Friday, 29 May 2009
Thursday, 28 May 2009
Making his bed and lying on it
Peter Black's claims of providing value for money by renting a flat in Cardiff at public expense is getting short shrift from contributors to the Evening Post website who feel that items such as £391.00 for bed linen are a bit excessive.But Black writes: "The reason I have the flat rather than stay in a hotel is that it enables me to relax in familiar surroundings but more importantly to work. If I stay rather than drive back I have two more hours in which I can work in comfort."
As it happens, one of his constituents who lives nearby to the Lib Dem AMs' Swansea home is a lecturer in Cardiff. He makes the journey to the capital and returns home each day. Occasionally he has to give an evening lecture which can finish as late as 9.30pm but he does not have the facility to stay overnight. His salary will not increase this year and there is even a possibility that he might lose his job due to proposed cut-backs. He and his colleagues have already been warned that they are only likely to receive the basic redundancy package if that happens.
By comparison, should Black or any other AMs find themselves out of office then they have the consolation of a pension payout and a generous 'severance' package to cushion the blow.
29 May 2009: Pension update
Turning nasty
It's not only the debating chamber where things can turn nasty at Swansea Council. We hear that long-running tensions between opposition members and a senior officer have spilt over in recent weeks resulting in an official complaint about the individual’s performance & conduct being lodged with the chief executive. It is understood that a complaint has also gone to the officer's professional body. More details are expected to surface in coming weeks.
Id quot circumiret, circumveniat.
Id quot circumiret, circumveniat.
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
Clever but obscure
Seen among the long list of anti-bendy bus comments to be found on the Beans on Toast website:
'Passengers are a necessary evil on the route to government grants'
Paul, West Cross
'Passengers are a necessary evil on the route to government grants'
Paul, West Cross
Something other than reform
These days, and especially in recent weeks, when politicians talk about reform they are invariably more concerned about their own part in the democratic process rather than ours – with the possible exception of David Cameron.If you can get past the irony that it is the Conservatives who are pushing the enfranchisement button to better effect than their centre-left and centre-centre-left counterparts in parliament, the idea of public empowerment seems dangerously close to having more substance than the usual sound-bite policies dreamt up by special advisers. OK, they’re not talking about constitutional change on the scale of the Reform Acts of the 19th century but they’re talking about change nonetheless and people are listening.
This concept of practical power devolving to a level beyond regional government clearly worries other professional politicians and nowhere more than among in the LCO-obsessed Assembly where protesting bleats of “you can’t touch local government in Wales; it’s ours” can already be heard among the anoraks who have either forgotten or are ignorant of how many powers exercised by existing & former quangos plus a few privatised industries were once the province of elected local authorities; and who did not require second homes or relocation allowances to fulfil the function either.
Then again, what are the chances of a renaissance for local democracy – and for greater devolution – if the cull recently suggested by former Labour council leader Jeff Jones is taken up by the Welsh boundary commission? Jones, an ex-county councillor who strongly favoured the “Great Eight” scenario when local government was being reorganised in the mid 90’s, was never really comfortable when in power in dealing with the wider range of district council functions – and not much seems to have changed given some of his comments.
But as things stand, AMs and councils are just as likely to get embroiled in the all-pervading expenses row in coming weeks and it is only when the dust settles will anyone be able to correctly assess the public or political appetite for unsettling the status-quo in favour of something inevitably more costly and complex.
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
Pants on fire
Probably the most hilarious aspect to the claim that right-wing Swansea councillor Richard Lewis is now recruiting for the Lib Dems is the suggestion that he actually has 70 long-standing supporters to call upon. But such dodgy statements are standard fare for the self-serving and highly mobile Gower councillor with masonic connections who has made a political career out of being a charlatan.
As mentioned, the view is that Lewis has wheedled his way into the Lib Dems as a means of protecting his aim of actually becoming mayor next year – having spectacularly screwed them up his chances a few years back – and in the safe knowledge that any complaints ablut his usual obnoxious antics whilst acting as deputy first citizen will either be ignored by the leadership or else result in no more than a mild ticking-off.
However, members of the independent group (as opposed to the break-away independents@swansea) are not at all impressed in the manner by which the rat deserted their ship or what he is reported to be saying about his former colleagues to his brand new buddies.
In fact, one of them who happens to a very senior councillor has already indicated that he is tempted to share with the local press in a lot more detail how Sticky Dick was told about plans for a controversial Gower building during a quiet cup of coffee with the applicant just a few weeks before plans were submitted – and then denied it when the shit hit the fan.
As mentioned, the view is that Lewis has wheedled his way into the Lib Dems as a means of protecting his aim of actually becoming mayor next year – having spectacularly screwed them up his chances a few years back – and in the safe knowledge that any complaints ablut his usual obnoxious antics whilst acting as deputy first citizen will either be ignored by the leadership or else result in no more than a mild ticking-off.
However, members of the independent group (as opposed to the break-away independents@swansea) are not at all impressed in the manner by which the rat deserted their ship or what he is reported to be saying about his former colleagues to his brand new buddies.In fact, one of them who happens to a very senior councillor has already indicated that he is tempted to share with the local press in a lot more detail how Sticky Dick was told about plans for a controversial Gower building during a quiet cup of coffee with the applicant just a few weeks before plans were submitted – and then denied it when the shit hit the fan.
Monday, 25 May 2009
Sunday, 24 May 2009
Fantasy tour continues
It's almost touching to see how Swansea council leader Chris Holley still desperately clings on to his personal fantasy that his idea for bendy-buses traversing Swansea’s streets is a wonderfully popular idea with the travelling public - or anyone else.Roads have been ripped up over the past two years using £10 million of public funding – and at who knows what cost to traders – just to accommodate the 19 metre-long articulated monstrosities priced at £322,000 each. And with the kind of baffling timing that is the hall-mark of the Lib Dem-led administration at Calamity Hall, the vehicles will be hitting the road at the same time that the Quadrant bus station closes for renovation. Temporary bus stops are appearing throughout the city centre in some weird locations and further traffic chaos is predicted for at least another year or more.
Whenever challenged on the absence of any particular commonsense associated with his frankly ludicrous project, Holley insists that he is merely making up for “Labour failures of the past 30 years” – omitting to mention of course that he has managed to achieve an impressive number of his own fairly spectacular cock-ups in just a fraction of the time. Curiously however, the official council website manages to contradict this tired political mantra in stating that Swansea has “experienced dramatic economic growth during the last 20 years” and that it is all down to “a structured investment programme to enhance the City and its surrounds” – an action presumably put in place and sustained for 15 years by the preceding administration.
But, as we know, fantasy mixed with re-writing history is something of a long-standing Lib Dem trait - especially when it comes to taking responsibility for anything.
Consumer tip #22
Just for a change, a really useful window postercourtesy of Beau Bo D'or (an inspiration to the downtrodden consumer)
Not listening
Confirmation of a long held suspicion by Swansea's citizens that their council doesn’t really give a toss what people think comes with the quietly executed closedown of the so-called Open Swansea blogsite along with the cancellation of a planned community strategy conference.Both ‘initiatives’ are supposed to come under the auspices of the mysterious Open Swansea Group (which always meets behind closed doors) but who, according to the official blurb, are nonetheless charged with advising the Council on how to 'conduct our affairs openly and honestly, strengthen democratic accountability and improve engagement with the community'.
Based on recent events in social services, e-government, etc and the amount of items discussed in private session the group has done a pretty crap job to date. But it comes as no real surprise since no-one can remember if this group has ever actually made any recommendations or even published a report.
Saturday, 23 May 2009
Low expectations
Expectations are not exactly great for Lib Dem Nick Tregoning, the newly appointed cabinet member at Swansea Council charged with the vital job of overseeing desperately needed improvements in social services.
According to two of his senior colleagues overheard bitching in the cafe at County Hall, there is some bemusement that the Dunvant councillor with a such a high profile task has allowed his name to remain as the number three spot on the local European ballot paper. But as the pair queued at the till, it was also apparent that they did not anticipate Tregoning would make much of an impact in either capacity.
According to two of his senior colleagues overheard bitching in the cafe at County Hall, there is some bemusement that the Dunvant councillor with a such a high profile task has allowed his name to remain as the number three spot on the local European ballot paper. But as the pair queued at the till, it was also apparent that they did not anticipate Tregoning would make much of an impact in either capacity.
A suitable candidate?
The odds of accident-prone tory Alun Cairns taking the Vale of Glamorgan parliamentary seat shortened significantly yesterday with the news that Labour incumbent John Smith is standing down. The view that a change of political control is likely in what is looked upon by the parties as a weather-vane seat is compounded by rumours that local Labour activists are already talking about resisting pressure by central office to adopt an outside candidate.However, and in light of Cameron's statement that his clean-up actions will not not just focus on existing MPs, a key factor in deciding if the Vale goes back to blue might depend on to what extent the Western Mail decides that Cairns is a suitable entrant.
Friday, 22 May 2009
More of the same
A story which almost slips under the radar during the current media slag-fest is that three Plaid Cymru MPs used parliamentary office expenses to foot a £4,500 legal bill for the attempted impeachment of former PM tony Blair.
According to the Beeb and the N.Wales Daily Post, Hywel Williams, Elfyn Llwyd and Adam Price pooled some of their allocated offices expenses to fund moves for a legal opinion, much to the reported annoyance of the Taxpayers Alliance.
The MPs claimed that their actions in claiming back the cash was "absolutely the proper use of public money” and stated that the impeachment was a parliamentary campaign, not a party political move. They added that the intent was to “hold the prime minister of the day to account using a mechanism, impeachment, which hadn't been used for 200 years."
As it happens, the money was paid to two senior London lawyers who happen to share chambers with Cherie Blair.
According to the Beeb and the N.Wales Daily Post, Hywel Williams, Elfyn Llwyd and Adam Price pooled some of their allocated offices expenses to fund moves for a legal opinion, much to the reported annoyance of the Taxpayers Alliance.
The MPs claimed that their actions in claiming back the cash was "absolutely the proper use of public money” and stated that the impeachment was a parliamentary campaign, not a party political move. They added that the intent was to “hold the prime minister of the day to account using a mechanism, impeachment, which hadn't been used for 200 years."
As it happens, the money was paid to two senior London lawyers who happen to share chambers with Cherie Blair.
Leaving reality
Citizens of Swansea could be forgiven for thinking that their local authority is being taken on a journey to a different dimension given some recent and bizarre events.The first is that the ombudsman is actually going ahead with an investigation at public expense into a complaint made by cabinet members about local tory leader Rene Kinzett and his upsetting remarks in the press that some of his council colleagues are "past it". We cannot confirm at this stage a further rumour that the official watchdog will also be checking the unsettling effect of noisy breakfast cereals in the staff canteen.
But this month's winner of the you-have-got-to-be-taking-the-piss news award is the announcement that Sticky Dick Lewis has been and gone and joined the Lib Dems. Described in the local press as "colourful" - which to some is like calling Nick Griffin "impish" - the ex-tory, ex-independent and ex-vigilante is reported to have side-shuffled within the ruling coalition from one faction to another; much to the incomprehensible delight of Lib Dem leader Chris Holley.
Interestingly, there is no quote from Lewis about the reasons behind his move and it is rumoured that he is denying in private that he has joined up. One view is that the man who was once described by his contemporaries as the "tea-time, toy-town, tory trickster" sees Lib Dem membership as an insurance policy against getting stuffed again in the mayoral stakes. It's an intriguing theory but looking at how fellow independent and failed cabinet member Wendy Fitzgerald managed to get kicked sideways into the post of council chairman after screwing up social services, he really shouldn't have bothered.
Thursday, 21 May 2009
Pots and Kettles
It had to happen, didn’t it? No sooner does Rockin’ Rene do an expose on MPs allegedly renting out accommodation bought at public expense than the Western Mail does a similar job on tory AM Alun Cairns’ and his gaff at Cardiff Bay.According to Mr Shipton, “[Cairns] who lobbied fellow members so he could carry on claiming for a second home just miles from his constituency, has approached an estate agent about renting it out”.
A Welsh Conservative spokesman apparently ‘made it clear’ that Mr Cairns has no intention of repaying any of the mortgage interest claimed from the Assembly over the years he has occupied it. The spokesman went on to add:”This is a completely different situation to the cases of MPs who are repaying mortgage interest payments claimed from the House of Commons.”
The distinction, however, is likely to be less clear to others – and that could include Cairns’ colleagues in the Assembly tory group.
Pier pressure
The upbeat news from Swansea Council’s spinners about yet another consultation masks the fact that restoration plans by the local pier’s owners is probably the last hope for a fanciful strategy launched a few years ago to sex-up Swansea’s coastline – a strategy that has virtually sunk without trace ever since politicos fought among themselves to be the first to kick the idea of a sports village alongside St Helens ground right into touch.
As much as the Lib Dem-led mob shouted about Swansea being a ‘city of artists’ impressions’ when in opposition, their lamentable record in office to date suggests that nothing is about to change. And from what we hear, if the privately financed project ever becomes a reality then it will be despite the political insights at work in Calamity Hall and not because of them.
As much as the Lib Dem-led mob shouted about Swansea being a ‘city of artists’ impressions’ when in opposition, their lamentable record in office to date suggests that nothing is about to change. And from what we hear, if the privately financed project ever becomes a reality then it will be despite the political insights at work in Calamity Hall and not because of them.
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
Protest vote danger
The received wisdom emerging among the political pundits is that fringe outfits such as the BNP will pick up votes in the forthcoming European elections at the 'expense' of the main parties who have been seen to be milking the system (There are no local elections in Wales this year – despite what may appear on the Western Mail’s website).
But before anyone thinks that Nick Griffin and his party might be a deserving home for a protest vote – just to teach those other mainstream politicians a lesson – we suggest you first read this factual and frightening account of neo-Nazism in the UK.
As Guy Fawkes once nearly proved, there are far more constructive ways to make a protest about parliament.
But before anyone thinks that Nick Griffin and his party might be a deserving home for a protest vote – just to teach those other mainstream politicians a lesson – we suggest you first read this factual and frightening account of neo-Nazism in the UK.
As Guy Fawkes once nearly proved, there are far more constructive ways to make a protest about parliament.
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
Losing the plot
Whilst the reported antics at Blaenhonddan Community Council, near Neath have become a reliable source of entertainment (sort of Pobol y Cwm meets X Files), the latest flouncing exit by a third of the members is unlikely to impress the punters and could backfire in the longer term. You can either view the events of the last year or so with the successive moves and counter-moves to close community facilities as either rampant indecision or else the product of interminable political point-scoring that used to have little place at parochial level.No doubt all sides involved will lay claim to have acted of behalf of the community, but as the former members of Dunvant CC will relate, playing silly-burghers with public trust for too long can have its consequences. In their case, the electorate finally opted for a more radical application of the democratic process, i.e. a successful referendum to scrap the council altogether.
Monday, 18 May 2009
Close to home
Who would have thought that the portents of a year ago would have produced the events of the past few weeks – or such wonderful political opportunities for those currently outside the tent?
A local example is the press release by Lib Dem parliamentary wannabe Peter May who has a go in today’s Beans on Toast at Labour’s quasi-anonymous candidate for Swansea West, Geraint Davies, for the scale of his expenses in another incarnation, i.e. as the honourable member for Croydon Central 1997-2005.
The accusation levelled at Davies is that Croydon is only 30 minutes from central London yet the former MP had a second home in the capital. It’s all good stuff but the 30 minutes travel estimate claimed by the Uplands councillor is either an indication that his sat-nav is on the blink or that he occasionally wears his underpants on the outside.
But in making the attack, an effect closer to home could be that a few of the rocks hurled by bandwagon-rider May will also land on a glass-house occupied by fellow Lib Dem councillor Peter Black who, despite living just 45 minutes down the motorway, rents a second home in Cardiff Bay at public expense.
A local example is the press release by Lib Dem parliamentary wannabe Peter May who has a go in today’s Beans on Toast at Labour’s quasi-anonymous candidate for Swansea West, Geraint Davies, for the scale of his expenses in another incarnation, i.e. as the honourable member for Croydon Central 1997-2005.
The accusation levelled at Davies is that Croydon is only 30 minutes from central London yet the former MP had a second home in the capital. It’s all good stuff but the 30 minutes travel estimate claimed by the Uplands councillor is either an indication that his sat-nav is on the blink or that he occasionally wears his underpants on the outside.
But in making the attack, an effect closer to home could be that a few of the rocks hurled by bandwagon-rider May will also land on a glass-house occupied by fellow Lib Dem councillor Peter Black who, despite living just 45 minutes down the motorway, rents a second home in Cardiff Bay at public expense.
Sunday, 17 May 2009
Open local government - closed for business
Next week’s Swansea Council cabinet agenda has an item right at the end innocuously entitled “Contract Award for Payroll System Completion”. The report makes a number of what might be considered controversial recommendations and mentions a payment sum that should make the auditors’ eyes water.
Alas however, citizens will not be able to read the details of how their money is to be spent as the item will be decided behind closed doors by whichever cabinet members turn up. The official reason for excluding press and public is printed on the agenda as follows:
Cabinet will be requested to exclude the public from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of a category of exempt information as set out in Paragraphs 14 and 16 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) (Wales) Order 2007.
The Proper Officer (the Monitoring Officer) has determined in preparing 8 (B) (1) that paragraph 16 should apply in that it contains information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings. This is not subject to the Public Interest Test.
Paragraph 14 is also applicable (in that it contains information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person). If paragraph 16 applies, paragraph 14 does not have to be considered further.
It is RECOMMENDED that the public be excluded.
So there!
Alas however, citizens will not be able to read the details of how their money is to be spent as the item will be decided behind closed doors by whichever cabinet members turn up. The official reason for excluding press and public is printed on the agenda as follows:
Cabinet will be requested to exclude the public from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of a category of exempt information as set out in Paragraphs 14 and 16 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) (Wales) Order 2007.
The Proper Officer (the Monitoring Officer) has determined in preparing 8 (B) (1) that paragraph 16 should apply in that it contains information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings. This is not subject to the Public Interest Test.
Paragraph 14 is also applicable (in that it contains information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person). If paragraph 16 applies, paragraph 14 does not have to be considered further.
It is RECOMMENDED that the public be excluded.
So there!
Displacement
Fears expressed yesterday of a displacement tendency within the Lib Dem leadership in wishing to visit the sins of MPs on the Speaker appear to have been well founded; although other considerations may well have been at work.
Just yesterday, when asked about the calls by their home affairs spokesman – and former leadership contender - Chris Huhne to dump Commons Speaker Michael Martin for his stubborn defence of a status quo, that nice Vince Cable was quoted as saying “Neither Nick Clegg nor I are taking that view, because we take the view that if we did that would be an expression of the view of the whole party”.
Yet this morning, Nick Clegg appears on the Andrew Marr show to state that the Speaker should step aside; thus confirming that Lib Dems are no better than other parties in steering their way through a murky parliamentary crisis entirely of their own making.
After all, to those outside the Palace of Westminster, the role of the Speaker is, among other things, about defending parliamentary privilege and if MPs have been content to spread the privilege around a bit then it is they who must carry the can and not an expedient scapegoat. Or are we really supposed to believe that the Speaker is so fiendishly capable that he and his predecessors have single-handedly managed to deny the House of Commons the opportunity of adopting a reasonably transparent system of remuneration over the years?
Like many others, we had understood that the whole idea of giving MPs salaries and allowances in the first place was to ensure that it was not just the well-off, property owning classes who could afford to enter parliament. The principle remains sound but what has become increasingly hard to stomach this week is the extent to which the practice seems to have gone into reverse.
Just yesterday, when asked about the calls by their home affairs spokesman – and former leadership contender - Chris Huhne to dump Commons Speaker Michael Martin for his stubborn defence of a status quo, that nice Vince Cable was quoted as saying “Neither Nick Clegg nor I are taking that view, because we take the view that if we did that would be an expression of the view of the whole party”.
Yet this morning, Nick Clegg appears on the Andrew Marr show to state that the Speaker should step aside; thus confirming that Lib Dems are no better than other parties in steering their way through a murky parliamentary crisis entirely of their own making.
After all, to those outside the Palace of Westminster, the role of the Speaker is, among other things, about defending parliamentary privilege and if MPs have been content to spread the privilege around a bit then it is they who must carry the can and not an expedient scapegoat. Or are we really supposed to believe that the Speaker is so fiendishly capable that he and his predecessors have single-handedly managed to deny the House of Commons the opportunity of adopting a reasonably transparent system of remuneration over the years?
Like many others, we had understood that the whole idea of giving MPs salaries and allowances in the first place was to ensure that it was not just the well-off, property owning classes who could afford to enter parliament. The principle remains sound but what has become increasingly hard to stomach this week is the extent to which the practice seems to have gone into reverse.
Saturday, 16 May 2009
A sense of perspective
We face the bleakest economic situation in decades with little sign of future recovery. Homelessness and repossessions continue to rise. There are fears that crime and social disorder will see a resurgence.Manufacturing workers from around the UK are marching today in Birmingham to voice their anger at losing yet more jobs. An already creaking health service is bracing itself for a possible national outbreak of swine flu and our parliamentarians face losing residual public respect over a money-grubbing approach to expenses that would make a city banker flinch.
But, according to a furious Lib Dem AM Peter Black, the real crisis is that a social networking site does not recognise Welsh place names.
It’s reassuring to know that someone is focusing on the important stuff.
Friday, 15 May 2009
Thursday, 14 May 2009
Meet the new boss .....
It’s not often you see Lib Dem AMs lining up in solidarity with comrades from the Socialist Party Wales and Socialist Worker but the situation at the Linamar auto parts plant (formerly Visteon & Ford) on the city’s outskirts is gathering quite a concerned following – including Gordon Brown it seems.The Canadian family-owned firm, who bought the plant from failing Visteon last year, claimed to have big investment plans for the factory but have since reportedly set about dismantling plant and employment agreements with equal vigour.
There are reportedly plans to crate up assembly line equipment for shipment to 'cost-competitive' locations in Mexico and, when challenged, the management’s response to pressure from plant convenor Rob Williams for the company to honour past pledges on pay & conditions was to sack him for "irretrievable breakdown of trust and confidence"; an accusation that many employees feel could be levelled at Linamar and then some.
With all this disregard for workers rights and indiscriminate redundancies, you’d think that the tories were already back in power at Westminster. Then again, it’s felt that way to some workers in industry for nearly a decade or so – a viewpoint compounded by the absence of local Labour protest.
Talk is cheap
Maybe we’re missing the point, but the crux of Plaid’s criticism of outgoing MEP Glenys Kinnock seems to be that you cannot be effective in the job at Strasbourg unless you mention Wales in most of your speeches.
It’s a novel proposition and one that should be tested just as thoroughly by analysing how often Adam Price refers to his own constituency when speaking in Westminster or the number of times that IWJ gives Ynys Mon a plug in the Senedd chamber. Then again, such an exercise might also be described as a total waste of breathing time – which pretty sums up the achievements of their director of elections so far.
Hopefully things will improve when Plaid starts cranking up its plans on cutting carbon emissions in Europe - a lead that other parties will need to follow.
It’s a novel proposition and one that should be tested just as thoroughly by analysing how often Adam Price refers to his own constituency when speaking in Westminster or the number of times that IWJ gives Ynys Mon a plug in the Senedd chamber. Then again, such an exercise might also be described as a total waste of breathing time – which pretty sums up the achievements of their director of elections so far.
Hopefully things will improve when Plaid starts cranking up its plans on cutting carbon emissions in Europe - a lead that other parties will need to follow.
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
Sinecures@Swansea
So the prediction of a few months ago which claimed that sacked social services cabinet member Wendy Fitzgerald would get the consolation post of Presiding Officer at Swansea Council has turned out be accurate - hence the obligatory political frothing with Labour describing the move as a ‘moral disgrace’ whilst Rockin’ Rene gets apoplectic about the decision on his blogsite.But whatever description the born-again tory from Mayals may best suits Ms Fitzgerald, he cannot change the fact that she & her other half remain indispensable players in the musical-chairs - or 'swap-the-sinecure' - that keeps the coalition in power and him in opposition. More to the point, and as much as they would rather have their eyeballs tattooed than admit to it, Messers Phillips and Kinzett would have considered engineering something similar if it meant hanging on to power.
Few will give much credence to Chris Holley’s denials of an actual deal since he and his administration are known to be barely on nodding terms with the truth these days. However, Fitzgerald’s admission that she was never actually overseeing things as the city's social services performance rating slipped from beacon to basket-case does raise the interesting question as to whether she should repay her special responsibility allowances for the last five years.
But while there is no surprise over local Lib Dem willingness to reward incompetence with high office – a notable exception to their usual eagerness to assign blame (somewhere else) – it remains a puzzle that the local paper, which is presently lauding praise upon itself for championing the cause of families, doesn’t think that this bizarre turn of events even merits an editorial comment.
Tuesday, 12 May 2009
Keeping it local
Apparently this is Local Newspaper Week (cue rapture and excitement in the streets) and it was interesting to see that the approach taken by the local Swansea paper to commemorate this event was to conduct a vox pop on their website.
The pitch was just a little trite in saying: “.... we would love to know your thoughts on what you love about us, what you would not be without, what you enjoy the most and what you would like to see more of in the future”.
And maybe the responses were not as endearing as the authors had probably hoped but they were heartfelt nonetheless. We can only wait and see if the cash-strapped publication, which still bears the scars gained from a recent bloody encounter with cost consultants, are able to take up the suggestions regarding the more gratuitous content.
Congratulations nonetheless to the Beans on Toast on a sincere effort to engage public opinion. Perhaps the local council should take notes.
The pitch was just a little trite in saying: “.... we would love to know your thoughts on what you love about us, what you would not be without, what you enjoy the most and what you would like to see more of in the future”.
And maybe the responses were not as endearing as the authors had probably hoped but they were heartfelt nonetheless. We can only wait and see if the cash-strapped publication, which still bears the scars gained from a recent bloody encounter with cost consultants, are able to take up the suggestions regarding the more gratuitous content.
Congratulations nonetheless to the Beans on Toast on a sincere effort to engage public opinion. Perhaps the local council should take notes.
And it's quite fitting that the paper, in covering a local angle to the Westminster expenses saga, carry the report that “Swansea pensioner Mel Poole” has reported Justice Secretary Jack Straw to the police over the politician's council tax claims because pensions have only gone up 50 pence.
Presumably, the recent scrapping of the cuttings library at Adelaide Street means that few if any would recall that this might be the same ex-police superintendent Poole of the South Wales Constabulary who was once awarded a six-figure sum by the courts following a successful defamation action against the Evening Post.
Biter gets bitten
A priceless television moment this morning when Labour bruiser Lord Foulkes appeared on BBC News 24 to provide a robust defence for his mate, Speaker Michael Martin.The interview was the usual “how can you possibly defend the defenceless” stuff by the presenter, Carrie Gracie but his Lordship was having none of it; accusing the media - and especially the corporation of being selective and gratuitious in its use of stolen material.
It was the performance of a politician who will never have to face the electorate again (upper house reform notwithstanding) and unabashed by the Beeb onslaught, Foulkes gave an account of what MPs do to earn their £65K a year.
He then asked Gracie how much she was paid out of the license fee and events took a bizarre turn when she admitted to a £92K salary but blurted out that she never claimed for telephone calls. Whoever said that she did?
Sadly, the interview is not available on iPlayer - as far as we know.
Monday, 11 May 2009
Wrong country
As the revelations and commentary continues over MPs expenses, the tendency among the press - who never submitted a dodgy claim in their life, guv - is one of over-excitement and slight confusion.On example appears in the Western Mail's website today which carries one of those interactive thingys asking readers "Has the MPs' expenses row changed the way you'll vote in next month's local elections?" And what local elections would they be, then?
Meanwhile, Peter Black makes the valid point that the Taxpayers Alliance have suddenly gone quiet in the wake of the Telegraph grassing up the shadow cabinet. It won't last.
Best quote on the issue so far comes from the past:
"I played the rules of politics as I found them"
Richard M. Nixon
Friday, 8 May 2009
Changing to stay the same
The Beans on Toast displays predictable timing in choosing the installation of a new Lord Mayor to question the modern-day relevance of a non-executive first citizen and ponders if the time is right to the directly elected type to emerge.
It’s a regular refrain on their part and an aspiration expressed elsewhere in the past, notably Stoke-on-Trent. When the various options for modernised local government came the city’s way back in 2002, something called the Mayor4Stoke campaign emerged, backed by the local paper, which saw a referendum opting for an elected mayor and an ex-Labour councillor turned independent candidate taking the top spot. Press enthusiasm for single person accountability however seemed to wane after 2005 when a Labour mayor was elected and another popular campaign, this time imaginatively entitled Democracy4Stoke, achieved a different referendum result.
Admittedly, Stoke Council is going through some issues at present which make Swansea’s recent woeful assessments look like a minor lapse. But the other big factor were fears that a combination of local and national protest votes at the next election could see a BNP candidate in the mayoral office.
Unlike Londoners, who were never given the option, the establishment of a directly elected mayor for somewhere like Swansea needs a petition bearing 20% of the electorate to first hold a referendum and then a majority voting accordingly.
There is absolutely no support in the Welsh Assembly for the mayoral model - mostly because AMs are reluctant to see their own big-fish-small-pond status undermined. The only local politician to have backed the idea in the past is tory Rene Kinzett; assuming that Lib Dem Peter May has probably modified his views since being part of a campaign demanding a referendum back in 2002.
So it could be argued that there is no better test for a ‘powerful, independent and critical local press’ in Swansea – as someone once mentioned – than to see if it can nonetheless generate an appetite for local constitutional change. But they will also need to address the slightly confusing message that just like London (and Stoke) Swansea will still be required to retain an office of Lord Mayor, no matter what the outcome.
In medio ad difficultatem, opportunitas jacet.
It’s a regular refrain on their part and an aspiration expressed elsewhere in the past, notably Stoke-on-Trent. When the various options for modernised local government came the city’s way back in 2002, something called the Mayor4Stoke campaign emerged, backed by the local paper, which saw a referendum opting for an elected mayor and an ex-Labour councillor turned independent candidate taking the top spot. Press enthusiasm for single person accountability however seemed to wane after 2005 when a Labour mayor was elected and another popular campaign, this time imaginatively entitled Democracy4Stoke, achieved a different referendum result.
Admittedly, Stoke Council is going through some issues at present which make Swansea’s recent woeful assessments look like a minor lapse. But the other big factor were fears that a combination of local and national protest votes at the next election could see a BNP candidate in the mayoral office.
Unlike Londoners, who were never given the option, the establishment of a directly elected mayor for somewhere like Swansea needs a petition bearing 20% of the electorate to first hold a referendum and then a majority voting accordingly.
There is absolutely no support in the Welsh Assembly for the mayoral model - mostly because AMs are reluctant to see their own big-fish-small-pond status undermined. The only local politician to have backed the idea in the past is tory Rene Kinzett; assuming that Lib Dem Peter May has probably modified his views since being part of a campaign demanding a referendum back in 2002.
So it could be argued that there is no better test for a ‘powerful, independent and critical local press’ in Swansea – as someone once mentioned – than to see if it can nonetheless generate an appetite for local constitutional change. But they will also need to address the slightly confusing message that just like London (and Stoke) Swansea will still be required to retain an office of Lord Mayor, no matter what the outcome.
In medio ad difficultatem, opportunitas jacet.
Thursday, 7 May 2009
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
A different perspective on devolution
Vaughn Roderick’s contribution to the ’decade of devolution’ is to claim that the process has been an electoral own-goal for Labour – confirming too late for the remnants of the old socialist guard their dire warnings that regional government would let in Labour’s opponents through the back door.
It’s a simplistic point which suggests that a mistake was involved and ignores an underlying desire at the time to introduce an irreversible step capable of ensuring that Wales was never again ruled by imperialist Conservative viceroys with thick Yorkshire accents or scary alien stares - a defensive measure that could well be tested in the near future.
A ‘yes’ result for an elected Welsh Assembly just a few months after the Blair bandwagon euphoria was a reasonably safe bet. And even then it was apparent to many that “things could only get better” for everyone except the party which had just won a general election. Yet the risk was deemed acceptable. Why?
Post electoral Welsh Labour was caught in a dichotomy that somehow managed to accommodate a default tendency towards centralist control with a pluralist desire for devolution and electoral reform. Nowhere were these complicated and contradictory qualities more apparent than in the Assembly’s progenitor Ron Davies – who but for events in the previous November would have been leader in 1999. By the time he left office, the constitutional die was cast and the groundswell too powerful for someone like party parachutist Alan Michael to forestall - especially when his main priority was keeping Rodders at arms length.
It’s a point that other commentators seem keen to avoid – or feel is irrelevant – but if Labour has since learned to work and play well with a small succession of coalition partners then all parties can credit Big Ron, one way or another, for the opportunity.
It’s a simplistic point which suggests that a mistake was involved and ignores an underlying desire at the time to introduce an irreversible step capable of ensuring that Wales was never again ruled by imperialist Conservative viceroys with thick Yorkshire accents or scary alien stares - a defensive measure that could well be tested in the near future.
A ‘yes’ result for an elected Welsh Assembly just a few months after the Blair bandwagon euphoria was a reasonably safe bet. And even then it was apparent to many that “things could only get better” for everyone except the party which had just won a general election. Yet the risk was deemed acceptable. Why?
Post electoral Welsh Labour was caught in a dichotomy that somehow managed to accommodate a default tendency towards centralist control with a pluralist desire for devolution and electoral reform. Nowhere were these complicated and contradictory qualities more apparent than in the Assembly’s progenitor Ron Davies – who but for events in the previous November would have been leader in 1999. By the time he left office, the constitutional die was cast and the groundswell too powerful for someone like party parachutist Alan Michael to forestall - especially when his main priority was keeping Rodders at arms length.
It’s a point that other commentators seem keen to avoid – or feel is irrelevant – but if Labour has since learned to work and play well with a small succession of coalition partners then all parties can credit Big Ron, one way or another, for the opportunity.
Monday, 4 May 2009
Sunday, 3 May 2009
Talking rubbish
The outburst last week by an ‘enraged’ Welsh tory spokesman over possible charging for rubbish collections in Wales understandably focused on present government failings. But even Darren Millar should be aware of how his own party made the humble black plastic bin bag an intrinsic feature of the Welsh street scene.Surely he has been told how Mrs T rolled back the tide of municipal socialism by privatising waste collection, introducing compulsory tendering and even forcing local authorities to create arm’s length companies to oversee disposal? The fact that that the move greatly benefitted companies who had contributed substantial amounts of brass converted from muck into tory election coffers was of course, entirely coincidental – as was the consequent doubling of street litter.
Labour’s answer to the problem was not so much tackling the issue as quantifying it. But, as in most other aspects of their reforms, an obsession with targets, performance and penalties just made the issue seemly more complex and the solution more expensive. It is not just in waste management that local authorities and public sector bodies are in danger of disappearing up their own improvement agendas through ‘plan fatigue’ but it is potentially the most expensive.
For some, a basic step would be to eradicate the black plastic bag for kerbside collections and introduce wheelie bins as a Welsh standard. There is even an argument that a quango is needed to introduce meaningful regional waste disposal arrangements,
Of course, this would need substantial Assembly investment on new bins and re-equipping vehicle fleets but it would be money better spent and a lot less draconian as a measure than giving more powers to the eco-fascists who are already so eager to pounce on us recalcitrant recycling ‘criminals’.
Sid
Inside the tent
David Williamson’s refreshing account in today’s Wales on Sunday of the highs and lesser highs of the exalted at Cardiff Bay is probably a better take on the Assembly’ first ten years than any subjective assessment that we could muster.
As we approach the initial transition stage from county council on stilts to almost legislature, it is equally intriguing to look back at how the fawning Welsh media has evolved (or devolved) in its regard for the institution. For some, the only practical difference from the time when a minor regiment of journalists occupied floors of the former Crickhowell House is that most of the individuals who reported on the activities of Assembly and the individuals therein are now on the staff and the copy takes a little longer to get approved.
The trip from special correspondent to special adviser is a short and profitable one and – so long as political coalitions remain de rigueur – incorporation looks likely to offer a more secure tenure than a regional or broadcast press position.
A comparison written some time ago once likened the role of a journalist reporting on governments as that of the slave who stood at the back of the chariot whilst the triumphant Roman general was cheered by the mob, murmuring the caution: “Remember, thou art only a man”.
What would be whispered today is anyone’s guess.
As we approach the initial transition stage from county council on stilts to almost legislature, it is equally intriguing to look back at how the fawning Welsh media has evolved (or devolved) in its regard for the institution. For some, the only practical difference from the time when a minor regiment of journalists occupied floors of the former Crickhowell House is that most of the individuals who reported on the activities of Assembly and the individuals therein are now on the staff and the copy takes a little longer to get approved.
The trip from special correspondent to special adviser is a short and profitable one and – so long as political coalitions remain de rigueur – incorporation looks likely to offer a more secure tenure than a regional or broadcast press position.
A comparison written some time ago once likened the role of a journalist reporting on governments as that of the slave who stood at the back of the chariot whilst the triumphant Roman general was cheered by the mob, murmuring the caution: “Remember, thou art only a man”.
What would be whispered today is anyone’s guess.
Saturday, 2 May 2009
Chicken run
Something approaching a final ignominy for the Blair Legacy contingent are Paddy Ashdown’s claims in the Daily Telegraph that a number of ‘centrist’ Labour MPs intend defecting to the Lib Dems should their own party take a lurch to the left following a general election defeat.
Despite a slight flaw in Ashdown’s comparison with the events in Limehouse in 1983 which followed a second and more resounding trashing for Labour at the polls, the chicken-run scenario is a valid one – especially in the Lords where loyalties can be traded with few qualms. However, there is no guarantee that the Lib Dems will be the preferred location for defectors who have enjoyed the extra crumbs that come with the 'privilege' of being part of a parliamentary majority - there are other choices.
Despite a slight flaw in Ashdown’s comparison with the events in Limehouse in 1983 which followed a second and more resounding trashing for Labour at the polls, the chicken-run scenario is a valid one – especially in the Lords where loyalties can be traded with few qualms. However, there is no guarantee that the Lib Dems will be the preferred location for defectors who have enjoyed the extra crumbs that come with the 'privilege' of being part of a parliamentary majority - there are other choices.
Friday, 1 May 2009
Missing the point
Council spinners clearly think that there is media mileage to be gained in stringing out news of an imminent start date for a years overdue upgrade to Swansea’s semi-derelict bus station.
This spin over substance approach is fairly typical of a local authority which somehow believes that it can realise plans for a £1 billion regeneration package based on a so-called 'strategy' that still has the bus and train stations located at opposite ends of the city centre. Presumably the two will be linked by a bendy-bus.
Meanwhile, plans regarding transport investment elsewhere in Wales show a greater degree of forethought and ambition.
This spin over substance approach is fairly typical of a local authority which somehow believes that it can realise plans for a £1 billion regeneration package based on a so-called 'strategy' that still has the bus and train stations located at opposite ends of the city centre. Presumably the two will be linked by a bendy-bus.
Meanwhile, plans regarding transport investment elsewhere in Wales show a greater degree of forethought and ambition.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)