Freedom Central » IWA

Gareth Jones – a further tribute

Ali Goldsworthy — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 04:37:12 +0000

Gareth Jones, the former Chair of the Welsh Lib Dem’s Policy Committee died recently. He worked closely with Mike German who wrote his own tribute previously.

Yesterday, Director of the Institute of Welsh Affairs, John Osmond’s obituary was published in the Guardian yesterday. Again highlighting the massive impact of his work in Wales. I know it will be of interest to many readers of Freedom Central.

This week I have mostly been reading…

Matt O'Grady — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 20:05:37 +0000

I’m ill, and still blogging. That is commitment. Someone email me a lemsip.

As the contest to succeed Rhodri Morgan as Labour leader/First Minister begins, it’s obviously going to be the main subject on the blogs. We now have three declared candidates. Edwina Hart, Huw Lewis and Carwyn Jones. Not much surprise or inspiration there really. Carwyn Jones’ campaign website went live today and a formal declaration is probable tomorrow.

But there isn’t much agreement on who the eventual winner will be. Glyn Davies has first-hand experience in working with both Edwina and Carwyn during his time in the assembly. He is of the impression that it’s between the two of them and that it could be close.

But not everyone has written off Huw Lewis’s chances. Bethan Jenkins points out that he “is keen, floated ideas in various meetings and conferences, and has an eagerness to succeed”. She may be right, and if it does become a battle of ideas then that could easily play into his hands, and Carwyn would be pretty buggered. His answer to every Assembly question is the same “well, under the Tories it would be worse” – that’s not a bloody answer! .

But, it’s not the Plaid group that matters in this one, it’s the Labour group. As Guerrilla Welsh-Fare points out, Huw doesn’t exactly have the backing of the political stars of the Labour group. Can the backing of the likes of Karen Sinclair and Irene James really swing many votes his way? Probably not. But he does have the support of Tory MP David Jones. I’m sure he is grateful. Edwina and Carwyn are both yet to declare exactly who their six are, assuming they have them all signed up by now!

But as Betsan Powys highlights, there are more than just Assembly Members involved in this. There are more Labour MPs than AMs and their votes will count the same in Labour’s strange electoral college type thingy.

And so to the odds this week:

Carwyn Jones: Evens (still)
Huw Lewis: 5/2
Edwina Hart: 7/2
Jane Hutt: 14/1

……has anyone even bothered to ask Jane Hutt if she is planning on running? Someone should email her and check or something. I guess it doesn’t matter either way.

Swansea based blogger Inside Out suggests settling the contest with pistols. The one problem with that is it would create by-elections, and we’re all too busy for that!

The Institute of Welsh Affairs point out that the ban on dual candidates could end up coming back to haunt Labour, given that both Edwina and Carywn are at serious risk of losing their seats to the Tories in 18 months time. We all know that the ban was implemented for party political reasons and to save Labour cabinet members blushes, could they really consider u-turning on this for political reasons as well?

I’m not really a fan of the latest campaign by the BMA to remove sunbeds from all Welsh Leisure Centres. I suppose my issue with this is on two levels. In moderation, there is nothing particularly harmful about them. If someone wants to pay the council to help them get a tan before they go on holiday then there isn’t anything wrong with that, although I think it‘s a fairly odd concept of getting a tan before you go on holiday! But there are many providers of tanning facilities, it’s not like removing them from council properties is going to stop people from using them. There is a second issue, as highlighted by Peter Black on this site, that the revenue raised by these facilities reduces the amount of subsidy they require from the council.

According to Politics Cymru, Vaughan Roderick has blogged on the possible general election results. Given my knowledge of Welsh I will have to take their word for it. The results stem from the Politics Home survey of marginal constituencies. It doesn’t make exactly comfortable reading for the Lib Dems, with a prediction of us losing Ceredigion and not making any gains. But given this week also included the first poll in 27 years that put us ahead of Labour, you have to wonder how credible any poll is that thinks that we won’t take Swansea West and Newport East in these circumstances? But then again, I would say that wouldn’t I?

I don’t agree with Sweet and Tender Hooligan that Plaid and the SNP should participate in the potential debate between party leaders in advance of the general election. There is a simple reason for this. It is a debate between potential Prime Ministers. If a Party is not standing enough candidates to actually even hypothetically win the election, then how can they claim they should be part of a Prime Minister’s debate? Welsh and Scottish debates should take place, but during Welsh and Scottish general elections when their candidates could potentially become the next First Minister, not during an election they are not even trying to win.

Right, I’m going to go sit on my sofa and feel sorry for myself. And get snot everywhere. Yeah, that was what you wanted to picture right now.

A disappearing Wales?

Freedom Central — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 08:44:22 +0000

The Institute for Welsh Affairs has warned that Wales could become virtually invisible on television schedules unless Government money is pumped into broadcasting.

Currently, less than one in every 2,000 hours of television broadcast in the UK consists of English-language programming made for Welsh audiences but the IWA believes that this level, amounting to 0.048%, will shrink to almost nothing without Government intervention to ensure more programmes are made in English that cater directly for Wales.

Figures produced by Ofcom in 2008 indicated that, of the 2,483,495 hours of television broadcast in the UK, only 1,193 were made in English for the Welsh audience – equivalent to one hour for every 2,081 hours broadcast.

Since 2008 production of general programmes for Wales has declined even further as a result of cuts in ITV Wales’ output in January this year and further reductions at BBC Wales.

The IWA’s warning echoes those of the Assembly’s Broadcasting Sub-Committee and many other expert commentators and reflects the crisis facing Welsh broadcasting and the failure of commercial television in particular to adapt to devolution and a growing Welsh identity.

In part the crisis though is not of the sector’s making as they are struggling to deliver traditional programming against the backdrop of declining advertising revenues and the growth of multi-channel and multi-media entertainment.

IWA Chairman Geraint Talfan Davies, a former Controller of BBC Wales, said: “Any mature, modern society needs a full reflection of its democracy, activity, interests and talents on its main means of mass communication. It nurtures a society’s self-respect and is a vital aid to its social coherence. We are not talking about a luxury, but a basic means of connecting people together.

“The internet and online services will play a big part in future and we must invest in them, but it is far too soon to be shutting down the traditional television service. Wales will disappear from view in the timing gap.”