Saturday, 23 November 2019

Last night proves Wales is an afterthought to Unionist Parties and Media.

Wales may have made the Rugby World Cup Semi Finals  and the Euro 2020 finals but whilst this does mean that we have  something to show to the world that we are in fact a Nation last night "leaders" debate proved once again that when it comes to recognition beyond sport we are no more relevant  than a English Parish Council.

With no representation from Plaid Cymru  there was no mention of Wales and that comparing the wealth generated in different parts of the UK show that Wales remains bottom of the league table, behind every other UK nation and every region of England. The so-called Gross Value Added (Income Approach) for last year was published today, with the figure per person in Wales at less than half the level of England's richest region, which was London.

Without such an acknowledgement it means that when the Unionist Parties (Nicola Sturgeon of course making the case for Scotland) made their pitch  whether Left Right or Centre , they proved they still regard Wales as little more than a English Region  and that what they offer in their Manifestos and unbelievable spending plans (not that they will be implemented) and after years of the failure of the "Precious" Union, nothing will change and it is irrelevant to us whether there is a Boom or Bust UK economy, we will still be bottom of the league.

That is the problem for Adam Price and Plaid Cymru  in UK elections excluded from the debate largely ignored by the UK Media , the opportunity to raise the profile of the party and Adam himself is denied.

This also reverberates into the future Senedd Elections a higher profile when it comes to this Election  could see Plaid matching the SNP in becoming the largest Senedd party.

It's a catch 22 situation. Plaid cannot win unless it  is seen as relevant in UK politics and can't be sen as relevant if it doesn't win.

The SNP managed to do this because the Scottish Parliament with real powers and the fact that Scotland is seen as an entity iin UK "National" terms.

It is ironic that Scotland flopped in the Rugby World Cup and may not qualify for Euro 2020  and yet it is already seen by the World as a Nation in their own right and in a few years make it an actuality.

Unless Wales wakes up however  we may even lose our football status and become England and Wales, in the same manner as cricket.

It could even happen in Rugby , We might just react then but it will be to late.

Friday, 22 November 2019

This election is being bought by "Russian Gold"

What kind of  democracy do we live in where people with money can affect the result of a General Election by donating  large sums to just one party?
The Tories banked large donations worth 26 times those received by Labour in the first week of the election campaign, new figures revealed today.
The Daily Mail reports that
Boris Johnson's party received £5.7million in just seven days, compared with £218,500 given to Jeremy Corbyn's outfit, the Electoral Commission said.
But the cash handed to the Conservative may raise some eyebrows as it includes £200,000 from Lubov Chernukhin, the wife of a Russian oligarch with links to Vladimir Putin.
Banker Mrs Chernukhin enjoyed a night out with Theresa May and six female Cabinet members in April after donating £135,000 at a Tory fundraiser.

It took her total contribution to Conservative coffers to more than £1million before her latest payment.
Mr Johnson's ability to pull in such large donations underlines his popularity and boosts his party, which is already ahead in the polls.
But it could also help Labour renew its charge that the Conservatives are the party of billionaires, bankers and big business. 
 I am not sure if it has anything to do with Boris Johnson's popularity, these donors will sesek to do so whoever the Tory leaders is 


The party has insisted that Mrs Chernukhin, now a British citizen, is not a ‘Putin crony’. But the money will raise fresh questions about the Tories’ links to Russia just a year after the Salisbury spy poisoning.
Five years ago, David Cameron faced questions after Mrs Chernukhin successfully bid £160,000 at a party fundraising dinner to play tennis against him and Boris Johnson.
Labour even trailed two of the smaller parties in the fundraising stakes, although it tends to raise more money from smaller donations that fall below the Electoral Commission's £7,500 notification threshold.
Last week it claimed that it had taken more than a million pounds from such gifts.
 'While the Conservative Party is in the pockets of vested interests and the super-rich, we are proud that the Labour Party is funded by hundreds of thousands of people donating what they can afford to build a fairer society,' Labour Chairman Ian Lavery said in response to the figures.
The biggest Conservative backer was John Gore, a developer, producer and distributor of Broadway theatre, who gave 1 million pounds.
The next three largest were the travel company Trailfinders, Countrywide Developers and WA Capital, who each gave 500,000 pounds to the party.
The party also received 200,000 pounds from Lubov Chernukhin, the wife of a former Russian minister, the Electoral Commission said.
Stockbrokers Shore Capital donated 250,000
pounds and hedge fund manager Andrew Law gave 200,000 pounds
.

 The influence of Money can be seen in examining the results of Canadian Elextions  who have a similar electoral system to the UK .

However Wikipedia  when displaying the results from Canadian Ridings (Constituencies) include what each party spent


Here are some examples

York Centre

2015 Canadian federal election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Expenditures
LiberalMichael Levitt20,13146.88+13.64$108,171.17
ConservativeMark Adler18,89343.99−4.54$139,711.85
New DemocraticHal Berman3,1487.33−8.56$9,236.24
GreenConstantine Kritsonis7721.80−0.54$2,969.38
Total valid votes/Expense limit42,944100.00 $198,977.91
Total rejected ballots3190.74
Turnout43,26367.29
Eligible voters64,297
Liberal gain from ConservativeSwing+9.

Hochelaga (electoral district)

2015 Canadian federal election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Expenditures
New DemocraticMarjolaine Boutin-Sweet16,03430.89-16.59$64,664.42
LiberalMarwah Rizqy15,53429.93+18.20$19,746.32
Bloc QuébécoisSimon Marchand14,38927.72-3.04$47,613.01
ConservativeAlexandre Dang3,5556.85-0.35$3,363.29
GreenAnne-Marie Saint-Cerny1,6543.19+1.52
RhinocerosNicolas Lemay4110.79+0.26$651.34
CommunistMarianne Breton Fontaine1790.34-0.05
Marxist–LeninistChristine Dandenault1480.29-0.02
Total valid votes/Expense limit51,904100.0 $219,682.85
Total rejected ballots877
Turnout52,781
Eligible voters82,783
These results were subject to a judicial recount,[6] and modified from the validated results in accordance with the Judge's rulings. The margin of Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet over Marwah Rizqy decreased from 541 votes to 500 votes as a result of the recount.[7]
Source: Elections Canada[8][9]

Parkdale—High Park

2015 Canadian federal election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Expenditures
LiberalArif Virani24,62342.04+9.15$118,148.12
New DemocraticPeggy Nash23,56640.24-6.96$143,864.29
ConservativeIan Allen7,64113.05-2.50$16,096.82
GreenAdam Phipps1,7432.98-0.29$4,405.49
LibertarianMark Jeftovic6101.04
MarijuanaTerry Parker1910.33-0.09
Marxist–LeninistLorne Gershuny1000.17±0
IndependentCarol Royer930.16$4,449.41
Total valid votes/Expense limit58,567100.0   $211,869.52
Total rejected ballots269
Turnout58,836
Eligible voters76,95

Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River

2015 Canadian federal election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Expenditures
New DemocraticGeorgina Jolibois10,31934.15-11.23$26,597.41
LiberalLawrence Joseph10,23733.88+28.62$50,341.46
ConservativeRob Clarke9,10530.14-16.75$83,236.17
GreenWarren Koch5521.83-0.64$1,984.03
Total valid votes/Expense limit30,21399.70 $228,699.20
Total rejected ballots910.30
Turnout30,30468.38
Eligible voters44,320
New Democratic gain from ConservativeSwing+2.76
These results were subject to a judicial recount and modified from the validated results in accordance with the Judge's ruling
OK the winning party is not always the one that spends most and it would take a fair bit of examination over a number of elections to establish any correlation.

If you are a Politics student looking for a dissertation topic it would be worth while considering.

What would be the result if the above expenditure method appeared on the UK results.

However we also need to link the Parties expeditionary outside that counted in a individual consistencies.

For years elections have been bought and now it seems by Russian Gold.

That term was often used to attack the Left in the UK in the Soviet era.

It is ironic that "Russian Gold" is now buying the election for a Right Wing Brexit.


One wonders why there are not cries of Treason from our media , but of course  it suits thymine



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Thursday, 21 November 2019

Even Gwlad Gwlad have candidates from outside Wales.


Of course you could and perhaps (indeed )should  get into deep water if you insisted that General Election and Senedd candidates should have some Welsh connection  and at the very least lice in Wales

But he news that a"A third of Conservative general election candidates for Welsh constituencies live outside the country".
"Official lists of candidates published by local authorities reveal that the Conservative candidate in 13 of 40 Welsh seats do not have a home address in Wales.That list includes target seats for the Tories, such as Cardiff North and Ynys Môn, where their candidates are listed as living in London.The Conservative candidate for Ynys Môn has the furthest to travel between her home in Kensington and would-be constituency at 297 miles.That’s closely followed by the candidate for Arfon who lives 260 miles away in the Enfield Southgate constituency and a Conservative councillor in West Suffolk standing in Arfon.Combined, the 13 Conservative candidates based outside Wales have 2,265 miles to travel between their homes and the constituencies they’re contesting. The full list is:
Constituency contestingConstituency of Home AddressDistance
NeathTewkesbury91 miles
Swansea WestStroud95 miles
Cynon ValleySalisbury112 miles
Cardiff CentralSutton Coldfield121 miles
LlanelliDevizes121 miles
Cardiff South and PenarthSpelthorne141 miles
Cardiff NorthEaling Central and Acton144 miles
AberavonBermondsey and Old Southwark181 miles
Alyn and DeesideHampstead and Kilburn212 miles
Dwyfor MeirionnyddWimbledon241 miles
AberconwyWest Suffolk259 miles
ArfonEnfield Southgate260 miles
Ynys MônKensington287 miles

I wonder how many Tory candidates in Scotland  are domiciled outside that Nation.


it is a complete insult and Four other parties are also fielding a smaller number of candidates who live outside Wales.



Five of the Brexit party’s 31 candidates in Wales live outside the country. Their candidates for Gower, Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, Wrexham, Cardiff North and Neath live in Wiltshire, North Shropshire, North East Somerset, Tonbridge and Hornsey and Wood Green respectively and one wonders how many in the seats that  Führer  Farage  has forced candidates to stand down come from outside
The Liberal Democrat candidate for Montgomeryshire is based in Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
The Labour candidate for Ynys Mon is based in Vauxhall and the Gwlad, Gwlad candidate for the Vale of Glamorgan is based in Bexley and Sidcup.Indeed  it is oddly the last one that that is perhaps the most preposterous , if you were to turn to the "Arsehole of the North's" Blog  where he covers the failings of al the parties failings in this election with unsurprisingly an emphasis on Plaid.
But for someone who appears to catty out methodical research (No one has sued him for libel") he seems to have missed the story that that Sian Caiach  who may or not be a leading member of Gwlad Gwlad  seems to have nominated the Brexit Party candidate in the Llanelli Consituency.
 Or as Nation Cymru tells us 

"A candidate for the Welsh nationalist party Gwlad Gwlad in the Vale of Glamorgan stood three times as a candidate for a party that wanted a referendum on Monmouthshire being part of England.Laurence Williams stood for the English Democrats party at the Erith and Thamesmead in the 2010 General Election and East Wickham council by-election in 2009.He also stood for the party on the South East Wales regional list in the 2011 Welsh Assembly election.Since 2007 the party have also put forward candidates in Monmouthshire, arguing for a referendum on taking the county out of Wales and into England.Among the party’s other policies in 2010 were doing away with the Barnett Formula which “institutionalises discrimination against the people of England by ensuring that public spending in Scotland and Wales is far higher per head of population”.Laurence Williams told Nation.Cymru however that he did feel Welsh and used to be a Plaid Cymru member.“My family left there [Wales] in 1888, and made their way to London, I’m simply ‘going home’, so to speak,” he said.“My association with the English Democrats some 11 years ago, after I’d left Plaid Cymru, was / is that they seek Independence from Wales and Scotland, thus Cymru and Alba would become independent by proxy.“I wasn’t happy about the Monmouth bit, but was expected to take an interest given my Welsh heritage. Once I’d read about King Henry VIII’s annexations, I knew only too well that Monmouth is Welsh. And so are Hereford and Shropshire!”Laurence Williams went on to stand in Old Bexley and Sidcup, where he still lives, as the Christian Party “Proclaiming Christ’s Lordship” candidate for Member of Parliament in the 2015 General Election.The party’s manifesto railed against political correctness, saying it was “generating fear and division in neighbourhoods and communities”.He also stood as the Christian Peoples’ Alliance candidate for the London region in the 2014 European Elections, before going on to be the 2018 Liberal Party Candidate (not the Liberal Democrats) in the local government elections for Sidcup.Gwlad Gwlad have put forward three candidates in Wales at the General Election, standing in seats where Plaid Cymru have stepped aside as part of the Remain Alliance with the Liberal Democrats.They are standing in Montgomery, Cardiff Central and the Vale of Glamorgan. The party have been contacted for comment.
The "Christian" Parties  that Laurence Williams stood for are Far Right Nut Jobs, but it seems to me that Laurence Williams would join any party that let him stand.


Still its a very odd choice for Gwlad Gwlad and whilst you can expect the Tories to regard  Cymru as little better than an English County and Labour and Lib Dems seemingly so devoid of talent they have to look to London for candidate it seems odd the so called "True Welsh Patriots" to do the same.


Some of the above will probably win a seat , don't forget  a young Brighton solicitor  gaining the then Anglesey seat i1879 and could have held for decades if he hadn't He resigned his seat in 1987 following the revelation by the Labour Research Department that he had made multiple share applications in the BT offer (for which he was later convicted).



General election 1979: Anglesey
PartyCandidateVotes%±
ConservativeKeith Best15,10039.0+15.2
LabourElystan Morgan12,28331.7−9.9
Plaid CymruJohn Lasarus Williams7,86320.3+1.2
LiberalJohn Gwynedd Jones3,5009.0−6.5
Majority2,8177.3N/A
Turnout38,74681.2+5.1
Registered electors47,726
Conservative gain from LabourSwing+12.5


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