Don't they care who suffers? (From South Wales Argus)

its about spending priorities Terry street lamps turned off no money to redevelop the run down town centre but hundreds of millions to spend on a stupid archaic Language and a ever expanding WAG.

I think the record needs changing. There would be no free prescriptions or travel for the disabled without the WAG. if you scrapped all welsh language tomorrow the lights would still be off. Perhaps if Newport Council did not have to send all their rates to Cardiff to spend, or they used some of the many millions the council are sitting on in the banks, the lights would go back on. They have the money, either they or the Westminster government, is stopping them from using it.

It is down to priorities, THere is a finite budget. THe assembly prefers to spend a lot of money on the Welsh Language and on a heavily subsidised flight to North Wales. It also appear to have the money to buy an airport.. Should we be giving an 80% discount on business rates to charities. Should the WAG be wasting hundreds of millions on failed quangos' Should they be providing Free car parking ?

This has nothing at all to do with Westminster. Business rates do indeed go to the WAG but they then distribute them to the LA's

Bobevans wrote:
It is down to priorities, THere is a finite budget. THe assembly prefers to spend a lot of money on the Welsh Language and on a heavily subsidised flight to North Wales. It also appear to have the money to buy an airport.. Should we be giving an 80% discount on business rates to charities. Should the WAG be wasting hundreds of millions on failed quangos' Should they be providing Free car parking ?

This has nothing at all to do with Westminster. Business rates do indeed go to the WAG but they then distribute them to the LA's

Too true. The WAG has achieved nothing but petty legislation, a declining health service and kow-towing to voiciferous minorities. It's hilarious that there is a steady stream of contributors on here prepared to blame the Westminster parliament for every ill. The airport fiasco and subsidised flights sum up their insane approach to the squandering of taxpayers money.

Llanmartinangel wrote:

Bobevans wrote:
It is down to priorities, THere is a finite budget. THe assembly prefers to spend a lot of money on the Welsh Language and on a heavily subsidised flight to North Wales. It also appear to have the money to buy an airport.. Should we be giving an 80% discount on business rates to charities. Should the WAG be wasting hundreds of millions on failed quangos' Should they be providing Free car parking ?

This has nothing at all to do with Westminster. Business rates do indeed go to the WAG but they then distribute them to the LA's

Too true. The WAG has achieved nothing but petty legislation, a declining health service and kow-towing to voiciferous minorities. It's hilarious that there is a steady stream of contributors on here prepared to blame the Westminster parliament for every ill. The airport fiasco and subsidised flights sum up their insane approach to the squandering of taxpayers money.

Currently Flybe are cutting back tthey are axing 10% of their workforce and reducing the number of planes by 7.

Their operations at Cardiff are under review and may be axed as they are mainly loss making

Bobevans wrote:
It is down to priorities, THere is a finite budget. THe assembly prefers to spend a lot of money on the Welsh Language and on a heavily subsidised flight to North Wales. It also appear to have the money to buy an airport.. Should we be giving an 80% discount on business rates to charities. Should the WAG be wasting hundreds of millions on failed quangos' Should they be providing Free car parking ?

This has nothing at all to do with Westminster. Business rates do indeed go to the WAG but they then distribute them to the LA's

As I understand it the welsh assembly wanted to REMOVE the charitable subsidies and were applauded for it. for those unaware North is part of wales too as the the middle ! The WAG has to acommodate everyone, not just the anglophilles in South wales. As for the airport I agree we should not be putting any money into that, especially as it appears the airlines don't consider Cardiff viable either. It is inexplicable wales should underpin a failed business, just for prestige reasons. Quango's too, who needs 'em ? I would consider re the welsh language issue that S4C is left as it is, and welsh bi-lingual bumpf available by REQUEST, and not by default.

I am totally against removal of language support or culture support. If Google translation which is free, actually worked, that might be different, but anyone who has used online google translation will know it it only effective to gibbering serbo-croats at present.

You cannot justify both a subsidised flight and a subsidised train. One or other should be axed to save money. THere are also alternative coach and rail routes between North and South Wales

I don't get the whole 'subsidised travel from South to North Wales' at all. There is no more reason for it than subsidising travel to other less accessible parts of the UK. It illustrates just how parochial the WAG is.

Wasn't the original topic about Wayne Thomas' government propaganda machine? Divide and conquer via memes and all that good conspiracy stuff? Aaanyway, the Welsh identity and how much it costs seems to be a hot topic here, so thanks to the snow I'll join in for a bit.

A few questions spring to mind.

How many people have Welsh as their only language?

Would losing financial support for promoting the use of the Welsh language cause any damage to Welsh people that would affect their ability to earn and learn?

What are the benefits for everybody funding the up-keep of a minority language, not including tradition?

To my mind, the world is shrinking by technology and travel. Whether we like it or not, languages die as business and social intergration demands. Communication it seems is necessarily self propagating and self regulating. The record is clear on this much at least.

I don't feel any less Welsh for not mastering it, nor do I feel I have lost out in any practical or social way.

Discuss.

P C Neilson wrote:
Wasn't the original topic about Wayne Thomas' government propaganda machine? Divide and conquer via memes and all that good conspiracy stuff? Aaanyway, the Welsh identity and how much it costs seems to be a hot topic here, so thanks to the snow I'll join in for a bit.

A few questions spring to mind.

How many people have Welsh as their only language?

Would losing financial support for promoting the use of the Welsh language cause any damage to Welsh people that would affect their ability to earn and learn?

What are the benefits for everybody funding the up-keep of a minority language, not including tradition?

To my mind, the world is shrinking by technology and travel. Whether we like it or not, languages die as business and social intergration demands. Communication it seems is necessarily self propagating and self regulating. The record is clear on this much at least.

I don't feel any less Welsh for not mastering it, nor do I feel I have lost out in any practical or social way.

Discuss.

No discussion required in my mind. Well put. An observation though: the last census showed a decline in those saying they spoke Welsh. This despite around £2 Billion being spent on it in the ten years since the last one. By how much would Wales have benefitted had that money been better spent?

Also I hear that utility bills will increase because of admin costs to add Welsh to paper work. That can't be right.

P C Neilson wrote:
Also I hear that utility bills will increase because of admin costs to add Welsh to paper work. That can't be right.

It is an additional cost to utility users in Wales. THe WAG requires they send out billingual bills and provided billingual call centres. THe cost used to be spread across the UK it now falls only on Wales so many are seeing bills increase because of this