When Carwyn Jones was younger, every boy wanted to be a train driver when they grew up. Saving their pocket money for a platform ticket, they would spend many an afternoon marvelling at the power of the locomotives and the skill of the men who drove them.
But some people never had the drive to realize their ambition. So while the governments of Scotland and Northern Ireland are now driving the locomotive of change in these islands, an older Carwyn Jones and his friends in the Welsh Labour party seem quite happy to be left on the platform watching the train pull away.
6 comments:
So Welsh Labour are a bunch of anorak-wearing trainspotters. Sad, lonely, shy losers which other people laugh at?
Seems just about right ... trouble is their lack of ambition is dragging Wales down too.
They won almost entirely on the basis of the regressive policies being implemented from Westminster. Yet they refuse to do anything to stop those policies.
Steady on, Syniadau! Carwyn Jones was born the same year as me (1967) and I can assure you that in the 1970s we didn't dress like the lads in the top picture, there were no steam trains around and hardly any railways left for that matter. As for the picture below, that looks as if it was taken later than the 70s and I bet not originally in black and white. BTW - and at the risk of blowing my own claim that we are NOT the trainspotting generation out of the water - is that York station in the second picture?
Whatever the historical accuracy of your post, the political analogy is spot on :)
Efrogwr
Carwyn Jones has to decide fast between Wales and loyalty to the London Labour party - at the moment, he appears to be choosing the wrong side.
If Plaid get their act together, it is not beyond imagination that as Scotland achieve more autonomy - or independence even - and NI are given more fiscal responsibility, and Wales is left behind, that Labour could suffer the same sort of meltdown here that we witnessed in Scotland.
From a nationalist point of view, I welcome this, but as as a Welshman, I do not want to see my country suffer from the sort of timidity Labour are showing at the moment.
The second picture is Efrog, Efrogwr, and I reckon it would have been taken in 2005. But you're quite wrong about the first picture; that is definitely Bridgend station in the 70s, and Carwyn's the slightly podgy one with the grey hair ;-)
Labour most definitely have slowed down the pace of devolution in Wales; and they will pay for this in the future.
I think that Labour in Scotland (which also applies to Wales) is in real danger on the devolution issue. They don't want independence (which is fine) however they do want more powers in certain areas. This is really dangerous, and in my view they really need to lay out what they actually want. Where is the final destination for their devolution journey?. Plaid know what they want, the LibDems basically know what they want (federalism) but Labour seem not to.
Post a Comment