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Red + Green = Brown
2007-06-09 03:03:00 Hardly the most inspiring colour, is it?And yet, whether Wales is a car or an aeroplane, there seems to be mileage in the red-green Plaid-Labour idea again. Adam Price is all for it. And Edwina Hart used her first interview since the twentieth century to put her weight behind it too. (Quite how any assembly member has managed to dodge the Welsh press for so long is a complete mystery. After all, there are only sixty of them. There should probably be a Dragon's Eye rota, just to even it out. At least that would give Helen Mary Jones some well-earned time off to go scarf shopping.)Plaid and Labour in a grand coalition? Lefties everywhere are getting erect nipples just thinking about it.But they haven't had to face Ieuan Wyn Jones. Does this man really fancy playing second fiddle to Rhodri's 'same-old' septet? No.He'd quite like to captain the ship himself. That's why the opposition are already behaving like a government in waiting in Cardiff Bay, with joint strategies and chumm...
What is Wales?
2007-06-07 11:13:00 A little known fact about the new Government of Wales Act is that there is now provision for a minister, outside the cabinet, with responsibility for metaphors.So far, the theme has been transport."We have got a new car," said Rhodri after the election. "We are certainly not going to leave it in the garage."Then, this week..."Wales is an aircraft, and I am its pilot," Rhodri told the Queen."Can you ask the trolley lady to bring me a little something," said Dafydd El.Still to come, Wales is a boat, a bicycle and a blimp.After that, we'll be moving on to vegetables.
M4 Ministers
2007-06-02 01:47:00 Much has been made of Rhodri's so-called 'Glamorganshire Cabinet' (see below for Mumph's take on it). It is certainly odd that the only people deemed to have any ministerial talent hark from a narrow corridor in South Wales. This plays right into the hands of Ieuan Wyn Jones, of course. He still wants to form an all-Wales government, albeit one with barely a constituency seat to show for itself in and around the capital. But as far as valleys dwellers are concerned, the man is from a different planet. He may bang on about supporting the Newport Gwent Dragons, but most people in these parts put on 888 even when he's speaking in English.And so, if and when a rainbow coalition makes its move, they'll have the very opposite problem. How can a bunch of North and West Walian nationalists propped up by dickie bow wearing Tories possibly earn the trust of South Wales' industrial heartlands?Answer: the gang of four won't just have to get behind a rainbow coalition if that's what the...
'Pre-approved and ready to go!'
2007-05-01 01:03:00 A moment of excitement at the end of ITV's Wales Decides. Never mind the fact that half the audience are from a wind farm pressure group. Rhodri Morgan has let the cat out of the bag: Labour are already working with Peter Hain's Welsh Office on implementing their manifesto pledges for the 2007-11 assembly term. Peter Hain, of course, has to approve all the new assembly measures before they can become law. But right at the end of the show, Rhodri let slip that Labour's proposals are 'pre-approved and ready to go'.That's funny, I was under the impression that political parties needed a mandate from the electorate before they could start the business of government. Can Labour really be so sure of a majority that they can begin their legislative programme before a single vote has even been cast?
Four days to go and...
2007-04-30 11:48:00 Lib Dem leader Mike German is in Aberystwyth again. He might as well buy a second home there. That'll please Elin Jones. Still, he might need somewhere to lie low on election night. Can you really see Plaid making the same mistake twice?Labour say it's all about partnership. Peter Hain and Rhodri Morgan are going to comb each other's hair for the press sometime this afternoon. Activists will be choking on their clear red water.Plaid Cymru have finally persuaded some chap called Eurfyl ap Gwilym to come down from London to take the flak over their finance programme. Expect Labour and the Tories to sling the mud with venom. I fear for poor Eurfyl it's going to be like trying to volley it away with a tennis racket - much of it is going to splatter over the brave little soldier's face. And why do Plaid need to 'call in' an expert anyway? Can't any of their AMs do sums?And the Tories have brought in a notorious vote winner to help them with the final push. Unfortunately, he wasn...
Election 2007: The Debate
2007-04-30 01:00:00 The leaders went head to head, but only after each giving a two minute pregeth to the nation. I have no idea why politicians insist on this kind of unrestricted airtime. Someone should tell them that debate programmes are about people holding them to account and speaking their minds, not sitting captive so they can be brainwashed. Anyway, since Martin Shipton has lifted the taboo on elaborate (and subjective) ranking features, I've come up with my own:Rhodri Morgan (Labour)'... And that's 500,000 reasons to vote Labour.' What, in two minutes? I was jotting them down and only got to number five by the time he started freestyling. Stumped by Mike German and Ieuan Wyn Jones and heckled by the audience. Not his finest hour.5/10Ieuan Wyn Jones (Plaid)Yap. Yap. Yap. But less so than normal. Probably the audience's favourite with two heartening rounds of applause. Nick Bourne asked him if people really wanted Plaid's policy of a seat in the United Nations, to which he replied 'of co... |
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