Yes they are, and are the third or fourth party in terms of holding seats in Wales. It's generally accepted that voting for them is a wasted vote. They will never have any real support for their agenda as its clearly one that cannot work. Even the conservatives who are generally hated in Wales hold more seats than Plaid Cymru I believe, and that is something considering who's in charge of them.
Regarding the independence v UK thing, my thoughts are; As a nation we do not take responsibility for ourselves. This is reflected in the politics. Every election the Labour Party storms it, who are not held accountable by the Welsh public for their sub standard governance....I mean somebody else referred to the fact that the economy has been getting worse and worse since de-industrialisation. How come the Labour party keeps winning??? By refusing to vote for anyone other than Labour and not holding them to account we have implicitly accepted the Labour Party's line that everything is the fault of Thatcher and the Tories and there is nothing to be done about it....it's all about amending the Barnett formula or securing funds from the E.U. (handing out the begging bowl). This has made Welsh Politics an irrelevance within the U.K. Whoever governs the UK doesn't have to worry about Wales. The Tories know there's nothing they could do to get the votes of the Welsh and the Labour Party can take us for granted. We don't matter. Therefore I have come to the conclusion that Independance is the ONLY way we are going to be forced to 'grow up' as a nation and start taking responsibility. As someone else said, Independance tomorrow would be a disaster for our short to medium term living standards. Wales would look like Albania in no time. It is a decision that needs to be taken and planned for. If we make the decision now, we'll need about 25 years to prepare. Unfortunately that takes leadership, the Catch 22 is that it is unlikely such leaders could emerge without Independance as the current system works thus; If you are interested in governance and politics and are Welsh or give a **** about Wales the only way to get on is to join or work with the Labour party. The Labour Party are quite content with the status quo. It is the English who are "kidnapped", the people who 'govern' Wales have got their feet up with a port in one hand whilst puffing a cigar. I find it difficult to express my full contempt for the Welsh ruling class......as Dragon said, it would be a good idea for somebody to have a go at radically improving our education system, but then an ignorant electorate is what has been keeping some of them in jobs for 40/50 years.
Look at this way, if plaid cymru won the same amount of seats as labour, it would be a disaster as they are even more incompetent as labour. They pander to the welsh speakers and count non welsh speakers as akin to being english even though they are welsh. The minorities (and english) living here will not vote for them as it is counted as a wasted vote. I am all for Wales growing up, but let's face reality here we won't do that as an independent country, there is no desire to breakaway from the rest of the uk from a majority of people, that is why plaid are not getting the votes. In terms of football all the welsh teams that play in the league system will lose their spots there. Hardly any welsh players will come through to a standard for an international team, we will be a laughing stock as our top players would come through us playing teams like Rhyl Town etc
So now back to something of true value ..... FOOTBALL. Who's likely to captain the squad. Probably Giggs. It's an interesting collection of young talented players - it will e good to see how they compete against the youth of other countries. Which player is likely o avete most impact.
Well I'll be cheering for Great Britain Yankee, would love to see Allen , Taylor & Sinclair with a gold medal around there neck .... instead of a noose for showing up !
Me too Cracker ... nice sentiment and the gold medals should be something to parade around the Liberty at the start of the season.
guys but only just picked up on this. Wales is a region but not a truly independent country - bit like Catalonia in Spain. That's the way Europe sees us and I've no problem with that. We're benefitting more out of Europe than virtually any part of the UK - I know because my mate deals with Objective One Funding. We get a LOT, believe me. Even that will end imo when the EU starts to break up or restructure, particularly when the Little Englanders vote the U.K out. If that happens we're therefore left relying on being part of a strong UK Government with some devolved powers (as in Spain). Without that we have no voice - which is exactly what some outside Wales want, as rightly pointed out by Mabon. But it seems to me that the SNP in Scotland and Plaid Cymru want to have their cake and eat it. They want independence to varying degrees but some still want a seat at the Westminster table with a say over defence and so on. If I was an Englishman I'd say "Naff off. You wanted independence then have it". Those who want full independence haven't thought about currencies (do you join the ill-fated Euro? Do you make your own with all that cost?). Who protects us? Wales would end up with a navy of inflatable RIBs, unless you, my fellow Welsh tax-payers are prepared to fork out the billions a navy, army and air force will cost. All for an area of the U.K that has a population the size of Birmingham (OK just a bit bigger but the dramatic effect was worth it). So a proud nation may be, but an economically poor region of the U.K whether we like it or not. Check out the facts - we have the lowest wages than virtually anywhere else in the U.K! That's not oppression, that's financial reality. Where is the money going to come from? On that basis, independence? Don't make me laugh. If the mabons of this world think that by getting independence we'll become economically better off and have higher standards of living then they are deluded. You'll end up being very proud of living independently in one of the poorest countries in Europe. I think it was Confucius who said "10 fingers are weak but two fists are strong" and I believe that breaking up the U.K would only benefit England. Let's hope they don't catch on. Just an opinion.
Fantastic! I don't expect us to get any further than the semis in this, but as long as none of our boys get injured I'm delighted for them. In terms of the squad as a whole, I'm not sure about Marvin Sordell - not sure that's such a good choice. Still, we'll see. Completely concur with Knackered by the way on independence. I'd expand on your point but...well, I can't.
Very good post knackered, you only have to look at the Rep of Ireland to see how a small nation fares by itself, and they have a population twice ours. They are on their arses, and our situation will be even worse as we have been tightly integrated with the rest of the UK for hundreds of years. We have nothing that can make as a country by itself. So we would lose the DVLA, Land Registry and Pension Service in Swansea, they employ thousands. Big business would do a flyer like Airbus maybe TATA Steel or Admiral Insurance or a number of other companies. Independence is a joke proposed by a party that is the biggest joke, as I said if it happens I'll go to England to live.
Spain have just announced their team for the Olympics .... http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18693622 .... there's going to be an arse kicking for the poor teams that have to play them.
Like i have said consistantly on here Any Welsh player who plays for the English under 23 squad, should forfeit their right to represent our proud nation again.
It's not the English under 23 squad, it's TeamGB that encompasses the whole country, whether you like it or not.
forget what mabon says its nonsense and team GB is up and running with 3 jacks on board two of which may not start the season with us if brendan manages to out bid spurs for joeand sinclair wants to move to london or liverpool. But while its on they are jack players and we should be proud of that. its nothing to do with wales,england ,scotland and ireland its to do with great britain and what an honour for these guys to be chosen to represent the whole of the UK....
...or having English players in the Swans at all? I like Mabon's posts generally but big chip springs to mind on this issue.
