MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS - SAME LOVE feat. MARY LAMBERT (OFFICIAL VIDEO) (by Ryan Lewis)
Tonight, the Ministry of Change at Cardiff University Students’ Union voted to put bilingualism at the core of the Union. Although I find it hard to believe that it has taken this long for this to happen, I welcome this important development..
I understand that some members of the Ministry voted against the motion for whatever reason. This is a huge disappointment, but I am very pleased that most members of the Ministry voted sensibly to put the Welsh language at the core of the Union.
Until now, the Union’s and the entire University’s provision through the medium of Welsh has been both tokenistic and extremely lacking. My hope is that tonight’s development will mean that the Welsh language will get more attention, and that Cardiff University Students’ Union will provide a fuller service through the medium of the Welsh language, as is its duty.
I’ll be starting in my post as Welsh Students’ Officer at the Union in less than two months. In that capacity, I’m looking forward to working with the Union and the University during the 2013/14 academic year to ensure that the Welsh language is treated fairly and with respect within our Union and our University.
Heno, fe bleidleisiodd Gweinyddiaeth Newid Undeb Myfyrwyr Prifysgol Caerdydd i ddodi dwyieithrwydd wrth graidd yr Undeb. Anodd yw credu mai dim ond nawr y mae hwn wedi digwydd, ond rwy’n croesawu’r datblygiad pwysig hwn serch hynny.
Rwy’n deall bod ambell aelod o’r Weinyddiaeth wedi pleidleisio yn erbyn y cynnig am ba reswm bynnag. Mae hyn yn peri siom mawr imi, ond rwy’n falch fod y mwyafrif wedi pleidleisio’n synhwyrol ac wedi dodi’r Gymraeg wrth graidd yr Undeb.
Hyd yn hyn, mae darpariaeth yr Undeb a’r Brifysgol yn ei chyfanrwydd yn y Gymraeg wedi bod yn docenistaidd ac yn ddiffygiol. Fy ngobaith yw y bydd datblygiad heno yn golygu fod y Gymraeg yn derbyn mwy o sylw, ac y bydd Undeb Myfyrwyr Prifysgol Caerdydd yn darparu’n llawn trwy gyfrwng y Gymraeg, fel yw ei dyletswydd.
A minnau’n cychwyn ar fy swydd fel Swyddog Myfyrwyr Cymraeg yr Undeb ymhen llai na deufis, rwy’n edrych ymlaen at weithio gyda’r Undeb a’r Brifysgol yn ystod blwyddyn academaidd 2013/14 i sicrhau fod y Gymraeg yn cael ei thrin yn gyfartal a chyda pharch o fewn ein Hundeb a’n Prifysgol.
Fy hoff gerdd…
The Small Window
In Wales there are jewels
To gather, but with the eye
Only, a hill lights up
Suddenly, a field trembles
With colour and goes out
In its turn, in one day
You can witness the extent
Of the spectrum and grow rich
With looking. Have care
The wealth is for the few
And chosen. Those who crowd
A small window dirty it
With their breathing, though sublime
And inexhaustible the view.
- R. S. Thomas
Thank you to everyone who’s been part of what Plaid Cymru Youth has achieved this year - it’s been a real privilege working with all of you. Ymlaen!
Diolch i bawb am fod yn rhan o’r hyn mae Plaid Cymru Ifanc wedi ei gyflawni eleni - mae wedi bod yn fraint o’r mwyaf cael gweithio gyda phob un ohonoch chi. Ymlaen!
at Bute Park
at Bute Park
at Bute Park
at Bute Park
Further update from @EE
After a recent visit to your store in The Quadrant, Swansea, I tweeted you @EE to inform you of some mistakes in the Welsh displayed in-store. These were small and honest mistakes. However, I was most annoyed when I received a direct message from your Twitter account to ask me to contact you in English if I wanted help. While my original reason for contacting you was trivial, your request that I contact you in English gives me much cause for concern.
It may seem a given to you that I would contact you in English, but I must inform you that the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 gives Welsh official status in Wales; indeed, it is the only de jure official language anywhere in the United Kingdom (see Annex 1).
The Measure also abolished the Welsh Language Board and created the post of Welsh Language Commissioner. The Commissioner has the power to enforce Welsh language ‘standards’ which will be applicable to public bodies and public service providers such as EE.
Part 4 Chapter 3 of the Measure confirms that EE as a telecommunications provider is subject to Schedule 8 of the Measure. Schedule 9 confirms which activities of EE would be subject to the Measure (see Annex 2, 3, and 4).
The Commissioner has recently consulted on the forthcoming ‘standards.’ The consultation document can be viewed at: http://www.comisiynyddygymraeg.org/English/Publications%20List/20120516%20GC%20S%20Llyfryn%20ymgynghori%20safonau.pdf.
While you are not currently subject to the standards because they are not yet in force, I would expect that in readiness for being subject to the standards, you would strive to provide a good service to your Welsh-language customers.
Now that we have established that you will be subject to the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 and that you are not, at this time, doing very well at all insofar as your service to Welsh-language customers is concerned, let me move on to some of the comments made by your representative via Twitter.
In response to my tweets including photographs of the incorrect Welsh in your store, I received a direct message saying, ‘Hi, please can you respond in English if you do need further assistance. Take care!’
I then tweeted my shock at being asked to communicate with EE in English if I want your help. In response, I received another couple of direct messages which read, ‘I am sorry that we can only communicate in English, otherwise we would have to teach all our staff Welsh, Scottish & Irish. However we would love to feed the incorrect Welsh to the correct department. In order to do that we would need you to resend them in English. ^Nick.’
So as not to cut off my nose to spite my face, I sent a direct message back with the corrections for the mistakes in your in-store signage. However, as I said at the beginning of this letter, those mistakes were a trivial matter. What is a considerably more serious matter is the attitude which your representative, Nick, takes towards the Welsh language.
His first message demonstrates that your working language is English and as a first-language Welsh speaker, I am required to switch to English in order to receive assistance from you, my mobile network provider, despite the provisions of the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011.
His second message is slightly different in that it shows a level of ignorance towards what is the only official language of Wales which is very worrying indeed. I cannot reiterate enough that the Welsh language is the only official language of Wales and as a telecommunications provider, you will be subject to the Welsh language standards as provided by the 2011 Measure. It beggars belief that Nick, who I assume is a customer services representative, is not aware of that.
Furthermore, it would seem that you as an organisation are not taking steps to prepare to provide services to Welsh-speakers in Wales, and that is incredible.
While it is disappointing that you have not yet started to prepare to be subject to the 2011 Measure, it is not too late. You must start putting measures in place at once in order to provide a sufficient service to your Welsh-language customers in Wales, in accordance with the Measure.
I look forward to your response at your earliest convenience. I have sent a copy of this letter to the Welsh Language Commissioner for her information. May I take this opportunity to send you my very best wishes for 2013.
Fy Ngwlad
Wylit, wylit, Lywelyn,
Wylit waed pe gwelit hyn.
Ein calon gan estron ŵr,
Ein coron gan goncwerwr,
A gwerin o ffafrgarwyr
Llariaidd eu gwên lle’r oedd gwŷr.
Fe rown wên i’r Frenhiniaeth,
Nid gwerin nad gwerin gaeth.
Byddwn daeog ddiogel
A dedwydd iawn, doed a ddêl,
Heb wraidd na chadwynau bro,
Heb ofal ond bihafio.
Ni’n twyllir yn hir gan au
Haneson rhyw hen oesau.
Y ni o gymedrol nwyd
Yw’r dynion a Brydeiniwyd,
Ni yw’r claear wladgarwyr,
Eithafol ryngwladol wŷr.
Fy ngwlad, fy ngwlad, cei fy nghledd
Yn wridog dros d’anrhydedd.
O, gallwn, gallwn golli,
Y gwaed hwn o’th blegid di.
- Gerallt Lloyd Owen
Dear Mr Davies,
Having heard your comments in your recent interview with Vaughan Roderick on BBC Radio Wales’ Sunday Supplement and having read many articles on your comments, I feel compelled to write to you in absolute disgust at what you had to say.
I must first say that even with civil partnerships, gay couples and straight couples are not equal. You pointed out during your interview that civil partnerships are marriages in all but name, so I put it to you that they are not equal. If it is necessary that the name ‘marriage’ not be used, then surely civil partnerships must be regarded as somehow subordinate. In this context, it is not possible to be equal but different. Until gay couples are allowed to marry in the same way that straight couples currently do, and until those gay couples can call their legal unions ‘marriages’, there will still be inequality at play.
You also said in your interview that most parents don’t want their children to be gay, if only because they want grandchildren. While I am repulsed that you, as a well-known representative, felt it appropriate to speak publicly in such terms, I find that I cannot be too angry, if only because your comments demonstrate your ignorance. Have you not considered that many gay couples go on to adopt children, thereby giving their own parents children? Likewise, many gay couples have children via surrogates. I would suggest that most parents only want their children to grow up to be happy, successful individuals; if that means being gay, straight, or anything else, then so be it.
I was intrigued by your comments regarding the teaching of sex education. You appeared to suggest that it would be a bad thing for teachers to have to teach about gay sex as much as straight sex; you also seemed to suggest that it would be a bad thing for teachers to have to teach about gay relationships as much as straight relationships. I see no logic nor reasoning in this and must tell you that it would be beneficial for children to grow up knowing that no matter what their sexual orientation, it would be perfectly normal, perfectly acceptable, and nothing to worry about.
Moving on from those comments, I must tell you that as well as being a gay man, I am in the privileged position of being actively involved in Welsh politics. As such, I find your comments regarding the ‘political calculation’ of the Prime Minister regarding the issue most confusing. You seem to suggest that because some Conservatives disagree with marriage equality, the Prime Minister ought not to go ahead with his plans. This is a terrible position to take. The Prime Minister has a duty and a responsibility to press ahead with marriage equality for it is the right thing to do. Frankly, I don’t believe that the Conservative Party would see a disadvantage if it were to introduce marriage equality; quite the opposite. I am no supporter of the Prime Minister or the Conservatives, but I feel that if the Prime Minister were seen to be a genuine supporter of marriage equality and the man who introduced proper marriage equality in the UK, he would be seen by many across the UK – both within and outside of the gay community – as more modern and more in-touch with the people than he sometimes seen. Just as I am not usually a supporter of the Prime Minister, I am not a supporter of people such as the Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove, either, but I would urge you to join with him in supporting the Government’s plans for marriage equality.
Let me end this letter with the words of the Prime Minister:
‘Look, I’m in favour of gay marriage because I’m a massive supporter of marriage and I don’t want gay people to be excluded from a great institution.’
I would urge you to really consider what he says there and to rethink your position on the matter. This is a golden opportunity to introduce genuine equality and it cannot and must not be forgone because of bigotry, homophobia, and an antiquated form of Conservatism which is now too out-dated for our modern, 21st century society.
For Wales,
Cerith Rhys Jones
Home Again by Michael Kiwanuka
