Democracy for hire

A comment on this post by Peter Black regarding the growth of career politicians accuses the Lib Dem AM of skating on thin ice. For ourselves, we give him credit both for publishing the comment and for his analysis of an emerging political class – other than that which revolves around Eton & Oxbridge.

He is, of course, able to speak from some authority, for unlike his own prior background in the civil service, the members of his own political staff lack any significant employment record outside academic circles. Yet three are either current or former councillors whilst two are Assembly candidates. What life skills they would be able to apply to their elected role will be limited and unlikely to develop.

Time was, according to the romanticised version, that the only qualification you ever needed to be an elected representative was an interest in your community and a willingness to work its behalf. It is said by those with dirt on their knees that the most inept at getting to grips with the regulations & budgets and all the unglamorous day-to-day stuff that makes up local government were those councillors who had actually gained a qualification in politics.

But in these days of executive governance where professionalism has made representative skills largely redundant, a ‘research’ job with the local AM or MP is all you really need to get you on your way. A few years making a noise in the council chamber can help but a top spot on your party list is the real ticket to achieving an esoteric existence at the Assembly and maybe on to the Palace of Westminster and you therefore need to be where the action is to be able to make the right impression.

Black expresses a hope that “a more open electoral system such as the single transferable vote that breaks the grip of the parties on Parliamentary seats will reap benefits by opening up the political process and allowing a wider choice of candidates.”

Maybe so, but the fact that he apparently sees ‘choice’ as the issue and a change in voting mechanism as an effective means of addressing a wider malaise then he remains very much part of the problem – and, dare we say it – just a bit out of touch.

Paying for recession

According to some economists, the problem with a government becoming a major financial stakeholder in banks and previously privatised companies is that a mixed economy invariably sends out mixed messages – depending upon whether you’re buying or selling, presumably.

The recent upbeat theme, according to the ubiquitous market analysts, is that house prices are slowly rising above the rate of inflation which indicates a recovery of a sort. And we were also told that the economy has not shrunk as much as was thought - which is a jolly good thing, isn’t it? Or are we simply reading signs of business resilience into what might just be incompetence on the part of the analysts?

It is not encouraging that the same bunch appeared flummoxed to learn that the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), a key measure of inflation in the UK, had ‘unexpectedly’ remained at 1.8% when the predictions were for a decline to 1.5% in July. Official statements claimed that “the chief downward impact on prices came from food and non-alcoholic drink prices” which suggest that the author doesn’t do the food shopping in their households - or they basically just don’t know from shit.

The less good news earlier in the week came from the Office for National Statistics who told us that more than one in six UK homes which house at least one person of working age does not have anyone in employment. This is the highest rate since 1999 according to the ONS.

On the employment front, Fujitsu workers are seeing their pensions and pay under attack which is another example of a largely unreported scandal of foreign owned firms quietly putting their UK subsidiaries into liquidation resulting in thousands of redundancies and letting the government pick up the tab for abandoned pension schemes. Such battles are not restricted to industry as a report in the Times of a financial institution biting at its own entrails graphically illustrates but they manage to give a first-hand demonstration of just how impotent all the regulation has proved to be in the face of financial reality.

And the situation is no better for the retired with a third in the red on loans and credit cards. Figures also suggest that some 15% of retired people are also still paying off a home loan, with an average debt of £50,100 per household.

The question of whether we should trust or even give credence to the experts and commentators is probably an academic one in several respects. They didn’t see the recession coming, they talked us deeper into it when it arrived and they are now in danger of disappearing up their own analysis to come up with something halfway credible. Sadly they sound a lot like most politicians.

Yet are they any different from those people who encouraged us to invest in a home-owning fantasy by borrowing more than we could earn in a lifetime and then advising us to ‘consolidate’ what we owed into single amount that would rival the debt of a small third-world nation - and then telling us how an obscure bit of legislation could actually help us avoid repayment altogether? Did they cause the recession, or was it us lot?

The sole common point of agreement to be gleaned from the otherwise contradictory indicators is that the UK economy is hugely dependent on the financial and property sectors. When it’s good, it’s very, very good (for the exchequer) but when it’s bad the bastards still receive bonuses. Yet for all the Westminster & Whitehall talk of better regulation, even us nurks can figure out that there is little reason why any government, outgoing or incoming, would want to effectively crack down on this situation – especially one that is now such a significant stakeholder.

It may be the same the whole world over, as the song goes, but the gravy does seem to a bit thicker & richer in our part of the globe - for some.

Pravda vs Sky

The reported rant by James Murdoch against the BBC and the "The expansion of state-sponsored journalism” probably raises all sorts of questions; one of which is just how much News Corporation - which occasionally bears a chilling resemblance to Cyberdyne Industries - has itself over the years represented “a threat to the plurality and independence of news provision” to coin a phrase.

It remains to be seen if there is a similar bout of organised venting from Welsh newspaper editors and proprietors over the perceived threat of council produced publications as they gloomily survey this month’s ABC figures. All six main regional titles show a hefty drop in circulation.

Daily Post (North Wales) 33,938, -5.3%
South Wales Argus (Newport) 26,667, -5.6%
Evening Leader (Wrexham) 19,437, -8.1%
South Wales Evening Post (Swansea) 46,069, -10.1%
Western Mail (Cardiff) 32,926, -11.4%
South Wales Echo (Cardiff) 39,361, -11.8%

It's usually the case that any chance of a reasoned debate is lost when newspaper proprietors start to talk like their own publications. Especially when they make claims that the scale of the BBC is a threat to independent journalism and that the BBC Trust and media regulator Ofcom are unaccountable. Murdoch may have recognised that the boundaries between previously separate forms of communication such as TV, newspapers and publishing have eroded, creating an "all-media market" but describing the evolving role of public broadcasting as Orwellian is just silly.

Having told an invited audience that the BBC feels empowered and obliged to try to offer something for everyone, even in areas well served by the market because it is funded by a universal hypothecated tax, he apparently insisted that "the only reliable, durable and perpetual guarantor of independence is profit."

What will institution-loving David Cameron will make of that one?

Demolition Dick

Tricky Dick Lewis gets himself depicted as a people’s hero in the press today by demanding the demolition of a ‘mansion’ under construction in Gower – although the local paper appears less than convinced about his motives. This scepticism might be a result of a number of sources alleging that that the Tanned One earlier gave assurances that things would be “squared away”, so to speak.

Planning officers are quite rightly pissed off that the tory-turned-independent-turned-Lib Dem tried to deny getting briefed on the original scale of the building. They have since made sure that an e-mail sent to him at the time, and which highlights the scale of development, has found its way into the public domain. Needless to say, they are also unimpressed by his subsequent blustering call for action and the fact that he used his position as planning committee chairman to make the demand.

According to some frustrated senior case officers, who were found to be quite forthright in their criticism during extended evening forays in Wind Street hostelries, the episode is entirely in keeping with Lewis’ other antics in office. We are promised details presently.

Swap causes stir

On the subject of successions, cigar-wielding Rhodri Glyn Thomas appeared to have scuppered Plaid Cymru plans to infiltrate Adam Price into the Welsh Assembly – or at least that is what Martin Shipton was telling the world last week.

Now we hear that certain motivated, i.e. deselected, activists in Carmarthenshire are acting up again. The plan is to give the party hierarchy a hard time at Plaid’s annual conference in September. An indignant emergency resolution peppered with words & phrases such like ‘pawns’, ‘cannon-fodder’ and ‘arrogant careerists’ has been circulated in the constituency and quietly copied to the press.

We also hear that RGT has already sent in his apologies for absence.

Needs a different ending

One of the vaguely intriguing aspects of the otherwise seemingly endless preamble to Labour’s leadership contest in Wales has been the quiet and largely unremarked exit of finance minister Andrew Davies from the running. Once a name synonymous with succession, his only recent noteworthy involvement in the internal machinations to choose Rhodri’s replacement has been to permit uncorrected but low-key suggestions in the press that he is now backing Edwina Hart.

Some supportive insiders in the Davies camp are saying that his recent hospital stay is behind the withdrawal whilst others with a pragmatic outlook see long-standing mutual hostility with Plaid Cymru as too much of an anti-coalition factor. There is also the nagging issue that his Swansea West seat is now considered highly marginal and that the minister would be advised to put away thoughts of even higher office and spend more time with his majority.

Of course, the same scenario could be projected onto the fortunes of the neighbouring Gower constituency occupied by the battling Ms Hart - who is now embroiled in a drugs war which may be well require her having to perform the acrobatic and politically fatal stunt of doing a u-turn on a banana skin.

Meanwhile, would-be contender Huw Lewis continues to find new & imaginative ways to infuriate opponents, potential supporters and the Western Mail in generally equal amounts whilst amiable, eisteddfod-going Carwyn ambles along nicely; for the moment.

In some respects, it is a dispiriting experience to realise that what is under discussion is how 26 politicians – and a few hundred activists – are going to initially shape a new-ish focus of Welsh Assembly governance. In this context, it is small wonder that some might question if so much attention should be paid to an institution so desperate for new powers and yet so patently lacking the financial clout or possibly the professional expertise to make any sort of real difference to the 600 and something communities that make up the Welsh nation. Then again, as someone once said, it might be an imperfect form of devolved government but it’s our [bleep] devolved government.

Nevertheless, there is no denying that looming leadership contest does have sufficient surreal qualities to make the casual observer wonder if the best outcome would be for Bobby, or Alan Michael, to step out of the shower; allowing us to realise that it was all a dream and that we can start all over.

It’s probably a better ending.

Gis' a job

Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between politicians and sports managers – although the track-suits do tend to be a giveaway. Even so, the jaw-dropping denial by Scott Johnson that the lacklustre Ospreys under-performed last season carries the kind of credibility-stretching qualities which shows he is definitely Westminster material.

By comparison however, the claims of former Swans boss Roberto Martinez that his Wigan side had acquitted themselves well until Man Utd put in the first of five goals last Saturday only puts him in line for filling a possible forthcoming vacancy of Scottish justice minister.

Money talks

After the recent barrage of Plaid claims that IWJ singe-handedly saved the Welsh economy, the news that £15million seems to have been wasted on an abortive road project is less of an accolade.

The revelation in the Western Mail is that as late as the 2008-09 financial year, which ended three months before the Newport M4 relief road plan was ditched, more than £4m was spent on surveys and technical and financial advice.

The article appears to lend the controversial decision to scrap a costly but vital infrastructure project all the hallmarks of a panic measure rather than an alternative package aimed at making Wales greener in its transport habits. There is also a suggestion that the announcement was timed to coincide with promises that the Great Western rail line would be electrified between London Paddington and Swansea.

Will we be hearing more on the subject – or will Plaid be keeping quiet in this one?

Headlines

Transport works "a waste of time"

23 August 2009

Acting in the public interest?

Although it’s unlikely that Sadie Graham will ever achieve the same level of recognition as whistle-blowers Clive Ponting or Jeffery Wigand in their respective fields, it is a forgone conclusion that her lawyers will be devising a public interest defence for her alleged involvement in leaking the BNP national membership list - whatever the circumstances.

But will they also be making sure that Nick Griffin’s active Libyan connections during the mid-1980s are highlighted whilst the Lockerbie recriminations continue?

Sell out

After all the brave talk attributed to sections of Swansea Council's planning committee, the news is that councillors rolled over yesterday by approving both an ASDA and a Lidl supermarket in Gorseinon, a small conurbation on the city's outskirts.

What effect the development has on the wider economy remains to be seen - although some suggest that it will decimate the local High Street (as did city planners until quite recently). But the interim message that the decision delivers with resounding clarity is that rhetoric about protecting the city centre and sustaining regional shopping centres is disposable when the chance comes around to fill a few pockets by selling off land to out-of-town retailers.

Q&A

Clearly, the probing question to be put to Welsh politicians at the moment is one of “Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of some loony and mildly embarrassing fringe group within your political sphere because joining either seemed a vaguely good idea at the time or because it imparted a fleeting sense of cred among your peers or because it might get you a shag?”

The answer is fairly easy in many instances – which is probably why the question is being asked so often – but the approach also has its limitations. For example, is there really any point in asking Lembit why he joined the Lib Dems?

Roll back?

Continuing the inappropriate development theme, Swansea planning committee will be told on Thursday that they should approve a controversial scheme for a new ASDA superstore at Gorseinon. A tortuous and heavily qualified fifty page report says the 57,858 sq ft store should be given the green light "subject to no adverse comments from the Welsh Assembly".

The proviso and the thirty-something conditions that the retailers will have to meet are seen as the planners' rationale for standing on their heads having previously refused permission and had the decision upheld at appeal.

We are told that a small core of councillors across all the political groups are not entirely convinced by the recent shift in acceptability and that approval is not a foregone conclusion. Others will be watching the actions of colleagues who have publicly backed the scheme in the past.

When the going gets tough ... the press get going

A footnote to the flurry of concerns printed by the Beans on Toast earlier this month about the many problems confronting Swansea’s city centre is that the newspaper has decided to take direct action - by moving out.

Sources tell us that the EP will be finalising business plans in the coming months to up sticks and move to new leased offices in the SA1 area. It is also claimed that a deal has already been agreed by South West Wales Media to sell their Adelaide Street premises – a notable architectural carbuncle in the middle of a conservation zone – to an adjacent & ambitious land owner.

The move allegedly has the blessing of council leader Chris Holley who is said to have agreed (during recent post-match inebriations at Liberty) to describe the action as a ‘positive move’ for the city. Once described by a developer connected to a certain skyline development as a “feckin’ eejit”, Holley is known for his embarrassing interjections in regeneration matters but even he couldn’t be so dumb as to give this particular move his endorsement. Could he?

Serving the community - or communty service?

A panel created by the Welsh Assembly has been looking at how to achieve the laudable aim of getting a more diverse and representative mix of people to become councillors. But what will be expected of people eager to serve their communities?

In the next two weeks, the corridors of power at Calamity Hall will see a number of bodies in session - there is no such thing as recess in Swansea. Most will meet behind closed doors and very few will deal with issues that affect the wards that members were elected to represent. The scheduled meetings, according to the official diary, are:

Constitutional Working group – meets in private
Area 1 Planning Committee – meets in public
Joint Consultative Committee – meets in private
Planning Committee – meets in public
General Purposes Panel – meets in private

Area 2 Planning Committee – meets in public
Member Support & Development Working Group - meets in private
Councillor Forum - meets in private
Cabinet – meets in public plus a private session
Overview & Scrutiny Co-ordinating Group - meets in private
General Purposes Panel – meets in private

Of the eleven meetings involved, councillors will only be making actual decisions in four (Cabinet and planning). They can only talk to matters on the agenda written by officers. It is actually illegal to raise matters of any other business. The other bodies are specialist discussion groups who are only concerned with the internal running of the council. As one insider told us it, “it’s where they make half-way intelligent speeches, applaud loudly and report each other to the Ombudsman afterwards”.

We’ll leave you to work out the disturbing percentages of meetings that are held in private.

There may well be some people who will quite like this brand of abstract governance that requires its democracy to be done in secret but it is just as likely to be a turn off for the rest - if they're given the full picture, that is. For ourselves, we're left pondering whether the job actually could be done just as effectively by a certain councillor's cat.

Clear red water over health?

Labour strategists clearly think that they smell tory blood following a series of the negative endorsements made about a national (and nationalised) health service by fringe figures in Cameron’s ranks. The Sunday Times reports that Gordon Brown “broke off from his summer holiday to accuse the Tories of being two-faced over the National Health Service and pledged to put healthcare at the centre of the general election campaign”.

Talk is of Labour launching a ‘Back to Bevan’ pro-NHS campaign emphasising the familiar accessible and (almost) free at the point of delivery ethos. A major theme will be selective comparisons with US style across-the-counter healthcare, so helpfully highlighted by tory MEP Daniel Hannan.

Seasoned spinners however, who remember the “Battle of Jennifer’s ear”, will know that campaigns, just like a virus, have a worrying habit of jumping species. Brown will need to make sure that his own ranks stay entirely on-message and, more importantly, keep the fiscal expectations within limits. They will be aware that David Cameron yesterday faced new pressure after shadow chancellor George Osborne seemed to backpedal on an earlier pledge to continue increasing health spending in real terms.

Both sides know however, that the phoney war over the status of the NHS will soon evolve into a series of skirmishes and then trench warfare as to whether the organisation is fit for purpose, which essentially means more changing political whims, policy shifts and endless re-organisations that spawn yet more new agencies. It is already hard to see any joined-up thinking behind the restrictions placed on the number of non-UK doctors, introduced as a populist measure to appease critics of a ‘perceived crisis’, and which has already creating a real one as shortages hit front-line healthcare.

It seems that a truth that often gets forgotten by ministers is that not every problem affecting the NHS is one of resources or clinical expertise. Equally, few solutions require a political input – devolved or otherwise. The big question therefore is whether governments are the cure or the affliction.

Handbags

Anglesey councillors are being urged to adopt a ‘respect charter’ aimed at putting aside personal bickering and political in-fighting for the good of an authority's future. Based on this retaliatory outburst made by a tory in response to personal criticism by an independent member, it seems to many observers that Swansea Council could also benefit from a similar agreement – and not before too long either.

If you can't join 'em, beat 'em

One of our happy band tried to leave a response to this thoughtful post by Darran Hill at WalesHome but couldn't find the submit button - hence this post of our own.

Darran's question: Can't you two even try to get along, explores the reasons why Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Liberal Democrats are unable to bond even though both have such mutual areas of interest and no real geographical conflicts. "There are strong points of synergy between them and some remarkable similarities", says Mr Hill, who highlights green issues, proportional representation and a commitment to a local income tax as a basis for joint foundations.

Yet despite the excellent analysis, we are not sure if his 'two parties divided by a common purpose' theme translates into a workable arrangement for Wales as well as it appears to have done at Cardiff which he cites as an example. Admittedly, both parties demonstrate a pragmatic approach to coalition and/or partnership working at local government level throughout Wales and with a diverse range of partners. However much of the internecine stuff we read today still bears the accusatory undertones of how intransigence by key individuals wrecked the possibility of a rainbow coalition. There is little chance of movement while that argument still festers.

Seeking a healthy majority

Cammers probably welcomed the distraction of having to defend the NHS this week as much as he would the prospect of having to run an obstacle course wearing skis - but he had better get used to both experiences. His path to power is littered with landmines such as the dead-beat Ann Main, dead-meat Alan Duncan and basket-case Daniel Hannan.

The Conservative leader, who is understandably more interested in a healthy majority, has only warm words for the NHS but you can be sure that his on-going praise will be punctuated by references to efficiencies. At the other end of the blue-spectrun, aides will also be keen to suppress the residual colonial jingoism within the ranks who may want to counter the rabid criticisms of Obama's health reforms across the water through daft reactions such as calling for A&E centres to refuse free treatment to US visitors.

The tories have worked hard to regain the ground which allows their shadow-spokesmen to talk with apparent sincerity about cherishing a national health service; without someone sniggering off-camera. Cameron and his strategists know that being considered by the electorate as better equipped to handle the economy is just about enough for the next election - as along as recovery doesn't start too soon. Arguments over diagnosis and mixed messages about how to treat a sickly health service are definitely not needed.

Silly season about to get plain stupid

As predicted, Rockin Rene is still milking the publicity over the ageist controversy thing yet again – but this time courtesy of a demand for his removal from a committee by the tactically-challenged Ioan Richard. The absentee tory leader has responded to the Mawr Mouth in kind but omitted to mention IMR’s own abysmal attendance record at meetings in the days when he was also trying to hold down a job as a supply teacher. We understand that retaliatory releases have since been issued by both camps and that the pair will not be patching things up any time soon.

Relationship matters look equally unresolved for the local Labour leadership. A rambling feature on the party’s prospects in the local rag, which reads as if someone has entered the words “Swansea” and Labour” in a search engine and stitched together the results, only conveys confusion. But two letters on the facing page put things in a sharper perspective with one reader stating that he is chucking in his membership before he gets expelled while another, penned by a party Rottweiler, is all for dragging revisionary class-traitors to the lampposts.

Expect more of the same third-rate dialectic as fringe elements and parachutists position themselves for the soon-to-be-vacant Swansea East assembly seat. Some of it might even start to make Ioan Richard sound reasonable.

Expenses panel exposed - over expenses

Retrospectively kicking shit out the messenger remains a favoured pastime at the Assembly, even during recess. This week’s targets are Sir Roger Jones and the rest of the independent panel who recently recommended a big cutback on AMs perks.

According to Shipton of the Mail, anonymous Assembly insiders, who clearly nudged the Newspaper of Wales into making an FoI enquiry, are said to be “critical” of the £59,762.81 paid out in expenses to the four member panel over an 11 month period. Given the phrasing, it’s not too hard to work out the likely function of these insiders, i.e. writing press releases for one or two particularly bad losers who are still sulking over the loss of their second homes and subsidised mortgages. Even then, it's fairly feeble parthian shot.

But surely there are plenty of other AMs who could have come to Big Roj’s defence, had they been asked to comment. After all, his recommendations were voted through unanimously ..... weren’t they?

The last bus you'll ever get on

We can reveal that a new force for good has emerged in the universe dedicated to writing wrongs and re-writing selective bits of history.

Luckily, MIB agents ‘J’, ‘K’ and Thingummy were on hand to expose a sinister conspiracy cooked up between the Evening Post and Labour councillors to peddle the vicious lie that bendy-buses might possibly be unsafe on Swansea’s roads.

They soon put the whingers right about how a motorist had deliberately rammed the 62ft long articulated bus with his Citroen C2 and anyway the money was coming from Europe to pay for everything ... and it was all Labour’s idea in the first place .. and it doesn’t matter if there was no mention before 2005 when the Lib Dems had been in power for a year ‘cos that’s what Peter Black said in his blog (about it being Labour’s fault) and he should know ... and, oh yeah, it was definitely Labour’s idea ‘cos they started in London and Ken Livingstone was Labour wasn’t he? OK, he was an independent when he won the election but he changed, didn’t he?

.

Don't know about you, but it makes us want to point that noisy cricket thing at their alien heads and see it go SPLAT.

Was exit caused by a lack of respect or reward?

It has been put to us by inside sources that a Godfather movie graphic we used in a post which highlighted flaws in cabinet-style politics would have been more appropriate for goings-on within Swansea council Labour group. The claim is that recent exits are a protest against disrespectful treatment of ‘veteran’ members - as earlier recounted by Peter Black on Freedom Central - whilst potentially troublesome newcomers are rewarded with jobs.

It’s a funny way to register a protest but to each their own, etc. However, where our information differs from the Lib Dem version is that we understand the dissenters have made it clear that they will not be joining a different group or forming their own. According to one of the trio who moved into smaller office premises the other day, they will stay inside the party but outside the group “until things change at the top”.

How anyone is actually going to achieve that change internally, without being able to call upon three missing votes, does not apparently play a large part of their thinking. Doh!

Sticks and stones miss the mark - and the point

A couple of reader’s letters appear in the Swansea local rag today slagging off tory Rene Kinzett for a range of short-comings. Penned by a Lib Dem nondescript and some stooge from the wonderfully oxymoronic Independents@Swansea, their basic gripe, besides a deep regret that the Mayals councillor continues to draw breath, is that he also insists on making “political capital out of any incident”. The total bastard!

But wait a minute. Last we heard, Kinzett was leader of an opposition political group who actually go around making political whatsit out of situations; because that’s what they..er, do. Of course, he happens to do it better than most – even when he’s not actually in the city. Which is something that really pisses off the Lib Dems in particular as they quite pride themselves on their leading edge electoral engagement, yada-yada.

Instead of protesting too much however, what these two minor players need to figure out is why their attack on the tory mouthpiece will be read only by the hundred or so souls who actually bother to turn to the letters page whilst any response from Kinzett on his blog site is guaranteed a much wider audience and also stands a chance of getting reproduced as a news item if he calls anyone ‘past it’ or mentions his cat.

Going digital

Jaxxland and district has the privilege of being the first area in the UK to switch over entirely to digital TV. There are conflicting suggestions over whether the move has been well publicised or if local families are going to lose contact with the outside world as of midnight.

What seems to be less on the lips of the 'experts' expounding their various viewpoints is why digital is such a good idea in the first place? For some punters it seems to be just another consumer rip-off stunt like a football club changing the design of its away strip, yet again.

The other imponderable is what is going to happen to all the old, abandoned analogue sets which have either found their way to the skip or are about to become regular kerbside features in this part of the world. Do they get scrapped, exported or recycled?

Well, at least someone is making a start.

No further comment

Headlines

Police seek car blow-up suspect

10 August 2009

They all look alike, don’t they?

Having shown some dubious judgement in moderating comments, the poor pressed souls at the Beans on Toast website stand accused of having abysmal political recognition skills. After announcing possible legal action against Liberty Stadium for failing to introduce promised travel plans to relieve congestion, Rob Speht Lib Dem parliamentary hopeful for Swansea East, will be unimpressed that the photo used is that of his Swansea West counterpart Peter May.

Giving the folks at Liberty a kicking might prove popular with residents – something that Speht probably needs given his regular absences abroad - but it could also backfire as fans (contraction of ‘fanatics’) do not necessarily make the distinction between the clubs they support and the home venue.

The jury is still out as to whether this potential confusion might explain why May recently got his car torched as the action could also be a Hazel Blears thing.

Che takes no prisoners

It's very unlikely that we're ever going to agree with Che of Guerilla Welsh-fare on matters such as independence or even the language but you really have got to admire the guy's in-your-'effin-gob style when addresing the inconsistency of approach on the part of Welsh Lib Dems.

Apple campaign continues

The local Facebook campaign to Save the Big Apple at Mumbles (shown here in better days) has now reached an incredible 12,776 names. According to the petition organisers, the owners of the 80 year-old kiosk have announced that they are looking at ways to repair the pre-cast concrete facade after a motorist mistook the structure for a crash-test wall.

No bets either way in the outcome but you can be certain that the cash-strapped bunch down at Calamity Hall are already bricking it in case someone suggests that helping tourism should be considered 'core-business'.

Perhaps they should have had a whip-round at the beachside polo event which a few civic faces managed to get corporate invites for themselves and guests - all of which will doubtlessly be declared.

A different kind of truth

Mike from Clydach sent in a response to a couple of comments posted on the Evening Post website by Kevin Edwards, Organiser West Wales British National Party who had earlier claimed that the angry reaction to his fascist diatribe by other readers were because “the truth hurts”. He also claimed to be Swansea-based.

The site declined to publish Mike's response although no reason was given. Mike then sent them on to us via a third party and we’re pleased to publish what he has to say - not because we happen to agree with his views but because we feel that every right minded person would do likewise.

FAO Kevin Edwards - having a Swansea postcode doesn't make you a Swansea voter. Which is just as well. By the way, why didn't the BNP put up a candidate against Alan Robinson in St Thomas last year? You had candidates in Bonymaen, Llansamlet and Landore which are just next door. Or did you think that Robinson is pretty much on your wavelength? Seems that you were extremely right – excuse the pun.

Anyone interested in the truth about the BNP should read this – and not the propaganda which Cllr Edwards hopes everyone is either gullible enough to accept or too frightened to challenge.

Sixty five years ago, someone else made their way to office by making outlandish economic promises backed up by the lunacy that it could all be achieved through racial purity or by deporting sections of society who should be denied human rights. It took nearly two decades before the rest of the world intervened to stop the genocide and brought the madmen behind it all to account for their crimes. In the intervening years the governments of those countries closed their eyes, turned their backs and did nothing. That is the truth that hurts every day.

In the words of the US officer who closed the gates on Belsen after the camp was finally emptied of thousands of bodies; Never again. God Almighty, Never again.

For the moment, we prefer to think that the reason for the above not appearing on the EP website is a technical one. At least, we hope this is the case.

Whoomph!

The days of the double whammy might soon be replaced by a single smack across the chops depending on the reliability of reports that an emergency package is being “actively considered” by Tory strategists to hike VAT up to 20% within weeks of an election victory.

The party’s official line is that “there no plans for a VAT increase and there have been no discussions about it.” However the Sunday Telegraph says different and it depends on your own grasp of conspiracy theory as to how much this might be the early stages of a softening up process.

Budgetary plans, especially those proposed by oppositions are remorselessly dissected by economic analysts and then the media and then by other economic analysts, so the assumption has to be that Central Office has done sufficient focus group stuff beforehand. It could be the case - especially as news also ‘emerges’ that potential Labour criticism can be countered with the revelations that the Blair government was looking to do pretty much the same thing back in 2001 when things were far less bleak.

The future's obvious

At first sight, all the self-generated fuss at Cardiff Bay about making mobile phone masts subject to more effective planning controls seems reasonable – but at another less populist level it is sadly another example of politicians collectively managing to miss the point. Which is that the situation needs something more than a piecemeal regulatory approach.

If AMs and councils are as seriously concerned as they say about the proliferation of mobile phone masts and the environmental & health effects on the community then they should be pressing for the network to be designated into a national utility - rather than a series of competing systems. Of course, it will mean persuading the government to relinquish a sizeable licensing fee income but the shortfall can always be made up by other imaginative Treasury means.

Keeping up

Just seen a post on Independence Cymru which states: "It appears that one undisclosed policy of the present UK government is to withdraw services, curtail personal freedom and invade privacy."

Could it be that the author has only just noticed?

Time warp

The Welsh First Minister (for the time being) makes a speech in Bala to mark twenty Years of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in Wales. The reaction from Eisteddfod officials, according to the Western Mail was to grass him up for speaking English.

Hopefully this will be remembered when the men & women in different hued duvet-covers go on their regular trek, demanding cash to put up their big pink tent. It would be fitting if the response they receive at that time is not just in English but very basic Anglo-Saxon.

Headlines

Police right to use Taser on OAP

BBC Wales Online - 8 August 2009

Fix what's broken

A few things come out of the Beans on Toast’s fixing-the-city ‘campaign’. The first is an admission that the place is broken – which means that we will (hopefully) no longer have to read the ridiculous ‘We’re going places’ crap attibuted to spinners and stooges and which is so blatantly at odds with the reality.

We can also hope that if attention is paid to actually fixing the problem instead of papering over the cracks then it might dawn on our civic leaders that the answer doess not lie with pie-in-the-sky retail promises but investment in what we already have to make the city centre a commercial success where people work and spend their money.

What it does not need is the tired old excuses from Lib Dem council leader Chris Holley who still thinks that blaming the Assembly is a viable policy. The same can be said of his lame-brain suggestion that a car-parking charge should be levied on punters who visit out-of-town retail parks with the proceeds used to “subsidise the city centre”, whatever the hell that means. Probably more cobbles and bollards.

Someone should quietly take him aside and explain that the only real beneficiaries of car-parking charges in Swansea's retail parks would be Parc Trostre, Llanelli & McAuthurGlen in Bridgend. Then they should shoot him.

And then there were three

The bad news for Labour on Swansea Council continues with the resignation of another member from the official opposition. Former Lord Mayor Mair Gibbs is said to have left the fold over “differences” with the group leadership. There is no indication as yet if the Bonymaen councillor is set to join fellow dissenters Roger Smith and Glyn Seabourne in a breakaway trio; although the gossip is that their numbers might well increase further next month.

No-one has yet pointed to the cause of the all the discontent in the Labour camp but there are plenty of informed guesses which are bound to surface. For the moment, both administration and opposition cadres continue with the headless-chicken impressions as they figure out the implications to their respective standings in the pecking order.

Highly recommended

Jim's World - a photographic blog replete with images that make the ordinary look extraordinary.

Headlines

Move to make Swansea a European city of distinction

Western Mail - 6 August 2009

Shifting ground

Whilst the Beans on Toast should be congratulated on printing an unusually serious feature on proportional representation, it was apparent that those behind the article and associated editorial were struggling a bit with the subject matter – especially in respect of the potential winners and losers.

Preferences on AM, AV, STV, etc were proffered by Rockin’ Rene and also Plaid’s Darren Price who must have received special dispensation from his coalition bosses to be able to express an opinion. Strangely, the paper did not seek the views of lifelong electoral reformer Peter Black. Which is a pity given the rumour that the Lib Dem AM is said to be “seriously thinking” about grabbing his party’s nomination for a first-past-the-post contest in Swansea East next time around.

The situation which is said to be worrying the multi-tasking AM is that whilst Labour are presently tipped to lose the Swansea West assembly seat, currently held by finance minister Andrew Davies, the eccentricities of the additional member voting system could in turn provide the Brown Crowd with a consolation prize of one of the four regional seats in South Wales West. Currently, the likely losers in that instance at, especially if a resurgent tory vote puts in the predicted squeeze, would be the Lib Dems who scraped last spot in 2007; only just enabling a return ticket to Cardiff Bay.

It’s an interesting scenario as there is no denying the dilemma facing Black who last stood in Swansea East in the good old days of 2003 when it was possible to double up as a constituency & regional list candidate before rule changes closed off such double-indemnity opportunities. But he does not have to make any decisions just yet and will probably wait to see how much collateral damage Labour inflict on themselves in selecting Val Lloyd’s successor before deciding on his options.

Remember where you read it first.

Big Apple to bite the dust?

Bad news about another historical Swansea icon. A 17 year-old driver managed to put his Fiesta through the front of the Big Apple at Mumbles, demolishing the front of the popluar local landmark. It turns out that the seaside gifts kiosk which has greeted tourists for generations was actually a promotional gimmick used to sell a new brand of apple drink in the 1930s or thereabouts - another temporary structure still in use 70 years later; but we digress.

Apparently built from moulded concrete and steel mesh (they didn't screw around in those days), the owners reckon the Apple may have to be scrapped off as restoring it to the original shape would mean re-creating the moulding process and other technical stuff.

It's would be a damned shame to see it go. Wonder if the boy-racer was on his dad's insurance.

Update: BBC Online show the extent of the damage.

When silence implies consent

Listeners to last weekend’s Swansea Sound phone-in will have since deduced that the two ‘independents’ accused of advocating eugenics have been neatly sand-bagged. It turns out that community regeneration cabinet member Alan Robinson was asked from across the floor “Are you proposing compulsory sterilisation?” and the St Thomas councillor was dumb enough to nod or something.

It then seems that Wendy Fitzgerald, who seldom knows when to stay quiet, couldn’t help but to do her usual Hermione Granger impersonation and blurt out that “it went on in European countries” – an assertion which she later elaborated in an e-mail to the opposition.

Besides the predictable media-fest ably seeded by tory Rene Kinzett, the suggestion of someone in high places being in favour of mandatory social engineering has already got Swansea’s anti-fascists banging on again about how the BNP strangely failed to put up candidates against Robinson and his running mate at the last council elections despite contesting three adjoining wards on the city’s eastside.

Of course, Robinson and Fitzgerald may be guilty of nothing more than naivety in thinking that what is said in a private seminar for politicians is somehow going to stay private. On the other hand it could be argued that having two naive and patently un-streetwise individuals in responsible positions is a dubious idea - not to mention a questionable call by the Lib Dem leadership who picked them in the first place.

Both of the councillors have gone on the record as stating that they did not suggest compulsory contraception or sterilisation as a social measure nor did they use the phrase. But the elephant in the chamber is that the pair have failed in being just as unequivocal in saying whether they are opposed to the practice. Until that happens then the issue, which includes continuing questions about their suitability for office, is patently not going to go away – as shown by today’s intervention from the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon.

Hitting the road

BBC Wales has 'uncovered' a report published last month by the Assembly’s ministerial advisory group on transport. The 198 page report carries a number of key messages, which are:

High levels of mobility are a feature of a prosperous and inclusive society, as well as an enabler of future economic and social development. The Welsh Assembly Government should seek to facilitate mobility by ensuring that the transport network operates efficiently and effectively.

There is an urgent need to restore capacity and reliability to the main east-west strategic corridors, as well as to tackle urban congestion.

It is possible to put transport onto a carbon reduction pathway without risking future economic growth. In the short-term it should be possible to secure carbon savings of 3 per cent per annum, and it is realistic to aim for a reduction of 80 per cent by 2050. This will be achieved mainly by improved engine technology and a reduction in the carbon content of fuel. Modal switching can make a small additional contribution and deliver other benefits, but is not a scaleable solution.

There is a need to use the existing transport funding more effectively and also to increase the level of resources available. The current approach to supporting public transport for social reasons is rapidly becoming unaffordable and should be reviewed as a matter of urgency.

The organisational arrangements for transport are unnecessarily complicated and the regional transport consortia represent an unnecessary tier in the structure. The Assembly Government should take control of strategic routes into urban areas, as well as all local authority responsibilities for transport planning and delivery.

WAG has also published ministerial responses to the recommendations which, when read in conjunction with the report, doesn’t exactly carry the same stark message that pensioners should get out the Nikes. But that wouldn’t be news would it?

The report is a well laid out and cogent assessment of what the One Wales government needs to address and it deserves better and less sensational treatment by a public broadcasting service. A start might be identifying the membership of the advisory group and their backgrounds.

Nothing personal, just politics

If it was Chris Holley’s intention of solicit sympathy with his moans about personalised politics then he is well out of luck. If anything, the nature of his protest invites a paraphrasing of Samuel Johnson to the effect that a claim to want to put the city first is usually the last refuge of the bullshitter – mostly because no politician wants to put anything first other than their own sweaty grasp on power.

As opposition leader, Holley showed no hesitation in attempting to wrench away the reins by putting the blame for every shortcoming experienced by the preceding regime firmly in the lap of cabinet members on a personal basis. We hear that he was damned good at it, too.

Now, the dilemma facing the Lib Dem leader (and us plebs) is that, like it or not, cabinet-run local government puts all the real decision-making responsibilities into the hands of a handful of councillors. There is no meaningful debate, no public discussion and any technical expertise comes from departmental directors. This is not unusual. Councils up and down the land are notionally run by numpties who would otherwise struggle to get a sniff of an interview for a half-way decent job but who become responsible – through whatever labyrinthine means - for portfolios that control multi-million pound budgets and employ thousands of staff. Swansea is no different now or in the past.

It’s not too bad if you’re in power except for the annoying side-effect that the system creates an incentive for oppositions groups to loudly and regularly equate performance – or the lack of it - with the character & capabilities of the cabinet members. If they or their departments turn out to be patently crap, or simply accident-prone, then this doesn’t just reflect badly on the post-holder but also on the person who put them there – especially if the leader then allows them to remain in office either through weakness or ... err, weakness. In fairness to Holley, he does have incredibly limited scope for his cabinet selections; which are further restricted by the in-built cronyism of coalition politics. The shenanigans behind the scenes to keep Wendy Fitzgerald somewhere in the SRA bracket to which she had become accustomed before she could be shunted out of social services is just one case in point.

Despite being caught in the classic 'pig and lipstick' syndrome, he will soon however need to accept that running off to the Ombudsman every time someone in the opposition ranks says something vaguely ageist or challenges officer advice is no real answer. More importantly, he cannot afford to make the basic mistake of attempting to spike the opposition’s guns when he should first be taking steps to deny them their currently ample supply of ammunition. Unfortunately for him, this requires blindfolding and gagging 30% of the executive while placing an equal number of committee chairs under house arrest. It’s a tough call but at least the upside is that it will probably be months before anyone notices.

Pretentious? Moi?

A story in today’s Western Mail about polo on Swansea beach manages to evoke elements of the Kingsley Amis classic “That Uncertain Feeling” which later became “Only Two Can Play” filmed mostly on location in the city; then town.

In the story, absolutely everybody who is anybody is a Lloyds-Richards or a Llewelyn-Pugh and some of the names dropped as entrants for Saturday’s “surf meets turf” event might give one the same impression - if one were worried about that sort of thing, of course. However, St David’s Polo Club official Geoff Lloyd offers the reassurance that “It’s an expensive sport, which means it is always going to be fairly exclusive, but there is no reason it should not get try to reach out for a bigger, different type of audience."

We can more or less imagine how the prospect of £35 a ticket for this recession-proof recreation will be greeted by the non-hyphenated of nearby Sandfields and Townhill. But it will just as interesting to see how many of Swansea’s civic finest believe it is their beholden duty to indulge in a little corporate hospitality with the nobs.

We’ll let you know.

Cleggy and the Summer whines

An earlier post by Red Box reports that Lib Dem membership is down even more than Labour’s – on proportion. It’s hard to believe although their respective poll showing is hardly encouraging either.

Another source suggests that campaign staff feel that Nick Clegg has not had the anticipated regenerative effect on the party & supporters and is stuck in low gear while Vince Cable remains the clearly favoured spokesman amongst the media.

Cabinet to chew over food waste

Few would argue that Wales needs to step up the pace in implementing more effective ways to reduce & recycle what is euphemistically called ‘municipal waste’ – although there is little actual agreement on method. So it must come as welcome news of sorts that the South West Wales Regional Waste Management Committee, a consortium of local authorities, is about to select a site for an anaerobic digestion (AD) treatment works to dispose of food waste.

Swansea has been doing its own thing in that direction for a while, as seen in earlier reports on the proposed use of Felindre. Associated proposals have attracted controversy and the inevitable antics but the site appears to have been shortlisted nonetheless. This week, the council’s cabinet will discuss a business case; or at least give that appearance by some of them moving their lips.

But as is always the state of joined-up thinking at Calamity Hall, an otherwise bright idea ends up as faultless in every way except that it breaches current planning policies. This is enough of a drawback in itself but the added insistence on discussing related issues behind closed doors for ‘commercial reasons’ is an own-goal in the making. Let us hope that it does not result in losing the game altogether.

End of the Observer?

Today’s Sunday Times carries the revelation that owners Guardian Media Group may be scrapping the Observer, the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper. The fate in mind is a re-packaging as a supplement within a Guardian on Sunday edition. The sparsity of the Observer website these days and a "no comment" from the trust that owns the paper suggests that it is only a matter of time.

Democratic disengagement

The consensus emerging from this week’s Swansea Council meeting at which earlier statements by two senior members allegedly in favour of ‘compulsory sterilisation’ were discussed at length is that it merely enabled a number of self-selecting individuals to confirm that their own parents should have been similarly restricted.

Much has been said in the past few weeks about the bizarre opinions offered up by Wendy Fitzgerald and Alan Robinson, but say what you like about the pair - and we often do – at least they took the matter of a failing children’s social services department seriously enough to be two of the eighteen councillors (out of a possible 72) who actually turned up to the now infamous member’s seminar. So much for all the reassuring soundbites about corporate parenting, improved scrutiny, etc, etc issued just a few months ago.

Whatever the intended outcome of the debate it was largely nullified by the disappearance of the two recalcitrant councillors, who hoofed it before the main event, and the prevailing windbag effect which was equally apparent during a spot of outrage of Vicky Pollard dimensions when Lib Dem Peter Black and tory leader Rene Kinzett were challenged about Twittering in the chamber. Predictably, the equally irrelevant issue of micro-blogging has now become the story and subsequent cause for comment.

But let’s get a grip. Neither Black or Kinzett have ever claimed to be anything like full-time councillors and are upfront about the other careers and priorities that they pursue outside Swansea. Both need to compensate for their absences either through gimmicks or else something eye-catching in PR terms. Neither is picky about the medium used or the opportunity to be exploited and that’s what makes them good politicians – and also slightly sad bastards with low attention thresholds.

But even we have to draw the line at Black’s iffy argument that Twitter is an extension of democratic engagement; not to mention his outright fib that public question time is an innovation recently introduced by the Lib Dems – or has he forgotten that Lis Davies was slagging off administrations from the gallery yonks before he and his mob slid into office?

There have admittedly been some changes in approach but none of them for the better. Cabinet members, for example, no longer table progress reports on major projects to council meetings so that questions can be asked of them. Working groups and unaccountable arms-length companies have sprung up to obfuscate responsibilities and help the executive to dodge any bullets. And later this week, the cabinet will be asked to form policy on flexible retirements for staff (a type of decision normally the exclusive domain of full council). A further agenda item will seek additional powers for the executive along similar lines – something which has no doubt already been given the nod by a compliant administration during an earlier ‘briefing’ held behind closed doors.

On this basis, if Twittering is the only evidence that Black can offer up of the openness and transparency promised by his crowd five years ago then not only is he taking the piss; he is not doing it particularly well. By comparison, the council’s management team are far more accomplished.