Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Brussels bureaucrats wipe Wales off their annual statistical map
The Daily Telegraph ^ | 6 October, 2004 | Richard Savill

Posted on 10/06/2004 10:27:48 AM PDT by tjwmason

Brussels bureaucrats wipe Wales off their annual statistical map

By Richard Savill
(Filed: 06/10/2004)

Wales was wiped off the map yesterday when it failed to appear on the cover of the annual yearbook produced by Brussels statisticians.

The map shows a line from Chester to the Severn Estuary along the English border, but Wales has vanished.

Glenys Kinnock, the Welsh MEP and wife of the former Labour leader Neil Kinnock, said it was "quite a shocking omission", but added: "I can assure you they will not forget us again.

"Maybe with computerised drawing this can happen and someone who isn't aware of this glorious country may not have known it existed."

She said the error did not reflect the level of funding Wales receives from Brussels, and said she would seek an explanation.

She added: "We are certainly not a part of Europe that gets forgotten."

On the streets of Cardiff, people made light of the disappearance of their homeland. One blamed it on an English conspiracy surrounding Saturday's World Cup qualifying football match against Wales. David Evans, 42, a market trader, said: "Obviously the only way they think they can beat us is to make us disappear off the map."

Caroline Jones, 28, a sales assistant, said: "Hopefully if we're cut off from Europe we can sail off to the Caribbean and be part of that instead. I wouldn't mind swapping our rain for sunshine."

The Eurostat Yearbook 2004 is billed as a "statistical compendium . . . presenting the diversity of Eurostat's data" and costs 50 euros, or £34.38.

The Eurostat office said: "We're looking into the error. No offence was intended to the people of Wales."

A spokesman added that the blunder was "certainly not deliberate" and was "just a design fault". The proof-reading process was being examined to see how the error could have slipped through. He could not confirm whether the book would be reprinted.

The spokesman said Wales would feature prominently in Eurostat's regional yearbook published this week.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Political Humor/Cartoons; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: bureaucrats; cymru; eu; europeanunion; wales
A an Englishman being rude about Wales and the Welsh is part of a long tradition, but I have never thought about getting rid of the entire country.

The web-site has a copy of the picture, but I don't know how to post them - it really is quite extraordinary.

1 posted on 10/06/2004 10:27:49 AM PDT by tjwmason
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: tjwmason

The Welch are neat.


2 posted on 10/06/2004 10:32:18 AM PDT by Mike Darancette (Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tjwmason

3 posted on 10/06/2004 10:34:18 AM PDT by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tjwmason

Save the Wales!


4 posted on 10/06/2004 10:35:45 AM PDT by talleyman (Why use a gun to steal when you can use a Democrat?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tjwmason

The Welsh should strike back and storm buckingham palace. I don't know why they put up with that horse faced Windsor family and their tainted gene pool. The Welsh free republic contingent should demand that Whales take over as the capitol of the U.K. Gotta love the Welsh.


5 posted on 10/06/2004 10:38:23 AM PDT by orangelobster
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tjwmason

Well, its Global Warming, you see. The water levels are rising, and, uh, the mountains of Wales are now beneath the sea, and, uh, its Bush's fault.


6 posted on 10/06/2004 10:45:04 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (The fourth estate is a fifth column.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: orangelobster
The Welsh free republic contingent should demand..

Done all the time, but no one can understand that damn language.

Jus' funnin ya.

7 posted on 10/06/2004 11:10:51 AM PDT by 11Bush
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: 11Bush

I have no idea what they are saying either, but the it looks good. Here's an old welsh song.

Mi glywaf dyner lais
Yn galw arnaf i
I ddod a golchi meiau
Yn afon Calfari
Arglwydd dyma fi
ar dy alwad di
Canna fenaid yn y gwaed
A gaed ar galfari
Yr iesu sydd im gwadd
I dderbyn gydai saint
Fydd gobaith cariad pur a hedd
A phob rhyw nefol fraint
Arglwydd dyma fi
Ar dy alwad di
Canna fenaid yn y gwaed
A gaed ar galfari
Gogoniant byth am drefn
Y cymod ar glanhad
Derbynia iesu fel yr wyf
A chanaf am y gwaed


8 posted on 10/06/2004 11:20:23 AM PDT by orangelobster
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: orangelobster

Is it insensitive for me to say that Welsh always seems like the speaker is choking on their own vomit?


9 posted on 10/06/2004 12:09:58 PM PDT by ClearCase_guy (The fourth estate is a fifth column.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: ClearCase_guy

"Is it insensitive for me"

You and your royalist british lackeys will have to answer to the welsh free republic contingent.


10 posted on 10/06/2004 12:13:47 PM PDT by orangelobster
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: tjwmason

Maybe they are on to something......

Perhaps that treatment should be extended to Massachuttes...


11 posted on 10/06/2004 12:14:20 PM PDT by bert (Peace is only halftime !)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: orangelobster

Several years ago, my wife and I went on vacation to the United Kingdom. We visited the Scotish highlands where we were barely able to understand the locals, England where the locals were barely able to understand us, and Wales where neither we nor they understood each other.


12 posted on 10/06/2004 1:11:50 PM PDT by 11Bush
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: tjwmason

Big splash for Pembrokeshire

Visitors to a Pembrokeshire theme park can expect the biggest splash of their lives as Europe's tallest and steepest water ride opens.

Hydro - water's revenge - at Oakwood theme park cost £1.7m and it is hoped will provide a boost to tourism in the region.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/2019302.stm

Who said anything about it being an accident?

13 posted on 10/06/2004 11:56:32 PM PDT by burlywood
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ClearCase_guy

I loved hearing my relatives speak Welsh. They spoke it with a "sing-song" that was beautiful.


14 posted on 10/07/2004 12:00:22 AM PDT by bonfire
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: burlywood

Hey, c'mon! They need at least one loop or corkscrew to count as a ride!

I'll bet it's called The North Sea Oil Rig Lifeboat Plunge!


15 posted on 10/07/2004 12:10:22 AM PDT by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson