Thursday 27 October 2011

Stand for What is Right!

Independence, Scotland is going places - Leanne Wood

Scotland is going places. That was the over-riding mood at this weekend's SNP conference in Inverness.

Alex Salmond has every reason to be confident and optimistic. His speech reflected the confidence and optimism that will be needed on the part Scotland's people if the referendum on independence is to be successful.

It's hard to work out where the No campaign will come from. The Tories are in a terrible mess. Will they rely on their party bosses in London to put the case against?

Long time Labour supporters are starting to see independence as inevitable.

In her fraternal address from Plaid Cymru to the conference, Elin Jones AM said that we should now be thinking about the implications of all of this for Wales.

As you, in the SNP and in Scotland, consider the real possibility of creating an independent Scotland, we are left to consider what would be left. A UK Government governing all English matters, and only some Welsh matters and even less Northern Irish matters. It is now time for a serious debate on the future constitutional relationship of the countries of the British islands. It is time to debate equality, not subservience and dependence. To us, the UK is currently a pretence of a country. After a Yes vote in your referendum, it could no longer pretend to anyone, not even itself.”

Can we in Wales emulate the enthusiasm, confidence and determination which was on show in abundance in Inverness this weekend? A glimpse of what is possible was seen in the build up to the rugby world cup semi-final. The nation was united in wanting success then. If that same drive could be dedicated to building and equalising Wales, there'd be 'nae limits' to what we could achieve.

Leanne Wood,
Originally appeared on http://leannewoodamac.blogspot.com


Tuesday 25 October 2011

How British do you feel? - 2

Following from the previous post, here are the results published in the Guardian newspaper on 12th October ('A diverse, radical family', Owen Jones). Wonderful to see so much green in Wales, blue in Scotland and red in England, and notice how many people chose 'other' in Cornwall as they did not include a Cornish option!

The article is not available for free online unfortunately, but the map in the image below is very interesting. If you are a subscriber, you can read the article in full - page 15 - here.


(image lifted from Facebook)

Thursday 6 October 2011

How British do you feel?

With the prospect of a possible Scottish referendum on independence, The Guardian are running a poll asking how many people think of themselves as Welsh, Scottish, English, Irish or Northern Irish rather than British.

You can take part in the poll by including your postcode and choosing a flag - the Welsh one of course! ;-) - here.

Here is how the Guardian identity map looks in Wales at the moment:

Wales Identity Map

Press on the following images to see larger versions:

North Wales
South Wales
Cardiff & surrounding area