Owen Williams
@owswills.bsky.social
1.7K followers 160 following 750 posts
the owl from duolingo
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owswills.bsky.social
The names of our rivers and mountains tell a story older than the state. Pen-y-Fan, Penicuik, Aberdeen, Aberystwyth – these aren’t just words on a map. They’re echoes of the first voices of this land.
Reposted by Owen Williams
thetnholler.bsky.social
Amazing what happens when you give the guy a plane
Reposted by Owen Williams
zackpolanski.bsky.social
Glad to see Nigel Farage has finally remembered Nathan Gill, former leader of Reform in Wales - found guilty of taking bribes from Russia.

Maybe he'll now remember how much he took from Putin's propaganda broadcaster Russia Today for all his TV appearances when he was a MEP?
Nigel Farage on Russia Today.
Reposted by Owen Williams
lsrplaid.bsky.social
Being Welsh is about belonging and shared values.

I was a loud south-east London girl who became Welsh, heart and soul.

Our Wales is one that welcomes, includes and builds, not one that divides.

Proud to close an inspiring weekend at Plaid Cymru conference 💚🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
owswills.bsky.social
Are you *sure*?
Because when she re-enters frame, she appears to sit back down on a chair that’s facing away from her.

I suspect that this is AI.

@gtconway.bsky.social
owswills.bsky.social
Re: Nation of Sanctuary 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
There’s a lot of confusion about “Nation of Sanctuary”, so here’s what it really means 👇

It’s a *resettlement scheme* to help people the UK Government has *already* given asylum to.

Welsh Government doesn’t control immigration, and it can’t choose who comes here. It *must* take in people the UK Home Office sends here - by law.

So Welsh Government set up a plan to do that, and called it Nation of Sanctuary - just like Scotland called theirs The New Scots Strategy, and NI has its Northern Ireland Refugee Resettlement Scheme.
owswills.bsky.social
(And before some headcase mentions ‘Nation of Sanctuary’, let’s try to remember what that scheme actually is: It’s a resettlement programme for people who’ve been granted asylum by UK Government. The vast majority of beneficiaries are Ukrainian refugees.)
owswills.bsky.social
It bears repeating that Welsh Government has *no* control over Immigration.

Voting Reform in the Caerphilly by-election because you’re cross about small boats on the Kent shoreline is an utterly mindless exercise.
owswills.bsky.social
Usually gullible bigots.
owswills.bsky.social
They fall into four broad camps:
1. Gullible
2. Grifters
3. Bigots
4. Racists
Reposted by Owen Williams
anianegwr.bsky.social
Watching Thatcher on the news as a kid I asked my Dad where's Wales' parliament? He explained why we didn't have one. That's not fair I said. We reasoned it out. He started voting @plaidcymru.bsky.social shortly after.

I still feel the same way about our Statehood.
nikitagill.bsky.social
I can’t begin to tell you how damaging “the world isn’t fair, get used to it” line has been to every child’s psyche growing up and therefore has led to a world that stays unfair. If we teach children to get used to an unfair world, we are destroying the possibility of a better world.
owswills.bsky.social
I have it on excellent authority that, contrary to reports, Mayor Sadiq Khan *IS* going to enact Shania Twain in London.

I want to state, for the record, that don’t impress me much.

@london.gov.uk
Reposted by Owen Williams
anianegwr.bsky.social
If Unionism is your bag, knock yourself out. Just dont pretend it's progressive or liberal. It's imperialist all the way through. The UK is a State that was built hand in hand with empire and blood. You cant just pretend that didnt happen then claim some moral high ground about some "unity" blather.
anianegwr.bsky.social
‘The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.’

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

#DissolveTheUnion
Farron drapes himself in flag as Lib Dems seek to reclaim patriotism
The Lib Dems are urged to stop being squeamish about national pride, at their annual conference.
www.bbc.co.uk
owswills.bsky.social
Labour, Lib Dems and Plaid don’t always agree, and sometimes those disagreements are explosive!

But political parties in the Senedd are democratically-bound to find common ground.

And that’s just good politics.
owswills.bsky.social
The rest of the time, Labour governed in minority, but still needed support *every single year* to pass a budget.

Collaboration isn’t optional here in Wales - it’s baked into the political system.
owswills.bsky.social
How often have parties shared *some form of power* with Labour in the past 26 years?

• Lib Dems: 29%
• Plaid Cymru: 25% (15% in government)
• Independents: 13%
A pie chart titled “The Story of the Senedd: Coalitions and Compacts with Labour since 1999.” The chart is split into four sections: 33% Labour minority rule (red), 29% Liberal Democrats (yellow), 25% Plaid Cymru (green, with a note showing 15% in government and 10% not in government), and 13% Independents (grey). The design has a navy-blue background with white labels and a small Welsh dragon logo bottom left.
owswills.bsky.social
Sometimes it’s a governing coalition.
Sometimes a compact.
Sometimes it’s just a budget deal.

That’s not weakness. That’s how proportional democracy is *meant* to work: no one gets to govern alone, everyone has to collaborate.
owswills.bsky.social
No party can dominate the Senedd. That’s the point.

Labour scraped a majority once, in 2003. Every other year since 1999, Welsh Government has only functioned because someone else helped make it work - Lib Dems, Plaid, independents…
owswills.bsky.social
They don’t know. And they don’t care to find out. They can’t articulate what a Reform-led Welsh Government could actually achieve, because they don’t understand devolution.
The mess is decades in the making – the dominance of England-centric media here has fundamentally damaged democratic discourse.
Reposted by Owen Williams
travellersuzy.bsky.social
Welsh voters putting their faith in farage when his Brexit has damaged Wales to such a degree is quite simply bonkers and I have no sympathy for them. Grow up voters. This is ridiculous. You will be even worse off..wtf😳??
owswills.bsky.social
I don’t know. I lost track when I stepped away from Twitter.
owswills.bsky.social
If you’ve voted Labour your entire life, now is the time to break ranks and install a Plaid Cymru government led by the genuinely decent Rhun ap Iorwerth. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Without a move to Plaid, Wales will be left under the rule of far-right racists, bigots, grifters and imbeciles.
jaclarner.bsky.social
Latest ITV BarnCymru 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 poll confirms trend seen over last 6 months - neck and neck race between Plaid Cymru and Reform UK for largest party, with Labour falling to even more distant third. Evidence growing of distinct realignment in Wales 🧵
Reposted by Owen Williams