It was us wot made the decision

It was a cringingly funny moment on BBC this morning when Sun associate editor Trevor Kavanagh found himself evading the question put directly to him over whether or not the paper's decision to dump Labour had actually come from the proprietor. The response, geared to the ratio between his remaining mortgage balance and personal credibility, was that the shift in support "would obviously have involved the owner". Politicians of all persuasions must have watched the scene with a sense of deep satisfaction and a fleeting spasm of empathy - especially when his mobile phone went off on live TV.

But what will Gordon Brown's contemporaries make of his baloney brave reactive assertion that newspapers don’t decide elections anymore? Having Murdoch in your camp has always been a good thing in the past, if only for the additional free publicity, but does Fortress Wapping carry the same clout as it once did? Coming on another bad news day for 'traditional' mediums that on-line advertising expenditure has overtaken its broadcast equivalent, it might be possible that the PM has made another one of his cogent but rather badly expressed points. However it is all probably too late to make a difference anyway.

A reality check will show that News Corporation is simply performing the same re-positioning act that thousands of other firms, who use the same analysts, are doing a lot more subtly in readiness for a change at Downing Street. It is a essentially a commercial move and probably more damaging in its nature as a result. As for newspapers influencing political choice, the only publication really capable of making that particular claim these days is the Telegraph.

Apologies for the several re-writes of this an previous posts.
We are struggling just a bit with the new Blogger editing commands which has allowed incomplete versions to get published in error.

I might as well reign until December

As sort of predicted elsewhere, Rodders does his own thing by stating that he wants to tie up his successor in knots see through the Assembly's budget process - which means he will not actually stand down until 8 December. No sign of a timetable for choosing his replacement (as yet) which has greatly inconvenienced political commentators who had originally been promised something more definite - albeit by 'sources close to one of the contenders'. So much for timing.

Any time now

It’s really fun reading all the pundit-babble on Rodders’ imminent exit, apparently gained after talking to insiders who clearly haven’t a clue themselves. The same applies in touting a replacement as journos past and present imbue their sources (or each other) with the possessiion of insights unavailable to mortals. Yet it’s all guesswork or else a quick dip into a copy of the rulebook for a bit of authenticity.

As for stitch-ups, slates and all the other usual quid-pro-quo arrangements that make up internal party politics, such preparation is entirely necessary to ensure that the winning candidate is uniquely equipped to preside over a broken landscape littered with dashed hopes and depressed individuals – and they will be running Wales as well.

Headlines

Surgery checklist will save lives

Western Mail - 28 September 2009

No expense spared

There was a strange bout of radio silence today on the usual assortment of Lib Dem blogsites (Black, Freedom Central, et al) over claims in the Sunday Telegraph that party officials had tutored their MPs in how to systematically exploit taxpayer-funded expenses.

According to the paper, internal party documents show Lib Dem MPs being told how they could get the taxpayer to fund "material that does not meet [parliamentary] guidelines". In addition, MPs appear to have been schooled in the use of "grey areas" to get questionable spending through and advised: "There is lots of scope... so be imaginative!"

The document also advises MPs that they should "spend up to the limit" and "should be making full use" of the various allowances. It points out that the total available for staffing, communications and "incidental expenses" added together is as much as £125,000 and advises MPs to "vire" or transfer money between the categories for maximum impact.

A Lib Dem spokesman said the party's "best practice" manual had now been superseded and was "commenting on a system that no longer exists". He added: "Everything in these documents is designed to make sure that MPs follow the rules and is about helping MPs communicate more effectively within the rules."

So that's alright then, isn't it?

A foreseeable fuchsia for Labour?

Surrender signals from the disposable Lord Mandelson and frustrated wailing football analogies by the Chancellor are not the auspicious signs needed for a successful Labour conference. It is of course easy to read all sorts of coded messages into ministerial utterings but this is a time for Labour to provide a clear message for itself; let alone the voters.

For governments, conferences offer the chance to recount their achievement – and the party can select from an impressive list of social reforms from the early days when things actually did get better. But the subsequent highlights also include Iraq & WMD, an accident-prone cabinet, parliamentary expenses and an economy where bankers appear to be rewarded for hastening everyone else's recession.

Labour can call on some of its own slightly depeleted list of big hitters to ramp up the rhetoric - although don't expect too much from an event in which handlers still exert a stage-managed stranglehold over proceedings and the only radical thing allowed on the platform are subtle changes to the backdrop colour scheme. Even so, in these days of celeb endorsement counting as much as policy, it will be interesting to see how many 'faces' appear at regular intervals compared to those with pressing alternative engagements, darling.

Presumably they too would be willing to put their experience at the disposal of the country if Labour lost power. There’s a lot of that about at the moment.

A little less compensation, a little more sanction?

Sid speaks on how to save the NHS in Wales. The suspicion among us lot is that he came up with the title first and then wrote the post around it.

Legally speaking

Ever wondered what might be the difference between ‘apparent authority’ and ‘actual authority’? Guessed not. But the legal beagles at Calamity Hall have recently had a painful lesson in the distinction following a judgement on The City & Council of Swansea v Christine Joyce (and others) .

According to Nearlylegal.co.uk, the case is “an example of a post Doherty public law defence at first hearing, and one that succeeded where an alternative defence of estoppel didn’t”; something which should be blatantly obvious to everyone. OK, well maybe not.
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But even if we mortals only understand one word in eight, it’s a reasonable expectation that it would make sense to legal professionals in Swansea Council - especially when an attempted court action on their part to remove a traveller’s site is argued beforehand by the defence to be unreasonable, irrational and un-authorised and the court pretty much agrees. You would also expect those pushing the action to know that a cabinet member had given informal permission for families to stay on part of the site – hence the ‘apparent authority’ reference.

We understand that this particular failure has been added to a dossier compiled by a group of councillors with a serious beef about abilities within the legal department. The same group is also trying to ensure that what was going around is now coming around by reporting a senior bod to the chief executive & professional bodies about allegedly questionable company returns made on behalf of the Council. Happy Days, eh?

Unlisted

An investigation by The Times has found that 28 prospective candidates who have a good chance of becoming Tory MPs are working as lobbyists or public relations consultants on behalf of businesses and other interests. No mention of Rockin' Rene however among the names. Why is that, do you suppose?

A process of elimination

t seems that the dirt is already getting dished in the battle for the Welsh Labour leadership as fears emerge that Unite might be backing an (as yet) undeclared contender. But at least it’s all still reasonably fraternal - as things go in those ever-decreasing circles.

By comparison, the disgruntled comments from Carwyn’s camp a Labour source are positively genteel when measured against the reported level of rabid in-fighting among contemporaries in Swansea East. According to bemused would-be nominees for the eventual vacany left by Val Lloyd, membership lists remain the exclusive domain of desperate Stalinist party officials who cross out the names of the unreliable while the constituency militia zealously scans the skies for parachutists.

For some veterans it’s a return to the good old days where all that is missing are the arm-bands. Others however see events as a depressing re-emergence of a philosophy where the definition of pluralism is when you end up with two names on the shortlist by mistake. The only point of apparent agreement at the moment it that it all makes a change from slagging off the MP.

I beg your pardon – I never promised to scrap St Athan

Nick Clegg may want to be prime minister (heh, heh) but Welsh Lib Dem leader Kirsty Williams seems to have stamped her authority on the Bournemouth conference without saying a word. Or so it seems from the back-tracking by Vince ‘Slasher’ Cable as to whether he had called for a planned £13 billion military training college at St Athan to be dumped.

“I didn’t actually refer to it being scrapped at all”, said a clearly irritated Cable to reporters who had the ill-grace to suggest that the popular MP might possibly be as economical with the truth as he intended to be with the defence budget. But what else can you expect from journalists - especially after receiving an off-the-record briefing from one of Ms Williams little helpers?

The awkward denial was another cameo in what has been described elsewhere as a “occasionally traumatic” Lib Dem conference. Indeed, the general verdict is that the event was an exercise is stage-managed confusion with piecemeal policies that were un-picked by media and party activists before speakers left the podium and accompanied by sound-bites that had the impact of a dull thud on their electoral prospects.

Cue Labour in Brighton ... where they will be hoping that things can only get better.

Reinstatement raises questions

The possible reinstatement of social worker Eleni Cordingley at Swansea Council has a number of obvious implications. Firstly, her recent successful appeal against professional misconduct will confirm widely held views that failings in the Aaron Gilbert case were as much a result of systemic shortcomings within the local authority and other agencies as opposed to actions or inactions by any one individual case-worker. Details of these shortcomings would have no doubt come to light if an employment tribunal had gone ahead as planned.

Secondly it will put the focus back on those who have tried to shrug off a possible link between the underlying circumstances of the tragedy and the serious concerns which prompted the Welsh Assembly Government to intervene over the state of children’s services in Swansea Council.

Hopefully it will also result in political apologists for the administration finally abandoning their cynical stance of claiming that the un-referred warnings involved meant that the child was never formally a social services client as if it was an absolution for the system rather than an indictment.

A winner emerges - finally

Confirmation, more or less, of our musings in an earlier post about leadership contenders comes in the form of an announcement by Andrew Davies that he will not be throwing his hat in the ring – and is backing Edwina Hart for the job.
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Citing lifestyle reasons for his ‘withdrawal’, although he never actually declared that he was running, the Finance Minister’s admirably timed statement neatly kicks off a campaign by proxy that will definitely unsettle Lewis and Jones and could well see them both off.

Update: Peter Black claims he was first with the speculation on Freedom Central. We beg to differ.

Long odds for Rene

Rene Kinzett offers up some suggested runners for the Carmarthen East & Dinefwr seat which is soon to be vacated by Plaid Cymru’s Adam Price. However, the semi-resident tory will probably be less upbeat to hear that Ladbrokes still quote him at 10-1 for Swansea West (third behind Lib Dem and Labour) and with no sign of the odds shortening this side of the Manchester conference.

Nick who?

Opinion polls during conference season are as predictable as torrential rain in a British summer and you can often pick and choose from the ones that suit your purpose. So while Peter Black selectively mulls over the level of trust that voters have in the respective parties he will also need to come to terms with the outcome of a BBC Newsnight poll which reveals that over a third of those asked have never heard of Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg.

To add to their problems, and according to the findings from the usual 1,056 sample, 26% of people questioned said that they thought Mr Clegg and the Liberal Democrats "represent change in politics". But this was significantly lower than the 42% who said David Cameron better met this description while 14% of the respondents named Gordon Brown and Labour.

Whatever happened to growth as a solution?

An exellent point is made by A Change of Personnel blog on the narrow political agenda on offer from the parties. Just when did growth, as opposed to quantative easing, disappear from the economic policy platforms - and why?

Savings begin at home

There should not be too much surprise at the level of confusion within Lib Dem ranks about public spending cuts. After all, it is very unfamiliar territory for the party and the best that Kirsty Williams can do for the moment is to admit that Vince Cable has been "right on the economy and right on the banking crisis" without actually conceding the possibility that three rights might make a policy regarding St Athans.
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Punters and parties alike have yet to get used to this season’s fashionable frugality where proposals for a property tax or a bag tax or just cutting back on the cost of government all vie for media attention – although it is the last reference to top-heavy public bodies which caught our attention.

In Swansea, it is all too evident that a cull of cabinet posts is long overdue. In terms of energy, the collective output from the executive at any one time could hardly boil a small kettle and the only usual perceptible noise to be heard by casual visitors to the deserted cabinet wing in Calamity Hall is their own footsteps.

The council’s management team consists of a chief executive and five directors. There is no valid reason why the cabinet could not be trimmed down to the same number – saving nearly £100,000 a year in special responsibility payments into the bargain. It would be a straightforward move to scrap the Community Regeneration portfolio and merge it along with Housing into Regeneration since all affected staff already work in the same department. The same goes for Finance, HR and e-government which could be put under a single Resources heading whilst Leisure and Education could easily become the responsibility of a single cabinet member.

As Peter Black states – when referring to proposals to merge cabinet posts at Westminster – it is the kind of reform that will “resonate amongst voters and assist us in selling difficult decisions on public spending by demonstrating that politicians are prepared to take some of the pain as well.”

It is also an opportunity for Lib Dems to practice on the ground what they preach at the conference podium – and without any need whatsoever for prior Assembly permission for the savings to be put into effect.

Toughening up

The difference between clarification and rationalisation can sometimes be a fine one - as ably demonstrated by Peter Black. But who would have thought that Lib Dems and the CBI might be situated somewhere along the same wavelength when it comes to tuition fees? No wonder Cleggie rebuffed friendly approaches by that soft liberal David Cameron.

When performing doesn't mean acting up

It's said that turkeys don't vote for Christmas, but Swansea's councillors seem a lot less adroit in avoiding axe-sharpening situations. The word among the workers at Calamity Hall is that the head of the Assembly’s intervention panel sent the Swansea Council’s chief executive a note last Friday morning. The contents aren’t known but the speculation is that it makes pointed reference to an acrimonious council meeting held the previous week in which too many politicians confused the need for performance with the act of making one.

As reported by a poor soul from the Beans on Toast, who had to sit through four and a half hours of interminable squabbling, it appears that most of the combatants didn’t seem to actually care that their self-indulgent spouting & posturing was witnessed by the people who have yet to decide if Children’s Services are safe in the local authority’s hands. We also understand that an ineffectual performance by Wendy Fitzgerald in the chair ensured that proceedings were conducted with the dignified gravitas of a late-night Wind Street brawl – in which she supplied a good deal of the screaming herself.

Sources tell us that there was also a brief moment of comic relief when the council leader had a Jacko-type moment as he seemed to be claiming a recent education department accolade as his own achievement – hoping no doubt that everyone had forgotten how he had opted to go on a day-trip to Brussels rather than meet an Assembly minister to discuss failing standards in social services. A suggestion by observers is that his usual blustering performance was made even more pronounced by the brief appearance of a ghost in the public gallery.

For many, the conduct of the meeting has marked another low point for a local authority already locked in a steady descent. Sadly for the council, for the city they represent and for the staff who rely of their leadership, their brand of play-ground politics has not impressed the intervention panel any more than it is likely to influence voters who are still hearing about the shambles nearly a fortnight after the event.

More criticism came on this morning's local Sunday phone-in show which heard the presenter question the actual value - compared to the daunting cost - of keeping 72 councillors in office. The show also featured calls and poems from listeners in favour of a Doncaster-type elected mayor who has plans to cull public spending in his city. Of course, these calls came from people who don’t know what else is going on in Doncaster but others might feel that there is not too much of a difference in the long run.

Exit Adam

There seems to be a pretty relaxed reaction to the announcement by Adam Price that he will be not be standing at the next general election. Apparently it is something he forgot to mention from the podium and/or kept back for a separate announcement. Either way the same impact could probably have been made by sending electors of Carmarthen East and Dinefwr a postcard along the lines of “Just to let you know that I don’t want to be your MP anymore. Sorry for the short notice but I have my reasons. Anyway, don’t worry about me, cariad. I’m off to the States for a while but I will probably be back as an AM in 2011 because I made this great speech at the last Plaid conference which made the party leader look like a muppet.”

What was that about professional politicians?

One for the road

This post was first uploaded on Friday 18th September but was not published for reasons we are unable to establish. The fault is more likely to lie with us than with Google. Our apologies to the contributor who provided the original info.

We’re grateful to a contributor who spotted an intriguing manoeuvre in the on-going debate about the genesis of Swansea’s much loved bendy bus and who was really responsible for its introduction.

According to someone going by the nome-de-plume of WendyFuss on the Evening Post website, it was all actually a Labour spawned initiative. Wendy writes:

Archive records at Swansea Council show that on 12th August 2003 under the then Labour Regime, a Mr Moir Lockhead, Chief Executive of First Cymru Group, parent Company of First Great Western, together with his bus and rail local regional directors met Swansea's then Labour Council Leader (now ex) Councillor Lawrence Bailey and Labour Highways and Transport Cabinet Member Councillor Mike Hedges (Morriston) where the two Labour Councillors set out their vision for improving transport. This was followed up with a presentation in April 2004 with a new bus transport concept from Morriston Hospital to the Mumbles Corridor. Hence the much maligned "Bendy Bus" was spawned by Labour under Cllrs Bailey and Hedges. It has been left to the Lib Dem / Independent Coalition to pick up the ball and run. It is becoming more successful day by day due to the present Coalition combating the malice of the now Labour opposition. The truth is in the archives - who spawned it and now who has the courage to make it work. The current Labour Lord Mayor is only a symbolic "tape cutter" taking photo shoots for a good scheme that the present Coalition has made to work smoothly as Labour moans in denial.

So there you go. Undeniable evidence - except ....

Well, besides the strange fact that there has been no mention of these so-called archives before, or since, from any source within Swansea Council or its political administration, Wendy fails to mention if this is a publicly available archive (on the web) or if it is something to which only she and a few others have official access. Her apparent anonymity and use of terminology might be a clue there.

Similarly, whilst the unverified account states that likely lads Bailey & Hedges shared their transport vision with the guys from First Cymru back in August 2003 there is no mention of what they actually said. We also find it puzzling that the well-informed Wendy does not provide more details of the presentation in April 2004; such as who made it, who was the audience and if any decision was made or even inferred at the time.

Don’t get us wrong. We’re quite willing to believe that Labour had something in mind to improve public transport but did it really involve spending millions of pounds on interminable works that would rip up Swansea’s roads for a period of years just to allow bendy-buses to traverse the city centre? After all, their own track record was one of inactivity, especially when it came to leisure centres.

Perhaps Wendy actually has uncovered evidence that managed to elude even the old pro-administration Inside Swansea blogsite professionals (Rene Kinzett and Peter Black). On the other hand it could be a scam proving once again that it's not just the buses that are bent.

For the time being however and despite efforts by the usual suspects, the official record stubbornly insists that the first policy announcements of Street-cars, Metros, ftr’s or whatever came a year after the Lib Dem-led crowd had been in and were made without any public consultation. Over to you, Wendy.

Strategy versus reality

It may sound glib, but when a discount operator like TK Maxx decides that it may be time to pull out of Swansea’s city centre then you do not have to be an ace economist to deduce that prospects are about to go from poor to shit.

Clothing giant similarly Gap voted with their feet a while back. They cited ‘trading difficulties’ at the time with the inference that shopper numbers were down in their location. Now, one reason touted for the possible exit of their former next-door neighbour TK Maxx is the announcement of a council-backed project to build a retail mall at lower Oxford Street in direct competition with stores sited at the Princess Way end. It seems that the geniuses urging the cabinet in a westward direction did not spot the empty shops or pick up on the glaring fact that the newly completed Thurleigh retail complex is still unable to fill its vacant units.

Just a brief glimpse of the boarded up shop-fronts in a chaotic Kingsway which has haemorrhaged investment in the last two years is enough to confirm to even the most optimistic observer that Swansea is the victim of planners & dipstick politicians who have basically lost the plot or perhaps simply forgotten what it looked like. Having slagged off schemes in Wind Street and Salubrious Place while in opposition, the Lib Dem-run regime has managed to bring commerce to a halt in the city centre. The only reported growth is in non-productive, low-yield residential floor-space. Meanwhile, Cardiff and Llanelli build up their respective retailing centres and the punters keep on coming.
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But what really pisses off a growing number of firms is the realisation that the bunch of jokers running the local BID initiative are squandering hundreds of thousands of pounds raised through a compulsory levy on city centre businesses. Some are calling for an independent audit on how much is being spent on activities which only seem to subsidise the local authority.

Council leader Chris Holley, who used to oil machinery for a living, probably thinks that he can continue to maintain the illusion of progress through a steady drip of grand redevelopment strategies and gimmicks eagerly recycled by a noncritical media. The good news for him and the bad news for Swansea is that he could turn out to be correct in his assessment. For despite the recent admission by loyal stooge Peter Birch that the bendy-bus is neither popular nor even relevant to shoppers & retailers alike, there is also a patent lack of alternatives deas coming out of opposition parties.

This shortcoming is in itself is hardly surprising since the level of development and business acumen on the Labour and Tory benches is only slightly above that of their opponents and thereby negligible in both cases. In any other circumstances, the answer would be to demand that the so-called regeneration plans and their expected outcomes should be given the once-over by professional independent consultants who are unconnected with any existing or potential developers. For as we already know, Holley & Co don't always follow the advice they're given.
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Update (17 Sept): TK Maxx confirm store is closing.

Two wrongs, etc

Predictably, Peter Black’s response to the somewhat shambolic public spending review announced by Vince Cable is to suggest that tories in south west Wales are equally uncoordinated. The main difference of course is that the latter stand substantially more chance of actually being in office in the near future.

Culture on a stick

No surprises in seeing that council leader Chris Holley has managed to get himself sandbagged by the local paper by making positive grunting noises is response to queries over whether Swansea will bid to become UK City of Culture in 2013. The announcement should come as a surprise to his colleagues and also something of an embarrassment to fellow Lib Dem leader Rodney Berman who has only recently ruled out the prospect of Cardiff, Swansea and Newport entering the competition.

Berman, who is also financial spokesman for the Welsh Local Government Association, dismissed the possibility of competing and claimed that: “Welsh local government has found itself repeatedly squeezed and so it is no surprise that no city council in Wales feels it can rush into what might be a very costly bidding process for UK City of Culture.” But spending money on supporting basic services whilst saving local jobs appears to take second place in Holley’s personal world.

Having just pocketed around £11 million from flogging off more land at Gorseinon, you’d think that even the useless bladders running things at Calamity Hall would be talking about priorities that are far more in touch with public needs. But why should we expect anything coherent when the man announcing the bid starts off with the statement that "Swansea has more culture than you can shake a stick at".

Devolution: Making the right moves

Politicians are forever accusing each other of ‘ambulance chasing’ but once you get past the misrepresentation and media commentary, the suggestion by Plaid’s Helen Mary Jones about ‘devolving’ ambulance services to the newly created Local Health Boards actually appears to have some mileage; in a manner of speaking.

The present All-Wales ambulance trust suffers from all the endemic problems associated with public sector monoliths. Changes in management and equipment have patently not delivered across-the-board improvements and, in many cases, well-intended ministerial intervention only seems to have produced a successive lowering of a common denominator when it comes to service delivery. An alternative approach based on locally provided services geared to a smaller number of NHS 'outlets' might well be an answer.

But Plaid need to be careful in presenting the proposed action as a cost-saver when they have yet to describe the mechanism by which standards are to be subsequently improved and maintained throughout the LHBs. If this is to be achieved by yet another internal inspectorate, with its own inevitable burgeoning bureaucracy, then the cost-benefits become questionable.

It’s an idea that needs to be thought through and would probably have been better made as part of a committee session rather than a party conference – which is probably the point that Andrew RT Davies was making – but anything that has the potential to improve response times is clearly something worth a hearing.

Update: No mention either on this otherwise impressive video.

Patti - more of the same

If the report in the local press about the inability of Swansea Council to recoup anything from a £2 million revamp of the Patti pavilion achieves anything then it is probably as confirmation that the politicians running the city don’t have a clue what they’re talking about.

Blustering Chris Holley, who is no stranger to schemes designed on the back of an envelope, thinks that it’s something to do with the recession whilst parliamentary hopeful Peter May is of the view that not providing the building ear-marked as possible as a restaurant with sufficient toilets is due to ‘flexible design considerations’.

Meanwhile, anyone with a smattering of business ability will tell you that the location is poor for a quality development with little possibility of building up a local clientele from HMO land – especially with competing venues in nearby King Edwards Road and St Helens. In addition, the rent is so commercially unattractive as to be laughable.

In short, the ‘restoration’ of the Patti has sadly become another one of those public sector pet-projects based more upon the premise of ‘if you build it, they will come’ mentality than actual market research and then doomed by a finished design that represents no more than a victory for town and county planning over commonsense.

Sadly it is a situation with plenty of expensive precedents and part of a trend set to continue whilst gullible idiots remain at the helm at Calamity Hall and their piss-poor performance remains un-scrutinised by an opposition obsessed with its own status.

Gateway to the past

The tendency of Turks, i.e. those residing west of the Loughor estuary, to move the goalposts when it suits them is nothing new – ask any Whites/Ospreys supporter. But the reports of plans to relocate posts from the former ground at Stradey Park to a roundabout somewhere in the approaches to Llanelli is one of their more surreal ambitions.

Having said that, it’s a nice nostalgia touch that many in the game probably feel is quite fitting for the Scarlets because, let’s face it, the only thing they have to look forward to these days are memories.

Ask us no questions ...

Mo’ drama in Calamity Hall over the colour of the deck-chairs vital constitutional issues as the Lib Dem-led administration (allegedly) delivers another swift kick in the bollocks to the principles of openness and transparency – themselves now just a distant memory.

The latest uproar is apparently a result of a refusal by Swansea council leader Chris Holley and his creature, presiding officer Wendy Fitzgerald, to allow written questions onto this week’s council agenda because they were put in a day late – something to do with Bank Holidays we understand. Anyway, the block is being enforced politically despite the submission getting the nod from senior council officers including the chief executive.

Needless to say, the Labour leadership is portraying the episode as something resembling the end of the cosmos whilst the Lib Dem line is to take a gleeful snipe at the Labour group machine which usually prides itself on operating like a well-oiled bedpan.

But for all the political squabbling, the opinion quietly expressed among the officer corps, especially those who fancy the idea of getting home before midnight, is that the appearance of three contentious notices of motion at the end of the agenda ensured that the administration were advised of their rights in the matter – and also that no-one tipped off the opposition about their bad timing.

Done deal

Having expressed a desperate hope that the WRU and regional clubs would get their act sorted out before their squabbling irreparably damaged the game, it is excellent news that differences have not only been resolved but that a five-year agreement has been signed. Good relationships between club and country are always going to be a key factor in international sporting success and credit goes to all involved in securing what will hopefully be a landmark opportunity for Welsh rugby.

All we ask of the game's administrators is that, in future, they leave the dramatics to the players (especially them excitable Turks).

Big Apple quick fix hopes are crushed

All other puns aside, more or less, plans to restore the Big Apple at Mumbles Head seemed to have stalled before they have started. Hopes of quick action have been abandoned with news that engineers have yet to come up with a solution to fix the 80 year old structure which 26,500 people want to see restored - or have at least put their names on a Facebook petition.

But such quirky ideas on life expectancy are commonplace in Swansea and its environs where the popular demand is for a redeveloped city centre whilst it is thought 'acceptable' to educate kids inside buildings constructed in the Victorian era. All of which probably does no more than echo the fact that people & punters have a funny way of deciding what is and what isn't worthy of being considered to be part of their heritage.

Misconscrewed

In quite rightly asking who has been snubbed when commenting on Plaid tantrums over a nomination to the House of Lords, it appears that Peter Black has also managed to infuriate some partisan bloggers who claim he compared the Party of Wales to the BNP. The mildly bizarre allegation is based on a subsequent observation by the Lib Dem AM that “the difference between civic nationalism and racial nationalism is not that great”. Given that the exchanges were on a Facebook site where identities are less than specific and in light of the more pointed demands of groups such as Cymuned, the comments in themselves are not exactly off the wall or even new.

Black admittedly has previous form in portraying Plaid as fascists, but today’s diatribe by the Plaid ménage seems contrived at best and even the attempt to dismiss his responses as Vicky Pollard-type blustering falls a bit flat. If anything it makes the accuser sound like one of Catherine Tate’s abrasive characters who does the misconscrew thing quite well herself.

Bring it on

The Beans on Toast has a right old rant today over the decision by Carmarthen Council to launch its own internet TV service. Normally we would at least share the paper’s ‘scepticism’ but in this instance we feel it to be the right way forward for one of Wales’ better-run local authorities who can also boast an award-winning communications team – largely staffed by former Evening Post employees, as it happens.

The scathing comments that appear in the editorial – and which convey the distinct impression that the original version was covered in spittle – question if this is a service at all and repeat earlier condemnations of attempts by other local authorities to use modern mediums in engaging their different communities.

For ourselves, we’re sure that whatever the final look and relevance of the council's broadcasts, the content will be a huge improvement on the Evening Post’s own embarrassingly shambolic website – which is probably what’s pissing them off so badly.

Numbers

It must be galling for Cammers and Co that despite a handsome lead in the polls the actual party membership remains in decline. As seen a few months ago, it’s a trend that is affecting all mainstream parties but the Conservatives’ situation spawns inevitable comparisons among political commentators with Labour’s phenomenal surge in signed-up supporters in the days that Blair was preparing for government.

Of course, the problem, as tory strategists know only too well is that whilst things can only get better for some, the slogan “Now for Change” doesn’t exactly resonate with the focus groups let alone the voting public. Let’s face it, there isn’t going to be too much change when the join between New Labour and Old Tory is virtually seamless. The best that the spinners can convey is a message of “Tried that, didn’t really work; now for something else”.

A lack of perceptible conviction-led policies, the stigma of expenses scams and the ever-present emphasis on personality makes it tough on tories trying to find a showcase pre-election idea (which would normally be a promise of stonking great tax cuts). But as parsimony becomes the new political black, the only tangible advantage that David Cameron’s can effectively exploit for the moment is that he is not Gordon Brown.

More than ever the perennial complaint expressed at the doorstep that “all you bastards are the same” has more than a touch of reality. However, this same lack of distinction should also help minimise the trauma for Labour & Lib Dem voters who would otherwise have preferred to lose a limb than vote tory. But whilst Brown’s Crowd and the Cleggite campaign managers try to figure out how to withstand a Conservative squeeze the concern at central office is probably how to take the message to the faithful and the prodigal voters without a sufficient number of ground troops. The election coffers are filling up nicely but even the most skilful ad campaign is no alternative for an ability to deploy the requisite number of workers in the targetted marginal constituencies.

The local effect in Jaxxland, and especially Gower and Swansea West, obviously remains to be seen but the adage of less being more is one that Messers Davies and Kinzett might have to learn to embrace.

Putting it on paper

When tories accuse someone of sophistry, the normal reaction is to first check the background circumstances to see where they are equally guilty. Yet it appears to be a case of being bang to rights in the Vale of Glamorgan where a Plaid Cymru makes a creative claim about the European election results. Nothing new in this and you can be sure that the Borthlas blog et al with be replete with suitable examples of similar tory duplicity in due course.

But the nagging question is who, besides the anoraks that print these leaflets and minutely examine their opponents’ stuff for inconsistencies, otherwise actually read, digest or even believe the contents anyway? Besides the drab colours and an absence of two-for-one offers there is little to distinguish the average ‘vote for us’ pulp that come through the letter box from the flyers printed by Lidl or double-glazing companies. In many instances, both content and format or the latter variety are a lot more imaginative.

It may not seem much of a contradiction but it does seem odd that when so many politicians are in agreement with each other about advancing the engagement agenda to reflect the texting, twittering and surfing lifestyles of voters that there is still this apparent continuing reliance on the good old leaflet as a first-hand political medium. There must be a reason somewhere.

Unsafe bet?

According to the Beans on Toast, Ladbrokes are offering enticing odds for the Swansea West parliamentary contest. Labour and Lib Dem candidates are both quoted at 10-11 whilst the Tories have a 10-1 spot. From a betting perspective, it might be an idea to put some money on Rockin’ Rene’s in the next few days as we predict that the odds will shorten.

Headlines

Locals told to beware of beach 'sting'

3 September 2009

Fed up with power play

Why is it that the only institutions who can occasionally surpass Welsh political parties in accomplishing meaningless point-scoring are those which run Welsh sport – the impending court battle between the WRU and the regional teams being a prime example.

Anyone interested in rugby must be getting fed up with the litigation and mud-slinging that now seems to come around as regularly as the Heineken Cup. Whether the motivation is money or influence – and they often come down to the same thing – it really is time for the damaging in-fighting to be resolved before the uncertainty it generates starts to affect the coaching and playing dimensions of the game.

Health needs a dose of realism

A word of thanks to Plaid AM Leanne Woods & her staff for their research into something more meaningful than the usual LCO stuff and for highlighting a concern that touches every Welsh family.

For all the recent self-congratulation that the NHS is ‘superior’ to the US alternative, the revelation that nearly 200 doctors' jobs at four NHS trusts are vacant because of new immigration rules serves to emphasise a specific and as yet unaddressed failing, i.e. that a nationalised health service remains substantially more attractive to its users than to the clinical staff who work in it.

Some health trusts already have to regularly rely on locum or agency doctors to fill the gaps but WAG spokespersons claim that there are recruitment problems across the UK. They add that agencies were working to address the issue but omitted to mention what was entailed and their claims are further undermined by a statement by the UK Border Agency who said the immigration points-based system does not prevent overseas doctors the health service needs from coming in.

One point that Ms Woods and the One-Wales Salvationists may want to consider however is the growing anecdotal evidence that a dearth of applications from outside Wales is caused by a widespread belief that applicants have to be bilingual – and possibly have their children educated solely in Welsh medium.

Perhaps it is the adverts which foster the wrong impression, or perhaps it is the fact that doctors can be just as susceptible to cultural stereotypes as the rest of us, but it does strongly suggest the need for a form of quick action by Plaid and Labour politicians in Cardiff Bay which more resembles getting out the hoses instead of shouting ‘fire’.

Headlines

Councils report "less rubbish going to landfill"

1 September 2009