Spiked

If Gordon Brown could actually do an impersonation, the most appropriate would probably be the piece of dialogue delivered by Jack Nicholson in playing the part of Colonel Nathan R. Jessup in the film "A Few Good Men".

Disasters aside - and there but for the grace of decent PR aides go most politcians - the events of the last 24 hours whilst undoubtedly damaging to Labour's standing in the polls have also paradoxically cleared away an impediment to their ability to strike a post-election power sharing deal. Given his horrendous gaffe and a less than convincing performance in other fields, there is little chance of Gordon remaining at the helm following the party's inevitable defeat next week. And it will not just be frustrated cabinet colleagues calling for his head on a spike but grassroots activists who will also insist that he goes.

If Brown's successor can also convince what is left of his or her parliamentary party to curtail their overall life expectancy by agreeing to electoral reform then there is a deal in the making - despite what IWJ might have to say from the sideline.

Update: And the hits just keep on coming for Gordon (another quote from the same film)

Stumped for choice

We hear that the Swansea Labour councillor who gave himself a googly over his claimed intent to save a cricket pavilion may find himself bowled out of the running for civic office for verbally abusing staff. There are no real details of the incident or what, if any, sanctions he faces at the hands of his political group although the silly mid-off has already told confidants that he plans to cross the floor if he feels the punishment is too severe.

Some within the group who basically regard their intermittent colleague as a dangerous, witless crank who has been indulged for far too long – and those who really dislike him – would be only too happy to see him depart.

However he might have problems with favoured exit strategy as a senior figure in the ruling coalition, on being told of the possible defection, is reported to have totally dismissed the idea. In fact, his actual words were, “We don’t want the fucking nutter either”. Owzattt!

All hung up

As the nation's press becomes fixated on the growing probability of a hung parliament, so the number of possible scenarios seems to multiply from a range of widely different perspectives with their own self-interests at heart.

This objective and thankfully short article by Anthony Wells writing in UK Polling Report spells out both the mechanics and the options available to respective winners and losers. It is worth a read if only to get an understanding of the fundamentals. Indeed, some of the facts he offers might be a revelation to a few political commentators - and politicians.

Paxo gets stuffed on Newsnight

One rule for some ...

It seems that parking policies in Swansea’s city centre rely more on the exception rather than the rule when it comes to enforcement. According to the ever-vigilant Evening Post, the normally implacable traffic wardens who terrorise transgressors did a rapid u-turn when the First Citizen’s motor was reported as blocking a bus bay in a busy part of the city centre.

We are assured however by official sources that this lapse is in no way related to the fact that responsibilities for on-street parking regulation was transferred from the police to the local authority a short while ago.

With great power comes even greater responsibility

The Insidious blogsite is reporting that over 3,000 people have so far joined a Facebook campaign slamming a local Swansea newspaper for wrongly depicting a local man as a convicted paedophile. Publishers of the Northcliffe-owned South Wales Evening Post were apparently forced into collecting up un-sold copies last Friday afternoon after the poor man's name and photograph had been splashed over the front page.

The paper has printed two successive front page apologies since the beginning of the week.

Role models?

An uncharacteristically blustering performance by Mike German on BBC Wales radio this morning guaranteed that journalists & political opponents would go scuttling off to re-examine current Lib Dem election literature. Their understandable aim being to see how many other candidates have emulated their leader Kirsty Williams and Cardiff North hopeful John Dixon by using models or “stand-ins”.

The party defence is that pictures of candidates talking with public service workers are purely “illustrative” – presumably in case we dumb shits don’t know what a nurse or a police officer looks like. However, it seems that we are not sufficiently thick so that we might mistake such people as being real and believe that they allowed themselves to be photographed because they support the candidates and the party.

Not surprisingly, Welsh Lib Dems have denied charges of misrepresentation and stressed that Kirsty Williams was not "complicit in the impersonation of a police officer" – although it’s difficult to think what other aim the photo was intended to achieve.

Despite the low expectations that Lib Dems apparently have of voters to work things out for themselves, the electorate will undoubtedly take a dim view of this dubious practice of impersonation and the pathetic rationale offered up as justification. It will also prompt them to take a second critical look at election leaflets and ask themselves if the people depicted, such as the un-named health worker pictured alongside Swansea West Lib Dem candidate Peter May, are actually the real thing.

Update: Cardiff Lib Dem MP Jenny Willott is added to the list.

Would the new boss be any different to the old boss?

Sunday’s papers are replete with the detritus of hung parliament scenarios and the  positioning of the hopeful threesome. Overall, the themes are that Clegg says he will not work with Brown whilst Cameron considers the possibilities of electoral reform and Labour gets hot and cold flushes over who is running their campaign.

According to the polls (and the BBC poll of polls is as good as any under the circumstances) it is going to take an event of seismic proportions to give any of the three parties an overall majority let alone a workable one. And so with 10 days to go, the phoney coalition period begins where inter and intra-party dealing gets mixed up in coded demands expressed as policy statements.

This is virgin territory for all concerned and the likely winners are those who show themselves most adept at traversing such a tricky landscape whilst under partisan press scrutiny. Having been required to exercise strong leadership over wayward candidates and wilful constituencies in the past months, Brown and Cameron now need to rediscover their consensual sides (or invent one in Gordon’s case). They also have to quieten the combined voices of dissent among party ranks and financial backers with promises of largesse or suitable remedies for those would only countenance a coalition with the Lib Dems over their own dead bodies. And then, of course, there is always Europe.

Where does this leave Clegg? Well for one he has put himself on dicey ground in telling Labour that they have to change their leader. Personalising politics can be a dangerous activity in a world where what goes around comes around with predictable regularity. For instance, how would he react to either of the two parties suggesting that the erratic Vince Cable is not up to the job of fronting a coalition’s economic policy?  

The accepted reality is that no-one can afford to talk openly about coalitions and thereby risk losing out at the ballot box as tactical voting takes its toll at the last minute. The growth in Lib Dem polling figures has largely been at the expense of the tories and Labour needs to keep up its core vote which includes a greater proportion of the same leafy suburbanites than they care to admit.

But everyone from Adam Boulton to the Bank of England will expect a deal to have been struck within days of the final recounts.

Memories might have faded slightly, but the post-election bickering that passed for negotiation did little to bolster the decisive image of the Welsh Assembly or the One Wales Government that eventually emerged. At times, the process more closely resembled a panic attack than discussions between potential partners. It is doubtful that the UK economy or the electorate could stomach the same kind of sustained hiatus whilst politicians put their upper and lower houses in order.

The first test of the new government, and its regenerated if not actually reformed parliament, will be how soon they can get a political package agreed – without something cataclysmic happening to jumpy financial markets. Which of the current leaders would be best equipped or likely to deliver that kind of crucial outcome is anyone’s guess; and therein is the dilemma and a potential turn-off for many voters.

For all the enthusiasm among press and pundits about the effects on polls of a new ‘third force’, there is little evidence to date that this phenomenon will actually boost turnout. Soundbites and smart tailoring aside, does anyone really believe that the political parties would be any more competent - or accountable - in running the country either alone or in coalition. It might a new arrangement but they would remain the same old deckchairs on the same doomed ship steered by the likes of Goldman Sachs.

Accuracy needed at the Beeb

‘Crypto-fascist’ is an overworked word but one that is entirely appropriate in the case of the three BNP activists in Swansea and Gower who decided to describe themselves as Support our Troops Bring Them Home candidates.

We’ve now been sent confirmation that all three have the BNP emblem alongside their names on the ballot papers. So perhaps the BBC, who highlighted the party’s attempted duplicity, will now stop describing them as independent candidates on their election website - just in case anyone gets taken in.

Housing sell-off still on the agenda?

There is nothing like a suspected conspiracy of silence for shouting volumes. In this case it is the reticence of Swansea Council to publish its Welsh Housing Quality Standard Business Plan. In other words, how it intends to bring its council housing up to acceptable standards.

As the council says on its website, tenants voted in 2007 against plans to hive off their homes to yet another arm’s length body which the Lib Dems are so fond of creating to avoid any sort of direct future accountability. This time it was a community housing association which could serve as a notionally cheaper option for management and maintenance. Since then, Holley & Co have been at a loss over to how to go about meeting the government minimum standard and will only say that “much more money is needed than the Council can access”.

Now, concerns are growing among tenant groups that the 'Housing Futures Programme', set up to explore alternatives is simply a vehicle to re-package earlier sell-off plans but this time with greater assistance in the way of public relations and ‘stakeholder consultation’ from Cardiff Bay. Rumours are circulating that a local housing association has already been lined up to undertake a controversial transfer and the Welsh Assembly Government is not helping to dispel these whispers by refusing to disclose anything, despite a Freedom of Information request, about details of a Business Plan lodged by Swansea Council with civil servants.

A number of local critics have already pointed out that the person best placed to elaborate on the council’s strategy for its 14,000 council homes is Lib Dem cabinet member Peter May, who is also busy at the moment trying to get himself elected MP in Swansea West. However, the more cynical among them also claim that it is his parliamentary ambitions which are the reason why details have been suppressed to date.

Getting their retaliation in first?

It might just be a case of pre-emptive outrage, but the spectacle of a Tory blog castigating Vince Cable for refusing to return a £2.5 million donation given to the Lib Dems by a convicted criminal seems a lot like a hostage to fortune. You have to wonder what embarrassing stuff is going to be in the Sunday papers about Conservative political funding.

Matron!

Welsh Lib Dems are looking just a bit silly after their Cardiff North candidate and website-wallah John Dixon got himself outed for having a political researcher posing as a nurse on his election leaflet. It turns out the un-named staffer works for suspended AM Mick Bates, so she must have had some time on her hands.

Demands for apologies are coming thick and fast from the other parties and will continue – until they get caught doing something similar.

Update: Undisguised glee - and just a tinge of paranoia - from the other John Dixon.

Most crap excuse of the election so far

Meanwhile, the Not-the-Marmite Party (aka BNP) live up to their well deserved reputation of being lying tosspots with their pathetic claim that Swansea Council election officials ‘misled’ them into putting Support Our Troops Bring Them Home as their official description on the nomination papers.

No idea so far as to what emblem will actually appear on the ballot paper - although its a safe guess.

Update: Freedom Central also points out some interesting details to be found on the Electoral Commision website.

Candidates get their cards marked

Swansea councillors who are standing as general election candidates or serving as agents have recently received a long list of proscribed actions from the chief executive. The guidelines, which were allegedly drawn up by the authority's ex-legal boss as a parting gift, prohibit the use of council materials, facilities, civic chains and what not.

There is nothing new about this sort of thing, but the near-exhaustive nature of the list and the serious warnings about what will happen to transgressors has prompted speculation that the notice might be aimed in particular at one nameless candidate who has a nice scam going on by purchasing ‘industrial quantities’ of paper from the local authority, at discount rates, for his personal printing press.

BBC get it wrong on local issues - and so do Lib Dems

Mooching around the BBC election website, we find that the big thing in the Swansea West constituency is a new urban village for the city’s semi-derelict upper High Street which is described as part of the “Liberal Democrat-run council vision” for the area – is it bollocks!

Clearly BBC Wales’s Tom Singleton should have read the article written by his on-line colleagues just a few days earlier which explains that the scheme is actually the brainchild of Coastal Housing – a voracious outfit that is fast reaching Tesco-like dominance of the local housing association world. The only role of Swansea’s town planners and ruling politicians, who are far too busy disappearing up their own strategies to come up with anything remotely deliverable, was to delay the project for about five years at the pre-application stage. As a matter of fact, the upper High Street area is described in the city centre master plan fantasy as “peripheral” – so much for Lib Dem vision.

Of course, none of this stops the four main candidates from saying that it is a jolly good idea, just what the city needs and yada-yada-yada without stopping to ponder the 'benefits' of yet another affordable housing project in a commercial area that gobbles up public sector resources and will probably sterilise the area for further business investment.. Perhaps a journalist with some ability might actually question Lib Dem Peter May on how he thinks the scheme will produce the extra private sector jobs he says the city needs.

But let’s face it. Whoever wins will simply pack their bags for Westminster, kicking off the Jackland dust as they board the train, safe in the knowledge that they will never have to give a shit again about the city centre – unless it is to blame the council for something. Come to think of it, the same probably goes for the losers too.

The muckraking begins

More or less a continuation from today's earlier post, the degree to which Nick Clegg is perceived as a serious threat to Conservative election hopes can be seen by revelations in the Telegraph (where else) that the Lib Dem leader allegedly put cash from political donors into his private account.

Update: Amazing how the Times manages to report on a tory smear campaign against Clegg and participate in it at the same time.

BNP change name to dupe voters

Tory candidate Rene Kinzett has picked up on the not-so-puzzling decision by BNP activists to stand in Swansea East, West and Gower under the description of “Support our troops Bring them Home” instead of their party banner. We anticipate that others will also do their bit in exposing this none-too-subtle subterfuge.

Lets us hope however that the press simply report on the situation and not decide to offer the BNP an opportunity to "give their side of the story" at some length - as they have been sadly all too willing to do in the past.


We're grateful to the helpful reader who pointed out that the BNP are pulling this identity stunt in all three Swansea constituencies. 

Getting hung up

The prospect of a hung parliament might be having a downward effect on house prices but it could entirely screw up Andy Coulson’s ability to pay his mortgage – especially if his boss picks up on the glaring fact the party’s media champion misjudged the Clegg effect on tory vote share as badly as everyone else.

On Monday, the Conservative campaign offices resounded to the noise of crashing gears as an anti-Labour PPB was pulled and then replaced by a David Cameron talking head promo. The last minute switch aimed at retaking middle ground lost to the real enemy, i.e. the Lib Dems relies on the premise that promoting Dave is probably better tactics than a full-frontal attack on Nick and his policies. The received wisdom among the sounder types at Central Office is that the press are better at that sort of thing anyway.

But what is worrying tory (and Labour) activists today is that no-one in the media, as yet, seems to be asking anything resembling a searching question about Lib Dem policy or spending plans. At some levels, political commentators seem stuck in the assumed role of witnesses recounting the details of a car accident that happened a few days ago. The X-factor is whether the Lib Dem leader can sustain his newly found popularity into and beyond tomorrow’s resumed leader’s debate and if his performance has a sustaining effect on the party’s status in the polls. If he can, then he can finally come clean about his asking price for establishing coalition politics at Westminster – and then things will get really dirty, as happened the other day.

Whilst Clegg may have defeated the curse of personal anonymity, he knows that overcoming the inequities of the current FTP voting system is quite another thing. At present, the projected three way split only gives the Lib Dems 100 seats for their 30% support with 305 and 206 going to Labour and Conservatives respectively. Theoretically, the better that the Lib Dems do at the expense of the tories, the better the chance of Labour forming a single figures majority government by doing a deal with some of the odd-bins parties that make up the remaining 10 percent. Electoral reform is therefore going to be top of Clegg’s shopping list.

Given the emphasis on fairness by all main contenders in this election, it should be a no-brainer. But that alone will not mean an end to the excesses of successive governments that have exercised executive powers and then made excuses to parliament afterwards. It is only the start of reform.

Idea for graphic nicked from Steve Green's excellent Daily Referendum blogsite.

Redirection

It’s possible that a certain nameless (and brainless) bunch of neo-fascists might be a bit peeved at their inability to set up their usual last-minute election blogsite for Swansea via the usual providers. Unfortunately for them, the available domain names have already been occupied and anyone searching for a local BNP site could find themselves directed here, here, here or even possibly here.

Now who would have done something like that?

So who speaks for Plaid?

The continuing ability of some Plaid bloggers to piss on their party’s parade can be little short of breathtaking. As IWJ receives plaudits for his performance in the Sky Welsh leader debate, he is dismissed as a non-entity on the Syniadau blog.

In a post intended to highlight the fact that Labour and Conservatives have their own inconsistent policy positions when it comes to nuclear power, blog author MH restates the Plaid stance from their manifesto :

“We reaffirm our opposition to the construction of any new nuclear power stations in Wales [and] we would create green electricity through renewable energy projects”.

Not content at achieving clarity however, MH rather unhelpfully adds, “Now it's true that a small minority in Plaid Cymru do not share this view. Ieuan Wyn Jones may well be personally in favour of nuclear power in Môn ... but that doesn't make any difference to Plaid's policy. Thankfully, he was outvoted by the rest of us.”

Hmmm. Are you supposed to speak about your leader like that during an election campaign?

Scrutiny stumbles again at Swansea

The political action, or to be more precise, the distinct lack of it arising from Thursday’s emergency Swansea Council meeting has left a sour taste in the mouth of many observers. Previous claims of outrage by councillors of all parties at revelations in the Western Mail that social services chiefs had been caught spinning the details of events leading to the death of a teenager were belied by the attendance and the outcome.

Perhaps expectations of anything significant happening were too optimistic given the series of prior restrictions handed down by chief executive Paul Smith who told the councillors just what they could and could not discuss. The meek compliance by everyone with this arbitrary ‘advice’ was remarkable. Perhaps they had also been told that Chris Holley would report defaulters to the Ombudsman.

But this preface was no real excuse for the overly rehearsed and ponderously delivered position statements by the authority’s so-called leading members. What was supposed to be a pivotal meeting descended into a mishmash of court-room theatrics at which clearly contemptuous council officials all but stuck out their tongues out at the councillors; most of whom appeared to have difficulty putting together a coherent sentence let alone a meaningful question. It was a poor show, even by Swansea standards. No wonder the council leader pissed off early.

The extent of indecisiveness on how next to proceed among those politicians notionally in charge - and those supposedly scrutinising them - is typified by the press release from the Labour group leader issued after the meeting which bears a headline calling for an independent review which then is contradicted by the text stating he is “not convinced of the need for such action as yet” (?)

He is probably right. After all, you can’t run the risk of yet another report coming up with a key finding about “poor corporate management” and the inevitable conclusion that neither the administration or the opposition have much of a clue on how to effectively hold their paid officials to account.
________________________________________
Limited coverage only from the Beans on Toast

Selection is childs play for Lib Dems

Rockin’ Rene Kinzett today proves his well-developed sense of political timing by revealing how bizarre Lib Dem voting rules saw him pipped as Lib Dem candidate in Swansea West. Apparently votes cast by the four year old and none year old kids of fellow contender Peter May helped clinch it for their dad.

Martin Shipton in the Western Mail, who seems to have had a run of Swansea-based of late, reports that Rene cited this constitutional oddity as one of several reasons that prompted him to defect to the Conservatives.

The loophole exploited by his opponent in 2007 has since been closed but the situation remains confused. Lib Dem AM Eleanor Burnham is quoting as saying that she has never relied on childrens votes in selection contests but seemed unaware that the opportunity to do so had been removed.

Peter Black did his usual act of playing dumb, as he does whenever confronted by speculation that the dealings within the party are anything less than pristine, and would only say “I don’t know the details of what went on at the Swansea West selection meeting.” Yeah, right.

As you would expect, the word is that Kinzett has a ready fund of similar stories to hand designed to show his Lib Dem opponent is a less than positive light. Given his extensive PR background, such an exercise should be child play.

Priorities?

As Swansea’s councillors prepare to discuss serious case reviews into the tragic unrelated deaths of three youngsters – and under circumstances where at least one of the reports appears to have been 'finessed' by person or persons unknown –  the leader of the opposition apparently feels the subject which most deserves his attention for the moment is the internal machinations of the ruling group. Oh dear.

Update: Meanwhile, the council leader has managed to put aside just two hours to discuss the reports. He then has to leave to give a talk on economic regeneration(?).

An invitation

From Beau Bo D'Or – piss taker par excellence

Tories no longer in the pink?

Liberal Conspiracy reports that the founder of the Conservative Party’s biggest group campaigning for gay rights has said she will now vote Labour at the general election after David Cameron failed to reprimand a Shadow Cabinet member for questioning gay rights. She also accused the party of an “elaborately executed deception”.

Chris Grayling, the shadow Home Secretary, said he believed bed and breakfast owners should have the right to ban gay couples from staying in their property. She had called on the Tory leader to dismiss Mr Grayling but, so far, Mr Cameron has refused to take any action against him.

More on Sky News online.

Swansea child death report was watered down

Swansea councillors meet tomorrow to discuss the contents of Serious Case Reviews into the unrelated deaths of three teenagers who died whilst notionally under the care of the local authority. They should have plenty to talk about.

One youngster identified in the official report as Child D, but later named in the press as Kyle Bates, died in January 2008 from a combination of pneumonia and drug abuse. A serious case review was prepared in January 2009 but was not published until last month. Now a leak appears to confirm earlier rumours that the delay was in order to dilute specific details of service failings and spread the blame among other agencies.

According to today’s Western Mail, the following paragraphs were deleted from the final version:

The review found that over several years the social work staff in Swansea social services department and their immediate managers failed to apply the law, appropriate procedures or any elementary standards of professional practice in carrying out their duties and responsibilities to Child D. The failings extended to poor administration and to meeting basic recording requirements.

On at least 15 occasions, police, health, education and voluntary agency staff referred information to social services concerning persistent involvement by Child D in risky and criminal behaviour, self- harming or drug and alcohol abuse and inadequate parenting from the age of 12 years. They expected action to be taken.

The review found no evidence that the failures identified in relation to Child D were due to social services staff being overwhelmed with work or other pressures. The Swansea social services department report recommended that the capability of staff involved with Child D’s case and who continue to work for the authority should be considered.

Management and supervision processes had not picked up these issues over many years.

Child D’s circumstances were not known to senior social services managers in the department until his death.

Swansea Council – presumably speaking on behalf of the Safeguarding Children Board – deny any wrongdoing and state “There has been no attempt to water down either the detail or the tone of the findings. The key findings and recommendations are the same”. The view however among social services professionals outside the city is that successive re-writes of the reports and a cynical move to combine publication of three unrelated cases as a ‘batch job’ was a device invented by council spinners and one entirely intended to lessen the negative effects upon the image of the council and the competency of the people running it.  

As Swansea West AM Andrew Davies very ably put it: “Lessons need to be learnt, but this will not happen if crucial findings are not published. This is an administration that boasted how it was going to be the most transparent in Wales, yet this latest episode belies that claim.”

The events are also symptomatic of the way that the Lib Dem-led cabinet has continually sought to evade responsibility for most things by either creating or embracing a range of arms-length bodies & working groups who are able conduct their business behind closed doors and apparently free from scrutiny by non-executive councillors. Political reliance on this institutional sleight of hand is evident in how cabinet member Nick Tregoning attempts to distance the council from any involvement despite the very obvious situation of the local director of social services chairing the body which produced the reviews and decided the timing of their joint publication.

To some, the fact that this systematic submerging of accountability has been allowed to gradually spread through the council is as much a condemnation of opposition groups as it is of the administration. Let us hope therefore that lessons have also been learned by the other group leaders and that they use tomorrow’s meeting to press for an independent public inquiry into who knew what, who did what and who covered it up. It would be a tragedy if they wasted the opportunity by just waffling on to prove to each other how clever they are.

Update: Western Mail comment

Also: Outcry as leak shows how critical comments were wiped from child care report

Have Plaid made a rod for their own backs?

Whilst only mildly earth-shaking in political terms, the revelations offered up by Shipton of the Mail that Plaid refused for IWJ to appear on an ITV Wales produced show because they did not approve of the interviewer may have wider implications.

Admittedly, the choice of Ron ‘the Rottweiler’ Richards as host and inquisitioner is an odd one but he is no Paxman either. Nevertheless, the implication that the Party of Wales tends to be so picky will not enthuse major network chiefs who are continuing to resist demands for Plaid and SNP participation in the forthcoming televised leader’s debates. Perhaps that was the reason for the story.

Another Poster

Click on the link for a 'localised' version of Labour's manifesto cover design.

Missing the point on tax?

While Peter Black loyally trots out the party line that Labour has a bad record in taxing the poorest families, the Fabian Society makes some cogent points in the opposite direction by pointing out that the Lib Dems have (somehow) ignored the effect of tax credits. How did that happen?

Who said naff was dead?

The adage is that one should never judge a book by its cover, but the temptation is overwhelming when confronted by this eye-watering design that redefines 'patronising' and manages to evoke new uncharted depths of naffness by creatively combining a meaningless promise with glimpses of a Narnian landscape – albeit a pseudo-socialist one sans tractor.

La revolution c'est fini.

Update: This modified version is far better.

Website controls endanger broadcasting

The thoughtful and worrying report of Rob Williams on the real threat to Welsh broadcasting from parliamentary ‘expediencies’ is highly recommended. At a time when the rest of the so-called blogosphere is getting far too much up itself; it takes a journalist to throw up the stuff that matters.

A little bit of cynicism goes a long way

Peter Black uses the WalesHome website to demonstrate that a little bit of cynicism can go a long way.

Under the cover of a supposed radical solution to local government funding, he admits that “Liberal Democrat-led Swansea, the Council has invested £10 million in Social Services at the cost of cutting back on schools. They are now in the position of having to manage teacher redundancies so as to minimise the impact on the chalk face. Swansea had to save £17m this year and projects losing hundreds of posts over the next few years.”

However, the impression he fosters is that the financial collapse at Calamity Hall is entirely down to public spending cuts as opposed to near manic capital borrowing by Lib Dems in the city over the last five years combined with a complete failure to realise anything like the year-on-year savings promised after spending £83 million on e-government ‘improvements’.

As it stands there is precious little radical about his suggestions which are no more than a long-winded rehash of local income tax intertwined with LA mergers, failed joint working proposals and a fuzzy localisation proposal thrown in for good measure. Even he admits that, “none of these revenue-side reforms will actually give more money to local councils”; so what was the point?  

Wales really deserves better from a shadow local government spokesman and Swansea deserves a lot more honesty from its councillors.

Nothing Welsh about the BNP

This glossy election leaflet from the BNP is getting pushed through letter boxes in Swansea. The claim it contains is that the BNP is different - well, we've never disputed that rather obvious fact.

But the leaflet doesn't mention any particular constituency, or city or even Wales. In fact, the only detectable Welsh aspect in the PO Box address in Welshpool. So much for being distinctive.

There is clearly nothing Welsh about the BNP

Underdogs

It would be interesting to know the reaction of Plaid election campaign chiefs to the news that their party merits a listing on the Arthur Haynes Underdog Election Blog - along with the Scottish Communists, Humanist Party, Cornish Democrats and others. We can probably guess but it would be an opportunity for the us Anglophones among us to pick up some colloquial Welsh phrases.

Out of context

Oddly inaccurate observation from Nick Clegg during his visit to Cardiff yesterday at which he is quoted as saying: “I think Plaid is as irrelevant in Westminster as the Conservatives are in Cardiff. Plaid is just a two-bit player in this national context and I think people will understand that.”

Didn’t anyone tell him that the Conservatives are the official opposition in Cardiff Bay?

Caught out behind the pavilion

We hear that an otherwise dull Swansea council meeting provided a brief spot of entertainment when a head-case particularly erratic Labour backbencher - known amongst his colleagues as “Desperate Den” - made a right private member of himself in trying to persuade his peers that he honestly and truly was opposed to the idea of pulling down some park pavilion building.

His protests came after deputy leader John Hague revealed how the Labour chap was supposed to have previously agreed in private to the demolition but was now saying something quite different to placate locals sitting in the public gallery (as if). Uproar followed when the blustering backbencher claimed the allegations were simply spite because he had reneged on a promise to back the deputy leader’s planning application earlier in the week. Basically speaking.

It reportedly took a fair bit of gavel banging from the presiding officer to eventually drown out the exchanges of “Judas” and “twat” and assorted jeers; and for a time the respective party leaders appeared just as ineffective in reining in their frothing colleagues. We understand however that no action is envisaged against either councillor for their disorderly behaviour.

The same cannot be said about a separate complaint that has purportedly been made against the back-bencher for swearing at support staff during an unrelated but equally out of control outburst a few weeks ago.

Politician found guilty of telling the truth

Amazing as it may sound, Rockin’ Rene Kinzett, tory group leader on Swansea Council, has been found guilty of misconduct by the Ombudsman for publicly stating, among other things that many of his fellow councillors are past it and probably know less than his cat about the workings of the local authority. He now has to appear before the Standards Committee to face whatever penalty they deem appropriate.

Seems a bit draconian for telling the truth - but the only other alternative would have been to do him for breaching the Official Secrets Act.

Stats the way to do it

It’s very encouraging to learn that Fantasy Football techniques are capable of being translated into the world of political polls – although it doesn’t require too much analysis to recognise the own goal scored by Labour peer Lord Adonis in urging Lib Dem voters to deploy themselves tactically. Even so, the extent to which the Fink Tank consistently defy a good proportion of bookies’ predictions is something that should be taken into consideration by party strategists who rely exclusively on traditional pollsters.

Having said that, when one applies the technique of transitional matrices (as one does) to the latest poll figures, the outcome shows Cameron falling seven seats short of a majority. Ah well.

Missing

Swansea Council held its six-weekly yack-fest this evening. Among the items for decision was a key paper on the Private Sector Housing Renewal and Disabled Adaptations Policy. It contained a series of recommendations aimed at providing necessary safeguards within the private housing sector. And yet the cabinet member charged with the responsibility of steering this important policy through council, Lib Dem Peter May, was absent.

Rockin’ Rene Kinzett reveals all.

Every little helps

According to the Times, Tesco have snubbed the business campaign against the Government’s rise in national insurance. A leading executive for Britain’s largest private employer said yesterday that the supermarket chain would not oppose “whatever measures are considered right” to put the public finances back in good order.

He added, “Our first responsibility is always to support the Government of the day and reflect on those matters and see how best Tesco can contribute to the economy — and that’s to get fulfilling, interesting jobs to as many people as possible.” Hmmm.

Digital campaigning needs more work

Given the irrefutable wisdom of the political pundits that this general election will see the imposition arrival of the digital campaign complete with podcasts and whatnot, a quick trip around the Welsh party websites is insightful – up to a point.

The right-on Labour site carries the obligatory icons for twitter and has a fairly active Facebook page, despite a lack of distinctive material, whilst the Conservatives seem to be strangely less socially networkable given their leader’s rep in this particular field. They even appear reluctant to reveal the names of their candidates.

Plaid Cymru do at least list their candidates although there is not much else on their 2010 election page which presumably means that their big digital idea remains Bloggers for Plaid. Surprisingly, and it may have something to do with the formatting problems on their main site, the Lib Dems have not yet lived up to the expectations that they are the most effective users of networking-type political messaging, although this may change in coming weeks.

Someone wrote month or so ago that this election will not be won on the websites – in gleeful defiance of all-party experience gained in the US presidential elections. Maybe so, but UK elections have been lost over a lot less. Whilst it remains to be seen if digital politics for the punters – as opposed to kind delivered to the press – actually has a place in the world of mainstream messaging, the possibility that it is as pivotal as some would like to believe means that some parties definitely have to raise the bar as this election campaign gets itself online.

No lessons learned

As confirmation is given that a Swansea secondary school has been put into special measures, news also emerges that education minister Leighton Andrews contacted Swansea Council over why the local authority failed to pass on the full amount of Assembly cash earmarked for schools in this year’s budget settlement.

According to the Evening Post, a spokesman stated that Swansea was the only one out of 22 education authorities to have received such an enquiry. He added that the minister’s intervention followed a high number of representations made to the Assembly government.

The response of Swansea’s Lib Dem education cabinet member was to accuse the Assembly of “interfering”. Little wonder that so many people fear that education in the city is about to go the same desperate way as childrens social services.

Half-baked

Hidden among the election-orgy is the news item of how the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee has recently published a report pondering the future of local and regional media.

Among the many conclusions is that there is significant abuse activity by local authorities who use free newsletters to promote only the good stuff about the council. Anyone who has the misfortune to have the Swansea Leader stuffed through their letter box every other month will recognise the trend. The committee stopped short of stating the the existence of council funded propaganda sheets are actually harmful to the future of local newspapers. They have recommended that the Office of Fair Trading should conduct a review.

Few outside the cabinet can profess to thinking that eight pages of happy, smiling faces and simply masses of good news about excellent council services and the splendid folk who provide them is either informative or even value for money. Then again, how many local authorities could produce as masterful a headline as this one which appeared in yesterday's Beans on Toast?

You just can't get the staff

More internal turmoil for the BNP as news breaks that the neo-fascist party has dumped its publicity chief for attempting to engineer a leadership coup. According to Press Association reports, Mark Collett, 29, has been sacked for conspiring to get rid of party head Nick Griffin.

Collett, (inset) who appeared in a documentary called Young, Nazi and Proud while a student in Leeds, was responsible for producing the far right group's publicity material and edited its newspaper. A leaked copy of the BNP organisers bulletin stated the party had run "an extensive and long-running" investigation in to financial irregularities.

Update: The story moves on with news that Collet was apparently arrested for issuing threats to kill Griffin (seems to be a lot of that going on in the BNP). A passage in the leaked bulletin mentioned states, "Earlier this week, the police were made aware of very serious allegations potentially affecting the personal safety of party chairman Nick Griffin MEP and senior management/fundraising consultant James Dowson. Formal statements have now been made to the police, including by Mr Griffin."

Humberside police confirmed that a 29-year-old man was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of making threats to kill. He was interviewed by detectives and released on bail pending further inquiries.

Turf war continues

We commented earlier this year on the latest of armed skirmishes that are characteristic of community politics in the lower Swansea Valley. Ombudsman complaints, legal actions and character assassinations have been whizzing about like manic gunfire. But to us anoraks, the degree to which the same old, same old in Swansea’s political equivalent of the Balkans has attracted local press coverage is intriguing.

The answer may lie with the media-savvy abilities of breakaway councillor Roger Smith who left the local Labour group last year to form his own cadre with two other dissidents. The reason for his departure at the time was one of irreconcilable differences with the leadership but what is now emerging is that he pissed off the hierarchy by slipping in an amendment on boundary changes under the noses of his erstwhile colleagues.

A further article in today’s Beans on Toast (no link available so far) reports on demands for a referendum and the sight of councillors standing on their heads now that the move is proving unpopular. It also appears that Labour leader David Phillips was asked why he did not pick up on what was happening at the time and why it has taken all of 18 months for him and his party to get indignant about Renegade Roger’s little stunt.

His unconvincing response was, “We were ambushed. We also had some councillors who were new to the role”; which translates into “We really couldn’t give a toss at the time, but now he’s left the party - and it looks like he screwed up - we need to be seen to be giving the little shit a good kicking”.

All of which probably tells you as much about the two leaders and the state of local politics in Swansea as you need to know.

Blame game

Today’s papers give accounts of alleged repeated alterations to an Ofsted report into the death of Baby P in order to re-focus blame. It was claimed in court yesterdy that seventeen drafts were produced over ten days so as to personally implicate the director of children’s services at Haringey.

In Swansea however, rumours persist that a markedly opposite approach was taken with at least one of the three serious case reviews over the unrelated deaths of three children. Time will tell.

Taxpayers Alliance know the importance of timing

Another organisation who would no doubt claim to be acting in the public interest are the Taxpayers Alliance, who are temporarily without a history or mission according to their website.

There are still conflicting views over whether the TPA is a pro-tory front organisation or a right-wing fringe group with impressive connections. Editors throughout the UK however will not give much of a toss about antecedents. They will simply grab the Town Hall Rich List 2010 as a godsend during the news famine that precedes the Easter break – which is just as the authors planned it.  

Acting in the public interest?

Whatever motive that may lay behind the Western Mail story about the leader of Monmouthshire council, there is probably a debate to be had on whether someone who is the subject of an Individual Voluntary Agreement (IVA) – a means of holding off personal or business creditors to avoid bankruptcy - should also be able to attain or hold public office.

But how does the debate arise if the key information about an individual never finds its way into the public domain unless highlighted by the media?