Book of the Month: The Road to Independence

This book is Plaid Cymru's evidence to the Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales. As you might expect, it lays out very clearly a case for Cymru being an independent nation. For a political book, it's a very accessible read. (It's also shorter than it looks because it's bilingual!)

The book starts with a compelling case why the current political status quo is unsustainable and why half measures like "federalism" won't work. And then it gets into the guts of the argument and directly addresses whether Cymru could afford to be an independent nation in its own right.

That is almost always the first question people ask me when I start talking about annibyniaeth for Cymru. My answer is usually that I don't think Wales can afford to remain trapped in the current union either. Neither can most of England, for that matter. The so-called "fiscal deficit" in Cymru occurs in all the regions of England outside of London and the South East. 

Having travelled to various parts of England for work (and football matches) in the past couple of years, I found it very interesting to see financial figures that back up my hunch that there is poverty across swathes of the country and many communities are on a knife edge. Clearly Westminster isn't working for most of England either. 

The writers deconstruct the various figures used to argue for the unaffordability of Independence. Many of those figures are guestimates; several of the figures presumably wouldn't apply or could be traded off - for example if the coming Republic was expected to inherit some of the debt racked up by the UK, then Westminster would be liable for public sector and state pension payments to people who worked for the UK institutions or have moved to Wales in their retirement. Those costs kind of balance each other out reducing the fiscal deficit significantly. 

The answer to whether Cymru can afford to be independent is therefore 'probably yes'. Much would depend on the terms of leaving the UK - and as seen with Brexit, there are good ways to leave a union and terrible ways to leave a union. Being optimistic, it's definitely possible and hopefully the parting could be amicable. 

Another pressing reason for Independence is the sheer lack of constitutional protections for citizens and institutions in the current UK system. Parliament in Westminster is ultimately the source of all rights and freedoms for individuals, and the source of authority for the devolved Parliaments in Cymru, Northern Ireland and Scotland. The Senedd's continued existence relies on Westminster granting powers to it. A different flavour of government in the UK could abolish the devolved Parliaments even if every MP from outside England voting against abolition. 

This shows just how marginalised Cymru is in the UK. There are 32 MPs from Wales in the current Westminster parliament compared to 543 from England. (Scotland has 57 MPs and Northern Ireland has 18.) The number of Welsh seats dropped from 40 in 2019 to 32 in 2024 - a reduction of 20%. This was because the population of the UK grew disproportionately, with a bigger increase in England. Rather than increase the number of MPs, constituency boundaries were redrawn with larger populations. Effectively, Wales lost 8 seats to England. 

Within that context, there is no real hope of the particular needs of Wales being anything but a minor concern to the Westminster Parliament. Decisions can continue to be made that affect Wales without representatives from Wales being able to influence them - see for example the scandalous decision to class the High Speed 2 rail investment as an 'England and Wales' project thereby diverting funding that should have come to Wales, or the decision earlier this year not to devolve the Crown Estate income to the Welsh Government despite the Scottish Government controlling the income from Crown Estate in Scotland. 

The democratic argument for Independence is quite clear.  There is no written constitution to protect the people of the UK from a capricious or malevolent government. Money is withheld from the people of Wales on the whim of MPs elected elsewhere under relatively benign governments. Wales is not safe in the Union. (And there is a good case to say people living in England are a lot less safer than they think they are.)

So in conclusion, I think this book should be required reading for anyone with views for or against annibyniaeth. It's level-headed, reasonably argued, succinct and accessible. And very compelling. 

Jaffa cakes from outer space (and Irish cookies)

In my quest to try all the flavours of Jaffa Cake, I've sampled this new "cosmic berry" flavour that Cathy spotted in the supermarket.

So, what is a cosmic berry? Well, it's a vaguely raspberryish sweet-with-a-hint-of-tartness quite clearly artificial flavour. Certainly not of this world if not quite 'out of this world'. It contrasted sharply with the dark chocolate coating, leaving a lasting aftertaste of cocoa.

My next jaffa adventure occurred when I went round to Bryan's house for our monthly game of Blood Bowl. Bryan produced a packet of Irish biscuits in a limited edition "Jaffa" flavour that he had found in another supermarket. 

Although the drift in what "jaffa" means in "jaffa cakes" means you could expect any flavour of filling, when "jaffa" is used in other food contexts it always means orange. These cookies were great, a strong yet not overpowering orange flavour, decent-sized chocolate chunks, a good choc coating on the reverse and a good snap when I broke one. 

The cookies were the high point of the game night for me. My dice rolls were utter crap, with my high agility wood elves failing basic agility roll after roll. Bryan was coaching his lizard-men team who bashed out a comfortable 2-0 win without barely a scratch on them. Ah, well.

I probably deserved to lose because I forgot to take Roxy the Kroxigor with me for Bryan to borrow. So we subbed in the frog god turn marker that comes with the lizard-men team as a proxy. Here's a picture of our Roxy kroxi proxy.

That was pretty much my expression at the end of the game. Pure disgust at the treacherous dice!

Keeping Action Force alive

I have to admit that when I was a kid I liked my Star Wars figures, but I loved my Action Force toys. It's an almost forgotten toy-line now but there is a small committed community of collectors and hobbyists keeping it alive.

In fact, there is enough interest in this quirky British toyline that even some big companies are paying a nostalgic nod to it. I blogged almost two years ago about how Reaction had resurrected Red Laser. Since then, they have also released Red Jackal - who was a repaint of the GI Joe character Destro in the original Action Force line in the 1980s. 

Naturally, I acquired a Red Jackal when he came out.

But then recently, I decided to buy two figures made by a guy called Matt who has a charming little sideline in 3D printed figures. He has reproduced a figure called Skeletron, that was the mailaway bonus figure in the final wave of the original Action Force. Kids could save up proofs of purchase and send off for a freebie figure - in this case a robotised skeleton. 

Matt has also created his own "what could have been" figure of a Kraken Kommander. The Krakens were produced in the last wave of Action Force - the story goes they were thawed after being frozen for millennia and then cloned by the evil Baron Ironblood who used them to fight Q-Force, the naval branch of Action Force.

The figures are great quality. I picked a robotic silver Skeletron from the available options. It comes with a bonus replacement head and a gun that looks a bit like an 80s Star Wars weapon. 

Kraken Kommander comes with a couple of accessories too. I love the sculpt of his face. He oozes the supreme self confidence and superiority that the sculpts of the original Kraken figures had.

The arm details are excellent too. Even down to the printed logo and the scales on his forearms.

Both figures come with "file cards" - these replicate the ones that could be cut out from the back of Action Force figures. There isn't room for a filecard on the packaging here so it was a nice touch to include them.

I'm looking forward to digging out my original figures to compare with the new recruits!

Braving the footbridge of peril

You can't spell infrastructure without the letters R, U, S and T. And this rattling footbridge at Pontyclun station certainly had some. 

The rust pattern on the underside of the steps was almost artistic. 

I was at the station in my first Plaid Cymru leafleting for the month. I was next to the bridge as groups of schoolkids used it to cross the tracks on their way to school. The whole bridge rattled when the express trains thundered through, and even just when people walked across, which was alarming to hear at first. 

We were brave and stood on it for a selfie though!

I like visiting all these different stations, and I particularly liked this Transport for Wales poster. I'd rather be a late bird, I think.

October 2025 review

We are already almost a week into November so time for a round up of October as it recedes into memory.

It was a big month in politics with a conference, canvassing, and Caerphilly! I blogged about my first Plaid Cymru conference and about Plaid Cymru's fantastic win in Caerphilly. 

Besides canvassing for the by-election I had some early morning train trips to various stations to talk to commuters about the inequitable rail funding in Wales. My journeys of discovery took me to Cogan, Radyr, Dingle Road and Dinas Powys usually with Anna, often with Ben, and on one occasion with John!

My travels weren't just limited to short range train trips. Cathy and I drove to Manchester to see Counting Crows play at the Apollo. It was our third event at that venue this year.

We had great seats in the balcony, very close to the stage. The band were great, although being so close we could see they were having to contend with lots of technical difficulties. 

For national poetry day, I posted a poem I wrote this year called 'We are the Generation: X'. It's not a happy poem. On a more upbeat note I blogged about how I have managed to recover (again) from type 2 diabetes.

I ended up having three trips to Dinas Powys this month. The train station leafleting session, my regular game of Blood Bowl with Bryan (on a blood-themed Friday!), and to watch Cardiff Draconians play in the Welsh Cup. The Dracs won and got through to the third round for the first time in their history.

Earlier in the month, I blogged about the new look Orange Llama Stadium when I watched the Dracs beat Cwmbran Celtic. I also went to my first Barry Town home game of the season - a disappointing defeat to Briton Ferry. I had a much better time at a Shrewsbury away day in Oldham, conveniently the Saturday after the Counting Crows gig in Manchester!

I'd been warned that Boundary Park was a cold football ground - and it was. But the stewards and staff there were really lovely. Shrewsbury led twice, scoring their second goal in the 90th minute to cause absolute mayhem in the packed away end, but then conceded a gutting equaliser in the last minute of additional time. Still, it was a useful away point and the goals warmed us up a bit. 

November will be a big month with a large work event and a big family birthday! Hopefully I will have some time to blog it as I go along!

Penwythnos mewn Caeredin

My work schedule took me to Dundee on a Friday, which meant I had a perfect opportunity to spend a weekend with my sister's clan in Edinburgh.

Timing it with Halloween meant the kids were out 'guising', the Scottish version of Trick or Treat. Sarah, Dan and I stayed home and ordered a takeaway curry. 

The Saturday was very sporty, starting with my younger niece's football match in the morning. It was a crisp, cold, sunny winter morning and the girls all seemed to have fun playing, which is the main thing.

Later, we went to the rugby international at Murrayfield. 

Scotland were playing the USA. After about 10 minutes the USA were already three tries down but they won a penalty within kicking distance. I said they should go for the three points and at least get something on the board but instead they went for a line out near the try line. It didn't result in anything and that was probably their best chance of scoring points.

It finished 85-0 to Scotland, the new record win at Murrayfield and their third highest winning margin of all time. It was fun to be there and see a record set although I ended up feeling sorry for the Americans, who were completely outmatched.

On the Sunday there was more rugby as my nephew had a match. 

There was a marked difference from the game I watched him play in March. Proper rucking and much better passing when the kids remembered to pass. My nephew scored several tries and won several turnovers to set up team-mates to score. It was another cold sunny morning, perfect for uncles spectating on the sideline. 

The rest of the day was a bit quieter. Out for a late lunch and then a quiet evening in chatting. I had to be up early the following day for my flight home so a chilled evening was perfect. 

I've managed two weekends in Edinburgh this year due to my work schedule, and with any luck I'll be back soon.