To remind people about Wales' existence

[BeeInYourBonnet]

Just listening to any questions, and again all I've heard is Scotland, England, Scotland, England. Not one mention of Wales. I know the main focus is the Scotland/UK question, but Wales IS actually part of the UK!!!!! Unless I've missed something.

The whole election campaign has been the same, save for the odd patronising mention of Leanne Wood (normally in voxpops where the 'welsh' reveal they don't know who she is) and the constant mispronunciation of Plaid Cymru.

Hiya Wales !

Why Lapsed?

Just moved here from NI and all I will say is Wales has been much more talked about than NI ever was

Ok.
So we countries should just go ahead and cede.

And take any English regions that want to come too

Or maybe it would be best if London just declared UDI and left the rest of us to it.

Northern Ireland is half the size of Wales which is half the size of a East Anglia which is a small corner of England. Sorry, but the reason they are not talked about much is because they are proportionally not that important.

Oh well that's ok then. Let us all ignore Wales and Northern Ireland because they're just tiny little Nations and clearly count for nothing compared to the region of England know as East Anglia.

Wales and Northern Ireland weren't ignored. I watched Newsnight coverage from Northern Ireland interviewing all the party leaders and Leanne Wood had a place in the UK debates even when her party only stood in 5% of seats.

Scotland is more newsworthy because a) it's more significant in size and b) a huge political change has taken place there in the last days and months. What news from Wales is more important than the changes in Scotland?

Just out of interest what is the population of East anglia?

5.84 million in 2011.

Ah bigger than the East Midlands then, I assume your name refers to that area of England? I guess no news ever needs to be reported from the East Midlands then given your randomly selected criteria, good to know...

Muchtoo - you do understand that Wales has no separate law. Or taxation powers. The Assembly has very limited powers. Wales' days of importance to the British Isles ended with the Thatcher era. Wales is a net receiver of EU funding. It has been a tool of the UK government for 200 years without representation except under Labour governments.
So yes there is as disconnect with Westminster and we are in effect the pensioners of the UK. The prime is passed. HS2 is being planned but the main line to Cardiff is still not electrified afaik and is mostly dependant upon a tunnel that frequently floods.

The point is exactly that the regions of England of a similar size or bigger than Wales get nothing like the attention of Wales. That's OK - Wales is a country with it's own Assembly and political culture so should be over-reported for its relative size - but it explains why Wales doesn't get the coverage that the OP wants. It's much smaller than even anonymous and largely unreported regions of England like East Anglia or the East Midlands. From a UK perspective, it's just not very important.

But it is a country. Name the counties of Wales without Google. Sing the first 10 words of the national anthem.
England is the default setting. Regions less so. Wales is treated like a minor region and the Welsh regions like a small English town.
Now I don't think that Wales was ever supposed to be included in the 'bog' debate. Cameron said he wouldn't do it unless small parties were included. It was a tactic to frighten England with the SNP but he couldn't do that without Plaid and the Greens. He didn't argue for the NI parties because he represents the Conservative and Unionist party and god forbid Sinn Fein might turn up!

In the context of the government of the UK and the make up of the Commons, why is Wales of any more relevance than an English region?

In 2013 Belgium had a population of 11.2m, Poland had 38.5m. Poland must be of more significance to the EU than Belgium because more people live there, right?

The number of people living there isn't the point. East Anglia isn't a separate country, Wales is. Just because they agree to be part of a union with England, Scotland & NI doesn't mean it's a part of England. It doesn't mean that when there's a general election for the United Kingdom that Wales (or NI) should be ignored in favour of Scotland & England. We're all supposed to be working together, not have England decide Wales are less important than various regions of it's own country just because there are fewer people living there.

The only election coverage I've really seen about Wales is Cameron claiming he's going to devolve powers to Scotland & Wales, as promised. How kind of him. After numerous years of being subjected to English rule he's going to let the Welsh have a little bit more control over what happens to them. Personally, I think complete, albeit gradual, devolution is the way to go. The only way Wales will be respected as part of the union is if it's seen as a separate country with it's own parliament who can stand up to Westminster. It amazes me that there are some English who seem to be anti-EU but completely oblivious to the fact that England controls Wales in much the same way that they're convinced the EU does to Britain.

I'm not usually so Welsh-nationalist-ish... Honest!

Er, yes, the larger countries of the EU have more weight and influence and are covered more in the media. In the next EU elections, there will be more coverage of France and Germany than Luxembourg or Latvia.

Yes, Wales is a separate country. But so what? In the context of a UK election, every MP is worth the same. Wales already gets more coverage (e.g Leanne Wood on UK TV debates) than it would get if it was only considered on its population. You're arguing for even more. But how much and why? Should a quarter of the UK coverage be devoted to Welsh issues?

And Wales is not subject to English rule. In fact, Welsh MPs vote on strictly English issues in Westminster.

YANBU - HRH Chaz has been somewhat overshadowed by the Cambridges of late.

oops... should have read the OP

But to be clear, Scotland are not seeking independence from England, but the UK. The UK and England are not the same thing.

I can't name the counties of Wales without voting.
but nor could I name all the counties of England, Scotland or northern Ireland.
in fact I doubt most could name "just southern, or just midland counties in England without google - to bring the number proportionately down.

Wales wasn't forgotten, and received some coverage, loads of people were talking about Plaid.

In terms of "the union" Wales is certainly important,
in terms of Westminster government.

England 533 seats (82%) -532 if you don't include the speaker. population 53 million (84%)
Northern Ireland 18 (3%) population 1.8 million (3%)
scotland 59 seats (9%) population 5.2 million (8.2%)
Wales 40 Seats (6%) population 3 million (4.7%)

You are the proportionally best represented per capita (i.e your vote matters/carries more power than mine.)

Just to make p0you aware, saying that Plaid got coverage on TV is not the same as saying the Welsh got coverage on TV you do realise that not all the Welsh vote for Plaid dont you... or maybe not because thats all the TV shows. Its like saying Brighton got lots of coverage on TV because the Green Party were interviewed, its not one and the same thing.

I love Wales! Frankly if it's perceived as a political backwater then I might spend much more time there to get away from it all!!

I agree that coverage of Plaid Cymru does not necessarily equate to coverage of Wales, but no-one has been able to say what other kind of coverage has been lacking in the context of a UK election. Welsh schools and hospitals are covered by the Assembly, so not part of this election. Welsh taxes, defence, economy, benefits etc are not separate from anyone else's, so covered by UK-wide coverage. What are the unique subjects lgnored?

EastMids, the Welsh economy is definitely distinct from the rUK economy. For example, constant yelling about houses being unaffordable and people 'choosing' not to work is practically irrelevant where I am in Wales- there are far fewer available jobs per person seeking work, and (linked) houses are not unaffordable for people on minimum wage, so (though I'm not completely sure of stats) home ownership is higher but there are problems with e.g. second homes, people being unable to afford energy efficiency and modernisation needed to maintain homes in a decent standard. We also don't really have a financial services sector, and have many more jobs proportionally in the public sector, in North Wales at least. So any public sector cuts affect the area disproportionately, and create mass unemployment- whereas Tories would say cuts help working people, in fact the don't if they mean working people lose their jobs. There are also many more people employed in agriculture and seasonal work (and this has been the case since I was a child in South Wales too), which is very different to having a full time regular hours job as I now do.

Also part of the point of Plaid is that perhaps people want Welsh taxes to be different rather than the same as England. As Scotland has the right to vary income tax, I don't see why we shouldn't (not that Scotland has used it- I also lived there a while and think SNP are a bit hypocritical about this as they could put up tax to pay for services). I could pay more tax, and I would do so if it meant getting a decent GP rather than a shit one who probably couldn't find work elsewhere and openly doesn't care about chronic illnesses. I'd also consider doing postgrad medical training if more Welsh unis offered it and/or if fees were abolished, which again would benefit Wales but is not on offer due to English rhetoric about graduates being better off (they are not, here, or I think anywhere tbh any more) than trades workers.

Everything you say in your opening paragraph could be said about regions of England. They may be conditions that apply to Wales but they are not uniquely Welsh problems.

Aargh. Scotland doesn't need any more people whinging about it just now