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Another Day of Shame -
A personal view of the opening of the Sennedd by Nigel Williams (Lecturer in Fine Art) St. David’s Day is a day where we traditionally celebrate and enjoy our unique sense of place and sing out our deeply rooted desire to exhibit our difference from the rest of the countries within the United Kingdom. We are not the only country to do this, Scotland have their St. Andrew’s and recently even the English have begun to realise that they too have a unique sense of place within these isles and a day on which to celebrate it. So why do I have a feeling of great disappointment and anger this morning? Perhaps the heavy snow, that prevented me from reaching my place of work, was some kind of ironic heavenly attempt to disrupt events that I believe should not be taking place…I refer to, of course, the opening of the new debating chamber (The Sennedd) in our capitol city Cardiff.
I write this not because I disagree with our elected leaders having a place in which to debate, I fully accept that there must be some secure building within which our politicians can represent the people of Wales, but I cannot accept that our Labour led Assembly has spent nearly £70,000,000 on a building for themselves when they are diverting 2% (yet again) from our Education budget. It also has to be mentioned that the building was the favoured proposal of Plaid Cymru, the Liberal Democrats and a minority of Labour members when it was originally thought the building would cost £27 million.
My old school, the school my children now attend, will have to make do on £80,000 less during the new financial year because the local Labour Party Councillors have voted to divert the funds from education into social services - so much for the New Labour promise before the last election of concentrating on improving the education available to children in the UK. I believe the catch phrase used by Tony Blair to emphasise his intentions was “Education, Education, Education”. No doubt he would defend himself by claiming that this is a decision made entirely in Wales, by our elected members, and that he is in no place to interfere, but what of our Assembly Members then? No doubt they too would claim similar grounds for not interfering.
But just stop and remember for a moment that a large number of these Assembly Members, and local Councillors are from the places we live in. I have been raised, and still live, in the Swansea Valley. My grandfather was a passionate socialist. He worked underground and, like most parents of his generation, wanted a better life for his children. He knew that this was really only possible by ensuring children received the best education possible. This was a problem for him at that time because he had three young boys but could only afford to send one of them off to University. I am sure, if he were still with us today, he would be proud to see that others in his lineage have managed to achieve good University degrees thanks to the social changes that followed as a result of Labour members in Wales fighting for a ‘chance for all’. How then did we get to this position today? Are we now reaping the harvest of weak crops planted by our forefathers? Have the self-centred attitudes of the Thatcher years permeated so deeply within our society that even the socialist members have become little more than red-flag-waving toothless-tories? How can someone from a town like Ystradgynlais, for arguments sake, sit in 5-star opulence whilst our children are having subject options removed, or teaching hours cut? What makes any of these ‘elected members’ think they deserve or even need to sit in such a wasteful place? As an artist I can see the aesthetic merits and architectural wonder of the building. I have no argument with the design, but I simply question whether it is morally right to build it in the first place. Every day I go to work knowing that I can make a difference to the lives of the young people I teach. I never discuss my politics and would never attempt to influence them in their social development or their personal sense of responsibility. But how can teachers continue to deliver high standards of education when budgets are constantly cut (not even allowed to maintain pace with inflation)? As for my specialist area of study, art – I have recently been listening with interest to the debate surrounding the financing of the Arts in Wales. It seems that the Assembly wants to have the Government and Lottery funding paid directly to them to distribute…why I wonder? I have never been a lover of the Arts Council of Wales. I have constantly found the Arts Council obstructive and pretty much a waste of space (from a personal stand point – sour grapes probably) but no good can come from letting the Assembly control the purse strings. From the experience of the Education Authorities in Wales I can guess that much of the funding would be seconded to ‘other’ deserving causes that appealed to the Assembly at the time (whether arts based or not), they must view it as a great opportunity for some additional creative distribution of public money. So whilst I accept that the Arts Council is far from being perfect I see no good at all in replacing it in favour of the Assembly. Finally, I have to ask if there is any politician out there who truly believes in education? If so, can you tell me why we are returning to the days of my grandparents, where only those who can afford it will be educated? It is also important to recognise that education does not always mean academic achievement. Government initiatives are constantly being touted to schools and colleges to encourage all learners to enter higher education without little recognition of the need for some of those learners to target vocational routes, after all we all know that plumbers and other trades men and women are in great demand. But for those left who wish to proceed to higher education then there must be some sort financial help (not financial burden) to make studying possible. After all, most of those sitting in the Assembly today, eating a fine Welsh Lamb dinner in the presence of the Queen, probably benefited from the much criticised, yet obviously fairer ‘grant’ system. Where would they be today without it?
DID YOU KNOW - that I actually vote for Labour because I believe in their socialist roots (spot the fool)
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