Amidst all the focus on the new Coalition Government and the spats between Cardiff Bay, the Wales Office and Westminster it’s easy to forget that the Assembly Elections are just 10 months away, it means candidate selections for Assembly
seats are well underway by all the parties and there have been some fascinating developments in recent weeks and these are the ones that caught my eye.
Plaid Cymru AM Nerys Evans has given up the safe Regional Seat for Mid & West Wales and has been selected for the Carmarthen West & South Pembrokeshire seat where she will be challenging Conservative AM Angela Burns, both Nerys and Angela have shone since they were first elected in 2007. One of them will not be returning to the Assembly which is a shame.
Angela Jones Evans beat South Wales Central AM David Melding to the nomination for the Conservatives for the Vale of Glamorgan seat after her strong showing in Cardiff West during the General Election. The Vale of Glamorgan is always a close battle and with Labour Budget Minister Jane Hutt looking to regain the seat she held with just 83 votes in 2007, it could be closer than ever - you never know we may even end up with a Tory in Cardiff Bay who will listen Dylan Jones Evans on economic matters.
Former Labour Welsh Secretary, Ron Davies has been selected to stand in Caerphilly for Plaid Cymru and has a chance to win, it’s quite a coup for Plaid, but no doubt Labour will pull every dirty trick they know to get Jeff Cuthbert re-elected, its one to watch but maybe from a safe distance as the fur flies.
Cardiff Central could be in play for the first time since 1999 with the retirement of popular Lib Dem AM and former Minister Jenny Randerson, her successor is Cardiff Councillor Nigel Howells. But with the drop in support for the Lib Dems after joining the UK Coalition, I wonder how confident they are of retaining the seat or could it be a Labour gain on Election night?
Speaking of Labour, Alun Davies AM is giving up the safe Mid & West Wales Regional seat to stand in Blaenau Gwent, but unlike Nerys Evans he probably has a good chance of winning and ousting Trish Law and finally bringing Labour the prize of Nye Bevan seat after the debacle for the Party over all women shortlists and not consulting the local party which led to the election of the late Peter Law as an Independent in 2005.
And finally there has been a lot of speculation of who could top the South Wales East Regional list for the Conservative Party, one of the names mentioned is Mohammad Asghar who switched from Plaid Cymru last year. If he was selected he would be replacing William Graham who has been an AM since 1999 and who fell out with Welsh Tory Leader Nick Bourne a few years back, who is probably behind the move.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Life expectancy gap ‘widest since Great Depression’
Before the new austerity drive sweeping the Country bites, it’s worth pausing to reflect on the findings in the British Medical Journal, that the poorest people in Britain are twice as likely to die before the age of 65, that’s considered premature and is as high as it’s been since the UK was gripped by the Great Depression.
According to the Telegraph ‘Teams at the universities of Sheffield and Bristol calculated deaths before the age of 65 – considered premature – in areas of the top ten per cent down to the bottom ten per cent of wealth.
They said: "For every 100 people under the age of 65 dying in the best-off areas, 199 were dying in the poorest tenth of areas.
"This is the highest relative inequality recorded since at least 1921.
"When we looked at people aged under 75, for every 100 people dying in the best-off areas, 188 were dying in the poorest tenth of areas. That is the highest ratio of inequality recorded since at least 1990."
Inequalities in health between the rich and poor have persisted for decades and recent government efforts to reduce the gap have largely had little or no effect, the researchers said.
From the early peak between 1921 and 1930 when the ratio of premature deaths was 1.91 there was a steady decrease until the 1970s, probably due to improved medicine and the introduction of the National Health Service.
After that the ratio began to increase again and the trend has continued so that by the mid-2000s people in poor areas were twice as likely to die prematurely than those in rich areas.
Lead author Bethan Thomas, Research Fellow, at the University of Sheffield, wrote in the BMJ: "Inequalities in premature mortality between areas of Britain continued to rise steadily during the first decade of the 21st century.
"The last time in the long economic record that inequalities were almost as high was in the lead up to the economic crash of 1929 and the economic depression of the 1930s.
"The economic crash of 2008 might precede even greater inequalities in mortality between areas in Britain.
The previous government missed targets aimed at reducing the gap in health inequalities.
According to the Telegraph ‘Teams at the universities of Sheffield and Bristol calculated deaths before the age of 65 – considered premature – in areas of the top ten per cent down to the bottom ten per cent of wealth.
They said: "For every 100 people under the age of 65 dying in the best-off areas, 199 were dying in the poorest tenth of areas.
"This is the highest relative inequality recorded since at least 1921.
"When we looked at people aged under 75, for every 100 people dying in the best-off areas, 188 were dying in the poorest tenth of areas. That is the highest ratio of inequality recorded since at least 1990."
Inequalities in health between the rich and poor have persisted for decades and recent government efforts to reduce the gap have largely had little or no effect, the researchers said.
From the early peak between 1921 and 1930 when the ratio of premature deaths was 1.91 there was a steady decrease until the 1970s, probably due to improved medicine and the introduction of the National Health Service.
After that the ratio began to increase again and the trend has continued so that by the mid-2000s people in poor areas were twice as likely to die prematurely than those in rich areas.
Lead author Bethan Thomas, Research Fellow, at the University of Sheffield, wrote in the BMJ: "Inequalities in premature mortality between areas of Britain continued to rise steadily during the first decade of the 21st century.
"The last time in the long economic record that inequalities were almost as high was in the lead up to the economic crash of 1929 and the economic depression of the 1930s.
"The economic crash of 2008 might precede even greater inequalities in mortality between areas in Britain.
The previous government missed targets aimed at reducing the gap in health inequalities.
Monday, July 26, 2010
The ERP a guide to partying like its 1999
In my initial summing up of the launch of the Economic Renewal Programme I said that many of the ideas were ones that in should have pursued been back in 1999 when the Welsh Assembly was set up when a range of factors such as European Money favoured Wales moving on economically.
That came to mind after I read UK Progressive’s take on the launch of the ERP from Denis Campbell, its Editor who echoes similar sentiments especially in the case of Broadband roll out and the wisdom of lining BT's pockets with taxpayer’s money when cheaper alternative technology to provide broadband for rural Wales is available via Wi-Fi.
He writes ‘Broadband? Seriously, the Welsh Assembly Government is talking broadband? In 2010? We’re surely not in Kansas anymore Toto rather in a nation ready for 21st century business growth. It’s time to party in Wales like it’s… 1999.
In an era where smart Blackberry and iPhones, iPad tablet computers, social media tools, telly, radio and Web newspapers delivered via Wi-Fi and portable cloud computing tools like Google Mail/Docs proliferate to bring instant high-speed communication to people where they are, Wales just committed to investing in desktops and stringing wires? Oi vey.
The long awaited WAG economic development manifesto was released today as: “Deputy First Minister and Minister for the Economy and Transport Ieuan Wyn Jones outlined a vision of making Wales ‘one of the best places in the world to live, to work and to thrive’.”
I suppose that can be true if they are also magically transported back to 1999 as opposed to 2011.
As folks on Twitter would exclaim: WTF?
NOW, in the midst of a huge financial crisis the WAG is abandoning assistance to businesses? Of course this also begs the question… when did they ever really provide it?
Real numbers are the closest guarded secrets in all of the government so when a few escaped Friday, UK Progressive got tongues a wagging as several media outlets began to finally ask questions and ponder FOI requests. The last time that happened we discovered rampant expense account abuses at International Business Wales. Who knows what would be found on an 88-person business development junket with govt. leaders?
Here’s your unofficial stock tip of the day. Rush out and by some BT shares because they will benefit mightily from this new announcement. Why are we not blanketing cities and villages with Wi-Fi masts? Every computer has a wireless card or router. Are we seriously going to invest taxpayer money in technology of the last decade?
I was a guest on BBC’s Wales@Work 18-months ago when the debate about broadband was raging and even then we were 10-years behind the curve and technology. Now we’re adding salt to that wound?
The rest is HERE
That came to mind after I read UK Progressive’s take on the launch of the ERP from Denis Campbell, its Editor who echoes similar sentiments especially in the case of Broadband roll out and the wisdom of lining BT's pockets with taxpayer’s money when cheaper alternative technology to provide broadband for rural Wales is available via Wi-Fi.
He writes ‘Broadband? Seriously, the Welsh Assembly Government is talking broadband? In 2010? We’re surely not in Kansas anymore Toto rather in a nation ready for 21st century business growth. It’s time to party in Wales like it’s… 1999.
In an era where smart Blackberry and iPhones, iPad tablet computers, social media tools, telly, radio and Web newspapers delivered via Wi-Fi and portable cloud computing tools like Google Mail/Docs proliferate to bring instant high-speed communication to people where they are, Wales just committed to investing in desktops and stringing wires? Oi vey.
The long awaited WAG economic development manifesto was released today as: “Deputy First Minister and Minister for the Economy and Transport Ieuan Wyn Jones outlined a vision of making Wales ‘one of the best places in the world to live, to work and to thrive’.”
I suppose that can be true if they are also magically transported back to 1999 as opposed to 2011.
As folks on Twitter would exclaim: WTF?
NOW, in the midst of a huge financial crisis the WAG is abandoning assistance to businesses? Of course this also begs the question… when did they ever really provide it?
Real numbers are the closest guarded secrets in all of the government so when a few escaped Friday, UK Progressive got tongues a wagging as several media outlets began to finally ask questions and ponder FOI requests. The last time that happened we discovered rampant expense account abuses at International Business Wales. Who knows what would be found on an 88-person business development junket with govt. leaders?
Here’s your unofficial stock tip of the day. Rush out and by some BT shares because they will benefit mightily from this new announcement. Why are we not blanketing cities and villages with Wi-Fi masts? Every computer has a wireless card or router. Are we seriously going to invest taxpayer money in technology of the last decade?
I was a guest on BBC’s Wales@Work 18-months ago when the debate about broadband was raging and even then we were 10-years behind the curve and technology. Now we’re adding salt to that wound?
The rest is HERE
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