In defence of Vincent Bailey

If the internet existed when I was in my late teens and early twenties and I had had a web presence on it, my profile would undoubtedly have declared that I was an Adonis, a Lothario and a more successful serial shager than either Casanova or Nick Clegg; I'm sure that it would have declared that I was brave and cool and had done all sorts of things that were seen as "manly" and against the rules including drug taking and violence.

The truth is that I was 22 before I had my first fumblingly disappointing sexual conquest, I have never taken an illegal drug in my life and if anybody had threatened me with violence I would have run home to my Mam as my primary way of confronting the threat; as would the vast majority of the lads in my peer group. If I had been truthful I would have been drummed out of my peer group by friends who were as virginal, clean living and frightened as I was – but afraid to admit it. Young lads lie about sex and their social equivalent of drugs and rock'n roll; always have done and always will do!

When I was a young lad those lies were unimportant, unrecorded and are now only remembered by those of a similar age who know that we all lied together for the same reason. Because my teenage fantasies and bravado were never written down, they can't come back to haunt me now, should I decide to stand for election or decide to give support to a candidate for election.

Vincent Bailey, isn't a bad person who has no place in Welsh politics. When he was doing what I did at his age he was caught up in a new technological system without realising its consequences for his future, something I didn't need to worry about!

I suspect that every possible future politician, political aid or political supporter under 35 could find themselves in the same boat as Vincent. Any young person who shows an interest in his or her country's politics may be threatened and dissuaded from becoming politically active because a silly tweet or a profile or a blog comment might come back to haunt him or her forever! That is bad, very bad, for democracy!

The villain in this story is not Mr Bailey, but the person who decided to trawl through Mr Bailey's internet history in order to embarrass him and in order to embarrass Andrew RT Davies' campaign to lead the Welsh Conservative Party!

Dirty Dave, should be ashamed of himself as should his cronies at Trinity Mirror / Western Mail for regurgitating his dirt digging in the ancient history of a political opponents' puerile web presence!

And if Andrew wants to show some leadership skills he should stand four square with the now (hopefully) mature Mr Bailey, rather than throwing him out as a sacrifice to Dave's dirty tricks!

OurKingdom & Government Blogging

I like reading the OurKingdom blog, I don't always understand it, but I enjoy reading it. My politics tend to come from the heart and the guts, OurKingdom's politics tends to be more cerebral.

I have nothing against intellectual or logical politics. Nothing pleases me more than reading an academic treaties that comes to the same conclusion, through long and convoluted arguments, that I came to by gut instinct!

OurKingdom is currently hosting what the site believes to be a unique online deliberation on how the potential of the internet can be integrated into a national political process. It is about this question: can participation on the web reinforce representative democracy?

I write posts on my blog in the hope that they might have a smidgen of influence on the political process, they are my little way of taking part in the Welsh political scene. I don't expect them to be of huge significance, they are just my twopennyworth in a million pound venture.

What is important to me however is that it is MY twopennyworth, all mine! I don't want my blog integrated into a national (=Brit) political process.

150 years ago the press was seen as the Fourth Estate of Parliament, the fearless and favour-less institution that could hold Monarch, Lords and Commons to account on behalf of the people. Then all of the press owners became part of the establishment, part of the problem, the Press Barons who could claim after an election It was the Sun Wat Won It.

The internet is now the Fifth Estate.

As I have said I don't understand the whole point being made by OurKingdom, to read the whole point takes hours and involves clicking on hundreds of links. My gut reaction is that the government wants to control the blogosphere by making it part of the official political process in order to stifle its independent and unpredictable spirit.

This blog will never become a part of any government process. I will not be tempted into turning my personal blog into a vehicle for government consultation. MPs, AMs and Civil Servants are welcome to read my posts and inform policies from my opinions, but the opinions expressed here will always be my own and never part of any wider internet consultation. Sorry!