Glenda and Leanne: Speak for Many.

One of the luxury I have in blogging on politics but having no political ambitions is that . I can say what I really think and not worry about whether it will be used by opponents and the media (often the same thing.).

I can announce on the fact that I celebrated Thatchers death, by setting off fireworks which may upset some but I can't be accused of Hypocrisy.

Yesterday recall of Parliament  which was little more than a Tories giving themselves a chance to eulogise the bloody woman at out expensive. at the Taxpayers expense was little more than you we can have expected .
It was left to Glenda Jackson  the MP for Hampstead and Kilburn who didn't have far to travel to Westminster to give voice to for many of us.


Amid howls of protest from Conservative backbenchers, Glenda Jackson said  give a version of Magret Thatcher that many outside the chamber would recognise.

‘By far the most dramatic and heinous demonstration of Thatcherism was not only in London but across the whole country in metropolitan areas, where every single shop doorway, every single night, became the bedroom, the living room, the bathroom for the homeless,’ she said, defying calls to pay tribute to the former leader.

The Hampstead and Kilburn MP said Thatcherism turned vices into virtues. 

‘Greed, selfishness, no care for the weaker. Sharp elbows and sharp knees, this was the way forward,’ she said.
‘People saw the price of everything and the value of nothing.’
And she said women who helped run the country during the war would not have recognised the idea of ‘womanliness’ embodied in Lady Thatcher.
‘The first prime minister of female gender, ok. But a woman? Not on my terms,’

Speaker Bercow said "Ms Jackson had the right to air her thoughts".To bloody right.

For leading politician who felt that they should be diplomatic. Iit may be have been hard to criticise a recently deceased political  bur credit must go to Leanne who managed to turn her statement on Thatchers Death in a positive way




It will be difficult in the next few weeks faced with the horrendous site of  the cost of a £10 Million State Funeral (isn't it anything else?).  for those of us who shared Glenda Jackson assessment of Thatchers Legacy to remain positive but Leanne Wood has given us something we should carry forward.

Anglesey Council Elections can any one predict the result?

A part for Byelections  election to the Isle of Anglesey County Council^[will be the only one  held at the same time as other United Kingdom local elections on May 2nd , 2013.the election having been postponed from 2012 by the Welsh Government, in order to allow an electoral review to take place.

Even seasoned students of voting patterns will have trouble predicting this one as there as will be 30 councillors elected (a reduction from the previous 40). in multi ward seats.

Aethwy (3), formed by the Communities of Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll, Menai Bridge and Penmynydd

Bro Aberffraw (2), formed by the Communities of Aberffraw, Bodorgan and Rhosyr

Bro Rhosyr (2), formed by the Communities of Llanidan, Llanfihangel Ysceifiog, Llanddaniel Fab and Llangristiolus

Caergybi (3), the electoral wards of Town, London Road, Morawelon, Porthyfelin, and Parc a'r Mynydd in the Community of Holyhead

Canolbarth Môn (Central Anglesey) (3), the Communities of Bryngwran, Bodffordd, Llangefni, and Trewalchmai, and the electoral wards of Llanddyfnan, Llangwyllog and Tregacan in the Community of Llanddyfnan.

Llifôn (2), the Communities of Llanfaelog, Llanfair-yn-Neubwll and Valley

Lligwy (3), the Communities of Moelfre, Llaneugrad, Llanfair-Mathafarn-Eithaf and Pentraeth; and the electoral ward of Llanfihangel Tre'r Beirdd in the Community of Llanddyfnan

Seiriol (3), formed by the Communities of Beaumaris, Cwm Cadnant, Llanddona, and Llangoed.

Talybolion (3), formed by the Communities of Bodedern, Cylch-y-garn, Llannerch-y-medd, Llanfachreth, Llanfaethlu, Mechell and Tref Alaw

Twrcelyn (3), the Communities of Amlwch, Llanbadrig, Llaneilian, and Rhosybol

Ynys Gybi (Holy Island) (3), the Communities of Trearddur and Rhoscolyn and the electoral wards of Maeshyfryd and Kingsland in the Community of Holyhead

The delay in caling the election and the creation of multi member seats means that there are a high number of candidates (107) with the political parties Plaid Labour Tories and Ukip  putting up a number of candidates against the traditional Independents who have dominated the Island.

Its probably indicative of their political position and their own lack of confidence that the LidDems can only put up a handful of candidates. 

Labour look likely to win on their Holyhead stronghold whilst Plaid could well be the largest party after May 2nd

A full list of the 107 candidates for the 30 can be seen here,

For supporters of STV these elections will provide insight on what the result would be if this election was held under that system.

The question however how long before this council will be in existence for?

With call for merging smaller councils into larger authorities , It may not be long before the Boundary Commission for Wales:are called back to the Island to redraw the wards once again.

Update 3:40 PM

Thanks  to the The Anglesey Telegraph  wh has provided a link to this forum which gives a detailed analysis of each ward and candidates. Here

No Hypocrisy . No praise for Thatcher here.

The legacy of Margret Thatcher unfortunately still  lives on 

• It lives on in the decimated  manufacturing industry in the UK . I remember Treforest Industrial Estate alive both day and night . Workers often had a row with their boss left the factory crossed the road and found another job. Today Production Operators  find that work comes on short contracts  through an agency in the few manufactures in their area.
• It lives on in the lack of social housing. The right to Buy scheme was a form of gerrymandering which was intended to create Tory Voters from former Social Housing tenants and resulted in increasing waiting lists.
• It lives on in areas like my own village of Beddau which saw the Cwm Colliery close and destroy the lives of many of my friends who worked there.
• It lives on in the memories of the Poll Tax the ideology of which has reemerged in the thinking behind the bedroom tax.
• It lives on in deregulated the Banks which eventually led to the collapse which we a living with now.
• It lives on in the sight of people living rough and begging on the streets.
• It lives on in the Anti EU rhetoric which made no friends in Europe even among those who may have sympathised and favoured reform . Which continues today.
• It lives on in the Gung Ho nature of British politics and the belief that problems can be called by military intervention
• It lives on in the attacks on the NHS and the Welfare State
• It lives on in Cameron and in Blair and Miliband.. and the result that in reality today UK politics is dominated by two right of centre parties Labour = Tories.

Last night some friends invited me round and we let of rockets in response to her death . As each one went off . We cried out

That's for the Miners

That's for the Pol Tax

And so

Some might say this was a callous response to someone death.

But Marget Thatcher hated nearly every thing I believed in  and she caused huge harm to the lives of the people in the area where I live.

Perhaps she was not an evil women but she was vindictive an callous. Like many I will not be an hypocrite and mourn her passing.

Pathetic Unionist try to link SNP with fascism.

There has been natural outrage in Scotland over the publication over an article in Scotland on Sunday on claims that Scottish Nationalism has a dark past

Accompanied with a photo shop of a photo shop of an iconic Scotsman Photo (copyrighted but you can see here




The article by Gavin Bowd  claims to reveals some uncomfortable truths in Fascist Scotland but in fact comes up only a few examples of linking fascism with Pre War Scottish Nationalism and  indeed most of the article despite the SoS attempts to create the link by the photoshop points the main support seems to come from the Tory hierarchy who had used the Scottish flag to link it to the British Empire .

For instance Bowd writes

It was not only the gilded youth of St Andrews that was attracted by Fascism. Fear and hatred of the “Judeo-Bolshevik” threat were rife in the Scottish elite, from landed gentry to business tycoons and military officers. In the 1920s, the Earl of Glasgow, inspired by Mussolini’s march on Rome, was prominent in the creation of the British Fascisti. The Earl of Erroll proudly sported a Fascist insignia on his sporran. The Duke of Buccleuch was an outspoken supporter of appeasement, while, as late as 1939, the Duke of Hamilton argued in The Times for Nazi Germany’s right to Lebensraum. It was therefore not as a victim of “tragic hallucinations” (according to Josef Goebbels) that on 10 May, 1941, Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess made an ill-fated flight to Eaglesham to discuss peace terms with the duke.

Gavin Bowd

 Scotland on Sunday 7 April 2013 

He concludes:

 Today, the ruling party of Scotland has nationalism as its creed and is suspiciously coy about its own history. Elsewhere in the nationalist family, the BNP, before it plunged into fratricidal warfare, trounced the Far Left in recent Scottish elections and, in 2010, received a respectable 1,000 votes in Alex Salmond’s stamping ground of Banff and Buchan. To this should be added growing sympathy for the agenda of Ukip. The Scottish electorate now appears more receptive to radical nationalism than Mosley’s blackshirts could ever dream of. With fears of globalisation and mass immigration on the rise, and the political “old gang” unpopular, there might still be living space in Scotland for the “Brown Beast”. In this way, we would be very much in line with our European cousins. Wha’s like us? Quite a few.

 Gavin Bowd

 Scotland on Sunday 7 April 2013 

So it is clear that this article intention is to Link the Ideology of a progressive Left of Centre party the SNP with a racist right wing British parties .

I've no doubt any competent  historian can dig up Scottish Nationalist before 1939 who might have spoken well of Mussolini or Hitler and expressed Antisemitism  but this is just a appalling attempt by the Unionist media to smear the Independence  campaign.

In Wales we are used to the accusations laid against pro war Plaid Leaders like Saunders Lewis  and Ambrose Bebb to link Plaid with a fascist past but it doesn't hold water here and it doesn't hold war in Scotland.

Kirsty Williams late with April Fool.

Some might think that elected [politicians should not take part in April Fools spoofs but Peter Blacks Keeping track of your Welsh Assembly Member  was a humorous attempt.  Though he may have been inspired by reports in the Telegraph last February that Tesco , have been  accused of monitoring staff with electronic armbands.

Which is far from funny.

Still both Peter and his Leader  were a a few days late with an April Fool joke by claiming their party's credit for Tory Chancellor George Osborne  rising the personal tax allowance to £9,440 .

La Pasionaria  in particular seems reluctant to mention the other Tax changes which help the well off


According to the Guardians analysis

 The red book issued alongside the budget reveals that the bottom 10th of households will be worse off by £200 overall in 2013-14, compared to 2010. The next 10th will be hit even harder, losing £250. Only the very highest 10% of earners lose more, around £1,600. The reality is that the cuts in direct taxes, such as the personal allowance, are entirely offset by rises in indirect taxes and the loss of tax credits and benefits.
The rich can be comforted by the cut in the 50% "additional rate" paid by about 250,000 high earners, which drops to 45% in just a fortnight's time – so if you're on £250,000 a year the tax giveaway is worth £5,000.
Osborne said much about help for parents struggling with the costs of childcare, about how he is taking millions more out of the tax net; but on this multi-million pound giveaway for the rich, he was oddly silent.
If you are in the fabled squeezed middle this was a budget in which the chancellor gave with one hand but took with another, pushing many more people into the 40% higher rate tax band.
It is an irony not lost on the Conservative's natural allies, such as the Taxpayers Alliance, that a Conservative chancellor has dragged more people into higher rate tax than any other in history. In just three years Osborne has moved nearly 1 million more people into the 40% band, and from 6 April another 400,000 are likely to join this mostly unhappy ban

 Patrick Collinson

The Guardian, Wednesday 20 March 2013 

La Pasionaria gets even more ridiculous by claiming credit for the Good news (whilst avoiding the bad) on Subordinate Central accompanied with that smug photo (change it Kirsty)

She writes:

The Welsh Liberal Democrats are making a real difference to the lives of the people of Wales. This tax cut is evidence of how in the Coalition Government, the Welsh Liberal Democrat priority is to create a fairer society and a stronger economy, enabling everyone to get on in life.
We all know that you can’t trust the Tories to deliver a fairer society. Their priority is always to help the better off. Let us be in no doubt, this tax cut would not have happened if it was just the Conservatives in Government.

What a load of Tosh 

The Liberal MPs from Wales all three of them may be part of a federal party . But at Westminster they are fully integrated into the coalition.

They are not  some kind of further power brokers and have very little influence even when they party is part of the government.

La Pasionari who can be impressive in the Senedd as opposition leader clearly desires the luxury of opposition and continues to give the impression that the bad decisions at Westminster are nothing to do with her Welsh Liberal Democrats.

She may be right but then no decisions are Westminster are anything to do with her part of a supposedly federal party.

Claiming otherwise only points to the LibDems complacency in the cuts and whatever she tries to cherry pick ,will not help her or her party from the Welsh public wrath.

 

May Elections: MK put up 26 candidates.

Since there  are only elections on the Isle of Anglesey Council and a few By elections (see previous post) next may . My main interest will be in whether Mebyon Kernow  who have announced a slate of  26 Candidates  for the Council Elections  next May and will  to improve on their current total of 6

Party		Councillors
	Conservative	46
	Liberal Democrat	37
	Independent	28
	Mebyon Kernow	6
	Labour	1
	Independent (non affiliated)	2
	Vacant	3
Total		123
Source:[30]

Two sitting Councillor are not standing but  with the Conservative -Independent  ruling group making some unpopular cuts and the LibDems not actually pnot the flavour of the month MK should have high hope to increase their number,

Party leader Dick Cole  has already pointed out the LibDems desperation  

In the  Bodmin St Marys Division. Liberal Democrat candidate claims that the election is a two horse race between the Lib Dems and the Conservatives.




Apart from the LibDems attacking their coalition partners  for making cuts which are partly due to the Westminster Government as Dick points out  that there are four candidates in this contest and none are representing the Conservative Party. Roger Lashbrook is standing for MK and the other candidates represent Labour, the Lib Dems and UKIP.

Same Old LibDems same old dishonesty.

It looks like progressive in Cornwall have only a choice in 26 wards Pity but even a modest gain in seats will push the party forward.

.

Caerphilly: Labour remaking History?.

The  Labour Party  at Caerphilly Council faced with public outcry over its failed plan to hike its  senior executives pay as taken a new turn as it seems to be accusing the previous administration of the same plan in a desperate bid to get themselves out of a hole.

'The  Labour Group on Caerphilly Council... accused he Plaid Cymru administration at Caerphilly Council had itself approved the same senior officers' pay rise in March 2012 - but delayed making the pay award until after the May 2012 local government election...'

But Plaid Cymru deny this 

 Former Caerphilly Council leader, Allan Pritchard  who lost his seat last year said: 

 “At no point, at any meeting, at any time, did I or the administration I led, approve or agree to pay rises for the twenty one senior officers at the council. This wild claim by the Labour party is totally untrue and without any foundation. Indeed, the thorough investigation by the Wales Audit Office clearly demonstartes that this decision happened under Cllr Andrews' watch. This fiasco has Labour's fingerprints all over it.

"The fact that they now wish to insult the intelligence of local people once again as a means of deflecting responsibility for this shambles highlights just how incompetent the council leadership are. Closer scrutiny of the previous Plaid administartion reveals that we made efficiency savings in senior officers' costs by £1.5 million over three years. An achievement Cllr Andrews' shamefully overturned."
Councillor Colin Mann, Plaid's current group leader on Caerphilly Council added: “Councillor Andrews has made serious and untrue allegations and considering the fact that a police investigation is underway, I invite him to withdraw his comments and apologise for making them. If he fails to do so, then I believe the severity of his claims would leave us with little choice but to consider the legal options open to us as a party.
"Councillor Andrews is a leader under pressure. He has overseen the greatest scandal in the council's history and will soon face a vote of confidence. His latest gaffe only adds to the sense of anger that local residents feel at his lack of management of the authority."

Can this row have anything to do with Labours reluctance to call the Byelection since death o Stan Jenkins, who , long-standing member for Risca East  who died on the 14th January .

Labour had a massive majority in this seat taking all three seats in the ward last year.

The Election has now been called for May 2nd so Labour may be hoping a embarrassing loss may well be lost in the General coverage of the Local Government Elections in England held on the same day

Mind you with delayed elections on the Isle of Anglesey council where Plaid are expected to campaign heavily to be also held on May2nd. Labour may be celebrating over the boarder but counting the cost oftheir mismanagement here.