Welsh Political News

Time for my personal round up of the year....

Family: In August my nephew Robin was born, and in November my uncle Peter passed away. My cousin also had a baby girl in Autumn. Angie took British citizenship, passed her driving test and now has a car!

Politics: I stepped down from being active after the Assembly elections, and actually now am no longer a member of the Tory Party, although still an ardent supporter of the Tories and CF. David Cameron and Nick Bourne led the party wonderfully in the Tory revival nationally and in Wales this year.

Education: Well, this was the year I completed my degree finally with the Open University. Finally. I'm a sucker for punishment so I signed up for A215 Creative Writing to keep me going until summer next year. I'm also still mad about languages in general.

Heroes of the Year: Andrew Murphy, the voters of Tokelau, and lecturers and students of the Open University.

Zeroes of the Year: NatWest Bank and Virgin Media.

Language of the Year: (language that caught my interest the most) Sorbian (Sorbisch), closely followed by Swahili.

Most interesting book I've read this year: "What Terrorists Want: Understanding the Terrorist Threat" by Louise Richardson (2006, London, John Murray Publishers)

Innovative Website of the Year: http://www.facebook.com/

Blogger I'd most like to buy a pint for: Theo Spark, Ordovicius, Peter Martinovic, and I would have said Prague Tory but I've already bought him a beer this summer. I have also had a beer with Ordovicius, but I didn't buy him one, we bought our own.

That's it. See you next year.

Experience has shown me today that it now takes an hour and ten minutes to query an incorrect bill with Virgin Media after my phoneline went down this month yet again, and numerous phone calls. This is the fifth month in a row I have had major problems with Virgin Media since installation in August. And customer services don't seem to know what service means.

My opinion based on my personal experience for my readers is don't go with Virgin Media if you want your phone, TV and broadband services. I've yet to have a month where everything was all right.

I received the following text message from my mobile service provider Vodafone earlier:

Make sure your New Year messages get through to all your friends and family - avoid the rush and contact them now.

Are Vodafone expecting a network meltdown this evening? Methinks they must be, to warrant sending out a message like that....

H/T Theo Spark

This year, the news is advising people to drink sensibly.

I have a problem with this: I went into the pub earlier, and asked for a pint of sensibly but they looked at me as if I was stupid. Does sensibly come in bottles or cans, perhaps?

A while back, they were on about binge drinking. I thought I'd try it, but I had some odd looks when I asked for a pint of binge in the pubs....

Sod it, I'll stick with the mulled wine.

Iain Dale makes the claim on his blog that he received 404,000 unique visitors in 2007. There is much discussion on his post about how accurate such figures can be given the problems of tracking IP addresses, but still it is pretty impressive.

I only have a basic extreme tracking analysis, which is open to public view nevertheless. According to that site I had 106,629 unique visitors in 2007. The majority of these people will have visited the site many times and will have been multiple-counted but what the heck, at least somebody is reading these postings.

Happy New Year.

After reading Tim Hames in the Times today I’ve decided against penning my own New Year’s Message though I was pleased to see him quoting Ieuan’s twice despite the dodgy spelling.  Instead, looking back at the year in which we took that first momentous step from  opposition into Government - and not just any Government but [...]

THE New Year is upon us but there is time for a last glance back in the Daily Post's 'Capital Eye Review of 2007'. And, of course, to wish everyone a very happy 2008. JANUARY: Welsh Lib Dem’s election campaign chair Jenny Willott is optimistic over the voter impact MP Lembit Opik’s relationship with a Cheeky Girl could have. “We might get some more votes among Hello readers.” (They didn't) FEBRUARY: Tony Blair arrives at his last Welsh Labour conference as prime minister and declares: “It’s amazing how nice people are about you when they know you’re going.” Next year, he might be outside ‘holding up the little sign saying, ‘More Socialism!’” (He won't) MARCH: Tory Shadow Welsh minister David Jones describes Peter Hain’s speech to the Labour gathering as “all good class warrior stuff.” But the same Mr Hain was seen in soft focus on a lifestyle web site extolling the virtues of the Aga for Bistro-style slow cooked tuna. “He’s not so much manning the barricades as backing the marinades.” (Clever) APRIL: Windows have to be removed from a shelter for staff smokers at the rear entrance to the Assembly offices in Cardiff Bay to comply with the new smoking ban in public places. The enclosed shelter cost taxpayers £6,270 plus VAT. The adaptations cost just £270, plus VAT. (Nice to see smokers getting some of their tax back) MAY: Only the Lib Dems could contrive a ‘triple-lock’ system to prevent its Assembly leadership from steamrollering a rainbow coalition deal, which then denied its special conference a say, on the strength of a tied 9-9 vote in its national executive. (That's democracy?) JUNE: Rhodri Morgan poo-poos suggestions that health minister Edwina Hart would be prepared to have Plaid’s Ieuan Wyn in a Labour coalition cabinet. “She said she didn’t mind what happened as long as Ieuan Wyn Jones didn’t take her job.” (He didn't) JULY: Rhodri Morgan is admitted to hospital for heart surgery. The discomfort which so alarmed the first minister was initially blamed on the effects of chillies, prompting speculation that his digestion was affected by the ‘inedible’ part of the ‘inedible and unpalatable’ choices on offer for political coalition. (He's given up on chillies) AUGUST: New Counsel General Carwyn Jones also runs Assembly business as Leader of the House, seemingly against the Government of Wales Act which states: “A person holding office as the First Minister, a Welsh Minister appointed under section 48 or a Deputy Welsh Minister may not be appointed as the Counsel General or designated under subsection (6); and the Counsel General or a person so designated may not be appointed to any of those offices.” (Yeh, right) SEPTEMBER: Plaid elections director Adam Price advises Tony Blair: “Remember Pinochet. Be careful where you holiday, Mr Blair. Spain and Belgium have already made the crime of aggression illegal in domestic law. And when criminal justice is transferred to the Assembly we’ll make it a crime here too: retrospectively.” (Blair becomes international Middle East peace envoy) OCTOBER: Word goes round the Bay that some AMs can expect an extra pay hike in future. Alyn and Deeside AM Carl Sargeant could benefit as Labour chief whip having been ousted as deputy business minister in record time in the coalition deal. (He didn't get it - yet) NOVEMBER: Competition is generated over how best to describe the indecipherable qualities of the Assembly Government’s draft budget. A tenner for each time a Tory used the word ‘opaque’ would go a long way to cover the £13.5m Wales Millennium Centre debt. (It's been paid off) DECEMBER: Welsh secretary Peter Hain prompts controversy at the ITV Wales political awards. Last year's Welsh Politician of the Year asked ‘if standards had slipped’ in this year's award to former ‘country solicitor’ Plaid leader Ieuan Wyn Jones. (You win some, you lose some)

Brown looks grim, Cameron appears buoyant, but for how long?

Who'll be smiling this time next year?
	Gordon Brown
	David Cameron
	None of the above
pollcode.com free polls

Nick Clegg has used his New Year's message to target ID cards in a fairly obvious attempt to win back those Lib Dem voters that have turned to David Cameron in the last few months. We'll have to wait until next year to find out if this tactic effects the Tories' lead in the polls. But then, next year is tomorrow...

The Flemish budget is closing the year out with a surplus of €779 million. According to Flemish Budget Minister Dirk Van Mechelen (Flemish liberal) Flanders will have worked away its entire public debt by Christmas 2008.

The excellent budget figures for 2007 are in part thanks to a positive economic situation, higher than expected income from inheritance fees, and road and capital transfer taxes.

In the first half of 2008, Minister Van Mechelen wants to make quick work of the promised debt transfers from the Flemish cities and municipalities (€612 million).

Flanders has the right and responsibility to raise its own taxes, resulting in it being debt free by Christmas 2008. Powers to raise taxes must be transferred to the Senedd to manage the Welsh economy successfully, accountable to the Welsh people and their interests. Just as the Flemish Government does for the people of Flanders.

Multiple signs of concern among the top echelons of the Labour party about Gordon's performance. Jack Straw, Secretary of State for Justice, and arguably the safest pair of hands in the Labour high command, has admitted that David Cameron’s campaign is “resonating” with the public and warns that the government must “adapt” if it is to keep power.

Tessa Jowell, Olympics minister, has also called on the Prime Minister to be “authentic”, true to himself and to Labour’s values, saying that there is no quick fix to restore the government’s battered standing.

David Miliband has also put his own two pennyworth in, urging Gordon to counter the perception that he has "run out of steam" and "lost the will to fight".

Jowell's advice to Gordon is amazingly blunt. Conceding that Gordon is not the most attractive of personalities, she advises him to "be himself" and accept that people will not necessarily like him:

"What people want in modern leaders is to know them, not necessarily to like them, to feel that they want to go on holiday with them, but to know them, to know their frailties, their strengths, what they like about them, what they don't like about them, to understand their attitudes and core beliefs."

The problem with Gordon, however, is that he usually is "being himself" and it is all really pretty unattractive. Consider, for example, his New Year message to the British people. I won't cherrypick extracts, but will let you read it here. To say that it is wooden, turgid and boring is grossly to understate its awfulness. There is not a single shred of humanity in its whole 1,057 words. Nothing to inspire, nothing to motivate, nothing to enthuse. It is, as Tony Blair might have said, just clunking.

And it is that clunkiness that makes it extraordinary unlikely that Gordon will ever win the hearts of the people of this country, no matter how much Straw, Jowell and Miliband try to talk him up.

He is, after all, just being himself.

According to this morning's Guardian, Britain is languishing at the bottom of the league table when it comes to protecting people's privacy:

The UK is billed as "an endemic surveillance society" alongside Russia, the US, Singapore and China in the survey of 47 countries by Privacy International (PI).

Britain is bottom in Europe because of its cameras, ID card plans and lack of government accountability. Rankings are given for the UK as a whole as well as for its individual nations. "For the first time, Scotland has been given its own ranking score and performed significantly better than England and Wales," says the report.

None of this is particularly surprising given the loss this year of computer discs containing personal and bank details of 25 million UK families claiming child benefit, which highlighted the risks of storing information on huge government database. What is worrying is that the report concludes that the 2007 rankings "show an increasing trend among governments to archive data on the geographic, communications and financial records of all their citizens and residents. This trend leads to the conclusion that all citizens, regardless of legal status, are under suspicion.

"The impact was worst in the US and across the EU as governments boosted surveillance and information gathering in the name of security and protecting borders."

They say that America performed worst among democratic countries in terms of "statutory protections and privacy enforcement". This provides no comfort for Britons given the decision by the UK Government over a year ago to allow the credit card and e-mail accounts of those flying to the USA to be inspected by the US Authorities, effectively exempting them from European data protection legislation.

After just over nine months of existence, this blog will enter the new year having received over 55,570 unique visits and 110,692 pageloads. That's pretty modest compared to some but for a Welsh blog it ain't half bad. Admittedly, Peter Black has had 28,258 more unique visits than me since the beginning of April, but then I suspect that I'm less of a 'must-read' among the UK's Lib-Dems, strange as that may seem.

Thanks to you all for dropping by, and here's to 2008

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda!

I really enjoyed reading about David Cameron helping to deliver lambs on his neighbour's farm in Oxfordshire in today's Mail on Sunday. Its a pity that he spent only 15 minutes in the lambing shed and that his offer to pull out the lambs himself was not accepted by Julian Tustion. It would have been a lovely Xmas story. It would also have been a great experience for David. I've sorted out many thousands of difficult births, of both cows and sheep, during my lifetime, and it never stopped being satisfying - especially when things became complicated.

Of course, it doesn't always turn out well, depending what the problem is. In this case it seems to have been a case of the lamb being wrongly presented. Normally the lamb would emerge a bit like a human diving into a swimming pool - its front legs and head coming together. Even then problems can arise if the lamb is a 'single' and is just too large. If the lamb is presented with just one front leg and its head, it can be pulled out, as long as the other front leg is trailing backwards, and not bent with its knee coming forwards. If the front legs are presented without the head at all, the lamb has to go back and the head retrieved. Sometimes, especially if the ewe has been striving for a long time, the head can be difficult to reach. Now if the head is coming on its own, there can be real problems, because the head swells up quickly and it can be the devil of a job to push it back - but back its got to go. Otherwise it would have to be cut off, which is what I've done if the lamb has died. We also have to be careful when there are two legs presented to ensure that its not the back legs coming first. I always check by feeling for the lambs tail. Lambs born backwards are fine if the birth is assisted (and therefore quick). Unassisted , the lamb can sometimes be out, but its nose and mouth still within the ewe, thus being suffocated. The worst cases of all are when the lamb is coming back first - no legs or head. Problem here is that it takes an experienced eye to notice that the ewe is actually trying to 'lamb' at all. There is nothing in sight and if intervention is not sufficiently early, the lamb will die within the womb. Of course, everything becomes much more complicated if there are two or three lambs and you cannot be sure which legs and head belong to which lamb - especially if one (or two) are coming forwards and one (or two) are coming backwards at the same time. And it becomes a deeply unpleasant task for the shepherd if the lambs have been dead inside the ewe for a few days. Because they rot and come out in pieces. This can make the ewe rather sickly and she will need antibiotics. It is a pity that David Cameron did not have a week to spend on his neighbour's farm. He would have learned so much about how to successfully increase the size of his flock.

You all know that I like Montgomeryshire people to do well. This blog likes to acknowledge the sons and daughters of my old county who win awards. And I do not exclude my Liberal Democrat opponents. Fair's fair. So lets hear it for Mick Bates, Montgomeryshire's directly elected Liberal Democrat Assembly Member (as Carl Sargeant would say) who has yet again won the Wales on Sunday's annual award for 'Buffoon of the Year'. In fact Mick has won this title so ofter that the award has been renamed 'The Mick Bates Buffoon of the Year Award'. It really is enough to make those who love Montgomeryshire weep.

Just visited Sanddef's blog where he asks us to consider our high and low points for 2007. My extremities are personal - losing my National Assembly for Wales position in last May's election and the birth of Ffion, our first grandchild. But these things are of little interest to you, dear readers, even if they have changed my life, both in what I do with my time and how I think about things.

On happenings in the wider political world, which is what I think Sanddef was referring to, I think that the Conservative Party becoming electable again on the first week in October was my high point - while the evaporation of the Rainbow Coalition, which would have ejected the Labour Party out of the Government of Wales, was my low point. If I'd been elected last May, I would have done everything I could have to bring the 'Rainbow' into existance, and been near to despair . So near and yet so far. Labour hegemony rolls on while Wales suffers. And what of next year. Perhaps I'll post on this tomorrow.

Just visited Sanddef's blog where he asks us to consider our high and low points for 2007. My extremities are personal - losing my National Assembly for Wales position in last May's election and the birth of Ffion, our first grandchild. But these things are of little interest to you, dear readers, even if they have changed my life, both in what I do with my time and how I think about things.

On happenings in the wider political world, which is what I think Sanddef was referring to, I think that the Conservative Party becoming electable again on the first week in October was my high point - while the evaporation of the Rainbow Coalition, which would have ejected the Labour Party out of the Government of Wales, was my low point. If I'd been elected last May, I would have done everything I could have to bring the 'Rainbow' into existance, and been near to despair . So near and yet so far. Labour hegemony rolls on while Wales suffers. And what of next year. Perhaps I'll post on this tomorrow.

An obvious 'high' this year was the creation of the 'One Wales' coalition, and not just because it meant that a) Plaid were finally in government and b) Labour's hegemony had ended. More importantly it signalled a move away from the entrenched tribal nature of Welsh politics.

An obvious 'low' was the untimely death of rugby legend Grav.

On a British level, Tony Blair stepped down (yay) and Gordon Brown stepped up (booo)

But I'll leave it for you to decide what were the best and worst moments of 2007...

Jo Anglezarke has tagged me in the latest meme to say what my eight wishes are for 2008. I have been resisting thus far but have finally succumbed:

1. To see the Liberal Democrats sustain poll ratings at least in the mid-twenties throughout the year.
2. To retain control of Swansea, Cardiff, Bridgend and Wrexham in May and make further advances both on those councils and elsewhere in Wales.
3. To see a Democrat become President of the United States (I really am not fussed which of the three front-runners it is).
4. For Swansea City FC to gain automatic promotion as Division One champions.
5. For Brian Paddick to become the first Liberal Democrat Mayor of London
6. For British troops to be pulled out of Iraq.
7. To see Wales win another Grand Slam.
8. To lose some weight.

If I was to have a ninth wish it would be to abolish memes altogether.

Matt Withers notes that Gordon Brown has some very profound things to say in his New Year message about devolution:

In 2008, with firm conviction and resolve, we will make the case for the United Kingdom - standing up for the cause of the Union and against secession, showing people in all parts of the country that for so many of the challenges our country faces - from climate change to terrorism - there are no Wales-only, Scotland-only or England-only solutions.

Matt believes that this bodes ill for the success or otherwise of the Convention being set up to consider the case for more powers for the Welsh Assembly. He could be right but surely it demonstrates a more basic shortcoming on the part of the British Prime Minister, a complete lack of understanding about devolution.

The whole point of the two Government of Wales Acts proposed by a Labour Government containing Gordon Brown is that we can formulate Wales-only solutions. Has Gordon changed his mind? Maybe Rhodri Morgan has the answer.

Hat-tip to my father for this.

My nephew Robin is in the Christmas Cuties 2007 competition run by the South Wales Argus, Newport's local newspaper. The deadline for votes to get my nephew selected as Christmas Cutie is January 1st, so you've got just today and tomorrow to vote.

To vote, send "WACUTIE 0877" to Lines closed from a UK mobile. Alternatively, dial Lines closed within the UK. According to the information provided in the South Wales Argus, texts cost £1 plus your mobile operator charge, and calls cost £1 per call. I'm not responsible for the lines, so don't come back to me regarding them; according to the South Wales Argus: "Service provided by Newsquest Media Group." Any issues with the lines, take it up with the South Wales Argus, not me.

Vote for my nephew!

Addendum (6 Jan 2007): No, I don't have the results yet.