With the Assembly election forthcoming, Merthyr's predictably lacking any activity. As ever, there are a few Labour posters, one large UKIP on Trago Mills fence and the usual leaflets.
Trago Mills is a sick joke and draws attention to the UKIP-supporting owner who has left a huge site as wasteland for over a decade.
Nobody's called and everyone assumes the new Labour candidate will win easily, with the 'respectable' racists of UKIP probably coming second.
In a town which has so much deprivation, it's the failure of the parties to engage that's so disappointing.
Politics should be taught in every school : not just the mechanisms and institutions, but the philosophies behind it , from capitalism to anarchism.
I have limited faith in our political system to change society and no political party offers a real alternative.
I lean towards the party which is closest to my ideals ( in other words, Plaid Cymru) ,but like the Greens unequivocal commitment to a non-nuclear Cymru and total opposition to opencast mining.
I would like a vision set out, so politics is more for the long than short term and less about 'buying' votes .
Here are my suggestions, rather more complicated than those of the Chartists, but , to me, just as vital :-
* an elected President of Cymru (to replace the Windsors), who acts as a representative on a fixed term and coming from any walk in life
* a truly national health service with no private sector feeding off the state one; fulfilling Nye Bevan's dream, with consultants working full-time in the Welsh nhs and no queue-jumping because of wealth
* both health and education services run by practitioners ( or former practitioners) and not bureaucrats
* scrapping of all student tuition fees ( funded by money raised from abolition of present school inspections and needless, counter-productive Challenge Advisers)
* fully comprehensive education system run by staff and pupils, with advisers who are teachers on sabbaticals providing help and assistance wherever necessary
* no private sector in education, so parents can no longer buy their children into so-called superior universities
* massive house-building run by co-operatives ; building homes based on the 'Bridgend prototype' i.e. eco-houses which actually generate a surplus of energy after one year and cost only £110,000 to buy
* nuclear and fossil fuel- free Cymru, with jobs created constructing solar farms, community-owned wind farms, tidal barrages and hydro schemes on rivers
* nationalized bank for Cymru, with local branches serving as credit unions, building societies and providing financial support for co-operatives
* integrated Welsh transport system, with all profits going back into improvements
* Arts, Health & Education having a closer relationship; Welsh music, art and literature central to school curricula and workshops seen as vital to people's well-being
* all schools encouraged to be bi-lingual; Welsh as a fundamental part of teacher-training. Proven benefits of bi-lingual education promoted to highlight this process.
* all private companies to operate bi-lingually, as public sector does now
Not quite as snappy as a People's Charter, I admit and I have left gaps, especially in education with its destructive testing culture.
Some comrades on the Left say - 'Why focus on Wales? Surely it's divide and rule, just like the Empire?'
I would reply that until you dismantle the British state the politics of class, privilege and war will prevail.
Of course, we need to co-operate with like-minded people elsewhere, those who share our aspirations to no longer accept colonial status; abandoned once our natural resources and heavy industries were seen as useless.
There are also aspects of colonial mentality : a strong sense of inferiority which makes us say - 'How can we stand alone?'
Or, equally appallingly, that Britishness which comes from past wars and an adherence to a monarchy maintained in luxury by our taxes.
TOO BLOODY WEAK
We carn do it, see.
there's no way
we'd survive on ower own.
We're too bloody weak -
all tha money
d'come from Brussels an London.
Ow we gonna live
off of real ale, whisky,
cheese, veg an milk?
I know we got water
but oo's gunna buy it, Liverpool?
It int exactly oil!
We don' produce nothin
on'y wind, food an poetree
an oo cun live off of these?
Slike we're buskin, see,
playin the same ol tewns,
desperate f a few coins.
They see us an pass by -
'Well they are doing something,
but it's not proper really!'
Trago Mills is a sick joke and draws attention to the UKIP-supporting owner who has left a huge site as wasteland for over a decade.
Nobody's called and everyone assumes the new Labour candidate will win easily, with the 'respectable' racists of UKIP probably coming second.
In a town which has so much deprivation, it's the failure of the parties to engage that's so disappointing.
Politics should be taught in every school : not just the mechanisms and institutions, but the philosophies behind it , from capitalism to anarchism.
I have limited faith in our political system to change society and no political party offers a real alternative.
I lean towards the party which is closest to my ideals ( in other words, Plaid Cymru) ,but like the Greens unequivocal commitment to a non-nuclear Cymru and total opposition to opencast mining.
I would like a vision set out, so politics is more for the long than short term and less about 'buying' votes .
Here are my suggestions, rather more complicated than those of the Chartists, but , to me, just as vital :-
* an elected President of Cymru (to replace the Windsors), who acts as a representative on a fixed term and coming from any walk in life
* a truly national health service with no private sector feeding off the state one; fulfilling Nye Bevan's dream, with consultants working full-time in the Welsh nhs and no queue-jumping because of wealth
* both health and education services run by practitioners ( or former practitioners) and not bureaucrats
* scrapping of all student tuition fees ( funded by money raised from abolition of present school inspections and needless, counter-productive Challenge Advisers)
* fully comprehensive education system run by staff and pupils, with advisers who are teachers on sabbaticals providing help and assistance wherever necessary
* no private sector in education, so parents can no longer buy their children into so-called superior universities
* massive house-building run by co-operatives ; building homes based on the 'Bridgend prototype' i.e. eco-houses which actually generate a surplus of energy after one year and cost only £110,000 to buy
* nuclear and fossil fuel- free Cymru, with jobs created constructing solar farms, community-owned wind farms, tidal barrages and hydro schemes on rivers
* nationalized bank for Cymru, with local branches serving as credit unions, building societies and providing financial support for co-operatives
* integrated Welsh transport system, with all profits going back into improvements
* Arts, Health & Education having a closer relationship; Welsh music, art and literature central to school curricula and workshops seen as vital to people's well-being
* all schools encouraged to be bi-lingual; Welsh as a fundamental part of teacher-training. Proven benefits of bi-lingual education promoted to highlight this process.
* all private companies to operate bi-lingually, as public sector does now
Not quite as snappy as a People's Charter, I admit and I have left gaps, especially in education with its destructive testing culture.
Some comrades on the Left say - 'Why focus on Wales? Surely it's divide and rule, just like the Empire?'
I would reply that until you dismantle the British state the politics of class, privilege and war will prevail.
Of course, we need to co-operate with like-minded people elsewhere, those who share our aspirations to no longer accept colonial status; abandoned once our natural resources and heavy industries were seen as useless.
There are also aspects of colonial mentality : a strong sense of inferiority which makes us say - 'How can we stand alone?'
Or, equally appallingly, that Britishness which comes from past wars and an adherence to a monarchy maintained in luxury by our taxes.
TOO BLOODY WEAK
We carn do it, see.
there's no way
we'd survive on ower own.
We're too bloody weak -
all tha money
d'come from Brussels an London.
Ow we gonna live
off of real ale, whisky,
cheese, veg an milk?
I know we got water
but oo's gunna buy it, Liverpool?
It int exactly oil!
We don' produce nothin
on'y wind, food an poetree
an oo cun live off of these?
Slike we're buskin, see,
playin the same ol tewns,
desperate f a few coins.
They see us an pass by -
'Well they are doing something,
but it's not proper really!'
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