The Wikipedia article for Rhondda’s Labour MP Leighton Andrews is being vandalised.
Interesting elements of Andrews’ career are being removed from the article only to be restored by conscientious editors.
It is like a virtual tug-o-war played out publically in a small niche of Welsh cyberspace.
So what is this Wikipedia thing ? Wikipedia is the world’s largest encyclopaedia and it’s all available for free online.
The encyclopaedia was created by a collaborative effort involving people from across the world.
If there isn’t an article on a noteworthy subject, then create it.
If you want to contribute or edit an article, you can.
Thus in the example of the Leighton Andrews article, certain facts have been removed.
References to political researcher David Taylor and Andrews’ previous political career as a prominent Liberal have been deleted, albeit temporarily.
The attempt to delete certain aspects of the Wikipedia article is totally futile. It reminds one of John Gilmore’s famous aphorism about the Net ‘routing around censorship’.
Perhaps we should leave the last words to Michael Meadowcraft former Liberal MP, friend and fellow campaign colleague to Leighton Andrews. He wrote an excellent essay on Leighton Andrews entitled “What’s he doing there?” opening thus :
In recent times, on being told of Leighton Andrews’ defection to Labour I’ve consistently dismissed it as being for too improbable. Indeed, to have done otherwise would have been akin to emulating Lewis Carroll’s White Queen who “sometimes believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” Leighton Andrews? The colleague who kept the rest of us in line. The solid, dependable comrade whose Liberal instincts and libertarian heart could always be trusted. The anorak wholly at ease with fellow Liberator revue satirists. The writer and editor whose solid work provided vital reference points. The intellectual Liberal prepared to take on David Owen and all comers at radical conferences. The friend as responsible as any for the tactics which got me elected in 1983. Impossible!
Leighton Andrews article on Wikipedia
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There’s no business like retail business… full marks to Mair dressed as Santa at the WHAT SHOP Penywaun this week.
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Murder Most Florid” – Exclusive photos from a horticultural massacre now available in the Gallery.
The photos were taken in late April on a sunny spring morning, near the town of Aberdare.
Warning : Do not look at the photos if you are of a horticulturally-sensitive disposition.
Honestly Guv, we’re not militarist, war-loving type people… we are latter day peaceniks. The snaps are just because we love bronze sculptures. Look there, we have Henry Richard and Keir Hardie, both pacifists.
Thus our conscience does battle with the fact we spend much of our blogging time discussing imagery of war sculptures and memorials.
Photos of Lord Ninian Crichton-Stuart are now available in the Gallery.
The sculpture is situated in Gorsedd Gardens, opposite the National Museum of Wales, in Cardiff.
The sculptor was Sir William Goscombe John.
Photos of Neath Abbey are now available in the Gallery.
Neath was a Cistercian Abbey founded in 1129. Dissolved in 1539.
According to Rod Cooper in his book Abbeys and Priories of Wales (Christopher Davies, Llandybie, 1992) pg. 69-71 : “Neath deserves particular attention because there is some evidence that it was the most noteworthy ecclesiastical building in Wales in terms of architecture. Its origins date from the first Norman invasion of South Wales and in the eyes of the Welsh the foundation was another facet of that invasion.”
“Today the ruins present some of the most complete remains of a Cistercian abbey to be found in Wales. Much, however, is badly ruined.”
Photos from
Caerphilly war memorial are now available in the Gallery.
The memorial is situated in the town centre, near a busy junction. It has the spectacular backdrop of Caerphilly Castle.
The memorial was unveiled in 1922 by the Earl of Plymouth.
In the photograph : an unusual bronze relief which forms part of the war memorial
Aberdare’s greatest living comedian and entertainer joins the pantheon of greats at Wikipedia.
Geraint Rhys Benney was born in the town of Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taff, near Aberdare, South Wales on 8 November, 1972). He is a Welsh television actor and entertainer.
He has had no formal training as an actor, and started his career with non-speaking parts as an ‘extra’, principally with the long-running BBC soap opera, Pobol y Cwm. He would later gain his Equity card as an actor.He has worked in many different roles including factory worker and nightclub doorman.
He has made acting contributions to the long-running Welsh language soap opera Pobol y Cwm since 1992.
He claims to have pioneered a diet based on eating brussels sprouts. He made numerous appearances in the media around 2000 based on his discovery, dubbing himself “Sproutman”.
He appeared on Chanel 4’s Big Breakfast show as Sproutman in 2001.
He currently devotes much of his time performing as Elvis Preseli, “the only bald, Welsh speaking, burger cooking Elvis in the world”. He performs as Elvis Preseli & the Undertakers. As part of the act he appears on stage carried in a gold coffin, he is brought back to life… and then he cooks some burgers on stage whilst singing non-Elvis songs!
Read the article today…
Member of Parliament Ann Clwyd officially reopened the children’s room in the Library which has been revamped amidst much excitement for the many thousands of children who use it every year.
The Library on Green Street, Aberdare opened in 1963 and has remained virtually the same until recent refurbishments to improve access to the building.
A lift has been installed to the reference and local studies department upstairs to allow better access for members of the public, the foyer has been remodeled with a first-class reception area and a new teenage area has also been created.
The children’s room itself has been transformed with a bright and colourful underwater mural painted on the walls, which has delighted youngsters and parents alike.
The Cynon Valley MP also presented prizes to the local area winners of the “Big Wild Read” reading challenge.
Now in its ninth year, the summer reading challenge is the UK’s largest promotion of children’s books and aims to encourage children to read more and use the library regularly.
Aberdare Caradog School were crowned the Champions at a gruelling schools challenge held recently at Rhondda Heritage Park.
The pupils were all finalists in The Construction Skills Challenge with each team set a challenge to build a bridge with a 50cm span using K’NEX.
Of the 10 schools who participated, Caradog Primary School, Aberdare were crowned the Construction Champion.
At the
Bridgend Eisteddfod in August 1998, Ron Davies was made a member of the Gorsedd of Bards in a special ceremony. He was Secretary of State for Wales at the time. It was rare praise for a politician and it came in recognition of his work steering through the devolution plans. In September 1997, the Referendum was won by only a whisker (around 6,000 votes). Without Davies’ contribution convincing the conservative British Nationalists within the Labour Party the Referendum result would have been a “no”.
Ron Davies had reason to feel confident at that Eisteddfod. He was truly the ‘architect of devolution’. Thus during the week he made a very confident appearance at a meeting organised by Cymdeithas yr Iaith (Welsh Language Society) to discuss the future of the Welsh Language. He spoke in Welsh for part his speech. And it was good Welsh too! He took the platform with, amongst others, some Cymdeithas veteran campaigners including Sian Howys and Angharad Tomos (as in the attached photograph). Later he was grilled by a variety of people, including Toni Schiavone. In the audience of around two hundred, were Lord Elis Thomas, and a variety other people from all walks of life.
That was nearly ten years ago. What did the man feel at this meeting ? It was a meeting billed as ‘Cymdeithas’ meets the ‘Welsh Secretary’. If only there was a video clip we could upload today in 2007 to convey Mr Ron Davies’ enthusiasm for Wales and his sincere interest in the Welsh language. Alas, there is nothing : a few photos and some memories.
Whatever were Ron Davies’ thoughts in August 1998, it is unlikely he felt that he was on the ‘eve of destruction’. Within a little over two months, his political career would be destroyed in London, and he would resign from the Blair Labour Government. Alun Michael took his place as Secretary of State for Wales, and subsequently as the first First Minister of the National Assembly for Wales. These kind of events usually happen in politics for a reason. In much of the media, Ron Davies’ downfall was portrayed glibly as something to do with an alleged predilection for – to use the modern vernacular – a little cock-fun. This was merely a distraction. Ron Davies had the temerity to think and this would lead to his downfall within a party and system that distrusted thinkers.
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In the photograph : (from left to right) Sian Howys (Cymdeithas yr Iaith), Ron Davies (then Secretary of State for Wales), and Angharad Tomos (Cymdeithas yr Iaith) at a public meeting with Cymdeithas yr Iaith, Bridgend, as part of National Eisteddfod week, August 1998.
