welshgirl1

I would love the Manics and the Stereophonics and maybe a bit of Catatonia (as was). Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Im going to put them on now and dream...

Dewey

See there I'd agree with you, let's have some contemporary Welsh rock groups, however the Folklife festival does tend to focus on folk musicians. Northern Ireland were the featured country at the 2007 festival and they had some good Irish folk session bands. The Assembly website indicates Dai Lloyd at the Welsh Music Foundation is on the advisory committee. If there's a group you think should be given a grant to travel to DC to give a concert, unless the program is already arranged, you might want to tell him what you want to hear - after all it's your taxes that are going to be paying for their airfares/hotels.

tonrob

Don't forget the Super Furries...

zargof

Shaking Stevens is probably available...

welshgirl1

GOLDIE LOOKIN CHAIN

That's right, your mother's got a p....

I'm mates with a couple of them, if DC want them, Im sure I could persuade them!

Dewey

On now. Keep an eye on the festival website for webcasts and video interviews from the National Mall.

Dewey

Here are some pictures I took yesterday down on the National Mall. The festival is on until Sunday July 5. Wishing everyone on BE a happy 4th

Lothianlad

Only an Englishman would make such a statement!

Once you cross over the Severn Bridge in a westerly direction you are crossing from one distinct COUNTRY into another - one that has its own language and culture. Bloody hell, even the roadsigns and road markings and place names change completely and for the benefit of monoglot linguistically illiterate English people all the signs are bilingual just to make it easy for the poor buggers. The only concession to the invading English is that they can still drive on the left hand side of the road.

If all that doesn't make Cymru a COUNTRY in its own right then what can?

The Wales Tourist Board advertises Wales as The Big Country on TV.

As Wales is part of the Monarchy that is Great Britain it may well be referred to as a Principality - Prince of Wales and all that stuff - but nevertheless it is most assuredly a COUNTRY in its own right, and even has a semi self governing body called the Welsh Assembly with powers to pass certain laws and regulations which do not apply to any of the other three constituent COUNTRIES of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland...eg ALL medical prescriptions are free for every person resident in Wales irrespective of age or personal circumstances. Scotland and Northern Ireland follow suit within the next 18 months or so but poor old England is, as usual, the odd one out on this one!

http://www.wales-underground.org.uk/main.shtml

Noswaith dda i chwi oll a cysgwch yn ddawel! Pob hwyl!

(My Welsh mate from Ynys Mon (that's Anglesey if you're unfortunate enough to be English!) taught me to say that.....he loves his COUNTRY.

Manc

their own money, stamps, passports for a start.

Lothianlad

The Welsh DO have their own postage stamps, as do we in Scotland. Now I suppose you're now going to tell me that Scotland isn't a country either!

Manc

the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.


that's what my passport says.

what does yours say?

Lothianlad

The same as yours exactly.....at least for the present time. In the unlikely but not impossible event of the Scottish National Party getting the result it truly wants in a promised referendum on complete Scottish Independence my future passport may well say The Scottish People's Republic of Caledonia and Balmoral Castle will become some kind of Rehab Centre.

Hopefully that will never happen in a gazillion years but nevertheless Scotland is and always will be a country in the normal meaning of the word, and so will Wales.

United this Kingdom may well be in Constitutional and Governmental terms and a "primary" country as an entire unit, but it is made up of component parts which can only be described as countries as well, all making up the whole. Each one is really quite uniquely different from the others in so many ways as you well know.

As you now live in America you are possibly equating the separate units of the UK with the individual States over there - I think that's where you're coming from on this issue.

Happy American Independence Day, btw. Near where I live there is the home of an American family with a towering flagpole in the front garden which always has the American flag fluttering wildly in the Scottish breezes, not just on the 4th of July.

dunroving

If you are so adamant that Scotland is a country in its own right, why are you so concerned about the possibility of devoultion? Seems a bit contrary.

Dewey

Oh the flags are out today alright. This morning I followed a very American tradition...I bought a Weber barbeque grill Looking forward to sparklers later tonight.

Lothianlad

No I am not at all contrary.....Devolution is not the same thing as full blown Independence at all. Both Scotland and Wales have Devolution already in that they have their own "Governing" bodies (Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly) elected as normal by the voters with the powers to pass laws and regulations on issues strictly appertaining to Scotland and Wales respectively. The UK National Parliament still holds jurisdiction in both countries, and elections to Westminster still take place in all four constituent countries of the UK at each General Election.

Only England is left with no similar "local" body at all to deal with matters and issues which affect only England, while, bizarrely, both Scottish and Welsh MPs are permitted to have a say in these English issues, but not the other way round. If the English are happy with all this then that's their choice.....all they seem to do is whinge about the Scots and the Welsh "interfering" in English affairs.

Cheers.

If either or both Scotland and Wales ever vote in favour of Independence then that's it - they opt out of the UK altogether