Jones Jones Jones

One of the headlines announcing Alun Ffred Jones' rise to the Cabinet comes from The Stage website. It says: Jones appointed Wales’ Heritage Minister after shock departure of Thomas.

Now I know the headline just a teeny bit on the long winded side, but it made me realise that all 3 of Plaid's ministers are Jones' now - Ieuan Wyn, Elin and now Alun Ffred. The highest ranking Thomas is now Labour's Gwenda, deputy-minister for Social Services.

I'm struggling very hard not to be as predictable as making a joke about keeping up!

And The New Minister is...

Alun Ffred Jones - surprise surprise!

The AM for Caernarfon has been confirmed as the new minister for Culture. Alun Ffred said that he is

determined to build on the strong foundations laid by Rhodri Glyn Thomas,
and to deliver on the commitments set out in One Wales

and he hopes that he will

contribute to the objectives of this government of uniting our nation, spreading prosperity and building confidence in our ability to take good decisions in the
interest of Wales

Interestingly, Ieuan Wyn Jones stated that

We are fortunate that he bring such wide experience with him as well as his
commitment as our deputy group leader to delivering One Wales.

Have I missed something in the past or has Rhodri Glyn also stepped down as Plaid's deputy group leader then?

Anyway, congratulations to the new Minister and good luck to him in his first order of business - being protested at by the Welsh Language Society at the Eisteddfod (I assume!)

While we're on the subject of new additions, congratulations to the Celtic Crusaders Rugby league team who will be a Super League team from next season

Words of Advice

Ear;y Day Motions are a bizarre tool of the London Parliament. They're basically way for MP's to make statements about anything and everything they want to. EDM's in the past few days have go from the USA's use of Music as torture (claiming it to be an infringement of the musicians human rights), the removal of US nukes from UK soil and congratulating Lewis Hamilton on winning the British Grand Prix!

Two EDM's this week should raise a few eyebrows down in the Bay. They are signed by, among others, 7 Labour MP's representing Welsh constituencies. Chief protagonists it seems are ex-First Secretary Alun Michael and Paul Flynn. The text of the first EDM is:

That this House congratulates the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for his principled stand in rejecting calls for a widespread cull of badgers; notes that the evidence shows that such a cull would do nothing to help eradicate bovine tuberculosis and would be likely to make matters worse; considers that he is right to take his decision in accordance with science; and hopes that the Minister for Rural Affairs in the National Assembly for Wales will set aside her intention to allow a cull, and return to an evidence-based approach.

Just in case everyone didn't quite get the message, another EDM was quickly drafted and signed, this one not even trying to appear courteous to Elin Jones and the Welsh Assembly Government:

That this House applauds the courageous decision of the Secretary of State
for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to reject the irrational, evidence-free
calls for the mass slaughter of badgers; notes that after a wholesale cull of
badgers in the Irish Republic bovine tuberculosis levels are higher there than
in Northern Ireland where no cull took place; agrees with the Independent
Scientific Group's conclusion, after a 10-year study, that badger culling cannot
meaningfully contribute to the future control of bovine tuberculosis; welcomes
the Government's search for an effective vaccine; calls on farmers to reduce
unnecessary cattle movements that increase the susceptibility of cattle to
cattle infections; and regrets the cheap populism of those who demand a cull of
badgers that is likely to increase the spread of bovine tuberculosis.

Cheap populism? Ouch!

A Man Walks Into a Bar...

Not sure where to start on the Rhodri Glyn Thomas resignation "scandal". It must go down as one the most bizarre resignations in recent times. Clearly, as everyone with half a brain can see, his position didn't become untenable because he walked into a pub carrying a cigar. If he had refused to put the cigar out, or caused some great scene then it would make some kind of sense. To resign after simply apologising and taking the offending butt outside is laughable.

So why are Plaid now looking for a new minister? Some bloggers seem to believe there's a dark secret yet to come out, I can't see it myself but who knows. Plaid's office is insisting that the curious incident of the cigar was the "straw that broke the camel's back" for the "accident-prone" minister. That doesn't quite ring true either. While tales of the Culture Minister's flamboyant nights out have been circulating since the dawn of time he has, largely, been gaffe free during his time as minister. The excruciating Welsh Book of the Year incident apart I can't recall a single embarrassing mishap during Rhodri's time as an AM, let alone as a Minister. There's also never been any suggestion anywhere, by anyone, that Rhodri's nights of drinking has ever spilled over to affect his work.

In truth, this seems like a reshuffle that Ieuan Wyn Jones has been contemplating for a while. He might not have been ready to execute it quite this soon, but I can't believe that it was a spur of the moment job. There are two reasons why Plaid would want a new minister in the Culture seat. Firstly there might have been concerns that Rhodri Glyn was a scandal waiting to happen. I don't quite buy into this line, as I said above he has proven himself apt at staying out of any major trouble.

The second, and more plausible reason, is that Plaid wanted to draw a line under some certain issues. While Elin Jones has made the Agricultural job her own and earned plaudits by pretty much everyone, the Culture post was always going to be a hot potato for Plaid for one single reason, its remit contains the Welsh language. Do too much for the language and they'd be reinforcing their image in certain parts of the country as a party for Welsh speakers only. Do too little for the Welsh language and they'd be angering their core vote. There's no doubt that in the eyes of many in the Plaid "heartlands" Rhodri Glyn did a little too much of the latter and not enough of the former. The funding of Y Byd and the delay in a Welsh Language LCO has angered a lot of traditional Plaid voters with many claiming to be disillusioned with their party's first stint in power. Getting rid of Rhodri Glyn puts some sort of a line under the Welsh Daily, but the new man's standing with Plaid's core vote will be very dependent on how fast, and how far, he can get the Welsh LCO.

And who might that new man be? It seems that there's no point looking further than Arfon's Alun Ffred Jones. He's one of the few Plaid AM's (if not the only one?) to have actually ran anything in his career (Gwynedd Council) and his previous career in broadcasting is perfect for the Culture brief which includes broadcasting. He is also a Welsh speaker, surely a must for any Plaid Culture minister. While the usual description of "competent but uncharismatic" seems to be very qualified praise there is a lot of respect for Mr Jones' potential in the bay and it will be interesting to see how he pans out as a minister.

One final note on this whole saga, there is one possible after-effect that needs be considered. In 3 years it's National Assembly election time again - will Rhodri Glyn be standing? Having been a minister and now returned to the back benches will he have the desire for another 4 years? If not then it would open up an Assembly candidacy spot in Carmathen East and Dinefwr. Can anyone think of a politician from that area who may be looking for an Assembly seat come 2011?

Monumental Waste MEME

Both Valleys Mam and The Welsh Lobbyist have tagged me in the £200k waste not want not MEME. After a breach Google check to work out what a MEME even was (I am relatively new to this stuff remember!) I see that it's been started by Matt Wardman following Tom Harris MP's ascertain that David Davis' by-election was a monumental waste of money.

As the search for pointless wastes of £200,000 of our money has spread we've had Helicopters and Henry VII (Wardman), The Welsh Convention (Miss Wagstaff), The Aneurin Bevan NHS (Cynical Dragon), North Wales' consultants (Welsh Lobbyist) and Bed Blockers (Valleys Mam).

So here's mine:

£199,761 - cost of Monarchy to the people of Wales every 8 and a half days (including official cost, The Times' estimated security cost, Prince of Wales' unpaid tax and costs to local Councils to host Royal visits.)

I tag Damon Lord and O'Neill.

Spot the Difference

New Labour's campaign in Glasgow East has received a timely boost with an IBM poll putting them 15 points up on the SNP. Even with some analysts casting doubt on the figures it's still good news for them. So what better way for Labour to protect this lead than to place their feet firmly in their mouths.

Here's an article that appeared on their candidate's blog recently:


It didn't take long for someone to point out that there was no way on earth that man was a 97 years old! What miracle anti-aging cream do they use in Glasgow East these days? The article states that he "doesn't look a day past 70" - well why should he, you see it turns out that Mr McGuiness, while also being a prominent Labour activist that got an MBE for his work, is just 67. Easy mistake to make right. Someone must have just turned the 6 upside down - no big deal. But the article states that Mr McGuiness fought in WWII - a true war hero supporting Labour. Now that's perfectly plausible for a 97 year old, but for a 67 year old? He'd have been 6 years old when WWII ended!

Guido ran the story and very soon the Labour machine had changed its website. Here's what it looks like now. As you can see Mr George McGuiness has been replaced by Mr John Hipson , and a new picture thrown in to boot.


The article is now headed "We owe it to John Hipson to vote...", Perhaps a more suitable headline would be "We owe it to John Hipson to remember who he is... "!

Knifedge Councils

While David Davis' stroll to re-election takes the headlines in the London papers today, Wales had two Council by-elections yesterday, both in Councils with a very tight balance between those in control and the opposition.

In the Rheidiol ward of Aberystwyth Ceredigion Plaid Cymru gained a seat from the Lib Dems. This was a strong Lib Dem seat which was won just two months ago with 46% of the vote. The Lib Dems were hit with the resignation of their councillor after he was cautioned by the Police, and Plaid took advantage.

The result leaves Ceredigion Council on a knifedge. Plaid have 20 seats, Lib Dem and the Independents 21 seats with 1 Labour Councillor.

There will be no change in the running of the Council, but the Lib Dem/Independents must be hoping to God that none of their Councillors has to step down during the next 4 years!

The other election was in West Risca in Caerphilly. The seat was vacant after the long serving Labour councillor died within days of the election. Labour held the seat comfortably yesterday, and this brings them back to 31 councillors, the same as Plaid. Plaid remain in control of the Council due to support from 2 of the 9 independents.

One of those two independents is Ron Davies. Rumours of a switch to Plaid have been circulating long before he joined their government in Caerphilly. His appearance at Plaid's One Wales Government anniversary party this week will do nothing to quell those rumours!

The End of Englandandwales

The first Welsh made law since the days of Hywel Dda is about to come into force. The NHS Redress Bill, a bill making it easier to receive compensation after negligent treatment from the NHS, is awaiting the Royal Seal - the final stage of enacting any law.

A new Seal has been designed for the Queen to stamp the law. It features the Crown, the four lions standard, the words "Pleidiol Wyf I'm Gwlad" and, bizarrely, the four plants of the Home Nations - English Rose, Welsh Leek, Irish Clover and Scottish Thistle.

Although there's been Wales-Only laws before in modern times (e.g. Welsh Language Act 1993) this is the first piece of law made by Wales for Wales.

While UK laws will still refer to Englandandwales, on the approval of this first Welsh law both England and Wales will finally be separate legal entities - at least in Civil law.

But Officer, the Sign Told Me To!

This is a sign, a number of which have been placed around Swansea. The translation of it is, technically speaking, totally correct. Check a dictionary and you will find that:

Zone = Parth
Tow = Halio
Away = Ymaith

Even the grammar is correct, with the word for Zone placed before the "Tow Away".



This sign though is a perfect example of why translations should be done by people who can speak both languages, not by an English speaker with a dictionary. Because to any Welsh speaking reader, this sign does not say "Tow Away Zone".

It says "Wank Away Zone".

Fueling My Cynicism

Just three days ago a joint Plaid Cymru and SNP amendment to the Finance Bill was rejected after Labour, Lib Dems and Tories refused to support it.

The amendment was a Fuel Duty Regulator to help combat rising petrol/diesel prices. According to the Western Mail the Regulator would work like this

any extra cash raised for the Treasury from VAT on petrol or diesel as a result of the higher pump prices would be spent on an equivalent cut in fuel duty.

Today the Conservatives proposed changes to combat the rise in petrol/diesel prices. The BBC describes it like this

Shadow chancellor George Osborne told the BBC the party was looking at plans to cut fuel duty when oil prices rise and increase it when prices fall.

So on a nationalist backed vote to lower fuel duty when petrol prices are high the Tories refuse to support, yet three days later they bring out plans to lower fuel duty when petrol prices are high.

Don't you just love party politics?

I'm Lazy, You Die

I am not an organ donor. I don't carry an organ donor card. Why? Have i got a religious objection to my body being harvested after death? Nope. Am I sickened by the idea of being buried without some parts of me? Nope. Am I afraid that my family's trauma would be intensified by seeing parts of me put into others? Nope. In truth, the reason that I haven;t got an organ donor card is that I am lazy. I have never bothered to fill in the forms or call the number or whatever it is you do to get a card.

That's pathetic I know, but I'm pretty sure that I'm far from being the only person who's laziness has prevented them sorting out organ donation. When I realise that one Welsh person dies every fortnight because they couldn't find an organ to transplant it shames me. But not enough to take 5minutes to get it sorted.

That's why I hope the Welsh Government bite the bullet and bring in the "opt-out" system that they've been talking about for ages. Such a system would mean that we are all potential organ donors, unless we make a point of opting out. So the lazy among us would automatically become life-savers instead of organ-wasters. It's a controversial move, and I can understand the argument of the critics that such an important thing should be decided by every person and not thrust on us.

That argument doesn't hold water though. There's three kind of people when it comes to organ donating. Those who have made a point of getting a card, those who have made a point of not getting a card, and the rest of us who want to make a point but can't get off our fat arses long enough to do so (e.g. me). Under an opt out system those who really want to give will still give, those who object will opt out and the res of us who don't see it as a massive question of morals will become givers, possibly saving 150 additional people each year.

It seems that public opinion is staring to align with the government's plans. A recent poll had 48% of Welsh people supporting an opt out system.

While the 48% is what makes the headline, the poll has another figure which is a much stronger argument in favour of a new system. Only 11% of respondents did not want their organs removed after death. 72% wanted to donate, while 12% wanted their family to decide. 72% of the Welsh population is 2.16m people. The amount of registered donors in Wales is currently at 780,000. That's 1.38m lazy people who, like me, could be depriving others of life.

Sod this, I'm getting a card right now.

The Secrecy of Rape

Plaid AM Nerys Evans sent a questionnaire to all sitting AM's asking about domestic violence and rape. While staticians would point out that 60 is hardly a good sample for a poll, that wasn't the point. The point was to create publicity around a much more detailed poll on the same subject that was released today.

As a PR move, it certainly worked and has got people talking about the issue and both polls. 3 of the 8 AM's who replied admitted to having been raped in the past. None had been to the Police.

We always hear the statistics that few rape victims make a police complaints. We hear these facts so often we have become numb to them. It's interesting how the anonymous revelations of 3 of our AM's have hammered home the dire message with so much more force than a poll of 700 regular people.

Fair play to the 3 for being honest in their replies.

Bookies' Favorite

As I mentioned a few posts ago Gordon Brown is facing a by-election in Glasgow after the sitting Labur MP resigned due to ill health. Coming straight after Wendy Alexander stepped down it is a very inconvenient distraction. But after two sounding defeats in recent by-election (losing Crewe & Nantwich to th Tories and coming 5th in Henley) surely they can't lose Glasgow East. This constituency, created in 2005,is solid Labour. Just three years ago David Marshall won a 13.507 majority over the SNP, taking nearly 61% of the vote. If labour hold reasonably comfortably, as you'd expect with such a majority, then it would give Gordon a much needed boost.

Thing is, Labour are in a seriously big hole at the moment, and the way things have been going for Brown, and how Salmond is riding high these days, would you really bet against the SNP snatching Glasgow East? The bookies think not. Ladbrokes have the SNP as 8/13 favorites while Paddy Power puts them at an even shorter 4/7. Looking at odds like those the candidates for the top Labour job in Scotland must be asking themselves is it worth it!

And The Winner is...

A highly embarrassing moment for our Minister of Culture as he announced the winner of Welsh Book of the Year last night. Watching the video of the announcement is true car crash television as Rhodri Glyn announced the wrong name, then corrected himself as the "winner" approached the stage to applause.

Even though we've seen it happen many times before, you can't help but cringe when you watch it.

While Labour AM's habits of hitting the wrong voting button may be a gaffe with a much more serious consequence, they're lucky that there's no camera there to record the pure embarrassment of that exact second when everyone realises the mistake has been made!

You have to ask though, what idiot put the name of the runner up on the same card as the winner! It would never happen at the Oscars!

What's Up Doc?

First of all, a massive congratulations to the Doctor Who team in Cardiff. While debate rages on over whether David Tennant really has made his last Doctor Who appearance or not you have to be amazed at the fact that BBC Wales have managed to keep all this quiet.

When someone dies in Corrie, Eastenders or even Pobol y Cwm - everyone knows about it. Pictures of the crash/murder/fire (no-one dies of cancer in these places do they?!) will have been plastered over Hello and OK (or at least Golwg!) and the only question left for those watching the programme will be whodunnit?

If David Tennant's reign really is over then the amount of work the production team have gone to in announcing his new contract, having him on set while filming the Christmas special etc is astonishing. It would be a work of genius to be honest - catching everyone off guard in a major TV series is hard enough, doing so when people have been talking about Tennant leaving for at least a year is incredible.

On the other hand, if there is another twist to the tale in the final episode and Tennat is here to stay (and unlike Ordovicius and Peter Black I suspect there is such a twist, there must be a reason we keep seeing that old hand of the Doctor in the TARDIS) BBC Wales and Russel T Davies still have to be applauded for keeping everyone guessing.

Bye Bye Wendy, Wendy Bye Bye

Another day, another disaster for Gordon Brown - surely he must be wondering which God he has pissed off in a previous life. Scottish Labour leader Wendy Alexander has resigned following Holyrood's Standards Committee's decision to suspend her from the Scottish Parliament for one day. A Labour leadership contest is Christmas come early for the SNP, especially since there's no obvious candidate to replace Wendy. In a situation similar to Rhodri in Cardiff Wendy has attracted so much media attention that the people underneath her are relatively unknown. Alex Salmond will be delighted to be the only recognisable face left!

It has to be asked though, WHY has Wendy resigned? I don't get it. She's been mired in financial "scandals" for a year now - you'll remember her dodgy offshore donation just before Hain bit the bullet and the failures to disclose donations occurred at the same time. She should have resigned then, as Hain (eventually) did. But she didn't, she clung on. So why is she resigning now? A one day suspension is a very tame punishment (specially seeing as how it was handed down by what Wendy insists is a party political motivated committee), and Wendy seems sure that Parliament won't approve it - so why the resignation?

Firstly there's the fact that Parliament probably will approve it. Both the SNP and Lib Dem members of the committee voted for the suspension and you'd expect both parties to do so in a full vote as well. But the fact still remains that it's only a one day suspension.

Has she just had enough? It must have hurt like hell when her party (outside Holyrood) hung her out to dry on the referendum issue - has she decided to sod them all and quit?

Has there been pressure on her to quit? Without Wendy, Labour will find it easier to vote against the SNP's single question referendum bill. With her they would have struggled to vote against it after she so loudly called on the SNP to "bring it on".

One thing is for sure, not many political leaders have had Wendy's opportunity to choose which scandal she'll use as her reason for resigning!

Note: The Miserable Old Fart asks the same question

Let's Get Ready to Rumble!

Many people, both supporters and opponents of Plaid, will be watching with interest the nationalists' internal election of a "Llywydd" (President). Since the job was split from Assembly Leader in 2003 the role has been held by folk-singer/businessman/ex-councillor Dafydd Iwan. This is a position that has been held by Gwynfor Evans as well as the "three Dafydd's of Plaid" (Iwan, the Lord and the Lord-to-be) but since Plaid put an end to their triple-leader mess and installed Ieuan Wyn as the Party leader the role is seriously downgraded.

From what I understand the role is now as leader of the voluntary wing, something that you would expect Dafydd Iwan to be quite good at - his strength has always seemed to be his ability to motivate the masses. But after the recent council elections, where Dafydd Iwan seemed to ave motivated the masses (or at least some of the masses) to vote for the "anyone but Plaid" Llais Gwynedd - his position has been in doubt. He now has a challenger for the role, Plaid's Parliamentary leader Elfyn Llwyd. Plaid's internal rules forces an election for the post every now and then, and that's what they're going to have now.

Who will win? Elfyn Llwyd has managed to avoid controversy and slip-ups throughout his career but it's fair to say that to a lot of people he seems, well, boring! there's also questions about him sharing the workload between being an MP, parliamentary leader and president. On the other hand while Dafydd Iwan can never be written off as boring and has plenty of time on his hands since May, but he's carrying a lot of baggage.

Elfyn Llwyd has the support of SNP leader Alex Salmond, who has said

"Elfyn is a politician who combines passion and commitment with a thorough knowledge of the parliamentary process… I’ve worked closely with him during my time at Westminster and I know he has always had the best interest of Wales first and foremost in his mind. I am proud to call him a colleague and also a friend.”

but who will have the support of the Plaid members? I do not have the fainest of ideas, but there's no doubt that Labour for one will be looking at the fight very closely, hoping for a long bitter fight to put a bit of a prang in the Plaid bubble.

By-Elections Everywhere

By-elections seems to be the order of the month, first we have a new Tory in Boris' old seat - no surprise there. The biggest story from Henley is that Labour lost their deposit, failing to get even 5% of the vote. To compound the misery on brown's 1 year anniversary Labour actually got 5th in Henley - behind the Greens and the BNP and only just ahead of UKIP.



At least Labour can be safe in the knowledge that they won't lose their deposit in the next by-election - that of David Davis - but only because they haven't put up a candidate, neither have the Lib Dems. Plenty of others have stepped into the fold though - the ex-shadow Home Secretary will have TWENTY-FIVE challengers! Half of them are independents, the others include a candidate for the National Front Britain for the British, the Miss Great Britain Party (does exactly what it says on the tin) the Church of the Militant Elvis Party (I kid you not!) and a candidate for The Official Monster Raving Loony Party (who were only 800 or so votes behind Labour in Henley!) who is actually called Mad Cow-Girl!



One by-election to watch in Wales, the Rheidiol seat in the middle of Aberystwyth will be contested on 10th July. A lib Dem retained the seat in the recent elections but resigned within a month after being arrested and cautioned. Even though the Lib Dems had more than twice the Plaid votes last time round, the Councillor had a strong personal vote and therefore Plaid are hopeful here. Victory for them will not only give them bragging rights over a big part of Ceredigion's biggest town before the big general election fight to come, it will also put them 1 seat away from a majority on the Council. Both the Libs and Plaid have shown their desire to win this seat with both parties putting forward ex Mayors of Aberystwyth. With a third ex-Mayor standing as an independent this will be a pretty interesting battle.

The only DJ in the village?

The BBC website has a listing for BBC Radio Cymru's programmes, one of which is on Saturday afternoon hosted by long-time DJ Dafydd Du. Here's the bilingual listing for that programme...

21 Jun 2008 12:30 -15:00
BBC Radio Cymru
21/06/2008
Cerddoriaeth a sgwrs gyda Dafydd Du.
Music and chat with Daffyd Du.

I guess the Little Britain influence is strong at the BBC. Seriously though, which BBC idiot translated the correct Dafydd to the dodgy Daffyd!

An area the size of...

Here's an interesting teaching programme showing the effect a meteor would have if it impacted on Earth. You have to choose the speed, angle, density and material of the meteor and then it shows how large the impact site would be.

I have to say i had a bit of a shock when I reached the end and saw where the programme makers decided the meteor should hit!

Resigning Tories

Two Tory resignations over the past week, both of them wrong as far as I'm concerned.

First came David Davis (without an "e"). He resigned because of the 42 day disgrace played out in Parliament last week. After Brown managed to buy enough votes from his rebels and Ulster Unionists (offering them things that had nothing to do with 42 days) Davis was so disgusted he resigned his seat and intends to stand a by-election on this single issue. First of all I have to say that he deserves our applause. I find it oh so cynical of many people to try and work out what the hidden motive is. Is he positioning himself for the leadership? Is he trying to damage Cameron? For once it seems that a politician has sacrificed a top job for what he believes in, credit must go where credit is due.

But even though I agree totally with Davis' view on 42 days, and even though I hope that his resignation will spur the debate against the proposed law, I think he is wrong to resign. If every MP who disagreed with a vote resigned we'd be out of MP's within a week. The whole point of having MP's is that they debate the matters before them and vote as they see fit. While there's no doubt that the government never won the 42 day argument, and only won thanks to their purchase power, the vote was won. Davis has to accept that, and should be using his power to convince the Lords to vote down the law, not using his time to beat a Miss World wannabe and an ex-editor of the Sun!

The second resignation is that of Alun Cairns following his "greasy wops" comment. Again i think that the resignation was wrong. Cairns was an idiot, a bloody idiot, for what he said. But he apologised within seconds and no-one is suggesting that there was malice in the words. To end the guy's career over it is way overreacting. On a side note though, I note that while Cairns resigned his front bench posts, it was David Cameron's decision to suspend him as a MP candidate. No word about his position as an AM. Does the London Tory Party think that Cairns is unfit to be an MP but is fine as an AM?

On a similar note, I watched the infamous Anne Robinson Room 101 appearance on YouTube yesterday and I can't remember what the fuss was about. It was only the baying audience that was truly offensive, Robinson's comments were more of a compliment than an insult!

Note: I'm sure Vaughan never thought his nae would appear in the Italian print!

PR vs Liberty

It seems that Brown has won his popularity contest to get the 42 day limit on terrorist suspects. This is a disgrace, it's a total disgrace. I haven't sworn on this blog since I started it, but I'm seriously close to doing so now.

In the face of abysmal polls, Brown has decided he needs to look tough, tough on crime, tough on Labour Rebels and tough on National Security. Because Brown wants to look tough, we will now (subject to the Lords' approval) have a law on our books allowing the police to hold a person in a cell for a month and a half (that sounds much longer than 42 days doesn't it!) without evidence that they are a criminal.

And that's what bugs me most about this. We keep getting told that these powers will only be used to hold terrorists in extreme cases. But this is not a law to hold terrorists, it's a law to hold suspects who the Police do not have enough evidence to charge. In other words people who the police have no case against. Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty!

The police chiefs have said they need these powers. They tell us that they need more time these days because computers are hard to crack and terrorists' computers are harder because they're all in Arabic. Are they honestly telling us that if they get a computer filled with terrorist plans - it will take them a month and a half to workout what it says? That fills you with confidence doesn't it!

What's more, while the police chiefs supported Brown, everyone else did not. The Crown Prosecution Service, the people who have to look at the evidence the Police have gathered and decide whether to charge or not, don't want this law. Lord Goldsmith, the ex-Advocate general (the government's top lawyer) doesn't want this law. Scotland's Lord Advocate doesn't want it. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (the government's own Commission!) doesn't want it and says it's illegal!

Two years ago the government raised the maximum non-charge detention from 14 to 28 (having been upped from 7 to 14 in 2003). Now they say they need 14 more days. Really? Even though there has never yet been a need to detain someone for 28 days?

Let;s hope the Lords have enough guts to stand up to this disgrace.

And there's more. Another of Brown's new laws is that it is now illegal to be in possession of a drawing of a child in a sexual position. A DRAWING! Apparently all you need to be a peado these days is a blank sheet of A4 paper and a HB Pencil.

This is nothing more than a PR exercise by a desperate Brown. What's next, bringing back the death penalty?

Updated Blogroll

I've added a few names to the blogroll (it was woefully small!) - I only add blogs which i actually bother to read but if anyone has a suggestion of something I missed I'll go take a look.

The Blogs on the list now are:


0725 to Paddington, A Welsh View, Adam Price, Bethan Jenkins, Blog Menai (C), Blog Swyddogol (C), Ceredig, Cynical Dragon, Damon Lord, Glyn Davies (ex) AM, Guerrilla Welsh Fare, Hen Rech Flin, Luke Young, Miserable Old Fart, Miss Wagstaff, Normal Mouth, Ordovicius, Paul Flynn, Peter Black, Southpaw Grammar, Tiger Tales, Valleys Mam, Welsh Lobbyist

Installation Irony

Catalan electricians and sign installers have been working hard in the Place de George Orwell (George Orwell's Square) in Barcelona...

Oh the irony!

A British Day (or is that Days?)

London Immigration Minister Liam Byrne must have thought that he was giving a boost to Brown's ridiculous "Britsh Day" campaign by preparing to suggest to the Labour think-tank Progress that it should land on an existing bank holiday. In fact, he had a particular day already chosen:

"I myself have become convinced that the August Bank Holiday weekend - what some have called 'the great British weekend' - has the virtue of being in the summer, and already being a bank holiday,"

Byrne thinks that the idea of a British Day has "really caught on". (It will be interesting to see the result of a YouGov poll currently being carried out into opinions on the idea)

Unfortuantely for Byrne however, his plan hit a bump even before he made the planned speach. Without even bothering to hide their giggles, the SNP pointed out that the August Bank Holiday will be held on 25th August in Wales, England and NI......but on 5th August in Scotland. Hardly a celebration of our unity within the United Kingdom if Scotland "celebrates" it 20 days before the rest of us is it!

Welsh Speaker Prefered

Some rumours about a Labour AM spending some time at Nant Gwrtheyrn (Welsh language teaching centre). Credit must go where credit is due - nice to know that another of our AM's will one day be able to speak Welsh.

As for who the AM is, and what reason he might have for picking up Welsh in 2008 - anyone fancy having a look at that list of top contenders for the top job when Rhodri's retires?

Edit: Post number 100 for the Hen Ferchetan!

Gwyneblyfr

As of last night Facebook is now available in the Welsh language. I got one hell of a surprise to log into Facebook this morning and find everything written in Welsh! Apparently it is not finished yet, there are 17,000 phrases still to be translated (down from 20,000 last night).

Facebook has a very clever way of translating itself. Instead of paying huge sums to a translator and then suffering the wrath of users who don't like the translations used Facebook lets the users do the hard work themselves. Facebook chooses what languages it wants itself translated into (Welsh is one of about 35, many of which are different Chinese languages) and then lists all words and phrases used in the system. Normal users then offer translations, while other users vote on which translations they prefer.

As far as I can find out, the process for translating into Welsh only started a week or two ago (when only the basic words were up fro translation). Phrases only started to be translated last night, and already enough has been done to fill my News Feed with Welsh.

Congratulations to those who have been translating - anyone else with any time to spare (be it 5 mins or an hour) go vote on translations!

Note: If your