'UK Government has made its point on debt, now its time to move on'

Here’s the final paragraph of an interesting article in the London Evening Standard earlier this week on the UK Government’s obsession with debt and the deficit and how if it wants to succeed economically needs to move on from its current position and focus on growth and job creation.

Anthony Hilton writes ‘It would be wrong to say debt does not matter but we need a sense of proportion - and having made the point, the Government must move on. Talking tough on cuts may keep financial markets onside, but the Government's priority should be to restore economic growth, not fixate about the deficit. Get growth right and the deficit will take care of itself; but a government which defines itself by cuts stands a very good chance of making things worse.

The full article is here

Is there life in Cardiff Bay?

The Assembly Elections were on 5th May and the results were known that weekend. Shortly after that the Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet were appointed and yet nearly a month has gone by and there are still no signs that any Committees apart from the Business Committee have been formed or any Committee Chair’s appointed or that AM’s know what Committee they will sit on for the next five years.

It would be bad enough for the Government to take such a laid back attitude to these matters before WAG got law making powers, but seen as the Assembly now has legislative powers as well as a minority Government that is in more need than ever of being scrutinised and held to account these decision needs to be made soon, after all Scotland and Northern Ireland have managed it.

And if you think I’m exaggerating events this week are a good example, the Welsh Assembly is on half term while the Scottish Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly were both sitting and Committees met – time for the Welsh Government to get its act together and get on with the business of governing Wales. After all the issues of tuition fees at Welsh Universities, what the Welsh Government is going to do with the £10 million Enterprise Zone money and the future of Southern Cross Care Homes in Wales to name but a few matters need answers.

Standing Up for Wales, more like an irrelevant spectator

Yesterday the First Minister’s of the devolved Government’s were in Edinburgh for a meeting to discuss priorities and points of agreement ahead of the Joint Ministerial Committee meeting with the UK Government next week.

This is the first time the four leaders have met face to face since May 5th elections where they all emerged with strengthened mandates and their get togethers are a welcome step in stronger lobbying the UK Government on issues to benefit us all.

I’ve no idea how the meeting went, but at the press conference our First Minister Carwyn Jones was a mere spectator, while Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond and Northern Ireland’s First Ministers Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness discussed Corporation Tax, priorities for the JMC meeting, end of year flexibility, Wikileaks revelations in the Belfast Telegraph and sectarianism in football among other things.

Carwyn was also the only leader not to go through the niceties of welcoming the meeting and thanking his host for his hospitalities and after his brief opening remarks only joined the press conference on the subject of end of year flexibility and to congratulate Swansea City on their promotion to the Premier League while trying not to offend Cardiff City fans as well. Not even a word about his favourite hobby horse borrowing powers for the Assembly!

Add to that the Scottish Government had a comprehensive press release here on the meeting and the Northern Ireland Executive has a press release including the communiqué here, the Welsh Government’s latest story was Local Government Minister Carl Sergeant in Anglesey last Friday 27th May, no mention of the meeting in Edinburgh and I’m not accepting the fact they are on half term holiday. Maybe as a friend said most of our AM’s are all at the Hay Festival this week, alright for some.

And in case you think I’m picking on Carwyn, it wasn’t just the First Minister and the Welsh Government who appear half hearted about these meetings. BBC Wales Political Editor Betsan Powys was also absent from proceedings for the second time unlike her Scottish and Northern Ireland counterparts, she couldn’t make it to Belfast last time the four leaders met and given what’s going on with cuts to BBC Wales budgets shouldn’t senior staff be showing the value of what BBC Wales political and current affairs give to Wales?

The full press conference is here make your own mind up

‘Carwyn Jones has less brand recognition than beetroot lemonade’

H/T to Vaughan Roderick

What does it say about the sorry state of Wales that it takes an Australian journalist to say what many in the Welsh media and political establishment and bubble in Cardiff Bay refuse or are unwilling to say about our recent elections and the calibre of our First Minister?

Guy Rundle writing on Crikey.com says ‘Wales is really little more than a big local election, yet the poll is not without importance. The assembly has acquired new powers since it was last elected, giving it direct control over health, education and a range of other areas, which hitherto required ratification by Westminster.

The principality leans leftward, and though Labour has been in power since the Assembly was created in the late 90s, it is currently in coalition with Plaid Cymru, which is decisively to the left of it.

Now it looks like Labor will not only be able to govern on its own, but will also have a clear majority, as voters return to it in reaction to the Tories’ cuts. That would make the first minister Carwyn Jones a natural oppositional figure. Sadly, he has less national brand recognition than beetroot lemonade.'

This was written on May 5th before the poll result were known, the rest of the article is here

Amnesty International is 50

From Amnesty’s Blog on how it came into being and on its 50 years of campaigning for Justice around the world.

"Yet if these feelings of disgust all over the world could be united into common action, something effective could be done.” Peter Benenson

May 1961. Elvis Presley is on the radio. Spurs fans are celebrating topping the football league. President Kennedy announces plans to put a man on the moon.

And one man is outraged by a news report on two Portuguese students imprisoned simply for raising their glasses in a “toast to freedom”. Amnesty International is born.

Because that man, British lawyer Peter Benenson, resolved to turn his outrage into action. He wrote an article called The Forgotten Prisoners which was first published in The Observer on 28 May 1961 and reproduced around the world.

In it Benenson highlighted cases like that of the Portuguese students, coining the phrase ‘prisoner of conscience’. He called for like-minded people to unite in an ‘appeal for amnesty’ on their behalf – and readers responded to that call.

In 1962, we were officially named Amnesty International. And since then, what began as a small band of volunteers based in London has grown to a global movement of 3 million supporters, members and activists with 18 national sections and 850 groups in over 27 countries.

We have written letters, signed petitions, issued urgent actions, demonstrated outside courtrooms and embassies, launched hard-hitting media campaigns and lobbied officials directly. More recently, we have embraced the opportunities offered by social media and mobile communications.

As the world has changed, so have we. But our objective – to protect people when their rights are denied, and end discrimination, persecution and harassment – has remained constant. See the faces of some of the individuals helped by Amnesty in this beautiful video featuring the banners produced for our 50th anniversary AGM.

The full article is here