A confused English nationalist has been shown up in the most Welsh way possible

Katie Hopkins and the Welsh Dragon


Support us and go ad-free

Katie Hopkins is an outspoken supporter of countries ‘protecting’ their own cultures. As part of that drive to protect sovereign identities, she’s now questioning the use of Welsh language in Welsh schools:

One Welsh person showed how ridiculous this is, and in turn how lax her journalistic credentials are:

Gavin & Stacey

The Twitter user emailed Hopkins with a somewhat suspicious story:

My son Smithy is currently being bullied as he is the only one in his class that can’t speak Welsh… Even when his best friend Gavin tries to speak to him in English he gets told off for it so they no longer hang out…

Rather than doing a journalism and verifying who she was speaking to, Hopkins emailed back:

So hard for you… can I share the content of your email?

She got the following response:

Don’t bother, I will save you the hassle and share the content of the email myself.

The names I just gave you are characters from legendary TV series Gavin and Stacey, but I can’t say I am surprised that you have never seen it as you were probably too busy watching Alex Jones “Alien Vampire Immigrants…”

I hope that this can be a lesson… to not believe everything you read on the internet.

You can read the full, glorious exchange here.

It’s surprising that Hopkins didn’t realise something was amiss, though. She’s previously suggested all Welsh people remind her of Gavin and Stacey, after all:

Nationalism

Hopkins previously made her feelings clear when she was a host on LBC:

Instead of looking for integration when people come to join our country… they seem to go for colonisation and I think we spend far too much time tip-toeing around the cultures of those who chose to join us rather than standing up for the culture they have chosen to join.

The Welsh didn’t exactly “choose to join us”, you may be surprised to discover. While the ‘English Conquest of Wales‘ was centuries ago, accepting Welsh people speak Welsh in Wales isn’t really “tip-toeing” around them. Also, it’s been pointed out her accusation isn’t even true:

First off, there is no such thing as ‘mandatory Welsh language education’ in Ceredigion. There are Welsh language schools and English-only schools here.

Secondly, Welsh language education is a bilingual education – children who attend them are taught to speak both English and Welsh…

So if English was ‘banned’ in Welsh schools, as Hopkins’ tweet claims, they would have to round everyone up, including the teachers, and the classroom would be empty.

Authoritarianism

Ifan Morgan Jones, writing for Nation Cymru, thinks he knows why Hopkins and the British far right are going after Wales:

Her call for ‘information’ from the ‘parents of Wales’ about the language isn’t about getting at the truth, of course, but collecting ammunition for a propaganda drive against the language…

The truth is of course that the so-called ‘British’ nationalism of people like Katie Hopkins has nothing to do with celebrating actual British culture and all to do with creating a culture-less, uniform, authoritarian state that answers to a small elite of upper-class twits in the Home Counties.

If you still think Hopkins cares about Welsh people, you should read these tweets:

Does anybody know what the Welsh for “fuck off back to Barnstaple” is?

Get Involved!

– Read Ifan Morgan Jones’s brilliant article on why Hopkins is gunning for Wales and why the Welsh language is so important.

– Join The Canary, so we can keep holding the powerful to account.

Featured image via Sodacan – Wikimedia / YouTube

Support us and go ad-free

We know everyone is suffering under the Tories - but the Canary is a vital weapon in our fight back, and we need your support

The Canary Workers’ Co-op knows life is hard. The Tories are waging a class war against us we’re all having to fight. But like trade unions and community organising, truly independent working-class media is a vital weapon in our armoury.

The Canary doesn’t have the budget of the corporate media. In fact, our income is over 1,000 times less than the Guardian’s. What we do have is a radical agenda that disrupts power and amplifies marginalised communities. But we can only do this with our readers’ support.

So please, help us continue to spread messages of resistance and hope. Even the smallest donation would mean the world to us.

Support us

Comments are closed