MPs bring parliament into disrespect by crying over a clock.

For some reason I can't find actual footage of Labour MP Stephen Pound weeping over the silencing of a Clock but  here's the ridiculous man anyway

He was not alone as the Daily Beast  reported 

The extremely posh Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, who doesn’t so much sound as if he has a plum in his throat as much as swallowed an entire plum orchard, told the Daily Mail: “I think Big Ben ought to be kept striking as much as possible during the repairs as long as it doesn’t deafen the work force. It would be symbolically uplifting for it to sound out our departure from the EU as a literally ringing endorsement of democracy.”Fellow Tory Peter Bone chimed in (sorry): “Big Ben should bong when we come out of the EU, absolutely. We are being liberated from the European Union superstate and Britain will again be a completely self-governing country. Where will the eyes of the world be? On Parliament and Big Ben. It would be very strange if at midnight on that day it does not chime out, very bizarre. It is the heart of our nation.”It perhaps says a lot about how confident Brexit supporters are in their mission that they need the symbolic seal of a bell to make them feel more secure.The British Prime Minister Theresa May even got involved, saying last week:

“Of course we want to ensure people’s safety at work but it can’t be right for Big Ben to be silent for four years. And I hope that the Speaker, as the chairman of the House of Commons commission, will look into this urgently so that we can ensure that we can continue to hear Big Ben through those four years.”

Its a symbol of  the ridiculous nature of our political system that 

Whilst children in the UK go hungry every day 
When we have people sleeping on the streets
When we have people with terminal illness forced to sign on .

Some of elected members seem to be worried that they can't here a clock striking.

If this is a symbol of anything it  is of the Westminster Bubble where our elected members both Left and Right are sucked into the establishment under the name of tradition.

Most MPs are referred to as "the Honourable Member for..." followed by the name of their constituency or as either "the Honourable gentleman" or "the Honourable lady".

If the MP being addressed is a member of the same party they are referred to as "my Honourable friend".

If the MP is a practising lawyer he or she is referred to as "Honourable and Learned".

If a member is a past or present member of the armed forces they may be addressed as "Honourable and Gallant", although this is very rarely used in the Commons nowadays.

"Right Honourable" indicates a member of the Privy Council - normally a past or present minister.

So I suppose a MP could be addressed as  as the Right honourable Learnrd and Gallant.

This is all part of using the "Traditions" of Westminster to make MPs feel important  and bring them into the system.

When a large number of SNP MP's were elected they The House of Commons speaker John Bercow them to stop clapping and "show some respect" for long-established conventions.

The threat will always be that if you don't do this then the speaker will not call you to speak.

Be part of the system or be silenced.

I don't know when he entered Parliament Stephen Pound had images of shaking up Parliament , but as yesterday events showed e is as much a part of the establishment as any High Tory.

There is an offence of bringing "Parliament into disrespect" . I would argue that yesterday, this was clearly done by the sight of a MP weeping over the silencing of a clock.

Can Job-Share Assembly Members Work?

 The BBC Wales website has an interesting news item in that The Assembly Commission has said.   Electoral rule changes could be explored to allow assembly members to job-share.

According to the Beeb 

Campaigners said the move, a first for politics in the UK, would attract more women and disabled people to politics.
The Assembly Commission said job-sharing was a "possibility" under new powers.
The Electoral Commission said no joint candidacies were allowed in any UK elections under current law.
Sarah Rees, of the Women's Equality Party, said Wales should be the first to make the change, with the assembly encouraging flexible working by "leading by example".
The assembly will have powers to set its own elections, under changes being brought in under the 2017 Wales Act, which devolves more responsibilities from Westminster to Cardiff.
Currently 24 out of the 60 AMs in the Senedd are womeen, while no information is collected on how many AMs are classed as disabled.
In 2015, a bid by two Green Party activists to stand jointly for a parliamentary seat was refused and a bid for a judicial review was stopped by the High Court.
If they had been elected, the pair would have split the job 50/50 and have shared a vote in the Commons.

 Mother-of-two Mrs Rees, who stood as a candidate for the last assembly election for the Women's Equality Party, said there was no reason why Wales could not be the first in the UK to bring in political job-shares.

 said there were arrangements in Australia, New Zealand and Iceland for flexible working.

"I think Wales has got the power and I think it would be great for us to move forward and have shared candidacies," she said.
"You have people in very powerful positions able to do job shares, why can't we do it in government?
"It would give you the ability to have a very high-powered job and make decisions that reflect the society we live in, at the same time as looking after your family.
"If the Welsh Government can't do it themselves, why should any other business?

If it is working in other countries then I see no reason why we should not investigate

But is this possible in a Political roll?

How would the Job share pan out?

Certainly there may be no problem inside the Siambr when it comes to debates and even dealing with constituents except  when a constituents as a preference and told they must deal with the Job share AM 's partner who is on duty .

The problem as I see it  in the profile of the AM .

Social Media for example is being increasingly used by politicians  to communicate with the electorate and I don't see how you can not  stop Job Share AMs having a double the advantage here?

The same goes with contact via appearance on the main media or via press releases , Would an AM decline to make a comment because he or she is not officially "ON Duty" at that time?

Would they share a Party's Spokesperson role or have different ones  . Certainly potentially lessening  the workload but again increasing the media profile?

What if they were part of the Government  would they Job share ministerial roles and would the First Minister be able to promote or fire one without the other?

Would there be rules about Gender Balance , there is probably no way that you could stop two hetro-sexual males from being elected on a Job Share platform 

Could a Party be allowed to employ one of the AM's to work for them on a part time basis allowing them to continue a political role>

It is an interesting idea but I am afraid that it may be seen as Party's using this to increase their number of AM  by Job Share (even if they have only one vote) .

Yes we need to increase the number of AM's who more readily reflect Wales and certainly aim to have a 50/50 balance.

But at the moment  it seems to me that Party's can use this to increase their media presence  than a move to equality.

Corbyn is not the answer, but we to need rewrite the question anyway.

So on his visit to Bangor Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn vowed to transform the economy and establish a Westminster government “on the side” of people in Wales.

I haven't sen his speech but I expect it was no different from one he makes in Birmingham . Manchester or  Devon 

Except of course he would be on tricky ground attacking the Tories on their running of the NHS given that his Party has been running the NHS in Wales for 17 years with no real improvement in comparison with England.

Did he mention the devolution settlement at all? Does he even have a view on the powers of the Welsh Assembly does he even care about it?

Ok he did say "

We will develop the jobs, skills, infrastructure and industries of the future through an investment-led approach, supported by our National Transformation Fund and a Welsh development bank, building on the Welsh Labour Government’s Development Bank of Wales.

Continuing Labour’s summer campaign in marginal seats, Mr Corbyn was on a visit to Aberconwy and Arfon constituencies.

He also said 

“Today, I’m campaigning in the Conservative-held marginal of Aberconwy and Plaid-held Arfon as part of Labour’s summer campaign in marginal constituencies across the country.
“We can win here and form the next government that will work for the many not the few.”

Ynys Mon ( Not Anglesey Wales Online) MP, Albert Owen said that the country needed as many Labour MPs as possible as they look to unseat the left wing Plaid Cymru MP, Hywel Williams.

“ Plaid Cymru , have had their chance, they’ve been the establishment here in northwest Wales for decades and people want change. The only change they’ll get is from the real party of Wales and that’s the Labour party,

 What a pathetic statement Hywel Williams has probably gone through the same voting lobby as Jeremy Corbyn more times than the latter's fellow Labour MPs.

Why did MR Corbyn decide that getting rid of Plaid MP in Arfon was the sameas defeating a right wing Tory in England,

Of course there is one glaring difrence between Jeremy Corbyn and Hywel Williams.

Mr Corbyn is as one with Teressa May over Brexit  he told his audience though that they had to accept Brexit but Britain need to secure tariff free access to European markets to protect British jobs.

His words disappointed Corbyn supporting activists who are against Brexit. One campaigner, Simone Jones who had travelled from Holywell said: 

“I’m here to try and get the Labour Party back to where it should be which is fighting for the European Union not trying to get us out.”

Certainly  there was a number of European Flags but I wonder how many Labour supporters are aware of Corbyn's hard Brexit stance?

Maybe they do and agree or are they amongst those who are fed up with years Right Wing Rule under May, Cameron, from the Tories and Blair, Brown under Labour.

How much of Corbyn's support is based on the need for a change from the Neo-Liberalism of the past?

It is a pity it has resulted in it focusing on someone who is a Hard Line Brexiter who acknowledges the rights of Ireland but not Wales and Scotland.

Who supports Brexit from a Left Wing perceptive in the Belief we can build "Socialism in one Country"

Who does not seem to support a change in our electoral system as he believes  in the Two Party system in the hope that his can occasionally win a majority.

and seeks to defeat fellow progressive MPs  seemingly even putting more emphasis than taking Tory seats,

I am sorry but Corbyn is not the answer  he is a Left Wing Unionist whose sees the Welsh Nation as little more than a machine for churning out Labour Lobby fodder and who thinks that everything can be changed from Westminster.

He is wrong and we must continue to point this out.

How Leanne's Gaff somehow proves she was right.

It was clearly wrong for Plaid Cymru Leader to speculate on the nature of the Terrorist attack  in Barcelona she tweeted .

LeanneWood 

✔@LeanneWood
Ofnadwy / terrible. Is this more far right terrorism? My thoughts are with all those affected.http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40965581 …
6:45 PM - Aug 17, 2017

Though I imagine that a fair number of Politicians   speculated that it was an Islamist who carried out this vile attack


But the response from other quarters  was extraordinary

 Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies, who had tweeted it was "sickening" to hear of the attack in Barcelona, said it was "unbelievable" Ms Wood had speculated it might be linked to a far-right group.His fellow Tory assembly member Janet Finch-Saunders said the comments were "at best poorly timed and ill-judged, at worst cynical and morally depraved".
"Politicising terror so fresh after an attack can never be acceptable, and only adds to the hysteria and toxicity of debate.
"As leader of a so-called progressive party, she should show some contrition by issuing an immediate apology and, if she doesn't, I think she should resign."

Image copyright

TWITTER/@UKIPWALES

A tweet from UKIP Wales said: "Absolutely outrageous smear against UKIP which you have called 'far-right' countless times. How dare you associate us with murderers!"
Later, UKIP's Senedd group leader Neil Hamilton said it was a "gross insult" to more than 130,000 people who voted for the party in the 2016 assembly election.
"Leanne Wood is clearly not fit for purpose," he said.
"She is an embarrassment not only to Plaid Cymru but to the whole of Wales."

So are they objecting to the use of the term "Far Right"  they can't be identifying with the term  that has been linked to  Charlottesvile  where the young man accused of plowing a car into a crowd of people protesting a white supremacist rally was fascinated with Nazism, idolised Adolf Hitler, and had been singled out by school officials in the 9th grade for his "deeply held, radical" convictions on race, a former high school teacher said Sunday surley

Maybe they think there is a difference between Far Right and Fascism but I don't.

Even worse were the absolutely  vile comments posted on Twitter after Katie Hopkins  tweeted about Leanne's then Gaff.





They are hard to read then perhaps you don't want to

Oddly although Leanne was wrong and should have withdrawn her speculation (Only in it was another vile ideology that carried out the attack) it has given her the opportunity to point out that 

"I am staggered by the reaction to the point that Isis and white supremacism both have far right ideologies driving them.
"Both see their group as superior to others. Both see people who are not in their group fair targets for abuse, violence and even death. Both hate minorities and consider women to be less than men.
"Both believe in using extreme violence to repress people with different views. This is far right/ fascism ideology. How can it not be?"

Ms Wood said she could see how her comments would "upset" people on the far right, saying "the comparison links western racists and white supremacists to their number one hate target and shows them as no better than each other".

She ended her post by saying: 

"While it's important, in my view, to say and keep saying that politics and ideology lie behind these acts of violence, my thoughts are first and foremost with the victims of last night's horror."

Ms Wood also defended her comments in a statement issued by Plaid Cymru later on Friday, describing IS as a "fascist organisation".

"It is driven by an ideology of hatred and violence that scapegoats minorities and considers women to be worth less than men," she said.
"This far-right ideology and the violence that goes with it must be rejected and opposed wherever it rears its head - be it Islamic fundamentalism or white supremacism."

Ms Wood may well have been wrong to speculate which vile ideology  was behind the Barcelona terrorism , but it has given her and the rest of us the opportunity  to compare the likes of ISIS with the Far-Right, Alt Right. Fascists.

Those who are accusing Leanne of "smears" should be distancing themselves from such ideologues. 

A Plaid-Tory coalition will change nothing.

After the BBC give space to a the Beeb  given space to a ridiculous call that Plaid Cymru should "come together" with UKIP to "take Wales forward"  comes a much more serious argument  on Nation Cymru  that

"A Plaid Cymru and Conservative coalition would help Wales move on from the 80s".

In it  Benjiman L. Angwin  rightly points out the Welsh democracy will not fully mature until the Labour party’s dominant position in our country faces serious opposition

He writes 

The solution to this problem is for Wales to move on politically from what happened in the 70s and 80s under Thatcher.
I understand that this will be difficult. It will require a certain amount of communal forgiveness. It will require effort.
Having Plaid Cymru and the Conservatives work together would allow that healing process to begin to take place.
It would show that working with Conservatives at the Senedd would not cause the sky to fall in.
Especially if that coalition could take real, practical steps to help people in the former industrial communities scarred by the 80s.
Wales could put aside prejudices and hatreds which have been built up over the last 94 years of Labour rule, and forgive those portrayed as enemies by those in power.
As Martin Luther King said, ‘Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?’

Labour is not Wales and Wales is not Labour. It is not healthy to have a party in power for one hundred years which only represents a fraction of the country.
Welshness cannot be expressed by one small part of the political spectrum; Cymru is more than that.
I hope Plaid and the Tories will consider abandoning prejudices and differences in economic ideologies and working together to make this happen.
It would take a lot of political bravery, and some forgiveness.
But it would be the break with the past that would allow Welsh democracy to mature and move on from the battles of the 80s, to a new post-devolution era.

The problem is that such an argument   seems to me starts at the very beginning Thatcherism has returned in the Tory party and we have a government in Westminster that has attacked  the most deprived people in our Society  under the guise of austerity but is really the same ideology of Thatcherism.

Yes it is possible a Plaid-Tory or Tory-Plaid (The order is important) could run the Welsh Government  more effectively than the current one but that's not saying much.

Would Plaid be prepared to scrap Prescription charges which the Tories would want to,for instance,

Would the Tories accept that in order to make the changes Benjiman L. Angwin  argues then Wales needs parity with Scotland in devolved powers.

Indeed the problem with any Assembly coalition is that its largely about how we spend our pocket money from Westminster  and not how we can change Wales from both a right or left perceptive.

To my mind Plaid should concentrate  on making the case for Parity with Scotland and following the SNP in becoming a government hat can at least make a change to what comes out of Westminster either from the Tories,  Red Tories or a Red Labour which is centrist its views on where power lies.

The electoral system for the Assembly makes this difficult , but arguing that a Plaid-Tory or Tory-Plaid coalition can rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic is not the solution at all.

Hamilton says Anti-Islam candidate has been "demonised"

The  controversial anti-Islam campaigner running for the UKIP leadership has been "demonised", according to the party's leader in the assembly.

Anne Marie Waters,a former Labour Party activist  who called Islam evil, said she had faced an "avalanche of lies and smears" and "the party's establishment is terrified I will win".

Neil Hamilton said he did not think Ms Waters looked "out of the ordinary".But 's plans were "nowhere near as fire-breathing as one might expect".

She proposes a ban on the burka, the closure of all sharia councils and a temporary freeze on all immigration and is one of 11 candidates taking part.

She had predicted she would be prevented from standing, as had Mr Hamilton's assembly colleague David Rowlands, who said her views were "too extreme".

Mr Hamilton said: 

"I just think that Anne Marie Waters has been demonised because it's easy to paint her in sort of technicolour colours, by virtue of remarks that had been taken out of context from, in some cases, many years ago."
"It's part of the debate on issues which are very important to lots of people, fundamentalist Islam, etcetera."

 I have yet to see  Ms Waters repudiating  her previous statements so I think we are entitled to form our opinions of her/

 Mr Hamilton said he would not endorse or criticise any leadership candidate and would work with whoever won.

Wales MEP Nathan Gill said he would leave UKIP if Ms Waters won the contest, which was called after the resignation of Paul Nuttall.

Asked about the prospect of Mr Gill leaving, Mr Hamilton said:

 "It wouldn't make the slightest difference. We hardly ever see him and he never says anything unless it's to undermine the UKIP group or UKIP as a party."

 Ms Water responded to the criticism of her in an email to BBC Wales.

"It's very clear to me that the party's establishment is terrified I will win, and they are right to be," she said.
"I have support all over the country and it is growing.
"I have been subject to an avalanche of lies and smears from people who don't understand the issues (or the difference between race and religion) and don't have the courage to.
"It's disappointing that some in UKIP should use the same smear tactics that have been used against them for years."

Don't assume that Ms Waters cannot win the publicity may mean she id the most well known of the eleven candidates/

Ukip in the past have been called the BNP in suits  something I have in the past rejected .

But having won over Brexit they now are probably trying to find a new issue as a unique selling point.

A key divide between candidates was between what The Guardian described as "Farage-ist economic libertarians" like Bill Etheridge and the "more hard-right, Islam-focused" Anne Marie Waters and Peter Whittle. Etheridge stated that "whichever side wins, the other side won't have a future in the party".^[10] In early July, over a thousand new members had joined the party in only two weeks, leading to accusations of far-right infiltration in support of Waters.^[10] Party sources suggested Waters had concluded a deal with Whittle that were he to win, she would become deputy leader.^]

At least 18 of the party's 20 MEPs were reported to be considering resigning and forming a new party if Waters gained a senior role in the party, owing to her anti-Islam views and support from the far-right. Etheridge publicly said that he would resign if Waters wins, and Jonathan Arnott MEP said it would be difficult for him to remain.Etheridge subsequently launched his third leadership bid, having previously declared in both of UKIP's 2016 leadership elections.

On 26 July, two days before close of nominations, Etheridge withdrew his candidacy. He urged candidates from the "libertarian" wing of the party to unite against what he described as fringe candidates using the party "as a vehicle for the views of the EDL and the BNP". He said he would leave the party if Waters or Whittle won the leadership.

Whether a a right wing Libertarian  Party or a BNP light racist party are not finished yet 

Ms Waters may well find solace after  this appeared in the Sun


I can't see the Sun endorsing a Waters led Ukip ut only because they will not see her  as a winner .

Do not look to the Ukip leadership and Ms Waters with glee in that this will finally finish this party off.

The UK media like the Sun, Mail and Express share her views and as I said they may not endorse her views but will express  them in their vile way

Wales has no influence over Brexit .

Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies has  call for a  Brexit minister to  be appointed to put Wales' interests "at the centre" of negotiations is one that I agree with.

But coming from someone who seems to be sidelined but by his party at Westminster whilst his equivalent Ruth Davidson in Scotland has been feted  at Westminster and even sitting in on Cabinet meetings it seems a bit ridiculous  for him to criticise others.

Mr Davies said the first minister could not handle the "biggest constitutional challenge of our time" alone.

He said the Welsh Government should be reconfigured to give "strong and constructive representation" to UK ministers on EU negotiations.

The Welsh Government said Carwyn Jones was "best placed to lead on Brexit".

Mr Davies pointed to an assembly committee report criticising the Welsh Government for a lack of contact with Irish ministers to discuss the likely impact of Brexit on ports.

He said,

"More than 400 days after Wales voted to leave the EU, Wales remains without a Brexit ministry, unlike its counterparts in Scotland and Westminster,"
"In order to ensure that Wales' national interests stay at the centre of Brexit negotiations, we need a department led by an experienced minister solely dedicated to this process.
"It's a job too big for one man alone and there's a real danger that in trying to juggle domestic issues with the biggest constitutional challenge of our time, the first minister will allow one or both of these responsibilities to flounder.
"A Welsh minister for Brexit could deliver strong and constructive representation to the UK government and facilitate better working with the devolved nations - not barrack idly from the sidelines as the first minister has so far contented himself to do."

A Welsh goverment claimed the "main barrier" to effective joint working was the "unwillingness" of the UK government to call any meetings of the JMC since February or "consult properly with us on key issues".

The spokesman urged Mr Davies to stop "barracking at the Welsh Government from the sidelines" and put pressure on his Conservative colleagues in Westminster to "live up to their undertaking to agree their approach to the Brexit negotiations with the devolved administrations".

With the Conservatives all at sea with their  negotiations calling for a  to establish a "temporary customs union" after it leaves the EU in March 2019. During this period it would also expect to be able to negotiate its own international trade deals, which it cannot currently do as a customs union member.

Labour don't seem to have any real plans of their own , with party leader Jeremy Corbyn favouring Mrs May Hard Brexit, the major parties are leading us down a Blind Alley where the likes of Donald Trump are waiting to mug us.

The Liberal Democrats seem to be relying on a call for a second referendum to stop Brexit altogether and hoping that this will result in a rise in the polls.

Plaid and the SNP may be campaigning for a much softer Brexit with a Custom Union  and Free movement  but unless there's a major break in the Tory and Labour ranks  then the result will be a Hard Brexit  with Europe tiring of the Tories attempt to have their cake it and eat it and saying "there's the door close it after you".

The truth is that we in Wales have no influence on the Tories/Labour Hard Brexit but surely we need leadership in Wales over our future after Brexit and how we can at least lessen the economic catastrophe that awaits us.

For me it will be a speedy move to Independence and Wales alongside Scotland rejoining  the EU.