Syria: Are there any weapons that are not ones of mass destruction?

It may just be me but I can't help feeling that there's a huge disappointment amongst thee media that there apparently not going to be a military intervention in Syria  at least for now,

They seem to relish the opportunity to place reporters on the front line and others were probably working on their "

Brian Hanrahan " I counted them all out, and I counted them all back': Quote

John Dixon at  Bothlas   has posted a excellent comment on the issue of the hypocrisy of Nations who condemn Chemical attacks whilst  having weapons of mass destruction  themselves.

"Horrific though chemical weapons are, and outlawed as they are under international law, the method by which Syrians are being killed daily is surely secondary to the fact that they’re being killed – from their point of view at the very least.  There is a real danger that the US, UK, and others are telling Syria that killing people on a large-scale is fine with the international community, as long as they use the “right” weapons to do it.
Further, the outrage at the use of chemical weapons is coming from people who themselves own, and want the rest of the world to believe that they would in certain circumstances use, weapons of mass destruction.  It’s not a particularly high ground on which to stand and moralise".

Indeed when we can take account the destructive power of modern weapons . How much difference is there between Chemical Weapons and the "Shock and Awe" policy of the United States Military,

Thousands have died in the Syrian Civil War (And Why Don't we call it that) and there is no clear side which the Western Democracies can feel it can hope to be victors.

Indeed if Assad regime was to fall  which might end Iranian influence in part of that region  . It could easily be replaced by an Al Qaeda  influenced government.

In the meantime ordinary civilians are killed ,live their days in constant fear or are forced to become refugees.

I don't know other than mediation  what the UN can do but whilst a proxy war between the US (and its allies)  and Iran backed by Russia is being fought out in Syria it looks like  Million might have to die via what we euphemistically  call conventional weapons.

A Welsh Entry In Eurovision?

Wales Online  have produces   are part of scores of submissions to the National Assembly petitions committee – celebrated as one of its most democratic features – that have been rejected in the past three years.

It does show a natural confusion  of what  of what the Assembly has powers over might be an issue, with dozens of petitions thrown out by Assembly Members because they’re the responsibility of Westminster, local councils, 

The article tells us that One petitioner’s call for the National Assembly for Wales to put pressure on the BBC and the Eurovision Song Contest to ditch the United Kingdom entry in favour of a standalone Welsh one (along with separate English, Scottish and Northern Irish entries) fell on deaf ears.

The response from the committee was blunt, saying: “Non-devolved. Powers on broadcasting are retained at Westminster / UK Government.”

However I can see no reason that the Assembly can't call for this to happen!

Campaigners for a Welsh Eurovision entry have been boosted by statements from the European Broadcasting Union that there was nothing to stop nations within Britain that had their own national broadcasters from submitting an entry – which could be done by BBC Wales, ITV Wales and West or S4C – separate from the UK one.

Plaid Cymru Member for the European Parliament Jill Evans, who has campaigned for a separate Welsh entry in the past, said the rejection didn’t mean the death for the campaign.

“I want to see Wales on the international stage at every opportunity,” she said.
“I have proposed an independent Welsh entry to the broadcasters in the past, to no avail. As the Land of Song, we could strike a real chord internationally. No one else could do pennillion [verse] singing and the rest of Europe must be crying out for a male voice choir.
“It would be a boost for the Welsh economy, too, for Wales to host the contest and get worldwide coverage. I know that whenever I have staged a concert or exhibition in the European Parliament it has attracted a huge audience and resulted in more people wanting to visit Wales. We should go for it.

Taking into account the UK appalling record  in Eurovision Wales and  may well do far better as a separate entrant.

Not hampered by the baggage of the UK having been at war with most European Countries at some time in the past and the irritation with the BBC treating the contest as joke we might even win

Perhaps the biggest problem we would face  would be if we were to win ,and faced the huge expense in hosting the following years final.


Fans of Father Ted  will recall the episode where TEd and Dougal enter Song for Ireland  performance  when despite their appaling song , and against the evident wishes of the audience, Irish Eurosong boss Charles Hedges awards "My Lovely Horse" first place. This is apparently because he wants to guarantee Ireland lose the main competition, since Ireland has won the contest every year from 1991 to 1995 and it is too expensive for Ireland to host the competition every year

Part of the problem could be solved by  the fact that although participating broadcaster is required to broadcast the show in its entirety: including all songs, recap, voting and reprise, skipping only the interval act for advertising breaks if they wish.^] From 1999 onwards, broadcasters who wished to do so have been given the opportunity to take more advertising breaks as short, non-essential hiatuses were introduced into the program

But may be it would help to allow the host country to share advertising revenue with other broadcasters,

Indeed if the winning country were to profit from wining it may improve the quality of the performances.

But then can it be taken from the BBC and placed on commercial channel .


We may have to wait for an Independent Wales before we can truly enter this contest.

 

3 Months in and Ynys Mon Independents start fighting each other again.

Just 3 Months after the Elections that aimed to stop Councillors on Anglesey fighting like Kilarney Cats comes the perhaps unsurprising news that Peter Rogers former Conservative AM who quit the party when he was not selected for the following assembly, standing as a Independent on the Island in subsequent Elections and probably stopping Plaid from gaining the Westminster seat but ironically making sure his former Conservative partners progress was severely damaged, has left the independents on Anglesey Council after becoming “disillusioned” with what he describes as a lack of direction.

Cllr Rogers has called for an “immediate cabinet reshuffle” and says better use should be made of the council’s “new blood”. he also also urged the council leader not to disregard non-Welsh speakers just on the basis of language (who can he mean?).

Council leader Ieuan Williams said he was “disappointed” but remained “committed” to working with all the county’s councillors.

In his resignation statement, Cllr Rogers expressed disappointment with the leadership of the council since May’s election, describing it as a “damp squib”.

He said:

“I urge the council leader to implement an immediate cabinet reshuffle and recognise some of the skills and talents he has in his new councillors.“A reshuffle would bring in expertise, business acumen and a fresh vigour. He must also recognise that it is not detrimental to have non–Welsh speakers in his cabinet.“Failing this, his only hope of survival is to start talking to Plaid Cymru about forming coalition.”

This I believe leaves the Independents still with a reasonable majority.

With the Coalition of I Lib Dem of 3Labour and 13 Independents Councillors.

A Opposition of 12 Plaid

And Peter Rodgers Unaffiliated (Where he will be free to cause as much mischief as he likes.

One can only wonder if this may be the first of several cracks on the ruling coalition

Another analysis of Welsh that's ends up as a Anti-Nat diatribe.

Hat Tip to Jaxxland at Inside out  for pointing me to this article  for pointing me to  this artiicle by Evan Harris on the decline of the Welsh language

But having read it I think once again a opportunity to argue that Welsh Language policy has failed in agenda to promote an Anti-Nationalist diatribe.

Harris makes an argument that Welsh Medium Education does not produce the advantages many of its supporters  claim and that I accept can always be open for debate .

But all you really have to do is read Harris's last two paragraphs to see where he's getting at.

We are now twenty four years later; twenty four years of policy and investment in the language. Plus ça change. Use of the language has increased and has perhaps peaked, but benefits to those who have learnt the language have not followed its growth. Rhetorically, the Welsh people have been invited to join the Welsh Class, but few have achieved that social movement. The economic benefits of bilingualism are limited, and limited to this already advantaged group of people. So too the prestige of speaking Welsh and the aspiration to speak it, but few are fluent and even fewer use it in a way that the Welsh Class can. Welsh language education does not, and perhaps will not, give students access to the benefits the Welsh Class enjoys – what gives students access to these benefits is class movement, something the Welsh education system and economy facilitates for few.
Let’s be clear, for intrinsic reasons, I am not advocating the death of the Welsh language. When a language dies a history and culture goes with it, a unique human subjectivity is lost. But if nationalism adopts instrumental rhetoric then it must be repudiated – the literature shows that the language and culture is not instrumentally beneficial to learners. What reasons remain for its policy support are status and identity. But speaking Welsh does not, should not, connote a more prestigious or authentic ‘Welsh identity’. The idea that a middle-class bilingual from Gwynedd or Cardiff Bay is more authentically ‘Welsh’ than a working-class anglophone from Merthyr is self-evidently repugnant. Those who will claim this is not the Welsh nationalist rhetoric are naïve - this is the rhetoric used in schools, in political chambers, is implicit in policy documents and is evident in people’s reported desire to use the language so as to feel more ‘Welsh’.
The preservation of the language and its minority culture may not be mutually exclusive with an egalitarian, social politics, but currently contributes very little or nothing to the lives of an economically and educationally disadvantaged majority. Patriots like to think of Wales as a nation of story and song; these are not attributes that create good policy. The country is in a mire, the elites tell tales and point at dragon shadows in the mud.

Once again an examination of the Welsh Medium Education ends up as claim that there  is a Welsh Speaking "Nationalist" elite Promoting the  language to enhance their own status.

Where if ever has Harris seen the claim that a.....

middle-class bilingual from Gwynedd or Cardiff Bay is more authentically ‘Welsh’ than a working-class anglophone from Merthyr

I have never heard the claim from supporters of a bilingual Wales and yet I've heard it many times from those who do not.

There is a need for a fair and balanced and investigation here and one that is not afraid to be critical of Welsh Medium Education particularly  in the lack of use of Welsh by some pupils after they left School but it should not be as part of agenda to once again claim that its some kind of Nationalist Plot  

I have never heard  of Evan Harris before and can't find any further details about him

Harris starts his article by claiming that when challenged by his housemate t say something in Welsh. He rried to say ‘I’m in my flat, frying vegetables’ but couldn’t think of the word for vegetables, or flat

He doesn't tell us where this was  or how long he has been living there . Is it in Wales?.

Perhaps a more biographical details are needed from the Author in order to see where he coming from .I think its clear where he's going.

Fabricant 's call for a New Act of Union a damp squib?

The report that maverick Tory vice-chairman Michael Fabricant has called for a new a new Act of Union, giving the four UK nations equal powers claiming that it would strengthen the country has hardly set the Welsh Poltitcal Blogging  World alight

Tory vice-chairman Michael Fabricant told BBC Radio Wales that Westminster would still be responsible for matters like defence and foreign affairs.

His call comes ahead of Scotland's independence referendum next year.


Mr Fabricant, said:

 "I think in a generation from now there will be more calls for independence for Scotland and, indeed, independence for Wales.
"I think this will continue until we have proper symmetry between all the four nations."

It may at first look reasonable but  last Weeks vote on intervention in Syria showed that although the vast majority of Welsh ,Scottish and Northern Ireland Mps voted against it the result hinged on English MPs,and  unless Fabricants system saw Westminister having a system where the amount of MP were "weighted". So that MPs from England were not in  a overall majority it would not work.

It would be problematic if the four nations were considered to be Independent inn most manners but who found themselves in a foreign war because the still dominant nation still had the powers to force it through.

Some like Gareth Hughes at the Almanac of Welsh Politics   have use it to continue the argument  that  the ...

"18 September 2014, referendum in Scotland about independence is not just about Scotland it is equally about the rest of the inhabitants of these islands.Some politicians are waking up to the fact that major changes are likely whatever the results of the vote. The Scots may have the vote, but the rest of us matter too. The changes in play will impact on all of the countries of the UK.
An opportunity  will surely arise where Wales too can address its concerns and right some of the historic disadvantages  it has suffered from the so called Union".

If this a challenge to our Parties here in Wales maybe its up to Labour to respond. They are the Party that has governed Wales since devolution.

Surley they see the success of the extent of devolved powers to Scotland  and that this will undoubtedly  see increased powers for Edinburgh even if the Independence referendum fails.

Wales needs a National Convention to examine the implication not only of a Yes vote in Scotland but Wales being left behind a Scotland that voted NO and still received DevoMax.

Wales may find itself falling further behind and being ignored  or sidelined with yet another commission  as our position become irrelevant to those at Westminster.

Lib Dems Shift Blame For Underemployment To WAG.

You may well think that Liberal Democrat AM Eluned Parrot may have a point in her article at  Subordinate Central  when she  points out that Labour are in Government here and must take some responsibility   for the increase in  underemployment in Wales.

As she rights

Comments by Labour politicians that the coalition government is responsible for Wales having the biggest increase in “underemployment” are astonishing.Jobs and economic growth in Wales is devolved to the Welsh Government. Once again, Labour in Wales are blaming the coalition government for their own inadequacies.August’s labour market statistics showed that while the number of jobs increased in eight of the eleven regions of the United Kingdom between December 2012 and March 2013, Wales saw a fall of around 30,000 jobs, increasing underemployment by 1.9%.The Welsh Labour Government needs to take action. It must push forward with the much needed Enterprise Zones and start creating more jobs now. The Liberal Democrats are working hard in government to build a stronger economy and a fairer society. By launching our One Million Jobs campaign, we have helped deliver 1.2m apprenticeships and 110,000 work placements for young people out of work, despite the terrible economic mess Labour left behind. But we know there is much more to do.We now need to see the Welsh Labour Government also go further and fund a programme to make businesses and young people aware of the benefits of apprenticeships and simplify the application and support processes to remove the practical barriers that are currently all too apparent.

But surely even the most loyal Liberal Democrat must admit that although Jobs and economic growth are devolved here it is largely the policies in London that effect such issues?

Just as branch manager of a company can make an  important contribution to the success of that branch. Their scope is limited by the policies of their Head Office.

And the same is true of devolution . It is the UK government austerity  policies that are the greatest influence that are the biggest influence on employment here in Wales.

It still the case that when London catches a cold, Wales gets pneumonia .

Ms Parrot is right that the Labour government in Cardiff  should an can do better but to attempt to shift blame to the Assembly for the underemployment in Wales when it is underfunded and does not have the real powers it needs, farcical ,

Ms Parrot  may come up with Liberal Democrats statistics but those who see the reality in the jobs being advertised the of which are increasingly under 30 hours a week take it with a pinch of salt.  

The Liberal Democrats to claim that this is not a direct result of their austerity programme  which they are as responsible for as their Tory partners. 

Councils: One Suspension,One Defection.

There has been two interesting changes on our local Councils 

A Gwynedd councillor has been suspended by his party amid claims that he'd broken the authority’s code of conduct. 

According to the Daily Post .

The accusation against councillor John Brynmor Hughes, who represents the Llanengan ward on the Llyn Peninsula, has been sent to the Local Government Ombudsman.

It is believed that cllr Hughes, who sat as a Llais Gwynedd councillor after being elected to the authority in May 2012,  was suspended by the party on Friday following a party meeting held last Thursday evening.

The accusations arose after a member of the public claimed that cllr Hughes had manipulated his position by intervening in the sale of a plot of land in the Mynytho area that was earmarked  for new housing.

Cllr Hughes has stated he is unwilling to make any statement regarding  the matter.

Gwynedd Council has confirmed it has been made aware about the ongoing developments.

If this was to result in a byelection  resulting in a Plaid Gain it would mean the they had Nominal control of the Council.

But there was bad news for Plaid  in Pembrokeshire when  where a councillor has denied being politically motivated when he left Plaid Cymru in favour of the Independent ruling group.

The Western Telegraph on August 19th

Milford Haven Councillor Stephen Joseph, who defected to the Independent Plus Group (IPG) a week ago, said that he was wrong to join a political party in the first place.
His decision raised questions from Plaid Cymru leader Cllr Michael Williams, who said that Cllr Joseph unseated one of the "IPPGs leading lights" Anne Hughes, and had now decided to join the very same party.

But Cllr Joseph said he had no political aspirations or plans. He said:

 "My motivation for becoming a councillor was to try and do something for Milford.
"Although I stood as a member for Plaid, I didn't stand to further my own political agenda or to further Plaid Cymru in Milford Haven, I stood to do my bit for Milford.
"The fact that people voted for me as a Plaid candidate shouldn't make a difference, because they voted for me and I haven't changed in any way. I made a mistake at the start because I shouldn't have joined a political party."

 On August 9, the Pembrokeshire Herald reported that Cllr Joseph made the switch following 'lengthy negotiations' with senior members of the IPG and a promise of £20m for his patch.

But Cllr Joseph said that the £19,924,000 Vibrant and Viable Places grant had nothing to do with his decision.

He said: "That bid was made four weeks ago – long before I even considered joining the IPG group.

I was alternated to these news items  buy Boothroyd's Blog an invaluable  guide to change in the make up of local councils throughout the UK.