Letter from Wales: Let’s see if the Welsh gravy train survives a collision with Ed Balls’ fiscal reality

by Julian Ruck

The other day Ed Balls said, “We need to look ruthlessly at how every pound is spent.”

He obviously has yet to travel on the Welsh express gravy train.

Devolution has allowed the ancient Labour enthusiasm for small-town political monopoly and personal fiefdom to run riot – for the impotence of democratic principle and challenge, look no further than Wales with its happy coteries, self-serving cabals and “all the usual suspects” political foxhole mentality.

Like the rest of the UK, there are three sectors in Wales. The public, the private sectors and  of course the third Sector which is not for profit and seeks to help citizens in varying and various ways eg health charities, CAB’s etc.

As alluded to in previous “Letters,” Wales is a tax-payer junky, it cannot and will not move away from the divine right of tax-payer subsidy in all things – as least Westminster subsidy that is.

Wales is small, many in Westminster may even think insignificant, its population not even  half of London’s. But should this smallness negate any scrutiny by its paymasters? Any accountability?

In Wales, criticism of the ruling party is viewed with suspicion and superior arrogance. The elite potentates of Old Labour carte blanche carry on with a 90 year mandate as if Blair never existed and the unions still rule the ghostly memories of coal and steel grandeur.

London must and always will, pay up.

Dissent is for the birds. Outspoken truth to be sneered at and discredited wherever possible. The Welsh will always vote old Labour.

So why don’t even a minority of the Welsh speak up? The answer is simple. All three sectors are in the tax-payer pocket, in some way or another. Even the private sector relies heavily on public subsidy, although it is debateable whether there is a Welsh private sector at all. To get on in Wales one has to be Old Labour, one has to toe an outdated and defunct Clause IV line and ignore what is going on in the rest of the world.

Speak out? Don’t be silly, who do you think pays my mortgage? Who do you think puts food on the table? In Wales, Labour has become a 24 hour, 5 Star workhouse make no mistake. If the Victorians thought they had it right, welcome to old Welsh Labour’s world!

Allow me to give you just one example (out of many) of Welsh Poor Law gratuity.

Take Welsh academia, now these institutions really are rife with subsidised personal advancement.

Tutors and lecturers Dr Tiffany Atkinson, Dr Zoe Skoulding. Tiffany Murray, Dr Fflur Dafydd, Jasmine Donahaye have all received thousands of pounds from the tax-payer for their own vanity creative writing efforts and note we’re not talking here about academic research or endeavour, we’re talking about their very own poetry and novels.

Multiple awards and bursaries going to the same people are also the name of the game in Wales eg Gwyneth Lewis (ex-National Poet of Wales), Jon Gower, Meic Stephens (ex- CEO of Arts Council of Wales), Tony Bianchi, Robert Minhinnick, Richard Gywn…….. it just depends on who you sit down and have supper with. In London it’s Islington, in Wales it’s Cardiff Bay, the only difference being that the food is rather more haute cuisine in London.

Having a proper day job, like most writers, is of course out of the question.

Only recently, this unassailable and perverse sense of tax-payer entitlement was epitomised so delightfully by one Liki Siencyn, chief executive of Literature Wales.

Following the £100,000 of public money dished out to Dinefwr and Laugharne book festivals last year, she announced with a confidence that would have reduced even Simon Cowell to tears and I quote, “The flourishing publishing industry that exists in Wales today, is defiant in the light of the economic climate.”

Defiant? Flourishing? Well, it would be wouldn’t it.

It depends totally and unapologetically on the tax-payer!

So then, why would anyone wonder why Wales is so cowardly left of left and this includes its academic gamers?

Everyone is living off gold-plated top drawer dole. Everyone lives in each other’s pockets so for god’s sake don’t upset the applecart.

And as for those old chestnuts ‘scrutiny’ and ‘accountability’, I put all the above and much much more in the hands of the Wales Audit Office.

Guess what the reply was?

They are satisfied that correct and proper procedures are in place where the distribution of direct Welsh government allocation of public funds to the Welsh publishing industry are concerned and that quality oversight is ‘adequate’.

Such is the standard of government oversight in Wales.

It is simply absurd.

It is also brazenly dishonest.

Since devolution the Welsh government has blown its trumpets and demolished the walls of progress and any chance of some modest Welsh self-reliance.

Nick Capaldi, CEO of the Arts Council of Wales, was on television earlier this week (BBC Wales News) announcing his support for a Welsh artist’s contribution to an exhibition of the visual arts in Venice – the recording of a man snoring in a telescope.

Cost to tax-payer? £400,000 and I wonder who is paying for Nick’s little excursion to Venice on a PR exercise? I know the price of a cappuccino in St. Mark’s Square will make your eyes water.

The arrogance of entitlement is just plain astonishing. The country is broke but not for the Arts Council of Wales and its apparatchiks it seems. To hell with austerity, Westminster and the tax-payer, a Welsh artist and the CEO of the Arts Council of Wales must come first and money is no object!

The title of Ed Balls’ speech at the start of the week was “striking the right balance for the British economy”. He described something called a zero based spending review:  “a root and branch review of every pound the government spends from the bottom up”

Let’s see if the Welsh gravy train survives a collision with Labour’s new fiscal reality.

Julian Ruck is the author of the Ragged Cliffs Trilogy and legal thriller The Bent Brief’. He is an FoI campaigner and has made contributions to programmes in both Welsh and national broadcasting


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106 Responses to “Letter from Wales: Let’s see if the Welsh gravy train survives a collision with Ed Balls’ fiscal reality”

  1. Danny says:

    Having know the square root of zero about publishing and taxpayer subsidies in Wales, I have one question and one question only.

    Why is this idiot invited to write on this website?

  2. Let enjoy another few lines of Jools’ genius. This one from inheritance lost:

    “As they prepared to set off an inconsiderate moon decided to make an unannounced appearance. This was not supposed to happen. Another balls up. The military was full of them. Treharne stuck two fingers up at the white face that sneered its treachery and allegiance to the enemy within”

    Yeah, I can understand the sentiment. Minor planetary bodies can be so selfish at times.

  3. dave rodway says:

    I still want to know what was ‘so-called’ about your rejection.

    Is GK Brightmore the same Gillian Brightmore who received Academi funding to write stories and, as her entry in the database of Welsh writers notes, finish a collection?

    I’ve seen no collection, but more to the point, G Brightmore is a recipient of the very grants she attacks.

    Mt Ruckigami is back at it, I see.

  4. Simone Jardin says:

    Not sure why the author of this wack article is bringing up Welsh language issues? He seems obsessed with it but for no good reason? Also interested ad to whether he is actually a Labour supporter? Boy better know that this is no place for man dem don’t subscribe to Labour ideology. Seems like a closet right wingdinger!

  5. alan jones says:

    I’m not a Welsh speaker but I’ve read some of Ruck’s attacks on Welsh and they look pretty nasty and bigoted to me.
    That said now that I know this man was rejected by publishers I also know why he atrwcks them.

  6. dave rodway says:

    Simone, you ask some good questions.

    Let me try to reply, though it’s a confused and contorted saga, this:

    about three years ago, Julian Ruck tried to publish his novel with two (at least two) publishers in Wales, Seren and Parthian. Both of these publishers are pretty good, having published fiction and poetry that has won national UK prizes as well as a slew of shortlistings and big reviews. They both turned Ruck down, because, as you can easily tell from his samples of work available online, he writers terribly.

    He then wrote them angry letters, because this is a man whose opinion of himself is as high as it is unfounded. Later, in order to assuage his sour grapes, he went on a crusade to attack these publishers and their writers because Wales, like England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and pretty much everywhere in Europe, has money set aside for the arts, which include literature, but also opera, dance, etc etc.

    Because Ruck is so bitter and angry, he has written articles that are full of half-truths and outright lies, and for a long time denied he had been rejected by these publishers. Only the threat of exposure made him admit it – see above when he calls it a ‘so-called’ rejection – as I’ve pointed out, it was a rejection good and proper, and well-documented.

    He also ran a disastrous and comically inept E-book festival in Kidwelly, a much-documented omnishambles.

    Basically, he’s bitter and angry and can’t write. His Welsh-hating is just an attempt to garner attention for his ludicrous books – his conflation of Welsh speakers with those who rejected his books is risible and an example of minority-bashing.

    Did I mention his plagiarism?

    I’ll save that for next time.

  7. John Abell says:

    ‘To John Abell,

    And who are the publisher’s?

    JR’

    Beautiful apostrophe use Julian. The publisher of Diary Of A Dead Officer is the Old Stile Press, they make gorgeous hand printed books in collaboration with artist. The other book is a collection of new Welsh fiction, publishe by Parthian. It is a hard back and I have done 22 prints for it, including the spine and cover.

    The same Parthian books that turned you down, like any sensible publisher.

    Why did the Llanelli Star sack you Julian? And admit that they did. It was a miracle that it took so long.

    You go on about the ‘hardcore world of London publishing’. Julian, what are you on about? You don’t have a clue what you’re talking about, being vanity published and printed by Dinefwr. You are a tragicomic farce.

    I imagine the Star sacked you because you were annoying their core readership, aka the Welsh. You are a sorry, bitter anachronism, utterly devoid of any talent whatsoever.

    For the record Julian, I only ever respond to you as myself, who the others who dislike your crappy articles, your crappy books and your crappy opinions, I do not know. Although it sees there is a lot ore people who deplore what you have to say than who agree with you, and I would say that amongst the small number of people who have heard of you, you are universally disliked.

    Is your total disgrace of a festival happening this year? Kidwell-e? Anyone go to it?

    That went well didn’t it, Julian.
    http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/three-welsh-tenors-angry-over-2023779

  8. Joao Morais says:

    The barely literate GK Brightmore wrote, “Such people claiming they need ,”enabling grants” when in full – time employment and continually , the same old names scoop up the grants, bursaries , readings and trips abroad int eh name of ‘art’ : what a laugh that all is.”

    – HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, this is hilarious! The same GK Brightmore who received a Welsh Arts Council grant to produce a collection of short stories which was never even realised! Did you even show it to a publisher, or did you just take the money and run?

    Plus you say that the same old names get the money – again, ridiculous and unfounded. 22 of this year’s authors are first-time bursary recipients. Check if you don’t believe me http://www.literaturewales.org/services-for-writers/i/142748/

    Mr Origami wrote, ‘If you are mature adults, could you stick to the points in Mr Rucks article.’ – I have, and answered every one of them. I even agreed with him about the Welsh Labour/ Westminster Labour differentiation!

    Mr Origami also wrote, “ Did Lucy Jenkins say: ““The flourishing publishing industry that exists in Wales today, is defiant in the light of the economic climate.” “ – I guess you mean Lleucu Siencyn here, personally I would say it is a bit patronising to anglicise her name. I’d hate it if someone called me John Morris as that is not how I want to be known… I think what she meant is that artistically it is flourishing. I would say that Wales is better for it, as 4.4m/year for the WBC is not really that much. The WAG has a commitment to provide money for the arts and this is tiny compared to its other budgets, and always diminishing. To put it in perspective, the Royal Opera House alone got 25m for 2012-2013. Considering the amount involved and the number of people who are able to attend the shows, should the ROH not have any funding in this bleak post-funding world you envisage?

    Mr Ruck wrote, “For the last time, none of my books have even remotely benefited from any kind of public subsidy support.” – Yes they have. If they are distributed through the WBC then they have inadvertently benefited from public subsidy support. That is undeniable. Your attack on the same body that supports your work is highly hypocritical. Whether you make them money or not is irrelevant as you still use their services. If you had any kind of integrity then you would refrain from using them.

    Mr Ruck also wrote, “ PS Your antics on Wikipedia were an exercise in pure mailice [sic] and vindictiveness, nothing more nothing less. No attempt was made to defend your Welsh language nationalist attacks (you do have form), as myself and advisers concluded that you and your sorry playmates would only keep on doing the same thing ie making mendacious and vicious entries on the page. “

    How do you know it was Crazy Horse? How has it got anything to do with the Welsh Language? Or nationalism for that matter. This is baffling. In the discussion leading to the deletion of your page, one of the most respected admins on Wikipedia said that your page was an “Autobiography of local vanity self-publisher and gadfly; fails to meet requirements for substantive coverage.” You can read what other admins have to say here, it is quite fascinating: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Julian_Ruck

  9. Julian Ruck says:

    To John Abell,

    All paid for by the tax-payer, including your fee.

    Odd about my sacking from the Star? See the 19th June column, I have merely reduced the number of columns I write due to other commitments.

    Give it up, John. You are doing yourself an enormous disservice.

    Good luck with the artwork, you won’t be hearing from me again.

    JR

  10. Julian Ruck says:

    To Joao Morais,

    In some respects your trenchant zeal is be admired, albeit that it is mostly ill-advised. I accept that such zeal, as history shows us, tends to mutate more virulently and aggressively in those of a more youthful demeanour.

    Your swift and masculine gags, together with their acidic punch-lines are also to be commended.

    I must however, wonder why such young and handsome shavers, waste their riotous time on me?

    Surely, brimming female appetite (or male) and overflowing pints of Guinness are more attractive to the shallow perfection of callow enthusiasm, than the humble scribblings of this failed and cruelly betrayed writer?

    If not, then incisive and extreme rudeness I hazard, may well be a more gratifying substitute.

    You and your learned friend Mr Abell, certainly seem to believe this to be the case.

    It concerns me, that you both are unable to appreciate the damage you are doing to your futures, employers have long internet memories but then I suppose such minor inconveniences are only to be considered by those ancients who have managed to reach the age of thirty.

    This is the last time I will acknowledge your deadly knives and jibes, your exquisite witticisms and tanatalising by your-leave interruptions to my rather miserable and reduced existence.

    Adieu and may your Lord go with you,

    Julian

  11. Simone Jardin says:

    Urm excuse me? I arksed you several questions Mr Ruck? Can you answer them? Actually don’t bother, the answers are obvious, but please do reply to this:

    Do you vote Labour?

    Like I said, boy better know this ain’t no place for right wangers,

  12. Joao Morais says:

    “Odd about my sacking from the Star? See the 19th June column, I have merely reduced the number of columns I write due to other commitments.”

    Really? golwg360 seems to see it differently: http://www.golwg360.com/newyddion/cymru/112215-rhoi-taw-ar-julian-ruck

    (you can read a partial translation here http://cneifiwr-emlyn.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/the-llanelli-star-in-choppy-waters.html )

    According to the blogger at y Cneifiwr, “The newspaper says that it has had numerous conversations with Julian Ruck to voice its concerns about his column and that it has been unable to reach agreement with him on “objectives for the column moving forward”. As a result, the newspaper “is currently not accepting nor receiving further columns from Mr Ruck”. ”

    This is the original text on golwg (my translation to follow): “Dywedodd y Llanelli Star wrth golwg360 eu bod yn rhannu gofidion rhai o’i darllenwyr yngl?n â chynnwys colofnau Julian Ruck a’u bod wedi cael gair ag ef ynghylch y mater.

    Meddai llefarydd ar eu rhan: “Gan ein bod wedi methu â dod i gytundeb yngl?n ag amcanion y golofn wrth symud ymlaen, ni fydd Mr Ruck yn cyfrannu i’r papur. Byswn yn hoffi pwysleisio fod y Llanelli Star yn gwbl wleidyddol-wrthrychol ac bydd pob ymdrech yn cael ei wneud i sicrhau mai hyn fydd yr achos bob tro.” ”

    My translation would be, “The Llanelli Star told golwg360 that they share some of their reader’s concerns about the content of Julian Ruck’s columns and had spoken with him about the matter.

    A spokesman for them said: “As we have failed to reach an agreement over the objectives of the column going forward, Mr. Ruck will no longer contribute to the paper. I would be like to emphasize that the Llanelli Star is completely politically objective and every effort will be made to ensure this is the case.”

    Mr Ruck, this is your opportunity to clarify the matter at hand. I await your response…

  13. John Abell says:

    For the record Julian, the Old Stile Press has published such luminaries as Ted Hughes and the artist Phillip Sutton and receives no tax payer funding. They make beautiful books, each one costing hundreds of pounds, not 1p like your penny dreadfuls.

    The fee I rewcieved from Parthian was very modest considering the amount of work that went into it, 22 prints in all. Especially as I won the printmaking prize and runner up at Welsh Artist of The Year yesterday.

    The Llanelli Star sacked you, Parthian and Seren rejected you, so you dislike them. Is that not the case? Because a system is in place in Wales exactly as it is in England.

    Does your wife read your manuscripts before you send them to Dinefwr for printing, surely that must be a form of domestic abuse?

  14. dave rodway says:

    Julian
    How much of your Wikipedia page did you write yourself?
    Why did it take so long to admit you’d been rejected by Seren and Parthian?
    And why don’t you declare your own personal interest in attacking said publishers?
    Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions.

  15. Julian Ruck says:

    To the sensible readers of my Letters,

    And what have I been saying about Welsh language nationalists?

    My column in the Star is to be published bi-weekly from 19th June. I simply no longer have the time to write for it on a weekly basis.

    The editor Alana Lewis, will confirm.

    I’m not sure whether many of you will be able to understand the Welsh language version,I know I don’t but then many of these Welsh speakers do see themselves as the righful heirs to Glendower’s Holy Grail and enlightened savants of The Da Vinci Code by Dan ap Brown.

  16. Julian Ruck says:

    To Simone Jardine,

    As it so happens, I have voted for all mainstream political parties in my time (I am 57), apart from Plaid Cymru, which I do not view as a mainstream political contender.

    On a personal level, I find political process and history thoroughly fascinating, indeed my study walls are lined with books about all shades of political endeavour from Keir Hardie and Tony Blair to Balwin and John Major and all the different political ideologies and philosphies in between.

    Frankly, I am not particularly partisan. I see virtue in all parties.

    I have never attended a demonstration (not even as a student during the turbulent 70’s) a political rally, a political meeting, convention, husting, public talk etc etc

    I am politically interested, particularly in things that I perceive to be wrong, but not ‘active’ as it were.

    I hope the above addresses your question adequately and thank you for asking.

    Julian Ruck

  17. dave rodway says:

    I don’t speak Welsh Julian, and your attempt to generate inter-linguistic conflict to push yourself and your agenda is nasty-minded pap. Most of the people asking you the difficult questions are either English or English-speakers, like me, so here we go again:

    1 – why did you lie about never having been rejected by Welsh publishers?
    2- How much of your wikipedia page did you write yourself?
    3 – why did you plagiarise Hitchens and refuse to admit it until you were caught out?
    4 – why did you pretend to have a hotshot agent when you didn’t`?
    5 – why did you send abusive letters to the publishers who rejected you, and why do you continue to personally abuse them, their writers and editors, in ‘so-called’ letters about Welsh politics?
    6 – how much taxpayers money have you wasted calling the police on the Julian Fuck satirical site?
    7 – have you ever been in jail?

    answers please

  18. Simone Jardin says:

    Listen yeah you got me on an intrigue tip now, why do you keep making speech on ‘Welsh nationalists’ and ‘Welsh language’ and ting. I haven’t seen one person mention it. I’m from London but my cousin is raising her kids in Wales in Cardiff yeah and she loves the fact that they go to Welsh language school. In aftual fact yeah she was lucky they got in because demand is bussin the roof off. You seem to be trying to make dollar on some controversial tip and by being a badman. Boy better know it’s mad unconvincing (a bit like your spelling and punctuation!) Please will you answer my question: do you vote Labour?

  19. Oliver says:

    I fully agree with Simone Jardin; Mr Ruck’s campaign is self promotion disguised as concern for the taxpayer.

    Mr Ruck: would you please clarify why, on your own blog, you concur with mr Origami’s claim that Labour Party members are too embarrassed to make comments on this website.

    I also want to comment that I find the way that you constantly ridicule and belittle various people on your own blog somewhat shocking, if not disturbing.

  20. Julian Ruck says:

    To Simone Jardin,

    Oh dear, your Welsh rapper-speak and clumsy Caribbean patois doesn’t fool anyone, I would stick to Wenglish if I were you.

    Julian Ruck

  21. Mr Akira Origami says:

    it’s nice to here from our Lludain brothers. Like Lludain is Welsh for London – mad innit.

    See, the ting is like your cousin is rasinng her kids in Cardiff Wales and she is loving it. But maybe the kids like don’t feel the same way about the ting. Like putting kids who don’t speak Welsh in Welsh schools is like giving a bit of a disadvantage man, cos like the teachers can’t speak English or an fing, and your cousins kids don’t know what they are saying. It might be cool wiv your cousin but you should be like finking about the kids. Is yor cousin gone voting wiv dem Plaid Cymry too?

    like the other fing is when it scool like in Cardiff havin the Welsh school, where like there is choice and all that, in places man where there is no choice the Welsh is like forced on the kids man. Come on man like you can’t say thats like cool or anyfing?

    and hey bro, we all vote Labour in Wales cos our farvers always done it and stuff. Like Wales is land of the fathers man, keep up bro. Some people vote for the the other party too , Plaid cumry.

    last fing bro, soon as the kids get out of the Welsh school they only speak English man, it’s cos the parents are forcing them into the Welsh schools and the kids don’t want to speak it.

    I am not just saying this man, look what Carwin Jones said about the issue:

    “cracking this is going to be crucial to the future of the language over the next 10 years.”

    Hey man even Carwin Jones has said his own children speak English to each other despite going to a Welsh-language school.

    So the moral here bro – you can send the kids to the Welsh school but you can’t make em speak it. Cos it’s human rights and stuff.

    Stay cool man……

    Mr Origami

  22. dave says:

    Wow, Mr Origami, coicnidentally replying a few seconds after Ruck, with a really lame and contorted attempt at satire. It’s Llundain not Lludain, just as it’s ‘racist’ not ‘rascist’. Single-issue Welsh-hating semi-literate vanity-blogger who blocks critical comments – like Ruck. Funny that.

    Mr Ruck – answer my questions, don’t be a coward. I know you’ve read them, and I know you can answer them.

  23. dave says:

    As Ali G might have said: ‘Is it ‘cos I is Ruck?’

  24. Edward PL says:

    Well this is all rather entertaining, but one thing is clear: this Julian Ruck fellow will not confirm whether or not he votes Labour. A little bit of research suggests that he does not. A little bit of investigation suggests he is a died in the wool Tory. So, Mr Ruck, what is it?

    By the way, I’ve been involved in Labour politics for over thirty years and I have never, ever, come across someone like you. And to be perfectly frank, that is not a compliment.

  25. Mr Akira Origami says:

    To Mr Ruck

    Just reading Golwyg 360. Apparently the person dealing with your investigation was Sergeant Heulwen (Sunshine) Aston.

    Sergeant Stuart Bell has now taken over from Sergeant Ashton in Kidwelly. Perhaps Sergeant Bell is better in solving crimes? At a detection rate of 38.1% – perhaps not.

    http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/Kidwelly-PCSO-allegedly-assaulted/story-19054095-detail/story.html#axzz2Vu6OrQfs

    NB……

    Golwyg 360. Recently, Golwg360 was launched as a website offering daily Welsh and international news in Welsh. The project is funded by the ….you guessed it ….”Welsh Assembly Government”.

    Were you saying earlier somethig about tax-payer money being wasted?

    Mr Origami

  26. Mr Akira Origami says:

    To Simone Jardin

    Cos you are on intrigue and that.

    On a topic of Welsh culture….if Welsh are good at rugby right, why can’t they win the Heiniken cup? Bit of conspiracy feory going on if u ask me. Is it cos all those Refs are anti Welsh. This is what I fink right, that the Welsh don’t really care about rugby, they put all their efforts and expenditure in the national team. Somefing like the comunist countries used to do. But like that’s my opinion. What do you fink.

    Mr Origami

  27. Mr Akira Origami says:

    The Welsh Labour Government should now make its position clear and announce whether Labour Ministers support these measures to limit democratic accountability.

    The people in the principality wait for the Welsh Labour Government to make it’s position clear………………

    http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/ombudsman-reports-secrecy-bid-slammed-4059237

    Oliver……What do Labour Party members think about this?

  28. Darren Almond says:

    This is all truly, truly bizarre. The articles, the crazy back and forth in the comments section. I really don’t know what to make of it all, but one things for sure, I have never followed a column and its comments section so avidly. Its a real guilty pleasure, like MailOnline, just the pantomime villain is not Andrem Choudry but the Welsh First Minister.

  29. Mr Akira Origami says:

    To dave

    Sorry dave, I thought Simone said Cardiff.

    Sorry dave, but you have some vague notions of racism.

    Sorry dave, if I spelt a word wrong. Why do you pick on me? There are plenty of other examples on this site.

    Mr Origami

  30. Mr Akira Origami says:

    To Darren Almond

    What makes the Welsh Assembly Government so special?

    Warning, there is a certain amount of satire in the link below. I do apologise.

    http://mrorigamidotorg.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/your-accountable-thats-what-you-are/

    We in Wales want accountability first and foremost in our Assembly.

    MrOrigami

  31. Mr Akira Origami says:

    I wouldn’t suggest that Mr Ruck is the best person in Wales to do the job…..but at least somebody is highlighting the post devolutional mess in Wales.

  32. dave says:

    Having a factually-cahllenged, documented plagiarist and grudge-bearing narcissist like Ruck commenting on what goes on in Wales should be an embarrassment to Labour Uncut. There are plenty of proper stories in Wales to be reported on, from all sides of the political spectrum, and frankly it’s hugely disrespectful to have our country’s different politics, cultures and languages treated so craply by Labour Uncut that they choose this buffoon to report on what goes on here.
    Especially as all he cares about is settling scores with publishers who turned his books down – every one of these so-called letters has referred to Welsh writing and publishing. Each has, in turn, been followed by a Mr Origami who can’t spell ‘racist’ and devotes his entire blog to obsessing about the Welsh language with nutter-like comments about the ‘majority being crushed by the minority’.
    Labour Uncut: you’ve employed a Grade 1 reactionary buffoon with a history of plagiarism and deceit to report on Welsh matters.
    When can we look forward to his next rant about Welsh literary matters passed off as a comment on devolution, or health spending, or something vaguely relevant to the issues?

    Mr Ruck – my questions above remain unanswered. Answer them, you coward.

  33. Simone Jardin says:

    Right, ‘Mr Origami’ – thank you so much for crudely aping my dialect in a manner that were it not so pathetic could be defined as crass racist stereotyping. You see, I can chat ting when I want but I also went to a top 20 redbrick university. A brief scan of your postings here, and of your ‘blog’, suggest that your education is somewhat less refined. I will not be responding to you again, mandem like you are nothing but wasteman.

    Here’s a question for people to ponder: would Labour Uncut still employ this fool if we all stopped feeding his troll-mouth?

  34. dave says:

    Simone – I know what you mean: people like Ruck and the very silly troll Origami have far more tenacity than the likes of us, and probably less to do, but there is a certain pleasure to be had from challenging Ruck (hey Julian – see the questions above: answer them please!) to come clean on the large amounts of (to put it charitably) obfuscation he spreads.
    The moot question however remains: given how much can be written about Wales, why is Labour Uncut showing such disrespect to us by hosting the borderline-literate and thoroughly-discredited Julian Ruck as the site’s Wales correspondent?

  35. Julian Ruck says:

    To Dave,

    Well now ‘Dave’ or should that be Dai, it might just have something to do with your comments?!

    JR

  36. Julian Ruck says:

    To Simone Jardin,

    A red birick University, no less? In my day they were known as red brick kibbutzes!

    JR

  37. dave says:

    Sorry Julian, that won’t wash – answer the questions.
    (I’ve never been Dai in my life, but I’m not sure what difference it would make if I were).
    Stop wriggling, butt.

  38. John Abell says:

    Just answer the questions and clear some things up Julian.

    1 – why did you lie about never having been rejected by Welsh publishers?
    2- How much of your wikipedia page did you write yourself?
    3 – why did you plagiarise Hitchens and refuse to admit it until you were caught out?
    4 – why did you pretend to have a hotshot agent when you didn’t`?
    5 – why did you send abusive letters to the publishers who rejected you, and why do you continue to personally abuse them, their writers and editors, in ‘so-called’ letters about Welsh politics?
    6 – how much taxpayers money have you wasted calling the police on the Julian Fuck satirical site?
    7 – have you ever been in jail?

    Also are all your rave reviews on Amazon authored by you? I know they were old boy!

    For the record Mr Origami, the WAG government is one of the most transparent on earth.

    http://wales.gov.uk/funding/?lang=en

    http://www.assemblywales.org/memhome/pay-expenses-financial-interests-standards.htm

  39. Mr Akira Origami says:

    Dear Simone Jardin

    re: your accusations – crass raicst sterotyper

    A brief scan of your postings:

    “Not sure why the author of this wack article is bringing up Welsh language issues? He seems obsessed with it but for no good reason? Also interested ad to whether he is actually a Labour supporter? Boy better know that this is no place for man dem don’t subscribe to Labour ideology. Seems like a closet right wingdinger!”

    and

    “Right, ‘Mr Origami’ – thank you so much for crudely aping my dialect in a manner that were it not so pathetic could be defined as crass racist stereotyping. You see, I can chat ting when I want but I also went to a top 20 redbrick university. A brief scan of your postings here, and of your ‘blog’, suggest that your education is somewhat less refined. I will not be responding to you again, mandem like you are nothing but wasteman.

    Here’s a question for people to ponder: would Labour Uncut still employ this fool if we all stopped feeding his troll-mouth?”

    Didn’t you write this above…..anybody has the right to use the urban vernacular if they choose to – Tony Blair used to dabble in it once I believe.

    Even you or I Simone, have the right to use urban dialect.

    So in my in less refined education, I have a right to use urban dialect more than you Simone.

    My blogs are based on “democracy live “and news in Wales, have you have a problem with that? I just try to highlight the reality of devolution in Wales.

    As you have read my blog, answer me this. What makes the Welsh Assembly so special?

    Could you be bothered to watch Carwyn being asked a question by Kirsty?

    Yours faithfully

    Mr Origami

    PS Which Labour ideology were you refering to?

  40. Mr Akira Origami says:

    To John Abell

    I really shouldn’t reply to someone who has admitted to stalking Mr Ruck, but….

    The links you provide are from the Welsh Assembly Government…..they would say that wouldn’t they.

    Mr Origami

  41. dave rodway says:

    erm… isn’t it time Mr Origami learned how to spell ‘racist’?
    Just askin’.

  42. dave rodway says:

    PS Julian – answer the questions!

  43. Julian Ruck says:

    To Dave Rodway,

    How frightfully odd? Your questions on the 11th June are exactly the same as Mr Abell’s on the same date.

    All of which have been properly addressed on a number of occasions.

    You silly Billy.

    I mean this Mr Abell, you really should seek help and I am not being unkind.

    JR

  44. Mr Akira Origami says:

    To John Abell

    At least you now see the error of stalking people.

    On this site on June 10 2013 at 4.07pm you write: ” For the record Julian, I only ever respond to you as myself, who the others who dislike your crappy articles, your crappy books and your crappy opinions, I do not know.”

    But..Mr Abell….On this site on June 2013 at 11.52 am, you write: “I have only ever corresponded with you via one alias, and that was Darren M Bentley.”

    You are a stalker and a person who should not be listened to.

    Labour Uncut has become a “Wild West” blog, with a bunch of anarchists, like yourself and your cyber bullying tactics killing off any chance of a serious debate here.

    You are a stalker and a pathetic liar Mr Abell.

    Mr Origami

  45. dave rodway says:

    This is because, Julian, John Abell, whom I do not know, pasted the same questions I left in a (vain) attempt to get you to answer them. There are many of us here who would like you to stop ducking the questions and see you respond to them.
    Come on Julian, answer the questions listed above – you have not dealt with any of them and have been wriggling your way out of it for days.
    Answer the questions, please.

  46. Julian Ruck says:

    To Mr Origami,

    Sadly, all the above have done is reduce Wales to a laughing stock, more particularly to those people who sit at the centre of the British political process.

    I feel great disappointment that the Welsh should be perceived in this way and can only hope that readers will be able to sort the Ruck wheat from the nihilistic and wretched chaff of those who merely seek to supress any kind of mature and honest debate or indeed freedom of expression.

    You must remember that this few, this band of Welsh nationalists, sought to disrupt and deter my public talk in Cardiff at the end of last year. John Abell and Joao Morais being the two most subversive and ferocious.

    They have both been stalking me ever since, with their dirty tricks and cowardly, duplicitous fantasies.

    They parody emotion, it is always the fault of others, it is always the ingratiating faces of inviolate inferiority complex and sharpened insecurity.

    They cannot debate.

    They cannot be polite.

    And they view themselves as the vanguard of an eliite Welsh intelligentsia?

    Their treaties with underhanded mockery and derisive but predictable wordplay, merely serve to devastate any intellectual dignity and the lavish displays of learning that they presume to aspire to.

    Their energetic peacock grandstanding of hateful brilliance and their nancy attempts at oratorial excellence, ruin Wales and ruin my fellow countrymen, in a world that has become so very small.

    They deserve nothing, from the very land they claim to love so much.

    JR

  47. dave rodway says:

    “it is always the ingratiating faces of inviolate inferiority complex and sharpened insecurity.”

    what?

    “Their energetic peacock grandstanding of hateful brilliance and their nancy attempts at oratorial excellence, ruin Wales and ruin my fellow countrymen, in a world that has become so very small.”

    what?

    what an extraordinary piece of writing.

    Answer the 7 questions above please Julian – all of them bear directly not just on what you have written but on your qualifications and motivations for writing it. Hence you must declare your interest.

    Answer the questions please, this is getting very silly and embarrassing, and has nothing to do with Wales or Welsh, just to do with you and why you claim what you claim and from what perspective.

    Answer them- they are all straightforward .

  48. John Abell says:

    You make me laugh Mr Origami! I do not stalk Mr Ruck, not any more than you appear to judging by all the responses you make on his blog and the threads here!

    ‘Their energetic peacock grandstanding of hateful brilliance and their nancy attempts at oratorial excellence, ruin Wales and ruin my fellow countrymen, in a world that has become so very small.’

    I love that sentence. Nancy? What does that mean, is that an attempt at homophobia? You cannot help but come across as a modern day William McGonagall, you are that terrible. At least he has charm and is not a plagiarist who tells porkies.

    I used an alias of Darren M Bentley to get Julians true opinions of the Welsh. I have not, unlike Julian, lied at all. The results of the exchange were alarming.

    The opener from Julian was just pathetic

    ‘Dear Mr Bentley,
    Thank you for your kind words – you wouldn’t mind putting a few of them on Amazon by way of ‘review’ would you? Cheeky sod that I am!’

    Cringe. Then he seems to think Wales isn’t even a country, which is daft..

    ‘This is exactly how our great cultural heritage came about in the first place, and I am not referring to Wales, which is a principality of Gt Britain and not a sovereign state as some nationalist maniacs would have you believe, but don’t get me started on that!’

    Julian, Wales is a country you silly old fool, like Scotlan and like English. Thankfully both the Scots and the English are both in agreement on that. A man from Kent is not from the same country as a man from Ceredigion and would not consider himself to be.

    ‘As it happens, the whole situation in Wales has really become quite sickening, both politically and culturally. I spent thirty odd years in England and have decided to return. I am more comfortable across the border and that’s that. My house is up for sale but this is not common knowledge at the monent so do please keep this under your hat – no doubt the Welsh press will make a story out of my taking off when the time comes.’

    Another great quote, just leave Julian!

    ‘You are right about the Festival, location had a lot to do with it and frankly I’m not even certain that my fellow countrymen had ever heard of an ebook, most of them are still reading Jack and Jill books’

    So Julian, your crappy Kidwell-e festival failed because of your fellow countrymen (note the term countrymen) because they are still reading ‘Jack and Jill’ books? You have a very low opinion of the Welsh, Julian. At least they are not reading your Bent Briefs! Not because it was, by all accounts, an unmitigated disaster.

    http://tinlarrick.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/i-have-idea-for-episode-of-gavin-stacey.html

    Though I do love your lovely PR exercise in responding to the Three Tenors, who you didn’t pay…

    http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/three-welsh-tenors-angry-over-2023779

    Julian, you nasty bloke you.

    You can read the whole account here

    http://johnabell.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/dear-mr-ruck-i-thoroughly-enjoy-your.html

    This is my account of first meeting Julian, in which he was so rude I had to respond with this little essay.

    http://johnabell.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/julian-ruck-comic-creation-par.html

    Mr Origami, who are you? Why are you anonymous, is it because you are a coward?

    Julian, answer the questions!

    If you have any doubts over Julian’s staggeringly poor writing credentials for writing for this ‘infuential’ site, check out his hilarious, ranting, blog.
    http://julianruck.wordpress.com/

    You can buy his crap novels on Amazon, but they will cost you a penny…

    A better site to visit for a giggle is this.

    http://jewelsfromjulian.wordpress.com/

    Note the superior quality of the writing and the wit. Is it you who wrote this Mr Origami?

    No one claims to be in the Welsh intelligentsia Julian, but thanks for the compliment. Wales, as it goes, has been very good to me!

  49. Joao Morais says:

    Mr Ruck

    You might not have noticed this but I left this discussion two days ago, after you failed to answer any of my points. Indeed, it almost seemed like you were seceding defeat, in that you asked me to stay away from here and do something else instead. But now that you have mentioned me by name again, I feel the need to reply.

    “They have both been stalking me ever since, with their dirty tricks and cowardly, duplicitous fantasies.” – Nonsense. I deal in facts, and have provided linked evidence to everything. I have not been stalking you at all – but I am firmly in the belief that if you put yourself out there in the public domain then you must expect other people to disagree with you.

    “They parody emotion, it is always the fault of others, it is always the ingratiating faces of inviolate inferiority complex and sharpened insecurity.” – What?? seriously now. What?? Mr Ruck, pardon me for suggesting this, but it seems like it is the other way around. You seem to be displacing your own emotions onto us in this ‘woe is me’ kind of way after your views have been challenged. Freud would have a field day with this sentence.

    “They cannot debate.” – It is you who cannot debate, Mr Ruck. You avoided my comment before last and instead asked me to stay away from this thread.

    “They cannot be polite.” – I apologise for calling you Rucky O’Hare, I will not apologise for saying that you are delusional while the evidence still stands. If you see my last comment on this thread, I cordially call you ‘Mr Ruck’ and ask you about the comments on golwg360. As you can see I have not questioned you since on the matter – proof that I have accepted what you had to say. Is that not polite?

    ‘And they view themselves as the vanguard of an eliite [sic] Welsh intelligentsia?’ I am part of no elite, Mr Ruck, nor part of any ‘intelligentsia.’ You are putting words in my mouth. I can do that for me.

  50. John Abell says:

    ‘You must remember that this few, this band of Welsh nationalists, sought to disrupt and deter my public talk in Cardiff at the end of last year. John Abell and Joao Morais being the two most subversive and ferocious.’

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-20572741

    Julian, here is a video on the BBC of your talk. There is footage of it and me being ‘subversive’. I was very polite when considering the bitter rants of a rejected and failed writer. Viewers of this clip can make up there own minds.

    You say I am a Welsh nationalist. That Joao is. Based on what evidence other than your own conjecture?

    Just because I think your books are extremely poor, that you are a plagiarist, a liar and that your opinions are pretty outdated and daft, do not presume I am a nationalist for not agreeing with you!

    Hardly anyone agrees with you!

    Now, has the Llanelli Star sacked you? Answer truthfully!

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