WalesOnline - Caught in the Bay

The Second Bus

2009-11-09T17:06:12Z

You wait all campaign for a premier league academic to endorse a candidate, and a day after Cardiff University's Kevin Morgan comes out for Carwyn Jones we learn that Edwina Hart has bagged equality expert Teresa Rees.

The professor said:

"I have known and worked with Edwina for many years, and know she has a very strong principle that governs her work and that is a commitment to promoting equality. I think this is very important for the future of Wales.
"Although we have a vision of Wales as a small, smart, clever country, there are a lot of obstacles to overcome. We still have a lot of poverty and inequality. I believe Edwina has the intelligence, the resourcefulness, the commitment, the energy and the enthusiasm to lead Wales to the future to delivering equality and delivering Wales as the small, smart, clever land."

Edwina responded:

"I am delighted that such a world-renowned expert as Professor Rees has given me her backing. It's a great boost to my campaign. Equality, education and the economy should be at the heart of everything we do for Wales."

So what has attracted the academic in Edwina's direction? On her own website she describes her interests:

I am particularly interested in an approach to promoting gender equality known as gender mainstreaming. This is based on the theoretical concept of the 'politics of difference' and is about embedding a gender dimension into policies and processes, systems and structures. It turns the attention away from individuals and their rights, and from groups and their disadvantages, and focuses instead on how policies and practices can, however inadvertently, reproduce patterns of inequality.

The Kevin Factor

2009-11-09T10:09:06Z

Kevin Morgan, chairman of the 1997 Yes campaign, has endorsed Carwyn Jones as the best person to succeed Rhodri Morgan as First Minister.

Prof Morgan is no longer a member of the Labour party, but he has a unique niche in Welsh life. He is absolutlely frank about the failings and disappointments of devolution thus fair, but has given a ringing endorsement of CJ:

He has the broadest appeal in and beyond the Labour party and this is vital if Labour is to develop Rhodri's legacy of making devolution relevant to the whole of Wales not just to southeast Wales.

And I hear the Pope's still Catholic

2009-11-04T09:57:45Z

Latest pearl of wisdom from the Network Rail wonk before this morning's enterprise and learning committee...

"Railways are long linear structures".

It's reassuring to know they don't think they are in the shape of a dolphin and have the substance of jelly.

On a jolly note, the Severn tunnel has a "long and happy life ahead of it". The committee have just been invited to explore it. With an election approaching, the idea of going down into a narrow dark place many not be immediately appealing.

What could it be?!

2009-11-02T13:02:13Z

Imagine the excitement when an unmarked memory stick is found lying on the carpet like a rectangular beetle brimming with who knows what.

Has a whistleblower surreptitiously dropped it off in order to detonate the political establishment? Does the Assembly Government have a Deep Throat?

We plug it in, the laptop whirs and...

Carwyn Jones's Labour leadership manifesto opens.

He's just launched the colourfully designed document this morning in the delightful surroundings of Chapter Arts Centre. I'm not sure yet if it will stick in the memory, but we have the memory stick if anyone's missing it.

Happy Man

2009-10-30T19:54:15Z

David Rees has been selected as Labour's man to step into Brian Gibbons's shoes when he steps down as AM for Aberavon in 2011.

This is one of the seats where votes have traditionally been weighed instead of counted. Dr Gibbons won 49.3% of the vote last time, down from a dizzying 59.4% in 2003.

So, who is this man who has inherited what looks like the definition of a safe seat?

According to his Labour bio:

David Rees lives in Cwmafan, Port Talbot. He is currently the secretary of the Aberavon Constituency Labour Party. He contested the National Assembly election of 2003 in the Brecon and Radnor constituency and was a regional list candidate for Labour in South Wales West in the Assembly elections of 2007. He has served on the Governing body of the Swansea Institute of Higher Education (now Swansea Metropolitan University) and Ysgol Gyfun Ystalyfera. David Rees has held a number of positions in the Labour and trade union movement. He is married with two daughters and works as an Assistant Dean of Faculty at Swansea Metropolitan University.

This may not be the guaranteed "job for life" which it first appears, however. Yes, the Labour candidate traditionally wins an astonishing share of the vote, but look at the turnout: just 39.8%. Plaid Cymru may only have won 17.3% of the vote, but this was enough to come second and Dr Gibbons won with just a 6,571 majority. Suddenly, a seat that should be safe as proverbial houses looks like a target for a party in search of a totemic victory.

Labour needs to find out why people aren't voting in Aberavon. Are the majority happy Labour supporters blissfully unaware that in a democracy if they don't take the trip to the polling station it's possible another party might win. Or, more worryingly, are they the definition of fed-up voters who are unimpressed by the alternatives but utterly disengaged from the party of Bevan?

Open Democracy

2009-10-29T14:29:06Z

The most exciting stages of last year's presidential race were arguably not the weeks leading up to the McCain v. Obama showdown, but the tremendous tussle between Hillary Clinton and the young pretender for the Democratic nomination. It is in the primary contests where debates are most nuanced and beliefs become most distinct.

The leadership contest taking place in the Welsh Labour party should be just as fascinating. Each of the candidates has seen the first decade of devolution from inside the cockpit and now wants control of the plane.

As it is almost certain that whoever wins this election will become First Minister, everyone living in Wales is to some extent a passenger. This is why it is a shame that hustings have been behind closed doors.

But the candidates were game enough to take part in our online debate last week and tonight on ITV's Sharp End they are once again in front of the cameras fielding questions.

Given that Tuesday's YouGov poll showed astonishing levels of ignorance about the candidates, getting in front of as many audiences as possible is crucial for their campaigns and for democracy.

Will the Next First Minister of Wales Please Stand Up?

2009-10-27T10:43:59Z

Fascinating data from YouGov released today. It shows that the potential alternatives to Rhodri Morgan as First Minister have dire levels of name recognition.

How well or badly do you think each of the following would do as First Minister of Wales?
Carwyn Jones

Very well 8
Fairly well 24
Fairly badly 9
Very badly 5
Don't know 54

Huw Lewis

Very well 2
Fairly well 20
Fairly badly 13
Very badly 6
Don't know 59

Edwina Hart

Very well 5
Fairly well 22
Fairly badly 17
Very badly 11
Don't know 45

Ieuan Wyn Jones

Very well 7
Fairly well 24
Fairly badly 13
Very badly 10
Don't know 47

Nick Bourne

Very well 3
Fairly well 16
Fairly badly 14
Very badly 17
Don't know 50

Kirsty Williams

Very well 3
Fairly well 17
Fairly badly 14
Very badly 8
Don't know 58

Contrast this with the popularity of Rhodri Morgan, after nearly a decade in the job:

Do you think Rhodri Morgan is doing well or badly as First Minister for Wales?
Very well 15
Fairly well 48
Fairly badly 12
Very badly 7
Don't know 17

Alun Davies proposes joint Assembly-Westminster Broadcasting Group

2009-10-16T14:35:50Z

Labour AM Alun Davies has written to Plaid Cymru Presiding Officer Dafydd Elis Thomas and Labour MP Hywel Francis, chair of the Welsh Affairs Select Committee, to suggest that MPs and AMs form a common position on public service broadcasting in Wales.

He writes:

We are both aware of the on-going crisis in ITV, the continued uncertainty of the future role of the BBC as well as the essential focus on the future of the creative industries in Wales and our ability to maintain a string and thriving production base in the country...
I am writing to you now to ask that you (and the business committee if necessary) would consider nominating a committee of Members to work with the Welsh Affairs Select Committee to discuss and agree a common position on the future of public service broadcasting in Wales. We have agreed in the past that such joint working benefits both Wales and both of our democratic institutions that serve the country.

The Slowest Sprinkler in the World

2009-10-14T15:43:46Z

More than two years after Labour AM Ann Jones declared all new homes in Wales should have fire sprinkler systems and called for the Assembly to get the power from Westminster to make this required by law, we learn today that at last the Welsh Affairs Select Committee will study her proposals.

When one of the least nationalist-inclined Labour AMs proposes a very narrowly defined Legislative Competence Order with the support of Wales' three Fire and Rescue Services and the FBU in July 2007 and the legislation is scrutinised in 2008, and - more than halfway through a four-year Assembly term - it still has multiple hurdles to hop, you have to ask if the system for transferring powers is working with the speed and efficiency envisaged when the Government of Wales Act was passed in 2006.

Such questions will be addressed when the All Wales Convention report is published on November 18. The experiences of Ms Jones will certainly give ammunition to the devo-enthusiasts who hunger for greater Welsh autonomy.

Friend in the North

2009-10-14T11:45:26Z

Carwyn Jones has got the endorsement of Brian Jones, the leader of the Labour Group on Gwynedd County Council: "We understand how important it is to have someone of Carwyn's calibre with his understanding of the needs of the people of Wales."

Ali Thomas, Labour Leader of Neath Port Talbot Council is also full of warm words: "I believe Carwyn is a statesman in waiting. He's got all the qualities of delivering sensible, beneficial and realistic commitments to the people of Wales. He's Labour through and through."

A statesman in waiting? Carwyn has made it clear he doesn't want to be in the top job for the entirety of his remaining existence. Does an ambassadorial future await?

What the flip?

2009-10-14T11:38:56Z

A compassionate take on the house-flipping scandal facing MPs from Mike Truman of Taxation magazine:

"Whatever criticisms there are about MPs' expenses, they should not be criticised for choosing which home gets the exemption, or even for maximising the time for which both homes qualify. This is not some special rule from which only MPs can benefit. Any taxpayer with two homes is entitled to nominate which of them should get the exemption, and to maximise the claim within the statutory rules. The question of which property really is the MP's main home, on which they should not be claiming parliamentary expenses, is a completely different issue."

Playlist from Huw Lewis launch

2009-10-09T16:20:43Z

"Its Getting Better" - Mama Cass (campaign song)

"Born to Run" - Bruce Springsteen

"Let it Ride" - Bachmann Turner Overdrive II

"Won't Back Down" - Tom Petty

"One of us Must Know (Sooner or Later)" - Bob Dylan

"Arms Outstretched" - Rilo Kiley (great song, great lyrics!)

"Here Comes the Sun" - George Harrison

Jane Hutt backing Edwina Hart

2009-10-09T15:45:39Z

This just in from Edwina's campaign...

Education Minister Jane Hutt has thrown her support behind Edwina Hart in the Welsh Labour leadership contest. This means that the Health Minister will now have 10 nominations from the Labour group in the Assembly, a figure which the other two candidates can no longer match. Jane Hutt, Andrew Davies and Rosemary Butler were all colleagues of Edwina Hart on the original Assembly cabinet in 1999. On hearing the news Edwina Hart said that she was absolutely delighted to have Jane Hutt on board. "Jane and I have worked closely for ten years, and she is respected as a dedicated and hard working minister inside and outside the party. She has a tremendous amount of experience in government, just the sort of person I need to support me. And her willingness to promote the interests of women is something we have in common. "Her decision to nominate me means that my campaign has received a major boost.If I am elected to serve as First Minister it will be reassuring to know that so many fellow Labour AMs already have faith in me. " At the end of the first week of campaigning I think we are seeing a clear surge of support, and I am very encouraged, having only just entered the contest."

UPDATE

We now have a quote from Ms Hutt explaining her decision. It's a bit short, mind.

"I am backing Edwina Hart because we share a commitment to supporting our public services and it is great to have a woman standing to be First Minister for Wales."

Well, there we go. She'll be an important friend, and if she elaborates on why she is not backing either of the two men she will prove a very formidable foe.

In the Greenhouse

2009-10-09T09:08:41Z

One report which is actually is out (see previous post) is the Greenhouse Gas Inventory:

The September 2009 report shows that, for Wales:

* Total emissions of the six Greenhouse Gases in Wales for 2007 were 46.8MtCO2 equivalent . This represents a 6.8% decrease on 2006 and a 14.7% decrease on base year emissions of the six greenhouse gases. * Total emissions of CO2 in Wales for 2007 were 39MtCO2 equivalent , which represents a 7% decrease on 2006 and a 9.5% decrease on base year CO2 emissions

Late spring or early summer

2009-10-09T08:28:45Z

What is a blog for if not to once in a while report on wild rumours bouncing around the Senedd like Forrest Gump's ping pong ball?

The tale is that Sir Emyr Jones Parry's report on public appetite for more powers for the Assembly will have plenty of "welly".

Far from being an exercise in equivocation, the story goes that the report concludes the present system isn't working and that a prime time for a vote would be late spring/early May.

Well... If Rhodri Morgan and Ieuan run with this when the report is officially published in November, will his successor be bounced into supporting a Yes vote whether or he or she wants to go to the nation with such a proposal?

To reiterate, this is the territory of rumour and speculation at present. But, to be sure, we live in interesting times!