Election Communications?

With a week to go, I have yet to receive all the  Election Communications I would have expected delivered by Royal Mail  from the Parties standing in the Pontypridd Constituency and the South Wales Central Region with only are only three delivery days left. With most Postal Votes now completed.Unless the parties have made a special arrangement to see that their leaflets have been delivered earlier to those opting for a Postal Vote then these people may not see these communications until after they have voted. Perhaps the Parties should inquire from people when they have received the campaign leaflets. I would have thought most would have liked to get they message out  at least 14 days before the election date

Mind you what I have received hasn't been very inspiring.

Conservatives,

Constituency Candidates Leaflet: English only says virtually nothing . Candidate looks like typical Tory Boy 2/10
Regional Leaflet:  Bilingual bit sometimes different messages I Welsh and English  Names candidates but seems to concentrate on their charity work. Shows Photoshop of Cameron with candidates and not leader Nick Bourne 4/10.

Plaid,
Constituency Candidate: Fully Bilingual somewhat uninspiring but makes some policy statements but no real plans for future legislation (Which is what we backed a few months ago) easy to read  6/10.

Regional Leaflet:   No leaflet by Royal Mail to date
.

Lib Dem,
Constituency Candidates Leaflet: Packed with very aggressive and  negative politics Many Photos of candidate one of

which was on his Leaflet for the General Election last year 6/10 (would have been more if bilingual).
Regional Leaflet: .No leaflet by Royal Mail to date.

Labour, 
Constituency Candidate: No leaflet by Royal Mail to date.

Regional Leaflet::Fully Bilingual but only shows leader Carwyn Jones. Does not show or name candidates 5/10

Other: English only Newspaper delivered by Party supporters early in campaign. Doesn't actually say much about future policy ; 5/10

Canvassing: English only small leaflet 4/10.

UKIP,

No Constituency Candidates:
Regional Leaflet: English only . No candidates named concentrates on Anti-immigration Policy makes absolutely no contribution to future Assembly policies . 2/10.

Green,
No Constituency candidates:
Regional Leaflet: Fully Bilingual ,concentrates on lead candidate but convincing: 7.5/10.

It seems that the referendum last March hasn’t really inspired our Political Parties to come up with imaginative Legislation for the Next Assembly which will be for 5 years  and if Labour get a overall majority far from putting clear red water between the Senedd and Westminster will be ordered to keep legislation moderate and not be another GLC during the Thatcher years and a target for the right wing press. From Plaid’s rather bland campaign they to need to come up with fresh and imaginative ideas.

The other  disappointing  issue was the lack of Bilingualism(apart for Plaid) in the Individual Candidates leaflets . Strange they all supported the last Welsh Language act The Tories make a claim to

“Work towards one million Welsh speakers by 2031 and 1.5 million by 2051 in a truly bilingual Wales.” and  produce English only leaflets (Manifesto 2011). 

and similarly haw can La Pasionaria call  official status for the Welsh Language and still allow her Part to have English only campaign literature?

When I was a student in Aberystwyth all candidate for NUS posts had to have bilingual communications or be exclude from the poll .Perhaps the next Welsh Assembly  can use its new powers to encourage parties to do so in Welsh elections though I would much prefer if they voluntary action and set an example for the rest of Wales.

So it's a referendum on the Con/Lib government then?

referendum As I've said in past post. I do not think AV is the answer and is no better than the current First Past the Post system and I intend to write a S in the Yes box to show my support for STV.

My views have not been changed by the actions of both the Yes and No camps .

Yesterday I received the NO leaflet (I still have not received the Yes one). ( I will be commenting on the delivery of election leaflets tomorrow)

As you can see part of the No campaign is an attack on the Libdems and the issue of Tuition fees.Despite the fact that the Tories would have implemented these fees if they had received a overall majority last May.

What they are apparently  saying is "Punish Nick Clegg by voting NO.

But the Yes side are just as bad Yesterday Peter Mandelson Claimed that a   Vote yes for AV would put David Cameron out of a job.

Mandelson added:

  "What I'm saying to my party is, think strategically. How is it best to collapse the coalition?"

So both sides are saying , "Ignore the  merits of either AV or FPTP and vote to embarrass thr Politician you most dislike".

Is this the way to run a democratic debate? Forget that this is a referendum on our electoral system and lets have one on the Party leaders.

Of course the same could be said of the Welsh Assembly elections where Labour are trying and succeeding in transforming it into a  vote on the Con/Libdem coalition  at Westminster.

The same will be true of the Local Council elections in England  but it looks like Scotland will vote mainly on Scottish issues.

One of the reasons I support STV is that occasionally  I feel sorry for good hardworking councilors of parties I would not normally vote for  who lose their seats because the electorate want to give the government of the day a good kicking
Through STV Voters can have the opportunity to save those who despite their party affiliations have served their community and electorate by giving them a high ranking  .

It would be a good idea if the next assembly look at the  election system in Wales a start would be to introduce STV at local elections as has been done in Scotland.

That will teach me to misquote Harold Wilson.

Only a hour  after I last posted on the Welsh Assembly campaign for the Pontypriddd Constituency (below). I was amased to see that  Libdem candidate Mike (Bandwagon Powell ) ,had bees arrested and bailed, and his computer equipment and a mobile phone have been taken by police.

According to the BBC website.this is over alleged  harassment of aides to the local MP Labour Owen Smith  The report claims that.

"Welsh Labour confirmed that Allen Bevan and Gareth Mantle - aides to Labour MP Owen Smith - had complained to police, but said that they were not the only complainants".

It is understood one allegation centres around video footage of individuals being posted on the internet..

Lib Dems claimed there had been "malicious" complaints about Mr Powell, who declined to comment.

One can only  wonder if this makes any change to the intentions of the voting public it probably depends on how much it covered and one suspects that Sub judice will mean those involved will not be communicating much more on this and what play either Party makes of it.

However from this Bloggers stance it shows that I was exaggeration when I said "a year was along time in Politics" and even Harold Wilsons "A week is along time in politics" seems mild after my post yesterday it seems, Just a hour is a long time in politics,

Sun appears to be shining on Labour in Ponty at least.

Pontypridd has as always been  safe Labour seat.Well up till  last year when the Libdem candidate Mike (Bandwagon) Powell  ran them close.

 General Election 2010:   Pontypridd
Party         Candidate             Votes        %        ±%
Labur        Owen Smith         14,220     38.8    -15.4
Lib            Mike Powell        11 ,435    31.2    +11.2
Cone        Lee Gonzalez        5,932      16.2     +4.6
 Plaid        Ioan Bellin            2,673      7.3      -3.7
UKIP       David Bevan         1,229       3.4       +0.8
SLP          Simon Parsons      456         1.2       +1.2
Christian   Donald Watson     365         1.0       +1.0
Green       John Matthews      361         1.0    
Majority  2,785 7.6
Turnout  36,671 63.0% -0.2
 Labour  hold Swing -13.

This was an impressive performance by the Libdems and Bandwagon in particular who has been nursing the constituency fo a long time  and increased his pressure on Labour from the 2007 Assembly Election making Pontpridd a marginal seat

Party       Candidate         Votes   %
 Labr      Jane Davidson    9,836  41.8
 Lib        Mike Powell       6,489  27.6
 Plaid     Richard Grigg     4,181  17.8
 Cons    Janice Charles     3,035  12.9
Majority 3,347 14.2
Turnout 23,541 41 %

But the signs are that "Bandwagon" is not going to repeat his onslaught . Labour have got their act together and as you can se in thee stronghold of Beddau have been getting their supporters showing their colours something they manifestly failed to do in the last two elections.

It's slightly deceptive, they seem to have concentrated on the main route through the Village and these are after all traditional Labour voters  but these are also people who may well have failed to vote last time.

But it looks as if Labour "We can protect you from the Con/Libdem cuts is working.though it prehaps shows a weakness in that  their attraction is that that they are not the Con/Libdem coalition.

What of the other Parties the Tories have never really campaigned in the Consistency and Plaid have somehow lost a deal of it influence here.

But they both may well actually Bbnefit from the perceived increase in Labour support.; Because if votrs find as I do Mike Bamdwagon's negative campaigning distasteful you might have been tempted to vote Labour to keep him out.

Have look on his take on the constituency on  Subordinate Central where he attacks the Labour candidate but not his Polcies and makes the usual claim that he is an outsider.whilst also making a veiled attack on Mick Antoniw's integrity.

Bamdwagon is also responsible for one of the most dubious Bar charts ever produced by the LIbdems his campaign last year.


So I expect Labour to win comfortably and the only real interest is who will came second. A year is certainly a long time in politics.

Assembly Election 2011: Pontypridd
Party        Candidate
Labour    Mick Antoniw
Libdem    Mike Powell
 Cons      Joel James
 Plaid      Ioan Bellin
 Ind        Ken Owens

Greens show why we should have STV in Wales.

The Greens have produced their best (or worst) leaflet I've seen from them for the Assembly Election..

Best because it's professional and Bilingual (I suppose the Welsh is accurate) and well laid out.

Worst because they resort to negatice campaigning.

 

As you can see they are pointing out  that Labour because of the amount pf constituencies they will win in South Wales Central they are unlikely to win a "Top Up" on the Regional List and  the Greens then claim that it is a wasted vote. They can't claim this of the other "main" parties as Plaid, Conservatives and Libdem will all probably need a "Top up".

Hang on a minute! I was under the impression that the reason for the Regional  list,was to Top up the vote of Parties that have fought constituencies and have not received the number of seats that the percentage of votes under PR  would have entitled them.

So although I would welcome the election of a Green AM, it seems to me wrong that a Party that does not contest Constituencies  should only stand in the regional list and then argue for another Parties top up votes  in the way the Greens are doing .

It all means that they can fight relatively cheap elections and if they do not include the name of candidates on the leaflets can print them weeks before the election (probably cheaper) and not worry that a candidate may die or resign before the election nominations are in.


But although they are more professional they seem to have  joined in the Bar Graph "we can win here" game although they seem to have mixed up the labels on the small.Bar Graph they show above .

The reality is that if a Green or UKIP member is elected to the Assembly it will not be in the true spirit of the idea of the "Top Up" and is another argument that as in Northern Ireland elections for the assembly should be under STV, in which  the Greens can win seats on a more legitimate basis.

Peter Black meets Alex Ferguson.

It sometimes seems professional politicians are like Football managers, they always see fouls and offsides by the opposing side, but never see those of their own side. Or if the video evidence its obvious, then they claim the oppositions tactics are worse.

In my last Post I accused Peter Black of having the " effrontery to use a column . in the Wales on Sunday to attack Labour for Negative campaigning".

Peter commented on this  that he was referring to  Labour's Hypocrisy in denying that they took part in Negative campaigning.

So in his latest blog in which he points us to a very dubious Tory leaflet, in which they produce a Bar Chart that is so misleading they would be accused of false advertising if they were a commercial company,  he covers himself from a similar charge by writing...

"I am more than content to admit that one or two Liberal Democrat bar charts have been a bit suspect in the past but even I was shocked by this one. It has appeared on a Conservative leaflet in Swansea West. This is especially so after receiving a lecture via twitter from the former Welsh Conservative AM for South Wales Central, Andrew R.T. Davies about how awful my party is in this regard. It seems that we cannot compete with the Welsh Tories".

Almost a year ago to this day ,one of my first Blogs was on "Those Little Libdem Bar Charts"  with a reference to one that  the Libdems placed on a leaflet for the UK General Election for  Pontypridd  based on a Community Council By-election result in which only 614 people had voted.

I'm afraid.That if the Tories are producing "Dodgy Bar charts" (An clearly they are in Swansea West) they still are learning from their new coalition partners.

Pointing out that someone else  has done wrong by trying to say "It's worse than what we did "  does not excuse you.

Watching the watchers,

The good people at Subordinate Centre have been entertaining us on a regular basis by their waste watchers column they are now on day 13 One can only wonder how long they can keep it up and relevant with out getting to the level of questioning the number of paper clips used at the Assembly?.

To be fair they haveat times  actually a exposed a lot of waste at  the Assembly but much of it is small in comparison with Westminster Departments and one one wonders if the good people at Subordinate Centre can turn their eyes to these departments perhaps even ones run by their LIbdem Westminster colleagues in the coalition.

The disclosure do show that the Libdems in the Assembly probably have the best research department in the assembly and certainly this has helped La Pasionaria over the last difficult year , with her successful attacks on the way the NHS is run in Wales and it could be argued that it would be a pity to lose such a team if the Libdems do exceptionally badly in the forthcoming poll in Wales.

The trouble is that the Subordinate Centre revelations  reek of desperation of a Party that for the first time in memory finds its own roll in power of a legislature being criticised ,and its one thing for "a much vaunted " research group to come up with statistics to criticise the Welsh assembly government but its another to come up with policies  which will see us through the austerity measures that their colleagues at Westminster are imposing on us,

So in reality  all Subordinate centre can do is criticise (and rightly so) government waste. Though the seldom offer coherent solutions and when not commenting on waste are reduced largely to looking for the occasional  small victory granted to Nick Clegg by his Tory master

Meanwhile Peter Black has the effrontery to use a column . in the Wales on Sunday to attack Labour for Negative campaigning.

Perhaps the loss of some pretty useful researches  will be worth it, if it reduces a hypocritical, dishonest party to the numbers it really deserves to have say 3.