I ask, only because my colleague Vaughan Roderick and I mentioned it yesterday and then the real Government of Wales (aka the Welsh Assembly Government) spotted it and ... wondered what on earth it was.

It is not their work. It is not their channel. It it not their attempt to engage with the You Tube generation after all.

It says it's "brought to you by the Welsh Assembly Government".

Not, it ain't, they say.

It was updated yesterday. It doesn't look like the kind of site that was knocked up in two hours by a bored teenager, nor is it a knocking job. It's pretty favourable to the government in fact.

So go on - who are you?

A: The Environment Minister, Jane Davidson, leading the way for other Ministers to follow?

B: It wasn't an outright ban in the end, so a victory for plastic bag manufacturers?

C: A partial victory for those of you who took part in our "If I Ruled Wales" campaign back in 2007?

D: What about the environment? Fewer bags is good news and environmental causes who may benefit if big shops agree to direct the proceeds their way?

E: Not, says the British Retail Consorium, the Welsh consumer will be "clobbered" with new "taxes". You, of course, may disagree and be more than happy to pay the charge/already own a 'bag for life' and never leave it in the boot when you really need it.

None of the above, apparently. It's a victory for the Daily Mail, who have it on good authority that their very own 'Banish the Bag' campaign "inspired" the Welsh administration.

Not much of an excuse for blogging what happened yesterday today but it's probably better than boring you with the real reason. Wall to wall meetings make for tedious blog material.

So did the Welsh Language LCO in its new guise get the approval of Assembly Members? Yes, it did. They voted in favour of the latest draft which was, as you may be well aware, amended by the Secretary of State who bore in mind the recommendations of the Welsh Affairs Select Committee.

This is an example, says Mr Hain, of scrutiny at its best.

This is an example, say members of the Welsh Grand Committee, of input at their end of the M4 improving the work done in Cardiff Bay. It's an example of how co-operation, spotting omissions, unintended consequences, future problems and coming up with solutions can make a good order out of a bad one. They are far, far too polite to say that so bluntly but it's exactly how one - at this end of the M4 - who's been closely involved in the evolution of this particular bit of devolution put it to me a few days ago. We, they said, have to suffer Peter Hain going round saying he and Welsh MPs have saved the day and made a silk purse out of a sow's ear. We don't like it but let's face it, we don't like the whole system.

But yesterday in the Assembly one Labour Assembly Member held the Welsh Language LCO up as an example of everything that is wrong with the current system of devolving power to the Assembly. To put it another way he wasn't prepared, I suppose, to hold his nose. Alun Davies, a member of the Committee who examined the first draft of the Order wasn't the sole critic but he was the sharpest.

It was unacceptable, he said, that many of the recommendations the Committe had made hadn't been taken on board during behind-the-doors negotiations between the Assembly Government and Westminster. This version of the LCO was "incomplete, narrow and minimalist" and it had been "wrapped up in knots".

Now it gets significant: "It sets a precedent I regret where we will not be able to legislate as we see fit".

So? He's had a gutsful of the LCO system and called clearly for a referendum on full law making powers "as soon as possible".

So? I come back to the final thought in this post from a few weeks ago.

On November 18th the All Wales Convention reports. We'll find out whether the author is Sir Emyr Jones Parry, diplomat, or whether Sir Emyr the diplomat-with-a glint-in-his-eye has won through and will deliver a piece of work that makes it harder than they'd expected for the politicians not to go ahead and call a referendum.

Rhodri Morgan remains as First Minister until December 8th. Will he - should he - make the decision as out-going First Minister? The bookies' favourite to succeed him, Carwyn Jones, was asked three times what he thought. Three times he refused to be drawn.

But with some already drawing mental pictures of Rhodri Morgan and Dafydd Wigley as an unbeatable 'Yes' campaign leadership team - (ideas on who'd lead a/the 'No' camp?) - you can imagine others thinking it would be neater all round if the man on the way out took the decision and took it on the chin if it all went wrong.

And something for you too - two links. One from the BBC as Democracy Live goes ... live. The National Assembly appears sort of centre right - not something you get to write very often. Tell your friends. Tell everyone to take a look and tell me what you think.

And this spotted by my colleague Vaughan Roderick, though so far not by many others who browse You Tube by the looks of the number of hits: enjoy the Government of Wales channel ... and again, tell me what you think.

Thanks again Adrian - and in case you don't like Turkish Delight, good news. I'll swap it for a bottle.

Look innocuous? The end of a long hard road? Only the relative formality of Parliamentary approval to come?

No. As I'm packing up to come home from half term holidays, it seems lawyers for the Assembly Commission have been doing some unpacking - and the LCO (or HELLCO) That Wouldn't Die has one more sting in the tail. It's understood that legal advice will be circulated to Assembly Members tomorrow - crucially before they vote - raising some very serious concerns about the Order as it's presently drafted.

The concerns would appear to relate to the "test of reasonableness and proportionality" clause.

"This matter does not include imposing duties on a person (other than on a Welsh language authority) unless there is a means for that person to challenge those duties, as they apply to that person, on grounds of reasonableness and proportionality."

So what are the concerns? Well it seems that principally that this clause, inserted at the very end of the process following negotiations between WAG and the Wales Office introduces a novel and unprecedented (words we'll hear a fair bit tomorrow) new element to LCOs - that is, of having a test on the face of the Order that every future Measure will have to, well, measure up to. We'll hear the words "far reaching implications" a fair bit too tomorrow I suspect. This isn't just conferring powers, according to the Commission's lawyers, it's potentially confining the way the Assembly can use them.

Another part of the legal advice that will raise eyebrows is a suggestion that the effect of the Order could be to weaken some provisions of the Welsh Language Act 1993. Expect this one to be fiercely challenged from the Government as soon as it sees the light of day. They'll argue that the LCO does not require a challenge mechanism to be set out in a Measure, simply that one should exist. They'll also argue that the '93 Act already allows duties imposed to be challenged on the grounds that they are not reasonable or proportionate - in fact those words are in the Act. As Tom Jones sang (so they say) it's not unusual.

So what happens now? Well it's hard to overstate quite how much the Assembly Government want to see the back of this LCO, and get cracking with a language measure that will have an effect out there in the real world. The whip being what it is, even having read and digested the Commission's legal advice, it's still likely that the AMs on the Government side will hold their noses and vote it through. But words may be heard, I suspect, from the AM who chaired the scrutiny committee in Cardiff Bay, Mark Isherwood, and possibly even the Presiding Officer, Lord Elis Thomas, whose lawyers have delivered both a sting in the tail and a warning shot for the future.

And some last words on matters that I've been blogging about. I've had a formal statement from the Assembly Government on their muscular dystrophy meeting earlier this week. Here it is:

"In the meeting, it was confirmed that the new Local Health Boards will start work on planning neuromuscular services for Wales and within that will consider the possibility of a network, or networks, and the provision of advisors.

"Baroness Finlay is carrying out work on support for children and adults with neuromuscular conditions. She attended the meeting in order to update the Campaign Group on that work."

And the last word on two strands of Welsh politics which have come together this week (not that they were ever really separate): the Welsh Labour leadership and the case for more Assembly powers.

Last night our rivals colleagues at ITV Wales held a debate between the leadership contenders.

For those watching for any hints of how the next First Minister might view chances of a referendum I thought there was an interesting difference of opinion.

Huw Lewis put very strongly his "one poll at a time" argument that Labour needs to concentrate on fighting the next General Election before any referendum. Carwyn Jones warned that it would be "a bad move" if Labour AMs pushed ahead without the support of Labour MPs. Only Edwina Hart seemed to regard the One Wales pledge committing Labour to campaigning for a successful Yes vote as the priority that Labour's partners in Plaid see it. Small differences? Maybe. But important both to those who'll select the new leader and those in Plaid who'll have to work with them.

BBC Wales will be holding its own leadership debate in the next few weeks so we'll see how deep those differences are.

That's it from me, Adrian Masters. To those of you who've complained about an imposter blogging in place of Betsan, don't worry she'll be back in a day or two - refreshed no doubt. Thanks to all of you who've commented and debated the points I've raised.

Before she left, Betsan set a very high standard for my blogging stint. "Don't be too good," she ordered. Betsan, I think I've met your target.

I've just spoken again to the campaign's Policy director Robert Meadowcroft (the man I described as Mr. Angry yesterday. He didn't object to that description by the way.)

He said the meeting saw a partial victory - officials promised that the sleep study service, so needed by patients like young Jack Thomas, would be reinstated within weeks.

After that there was mixed news. Encouraging signs - according to Mr. Meadowcroft - when it comes to the appointment of two advisers and encouraging signs on a network for Wales. Encouraging signs, but no more.

The campaign says it will continue to put pressure on the Assembly Government in those areas to try to reverse the decline in services for muscular dystrophy patients that I reported in yesterday's post.

So Mr Angry is cooling off - for the moment.

Interestingly he told me he was met not by the Health Minister Edwina Hart but by eight officials and Baroness Ilora Finlay acting as a ministerial adviser to the Assembly Government.

I didn't know that Baroness Finlay (a cross-bench peer, an expert in palliative care) occupied a formal role. It makes a lot of sense: I'm pretty sure her extensive experience of life on the NHS front-line would be invaluable to those who run the Welsh NHS. So I'll try to find out how formal a role it is and let you know.

UPDATE: I've just come off the phone to Baroness Finlay. Alas she's not taken up some kind of Gordon Brown's GOAT-style role in the Assembly Government. She tells me that she's often called in to such meetings because of her area of expertise - end-of-life care - as well as what she calls her "bird's eye view" of the Welsh NHS and involvement in parliamentary committees.

She did say that one development that is, in her view, more than encouraging is the creation of a transitional care palliative consultant to look after the needs of terminally ill youngsters who fall between the two worlds of paediatric and adult services.

"The problem lies," he said, "in a lack of health planning in Wales. There's a crisis in care for patients with muscular dystrophy."

And he went on: "Services are getting worse in Wales for people with muscular dystrophy. Not staying the same, not getting better - they are getting worse."

Strong words. So what's he so angry about?

Well it's the case of Jack Thomas, a fourteen year old from Cardiff. He has a condition Duchenne Muscular Dystrohy and needs regular sleep studies. Unfortunately for him, his local hospital - Cardiff's UHW - has stopped its service and for him to continue this vital assesment he has to travel to Great Ormond Street in London. You may have heard his mum Joanne on this morning's Good Morning Wales.

Robert Meadowcroft and his colleagues, plus another parent are meeting the health minister Edwina Hart and officials in the Assembly tomorrow. They'll have strong words for them too. This is what they want:

• The sleep service in Cardiff re-instated immediately.
• A commitment to appoint care advisers - at least one for the North and one for the South.
• And a review of neuromuscular services.

Robert Meadowcroft says the last point is the most important. "Services in Wales," he told me "are getting worse not better. There's been a serious decline which is predicted to continue for the next two years at least."

So tomorrow's meeting should be interesting. Edwina Hart has told the society that she wasn't aware of the seriousness of the situation. They met four weeks ago and tomorrow's meeting is the follow-up. I'll keep you updated.

here

Not content with masquerading as Betsan Powys I'm co-presenting Good Evening Wales. I'm not sure whether or not I'm masquerading as Felicity Evans or Olly Hides though. Judge for yourself from 4pm on Radio Wales.

If I were capable of embedding links I would direct you to my colleague David Cornock's blog where he has the photo of Carwyn Jones and Gordon Brown I told you about yesterday. He's inviting captions too. Truly interactive.

I can cut and paste urls though with the best of them. Have a look.

http://davidcornock.blogspot.com/2009/10/i-had-to-wait-10-years-too.html

If you like what you read, remember that I wrote it. If you don't ... it wasn't me guv - look, it's Betsan's name at the top of the post.

Talking of guvs - or Govs - the YouGov poll has provided a great deal of excitement in Welsh political circles. As one colleague of mine said, it's like Christmas time for anoraks.

There's plenty of detailed analysis elsewhere so I'll just concentrate on one aspect - what it tells us about the trio trying to take over Welsh Labour and particularly the attitudes of voters towards them as First Minister.

The poll shows that 32% of voters generally think Carwyn Jones would do fairly or very well as First Minister, compared to 22% who think that of Huw Lewis and 27% for Edwina Hart.

Labour voters spread their support more evenly: 45% said Mr Jones would do fairly or very well. Mr Lewis and Ms Hart each scored 41%.

But 26% per cent of Labour voters said Edwina Hart would do very badly or fairly badly compared to 12% who thought the same of Carwyn Jones and 14% who thought the same of Huw Lewis.

So how are the three responding to this first big survey of how they appeal or not to voters?

At the risk of sounding as if speaking to the spokeys is what I do all day and everyday, here, as a public service, is what they've told me today:

A spokesperson for Carwyn Jones said, "The real votes that count in this election are those of party members and those in the affiliated organisations in which the ballot has not yet started. What this poll does, however, is to confirm our view that Labour needs a leader for the whole of Wales."

A spokesperson for Huw Lewis said: "These figures really chime with our own analysis and it shows that everything is still to play for. Our figures have consistently shown that we are ahead with the membership and the broader Labour family; our extensive phone contact has shown us that, and these figures would seem to underscore where our strengths are.

People respond positively to Huw, in North Wales, in West Wales - right across the country there is a genuine and growing connection with his message. Whilst other candidates currently have slightly better recognition, that is not translated into popularity.

People who meet Huw and hear him speak respond well to him, that is why it has always been our objective for Huw to speak to as many members as possible - he really is the campaign's greatest asset."

Edwina Hart said: "This straw poll shows quite clearly that people know me and know what I stand for. As a minister you have to take tough decisions which not everyone may agree with - but I stand by those decisions because I believe they are in the best interests of the people of Wales.

I'm very heartened to find as I meet Labour people face to face during this campaign that I am building up a great level of support."

While Betsan suns herself and sips mojitos, here the clocks have gone back and the nights are drawing in. Thanks for the welcoming comments by the way. I'll do my best to keep the blog warm for the next week.

I'm sure the Welsh Labour leadership battle is uppermost in Betsan's mind as she starts her short break. It's certainly uppermost in the minds of the three candidates as they start the next phases of their campaigns.

One of the main things they each surely have to do over the next couple of weeks is highlight their differences from each other. This is always tricky to do for politicians in the same party because it risks opening divisions. Yet not to do so is also risky because it leaves the candidates open to accusations that they're all the same.

That's precisely the charge levelled by Dr. Richard Wyn Jones in last night's Westminster Hour on Radio 4. He blamed the voting system itself, the complicated electoral college that would-be leaders have to win.

"You've got to say nice things about the unions; you've got to say nice things about the Co-operative party; you've got to say nice things about Labour students," he said.

"This is a system designed for blandness and what we're seeing in the election so far is a fairly bland collection of remarks about change and develoopment and reaching out - all kinds of predictable stuff."

I should say that was given pretty short shrift by the three camps when I spoke to them.

A spokesman for Carwyn Jones rejected out of hand the claim that party rules are somehow constraining debate. "Labour's having a great time" he enthused.

A spokesman for Edwina Hart said the contest may have started blandly but clear dividing lines are beginning to show.

And a spokesman for Huw Lewis said that Mr Lewis' policies are the product of more than two years' work. Any blandness in the contest, says the Lewis camp, comes from the other two agreeing with ideas their man has set out.

Another difference could be seen in campaign leaflets received by Labour party members over the weekend.

Carwyn Jones' includes a photograph of the candidate with Gordon Brown and the caption "The Prime Minister thanking Carwyn at Labour Conference 2009 for his work in Wales."

Did this give Mr Jones an unfair advantage I asked the spokesmen? People have raised it with us said the Lewis camp but we're not making an issue of it. Neither are we said the Hart team.

Not an endorsement said the Jones spokesman emphatically. Just a photo at conference. "It's a shame not all three candidates were there (at the conference) to have their pictures taken with him."

I'll leave you with some predictions and a promise that the blog won't be dormant:

If the poll suggests anything other than the current "winnable" but not in the bag scenario, then someone pick up the phone. I'll need a mojito or two at that point. I suspect it'll remain at no more than "winnable" but that the trend will show an ever increasing number of people saying they are in favour of pressing ahead with devolving full legislative powers to the Assembly.

The Secretary of State will have heard the same rumours as everyone else - that Sir Emyr Jones Parry's report, due to be published on November 18th - will surprise quite a few with the scope of the comment and the decisive nature of that comment. If that's right, then the pressure will be on the Labour Plaid government to deliver on its pledge of a referendum as spelled out in the coalition's One Wales Agreement.

Mr Hain can see it coming and on Thursday night he'll try to head it off.

Why?

Because he thinks a referendum could or even would be lost; because as its architect, he thinks the current system of devolving power via Orders, LCOs, is working well; because as its architect he just cannot accept that its days are and should be numbered; because despite his protestations that he's an ardent devolutionist, he doesn't actually want more power delivered to the Assembly; because he thinks Plaid would gain more than Labour from it; because he made promises to colleagues that they needn't worry about the One Wales Agreement back in 2007 because there just would not be a referendum.

I've heard all of those theories suggested or implied over the past few months. You'll have our own views but you can bet that on Thursday Mr Hain will start to apply the brakes.

There'll be no great song and dance, no press conference in a posh hotel, no noses rubbed in it but we'll know why some senior Welsh Conservatives have been looking a lot more contended recently. The bear trap they had feared their party would walk straight into - big, bad Tories stopping the Welsh from having their say - has been spotted and will be avoided.

And with that I'm off to pack. Over the coming week my colleague Adrian Masters, who usually directs the gaze of the Dragon's Eye, will be taking over and keeping the blog warm. He'll do it with style. Pob lwc.

I've been to a funeral today - a funeral where every thought was perfectly spelled out, every word put in its place. Nothing else would have done in a celebration of Patrick Hannan's life.

It's just struck me to share a few of his own words.

To his friends he'd apparently rued the day that his job of 'covering politics in Wales' had somehow turned into 'covering Welsh politics'. No doubting which meant more to him and no doubting either in a room jam packed full of eminent politicians and journalists that they understood exactly what he'd meant and that they'll mull it over for quite some time to come.

The official Labour list of supporting nominations has just appeared and the list of MPs next to Carwyn Jones' name makes quite an impact on the Excel page. He has 14 supprting nominations from Westminster.

But "the Edwina Three" have become five. Add Kim Howells and John Smith to her list.

Huw Lewis has four MPs on this list - Nia Griffith, Dai Harvard, Sian James and Jessica Morden. We understand Martyn Jones didn't get his in on time, so it was invalidated.

CLPs are split six to Edwina Hart, five to Carwyn Jones, four to Huw Lewis.

How they all vote? Ah, that's where it gets really interesting.