The Telegraph's Version of Britain

O'Neill pointed me towards a part of the Telegraph's site today that would be scary if it wasn't so funny.

Call Yourself British is the Daily Telegraph's attempt to make us all stop calling ourself Welsh (or Scottish or English or Irish) and bask in our Britshness. This follows on from Gordie's attempts last year to wrap himself in Britishness and call for a "British Day".

The site is covered with the Union Jack (and by the way, it is called the Union Jack not the Union Flag - incorrect pedantic fools!), Big Ben, British Bulldogs, the Queen and a British passport. It looks like a proper propoganda machine. But once you look at it closely, it falls apart pretty quickly.

First is their all important poll, headlined "Most of us feel British - for now ", "Only 37pc of us see ourselves as British" and "We are better off British - and proud of it". You'd assume that, in a website devoted to "rally the people of Great Britain around the 1707 Acts of Union", "us" would mean British people. Read the text of the articles and you quickly realise that they only carried out their poll in England - hardly a good example of uniting the UK!

Even better is, at the bottom of the front page, the pictures of the Assembly, Scottish and NI Parliament and the Commons. I'll reproduce it here and will give plenty of kudos to the first person to point out how not in touch with the world outside England the Telegraph is! (Remember that building on the left?)

Then there is their "Journey to the Heart of The Union" - passing through Glasgow, Edinburgh, Hadrian's Wall, The Midlands and into London (I guess Wales and Northern Ireland are just not important enough to be the heart!)

To cap off the whole doomed project (no new articles since December 2007) is the advert on the left for the Telegraph Family Activity Planner. Here it is......

I guess that's a good map of the United Kingdom as the Daily Telegraph sees it!

I'll Protect You Boyos

Here we all were, thinking that a cut (or is that a cull?) in the ranks of Welsh MP's was a forgone conclusion if a referendum was won. We considered Scotland, who maturely accepted in 1997 that there was much less work for their MP's now and that it would be quite unfair for them to continue to be overepresented at Westminster. They duly carried out their cull with a minimum of fuss.

But our new Mr Secretary has shown all these assumptions to be wrong. By carefully looking at each argument and thoroughly discrediting them with slick advocacy and intellectual pondering he has made us all realise that we need all those MP's desperately.

Well, his actual words were that it would be "bonkers" to reduce the number of Welsh MP's - but we must assume that he had done the thinking, slick advocacy and intellectual pondering alone in the shower.

Wiiiiiii

Neath Port Talbot Council has installed a few Wii systems at their elderly care homes. Apparently it helps keep the residents healthy, both mentally and physically. We're all used to the funny smell of old people's home, now there will be the added aroma of Wii caused sweat - If I ever get old, please shoot me!

So It's Goodbye From Them

Let's all give a big round of applause to ex New York mayor Rudy Guiliani for the shortest presidential challenge I can recall - one caucus in Florida was enough to see him quit! The self styled 9/11 saviour had ignored all the early contests so that he could win Florida and go on from there. He got third. With 15%. 21% behind McCain! Guiliani only had one campaign tactic, say 9/11 as often as possible, no matter what the debate is about. Let's just say I'm not sad to see him go!

Also gone is Democratic Candidate John Edwards. He, along with pretty much everyone else, knew he was onto a loser taking on the potential first Woman President and potential first Black President. It will be very interesting to see if he throws his weight behind either candidate. he seemed to be closing up to Obama, and his support would be a big boost for Barack, but we'll have to wait and see.

The final farwell is to the legens that was Jeremy Beadle. Everyone of a certain age will have been brought up in front of Beadle's About and You've Been Framed (well before it was redone with that annoying freak of Emmerdale). He died of pneumonia. (I tried my best but just couldn't find anywhere to fit in a joke about his small hand!)

So Close Now!

Wales team to thrash England:

WALES: Lee Byrne; Shane Williams, Sonny Parker, Gavin Henson, Mark Jones; James Hook, Mike Phillips; Duncan Jones, Huw Bennett, Adam Jones, Ian Gough, Alun-Wyn Jones, Jonathan Thomas, Martyn Williams, Ryan Jones ©.
REPLACEMENTS: Matthew Rees, Gethin Jenkins, Ian Evans, Alix Popham, Gareth Cooper, Stephen Jones, Tom Shanklin

Guess we'll all be osprey fans on Saturday!

Deja Vu?

Paul Murphy, October 2000

Paul Murphy warned that voters want better public services ahead of further constitutional change.

Paul Murphy, January 2008

"No [I will not be banging the drum for more powers], I will be trying to ensure good services for the people of Wales."

Just hours into the job and he's already dusted down his "how to answer questions about more poers" book!

Secretaries, Lords, Pigs and Corridors

Having ignored the blog for a couple of days (hey, even a Hen Ferchetan has a life you know!) let's do a quick roundup of what I've missed.

Paul Murphy

The new Welsh Secretary - lots of people are a little uncomfortable with Murphy's (re)appointment. He is known to be a devo-sceptic and was very much against the One Wales government. A lot of people down Cardiff way have told us of their worries that Murphy will try and stick an oar into extra powers for the Assembly, both by blocking LCO's and by meddling with preparations for a referendum. I disagree.

While Murphy may well be less of a supporter of devolution than Mr Permatan was, he is a man who will do his job with the least amount of confrontation possible. While Hain jumped at the chance to try and rule the Assembly, I don't see Murphy sticking his oar in too often. People forget that he was the Welsh Secretary when the Assembly came to life in 1999, there was no indication then that he was trying his best to hamper things.

The anti-devolution Labour MP's will be a little weaker with Murphy at the helm. Hain pretty much always followed the Labour MP's will, but he tried to colour things differently. He denied that the GoW2006 was pandering to them when it blatantly was. He denied that the ban on sitting in seats and on list was a sop to them when it blatantly was. We also seem to have all forgotten that Peter Hain was very much not a fan of the One Wales government. Remember his firm assurance before the election that Labour would never go into government with Plaid?

While I won't say I'm delighted with the appointment of Murphy, I can't say I'm devastated either. He'll do his job and he won't try to be the Governor General of Wales.


Plaid's Lords

So Wigley got the top spot on the wannabe Plaid Lords list. I'd like it on record that I beat CNN, FOX and all other news agencies in calling that result! Joining him on the list is Eurfyl ap Gwilym - again I have no surprise - and ex-AM Janet Davies. I don't know enough about the women of Plaid to say whether Davies was the expected result or the right result, but I think they got the men spot on.

It's up to number 10 to decide whether these three become Lords of course, but I suspect they will pretty soon. What's important, both for Plaid and for Wales, is that everyone sent to London as Lords take up their positions pretty much full time. Wales needs people actively speaking for us in the Lords, we don't want anyone wasting a seat there by rarely showing up.

Pig Builders

Now I'm not one to jump on the anti PC brigade, in fact I despise nothing more than the words "PC Gone Mad", but one story this weekend tickled me quite a bit. The "government banned three little pigs for offense to Muslim" story barely had me batting an eyelid. What did make me smile was the awards panel's other criticism of the reworked version of the story (called "Three Little Cowboy Builders). According to the awards panel comparing Builders to pigs was offensive to the workmen. I bet the pigs wouldn't be too happy with the comparison either!

Welsh Facts

icWales gives us a list of the weird and wonderful facts of Wales. My personal favorites is the longest corridor in Europe in Llandough Hospital, Cardiff and that New Zealand is one of the few countries in the World where "everyone knows of Wales.".

Call my cynical but has someone really asked EVERY person in New Zealand? And who was the poor sod who got the job of measuring every corridor in Europe!

The Final Curtain

So one last look at Peter Hain then, before we finally get to move on and start finding reasons for Murphy to quit!

The "tributes" to Hain keep on flooding in. Politicians are reserved, with the word Honourable mentioned 10 billion times by every Labour politician (Honourable would have been resigning once he realised his cock up, hanging on until the cops are called is far from honourable). The blogland is a little less diplomatic...

1. You should have done the 'honourable' thing right from the start you self-serving tangerine TWAT.

2. If there is one person I would cheerfully not lift a finger to help under any circumstances, it is Peter Hain

3. So farewell Peter Hain. Today British politics is a little cleaner without him

4. Let’s be fair, the bloke is a bit of a twat, a non-entity that has never really done anything of note.

Yes, this is the internet and you can find quotes saying absolutely anything if you look hard enough (Elvis is alive!), but I still think that my earlier analysis was right - the biggest reason for Hain's sudden career collapse has quite a lot to do with the fact that, whatever kind of person he is personally, is simply not liked by anyone watching him.

The general feeling down the pub today was the same, i.e. thank god the sell out prat is gone

What's in a Date?

Tomorrow is Santes Dwynwen Day, the Welsh "version" of St Valentine. it is a happy day, at least for those in a relationship - hardly happy for the Hen Ferchetan.

That makes today Santes Dwynwen Eve. January 24th. It lands slap bang in the middle of what so called scientist label the "saddest week of the year".

This is especially true if you happen to be a Cabinet Minister. Peter Hain, Peter Mandelson and Leon Brittan. Three high flying ministers, three resignations, one date, 24th January (2008, 2001, 1986).

Come next Santes Dwynwen Eve, the One Wales government should better hope there's no scandals lying about!

Update: (Add to that list Mr Prodi as well!)

Defence Rests

The Counsel for the Defence stays faithful to the last...

I believe this is the result of a nasty, vindictive witch-hunt against a decent, honourable politician. I believe this has been gone over in great detail, and there's not a speck of sleaze found in the affair.

What he's guilty of is being dilatory in making what are perfectly legal contributions.

And of course Clause 12, Schedule 7 Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 - but what's a crime between friends eh?!

Goodbye Mr H.

Peter Hain hs resigned his Cabinet jobs following the Electoral Commission's announcement that they were referring his "indiscretions" to the Police.

Gordie has accepted the resignation, saying that he understood Hain's desire to clear his name.

Game Over Mr Permatan. Now let's get on with proper politics.

Information is Never Free

It looks like we will finally found out whether it was the London government or the BBC who was really sexing up as we went to the war with Iraq.

The Information Tribunal has ruled that an early draft of the infamous "dodgy dossier" has to be released. The government has refused to do so since the early days of this mess, now it's time for the world to see. Or maybe not, the government are bound to appeal to the High Court, then the Court of Appeal, then the House of Lords.

Even if the dossier is released, we still won't get the full story. Two people wrote notes on the dossier, we can assume one is Foreign Office press chief John Williams (the dossier's author). Whoever the other writer is can sleep safely, the tribunal have decided that his comments must be wiped off before the dossier is released.

A quick look into the granted/refusal statitics tell their own story:

During the third quater of 2007, of all requests which could be answered (i.e. not impossible questions or ones too complicated) 42% were refused.

How were we ever so naive to think that Freedom of Information actually meant information beign freed?

There's Dogs, and then there's Dogs!

Great headline of the day: "Dog leash goths 'hounded off bus' "

Apparently some people in West Yorkshire enjoy being taken for walks by their fiances, collar and lead and all!

Rhodri Morgan better be carefull if he ever goes to West Yorshire!

Ringing Endorsment

A wonderful post by Dylan Jones-Evans today where he thanks Hain for quoting him in his own defence....

"She should applaud the statement that, 'the business sector in Wales seems to be going from strength to strength.' It was made by Professor Dylan Jones-Evans, the director of the national entrepreneurship observatory for Wales and Conservative candidate for Clwyd West in last year’s Assembly elections"

As the ex-candidate for Aberconwy points out, he never stood in Clwyd West! The best part though, is how Hain conviniently left out the rest of the article containing that quote:

"We have seen economic statistics which have yet again cemented our position at the bottom of the prosperity league table. Only two weeks ago, we found out that Wales now has its lowest ever prosperity level, at 77% of the UK average.“This dire economic statistic is compounded by the fact that we have the lowest mean gross weekly earnings for full-time adults in the UK and that the gap with the UK is growing"

Hardly ringing endorsment of Mr Permatan is it?!

Beware Suspicious Packages

Kudos to the China Post for finding a scoop that all of the London papers somehow missed.

A suspicious vibrating package in a Swedish parking lot brought in the bomb squad. A police spokesman later explained the facts behind Sweden's terrorist scare:

"There were no explosives. Just a sex toy"

Who Won Again?

While researching the last post I came across Llanelli MP Nia Griffith's website.

The website is still active, with News and Events posted as recently as last week. Clearly Nia is working hard in London representing her constituents (and the Labour party). In fact, she's been working so hard for the past 8 months or so that she hasn't quite noticed that her party lost Llanelli in the Assembly elections last may. Here's her website's description of the Llanelli constituency:

"The Llanelli constituency is located in south west Wales. The constituency extends from Hendy in the east down to the coast and then along the coast to Kidwelly in the west. It reaches up the Gwendraeth valley to Tumble and across to Tycroes. There are approximately 60,000 people living in the constituency. They are represented by the Labour Party - Nia Griffith MP in Parliament and Catherine Thomas AM in the Welsh Assembly. Carmarthenshire County Council is the local authority for the Llanelli constituency."

I'm sure Helen Mary Jones would have something to say about that!

Money Talks (Doesn't it?)

Money is the political topic of the year so far, mainly due to Hain following on from Harriet Harman and Wendy Alexander in breaking donation laws. Many people, most notably today Adam Price in the Western Mail, are lamenting about the "Americanisation" of UK politics. What they mean by this is that they fear that raising (and spending) money is getting more important than anything else in elections. The worry is that the person (or party) who has cash to spend will always win the day.

The Hen Ferchetan thought she'd have a look at just how Americanised our politics really is. Do we Welsh people really end up voting for the person who spends most? I'll be honest here and say that I expected the answer to be a big fat yes. There's a reason for my confidence in that hypothesis that goes further than "Money Talks". When looking at spending in different constituencies it is important to remember that parties spend more where they think they will win. Where they know they won't win they spend much less. So it should make sense for the big spending to be done by the winner.

A detailed look at spending in the 2007 Assembly Election however suggests otherwise. In 20 of the 40 constituencies, the winner did not spend the most money. Losers in Carmarthen West & penbrokshire (Plaid and Labour), Carmarthen East & Dinefwr (Labour), Cardiff West (Lib Dem), Cardiff South & Penarth (LD), Cardiff North (Labour and Lib Dem), Bridgend (Tory), Blaenau Gwent (Labour), Arfon (Labour), (Vale of Glamorgan (Tory), Vale of Clwyd (Tory), Torfaen (Lib Dem), Rhondda (Plaid), Preseli (Labour), Newport West (Lib Dem), Newport East (Lib Dem), Montgomeryshire (Tory), Islwyn (Plaid), gower (Tory) and Delyn (Tory) all spent more than the current AM's.

As you'll note from that list, in two seats, Carmarthen & Pembrokshire and Cardiff North, the winning candidate was actually the THIRD highest spenders!

One interesting bunch of figures come from Llanelli. It's no surprise to see that Labour and Plaid spent pretty much the same amounts in a hard fought race, what is interesting is the spending by the Lib Dems. On election night you will remember Nia Griffith, Labour MP for Llanelli, saying that people had "ganged up" on Labour in Llanelli. I remember people pointing to the Lib Dems poor showing, saying that they had not campaigned much, leaving the anti-Labour vote to Helen Mary Jones. Financial figures suggests that Nia was not just paranoid. The Lib Dem spending in Llanelli in 2007 was...wait for it...£0!

Other figures which raised an eyebrow for me was Lord Dafydd (the current one not the soon to be one) spending £10,304 in the ultra-safe Plaid seat of Dwyfor Meirionydd (more than fellow Plaid AM Gareth Jones did in the hard fought battle in Aberconwy) and Chrstine Chapman in ultra-safe Cynnon Valley spending £8,787 to everyone else's combined total of £1,843!

Money Thoughts

Two questions regarding the whole Peter Hain mess,

Firstly, what happened to this story. Surely if it's true that two people who's money was given to Hain by the no thinking and tankless thinktank did not know about it until Hain reported to the Electoral Commission months later then that should be as big a disgrace as all of the other things he's done (or, more to the point, not done) .

The fact that both men later said they didn't mind the money going to Mr Permatan changes nothing, it was way too late, you're supposed to ask someone before you take their money.

Anyway, I suspect that I must be missing something here, has this BBC story been discredited since it was published? Have the two men said that actually, they were informed? Please let me know!

The second point is just something that's been bothering me regarding the whole donations saga we've had for the past 3months or so:

Hain's Deputy Leader Campaign Expenditure : £200,000

Welsh labour Assembly Campaign Expenditure: £254,447

How the hell is an internal party election worth nearly as much as the National Assembly elections?

London Rules OK

Rhodri Morgan, on today's Politics Show, revealed that the message he had gotten, loud and clear, from London was that unless the LCO on Child Protection expressly ruled out a smacking ban, London would torpedo the whole thing, giving Wales no additional control over that area.

This is like the bully in the playground not only demanding a penalty for a non-existent foul, but also insisting that there should not be a keeper when he takes it. Unless the keeper agrees to give him an open goal, he'll take his ball home.

This is the second stage of a hardening of London's attitude towards the brand spanking new LCO's. Before last week there had been some tension between AM's and MP's, most notably the MP's complaints that both ends of the M4 should be reviewing potential LCO's at the same time instead of the Assembly passing judgement before London. The Child smacking/abuse threat this weekend comes hot on the heels of a Welsh Office "warning" last week that the Assembly should not "overpromise" the number of laws it would deliver.

The new message from London is quite clear then:

1. We'll give you enough so that we are be able to say there's no need for a referendum, but don't think of asking for much more.
2. If London don't like, Cardiff can bugger off.

A Man and his Dog

Apparently someone found this blog yesterday by googling "Rhodri Morgan Dog". If I wasn't such an avid reader of Popbitch I would be VERY scared!

Media Dictionary

Obsession: (pron: əb-sěsh'ən, ŏb) an unhealthy and compulsive preoccupation with something or someone.

With thanks to the Daily Express / Sunday Express!

(After ages of researching, copying and pasting, bloody Blogger makes the final image nearly unreadable! I hope it's clear enough!)

Update: Click on the picture to see it better

Angharad Mair the Speedster

Seeing as how Peter Black took the Obama post a little too seriously, I thought I'd give him my support on one of his recent posts.

This post about the Prif Copyn is one i wholeheartedly agree on. If you get caught by the cops for speeding, you can have no complaints on. Speeding is a crime, yes we all do it but we do it in the hope of not getting caught. If we get caught breaking the law, we should face our punishment without complaint. (Now where have I said that recently!)

The Sunday Funnies

In The News

Archbishop Williams rejects claims that paedophilia is rife in the Anglican Church

Website of the Week


I've got a bunch of question, and I want them answered immediately.

Picture of the Week

Online Game of the Week

Jet Slalom

Newscliping of the Week

Video of the Week

Dai Vadar Attacks

Obama Wins Vital Votes

The Western Mail have exclusively revealed that if Cardiff Bay was accepted as the 51st state of America, Obama would get a few more delegates for the Democratic Convention!

Apparently the vast majority of AM's surveyed would vote for Obama. Labour's Rosemary Butler, Alun Davies, Irene James and Val Lloyd would go for Hillary, while Tory Andrew Davies is the only Republican fan in the Senedd.

Liberal Democrats Peter Black, Eleanor Burnham and Jenny Randerson seems to have gotten the Democratic nomination confused with the Liberal Democrats leadership mess, none of the three were able to pick a candidate to lead!

What's Feeding the Media?

I thought it may be time to have a look at the media's contribution to Mr Permatan's continued vulnerability for the chop.

I have no doubt that Peter Hain should have resigned days ago. If the Labour government has done one thing to make my blood boil it is their recent (i.e. last 5 years) complete removal of the idea of ministerial and the acceptance that a minister (or Prime Minister) is justified in doing everything he can to hold on to office. Who remembers the days of Ron Davies, where the resignation letter was handed in before the media even knew there was a story!

Peter Hain is the latest minister to participate in this straw-clutching desperation, but what is quite surprising is the way the media have decided not to let him get away with it. While Harriet Harman and Wendy Alexander managed to clutch the straw just long enough for the media to lose interest, this time they just won't let go of Mr Permatan. Hain is now on his 11th day of bad headlines, and there is no doubt that they will continue for some time to come. The question has to be asked, why?

Some have said that Gordie's washing of hands is to blame. Gordon Brown, while declaring full support for Hain, has said that his fate is the hands of the different enquiries. A pretty bizarre stance for the Prime Minister to say, but there we go, it gave the media a big sniff of a scalp. The argument is that it is due to the Prime Minister failing to give his 100% backing that Hain continues to be in trouble. This argument doesn't quite hold water when you remember the headlines when Harman was in trouble. Brown didn't give her his unequivocal backing either, saying that the donations to her could not be justified in any way.

So what other explanation can there be, because remember, Harriet Harman and Wendy Alexander had both broken the law as well, Hain is not unique in the criminality of his (in)actions. I see two plausible explanations.

The first reason is that the media is being fed by admissions from Labourites that Hain's time is up. Some MP's are public about it, many are not. The reason for this is that there was a wide assumption before this scandal erupted that Hain was for the chop soon anyway. The consent seemed to have been that in the next Cabinet reshuffle, expected in the first quarter of the year, Hain would find himself either out of a job or seriously demoted (I assume that in the London media view, seriously demoted would mean "just" being the Welsh Secretary).

This puts Peter Hain in a very different position to Harman and Alexander. Unlike those two, Hain is expendable to Labour. Harman is the recently elected party deputy, Alexander is the recently elected leader in Scotland. Both replaced unpopular predecessors. If they resigned in shame, it would have thrown the party into turmoil. You will remember the feeling at the time that Labour was falling apart at the cracks. Hain's resignation would not leave the same hole, and Labour MP's know this. After all the turmoil and scandal both sides of the New Year, there must be a feeling within Labour that giving the media a scalp would put a line under the whole business and allow Brown to re-start his Premiership.

So yes, the media are being fed a bit more than with Harman, but that can't be the sole reason for their persistence. The other reason seems to be the simple fact that Hain is just not that likable. While many in Wales would have stronger words about him, both good and bad, on an UK level Hain, while not totally dis-liked, is certainly not liked. The numerous jokes about his Permatan shows that there has always been a feeling that Hain is, for some reason, not that popular. The reason most often given is his arrogance and aloofness.

.

An often-used example of this is his speech to the Welsh politician awards late last year when colleagues and media alike were disgusted by his attitude. But some of the jokes he said at that ceremony were both funny and often used in political circles anyway. I for one have used "Ieuan-Air" many times to describe the North-South Air link. Hain's problem was not his choice of jokes, but his choice of venue. The awards was a cross party event with political differences put aside for the night. Hain did not conform to this, and preferred to be very party political. And for me, that's the worst thing about Hain. He puts himself and Labour first, Wales second. He, like Brynle did the other day, prefers political point scoring to actually helping people. That's a political "quality" that goes down very poorly with both the media and the public.

And that seems to be Hain's downfall. his inevitable resignation/sacking/demotion, it is as much the fault of his £100,000 "memory lapse" as it is Labour's apparent acceptance to offer him as a sacrifice and the general feeling that Hain just isn't that nice a politician.

Update: Want an example of the arrogance that Hain is often accused of, here's a Hain quote from yesterday:

"I have a record in government second to none"

Move over Lloyd George, Churchill and Aneurin Bevan, King Peter is here!

Smack Away

The Welsh Office announced yesterday that Wales was not allowed to ban the smacking of children, even though the Assembly want to do so. Apparently it goes beyond the Assembly's powers.

Child smacking has always confused me - why on earth is it legal to hit the people least able to defend themselves or hit back? If i smack a 25 stone, bald headed, tattooed maniac not only will I expect a proper beating back from the leather wearing biker, I would also be arrested for assault and brought before a court. But if I hit a 5 year old crying child I'm fully within the law!

Defenders of assaulting children (which is what it is) say that "it's the only language they understand". Well my dog would probably understand my anger with him for pissing on the carpet better if I gave him a kick instead of just saying "No! Bad dog!" but if I did that the RSPCA would be all over me. Same thing with my Nain, she's gone a bit batty in her old age and never understands me, a good smack and she'd know damn well that i was trying to tell her not to dribble on the sofa but I doubt the child smackers would applaud me for that.

So what we're left with is a situation that child abuse will remain legal in Wales for the simple reason that England don't like the idea. I'm glad to see that the Western Mail accompanied their article on this subject with a call from Welsh police chiefs to devolve the justice system to Wales. After all, Labour AM's have themselves acknowledged that criminal justice will inevitably be devolved - the longer Hain and his palls in Westminster hold back, the longer Welsh children will continue to be beaten. (now that a good slogan for a Yes vote in 2011 - "Vote Yes or Kids Will Be Beaten"!)

Deported Ghanian Receives Anonomous Donation

The Western Mail reports that Ama Sumani, the terminally ill ghanian woman deported from the UK last week is now receiveing medical care in her home county thanks to a £2,400 donation from an anonomous person.

Hen Ferchetan wonders whether Labour MP's John Mann and Kevan Jones hwill report Miss Sumani to the Electoral Commission and whether Paul Flynn will be the first to dub the anonomous donation "Ghana-Gate".

The Pupils of Paul

Remember my post earlier this week about Paul Flynn's tactic of throwing as much muck around to try and protect Mr Permatan? He's clearly been passing on his spin advice to his colleagues. Two Labour MP's have complained to the Electoral Commission about financial irregularities by 80 Tory MP's! Apparently the complaints concerns unincorporated associations (i.e. unofficial party groups) raising money for the party. Guess who else uses unincorporated associations? (Hint: John Mann and Kevan Jones are both MP's for this party)

Is there an Electoral Commission equivalent to wasting police time?

Ok, I Failed

An interesting rumour doing the rounds concerning Rhodri Morgan: While happy enough to give his undying support to Mr Permatan in Welsh for the BBC, he apparently steadfastly refused to do the same in English. Is this a sign of the First Minister's new attitude towards the Welsh language following his tour of Welsh Wales? Or has the First Minister just realised along with everyone else that no-one watches Newyddion so he can say what he likes, while having to watch his step when talking to the English language media?

(Yes, i failed to refrain from talking about Hain for the day!)

Tender Truth About My Sheep

Today is what I can only describe as a crap news day. When the BBC have to resort to drink-drive figures going down as their top story, while icWales manage to link the one hour detention of the son of Hypocrite Kinnock by Russian police to the Diagnosis Murder-style killing of Alexander Litvinenko! EVen The Onion's top story today, detailing Jessica Simpson's plan to bring down the Dallas Cowboys, stinks of a page filler.

Even Fox News, always ready with a new scandal with a lack of accuracy and shovel of bias that would put the Daily Mail to shame, lead with the astonishing fact that OJ Simpson is still not in jail! And since I wanted to give Hain the rest for today I'm reduced to trawling Google News for an interesting read. One article which I've given a wide berth is the New Statesman intriguingly titled Tender truth about my sheep!

So, trying to avoid mentioning Mr Permatan for a day at least, I took the opportunity to look at the headlines a few days back reporting on Rhodri Morgan's tour of Welsh speaking Wales. The First Minister was at least honest in admitting that this was a desperate attempt at vote gathering, but what appalled me was the fact that this was even news. "First Minister of Wales leaves Cardiff" shouldn't be on page 11, let alone front page news, but sadly it is. There's many people in the South West and the North who, rightly or wrongly, don't feel the Assembly works for them, having the First Minister make such a big deal of a three day trip to the wild west is hardly going to reassure them.

A lesson for bloggers today comes from the blog of ex parliamentary candidate and ex-Assembly candidate (i.e. habitual loser) for Arfon Mr Martin Eaglestone. His entry for Rhodri's visit to the Royal Town is headed Rhodri Listening, and yet his very next entry is a video where Rhodri Morgan, after his visit was interrupted by a Cymdeithas protest, confirms that he is not, and will not, consider a new Welsh Language Act. Should that first entry be re-titled "Rhodri Listening Only To those who Like Him"?

No discussion of Rhodri Morgan and the Welsh language can end without quoting these wise words from a young(er) Mr Morgan when he was an MP in 1993

"The Government calls this a Welsh Language Bill, but it would be better described as a Welsh Language Quango Bill. What one could call a Quango for the lingo ...... We shall be abstaining tonight because we hope to have the opportunity before long to do the job properly. That will be done when we revisit the question of a Welsh language measure when we are in Government"

Oh how things (and principles) have changed!