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What is the biggest obstacle to obtaining independence for Wales?
I think simply put, it is that the people believe that they cannot afford it, and that is why support has never reached 50%. The stark fact is that Wales’ fiscal deficit within the UK stands at £4,300 per capita, which with a population of 3.2 million equates to 14 billion pounds a year: tax revenue per capita in Wales is 76% of the UK average, but spending is 108 percent, leading to a shortfall (Wikipedia). Other things being equal, an independent populace would have to raise that capital annually though additional taxation.
But if it could be shown that independence could be followed by an increase in the nation’s wealth, I think matters would change irreversibly.
How to achieve that?
Here are what I consider to be four of the best routes to follow.
1. Introduce a Land Tax.
2. Secure manufacturing plants for Chinese electric vehicles.
3. Import Russian fuels for use and resale.
4. Reduce the defence budget.
1. Introduce a Land Tax
Did you know that there used to be a Land Tax in the UK? Land taxes had been in place for a thousand years until abolished by the Finance Act 1963, the year Sir Alec Douglas Hume (pal of the Scottish grouse moor owning fraternity) succeeded Harold Macmillan as prime minister, himself being booted out the following year by Harold Wilson.
It was never reinstated, not even by Labour governments!
Did you know that half of England and Wales is owned by fewer than 1% of its population?
Major owners include the Duke of Buccleuch, the King, several large grouse moor estates, and the entrepreneur James Dyson. Also prominent on the list are the Woburn estate, which is owned by the Duke of Bedford, and the Badminton estate in Gloucestershire, owned by the Duke and Duchess of Beaufort. In 2023 alone, King Charles and Prince William’s “private fiefdoms,” the Duchy of Lancaster and the Duchy of Cornwall, raised £27.4 million and £23.6 million respectively for the British royal family.
Guy Shrubsole in Who Owns England estimates that “the aristocracy and gentry still own around 30% of England”. This may even be an underestimate, as the owners of 17% of England and Wales remain undeclared at the Land Registry, the public body responsible for keeping a database of land and property in England and Wales. The most likely owners of this undeclared land are aristocrats, as many of their estates have remained in their families for centuries. Some were given to their ancestors after the defeat of England in 1066 and have remained so ever since. It seems a poor reason for it still to be in their hands almost a thousand years later.
I do not have access to the relative proportions in England and Wales, and there is no one place where you can go to find out the complete picture about ownership of land and assets in Wales:
https://www.iwa.wales/agenda/2022/02/who-owns-wales/
so we have to rely on some guesswork. The area of Wales is about 5 million acres. If 70% of this were taxable, 3.5 million, what could a land tax raise? The taxation rate would depend on the use to which the land is put, agricultural land (now priced at 9,000 pounds an acre) would attract a low rate. Let’s work with an average rate, on a sliding scale, something like this, but the actual rates would best be determined once all the survey data has been collected.
The first 5 acres, no charge.
The next 50 acres at 2,500 pounds an acre per annum.
The remainder at 1,000 pounds an acre per annum.
If the bulk of the plots fell into the first charged category, it would raise
2,500 x 3,500,000 = 8,750,000,000: say 9 billion pounds.
On achieving independence, a law would be needed for all landowners in Wales to register their property with a newly inaugurated Land Registry of Wales. Any land not registered within 12 months and any without documented legal title would be confiscated. The tax would then be levied on all holdings above a certain level to remove normal householders, as set out above, perhaps 5 acres, and there would be concessions, for example, to charity owned and land actively farmed by its owner. (It is estimated that 88% of the land in Wales is farmed, but a very high proportion must be in the hands of major landowners). Failure to pay the tax would also lead to confiscation, and in such cases the resident could remain in occupation but would still be due to pay the tax which would now be considered rent. Failure to pay the rent, and the bailiffs are at the door. Foreign landowners would naturally be charged a higher rate than Welsh nationals, and this could be extended down to individual house ownership, to perhaps partly address the second home problem.
By way of illumination, one very large example in Wales of which we do have some knowledge is the Crown Estate. It includes the coastal seabed up to 12 nautical miles, approximately 65% of the foreshore as well as the Welsh river bed and ports and marinas. The estate also owns over 50,000 acres of Welsh upland and common land, mainly rough grazing land, and 250,000 acres of mineral deposits and the rights to gold and silver. The value of the Welsh Crown Estate had risen to £603m by 2022. The revenue in 2021 was £8.7m which seems a paltry return – 1.4% – for such a valuation. Of the Crown Estate revenue, 75% goes to the UK Treasury whilst 25% is given to the monarch.
How does the above formula work out for those 300 acres?
It’s (50 x 2,500) + (245 x 1,000) = 125,000 + 245,000 = 370,000 pounds
which is a mere 4.25% of the profit. Looks reasonable.
In Wales, there have been multiple calls for the Crown Estate in Wales to be devolved, including by Plaid Cymru, Welsh Labour and the Welsh Liberal Democrats. An opinion poll in May 2023 also showed strong support for devolving the estate in Wales with a majority of 58% of the people of Wales supporting compared to 19% who are opposed and 23% who don’t know. Poll breakdown showed that all major political party voters supported devolution of the estate in Wales.
Thinks: I wonder if the Crown Estate is registered at the Land Registry….
Another interesting case study at 800 acres is Tryweryn.
It’s (50 x 2,500) + (750 x 1,000) = 125,000 + 750,000 = 875,000 pounds
It was flooded to create the Llyn Celyn reservoir amidst mass protests in the 1960s to provide water for Liverpool via Liverpool Corporation Waterworks.
Following the Water Act of 1973, services were taken over from the corporation by the North West Water Authority, which was privatised in 1989, ultimately winding up as a part of United Utilities. It was reported that United Utilities was the worst-polluting water company in the UK in 2022, with “10 of the country’s 20 pipes that spilled the most sewage in 2022 [being] owned by United Utilities”, and that they had discharged raw sewage into the River Ellen in Cumbria for almost 7,000 hours that year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Utilities
United Utilities is a privately owned company listed on the London Stock Exchange. The company paid out over £1bn in dividends to its shareholders between 2013 and 2017 instead of dealing with the hundreds of millions of litres of water that leak from its infrastructure. Steve Mogford, chief executive of United Utilities, earned almost £14 million in salary, bonuses, pensions and other benefits between 2013 and 2019.
Llyn Celyn is owned by Dwr Cymru. Presumably United Utilities makes some payment for the water supply. Given that the average water billing in the UK Is 448 pounds and so the 208,000 Liverpool householders are forking out almost 100 million pounds a year for their supply, a substantial portion of this should be filtering back to Wales. Is it?
2. Secure manufacturing plants for Chinese electric vehicles
Automobiles are the world’s largest industrial sector, with manufacturing and sales together totalling nearly $10 trillion per year, almost twice that of any other. China’s share of the global electric vehicle (EV) market reached 76% in October 2024, reflecting strong demand for EVs in the country even as western tariffs risk hobbling exports. Between January and October, world sales of EVs reached 14.1 million units, with 69% of those sales in China.
China’s electric vehicle manufacturers are now moving on to the second phase of their development, which is to capture world markets, partly by manufacturing in other countries, this partly to sidestep massive import duties being imposed by, for example, the EU, the USA and Canada on vehicles of Chinese manufacture.
BYD (Build Your Dreams!), the world’s largest EV maker with the capacity to produce 4 million cars in China annually, has been building car factories in Thailand, Brazil, Hungary and Uzbekistan. They are looking for a location in Mexico to produce 150,000 cars annually for local sales solely. The BYD Yangwang U9, is pictured below.
Chery Auto, China’s largest automaker by export volume, said last year it would invest $400 million to set up a factory in Argentina producing 100,000 cars annually by 2030, and a plant in Brazil which has an annual capacity of 150,000 units. It is holding talks with the Italian government to manufacture there, and according to the Financial Times , is considering building a car factory in the UK this decade.
SAIC, China’s second-largest auto exporter with its MG-branded cars, is looking for a site in Europe to set up a plant for EV production. There used to be an MG factory, remember, British owned, at Abingdon, then Birmingham, until it was virtually given away with Rover by Blair’s government? SAIC has overseas car plants in Thailand, Indonesia and India. It also has an assembly plant in Pakistan.
Geely has factories in Belarus and Indonesia. It also owns Lotus and Volvo. Its Zeekr brand will be the first Chinese to be exported to the USA this year.
There are many other Chinese EV manufacturers yet to venture out. Invite them!
What market could a new Wales-based factory aim for in the immediate region? The UK home market, 70 million population. The UK now has a free trade agreement with EFTA, that’s mainly Norway, Switzerland, and Iceland, another 15 million, rich populations. And the EU on its doorstep, if its products are allowed in without excessive penalties.
What would it be worth: let’s say a total volume of 500,000 annually, average sale price perhaps 20,000 pounds, that’s a turnover of 10 billion pounds, profit typically 10%, that’s 1 billion, corporation tax 25%, so 0.25 billion for the kitty. And while such plants are very highly automated and so their contribution to local employment is somewhat limited, they can source many parts from local suppliers, and so their impact in the community is by no means negligable.
You will say, well that’s just a dent in the requirement, but should be seen as the spearhead in a revival restoring the manufacturing strength which has been all but lost over 40 years since Thatcher began the demolition (1) and took the UK progressively from manufacturing to service industries to spite the unions and give all power to the City of London. Three more like that and we are a billion nearer the target.
By way of illustrating the state of British manufacturing, the chart below shows productive GDP (that is, excluding service industry contribution) in PPP terms: that is to say, in terms of the real value of the national currencies. Spot the UK.
PS. In case you are still unaware, here is why we should work with China.
China currently leads in 57 of the 64 advanced technologies in the 5 year period between 2019 and 2023 (ASPI). USA leads in 7. China led 52 of the 64 technologies in the 5 year period between 2018 and 2022 in the 2023 report; it took the lead in 5 more technologies one year later. Between 2003 and 2007, the US led in 60 of the 64 technologies and China led in only 3. As you will gather, the UK, once a technological powerhouse, has been invisible for some time.
But we cannot work effectively with China when tied to Westminster because the UK is currently part of the US-driven anti-China policy. By way of example of the sheer pettiness and spite that results, a Chinese company which has worked in partnership with my family’s UK company since 2017 just recently subscribed to exhibit in a forthcoming product exhibition in Britain. The CEO and her staff have been refused business visas to enter the country.
3. Import Russian fuels
The third option is a bit different in that instead of trying simply to raise tax income, it also seeks to reduce the cost of living for ordinary citizens.
In April 2022, gas and electricity bills rose sharply for most households in the UK. The increase in the price cap means that a household buying the typical amount has seen its bills rise now by 54% from £1,277 a year to £1,971. And why did that happen, do you wonder?
So, gas is now costing 7p per kWh. How can we get that back to where it was, nearer 4p? Obviously, by obtaining a supply of Russian Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). So let’s look for some figures and do some sums.
Russia is currently exporting 17.5 million tons of LPG annually sanctions-free to the EU at a cost of $7.5 billion. That’s 17.5 billion kg. The density of LPG is 0.50 to 0.58 kg/L so let’s take the median, and so that’s 32.5 billion litres and the cost is therefore $0.23 per litre. One litre delivers 26 megajoules which is 7.22 kWh. So one kWh costs $0.032 which is 2.5p. So that looks like a good start. But there are costs to add to that. Transport by tanker, probably from Crimea; offloading, transport, storage; and a reasonable profit margin for the importer. Perhaps, then, double the selling price to 5p, so we are just about there.
Much of electricity in the UK is produced from gas. It has to be generated, the efficiency perhaps, about 40%, so it costs households much more than gas in terms of energy per penny. But the saving in gas supply cost would make a similarly significant reduction in domestic electricity cost too. So without promising great accuracy I would estimate that the recent years’ total fuel cost rise – gas and electricity – could be wholly reversed, saving Welsh households about 700 pounds a year. There are about 1,350,000 households in Wales, so we can knock another billion off the fiscal deficit.
So how to implement this?
The gas distribution network is publicly owned and private companies pay to use it. An independent Welsh Government could set up its own gas distribution company, importing Russian LPG and cutting out the middle man, easily undercutting current gas suppliers. It would set up a nationalised LPG distribution centre at Milford Haven dock (thanks, Rilme). This would supply households and generating plants across Wales at the lower cost.
But the gas network of course extends to the whole of Great Britain, and so the service could very profitably be extended across England and Scotland, much to the benefit of those nations’ citizens. LPG could also be shipped to Ireland, which has even higher gas charges than the UK. But it doesn’t even end there.
Similar conditions apply to Russian crude oil. India is currently making a fortune buying Russian oil, refining and reselling it to other countries, and China is a major buyer. An independent Wales is not obliged to apply self-harming sanctions to trading with Russia. Here is a table of countries importing discounted Russian crude as at April 2024
So the Welsh publicly owned company could import oil too and sell it to refineries in Wales and elsewhere. UK usage is a about 0.5 billion barrels a year. A $5 profit per barrel on a 20% market share would realise around 0.5 billion, and a similar share of the wider gas market perhaps around the same.
4. The defence budget
The UK defence budget is currently 54 billion per annum which is 2.3% of national expenditure, but the current government will raise it to 2.5%. (Trump has called for NATO countries to raise that to 3% and recently even talked it up to 5% but it is said that he will settle for 3.5%, and the UK will be forced to go along with it. Make no mistake, you can kiss goodbye to your welfare state in the coming years). Welsh contribution to the budget currently with about 4% of the UK population is therefore 2.2 billion. This could easily be virtually eliminated on independence.
The UK is one of the leading donors to Ukraine. To date, while removing fuel cost support from pensioners, it has pledged £ 12.8 billion in support to Ukraine since February 2022 (additional to defence budget?), has committed to providing Ukraine with annual military assistance of £3 billion until at least 2031, and “for as long as needed to support Ukraine.” A 15-page declaration, signed by Starmer on January 16, 2025, lays out a framework for cooperation with a primary focus on military collaboration over the next century, including the potential establishment of military bases in Ukraine.
But this foreign adventurism of course does not begin there. The British military has personnel stationed at approximately 145 overseas military installations located across 42 countries (Wikipedia). It has nuclear weapons (well, not really, they are American but we pay for them just the same). The National Audit Office (NAO), a government watchdog, in 2023 reported an alarming £38.2bn increase in forecast costs at the MoD’s Defence Nuclear Organisation to £99.5bn over the decade to 2033 – a 62% increase on estimates a year earlier.
It has a partly broken down naval fleet which it sends to cruise up and down the South China Sea to annoy China. And yet its entire military force could sit comfortably in Wembley Stadium and still leave room for Cardiff City’s supporters. If the UK unwisely decided to declare war on Russia, which by its actions in Ukraine it is getting desperately close to doing so ipso facto, it would be turned to a sheet of glass in fifteen minutes.
This map presumably represents just the main overseas UK bases.
Wales needs none of these things (neither does England, for that matter, but if you are a UK taxpayer, you are paying for all this warmongering). Wales would quietly get on with managing its own affairs and work towards friendship and collaboration with other civilised nations, having no interest in interfering in their internal affairs, or in supporting genocide and headchopping rebel groups in the Middle East, and generally creating chaos around the world. It’s time to break away from paying for this madness.
………………………………
A combination of these four approaches would comfortably dispense with the inherited financial deficit, contribute to the exchequer, and so with the forecast of improving the standard of living in Wales, provide a corresponding impetus to the desire for independence. But such are the limitations on the Senedd’s powers that all would have to wait for independence to be acted upon. It is, in truth, little more than a county council in fancy dress. Here are its proscribed activities as listed in the Wales Act 2017 (Wikipedia).
Industrial development is not a devolved item under C12 of the Wales Act 2017, but informal approaches towards a manufacturing revival could be initiated by the Welsh Government today.
So, let’s look at the annual housekeeping saving now. Add it up.
- Land tax, sale and rent of confiscated land: 9 billion
- Revival of manufacturing, initial target: 1 billion
- Saving of domestic fuel bills: 1 billion
- Sale of LPG and crude oil, target: 1 billion
- Reduction in defence contribution: 2 billion
Job done. But having performed this limited study, I am now quite convinced that Wales is actually being skinned by Westminster and there is a lot, lot more to be gained, and the result would be a happier, richer, successful country.
………………………………
So, as you can see, in a nutshell, our first tasks to smooth the path into independence will be to take on the aristocracy and royalty, and make up to Russia and China – they are not your enemies – which latter will entail keeping the USA at the end of a fair sized barge pole. None of which, you will understand, can be achieved while chained to Westminster. But if you think about it, there is absolutely no point in gaining independence if you are not going to seize it and strike out in a new direction, free from those chains, and let England carry on its present course into bankruptcy.
Are you up for it?
………………………………
My next piece will consider how to generate majority support for independence and to press for a referendum. Subscribe now to receive it in your email.
WK, 17 January 2025
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- In the Twilight of Great Britain
https://waltking.substack.com/p/in-the-twilight-of-great-britain
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Glory! Free my people! England’s first colony! Couldn’t get through Davies’ history, just too dispiriting. All success to you in driving out the pedo colonizers.
Wales has done a commendable job in preserving its language, far better than any of the other Celtic nations (Scotland, Cornwall, the Isle of Man, and — most shamefully due to its size, geographic separation, and especially independence giving it the best opportunity to preserve its language — Ireland).
However, that preservation of Welsh has come about, it must be said, not only on the sufferance but even at the literal expense of the English. So portraying the English as oppressors is rather unfair at this point.
Furthermore, this proposal’s advocacy of not only cracking up the UK, but making a nominally independent Wales a beachhead, economic dependency and colony of faraway anti-Western tyrannies is yet more evidence of Russia and China penetrating and influencing the discourse and opinions of Western peoples, in particular seeking to target and peel away the disaffected of whatever variety — right, left, minorities, you name it, to weaken and undermine the unity of key states in the Western alliance.
Gee I wonder what “Walt King” would have to say about pushing for Tibet, East Turkestan, and Manchuria to become independent, and to have “Inner” Mongolia unite with “Outer” Mongolia? What would he have to say about letting all the many ethno-national territories ruled by the “Russian Federation” go their own way as independent states? Ohhh suddenly the tender solicitude for the national aspirations of minority peoples vanishes I’m sure.
Should Wales vote to be independent, would they not immediately apply to rejoin the EU?
If so, they would not be independent for very long.
What is the current sentiment around rejoining the EU, as they are already part of major European ventures like manufacturing the wings for Airbus planes etc.
So don’t spend anything on defending yourself . And the mochan saes (Saxon pigs)will leave you be, except to spend a fortune in your rip off campsites in the summer. Oh, and tolerate you undermining their ‘global’ policy on strangling competitors. Via your clever oil middle man scheme.
Haven’t really thought this through have you.
No , Welsh have managed t9 hold heir ground next to the most expansive language group on the planet all these years by keeping their heads down and keeping the language . Tax a few holiday and 2nd homes. Take the ‘Or Saes’ of the lost lands ‘L’oegr’ of Prydain fawr (Great Britain), while it still exists. Let the mynydd do the work.
I was sitting at the counter in a restaurant the other day and three young guys asked if I minded if they sat next to me, they looked northern European and were speaking a language that was not familiar to me. I listened and wondered was it one of the languages of the Baltic States, one of the obscure dialects somewhere in Europe or something else. My curiosity got the best of me and I politely asked them, they said that they were speaking Irish, meaning Irish Gaelic. Two guys had emigrated here with their families and one was just visiting with his wife and kids. It was nice to hear a native language of western Europe being spoken. It had special significance to me as I am of Scottish descent and Gaelic isn’t hanging on as strongly in Scotland as it is in Ireland. The very fact that they were speaking it as their daily language shows that it is not being kept as a museum piece as Gaelic is in some areas such as the Isle of Mann, it is a living, breathing language in Ireland.
Oh boy, Carney’s OCD flared up again so he has to go yammer at more goys!
Carney revs up his μ 92 Jew IQ, VROOM, VROOM, and thinks up shit. Carney dreams up an inconsistency and says you think it. Like genocide Jews, who think they’re the exception to every rule. Because Jews cannot think like sane people even when they try and try. Carney floors it, VROO-OOM! thinks up a storm, and gets a idea: the universal human right of self-determination shows foreign influence – cause it does, QEDoi – if you’re a genocide Jew in the Izzie rat’s nest, universal human rights scare you shitless! Because genocide Jews like Carney cannot hack it in the civilized world, they’re primitive throwbacks.
Wow, that’s heartening. Where (as in what country and state/province) did this take place?
I’m aware that Irish Gaelic attained a bit of a foothold in Newfoundland and even formed its own dialect there for a while, but has now of course greatly declined.
This.
Seven hundred plus years of bitter struggle, death, torture, impoverishment, exile, fear, risk, etc., countless foiled uprisings, etc., and the Irish finally obtained de facto independence in the 1920s, and full independence upon cutting the last ties to the monarchy in 1948/9.
And yet in practically no time at all after that, the Irish turned right around and handed over their sovereignty with both hands to Brussels for a few deutschmarks in foreign aid and subsidies etc.
One could perhaps make the case this was justifiable (Irish laws on abortion, divorce, the Irish language, neutrality etc were intact) except for the absolutely all-important issue of immigration.
Still, sigh, even had the Irish remained outside the EU, they’d likely have allowed the flood in anyway….
https://www.unz.com/masthead/#comments-policy
Indeed.
Yup. Once again it was probably their corrupt elites who signed them up to the EU after convincing them of all the great benefits they would enjoy. After all the original EU plan was limited to a common currency and free trade agreement, with the social engineering following promptly.
Thanks!
I think second.
Ireland was first.
I would say minorities need independence if they are being ruled by an idiot government that puts the needs of another country ahead of its own people. In the case of the UK, obviously the USA and Israel.
How about independence for Texas and California?
PS. What is East Turkestan? Can’t find that on the map/sarc.
I didn’t say no defence. Don’t misquote me.
I said that giving money to Ukraine, foreign adventurism and nuclear weapons and should be off the table. Does Switzerland need atomic bombs? Do about 200 other nations need them?
I guess we haven’t got your vote in a referendum then.
True. But the Irish economy is doing better than the UK, or so I read.
But I guess that’s not saying much.
Scots Gaelic surely?
Great idea, Walt, but you need to think big.
My Celtic ancestors once inhabited the British Isles, so we diaspora Celts have the Yahweh-given right to make aliyah, slaughter and expel the non-Celts, and turn Britain into a Celtic State. After we tear down Westminster Abbey and rebuild the Druidic Blood Sacrifice Temple, the Celtic Messiah will appear and we will rule the world!
But of course Carney had to go do in-depth research to find & cite authority figures – incisive ridicule of his cognitive skills really flares up his OCD!
It’s six of one half a dozen of another.
The Irish are importing way too many darkies. But then again so is England at this point.
Not sure this has been completely thought through
a) 50 acres at 2.5k tax per acre pre annum is 125k a year, very few Welsh smallholdings will be able to afford this, perhaps none. You’ll bankrupt them.
I don’t know if you are aware, but City funds have been buying up small hill farms for the “green” subsidies and wind turbine potential for the last twenty years
https://www.fwi.co.uk/business/markets-and-trends/land-markets/hill-farms-slow-to-market-but-snapped-up-by-investors
b) not sure if offering to be a Trojan horse for Chinese manufacturing will go down well in Halewood, Derby, and Sunderland, though China and India do already own what remains of the British steel industry. So maybe it could be finessed as “Wales open for business”.
But unless component plants were built as well, it would be an assembly plant akin to those of Ford in Mexico. When the UK had a domestic car industry, all the constituent parts were built in the UK. I can still remember the Ford plants in Swansea (axles) and Bridgend (engines).
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/factories-once-employed-thousands-swansea-15900745
c) buying Russian oil/gas (there’s a YUGE gas import terminal in Milford Haven) would be a very good idea but would have major foreign policy implications – would you like to see the kind of sanctions applied to Russia applied to Wales?
At the moment as I understand it, the Welsh Nats are probably the biggest pro-Ukraine cheerleaders (perhaps tied with the Greens), and also the biggest cheerleaders for leaving the remaining coal in the ground, even the steam coal for Welsh tourist railways. So with which party or parties are these ideas likely to find traction?
No doubt something is needed though. As a child, places like Swansea and Llanelli were thriving towns. It’s sad seeing them as they are today.
Let´s see …
– Edward the Longshanks (not Willy the Conqueror) gave the Cimmerians the
“Prince who couldn´t speak English” they demanded, and they didn´t like it.
– Brussels prohibited them from putting dragons on their sausages if dragons
were not a major ingredient, and they didn´t like it.
– Frankfurt will be loathe to subsidize another tax cheat.
– The Irish Sea is about as made for sanctions busting as the Gulf of Finland
is i.e. you better have nukes.
Sympathies notwithstanding, this seems insufficiently thought through;
apart from the prima facie idiocy of partitioning an island (I know it has been
done – q. e. d.) the Russian sanctions can and will evaporate overnight.
Ireland is an English-speaking tax haven – I think Corporation Tax was only 12%, so lots of EU companies incorporated in Dublin and funneled their European profits there.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/double-irish-with-a-dutch-sandwich.asp
You want to go there , the population centres of the north east and south east coast strip are completely Westminster funded, junky central and fatter than Americans. They will not go cold Turkey from the spoils of the city of London petrodollar skim.
And you reckon a tiny little population of 2 million will be able to have any agency whatsoever against their behemoth 75 million U.K. neighbour? Really?
Yes like Moldova with its similar size population they can keep an army around 5000. And build a wall to keep the Brits out …or a dyke even. Got any other bright ideas? Cheap/sheep sex tourism for visiting Chinese Sterling millionaires perhaps? (Welsh lamb is best in the world).
Oil middleman scam …ha ha why didn’t Moldova think of that!!! Or Cuba.
They’d be rich !
No, keep your head down keep the ysgolian cymru in yr hen gwlad and watch from the periphery as the empire implodes. Don’t rock the boat, as you’ll sink.
Barrett is clearly an Anglo-Norman name. Not a Celt.
Exactly.
U.K. is a place where we don’t care much about god, but we can’t stand kiddie fiddlers.
Unlike where you made Aaliyah to. Makes you wonder.
No, Irish Gaelic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_language_in_Newfoundland
https://www.themightyship.com/post/the-most-irish-place-outside-of-ireland
That said, Scottish Gaelic also put down some roots in Atlantic Canada. Especially Nova Scotia (hence the name of course) but also Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Gaelic
If you oppose Jews returning to Israel, then you can’t support “Palestinians” having a so-called “right of return” there now either.
And no, you can’t justify it by saying that with the Arabs today it’s the same individual people instead of descendants as with the diaspora Jews coming to Israel. By now only a tiny minority of so-called “refugees” actually ever lived in what is now Israel (a mere 30,000). The rest of the so-called “refugees” (a whopping 5.6 million of them, or 99.4%) are overwhelmingly mere descendants, who never set foot in Israel, some of them great-grandchildren at this point.
No other group gets this coddling treatment, this endless inheritance of “refugee” status.
The biggest obstacle is Anglos, who do not want to let go of Wales, Scotland, ect. As always, Anglos are the enemy of the European peoples.
With all these recent hypes about the cartoonish character i.e. Trump in the White house now, the truth is if he abandons Ukraine after whatever deals he makes with Moscow, Europe will be well on its way towards disintegration therefore an Independent Wales would be just one among many to come. Ireland would be first followed by Denmark then others. Apparently, Trump has just told Danish officials about his plan for a takeover of Greenland. Spain and Italy would definitely move towards China.
Maybe that’s why he doesn’t know that the Druids weren’t Celts.
In a perfect world, all peoples should have self government free of colonizers.
That would of course include the Amerindians.
Perhaps the USA should lead the way and dissolve itself?
I am sure the Chinese and Russians would then be inspired to follow such a shining example.
Thanks for a thought provoking article Walt.
I have not met too many Welshmen, but I must say that of the few that I was fortunate enough to know, I took an instant liking to every one of them.
Add to that Shirley Bassey and Tom Jones…who could not like Wales? 🙂
May the good people of Wales have independence if they so desire it.
As the Welsh say, better to have a million Indians and Pakis than to be ruled by a puffed up English twat!
Actually, your list makes a point; China’s smaller neighbors were pretty unable to prevent China from swallowing them; Tibet being the most famous example. No EU to make everyone behave, you see.
The smaller the ‘national’ units become, the more dependent they are on some larger body to protect them. A France can at least attempt to preserve its independence; a Luxembourg is literally at the mercy of its neighbors (this has been demonstrated).
So sure Wales can go it alone — as long as there’s an EU and England remains infused with the spirit of brotherly love. But what happens — say — when England decides Wales should just provide water for Liverpool for free? Maybe she comes to feel Wales shouldn’t get to export electric cars.
This and the like has been going on in Europe for some time now. Sure: independent Catalonia, et al are great ideas — just so long as all is orderly and governed by benign supra-national bodies.
…like, say, the League of Nations. Times change, and ultimately, the smaller the national units, the more they are at the mercy of their neighbors.
It’s been done before; fragment all you want. You can go ahead and have free cities and Imperial Knights if you like. But the smaller you become, the more you are dependent on all being well with the Holy Roman Empire.
In a perfect world, we would all be independent actors.
It’s called anarchy. The problem is if your neighbor is bigger than you are and wants what you have.
The same principle applies to national units. The smaller they are, the more dependent they are on everyone continuing to play nice.
So Wales can go it alone. Now. For so long as England either wishes to play nice or can somehow be compelled to play nice.
Actually “China” did not swallow them.
The Manchus conquered swallowed China, Xinjiang, Tibet and Mongolia and consolidated them into their sinified Qing Dynasty of “China” in (1644-1911).
When the Qing dynasty fell apart in 1911, the Republic of China, ROC aka “Taiwan” became the successor state to Qing China. The republic was weak and was unable to exercise control over its far flung regions, but it never renounced its sovereignty over those regions.
As you know the Republic of China, ROC, has retreated to the island of Taiwan since 1949 and retains its claim of sovereignty over all of China INCLUDING Mongolia (the whole of = Mongolia + Inner Mongolia) and Tibet.
When the Peoples Republic of China, PRC was established after the defeat of the ROC, it as finally able to re-establish control over Tibet in 1959. This is what the Western Media (that never lies…puke) calls the “Invasion of Tibet”. In reality it is more akin to the USA re-establishing control over the Confederate States after the US Civil War.
Just wanted to set the record straight.
My question: would secession by Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales weaken or mitigate the genocidal element of the current British government? NI should be reunited with the Irish Republic without the danger of either nation losing its religious identity.
So your plan includes essentially nationalizing all land (#1) and free-riding off of the remaining UK, and by extension, USA, for defense (#4).
As for #2, maybe. Does Wales have what it takes — infrastructure like electricity, roads, and ports; skilled amenable labor (not sure how much of that the factory would require, but probably at least some); land (now taxed); etc.? At least it would bring good work for law firms translating agreements between Welsh and Chinese.
Hey, don’t forget that Arthur really was a Welsh king – king of Glamorgan in the 5th century. There was no English king Arthur, we just stole the Welsh story! There is quite an Arthur tourist industry in south Wales around the Cardiff area and its about time the Welsh government endorsed this.
The right to self determination [of all peoples] is part of the UN charter, unfortunately it does not say ‘which people’ [quite understandably] since Catalonia is an integral part of Spain it can only gain independence from Spain with the consent of the Spanish parliament [not forthcoming] only a civil war or the serious threat of one could convince Spain to break up the country. The European Union did not back the Independence movement in Catalonia since they realized that to do so would be to open a can of worms in many other regions of the EU, in France and Italy for instance.
This well written, informative and well researched article is a useful contribution to all the constituent parts of the UK of GB and Northern Ireland, and I am thankful that the country has offered the right to self determination to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, dependent on a 50% plus 1 majority referendum. A Pandora’s box [as I mentioned above] could be opened in the case of Catalonia, also in Cornwall and the Mebyon Kernow Nationalist party who at one time had the Liberal leader John Pardoe as a member.
Some western politicians are willing to start WW3 to stop the Russian speaking peoples of the Dombass and Crimea from exercising their right to self determination and their right to secede, even when that right is backed up with vast electoral support.
Independent Ireland is being flooded with blacks, Arabs and Muslims by the traitors who currently govern it. The same thing would happen in an independent Wales. I want independence for Wales, but not before traitors like Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru are safely behind bars.
Take Tesco for example. I’d assume that they are an English registered company. So, when they pay their taxes; are they credited to England or are they separated out by the region in which they were incurred? So, are taxes paid by English registered companies on revenue raised in Wales credited to England? I’d guess that they are so it’s possible that taxes credited to England are overstated and taxes paid by Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are understated.
Bear this in mind if some English politician starts running his mouth that England unfairly pays more in taxes than other parts of the UK.
This is unrealistic – economics are secondary to the Welsh people. Hungary is the model right now, IMO, not Sinn Fein or Plaid Cymru, which is what the “nationalists” have right now: shitlib post modern vassals with marxist lite dress (yes, I know it’s contradictory). IMO, The EU was “coopted” by the usual cosmopolitans to preclude a “Union of European nations” which does have a faction in the EU parliament. A union of European nations is a necessity.
Why is Hungary the model? Sinn Fein is coopted by “cosmopolitans” as far as support for receiving nation diluting migrants. Parties like Law and Justice in Poland are coopted by cosmopolitans who support the foreign policy that results in migrant invasions. Hungary appears to do it’s best to resist the subversive synergy of the “cosmopolitans.”
If Wales is the Shire of Tolkien’s Middle Earth then better to keep it that way. Unknown and minding its own business. Property taxes and oil trading aren’t really their thing and I can’t see much support for a Shire Independence movement.
As I indicated above, self determination [independence] is generally a good thing especially when sought after minerals are found in the area [oil and gas off the coast of Scotland] for instance. The case against this is the UK [as a whole] most of the economic activity in the UK is centered around London and the home counties, in other words economic activity ‘sticks’ where the profits accumulate, that is why China is growing so fast, capitalism grows fastest where the profits are greatest and the market is large. Imagine if a huge deposit of gold or diamonds was found in England would the English Nationalists refuse to share with other parts of the UK? This conundrum is mitigated by the UK government moving government departments to various devolved areas of the UK as well as the annual financial subvention to those parts.
What can work is having the government run the schools, police, military, and healthcare system directly, since it would be run by largely honest Welsh people. It is still subject to market forces since legislators buy goods and services from capital and labor markets. IMO, the Swiss system is better, but the people running the system matter more.
But you have to leave the land alone – it fucks so much up. Fine, tax it, buy it back etc., but gross expropriation is economically deadly, and frankly, deadly.
The whole point of a land tax is to make it useful for labor and capital formation, not a “money park.”
The issue is, the “tax” in the UK right now is is about 46% of the National Income already. Land taxes were used when government spending was trivial. Even China, today, the “tax” is about 33% of the national income.
This article reminds me of 5 year olds orphans giddy for no apparent reason over their red Jello and fantasizing about a Hagen Das ice cream …………or rather, a bunch of Hillbillies sitting around in their trailer park waxing on how to fuck some Hollywood starlet. Lets see:
-Buy a Lambo ?
-Sell dope and raise big bucks ?
-Get a dick enhancement ?
-Buy new clothes ?
-Get a face job ?
— Gym membership ?
Nought ! “We are unemployed losers with no money !”
Humans are a strange lot. They wait until the building collapses before they admit they should have moved out the way.
The UK is a cesspool of immigrant scum from all over the world. Wales will never be independent no matter how many fortune cookie and rice noodle plants the Chinese start up. If Governments at any level increased the taxes to 99% they would still be broke. Therefore logic indicates Wales will be a dump and will get worse like everywhere else.
Wales will never be independent. However, white residents can be so ! Leave the place and go somewhere where there is no infestation of blacks and browns. In the UK, Scotland and Ireland one can travel to the most out of the way places and encounter the Wogs. How the fuck did Mogambo, Singh and Faizal find this hamlet ??
When will whites in the UK accept the fact that their days are numbered and in a few years they will be a miserable minority.
This article is 100% bullshit and Walt King is like one of those professors who never ran a business but wax on theory, hypotheses and what should be.
Your taxation plan on land would force the vast majority of landowners to sell their land at reduced prices. You would not have many buyers willing to shoulder the tax burden you suggest to purchase any parcel of land greater than a few acres. Say goodbye to private landowners in Wales.
I think you want to make it impossible for anyone to own more than 5 acres.
Good luck, comrade!
Aren’t you a Muslim convert? So what Celtic bullshit are you talking about? The last thing the Land of Arthur needs is Allah worshipping freaks. Desert is the place for you …
I’m all for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland attaining their independence.
We’ll then see which one manages to stand up on their own two feet and form an authentic government representative of their own kin and heritage, and not become just one more virtue signaling, liberal hivemind EU strain.
Two points, though. Since the U.S.S.R. supported the RoC for many years, did the RoC continue its claim to outer Mongolia? My impression is that they didn’t maintain that claim, but I haven’t read any details on it.
P.R.C. did nothing at the time about Indian land grabs of southern Tibet.
I have likely said it before, but the Malayan Trilogy by Anthony Burgess is worth reading. In many parts, it is very evocative of reality of then and later. None, or almost none is set in Singapura.
Sure, cos the EU is such a fine institution.
Scotland had a completely free and fair referendum (well, strictly speaking it wasn’t as the Scottish Nationalists gerrymandered the whole thing in favor of themselves) and the Scots voted to remain part of the UK 55% to 45%.
In terms of a popular vote, that’s by a country mile.
OK, since “Barrett” is my Anglo-Norman slave name, you’re welcome to call me “Kevin X.”
This article is pointless as the “good people of Wales” simply don’t desire to be outside of the UK.
When the UK voted to leave the EU, both England and Wales voted to leave – Scotland voted for the “remain” side
Obviously, some Welshmen do want independence, but the majority do not.
Observations from a White South African who lived many years in the UK.
But if both Scotland and Wales desire independence in the future at some point, well so be it.
Yes, good Gentile, good!
Its fantastic that you divide yourself in this way, forever objectifying and dissecting yourself along the razor edge of absurdities and impotence.
You’re like grass that bales itself.
Welsh nationalism is a joke. All of their political parties are dedicated to eliminating the Welsh through mass-immigration.
Like the SNP, this is particularly true of the so-called nationalist party, Plaid Cymru. The Southport psychopathic murderer Oongo-boongo Bungawama, is frequently described in the British press as Welsh.
He is Rwandan, Tutsi or Hutu, not Welsh.
This article by Walt King ignores the real immediate problem of his place, tiny, and comparable to the Baltic states in that way, by tiny whines about second houses owned by English, now half of them likely aren’t even English, but Indians, Pakistanis, etc. Sure, the vast crown, aristocratic, corporate land holdings are a problem for Wales, thank you for explaining that aspect, you may do something about them, but it means nothing if the Welsh are made a tiny minority in their own place and have people like Oonga-Boonga Stabby as the majority.
It also means nothing but a negative if Wales is to become, like the Baltic statelets, a slave to the E.U.S.S.R.
To cite Anthony Burgess again, I have a novel of his, Any Old Iron. It’s fun, but not one of his best. In the end it centres on Welsh nationalism, and mocks it quite effectively.
I concur. Independence is always a lovely concept, as is a sovereign nation for its people. However we only need to look to Hawaii to see how this might play out.
Hawaiian independence would simply result in Chinese aggression.
While the author presents a plausible plan, he makes an assumption that China is not seeking world domination. There is an awful lot of propaganda coming from the city of London et al, but the Chinese threat is real.
“Walt King”
The Union Treaty of 1536 guaranteed absolute equality between the Welsh and the English and between the Welsh and the English languages; and has not to my knowledge been revoked.
You don’t need independence when you already have union; and crossing Henry VIII is not perhaps a wise move.
Since Wales has a strong Mediterranean character, it should become an autonomous region of Italy!!!
😉😊😉
Yes the Welsh in the South at least are a friendly lot.
King Henry the 8th had Welsh origins. The family name was Twdyr or something like that. Hence Tudor.
What do you plan to do when you grow up, Walt?
If the prophet is your perfect man , and he knocked off 9 yr old girls . How about just ‘Kev the nonce?’
(Don’t know how you can justify slavery?)
Uhhh let me guess fear of China and Russia persists.
Ahh a silk road through Wales . . . that would be interesting. Independence from he UK todependence on China.
well, by all means if it means betters cars —-
Goof grief
Scotland has a large number of subhuman Anglos infesting it. Probably 15-20% of the population is made up of Anglo immigrant scum. A vote like this cannot be “free and fair” when 15-20% of the voters are migrant anglotrash fifth columnists.
Strange to have a lower rate for large holdings. This will compel small farms to consolidate so they can be charged at the lower rate (even if they are at the bottom end of the sliding scale)
Any land that is undeveloped will be classed as agricultural, even if it is used only for rough grazing or forestry. A charge of even 2% of its annual value would be onerous. Since the land tax provides the majority of your proposed extra income, it is reasonable to say that the sums do not add up.
Ireland had similar problems to Wales – including a low GDP. It has improved its position largely with EU funding.
Wales would have had the same opportunity if it had become independent before the UK joined the EEC. Now, the EU has many new members that are poorer then Wales, and it also has budget problems. The opportunity has gone.
I am not sure that either of your business propositions is feasible. Every country competes to host foreign factories and, in return for employment, the winner often has to pay for the factory and offer a sweetheart deal on taxation.
Unless the USA, or even England, enforce their own sanctions on those who bust Russian sanctions.
YES, good luck to the Welsh people 🙂
Good luck to peoples seeking their independence, local control, cultural cohesion and unity, and sovereignty:
PALESTINE
TAIWAN
WALES
SCOTLAND
Northern Ireland
Alaska
PUERTO RICO
HAWAII
California
Texas
QUEBEC from Canada
ALBERTA from Canada
KURDISTAN from iraq
KHALISTAN (Punjabis) from India
Greenland from Denmark
Sicily
Bosnia / Herzegovina
Flanders and Wallonia from Belgium
southern Brazil
East Turkestan and the Uighur people from China
christian and muslim states from Nigeria
a Catholic state on Goa, from India
a Muslim state on 1/3 of the big southern island Mindanao, Philippines
Peaceful negotiated separation — with trade, tourism, student exchange, and friendly profitable relations to follow — is far better than war, sanctions, hatred, or centralized rule by people of different backgrounds, religion, and/or language.
Hang together or hang separately, you mooks.
That’s just what they want–a bunch of tiny little principalities all squabbling with each other. So much easier to crush like bugs.
Fucking idiot minority group nationalists. Nationalism is fine and well for the US or China or the USSR. But it is plain shoot-yer-own-foot stupid for Catalonia and the Basques and Moldova and Wales and Scotland.
National states are much harder to subvert than multi national entities.
>Import Russian fuels for use and resale.
okay. you want to replace one master for another.
An independent and prosperous nation would be based on Welsh coal.
Anything less than that is just not serious.
I foresee The United Kingdom disassembling into its component countries of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland very soon!
Yes, you are right, I should have been clearer. When the PRC was established in 1949, it recognised Mongolia as an independent country. The ROC aka Taiwan did not recognise it till 2002.
A somewhat similar situation exists in the South China Sea. The PRC inherited the ROC’s claims to all the islands denoted in the ROC’s 11 Dashed Line maps. After settling some disputes by giving away islands to Vietnam, the PRC removed two dashes to become what we have today …. the 9 Dashed Line claim.
You are probably also familiar with the East China Sea dispute of the Senkaku/Diaoyutai islands. The PRC inherited the ROC’s claim to the islands. Today though, the Western media makes it seem it is only the “Evil CCP” is trying to grab those islands. But they never mention that the ROC aka Taiwan also claims them…because it doesn’t want to explain the complex arguments to the multi-party overlapping claims…same as the South China Sea disputes. To them, painting the simplistic narrative of the “big bad CCP” is all important.
The PRC was hoping for peace with the Indians and even offered to relinquish its claims on some of the disputed territories in return for diplomatic recognition of the new government. Their moves are consistent with a practical intention to settle as many as their border disputes as possible…as seen with recognising Mongolian independence, settlement with Vietnam over the Paracels (removal of 2 of the dashed lines)
But as usual, Chinese restraint was misinterpreted as weakness. This is why the Indians were emboldened to do more land grabs along the border, and were totally shocked by the Chinese military response in 1962.
Yes, that is why I stated my wish that the good people of Wales get what they desire.
But IMHO, it is a little more complex that just mere desire.
Sometimes people’s desire for their “country” is shaped by their beliefs on whether it is viable as an independent country or not.
I illustrate what I mean:
I live in Singapore. After the Suez Canal Crisis, the British left my region in a hurry. Their former territorial holdings in Malaya and Borneo decided to form a federation called Malaysia.
Singapore was part of Malaysia until 1965. But at that time, deep racial and communal disputes resulted in racial turmoil and even massacres. To cut a long story short, Singapore was EXPELLED from Malaysia unceremoniously in 1965.
Singapore is the only country in history that became independent against its own will. The expectation that Singapore, being a small island 40 kilometres long, without even sufficient water supply, would collapse and come crawling back to Malaysia seeking to be readmitted.
Singaporeans then were distraught. Nobody wanted Independence. Nobody expected us to survive. Even the Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew then famously cried on TV when he announced our sudden independence to a shocked population.
Singapore in 1965 was far less viable as an independent state that Wales is today. Yet after 50 years of independence, we have managed to survive and prosper.
Today if one asks Singaporeans if they want to be readmitted to Malaysia, all one will get is a smile… if they are polite.
My feeling, is that the lovely people of Wales, if they so desire, can absolutely have a viable country of their own.
Times change, and ultimately, the smaller the national units, the more they are at the mercy of their neighbors.
It’s been done before; fragment all you want. You can go ahead and have free cities and Imperial Knights if you like. But the smaller you become, the more you are dependent on all being well with the Holy Roman Empire.
——-
Isn’t this what used to be called Finlandization?
I.e., small country next to big, powerful country.
“Seven hundred plus years of bitter struggle, death, torture, impoverishment, exile, fear, risk, etc., countless foiled uprisings, etc., . . .”
The political struggle in Ireland has gotten a lot more attention than the plight of the Welsh.
Maybe the latter just never could muster the energy to cause trouble! After Owen Glendower or whoever it was in Henry the . . . Fourth??, part 1??
The beauty of the Welsh countryside makes it hard to grasp the historic poverty and destitution of the Welsh people. Years ago I read an long article about the dreadful life circumstances of Welsh miners, peasants, farmers. It seemed as though a middle class never developed in Wales. Even now 25% of the Welsh live in poverty, I read. But in the 19th and 20th Cs the poverty was of a different magnitude. Welsh women suffered the most from the utter lack of development of Wales.
The Welsh certainly have not thrived under the English boot.
Most of Wales is in effect a third world country.
The idea of the Crown Estate and various aristos owning great swaths of the country and sending the income of these holdings to the UK treasury and the royal family is obscene.
Neocolonialism. Or maybe just the paleo kind. Although I think I have read of a few English aristo ladies who tried to help Welsh women and children.
I wonder how many UK citizens actually know how much of “their” country is literally owned by aristos and financiers and Saudi princes and hedgies.
They really ought to throw the whole idea of the Prince of Wales into a very deep well —I mean, WTF?
I thought that Gaelic is the Scottish Celtic language and that the Celtic language spoken in Ireland is actually called Irish.
Unfair.
Singapore had two assets –
– Location; say what you will against the Perfidious, they have an eye for
pirates´nests (time to kick them out from Gibraltar, Malta and Cyprus;
but I digress).
– The Chinese expat community i.e. trade network.
Lee Kuan Yew wrote off the Malays as productive members of society
(= they are more into senang or, as the Perfidious called it,
“not really made for hard work”) but without disenfranchising them, and with
a brutality that would be a hard sell in Europe put everything on education.
-> It can be done, but it isn´t fun.
The key to Hong Kong, Macao etc. is exploiting the gradient, like the bacteria
thriving on the rims of black smokers, with oxygen on one side and reduced sulfur
on the other -> energy! The Russia sanctions would be such a gradient but
impossible to uphold inside Europe (without outside backing i.e. Wales would have to
become a Russian colony 😛 ).
Little Britain fantasized about becoming Europe´s Hong Kong = tax evasion
and money laundering Ooops! I meant “financial services” but it isn´t as scalable
as expected.
Lastly, Cardiff is not really a world-class harbor, and Ireland is the German-financed
past master of tax dumping you would have to undercut …
I would advise against it.
I am not sure what you disagree with. Do you disagree with
1. My comparison of Singapore with Wales or
2. My comparison of Singapore with Malaysia?
While Singapore’s had an advantage in terms of shipping routes, it was far from the only thing that enabled it to prosper.
IMHO the major reason is that Singaporeans have no time for airy fairy notions such as ideology etc. This is because they faced an existential threat. They focused on what were practical solutions, because there was no room for error.
Also she felt so threatened that was willing to grab whatever opportunity presented itself, and made it work.
For example, although she had no natural mineral or energy or skills resources, she saw an opportunity in the form of simple light industry and embarked on it. Few people know that Singapore today produces 10% of the world’s semiconductors; and 20% of the world’s semiconductor manufacturing equipment. This had nothing to do with location of shipping routes.
She saw the potential of being a financial hub in Southeast Asia and built that up from scratch. Today she is now the 4th largest financial hub in the world after NY, London and Hongkong. Also this had nothing to do with location on shipping routes.
She saw that ships were using her harbour, so although she had no oil nor chemical experience, she built up a petrochemical refining industry from scratch. Today she accounts for 44% of oil refining capacity in the Asia Pacific. This only is tangentially related to her shipping location.
What I am saying is that if Wales is nimble and clear seeing enough, she too will be able to find niches that she can get into.
Ireland displayed a certain nimbleness when she became HQs for many international companies.
If we watch Hungary and maybe Serbia, in the coming years, they will be displaying a their own niche finding…probably as in interface between China/Russia and EU.
An independent Wales, if she watches and learns from Ireland and Hungary, will be able to get some hints on how to find its own niches.
Who knows what it will be? An interface between the USA and China/Russia? Just like India re-exports Russian oil to the West? Or Dubai is the place where Iranians can quietly do business with the world and bypass Western sanctions?
Create a premium image for Welsh lamb or seafood? or Premium Pembrokeshire wool? China alone has a huge appetite for Scottish whisky and Norwegian salmon. Could it not be the same for Welsh products?
Establish a theme park called Corgi World and have millions of visitors from the world just like the millions who visit the Panda attractions in China or the African safaris?….only far cuter, and where one can actually hug and play with the corgis?
We can only imagine the benefits an independent Wales will get if it is the first European country to join BRICS.
So many possibilities. Some may be whimsical, but there are others that may actually work.
Interesting ideas.
And more understandable than Nokangaroo’s meanderings.
[1. Singapore and Wales, of course]
Otherwise fair enough; Greece and Italy already flirted with BRICS, and got read
the Riot Act … but things are in motion: Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania,
(+/- Serbia), – the Danube is as natural a region as the Baltic could be
(obviously sans “Poland”).
For the smaller relic peoples some “autonomous region” would seem more feasible.
Yes, you are right.
I have my eye on Hungary tho. It is not just Orban.
The Hungarians were the guys who rebelled against the Soviets in 1956 when they were still at the peak of their power.
If there is a country dares to say “no” to the EU, it would be Hungary. Serbia is not part of the EU, so it doesn’t apply. But they sure got the balls to do so also.
Iirc the most obese town in the UK is in Wales so the Welsh must be the among the fatest of Third Worlders. Eating a lot of kebab meat.
Even if there is only one person of Palestinian descent left in the world, the earth-bound state of Israel rightfully belongs to him, not to the Jews.
As for the heavenly kingdom of Israel, it belongs to the Christians — including, of course, Palestinian Christians.
C’mon man, spit it out, what are you trying to say here??
Enough with this fence-sitting nonsense, tell us your real feelings…
What Wales needs is a root and branch reform of the parliamentary created tax code. VAT should be abolished, taxes on booze, cigarettes and petrol reduced. An upper limit on income tax should be established and rigorous controls on government spending.
LOL!
It is important to get the financial foundations of an independent state properly laid. Something the Irish Freestate didn’t do. Creative thinking regarding the financing of government activity is called for. Something the English parliament has demonstrated how not to do.
Corgis are too cutesy for your tastes? Never fear, the Tourism Board of Independent Wales has many wonderful options for you:
You can leave the kids at Corgi World and go to Camelot World. Where you can live in a real Welsh castle, dine at a round table with other knights and rescue a damsel in distress before lunch. You can choose from a wide choice of steeds. The traditional four legged ones, or perhaps 4 wheeled off roader dragon slayer buggies.
In order to get from Corgi World to Camelot World, you can take a lovely 2 hour walk through Welsh Moorland Park and enjoy the scenery. There will be refreshment stands and Ale Houses at strategic points along the trail where they serve authentic Welsh Rarebit, Cawl and Bara Birth…all washed down with a pint of Cwyr Llyn while you enjoy the beautiful sight of rolling Welsh moorland.
If moorland is not your thing, you can also make the trip along the beautiful Welsh coast….Dotted with more pubs of course.
Ludicrous. Of course, you would not say that all Arabs outside the Arabian Peninsula (including Israel/”Palestine”) should move to the Arabian Peninsula because all those countries belong to non-Arabs, if even one non-Arab from those places continues to be alive today.
So you are not motivated by a consistent moral principle of wanting to ensure the continued ownership and sovereignty and dominance of ethnic groups were were originally present before later groups arrived.
You just look for excuses to bash and attack Jews, and any claimed excuse or principle for that beyond simple malice against Jews is utter bullshit.
“Ludicrous. Of course, you would not say all Arabs outside the Arabian Peninsula (including Palestine) should move to the Arabian Peninsula.”
I didn’t say all Palestinians outside of Palestine should move to Palestine, did I?
“So, you are not motivated by a consistent moral principle.”
Yes, I am.
Also, there are Palestinian Jews (and Christians). They are much closer genetically than to the Jews (and Christians) of biblical times than are most Jews today.
Correction: The concluding sentence in my last comment should read, “Also, there are Palestinian Jews (and Christians). They are much closer genetically to the Jews (and Christians) of biblical times than are most Jews today.”
LOL. Though I haven’t been around Corgis since the early 80’s, my then girlfriend’s mother had two, I remember them as being friendly, happy, and exited about life. Minus the hyperactive, yapping, tiny Chihuahua-type dogs I pretty much like all canines.
An independent Wales? Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Loss of English subsidies is the last thing they want. As a patriotic English nationalist who has long advocated the dissolution of the lop-sided and now far from united ‘United’ Kingdom, and independence for England, I’d love to see the whining Welsh subsidy junkies sent on their ungrateful way, however, the English people are never going to be given the opportunity to vote for a national parliament the Welsh were given.
There is no English parliament; the English people have no national parliament and are still governed entire by the ‘British’ parliament, in which whining, scrounging Anglophobic Welsh subsidy grifters are allowed the non-reciprocal right to interfere in English only matters, so distorting and thus denying democracy in England. What a typically insular, hill-dwelling, navel gazing Welsh perspective.
You’ve left England out of your list of countries that deserve their independence, or are you one of those who think England and Great Britain are one and the same place? The Celts are mostly low-grade, subsidy dependent inadequates who are incapable of standing on their own feet and need the English as both financial providers and whipping boys to blame for their inadequacy, and they all know it, which is why they are so resentful. All three of the little nations of the union have some sort of national assembly, with the consequent national autonomy, that is still denied to the people of England. All three nations can still, though, send MPs to Westminster who have the unfettered right to participate in votes on English only matters, making them unaccountable to any English elector, who has to pay for their decisions. English MPs have no such rights in their affairs.
Until Blair allowed the scum of Eastern Europe to come here it was absolutely invariably the case that if one was accosted on the streets of an English city by a aggressive beggar it was a Celt, usually a drunken Scotch lout.
We are sick of the burden the whining, demanding and ungrateful Celts are to us; give us our independence from them and let them fend for themselves.
The English population of Scotland was put, the last time I saw the figures, at about 0.5 million out of a population put at 5.1 million, so about one in ten. Scotland had, at that time, just 150,000 nett tax payers, which might suggest that those ‘subhuman Anglos’ are disproportionately contributing to what little money you earn for yourselves and do not receive in subsidies from the ‘subhuman Anglos’ south of the border.
If we think of you Scots at all in England, we think of you as an annoyance that is otherwise an irrelevance and increasingly we’re tiring of you. If you’re really serious about paying for your own party campaign for a referendum in England and you’ll be out of the union the day after.
What would the point be unless you repatriated ALL non-whites from Wales? If not all non-Welsh. Wales has already had an African First Minister. Another faceless republic beholden to the EU taking in any and all ‘refugees’.
I wish just for once that all these people who desire to break up existing European countries just, perhaps, considering joining together to retake their countries from the third world hordes.
The majority of MPs are English whose prime allegiance is to their political party and not their nation.
The Irish language’s name for itself in Irish is Gaeilge.
The Scottish language’s name for itself in Scottish is Gàidhlig.
Irish is often called “Irish” in English, but also sometimes called “Gaelic” or “Irish Gaelic”.
The Scottish language is not often called “Scottish” in English but is more often called “Scots Gaelic” or sometimes “Gaelic”.
Hence the occasional confusion.
Both are part of the group of Celtic languages called Goidelic which also includes Manx Gaelic.
The other major branch of Celtic languages is the Brythonic languages, consisting of Welsh, Cornish, and Breton.
The Scottish people also have a dialect or language related to and derived from English, called “Scots”, that has pronunciation and some vocabulary and other elements influenced by Scottish Gaelic, sometimes to a strong enough extent to make it almost unintelligible to someone who speaks only English. Whether it’s simply folk English spoken by uneducated Scottish people (especially in the pre-modern era), or an actual language of its own, is debated.