Welsh Secretary David Jones 30 years behind us.

So our Representative  Westminster Cabinet  (or Westminster representative in Wales ) Welsh Secretary David Jones,  he  will vote against plans to legalise gay marriage in Wales and England.His fellow Conservative and Wales Office deputy Stephen Crabb will also oppose the move.

They are joined by  Monmouth MP David Davies calling it "barking mad".

Mr Davies said the party would lose loyal activists if it pressed ahead with the policy.

Mr Jones, the MP for Clwyd West, declined to give interviews on the UK government's same sex marriage plans as "this bears no relation to his role as secretary of state for Wales".

Yes it does we kneed to know where a public fave of Wales stands .

This is hardly surprising as all three are members of the Cornerstone Group  a socially conservative or traditional conservative political organisation within the Conservative Party.The Group espouses so called traditional values as exemplified by its motto: Faith, Flag, and Family. 

Conservative MP  Alan Duncan  who is openly Gay once referred to this wing as a "Taliban tendency" within the Party.

The fact that Duncan and other MPs can know openly announce their sexuality and that it has absolutely no effect on their voters shows how time has changed.

But the weekend, David  Davies said the idea pf  same sex churchoWeddings  was "barking mad".

He caused  controversy by saying most parents "would prefer their children not to be gay, knowing most parents want grandchildren if nothing else".

The UK government will set out its plans soon after a consultation on measures to allow homosexual couples to marry.

Some senior Tory MPs and peers have launched a campaign group backing same sex marriage.

and not all Welsh Tories are locked in the past. The leader of the Conservatives in the assembly Andrew RT Davies also added his support to Cameron's  plans  on Twitter, saying: "The best thing to happen in my life was to meet and marry my wife, it cannot be right to deny two people in love the same feeling".

The world has change as a 59 year old  heterosexual male I have in my own time matured and seen same sex relationships for what they no different in the love and commitment than heterosexual ones.

And Marriage has changed many chose to make the commitment outside religion and go for a secular marriage.

The Church  long ago lost the right to define marriage as being between a man and  a woman. it is for us to decide now.

The proposal in that Churches will not have any legal compulsion to marry same sex couples is a sensible one.

Though there would be controversy ,if a Church was to refuse a couple who were a different colour.

But it is better to allow the Church's to follow their pwn conscious rather than legislate.Many will realise that they must reflect the mood of the people of the nations of these Islands. 

Some like Catholic and Anglica church s n will resist same sex  marriages  for a long time.

But some time in the future people will look back with amazement that people opposed same sex marriages in the same way people opposed the abolition of slavery.

In the meantime the Welsh Office is full of Ministers who seem to be 30 years behind the rest of us out of touch and out of reality.

Anne Clwyd at least she is being heared.

I'm sure everyone feels huge sympathy for Ann Clwyd and her campaign for more caring nursing after "the callous lack of care" with which nurses treated her husband as he lay dying in the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff.

Clwyd, the Labour MP for Cynon Valley since 1984 and Tony Blair's former human rights envoy to Iraq, told the Guardian she fears a "normalisation of cruelty" is now rife among NHS nurses. She said she had chosen to speak out because this had become "commonplace".

Describing how her 6'2'' husband lay crushed "like a battery hen" against the bars of his hospital bed with an oxygen mask so small it cut into his face and pumped cold air into his infected eye, Clwyd said nurses treated the dying man with "coldness, resentment, indifference and even contempt".
Owen Roberts died on Tuesday, 23rd October from hospital-acquired pneumonia. The former television director and producer had multiple sclerosis for 30 years and had been in a wheelchair for the previous two years. He had been in the flagship hospital for ten days.
"I have had nightmares about what happened," said Clwyd, speaking to the Guardian after initially making

Guardian December 4th 2012 

However sympathy and respect for her undoubted distress, cannot distract from the fact that she has been a MP for 28 years and must surely have had hundreds of letters and  constituency surgeries where her constituents have related similar horrific stories.

Her Labour Party have been in Power for at Westminster for 13 of the  years since she was first elected  and in power in Wales and running the NHS here since 1999.

So was she right despite her anger and distress to blame the Westminster Government 

 The rowdy House of Commons fell silent when the Labour MP rose to speak at the end of prime minister’s questions. Her description of how her husband, Owen Roberts, suffered “coldness, resentment, indifference and contempt” has sent shockwaves through the NHS.
She said: “The universal healthcare system, free at the point of delivery, is what the overwhelming majority of the British people want – something which I remain firmly committed to. However, there are increasing complaints about nurses who fail to show care and compassion to their patients.
“What exactly will the prime minister do about that?”

Western Mail December 5th 2012

Has she asked Welsh First Minister and his health Secretary the same question ?

Many observers believe that the problems of care go back to Project 2000 a new university-based system of nurse education and greater emphasis was placed on the education of nurses rather than their caring capabilities.

It led to claim that some Nurses saw their role as being above simple caring task's feeding like washing soiled patients who could not carry out such tasks.

A largely unfair accusation but cases like Ann Clwyd , point to concerns that must be answered and I support her campaign to bring caring back to those wards where it has appeared to have disappeared.

But its sad that it has taken her own personal tragedy to open her eyes . At least she has a voice that is being heard.

For many of her constituents there seems to be no one before know to speak for them.

Something that has been her job for the last 28 years

The return of Rachel Banner.

If you were wondering whatever happened   to Rachel Banner the main spokesperson for the No campaign (True Wales) during last year’s referendum on direct law-making power in Wales. She has turned up on the Blog Open Unionism

She writes .

The referendum turnout figure of 35% left us all struck by how the Welsh people are decidedly not deliriously excited about the brave new era of public engagement we were promised a Yes vote would bring.  This should prompt serious debate about how devolution should involve more democracy and accountability at local level, rather than the imposition of new taxes on the people of Wales.The fact that there is no democratic mandate for the far-reaching changes that are to take place is of no concern to the politicians.  After all, isn’t that what politicians are expected to do – get what they want at almost any cost, even if it makes a farce of democracy?  We in Wales will never be able to say that there was a full and open debate on the devolution journey. 

Ms Banner neglects to mention her part in the 35% when  True Wales the group calling for a No vote in the March referendum on further powers for the Welsh Assembly,announced that it did not want official status as a lead campaign comes as no surprise.

Thisl meant n that the  Electoral commission , the watchdog overlooking the referendum decided  it it couldn't  appoint   lead campaigners for the "No" side by which meant that it could nor give funds to each side of the campaign and therefore no side received funding

.
It was widely  believed that True Wales  hoped that it would  result in fewer people taking an interest in the referendum and this would result in a lower turnout and if it was close the argument about no mandate would have been stronger.

However the result was decisive With only one Welsh Unitary authority Monmouth voting NO. (Which is probably why she failed to mention it ).

Election results
Yes or no	Votes	Percentage
Yes	517,132	63.49%
No	297,380	36.51%
Valid votes	814,512	99.86%
Invalid or blank votes	1,116	0.14%
Total votes	815,628	100.00%
Voter turnout	35.63%
Electorate	2,289,044

In truth I suspect many like myself will agree with Ms Banner when she writes.

What we have now is a Whitehall-in-the-Bay model, dutifully reflected by the Welsh media.  There is no effort to explore any devolution models other than transferring yet more power to the Assembly. Apparently, that is ipso facto democratic.

Bur she offers no alternative and as a comment by DaveDare  pointed out  it is

Smoke and mirrors coming from someone who doesn’t support devolution at all.

She offers no alternative from her real aim of abolition of  the Assembly altogether.

She then goes on to address the West Lothian Question without realising that most consider it to be the English Question

To be fair she makes a reasonable argument about the problems of MPs from outside England voting on English matters. But offers no real solution.

Apparently this is only Part One . I look forward to her coming up with an alternative rather than criticism in Part Two .


Bur I'm not holding f my breath.

PCC's already under fire for cronyism.

It seems that the 15% who bothered to vote in police and crime commissioner election may have voted for a package they were not quite expecting

Because its been revealed  a number of winning candidates seem to believe that their agents were de facto also running for the position of their deputy

Gwent police commissioner Ian Johnston,, who stood independently, announced his intention to appoint his former Gwent Police colleague and election campaign agent Paul Harris as his second-in-command.

It comes as police commissioners in England have been accused of cronyism over their decisions to appoint friends, ex-colleagues and contacts as deputies on salaries of up to £65,000.

 The Northamptonshire commissioner, Adam Simmonds, is reported to be planning to appoint 17 staff, including his election campaign agent.

These are not elected roles and one wonders how many of those who bothered to vote realised that the Police commissioner would have unelected deputies .

I suspect that many thought that the Police Commissioners, would cut down on bureaucracy  and expenses .

Instead we are likely to see empire building and money diverted to the Office of the Commissioner as the PCC seek to limit the councillors and independent members that make up the Police and Crime Panel

Meanwhile the Mirror  reports   newly-elected Police and Crime Commissioner has been criticised for refusing to quit working as a barrister while picking up a £70,000 annual salary from the taxpayer.

Winston Roddick, 72, confirmed he intends to continue as a lawyer alongside his new role even though he promised voters he would “put the needs of the ­ratepayers at the top of my priorities” during his election campaign.
When challenged about any conflict of duties, he dismissed any suggestion he might not spend enough time in his new post, replying: “It was never advertised as a full-time job.”
He said: “The holder of the post may hold other ­positions, self-employed or otherwise, but the people of North Wales can rest assured my priority will be this post.”

Mirror  1st December 2012

The Mirror report may be be connected to Winston a Liberal Democrat winning the post whilst standing as an Interdependent.

 But its valid criticism 

Again I imagine most people saw the PCC as being a full time job but we probably will fond that simply by the position all the PCCS will be taking up exalted part -time positions .

It makes you wonder why people bothered to vote

Oh that's right most didn't

It seems they may well have made the right choice.

Best Wishes Welsh Agenda

Yesterday's Blog  where I  wrote on my own financial experience of being unemployed and seeking work may explain why I am one of the few who try to write a post on a daily basis.

I find myself waking up everyday at 6:30 and writing my daily incoherent rant full of grammatical errors etc . Sees me through the first hours.

Still I have the time and still some enthusiasm but I recognise how hard it would be for people to Blog on the same basis regular  basis. 

However we have lost a number of regular contributors to Welsh Blogging, over the last few years.

Including

Dib Lemming- a entertaining LibDem Blog

England's Left Forward - A progressive English Viewpoint

Laudanum - A counterpoint to The Druid of Anglesey (which also has gone away)
Merthyr Voice
Plaid Panteg -Much Missed
Wales Home - What Happened to it
Welsh Political Twins
Welsh Ramblings - For god sake come back.

And now we have the news that because of illness Welsh Agenda has called it a day .

National Left send his best wishes to NA and hope for a speedy recovery

We also have seen some of our better bloggers making less contribution than they used to . No criticism It takes time and effort to Blog on a regular basis and I've nothing but respect for all who contribute irrelevant of their stance

On a welcome note Pendroni has made a welcome return

I think its also time we all who take part in the Welsh Bloggerspherepaid tribute to Alwyn a p Huw on Miserable Old Fart who was probably the first to put this blog on his reading list and I am certain that I woud.t be getting the visits I have it wasn't for his early inclusion.  where he has built up a considerable list of Bloggers not only ones from Wales. Diolch Alyn.

And on that note . I would like to request that readers of this Blog recommend  any Blogs that I could include on my reading list.

If you know any particularly bogs relating to Wales let me know.

Autumn Statement cuts Welfare not Bonuses.

Typically BBC Wales headline on the Autumn Statement  is that ....

The Welsh government will get a £227m windfall of capital from Chancellor George Osborne's Autumn Statement.
Business groups said it gave Welsh ministers an opportunity to rebuild infrastructure.
The Welsh government welcomed the money, but said its budget was still facing big cuts that will hinder attempts to help the economy.
The UK government said it was promoting investment, but opponents said its austerity policies were failing.

They add...

 The Welsh government - which has an annual budget of around £15bn - will also receive an additional £52m of day-to-day revenue funding.
Its extra capital funding, which pays for spending on buildings and infrastructure, comes from a squeeze on UK government departments.
It will be available to spend over the next two financial years until the end of the UK government's spending review period in 2014-15.

Seem wonderful but this comes as  First Minister Carwyn Jones, pointed out that even with extra money, he said his government's capital budget will be 39% lower in real terms in 2014-15 than it was in 2009-10.

"The reality of this Autumn Statement is Wales is still facing a very tough public spending environment for years to come," Mr Jones said.

Of course the BBC do not give us figures for the  share of the £59 billion worth of cuts George Osbourne  they can work out the shre that that leads to  the extra £227 "windfall" but not our share of the cuts.

 The  money is welcome  but its the equivalent of a parent, who has been cutting your school dinner money giving yor a £10 and telling you what to spend it

They may be right on what we should spend this money on but it should be our decision.

 BBC also provide figures that the Treasury claims 13,000 people will be lifted out of income tax and 1.1m will pay less thanks to an increase in the personal allowance - the amount people can earn before their income is taxed. No tax will be paid on earnings under £9,440.


About 640,000 pensioners in Wales will see a rise of £2.70 a week in the basic state pension from next April

Good but BBC Wales do not provide us with the figures that most working-age benefits to rise by 1% for each of next three years

Where are the figures that 125000 unemployed people in Wales face a cut in benefits.

Take a single man (Myself) who is unemployed and seeking work.

I have some advantages

I don't pay rent  nor do I receive housing benefit however
I do not pay council tax

However I must pay for everything else Gas electricity Water , Telephone/Internet (vital for looking for work) Food clothing.and house insurance

For this I receive £71 a week in benefits  from which I withdraw about £20 mainly for food and occasional clothing.. The rest is taken up in paying Standard orders for utilities and the hope that there a bit left over each month in order to pay for emergencies .

Any increase over the next 3 years will be less that 80p  a week I suspect rises in utilities to more than swallow that up.

I'm not saying that people like myself on benefits should not take the share of the burden but there comes a point when people will not be able to carry on and will go into debt simply to pay for the amenities in order to survive.

Yes there is a bit of good news for those who are low paid and there should be, but for those on welfare who are constantly portrayed as scroungers and are an easy target for cuts.

A banker in the city of London will think that £71 would be an incredible cheap night out  but for those unfortunates on welfare its a lifeline  which  in some cases will be falling short of those reaching for it.

And yet such is the success of the Government and Media  denigration of those in befits  they will be able to cut welfare with barley a whimper from most of the rest us.

Carwyn the Censor.

I think it must be clear that I'm not in the Cardiff bay Bubble, because in a previous post  I wrote that 

"I imagine that First Minister Carwyn Jones is prowling the corridors of the Asembly Building trying to find out what idiot demanded S4C cancel a repeat of an episode of Welsh soap opera Pobol y Cwm because of its portrayal of the government policy on badgers".

It seems that Carwyn, only had to look in the mirror in order to find that Idiot.. It had been earlier revealed that 

"A spokesman for the Welsh Government confirmed that it had made an official complaint to the BBC and S4C about a “serious breach” of BBC and Ofcom guidelines in a storyline about tuberculosis in cattle.
The government believes last night’s episode of the Welsh language soap breached the public broadcasters’ duty of impartiality and have asked for tonight’s repeat (Thursday) - scheduled for 6.30pm - be cancelled". 

Now Carwyn . has admitted he authorised a complaint about the soap opera, after a character criticised his government's decision not to cull badgers.

At first minister's questions, Plaid Cymru AM Simon Thomas asked if he had 

"taken advantage of the excellent S4C service online Clic in order to view the whole Pobol y Cwm episode before authorising the letter asking them not to repeat the programme".

He added  

"Did you actually watch the programme?"

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

A letter was written by press officers and I authorised that action”

Carwyn Jones AMFirst Minister

Mr Jones said he had seen the programme and its script. (Though he seemed to miss a scene where other characters gave an opposing point of view, saying farmers were to blame for the spread of TB in cattle)

 He said 

"A letter was written by press officers and I authorised that action," the Welsh government was waiting for responses from the BBC - which produces the soap - S4C and the regulator Ofcom."There is a public policy issue here that has to be debated," 

Perhaps  Carwyn  thinks Pobol y Cwm, should look back to the early days of the radio soap the Archers, which was originally produced with collaborative input from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and  was conceived as a means of disseminating information to farmers and smallholders to help increase productivity in the post-World War II years of rationing and food shortages.

One can Imagine the Welsh Labour Party in particular envisaging Pobol Y Cwm being a format to explain Welsh Assembly Government. 

Will we in future be seeing the title of Welsh Assembly Script Editor appearing on the cast list after every episode?

This may look like a small spat but it is a dangerous move where the Welsh Government seeks to make our media doesn't portray them in a bad light.

They may have had  a reason to complain to the BBC  that the programme was inaccurate.Though how you can portray a farmer devastated  by TB calmly weighing up the pros and cons of government policy and make it believable is beyond me.

Carwyn should apologise for this attempt at censorship . He has the right to complain how his government is portrayed but he should do so bearing in mind that interfering in the way he did is a dangerous precedent.