 1,000. In 1965, it became a bingo hall for a short period of time but that was not successful, and the building has been closed and standing derelict ever since.

If companies were to invest in the Valleys, this would be a great place to start.

By: Anthony Hunt

Anthony Hunt — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:08:47 +0000

I enjoyed this cultural education, as an adopted Valleys boy! (Be kind and interpret both words loosely – I’m thirty in a week, so stretch the definition of a boy as much as anything else…) I’m writing a piece about socio-economic trends in the Gwent valleys at the moment actually, so would be interested in Tom and others’ thoughts on a few issues.

Firstly, is single-community identity increasing at the expense of a wider valley (or valleys) identity? Is this intra-Valleys competition (and sometimes suspicion) harming attempts to bring investment into the valleys as a whole, or is the competition positive?

Secondly, it seems that the economic disparities within our valleys are ever increasing – as wealthier communities are economically buoyed by in-migration (from within the valleys and from outside) that rarely touches more economically deprived areas. To what extent is this theory true, and what are the economic and social consequences?

Last is the old question of the iniquity of the process of communities and projects bidding for grants. The communities that often need the money most often have the least ability to put together an impressive-looking bid, with resulting perpetuation of inequality. This is of course exacerbated by the latter point above.

Good to see something about the valleys that rises above the mindless doom-mongering and instead focuses on building towards a more positive vision of our future.

By: Rachel Thompson-Williams

Rachel Thompson-Williams — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 22:57:17 +0000

Excellent article, or should i say bendegedig boyo! As one of those women who would have the guts out of you in 5 minutes I strive to educate the toddlers of today! At a little known Nursery in the heart of the valley’s myself and my staff aim to change the aspirations and perceptions of our pupils from birth. All singing all dancing and performing for hundred’s at WMC we’re surely a step further along the way.
Tidy aye?

By: Tom Griffin

Tom Griffin — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 14:10:49 +0000

Duncan, Welsh Connection, Patrick, Richard, your point about “not all Cardiff people do/think…” is well made . It wasn’t intended as a broad-brush damnation of all Cardiffians. My sympathies when discussing matters Cardiffian are firmly of the Frank Hennessey variety. My comments were aimed at an certain metropolitan attitude, rather than a entire city or a general population. Perhaps “a city’s wine bars” would have saved me? To the extent that the words I used make me guilty of stereotyping, I’ll take the rebuke on the chin.

“Labour values and those of the valleys are one and the same?” I don’t think a Labour vote in the valleys is taken for granted or assumed, and I’m certainly not defining a total population by their majority party. Just suggesting humbly that that the history and values of the community I live in, and those of the Labour movement, are pretty similar.

David, John, Mat, Dave, Rob, Alex, Cambria, Jonathan: tidy. Ta.