No go.
Have they taken the bait, or haven't they?
The four Assembly Members who tabled a motion calling on the Assembly Commission to keep things as they are with regard to the bilingual record of proceedings in the chamber seemed to be refusing to back down. There was indeed a compromise but it wasn't one they would accept.
Then it sounded as though they were backing down from the barricades, before revealing that they were going for it after all.
Alun Davies, Rhodri Glyn Thomas, Paul Davies and Jenny Randerson are tabling another motion which says this:
"The National Assembly for Wales notes the decision of the Assembly Commission on Monday 21 September to undertake a review of language provision in the Assembly and to produce a formal bilingual record in 3-10 days rather than the 24 hours as at present.
The National Assembly for Wales is disappointed with both this decision and the way in which this issue has been managed by the Commission.
The National Assembly for Wales therefore resolves that the status quo is maintained whilst any review takes place and that the review is conducted openly and transparently with AMs and others given the opportunity to comment and take part".
I thought it was all over. It isn't ... for now.
I'm Betsan Powys, BBC Wales' political editor. I'll be blogging the inside track on 
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~19~RS~)
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good for them. Not being funny or owt, but the members of the Assembly are our elected representatives, not some "commission" or quango. A commission should only make recommendations, the ultimate decision rests with the AMS. That's democracy.
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I would support the Assembly Commission, except where a request for a document is made.
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I can barely keep up with all these welsh language related posts so I'll post this again here:
I'm a bit lost in relation to 'the overnight sort of translation' and the 'get it in a few days translation'.
If there's always been an option then why on earth have the people of this country been paying for the much more expensive 'overnight' type of translation... and for how long have we mugs been doing it? Where have the tax payers alliance been in all this? They're normally pretty good.
Do you mean to say that we have been paying extortionate amounts to translators to literally work through the night like some sort of emergency services department?!?... all because one or two stubborn fanatics (no doubt pretending they can't read English) must have their Welsh language copy of some Assembly committee minutes on their desk by 9am the next morning.
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Why is such an astonishingly high percentage of this blog taken up with a discussion of a trivial process issue ?
Where is the discussion of the economy, tax and spend, healthcare, transport, the environment, unemployment, education and all the other areas of interest to the public which the politicians should be discussing?
Why hasn't this been resolved one way or the other yet ? Please explain why this is a bigger issue than, say, wind farms in Monmouth or the Severn Barrage ???
I would love to know...
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Not sure that they are really doing their case any favours. A refusal to compromise makes them look very dogmatic, especially when up against the Presiding Officer (hardly a man unsympathetic to Welsh). The result may be to simply aggravate middle-ground opinion. Dizzy once said something along the lines of ‘next to knowing when to seize an opportunity, a politician's best skill was knowing when to forego an advantage’. Our fiends would be well advised to take note, resisting this harmless change now could lead to a big shift in opinion later, and not in a way that is to their liking.
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message 4....
You want the simple answer, right then.... because every time someone tries to come around to it, we get a certain crew throwing hissy fits about how we are all anti-language, or Welsh hating, and such nonsense.
Unfortunately, the blogs by the headliner does not help. It is she who sets the subjects for discussion and argument.
Maybe the other blog, 'About Wales', will be more suited to you, as you can literally start your own debate, on virtually any subject under the sun, as long as it impacts on Wales.
Maybe you should go across and start something going.
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Re # 5
That should obviously be 'Our friends', but then our friends are being quite fiendish...
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Strangely enough I agree that Betsan posts too much on the language. I could do with much more economic stuff to be honest.
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#8 What about real Social issues that affect the lives of real people, as well as economics.
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#10 Anything but this language obsession - it's doing me head in.
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#10
Well Betsan, is there nothing to debate other than hot air.
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Come on now Dewi_H... I hardly think it's Betsan's fault. She's just been at a Plaid conference where almost all of the delegates will have got into politics initially as Welsh language activists and they can never really leave it behind. Then upon return to Cardiff bay, this is all they are discussing.
It must be frustrating after all those years of studying politics and journalism to have to report nothing but this petty drivel.
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Dewi H - 8 - To be honest, despite my clumsy wording of the original post I wasn't really having a go at Betsan as she can only report on the things being put on the 'order paper' at the Welsh Assembly.
If Westminster politicians were spending 25-35% of their time in a week or month talking about purely INTERNAL administration issues, such as the cost of sandwiches at the restaurant, or the subsidy at Annie's Bar or even on 'parochial' issues affecting only issues dealt with by the London Mayor, or indeed concerns of those within the M25, people would be up in arms.
But because this is Cardiff Bay, it seems they can spend as much time as they like on issues which are a complete irrelevance to people working [or perhaps more to the point NOT WORKING..] outside the Senedd building.
Perhaps it is just me who finds it strange that so much energy is being expended by the Welsh Assembly Government on this issue, when surely a 'lock-up' session where they all sit around the table and don't get up until an agreed solution has been found is what is required ??
What must people who have lost their jobs think when they pick up the Western Mail and realise that their AMs are more interested in a debate about whether minutes are translated 'real-time' or 'on demand' ? I look forward to next week's important philosophical Senedd debate on how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, followed by an important academic debate on how slashing the money available to higher education to feather bed the Assembly can be presented as 'Batting For Wales'...
Do the politicians have no idea how astonishingly insular, self-absorbed and ensconced in their 'ivory tower' this makes them look ? The 'war will be over by Christmas' but will anyone outside Senedd care who 'won' or 'lost' the battle ??
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Bethan, presumably the need for savings and the requirements to treat both languages on the basis of equality mean that the translation from Welsh into English is also moving to the slower timescale?
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I seem to remember Westminster spending quite some time discussing its internal affairs, such as a new speaker, new rules etc on allowances etc....
What goes on in plenary is a small fraction of what goes on in the Assembly, there are the committees where most of the work is done - and of course a separate executive that runs the country.
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Also its not an Assembly government matter, its an Assembly matter... there is a distinction..
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