There are so many Welsh political blogs out there, of all different perspectives and opinions. So, I will now unveil a new weekly section in which I will be looking at some of the different views out there and giving my own two cents on what they say. Please note, these are my opinions and not necessarily those of the Welsh Liberal Democrats or our elected politicians (as in blame me not them if you don’t like what I say).
Lets start with the Bevan Foundation who are claiming that both Rhodri Morgan and Nick Bourne are both digging their heels in and trying to remain as leaders of their respective parties, despite Jonathan Morgan’s apparent shots at Nick Bourne during a recent speech to Cardiff North Conservative Association. I guess we’ll see over the coming weeks what comes of that, although I wonder what odds I could get on unusual suspect one, two or three?
David Cornock and Bethan Jenkins AM report that Plaid Cymru will be using Commons debate time to call for a general election. So, apparently if you offer it a cheap and easy media hit, a turkey will vote for Christmas. Guerrilla Welsh-Fare also picks up the story, bizarrely seemingly to claim that Plaid helped push Tony Blair out of office. I am sure as he left the Commons for the final time he swore revenge on “that bloody Elfyn Llwyd”.
Glyn Davies believes everyone hates Labour but doesn’t have a bad word to say about the Tories. He’s also posted some lovely pictures of flowers, which is nice. I’m pondering following this floral theme by posting a picture of the dead plant in my bathroom on here.
Ordovicius has posted the scary Young BNP video of the puppet “Billy Brit”. It is usual practice for political parties to have youth wings and to try and attract young voters. But I think this epitomises the scariness of the BNP. This doesn’t attract Uni students based on their political beliefs, but is an attempt to brainwash the children of BNP supporters into their system of belief. It’s the equivalent of the Lib Dems sending “Graham the single transferable vote loving Anteater” around primary schools, or the Tories employing the Sugababes to release a new single “Lets lower the tax burden on the middle classes (2nite baby)”. All humour aside, expect this sort of thing to be on the curriculum of any BNP Government, should that terrifying prospect be allowed to happen.
I wouldn’t say Paul Flynn MP entirely hits the nail on the head with his analysis of the increasingly ridiculous MPs’ expenses story. Starting off his article with a massive “so what” about some of the more loony claims that the press have picked up on, he quickly degenerates into a party political dig at David Cameron. He’s not being unfair, everything he says is correct, but just when I thought someone was gonna take a stand against the media, he seems to bottle it and just wants to Tory bash. Oh well.
Tory MP David Jones complains that the Ministerial resignations are happening too fast for him to blog. Hazel Blears has actually resigned in the time it took me to write this sentence so I understand his pain. Given the current situation, by the time I finish this article democracy may have collapsed. In which case I may not bother posting it and will hide under my desk until order is restored. I should probably buy some monster munch to get me through actually.
The three Dewis pick up on the praise being given by many sources to Lib Dem Euro hopeful Alan Butt Phillip. The same praise is also offered by Valleys Mam who states that “the Lib Dem candidate actually made me listen to what he was saying”. The assertion that when it comes to the fourth seat in Wales it’s still anyone’s game is something that the three Dewi’s and BBC’s Betsan Powys seem to agree on. I’m gonna stick my neck out a bit here and say that the one party that doesn’t have a chance of the fourth seat is Plaid Cymru. They lack a central message in this election to attract voters to them. Lets remember their 2007 message of “Kick Labour into touch” can’t really be used this time. They’ve lost credibility as an alternative to Labour. Welsh Ramblings quotes Vaughan Rodrick who apparently disagrees with this assessment and believes Plaid can win it.
The national swing will help the Tories chances, but no-one is really sure what the effect of the whole expenses scandal will be on their level of support, or UKIP’s for that matter. They key factor will be ‘how low can they go’ with the Labour vote. We have a strong candidate, a positive message and have been working hard up and down the country. We’ve got a great shot at this 4th seat, but I guess we’ll find out who gets it on Sunday.
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