Welsh Government oppose new Super Prison (for now)

The news that  comes after the Welsh Government have said it would not support plans to open any new prisons in Wales unless "meaningful" talks were held with the UK government.is welcome.


It emerged last year that the UK government was planning a new Category C prison for up to 1,600 prisoners on undeveloped land in Baglan Moors.
The planned site, which is in an enterprise zone on land owned by the Welsh Government, has been criticised for being too close to schools and residential properties.
Labour ministers have faced pressure not to sell the land to the UK government - the Welsh Government's stance means it is unlikely the Baglan plan will get Welsh Government support unless concerns are addressed.

Yesterday I jokingly offered an explanation.

  Glyn Morris‏ @glynbeddau

Glyn Morris Retweeted Bethan Sayed AM/AC

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Rumours that the Welsh Labour Government have changed their minds, because they were told it was not going to be called The Prince of Wales Prison, are apparently not true.

Whilst that may not be the reason  I suspect the timing of the announcement may be connected to the proposed renaming of the Second Severn Crossing to  in that, the First Minister Carwyn Jones may have been stung by the negative reaction to the proposed change which he had personally not raised any objections,

In a statement released earlier on Friday public services minister Alun Davies said:

 "I am concerned that without a meaningful an in-depth discussion with the UK government, we will continue to see increasing demand on Welsh public services and poorer outcomes for people in the criminal justice system in Wales."

He added:

 "Until we have considered this in more detail and had more detailed discussions with the UK government, I do not believe it is in the interests either of the Welsh Government or people in Wales, to see further prison development in Wales."

For some reason Aberavon MP (where the proposed prison was planned) Stephen Kinnock has claimed that thePlans for a controversial super-prison in Port Talbot have been put on hold by the UK government.

 Kinnock said prisons minister Rory Stewart had told him he had taken note of the strength of opposition to open a prison at Baglan Moors.
However  his comments came after the Ministry of Justice said it remained committed to the proposal.
The ministry said it was sticking to its statement after the MP shared the account of his meeting on Friday. 

Which looks like Mr Kinnock statement seems to be over egging his contribution.


Aberavon MP  Kinnock who I believe  opposition is the site where the Prison is earmarked  rather than whether Wales needs a new prison of that capacity,said he and campaigners met with minister Mr Stewart last week.
He said: 

"The minister made it clear that he had listened carefully to the concerns and arguments that we had been making for some time, and had therefore decided to place further plans for the construction of a prison in Baglan on hold.
"He also made it clear that the MoJ remains committed to building a new prison in South Wales, and it was agreed that we would work with him and the Welsh Government to identify a viable alternative site or sites."
He said he hoped it was "just a case of crossed wires inside the department".

 Plaid Cymru AM Bethan Sayed, who has led much of the campaign against the prison not out of nimbyism in that unlike Mr Kinnock she does not want the prison foisted on another constituency o said she believed the Baglan Moors prison would not now go ahead.
She said: 

"We've been pressing for the Welsh Government to see the light on this, and it looks like they now have, albeit after a year of mixed messages and indecision. I'm sure that the local campaign in Port Talbot against a new prison, has certainly gone a long way to influence the Welsh Government as well."

Whilst  a Westminster MP tries to gain credit for this news and Welsh Government  Minister Alun Davies seems to be using he proposed prison as a bargaining counter with the Westminster government it looks like Bethan Sayeed will have to keep her eye on the ball.

If the result is that no new  "Super Prison" is imposed on Wales then Bethan can and should claim much of the credit.

Lets face it neither Unionist Mps like Stephen Kinnock, and both the Westminster Tory and Welsh Labour government  can be trusted on this.

Events this Week has shown that Wales needs a overgarment  that  resists the quasi-colonialism of both Tories nd Labour and we can start by seeing the likes of Bethan Sayed, being part of a Plaid Cymru government in Cardiff bay,

Does Alun Cairns posses Supernatural powers?

 The response on Social Media to the Arbitrary decision  by 
Alun Cairns to rename the Second Severn Crossing has been almost universally negative.


Asked on BBC Radio Wales why there was no public consultation on the bridge's new name, Mr Cairns said: 

"Those sorts of activities are not done in relation to the royal family because it's something that is always a constant after all."'
"I know some of the names we've had about suggestions, many of them will be in relation to fashion and they will come and go with different generations," he told the Good Morning Wales programme.

Well he may have a point  but is that a reason to name another building  or structure after the English Royal Family?

How can we have a Prince Wales Hospital and a Princess of Wales Hospital , surely we could honour  some one who had real links to the area . Kier Hardie or Henry Richard  in Merthyr or Dr William Price in Llantrisant?

Quite frankly I would prefer Bridgey McBridgeface to Mr Cairns sycophancy.

Mr Cairns said he was "not at all" surprised by the criticism expressed by some, adding:

 "I know the wider, silent majority is absolutely with us because we always know at times of crises as a nation people look to the royal family for different forms of leadership and that's what it has always provided and therefore I'm absolutely confident that this is the right thing to do.
"We need to rise above the fashions that come in and out when people call for different celebrities and so on."

Does Mr Cairns posses Supernatural powers? He has admitted to have consulted no-one in his decision. Did he get a response from the "silent majority " frpm some form mental osmosis?


In a BBC television interview later, the Welsh secretary said public opinion would be "broad" on the move, and he indicated a desire to abolish the royal family was behind the objections.

"Of course there will be some republicans who will dislike it, but I think that they at least should have respect for the Prince of Wales because of the work he does in the community," Mr Cairns said.
"I know some republicans who absolutely strongly support the charities that he stands for - the Prince's Trust, Prime Cymru, Business in the Community - and the fantastic work that they do.
"And I would hope that they would at least look at the work of those charities and recognise that this is a fitting title for that work, if nothing else."

But support for these charities  has got nothing to do with Charles Windsor. 

 How much time does he spend on these Charities anyway? 

The truth is is that he a figurehead who may Chair a few meetings a year, The real work is done by the staff.

I recognise  the work of Christian Aid  but I am not a Christian.

Mr Cairns has a strange view of Republicism and Welsh Nationalism  .

Does he think that we (and I'm in both categories) simply accept his decisions and should tug our forelocks , because? .. well i don't really know.

Mr Cairns and indedeed First Minister and Welsh Labour leader Carwyn Jones did not oppose the plans when they were put to him last year,may have been surprised by the negative reaction (Including Labour MPs AMs) and  to this renaming the Bridge.

Indeed Carwyn in particular  should note
Labour Cardiff Central MP Jo Stevens who  accused Mr Cairns of "wasting time on PR projects".

"No tidal lagoon, no post-Brexit replacement funding, no rail electrification to Swansea but the Tory Secretary of State has managed to get a bridge renamed,"

"I've repeatedly asked the secretary of state of Wales for information and answers about the critical issues that are affecting the future of my constituents and people across Wales.
"But there are no answers, no influence and no ideas.
"Instead of wasting time on PR projects, the Tories need to start addressing the important issues facing people in Wales."

I've seen too many false dawns to claim that Wales may finally stop bowing and scraping before the English Monarchy and look to ourselves.

But it seems that we will not accept such humiliation as we have in the past .

Maybe Alun Cairns and Carwyn Jones have done  a favour.

 

We are going to have to rename a few buildings after Independence.

Touch your forelocks get out your Union Jacks  because we have the news that the Second Severn Crossing is to be renamed The Prince of Wales Bridge, it has been announced.

The renaming of the crossing, which will take place later this year, will mark Prince Charles’ 70th birthday year.

The prince will visit Wales later this year for a special ceremony to mark the change in name, The Queens Governor SSecretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns has announced.It is also 60 years since he became the Prince of Wales.


Mr Cairns said: 

“I’m delighted to announce that – with the agreement of the Prime Minister and Her Majesty The Queen – the Second Severn Crossing will be renamed the Prince of Wales Bridge.
“The announcement is a fitting tribute to His Royal Highness in a year that sees him mark 60 years as the Prince of Wales and decades of continued dedicated service to our nation.
“Renaming one of the most iconic landmarks in Wales is a fitting way to formally recognise his commitment and dedication to Wales and the UK as the Prince of Wales.

But oddly it is not the Quassi Colonial rhetoric of Cairns that is the most offensive because we are used to it.

Fir hw added 

“We look forward to marking the occasion at a special event later this year when the new Prince of Wales Bridge and its sister bridge will be seen as positive symbols of a newly invigorated economic and social partnership between south Wales and south west England and the strength of the United Kingdom.”

It shows the renaming is all part of Cairns  and the Tories (and Indeed Labour) plan to divide in two and absorb the South into a Bristol Dominated  South West England and the North under Liverpool.

There a joke that the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant  should be renamed   The Princess Camilla, because it comes between, The Prince of Wales Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil and the Princess of Wales in Bridgend,

But it is not so funny when you realise that we have far to many hospitals and other buildings named after our Imperial masters and  there is an argument that it can actually be dangerous. The Royal Glamorgan Hospital - Royal Gwent which one are you being taken in an ambulance?

When Wales becomes Independent and even a Republic we are going to have to do a lot post-imperial renaming .

Alas the Prince of Wales bridge will rename, but then t may be a reminder f our shame in bowing down to England's Royal Family

Is The Labour Anti-Semitism row an organised ditch Corbyn campaign?

The whole Jeremy Corbyn Anti-Semitism row is beginning to look at like a question of who selects the Labour Party and the UK Prime Minister.

The blog Political betting may or may not be neutral, but they seem to echoing a call from a media that seems at times to be orchestrated .

They write

The ongoing narrative over anti-semitism within the Labour Party has now gone beyond the point when the former spin doctor, Alastair Campbell, said that a bad news story should have been closed down. Tony Blair’s spin doctor used to observe that if one was running more than a week after it started then it was serious.
By that judgement this is really starting to look very problematical for Labour and Mr Corbyn and it’s hard to see what is going to close it down. There are so many cases to be dealt with in the pipeline that we are going to get continual reminders of this running sore and you can be sure that Labour’s opponents are going to do their best to keep on bringing it up.

Mischievously the government is making time available in the Commons for a debate and the overnight news about Corbyn’s Facebook account being deleted is only going to add to the media hunger.

Today’s Times is reporting that 17k members have been lost this year and only last week 3k of them did not renew their direct debits.
Ironically this will only make the party’s membership base even more pro-Corbyn because you would assume that those who have gone were not part of his fan-base.
The real worry for the party must be that this is so associated with their leader that this will continue as an ongoing irritation while he remains in the job. Given his huge support amongst the membership seen in the recent YouGov members’ poll then it is hard to see him stepping aside.
The political point is that voters don’t like split parties and that is what this row highlights.

True but it seems to me that the split has been there from the start of Corbyn's election as leader and it is the usual suspects including Welsh MPs Stephen Doughty and Stephen Kinnock

In January 2016, Doughty announced that he had resigned as a shadow Foreign Minister on the live Daily Politics programme, saying that he supported the sacked Pat McFadden's views on terrorism and accusing members of the Labour leadership team of lying about the reasons for McFadden's sacking.


Is there any resemblance to defeated Corbyn challenger Owen Smith who Corbyn appointed Smith as Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.^[5] After Smith announced his support for the UK to remain in the single market and his support for a second EU referendum (a breach of shadow cabinet collective responsibility), he was fired from this position and was immediately replaced by Tony Lloyd.

The latest attacks in Corbyn  seems to be that he attended  Jeremy Corbyn for celebrating the Jewish Seder festival with a left-wing Jewish group called Jewdas.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewdas

Extraordinary it has led to Anti-Corbyn critics to see the story posted by extreme-right Guido Fawke blog whose contributors often make vile racist and photophobic references.


 Labour MP John Woodcock has gone even further by slamming Jeremy Corbyn for celebrating the Jewish Seder festival with a left-wing Jewish group

It seems that these are the wrong sought of Jews because , , is a left-wing and anti-Zionist organisation of British Jews.
Representing what it describes as “radical voices for the alternative diaspora”, Jewdas has been fiercely critical of both the state of Israel and the mainstream British Jewish communal leadership.
The group tweeted last December that Israel was “a steaming pile of sewage which needs to be disposed of”, and claimed last week’s protest against antisemitism was “the work of cynical manipulations by people whose express loyalty is to the Conservative Party and the right wing of the Labour Party”.



AAV has responded  to this in his usual combative style.

Apparently Corbyn is still an anti-Semite for attending and participating in a Jewish festival, because the people there are somehow the wrong kind of Jews.

Using grotesquely divisive 'good Jew - bad Jew' shit to delegitimise and dismiss Jewish voices you disagree with is about as clear an example of anti-Semitism as it's possible to see. But Woodcock didn't just get a free pass on it, his vile comments were uncritically repeated all over the mainstream media, including the oh-so-impartial BBC.

It's difficult not to resort to anger when you see a person resorting to spectacularly divisive anti-Semitism in order to smear one of their political opponents as anti-Semitic, but perhaps the best response to this kind of sick hypocrisy is humour.

One of the most telling responses to Woodcock's vile effort to delegitimise and silence left-wing Jews came from the poet and children's laureate Michael Rosen, who wrote him a poem (see picture).

 As readers of the Blog will know I am not a Corbyn or Labour Fanboy, but I wonder how many other UK parties could pass the scrutiny that has ben applied here.

Or the immediate assumption that support for Palestine and condemnation   of israel's government  is automatically  Anti Semantic.

I do not know how many real anti-semities  are in the Labour Party (there probably are some) or in any other party.(there probably are some as well maybe more) but it is clear to me that this being used to damage Labour in the English local government  elections  and therfore Corbyn

An alliance between right wing Labour MPs and the UK media to overthrow the overwhelming choice of that party leads us to question whether we could truly have a democratic left of centre  government in Westminster,

No books for schools but military uniforms and maybe guns!

Tory MP Robert Goodwill claims armed forces schools in deprived areas would boost the “life chances, confidence and self-discipline” of youngsters.
Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has commissioned a report on a military ethos and values in schools.


Tory MP Robert Goodwill, who will report back to the Ministry of Defence on the matter in September, said:

“Some schools may want to be a military academy and make that central to their school.
“My job is to collect evidence, see what is done in other countries and see how we can build on the cadet system.

 “This could be something that schools in deprived areas may be it can be used to improve the whole school with the ethos and discipline of cadets.”

Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary said: 

"Our Armed Forces are the best of their generation, embodying teamwork, leadership, and aspiration.
"Their skills, values, and can-do attitude can inspire today’s young people to challenge themselves and reach their potential.
"That’s why I’m delighted Robert is exploring the benefits of military ethos in schools and I look forward to seeing the final report.”
Schools which already adopt a military ethos include the Duke of York's Royal Military School in Kent, which is sponsored by the MoD.
In the past its pupils largely came from the families of members of the Armed Forces. The school holds ceremonial parades featuring a 90-strong marching band and states that its core values are "courage, integrity, respect, commitment, loyalty and self-discipline."

The latest review comes after David Cameron's coalition introduced a scheme four years ago to fast-track former soldiers without degrees into teaching.
At the time, ministers suggested that evidence showed former soldiers made better teachers than those recruited through conventional routes.
Last month the government announced a new bursary of £40,000 for ex-service personnel to retrain as teachers. 
It has also been expanding the number of cadet forces in schools through a £50 million scheme funding uniforms, equipment and training.

No Books but military uniforms and maybe guns! 

I find this worrying 

It seems that the plan is not to solve poverty but to create a steady stream of recruits for the armed forces.

As for the idea that this will provide training  according to one Sunday Newspaper

 

At least 13,000 of our war heroes are homeless after leaving the military, a Sunday People probe reveals.
Military charities said the shameful figure is a record high and the Government is failing those who risk their lives for Queen and country.
They also issued a stark warning that the crisis deepens every month.
Les Standish, who won the Military Medal in the Falklands War, said:

“The Government has let these people down. These men and women were willing to fight and lay down their lives for this country and the only help available to them is from charities.
“The Government needs to do more for them. It’s a disgrace.”

It will probably be only future squadies who will attend these Schools.

As for discipline ask people who live in Garrison  Towns andthe drunken behaviour of squadies on the weekend.

In June 2003, Harry Windsor the son of a the future monarch completed his education at Eton with two A-Levels, achieving a grade B in art and D in geography, having decided to drop history of art after AS level.

However since he attended Eton and was a member of their Cadet Force
Harry entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on 8 May 2005, where he was known as Officer Cadet Wales, and joined the Alamein Company.^] Within a year, in April 2006, Harry completed his officer training and was commissioned as a Cornet (second lieutenant) in the Blues and Royals, a regiment of the Household Cavalry in the British Army. He was given the service number 564673^] On 13 April 2008, when he reached two years' seniority, Harry was promoted to lieutenant.

So you don't need a brilliant  academic  qualification  to join the Officer class (Maybe Harry's means he can read a map) but Class still plays a big part.

Will we see such armed forces schools in Wales?

The Left in Wales must not abandon progressive causes.

I would not describe myself as an intellectual and Philosophy is something that I find difficult to grasp .

However that does not mean I can fo9llow political arguments and therefore I find a recent post by Ifan Morgan Jones on the Nation Cymru Blog rather offensive.

He writes 

According to economist Thomas Piketty, the tectonic plates of western politics are shifting.
His new essay, Brahmin Left vs. Merchant Right, looks at electoral trends in the UK, France, and the United States since the 1940s.
He suggests that we may be moving back towards the old left v right system, which used to be a battle between low and high-education/income voters.
The last few decades, he argued, gave rise to what he calls a “multiple-elite” party system. It has been a battle between the intellectual elite on the left and the business elite on the right.
That of course meant that – while there were some disagreements between them – whichever way you voted you got the same kind of thing. An internationalist consensus that supported globalisation and the basic tenets of neoliberalism.
This system tended to favour the growth of inequality (free trade makes it more difficult to redistribute wealth, as the rich could just relocate themselves – or their money – abroad if tax was raised).
The last few years, Piketty says, has seen the beginning of the switch from the “multiple-elite” party system to one where the elite are on one side and the ‘left behind’ on the other.

Using this argument  in a Welsh content Ifan continues   

As I wrote back in February 2017, Plaid Cymru is in many ways a ‘front row’ party – i.e. on the intellectual left.
The trouble with that, as I wrote in this follow-up article, is that Wales is a very ‘back row’ country of low-income, low-education voters – i.e. what Piketty would call nativists.
While the political divide has, for the last few decades, been between the intellectual elite and the merchant elite, this hasn’t been a particularly big problem for Plaid Cymru.
They haven’t made much electoral headway – for a myriad of reasons – but there hasn’t been any danger of the party sundering.
The intellectual elite were happy to share the same political space as left-leaning low-income and low-education voters.
Now, however, things are getting trickier. Low-income, low-education voters are becoming fed up with the status quo and want a change.
There are tensions between the internationalist, EU-supporting, socially progressive leadership of the party, and some of its members.
Like Labour, which has ruptured between its anti-EU left, which have taken control of the party, and a ‘centrist’, intellectual, globalist wing that are now toying with the idea of starting a new party, the party is  standing on a fault-line.

The most obvious manifestation of these tensions within Plaid Cymru is Neil McEvoy’s new anti-establishment ‘party within a party’, which aims to take on the “corrupt” elite on both left and right.
So, what are the options for Plaid Cymru? The best course of action might be to try and opt out of the nativist/globalist bifurcation and cast itself as a big-tent party that includes all Welsh nationalists.
McEvoy’s expulsion suggests that there’s little sign of that happening at the moment. It would take an awful lot of compromise.

A regualat commentator on National Left  Leigh Richards ·pointed out the flaw in the above argument

 I struggle to understand how someone with leanne's background could be characterised by anyone as being part of any 'elite'. Indeed a politician more rooted in the experiences of ordinary people in wales it would be hard to find. You're also wrong ifan in your sweeping characterisation of lower income people in wales as 'anti intellectual' - there's a long and honourable tradition of working class intellectuals in wales. It's a tradition which has helped shape wales over the last 100 or so years and made our nation the progressive left leaning country it is. For sure we cant ignore how people in wales voted in the eu referendum, but its a vote which can in quite a large part be explained by a desire on the part of many working class people in wales to give David Cameron a kickin after years of austerity. But it was telling that a year later people in wales people voted along the same lines they have in previous UK general elections - returning candidates representing left leaning parties (welsh labour and plaid) in 80 percent of welsh seats. Furthermore current polling shows the right wing 'populists' of ukip face oblivion at the next welsh General election in 2021. So while 'the tectonic plates are shifting' certainly makes for a eyecatching heading I fear its a claim not actually borne out by the electoral evidence in wales. Similarly there's no evidence to support claims that plaid would get more votes if it ditched its left of centre outlook and its long standing commitment to a fairer and more equal wales. Also somewhat puzzling you shoehorned Neil mcevoy into your article.It's well known that plaid took disciplinary action against Neil mcevoy for very specific reasons, none of which have anything to do with piketty's theories. Think you're also mistaken in your assertion there are large banks of people in wales at odds with 'cosmopolitanism'. A visit to almost any part of Wales would show that wales is becoming a increasingly cosmopolitan country and most people - younger people especially - are at ease with this.

Indeed what became clear from some of the other replies  is that there are those  who are prepared to promote  Racists , Homophobic rhetoric and who  have seized on support for Transgender issues to attack "The Liberal elite"

We often thought arguments that on these issues  had been one we had won and we are now living in a more tolerant soceity.

The election of Trump and Brexit partly on the votes of those who are white  and poor, who ironically  will suffer even more from a Far Right President and
likely to be the vicitims.

But as Leigh points out Wales has changed  and is clearly more  cosmopolitan  and liberal to the extent that we have now openly Gay MPs from the  Rhondda in Chris Bryant  and even politicians on the right can "come out" and get elected.

Indeed I would argue that we now have a Cosmopolitan Right who are not homophobic racists  and find themselves at odds with the rhetoric of Ukip.

Indeed perhaps  the  great struggle may not be between these rather than the Left .

For those on the Progressive Left the challenge is to rally those millions who have been affected  by the failure of Tory and Neo- Liberal economic policy to lift them out of poverty and that is linked the ongoing issue of equality regardless of Race, Sex or Gender identification.
Arguably the

 

Johnson and Mogg to form new "Feudal Party".

A secret dossier has revealed that after Brexit a large number of Tory MPs are seeking to split away from Theresa May's   party and create a new Party.

Called the Feudal Party  it will be led by Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees Mogg.

A Spokesman (None of that person nonsense said  that the party will seek to establish the natural order of government .

It will include

The Abolition of the House of Commons, Life Peers will now sit and  Hereditary   in the Commons to be renamed House of the talented.

The franchise will be removed from  anyone earning less than £150,000 a year as it is clear they are the only ones that can be trusted not to Tax "the entrepreneurs" and wealth makers.

Women will also lose the franchise , but it is expected their wives will preform a vital roll in running the charities that will take over a new health service and the welfare state.

All other parties will be abolished together with Trade Unions though a number of new Guilds will be created to include Scientists and other essential personne.


Elections will consist of  those who are allowed to vote approving legislation when there is nit a clear majority in either house.

Though it will still be made clear.

It's your Count that Votes

Latin to be essential for all senior government appointees  as it is clear from Mr Johnson and Rees Mogg that this proves they are the most intelligent in their mastery of the language.

Unemployment benefit will largely be abolished with people who are not in full employment being drafted to work in the sort of industry that our former Europeam Guests worked at Fruit Picking, Hospitality that sought of thing.

The Scottish Parliament , Welsh Assembly, Northern Ireland Assembly will be Abolished and an appointed Governor including England  will fomr a cabinet in each nation it is hoped that Baron Elis-Thomas, of Nant Conwy will accept the post in Wales. (Nominations for Scotland anyone?)

The former Republic of Ireland will be expected to rejoin the UK if it wants to join in the wealth we will enjoy after Brexit.

Similarly embers of the Commonwealth  will join in the Second British Empire which in five years will rival the USA, Russia and China as a major supper power.

A spokesman for Mr (soon to be Lord( Rees Mogg said).

"We anticipate that the vast majority of the British public recognising the natural superiority of those who have the sort of Education , Ihas at Eton will vote or what could be the last time to re-establish  the natural order ans the third verse of All things bright and beautiful tells us".

 

"The rich man in his castle,
The poor man at his gate,
God made them high and lowly,
And ordered their estate".