7, 11, 24 ...
First Plaid came up with their "7 4 '07" policies.
Then in 2011 it was Labour's turn to launch their election manifesto (or 'Mamifesto' as one of Leighton Andrews' mates thought it should be called with its pledge to supply extra support for childcare via "mobile mammas") and gave us "11 for 11".
We should, then, not be surprised that tomorrow, two years into the term of the Labour/Plaid government the coalition partners will be launching One Wales 24, a document marking the half-way point in the One Wales programme and a promise of 24 special events happening up and down the country. See what they've done there?
It's not yet online. It will be first thing tomorrow so when you can take a look at it and when we're not up to our eyes trying to make sure a complex story that involves each of the four parties and a lot of money is ready to be broadcast before the end of the week, let's debate it.
In the meantime the sobering thought that when I did run an online search for 24, what came up? Jack Bauer, who else and these adjectives all used in just a few paragraphs to describe his very own 24: "addictive .. acclaimed .. suspenseful .. trend-setting .. compelling .. astonishing .. momentous and shocking".
No pressure then on the script writers of One Wales 24.
I'm Betsan Powys, BBC Wales' political editor. I'll be blogging the inside track on 
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~44~RS~)
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I'm old enough to remember the SNP's wonderful "Free by 93".....
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If this is not a joke Betsan, then many in Wales will have finally given up the will to live....(sad face emoticon).
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Well it looks like the totally insane RHODRIEUAN "let's waste money" partnership have finally lost it.
Instead of 24 expensive jollies to commemorate 24 months of stupidity,insanity, and low grade government, why not scrap the festivities and give the money to these poor sods....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8127093.stm
Maybe it might be enough to keep their factory operating in Wrexham.
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Re 3
Don't be daft!
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24 months of nationalism
24 months of prostitution by the Labour Party
24 months of coalition has helped make the Conservatives become the most popular party in Wales.
24 months of coalition has seen the Labour Party's membership hemorrhage away in Wales
Living less than 24 miles from the assembly and still they unashamedly claim for a second home down at the bay.
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5. 24% of electorate opposed to further powers (remainder in favour!!)
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If you ascribe the numbers 24 to the order of the alphabet get BD and a search on the Internet came up with Bl**dy Disgusting which sums it up nicely.
...coalition partners will be launching One Wales 24, a document marking the half-way point in the One Wales programme and a promise of 24 special events happening up and down the country.
There is no doubt that in order to celebrate what the Plaid/Labour coalition really means this document should be banned from publication.
The last people to see it should be the Finance Committee in order to prevent them from asking any difficult questions on wasting our money.
In keeping with their policy on open government there are a multitude of exceptions under the Freedom of Information Act that would prevent its publication.
Why would the serfs want to see it anyway, they have been banned from knowing why they build roads in favoured areas and the failure in higher education. However, I think we can guess the reason why.
These events should be held in secret with invited guests to avoid any protest and the press can be told in advance they were an outstanding success.
I fail to see why the reintroduction of serfdom is something to celebrate.
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#5 nomorepowers wrote:
'Living less than 24 miles from the assembly and still they unashamedly claim for a second home down at the bay.'
I agree, that's a scandal. Regardless of party, whether it be Labour, Plaid, Tories or LibDems (or Independent).
Their names, parties, and the distance from the constituency or region they represent to Cardiff Bay should be published. I hope someone does the research and puts the information here for us all to see.
It should not be done selectively from a bigoted perspective. All those guilty of milking the system should be exposed.
I've not had much time to look at it, but I find analysing the data as published is not easy, and is time consuming. It would help if there were totals under various headings (eg accommodation or travel) for each and every AM, so that we could see at a glance how much they claimed.
Simply publishing the information is not enough either. Some politicians have no shame and never admit fault. We've witnessed that at Westminster to an astonishing degree. The allowances for travel or accommodation expenses should be directly related to the distances involved. There should be a cap on the maximum amount allowable in proportion to distance between constituency/region (the AM's main home address within the constituency) and Cardiff Bay. Second home allowances should not be available for anyone living (say) less than 50 miles from Cardiff. AM's should not be able to profit from property speculation. I note that some rent others buy a second home. It should only be a rental allowance for those that need it.
The Labour Party designed and created the Assembly such as it is. I don't think we get value for money from it as it stands. Essentially its an elected body which decides how money is to be spent. Its too much of a talking shop. It has no responsibility for raising funds, and only has (so far) minute legislative powers. We were short changed in 1997 and sold a pup.
We need a Parliament with legislative and revenue raising powers to justify the expenditure, but more importantly to make Wales a better place for us to live. The current Westminster and Welsh Assembly system has badly failed to deliver the government which Wales deserves and needs.
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Will in the yin and yang of the meeja, if the '24' disappears from the BBC News Channel, well it stands to reason it has to re-appear somewhere else..
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Where did you get your statistic, Penddu?
It sounds as if you've been spending too much time reading the deadly dull publications issued by WAG's propaganda wing, the Institute for Welsh Afffairs.
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Betsan you got the wrong 24 you should have got 24dash.com
http://www.24dash.com/news/Central_Government/2009-04-17-Guide-launched-to-make-the-most-of-public-money
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While searching the Internet I also came across this article entitled
Shameless Self-Promotion: How Politicians Use Your Money to get Re-Elected
Which I think puts it into perspective and you can read it here
https://goldwaterinstitute.org/AboutUs/ArticleView.aspx?id=2647
Its American of course, and I understand there is a campaign to bring this practice to an end. I have put it in italics to show it has been copied.
The use of public funds for what essentially constitutes campaigning is ethically and constitutionally suspect. Moreover, this practice puts others who attempt to run for office at a serious disadvantage. An incumbent who gets so much free press is a difficult opponent indeed. And for most elected officials, the lure of using public funds to self-promote is simply too great to resist.
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10 - OK I took a bit of poetic license with the statistic, but no more than other posters. There are two (and only two) recent and reliable polls on the subject, one from the BBC - the other from AWC - but both reporting pretty similar results, and both confirming the same trend - an increasing majority in favour of more powers.
I guess we will have to wait till the end of this year to hear the final AWC poll, and wait till March to hear the next BBC poll.
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I'm not sure we should take the All Wales 'Yes' Campaign poll too seriously and telephone polls -as used for the BBC count - are notoriously unreliable.
So now we have to fund another 24 propaganda events. It's time to have the referendum now and secure a 'No' vote so that politicians and officials can resign themselves to the fact that they won't be getting backdated pay rises and more junkets abroad at our expense. Instead, they can concentrate on delivering decent public services to the people of Wales.
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10 years of devolution is not enough to undo decades of under investment in Wales under direct rule. Our AMs expenses are far more transparent and are far lower than our MPs.
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