> I have to disagree with your emphatic support of Cardiff as the seat of the > (as yet un-won) Welsh Parliament. Hmm I don't think I really advocated Cardiff as the capital, I hope my comment that it had to be Cardiff, as that is where the rugby ground was taken to be the joke that it was intended. As there have been several comments/suggestions, I'll give you my personal views, and we'll see where we end up at. There is one thing that all our arguments have so far ignored, and that is that Wales remains demographically the same post-independance. This will not be so. A Welsh parliment will be able to target it's investment to provide real benefit to Wales. One of the first things that a free Wales will have to set up is a true North-South Wales transport system, both by road,rail air and sea. New lines, or the improvement of existing lines, going from Cardiff to Llandudno/Bangor, from Swansea to Aberystwyth, from Bangor to Aberystwyth etc etc. Roads, again the South is Ok. The North coast road needs to be replaced or improved into motorway status, again a North-South road (preferably 2, one East, one West). Once this infrastructure is in place industry will quickly move away from the South East into the rest of Wales. When independance happens, it will happen slowly, going via a devolved parliment. The problem is that a devolved parliment will be in Cardiff (whether we like it or not), the infrastructure is there, and even with a new infrastructure, the habit will be to stay in Cardiff. The culture in Wales will change as we progress. With the added emphasis on Welsh in schools; the full acceptance of Welsh as a every-day language; a 'real' Welsh language act to ensure equal rights for Welsh in a work place; The South-East of Wales will become less English dominated and become more Welsh. We are beginning to see that now (slowly). So as I said earlier, a Welsh parliment could exist anywhere in Wales, but owing to the existing emphasis on Cardiff, I guess it will end up being there. Personally I don't care where it is, as long as we get one. That's the end of my argument, now my rant. Iwan said: > As a person who has spent the majority of life in North Wales, and as a native > Welsh speaker I feel as much affinity towards London as I do with Cardiff. > The north and the south have never particularly seen eye to eye, so I would > view domination from Cardiff with almost as much distain as domination from > Westminster. I don't like this one little bit. If we are going to get independance we are going to have to work together. If the rest of the UK get so much as a wiff of partitions within Wales as we currently have in Ireleand we can kiss the whole lot goodbye. I was born in Pembrokeshire, "Little England", but you try telling me or the people that lived around me when I was young that they aren't Welsh (but stand well back). You are all equally Welsh whether you come from Caernarfon or Cardiff, from Pembroke Dock or from Wrexham. We will all end up living in the same country and it will be up to all of us to make that country what we want it to be. By the way if anybody is wondering why I'm putting all this in English and not in Welsh, well as far as I'm concerned this is an argument for all to patricipate in, whether you be Welsh speaking or not. Well I've filled up enough of your mailboxes. I will not dismount my soap box and promise to be quite from now on. Hwyl Chris