Phone Hacking Scandal a bigger threat than we thought.

Former Plaid MP has Adam Price has claimed that MPs held back in an inquiry into phone-hacking allegations for fear that their own private lives could be targeted, a former MP has claimed.

Adam said it was "regrettable" that the culture committee had not been tougher last year. He said it had been wrong not to force News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks to attend a hearing.

He added that he hoped the standards committee would "stand firm where we didn't".

Adam said the culture committee should have used "the nuclear option" and forced Mrs Brooks to attend.

Under parliamentary rules, MPs can compel witnesses to attend committee hearings - but they have rarely exercised that power.

"We decided not to," said Mr Price. "I think to some extent because of what I was told at the time by a senior Conservative member of the committee, who I know was in direct contact with NI execs, that if we went for her, called her back, subpoenaed her, they would go for us."

He added: "Which meant effectively that they would delve into our personal lives in order to punish them, and I think that's part of the reason we didn't do it."

Peter Black take on this is unbelievably coy but then he could hardly back a Plaid Politician could he?

The Idea that MPs are afraid of News International. was also mooted by Labour MP Tom Watson. Who in the debate on the Hacking scandal claimed “Politicians from the Prime Minister down are scared of standing up to “assassins” in the media”.

Attacked the “barons of the media”.

He claimed: “They have no predators. They are untouchable. They laugh at the law. They sneer at parliament. They have the power to hurt us, and they do, with gusto and precision, with joy and criminality”.

For this statement he was mocked by the Independent Simon Carr.

Yes the “Independent” which when it comes to the wire, backs its fellow media mates over democracy and fairness.

Both Adam Price and Tom Watson, have exposed what many of us have long suspected threat the Media protect their powers with the threat of exposure of any who stand in their way.

Even if you personally have nothing to hide they will go for your friends and family.

And if James Murdoch (Rupert’s son) gets its way then Sky will be allowed by the coalition government to ditch political neutrality (or at least the pretence) and copy it’s American counterpart Fox News and adopt a aggressive right wing agenda. Where Tea Party supporters like Glen Beck are given free rein.

Beck recently celled President Obama a racist saying.

That Obama has exposed himself as a person with "a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture."

If the Murdochs are given a similar free rein by the Coalition Government then the result will be even worsr than America because the lack of alternative coverage only the BBC will be there to callenge them and. Sky will becone like the News of the World a nasty right wing outlet maquarading as the voice of the people.

Our Politicians and the rest of the Media (Including Simon Carr) must stand up to News International and call them to account
Stanley Baldwin (3August 1867 – 14 December 1947) once said of the Media that it had....

"Power without responsibility — the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages".

A free press is precious to our democracy a press that runs the country through fear and intimidation is a threat.

(Irish) Labour shames (Welsh) Labour.

I was looking at the Webpage of the Irish Labour Party this morning and discovered t they provided a translation service for other Languages (through Google translate) including Welsh.

I don’t know how good this translation is (perhaps Welsh Language Bloggers can help here). But it is a noble effort.

It’s not lost on me that Welsh Labour doesn’t have a button to Welsh Language version of they website.

Surely their Irish counterparts shame them on their Internationalism (and Plaid should also look at the way their  translation access button, works for other languages ) but it is really amazing that I can easily see a Welsh Language version on the Irish Labour Website whilst Welsh Labour ignores it.

Update
I have found the toolbar for the webpage translation at http://translate.google.com/translate_tools it seems to work. So my page can in theory be read in more than one language.

Mr Clegg's weasel words.

So the proposal to hold a referendum on the introduction of the Alternative Vote (AV) for UK elections has passed it’s first hurdle with an easy win for the coalition government on last night vote (6t Sept).
To read some Lib-Dem blogs you would have thought this was always their policy those at Aberavon and Neath Liberal Democrats claimed.

“Our two Parties have different views on the future of our voting system. But we both recognise that there are genuine concerns about the current system. And we emphatically agree that the decision is not, in any case, for government alone.
It should be taken by the people themselves That is why both our parties support putting this question to a referendum next May, just one example of the power shift we are determined to deliver. Fixing parliament also means tackling the unfairness in the geography of MPs' constituencies by making sure votes count equally wherever they are cast. The coalition also proposes to cut the number of MPs to 600”.

If as they claim that it should be taken to the people themselves , then why not have an open referendum and give those who support STV (including presumably themselves) the chance to vote for this option.

As for the “Fixing” parliaments with regards re forming constituency boundaries. Then they got that right, because its nothing but a move to give the Tories the opportunity  to gerrymander the current set up.

I don’t often agree with Labour MP Kevin Brennan but when he asked .

“whether plans for constituency changes were included in the same bill as the price of Conservative support for the referendum. Mr Clegg replied that, as they were "two issues that relate to how we are elected to this House", it had been "natural to bring them together".

Mr Clegg defended plans to reduce the number of MPs and to redraw constituency boundaries so they each represented about 76,000 people each, saying it was "patently obvious that individuals' votes should carry the same weight".

But you don’t have to be a genius to work out that the Tories would clearly love to see AV fail at the referendum but see the cut in the number  seats pass (which we will not be allowed to vote for) guaranteeing them a larger majority if the percentage votes for the Parties at the next General Election remained roughly the same.

How can you have two bills combined when only one goes to a  referendum?

In their efforts to get their backsides on the seats of ministerial cars Nick Clegg and the Lib-Dems have sold parliamentary reform down the river and given their Tory bosses exactly the electoral advantage they are seeking.
 Because the bboundary changes are guaranteed to pass but the AV referendum may well fail.

No amount of weasel words either from Lib-Dems at Westminster , or Aberavon and Neath will hide this.

We should all celebrate the Welsh language.

I would like to congratulate all those who took part in the Pethau Bychain event last Friday It wall all about. celebrating the Welsh language online and to encourage more people to put blog posts, videos, audio and other things in Welsh online.


This is something we should all support and those who took part should be encouraged to increase their output.
To my shame, my Welsh was not up to taking part, but my commitment to supporting the language through events like Pethau Bychain is as total as any fluent Welsh speaker and perhaps even more than some.

We must remind ourselves that there are many supporters of the language who don’t speak Welsh and if they fail to learn it then seek to ensure that all of the next generation will have every opportunity to do so.

I believe that the Welsh Assembly should set a target that every Welsh School should be fully bilingual by 2030.

Some may think that is to far away. But I would rather see a longer prepared process than a rushed job where the infrastructure (including personnel ) is not there.

But perhaps the greatest challenge is to take the language out of politics.  As I've posted before on Party Websites , all parties in Wales should seek to be fully bilingual and by now over 11 years since the establishment of the Assembly they should have made greater progress

Sadly there are still elements in the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrats who have an Anti-Welsh agenda. Partly because they associate the language with Plaid, but also they are simply prejudiced and can't see beyond this.

However through Google translate I was able to read the Blogs in Welsh as I read those such as Blog Menai (a worthy winner of the Welsh political blogs 2010) on a regular basis.

Perhaps I missed the point in doing this but.Google translate is a useful  tool and will get even better, It means that bloggers like Blog Menai can reach a wider audience without having to resort to bloging in English.

But I am aware that we might be heading for future where no one learns a language because they can easily access translations. However I encourage people to use Google Translate, because it can only broaden our mind when it comes to Welsh and show that it is a living language.

I was reminded of my own position last night whilst sharing a pint with a friend who is Scottish but speaks Welsh fluently (but he still can’t roll his “Rs”) and I was reminded of the story of Police inspector talking to a farmer in  Amanford.

Police Inspector: I’m afraid I can’t speak Welsh Mr Jones. But I can understand a fair bit.


Farmer: Yes,Well so can my dog Gelert..

There are to many of us like that Police Inspector but at least I recognise it.

Sir Humphrey Appleby. R.I.P.

Sir Humphrey:: The whole Cabinet can give you political advice.

Jim Hacker: They advise me to give more money to


their departments. I need someone on my side.


Sir Humphrey: But I'm on your side.


The whole Civil Service is on your side.


680,000 of us.


Surely that's enough to be going on with.


Jim Hacker: All giving the same advice.


Sir Humphrey: Which proves that it must be correct.

The Key . Yes Prime Minister BBC 1986.

The BBC series Yes Prime Minister showed the Civil service in control of the Politicians but these days our perception is probably more based on the “Thick of it” where it's government advisors who rule the roost.

And surely this is the main question that should be asked of William Hague with the whole Civil service to call on. Why does he need so many special advisors?

Why hasn’t those fearsome defenders “The Tax Payers Alliance” condemned this seeming waste of public money? Could it be because as some of us have long suspected they are mealy a Tory Party front?
I can understand why Ministers as Jim Hacker “need someone on their side” but so many?

Can it be that the Parties in Westminster (all of them) see the position of Special Advisor as a means of training the next generation of MPs?

David Cameron, Dave and Ed Milliband, and Ed Balls all were special advisers payed by the Tax payer and the current house of Commons has many MPs whose virtual whole working life has been previously spent in some capacity in Westminster.

This is what we should be asking about William Hague. Even if he was Gay I could’t give a hoot. I have long come to believe  that as long as Politicians don’t tell me who I can share a bed with, I don’t care who they share a bed with.

And lets face it like many a hetro-sexual male I’ve shared a Hotel bed in the past with another man when circumstances meant there was no other accommodation available. Are people of the same sex going to be questioned about they sexuality when ever they share a room even if there were twin beds in the room?
Lets concentrate on the real scandal and not puerile Homophobic tittle-tattle.

Do your views match how you would vote?

I thought people might like to try out the Toolbar above to check out  if their perception of themselves matches the results of the questionnaire.

You can also test how you might have voted in the Labour leadership contest here . I don't think that you should take it to seriously but it may be interesting.

If you are interested here's my result for the Labour Leadership contest

And for the General Election though I suspect the Lib-Dem % may be quite different now.

Either way I don't seem to be backing the winners. But such is life.

The North South devide will increase and Wales is in the North.

.I'm surprised that more has not been made  of the News from the BBC That.

At least one in 10 people will be unemployed in half of UK regions by 2015, an economic think tank has forecast.

According to the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), the unemployment rate will exceed 10% in Wales and the North of England. The CEBR blamed expected huge cuts to public sector jobs.

The CEBR blamed expected huge cuts to public sector jobs.

You will not be surprised that London and the South of England are expected to escape the worst of the job losses, however.

This may be obvious to some but its important that. We must emphasise this and why this is happening.

If we Look at the Political Map of Britain after the 2010 Election .

We can see on the map on the Left  the position of the Parties However the left map is is some what misleading with regards the swathes of Blue. Whilst  it shows correctly the dominance of the Tories it looks more impressive than it is because the Tories often represent large rural constituencies.

Therefore if you look at the Map on the Right where the constituencies are shown as being of equal size.

From this Map (outside  of London) you can see that there is a great difference between the "Blue" South and the largely "Red" (including Wales and Scotland) North.

This means in the case of the Tories that are areas largely in the North which they do not represent and that they have little inclination to pay  attention to.

It also means in the case of Labour Party that (Because of the large Majorities) the battleground for them  is in the Tory marginal Tory seats in the South.

This is a result of our First past the Post electoral system.

Either way the North (including Wales and Scotland) loose out).

This is why we need proportional representation and in particular the Single Transferable Vote (STV)

Under STV then  virtually every constituency (of 4-6) seats will be represented by more than one Party and this will force elected members to concentrate on working for their constituency.

I understand the argument that this will often lead to coalition governments and the danger of what the American call Pork Barrel Politics in which individual politician can secure spending for localized projects.

However we could legislate for this  and empower the Standards Committee with the power to rule such deals as unconstitutional.

This does not mean that MPs cannot lobby or fight for their constituencies but any decision by government must be based on a honest appraisal.

The North South divide has grown under the last New Labour Government and it will continue to do so under the Con-Lib-Dem. The current proposal that the Introduction of AV will somehow make things better is just plain wrong.