Fascinating stuff in the Telegraph today on the possible defection of Labour MP's to the Liberal Democrats if or should that be when they lose the next Election due to disaffection by many Blarite's with Gordon Brown's leadership and a feeling that Labour would lurch to the left following such a heavy defeat.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Lord Ashdown compared recent events with those before the 1983 general election. In 1981, Labour MPs opposed to Michael Foot’s hard-Left leadership – led by the so-called “Gang of Four” of David Owen, Roy Jenkins, Shirley Williams and Bill Rodgers – walked out to form the SDP, splitting the party and helping condemn Labour to the worst defeat in its history two years later. The revelation of a potential exodus of Blairite Labour figures comes amid growing pressure on the Prime Minister from his own party following a string of misjudgements and embarrassments.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
Political Programmes A Round Up
Some interesting snippets on the political programmes last night starting with Dragon’s Eye, oh to be a fly on the wall the next time that Eurfyl ap Gwilym and Deputy First Minster Ieuan Wyn Jones meet to talk about the welsh economy, its well known that Eurfyl is more in tune with former leader Dafydd Wigley on economic matter and really had a pop at WAG’s economic development, so Ieuan looked decidedly uncomfortable following Adrian Master’s light grilling on Dragon’s Eye last night on what from the One Wales Agreement would be cut in order to manage the £416m of cuts that were announced in the budget last week.
At least Ieuan Wyn Jones’s answers sounded more credible and not as clichéd compared to Alun Davies, he who wants to stand in Blaenau Gwent in the next Assembly Elections, Alun was firmly put in his place by Mai Davies on Sharp End over cuts in the Assembly’s Budget, Mai was persistent and made Alun Davies look like the fool he is, the interview even made the other person on the sofa Tory Boy Alun Cairns look credible instead of his usual manic self.
On the non race to replace Rhodri as leader we are still none the wiser as to who will take over but delegates at the Labour Conference talked about Carwyn Jones and Edwina Hart as leadership material, there is still a great deal of irritation that Rhodri Morgan won’t stand down until January, does no one in the Welsh Labour Party have the guts to tell him to go and go soon for the Party’s sake
Plaid Cymru’s Leanne Wood AM the token Welsh politicians on the programme from Great Yarmouth seemed to get most of the applause on Question Time, not sure what that says about the state of British politics when a welsh nationalist is the one in tune with public opinion on a panel show, maybe it was due to Andrew Lansley being late and had to have his make applied in front of a laughing studio audience according to the BBC report today.
Finally next week’s Question Time is from Dunfermline with members of the Scottish Parliament no problems with that, so why do we in Wales get a once yearly visit and poor effort like the recent programme from Merthyr Tydfil a few weeks ago with Welsh MP’s and a token AM, rather than all AM’s, please tell me that we don’t have to vote in a nationalist government in the Assembly before they take notice of us this side if the Severn Bridge?
At least Ieuan Wyn Jones’s answers sounded more credible and not as clichéd compared to Alun Davies, he who wants to stand in Blaenau Gwent in the next Assembly Elections, Alun was firmly put in his place by Mai Davies on Sharp End over cuts in the Assembly’s Budget, Mai was persistent and made Alun Davies look like the fool he is, the interview even made the other person on the sofa Tory Boy Alun Cairns look credible instead of his usual manic self.
On the non race to replace Rhodri as leader we are still none the wiser as to who will take over but delegates at the Labour Conference talked about Carwyn Jones and Edwina Hart as leadership material, there is still a great deal of irritation that Rhodri Morgan won’t stand down until January, does no one in the Welsh Labour Party have the guts to tell him to go and go soon for the Party’s sake
Plaid Cymru’s Leanne Wood AM the token Welsh politicians on the programme from Great Yarmouth seemed to get most of the applause on Question Time, not sure what that says about the state of British politics when a welsh nationalist is the one in tune with public opinion on a panel show, maybe it was due to Andrew Lansley being late and had to have his make applied in front of a laughing studio audience according to the BBC report today.
Finally next week’s Question Time is from Dunfermline with members of the Scottish Parliament no problems with that, so why do we in Wales get a once yearly visit and poor effort like the recent programme from Merthyr Tydfil a few weeks ago with Welsh MP’s and a token AM, rather than all AM’s, please tell me that we don’t have to vote in a nationalist government in the Assembly before they take notice of us this side if the Severn Bridge?
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Where are the politicians in the debate?
Two articles in the last week highlight the on going debate in to further powers for the National Assembly for Wales among academics, journalists, lobbyist, bloggers and the general public, the question is how long can the pro-devolution politicians stay out of the debate or keep their view behind closed doors on this important matter?
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Barack's 100 Days
There are millions of articles on Barack Obama's first 100 days in office all offering a view of how he's doing so far, i think i'm more in agreement with one of the President's closest advisors David Axelrod that this is a 'hallmark holiday' for the press rather than anything substantial.
Over at Open Democracy they do have a good article on Obama first 100 days that's worth a read.
Over at Open Democracy they do have a good article on Obama first 100 days that's worth a read.
The Austerity Speech
Under one of the headings in his Spring Conference speech on Sunday entitled 'A Government of thrift', David Cameron said the following :-
Our education departments employ nearly four thousand people, and Britain is ranked seventeenth in the world league table for maths.
Sweden is at number ten, and their education department employs just three hundred people.
In the London Borough of Southwark, a new social enterprise called Southwark Circle is delivering vastly improved care services for less money designed by elderly people for elderly people using local social networks to bring real improvements to people's lives.
Our government spends nearly £400 million a year on advertising to reach sixty million people while Wikipedia, one of the largest websites in the world, spends about one per cent of that to reach 280 million people.
Sweden’s education department. Southwark Circle.
Wikipedia.They’re all delivering more for less.
If they can do it, why can’t our government?
The rest of the speech was long on rhetoric and short on policy shock horror, but we are forever being told by politicians that politics should be about ideas, not gimmicks so is this really a speech to inspire us, Swedish Education, Southwark Circle and Wikipedia - have the main stream press given up analysis of David Cameron's speeches because they believe the Tories will win the General Election, surely we the public don't deserve a repeat of what happened when what Margaret Thatcher said on the election campaign trail turned out to be totally different to what happen when she was elected, the public deserves better.
Our education departments employ nearly four thousand people, and Britain is ranked seventeenth in the world league table for maths.
Sweden is at number ten, and their education department employs just three hundred people.
In the London Borough of Southwark, a new social enterprise called Southwark Circle is delivering vastly improved care services for less money designed by elderly people for elderly people using local social networks to bring real improvements to people's lives.
Our government spends nearly £400 million a year on advertising to reach sixty million people while Wikipedia, one of the largest websites in the world, spends about one per cent of that to reach 280 million people.
Sweden’s education department. Southwark Circle.
Wikipedia.They’re all delivering more for less.
If they can do it, why can’t our government?
The rest of the speech was long on rhetoric and short on policy shock horror, but we are forever being told by politicians that politics should be about ideas, not gimmicks so is this really a speech to inspire us, Swedish Education, Southwark Circle and Wikipedia - have the main stream press given up analysis of David Cameron's speeches because they believe the Tories will win the General Election, surely we the public don't deserve a repeat of what happened when what Margaret Thatcher said on the election campaign trail turned out to be totally different to what happen when she was elected, the public deserves better.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Hats off to the Whistleblower
The Civil Servant who leaked this information about the Economic Development department not working deserves real credit, I just hope that they are protected and that this story has legs, because the inner working of the Welsh Assembly Government should be exposed if they are failing the welsh public especially in these challenging economic times, but It's difficult to see how to change the Labour dominated culture that is not delivering without some strong political and managerial leadership. Sadly we don’t expect Labour to change or admit mistakes as many who have challenged them over the years will testify to personal and professional cost.
But there are questions to ask of the other parties as well from this mess.
Is Plaid Cymru making a significant difference in what is the most important department in the Assembly for all our wellbeing here in Wales, Is Ieuan Wyn Jones unable to challenge his Labour colleagues over bad decisions?
Reading the article in the Western Mail today, are the Tories serious in thinking this culture in WAG is a new phenomenon and if so where has the Opposition Scrutiny been on holding Minister’s dealing with the Economy and Finance to account in Committee and the Chamber, they are the official opposition after all?
But there are questions to ask of the other parties as well from this mess.
Is Plaid Cymru making a significant difference in what is the most important department in the Assembly for all our wellbeing here in Wales, Is Ieuan Wyn Jones unable to challenge his Labour colleagues over bad decisions?
Reading the article in the Western Mail today, are the Tories serious in thinking this culture in WAG is a new phenomenon and if so where has the Opposition Scrutiny been on holding Minister’s dealing with the Economy and Finance to account in Committee and the Chamber, they are the official opposition after all?
Monday, April 27, 2009
Running Up a Down Escalator
As part of Called to Order Friday night, Patrick Hannan talked about the Devolution Dividend and the impact of last week’s budget on the National Assembly’s Finances for the coming years and he interviewed Andrew Davies, Finance Minister who admitted that ‘over the past ten years relative to the rest of UK we haven’t made a much progress (on economic development) as we would have liked’.
The Finance Minister reasoning for this was that the London and South East Economy grew at such a phenomenal rate over the past decade that we in Wales were always running up a down escalator to catch up but he said if you take the figures for London and the South East out that Wales has done as well as other regions in terms of growth, trying ask the general public if they feel the benefits. He also added the Wales had lower unemployment in comparison to other areas until recently, but failed to mention the quality of jobs Wales is losing or the type of jobs that a replacing them.
They say the best way of dealing with a problem is to acknowledge it first and then deal with it, still not sure WAG are grasping the need for a change of thinking. I also wonder is this Labour’s new line of attack in defending its poor record on economic development and a decline of GVA over the past 10 years.
The full interview and debate was carried on by John Dixon and Lembit Opik and is available here until Thursday.
The Finance Minister reasoning for this was that the London and South East Economy grew at such a phenomenal rate over the past decade that we in Wales were always running up a down escalator to catch up but he said if you take the figures for London and the South East out that Wales has done as well as other regions in terms of growth, trying ask the general public if they feel the benefits. He also added the Wales had lower unemployment in comparison to other areas until recently, but failed to mention the quality of jobs Wales is losing or the type of jobs that a replacing them.
They say the best way of dealing with a problem is to acknowledge it first and then deal with it, still not sure WAG are grasping the need for a change of thinking. I also wonder is this Labour’s new line of attack in defending its poor record on economic development and a decline of GVA over the past 10 years.
The full interview and debate was carried on by John Dixon and Lembit Opik and is available here until Thursday.
Dave's Challenge
These are the thoughts at the end of Bruce Anderson of the Independent article today on what David Cameron needs to do over the coming year to prove to the electorate he would be a good Prime Minister and i very much agree that the Conservatives need to win the General Election on the arguments and not by default saying as little as possible as seems the case at the moment and not that i'm a fan of Mr Cameron's but because i believe that it will harm our faith in the democratic process in the long term otherwise.
He writes 'Although David Cameron was right to avoid the trap which Labour was setting, and to refuse to turn the next election into an argument about the new super-tax, he will have to refight some of the intellectual battles which Mrs Thatcher seemed to have won. He opposed 42-day detention, even though the polls indicated that it was popular. He should also defy the polls on the question of a low-tax economy. In these troubled times, a politician brave enough to tell the voters that their first instincts were wrong could earn their respect for displaying leadership.
That quality is now necessary, as rarely before in peacetime. Mr Cameron must spend the next year proving that he possesses it. It is not enough to win by default.'
More here
He writes 'Although David Cameron was right to avoid the trap which Labour was setting, and to refuse to turn the next election into an argument about the new super-tax, he will have to refight some of the intellectual battles which Mrs Thatcher seemed to have won. He opposed 42-day detention, even though the polls indicated that it was popular. He should also defy the polls on the question of a low-tax economy. In these troubled times, a politician brave enough to tell the voters that their first instincts were wrong could earn their respect for displaying leadership.
That quality is now necessary, as rarely before in peacetime. Mr Cameron must spend the next year proving that he possesses it. It is not enough to win by default.'
More here
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