MRS Briggs letter clearly illustrates how alive and well the “but” disease is in Wales. Its sufferers exhibit the symptoms of first waxing eloquently for hours about how proud they are to be Welsh and how they have nothing against the Welsh language.

Then however they are suddenly and inexplicably overcome by a compulsion to end all such statements by the parrot-like phrase “but only if money is never allocated to the Welsh language.” 

Doctors assume that this application is confined solely to Wales as all other advanced countries allocate substantial money to their minority languages. 

Such sufferers are also prone to use dramatic language like “enormous,” “staggering,” “unrealistic,” “forcing” etc in an attempt to portray how the small amounts spent on Welsh impinges on the provision of essential services. 

However, the public are canny enough to know that a case can always be made.  For money for essential services to the exclusion of just about everything else imaginable. 

Mrs Briggs also states that “interpreters” are employed by Welsh authorities. This is quite farcical perhaps she is referring here to the solitary Welsh speaker employed at our Civic Centre to answer queries in Welsh.  And should this person be unavailable as he is as he has other duties callers in Welsh are then advised to leave their phone numbers and they will then be called back. So much for the “staggering” cost of Welsh “interpreters” at Newport Civic Centre!

Language shift is a generational concept, not an overnight phenomenon.

However, as at long last, some money is now being spent on Welsh, perhaps in the not too distant future the majority of our AM’s may well indeed choose to debate in Welsh rather than English at the Assembly.

D Sheppard
Parc Seymour
Penhow