A referendum for liars?

On the new Aberconwy Conservatives blog, Guto Bebb makes a pertinant point about Rhodri Morgan spinning the case for a referendum.

According to 'Golwg 360' Rhodri Morgan, as part of an interview where he discusses the success of the 'One Wales' government between Plaid Cymru and Labour states that a referendum on "Scottish Style Powers" will be called in 2011

Guto points out (as I have done ad infinitum) that the Government of Wales Act 2006 clause does not offer Scottish Style Powers to the National Assembly!

In fairness Rhodri is not the only person to make this mistake, Archbishop Morgan, Gwenllian Lansdown and even the impartial BBC reporter Betsan Powys have made similar claims!

On the other side of the argument David Davies and his friends in True Wales argue against the GoW 2006 referendum clause on the grounds that they are against independence for Wales and they foresee a yes vote as a vote for independence, which, quite clearly from the wording of the act, it won’t be!

So if a referendum campaign starts tomorrow the referendum will be held with both sides of the argument making inflated claims. The Yes side saying that it is about Scottish Style Powers and the No side saying it is about independence.

But there will be nobody telling the truth that a referendum would actually be about a rather boring administrative change in the way that the Assembly gains legislative powers!

If both sides campaign on over-inflated lies, would a referendum have any real value as an indicator of public opinion? I think not!

We have a choice. We can have a referendum debate based on what the GoW 2006 clause actually says or we can have a debate on the real issues of Abolishing the Assembly, giving the Assembly parity with Scotland or Wales becoming independent. Anything else is just pathetic political posturing!

When Peter Hain first introduced the GoW Act referendum clause he suggested that a vote on that clause would settle the constitutional issue for a generation.

If both sides are lying about what the referendum is offering, I doubt if its result would settle anything, either way, for as long as a rainy weekend at the seaside.

Llais Dyfed?

I am grateful to Peter Black AM for pointing out that Cllr Alex Williams is not the only blogger to have commented on Plaid sacking Siân Caiach as I noted in my last post. Peter notes that the issue was raised on the Welsh Lib Dem joint blog Freedom Central on Saturday.

What is interesting about the post on FC is that it contains links back to a related story that I was unaware of. Another story that would have spread like wildfire through the Welsh blogosphere if it had involved a Labour or Tory party member.

Apparently Siân Caiach's daughter Arianwen Caiach- Taylor was expelled from the party last March for having the audacity to send an e-mail to Ieuan Wyn Jones accusing him of being a traitor over the top-up fees issue.

If Plaid is going to expel every young person (and parent of young persons) who feel betrayed by Plaid's u-turn on top up fees the party will have to kick out a hell of a lot of members. If they add those who are unhappy about Plaid's other U-turns Ieuan might find himself in a one person party!

The attitudes of Plaid and John Dixon that come through in these stories is very reminiscent of the breakdown in trust betwen the party hierarchy and ordinary Plaid members that caused the formation of Llais Gwynedd to challenge Plaid Cymru in its north western heartland.

If John and his cronies continue to give Plaid Cymru such a bad press I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a Llais Dyfed being formed to challenge the authoritarians in Plaid's south western heartlands too!

Whistle-blowing or Leaking?

One of the problems with the Welsh political blogosphere being so heavily influenced by just one party, is that when matters that might cause embarrassment to that party arise they are not aired in much detail.

As far as I can see only one Welsh blogger has raised the issue of Siân Caiach being withdrawn as parliamentary candidate for Ogmore and being baned from standing in the party's name for two years. I wonder if Plaid has issued an edict to its blogging supporters not to mention this story.

Apparently Ms Caiach has been sacked for leaking information to the press. A serious enough breach of trust to warrant disciplinary action perhaps. What is interesting is that in 2000 she was suspended from working as an orthopaedic surgeon at Prince Philip Hospital, Llanelli for leaking information about the use being made of NHS beds for private patients. At the time Plaid Cymru gave her their full support and claimed that her leaking was actually whistle-blowing and was an act very much in the public interest.

The information that Siân is accused of leaking to the press is apparently about discrepancies in the voting procedure to select Plaid candidates for the Welsh Assembly election. This could also be said to be in the public interest, the defence of whistle-blowing rather than leaking could be made again. Abuses of democratic process are just as much a cause for public concern as abuse of NHS facilities.

Amongst the reasons for the candidates sacking are that she failed to co-operate with an investigation by the party chair into a leak of private correspondence and encouraging one or more persons to write and publish misleading stories which would damage the party.

The one or more persons was apparently one of her children, and the failure to co-operate was a refusal to supply John Dixon with copies of e-mails sent by her daughter. I find this quite shocking. If any other party had sacked somebody for refusing to hand over their offspring’s e-mails Plaid supporters would be up in arms. Her daughter's e-mails are not Siân’s to share. If John wanted to see copies he should have asked the daughter not the mother. If the daughter told him to sling his hook then he can't blame, discipline or punish the mother for that.

As to Siân Caiach's behaviour leading to "damaging coverage" for the party. Her shoddy treatment at the hands of a party that she has served faithfully over many years is much more damaging.

The Black Cat’s Blog

Browsing the web I have just found out that Guto Bebb, Tory PPC for Aberconwy, has been blogging for about a month now.

His pearls of wisdom can be found here

Bottling it

On my travels recently I stopped in a small shop and bought a bottle of water. Make the most of it the shopkeeper said as I paid for my bottle, the politicians will be banning bottled water soon. Interesting to see a political debate that is going on in Australia resonating in rural north Wales.

However, the shopkeeper is probably right. This does seem to be the sort of issue that would appeal to the Assembly. Indeed Penri James suggests that one leading Liberal Democrat in Ceredigion is already advocating the cause, despite the fact that the county has two prominent water bottling companies providing much needed private sector investment and employment in the area.

Other Welsh politicians thinking of joining this bandwagon should remember that one of the Ceredigion water companies is Tŷ Nant, probably the most recognisably Welsh brand in the world.

I can’t quite understand the environmental benefits of not bottling water. If I was unable to buy water yesterday I would have bought a bottle of fizzy pop instead. As far as I can tell a plastic cola bottle is just as bad for the environment as a plastic water bottle!

Know your own balls

The news that John Hartson is suffering from complications of testicular cancer is very sad. I wish him well and hope that he beats it.

Here is a video that explains how to check yourself:



Unfortunately some of the most at risk group will not be able to view this video. It is age restricted because it shows real testicles so people between 15 and 21 are not allowed to view it due to US obscenity laws!

Testicular cancer is most prevalent amongst young men aged 15 - 35, so a large section of those who need to know how to check their own balls are denied on line video advice! That is immoral, disgusting and unacceptably obscene!

YouTube should know better.

If you are a boy who is old enough to masturbate, you must know how to check for TC! Ask your Dad, your uncle, big bro, the man next door - anybody (sensible) to enable you to view a TC check video.

If you are too embarrassed to check your own balls for TC, you could really Die from Embarrassment.

Conservative MP Parks Illegally in Disabled Bay

This is a picture of a Conservative MP's car parked illegally in a disabled parking bay!

What do Plaid Cymru bloggers and supporters think about this abuse of a disabled parking space?

Do they think that there were extenuating circumstances that allowed the MP to park there?

Do they think that the person who took the picture is a fat arsed bastard with an axe to grind?

Do they think that those who complained about the abuse of the disabled parking place should worry about more important things?

Or are these pathetic excuses only used when a senior member of Plaid Cymru is caught with his pants down?

Does Palin now have time for dinner?

As Sarah Palin has announced her resignation as Governor of Alaska, will this mean that she now has time for dinner with David Jones MP, Stephen Crabb MP, David Davies MP and her other fans in the Cornerstone Cabal of ultra-Thatcherite Conservative MPs?

Old Farts Rule OK!

I have come across a number of words referring to forms of government ending with the suffix ocracy such as democracy, autocracy, aristocracy etc.

On tonight's BBC World News I came across one that I have never heard before. Referring to the older people who ruled the USSR some time ago - Auntie called them a Gerontocracy.

A Gerontocracy, apparently, is a political system ruled over by a Miserable Old Fart - sounds good to me!

The Tax Payers Alliance

Whenever there is a news story about public expenditure one can almost guarantee that the report will contain a comment by a spokesperson from the Tax Payers Alliance, as has been seen today in reports about AMs using expenses to rent office space from their own parties.

The impression given is that the Tax Payers Alliance is a grass roots organization who's objective is to speak up for the ordinary men and women who pay the taxes that government spends. This is a very false impression.

The TPA is, in fact, an ultra right wing organization founded by loyal Thatcherites for the purpose of promoting the most discredited and unacceptable aspects of Thatcherite economic policy.

Whatever the rights or wrongs of the way that Assembly Members rent offices one has to remember that in commenting on the story the TPA is doing so from a political position of being ideologically opposed to the existence of the Assembly. Their comments should be seen in that context and the journalists using their comments should make that context clear.

The Christmas Commission

Here is a sobering thought for those of us who save our pennies in order to give our kids a good Christmas, even more sobering for those who buy Christmas on credit:

As of last Thursday we are nearer to next Christmas than we are to last Christmas.

I set up this blog to comment on the last Assembly election, in fits and starts it has kept on going. Incredibly we are now nearer the next Assembly election than we are to the last one. How time flies when one is enjoying oneself! Time to start looking forward to 2011, perhaps, rather than harping back to 2007!

One thing that has become clear since the inception of the Assembly is that the chances of having a single party majority government, under the current system of election, is highly unlikely. We are either going to have a coalition government or a minority government (which is a coalition of opposition, in all but name).

The way that the parties have dealt with the inevitability of coalition over the past 10 years is by creating commissions, conventions and committees to deal with contentious issues and by doing so, passing the buck to others.

By voting for Assembly Members we employ THEM to make difficult decisions, we don't employ them to employ others to take the difficult decisions away!

I have nothing against consultation or seeking expert opinion when it is used for the best of reasons. But using consultation and seeking expert opinion to procrastinate on contentious coalition issues is an abuse of process for the worst of reasons. It stifles good governance and it makes a mockery of democracy!

As they look forward to the next Assembly elections and start to prepare for the possibility of being in a coalition, all parties must consider what their red line issue are, what they won't compromise on. And to make it clear to the electorate that those issues will be dealt with, by the Assembly, rather than by some Santa Clause Commission.

Win Patrick Hannan's latest book

Patrick Hannan has been commenting on Welsh politics since Lloyd George was just a lad - and he's still going strong. Apart from his work for the BBC, HTV and the Western Mail Patrick has also produced a number of good books on politics including:

2001 A Year in Wales, Wales Off Message, The Welsh Illusion and When Arthur Met Maggie.

His latest tome is entitled A Useful Fiction: Adventures in British Democracy:

Leading political commentator and broadcaster Patrick Hannan provides an enlightening and entertaining analysis of a post-devolution Britain and the concept of Britishness in politics, society and the media. With power no longer residing at one address, A Useful Fiction is a fascinating look at the new structure of the United Kingdom and whether the unfinished business of devolution might actually be England itself.

O'Neill on A Pint of Unionist Lite has promised a review of the book soon. In which case every Welsh, English, Scottish and Irish nationalist blog commentator needs a copy so that they can refute O'Neill's comments authoritatively.

Costing between £10 and £12, depending on supplier, I know that some skinflint readers of this blog will balk at the price. But there is a chance of getting a copy for free, sod all and for nothing.

The Liberal England blog is offering up a prize of two copies of the book to the winners of an e-mail quiz, which includes the question:

Which MP is currently 326th in the line of succession to the British throne?

The only one that I can't answer - so help please!

Entries close at 23:59 on Tuesday 7 July 2009 and the winners will be drawn by Lord Bonkers (honestly - that what it says!)

Sir Em doesn't drink in the same pubs as me!

On the S4C Welsh Language news last night there was an interview with Sir Emyr Jones-Parry of the devo committee. In the interview the benighted gent said that, in his opinion, there was little interest in the nitty gritty of devolution in the local pubs of Wales. He claims that:

The people in the pubs are interested in the Lion's game, the economy, the Health Service, not devolution

Interesting conclusion when one considers that not a single one of his consultations were held in a pub!

Also interesting was that the interview was only broadcast in Welsh! The gist of the interview was reported by Betsan in English, without an English word from Sir Emyr himself!

It looks like the Welsh speaking nashies are being forewarned that the Syr Em commission is going to say NO! (Or, diplomatically - not yet!)!

However, it is clear that Syr Em doesn't drink in the same pubs as me!

He is right when he says that questions about the Health Service, The Economy, The Environment etc are uppermost in peoples minds, but in my pub the big question is What is the Welsh Assembly going to do about these issues?

Three or four years ago the people on the barstools would have asked What is the Government (-i.e. the Westminster Government) going to do about them?

The fact that it is those arseholes in Cardiff who are now blamed for all our woes rather than the arseholes in London is an important development.

On almost every bread and butter issue discussed in my local, one can guarentee that somebody will moan that The Welsh Assembly should do more

There is a major gap between the idea that the Assembly should do more and the idea that the Assembly should have the power to do more, but that gap isn't one that a committee or a commission should fill. That is the job for the politicians!

It is time for the 60 elected and well paid Assembly Members to come out from the protection of Syr Em's shield and tell us what they want, what they really, really want! And what they are going to do about it!

The Mother of All Wigs

Valley's Mam, Glyn and the Three Dewis have been wondering what Lembit's mother of all wigs looks like. Happy to oblige:



Also available in black, red and blond.

NOTE:
The wig illustrated above costs £18.69, the tax payer paid £19.99 for Lembit's wig. The Welsh MP's wig was more expensive because of barnet formula consequentials.

Whiskey Galore?

I am disgusted by the most recent Welsh MP's expenses scandal.

If I was in a job where I could get away with putting a crate of whiskey on expenses I would go for it at least once a month.

Huw Irranca Davies has been an MP for 7 years, and in that time he has managed to claim for just one measly crate! - Pathetic!

Bloody armature Welsh Labour MPs - can't even milk the expenses properly.

Public Service Broadcast

Thanks to 1820 for pointing out this brilliant You Tube:

I'm SO important

Ali Goldsworthy has an interesting post on the Lib Dem blog Freedom Central, in which she discusses Plaid's referendum dilemmas. She quotes John Osmond a Plaid Candidate in the last Assembly election claiming that a referendum is ‘frankly unlikely’ in this term of office.

She then goes on to claim that

in recent weeks influential members have called for them to back out of the coalition because they don’t think it will be achieved.

The term influential members is hyper-linked. Because I wasn't aware of any influential Plaid members making such a call, I clicked the link with enthusiasm, exited to find out who these influential members were. Imagine my surprise to find that the Plaid member with such great influence was ME! I don't know who should feel more insulted, myself or Plaid Cymru.

I'm sorry to disappoint you Ali, but I have never been an influential member of Plaid, I haven't even been a Plaid member without influence for over 8 years.

UPDATE
I am gutted - the note about my great importance has been has been edited and replaced with a link to a story about Alan in Dyfed! The shame, the shame :-(

A "Peaceful Protest" in Iran?

I don't know enough about Iranian politics to be able to judge the veracity of Hilary Clinton's worries that the Iranian election was fixed. Welsh language blogger Cai Larsen claims that Western Powers build up a case for pro Western candidates and then get upset when common voters don't vote in accordance with Western hype. He may be right, he may be wrong. I don't know.

What I do know, however, having just watched a BBC World News report on protests against the election result is that the BBC is very inconsistent in its reporting style about pro western protests in Iran and anti western protests in Britain.

A few weeks ago a dozen, or so, Islamists protested during a military parade in Luton. They shouted abusive slogans at the soldiers and held up abusive placards. Their protest was described as offensive, appalling, disgraceful, extremist, abusive, incitive etc. I agree with all of those adjectives. As offensive as I found their protest there is little doubt that the protest was within the bounds of what might be called the British tradition of peaceful protest. But you won't find that word peaceful in any Western report covering the demo.

During the BBC's report on the Iranian protests, however, the term peaceful protest was used four times in a 60 second item. Whilst the term was being used pictures were being shown of thousands people running riot in the street, stones being thrown, vehicles being burned and soldiers and policemen being physically attacked.

If Mrs Clinton's claim of vote rigging is true one can argue that the protests are justified. Given the claimed circumstances one can even say that the protest was restrained, but what you can't say once, never mind four times, is that it was peaceful.

What I find unacceptable in the BBC's reporting is that it doesn't see the danger of the duplicity of its reportage. You can't get away from the fact that calling 12 people shouting extreme, and calling thousands rioting peaceful is inconsistent to say the least.

This form of stupid reporting by the BBC, and others, just plays into the hands of those who want to recruit faithful young British Muslims into the extremist Islamist cause by claiming that the West is clearly anti-Muslim and two faced when it comes to reporting stories about Muslims in different continents!

Cymraeg

Time for a Referendum Rethink

Almost two years exactly ago, during the tortuous coalition negations I made this comment:

The only thing that would make me support a Red-Green coalition would be a guarantee that the Government of Wales Act 2006 will be amended to give Full Law Making powers to the Assembly without the need for a referendum

Others disagreed, they thought that the Red-Green coalition could both make the coalition happen and guarantee a yes vote.

Things are very different now.

Support for devolution is stronger now than it has ever been, but it is a well known fact that votes in referendums are often used as much to kick the government of the day, as they are to express an opinion on the issue in question. The 1979 disaster was as much to do with the unpopularity of the tired, old, failing Callaghan Government that proposed it as it was about devolution. The scrape through in 1997 was partially to do with the fresh new popular government of Tony Blair.

If a referendum was called by Mr Brown and Mr Hain tomorrow, I fear that too many supporters of devolution would cut their noses off to spite their face and either not vote or vote No! Those opposed to Labour would seize their chance and vote this time, despite not voting last time, as a means of kicking Labour in the teeth.

What if we wait 12 months and get an agreement that a Tory government will support the holding of a referendum in 2011?

Despite last weeks vote there are too many people in Wales who hate the hairy arsed Tory monster who would also cut their noses off to spite their faces just because it was a Conservative government who called the referendum.

I fear that the window for a referendum has been lost. We could be stuck with the present cumbersome eLCO system (which has yet to deliver a Welsh Law) until about 2030.

The only chance left is for Plaid to play its Trump card and to tell Labour All deals are off unless the GoW Act 2006 is amended in this Parliamentary Session

I realise that some people might think that such a move would be bad, especially after Labour has reneged on its Lisbourn Referendum promise. But there are two reason why I think that such a deal would be justified.

Firstly if a referendum was held and voted No tomorrow all the powers in the Act would still, eventually, be available to Wales through the eLCO process, a process that is bogged down at the moment, and isn't working well. There is a practical justification for just doing away with this tortuous process. There is also something immoral in the present clause that the powers may be transferred in a different way even if we vote No.

Secondly the media, academia and many devolutionist have described the next step in the evolution of devolution for Wales as "Scottish Powers". Scottish powers are what have been envisaged in most polls. Scottish Powers will not be available through the current GoW act referendum provision, just legislative powers on current assembly powers without the need for eLCOs. To amend the Act to make true Scottish Powers available in a referendum sometime in the distant future, would keep within the spirit of the promise.

Plaid Cymru must consider this position urgently, before the current Westminster Parliament is dissolved

Should Plaid be more Eurosceptic?

In response to my post Reflections on the Euro Result James D made an interesting comment:

James D said...

I think there's another side to it: the Tories and the English Independence Party did well in a European election because of their Euroscepticism, whilst the Liberals got buried thanks to their being Eurofederalists. Plaid would do a lot better to fight to reclaim our rights from both Westminster and Brussels, rather than schizophrenically taking from one and giving to the other.

I think that James makes a fair point. Plaids enthusiasm for the EU isn't in tune with the view of the majority of Welsh voters and it does appear to be a bit hypocritical to be asking for separation from one Union which is too big and remote to consider the needs of Wales but to enthuse about full membership of a bigger even more remote union.

Of course the support for Europe is, like the support for Socialism, one of those policies adopted by the party in the mid eighties, when the party started to move away from its nationalist beginnings. In the 1975 EEC referendum Plaid Cymru was against the UK remaining in the community, Dafydd Elis was a particularly vigorous campaigner for a No vote.

Having been a supporter of the EEC in 1975 I was pleased when Plaid changed its oppositionist policy. However the policy was, at the time, one where Plaid wanted Wales to be part of a reformed EEC where economic co-operation was not dependent on Europe wide rules and regulations, but was an Europe of the Nations. A policy similar in many respects to William Hague's In Europe but not run by Europe stance. A return to such a policy would make much more sense and be more in tune with Plaid's heritage than appearing to support the creeping moves towards an European Nation State.

It was 1865 when the Tories did it last!

William Hague said it was 1931.

Adam Price said it was 1918

As the only person old enough to remember, I can state categorically, that it was in 1865 that the Tories last won the popular vote in a Welsh election.

Of course womenfolk and common folk weren't allowed to vote then - so maybe it doesn't count!

I hope that it will take at least another 144 years before they do it again. If it does I'll blog the result with a link back to this post!

Reflections on the Euro Result

The first comment has to be feeling absolutely sickened at the fact that two British fascists have been elected to the European Parliament.

To think that just two days ago we were remembering the sacrifices that people from these islands made in order to rid Europe of Fascists.

Today we are sending Fascist to be part of Europe's Parliament. Words cannot describe how bitterly I feel about this result - the people who voted for this evil party have pissed on every cenotaph in Britain and every allied war grave in Europe.

The result in Wales was also a bitter disappointment.

Adam Price has been spinning about how good the result in Wales was for Plaid, with only 2% points between Plaid and the Tory winners. But the truth is that Plaid has lost 14,000 votes since the last Euro Elections.

The last Euro elections were generally seen as a disastrous result for Plaid, but this time round the party lost votes and only managed a 1.5% increase in its share of the vote when the main opponents, Labour, lost 12% of its vote share.

This election was not only a disaster for Labour in Wales but was also a disaster for Plaid.

UKIP, a party that believes that Wales is just a geographical expression, a party that wants the National Assembly abolished and a party that opposes any use of the Welsh language now has 1/4 of the Welsh representation in the EU parliament.

Plaid gave them that seat by not fighting vigorously for Wales and not exposing UKIP for the vile anti Welsh party that it is. If Plaid has to learn one lesson from this election it must be that they must never give UKIP such an easy ride in any election again.

The SNP appears to be doing exceptionally well in Scotland, the BBC is projecting that it will beat Labour into second place with a lead of about 10%. There is little difference in policy issues that divide Plaid and the SNP. There are similar demographics between Scotland and Wales, so why is the SNP doing so well and Plaid doing so badly?

I would suggest that it is the way that the parties portray themselves.

The SNP is clearly a nationalist party that supports social democracy. Plaid comes across as a socialist party that supports Welsh democracy.

Plaid policies, Plaid members and Plaid's appeal are not socialist they are Nationalist. The party doesn't need to change what it believes in, it needs to change the way in which it sells those beliefs, by emulating the SNP and becoming a nationalist party that believes in social democracy rather than portraying itself as a closet communist party.

Congratulations Dick Cole #2

With Cornwall being a small part of the huge South west of England region (which includes the Rock of Gibraltar) Mebion Kernow wasn't going to make much of a mark in the Euro elections. The good news, however, is that in Cornwall itself MK came ahead of the Labour Party. Well done Dick!

Incredible

Vaughan has the number of constituencies won by each party in Wales:

Conservative 17
Labour 15
Plaid 7
Lib Dem 1

Clearly with such a low turnout these results wont be reflected in either a Westminster or Assembly general election, but they will make some of them interesting!

Derek Brokway Forecasts Brown's Downfall

Derek Brokway is the nearest we have to a modern day prophet in Wales. He Forecasts the weather with 99% accuracy on BBC Wales on a daily basis.

Last August I published this post:

Toque believes that Gordon Brown holidaying in Britain, this year and last, has put a curse on the weather. Apparently, Mr Brown use to go to Cape Cod for his holidays before becoming PM, Toque thinks that the weather might improve should Gordon Sod off back to Cape Cod.

Derek has said that this summer is going to be a good one. That must mean that Gordon Brown will be out before summer begins on the 21st of this month!

If Mr Brown hasn't left Downing Street by June 22, don't bother rummaging for your bucket and spade - Derek has got it wrong and it it is going to p**s down until next May!

Bugger Blogger

My number one reason for not supporting Labour was supposed to be published automatically at 8 am on Thursday Morning, for some weird reason it appears to have been published 2 days late!

Apart from blogger making a balls up I also, inadvertently left numbers 10 and 28 out of my 101 reasons for not supporting Labour.

That is a problem easily resolved:

10) Glenys Kinnock being elevated to the Lords (amongst many others to fill the Labour ranks). Gordon Brown seems to think that every Lord he selects is an addition to the talents that the government can call on. He appears to be stuffing the Lords with Labour supporters in a way that would have embarrassed any Tory government and even Lloyd George. (Plaid Lords still not approved, of course)!

28) When I made my comments about the abuse of Civil Liberties I noted:

58) Keeping the DNA of innocent people on police databases

59) Ignoring a European Court of Human Rights ruling that the "blanket and indiscriminate" retention of suspects' DNA is unlawful.

It appears that the situation is worse than that. Apparently the police have been instructed to arrest, without sufficient evidence, children who they think might be potential criminals in order to harvest their DNA!

Number One Reason why I hate Labour

Thomas George Thomas, 1st Viscount Tonypandy

The most sycophantic Brit ever born in Wales. A man embarrassed by his nationality and his father's language, a man with a pathological hatred of all things Welsh. A man who would use and abuse his Welsh heritage for self advancement but refused to give anything back.

Some might claim that he is an exception rather than the rule. But when Wil Edwards MP lost his seat to Plaid Cymru in 1974 he put it down to the fact that for every one Cledwyn there are 10 George Thomases in the Labour Party.

This remains the truth today. For every one Carwyn Jones there are 10 Don Touhigs and Ian Lucases and Chris Bryants and Paul Murpheys in the party. People who make working class Welsh people feel inferior, rather than raising them up, as the Labour Party, of all parties, was created to do.

Congratulations Dick Cole

Hearty congratulations to Cllr Dick Cole the leader of Mebion Kernow on winning a seat on the new Cornish Unitary Council with a massive 78% of the vote in his division:

St Enoder results Candidate Party Votes %
Dick Cole Mebyon Kernow 927 78% Elected
Jacqueline Fair Conservative 177 15% Not elected
Keith William Hugh Wonnacott Liberal Democrat 91 8% Not elected

Voting Summary Details Number
Total votes 1195
Electorate 3346
Ballot Papers Issued 1199
Number of ballot papers rejected 4
Turnout 36%

Glenys gets her nose back in the trough

Gordon Brown has just announced that Glenys Kinnock is to be made a member of the House of Lords and made minister for Europe.

It was bad enough that Peter Hain should be returned to frontline government, but this shows just how desperate Labour is.

101 Reasons for Not Voting Labour # 2- 9

Some odds and sods to finish of my penultimate post on reasons for not voting Labour

2) Gordon Brown promises British Jobs for British Workers, but fails to deliver.

3) Labour MP's condemn those who took Brown at his word for being racist!!!

4) Keith Vaz MP condemns the video Game Canis Canem Edit (Bully). Vaz thinks the game should be treated like a violent film and should go before the British Board of Film Classification or be banned completely. It is actually a game that a parent can play with teenage children and use to tackle issues of bullying, from both a victim and perpetrators point of view.

5 (For Peddu) Irene James

6 10p tax fiasco

7 bitchy blogs that do more harm than good for Labour

8 If you have a bowler hat they’ll help you; a hard hat, they’re not interested

9 Creeping privatisation selling off Wales

101 Reasons for Not Voting Labour # 11-27

Whenever a Welsh nationalist complains about the Labour party not giving due support to Wales, one can always guarantee that one of the party's rent-a-gobs will come up with the line that it was Labour that delivered the Welsh Assembly. One has to accept that it was a Labour Government that passed the Government of Wales Act 1998, but that doesn't make Labour the heroes of Welsh self determination. One of my main reasons for hating the Labour party is the fact that they have had to be dragged kicking and screaming for almost 100 years before allowing Wales to have a second rate elected chamber.

When he was elected as the first Welsh Labour MP in 1900 Keir Hardy promised a legislative parliament for Wales. The fact that Labour have failed to keep up with this 109 year old policy form my next 15 reasons for not voting Labour

11) 77 years latter, the Labour party introduced a bill to allow the weakest possible form of devolution for Wales.

12) The Labour Government didn't support devolution for Wales out of principal, it promised a bill in order to gain Plaid and SNP votes in a hung parliament, in order to hang on to power for a few more desperate years.

13) Labour renaged on its promies to the national parties by insisting on a referendum

14) It skewed the referendum by ensuring that dead people who couldn't vote were considered to be opponents of devolution

15) It allowed members of the party to campaign against government policy without fear or hindrance. Indeed it allowed the likes of Neil Kinnock to base their future careers in the Labour Party hierarchy on the basis of opposing the Governments supposed support for devolution

16) Labour realized that it had to secure it's Scottish heartlands in order to form a government, so agreed a policy of Scottish devolution fort the sake of self preservation. A weakened form of Welsh devolution was thrown into the pot for good measure.

17) Wales was offered a parish council, rather than the parliament that Scotland was given.

18) Despite the good offices of some Welsh Labour politicians, Labour party members were the most vociferous opponents of devolution, yet again, in 1998

19) After electing a new Assembly for Wales, Westminster Labour decided who the First secretary should be

20) Realizing that devolution to wales wasn't working, Labour decide not to change things, but to employ a commission, the Richards Commission to investigate the devolution settlement

21) One million pounds latter Labour ignore the findings of the Richards commission

22) The Government of Wales Act 2006 invents LCO's

23) LCO's prove unworkable but Labour refuses to back down on the system

24) Despite the findings of the Killbrandon Commission and the Richards Commission, Labour employs yet another commission, the Emyr Jones Commission to look again at devolution.

25) Labour politicians (and most Plaid AM's) can't see that it is elected members who are employed to make decisions - not unelected commissioners!

26) Welsh Labour MPs with the support of English Tories make the ELCO system unworkable

27) The GoW Act 2006 contains yet another referendum clause. And Labour's anti Welsh brigade join in with die-hard Tories to form "True Wales" to oppose further right for Wales

Bring it On?

There has been much blogging comment* on Plaid and the SNP's use of their opposition day motion to call for an immediate dissolution of parliament. Most of it has been supportive.

If the Tories and the Lib Dems stick to their principals and support the motion, and if enough peeved Labour MPs either support it or abstain then there is a very slight chance that the move might be successful.

There is no doubt that by pushing for an election in a practical way that the national parties are capturing the mood of the country (as the pundits say). They will be supported by the vast majority of the good people of these islands on this occasion. If successful they might have a big publicity boost that may benefit them in a forthcoming General election. But, there are dangers in their posturing too.

In 1979 it was support from the SNP that was the decisive factor in passing a vote of no confidence in the Callaghan government. The election that followed was the beginning of Thatcherism and 18 years of Tory government.

Thatcherism was not particularly welcome in Wales or Scotland, and Labour made hay out of the fact that it was the nationalists who paved Mrs T's way to Downing Street by virtue of the SNP voting yea in the no confidence vote.

A silly argument, of course. If the vote had been won by Jim he could have limped on for a few more months and Labour would still have been decimated in the polling booths. Mrs T would still have become PM, Tory history would not have been different. However the charge of letting Thatcher in did harm the advances of both Plaid and the SNP.

If the national parties win the vote next Wednesday there is little doubt that it will be the first step towards another long period of Tory government in Westminster. A government that will not be popular in either Scotland or Wales, and a government that Labour will, yet again, be able to blame the nationalists for.

Bring it on? Perhaps not!



*Some blogs on the SNP/Plaid debate:
SNP Tactical Voting
Penri James
Che Grav-ara
Politics Cymru
Plaid Monmouth
Andrew Nutt

101 Reasons for not voting Labour # 29 - 53

When the Labour Party was first elected back in 1997 Gordon Brown gained a reputation for economic prudence and competence. It was probably never deserved. Little of the so called economic miracle effected Wales, which has remained as poor as it was in the aftermath of the de-industrialization policies of Mrs Thatcher. Without doubt that reputation is now completely shattered. Rather than causing the end of boom and bust Brown has presided over one of the worst busts since the 1930's. My next 25 reasons for not voting Labour are all based on the economic mess that the party has caused.

29) The worst economic recession since the great depression

30) £697 billion of government debt which it will take generations to repay

31) Unemployment rates soaring. Up to 100,000 jobs per month being lost with projections that unemployment will reach 3,000,000 before long.

32) Savings made worthless due to the 0.5% interest rate

33) Output from factories hits fastest rate of decline for 28 years, with a likelihood that the rate will accelerate.

Welsh factories closing on a daily basis

34) Indesit in Bodelwyddan

35) Rexam Plastics in Flintshire

36) Corus steel plants, across Wales

37) Serious Food, Llantrisant

38) Bosch, Miskin

39) L’Oreal, Talbot Green

40) Dolgarog Aluminium

To name just a few

41) A generation stripped of self-belief as unemployment hits the under 25s in Wales particularly hard

42) Thousands of families loosing their homes

43) Northern Rock

44) HBoS

45) RBS

46) Printing £75 billion of extra money

47) Devaluing the pound.

48) Small businesses are essential to improving the economy, but they are generally ignored by Labour

49) Advice services for small businesses are being withdrawn

50) Despite paying billions to bail out the banks, the Government can't persuade the banks that it now owns to support small businesses

51) Gordon Brown refuses to accept any responsibility for the recession. Blaming "the world" rather than his own poor judgement and mismanagement

52) The arrogant assumption that those who got us into this mess are the only ones who can get us out of it

53) At a time when competence is most needed Alistair Darling always gets his predictions wrong

Ffred a Super-Hero

I don't know weather it is appropriate to feel sad o glad at the news that my old friend Ffred Ffransis has been sent to prison, yet again, because of his campaigning for the status of the Welsh language.

I first met Ffred when I was a youngster, in my teens, during a road signs protest in Llanelltyd near Dolgellau in about 1975/6. He has been one of my heroes ever since.

Many have been arrested, many have served gaol sentences as a result of their support for the rights of the Welsh language to survive.

Lots of the old campaigners have abused their former status as language rebels to gain influential jobs.

Many of us have had to give up because of the mendacity's of life, holding down a job, raising children, caring for spouses and parents, living with a disability etc, but Ffred has carried on with the cause with a vengance.

I salute and praise Ffred for his pertinacity and his perseverance in the language cause, for sticking with it into his 60's when many of us gave up in our 20's.

Da was, Da a Ffyddlon

101 Reasons for not voting Labour # 54-65

As a party founded to protect the working classes from oppression one would have expected the Labour Party to be a staunch defender of civil liberties and human rights. Over the past 12 years, however the Labour government's record on civil liberties and human rights has been atrocious.

54) The terrorism Act 2000, replaced previous temporary measures with a permenant set of rules. The act defines terrorism in a very broad way. An act of terrorism is defined as an action or the threat of action that is made for advancing a cause, that attempts to influence the government and that falls into one of several categories including serious damage to property or disruption of an electronic system. Under this definition any "direct action" protest group, such as Cymdeithas yr Iaith, can be prosecuted under terrorism legislation.

The Act has been used against anti war protesters, protesters against expansion of Heathrow Airport and the Government of Iceland

55) The Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) Act 2000 a snoopers charter, which makes it compulsory for ISPs to record every customer's e-mail contacts and web browsing habits and to hand that info over to the authorities on request.

56) The 2003 RIP extension, in which David Blunket extended the right to access of records your telephone and internet activities to any government agency including jobcentres, local authorities and school inspectors.

57) Continuing extensions of the RIP Act. In 2000 only nine organizations, including the police and security services were allowed access to this data by 2008, it had grown to 792 organizations and is growing still. It is so wide now that it is even used by councils to spy on families suspected of putting their rubbish out on the wrong day

58) Keeping the DNA of innocent people on police databases

59) Ignoring a European Court of Human Rights ruling that the "blanket and indiscriminate" retention of suspects' DNA is unlawful.

60) The Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 extended the offence of incitement to racial hatred to cover criticizing another person's religious belief seriously undermining the right to have a legitimate debate about the rights and wrongs of religious beliefs.

61) The Serious Organized Crime and Police Act 2005

62) The Government being complicit in the torture of British Nationals by foreign agencies

63) Wanting to extend the time people can be held in custody without trial. Of course it is claimed that this would only be used to combat terrorism, but see how wide the definition of terrorism is in (54) above.

64) ID cards, again apparently being used to combat terrorism, despite the fact that a consultant to one of the Governments own spying factories saying that this was absolute bunkum.

65) Gordon brown suggesting that all these encroachments of civil liberties are actually a defence of civil liberty.

This is only a small selection of examples of Labour abuses of Human Rights and Civil Liberties, many more examples could be added. Further details can be found on the Liberty website

"MK candidate is a twat", says Lib Dem

A lovely little tale about Liberal Democrats dirty campaigning tactics on the BBC's Cornish pages:

Liberal Democrats have apologised after a campaign leaflet was sent out which uses a swear word to describe a Cornish nationalist candidate.

The paperwork was distributed on behalf of Anna Pascoe, Lib Dem candidate for Cornwall Council elections on 4 June.

It calls Mebyon Kernow candidate Stuart Cullimore a greasy-haired twat. He is considering what action to take.

The Lib Dems are investigating how about 40 of the leaflets were printed and distributed around Camborne.

Dick Cole, leader of Mebyon Kernow, which wants self-government for Cornwall, said the attack was "totally unacceptable".

He said Mr Cullimore, who declined to comment, was "very upset and offended".

He said: "We have accepted the apology, but we are pretty angry and concerned how this kind of thing can come out of an official Lib Dem office and be distributed during an election period.

From the Oxford Compact Dictionary
twat
/twat, twot/
• noun vulgar slang 1 a woman’s genitals. 2 a stupid or obnoxious person.

How much does it cost to join a political party?

I haven't been a paid up member of any political party for about 8 years. I was, however, a member of the old Liberal party for 7 years and of Plaid Cymru for over 20 years. From what I remember the membership fee was quite reasonable for both parties. I was quite shocked to read on the Conservative Home blog a comment suggesting that the membership fee for joining the Conservatives seems to be quite exorbitant. The cost arises in a comment by a wannabe candidate who is upset at Mr Cameron's idea of opening up candidates lists to non members:

Last year, I had to join the Conservatives before I could go in front of the PAB, at a cost of £225 plus VAT. Now, Mr Cameron says that anyone is welcome, whatever their political background. How does that work? Will I get a refund?

As the paid up members are the backbone of any party and the ones that can be called upon and relied upon to do the donkey work during election periods, I would have thought that the joining up fee should be pitched at a level that encouraged people to join. Even if I was the biggest Tory fan in the world, I doubt if I would fork out £225 plus VAT (another thirty odd quid?) to join.

Is this sort of membership fee common to all parties now, or is it just the Conservatives who think that their supporters can afford such high fees?

My Favourite Sad Song

If Rhydian had sung this on the X Factor I might have been persuaded to pick up the phone rather than to moan about phone in rip off telly:

101 Reasons for not voting Labour # 66-79

The Welsh language is a working class language it has survived because it has been used by the lower classes of society.

The Welsh gentry ditched it in the 1600's when it became socially and politically advantageous for them to do so.

The middle and aspiring classes ditched the language gradually over the centuries because they saw it as a block to getting on in the world.

In 1891, the only time that Welsh was officially recorded as the majority language of Wales, almost every declared Welsh speaker was born into a working class family.

Given that Welsh is a working class language one would expect that the Labour Party, the worker's party would be one of its strongest supporters.

Not so.

The Labour party has been the greatest force in trying to kill off the Welsh language since the Acts of Union. I don't understand why any Welsh speaker who isn't embarrassed about his or her linguistic heritage should vote Labour.

Here are numbers 66 to 79 of my 101 reasons for not voting Labour

66) A Labour Councillor suggests that providing comprehensive Welsh Language Education for all who choose to be educated in Welsh, whatever their ethnic background, is a form of ethnic cleansing

67) His party leader, the First Minister, agrees with him!!!

68) Glenys Kinnock, a Lady from Anglesey, claims that non Welsh speaking kids in Anglesey are made to piss in their pants, because the can't ask for the toilet in Welsh. Even when her own father tells her that she is wrong - she refuses to apologise!

69) When a Welsh learner asks the European Union to respect the Welsh Language one would expect that the only two native Welsh speakers in the parliament would support the measure. But no Eluned Morgan and Glenys Kinnock voted against official European recognition for their own first language.

70) The Labour Party, quite rightly, apologies about their racist slurs against Gypsies, but fail to see any similarity between the way that the state has oppresses both the Welsh and the Romany Languages.

71) Rhys Williams, a fluent Welsh speaking Labour candidate noting that he hates every other Welsh speaking person.

72) Ian Lucas refuses to use his legitimate parliamentary allowance to produce a bilingual Annual Report.

73)Ian Lucas insults a constituent for suggesting that his report should be bilingual

74) Chris Bryant (and Ian Lucas again) complaining about the fact that some Welsh Railway stations use the Welsh Language in their announcements.

75)Mark Tami MP for Alyn and Deeside's claim that Welsh Language communities group Cymuned is racist, because it supports the Welsh Language.

76) Dave Collins the brains of the Welsh Labour presence on the Internet suggesting that Welsh is a Brain Dead language

77) One of the more intelligent Labour bloggers Marcus Warner is sacked for having a blog, in the wake of Dave Collns' stupidity. Despite the fact that Marcus is making the effort to learn Welsh himself and will give his kids a Welsh language education.

78) Even some some people within the Labour party accept that the party is Anti Welsh

79) Huw Lewis thinks that those within the Labour party, who recognise that their anti Welsh image is harmful are delusional.

Nostalgia isn't what it use to be!

I was chatting with some other old fogies in the pub the other night about the things that we have seen, done, etc that our children haven't.

The old favourite, of course, was stepping into white dog shit. (For my younger readers, dogs use to chew on real animals bones - which use to make them produce white, dry poo; rather than the wet brown stuff that comes from canned dog food).

Breath patterns on window panes on a cold and frosty morning! They use to look like ferns or paisley dress patterns - extremely beautiful - but no longer seen in these days of central heating, double glazing and lagging.

The cuckoo, sings in April, the cuckoo sings in May, the cuckoo sings for half of June and then it flies away. I haven't heard a cuckoo sing in north Wales for the past 30 years - my kids have never heard the cuckoo's song!

The other thing that our kids don't have to experience is the doctor's party.

When a child contracted Chickenpox, German Measles, Measles, Mumps etc, the local doctor use to organise a tea party for all the kids in that age group, so that they all caught the illness at the same time and the epidemic was dealt with quickly.

The first time a kid had an invite to a doctor's party it was exiting, something to look forward to. But it resulted in having to suffer a horrible illness. Some school friends would be left severely disabled, some might die. Nobody looked forward to a second invite to the doctor's party.

I can't imagine what it must have been like for a parent to send a kid to such a party.

Thankfully, even when I was a kid, my parents didn't have to worry about the scourges of their childhood - TB and Polio. I was vaccinated against them.

My kids will probably never see white dog poo, frosted windows or ever hear the cuckoo herald the beginning of spring. If they mix in the right circles they may be invited to a GP's party - but not in order to catch a contagious illness!

Unfortunately they might experience the sadness of seeing their school buddies becoming disabled or dieing from those old childhood illnesses that should be preventable. Gareth Aubury, quite rightly, puts the blame for this where it truly belongs - on politicians past and present putting their personal, unfounded, family fears into the public domain.

The BNP and the Oxygen of Publicity

There is an illogical editorial comment in today's Independent relating to the call by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York for people not to vote for the BNP:

... sincere though their intentions undoubtedly are, the content of the latest statement from the two archbishops of Canterbury and York, warning people not to vote for the far-right British National Party (BNP) in next month's European and local elections, must be counted a mistake.

Dr Rowan Williams and Dr John Sentamu are playing directly into the hands of the BNP by whipping up yet more brouhaha over what is likely to remain a marginal force in Britain's political life. Quite inadvertently, they are feeding the party with the oxygen of publicity to a degree that must be delighting the party's leader

Fine advice to give to their graces in private, perhaps, but isn't publishing that advice in a major newspaper doing the exact same thing that it is criticising the Archbishops for doing - giving the BNP the oxygen of publicity?

The hypocracy of the editorial is added to by the fact that the paper not only has a lead comment about the BNP, and coverage of the Archbishops' comments but also two other stories both of which relate to the fascists apparent high rankings on the internet. These two stories actually highlight the danger of the dont give them the oxygen of publicity argument. If Archbishops, humanists, newspapers, mainstream politicians and bloggers don't expose the BNP for the foul and hateful organisation that it is, for fear of giving it publicity, the only source of information that people are left with is the fascists' own self-generated propaganda.

I wish that the BNP didn't exist, but I have to face the reality that it does exist. Ignoring it in the hope that it goes away isn't going to work. The only way to deal with it is to confront it and tell people loud and clear why it is evil and why it is not worthy of any decent person's support. I am glad that Rowan Williams and John Sentamu have done so.

Aye We Can - A song for Europe

This is Scottish blogger Aye We Can's song for the European election. I enjoyed it I hope that you do too!

Western Mail Cartoons are a Joke

This isn't really a current affairs post because it relates to something that has been pissing me of for a few years now. The Far Side Cartoons in the Western Mail. They are not funny they are not relevant and they are a complete waste of space.

In yesterdays paper there was a cartoon about mobile phones and cows, first published in America in 1988! Mobile phone technology has MOOved (sorry) on a bit in the last 21 years. There is little comparison between USA cow ranches and Welsh hill sheep smallholdings. The cartoon is not only dated but is completely irrelevant to the readers of the so called National Newspaper of Wales.

To think that the Western Mail was once the home of that great Welsh cartoonist Grenfell "Gren" Jones and nurtured the talents of Mal Mumph Humphreys!

If they must publish 21 year old cartoons a 21 year old Gren, would still be funnier than a current Far Side.

Come on Western Mail! The people of Wales deserve a better laugh from our National Newspaper than a 20+ year old American cartoons can give us.

Publishing this crap makes the paper the joke!

It must be Lembit.....!

Cash in the Attic is a UK television show on the BBC. In the show, the presenter visits a family's house to find out what they need to raise money for. They then explore the house and its surroundings, finding antiques and valuing them, with the help of experts.

The finds are taken to auction in order to raise money.

Given that the good people of these islands seem to be totally pissed off at the moment with MP's filling their houses with unneeded valuables at the taxpayers expense, one would think that this is the last programme on earth that any MP would wish to appear on, given the present climate.

Not So according to Glyn's blog!

Cymraeg

Pub Quiz

What do:

Peter Walker MP for Worcester
David Hunt MP for The Wirral
William Hauge MP for Richmond, Yorkshire
and
John Redwood MP for Wokingham

have in common with Cheryl Gililan MP for Chesham and Amersham?

I would like the Labour team to think very hard before answering this question - they might get it wrong.

Some members of the Labour team think that Ron Davies was the architect of devolution. Bollocks, he was just the builder. The Architect was Mrs Thatcher and her series of English Secretary's of State for Wales who couldn't give a fiddlers' fart about Wales.

The polls and the Tory choice for Welsh Secretary suggest that we are going back to the same old days. Welsh Labour could, if they were minded to, do something about it - amend the Government of Wales Act (2006) to get rid of the needles referendum clause!

Come on, Welsh Labour, be brave, do what's needed to earn a bonus point for your team!

MP's hold PM to account shock horror

The front page of today's Daily Post is a further example of the expenses scandal getting out of hand. Wanting to get their bit of the action the Daily Post has "exclusively" discovered that the three Plaid MPs used some of their incidental expenses allowance to pay for legal advice regarding the Iraq war.

The Daily Post seems to think that this is wrong, because it means that "Labour supporters forked out" to fund a campaign to oust the Prime Minister. Rather a pathetic claim to make. As all tax payers pay towards all MP's costs, Plaid supporters will pay a damned site more per head to Labour Tory and Lib Dem MP's than than any taxpayer pays for the cost of Plaid MPs. And all of the MP's expenses put together will be chickenfeed in comparison to the billions that opponents of the illegal war have had to fork out to finance the military campaign.

What ever one's opinion of Plaid Cymru, Tony Blair or the war in Iraq, it should be clear to any unbiased observer that getting legal advice about the activities of the government of the day is a legitimate way for oppositions politicians to hold the government to account.

This is a non story and is more of an embarrassment to the Daily Post for reporting it than it is for the three MP's concerned.

A Vendetta Against Democracy

I live in the Aberconwy Constituency. Whilst Wales is part governed by Westminster I want an MP to represent Aberconwy in Westminster whilst being available to me in my constituency.

My MP can not commute between London and Conwy on a daily basis. If I want her to be available "at home" to me on occasions and to represent me in Westminster at other times, I have to accept that the "job" involves her having to have two places for her to rest her head. I have to accept, as a tax payer and a democrat, that I have to foot the bill for her so called "second home" in London through common taxation.

My MP is a common working class woman. Before she was elected she was a social worker who probably struggled to keep one home going. She desperately needed the allowance help to set up her "second home" in London, and deserved all the help that she has been given in order to make it possible for a person from her background to represent people like me as an MP.

She hasn't been mentioned in the Telegraph, but she had been tarred by the same brush! This is an affront to democracy.

The Telegraph has been feeding on this story for two weeks. In that two weeks it has mentioned about 80 MPs out of 650, few of whom are really guilty of any sort of misbehaviour.

Lets look at just the Welsh victims:

Paul Murphy asked for a boiler, condemned by a CORGI advisor, to be replaced. (Some Welsh bloggers / prats think that he should have ignored that expert advice).

Sian James is exposed for NOT claiming for a chocolate Santa, despite the HO HO HO's and the Ha Ha Ha's.

Lembit is condemned for a plasma TV that the Commons authorities refused to pay for.

So the Telegraph has found nothing against 90% of MP's. The faults it claims to have found against 5% of MP's have proved to be shit, and the minor corruption that it claims to have found against about 1% of MP's has dominated the headlines for 2 weeks whilst unemployment is rising and the economy is going down the pan.

And who benefits from this assault on democracy? The fascists in UKIP and the BNP!

The Telegraph editors and their supporters need to stand back for a minute and consider what they are doing.

This has gone beyond exposing a few bad apples. It has now become a vendetta against democracy. It is time that it stopped!

Odd Poll

A poll on ITN news tonight claimed that 54% of the electorate believe that a General Election should be held immediately. Only 45% said that they would vote in a General Election if held. Does this mean that 9% of the good citizens of these islands want an election in order to make a point of not voting in it?

Quote of the day

Ennis Hughes has just said on CF99 that her party, the BNP is opposed to the Eu because they believe:

That the European Union is a Fascist state

Pull the other one Ennis - if the EU was Fascit your Fascit party would be 100% behind it.

Syr Siôn Trefor

Michael Martin Is the first House of Commons speaker to be given the boot since the days of Sir John Trevor in the 17th century.

Which leaves the question on every body's lips: Who was Syr Siôn Trefor?

This is the answer from The Dictionary of Welsh Biography

Sir JOHN TREVOR (1638 - 1717), speaker and judge, was the second son of John Trevor (d. c. 1643). His father dying in his early boyhood, he was befriended by his uncle Arthur Trevor, who prepared him for entry to the Inner Temple (Nov. 1654), whence he was called to the Bar in May 1661.

Six years later he accompanied his kinsman and namesake, Sir J. Trevor ‘III’ of Trevalun, on an embassy to France, was knighted on 29 Jan. 1671, and in 1673 entered Parliament, sitting for English pocket boroughs till 1681, and failing to secure election for Montgomery in 1679.

He combined a fulsome support of the royal prerogative and single handed defence of his unpopular cousin and patron Jeffreys with an aggressive Protestantism, resulting in his chairmanship of committees like those on the growth of popery (29 April 1678) — inspired by John Arnold, and issuing in the martyrdom of David Lewis and other South Wales catholics — and on the impeachment of Powis and the other popish lords.

Living mainly in London, he acquired a country house at Pulford, lower down the Dee than the family seat, until the death of his elder brother made him heir to the latter, probably before the violent county election of March 1681, when he revived the old family feud by capturing Denbighshire from the Whiggish but territorially far more powerful Myddeltons, who challenged him to a duel for calling the Roundhead Sir Thomas a traitor.

He became mayor of Holt next year, and in 1684 was put on a commission of enquiry into concealed crown lands in Denbighshire.

On James II's accession, Beaufort, as President of Wales , intervened, at the prompting of the king and Jeffreys, to heal the feud, with the result that Myddelton was returned unopposed for the county and Trevor for the borough, of which he was promptly made a burgess. Trevor had his revenge when a quarter of a century later he helped to ruin the Edisbury'sclients of the Myddeltons, by foreclosing on their Erddig estate, of which he was a principal mortgagee.

In 1685 he was elected Speaker of the House (19 May), and appointed Master of the Rolls (20 Oct.), and added to the privy council , with two Dissenters to offset his stiff Anglicanism , on 6 July 1688; he was also given the joint constableship of Flint castle (1687) and the office of ‘ custos rotulorum ’ of Flintshire (Dec. 1688), remaining true to James even after his first flight. He therefore lost his offices at the Revolution , but was again returned to parliament for an English pocket borough and resumed his speakership (May 1690).

Winning the favour of William III by his success in ‘managing’ the Tories, he was restored to the privy council (1 Jan. 1691), made first commissioner of the Great Seal during the vacancy of 1690-93 , and re-appointed Master of the Rolls on 13 Jan. 1693, but in 1695 he was deposed from the speakership (12 Mar.) and expelled the House (16 Mar) for bribery, only a few weeks after he had been within sight of the woolsack.

His Welsh offices were restored in 1705 . He d. in London , 20 May 1717 , leaving a reputation for legal knowledge and judicial impartiality in sharp contrast with his political venality. He was a benefactor of many county charities , including Denbigh grammar school . His portrait is preserved at Brynkynallt. He m. Jane , daughter of Sir Roger Mostyn and widow of Roger Puleston of Emral . With the death, in 1762, of his eldest son, who unsuccessfully contested Dnbigh boroughs in the Tory interest in 1741, the male line came to an end

Hm! A Welsh man was the last speaker to feel the parliamentary boot up his backside, a Scot is the latest recipient. I feel an anti Celtic minorities rant brewing!!!!