The Judge RANTS!
Date: 13/03/14
Cracha Bant, 'Milord'!
Ar y cyfan, dwi wedi ymatal rhag rhoi sylwadaeth ar wleidyddiaeth Cymru yma dros y blynyddoedd.
Y prif reswm yw bod gwleidyddiaeth yma mor ddi-fflach, di-ddim, yn enwedig â chymharu â'r Alban, er enghraifft. Mae'r pleidiau i gyd wedi ymdoddi i'w gilydd i greu rhyw botes maip ddiflas, ŷnt oll yn un enaid hoff, gytun.
Anaml y ceir rhywbeth o sylwedd i roi hwb i'r galon, ond heddiw cafwyd rhywbeth sydd wedi fy synnu ar yr ochr orau, sef penderfyniad arweinyddiaeth Plaid Cymru i wahanu'r cythraul Dafydd Elis Thomas rhag ei benodiadau.
I mi, 'roedd hi'n hen, hen bryd i'r Blaid fagu pâr o geilliau a delio'n gryf efo'r jiarff. Ers dros ddeng mlynedd ar hugain bellach, anaml fu'r achlysuron lle mae "Dafydd Elis Elis-Thomas of Nant Conwy in ddy cownty of Gwynedd" wedi agor ei geg heb iddo naill ai ddilorni polisïau ei blaid ei hun, niweidio delwedd y Blaid ar goedd gwlad, neu danseilio yr arweinyddiaeth (hyd yn oed pan oedd yntau ei hun yn arweinydd).
Mi oedd ei gyfnod fel arweinydd yng nghanol yr wythdegau yn drychinebus, ac yntau (efallai dan ddylanwad ei wejen ar y pryd, Americanes oedd yn flaengar yn yr YDdN) yn ceisio tynnu'r Blaid tua'r chwith Marcsaidd eithafol ar yr union un adeg pan oedd pobl Cymru - ie, hyd yn oed yn y Cymoedd - yn ysu am ddewis arall rhag Plaid Lafur oedd o dan ddylanwad lwnis Militant. Bu'r strategaeth - os gellid ei disgrifio felly - yn fethiant ysgubol, un a rwystrodd ei blaid rhag manteisio ar ei chyfle gorau erioed i ddisodli Llafur.
Ar ben hynny i gyd, mae ei ymyrraeth ar ddadlau gwleidyddol a diwylliannol byth ers hynny wedi bod, yn ddi-eithriad, yn niweidiol i achos y genedl, boed hynny i wfftio barddoniaeth gaeth am fod yn 'geidwadol' (a hynny yng ngyfnod y twf aruthrol ar y nifer o feirdd ifainc oedd yn ymddiddori ynddi); neu i droi yn faleisus ar arweinydd presennol y Blaid, Leanne Wood, am iddi ddweud y gwir plaen, sef bod polisïau ac agweddau plaid eithafol o asgell dde fel UKIP yn sefyll yn gwbl groes i werthoedd pobl Cymru ac i'w lles.
(Mae gan George Thomas, sorri, Dafydd Elis Thomas a Leanne 'hanes', ys dywed y Sais; efô oedd yn y gadair yn ein Senedd ddrama ni pan gyfeiriodd Leanne at yr hen Leusa wrth ei theitl go iawn, sef "Mrs. Windsor". Bu i'r 'Cymro balch' bron torri croen ei fol, mor gyflym oedd o i daflu un o'i blaid ei hun allan o'r 'stafell am ei chabledd).
Y sbowtian diwethaf yma, wrth gwrs, sydd wedi arwain at ei ddadffenestreiddio heddiw. Dros y blynyddoedd, talwyd gormod o barch tuag ato am resymau hanesyddol a sentimentalaidd, gan mae efô oedd un o Aelodau Seneddol cyntaf y Blaid ym 1974. Ond gellid gweld yn ddigon eglur mai brosiect fwyaf cyson Dafydd Elis Elis-Thomas of Nant Conwy in ddy cownty of Gwynedd o'r cychwyn oedd...gyrfa a gwelededd Dafydd Elis Elis-Thomas of...ayb. Gweler ei barodrwydd i bardduo y fenyw ddosbarth-gweithiol o'r Cymoedd (cyfuniad ddelfrydol o briodoleddau, faswn i'n dweud) sydd yn arwain ei blaid bellach. Boed ar lannau'r Tafwys neu ym Mae Caerdydd, y mae o wedi bod yno'n llawer rhy hir am unrhyw les i ni.
Bydd rhai yn ofni y bydd o rŵan yn cefnu ar y Blaid yn llwyr. I mi, fuasai hynny'n ddim byd i golli deigryn drosto; efallai fydd o'n hapusach yn y Blaid Lafur, dywedwch, sydd yn ymddangos i mi fel mwy o gartref ysbrydol cyfforddus iddo.
Os daw hi i hynny, wel, ffarwél, Milord - a phaid â gadael i'r drws daro dy dîn ar dy ffordd allan.
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Bugger Off, 'Milord'!
I have refrained, on the whole, from commenting here on politics in Wales over the years.
The main reason has been that politics here is so lifeless and dull, especially in comparison with Scotland, for example. All of our parties have melted into each other to create a savourless soup, comprised of one happy soul between them.
It's rare to find anything to raise the spirits, but today we had something which surprised me on the brighter side; namely, the decision by the leadership of Plaid Cymru to separate Dafydd Elis bloody Thomas from his appointments.
To me, it was long past time for the party to grow a pair and deal firmly with the bugger. For over thirty years now, it has been a rare occasion when "Dafydd Elis Elis-Thomas of Nant Conwy in the county of Gwynedd" has opened his yap without him either casting scorn on the policies of his own party, harming the party's public image, or undermining the leadership (even when he himself was the leader).
His period as leader in the mid-eighties was catastrophic, with him (perhaps under the influence of his woman at the time, an American prominent in CND) trying to drag Plaid to the Marxist far left at the precise moment when the people of Wales - yes, even in the Valleys - were longing for an alternative to a Labour Party under the influence of Militant's loonies. The strategy - if one can call it such - was an overwhelming failure, one which prevented Plaid from taking advantage of its best ever opportunity to displace Labour.
On top of all this, his interventions in political and cultural debates ever since those times have, without exception, been inimical to the national cause, be they to pooh-pooh strict-metre poety for being 'conservative' (and this at the time of a huge growth in the number of young poets who were creating it), or to turn maliciously on the present leader of Plaid, Leanne Wood, because she stated the obvious truth, namely that the policies and attitudes of an extreme right-wing party like UKIP were at odds with the values and the well-being of the people of Wales.
(George Thomas, sorry, I mean Dafydd Elis Thomas and Leanne have 'a history' as they say in English; he was in the chair in our pretend Senedd when Leanne referred to Old Lizzie by her correct title, namely "Mrs. Windsor". The 'proud Welshman' nearly ruptured himself in his haste to expel one of his own party from the chamber for her blasphemy).
It is those most recent spoutings, of course, which have led to today's defenestration. Too much deference had been shown to him down the years for historical and sentimental reasons, by virtue of his having been one of Plaid's first MPs in 1974. But it can be seen throughout that the constant main project of Dafydd Elis Elis-Thomas of Nant Conwy in the county of Gwynedd from the outset has been...the career and visibility of Dafydd Elis Elis-Thomas of...etc. Witness his readiness to blacken the name of the working-class Valleys woman (an ideal combination of attributes, I'd say) who currently leads his party. Be it on the banks of the Thames or in Cardiff Bay, he has been there far too long for any use he might be to us.
Some will no doubt fret that he will turn his back on Plaid altogether now. I don't see that as any reason to shed a tear; perhaps he would be happier in the Labour Party, say, which appears to me to be far more of a comfortable spiritual home for him.
Should it come to that, well, farewell Milord - and don't let the door hit your arse on the way out.
