tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985080357558043054.post6763650921656358869..comments2024-03-27T18:54:46.951+00:00Comments on Syniadau :: The Blog: Frieda Brepoels, the N-VA ... and Martin ShiptonSyniadauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13876017048168055247noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985080357558043054.post-44087758764515244912012-10-20T00:23:48.004+01:002012-10-20T00:23:48.004+01:00INTERESTING in view of Martin Shipton's recent...INTERESTING in view of Martin Shipton's recent articles attacking Plaid Cymru's leader Leanne Wood - http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/welsh-politics/welsh-politics-news/2012/09/18/plaid-cymru-leader-leanne-wood-attacked-over-welsh-republican-meeting-91466-31855077/ - and president Jill Evans - http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2012/10/11/plaid-cymru-president-criticised-for-bizarre-quasi-baptism-ceremony-91466-32015531/ - I CAME ACROSS THIS PAGE LOOKING BY LOOKING FOR OTHER COMPLAINTS ABOUT MARTIN SHIPTON'S JOURNALISM : I can confirm that those two articles are also seriously misleading and clearly intended to be harmful - and I am not in Plaid and I do not vote for them.dai / David B Lawrence / Repwblic.orghttp://repwblic.informe.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985080357558043054.post-46749374888994482592010-09-14T00:21:57.444+01:002010-09-14T00:21:57.444+01:00Epic post. Truly you have Shit 'pon Shipton. H...Epic post. Truly you have Shit 'pon Shipton. His desire to get an exclusive story got in the way of the facts. May he be cast to the 14th circle of NUJ hell.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985080357558043054.post-78931800525968491632010-09-12T21:02:19.005+01:002010-09-12T21:02:19.005+01:00Cheap journalism is a fact of life, Anon(s). Ther...Cheap journalism is a fact of life, Anon(s). There's no need to get too worked up about it, and even less reason to start giving our money to lawyers. All we need to do is point out that articles and statements like these are wrong, and show why they are wrong. People can then make up their own minds who to believe.<br /><br />We don't have any weapon other than the truth ... but it's one hell of a good weapon!MHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09329059309196746446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985080357558043054.post-72418819988955057102010-09-12T19:47:01.081+01:002010-09-12T19:47:01.081+01:00Quite frankly, I don't think that any comparis...Quite frankly, I don't think that any comparisons between Wales and Belgium are valid.<br /><br />In Wales we have two languages but little antagonism. Most people recognise that less than 200 years ago Welsh was the language of almost all Wales and are therefore supportive or ambivalent about 'bringing back' the Welsh language.<br /><br />Belgium is an absurd and unworkable, post-Napoleonic amalgam of two different peoples who have often behaved towards each other like ferrets in a sack. It is a miracle - and to the credit of their neighbours - that Belgium has been spared civil war.<br /><br />As an example of the deep-rooted antipathy one finds there I can recall (admittedly some time ago now) hearing from Flemings how Flemish-speaking soldiers had been shot for disobedience because they couldn't understand orders given to them in French.<br /><br />That may be true, or - more likely - it may be utter nonsense, but when people circulate and believe in such stories then it doesn't do much for harmony in a country like Belgium.<br /><br />On the plus side, there's Stella Artois.Royston Jonesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985080357558043054.post-26301074927188566532010-09-12T17:41:32.205+01:002010-09-12T17:41:32.205+01:00Plaid and N-VA (i.e. Prime Minister of Belgium) sh...Plaid and N-VA (i.e. Prime Minister of Belgium) should sue the Western Mail for defamation.<br /><br />There's no point being reasonable with these people as we saw after the Simon Glyn business. Now that Ron Davies has joined Plaid, the Labour party will now trawl up any quote out of context to try and continue the 'nationalist is racist' narrative.<br /><br />If Plaid's press office (with Belgian PM and N-VA don't sue WM on this now) then this sort of lies will go on until May 2011.<br /><br />Plaid - stop being such sons of the Manse it doesn't work.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985080357558043054.post-1128268879344428232010-09-12T17:35:57.295+01:002010-09-12T17:35:57.295+01:00MH - it's a case of the Big Lie. Labour will d...MH - it's a case of the Big Lie. Labour will do this time and time again. The N-VA is the governing party of Belgium. I've yet to see a mainstream party raising any issues with N-VA (except that they want to keep Belgium united). <br /><br />Plaid need to get wise to this. Lazy journists, Labour's lies will always get the story they want. <br /><br />As Simon Brooks wrote about the Simon Glyn affair, it ties in with their 'nationalist as racist' narrative - doesn't matter if the fact are right or not.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985080357558043054.post-77352414336313810362010-09-12T16:38:00.923+01:002010-09-12T16:38:00.923+01:00I've just looked at O'Neill's post on ...I've just looked at O'Neill's <a href="http://unionistlite.blogspot.com/2010/09/belgian-ethno-nat-to-address-plaid.html" rel="nofollow">post</a> on his "Pint of Unionist Lite" blog. It appears that no matter how clearly I say something, he is determined to misrepresent it. He thinks or, should I say, he said:<br /><br /><i>Furthermore the blog you quote [Syniadau] has the argument since the N-VA don’t comprise a majority of that parliament that they:<br /><br />1) Didn’t vote for these measures<br />2) Don’t advocate them</i><br /><br />Which, as anyone can see for themselves, is not true. <br /><br />But it is clear from the title of his post that he is determined to portray the N-VA as "ethno-nats", and explicitly made the claim that the campaign for blood donors was, I quote:<br /><br /><i>Blood donation sessions being only conducted amongst people who were mono-lingually Dutch (because, of course, Dutch-speaking blood is different to the French-speaking sort)</i><br /><br />So it would seem that Martin Shipton's article has had its intended effect: it found fertile ground among those who are determined to present inclusive civic nationalism as a matter of race.MHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09329059309196746446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985080357558043054.post-15943524859234396512010-09-12T00:11:06.144+01:002010-09-12T00:11:06.144+01:00I don't "move onto whether or not Plaid C...I don't "move onto whether or not Plaid Cymru should be associated with" the N-VA, O'Neill, I'm already there! Read my <a href="http://syniadau--buildinganindependentwales.blogspot.com/search/label/N-VA" rel="nofollow">other posts</a> about them. <br /><br />Why on earth would I have written this post <b>unless</b> I was happy for us to be associated with them?MHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09329059309196746446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985080357558043054.post-49742627608142602752010-09-11T20:20:17.653+01:002010-09-11T20:20:17.653+01:00"It wasn't my intention to disassociate t..."It wasn't my intention to disassociate the N-VA from any of these policies, but to show that they could not be alone in supporting them."<br /><br />But if they support the policies, that is surely more important than whether or not they were solely responsible for implementing them? If they do, then you move onto whether or not Plaid Cymru should be associated with a party that advocates such policies. Re the original piece, I think Shipton has misspelt the name of the party... not that important but still...O'Neillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02531858236570346203noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985080357558043054.post-1622667772321929802010-09-11T18:45:50.651+01:002010-09-11T18:45:50.651+01:00Shipton has form on this. Shipton was the journali...Shipton has form on this. Shipton was the journalist who said that no-one watched S4C's programmes for pre-school children. It was only later discovered that BARB does not record viewing figures for the under 4s. Shipton was also the journalist who ran an article spiking the 300-strong Treganna protest in the Eisteddfod, with untrue comments to infer that RHAG had used public money to organise it.<br /><br />The truth is that Shipton is actually quite anti-Welsh language, but gets away with it because of his "reasonable" views on other subjects.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985080357558043054.post-32529509360900203722010-09-11T18:16:01.806+01:002010-09-11T18:16:01.806+01:00... of course, when the British/English parties th...... of course, when the British/English parties think their language (English) is losing ground territorially then they go to war and are very ready to kill and die for their language - Falkands War, WW1 and 2, Napoleonic Wars etc.<br /><br />The Labour, Cons and LibDems are just as much cultural and linguistic nationalists as the N-VA ... except that their language in English not Dutch or Welsh. The other point is that English is in a stronger position than Dutch in Belgium and that defending English is usually done now under the guise of 'equality'. <br /><br />The N-VA has nothing to be ashamed of. I'm glad Plaid invited a representative over to Wales. Flanders will be independent within 20 years and the people Shipton and Labour try to slander will be the people in government there - get used to it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985080357558043054.post-3193028455965512082010-09-11T14:11:30.464+01:002010-09-11T14:11:30.464+01:00I don't know about that, Anon. Martin Shipton...I don't know about that, Anon. Martin Shipton does put together some good stuff, I thought <a href="http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2010/09/11/wales-natural-resources-stolen-for-england-s-power-needs-91466-27245354/" rel="nofollow">this piece</a> today on our energy resources was informative and accurate. <br /><br />He made a complete mess of this one because he doesn't know anywhere near as much about Belgium as he does about Wales ( ... well, nor do I, but at least I know enough to spot the mistakes.) Perhaps it was just sloppiness. Perhaps he has an axe to grind. Perhaps he got an email from Derek Vaughan asking him to do a story on it, and simply passed on what he was told as a Chinese whisper. Who knows?MHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09329059309196746446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985080357558043054.post-73908579173445382222010-09-11T13:51:18.776+01:002010-09-11T13:51:18.776+01:00I don't know about their voting record on ever...I don't know about their voting record on every one, O'Neill. My point was simply that any measure would need to be passed by a majority in the 124 member parliament. As the N-VA has only 16 seats, it would require another 47 MFPs from other parties to vote for them as well. In mathematical terms, that means that it would have roughly three times more to do with these other parties than with the N-VA. <br /><br />It wasn't my intention to disassociate the N-VA from any of these policies, but to show that they could not be alone in supporting them. I thought this was an important point to make because Martin Shipton had said that the N-VA were in power in the Flemish Parliament, implying that they were the largest party there.MHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09329059309196746446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985080357558043054.post-38009151884983959402010-09-11T13:20:16.191+01:002010-09-11T13:20:16.191+01:00shock horror Labour journalist in Wales calling Pl...shock horror Labour journalist in Wales calling Plaid Cymru racist at the request of his Masters, maybe Plaid should ignore him and his not very widely read newspaper.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985080357558043054.post-64082036951946851582010-09-11T12:17:45.375+01:002010-09-11T12:17:45.375+01:00"So whatever policies the Flemish Parliament ..."So whatever policies the Flemish Parliament has voted for have more to do with these parties than the N-VA"<br /><br />Surely the more relevant question is whether they voted for these measures? Did they?O'Neillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02531858236570346203noreply@blogger.com