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Bryn_Teilo

Listed below are comments made by Bryn_Teilo between Wednesday, 9th September 2009 and Wednesday, 18th November 2009.

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Yes, probably. 7:48pm on 18 Nov 2009 #56 Stonemason

"the Labour party have something up their sleeve !"

How about:

- quantitative easing (printing hundreds of £billions, making our savings and salaries worth less and less and stoking up massive inflation)

- illegal and immoral wars, and the killing of thousands of innocent Iraqi and Afghan civilians, not to mention hundreds of UK troops

- wrecking the economy and the banking system

- allowing millions of illegal immigrants in, and huge numbers of failed asylum seekers to remain

- wanting to spend £20bn renewing Britain's nuclear deterrent

- 'second homes flipping' and other corrupt and immoral practices among its MPs (they're not the only party guilty of such practices)

- overcrowded prisons, dirty hospitals, a nineteenth century railway system and a road system still in the 1950s

- a Secretary of State for Wales who isn't Welsh telling us how we should run our country

- one could go on-and-on about Westminster failures

The Convention's Report, and that of Lord Richard, have pointed unequivocally to the benefits Wales would gain from legislative devolution.

You would have Wales return to its status in the late 1940's before it was even recognised legally as a country - a denial of who and what we are as a people. I can only assume that at heart you are not 'Welsh' even though apparently you live here. You want decisions about how our country is run decided by voters in a handful of marginal constituencies in England and people sent down from London, such as Redwood, Hague, and even Hain (parachuted into Neath) to run Wales like a fiefdom. Wales is in the state its in right now because that's what we've had for far too long.
Yes, probably. 11:12am on 18 Nov 2009 I welcome the Convention's Report.

Wales has been particularly badly served by the Westminster system, which has repeatedly let down the entire UK as well.

Just try to list those things which actually work well - the country is a mess. Someone above (#12) mentioned Edwina Hart in connection with alleged mismanagement of half a billion.

How many hundreds of billions, Stonemason, have been poured down the drain by successive London governments in the last 50 years? This present Labour government wins first prize for making probably the worse mess of any British government for centuries... and there have been several abysmally bad previous administrations, Labour and Tory.

The blame for the failure to devolve legislative powers to Wales must lie at the feet of a handful of Labour MPs who represent Welsh constituencies. These self-serving people have been defending their own seats, pensions and privileges, and not the interests of the people of Wales. They have served Wales badly... look at the state its in today. What have any of them achieved for our country?

How is Wales a better place for the achievements of Paul Murphy and Don Touhig?

Why should we listen to Peter Hain who has saddled the Assembly with an unworkable system, and who wants it to remain in place for the foreseeable future, just to placate his hard-line associates at Westminster?

As I've said previously, I very much doubt whether a referendum will be held. I believe the people of Wales would vote 'Yes', but the deep split in the Labour Party will make the outcome unpredictable.

Even sadder is the fact that were all the powers under the 2006 Act devolved to the Assembly, it would still lag far behind the Scotttish Parliament - which itself is not a very powerful institution - it has very limited tax-raising powers.

#22 Regrettably Wales will remain under the 'Westminster thumb' for the foreseeable future.

It will be interesting to see how IWJ responds. My instinct is that he will sit on his hands and do nothing. Time will tell.
The big deal 11:00am on 07 Nov 2009 Regrettably I take a different view. From the outset I saw the deal made by Plaid with Labour as a bad one. I have no crystal ball, but I can't see a referendum taking place even if the Commission reports in its favour. Labour will not be united in any campaign, large sections of the party, particularly among its MPs, will campaign vociferously for a 'No' vote - mainly out of self-interest. They will not have the interests of the people of Wales at heart.

The noises coming from the Welsh Labour leadership candidates are a further warning to Plaid. IWO should have ditched the agreement long since, but I never expected him to do so, as I feel he doesn't have the political nouse to see the mess into which he has led his party. There have been plenty of warnings that Labour will renege on its commitments. The fiasco over the Plaid nominees for the Lords was just one of them.

Plaid is now in a difficult position. It has supported a Labour party which has failed not only the people of Wales, but of the entire UK, and disastrously at that. Labour is headed for the political wilderness, and deservedly so, having betrayed the very class of people which brought it into existence. It will be the Tories, not Plaid which will reap the benefits of the misjudgements made by the Plaid leadership in the last three years.

I'm truly saddened by this analysis because I want to see Wales become a prosperous self-governing nation, not saddled with the backward-looking and failed governments of the UK.
Right place, right time 12:03pm on 28 Sep 2009 #1

I have to say that surprisingly I agree with Noah on this one. The topic has been done to death by the BBC. After ten years Wales isn't much, if any, better for Rhodri Morgan's leadership, or twelve years of Labour control of the Assembly.

This is the First Minister who turned up to open Wales' Maritime Museum in Swansea - in a red jumper, nearly as bad as turning up at the cenotaph in a donkey jacket lookalike. Uninspiring at best.

There is apathy, tremendous apathy, towards the world of politics in the UK and in Wales. The entire Westminster system stinks and ill-serves the population it serves. The Assembly is full of political pygmies, from all the parties. It lacks the power necessary to attract the brightest and the best.

I noted Rhodri's echoing at Bournemouth of Obama's.. "Wales can"... presumably thanks to his efforts. Regrettably Wales "hasn't and isn't and won't" unless and until it gets a sovereign democratic Parliament or Senedd to represent the interests of all its people.

In the meantime we will probably have to put up with the blandness of Carwyn Jones, until the donkey voters finally realise that the Labour party their grandfathers voted for hasn't existed for decades, and that they're all tories now.
And then there were three ... 10:10pm on 17 Sep 2009 #4

"Noah .....

I read it as someone that regularly pontificate about the faults of something without being able to articulate an original thought of their own about how to solve it.

No substance I'm afraid."

I thought you were talking about Noah, not to him.

His only answer is to abolish the Assembly, yours is more Tory misery for the three million people who live in Wales.

I'd abolish the Assembly tomorrow, and replace it with a sovereign Parliament elected by the people of Wales, in an election where all the votes counted, where all parties would be represented proportionately. We'd have a Welsh non-executive President, and a Prime Minister. No English queen, no unelected second chamber full of aristocrats, old political hacks, or those who greased the palms of the party leaders.

The supporters of the doomed Labour party don't even bother to come on here, either because they don't exist, or because they know that they have no future.

If you bothered to read my comments, then you would be well aware that I slate Plaid for its shortcomings all too often. I'm not a stooge for that party. I care for my country and I want it to have a future. My belief in self-determination may not be an 'original' thought, but it does have substance. If it is ever realised, then Wales will be a better place for us all to live in - no nuclear weapons, no large armed forces, no imperialistic wars, no Westminster corruption or incompetent foreign politicians. No national identity register. A democratic state with no patronage. What you and Noah offer us is more of the same misery we've endured as a people and as a nation for centuries.
And then there were three ... 5:41pm on 17 Sep 2009 How about *****4Wales.com?

We've had enough of politicians, especially Labour politicians, all out for what they can get.

Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.

Twelve years of monumentally disastrous Labour government followed eighteen years of disastrous Tory government, as far as Wales is concerned. It seems that we're in for another lengthy period of disastrous Tory government, led by a wealthy Eton-educated Tory toff.

Until Wales is governed by people who live here, and who care for our country and its people, nothing will change, Wales will remain a poor country in perpetuity.

The parties these people support do make a difference. Labour, Conservatives and LibDems will never put Wales first. Their primary interest will always lie in 'middle England', whose support they must get if they are ever to govern the UK. Wales will always lose out under such a system.

Self-determination is the only positive hope for our country. The Scots are waking up to that reality, and its already within their grasp. We are just as capable, if we have the confidence to take our own destiny in hand.
The 'C' word 12:30pm on 15 Sep 2009 #15

Yes, that's the very word that comes to mind.
Triple toe loops 10:37am on 14 Sep 2009 Personally, I'm sceptical about Plaid's performance in the GE.

Historically Plaid has been a party of protest. Now it is in a 'government' of sorts. Its big mistake, imo, was to participate in a minor role, to be seen as part of the establishment for very little gain. It could make very little impact on policy as a junior coalition partner. Quite what its achieved isn't clear to me, and probably to most people.

A referendum on legislative powers was the clincher, it seems, in IWJ's decision. Labour's 'commitment' to it was oddly worded in the Agreement. As a solicitor Ieuan should be familiar with the term, 'caveat emptor'.

If it doesn't take place, or if the vote is lost, then all will have been in vain for Plaid. A significant number of Labour MPs will campaign for a no vote, that is a certainty. They've already held up virtually all of the LCOs, showing up the 2006 Act for the sham it really is. Brown's block on the peerages was an added insult - that happened nearly a year ago.

Jones is no mastermind, but he'll stick to the, 'I've started, so I'll finish' mentality typical of many second rate political leaders. Some people, when in a hole, will keep digging because to stop will be an admission of error.

Having said all that, I can't see an alternative to Plaid. It is the only party which offers Wales any hope for a better and a brighter future. Self-determination is essential if Wales is to prosper and its people regain a sense of dignity.
How did Phoenix Four do it? 5:42pm on 11 Sep 2009 Once again we're back to the shambles of a political system in the UK, which ensures that one of two rotten parties is in power in perpetuity. Everything is a mess here. Root and branch constitutional reform is required to sweep out all the accumulated dross of centuries. Regulation only exists to ensure the rich get richer.

What is wrong with the people of these islands that they (we) put up with this endless c**p?

We're at the fag end of a failed Labour/neo-tory government, which has failed like no other before it. Nothing will fundamentally change when the real Tories get in. History is repeating itself ad nauseam. The UK is headed towards third world poverty, and it doesn't have far to go. Nothing works properly here, from filthy public toilets, litter strewn streets, uncontrolled immigration, unnecessary wars, and obnoxious incompetent politicians - you can take your pick of any or all of them.
Tories' open talk of Afghan elections 6:23pm on 09 Sep 2009 How about getting democratic elections in the UK, first?

Elections here are rigged so that one of two rotten parties is always in power. Then there's the House of Lords....

Typical of the US and UK to blame a few hill tribesmen in Afghanistan for the world's ills... the truth is the ills exist and emanate from Washington and London.

We have no business in Afghanistan, where US and UK forces are killing thousands of innocent civilians, whose deaths for the most part pass unnoticed in our hypocritical media.

Physician heal thyself.

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