Crab moves sideways.

Welsh Secretary Stephen Crabb has said the likelihood of the UK and Welsh governments reaching agreement on the next stage of the devolution is now “very, very low”.

A Draft Wales Bill will be published later this month which is due to put the National Assembly on a Scottish-style footing, so AMs can make laws in any area not specifically “reserved” by Westminster.

For many it looks like its aim is to limit any further  Devolution and Pedryn
Drycin clearly has a better understanding of the complexities of this so maybe you should look here .



First Minister Carwyn Jones has pushed for the creation of a separate Welsh legal jurisdiction, warning that without it any settlement is bound to be “phenomenally complicated”.

Mr Crabb resists this argument, stating:  .

“Carwyn and some of the academics and some more nationalist lawyers have been talking about a separate legal jurisdiction for Wales. The vast, vast majority of the body of law that affects Wales and the interests of Wales is done on an England and Wales basis.

 However you don't have to be an Engineer or Trainspotter to realise the Wheels of a Locomotive needs Oiling.

“To somehow try to unpick that now is a massive, massive exercise – hugely costly. The members of the judiciary in Wales that I speak to, who have made their careers – and many of them very successfully in the High Courts in London – think, actually, it would be a massive detrimental step to try and recreate that on a very small basis in Wales.”

Why hasn't Crabb talked to the judiciary here in Wales? and many polticians from wales have made their careers in London is that stil an argument against Devolution?

and anyway Scottish Advocates have stil made London Carrers some like Lord Mckay and Lord Irvine reaching the heights of Lord Chancellor before the Constitutional Reform Act 2005



Crab comtinued : 

 “This idea of a separate legal jurisdiction is something of a red herring. It’s quite a dangerous one because it risks Wales losing out and at the moment Wales punches above its weight in the judiciary.
“I don’t think it’s impossible to carve out a much clearer devolution arrangement in the context of a single jurisdiction for England and Wales. It presents challenges, of course it does, but it’ not impossible.
“Those people, particularly those of a nationalist mindset, want to use this as an argument for furthering their ultimate goal which is the separation of Wales from the United Kingdom, which I absolutely don’t support.

To be fair to Crabb he and his fellow Unionist have realised long before many Nationalist or those seeking parity with Scotland that preventing a separate Welsh legal system like the Scottish one that existed even before the creation of the current Parliament will make any further devolution to Wales in the same mode as Scotland  difficult if not impossible.

Instead we get measures claiming to make the current settlement clearer but in reality hamstring the Welsh Government of whatever makeup . 

 

Are the Armed Forces, targeting children in deprived areas?

The Wasting Mule Online  reports that 

The Welsh Government has said it will not prevent the Army from visiting Welsh schools after an Assembly report said schools should treat such visits with caution.
Claims that the armed forces make “disproportionate number of visits” to schools in deprived areas surfaced in a report earlier this year.

The Assembly petitions committee looked into military visits to schools after more than 1,000 people signed a petition urging government to ban the armed forces from going into classrooms, claiming the visitors were targeting children in deprived areas. 
'
The committee found “no compelling evidence” personnel crossed the line between informing and recruiting pupils.
But it concluded the Army made a “disproportionate number of visits” to schools in deprived areas, saying the Welsh Government should conduct more research.

In the report, the cross-party group asked ministers to review guidance for future visits to make sure pupils and parents understood what soldiers and other personnel did. 

Julie James, ( Never heard of her before) deputy minister for skills, wrote to the committee and said:

  
“Restricting armed forces access to schools, as the petition suggested, may possibly disadvantage some young people as they will not have access to information about a full range of careers, including some which offer training of a very high quality.”

A debate in the Senedd on Wednesday heard claims from Conservative AM for Clwyd West, Darren Millar, that none of the armed forces attend schools to recruit.

He said they only attend on invitation and that they

 “seek to contribute to the life” of the schools they go to, “helping to deliver the national curriculum.”

 What part of the "national curriculum" is that I wonder?

Committee member South Wales West Plaid Cymru AM Bethan Jenkins, however, disputed that the army was only ever invited


Ms Jenkins, talking about a committee visit to a school in Prestatyn, said she was told 

“that they had an ongoing conversation with the army, and they told us that the army were very keen and very proactive in getting in touch with them to go into the schools.”
“Lets be honest here, the armed forces teams are not, in my view, presenting the profession as one fraught with danger,” she said, saying it wasn’t in the military’s interests to talk about the downsides of the job.

So could it be that the Military contact  Schools and suggest that they be invited?

Whatever  it seems the committee failed to ask or answer some questions.

• Is there a  “disproportionate number of visits” to schools in deprived areas and if so why?
• Are the dangers of the job explained or are they presented in the same way as Television adverts which shows military life as an exiting career. and which Julie James, ( Still never heard of her before) claims  "offer training of a very high quality".
• Are they told  that up to up to 9,000 British soldiers  who served "Queen and country" are homeless after leaving the military, and that Shockingly, ex-service personnel account for one in 10 rough sleepers across the UK.

It seems that the  Assembly committee  has failed to investigate the petition properly accepting the Armed service claim that none of the armed forces attend schools to recruit without examining the nature of these visits.

It is a cause for concern that pupils from deprived areas are seen as natural recruits for the armed services and are seduced with the prospect of a future life beyond the unemployment queues.

This is not an argument about pacifism its about explaining the role of the military properly and not  simply presenting it as a career opportunity for thos who may feel thety have none.    

Corbyn has responsibility without power

 
The election of Jeremy Corbyn may well not lead to a new dawn for the left . Inded the indications are beginning to prove that he has responsibility without power

For instance in his Conference speech speech he said

“I don’t believe that £100bn spent on a new generation of nuclear weapons taking away a quarter of our defence budget is the right way forward.” 

However the  conference  denied a debate being aired on Trident. a debate that activist  might well have won . But in not having a debate it appears Labour are not to change it stance anytime soon.

When it comes to Iraq  he said

“It didn’t help our national security when we went to war with Iraq in defiance of the United Nations on a false prospectus. It didn’t help our national security to endure the loss of hundreds of brave British soldiers in that war while making no proper preparation for what to do after the fall of that regime.”

Not really the apology that was trailed in the media before his speech, but is this an indication that he  will be prepared to do so in the future or that he is already watering down his approach.



and he has not ben helped by his shadow chancellor John McDonnell saying

Labour MPs should be given a free vote on military action in Syria, shadow chancellor John McDonnell has said.

Mr McDonnell told a meeting hosted by The Guardian at the Labour conference that Syria and the renewal of Trident were issues on which he did not expect consensus within the party.

He said he believed a vote on military action in Syria should be made "on the basis of conscience".

 This could lead to Corbyn walking through the No corridoe with more SNP,Plaid Green and some Northern Ireland MPs than his own. 

McDonnel had the previous day  turned on the SNP, and told conference: 

 “Let’s be clear the SNP has now voted against the living wage, against capping rent levels and just last week voted against fair taxes in Scotland to spend on schools.
“So, here is my message to the people of Scotland – Labour is now the only anti-austerity party. For those in Scotland who want to campaign against austerity, now is the time to come home – come home to Labour.”

 Which is an appaling twisting of the facts


However, the SNP hit back and said McDonnell had offered Scotland nothing new from Labour, and had continued to commit the party to voting for Chancellor George Osborne’s austerity plans.

Deputy leader Stewart Hosie said:

 “Mr McDonnell’s comments confirm that when it comes to Scotland Labour haven’t changed.

“Rather than learning from their mistakes and setting out a positive vision for the country, they are repeating the same negative and ill-informed rhetoric that saw them all but wiped out in Scotland at the last election. They may have changed the messengers but it’s the same tired old message.

“Labour’s economic plans are all over the place. While the SNP went into May’s election opposing austerity and campaigning for a real terms increase in public spending, Labour ran scared of the Tories and backed their draconian cuts and welfare reforms.”

He added: “While the SNP remain firmly opposed to George Osborne’s pro-austerity fiscal charter, John McDonnell just last week mandated Labour MPs to troop through the lobbies with the Tories yet again to back the plans, just as they did when they voted for £30bn of cuts in the last parliament.

“Labour have now lost all credibility and no one will take these claims remotely seriously.”

The problem for those who are rushing towards Labour  because they have elected a Progressive Left leader and who people like myself admire  is that  the majority of Labour MPs  are miles away from him  and even those on the Left like Mcdonnell are not wiling to work with others on an agenda that could  see not only a Anti-austerity campaign ( Mcdonnell  claim that Labour are now the only Austerity party being nonsense) but a move to working towards more peaceful solutions.'

THe sad thing is that Corbyn may well become  a prisoner  not only of the Blarite and other Red Tories in his Parliamentary Party but of Dinosaur of the left who see other parties with left leaning views as a threat.

I hope I am wrong but its not looking good.

Polls make gloomy reading for progresive parties.

The latest Poll for the Assembly Election shows continuing disappointment  for Plaid whilst Ukip  seem yo be holding ytier vote in Wales despite falling dramatically  in the last poll UK poll

Ipsos MORI/Standard – CON 39, LAB 34, LD 9, UKIP 7, GRN

For the Welsh Assembly  the polls for the Constituency shows

Labour: 39% (+4)
Conservatives: 23% (no change)
Plaid Cymru: 18% (-2)
UKIP: 13% (-1)
Liberal Democrats: 6% (+1)
Others: 2% (-1)
The changes are from  the last poll was conducted in June.and show what may be a Corbyn bounce.

For the "Top Up" Regional  voted
Labour: 34% (+2)
Conservatives: 24% (+2)
Plaid Cymru: 18% (-2)
UKIP: 14% (no change)
Liberal Democrats: 5% (no change)
Greens: 4% (no change)
Others: 2% (-1)
According to Professor Roger Scully of the Wales Governance Centre it would result in the following outcome.
Labour: 29 seats (27 constituency seats + 2 list seats)
Conservatives: 12 seats (6 constituency seats + 6 list seats)
Plaid Cymru: 10 seats (6 constituency seats + 4 list seats)
UKIP: 8 seats (8 list seats)
Liberal Democrats: 1 seats (1 constituency seat)

It will be intresting what wil hapen to the Ukip vote if the select g high profile figures from outside Wales to stand in 2016 in the most winnable regional seats

For  Progressive Parties like Plaid, LibDems ( who may be joining) and Greens if they do not start to increase in the  Polls soon May be a very big  disappointment.

Catalunya make a huge step towards Independence.

The result of the  Catalunya elections  sees the Pro independence parties gaining  enough of a majority to claim to push  for an Independence election in eighteen months

The figures below are confusing because it reflects a new alliance  and coalition

The former Convergence and Union (Catalan: Convergència i Unió, CiU; IPA:  was a Catalan nationalist electoral alliance in Catalonia, Spain. It was a federation of two constituent parties, the larger Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) and its smaller counterpart, the Democratic Union of Catalonia (UDC). Up until its dissolution in June 17, 2015, it was led by Artur Mas, who is also the current President of the Catalan Government.

The new coalition of CDC,ERC and  MES  (JxSí) will be supported by the left Candidatura d'Unitat Popular (CUP) Popular Unity Candidatures

It will remain to be sen how the Spanish Central Government will react to what has amounted to a Plebiscite  and the Democratic will of the Catalan People.

 If you take the votes of the Parties  the Pro independence Parties fel short of the 50% mark but  you could probably  count a number of the who voted for parties who are ambiguous.

Yes

1.952.482 vots

47.78%

JxSí 1.616.962
CUP 335.520

Parties who neither fully support Independence or the Status quo

467.417 vots

11.44%

CSQP 364.823
UDC 102.594

No

1.599.527 vots

39.13%

C's 732.147
PSC 520.022
PP 347.358

Others 

45.493 vots

1.12%

Party                                                               - Preliminary results (97%) -					2015		2012
	Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC) Democratic Convergence of Catalonia	Separatism Liberalism	ALDE		JxSí  39,7%	62	(CiU)	(37)
	Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) Republican Left of Catalonia	Separatism Social democracy	EFA				13,7%	21
	Moviment d'Esquerres (MES) Movement of the Left	Separatism Social democracy					-	-
	Demòcrates de Catalunya (DC) Democrats of Catalonia	Separatism Christian democracy					-	-
	Ciutadans - Partido de la Ciudadanía (C's) Citizens - Party of the Citizenry	Centrism			17,9%	25	7,6%	9
	Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya (PSC-PSOE) Socialists' Party of Catalonia	Social democracy	PES		12,7%	16	14,4%	20
	Podem (PODEM) We Can	Alter-globalisation Direct democracy Democratic socialism			8,9%	11	-	-
	Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds (ICV) Initiative for Catalonia Greens	Regionalism Green politics Eco-socialism	EGP				9,9%	10
	Esquerra Unida i Alternativa (EUiA) United and Alternative Left	Socialism Communism	EL					3
	Partit Popular (PP) People's Party	Conservatism Christian democracy	EPP		8,5%	11	13,0%	19
	Candidatura d'Unitat Popular (CUP) Popular Unity Candidatures	Separatism Socialism			8,2%	10	3,5%	3
	Unió Democràtica de Catalunya (UDC) Democratic Union of Catalonia	Regionalism Christian democracy	EPP		2,5%	-	(CiU)	(13)
	Convergència i Unió (CiU) Convergence and Union	Separatism Regionalism			-	-	30,7%	50
Others					1,6%	-	7,2%	-
Total					-	135	-	135
Turnout					77,5%		69,6%

Winning at Rugby is not the sum total of our National Identity

Don't get me wrong I am still  overwhelmed by Yesterdays Victory for Wales against England in the Rugby World Cup.

But is this the total amount of ambition for us as a Nation . Just identifying ourselves with a Rugby victory?

Today in Catalunya there is an election that is a defacto plebiscite over Independence 


The plan to hold an election in 2015 was announced on January 15, 2015 by President Artur Mas. President Mas said that it was his intention to turn the election into an alternative vote on the independence of ,Catalunya with pro-independence parties including the independence process in their respective programs, due to the inability of holding a legal referendum on the issue.^[1]
It will take place as a result of the Catalunya independence movement, and will be the third Catalan election in only five years, after the 2010 and 2012 elections. It will be the first regional Catalonian election in which Democratic Convergence of  Catalunya (CDC) and Democratic Union of Catalunya UDC) run separately, after the dissolution of the Convergence and Union (CiU) in June 2015. It will be the first time this has happened in any kind of election since the 1977 general election. Instead, UDC will run on its own, while CDC will run together with Republican Left of  (Catalunya ERC), Democrats of  (Catalunya DC) and Left Movement (MES) under the Together for Yes (JxSí) platform, with support from members of the pro-independence Catalan National Assembly (ANC), Òmnium and the Municipalities' Association for Independence (AMI), with Artur Mas as the agreed presidential candidate.


There is no  reason for us not to link our fee;imgs of a Nation through sport .

For many Catalans through their beloved Barca sees an expression of that at ever Barcelona Home game

In keeping with the team's history, Barcelona's Camp Nou stadium has become a hub for supporters of self-rule. "At 17 minutes and 14 seconds into each half, the fans start chanting 'independence'," Marina said. The timing relates to the year when Catalonia first became part of Spain. 

Below they sing the join in the famous chant as the clock reaches 1714 .

 Will we ever see a chant for Independence at the Millennium Stadium when the  clock reaches 15:36 (1282 won't obviously work) when Welsh law, which continued to be used in Wales after the conquest, was fully replaced by English law, under what would become known as the Act of Union?

Labour clearly have no future plans for Wales to move foward.

 I have no problem with the Wasting Mule giving a huge amount of space solely devoted to Labour on the eve of their UK conference.

I do however have a problem with them not giving room for political opponents to comment on the bullshit that comes out of the "Welsh Labour leadership.

With First Minister Carwyn Jones giving space to claim that Welsh Labour can honour Keir Hardie's legacy by winning power as he calls for unity ahead of conference

The first minister warned:

 “Without power, all we can do with Hardie’s legacy is discuss it – to truly honour his legacy we must govern, we must drive change in society. The fact that we have moved with the people in Wales, and stayed at the helm over 16 years has been no mean achievement, and we should never, ever take that for granted.”

Mr Jones argued former Merthyr Tydfil MP Hardie was 

“a deal-maker and strategist” who decided against adding “Socialist” to the title of the party “because he thought the label too divisive and that it might narrow the appeal.”

 True  but nowhere does Carwyn seem to mention that Kier Hardie was also a passionate supporter for Home Rule and that coexisted with the formation of Party whose intentions were to represent Workingmen.

Labour are no longer the inheritors of Kier Hardie  and while I would not argue that Plaid or thew SNP are . Kier Hardie may have been a litle more comfortable with these parties than at least before Corbyn  Labour.

Space is also given to Labour's Shadow Governor General Secretary of State for Wales  Nia (who) Griffiths.



The Mule claim

Nia Griffith pledges to pursue the 'best settlement for Wales' as she prepares for conference debut as Shadow Welsh Secretary

Ms Griffiths said: 

“What matters more than anything it is should be easy to understand [so] that we have absolute clarity about what the Welsh Government can and cannot do. Anything less than that is not good enough...
“These people are experts in the field and if they are raising considerable concerns then that’s really got to be taken seriously, otherwise you could end up back in the situation of going to court over this, that and the other.”

 Her priority as Shadow Welsh Secretary it seems  is to secure the “best settlement for Wales” – both in terms of devolution and funding. She fears “savage cuts” are heading Wales’ way.

So is that Labour ambition ? Tidy up the legalise .  Nothing from both politicians that can really see Wales moving forward and if the Tories are offering "devodipynbach" then all you can say is that you work for the best settlement from it.


She is also apparently  concerned by the Conservative manifesto commitment to give English MPs a de facto veto on legislation deemed England-only, describing the pledge as a “quick, short-term fix so the Conservatives stop losing votes to Ukip” made “without necessarily thinking through the consequences of what they are actually doing.”

So that the two Welsh Labour leader one  evoking the spirit of a leader who would not recognise the party he created today including its commitment to the Union in its present form and another who ses her job not to come up with any call for Wales to get similar powers to Scotland but to try and "tidy up" the Tories current plans .

Whatever happens under Corbyn in Westminster it is clear thet Welsh Labour no longer have Plans for former First Minister  Rhodri Morgan's "clear red water" between  their counterparts over  the boarder but for a polluted stream.