So after all the bluff and counter bluff of the past few months a deal to pass the Welsh budget is done and Labour First Minister Carwyn Jones must be breathing a sigh of relief that the Liberal Democrats have got him out of the hole he found himself in over his negotiations tactics.
The pupil premium is a worthy policy and sorting out school funding is important, but as Education Minister Leighton Andrew said last night on Sharp End Blaenau Gwent Council spends the most per pupil in Wales and is currently in special measures, so let’s hope the Lib Dems have got something about accountability of the extra cash in the small print of the deal and as Betsan Powys reminds us the Budget is virtually unchanged by these concessions.
Today’s news has also been seized on by Lib Dems at a UK level to try and help detoxify the brand after a bruising time in government since last May, but the question of whether it will be enough to blunt the sell outs and Tories little helpers jibes and sway welsh voters to back Kirsty and her party’s in the local elections next year is unclear, at least their candidates now have an a reply of what are they for.
As for Labour they will be pleased a deal has been done, but where this leaves their constant criticism of the UK Government and its acceptance of a second ‘ConDem policy’ the pupil premium (after Enterprise Zones) following a deal with one of the UK Coalition partners is anyone's guess, it certainly rings hollow and hardly fits the left wing radical image they like to portray but it’s doubtful it will do any long term damage mores the pity.
And how irritated will Labour members be ahead of next year’s local council elections that a deal has been done with the Lib Dems their major opponents in so many council seats?
As for Plaid Cymru and the Conservatives they may feel pretty miffed tonight at being left out of a deal, but neither should feel too bad, unless the Chancellor pulls a rabbit out of his hat next week the economy and job situation will get worse and as cuts bite the Welsh Government’s budget will come under ever more scrutiny over claims of protecting Wales. That will provide an opportunity for Plaid and the Tories to remind everyone of the issues they raised in budget negotiations the state of the economy and the funding of the health service which will certainly resonate with voters and dominate welsh political debate for the foreseeable future.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Vanished Kingdoms the History of half forgotten Europe
The title is a new book from Professor and historian Norman Davies who explores Europe’s lost kingdoms including 'the Empire of Aragon' which once dominated the western Mediterranean; the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, for a time the largest country in Europe; the successive kingdoms (and one duchy) of Burgundy, but from a Welsh perspective 'Kingdom of the Rock' in what is now modern day Strathclyde in Scotland is what catches the eye and despite the book being finished some time ago he has some interesting things to say about the current European crisis and its effects on the future of United Kingdom.
Norman Davies spoke to Vaughan Roderick on BBC Wales Sunday Supplement about 20 mins in and is available till Sunday morning (27th November).
He has also given an interview to the Browser Magazine and here’s the part on Wales and the UK 'Whether by military defeat or political decline, if a state vanishes that doesn’t necessarily mean that its identity vanishes with it. The people and culture remain, surely?
That’s a good question. When the Visigoths were defeated, how many stayed behind to serve the Franks? The identity of a state is very fluid, and a lot depends on the fate of the people – what happens to the people when one country is conquered by another. Anglo-Saxon England is a perfect example. Before the Anglo-Saxons came there was no England. They came into Roman Britannia and they took over the lands of Britain. They slaughtered and drove out British leaders. The story is that the British retreated and made the Western peninsula their home – what we now call Wales. And it now seems that the Welsh founded Glasgow.
I’ve heard about this. What is this story?
You see, the whole of our island used to be Celtic, British. There were no Anglo-Saxons until they came over the sea. The Scots came from Ireland and gradually took over the north of the island, which we now call Scotland. Scotland was formed in the ninth century. The Anglo-Saxons came over from the east and they created England.
But before Scotland or England existed, there were a number of false Roman native kingdoms of which the culture and civilisation was Celtic, or what the English called Welsh – which is a very nasty word, meaning alien. The Germanic peoples, who couldn’t talk with these Celts, called them Welsh – aliens. And the indigenous population of the region where Glasgow is – Strathclyde, as it’s called now – was Welsh. The chief hero of medieval Scotland was William Wallace. Wallace means Welsh. The Scots don’t tell you that. They had this theory that William Wallace’s family came from Shropshire, which is how they try to explain how a Welshman could be in what they thought of as Scotland. They didn’t know that these Welsh of the north were not intruders from Wales, they were there long before the Scots.
The book is available from Amazon and other retailers.
Norman Davies spoke to Vaughan Roderick on BBC Wales Sunday Supplement about 20 mins in and is available till Sunday morning (27th November).
He has also given an interview to the Browser Magazine and here’s the part on Wales and the UK 'Whether by military defeat or political decline, if a state vanishes that doesn’t necessarily mean that its identity vanishes with it. The people and culture remain, surely?
That’s a good question. When the Visigoths were defeated, how many stayed behind to serve the Franks? The identity of a state is very fluid, and a lot depends on the fate of the people – what happens to the people when one country is conquered by another. Anglo-Saxon England is a perfect example. Before the Anglo-Saxons came there was no England. They came into Roman Britannia and they took over the lands of Britain. They slaughtered and drove out British leaders. The story is that the British retreated and made the Western peninsula their home – what we now call Wales. And it now seems that the Welsh founded Glasgow.
I’ve heard about this. What is this story?
You see, the whole of our island used to be Celtic, British. There were no Anglo-Saxons until they came over the sea. The Scots came from Ireland and gradually took over the north of the island, which we now call Scotland. Scotland was formed in the ninth century. The Anglo-Saxons came over from the east and they created England.
But before Scotland or England existed, there were a number of false Roman native kingdoms of which the culture and civilisation was Celtic, or what the English called Welsh – which is a very nasty word, meaning alien. The Germanic peoples, who couldn’t talk with these Celts, called them Welsh – aliens. And the indigenous population of the region where Glasgow is – Strathclyde, as it’s called now – was Welsh. The chief hero of medieval Scotland was William Wallace. Wallace means Welsh. The Scots don’t tell you that. They had this theory that William Wallace’s family came from Shropshire, which is how they try to explain how a Welshman could be in what they thought of as Scotland. They didn’t know that these Welsh of the north were not intruders from Wales, they were there long before the Scots.
The book is available from Amazon and other retailers.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
'Wales needs to be smarter with EU funding says MEP'
Here’s an interesting 9 mins from Welsh Tory MEP Kay Swinburne talking to the Europe and You website last month about the impact of Wales qualifying for new convergence funds and urging all those involved to fully capitalise on the new round of funds. She also talks about using the European Research Fund and European Social Funds alongside the Convergence Funds to make the money go further and work harder.
Kay also stresses the need to get business involved in design and delivery and spending of the new European Funds to have a longer term benefits for Wales and to get politicians and the Welsh European Funding Office to be bolder is making the case to the powers that be in Europe so we can be more flexible over what the money is spent on in Wales as they have done in Ireland for example.
Of course none of what Kay says is new or hasn’t been said before many times by others during the last two allocations of European money to Wales, but at least it being reported and maybe it will encourage others to voice their support for the ideas so those in charge actually make decisions that benefit communities up and down Wales rather than the usual suspects.
There link above also features a few other videos on Wales, European funding and EU issues affecting Wales if you're interested.
Kay also stresses the need to get business involved in design and delivery and spending of the new European Funds to have a longer term benefits for Wales and to get politicians and the Welsh European Funding Office to be bolder is making the case to the powers that be in Europe so we can be more flexible over what the money is spent on in Wales as they have done in Ireland for example.
Of course none of what Kay says is new or hasn’t been said before many times by others during the last two allocations of European money to Wales, but at least it being reported and maybe it will encourage others to voice their support for the ideas so those in charge actually make decisions that benefit communities up and down Wales rather than the usual suspects.
There link above also features a few other videos on Wales, European funding and EU issues affecting Wales if you're interested.
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