So Influential We Forgot His Name

The Telegraph's list of Top 100 lefties has a new entry at 83 this year:

83. (NEW) IEUEAN WYN JONES

Leader, Plaid Cymru

It may be mere opportunism or the example of what the SNP has achieved but Plaid Cymru’s leader has turned on his coalition partners to good effect this year. His attacks on Labour for having lost its way ring true in a Wales that has benefited from devolution and Labour governments but often not as much as the Scots seem to have done. There have been as many false dawns for Welsh nationalism as there have been general elections since the Second World War, but maybe this time with Labour in meltdown and Jones in charge their time has finally come?

Ieuean? Still, I'm sure Ieuan will be happy enough to be higher than Neil Kinnock, Ken Livingstone and Martin McGuinness in a pointless list, even if he was below a Liberal-Left Blogger!

Huw Lewis Leadership Tactics Part 2

After his recent decision to learn Welsh, Huw Lewis has now swung his leadership campaign into Phase 2. He is quoted as saying: “

There won’t be any turning back of the clock. The coalition government is here to stay until 2011 – nobody should be saying or doing anything that might undermine that.”

What has changed the mind of the man who lost his place in Government because of his opposition to the Labour-Plaid pact? Well he'll probably need the support of one or two of those 62% of members who voted for the One Wales and the 96% of Trade Union affiliates who also voted yes!

Reality Bites

Wales Office Minister and Labour MP Huw Iranca-Davies gets the award for most bizarre attack of the day after he said this:

"I hope that after the heady nationalistic froth of Plaid Cymru’s conference, Ieuan Wyn will get back to reality. His comments this week have laid bare the soul of Plaid Cymru, and most people in Wales will not like what they have seen, as the nationalists lick their lips over the possibility of a Conservative government in Wales"

This is what Ieuan Wyn Jones said to anger Huw so much:

"The smart money is on probably the Tories winning the next general election, which I think would be bad news for Wales"

So what part of that is devoid of reality? Does Huw believe that the Tories are not odds-on to win the next election, or is he saying that Ieuan Wyn is deluded to think that the Tories winning would be "bad news for Wales"? Answers on a postcard.

Panic Room

Here's a video that's just appeared on YouTube. Using the same footage that every "let's dub Hitler" uses (there's another one for Shane Williams leaving the Ospreys). It's totally incorrect in so many ways (for some reason doesn't mention the school re-organisation plan which turned so many in Gwynedd against Plaid Cymru and weirdly enough calls Llais Gwynedd by their defunct name of Llais y Bobol) and libelous in so many more (repeats the totally untrue rumours spreaded by Llais Gwynedd supporters that Dafydd Iwan and friends were getting free flats and backhanders from those building the Victoria Dock complex) and is a perfect example of the gutter politics I just lambasted in the last post but it's still very well put together and gave me a giggle or two! Enjoy!

Note: I found this video through Peter Black's blog. Peter posted the video and commented "This is hysterical. Those of a nervous disposition should not watch it, especially those who maybe offended by bad language". That post has now disappeared, not really a surprise considering the string of libelous comments in the video!