Oh Woe is me :
an Ode to Ian Parri
What
do I mean by "woe is me" Welsh people? They are a small number
of people with big mouths who moan about the English. They moan about
how they, the English, have continually kept the Welsh down trodden.
They blame the English for everything that goes wrong.
My favourite "woe is me" welshman of the moment is Ian Parri
a writer for the Daily Post an excellent daily newspaper for North Wales.
His latest moan came about in an article where he was imagining the situation
where Wales would keep Welsh water for Wales. (In itself a fair proposition
in these European days when the Germans keep their coal for themselves
and the French keep their grapes..but the poor old British had to give
up their fishing resources to the Spanish as terms for entry to Euroland)
I digress !
As I was saying it was a fair proposal to suggest Wales keeping it's
water, but Ian then goes on to MOAN :
"And the English would be willing to allow us to maintain that edge,
would they, even though we can't even declare our own patron saint's day
a bank holiday as long as Big Brother in London says no?
One peep out of Cardiff about keeping our water for our own use, for example,
would see our neighbours' military marching over the border in nanoseconds.
It's not for nothing we've been a vassal country to be exploited at will
ever since 1536."
Who are these "English" people that he fears would invade us
at the drop of hat? Are they the people of Lancashire or Cheshire? I don't
think the ordinary folk of these counties hold any animosity toward the
Welsh. Would they be the people of Cornwall maybe? I think not.
The Liverpudlians ? Well no I don't think so, as there are many Liverpudlians
of Welsh descent, the Welsh built large parts of the City of Liverpool,
and the scouse accent itself derives partly from North Wales. (Not the
other way round Ian)
What about those fearsome Brummies, and the wild population of Herefordshire
and Shropshire, surely they must hate the Welsh considering their proximity
to the border. Have we been hearing a groundswell of anti Welsh opinion
from Brummie land and the Border Counties? Well er no, at least I have
not.
It can't be the Londoners / Southerners who would invade us. They are
far too soft and anyway they probably don't know where Wales is.
So as far as I can see there are no "English" who keep me down
trodden. There are politicians, and maybe some upper class twits (in-bred
aristo's with plummy accents, leftovers from the Norman invasion) who
feel they are superior but we all have a right to our own opinions and
they don't bother me. You may have the rich exploiting the poor, but this
is not an English/Welsh thing it's a Rich/Poor thing and the people of
England are just as exploited as are the Welsh.
I just do not see the ordinary English as my enemy, and I don't understand
people like Ian Parri who do see them as the enemy. Should he need pleasure
in a shadenfreuden sort of way then he could "always look on the
bright side of life" by interpreting history in the way he prefers.
Everybody else does. There is no harm in it. Remember Owain Glyndwr's
rebellion as a fantastic victory over the English. Which it was for several
years. Or the capturing of the English throne by the Tudor's, the most
successful of "English" dynasties.
Or he could rejoice in the fact that the Normans conquered England in
2 days in 1066 whereas the stubborn Welsh were still fighting the Anglo
Normans some 340 years later.
November 30 2007
Ian Parri's latest rant concerns the proposal to add a Welsh symbol
to the Union Flag. He shows his true colours and rants on "do
we really give a fig about not being represented on a flag that has long
been equated to oppression all around the globe".
Which history books has Ian Parri read? Without going too far back I
seem to remember it was the British forces under the Union Jack (with
help from their American and Commonwealth allies) that bravely freed
Europe from the yoke of nazi Germany, and the peoples of Europe celebrated
on seeing the first signs of freedom when soldiers appeared coming over
the hill with the Union Jack flying proudly before them. Ask the survivors
of concentration camps Ian if they were happy to see the Union Flag on
the tanks liberating them from death and starvation. Who did these people
think were the oppressors Ian? Certainly not the brave men and women
serving under the Union Jack.
Shame on you and the Daily Post!
As regard Ian's question as to who gives a fig, well I do,
and I believe there should be Welsh representation on the
Union Flag, it is long overdue. Thousands of Welsh men and women have
fought and died while serving under the Union Jack and it is a disgrace
that their efforts are not recognised in this the most potent symbol
of the United Kingdom.
Another example:
A Welsh website, another "Woe is me" Welsh website, recording
the fact that Glyndwr's rebellion of 1400 was eventually put down.
"Owain Glyndwr's short rebellion ends as he disappears. Henry IV
and his son suppress the rebellion. Defeat means second class citizenship
for the Welsh and humiliation"
Where is the humiliation for the Welsh? Where does that come from?
22 August 2008
While researching Llandudno
Pier on the internet I came across this
snippet in the Google results.
"Llandudno Pier - Daily Post North Wales
THE elderly woman laughs into
her mobile phone in a loud Lancastrian cackle, while the friend with
whom she shares the bench draws heavily on her rapidly receding fag.
"
Now you may think this quite sad but I actually recognised the author
of the article as being Ian Parri before I noticed the reference to the
Daily Post. Who else would describe an elderly English woman's laugh
as a "cackle" in an article about a pier. It is just another
of his insidious attempts at denigrating the English. ..Well witches
and nasty people cackle, don't they?
In another article recently Ian described people who criticised the
Welsh Assembly as "moustache twiddling buffoons" ..so that's
me sorted !
