Labour Uncut is a website set up by Labour Party activists in the wake of the 2010 general election defeat to act as a platform for party members to let off steam, indulge in a bit of navel gazing and pontificate. Debate is often quite lively, and judging from some recent articles, the party rank and file are not a happy bunch.
Tucked away among articles urging Ed Milliband to get his act together is a "Letter from Wales" from Julian Ruck, who is presumably a member of the zoo that is the Labour Party in Carmarthenshire, since this is where he has made his home.
If Labour's county councillors are representative of the party in Carmarthenshire, a few of the zoo's exhibits are cute and cuddly. Some of the inmates have seen better days, and cling grimly to their perches in what is left of their plumage. A very strong smell comes from some of the cages, and the Llanelli enclosure in particular contains some pretty nasty specimens.
Julian Ruck is not a member of the Labour county council zoo, but if he were, he would be in the reptile house (see previous post here). His letter begins with a moan about the Welsh Labour Party before launching into a vitriolic and poisonous attack on the Welsh language, Welsh culture and senior BBC journalists such as Vaughan Roderick and Betsan Powys. You can read it for yourselves here.
Julian Ruck is Julian Ruck, and there is no likelihood that this pompous self-publicist will ever allow facts to disrupt his bigoted and bitter outpourings. His "Letter from Wales" could just as well have appeared on a website dedicated to the English Defence League or the BNP, and that is what quite a few of the responses from Labour activists on the Uncut site argue.
To be fair then, Labour Uncut is what it says on the can: the Labour Party warts and all, the real thing.
What is rather more shameful is that Julian Ruck is a columnist for the Llanelli Star.
In 2014 Llanelli will play host to the National Eisteddfod, an event which showcases Wales and Welsh culture at its best, most creative and most talented. It will also give the local economy a big boost as tens of thousands of people descend on the area and spend money with local businesses.
No doubt the Llanelli Star will have its own stand, and the paper will feature excited coverage of the Eisteddfod.
Remembering that the paper regularly gives space to the rantings of someone who hates the Welsh language and culture so much, Eisteddfod-goers should reply to offers to buy a copy with a firm Dim diolch. That's language which even the Llanelli Star would understand.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
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