"Impartial;" BBC Complains of web bullying.

I try to keep this Blog free from abusive remarks, but some times when the Unionist media lie to us its difficult

In the wake of the  BBC reporter James Cook chosing  to  end  his piece to camera, over the  plot to smear the SNP  by claiming Nicola Sturgeon  had said to the France Ambassador that she would prefer a Cameron Govermment, Cook appeared to accept the truth over this  in that it never happened but ended  by saying that there were“definitely” people in the SNP who would prefer to see a Tory government . It looked like a nod and a wink to me.

Naturally there were many angry with his  and whilst the WebBrits were deleting  their twitter messages there were many pointing out what they regarded as bias BBC reporting it reads...

  BBC Scotland has called for users of social media to show restraint after journalists covering the general election campaign were subject to online abuse.Offensive comments were posted on the internet and sent via email about reporters last weekend.
BBC Scotland said while it welcomed public engagement, its journalists should be treated with respect.
NUJ Scotland said the abuse received was "unacceptable".

I accept that but are the BBC trying to label all who question their Impartiality as offencive CyberNats?

BBC Scotland's head of programmes and services Donald Mackinnon, said:

 "We welcome social media engagement with our audiences."It was a significant element of last year's referendum and for the general election we are increasing the ways in which voters can access our coverage online with more shareable content such as video and audio clips."But there are times when social media and other online sites have been used to abuse and threaten journalists. This is completely unacceptable and our journalists are entitled to carry out their work without the threat of unwarranted personal attacks online."

She added:

 "The safety of our staff is of paramount concern to us and we are doing everything in our power to ensure they can carry out their work helping to inform our audiences on this major story without intimidation or abuse."

If the BBC apologised  for Cooks misreporting they would have a right to complain but it beginning to look like a Wasp complaining that a Bee had stung him.

Anyway the whole CyberNat thing is a red herring , WebBrits can be just as offensive and the British Media as we have sen over the whole affair appear to be able to lie and make almost racist attacks in the people of Scotland for daring to vote SNP with impunity.

Before casting dispersions on his critics the BBC should exam its own role and its claim to be impartial.

Let's look at the cost of Nuclear Plants and ask can greater benefits come from elsewhere.

BBC Wales claims that The nuclear power industry linked to the planned new Wylfa plant on Anglesey could be worth £5.7bn to the Welsh economy,

Research for the Welsh Government, estimates investment and business opportunities over 20 years.

At its peak in six years time, 6,800 people would be building Wylfa Newydd, which will have a workforce of 875.

So although it will make an huge boost to employment in Wales but there are no guarantees that all these jobs will go to local people  and it will as the report say at the end of the day lead to 850 jobs.

How many permanent jobs  could be created throughout Wales for the  cost of even a fraction of the  the £14bn plant,

I'm no economist it could mean 850 jobs duplicated in more than one part of Wales  and would not lead to us facing the cost of decommissioning these plants

It says something for this "Independent "report  by consultancy Miller Research who  have looked at the capability of businesses in Wales to respond to opportunities in the nuclear supply chain over the next 20  decommissioning  of the current  old power station, at Wylf and Trawsfynydd in Gwynedd is presented as a positive gains ad the cost  of doing  the same for the proposed  plant which in the future might be faced by the Welsh Government.

Economy Minister Edwina Hart said it was a "once in a generation opportunity".

But it will be another generation that will be faced for paying for this and the cost of jobs on Ynys Mon by firms not wanting to create businesses in the shadow of a nuclear power station  on the island probably can't realty be estimated but could it be more or less than the "permanent" jobs   created.

Were the authors of this report asked to look at any negative  effects on the Welsh economy of building a new Wylfa ? 

Or even consider how a similar amount of public/private investment  in the Welsh economy could benefit  the people of Wales  and not leave us future generations with the cost of cleaning up our mess.

Second Election leaflet again Labour

So far I have only had leaflets  from Labour for the Pomtypridd  one a Newspaper

 type  ( which I commented on here) and the main Royal Mail delivery leaflet.

This is aglossy well produced leaflet except for the absence of the Welsh Language.

It makes much of the Candidate Owen Smith's personality  which I can vouch for in that respect he's a great improvement on his predecessor  Kim Howells..

Re Elect/All- Etholwwch and LaboutLlafur is about as Bilingual as it it gets 

Welsh not British yesterday showed there is no such thing as Welsh Labour and it looks that Owen Smith agrees with him

Though the Invest in our Welsh NHS Campaign  is a bit out of Place as it is a devolved issue . Labour can be forgiven here as I bet a pound to a penny all leaflets from the other Parties (including Plaid0 . Will be promising  to invest in the NHS'

What is glaring missing is any mention of further powers for the Welsh Assembly  from the man who could be our next Secretary of State  for Wales (Or if it is abolished as I suspect for the Regions)

At least there no promise to control Immigration in and o pictures of the infamous Labour Mug

Finally we have the endorsements . Most  Candidates have ordinary constituents endorsements but Owen goes a b bit further.

Why he and his party dragged up Niel Kinnock is anybodies guess  . To my knowledge Kinnock has no connection whatsoever with Pontypridd

The Piece on the Muni fails to mention that it was Labour run council who withdrew funds from the Muni and for the Labour party to claim any credit for its survival is sheer hypocrisy.

Owen is a big Ponty supporter but I don't know why that makes him a suitable candidate to represent us in Westminster (especially for those of us who support other local teams like eh Beddau)

Th local resident probably does point to his constituency  work . But then I recall a Catholic who was a Constituent of Ian Paisley Snr who said the old bigot had  worked very hard to resolve problem  and as he said he (Paisley)  knew i would never vote for him.

So a glossy and well produced leaflet that tells me little of what Labour intend to do if they get into power and offer Wales very little and totally ignores the Welsh Language. 6/10

On that point it would be interesting to see a Map of Wales where the parties are delivering Bilingual leaflets it might just show us how committed they are.

Memogate shows Unionist will go to any depth.to smear SNP.

The "Zinoviev Letter" was a controversial document published by the British press four days before the general election in 1924. It purported to be a directive from the Communist International in Moscow to the Communist Party of Great Britain. It said the resumption of diplomatic relations (by a Labour government) would hasten the radicalization of the British working class. The letter took its name from the apparent signature of a senior Soviet official Grigory Zinoviev. The letter seemed authentic at the time but historians now believe it was a forgery. It called for intensified communist agitation in Britain. 

Historians now agree that the letter had little impact on the Labour vote—which held up in 1924. However, it aided the Conservative Party in hastening the collapse of the Liberal party that led to the Conservative landslidearty.

Now er have a modern version in the allegation in the Telegraph  that SNP leader  Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP leader, has privately said that she would "rather see" David Cameron win the general election because Ed Miliband is not “prime minister material”, a leaked memorandum seen by The Telegraph has revealed.

The SNP leader told the French Ambassador in February that she would prefer that "David Cameron remain” in Downing Street, according to an official account of their conversation seen by this newspaper.

Except of course 

• The SNP has categorically denied it. 
• The French Consul General has categorically denied it.
•  The author of the memo expresses doubt about the central claim.
•  The Telegraph failed to contact any of the relevant parties for reaction or comment before publishing – a telltale sign that a journalist lacks confidence in his or her supposed newsline.

This has not stopped opposition Parties still running with the story .

Our own Peter Black has contributed  his piece

It seems that Ms Sturgeon hasn’t yet worked out that ambassadors gossip like fishwives, and anything confessed on the diplomatic circuit would be all around London fairly soon.
But this is more than just an embarrassment to Sturgeon, for two reasons. First, on 8 May, the SNP may well be in a position to choose who gets to be Prime Minister: if it refuses to support Ed Miliband this may put in David Cameron by default.
And second, the SNP is about to supplant Labour in dozens of seats across Scotland precisely because it is posing as a tartan version of Labour. A party that loathes the Tories even more than Labour does, so Labour voters can support the SNP without having to worry about another five years of David Cameron.
All concerned are denying it of course but there is no doubting that having an Old Etonian in No.10 Downing Street suits the SNP’s wider purpose. After all, opinion polls in Scotland show that the main desired outcome of the Scottish people is an SNP/Labour deal. If this Scotland gets that then the demand for independence will wane. And that is not good news for the SNP.

Interestingly Peter seems to ignore the fact that if current opinion polls in Scotland  are reflected om May 7th then his party the LibDems face wipe out in Scotland loosing nearly all of their 12 seats and unlike Labour  will not recover these with gains in England

When I challenged him on this on his Blog he replied

And yet it is a legitimate story that has put the SNP on the defensive. And let's face it, whatever the SNP say publicly we all know that it will suit their agenda better to have Cameron in No.10 than Miliband. That is why the story has gained traction.

Its rather like someone accused of a crime even though there no evidence against them facing society saying "There's no smoke without fire" even after they have been comprehensively cleared.

Peter Black is is alone with this along with Labour MPs and MSP the BBC


reporter James Cook chose to i end of his piece to camera, saying that there were“definitely” people in the SNP who would prefer to see a Tory government

My Old Coleg Harlech tutor Neil Evans  once told me that he didn't so much believe in conspiracy theory as The Cock Up theory".

This does look like a almighty Cock Up but  with politicians including Peter Black and the rest who are still using this story  willing to still run with it .

 We are entitled to ask how many lies and innuendo is the prepared to go along with in order to save  the Union or even their Party's  seats.

Cadnant Election Labour crow over win

On Thursday 2 Ebrill 2015 an election was held for one County Councillor for the Cadnant Electoral Division resulting in a Labour Gain from Plaid


Labour 233
Plaid Cymru 185
Llais Gwynedd 148
Indepedent 94
Conservative 22

The 2012 result had seen a comfortable  Plaid win

Plaid Cymru 397 59.17%
Labour Party 268 39.94%
Turnout: 47.83% Disregarded papers: 6'

So it looks like the Plaid loss om  only a slightly smaller turnout   was largely due to the intervention of other candidates  rather than a huge swing to Labour

There was also a battle for the Town Council  and it was a straight fight

Cyngor Tref however 

Plaid Cymru 280
Independent 360

Welsh Labour boasted that the by-election in Cadnant stopped Plaid’s “20-year hold” on the ward with a swing “that would see Labour gain Arfon on May 7”.

However Pllaid held  onto a seat in Caerphilly council which saw a by-election in the ward of Penyrheol the same night. 

Penyrheol Caerphily

Plaid Cymru 340
Labour 237

Even the most fanatical Plaid supporter would claim that this pointed to them gaining the Caerpjilly seat or that it has any relevance on May's election.

And the winner is ?

Well actually I don't know.

The leaders debate hardly produced a Kiler Blow or major quote apart ffor Leanne Woods Plaid Cymruy's leader standing up to Nigel Farage  when she accused him of “dangerous” scaremongering about foreign HIV patients.one of the major Highlights.

Ms Wood won the first audience applause of the night in the seven-person debate and online praise when she confronted the Ukip leader.

During a section on the NHS, Mr Farage said: 

“Here’s a fact, and I am sure the other people here will be mortified that I dare to talk about it.

“There are 7,000 diagnoses in this country every year for people who are HIV positive.“It’s not a good place for any of them to be, I know.“Sixty per cent of them are not British nationals.“They can come into Britain from anywhere in the world and get diagnosed with HIV and get the retro-viral drugs that cost up to £25,000 per year per patient.“I know there are some horrible things happening in many parts of the world, but what we need to do is put the National Health Service there for British people and families, who in many cases have paid into the system for decades.”

Ms Wood responded:

 “This kind of scaremongering is dangerous. It’s dangerous, it divides communities and it creates stigma to people who are ill, and I think you ought to be ashamed of yourself.”

The problem Leanne faces is that although she did very well people particularly those who did not watch the debate    may be more influenced by the other Party's spin  and claims that their man or Women won it . 

The you gov online poll was not great reading for Plaid

YouGov @YouGov

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Debate Result: Sturgeon wins Cameron: 18% Miliband: 15% Clegg: 10% Farage: 20% Bennett: 5% Sturgeon: 28% Wood: 4% 1117 GB adults

So that Puts the Established Anti Austerity Parties on 43% . The Progressive Bloc on 37 and the Far right on 20%

 I guess people may have been somewhat divided between Leanne  and Nicola Sturgeon in particular as they deliver d similar messages from the standpoint of Wales and Scotland  and opted for the Politician they has heard of.

Or from the media who seem intent on twisting the coverage to suit their own view point

It was good however to see that we saw an alternative to the "Four Grey Men"  from three Women as the columnist Owen Jones puts it

Owen Jones        ✔ @OwenJones84

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Why we desperately need women to dominate politics - basically that’s what’s come out of #leadersdebate

9:40 PM - 2 Apr 2015

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But there no Cleggmaina this time . No "I agree with Nick".

Will it make a difference? Probaby not  and in the event Cleggmania didn't last.

Such debates probably encourages the party faithful  rather than swing voters permanently.

It will be interesting to see if Leanne has managed to increase her profile. Some good reviews on e morning News apart from BBC Wales  who seem to looking at the figures  with glee but failing to intemperate them

Dafydd El was right but Plaid can build on this.

Thee will be some Plaid supporters who will feel that the Parties launch of they 5015 Manifesto was overshadowed by comments by the party’s former leader, Dafydd Elis-Thomas, who owned up to that Welsh voters still are not convinced by Plaid in the way that Scottish voters are by the SNP.

Noting that the party needed to show itself to be a credible alternative to Labour, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programmer:

“I have no issue with the decision of the Welsh people to vote for the Labour Party, because they clearly haven’t been convinced that we are a better alternative.
“In Scotland the SNP have convinced them, it seems to me from the polls, and therefore that’s our responsibility, we have to have a better election than we’ve ever had before.”
To my my mind it was a honest answer to a question and could )and maybe should) have be made by any Plaid spokesperson.

It is probably that it came from Dafydd El that was seized on by the media and Plaid opponents.

What is the difference in Plaid politician Jonathan Edwards  claim that Voters are leaving Labour for UKIP in droves in two seats Plaid Cymru are targeting at the general election, and  the issue was crucial enough for Labour to potentially lose their hold on Ynys Mon and Llanelli..

Of course Plaid would not be to gleeful if Labour supporters leaving Labour  for droves in the South Wales Valleys /

Bit both are making a point Plaid currently are on 11& in the polls about the same as the were after the first Leaders debate in 2015 when Clegg mania briefly took over and Plaid saw its share  in the fall from the 15% it had held earlier .

The 2015 leaders debate severely damaged though parties that did not take part.

Tomorrow  Leanne Wood has a golden opportunity  to thrust herself on the whole UK stage

Political Betting recently blogged

Leanne Wood could be the 2015 Nick Clegg and at 50-1 might be a good punt to win Thursday’s debate

and added

She has the benefit of not being much known outside Wales
Just had a punt with Ladbrokes at 50/1 that Plaid leader, Leanne Wood, will top the quickie polls after Thursday night’s seven-sided debate.
She’ll be fresh to a full national audience, has a pleasant manner, and handles herself well on TV. She’ll also attract less of the hostility that some of the others on the platform are likely to attract.
The rules ensure that she should get equal time with the other six and might just make a good impression. I love 50/1 shots and this might just come up.

Plaid are probably the Party which has most to gain tomorrow  and the least to lose and it could just  be the catalyst that could see Plaid propel forward as its never done before.

We will soon have some idea for the sake of Wales and particularly the the stamped on poor and needy I hope I'm right.