Non-story about local pool forces journalism black out
I first heard of this story on the satirical BBC Radio 4 show the Now Show and therefore looked up on Tabloid watch. for further information on Please use the link to check this out because they deserve the credit and for me to simply cut & paste the story from their blog would be just doing what all the Tabloids did with the original story.
What I would like to comment on is firstly the sheer hypocrisy of these Tabloids who would just have easily supported moves to cover up the windows in order to prevent Paedophiles looking in, You could picture the headline now.
But it is the sheer racist overtones of this coverage.The Sun presented the Story along with a picture of someone in a Burka relying on negative stereotypes to support their claim.
All the Tabloids claimed to be delighted that the BNP were defeated soundly in the last General Election but with such journalism there is no need for the BNP to ent their spleen the British media is doing the job for them.
National Left - Wales needs a progressive left future.
Saturday, 10 July 2010
Friday, 9 July 2010
An Equal Union?
There has been much speculation that the Con-Lib government has plans to reduce the number of Welsh MP from 40 to 30 as part of plans to reduce the number of MPs in the UK.The idea is to equalize the number of electors each Constituency holds across the UK though some concession may be given to rural areas.
The reduction of Welsh MPs has also become necessary, it has been argued because Devolution means that there is no need for Wales to have a higher number of electors needed in each constituency than in England.
This has already been done in Scotland where after the creation of the Scottish Parliament saw the number of members reduced from 72 to 59 in 2005.
I have always thought the Scots were mistaken in not resisting the cut in their MPs and hope those in Wales do not follow suit.
Of course I personally would be all too happy to see the day when we send zero MPs to Westminster but as we do. Shouldn’t we have more MPs rather than less?
If the UK is the Union which is so beloved of the London Parties then why not has a Union of equals?
The EU for examples “weights” the membership of its Parliament so Countries wit large population do not completely dominate: And of course in Commission where the real power is the. There is one Commissioner per member of the 27 states.
Taking in to account that there is only one Tory in Scotland and the dominance of Labour in Wales It is is clear that we have different values to that of predominately Tory England.
If we accept the equal members of the Union therefore the membership of the Commons should perhaps in reality resemble this.
I doubt the war in Afghanistan would have happened in this case.
This would mean no one member of the Union would completely dominate the Commons.
I doubt than any Unionist would agree with this proposal and Nationalist would treat it as a sop. But I believe this exposes the whole unionist argument.
Simply.
We are either equal members of your Union or not. If we are treat us as equal Nations if not let us leave.
The reduction of Welsh MPs has also become necessary, it has been argued because Devolution means that there is no need for Wales to have a higher number of electors needed in each constituency than in England.
This has already been done in Scotland where after the creation of the Scottish Parliament saw the number of members reduced from 72 to 59 in 2005.
I have always thought the Scots were mistaken in not resisting the cut in their MPs and hope those in Wales do not follow suit.
Of course I personally would be all too happy to see the day when we send zero MPs to Westminster but as we do. Shouldn’t we have more MPs rather than less?
If the UK is the Union which is so beloved of the London Parties then why not has a Union of equals?
The EU for examples “weights” the membership of its Parliament so Countries wit large population do not completely dominate: And of course in Commission where the real power is the. There is one Commissioner per member of the 27 states.
Taking in to account that there is only one Tory in Scotland and the dominance of Labour in Wales It is is clear that we have different values to that of predominately Tory England.
If we accept the equal members of the Union therefore the membership of the Commons should perhaps in reality resemble this.
England……………350 MPs
Scotland…………...200 MPs
Wales……………...100 MPs
Northern Ireland…...50 MPs
I doubt the war in Afghanistan would have happened in this case.
This would mean no one member of the Union would completely dominate the Commons.
I doubt than any Unionist would agree with this proposal and Nationalist would treat it as a sop. But I believe this exposes the whole unionist argument.
Simply.
We are either equal members of your Union or not. If we are treat us as equal Nations if not let us leave.
Thursday, 8 July 2010
Short Term Contracts.
.
Anybody who has seeking work for a long period will know that there is a scarcity of jobs out there. They will have also noticed that many jobs now advertised are on short term contracts, This has been the norm for a number of years.This is particularly prevalent in the manufacturing industry.
This means that people on short term contracts have no idea how long their employment will go on and could be renewing their contract daily. (Though I believe the norm is based the period they are paid weekly, fortnightly or Monthly.
To my knowledge there been no major investigation in to the amount of short term contracts, either in Wales or the UK. Which I find perplexing.
I therefore call any Trade Unionist, Political Party, individual MP, or AM to ask for the following Questions.
This will be difficult. Often at the end of the year (just before the Christmas Holidays people are dismissed, only to be reemployed a few weeks later with a different “Clock Number”
I know of at least one case where someone working for a state owned company who as been doing the exact job for 3 years on a short term contract who was ignored in favour of a new applicant.
These questions need asking perhaps they haven’t been asked because the result may be too embarrassing.
Anybody who has seeking work for a long period will know that there is a scarcity of jobs out there. They will have also noticed that many jobs now advertised are on short term contracts, This has been the norm for a number of years.This is particularly prevalent in the manufacturing industry.
This means that people on short term contracts have no idea how long their employment will go on and could be renewing their contract daily. (Though I believe the norm is based the period they are paid weekly, fortnightly or Monthly.
To my knowledge there been no major investigation in to the amount of short term contracts, either in Wales or the UK. Which I find perplexing.
I therefore call any Trade Unionist, Political Party, individual MP, or AM to ask for the following Questions.
- How many people in the UK/Wales are employed on short term contracts?
- What percentage is this of the total UK/Welsh workforce?
- What is the difference between increment/service pay between people on full time and short term contracts?
- What is the average period of employment on someone on such a contract before the employee contact is permanently ended?
This will be difficult. Often at the end of the year (just before the Christmas Holidays people are dismissed, only to be reemployed a few weeks later with a different “Clock Number”
- How many people on short term contracts are dismissed in this way (Therefore receiving no holiday pay) only to be reemployed in the new year?
- What is the longest period anyone has spent on such a contract?
- How often are people on short term contracts are eventually offered full employment?
- How often people from outside the company are offered employment on full term contracts even though there are already people working there on short term contracts?
I know of at least one case where someone working for a state owned company who as been doing the exact job for 3 years on a short term contract who was ignored in favour of a new applicant.
- When redundancies are taken into account, or plant closures announced to what extent is the true nature of this ignored because the extent of those who were employed on short term contracts hides the actual total people who are now unemployed.
- What percentage of people who are on short term contracts are members of a Trade Union?
These questions need asking perhaps they haven’t been asked because the result may be too embarrassing.
Wednesday, 7 July 2010
Cut off from the Internet
Yesterday because of a problem with my server,I couldn’t get on the Internet let alone Blog. I did have the option of using my local library, which due to a building extension now has excellent computer and internet resources but felt a day couldn’t harm me.
I was wrong about that. I was frustrated by the end of the day and it made me realise how dependant I am on my computer and the Internet.
As someone looking for employment I really need to lookup not only the ditrctgov website but employment agencies on a daily basis.
I also need to have my CV available and in Word because although there are cheaper word processing alternatives if you need to email the CV you really need Word because that’s what employers use.
My computer is nearly 10 years old and I only switched from Windows Millennium last year and it will not be cost effective to upgrade to Vista. I am saving for a new computer with a view to buying a new computer in 2011 or 2012. Bearing in mind support for XP ends in 2014.This I consider to be absolutely vital.
But what of those who don’t have access to a computer? Or have no Broadband connexion? Access to a computer is as vital to us now as access to a telephone 10-20 years ago.
As a student in Coleg Harlech in (1984-1986) because of my appalling handwriting and spelling. I was the first student to use the colleges computer to write my essays, which increased my marks by about 10%.
I suppose some will decry this as letting standards slip and we should concentrate on the 3Rs and handwriting skills, but I was a product of that and it affected my education when I failed to measure up with my handwriting and poor spelling. I am sure if I had access to modern computer faculties I would have done much better academically.
That is why I applauded Plaid's plan to give free laptops to 10 and 11-year-olds, but we need to look at the education gap that access to a computer causes in all areas of education.
I believe pupils should have free access to the internet. This could be carried out by the Welsh Assembly’s Education department which could set up an agency to do so by creating a sever providing intenet facilities restricted to areas of the Internet which will aid them in their education. This would be supported by parents who would be worried about their children accessing Adult sites for example.
We must ensure no one falls behind or fails to realise their potential because they cannot what is now a simple thing as a computer.
One day being cut off from the internet has shown this.
I was wrong about that. I was frustrated by the end of the day and it made me realise how dependant I am on my computer and the Internet.
As someone looking for employment I really need to lookup not only the ditrctgov website but employment agencies on a daily basis.
I also need to have my CV available and in Word because although there are cheaper word processing alternatives if you need to email the CV you really need Word because that’s what employers use.
My computer is nearly 10 years old and I only switched from Windows Millennium last year and it will not be cost effective to upgrade to Vista. I am saving for a new computer with a view to buying a new computer in 2011 or 2012. Bearing in mind support for XP ends in 2014.This I consider to be absolutely vital.
But what of those who don’t have access to a computer? Or have no Broadband connexion? Access to a computer is as vital to us now as access to a telephone 10-20 years ago.
As a student in Coleg Harlech in (1984-1986) because of my appalling handwriting and spelling. I was the first student to use the colleges computer to write my essays, which increased my marks by about 10%.
I suppose some will decry this as letting standards slip and we should concentrate on the 3Rs and handwriting skills, but I was a product of that and it affected my education when I failed to measure up with my handwriting and poor spelling. I am sure if I had access to modern computer faculties I would have done much better academically.
That is why I applauded Plaid's plan to give free laptops to 10 and 11-year-olds, but we need to look at the education gap that access to a computer causes in all areas of education.
I believe pupils should have free access to the internet. This could be carried out by the Welsh Assembly’s Education department which could set up an agency to do so by creating a sever providing intenet facilities restricted to areas of the Internet which will aid them in their education. This would be supported by parents who would be worried about their children accessing Adult sites for example.
We must ensure no one falls behind or fails to realise their potential because they cannot what is now a simple thing as a computer.
One day being cut off from the internet has shown this.
Monday, 5 July 2010
Balls (No inuendo)
Ed Balls will probably fail in his attempt to become Labour Leader, partly because of his surname . Members will be afraid of the headlines in the Tabloid press on the lines of “It’s All Balls!” Unfortunate but he does himself no favours when he makes statements as he did in Wales on Sunday yesterday on the Barnett formula for Wales
He said,
“The important thing that I know from my time in the Treasury is that the Barnett Formula applies to part of public spending. But you’ve also got in addition to that, the spending outside the Barnett Formula which comes on the basis of need... because of unemployment, because of child poverty, and also because of the need for regeneration.”
And he went on that Wales, “disproportionately benefited” from European aid, unemployment benefits and tax credit support “because there has been greater need and disadvantage in some parts of Wales because of the legacy of the Thatcher unemployment of the 1980s”.
It’s seems to be a bit like saying that a victim of mugging disproportionately benefited from A&E treatment and Police attention.
What Balls and the rest of the Westminster circus can not see is the reason why Wales has such a dependency on the public sector is because of the failure of successive governments and to realise that we need to rebuilt our manufacturing industry. Well Balls appears to understand this to some extent,but he cannot blame it all on Thatcher. His party has had 10 years of government and in reality did nothing to address the issue ,or used the wrong policy the which is why we became dependent on EU funding.
The idea that if you get money from the European Union means that national government can cut it’s own aid is contrary to the actual ethos of EU policy.
But successive government have pursued the wrong policy when it comes to encouraging manufacturing in Wales. To the extent of building large complexes for major manufactures who stat for a period but then decamp to area where wage costs are lower.
This cam be reflected in the saga of the LG factory in Newport which never realised anything like it's potential,
The LG site has had a troubled history, with up to 6,000 jobs promised in 1996 never materialising.
A £1.2 billion sister factory on the site, which was to make semi-conductors, never went into production and is still empty.
The LG Philips factory making colour tubes for monitors and televisions closed in 2003 with 870 job losses.
At its height, 2,000 people were employed at the site.
The LG factories on the site originally received more than £87m of grant money, and in 2005 some £34m was repaid to the then Welsh Development Agency.
To some extent LG failed because they were intending to build the wrong sort of TV sets but they could have changed their process.
Some would argue that this was the fault of the Welsh Assembly Government but they were highly under the control of Labour's Westminster Ideology at the time and the initiative came before the Assembly was created.
It would have been better if the £87m had gone to encouraging smaller indigenous companies to form or expand in areas of high unemployment perhaps on a small proportion of the 6,000 jobs would have been created but they would still be here. We need Welsh solution for Welsh problems not be led
It is clear to me that the current crisis will be used by the Parties at Westminster to “roll back the state”. Which they have been itching to do for decades. None of the leadership candidates seem to be willing to stand up for the eventual victims of this and Welsh Labour who may benefit from this policy. But Welsh voters are not stupid and they must distance themselves from the likes Balls because if they do not there is a centre left Party in Wales who will be only willing to do so.
He said,
“The important thing that I know from my time in the Treasury is that the Barnett Formula applies to part of public spending. But you’ve also got in addition to that, the spending outside the Barnett Formula which comes on the basis of need... because of unemployment, because of child poverty, and also because of the need for regeneration.”
And he went on that Wales, “disproportionately benefited” from European aid, unemployment benefits and tax credit support “because there has been greater need and disadvantage in some parts of Wales because of the legacy of the Thatcher unemployment of the 1980s”.
It’s seems to be a bit like saying that a victim of mugging disproportionately benefited from A&E treatment and Police attention.
What Balls and the rest of the Westminster circus can not see is the reason why Wales has such a dependency on the public sector is because of the failure of successive governments and to realise that we need to rebuilt our manufacturing industry. Well Balls appears to understand this to some extent,but he cannot blame it all on Thatcher. His party has had 10 years of government and in reality did nothing to address the issue ,or used the wrong policy the which is why we became dependent on EU funding.
The idea that if you get money from the European Union means that national government can cut it’s own aid is contrary to the actual ethos of EU policy.
But successive government have pursued the wrong policy when it comes to encouraging manufacturing in Wales. To the extent of building large complexes for major manufactures who stat for a period but then decamp to area where wage costs are lower.
This cam be reflected in the saga of the LG factory in Newport which never realised anything like it's potential,
The LG site has had a troubled history, with up to 6,000 jobs promised in 1996 never materialising.
A £1.2 billion sister factory on the site, which was to make semi-conductors, never went into production and is still empty.
The LG Philips factory making colour tubes for monitors and televisions closed in 2003 with 870 job losses.
At its height, 2,000 people were employed at the site.
The LG factories on the site originally received more than £87m of grant money, and in 2005 some £34m was repaid to the then Welsh Development Agency.
To some extent LG failed because they were intending to build the wrong sort of TV sets but they could have changed their process.
Some would argue that this was the fault of the Welsh Assembly Government but they were highly under the control of Labour's Westminster Ideology at the time and the initiative came before the Assembly was created.
It would have been better if the £87m had gone to encouraging smaller indigenous companies to form or expand in areas of high unemployment perhaps on a small proportion of the 6,000 jobs would have been created but they would still be here. We need Welsh solution for Welsh problems not be led
It is clear to me that the current crisis will be used by the Parties at Westminster to “roll back the state”. Which they have been itching to do for decades. None of the leadership candidates seem to be willing to stand up for the eventual victims of this and Welsh Labour who may benefit from this policy. But Welsh voters are not stupid and they must distance themselves from the likes Balls because if they do not there is a centre left Party in Wales who will be only willing to do so.
Saturday, 3 July 2010
Peter's (New) Friends.
If you are wondering why Peter Black in his latest post is so disparaging of those who have questioned the proposal that there should be a referendum on the Alternative Vote on the same day as the Welsh Assembly, Scottish Parliament and English Council Elections. There is a very good reason.
He believes that as they are associated with proportional representation they will benefit in votes from having both on May 5th 2011.
In his blog he writes.
What utter nonsense, Peter knows full well that in Wales council elections were changed from coinciding with those for the Assembly elections to prevent confusion and to make the Assembly elections clear and avoid any confusion.
In Scotland the last Scottish Parliament elections were held on the same day with the council elections (on different electoral systems) was a fiasco.
What Peter and the Con-Lib coalition are asking is for people to vote on May 5th for an Assembly via one electoral system and pick another electoral system for Westminster. This is daft!
But why should we have the Welsh Assembly Elections on the same as that for the Scottish Parliament and English Councils anyway? Just have a look at the Parties & Elections in Europe website (well worth viewing in itself) which shows other European States have elections to their devolved legislature at different dates.
The last Assembly election saw Wales ignored whilst the media concentrated on Scotland .Would it not benefit democracy,if we held the Welsh assembly elections on its own day? The Assembly elections should be an emphasis on the uniqueness of Wales that is shown by devolved powers. Peter Black surely knows this?
It says something about the Lib-Dems in Wales that Glyn Davies gives a more reasonable and moderate viewpoint on the proposals.
Peter Black is becoming more and more desperate in defending the indefensible ,and his choice of words resembling arch-unionist politician which can be shown by his endorsement by the Stonemason in the comments on his post.
By your friends so shall we Know you,
He believes that as they are associated with proportional representation they will benefit in votes from having both on May 5th 2011.
In his blog he writes.
“The idea that we could somehow partition off our own referendum and Assembly elections from the rest of the UK and stand aloof from the wider considerations of the UK Government is a separatist's wet dream. I am astonished that Labour are playing along with this outrage without realising that what they are actually arguing for is the removal of the Welsh political system from the Union.”
In Scotland the last Scottish Parliament elections were held on the same day with the council elections (on different electoral systems) was a fiasco.
What Peter and the Con-Lib coalition are asking is for people to vote on May 5th for an Assembly via one electoral system and pick another electoral system for Westminster. This is daft!
But why should we have the Welsh Assembly Elections on the same as that for the Scottish Parliament and English Councils anyway? Just have a look at the Parties & Elections in Europe website (well worth viewing in itself) which shows other European States have elections to their devolved legislature at different dates.
The last Assembly election saw Wales ignored whilst the media concentrated on Scotland .Would it not benefit democracy,if we held the Welsh assembly elections on its own day? The Assembly elections should be an emphasis on the uniqueness of Wales that is shown by devolved powers. Peter Black surely knows this?
It says something about the Lib-Dems in Wales that Glyn Davies gives a more reasonable and moderate viewpoint on the proposals.
Peter Black is becoming more and more desperate in defending the indefensible ,and his choice of words resembling arch-unionist politician which can be shown by his endorsement by the Stonemason in the comments on his post.
“Well said, you have my vote, and a good many of the other voters in Wales”.
By your friends so shall we Know you,
Friday, 2 July 2010
David Mitchell's Soapbox on Gaelic
I’m a big fan of the comedian Dave Mitchell whose tendency to go in to long rants on panel shows, somehow matches my own sense of humour. And I have been following him regually in the Guardian. However I was disappointed with his feature “David Mitchell Soap Box” on the Guardian Website.* However I’ll allow him the benefit of the doubt in that has a comedian being controversial is part of the job. Though he was just wrong on every front.
*If you can’t see the Video try You Tube here” but read the comments.
However itis the comments that really interested me. One would expect the readers of the Guardian webpage to have liberal-progressive viewpoint. However the comments are nearly all negative about minority languages and if you exclude right wing infiltrators you can get some of the idea of the British-Left-Liberal position on this.
I’m sure many readers of this Blog who support devolution and the Welsh Language will not be surprised and have been frustrated by this position over the years. I’ve met people on the left over the years, who have supported IRA and ETA violence in support of a United Ireland and Basque Independence whilst condemning Plaid and The SNP for being “separatists”.
Similarly there are some so called progressives who will talk endlessly about the plight of indigenous people in the Americas. Who have at the best indifference to the Welsh Language and at the worst downright hostile.
Not all on the British Left share these views however. I remember in my student days at Coleg Harlech finding some English students having more sympathy for Wales and the Language than the Welsh Labour members Neil Kinnock was very much in charge then..
What David Mitchell and many detractors of minority languages fail to realise is that even for those of us who do not speak these languages they provides us with a sense of identity and a understanding of our culture.many Non-Welsh speakers derive pleasure from Welsh Language music and have pride in the increasing bilingualism in our public and private sector. and whilst we may fail to learn it fluently, we can help to ensure that future generations do not lose out by ensuring they have the opportunity to be educated in our native languages.
That is why I am pleased that Helydd Fychan has been posting in Welsh lately even if it means that I have to use google translate (Which improves all the time) to get the gist of her post. and hopefully mean that more people will post in Welsh without translation and we non-speakers have a simple means of reading it.
But google translate doesn’t work perfectly yet Helydd Fychan translates as "Hebrides Vaughan”
*If you can’t see the Video try You Tube here” but read the comments.
However itis the comments that really interested me. One would expect the readers of the Guardian webpage to have liberal-progressive viewpoint. However the comments are nearly all negative about minority languages and if you exclude right wing infiltrators you can get some of the idea of the British-Left-Liberal position on this.
I’m sure many readers of this Blog who support devolution and the Welsh Language will not be surprised and have been frustrated by this position over the years. I’ve met people on the left over the years, who have supported IRA and ETA violence in support of a United Ireland and Basque Independence whilst condemning Plaid and The SNP for being “separatists”.
Similarly there are some so called progressives who will talk endlessly about the plight of indigenous people in the Americas. Who have at the best indifference to the Welsh Language and at the worst downright hostile.
Not all on the British Left share these views however. I remember in my student days at Coleg Harlech finding some English students having more sympathy for Wales and the Language than the Welsh Labour members Neil Kinnock was very much in charge then..
What David Mitchell and many detractors of minority languages fail to realise is that even for those of us who do not speak these languages they provides us with a sense of identity and a understanding of our culture.many Non-Welsh speakers derive pleasure from Welsh Language music and have pride in the increasing bilingualism in our public and private sector. and whilst we may fail to learn it fluently, we can help to ensure that future generations do not lose out by ensuring they have the opportunity to be educated in our native languages.
That is why I am pleased that Helydd Fychan has been posting in Welsh lately even if it means that I have to use google translate (Which improves all the time) to get the gist of her post. and hopefully mean that more people will post in Welsh without translation and we non-speakers have a simple means of reading it.
But google translate doesn’t work perfectly yet Helydd Fychan translates as "Hebrides Vaughan”
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