Holding one's nose
Rhodri Morgan gives good metaphor - from ducks to sprints to noses, his evidence to the All Wales Convention last week was packed full of 'em, including his thoughts on "the art of holding one's nose".
The First Minister and Deputy First Minister were asked by Convention Executive member Rob Humphreys - former President of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, head of the Open University in Wales and one of the sharpest tools in the Welsh political box - whether the Welsh Affairs Select Committee weren't doing rather a good job. Their interpretation of their remit might be wrong, might be right he said but their modus operandi was working and wasn't that just as well given the "scrutiny deficit" that exists in the present system of transferring powers to Wales?
Sir Emyr jumped in. That was the view they'd heard from some he said but others believed equally strongly that Committee members should confine their thoughts to vires - whether the transfer of powers is legal or not.
We know that opinions vary. Let me give you a few I've heard recently.
At the weekend the Culture MInister, Alun Ffred Jones, told S4C viewers that he thinks the current system of transferring powers is slow but is working ok with regard to the Welsh language LCO.
I recently met a senior lawyer and constitutional expert who's of the view that the Welsh Affairs Select Committee "macerates" bids for power put in front of them. He believes the present system has been a retrograde step for Welsh devolution, that too much power now lies in the hands of too few in Westminster.
It was recently made abundantly clear to a dinner table-full of journalists by possibly the best source of all on these issues that MPs regard bids for power as laws. Like it or not, you can't expect them to regard bids for power that will eventually have an impact on their constituents as anything else.
Alun Michael, a member of the Welsh Affairs Select Committee and former First Secretary of course, firmly believes the system is a success story.
The Presiding Officer, Dafydd Elis-Thomas accuses the Committee of going against the spirit of devolution.
So back to the evidence session and Sir Emyr Jones Parry's question: "Where are we in that spectrum?" he asked. Where indeed.
Ieuan Wyn Jones went first. Committee members, he said, stray into the kind of territory where they're guided by whether they think the Assembly - or Assembly Government - are right to do what they're doing, not whether it is appropriate that they do it. "We need more clarity on that".
Rhodri Morgan went for a more colourful turn of phrase but seemed, in essence, to agree that the balance isn't yet right. When you describe the process of transferring powers, he says, people wonder "What is this strange animal? What the hell is it? It's abhorrent!" But the process is starting to work better and would work better still if the Welsh Affairs Select Committee honed their skills in the ancient "art of holding one's nose".
I gather they're about to be put to the test. The Committee tentatively inquired last week
whether the Presiding Officer might meet them informally to talk things through. This meeting, I hasten to add, was not to take place down a dark alley either but in daylight and with a view to ironing out some creases before they get too stubborn. They certainly hoped it would be seen as a good move.
I understand, however, that the office of the Presiding Officer has said no thank you. He is the Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales and would take up any formal offer of a meeting but informal? Why, said one government source, should he?
At this point you might come to one of many conclusions but here are three to be getting on with:
You'll condemn him and accuse him of being determined to make trouble at a time when jaw-jaw - on any terms - would be a better bet than war-war;
You'll applaud him for reminding his Westminster colleagues that the Assembly is a institution they still haven't quite 'got' and deserves more respect;
You'll wonder whether that evening class in "The Art of holding one's nose" has room enough to accommodate everyone.
I'm Betsan Powys, BBC Wales' political editor. I'll be blogging the inside track on 
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~54~RS~)
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Meanwhile, the grateful masses rejoice as devolution brings ever new joy and indentity to thier lives..(always read the label)...
"More anti-depressant drugs are being prescribed to patients in the south Wales valleys than anywhere else in England and Wales, new figures show.
Seven of the "top 10" areas for the drugs were in Wales, and the highest was Torfaen, with 104 prescriptions per 1,000 patients in January.
National guidance says patients should first be offered self-help and therapy. " BBC Wales today.
AW..it's the way you tell 'em. What's not to laugh?
Just say...NO.
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Betsan....
Could you please translate all that for me?
I got absolutely nothing from any of it.
What are these people saying that has ANY relevance to the man in the street?
I fact, what are they saying that has ANY relevance art all?
I would not be so cavalier as to say' it's the way that you tell 'em', but just what was being said?
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What I think is being said is that some constitutional experts have interpreted the Government of Wales Act 2006 to mean that the role of the Select Committee on Welsh Affairs is to judge whether request for the transfer of Primary Legislative Powers is within the scope of the act or not. They aren't supposed to ask what the National Assembly is going to do with the powers in anything other than general terms, as they can't bind future usage - to do so somewhat makes a mockery of the transfer of powers. In effect its a difference of interpretation. Obviously party A wants more freedom to act while party B would like to retain as much power for its self. In effect we are now getting a committee of MPs directing policy and legislation by narrowing the scope of the transfer orders, while the original intent was just for them to judge the legality of the transfer.
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The fact is, the Welsh people were promised a referendum before law-making powers were devolved to the National Assembly. The Government of Wales Act 2006 has not yet been ratified but its contents are being enacted. This is totally undemocratic!
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The sooner we have all the MPs in our own parliament in Cardiff, the quicker this morasse will be cleared.
Onwards & Upwards!
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Legendaryavocet, I have seen this claimed many times, can you show this to have been the case, as far as I can see is that the sequence of events were that we voted for a National Assembly - then as part of the coalition deal between the Lib Dems and Labour we had a commission investigate how the system was working and make recommendations for the future. This was the Richard Commission. We then had a general election where we had promises to bring forward changes that were the Government of Wales Act 2006, this commission results were broadly supported and parties opposed to that failed to win any seats in either Parliament at Westminster or in the National Assembly. The GOWA is a watered down version of the Richard Commission report. Try reading it - it makes very interesting reading.... Now we have had a subsequent election to the National Assembly on the basis of the 2006 act, I didn't see any groundswell of opinion against devolving law making power or any parties campaigning on that platform gaining seats (UKIP and the BNP being two parties that opposed it). On that basis it is fair to say that opposition to the GOWA 2006 is fairly limited. If you disagree then I suggest you start a campaign to repeal that act. What is on offer is either a continued piecemeal transfer of powers, which looks increasingly complex and fraught with conflict or a wholesale transfer creating clear lines of accountability and transparency.
My wish is for this to be conducted on a sane sensible basis and not on some of the hysterical nonsense that I see coming from True Wales.
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message 6.....
The whole point of my message in 2 was to highlight that which you have just gone over.
You say that is what we voted for in a the last election, I dispute that for this reason. The whole of it is a complicated load of garbled rhetoric, that the average person has not a hope in hell of understanding.
Nothing is clear, it is all so wrapped up in government non English, so as to be totally
baffling.
Any normal person attempting get any sort of inkling of what is meant by all the cluttered and legalistic verbiage would give up after the first five lines. If indeed they got that far even.
We needed to be told EXACTLY, in simple terms, what is behind all this rubbish output, not bamboozled with it's complicated outflow.
The point I am making is, the political cognoscenti amongst us may well have understood the intricacies, but for those who count, the general electorate, it sails right over their heads and so many simply opted for the.... 'we want our own parliament'.... slice of the rubbish.
AS I have said before,. a result based not on total practicalities but on emotive nonsense.
Keep in mind it is not some airy fairy Wales we are talking about, but a political entity in the world of this new century, not what we may have been or what we could be, more what is the route to economic and political survival in the modern world.
So far I have heard nothing in regards the future of Wales. that convinces me that we are heading to a substantiated sound, fully functional region, only that we are being baffled, and confused, as the various factions involved, argue between
themselves over which word fits here or which sentence fits there.
Where is the policy for future advancement?
Where is the future of Wales as a viable region in all this tripe they are constantly swishing about amongst themselves, down in the Bay?
When will we be given a mandate that we can actually relate to without the emotional pressures of Wales being a nation, based on some iffy historical background that would hardly be taken into account other than this language thing happens to give credence at some minor level.
And which in itself confounds argument, and confuses,the matter, taking into account the very low number who can actually use it.
If the language did not come into it, we would not be having this discussion anyway.
That it does, causes nothing but problems for a very large number of our population, considering they have not been addressed in any fair and balanced way about where Wales should really be heading.
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Lyn,
The Richard Commission was indeed supported by all the greedy politicians (and prospective politicians) who spied yet another chance to get their snouts in the trough. It proposed twenty more AMs and legislative powers which would bring a nice little payrise. When have the Welsh people themseves been consulted on this matter?
When are our politicians going to have the honour and courage to present this to the people of Wales? It is simply not good enough to hide the intentions for these fundamental constitutional changes in the small print at the very back of a manifesto document.
A General Election is about other issues such as health, the economy and social care and people vote accordingly. The General Election result of 2005 cannot be taken as a mandate for full law-making powers for the Assembly.
It is a democratic virtue of the British system that such important constitutional changes should not be implemented without the verdict of the people. You should know, Lyn, moving in political circles as you do, that you ignore the views of the people at your peril.
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Re 7
Mapexx said,
"You say that is what we voted for in a the last election, I dispute that for this reason. The whole of it is a complicated load of garbled rhetoric, that the average person has not a hope in hell of understanding."
I do wish some people wouldn't be so patronizing. Why do so many people on here believe that the Welsh people are intellectually inferior to everyone else?
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message 9....
I will ignore any attempt, that may be covert in your comments, and tell you this,
I am not in any way, shape, or form saying the Welsh, (I am one myself) need patronising.
What I am saying is the people need clear and unambiguous issue from those who seek their support in their ambitions to rule the region.
They DO NOT need a complete submergence in a welter of political claptrap that is extremely hard to understand by even the most erudite.
Get it straight, the whole of the rhetoric that comes prior to an election, is invariably pushed out in such a way to cause total boredom in the voting public, who can by such be completely turned off, to the extent they opt to vote for the odd bit they can relate to.
IN the case of the recent elections in Wales this has generally focused minds on the nationalist call for a 'free' Wales, which when analysed,comes down to an
emotional call, and nothing else.
Now, if you think you are up to understanding all the gobbledygook, good for you, but, I seriously doubt that even you can be thrilled enough by it to see a clear path for this region, based on the totality of it.
People,. and I include us Welsh,... are generally lazy when embroiled in political matters, and they tend to opt for what they see in bold print, the smaller stuff in italics, and/ or wrapped in legalese and political wordage, they skim over.
The dangers lie in the small print, as I am sure you must realise, after all the publicity about failed insurance claims, because the proposer did not read the small print.
The same applies with what emanates from the corridors of authority.
That is why we get the governments we deserve, and not what we need.
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I was taught" Never buy a pig in a poke". What particular or general laws to the "Masters of Universe" down the Bay propose,and for what particular reason will be enacted if the new system comes into being. Surely in our overgoverned region of the UK we need less laws and devolution of power to individuals to increase responsibility and accountability for one's lifestyle etc. Oh silly me that might do the politicos out of a job in one of the following, European Parliament/Westminster (Mother of Parliament), Regional Assembly of Wales/Local Authorities and then "political" appointments to quangos (thought there was going to be bonfire)etc etc. This sems to be the only "job" thats unnaffected by the recession or in reality depression but the postholders are helping to reflate economy by buying Ipods(what ever they are),second homes when you live within 30 minutes of job, and also "porno" films for your" partner" when your on the job yourself!! How on earth have we come this mess and whose going to get us out of mass madness of overgovernment and micro managing of virtually everyactivity.
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One of the great advantages of Devolution is that it can when working properly save rather than waste money. A good example of this is in the area of computerising patient records in the NHS.
Both the Welsh and English NHS need to introduce these systems but they have gone about it in different ways.
The Welsh NHS has introduced a system that is up and running for a cost of around £4.7 Million.
The system in England is far from up and running and has already cost £13,000 Million.
The estimated final cost is likely to be £20,000 million.
Just goes to show that overcentralised government does lead to excessive waste.
Although I am no great admirer of this right wing pressure group the Taxpayers alliance estimate that the UK government wastes over £100,000 million each year.
Devolved government equals better government. That is why it is so popular in the rest of the western world.
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Trechu
And yet we have stroke services in Wales that have been described as 'scandalously bad' by eminent medic, Dr. Tony Rudd, and an average ambulance response time which at 48% (or 17% in Torfaen) falls woefully behind its English counterpart due to inadequate A&E capacity.
Let's not claim that the NHS service is working better in Wales than England. Better to prioritise successful frontline services than the computerisation of patient records, I would suggest.
The National Health Service should be just that - national, not regional. Every citizen in the UK should be entitled to a uniformly excellent service. I believe its main founder believed in this principle. Pity our politicians - snouts firmly stuck in the Devolution trough - have forgotten it.
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For people who pay the same taxes to receive unequal services is a disgusting treatment of the population of the United Kingdom.
Devolved government equals dissolved government, it is a destroyer of legitimate government, grist to the separatist mill.
Of course devolution in Wales also equates to a new immorality of governance.
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message 12....
I don't know if you happen to work in the NHS, but I can tell you, as the husband of a financial manager in the NHS, that what you are claiming is far from the facts of the matter.
Since 2001 there have been five 'reorganisations', each costing millions, in the Welsh NHS, the number of managers has not fallen, the number of front line crew has not risen any more or less then in England, and the general service has fallen, especially in waiting times, compared to England.
Welsh patients are routinely sent to England, and there are many complaints of hospitals near to the 'border' being utilised by the Assembly directed patients, whilst English patients are having to be sent many miles from their localities due to bed blocking by Welsh [patients.
Not all is as rosy as you try to make out.
And 20 billions on the English NHS computer system? where did you rake that fiction up from?
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15 Not all is rosy in NHS Wales - especially anything that was touched by Jane Hutt!!!!!
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message 16....
Glad to see someone else is on the ball.
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