Posts: 705
Posted:
9.Aug 2007 - 14:44
Julie McMillan's family has switched to speaking Welsh at home and the tax officer worker will start a new job teaching Welsh to adults in September.
Mrs McMillan, from Tynewydd, Rhondda, began learning three years ago and said she was "over the moon" with the award. Another finalist was a Yorkshire man with a father from Hong Kong who became fluent using email and the internet.
David Chan, whose mother is English, has never lived in Wales and is now working with Bangor University despite still living in Yorkshire.
Source: BBC News Wales
Posts: 1814
Posted:
9.Aug 2007 - 15:47
dukkha-samudaya-nirodha-magga
Posts: 705
Posted:
3.Mar 2008 - 13:07
The announcement fulfils the assembly government's commitment to reform charges for hospital parking, which was set out in the One Wales document outlining the agenda of the Labour and Plaid Cymru coalition.
Health Minister Edwina Hart said: "Car parking charges fall heavily on people frequently attending NHS hospitals, whether they are patients, staff or visitors."
It will be even more important now to find new ways of controlling car parks to avoid misuse, particularly where hospitals are near town centres, says Mike Ponton, of the Welsh NHS Confederation
Source here.. BBC Wales (online news)
Posts: 551
Posted:
4.Mar 2008 - 01:50
So I guess the car park's maintenance and supervision will now be paid for through the NHS funds. Great improvement.
I am awake at 4am to the terrifying undeniable truth that there is nothing I can do to stop the monster
Posts: 475
Posted:
4.Mar 2008 - 15:56
Lets have more well publiscised Gorsedd language awards!
KERNOW DOES'NT BOW TO LONDON
Posts: 930
Posted:
4.Mar 2008 - 16:17
Shall we start a list of awards we'd like to see?
Here's mine
Learner of the year
Young cornish speaker of the year
Promoter of the year
Bard of the year
Songwriter/Singer/Poet of the year
Man of the year
Woman of the year
TEL
Everything is impossible until it is not.
Posts: 4364
Posted:
16.Mar 2008 - 16:40
The Cornish Democrat
The Breton Connection
Posts: 705
Posted:
9.Apr 2008 - 11:52
Posts: 73
Posted:
9.Apr 2008 - 13:20
Apple Mac computer users are now able to download Welsh language tools,
free of charge, thanks to a joint venture by the Welsh Language Board
and the Language Technologies Unit at Canolfan Bedwyr, Bangor University.
Users of Apple Mac computers will now be able to download a version
of 'Cysgliad', a collection of Welsh-language tools for home and network
computers that has until now only been available for Microsoft Windows
users. However, due to the high number of requests from Apple Mac
users for a version of Cysgliad to be made available to them, a grant
was secured from the Welsh language Board for Bangor University to
develop the new technology. Among other things, Cysgliad will allow
Apple Mac users to make use of a comprehensive set of spelling and
grammar checkers for Welsh, including a Welsh/English dictionary.
Last year the League reported that Microsoft software would be available
in Scottish Gaelic in September 2007 and later in Breton, but there
has been no news as yet if similar technology will be available for
Scottish Gaelic or Breton language users of Apple Mac computers.
Cysgliad is available for Apple Mac OS X computers, 10.4 and can be
downloaded at:
http://e-gymraeg.org/cysgliadmac/
(News item prepared for CL News by Rhisiart Tal-e-bot)
J B Moffatt
Director of Information
Celtic League
06/04/08
I can be e-mailed at : michael.chappell@midasdsl.com
(Please no threatening or abusive e-mails)
I'm a member of the International Celtic League : http://www.celticleague.net
Posts: 4364
Posted:
27.Sep 2008 - 13:21
22/9/2008
One of the biggest surveys in Wales to gauge public understanding of the political scene has shown that 70% of people want Wales to have either full or partial devolution.
The survey was commissioned by the National Assembly for Wales and carried out by Aberystwyth University Institute of Welsh Politics in collaboration with GfKNOP.
Designed to gauge public understanding of the National Assembly and its role, it questioned over 2,500 people in June and July 2008.
When questioned, the majority of respondents (39%) wanted Wales to remain part of the UK but to have its own elected Parliament with full law-making and taxation powers. 31% of the people questioned wanted the Assembly to retain its current level of powers and 10% wanted Wales to become a fully independent nation.
Of the remaining respondents, 15% wanted to return to the pre-devolution status and 6% expressed a ‘don’t know’ opinion.
The survey indicated that this preferred constitutional status was based on a robust level of political understanding among respondents. When asked to identify the scope of the National Assembly for Wales’ law-making powers, 77% correctly identified that it “has powers to make laws in a number of areas, and these can be expanded with the agreement of the UK parliament’.
The survey also indicated that there is an increasing homogenisation of opinion and understanding across Wales. Previous surveys had seen variations in levels of support across various regions.
But the National Assembly for Wales survey indicated that there was more consistency in people’s aspirations towards devolution across the country, and aligned to this was a greater consistency in levels of understanding. (There was a modest regional difference in understanding across Wales on the Welsh Assembly’s law-making powers, with 72% of people in North Wales giving the correct answer, compared to 83% in South East Wales.)
However, the survey also indicated that many Welsh citizens are unclear about the distinction between the National Assembly for Wales and the Welsh Assembly Government, with 52% admitting that they know only “a little” about the National Assembly for Wales.
Presiding Officer Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas said: “The results of this survey are extremely encouraging, and indicate that as the 10th anniversary of devolution in Wales approaches, we are as a nation continuing to develop a sense of our own unique political identity.
“It has always been the National Assembly for Wales’ aim to encourage participation in the democratic process, and the high level of understanding about the devolution settlement indicates that we are succeeding in our mission.
“However, there is still much work to be done. The lack of understanding about the different roles of the Welsh Assembly Government and the National Assembly for Wales must be addressed, and I would argue that much of this confusion is caused by nomenclature.
“I strongly urge the First Minister to begin to rebrand the Welsh Assembly Government as the Welsh Government, and end the unnecessary confusion that is dong nothing to help the rapidly evolving debate on democracy in Wales.”
Prof Roger Scully from the Institute of Welsh Politics at Aberystwyth University said: “The National Assembly for Wales commissioned us to undertake one of the most comprehensive surveys of its kind in Wales, and the results tell an interesting story.
“There is an undoubtedly high level of understanding about the broad devolution settlement in Wales, but the sheer size of our sample means we have the ability to interrogate the findings further, to get an even deeper reading of people’s understanding by region and by political subject matter.
”I am certain that the findings provide the National Assembly for Wales with an invaluable source of information and insight.”
_________________
The Cornish Democrat
The Breton Connection