The other week I found it mildly amusing that the Foreign Office Minister, Meg Munn, had told Parliament that the FCO didn't know how many people in its department spoke Welsh, and didn't record such things. What amused me most was that other departments seemed to know the answer, and that the FCO seemed like the sort of place where you would ask, as a matter of course, what languages people spoke.Anyhow, it seems to me like Meg Munn might have been slightly mistaken. You see, last week, Mark Hoban asked the Prime Minister who did the translated versions of the Number 10 website and how much they cost, to which the answer was, "Translation services are provided by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the costs for which are met from existing budgets."
The perceptive amongst you that click the link to Number 10 might notice that there is a flag with a dragon on it which takes you to the Welsh language version of the site. So like I say, looks like Megg Munn was mistaken, someone, somewhere in the FCO knows who speaks Welsh!
Have to admit though that there is something quite amusing about how Prime Minister in Welsh is "Prif Weinidog"*. Seems quite an apt title really.
Hat Tip: Croydonian for spotting that.
2 comments:
"The other week I found it mildly amusing that the Foreign Office Minister, Meg Munn, had told Parliament that the FCO didn't know how many people in its department spoke Welsh, and didn't record such things."
You are easily amused. There is no inconsistency here. Unless the FCO specifically asked all their staff if they spoke Welsh then Meg Nunn wouldn't know the total. The existence of the Welsh language version of the website simply shows that there is at least one Welsh speaker in the FCO
Another interesting fact is that we call Westminster San Steffan after the old St Stephens chapel where the commons used to sit.
Post a Comment