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| First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford Source: Guido Fawkes, order_order.com |
Nation Cymru reports: "The Welsh Government is setting itself on a potential collision course with the UK Government after deciding to allow people to self-identify their gender when standing as candidates for the Senedd - much to the chagrin of Wales-Women’s Rights Network
Little surprise there given this earlier report from order-order.com:
"The Welsh government is paying out £9 million in taxpayer cash annually for woke jobs. The Taxpayers’ Alliance have uncovered data revealing that in 2022, a total of 138 posts in the Welsh Government featured words ranging from “diversity” and “inclusion” to “climate“, “wellbeing“, and “race“. A whopping 25 staff are employed in roles mentioning “equality“. The total cost of these, including salary and pension contributions, was £8,879,479."
Meanwhile, in NHS Wales, the health minister has warned that there may be fewer hospital beds in Wales, after asking health boards to make a further £64m in savings.
The Welsh Government has an action plan to make Wales 'A Nation of Sanctuary for asylum seekers and refugees' in which it has a 'vision' for Wales to become "the world’s first ‘Nation of Sanctuary’, celebrating Welsh hospitality and our history of migration and safety. "
No matter what the cost in a cash-strapped Welsh economy it appears!
Another government minister said that vulnerable people will "inevitably" feel the impact of spending cuts as she prepared to announce how the Welsh government will fill a black hole in its budget.
Nation Cymru also reports that the Welsh government is working on a plan to introduce a Bill "to make our parliament more representative of the people it serves", which includes provisions to introduce candidate quotas for people seeking election to the Senedd: “Our proposed model for quotas is designed to maximise the chances of achieving a Senedd comprised of at least 50% women."
With plans to increase the number of Senedd Members from 60 to 96, and change the electoral system to one that is "wholly proportional" no doubt the Diversity, Inclusivity and Equality (DIE) campaigners will will be keen to ensure that the real needs of the people of Wales do not come before the wishes of the Welsh DIEhards. First they need to know what a woman is.
Postscript [12.11.2023]
Fresh challenge for Welsh Government’s gender-balanced Senedd plan - Martin Shipton writes in Nation Cymru: "The introduction of a Bill to the Scottish Parliament that will end the rights of transgender women to identify as female when applying for public appointments should prompt the Welsh Government to ditch a similar plan relating to membership of the Senedd, according to a campaign group."
Hardly a surprise from Drakeford or the Taffia.
ReplyDeleteTry asking the chocolate teapot to provide a definition of "woman".
Bewildered
Pleased to be employed in one of those posts. Making the world a better place one policy at a time. At the moment looking at the educational outcomes of traveller children. Fascinating.
ReplyDeleteXavier
Yet another reason to scrap the profligate Welsh Assembly.
DeleteYou're not employed but merely a blood-sucking parasite sponging off the tax payers.
DeleteLG/Xavier is an alphabet soup woke assembly snivel serpent.
DeleteWho'd have guessed?
You may disagree with Xavier's job, although I personally feel that there are many huge disparities in society which need to be addressed.
DeleteBut I don't think that rude "ad hominem" remarks such as those above are acceptable on this or any other blog.
Keep up the good work Xavier. Travellers are among the most excluded and disadvantaged people. I knew a family who had to take their child out of school because of the racist bullying.
Delete"Travellers" aren't a race.
DeleteIt's a lifestyle choice, nothing more.
Senedd? Not too far removed from the lunacy of the CinW in its job-creation of all manner of posts except those who might do what vicars are supposed to do ... tender the flock.
ReplyDeleteLastest big appeal to congregants is to dig deep into your pockets to support Christian Aid who (they day) do such splended works in Israel and Palestine (which is a bit untrue actually as Christian Aid only sypher your dosh to spread around to other 'partners' who seem to be unaccountable). But before forking out to pulpit appeals, do your research. How much (if any) of your giving is actually earmarked for the critical needs of the area at the moment and is it equality of Israel and Palestine. Sadly their websites are not that convincing. Spare cash? Send it to MSF (medical), UN or any of the other front-line organisations with convoys on the borders and doctors on the wards. Christian Aid has none ... just waffle. Another talking-shop under guise of the church which fails to deliver.
My giving goes to the Royal British Legion this month.
DeleteI stand with Israel 🇮🇱
Me too. I’ll be buying my poppy. I stand with all those caught up in the atrocities in the holy land - Israeli and Palestinian 🇵🇸🇮🇱🙏🙏🧎♀️🧎♀️
DeleteXavier
Only a white poppy for you though.
DeleteStrangely not, predictable I am not.
DeleteXavier
Perhaps, with closer association to the beneficiaries and dependants of the RBL Poppy Appeal than most on AB's site, thank you Menai Straight and Xavier for your 2023 support. And to Faith Militant please don't be so arrogant - or ignorant - to use the 'white poppy' as symbol by which you think you can insult others. The white poppy can be, and is, as much part of our respecting of war-dead as the Flanders red. The only difference being that those who lay them would prefer absolute peace in the world; a world without troops or wars. Lovely thought, but since the creation of man, almost impossible to attain. But the white poppy is also a mark of respect; it is not for you to cite it as cheap swipe against someone you don't know or an ethos you don't understand.
ReplyDeleteAs for me, then Remembrance again this year for three particular and exceptional Priests of the military's RACD: my chum Fr. Gerry Weston (RC padre to the Para Brigade) blown up at the Aldershot officers' mess by the IRA (irony eh? Catholic republican terrorists out to kill the Paras on their doorstep and the only red-beret they slaughtered was a catholic priest); Rev. Frank Collins who served with extreme courage in 22 SAS Regt (No.2 down the rope on the Iranian Embassy Siege and umpteen tours of NI) who resigned the army, took Holy Orders, was priested and then unable to shake off his nightmares, committed suicide in his Hampshire vicarage. At his funeral, it wouldn't have mattered had there been red or white poppies. I still remember him. And the airborne Chaplain, the Rev. Ray Bowers. An astonishingly courageous army Padre who then went on to missionary work with CMS in Africa.
You might be proud, 'Faith' of adding 'Militancy' to your name-tag ... but don't cheapen yourself further by ridiculing the white poppy which if you researched its meaning and origins you'd find as honourable as the 'Red' except laid by a different psyche to mine. If at my war memorial on the 12th as I lay my red poppy someone stands next to me with a white version, I'll respect his reverence for the war dead and acknowledge his 'pacifist' aspirations. Do do likewise ....
Sincerely, thank you. Just that.
DeleteXavier
Yes, as someone who chooses to wear both red and white poppies, I echo those thanks for a very moving and helpful post.
DeleteWhite poppies are offensive to me and to many, many others.
DeleteThe red symbolises the blood of those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
As far as I am concerned the white are for appeasers, pacifists and snowflakes.
I refer you to Old Bill's nuanced comment above.
DeleteJesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers". He also said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight". Does that make him a snowflake, too?
Nuance is often lost in this echo chamber, BT. We don’t give up though.
DeleteXavier
Jesus said and did many things, including turning over the tables of the money changers in the temple, turning water into wine and also saying "Your sins are forgiven, go and sin no more".
DeleteIf only Stonewall and Xavier would "go and sin no more".
It's interesting - most koine greek scholars would say that Jesus did not say 'Go and sin no more' but rather, 'Go now, your sin is dead to you'. In other words Jesus was setting her free from all that oppressed her within patriarchal society. That's the same Jesus who turned over the unjust tables of the money changers . His concern was not the gossipy, personal snides so common to this site, it was far bigger than all that pettiness. This is the Lord of Liberation.
DeleteXavier
Surely not. The text says: “apo tou nun meketi hamartane.” That means: “From now, no longer sin!” To turn this command into a word against patriarchal oppression is just an example of recreating Jesus in one’s own image.
DeleteRB
Depends what you’re really looking for if you’re looking to call out the sinfulness of women and that’s the reading and that’s the interpretation you will give to the Greek as you have done. If on the other hand, your concern is around oppressive systems, patriarchal constructed and misogynistic teaching, then you’re inclined towards the interpretation that I another skip to the Greek. Horses for courses.
DeleteXavier
That’s rather slippery. The interpretation of the pericope might depend in part on the questions and perspectives with which one comes to it. But the translation of the Greek sentence isn’t very difficult. It does not mean “Your sin is dead to you”, any more than it means, “Carry on sinning.”
DeleteRB
What it 'means' and how it is 'translated' are two quite different things, RB, as any exegete and hermenetical theologian will tell you. What it meant can only really be told us (a) by Jesus himself and, more important, (b) to the woman whom the men had shamed and silenced. I suspect hearing 'your sin is dead to you' might have been liberating to hear as she watched the menfolk slope off, tails between their legs, as Jesus shamed them. 'Your sin is dead to you' is a fathful renering of the Greek. But of course, there are other equally acceptable renderings too. We live with the ambivalence.
DeleteXavier
It’s not a faithful translation. You’re just making it up to suit your views. If you do that with translation, there’s not much point reading the text. RB
DeleteActually it is a faithful translation as is yours.
DeleteXavier
This is tedious and I won’t prolong it after this. The word “sin” in the sentence in question is not a noun, it is an imperative verb - a command. The command is “sin no longer/more [meketi].”
DeleteRB
Yes you make this tedious. A faithful translation is “your sin is deadening/dead to you”. I’m first language Greek!
DeleteXavier
I don’t believe you, because you talk nonsense. Parse the sentence, if you can. RB
DeleteRB, you're wasting your time with LG/Xavier, he's a knowall with cloth ears.
DeleteFirst language Polari is far more likely.
Whatever.
DeleteXavier
The last thing Wales needs is another 36 Assembly members. Ideally we would be getting rid of the existing 60 and all the useless hangers-on.
ReplyDeleteScrap the devolution disaster.