Tagged

My God. I’ve been tagged by gwe. And on a Monday morning.
And asked for my earliest political memories.
Not easy for a man who can’t remember what he had for tea last night.
I’m pleased to say I’m younger than gwe and so was just a tiny babe in arms in the summer of 1969 when – as gwe recollects – Wales witnessed the investiture of Charles as Prince of Wales.
I was drooling on my bib and making gargling noises at the time. I suspect gwe, though older, might have reacted in a similar fashion for different reasons.
I always felt political, I assume, because my parents felt political.
In my school there was a surprising amount of nationalist feeling. Saundersfoot had a very high proportion of English families. Football at break time was always England against Wales and the English always outnumbered the Welsh by three or four to one.
I hope now I’ve left that schoolyard nationalism behind. But a pain remains.
Even though I was growing up in Pembrokeshire, the main political event of my young life was without doubt the miners’ strike.
There had been questions in my house about the flag-waving surrounding the Falklands war. And I remember being branded a Communist early in secondary school for questioning it.
The miners’ strike, though, seemed like a real cause. It is the first time I remember feeling angry about a political issue.
And I still do.

:: I’m tagging Respectable Citizen