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The Welsh Rant

As a Welshman, I have always been cautious of independence: I have always wanted it for my nation, but years of political mistrust and abuse by England have not left us in a good enough state economically to do much of anything to change this state of affairs. Which brings us to the trigger event for this post, and why I'm particularly miffed.

The Swansea Tidal Lagoon project had all the hallmarks of Something Good: a renewable energy technology that would create not just jobs at the site, but create employment opportunities and new businesses along the supply chain, as well as regenerate a coastal area. It would also serve as a template business and regeneration project that could be replicated around the UK, and possibly exported abroad. And all for a little more than the cost of a DUP bribe £1.3 billion. My opening paragraph has probably given away that not all is well with this.

Instead of investing in not just a one-off project, but the full rejuvenation of industry and coastal towns in their death-throes around the UK, the Conservative government, in it's infinite wastefulness, decided to forgo the opportunity of easy points-scoring and doing Something Good and sending Goodwill Gestures to the fracturing Union. What it decided was that this cost too much, especially when Heathrow airport, which is managed by a company preparing to leave the country for the Netherlands as a result of Brexit, quite clearly needed ~£14 billion. Because London, or at least that's how it feels. Then again, since when have the Tories ever really shown concern about anything but London, and the precious (read: failed and corrupt) Financial Sector it decided was worth more than the internationally-renowned British industry sector.

I'm not really all that surprised by this turn of events: I am, however, mightily fucked off by it. This was an opportunity for proof that we were "all in this together", and that the Union really should stick together, that places other then the capital mattered. Assent and funding to this project might actually have been the economic bolster these islands so desperately need, doubly so for Wales. We have suffered disappointment and betrayal time and again: left out completely of any part of Brexit, no rail electrification, talks of yet again sinking a Welsh village for English water needs, the renaming of a bridge, which had no need of a name, to The Prince of Wales bridge in honour of the English usurpers to that title.

Now, there exists a post in Westminster Cabinet, the Secretary of State for Wales. This job, you would think, would be to represent Wales in the highest halls of Union governance. Alun Cairns, the current holder of this post, has other ideas. He seems to be under the impression that the position is one of standing around like a lost puppy, grinning at cameras, while waiting for orders from his English masters, then issuing those orders back at us. It has gotten to the point that I am convinced his spine exists as a separate entity, and is living the high-life on the coast in Monaco. It certainly isn't anywhere to be found about his person.

I mention Alun Cairns for two reasons: he is a Welshman who inhabits the role of Welsh representation, yet seems to care very little for his homeland. He is also the nail in the coffin for the Tidal Lagoon. Cairns decided that instead of fighting for this project, he would rather make up some numbers that seem to contradict other, trusted, government reports and make claims about how the project is a folly. He scuttled the whole thing. Other projects were mentioned, including nuclear, as being better options. Now, having done some small researches into nuclear power, and being somewhat of a proponent, I would tend to disagree: just building the new Wylfa Newydd nuclear power plant is going to cost the taxpayer £15 billion. Yes, it will create more short-term building jobs, and will take more staff to run. But that cannot justify 15X the cost, especially when the emplyment will only be a one-off build. The Tidal Lagoon Project might be a one-off to begin with, but the Tidal Lagoon Power company already has plans for 6 other locations in the UK alone. The builds will rely upon supply chain in the way large-scale are, and will continue to use them, creating many more indirect jobs. Alun Cairns betrayed all of that.

I'm not linking anything in this article, you can flex your Google-fu muscles to find out more (if you hadn't already heard).


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