Time to Type

Right then, while the home concerns are still there, I need to push them to the back of my mind for a while so I'm back. Let's catch up...

Gordon Brown and David Cameron have decided that the most important thing for our leader and leader-in-waiting to address this week is not the economic crisis that has left thousands of the Welsh workforce unemployed (along with the the rest of the UK), it's not the fact that they're going to have to make huge decisions about Iraq once Obama (probably) wins on Tuesday, it's not even the fact that their respective darlings Mandelson and Osbourne have been cavorting around on yachts causing trouble. Oh no, the big issue that our leaders have made sure they address is the fact that two BBC radio hosts told someone that one of them had slept with his granddaughter. A revelation so shocking to the show's listeners that 2 of them felt the need to complain. Two. While remembering that there shouldn't really be a bandwagon over the matter in the first place (who are the Sun to express disgust at such thing, have you read their celebrity gossip column?) we certainly don't want Brown and Cameron' jumping on to it! And shock horror, David Davies MP has also called on Brand and Ross to resign. The man is like a machine, any hint of newspaper coverage and there he is, calling on someone to resign!

Talking about the "True" Wales founder, Welsh Ramblings points us towards a Daily Mail story reporting on the Monmouth MP telling the National BLACK Police Association that they were as racist as the apartheid regime in South Africa because only black policemen could join the National BLACK Police Association. While David Davies must be hurt by the negative press, I a have a feeling that what will hurt him most is the fact that it's his best friends in the Daily Mail who are lampooning him and that they had the nerve to say this:

"Many members had expected the more famous former shadow home secretary to be speaking and few recognised his namesake, who is also a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee, when he stood up to speak."

Ouch!

Update: As Ordovicius points out, Alan Williams MP for Swansea West and Father of the House is also named in the piece as "a dud"

David Davies isn't the only Welsh MP who has had a bit of a kicking by the Mail this week. Ceredigion Lib Dem MP Mark Williams won't have enjoyed the paper's column on worthless MP's. I'm sure that this quote won't be appearing on the Lib Dems pamphlet come the next election:

"On the LibDem benches, meanwhile, we are assured that one Mark Williams sits for the electors of Ceredigion (Cardiganshire in old money). Does he? Could have fooled me. What makes this all the worse is that the alleged Mr Williams - who may well be Inspector Clouseau, for all we know - won his seat at the last general election by ousting Plaid Cymru's Simon Thomas, an outstanding parliamentarian"

Again - ouch!

Down the bay I missed the whole Lord Dafydd vs London fight. The story's been well covered by now so I won;t go too far into it apart from noting that this must be one of the first occasions in the history of the Assembly where Dafydd Ellis-Thomas caused a stir and was actually supported by all the AM's! There's no doubt that the Lord was right on this one, but whether he won or not is harder to tell. While some pro-devolutionists believe that the LCO mess will be a big boost to the Yes campaign (whenever it is created!) I don't believe it will be. Most people have no idea how the LCO's work and don't read such stories in the Mule (if they read it at all). This is a story read by us anoraks and no-one else I feel.

Welsh Ramblings also quotes this exchange from the floor of the Commons. For all those who refer to the Assembly as a talking shop, have a read of this:

Richard Younger-Ross MP: ... Blue Peter was important to me as a child ... I remember those wonderful moments with the elephant, the gentleman sniffing, John Noakes, the dogs — what were their names?

Lembit Opik MP: The Blue Peter dogs since the inception of the programme were called Petra, Patch, Shep, Goldie, Bonnie, Mabel and Lucy. There was also a dog called Meg, but it was not an official Blue Peter dog. It belonged to Matt Baker and frequently appeared on the show, so including that one, there were eight dogs.

Mr. Deputy Speaker: Order. That is a detail which could possibly be left for Committee.

Nice to know Lembit is as focused on the important things as Brown, Cameron and David Davies!

Right then. What next?

Shocking Shuffle

So the Welsh Secretary job survives once again and Murphy doesn't join HTV's 17 employees on the dole. Whether Brown even considered amalgamating the Cabinet post for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland who knows, the stories have been around since time immemorial.

The big story from the Cabinet reshuffle though is the return of Peter Mandelson. Having entered government twice, and being sacked in disgrace twice, no-one predicted a return for Mandy. So what is Gordon thinking? Surely he can't believe that bringing back Mandelson would be a hit with the voters, and with his new minister's track record surely Gordon didn't pick him as a safe pair of hands.

I can only think of one plausible explanation for bringing back Peter Mandelson to the Cabinet. Gordon Brown wants to remind us that as much as we all hate him, there's someone we hate more!

Wow, Thanks Big G!

So here's those brand spanking new promises made in Brown's big comeback speech, the things that will benefit all of us who have young kids or are old, poor or sick and make us all love Labour again...

1. Free drugs for cancer patients

2. Free universal check ups for over 40's

3. Free broadband vouchers for low-income families

4. Free nursery for 2 year olds

Anyone see the link?

Here's a hint. When Gordon said this:

"In April a Labour Britain will become the first country in the whole world to offer free universal check ups for everyone over 40."

he was very much lying.

The Times thought they'd spotted the link, but still managed to mess it up...

"Free universal check-ups for the over-40s? Extension of nursery places? No prescription charges for cancer patients? A commissioner for victims of crime? More children connected to the internet? All England and Wales only, I'm afraid."

I despair sometimes!

Brown Bullied

As the new political season swings into action nothing seems to have changed down at number 10. Yesterday Brown was forced to sack one of his whips, Siobhain McDonagh, after she called for a leadership election. McDonagh would usually be seen as a Brown ally and not one of the "usual suspects" of rebel MP's. Today another government loyalist, Joan Ryan MP, makes the same call.

There needs to be 70 MP's calling for a leadership contest before Labour are duty bound to hold one. The way these calls have been staggered over the two days (with probably more to come over the next few days) it's likely that the contest calling MP's know they haven;t got the numbers yet but are hoping that one-by-one they're setting the ball rolling before Labour's conference.

Will Brown be Labour leader come the next election? I just don't know. Common sense tells me that Labour MP's must know that keeping Brown is like Turkeys voting for Christmas, but something is telling me that a leadership contest just won't happen, not now anyway.

Hat tip to Glyn Davies who commented on Siobhain McDonagh's calls yesterday by saying:

To this observer, it does not look like an isolated act. She's a whip, and they know a bit about tearoom chatter. I expect another grenade to be lobbed into the Brown Bunker tomorrow from behind another unexpected bush.

Well called Glyn!

Note: An anon corrects my spelling of Joan and a third Labour MP, George Howarth, calls for a leadership election.

Deja Vu?

So Gordon Brown has announced "free loans" to first time buyers in England to help them purchase properties. After five years the owner would pay a "fee" back to the scheme instead of repaying the loan.

I'm looking forward to hearing Welsh Labour flood the airwaves to tell Gordon that they were not convinced that such a move " would not simply cause a dangerous wholesale inflationary increase in prices"? after all, that's what they told us would happen when Plaid Cymru made a similar election pledge last year.

And this isn't the only new policy today that has "Made in Wales" stamped all over it. The Scottish Government have followed ours in announcing the scrapping of NHS Car parking Charges while Darling has also copied the Welsh Assembly's proposals to allow struggling mortgage payers to sell their house to the Council and stay there as tenants.

So three major proposals and policies of the Welsh Government and Welsh parties are being adopted in other parts of the UK. Maybe people shouldn't be so quick to deride the Assembly politicians as inferior talking heads.

The Nightmare Continues

John Mason, SNP - 11,277
Margaret Curran, Labour - 10,912

Waw. Poor Brown.

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!

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?