Apologies for no update last week. My excuse is that I was both tired and busy. Never a good combination for getting things done that I can get away with putting off. Which also explains why I had a lot of laundry to do this weekend. This has to be one of the most exciting opening paragraphs ever written. I’m guessing you probably don’t wanna hear about my sock shortage, so on to blogs.
Alan Ap Huw is one of few blogs that looks at the effects of the sacking of Sian Caiach as Plaid PPC for Ogmore. While he maybe getting a little too over excited about the prospect of this being the start of a break-up of Plaid in the South West, I do find myself agreeing that there is a strange silence from many in the Welsh blogosphere on the issue (aside from on here of course!). It seems there are many bloggers who will take any slight difference of opinion on a matter as meaning an entire party is split (such as Guerrilla Welsh-Fare’s Che Grav-ara), but when there is a genuine, sizeable and increasing split in Plaid it barely warrants a mention.
Maybe it’s because I struggle to see how Plaid can defend their actions that I find it strange that there is a silence. I am proud to belong to a party where if you disagree with the leader you’re more likely to get put on stage and given a chance to talk to members, who will then probably clap you regardless for at least having the balls to say it, than to get kicked out. So to see another party that the Lib Dems are sometimes compared to, and with whom we do share a sizeable amount of agreement on policy, act in this way just confuses me. If anyone in Plaid agrees with this and thinks that a party should be able to actually debate issues and that their leaders should listen to their members, I suggest they click here.
S4C2 will no longer be showing the Assembly proceedings live. According to the Bevan Foundation this may not be mourned in the pubs in Wales, but is ‘a retrograde step’. With ITV cutting back on their news coverage of Wales, and the promised welsh language newspaper apparently dead in the water, you have to wonder how anyone is going to hear about what is happening in the Senedd?
This is also the first blog summary since “that” report. So I should probably look at some of the blog responses to it. The Cynical Dragon lists the main recommendations. Tom Bodden points out that the report will actually save very little money, although this was never really its aim. It would be interesting to compare how much the report cost compared to expected savings though, and will this really restore confidence in Assembly Members? Will AMs continue to get the same level of public distain thanks to their Westminster colleagues? Could as much have been achieved by just allowing the public stoning of an AM found to have abused the system by more than £9.70? “Nick Ramsey’s bought another bed, I’m gonna need some granite for this.” I’m sure S4C2 would at least cover that.
Has enough pressure come off Nick Bourne that he can actually start to lead his party again? Apparently so. He has proposed that the top position on regional lists should be reserved for female or ethnic minority candidates. It is something that the Welsh Lib Democrats have debated for years, but always resisted. In the Assembly at least we have no problem with balance. With a female leader, a female Chief Exec and a female president, maybe we should consider other options! Will these proposals lead to more female Tory AMs, without a doubt. But in a truly modern and representative party these steps are not needed, and as such are an admission of defeat in themselves.
After writing that sentence, I read Glyn Davies comments on it. He agrees with me.
It was certainly interesting to read Carwyn Jones’ views on assisted suicide. The post had clearly been carefully constructed to not be seen to be making the case for the whole scale legalisation of euthanasia. He poses difficult questions about where the line should be drawn, citing the case of the couple who recently took their own lives in Switzerland, where one of the two was not terminally ill or in considerable pain. I find myself agreeing with much of what he says, although maybe he stops short of my own opinion. Remember though, we are talking about someone who is one of the favourites to be the next First Minister of Wales. Will this be an issue that he will actively take up with his Westminster colleagues if he were to be successful?
Both Adam Price and Peter Black seem to think tomorrow will be an interesting occasion, when News International go in front of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee in Westminister. Among them will be Tory Spin Chief Andy Coulson. I suspect that when I come to writing this article next week we’ll know a bit more about what happened, and of course the big question – will Mr Coulson be able to flatly deny in front of the committee that he had nothing to do with it?
An amusing piece of gossip on Valleys Mam is that apparently Jonathan Morgan left plenary early to go watch the new Harry Potter film. In his defense, I would have done the same.
There are two issues I’m not gonna talk about. I’m not gonna mention the IBW expenses, because enough has already been said on Freedom Central about it.
I’m not gonna mention the National Transport Plan either, because I think the issue is so dull it may cause mild cases of swine flu. (Now might be a good time to mention that this piece is my personal opinion, and not the opinion of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, Freedom Central or pretty much anyone else with an IQ over 17.)
I hope this has helped inform you of what is going on in Wales at the moment. It probably didn’t though. Go read some posts by real bloggers instead.
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