A Famous Welshman: Sir Thomas Picton, hero or villain?

Purely by chance, just as I was putting the finishing touches to my new novel, I came across the furore in the media about the status and reputation of Sir Thomas Picton, who figures very prominently in the story. He was one of Wellingtons closest lieutenants in the Battle of Waterloo, and the most senior officer to be killed in the battle. Wellington obviously disliked him intensely, and was not very supportive of the idea that he should be treated as a national hero and buried in St Pauls Cathedral -- but he was without doubt a very effective tactician and leader of men, and Wellington obviously valued him as a soldier who could be trusted to deliver on the battlefield. He was uncultured, foul-mouthed, and short tempered, and was clearly very different in temperament from many of the other army officers of the time, who more often than not came from the ranks of the gentry.

Sir Thomas made his reputation in the West Indies, where he was eventually appointed Governor of Trinidad -- which had been annexed by the British from Spain. As Governor, he ruled with a rod of iron on the principle of Let them hate me, as long as they fear me. He was sadistic and brutal, and used torture and summary executions without trial as a matter of course, to maintain peace on the slave plantations and in the mixed population of free people of mixed races, in which the white settlers were very much in the minority. He claimed that everything he did was in the national interest and was designed for the upkeep of law and order, but a buildup of resentment against his brutal and sadistic regime came to a head when he authorized the torture of a mulatto girl called Louisa Calderon, who was either 13 or 11 years old at the time. She was tortured by a method called picketing -- so as to obtain a confession from her. She was tortured on two successive days, and then imprisoned in irons for a further 8 months. Picton was recalled to Britain and prosecuted, and in a famous court case in 1806 he had to face the wrath of William Garrow, the most famous barrister of the day (as seen on BBC TV!) charged with the torture of a free child. He was found guilty, but powerful allies (including many plantation owners) rallied to his cause and obtained a retrial, at which he was acquitted on the technicality that although the British were in charge on the island, Spanish law still applied! That was of course ludicrous, and Pictons reputation was destroyed.........

Later on he sought to redeem himself through service to his country, and by invitation from Wellington, he resumed his military career, being closely involved in the campaign against Napoleon in Spain and Portugal.

In Trinidad, and in many other places as well, Picton is seen as a brutal thug who should never have held high office and been given a place in St Pauls Cathedral, let alone honoured in place names in Wales and on the island which he terrorised. Streets and even a large secondary school in Haverfordwest are named after him, and of course there is the impressive Picton Monument in Carmarthen -- and one might ask with some justification whether his achievements on the battlefield were sufficient for him to be accorded this level of respect. There is a portrait of him in the Carmarthen court room, and some people who have a real respect for our principles of justice want it removed, in the light of the fact that in his lifetime he applied summary justice, terrorised a whole community, and showed a cavalier disregard for the law. The campaigners have a point.

A message from the dotCYM Campaign.

"Dear supporter,

It's with a heavy heart that I contact you today to inform you that dotCYM Ltd. will most probably be unable to apply for a top-level domain (TLD), .cymru, for Wales.

Instead of working with dotCYM to create a strong application for a top-level domain for Wales, the Government has invited Oxford-based Nominet, the company running .uk domains, to come to Wales to compete against dotCYM for governmental support, thus allowing it to kill the local competition and protect its monopoly of the UK market. Since Friday (9th December) there's a public invitation for any company to compete for the ownership and control of the Welsh name online ( http://sell2wales.co.uk/notices/display.html?NoticeId=28474 ).

As a social enterprise dotCYM was set up specifically to work closely with the Government to deliver a successful TLD that was accountable to the Welsh people. It does not have the financial or human resources to compete against a large, wealthy corporation that seeks to protect its monopoly of the market - especially when it has strong civil service and government support.

Any large company in the world can now compete for Welsh Government support to own and run the Welsh name online. As far as we're aware Wales is the only community to do this. The London, Scottish, Breton, Basque and Galician governments are all understandably protective of their top-level domains so they all work closely with local companies to run them and only outsource the technical services. dotCYM has worked with the Government for four years in the same way but the situation changed when Edwina Hart became the minister responsible for a Welsh top-level domain.

The probability is that Nominet will win and it will apply for a .wales. It may be persuaded to apply for .cymru as well but, since it's not accountable to anyone, no one will be able to ensure that they market it or manage it well. Nominet will own the TLD and Wales will never be able to recover ownership or control.

Please read a more detailed summary of recent events below with more information on how you can help. Without help from its supporters and politicians dotCYM can't stop the Government and Nominet from acting against the wishes of the majority of the Welsh community worldwide.

Contact maredudd@dotcym.org for more information on how you can help.
Follow us on Twitter ( @dotcymru ).
Contact your politicians and the press and make your views heard.
Forward this email on to anyone who would be interested and supportive.

Thanks for your continued support over the years
Maredudd ap Gwyndaf
Director, dotCYM

*******************

dotCYM has been ready for years to apply for a TLD. The company was structured to ensure that it was accountable to the Welsh community. The technical side was ready to sell domains worldwide. dotCYM has even secured a $185,000 loan to pay for the application in case the Welsh Government reneged on its promise of a loan.

dotCYM were, however, unable to convince the civil servants that Wales should have its own TLD, run from Wales, by the Welsh and accountable to the Welsh people. "What's wrong with .uk?", "why don't we just get Nominet to do it for free? ". The civil servants showed no ambition or imagination. No understanding of top-level domains and no urge to work towards bringing innovation, expertise, jobs and money to Wales.

Unfortunately, before the submission date was announce by ICANN, the governing body of names on the Internet, (12th January 2012 - 12th April 2012) there was a change of government. dotCYM warned Plaid Cymru and Ieuan Wyn Jones, who was the minister responsible for a TLD for Wales, that unless they took urgent steps to guarantee that the Welsh TLD would be run from Wales there was a high risk that the new Labour minister would approach Nominet to apply for a .wales.

Nothing was done. Edwina Hart became the Minister responsible and she has refused to talk to or meet dotCYM and the civil servants approached Nominet to bring them into the game.

Carwyn Jones and Edwina Hart have stated that the Welsh Government has no interest in doing anything except for giving one applicant the "letter of no objection" that is needed as part of the application. It is unheard of for a Government to show so little interest in its own top-level domain. The London, Scottish, Basque, Galician and Breton Governments are working very close with their local applications for their names online.

Nominet has commissioned London Economics, LE Cymru and YouGov to create a document that shows that the name of the TLD should be .wales instead of .cymru, although the majority of the people of Wales want a .cymru. Instead of doing its own research the Government seems to be clinging on to every word of this research document. Yes, since the civil servants don't understand TLDs the Government is taking advice from the document commissioned by the corporation trying to protect its monopoly of the market! dotCYM has never been consulted and there is no one else to questions Nominet's misleading polls and research.

Last Friday the Government invited potential applicants to compete for the letter of no objection that's required from the Government as a part of the application to ICANN ( http://sell2wales.co.uk/notices/display.html?NoticeId=28474 ).. With a deadline of 6th of January, just three weeks away and over the Christmas holidays, this makes it almost impossible for dotCYM to find the 300,000 investment it needs and so the civil servants and the Government have successfully paved the way for Nominet, an Oxford-based company, to take ownership and control of .wales (and they may go for .cymru as well if forced to). Once Nominet owns Wales' name and brand online, the Welsh will never regain control of it. Nominet are not accountable to the Welsh people in any way. They can create a Welsh front with an Advisory Committee and even open an office in Wales with a token Welsh-speaker to give phone support, but that doesn't change the fact that the policy will be decided by people foreign to the Welsh community.

Of course, as well as losing ownership and control of our TLD, this will result in the loss of the jobs, special expertise and money that would have come into Wales.

Nominet has tried to persuade the London and Scottish governments that it should own and run their TLDs. Both rejected the idea and are working with local companies to deliver a successful TLD. Nominet may eventually run the technical side of .london but it would not own and control it. The Bretons, Basques and Galicians are doing the same - a local company, accountable to the people it represents, cooperating closely with the Government. But this is not the case in Wales where there was no support or interest in a local initiative.

It's very unlikely that dotCYM will be able to put a bid up against Nominet on the 6th of January. Even with the big potential return of investment we've found that companies can't make decisions quickly enough to turn this around before the deadline. If someone has access to money that they are able to invest, please contact us.

All hope is not lost. A top level-domain is not a devolved issue; the last word resides in London. The real letter of no objection must come from Ed Vaizey, the Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries. dotCYM hopes that the Conservative and Liberal Democrat politicians can show the leadership needed here to try to save this grave injustice and ensure the Welsh keep control of their name online.

You, as dotCYM's supporters, have as much power as dotCYM now to try to make the Government realise the error of its ways and keep control in Wales and ensure that there's an application for a .cymru as well as a .wales. dotCYM had the resources to apply for and run a TLD but not to compete against Nominet. Your help is now vital.

You can contact your local AM and MP. More Labour politicians need to become aware of the situation and Conservative and Lib Dem politicians can put pressure on the UK Government. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport in London has experts in Internet governance that understand the importance of community TLD applications such as ours to increase diversity and competition on the Internet. Since this is not a devolved issue it's important that they realise that it's their responsibility to ensure that Wales gets the TLD it wants and needs and not one that has its policy decided in Oxford.

For more details on the situation or information on how you can help please contact me ( maredudd@dotcym.org ) and follow us on Twitter ( @dotcymru )

Please forward this email on to anyone who would be interested or supportive"

It promises to be just what you need to get into the Christmas spirit.

Burry Post businessman Gareth Isaac is a prime example of how hard work can help you beat the recession.

Mr Isaac set up his GI Carpets and Rugs business exactly three years ago just as the economy started to nosedive.

People looked at me as if I was daft trying to set up a new business, said Mr Isaac.

But Im now celebrating the third birthday of the business. Im still here and proof that you can make a go of things in even the toughest economic climate.

You just have to make sure that you are providing a quality service and giving the customer what they want.

Mr Isaac, 43, had been working for another carpet retailer before deciding to go it alone.

I spotted something of a gap in the market. There wasnt a carpet shop in Burry Port and I recognised the fact that it is one of the biggest towns in Carmarthenshire, he said.

We run a very different operation to the big supermarket-style carpet warehouses.

I have a great small team of three part-time carpet fitters and we pride ourselves on providing a friendly and professional service.

Providing a quality service is key to us and we like to think we know the carpet and flooring business from top to bottom.

For example, Ive been away on training courses to many of the big carpet manufacturing factories so I know exactly how they are made.

Mr Isaac added that the business was now expanding.

We are in the process of doubling the size of our storage space in a warehouse on the Trostre Industrial Estate and that will allow us to carry more stock and continue to provide a speedy and efficient service to our clients.

Carmarthenshire Council has been particularly supportive with negotiations for more storage space and it is good to see the local authority supporting and encouraging smaller independent businesses.

It is also hugely encouraging to see the support of the people of Burry Port. They have been great and have played a huge part in the success of the last three years.

Mr Isaacs GI Carpets and Rugs business is based in Station Road, Burry Port, opposite the railway station.

Weblink -

www.gicarpetsandflooring.co.uk

Photos of Gareth Isaac at GI Carpets and Rugs in Burry Port.

More photos available at

https://picasaweb.google.com/114054103325052180233/GarethIsaacGICarpetsAndRugs?authkey=Gv1sRgCP6pj5n0lY2ckQE

I've been wallowing in nostalgia,flicking through Nita Sybil Evans'shandwritten cookery book. At one time, Nita lived in Llangendeirne, Carmarthenshire. Later, the familymoved a few miles toCarmarthen, where her fatherwas a chapel minister.

Llangendeirne lies cradled in the folds of the Gwendraeth Fach Valley. The 1676 Hearth Returns show there were one hundred and two households in the area.

Iolo Morgannwg, writing in 1796, called it: 'the best village that I have ever seen in this county'.

The 1851 Census Return shows that the rural population was heavily dependent on agriculture.

Three annual cattle and pig fairs enlivened the year, untilthey ceased during the nineteenth century.

Even into the twentieth century, Llangendeirne remained an isolated community. Cooks kept a well-stocked larderand relied on their skills to produce good food. Cookery recipes were highly prized.

Nita's Christmas cake recipes begin in 1927, enriched with butter and eggs and fortified with brandy or wine.

In 1946, the year following World War 11, she hasgleaned a recipe froma newspaper. Containingmore dried fruit than her previous cakes, it lacks alcohol. Such a shame!

I lived in Carmarthen in the late 1940's and we ordered our cake in the 'Cunliffe Bakery'in Water Street.

It was magicallookingat therows of pristine white cakes, decorated with fierce robin redbreasts, bottle-brush trees and silver bells, the cake boundand circled with scarlet ribbons. A gold foil 'Nadolig Llawen' gleamedfrom the centre of eachcake.

I lived three miles from Llangendeirne, at one time, and my mind often strays that way at Christmas time.

Llangendeirne Church has three bells dating from the seventeenth and eighteenth century. On Christmas morning they ring a joy-peal that floats across the valley.One of the bells has an inscription carrying the true message of Christmas-time: 'Peace and good neighbourhood'.

I've been allowed to quote from the 1856 diary of Agnes Griffiths, a farmer's wife from South Pembrokeshire. I've said before I finddiaries very revealing.

If mydairies were ever to be published, I would be mortified. I often speak to myself in my diaryand I want to keep my thoughts private (some of them, anyway. Can't remember who said 'If everyman's thoughts were known, we'd all be hanged'). My sentiments exactly.

Major purchases, placesI went during the day are duly recorded.I never writeabout world events or what work I've done on the novel, butI often write aboutwhat my grandchildren do and say.

(I asked Oliver to sit on my knee when he was six years old and he told me I should have a baby because I like hugging people. I was fifty something then, so it would have been a miracle.

He was three whena chocolate melted in the sunand thoughta bee had licked it.

WhenHarrywas ten he told Oliver to 'go to see' to me on the computer.)

And so on. Of no interest to anyone outside the family, at all.

Peter's diaries are in his small, neat hand. (He wouldn't find it too difficult towritehislife-story on the back of a postage stamp, in much the same way as a Chinese calligraphercopied the Bible onto a grain of rice).

Hewrites the dates down in advance for dental and doctor appointments, car servicing, letters he sent and their content.Thirty years of his diaries are stacked neatly in a drawer.The family often ask him to check back to see when they did something or other.The diaries are meticulousand a true record of what has happened.

Agnes Griffiths's dairy reveal a hard-working life. Each week,she bakedfifteen loaves. On Thursday, September 14, 1856,her Christmas preparations began. She made a plum pudding, using sixteen eggs, whichcost two pence each and were 'very dear'.Two geese were killed for market, tocompensate for the money she would have made selling the eggs. All this and looking after 'darling baby Gladys', who was just a few months old.

I love Agnes's diary, for its honesty and for allowing me a glimpse of household life all those years ago.

However, there are certain pompous so-called 'diaries' thatI can't abide. These are not truediaries, but concocted fiction,written for the sake of publishing a book and it shows, of course it does.The fictitious 'diary' becomes a hookto hang a book on.

Irecommend'Lord Hervey's Memoirs', now out of print but you might find a second hand copy. Spiteful, foppish, malicious, keenly intelligent, it is an undoubted treat.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2072836/Swansea-goalkeeper-Michel-Vorm-reveals-penalty-saving-secrets.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

When I was in Cannes in August, I came across an old woman begging on the street. She'd been doing the same thingthe year before. A man, walking ahead of me stopped, took our his wallet and gave her some euro notes. I could see, throughthe loose layers of clothing,thather health had deteriorated.

Afriend's reaction, when I told heraboutit was thatthe poor are always with us, so forget them.

Recently, Emma gave me a Christmas pudding with a crystallised clementine in the middle. When she and Kate came for a mealthe four of us ate it in one go. I liked thesurprise in the middle and the pudding was definitely good,fruity and moist, worth the money.

These puddings are flying off the shelves, though they are not for sale in Haverfordwest, and they cost13.99. Stores that stock them are limitingsales to one per household but, as always, there are ways ofwriggling around this.

'Did you say you're holding a party?Then in that case you can have thirty. Enjoy!'

So, you've run home with your puddings, beaming like a Cheshire cat. Want to makea quick buck? Sell them on the internet for 200 each. It's not illegal, after all. It's called entrepreneurship. The laws of supply and demand prevail and, he who dares, wins, Rodney. Makes an easy profit, too.

I think it was Malcolm Bradbury (of 'The History Man' fame, which I greatly enjoyed many years ago) who said sociology shows the strongwillprey on the weak. On thegullible, too. If I was desperate for a pudding with an orange but couldn't buy one,I'd simmer an orange in syrup, cut the pudding in half et voici et voila.

Oliver and Harrysmiled indulgently and shook their heads ruefully when I told them this.

'It's not the same', they said. No,and it's a lot lessthan200, too.

Authenticity and provenance count, in the boys' eyes:(250 skis 'and that's cheap', goggles 99 'a bargain'). Yes, yes, I know. But, I stillpose the question: '200' for a smallish pudding? Bah! Humbug!'

Not wishingto beScrooge's best friend,I realise people are entitled to spendor waste their money as they like. A recent survey showed that lower and moderate income households give more to charity than higher earners. Is this because the rich are cushioned from the reality of poverty?

Extreme poverty and conspicuous spendingmakefor bad bedfellows, providingpause for thought at this time of year.

Bruce was the Norman de Braose; The Stuarts were originally Bretons, which got me thinking, if the Norman/Breton Marcher lords had taken over the Principality as well, our native lordships would possibly have continued living in a Welsh cultural environment under Welsh law, as they were allowed to do for a long time in the uplands of Glamorgan & Gwent; the King's writ could not have been be served (the Marcher lords had their own laws), one of them could perhaps have been elected leader/king of a united Cymru, we would have been living a life similar to that of the Scots with whom we could have allied ourselves, it's then possible that Edward wouldn't have succeeded, or even dared to go against either of the united kingdoms, there wouldn't have been the 'Laws of Wales Act' nor the Act of Union with Scotland, England wouldn't have had the Tudors nor the Stuarts, but it's possible that the 3 countries would have each signed a treaty of co-operation or concordat leading to a loose union of interdependent sovereign countries, the integrity of Ireland would have stayed untouched, perhaps joining with us as the fourth equal partner, fifth if we count Kernow. If someone writes this book or makes a film I claim it as my intellectual property, the rights that go with it, and I want a share of the profits.