MRS Briggs does not need Mr Sheppard (Letters 7th April) to remind her she lives in Wales. Proudly born and bred in Wales and still living within walking distance of our rugby club, still thriving, that produced the iconic 1970’s Wales and Pontypool front row. As a training advisor in south east Wales throughout the closure of steel/ coal industries and since, my work involved ‘selling’ Wales to attract new industries.

Mr Sheppard has now misinterpreted two Welsh ladies letters, I have no ‘gripe’ with the Welsh language. Only the staggering waste of money, much needed by our cash strapped council to provide essential services. Waste caused by the Assembly’s legislation, costing £20 million plus over 10 years forcing local authorities to employ interpreters and produce printed forms in Welsh, to be binned unread.

With a negligible increase in Welsh speakers (source Nat. stats.), he must be one of the few south east Wales ratepayers who embraces the Assembly’s new five year strategy, at enormous cost, to create an unrealistic one million Welsh speakers by 2050.

Perhaps the Language Commissioner could answer my last letter’s question, as Mr Sheppard declined.

Could they explain to all our grandchildren, why the Welsh Government, after wasting millions of taxpayers money attempting to force the Welsh language onto its citizens, is still conducting its Assembly business in English? 

Joan Briggs
Ambryn Road
New Inn