Queengate and Republicans and Atheists.

Is singing God Save the Queen  something a English Republican and Atheist an English Republican  like Jeremy Corbyn should avoid.

The media's faux outrage over Corbyn standing in respectful silence probably shows  the future in how they intend to treat the ner Labour Leader

And Mr Corbyn it seems has bowed to pressure and agreed to join in singing the anthem.

Should he. When I last looked we were not living in an Absolute Monarchy or Totalitarian Dictatorship

Should a Welsh or Scottish Nationalist  join in "The UK" National anthem at such events.

Standing in respectful  silence seems a compromise between open hostility to an anthem that many people share which forces them to appear to support an institution that they don't believe in.

As for atheist I now many a left winger who are also atheist joining in Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika' (God Bless Africa) with Gusto

And we will be hearing many Nations invoking a deity in the Rugby World cup including "God Defend New Zealand" is one of two national anthems of New Zealand, the other being "God Save the Queen". Legally they have equal status, but "God Defend New Zealand" is more commonly used, and is widely albeit incorrectly referred to as "the national anthem

The anthem has English and Māori lyrics, with slightly different meanings. When performed in public, the usual practice is to sing the first verse in both Māori and English.

E Ihowā Atua, O ngā iwi mātou rā Āta whakarangona; Me aroha noa Kia hua ko te pai; Kia tau tō atawhai; Manaakitia mai Aotearoa	English translation (Karetu) Lord, God over yonder, Of all our nations Listen to us gently, With the infinite love May the goodness bear fruit; May your kindness come; Please give protection to Aotearoa
English verse: "God Defend New Zealand" God of Nations at Thy feet, In the bonds of love we meet, Hear our voices, we entreat, God defend our free land. Guard Pacific's triple star From the shafts of strife and war, Make her praises heard afar, God defend New Zealand.

The Maori version sound better and I suspect even New Zealand Atheist have a problem with it.


The fact is that may anthems have objectionable verse and many invoke a deity.

But calling on that deity to defend a monarch which a significant number of the population would like to be replaced  seems to much.

People should always have the right not to join in any anthem if they feel it compromises they beliefs.

To do so is an insult to freedom from Totalitarianism  ironically  what the pilots of the Battle of Britain were fighting for an irony lost by the UK's media.

I'll never forget whatshisname.

The recently elected MP for Swansea East walked into a live television nightmare when she momentarily forgot the name of the man who runs the Welsh Government.

Carolyn Harris seemed to forget the name of First Minister Carwyn Jones when told the programme:

 “In Wales we have a very strong charismatic leader in, in"

 before stumbling and saying

“you know I can’t think of his name.”

Sharp End presenter and ITV Cymru Wales political reporter Owain Phillips stepped in to give Ms Harris a helping hand.

“Carwyn Jones,” he reminded her.

 As some one has a terrible memory for names and find myself meeting old acquaintances  and struggling to carry out a conversation whilst desperately trying to remember their names in sympathy with Ms Harris but to describe some one as a "characteristic leader" especially one who has been First Minister since December 1999 does seem to be a major clanger.

It reminds  ne of "Antigonish"  an 1899 poem by American poet Hughes Mearns.

Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today,
I wish, I wish he'd go away...
When I came home last night at three,
The man was waiting there for me
But when I looked around the hall,
I couldn't see him there at all!
Go away, go away, don't you come back any more!
Go away, go away, and please don't slam the door...
Last night I saw upon the stair,
A little man who wasn't there,
He wasn't there again today
Oh, how I wish he'd go away...

Unfortunately he's likely to still be there after May's Assembly Elections.

Nia Griffiths to fight for Wales in Shadow Cabinet (as if)

Yesterday I commented on the Wasting Mule habit of getting a view from other Parties "Spokesmen" when presenting a news about Plaid say when seemingly reporting on News about "Welsh Labour " without any comment from their rivals

So I was not surprised when today it gives space to the announcement  Nia Griffth has been appointed Shadow Welsh Secretary as Owen Smith moves over to become Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary in Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour frontbench shake-up without the views of the other Parties in Wales appearing particularly when it comes to the apointment  of the Shadow Welsh Secretary.

So we have been left with theShadow Welsh Secretary Nia Griffith who said: 

“I am very honoured to be asked to take on the role of Shadow Welsh Secretary, building on the work of my predecessor Owen Smith who is now Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary and working alongside him and fellow Welsh Labour MP Chris Bryant, Shadow Leader of the House.
“Jeremy Corbyn has surpassed all expectations with his resounding victory in the Labour Leadership contest, and it is vital now that we all get behind him to fight for what we all believe in – a fairer and more equal society.
"In Wales the Welsh Labour government have a fantastic record of delivery and I look forward to working closely with Jeremy, Carwyn and the entire Welsh Labour team to deliver another Labour victory in Wales this May and beyond.
“I am proud to be part of a strong shadow cabinet that will work tirelessly to expose the Tories’ callous approach and will be standing up for Wales against their plans to slash support to working families, muzzle trade unions and make it harder for working people to win a fairer

 Apart from a bit of fluf from First Minister Carwyn Jones the rection of other Welsh Poltians was absent.


Once again I am saved a great deal of work by WelshnotBritish . Who provides us with Labour voice iof Wales (as if) in the Shadow Cabinet who shows tha Ms Griffiths will undoubtedly stand against any futher powers for Wales.


 

 Hardly the record of sineone standing up for Wales and even if you are Left -Unionist  her record is still pisspoor

Another  WelshnotBritish Masterpiece

To be fair to Jeremy Corbyn if he wanted a Progressive voice Welsh in his Shadow Cabinet he was unlikely to find one.  Instead he has promoted s r to become Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary though Owen was hoping for the Shadow Chancellors job  and  demoted  Arch-Blarite  Chris Bryant, Shadow to Leader of the House.

Such is the nature of Labours MPs in Wales  it would be hard  to find one calling for parity with  Scotland under Mr Corbyn leadership which allows Ministers to pursue a line contrary to Jeremy's views.

Indeed we might well see Labour MPs in Westminster calling to a halt even of Devolution Dipynbach as they now feel that they can  openly oppose any further powers for Wales without fear of being sacked.

If Plaid feel that Corbyn may match them on the Anti-Austerity level then surely as the record of Nia Griffiths shows they clearly have a Unique Selling Point (USP) when it comes to Wales matching Scotland when it comes to devolved powers and as noble as the intentions of the New Labour leader are without a single Welsh MP ready to come forward with a plan for Wales he may well find that Welsh Labour far from putting Clear Red Water between them and the Westminster Party (as Rhodri Morgan Put it) they may wish to drain the lake.

The Wasting Mule seems to be Corbynlite for now.

If the term Corbynlite comes into popular parlance for  those who now claim to be behind Corbyn whilst not actually supporting his views . I claiming it.

It will remain to be seen whether the Wasting Mule wil be Corbynlite  in its columns but indications are that this is at least for now will be its stance  .

A opinion piece the Political Editor of Media Wales David Williamson while underlying the challenge  for Jeremy Corbyn seems to point to the Mule backing Corbyn

 One thing Mr Corbyn does have which will be admired by every politico in the land is an incredible ability to marshall support. With help from powerful supporters, he motivated an army of people to register to take part in the leadership election; his supposedly formidable opponents completely failed to do this.
If Welsh Labour can persuade people who signed-up to vote for Mr Corbyn to play an active role in the Assembly election they will gain a new army of door-knockers and social media warriors.
Mr Corbyn has a crucial role to play in the Assembly elections if he can persuade his fans to join Labour veterans and get involved in the hard slog of campaigning in their communities.

He started the article  by arguing 

"Can Mr Corbyn persuade people who paid £3 to register to vote in the leadership election to put leaflets through doors in their constituencies"?

He then however in a separate article gives space to Cardiff Central Cardiff Central MP Jo Stevens 

 He writes .

Cardiff Central MP Jo Stevens says it became clear that Mr Corbyn was on the road to his astonishing victory when people flocked to sign-up for the election.

She said:

“For example, in Cardiff Central in the general election, we had a totality of 350 people signed up in the three categories. We’ve now got 1,100 people, which is absolutely brilliant.
' “So if my constituency party is indicative of what has happened elsewhere in the country, we’ve got a huge number of people now to take the fight to the Tories.”

Looking ahead to the May Assembly election battle, she said:

 “[We] have got lots and lots more people to help us campaign on the ground and get Jenny Rathbone elected next May.”

When asked what drew people to Mr Corbyn, she said: 

“When he speaks people believe that he’s speaking the truth. You may not agree with everything he says but you don’t doubt that he means what he says.

 “That level of honesty and authenticity is something that has connected with a lot of people.

 It was an overwhelming mandate, both for Jeremy and for Tom in all sections of the vote – members, registered supporters and affiliates.
"They’ve got a clear mandate to lead and I hope everybody will get behind them both and make sure that we start being the best, effective opposition to the Tories : “Jeremy’s job now is to build a shadow cabinet that represents all wings of the party so that everybody within the parliamentary Labour party, membership and beyond sees that he recognises that everybody has a role to play and a contribution to make.
“I think he’ll do that.”

Mr Wiliamson does not seem to have taken the obvious  opportunity to ask Ms  Stevens  why despite her obvious enthusiasm for Corbyn she voted for Andy Burnham.

Nor has the Mule taken the opportunity to ask one of their "Spokesmen" from other parties  which usually appear  in articles on those other than Labour  for their take on this.

Is this going to be the Wasting Mule on the run up to next May. To be little more than a outlet for Labour Pres releases and not allowing the opposition their say whilst finding a "Labour Spokesman" to deride any statement from Plaid and the other parties.

Labour MPs become Corbynlite for know.

After Napoleon escapes from Elba and moves on Paris it is claimed  that therre was a hilarious change in a Newspaper headlines. during the twenty days between the Emperor's landing in the sound and his arrival at the capital.

• The monster has escaped from his place of exile.'--
• The Corsican werewolf has landed at Cannes.'--`
• The tiger appeared at Gap, troops were sent against him, the wretched adventurer ended his career in the mountains.'--`
• The fiend has actually, thanks to treachery, been able to get as far as Grenoble.'--`
• The tyrant has reached Lyons, where horror paralysed all attempts at resistance.'--
• The usurper has dared to advance within a hundred and fifty miles of the capital.'--
• Bonaparte moves northward with rapid strides, but he will never reach Paris.'--
• Tomorrow Napoleon will be at our gates. 
• His Majesty is at Fontainebleau. 

Don't expect such asea change in our media but it already happened in the attitude of Labour MPs as many who wouldn't have touched Jeremy Corbyn  with a barge poll try to give the impression that they may be if not Corbynites then Corbynlite


Shadow work and pensions secretary Rachel Reeves and education spokesman Tristram Hunt have both said they will not serve on the new leader's front bench, though they probably doubt Jeremy going to offer jobs to politicians indistinguishable from the Tories.

However, Shadow Welsh Secretary Owen Smith  tipped by some to be Shadow Chancellor said said he was "a Labour man first and foremost" and would be willing to serve in Mr Corbyn's shadow cabinet. 

He described the leadership election as "an amazing moment", calling on Labour to unite and "capitalise" on the interest of more than 400,000 people who voted in the contest.
"We've got a phenomenon on our hands that we need to work with for the betterment of the people we seek to represent," he said.

First Minister Carwyn Jones congratulated Mr Corbyn on his "impressive" win.
He added: "His campaign has energised a huge number of people who were previously disengaged from party politics and we must embrace that.
"We should also thank the other leadership candidates for a campaign well-fought. The challenge for the party now is to come together, get organised and take on the Tories.
"I look forward to meeting with Jeremy soon to discuss our campaign plans for the vital election in Wales next year."

Other leading Welsh Labour figures called for unity behind their new leader.
Shadow Culture Secretary and Rhondda MP Chris Bryant told BBC News: "We're good at knocking lumps out of each other ... we need to knock lumps out of the Tories."
Cynon Valley MP Ann Clwyd tweeted: "Jeremy - brill! Human rights will be safe in your hands.
"Your tenacity and sincerity have inspired a new generation."
  You can be forgiven for laughing at Ms Clwyd one of Tony Blair,s biggest supporters in the interventions in the Middle East congratulating one of the bigest critics  of such a policy

I can understand thier call for unity  but as WelshnotBritish points out suport for Corbyn from Welsh MP swas thin on the ground

Graph from WelshnotBritish.

Though it is claimed Merthyr MP Gerald Jones MP backed a Corbyn and Watson but that might just be him seeing the way the vote was going.

II for one welcome  Corbyn victory it doesn't mean for one moment I will be voting for them though after all the ragtag of Labour MPs in Wales above will still be there and there and some with the rest of the Labour benches  will be some sharping thier knives to stab the man in the back as son as possible.

 Napoleon himself did not last long being defeated at Waterloo after the timely arrival of the Prussian General Blucher turned the tide.

BBC poll question on Welsh NHS breached code of conduct

Tucked away on BBC online is the news that the  polling company ICM breached the Market Research Society's (MRS) code of conduct in a health poll it conducted for BBC Wales.

The MRS said the wording of a question about cancer drugs funding led participants to a particular viewpoint.

Responding, ICM said the question was

 "entirely defensible and structured in exactly the same way as questions used by all polling companies all the time".

The complaint to the MRS was made by the Welsh government.
The MRS also determined that the procedure for agreeing questions was insufficient on this occasion.

The question used in the poll in January this year  was:

 "In England, NHS money is ring-fenced for the Cancer Drugs Fund. In Wales, funding for cancer drugs is treated in the same way as funding drugs for all other illnesses. Do you believe money for cancer should be protected?"

ICM director Martin Boon said the outcome of the investigation

 "raises questions as to the fitness and purpose of the MRS code of conduct in the context of public and political opinion polling, as the code makes no distinction between genuine concerns about question wording versus those driven by political motivation".

According to that poll almost half of the people in Wales believe the Welsh NHS performs just as well as the health service in England while another 15% think it performs better, a new poll suggests.

Almost 47% of people thought the performance of the Welsh NHS and English NHS is "more or less the same".
But 21% thought performance was worse in Wales, the ICM/BBC Wales poll found.

So you may think that the Welsh Government is being oversensitive on this but the State of the Welsh NHS was a major campaign point for the Tories in May with the NHS in Wales has been called "substandard" by ministers at Westminster over the last year.  in particular for choosing not to protect health spending to the same extent as in England and Scotland in the years following the last assembly election. 

Prime Minister David Cameron described after all Offa's Dyke as becoming "the line between life and death".



A Welsh government spokesman said:

 "We are pleased that this complaint has been upheld by the MRS.

"It is disappointing that ICM and BBC Wales dealt with a public policy issue of such sensitivity in the way this investigation finding has revealed."

A BBC Wales spokeswoman said:

 "We note the findings of the MRS relating to one question in a wider poll conducted by ICM on our behalf."

Unfortunately I have no knowledge  of when the controversial question was askedin the polls  but it was early then it may just have influenced subsequent answers.

What it shows how Polls and the interpenetration of them  can mislead or even influence the public .

Jonathan Edwards steps down as Plaid Westminster leader.

It does seem rather odd that Carmarthen East and Dinefwr MP Jonathan Edwards has stood down as Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader, citing personal reasons.

He will be replaced by Arfon MP Hywel Williams.

Mr Edwards said he wanted to concentrate his efforts on being “as good a constituency MP as possible”.

Speculation that he may be planning to jump ship and become a Labour Corbynite sems very unlikely as he pledged his full support for Mr Williams and looked forward to campaigning for the party in May’s Assembly elections.
Mr Edwards said:

 “I will be doing whatever I can to support the campaign and Leanne Wood as leader.”

He first won the seat in 2010, taking over from leading Plaid figure Adam Price, who won UK-wide attention with his bid to impeach Tony Blair over the invasion of Iraq.
Mr Edwards increased his majority from 3,481 to 5,599 in this year’s election. He has a reputation in the Commons as an outspoken opponent of “austerity” policies.
The party’s new Westminster leader, Mr Williams, entered parliament as the MP for Caernarfon in 2001. He increased his majority in Arfon in May from 1,455 to 3,580.
 

My own speculation for what its worth (probably not much) is that Mr Edwards realised the role may lead to the problem of having responsibility without power '

 

Becoming a Privy councilor whigh a Plaid leader could probably expect leads to certain speaking privillages but minds you to the commons .

 

Angus Robertson, the  SNP leader at Westminster, is to become a member of the House of Commons Intelligence and Security Committee(ISC); believed to be the party's first representative on the high-powered committee.
It has been suggested some within the Conservative Government had qualms about Mr Robertson's appointment, given the SNP's visceral opposition to Britain's nuclear deterrent, but because of the Nationalists' increased number of MPs, making the SNP Westminster's third party, then there was no doubt that it had to have representation on one of the UK Parliament's most influential bodies.

 

However Mr Roberson may find that being privy to certain Information  like that of the " intelligence" behind  the recent Drone attack on a Cardiff jihadist who was one of three men from the city to have joined a group in Syria was killed by the RAF.

According to Prome Minister Cameron 

Both Junaid Hussain and Reyaad Khan, were British nationals based in Syria who were involved in actively recruiting ISIL sympathisers and seeking to orchestrate specific and barbaric attacks against the west including directing a number of planned terrorist attacks right here in Britain, such as plots to attack high profile public commemorations, including those taking place this summer.

Bringing Mr Roberson into the  Intelligence Bubble may prevent him from commentating on security matters even if he believes its all bollocks.

If he wins on Saturday Jeremy Corbyn will probably face the same problem and find that too much information from establishment sources may be a curse rather than a blessing.