Glyn Davies. I like UKIP?

I must use today's blog to once again apologise to Liberal Democrat Lembit Öpik .

Like many reading this I gave a small cheer when he lost his seat to Glyn Davies. Believing the latter to be an affable, moderate even progressive Conservative

But from some of his recent Blog  it seems Glyn, has shifted to the right his latest piece Lets love bomb Ukip. seems to be that he supports much of UKIP  policy he writes

'......Most Ukippers I know are sensible patriotic people who detest bureaucracy, hate public sector waste, and are generally good and friendly folk. I also always find their instinct generally quite 'Conservative'. Can't recall engaging a Ukipper in conversation that I didn't like. Of course I don't agree with Ukip on everything, but we as Coalition partners don't agree on everything either. In fact I don't agree with my own party on everything. I just think we should address Ukip with Rees-Moggian politeness and style, and let them know how much we love them, and how much we would like them back in the fold. I reckon that in 2015, most of them will be.

I don't agree with the argument that UKIP are just the BNP in better suits and indeed its a slur: But they are a right wing party based on British (English) Nationalism who regard the Tory party as to moderate and not just over Europe.

As Glyn pointed out his leader has a different view of UKIP

Seems that our Prime Minister is still not over-enamoured with Ukip activists/supporters. On Marr today he said some of them were 'pretty odd', which is being interpreted as 'insulting'. Since I think being 'pretty odd' is an essential requirement of anyone taking an active interest in politics, I do not consider this to be at all insulting. I've certainly been called a lot worse, without feeling at all offended. And I think David Cameron has called Ukip supporters something like 'fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists' in the past, so the relationship is clearly 'warming'. 
  

Well Cameron's, got this right at least . Of course both Cameron and Glyn Davies recognise that UKIP are probably a danger to the Conservatives more than any other party and  it gives the Tory  Anti-EU faction ( a big faction) cause to push the Tories further to the right

Still perhaps Glyn Davies can explain what he agrees with UKIP supporters on . Opposing devolution for example?

Love Bombing UKIP will only boost them . They are already the darlings of the right wing press and with the European Elections in 2014 expect greater support from the media.

But moderate Conservatives should take them on and expose their far right policies not cuddle up to them.

But is Glyn Daives a moderate politician?

Where's the LidDem moderating influence here?

Wales Online has a for once  a important essay on the effect of the Bedroom Tax enforced on those with Benefits.

It makes sober reading.

It is estimated 40,000 people in Wales will be hit by the changes – which will see those under-occupying a property lose part of their housing benefit.

Tighter rules on the number of bedrooms people can have will see people lose 14% of their benefit if they have one extra bedroom and 25% for two or more.

Which means that they will either have to offer a room to another person on Benefits or see a cut in their income

There is very little single bedroom social housing around ans already I have heard of people leaving social housing for smaller accommodation in the private sector.

Ironically this means that the government may end up paying more on benefit as in many areas :as it ma costs more to rent a private sector one-bedroom flat than a of our three-bedroom houses

So it won’t save money when people are forced  move to smaller housing.

The alternative of having a perfect stranger , move in to what may have well been been a your home for most of your life and Illness, disability or logf term unemployment have forced you to claim Housing benefit is chilling.

As Carol Whitcombe, 53, who is blind lives near Pontypool in a two-bedroom house. said: which sh has lived in since 1984

 “I’ve got arthritis of the spine. I’ve had hand rails all over the place and an electric shower so I can have a shower instead of a bath.
“They’ve done something to the back door, I’ve got a back porch and they’ve put a ramp instead of steps, they’ve put rails outside. I’ve got Braille on my stove. It’s more a disabled flat now.
“It’s very much my home. One of the first things he said was you can move if you want to, but I don’t want to. There aren’t any places that are one-bedroom round here.

Wales Online January 6th 2013

She's not living in a  be Mansion . Its a two bedroom house . How can anyone say that this is to big for her .

This is a cruel policy by a Coalition Government intent on attacking benefits by giving the impression that those claiming are scroungers . "When a Hard Working people  are suffering"

Highlighted  When Chancre's  George Osbourne , previously said, workers resent leaving their homes early in the morning while benefits-claiming neighbours sleep on with their curtains drawn.

As we see coverage of the cuts in Child Benefits  which will see them e removed from any family where one parent earns more than about £44,000 a year.. We see little coverage of this most appalling cut.

But the Child Benefit cuts affect that influential voting grouping "Middle England" who all the Parties see as core to winning the election..

Poorer people on benefits are not sen as core indeed these cuts are sen as popular with "Middle England " and they have little chance to voice their fears.

And with a Spineless Labour  Opposition ,who see no politica advantage  in defending those on benefits we can expect more of this return to "Victorian Values"

Perhaps Peter Black can explain why  his Liberal Democrat Party backed this . Wheres the moderating influence  on the Tories here?

How long before we see some Backbench Tory call for a new version of the Workhouse and then see it becoming mainstream?

Ugly Unionism in Scotland.

For the second post running the so called progressive  Blog Left Foot Forward and their devolution correspondent Ed Jacobs are disappointing.

Jacobs reports that Flag protesters have Scotland in their sights as Belfast violence continues and that the Daily Herald is  reporting demonstrators supporting protests against the decision by Belfast city council to no longer fly the union flag over the town hall every day are to set their sights on Scotland’s deputy first minister, Nicola Sturgeon

The Herald report states that 

DEMONSTRATORS supporting the Loyalist Union flag dispute in Northern Ireland are turning their attention to Scotland's independence referendum, with a protest planned against senior SNP figures next week.
The protesters are planning to picket Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's constituency office on Glasgow's south side a week on Saturday.
One demonstrator said the protest at Ms Sturgeon's office was a "no to independence and to protect the union", adding the pro-Union "Better Together" campaign did not represent their views.
A recent flags rally in Ayr was also billed as a "pro-Union event", with some involved having told The Herald they are now as much anti-independence rallies as they are in support of the Loyalist protests across Northern Ireland.
The protests stem from the decision by Belfast Council to only fly the Union flag on designated days, which has sparked protests, riots, violence, intimidation of politicians and attempted murder of police. Despite this, the Scottish protests have passed without incident.

One protester wrote on Facebook: "All the rallies have been peaceful but enough's enough. Sturgeon is forgetting her history and needs reminding. We're standing firm with Ulster as we have since 1912."
A spokesman for the pro-independence "Yes" campaign, of whose advisory board Ms Sturgeon is a member, said: "The 'Yes' campaign is focused on a positive message on the future of Scotland."

Herald Friday 4th Januuary 2013

 What I find disturbing is that Jacobs, does not see the Irony of posting this under the "Britain We All Call Home category " or seek a commemoration from the Better Together campaign .

Left Foot Forward is not a Blog of lone individual sitting on a bedroom but a sophisticated organisation with direct contacts to the Labour Hierachy..

Or are the Union side in the Independence debate content to see the ugly side of Unionism coming to Scotland in the hope that somehow it will blacken Scottish Nationalism  more than their cause of people start making a comparison with Northern Ireland.

We need Unionist in Scotland and the rest of the UK to dissociate from this Ugly side of their cause immediately.

Devolution 2013 Labour Unionist gets it wrong.

The Blog Left Foot Forward’s Devolution Correspondent Ed Jacobs  (a Leeds based Labour Party member) looks ahead to what 2013 has in store for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

In a  category   "A Britain we all call home"  (says it all really it mostly a dissing of the SNP  referendum proposals

 On Wales ,Jacobs  seems to be just rehashing a Labour  press release.

After a period of what could be described as a decline – including failure in 2011 to win an outright majority in elections to the Assembly – local elections last May were undoubtedly a clear and unambiguous sign Labour in Wales is back, and back in a big way.Education is set in 2013 to be a major battleground in Welsh politics. With an education minister, Leighton Andrews – who is not shy about spoiling for a fight, particularly with Westminster - expect the Welsh government’s review of qualifications in Wales to suggest some fairly radical changes to the path being trodden by the Tory/Liberal coalition at the other end of the  M4.In the same vein, Wales can expect to become a trailblazer for the rest of the UK, using its full law-making powers to, amongst other things, legislate for a system of presumed consent for organ donation.

No mention of the complete lethargy over last year from the Labour Government  here, or Labours disaster in the  Police Commissioners  election. Where they were expected to win all four and managed one victory.

There's also no mention of England and its surely time so called progressives in the Labour Party came up with what they are going to do about the English Question as devolution progresses

There's no mention of Cornwall either and as one commentator  of Mebyon Kernow  and since there's no election in Wales Scotland and Northern Ireland this year for a devolution correspondent it would be advisable to lok at MK's chances of increasing their number on the County Council . I predict Dick Cole's merry band will increase to double numbers even make a significant break through.

For a Devolution Correspondent Ed Jacobs piece is hardly an indepth analysis and looks more like  a cut and paste from  Labour HQ

Pit Left Foot Foward can be very god but alas it losses its progressive tag when it defends the Union in the way it does.

Afghanistan is an Afghanistan Tragedy.

The Labour MP Paul Flynn, one of the few Independent MPs has pointed out that 617 British lives may have been lost to serve the interests of US Defence industry.  and its a good report: But he was taken to task by Olaf Cai Larson o blogmenai  who commented in his own  blog but also on Paul's blog.

Paul - I agree with much that you say in your blog - but it verges on the obscene to publicize the only British soldiers to death. A great many people have died in this war, and their lives are all equivalent.

Paul acknowledge this; But it does point that even those who tend to  look at only at  the deaths of Westerners in these conflicts which we are currently involved in .

Take Vietnam:

It estimated that the Army of the Republic of Vietnam  (the South) lost between 219,000 and 313,000 troops between 1959 and 1975

The  estimate of  North Vietnamese combatant deaths is estimated to about 1,011,000 

The Number of US lost in action was 58,282 

The Vietnamese government have stated in 1995 that a total of 2,000,000 Vietnamese civilians 

The current population of Vietnam  is 90,388,000 compared with the US 315,045,000 ie 


^{And yet the unbinding image of this conflict  ids the Vietnam Walls}

If Vietnam were to have a similar Wall in Vietnam .Just of the Northern and Viet Cing combatants killed it would be 122 times bigger.

And in Media films which  have an anti-war element like Full Metal Jacket, Platoon  and Born on the Fourth of July  tend to show it a tragedy for America, and not a tragedy for Vietnam.

And we must not in these current conflicts only reflect on our own loses tragic and unnecessary as they  are but show the true story that our involvement in Afghanistan and other Far Eastern Countries has solved nothing .

The P(r)ince over the Water, may not return just yet.

The Western Mule once again astonishes us with the news that Plaid ex-MPfor Carmarthen East and Dinefwr  Adam Price has  hinted he may not seek constituency seat at next Assembly elections

The Mule writes

In the next few months, Plaid will be starting the selection process for constituency seats in the long run-up to the 2016 election. We asked Mr Price whether he would be putting his name forward.

He said: “I haven’t made a decision yet. I’m fully committed to a number of business projects that I want to see through and I’ll have to weigh up how they would be affected if I say I’m planning to resume a political career.
“I fully understand why the party wants to get candidates in place as soon as possible, but the timescale puts me in a difficult position.”

Western Mail 2n January 2012 

Plaid AM Rhodri Glyn Thomas, who represents Mr Price’s  Carmarthen East and Dinefwr  in the Assembly and who would undoubtedly not welcome  a challenge for that constituency Nomination, said:

“It’s my view that Adam would be better off as a list candidate. Constituency work does take up a lot of time and Adam needs the space to think. Being a list AM would ease the constituency pressure and give him the opportunity to concentrate on strategy and policy issues.
“Simon Thomas [the former Plaid MP for Ceredigion] is now a list AM [for Mid & West Wales] and it has freed him up to do the kind of in-depth policy thinking nobody else does.”

Rhodri Glyn Thomas said he would be discussing his own future with Plaid headquarters officials and his constituency party.

“The next Assembly election will be make or break for us,” he said. “Leanne has made the bold decision to stand for a constituency seat, and in a sense that has thrown down a challenge to the rest of us to make brave decisions too.”

It may well be that Adam would rather concentrate on Policy Ideas rather than the nitty-gritty of Constituency work. But I suspect that he simply hasn't the time to seriously nurse one of the few winnable
Constituency
Of course Plaid is that Adam would also be seen as a challenger to Leanne Wood  which may be part of the reason she has decided to fight a Constituency seat where winning would cement her leadership whether Adam was elected or not .

Plaid need people of Adam calibre in the Assembly  but it also does not need a Leader in Waiting where the current leader is seen as a temporarily stop gap.

It may well be in the Parts interest that he does not even run

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda

I hope one and all have a good 2013 and the World makes progress to Peace, Democracy and Happiness