Lembit is attempting to distract me from watching a programme!
'A Prince for Wales?' on BBC One Wales to be precise. Huw Edwards is asking the great and the good of Welsh life, as well as the ordinary people, about a prince for Wales.
Lembit's new glasses are distracting me beyond belief!
In my opinion we have to accept certain arguments and facts. That being - our monarchy, or monarchy itself, is popular in the United Kingdom, and that happens to include Wales.In an interview for BBC Wales' Dragon's Eye, Lord Elis-Thomas praised Prince Charles as "Cymrophile" [a desperate bid for more baubles in due course] but said "all constitutional conventions require a bit of refurbishment and re-examination".
He said he would argue that the title of the Prince of Wales was no longer relevant to the constitutional development of Wales in the 21st Century "...because the constitutional development has shifted to Wales' own institutions and obviously to the first minister and to devolved government in the National Assembly itself," he said.
"I haven't discussed this directly with the Royal Family and it's not my place to do that but if they were to ask me what should happen I would say that the role of the prince needs to be redefined if that title is to be continued."
But John Ellis, associate professor of British history at the University of Michigan, Flint, who has written a book on the 1911 and 1969 investitures, said the latter event was the most globally recognised event in Welsh history with television coverage across the world. "This was a huge event, that projected Wales across the world. Wales hasn't had a very high-profile image and I do think it did succeed in that aspect," he said.He added there were risks attached to any future investiture, but said he could imagine it as an opportunity to promote Wales like in 1969 particularly with the worldwide media attention Prince William attracts. "I can definitely see how events like the investiture could put Wales back on the map like in 1969 but I do think it would invite a certain amount of controversy and debate," he added
Leanne Wood AM does seem to bang on about certain issues until we're all sick to the back teeth of her lack of focus on devolution in Wales. It's all very well having a strong opinion. As an AM that does seem to have a lot of time on her hands, there are more important subject matters to bring to the discussion table.
In a recent post she discusses her plans on the Oath of Allegiance:
The Assembly Chamber can be a perfect place to draw attention to campaigns that politicians are involved in outside of the Assembly. For some time I have been a member and supporter of Republic, the campaign for an elected head of state, andAlways one to protest when a crowd is seen to gather, perhaps - like Bethan Jenkins AM who seems to involve herself in a wide range of campaigns - it is high time that Leanne concentrates on those matters that the Assembly does have responsibility for.
I am also supporting their Challenge the Oath campaign.
Commentators on Lord Goldsmith’s review of citizenship have focused on a specific proposal, that schoolchildren should swear oaths of alliance to the Queen. The oaths, he said, would tackle a “dimunition in national pride” and address the divided nature of Britain. But polls and surveys about national identity suggest nationalism in Britain is not necessarily diminishing, but rather changing and evolving. Take a walk in Cardiff Bay and you will see the Senedd building and the Wales Millennium Centre – two monuments in the Welsh capital to a changing Wales.
Whereas some national groups define themselves on primarily ethnic grounds Wales’ emerging identity is rooted in these new institutions. A Welsh ethnic category does not exist and neither does a British one, except in the minds of a few at the extremes. British identity in more modern times has often been wedded to the British/English/UK state and to the promotion of democracy at home and abroad.
But there are now democratic institutions in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales and these have had tangible effects on the nations they represent. Recent coverage of the Welsh Assembly Government’s decision to phase out hospital car park charges show the UK media are slowly beginning to report the differences arising within the UK nations. There have been faults and Freudian slips that reveal a concerning ignorance of UK events. More than one UK broadsheet newspaper has in the past year mistakenly referred to July 1, 2007, as the date of the ‘UK smoking ban’, missing the fact that Wales and Scotland banned smoking in public places earlier.
When George Bush made his 'you're either for us or against us' speech about terrorism, a lot of people decided they were against 'us' not because of the attractiveness of the opposition but the unattractiveness of 'us'. The measures proposed by Lord Goldsmith could well have the similar, unintended effect of alienating anyone who does not wish to swear allegiance to the Queen. What is needed is a better, less polarised debate about what the union is and where it is going.
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