Grit your teeth
Some of you, at least, will be glad to know that a day's silence on the blog was down to a day's filming which will, I hope, be of some use to my colleagues beyond Wales.
The object of the exercise was to remind them, as they prepare for the General Election, that Gordon Brown/David Cameron/Nick Clegg - tick the relevant box - aren't really talking to Welsh voters at all when they make pledges about the future of the NHS/waiting times for cancer treatment/Sure Start schemes/ investment in schools and so the list goes on.
After all part of our job is making sure we know that, so that there's every chance you, as voters, are clear about it too.
This morning came the news that David Cameron was coming to Wales and was heading to Newport to visit a depot where road salt was being farmed out.
What's the first question that came to one producer's mind? "I thought I'd better check. Is gritting devolved or not?"
The answer is yes, sort of. The conversation that ensued suggested some political unit staff know more about the jagged edges of gritting, post-devolution, than is good for them.
And it's only January 8th. Roll out the gritters and roll on the next four months.
By the way Mr Cameron, as you may have seen, got to meet his party's newest recruit in Wales, Mohammad Asghar (or should that be the other way round?) As it's been so quiet in the Assembly it's been hard for some in Cardiff Bay not to notice Mr Asghar's daughter, Natasha, apparently at work in his office.
Given her Dad's reasons for crossing the floor from Plaid to the Tories , her presence has raised eyebrows. I'm told by Conservatives that the eyebrows can relax. She is not working for her father.
I'm Betsan Powys, BBC Wales' political editor. I'll be blogging the inside track on 
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~19~RS~)
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The comments on which matters are devolved or not does raise the interesting point that if the matter is devolved then the MPs that we vote for in the forthcoming General election will be voting at Westminster on those matters but if it is a devolved matter they wont.
Perhaps it is of interest to see what our MPs will be doing even if not on our behalf, maybe it could be called the Merthyr Tydfill question
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Diolch Betsan! But will they listen?
ITV Wales's lot were pretty useless with Cameron this evening by the way...
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Who is Natasha working for then?
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Betsan~
Thanks for the informative duty on the assignment for not being around....Don't like the picture of the snow plow!
-Dennis Junior-
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No, they are not talking to Wales at all. Wales is barely relevant to the three main parties. They might as well give Wales the powers it need to get on with the job of administrating its own affairs. Labour is losing Wales and the Conservatives are not popular and are still regarded as English and elitist. The Liberals barely count these days.
Scotland will be the country to watch as the results of the election come in. As for Moh. Asghar, he joined the wrong party if he hopes to advance his political ambitions, unless he is prepared to move to Weybridge.
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No 5
Surely it is the job of Labour Party Wales to promote the socialist message in Wales and the same should be said for other parties. What would happen if all other 9 English Regions had devolved powers would you expect the central parties to have a phd in every devolved matter in each region. Smell the coffee - The costs of running elections are already astronomical and the separatists way would ensure the main parties would be queuing up for bankruptcy. Perhaps that is their goal - Independence would be a certainty.
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What does it say about the Tory party in Wales, that they accept MA allegedly simply because Plaid won't let him employ his daughter?
This exemplifies exactly what is wrong with the political system in the UK, Wales included, and no party is exempt from criticism.
Politicians generally are a truly self-serving bunch.
#3
"Mr Asghar's daughter, Natasha, apparently at work in his office."
Perhaps you could ask Nick Bourne who exactly she IS working for, and what therefore is she doing in a NA office, if she isn't working for her father.
The entire issue stinks. All the party leaders at Westminster have signed up to the proposal that elected members should NOT employ relatives, and I concur absolutely. It makes not a jot of difference whether or not a relative is the best candidate for the job - being a relative should be sufficient reason to rule that person out entirely. It undermines public confidence in our representatives, if confidence can be undermined from this all time low.
What does it take in the UK these days to get a politician to resign? The sovereignty of parliament is the root cause of the problem as the result of the lack of a written constitution, to which all would be subservient, including MPs. Self-interest and near corruption have percolated down to the devolved institutions too. It has to end. Back to the argument for self-determination - A Welsh Republic, with a written constitution, a fully elected Senedd, an elected President, and a full member of the EU.
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But Bryn, Ashgargate is a Welsh Assembly affair.
As Edmund says in 'King Lear', "It is in ourselves that we are thus". It's no good blaming Westminster for this one, I'm afraid.
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#8 wrote:
"It's no good blaming Westminster.."
In one sense you are correct. Westminster is incapable of reforming itself. Its self-perpetuating, as there is no higher sovereignty. The two party system will continue, as there is no reason for it to change. Like turkeys, they won't vote for Christmas. Westminster produces the Executive, the Prime Minister, and indirectly, the Cabinet, which is inadequately scrutinised and held to account by the legislature. It simply cannot change, short of a revolutionary political upheaval. The economic and social conditions in the UK are hardly likely in the medium term to result in such a demand for reform, so it will continue indefinitely.
I wish such far reaching constitutional reform could take place in the UK, as it would be a far better nation state for its citizens. So far it has failed badly, at just about everything, and neither Brown, Cameron or Clegg can make it any better, whichever one of them becomes Prime Minister.
In another decade, presuming I'm still around, I'm sure I will be making the same comments about it, after a ten year period of Tory government, when everyone is as sick and tired of the mess they've made, and the sleaze and the corruption, just as we have been with Labour. Let's face it, we get abysmally bad government in the UK.
Wales, and Scotland, can opt out of it with a simple plebiscite.
What's your solution, if you have one, which I doubt?
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Bryn I have a tongue in cheek but serious solution to Wales's seemingly insurmountable economic problem. Just cram all the workshy nationalists and their supporters into the wasteful Assembly building in Cardiff Bay and dump the whole shebang into the Bristol Channel.
It's a bit extreme I know, but at a stroke it would have a threefold benefit to the people of both regions.
(1)It would take a huge tax burden off the shoulders of English and Welsh taxpayers.
(2)The money saved could be, for example, diverted into the NHS and to improving the infrastructure of both regions.
(3)And the Assembly building would provide part of the bedrock needed to build a barrage across the Severn.
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Oh I forgot to add that the politicians would not suffer any ill effects from their dousing. They are so full of hot air that they would undoubtedly float to the surface and make their way back to cardiff to pick up their severance pay.
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Betsan: "a day's filming which will, I hope, be of some use to my colleagues beyond Wales."
Da iawn - I hope you had some success !
I'm concerned about the lack of awareness of the Nations, other than England, notably on the rolling 24 hour news on digital channels.
So often items scripted in London make no reference to the situation in Wales, Scotland, or N Ireland even when there are clear and instructive relevant comparisons - hospital car park charges is just one simple and obvious recent example.
I wonder how best to encourage awareness of Britain beyond the M25 - beyond the M5, even - as a viewer/listener rather than being media person. Playing whack-a-story on the bulletin boards would be easy but tiresome and negative!
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