Monday 28 May 2012

Labour AM defends Translation decision (Sort of).


The recent argument over the Western Mule on the cost of Translation in the Assembly as resulted in the sort of debate/argument the Mule intended.

Ie Anti Welsh Language comments

There  were however some god Blogs on this topic . Most simply accusif the Mule of trying to create controversy to raise circulation. but Alwyn ap Huw who doesn't blog often enough in my opinion (and I don't always agree with him) put foward a clear argument for language equality in his Miserable Old Fart Blog.

He writes 
...
The very word bilingual suggests something to do with TWO languages so any perceived cost of bilingualism should, surely, be shared between BOTH languages. A monolingual transcript of Assembly proceedings, in either language, would have a price tag attached. So how much of the £400K bilingual waste of money is actually being spent on JUST the Welsh Language?
Does English come free of charge?
Indeed when AM ignore the pressure of relating to the Media by speaking in Welsh in the Senedd. Does the Mule suggest the transcript should only be in Welsh or maybe they think it should be transcribed in English immediately and there should only  be a heading that the words were originally in Welsh?

The response of the Labour Dinosaur from Torfaen  Paul Murphy  MP was to be expected but the real disappointment for me was that od Labour Assembly Member Ken Skates who was one of the AM shamed by the Mule for supporting the Translation services.


Despite the Mule portraying him and the AMs as if they were a criminal gang.He chose not to vigorously condemn the Mule but yo call for debate But then they probably wouldn't have published it .




Here's the original headline.






At First glance I thought they were found guolty of Drug Smuggling f something

In in his response in the Mail.Skates, does not attack the Mules shoddy Journalism or defend his and other AMs actions. Rather he choses to suck up to the Mule, by claiming it opened debate!

He wrote.....

Rarely since being elected last year have I witnessed such an intense and impassioned response to a newspaper article.In part it reflected the emotive nature of the subject matter, an issue some media outlets have been tentative to scrutinise for fear of alienating either readers or viewers..I was one of the Assembly Members criticised and pictured on the Western Mail’s front page because I was one of the committee members who approved the increase in resources which will ensure a fully bilingual record of proceedings can be produced for the people of Wales.It will come as no surprise, therefore, that I disagree with the editorial comment and the views expressed by the paper. However, I strongly support the Western Mail in its duty and responsibility to hold politicians to account and to scrutinise the impact of their decisions, no matter how cherished or sacred the subject matter. The committee’s decision was based on unanimous cross-party support, but such a united political consensus does not negate the need for alternative views to be expressed, or for debate to be opened up to wider Welsh society.

What a pathetic attempt in a response to inaccurate and vindictive attack on Welsh Language provisions.

The Western Mule has not been responsible but inflammatory and the argument about open debate sounds a lot like those who call for "An open Debate on Immigration".

How can we have an open debate when we have no real diverse Media in Wales and the lead paper for Trinity Mirror who control much of the media makes such an attack? Whose there to give an alternative journalism?

Ken Skates either believes in a equal bilingual Wales or he doesn't. But he should say where he stands and not defend a Media that created a story to sell more newspapers.

Would he have been so keen to defend the SUN for putting an offensive and inaccurate attack on Immigrants on its front page saying that it promotes debate?




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