Shiromini Satkunarajah, and Juhel Miah are both victims of Bureaucratic Bullies.

There were two cases of outrage over the treatment  by Immigration authorities recently

Firstly a Welsh schoolteacher was denied entry to the USA while travelling with pupils.

Juhel Miah, a Welsh Muslim, was travelling with a group from Llangatwg Comprehensive in Aberdulais, Neath Port Talbot.

The group had travelled initially to Iceland en route to New York last week.

When Mr Miah boarded the onward flight in Reykjavik on February 16 but was escorted from the aircraft by security personnel.

Whilst the school trip proceeded as planned, Mr Miah's removal from the flight left pupils and colleagues "shocked and distressed".

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said:

"We are providing support to a British man who was prevented from boarding a flight in Reykjavik."

A A Neath Port  Talbot Council council spokesperson said:

 “We are appalled by the treatment of Mr Miah and are demanding an explanation. The matter has also been raised with our local Member of Parliament.
"No satisfactory reason has been provided for refusing entry to the United States – either at the airport in Iceland or subsequently at the US Embassy in Reykjavik.
"Mr Miah attempted to visit the Embassy; but was denied access to the building. Understandably he feels belittled and upset at what appears to be an unjustified act of discrimination.”

Then Bangor Student  Sri Lankan Shiromini Satkunarajah, 20, was  taken to a detention centre after being refused asylum.

Prof John Hughes wrote to the Home Office, after a National Union of Students (NUS) petition backing her bid to stay attracted 27,000 signatures.

The Home Office said it considers each case carefully.

Miss Satkunarajah, who was born in Sri Lanka but has lived in the UK for eight years, is due to finish her electrical engineering degree this summer.

But she was arrested last week and taken to a detention centre to await deportation on Tuesday.

The university has contacted Miss Satkunarajah to reassure her it supports her bid to stay in the UK and wants to see her complete her degree course.

NUS Wales deputy president Carmen Smith told BBC Wales: 

"We want the home secretary to stop the callous and inhumane deportation of Shiromini."

Now   according  to her MP Hywel Williams Miss Satkunarajah who had has only three months left before graduating she can stay ,

 Mr Williams raised a Point order in the House of Commons about her plight on Monday.

"I'm so very glad that Shiromini and her mum have had this deportation order rescinded and released from the detention centre," 

The Plaid Cymru MP said that since the campaign was launched on Friday she had received messages of support from across the country.

Mr Wiliams and all those who fought  Ms Satkunarajah, case deserve our applause

Both cases show Immigration Authorities  in the US and UK  behaving in suh a crass manner.

It would be Hypocritical to condemn one and not the other.

We seem to be entering an era of intolerance , where the two above examples may become the rule.

Is this a case of Brexit and the election of Trump fortifying the Buracatic Bullies on both sides of the Atlantic  who believe they can treat decent hard working ,law biding people as criminals.

Caerphilly Council senior officers illegal payments now costing over £4.5 million.

Recently I blogged on Caerphilly Labour are bracing themselves for a bloodbath in May,

Wales Online reports that 

Backbench Labour councillors in Caerphilly have been urged to dissociate themselves from their leaders or face voters’ anger over the continuing senior officers’ pay scandal that has riven the authority for more than four years.
Anthony O’Sullivan was suspended as chief executive of Caerphilly council in March 2013 after the Assistant Auditor General for Wales published a report saying he had been implicated in an unlawful process that led to big pay rises for 20 senior officers at the authority and himself.

Earlier minutes of a secret meeting which approved the rises had been leaked to WalesOnline.

Mr O’Sullivan was the author of a report that recommended his own pay should rise from £132,000 to £158,000. After a public outcry his pay rise was reduced to £5,000.
Together with two other senior council officers – his deputy Nigel Barnett and head of legal services Daniel Perkins – he was charged with misconduct in a public office. The charges were dismissed by a judge before a planned trial went ahead.
None of the three men have returned to work and a disciplinary investigation remains under way.

Now the leader of scandal-hit Caerphilly council is to stand down in May ahead of this year's local government elections, it has been announced. Maybe responding to thediscontent in the ranks.

Councillor Keith Reynolds, who has clocked up 38 years in local government, cites emerging health issues for making the "difficult decision" ahead of the local elections on May 4.

Now it appears that  the calamitous saga has  cost a Welsh council £4.5m, according to figures released under Freedom of information laws.

A Freedom of Information act disclosure to Plaid Cymru shows the cost of the scandal will have reached £4.5m by April 2017.

Colin Mann, leader of the council’s opposition Plaid group, said: 

“We are talking about at least £4.5m and rising – £25 for every resident of the borough or £57 for each household.
“The council could have built two new schools, or employed many more teachers.
“Alternatively we could have resurfaced around 50 miles of roads or filled tens of thousands of potholes.

“More enforcement staff could have been employed to tackle one of the scourges of today, presided over by Labour – the huge problem of dog mess and litter.
“We could have had more community safety wardens.”
“More enforcement staff could have been employed to tackle one of the scourges of today, presided over by Labour – the huge problem of dog mess and litter.
“We could have had more community safety wardens.”

Labour’s deputy council leader Dave Poole said: 

“The cut-and-thrust of political debate is healthy, especially as we approach the local elections in May.
"But Plaid Cymru can’t be allowed to get away with claims that are distorted or just plain untrue and designed to deceive the voters.”
He said the claim that money spent on the investigation into the senior officers’ pay award was enough to build two new primary schools was nonsense.
He said: “Using Caerphilly council’s current primary school building cost, two primary schools would cost £17m. Plaid’s claim is therefore misleading and deceitful.
“Plaid Cymru councillors voted for the senior remuneration panel that made the original pay award.

 “A Plaid Cymru member of the senior remuneration panel did not vote against the pay award.“And Plaid Cymru councillors are members of the committee investigating this issue.
“Are Plaid Cymru criticising their own councillors?”

So I hope Plaid  will have a plan if they should find themselves in power after May,

It is hard to imagine  even at the cost of a unfair dismal tribunal how this could not have been resolved at least cost to the "Ratepayers",

By not facing up to doing so and getting early criticism the Council have mess a bad  situation  worse.

Who ever is running the Council must resolve it at the earliest possible opportunity,

Was Sadiq Khan asked by SLAB to accuse Indy supporters of bigotry?

You can imagine the sort of discussion  within the Scottish Labour Party (SLAB) prior to their Spring Conference.

We need to bring in a Star speaker someone guaranteed to get us headlines.

"Jeremy Corbyn?"


"Don'r be silly"


"Tony Blair?"


"Now you,r being stupid."


"Who os popular outside the party right now?"


"I know Sadiq Kahn " nor only is he popular he's a winner".


"Briliant now what shall we ask him to say"


"How about comparing Scottish Nationalism to racism and bigotry".


"Yes that is going to be a winner",

"Don'r be silly"

"Tony Blair?"

"Now you,r being stupid."

"Who os popular outside the party right now?"

"I know Sadiq Kahn " nor only is he popular he's a winner".

"Briliant now what shall we ask him to say"

"How about comparing Scottish Nationalism to racism and bigotry".

"Yes that is going to be a winner",

I am assuming because I can;t see how Sadiq Kahn could have come up with such a crass draft speech , without being asked by his hosts.

In his draft speech which he toned down a bit

“The world is an increasingly divided place – with Brexit, the election of President Trump and the rise of populist and narrow nationalist parties around the world,”
“Now is not the time to fuel that division or to seek separation or isolation. Now is not the time to play on people’s fears or to pit one part of our country – or one section of our society – against another.”

Perhaps Mr Kahn should look at the response from Emglish Blogger Another Angry Voice. (AAV).

The essence of what Sadiq Khan is saying is that in order to not be a nasty divisive racist, Scottish people should campaign alongside Britain First, UKIP and the National Front in opposing Scottish independence from Westminster rule!
This kind of idiotic and deeply insulting nonsense is clearly the product of a Labour Party that absolutely refuses to accept that they've made some absolutely catastrophic strategic errors in Scotland. 
It's the attitude of an astoundingly arrogant political party who pin the blame for their electoral hammerings on the stupidity of the Scottish electorate rather than their own obvious failings, and imagine that Scottish voters will eventually come around and see sense if enough Labour bigwigs come up from London to hector them about how wanting to put an end to London rule makes people the kind of bigots and racists who are famed for their opposition to Scottish independence.
As long as out-of-touch Labour politicians continue treating the Scottish electorate as if they're just too stupid to appreciate how great the Labour Party actually is, and using this kind of smeary, bizarrely counter-factual and ridiculously condescending "Scottish nationalism bad, British nationalism good" propaganda, the Labour Party in Scotland is certain to continue its hasty decline towards total political irrelevance.

For some reason the Labour leaning blog Left Foot Fowaed  has ben silent on the issue.

Could it be that even they can see that Khan draft speech part of which he released before the conference would not go down well with those who have left Labour in Scotland for the Independence movement?

I suppose there may well be some in Wales as well in Scotland  who will be delighted with what looks like a spectacular own goa,l which has gained nearly all the headliners of a SLAB conference which was intended to buoy them up before  May's local government elections , where they are expected to lose seats and may even become third.

But as it is I find it sad that a bright and popular Labour Leader (and they don't have many) could allow himself to make such an error in judgement.

Labour in Scotland may be finished and maybe its time they realised it and rather than see Scotland being under a right wing Tory government for decades it is time to show England and Wales that there is a progressive alternative to the bigotry that Mr Kahn was referring to, coming out of the sort of Independent Scotland the SNP and others envisage.

Wasting Mule must apologise for Cymdeithas smear. Update (they have).

On Wednesday the Wasting Mule reported that 

 Parents in a village divided over a decision by Carmarthenshire council to turn the local primary school into a Welsh medium school say they have had their tyres slashed and they have been spat and sworn at in the street.
The parents, all of whom have children in the soon to be closed English medium stream at Ysgol Llangennech, near Llanelli, say they are not members of any political party but opposed plans to make the school Welsh medium only as part of the The Keep Llangennech Dual Group.

It continued

 One mother with children at the school, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisals, said the cars vandalised belonged to parents attending a meeting to discuss the issue at a hall on Tower Grove on the evening of February 20.She and other parents believe people opposing their views are responsible.The parents, two mothers and one father, say the atmosphere in the village is bad with people unwilling to express their views because the situation has become so highly charged.

Yesterday they told us

 Police investigating tyres that were slashed in a village caught in a 'toxic' row over changes to the local school say the victims do not believe the two issues were linked.

 It said:

 "Damaged tyres victims in Park Lane did not state or believe that they were targeted due to this issue. An investigation is ongoing."It said the force had not been made aware of other incidents of abuse or harassment.

A resident of the street told WalesOnline that they were certain the two issues were not linked.

Two parents with children at the school had originally told us they were.

The original article had a picture of too members of Cymdeithas Yr Iaith (Welsh Language Society) as if they were somehow linked to the allegations it appears to have dispeared from the  Wales Online website. 

A almost identical story was covered in the South Waled Evening Post .and credited to the same reporterAbbie Wightwick 

Who according to the Wales Online Website 

"is an award-winning journalist with more than 25 years experience in newspapers. As well as covering news and features for WalesOnline and all our print titles, she writes opinion pieces on a range of topics. Her column appears every Monday in the Western Mail.

The Western Mail should tells 

Why was it decided to place a photo of two members of Cymdeithas Yr Iaith to accompany the article. 

If they are reluctant to name they source can they at least prove the existence of "The parents, all of whom have children in the soon to be closed English medium stream " and it did not come from an anonymous source?

To what extent did they contact Dyfed Powys Police to confirm the allegations and ask if those  who tyres had been slashed (which is the only clear part of the story) claimed it was linked to opposition to the changes at the school?

There is clearly a Toxic atmosphere in the village it is not helped by false allegations and smears being made in the Welsh Media

Update apparently the Mule has apologised.



What actually do they mean by  "Miscommunication"?  Surly someone should have understood  the  damage such an interpretation could result from this?


z

Ann Clwyd call for a EU Brexit Veto is not going to help Remainers one bit.

I am not sure that Ann Clwyd, Labour MP for Cynon Valley, Petition to allow citizens to vote on any Brexit deal after negotiations are concluded is the right action or wise

Her call for protections to be put in place for UK citizens working in EU countries and EU citizens here.is the right move  buy the argument that

“The European Parliament must give its consent by a simple majority to the withdrawal agreement negotiated by the UK and the EU. It’s a very significant power...
“The [European Parliament] is going to be important in determining the final withdrawal agreement. It has to receive regular information on its progress and the Council of Ministers needs to obtain the European Parliament’s consent...

“It has the right to withhold consent to the final consent to the final agreement so it’s got a lot of political leverage to influence the agreement [which] in effect makes it a veto player.”

"If a majority of the European Parliament don't like it they can in effect veto negotiations. I think that's a very big power.
"When the true implications of withdrawal are known a lot of people will change their minds."

 What could she imagine would be the reaction be if the EU were to veto Brexit. Even many Remainers would be angry and it would I believe  lead to a huge Anti-EU backlash.

The right of succession must surely rest with the state seeking it. Ms Clwyd's plan seems similar to those who call for a  vote by the whole of the UK  on a Scottish Independence Referendum.

Ms Clwyd is also urging MEPs to invite Prime Minister Theresa May to address them.

She said:

 "The referendum was advisory and we should have looked at the advice, but still properly considered the implications of leaving the EU, which weren't clear to any of us - elected politicians didn't know."
"We here in the UK parliament are still finding out about it. We know, just in the last few days, we may have to pay an enormous bill if we exit the EU."
Leaving the EU would be detrimental to the Cynon Valley and the rest of Wales, 

 A spokesman for the Department for Exiting the EU said: 

"The prime minister has been clear we want to protect the status of EU nationals already living in the UK.

"The only circumstances in which that wouldn't be possible is if British citizens' rights in the EU were not protected in return."

This does  seem that the UK government are holding other EU Nationals living here to ransom.

I believe Brexit is a foolhardy move based on lies . I also am unconvinced  that all those who voted for it did so expecting the Hard Brexit  that the Tories are pushing through Parliament.

But if there is any move to stop it then it must come from the electors of these Islands, I hope it happens and that it becomes clear that a majority are not happy with the result of any negotiations . But Ms Clwyd seeming call for the EU withhold consent to the final consent to the final agreement  is not going to make our task easier

Unamed £250,000 DUP donation spent on LEAVE adverts in rest of UK

I can understand why Political Parties in Northern Ireland have been allowed  to not to disclose the source of Political donations.

Having your name attached to a donation could put your life danger in the past.

But surly a panal could check these donations to see that they come from a reputable source?

But it appears that the Leave campaign have used this as a loophole to allow anonymous donations in the UK referendum campaign

Leader Arlene Foster has confirmed that the DUP received a donation to advertise a pro-Brexit position in Britain prior to the referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union.

Speaking on BBC NI's The View the DUP leader said: 

"We registered as a party in the Leave campaign because we felt very passionate about it.
"We played a role nationally.
"We received a donation which has been properly put into the Electoral Commission," 

Mrs Foster said she did not recall how much money was involved.

Which may actuall be true if it was just a laundering operation to get Adverts  in the rest of the UK without disclosing the name of the true source.

She declined to reveal the identity of the donor or donors but said the money was properly accounted for "under the rules as they currently stand".

The funds involved, which included an expensive UK-wide four wrap-around Metro newspaper ad two days before the vote, were likely to be “the most expensive single piece of propaganda ever issued by an Irish political party”, according to Irish commentator Fintan O’Toole.

When quizzed on the donation last week, DUP leader Arlene Foster said the money – estimated to be as much as £250,000 – came from "an organisation in England that wants to see the union kept and make sure we can have a United Kingdom".

To put this in to perceptive the Blogger Slugger O'Toole pointer out

A quarter of a million pounds is unlike anything the DUP has spent in the past. Just a month before the EU referendum, the party won 38 seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly elections and retained its position as the largest party there.To do this, they spent less than £90,000.The 2015 general election – where the DUP won eight seats and became the third-equal biggest group in Westminster – cost the party only £58,000. In fact, the total combined spend of all Northern Irish political parties for the 2015 general election was just £221,143.The DUP’s most recent accounts show that its total expenditure for the whole of 2015 was £511,766, and its net assets at the end of the year were around £195,000.A bill of more than £250,000 only months later would therefore have left them bankrupt – unless they got significant extra income from somewhere.

The mystery organisation paid for a wraparound advert in free newspaper Metro just days before the EU referendum. Because all political donations in Northern Ireland are confidential, it is thought the donor chose the DUP as the advert's sponsor to deliberately avoid publicity.

The Metro is not published in Northern Ireland .

“They’re from an organisation in England that wants to see the union kept, and to make sure we can have a United Kingdom because it was a national issue.” DUP leader Arlene Foster

The DUP has said it will today reveal the identity of the group that bankrolled its pro-Brexit adverts in the British press.

MP Jeffrey Donaldson has said the party wanted to be "as open and transparent as possible" and was yesterday working with the Electoral Commission with a view to publishing the secret donor's details.

The timing of its planned revelation coincides with the deadline for Secretary of State James Brokenshire to answer two parliamentary questions from Green MP Caroline Lucas about party donors.

The MP for Brighton Pavilion tabled the questions earlier this week when she told The Irish News the "extremely large secret donations" to the DUP raised serious questions over the funding of the Leave campaign.

This is an  huge scandal as the DUP  and Northern Ireland electoral law has ben used to mainly campaign in the rest of the UK.

Who actually composed  up the Advert was it the donor or the DUP, was the latter's contribution  simply "laundering"  the Brexit money?

Why as soon as this became clear didn't the Electoral Commission rule that this broke the spirit of electoral law if not the law itself?

Could it be argued that the £250,000 adverts convinced enough people to vote for Brexit giving the Leave campaign a majority.

So use of Cymraeg at Westminster depends on the whim of just one man!

So Members of Parliament will be able to use Cymraeg in Westminster debates for the first time this year

MPs will be free to challenge one another in Welsh during sessions of the Welsh Grand Committee.

The UK Government will bring forward a motion to change the rules.

Today, MPs can only speak Cymraeg  during Westminster proceedings when the Welsh Affairs select committee is taking evidence

The language will now be used in short debates, legislative scrutiny and the questioning of ministers.

The Wasting Mule claimed that this comes after a push by Clwyd South Labour MP Susan Elan Jones and colleagues to allow the use of Cymraeg

However this has been  long campaign and Plaid  and other MP'shave regularly tried to get  Cymraeg  used in the UK Parliment.

Only last year such a proposal was rejected by House of Commons  leader Chris Grayling to overturn a ban on speaking Cymraeg at Westminster.

Ms Jones formally requested the Commons Procedure committee to allow bilingual debate in the Welsh Grand.

Welcoming the announcement, Ms Jones said:

“I think it’s a necessary change... I just think we have to recognise that Wales is a bilingual country...
“Many of us will be taking advantage of that.

The change seems to have come after Chris Grayling moved to the Department of Transport and was replaced by David Lidington, as  the leader of Commons, who said:

“Welsh MPs play a vital role in making their constituents’ voices heard in the House of Commons. Across Whitehall, UK Government ministers are listening and responding – as we are today by promoting the Welsh language in Parliament and its contribution to the cultural diversity of the United Kingdom.”

So it seems the use of our Language in Westminster debated depends on the whim of just one man.


Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns said:

 “I am delighted that MPs will be able to participate in the Welsh Grand Committee through the medium of Welsh for the first time in Westminster. It is vitally important that the people of Wales are able to hear debates in both languages.
“I hope that MPs who can speak Welsh will choose to use this service in order to help promote the Welsh language across Parliament.”

According to the UK Government:

 “The cost of the translation services – both interpreters and headsets – will be absorbed within Parliament’s existing budgets, meaning this change takes place at no extra cost to the taxpayer.”

The Procedure committee investigated the issue and it stated at the end of last year: 

“The committee recognises the unique status of Welsh as a language with statutory protection for its use in Wales, and makes no criticism of the existing arrangements for the use of Welsh. While the committee strongly maintains the principle that the language of the House of Commons is English, it finds that there is no technical bar to making arrangements for the use of Welsh in Grand Committee sittings at Westminster, and that the likely additional costs of arranging for the use of Welsh at a Grand Committee sitting are lower than the costs of holding a committee sitting in Wales.”

 But although this move is welcome and  a different Leader of the House would be wise not to reverse it, Its a strange democracy when one man or women has such power over the use of Cymraeg in the "Parliament of Equal Nations".

You may have noticed that I have used Cymraeg when refering to the Welsh Language other than quotes. I believe that its time we formally use Cymraeg when  refering to the indigenous language of Wales . It is bad enough that we constantly use Wales rather than Cymru and I may consider using the latter more often.

But it's  really time we daily used Cymraeg when referring to the Welsh Language.

Could Coleg Harlech reemerge as a Welsh Medium training college?

As some who greatly benefited (Indeed it changed my life)  with the news that Coleg Harlech is to  close, leaving uncertainty for dozens of students and staff.

Coleg Harlech’s Wern Fawr site, which has been open for 90 years, will cease to provide education for adult learners from September.

The future of the stunning grade-II listed building is now uncertain.

In 2013 Coleg Harlech had to sell off 350 pieces of art in an attempt to relieve some of its £900,000 debt and a feasibility study into the future of the college took place in 2015.

Despite those warning signs, the announcement came as a shock to the whole town as even the community council, which met on Monday night, had not been informed of the imminent closure.

Talks with Coleg Harlech staff are to take place this week, with dozens of students and staff set to be affected by the changes.ynedd councillor Caerwyn Roberts admitted he was “very disappointed” by the news.

“We’re all very disappointed. It mentions services will be ‘relocated’ but I hope that those doing the relocating realise that Meirionnydd is amongst the poorest areas in the UK,” he said.
“Relocating to Bangor or Caernarfon does nothing for us. Losing jobs from the area is the last thing we need. I’m hoping they give that notion due consideration.”

Dwyfor Meirionnydd’s AM Dafydd Elis-Thomas hopes the Welsh Government will fund a feasibility study into future use of the site.

Such is the depervation of the College over the years, which some may claim were made first by enforced merger with the WEA, that the Old accommodation Block is derelict  and ambitious plans to replace it came to nothing

 Harlech residents have resomably launched a petition  fu the demolition and redevelopment of the St David's Hotel and Coleg Harlech accommodation block. Both buildings are a grotesque blight on the beautiful surrounding area. With the imminent closure of the the Coleg Harlech buildings we respectfully call upon the Welsh Assembly Government, Gwynedd Council and Snowdonia National Park Authority to:

1. enforce the demolition order on the hotel without further delay; 2. serve a demolition order on the accommodation block at the earliest possible opportunity; 3. work to facilitate with the owners of the hotel and college sites a comprehensive redevelopment, including appropriate use of the historic college buildings, with the aim of delivering a top class resort (holiday apartments, hotel, restaurant, conference and leisure facilities). Harlech has been waiting too long. It is time for action now!

Is there a future for Harlech as a centre for Education?

Well if we had a government  with ambition in Cardiff Bay, there could be.

I would like to see the Welsh Government take over the site and turn it into a Teacher Training college specialising in the teaching through the medium of Welsh. Not only future Teachers but helping those  who are non-welsh speakers who are involved in Education "cross the bridge " and become fluent in Welsh.

Indeed the College motto "a fo ben bid bont" He would be a leader let him be a bridge could take on a new meaning.

If the Welsh Labour Government are serious with a drive to almost double the number of Welsh speakers to one million by 2050 then it will need to train far more Teachers to teach through the Medium of Welsh at all levels including Universities.

If they were to look for a place to create the people who wil  carry ithis forward then Harlech  with its history of education and situation in one of the strongest Welsh Speaking parts of Wales would be ideal.

Llanelli Labour use Anti-Cymraeg rhetoric for electoral purposes.

I suspect the Welsh Media have looked at the  row over the decision to change a primary school to Welsh-medium education and in found   that the majority of residents support the decision and that is why they have failed to cover the story in depth

BBC Wales have coverd the news that the Labour party has said a member has been suspended after the

Carmarthenshire council voted in January to drop the English stream at Ysgol Llangennech, near Llanelli.

Labour said Michaela Beddows, who campaigned against changes at the school, is suspended while the party investigates.

But Ms Beddows has since told BBC Wales she is not a member of Labour.

Plaid Cymru's Jonathan Edwards wrote to Jeremy Corbyn claiming Labour members had been campaigning with UKIP.

He accused Labour members of sharing far-right material on social media, but said it was not "one individual" and called for more members to be investigated.

Ms Beddows spoke to BBC News about the council's decision on Ysgol Llangennech saying there was "no such thing as democracy in Carmarthenshire".

The Labour party said she had been suspended as a member, but did not reveal the reason behind the decision.

If however you really want the nitty gritty then I suggest you turn to Y Cneifiwr cover of the issue and look here for information.

It is ironic that a Plaid MP found it necessary to write to the Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn in Westminster to complain about Labour member coseying up to Ukip and supporting fascist Tweets .

Of course with both the local AM Lee Waters and MP Nia Griffiths seeming  to side with the Ukip-Labour campaign in Llangenech to attack the  move by the council which is supposed to be part of the Welsh Labour Governments claim that they seek to almost double the number of Welsh speakers to one million by 2050 which was unveiled by the first minister at the National Eisteddfod. You think that it would be the "Leader" of Welsh Labour Carwyn Jones who would step in but alas no.

Indeed it appears that elements of the Labour Party have decided thta it is time to revive the old Anti-Cymraeg rhetoric in order to stop Plaid making gains in the May election.

Llangennech being probably the sought of seat they would be aiming to gain.

Candidates	Party	Result
AKHTAR, Fozia	Welsh Labour	439
DARKIN, David Llewelyn	Welsh Labour	535
HOPKINS, Gwyn	Plaid Cymru - The Party of Wales	757
THOMAS, Gwyneth	Plaid Cymru - The Party of Wales	889

Some of the Ukip-Labour alliance have claimed they will be standing for the latter in the ward next year.

Which may explain the sort of poster campaign inthe village.

It also might explain the experiance of a parent writing on the Herald newspaper website:

I’m not a political person or a Plaid Cymru member, I’m just a parent in Llangennech and I have to say that I’m relieved that this is coming to an end at last.The local Labour party have bullied and silenced us for months. Door stepping, pressure, waving petitions in our faces, threatening us when we didn’t want to sign them, trying to make us feel like traitors while they go all over the tele and radio pretending that all of Llangennech is against these changes. They’ve been disgusting and intimidating. As a Llanegennech parent, I never asked them to speak for me and I know my friends didn’t ask them to either.

Substitute  Race or Religion for the sort of language used by the Ukip-Labour Alliance  in llanelli and the "Liberal"  Media would be exposing it in lengthy Editorials.

But this is Cymraeg  and alas Labour can safetly  cosy up to Ukip and attack  the actual policy of their own party because it appears to be a weapon against another party.

Caerphilly Labour are bracing themselves for a bloodbath in May,

Over thirty years ago whilst a mature student in Coleg Harlech my mother would send me (after she read it) her copy of the Pontypridd Observer and to some extent keep up with local news.

At one time throughout Wales the Weekly local newspaper was read regally and could have an important influence on local politics.

I don't know what the circulation of the Caerphilly Observer is but if it was anything like its circulation 30 years ago and impartially  reported on the council then the ruling Labour Group would be doomed .

The situation  is made worse by the dependency on local newspapers to rely on local advertising , which has led allegations the ruling group can threaten to withdraw advertising if it receives adverse criticism.

But maybe local news is getting through

Wales Online reports that 

Backbench Labour councillors in Caerphilly have been urged to dissociate themselves from their leaders or face voters’ anger over the continuing senior officers’ pay scandal that has riven the authority for more than four years.
Anthony O’Sullivan was suspended as chief executive of Caerphilly council in March 2013 after the Assistant Auditor General for Wales published a report saying he had been implicated in an unlawful process that led to big pay rises for 20 senior officers at the authority and himself.

Earlier minutes of a secret meeting which approved the rises had been leaked to WalesOnline.

Mr O’Sullivan was the author of a report that recommended his own pay should rise from £132,000 to £158,000. After a public outcry his pay rise was reduced to £5,000.
Together with two other senior council officers – his deputy Nigel Barnett and head of legal services Daniel Perkins – he was charged with misconduct in a public office. The charges were dismissed by a judge before a planned trial went ahead.
None of the three men have returned to work and a disciplinary investigation remains under way.

Daniel Perkins, Nigel Barnett, and Anthony O'Sullivan

By the end of March the scandal is expected to have cost taxpayers more than £2.5m in unexpected salary costs and legal fees.w all backbench members of the council’s controlling Labour group have received an unsigned letter warning them they could be punished in May’s council election unless they dissociate themselves from their leader Keith Reynolds and his deputy David Poole.

The letter says:

 “Back in 2012 there was a secret meeting held regarding the increasing of pay for the council’s top officers. This meeting was held at a time when all other council workers were on a pay freeze. At that meeting one Plaid member and four Labour cabinet members, it was agreed to raise the chief officers’ pay by between £20,000 and £30,000, increasing their pay by larger amounts than most council workers earn in a year.

“Three of the four Labour cabinet members who agreed these pay rises are still cabinet members – Christine Forehead, David Poole and Keith Reynolds.

“Remember this was a secret meeting that Labour backbenchers were not consulted on. Labour backbenchers were not trusted with this information by their own leadership.

“Despite this lack of trust of backbenchers, you backbenchers have promoted two of them. David Poole is now the deputy leader and Keith Reynolds is the leader. This shows backbench support for people who do not trust backbenchers.

“Christine Forehead, David Poole and Keith Reynolds did not ask you if it was OK to offer a £30,000 rise in pay. If they had asked, would you have agreed it?.

“They did not ask the unions if it was OK to offer a £30,000 rise in pay. If they had asked, would the unions have agreed it?

did not ask the people of Caerphilly if it was OK to offer a £30,000 rise in pay. If they had asked, would the people of Caerphilly have agreed it?

“Why do you continue to show support for people who didn’t trust you?

“You will soon be asking people to vote for you. How can people trust you when you continue to support these people who show no Labour values.

 “This will be the number one issue for Plaid Cymru and Ukip in the coming election, and you have no way of defending yourself on this issue because you continue to support the very people who show no concern for you.”

Nigel Dix, a councillor from Blackwood and certainly no friend of Plaid.who has resigned from the Labour group and now sits as an Independent, said: “It is crazy that the two most senior Labour councillors authorised the huge pay rises awarded to top officers. There needs to be a thorough shake-up, and it may well come at the election in May.”

Caerphilly council Labour group did not wish to comment,

Although Plaid have had some success in local Byelection it seems to me that they have been making up lost ground and not the sort vote which would indicate huge gains in May .

However it is clear Labour are worried and Caerphilly may be one of the councils to watch in May,

If it is then Plaid should consider what it would do with regards the above scandal.

As Plaid have found out in Carmathen there is a huge difference in being in opposition to leading a council  that has a "dodgy " record,

The small People First group have described it as a Poison Chalice  and if Plaid are looking at becoming the governing group on Caerphilly . I hope they  already have plans to deal with the mess made by the current administration.