Perhaps the best way to explain how this Cardiff-obsessive system operates is by introducing that famous bullshit duet the Barry Brothers. Victimology is pervasive. A colony is a territory or country run in the interests of another country, and for the benefit of the elite or the population in general of that other country. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Some towns have been almost destroyed by this phenomenon, and none have come closer to implosion than Rhyl. Why doesn’t this article have the name of its true author at the top of the piece? It is beneficial to the UK economy because – seeing as Wales is tied to England – most of the money spent by tourists in Wales will find its way to England in the form of taxes, payments to suppliers, etc. Within the past few days I have learnt of two more paedophiles who, by some unspecified route, arrived in Wales. Whatever the answer, this is not journalism. Something Clive Hughes was quoted as saying hints at where I’m going with this example. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Here in Wales, with its recent acquisition of the Evening Post, we have Trinity Mirror taking a stranglehold on the ‘Welsh’ print media. This is a review and discussion of the book Wales – England’s Colony?, rather than the two part TV series that will screen on BBC2 Wales tomorrow night (Monday) at 9pm. Something I was reminded of recently with the re-surfacing of a story I’d been vaguely aware of before. Duration: 2:03. If you don’t understand why this happens then you haven’t been paying attention. . I’m referring now to the phenomenon of successful Welsh companies being taken over by larger companies before they can grow too big, with this often resulting in redundancies or even closure of the now subsidiary Welsh operation. Perhaps the reinterpretation of the past as one where Wales has not been a colony for much of its history is a key stage in getting over the post-colonial mindset which continues to afflict us. Tourism attracts a few million English tourists to Wales every year, many of whom decide to settle here. For instance, some have argued that Wales’ economy was and is extractive while others claims that the placement of key harbours within Wales suggests rather that Wales was a central part of a wider British economy and has benefitted from its wealth. When it’s not drug addicts then it’s paedophiles. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Leave a Reply … There certainly won’t be any protests of the kind that brought the channel into existence. The main value of this book for the bulk of its readers will be to introduce them to large parts of Welsh history that they do not know about. Neither do I entirely agree with the implication that the growth in political power for Wales is some kind of replacement for its distinctive culture. Obviously, when dealing with ‘internal’ matters the UK media is different, but even here, the bias has long been unmistakable, and especially in television.

So Mark Barry’s clients tell him what they want promoted, he passes ready-made promos on to brother Siôn, who ensures that they appear in Llais y Sais as ‘news’! There is no doubt that some evidence of colonialism can be found in England’s relationship with Wales, but there is a danger of looking back through the prism of today’s politics and our own views and finding what we want to find, he says. It is the foundation stone for the dullest art of Wales.

And even if they don’t immediately settle, then they might buy a little place to use as a holiday home. It is an attempt to to answer the central question: ‘How can we become a better nation?’. A Radio Wales discussion of the book can be listened to here. Both episodes can be viewed on YouTube. Wales: England’s Colony? was a 2019 book and BBC television series exploring the relationship between Wales and England. Which is fine, because it confirms that the Welsh must have outsiders to provide them with work.

Of course after making his money in Canada Matthews returned to Wales and built the very successful Celtic Manor resort outside Newport. I’m using it because it brings together a couple of the points I’m making in this post. Nation.Cymru is a news service by the people of Wales, for the people of Wales. This is how low ‘journalism’ in Wales has sunk.

The multicultural aspect of wales has never been a threat to Celtic Wales. is a strong book, a crisp and pungent 196 pages, but also an important one. Yet, the Welsh retained their language and culture despite heavy English dominance. Still time to register. A news service by the people of Wales, for the people of Wales.

Wales: England's Colony? Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. I used to enjoy listening to BBC Wales in the morning when Roy Noble had the show, but simply can’t bear listening to Jason Mohammad with the self-assured British jingoism that permeates his attitudes, opinions and discourse. Martin dismissed the idea, suggested by many Welsh academics, that the Britishness to which the Welsh are loyal is a form of false consciousness – a hangover from the country’s colonial past.

Here in May 2013, March 2015, May 2015, and there may be other write-ups by Barry that I’ve missed. First, too many successful Welsh businesspeople might give us natives silly ideas about our ability to do things for ourselves. ( Log Out /  This is a review and discussion of the book Wales – England’s Colony?, rather than the two part TV series that will screen on BBC2 Wales tomorrow night (Monday) at 9pm. Amazon Price New from Used from Kindle Edition "Please retry" £4.68 — — Paperback "Please retry" £6.99 .

But then, in a colony, the last thing you can expect is an honest media. Mmm, try going to Iran and claiming the oil because the original infrastructure was built by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. “The lack of national confidence that is so often bemoaned in Wales can be attributed to this present-day perception of national victimhood more than any actual historical oppression,” he argues. The colony does not need to be far away, nor do its indigenes need to be of a different pigmentation or religion, what matters is the economic and other relationships between the two countries. Llywelyn Fawr and Owain Glyndŵr both served in English armies. Buy the book here. Paperback – 8 Mar. Clive Hughes was wasting his time appealing to Carwyn Jones, who is just a figurehead for a form of sham devolution. No of course there isn’t, not after decades of allowing the rural economy to decline, and doing nothing to bring in decent employment, for local people.

Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. The reason this story has re-surfaced is because Clive Hughes was understandably peeved to learn that while his projects were either ignored or refused planning permission, civil servants and councils are now falling over themselves to help Chinese investors build two biomass plants, one on Ynys Môn, the other in Port Talbot, just a few miles from his planned Swansea docks site. They are online here. Watch the BBC series here. Although I would presumes of course that the argument put forth by Professor of History at Swansea University, Martin Johnes, will be the same in both book and series, so it may well be a kind of a review of both. is published by Parthian Books and costs £8.99. Both are undesirable in a colonial set up. Note that in the piece I’ve linked to about Matthews, Michael Moritz is described as “the richest person in Wales”, which is stretching it a bit. I began to wonder if this interview had been in the can for a while, just waiting for the next killing spree. As blatant a colonisation strategy as Mother England has ever deployed. Wales is indeed a colony. Something Siôn Barry does quite regularly. This link reports a story of a woman living in Rhyl sent down after police found a dead body and a stash of heroin in her flat.

It is from Jac o’ the North; don’t miss the comments at the end of the original article! The interviewee, living in mortal fear of being shouted at, claimed to have previously been subjected to abuse, but this must of course have happened before the Paris massacres. I suppose it does reflect the ambiguous, half-way house nature of Welsh nationhood. Mark Barry runs M&G Barry Consulting and gets paid to promote the Metro system and other projects designed to further enrich Cardiff at the expense of the rest of Wales, while brother Siôn is the Business Editor for Media Wales, which of course covers the Wasting Mule. You reading this can either accept this system, or you can fight it; but let no one – certainly not the professional liars in politics and the media – pretend that our relationship with England is anything other than colonial, and designed to eventually destroy Welsh identity. It was intended to challenge its audience to reconsider Wales’ historical relationship with England and its place in the world. A well written and researched article. Trailer — Series 1. This question has in the past tended to concentrate on the issue of 19th and 20th-century economics. Once you know that, then it’s easy to understand why no Welsh businessman will be allowed to queer the pitch for Chinese and other foreign investors.

Wales: England’s Colony?

A further example of the colonial economy at work is often articulated as the question, ‘Isn’t it strange how Welsh people (insert here, Terry Matthews, Chris Evans et al, or Clive Hughes) have to leave Wales to be successful?’ Er, no, there’s nothing strange about it, for two very good reasons. A link to the original article is posted at the bottom of the post. “Both cultural and political changes [in Wales] were the outcomes of people’s choices,” he says. In addition, with its NATO conferences and Ryder Cup golf tournaments, the Celtic Manor helps integrate Wales with England. There was the Irish Plantation, the ‘repopulating’ of eastern Canada after the expulsion of the Acadians (Cajuns), and the flooding of the independent republic of Transvaal with British settlers once it was realised that the land beneath the Boers’ feet contained gold and diamonds.

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Let’s end with another feature of the colonial economy, and again, something that draws bewildered comment from people who refuse to see the system controlling the economic life of Wales. When Llywelyn died so did the hopes of an independent Wales — Series 1. And why not? Our self-styled ‘National Newspaper of Wales’ is now little more than a desperate amalgam of showbiz news, columnists nobody reads, sport, and a daily promotion of all things Cardiff. This company is based in Swansea, but it’s left to a spokesperson for the company to tell us that. Over a hundred people were dead in Paris, killed by Muslim extremists, yet for BBC Wales the real horror was that some Welsh person might say something nasty to a Muslim! Something becoming more regularly noticeable on BBC Wales is the adherence to the Question Time dictum – ‘When in Wales, listen only to English opinions’. Copyright © 2020

I teach history at Swansea University. But, hey! Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ‘Oh look!

In other areas BBC Wales follows the ‘Great British’ line, and few do it more loyally than Jason Mohammad. Wales: England’s Colony? Wales: England’s Colony? But the answer since then is very much like a Facebook relationship status update: ‘It’s complicated.’. Martin Johnes’ argument is that Wales certainly became an English colony through conquest. Enter your email address to receive instant notifications of new articles.