I have made no secret of my dislike of modern day politicians, but despite that I have a keen interest in politics generally.
Indeed, BBC's Question Time is one of my favourite shows, and I enjoy the heated debate irrespective of who is on the receiving end.
I have no political affiliations, and to my shame, I have not in fact voted in the last 2 general elections.
So, that said, it has taken me a couple of days to get over the shock of what I heard uttered by the Leader of Plaid Cymru in their TV Polical Broadcast earlier this week.
She said, one of the main things we can do to cure the economic problems is for all of us to ''go out and spend a few extra pounds in the shops around us''.
The naivety of that statement beggars belief.
On her say so, shall we all go and buy things we don't need? Which will no doubt end up in land-fill and cause us to miss an EU waste recycling target.
Where are these few extra pounds to come from? As wages are static, yet inflation continues apace, does she believe that we all have disposable income to throw at things we otherwise would not have purchased?
Perhaps she should stand at the gates of QH in Mochdre and urge those poor sods to spend a bit of their derisory redundancy pay in Halfords?
It was such an ill thought out, and frankly insulting statement that I thought I had mis-heard her, but no!
I am a sole trader, shopkeeper if you like, and the words of this political numpty should have been music to my ears.
But no, I have long since realised that you do not have a divine right to simply obtain money from customers.
You must offer something that they want, or perhaps need... and you might just stand a chance of making a small living.
Whether I do or not is irrelevant, the principle is the same for cafes, hoteliers and any service provider.
People will not suddenly, on her say so,walk into any shop and buy something they do not need... who on this Forum would do something like that?
At a time of recession and low growth, it is human nature for us to squirrel away any money we have, and not squander it.
People are genuinely worried about where the next pay packet will come from, the days of 'jobs for life' have long gone.
People are frightened about the future, and for their families and they are looking for some kind of leadership from our politicians. They find nothing but empty words and loud bickering over the despatch box.
If that is the best that a leader of a national party can come up with, then it really is time for radical change.
