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Wil_CC

Listed below are comments made by Wil_CC between Monday, 8th December 2008 and Saturday, 11th July 2009.

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Brotherhood of man 4:17pm on 11 Jul 2009 Betsan, correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't this long-awaited report provide advice for IWJ on his National Transport strategy? And isn't he releasing that report when the strategy is announced on Wednesday?

So why does this committee have to meet in recess? They could meet on Wednesday or Thursday or does their 10 or so week recess now have to begin at six o'clock on Wednesday afternoon? Maybe Roger Jones should have linked their expenses to an hourly rate.

By the way I hear Labour AMs are extremely embarrased by Alun Davies' language and behaviour in the Finance Committee and that he's now in trouble with the Assembly authorities. There's no way he's going to get nominated to stand in Blaenau Gwent. Shame.
Want a bet? 2:43pm on 06 May 2009 I'd jump at the chance to put a bet on Plaid at 16 - 1 if anyone here is willing to offer it. Even 4 - 1 would be good value.

What Penddu and everyone else is forgetting is that this time there are no local elections on the same day. Without 800 odd council candidates campaigning for them will Labour get anywhere near their 2004 total? I think it is very unlikely. With a turnout that could easily be below 25% it is all about who can get out their vote. Will be very close between the three main parties. Libs really don't stand a chance.
And finally ... 09:12am on 02 Feb 2009 39.

I hate to keep repeating myself but this will not effect small businesses. Only companies receiving over £200,000 per year from government could be effected and in all likelyhood only large service providers will be legislated for.
And finally ... 7:46pm on 01 Feb 2009 20.

By post offices it means either the Royal Mail or any private company that in the future takes over this contract. So yes the government could, if in future a majority in the Assembly wanted it, force the royal mail to provide it's pricing and forms in Welsh. But Mrs Jones in your local post office will never have to provide Welsh language labels on the stationery and sweets that she sells.

No government would ever force small businesses to employ full time translators. This is the kind of scaremongering that causes such misunderstading over the language. Either you are very misinformed or deliberately trying to scare people.

I repeat though that this LCO is only the right to legislate and does not in practice mean any change for anybody in Wales.
And finally ... 7:34pm on 01 Feb 2009 18.

I am going to ignore your final jibe of "what is there in this culture..." as I assume it is a statement deliberately designed to cause offence.

As for your main point I think that your "effort to discover the cost" is pretty poor. If we start by accepting that this company receives over £200,000 per year in government grants that only means that the Assembly has the right to legislate, not that it will. Your assumption that the government is going to force every company it can to provide everything bilingually is ridiculous. The government is elected and is responsible to the voters.

It is right that Welsh speaking workers should be allowed to speak Welsh amongst themselves in the workplace. It is right that you should be able to receive utility bills through the medium of Welsh. Personally I also think there should be pressure on utility companies to provide Welsh language forms, information and services.

This does not mean that a customer or member of staff will be able to go into any department of their company and demand that they receive all of their correspondence in Welsh. This image of every order/payslip and receipt being duplicated is ridiculous and you sound foolish for making such an argument.
And finally ... 5:14pm on 01 Feb 2009 13.

Firstly the LCO does not cost anyone anything other than the time and effort of civil servants. All that is happening is that the right to legislate on utilities and companies taking large amounts of funding from government will be moved from Westminster to Cardiff.

Whether any new legislation is created will depend on the National Assembly which is a democratically elected body.

We do not know what legislation would be proposed by the Assembly but it is fair to say that the cost of translating the billing and services for a large utility firm is pretty minimal (£10,000s for companies making £100m's).

The argument that all Welsh speakers speak English completely misses the point. Using your prefered language allows an individual to communicate much more clearly. And supporting that language allows a seperate culture to survive and flourish. The idea that Welsh should be a language strictly for chapel, the home and eisteddfods is insulting.
And finally ... 3:55pm on 01 Feb 2009 I really can not see how the economic climate effects this proposal in any way. The only people who are expected to provide Welsh language services are large businesses receiving over £200,000 from government or those providing a key utility.

The level of service that these companies will be forced to provide will depend completely on measures passed in votes in the national assembly.

Personally I think this could have gone further but some of the comments here are ridiculous.
Christmas wish-lists 3:33pm on 19 Dec 2008 I think at these odds a few quid on Darren Millar would be a good investment. As for the Labour MP he's (or possibly she's) probably just one of those muddled backbenchers who is a complete irrelevance in Westminster.

There must be a reason why only one Welsh Labour MP is in the cabinet and that is that there not particularly highly thought of.
Waiting no more 3:49pm on 08 Dec 2008 In 1999 1,920 people voted in the Lib Dem leadership election. If your figures are right then that means that 8 years of Mike German has led to a decrease in the number of voters to 1,805.

No wonder they decided to make a change. Shame that they didn't have a more imaginative candidate.

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