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What floats your vote?
2007-04-13 06:54:00
The sun is out, the memory of Cardiff City's ineptitude is beginning to fade and the frying pan burn I've inflicted on my face has healed just enough to allow me to suck on my first Cadbury's Creme Egg of the year. 'Tis truly a glorious day. And so, I've decided to be positive for once.No trawling through other blogs looking for inconsistencies, no cruel lookalikes of Assembly Members and no smug analyses. Because today I'm beginning to decide who should get my vote on May 3rd and I want to make a decision for the best possible reasons.The worst kind of floating voters in assembly elections float right on past their local polling stations. Thankfully, I'm not one of those. But I do have a float factor of about 60%. I suppose I'm more of an aero than a packet of quavers in that respect.I'm a graduate, I've just acquired my first car and I'm in need of a job and somewhere to live. Nasty people want me to give them in excess of twelve grand just because I dared to get myself...
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The race to 'save' our hospitals
2007-04-03 01:04:00
Labour launches its North Wales manifesto in Old Colwyn today with great fanfare and eleven pledges.Pledge number one: "Guarantee the future of Llandudno Hospital ."So, is this the end of the long-running saga which has already begun to dominate the campaign in the marginal seat of Aberconwy?Well, it might be, if it were clear what the pledge actually means. Llandudno hospital has long been earmarked to lose acute medical and coronary care services and in-patient breast surgery services. It is a hospital threatened not, as I understand it, with closure, but with downgrading.This downgrading is the result of a document called 'Designed for North Wales' which claims to set out the health service framework for the next 20 years. It is a document which, in plenary as recently as 21 March this year, the Health Minister claimed to support:"The key priorities for North Wales are in line with 'Designed to Deliver', and are the outcome of the document 'Designed for North Wales'. That do...
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A policy a day keeps the bloggers away
2007-04-02 18:10:00
Unless I've made a muck of my maths, today should be Lib Dem policy of the day number 93. And yet as far as I can tell, the last known outing for this gimmick/vote winner was on the 9th of March. Ideas seem to have run out at number 50.What will happen to the backlog? Will we be treated to 74 in a row on May 3rd? Perhaps Mike German will deliver them all in a sort of Ulysses style monologue? Meanwhile, Plaid candidates seem unable to even remember seven policies, never mind 100+. Still, if Mike German can do them all by memory I'll give him my vote. Full stop. But he has to tell us what they are first.
More About: Blogger , Blog , Policy , Bloggers , Keep

Blamerbell's Brussels burp
2007-04-02 01:08:00
For those keen to know what the better half of the Welsh blogosphere got up to in Brussels this week, I implore you to check out the blolumn of Matt 'but we have not got five minutes' Withers. Much like the closet class swot, Matt was obviously taking some pretty hefty notes and he's quoted almost all the good bits from our very brief meeting with two of Wales' four MEPs, while ignoring all the boring crap about energy. I have to confess, though, for most of that session I was struggling with quite possibly the bubbliest sparkling water I've ever come across. It was like supping straight out of a geyser. Ooh err. I nabbed another bottle for later hangover pacifying purposes, but the bobbling around in my bag only agitated the fizzy little buggers further and it exploded all over my crotch in the middle of the EU press conference.Anyway, as I've mentioned before, one of our destinations on this fact-finding/indoctrination exercise was Wales House, home to the assembly's bureau...
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Carl Sargeant's slow blogging death
2007-04-01 01:57:00
After three exhausting posts, the blog of Carl 'the caveman' Sargeant is no more.It's a shame. I had hoped Carl would be the Labour Glyn Davies.So, who'll step up and challenge the Welsh bloggerati?Sandy Mewies. Used to be a journalist. Great at staccato local paper style headlines. 'Delyn AM saves cat' etc.Carwyn Jones. Who will he thank today? Too nice to be a proper blogger.Leighton Andrews. On extended leave from the blogosphere just when it's starting to get interesting.Conclusion: position vacant, at least until the next Plaid v Huw Lewis handbag swinging tournament.
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It's a landslide for Plaid Cymru
2007-03-31 10:50:00
If elections were won and lost on takeup of the social networking website Facebook, then Plaid would be the clear leaders. There are so far 144 members in the Plaid Cymru group and 38 members in its unofficial sister club. The Welsh Liberal Democrats muster only 28 members. But that's still 28 members more than Labour and the Conservatives, who don't seem to have joined the revolution yet.And it's probably a good thing too. Facebook is for writing crap banter on your mates' walls. It's for stalking attractive women in American colleges. And it's for posting embarrassing photos of drunken misdemeanours.Why is it that politicians have to come along with their fake hobbies and youth oriented soundbites to spoil it all?
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The price of being an arsehole
2007-03-30 01:40:00
It may be tempting to think that as a blogger you are all powerful if you simply hide behind a pair of pants or some other artfully constructed conceit. You are not.No matter how gratifying it must feel to know you are the talk of the BBC and the corridors of Cardiff Bay, getting it wrong as a blogger could be a costly business. In a landmark case in the USA a blogger had to cough up $50,000. At the moment, the UK courts are gagging to get stuck into their first major blogging case. Bitch blogs beware: I wouldn't want to be the first.In legal terms, blogs are as vulnerable as any other form of media, and cases would most likely be heard on grounds of defamation or malicious falsehood. But while the mainstream press enjoys certain privileges which mostly ensure its protection, bloggers would be hung out to dry. A proper journalist is usually on firm ground if he can plead he has practiced 'responsible journalism' - certain checks and balances that may save his skin. Bitch blogs, b...
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Riding the gravy train
2007-03-29 17:08:00
I've dropped the shoulder, shimmied past a few diplomats and finally managed to escape the EU propaganda long enough to get to the internet.But the bus leaves soon and I'd better be on it. The Europeans are putting on a friendly face but you can tell they're itching to explode as this bunch of Welsh jokers and journalists abuse the free wine and continually fail to show the remotest inclination of being able to turn up anywhere on time.Still, yesterday at Wales House was interesting. Not so much a house really but a wannabe embassy where the Welsh assembly keeps its lobbyists. Still, it gave me a chance to find out a bit more on the whole 'what if' scenarios of Wales' place in Europe. More on that tomorrow.In the meantime, I'd love to tell you about some of the after dark antics of our cherished local hacks but the beer was so nice I honestly can't remember a thing:)
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Today in Brussels
2007-03-28 15:48:00
Wake up. Late. Shit.Buss full of journalists. Mocked.Go to conference centre. Drink lots of water.Listen to speeches.EU is good. Nobody knows this. Press should tell them.Constitution is actually a treaty. It's the way forward.EU is good. Nobody knows this. Press should tell them.Peter Mandelson helps people in poor countries. The EU feeds Palestinian children.An independent Wales would really struggle to get automatic EU membership.EU is good. Nobody knows this. Press should tell them.
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Blogging from Belgium
2007-03-27 17:39:00
Right, I'm off to Brussels on an EU freebie.Means I have to sit through such exciting talks as 'The European Union's Communication Policy & Plan D' (Mr. Sten Ramstedt). Can't wait.Still, Belgian beer IS unquestionably the best in the world so I'm sure it will be all worthwhile.Anything you'd like me to say to Glenys Kinnock?
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Blogs, Barnett and budgetary balls
2007-03-27 10:58:00
Strange things are happening in blog world. Since I've put those self-congratulatory quotes in the sidebar, people have been emailing me testimonials to add to the list. I had no idea that was blogging etiquette and just pinched all the others from altogether different contexts. But thank you anyway:)Meanwhile, the Welsh blogosphere has swelled into a Bertha-like monster, constantly spitting out blogs of many persuasions. This is beginning to be a medium for new audiences, even if my third and fourth most frequent visitors come from Welsh Office and BBC domains respectively.And now Lee Waters, formerly of ITV politics fame, is sending me press releases. Lee is now in the director's saddle of cycling charity Sustrans. Today, they've teamed up with the BMA and National Association of Headteachers to make the civil case for reviewing the Barn ett formula: the complicated method for calculating public spending in Wales.Political parties have long called for changes in the way Wales is...
More About: Blogs , Blog , Balls , Budget

Accentuating the negative: officially unofficial
2007-03-26 11:41:00
So far in this election campaign, Plaid have gone all out on three campaign drives. The seven policies for 2007 (three more than some of their candidates could remember on the Politics Show yesterday), and two attacks on Labour. Never mind the 2:1 ratio, Plaid are now a righteous bunch emphasising positive politics. That, at least, is what we are supposed to write.But a new 'unofficial Plaid Cymru supporting broadcast', which uses the Plaid Cymru logo and campaigning literature from ex-leader Dafydd Wigley, makes a beeline for the negative and more specifically for Labour's goolies. Using the innovative method of cutting from text-heavy graphics to snippets of online articles, the saving grace for Labour is that only THIS man (world's fastest reader for those not wanting to click on the link) will be able to understand it.But you'd be hard pushed to know the video isn't straight out of Plaid's head office. The disclaimer comes at the very end, and even then in blurred italici...
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Poles to the polls
2007-03-26 10:38:00
Since the last assembly election a new wave of immigrants has arrived in Wales following the expansion of the European Union. But it seems that neither they nor Welsh politicians are precisely clear about their voting rights.I've heard AMs assert that they need to have lived in this country for a year before they vote. Meanwhile, the immigrants themselves tend not to know that Wales has a government, let alone that their votes might influence who runs it.The simple fact is that EU citizens need only be resident in Wales in order to vote in the assembly elections. In the case of Polish people in particular, that means thousands of potential voters who weren't around in 2003. No wonder the Lib Dems are putting out Polish leaflets in Wrexham, as are Plaid in Llanelli.The Pole s are, in fact, a politician's dream. They are blank canvasses, completely without the decades of enculturation and prejudice that informs most voters. And they are willing to be persuaded. The Poles I've met a...
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Sassy, successful and 'single'
2007-03-25 15:42:00
Ever wondered what happens when the Wales on Sunday runs out of Charlotte Church stories? Then turn to the centre spread of today's edition for the fifty top Google search results for 'Welsh female', err sorry, the fifty Bachelorettes of the year.Sunday papers, of course, have that horrible disadvantage over the dailies of six more days to get their facts wrong. And today's WoS was no different:"Each and every girl in our list is sassy, successful, single, and most importantly Welsh..."Now, I happen to know number 19 quite well (you beat Miss Wales, Bethan. Well done). But I also know her boyfriend. More quality journalism there from the 'pride of our nation'. Next week: top 50 bachelors of the blogosphere. Fingers crossed.
More About: Success , Sing , Single , Sassy

Giggs is no longer Wales' only world class player
2007-03-24 18:33:00
What an uninspiring afternoon. Most of the people in the pub couldn't even be bothered to watch the football. And while we are on the subject, why on earth are our national team's games only available on satellite television? Everyone should be able to watch their country perform.Except that Wales didn't perform today. Giggs is no longer Wales' only world class player. That's because he's not world class anymore. As captain, he should have galvanised the team and led by example. Instead, he was woeful and his complete lack of impact was epitomised by two wasted free kicks towards the end of the game.Here's hoping for an Israel win to salvage something from the day.
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Who's doing Ieuan's maths?
2007-03-24 14:36:00
Nobody would pay for me to go to Caernarfon, so I'm afraid you'll have to go elsewhere for the big news on Plaid's conference. Like, for instance, Ieuan Wyn Jones' apparent inability to spell.But some would doubt his aptitude for Math s too.Right at the very end of his appearance on the BBC's Dragon's Eye on Thursday, Plaid's leader gave his prediction of the way North Wales will vote in May's election. He said:We can win five seats in North Wales. Me as the First Minister elected from Anglesey (if the party does well in the rest of Wales) and Dafydd Wigley on the list aswell with Janet Ryder. I think this is an election where Plaid are going to make significant advances.Significant indeed. That result would suggest a phenomenal collapse of the Labour vote. It would also suggest a big increase in the Plaid vote on the regional list at the expense of the other parties. You can't fault Ieuan for his optimism. Plaid have said that from now on they're going to be positive about...
More About: Doing , Maths

All roads lead to Wales
2007-03-23 09:46:00
Fridays in Welsh politics are usually as dull as... err, Thursdays in Welsh politics. If Dafydd Wigley sneezes, it'll make it into the Western Mail.But today, all hell has broken loose.Well, in fact Charles Kennedy has broken loose, but I presume Mick Bates et al will have him under control as he tours Wale s this weekend.Not to be outdone, the Tories have sent their entire Shadow Cabinet (minus anyone with anything better do to) to hold a meeting in Cardiff. Glyn Davies was so concerned about giving Carol Spelman a lift he drove all the way home to Welshpool to pick up his wife's Merc. I hope he remembered the hat and gloves.Meanwhile, there's something going on in Caernarfon. Can't quite remember what. I think it involves Plaid Cymru... And despite Ieuan Wyn Jones' appearance on the BBC's Dragon's Eye last night, the coalition rumours haven't been killed off. As the Prez would sing: 'Mae nhw yma o hyd'. I think we can presume the election campaign is now in full swing.UPD...
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Ieuan Wyn Jones is a 'weak daffodil'
2007-03-22 11:37:00
Labour's press people revealed today that they aren't just au fait with YouTube, they're a whizz at photoshop too.So, they've turned Ieuan Wyn Jones into a sort of Tory tree monster, intended to symbolise the fact that Plaid have apparently voted over 400 times with the Conservatives in the Assembly.This is the latest attempt by Labour to re-ignite the 'Vote Plaid get Tory' mantra, despite recent assertions by the nationalists that they hoped would not only have knocked the nail on its head, but knocked it right through into the eyes of any opportunistic Tories.But Labour remain undeterred, if slightly lacking in imagination. The line is supposed to be that 'Ieuan Wyn Jones is a weak daffodil', whatever that is. But given Plaid's new image, surely 'floppy poppy' would have made for a more resonant metaphor. At the very best they've made him look like one of those tree people from Lord of the Rings.Plaid start their conference tomorrow and have the opportunity to kill the...

Carl the caveman
2007-03-21 12:57:00
Primitive, clumsy and unintelligent, Carl Sargeant AM shares none of the qualities of his long-lost twin brother Fred Flintstone (aka John Goodman). Despite this, the two were re-united this week after centuries apart. On meeting his new best pal Mr Sargeant screamed, 'Scooby dooby doo!'. 'It's Yabba dabba doo!' Fred replied. 'And take your eyes off my Wilma.'Separated at birth:Carl Sargeant and Fred Flintstone.
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Why is Google promoting the BNP?
2007-03-21 09:44:00
Google News is a great thing. Where else could you read 206 different articles about Kanye West's carbon-heavy Welsh korma?It is, in fact, quite ironic that one of the world's most popular news sites is completely devoid of any journalism at all; it being no more than a mere aggregator of news feeds from all over the globe. I'd love to know, however, who decides which sources should be included. Surely a pre-requisite for any news provider is at least a semblance of impartiality? And at the very least political press releases should be ruled out because they are so unequivocally partisan.Strange then, that Google only seem to have one feed from a UK political party, and that's the British National Party. Indeed, a constant stream of latent xenophobia is now a familiar part of the Google apparatus. Even the most innocuous of searches can throw up some BNP propaganda.I've no idea how the BNP managed to get on Google's list in the first place, but there's no doubt it should be r...
More About: Google , Promoting , Prom , Promo , Googl

Ian Titherington v the world
2007-03-20 13:13:00
OK, perhaps the Welsh blogosphere isn't the world, but it's still a brave man who takes on the combined might of Peter Black and Glyn Davies et al.And in his very first blog post too. What a way to introduce yourself to your new friends.Ian Titherington, Plaid's man in Swansea West, is blogging, albeit reluctantly:After all the promises I made to myself, I have ignored them all and created an election blog site. Well you know what they say about politician's promises!I will fill up these pages this weekend, when I have time to do so. I do worry a little about full time politicians who actually have the time to update these things daily. With respect, they need to get a life.Meow!Still, Swansea West could be one to watch. Plaid's Ted Jones is bigging up the chances of his mate, despite the 2,500 Labour majority. But whether he can muster an upset or not, pitching a hope-to-be First Minister against no-nonsense Ian means it's still a seat worth keeping an eye on. That's if he ...
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Somebody save the Lib Dems!
2007-03-20 09:42:00
Concern is mounting for the well-being of the Welsh Liberal Democrat Party, missing for almost nine days.They were last seen at the Richard Ley Development Centre in Swansea for their Spring Conference a week last Sunday. Police are said to be puzzled by a note left on their website, claiming that the conference is still the Lib Dem s ' 'top story'. They were alerted after a link to 'today's conference update' brought up information over a week old. UK party leader, Sir Menzies Campbell, has issued an impassioned plea for information. He said: "Conferences are only supposed to last two or three days. Either the Welsh Lib Dems are still in Swansea, frantically finalising plans for a policy a second between now and the election, or something terrible has happened."Conspiracy theories have already started to emerge, among them the suggestion that they've already teamed up with another party two months ahead of schedule.
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Plaid: a local party for local people
2007-03-19 14:26:00
Who'd have thought independents rather than independence would define the Plaid Cymru grassroots campaign? Taking as a platform the success of single-issue independent candidates, Plaid are planning to register slogans about sensitive local issues on ballot papers in certain targeted seats.So, in Aberconwy, Plaid will appear as 'Plaid Cymru - Save Llandudno Hospital', much to the joy of conservative candidate Dylan Jones-Evans, I'm sure.This tactic raises questions as to what a vote for a constituency candidate in a national election actually means. Are parties standing on nationwide manifesto promises, or simply exploiting issues which may gain them seats at a local level? Moreover, does this narrow focus misrepresent what a vote for a particular party will mean in reality?If, at the moment of putting a cross next to a name, you are swayed by an emotive campaign to save a local hospital, are you paying enough critical attention to the other facets of that party's policy? Plaid...
More About: People , Party , Local , Part

I don't believe it! Peter Hain for DPM?
2007-03-19 10:28:00
Peter Hain 's campaign for the Deputy Leadership of the Labour party goes multi-media today.Hot on the heels of Jane Davidson, Hain has decided that one social-networking site can't possibly be enough, so he's launched simultaneously on Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Flickr. There's a swanky new official website too with celebrity endorsements from Richard Wilson (Victor Meldrew) and... OK well, just him really, but it's a start.The pitfalls of the internet are, however, already out to derail the Hain campaign. Some joker has registered the username peter_hain and set the profile to private, while the real thing has had to settle for the username peterhain and gives an astonishingly frank account of his run-ins with a tanning machine.And just when you thought there was no more room on the internet for Hain's virtual campaign machinery, there's also a new blog for us all to get stuck into. Only one post so far but it's meaty stuff: "We need real renewal and by that I mean a ge...
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The People's Republic of Rhondda
2007-03-19 10:19:00
Separated at birth... Leighton Andrews AM and former Chinese President Jiang Zemin
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Who the hell is Priti Patel?
2007-03-16 07:49:00
The BBC trucks rolled into Newport last night for their flagship political discussion programme, Question Time.But it might as well have been Newport in Cornwall or the Isle of Wight. Gwent, and Wales in general, was off the agenda.The panelists were all personalities of the Westminster village. Originally, there was also to be a Welsh assembly member, but she was ditched at the last minute. But there was room for one election candidate. No, not an assembly election candidate but a Conservative A-lister who'll attempt to stand in some unspecified UK election in the future.The topics up for discussion were the Commons vote on Trident, the Olympics budget, Tony Blair's four year-old interventionist speech and David Cameron's hairdo. Throughout the entire programme there was not a single hint that politics in Wales is now devolved.This is the link that's missing when we all groan about the assembly's lack of popularity or the fact that only half the population appear to know there...
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Plaid fury as Wood is axed from Question Time
2007-03-15 19:14:00
Plaid Cymru are enraged tonight after learning that Leanne Wood AM will not be appearing on the BBC's Quest ion Time programme as planned. The programme makers contacted Ms Wood just hours before recording was due to start in Newport to inform her that she would no longer be required.Despite this, Ms Wood was advertised as a guest on the Question Time website throughout the week. The page has now been changed to reflect the new line-up. In a sensational political reversal, it appears that left-leaning Leanne's replacement is the fiercely conservative columnist, Peter Hitchens.This is also a serious snub to devolved politics in Wales. When the programme came from Edinburgh recently, two of the five candidates were Members of the Scottish Parliament and a further two were candidates in the forthcoming Scottish elections. In Newport, this evening, the Welsh assembly will have no representatives whatsoever.Poor Leanne will just have to watch the programme on television, perhaps frantic...
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The two sides of Welsh politics
2007-03-15 10:06:00
Rosettes are being preened, tactics are being chalked up and speeches are being badly written. This is now an election campaign.And just as politicians (and the hopefuls) are getting into full swing, the actual daily grind of politics has gone into underdrive. Since Chrismtas, the assembly has voted for free prescriptions and ratifying the smoking ban. Few people could name any other events of note.Last week, the lethargy was so pronounced that the highlight (certainly for the celebrity bloggers) seemed to be Brynle Williams getting upside down and inside out.And yet, this is exactly the time when Welsh politics must seem at its most relevant if people are going to be persuaded to take the time to vote. Instead, there's an inevitable sense of winding down before the campaign trail goes truly beserk. All the while, voters gaze through the glass panels into the politicians' furrow in Cardiff Bay and must wonder what exactly it is they're voting for.
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Iraq debate: the result
2006-11-01 06:18:01
25 government majority. Ah well, worth a bash.
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Exclusive footage of Elis Thomas v Marek
2006-10-31 00:12:01
Exclusive footage of Elis Thom as v Mare kThis previously unseen footage leaked from the Welsh Assembly.Presiding officer Dafydd Elis Thomas and Deputy presiding officer John Marek fight it out during a plenary session.Scandalous.
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