Decided to stand for the leadership of #plaidcymru – more info on my website, leannewood2012.com (hopefully) live tomorrow #leannewood—
(@LeanneWood) December 14, 2011
And the fourth person on my prediction list has announced they will be standing for Plaid Cymru’s leadership. This evening Leanne Wood has announced she will be standing for the leadership of the Party.
If elected Leanne will certainly navigate the party to the left.
Carw Coch: Statement of intention to stand as Plaid Cymru leader carwcoch.blogspot.com/2011/12/statem…—
Simon Thomas (@SimonThomasAber) December 01, 2011
And soon I shall have a full house! The third person on my predicted candidates for Plaid Cymru leadership list, which I complied a while ago, has announced that he will be standing. Former Ceredigion MP, WAG SpAd and current Mid and West Wales regional AM, Simon Thomas has thrown his headwear into the ring.
This has now made things a bit more interesting, two of the candidates are either current of former representatives of one of Wales’ most marginal seats.
In his statement, Simon made it clear (like other candidates) how in touch he is with all of Wales, not just Welsh speaking areas. Of course, being from Aberdare originally, Simon is the first candidate in this race to have a connection with the Valleys (I believe).
Simon is a left of centre candidate, very much like Elin Jones, and so I must question how will these two individuals win support from a shared pool of natural supporters?
Lets see whether anyone else from my list will step up to the mark?
It was the usual anti-eu blabber on the radio this morning by the chair of the 1922 committee, then came a pearl of an argument for holding a referendum,
“it is right to hold a referendum on EU membership because millions of people weren’t able to vote in the last referendum on Europe”
This argument strikes me as weak. To this logic, we could argue that there should be a referendum on the monarchy, the role of Prime Minister or even Wales’ membership to the UK, after all, no one alive today were able to vote for these!
Finally you can share posts from this blog on social sites, or e-mail, or even print them out (although think green before you print). So, if you like what I blog, then please share!
Although this blog made it to the longlist of best political blog in the Welsh Blog Awards; it has, unfourtunately, not been lucky enough to make it to the short list.
However @caebrwyn’s (Jacqui Thomson) blog has made it to the short list, and a very well done to her! There is a ‘people’s choice award’ for the blog where you all can vote, and so I urge all of you to go and vote for carmarthenshireplanning.blogspot.com. The blog has been working constantly to open up local government decision making, and to attain the right to film at council meetings, a cause fully supported on this blog!
Well, my little blog has been included in Total Politics‘ Top 50 Welsh blogs. Number 28, wonderful! Thats only one behind the Institute of Welsh Affairs’ blog!
It been a couple of months since I began enquiring into local authorities’ attitudes to blogging, tweeting, and in particular filming at their meetings. All of Wales’ 22 authorities have sent a reply to my enquiry into policies they have on this issue which can be seen here. It would seem that most councils do not have extensive or definite policies on the issue of the public filming at council meetings. What is clear is that most councils leave permission to film at council meetings at the discretion of mayors or, in most cases to the council chairperson. This is, of course a reasonable policy, however there are no guidelines for chairpeople to follow, which outlining under what circumstances can they allow or refuse filming. When I attempted to ask about such guidelines my requests were refused due to their “similarity” to my initial requests.
It is interesting to note, however, that the Welsh Government has not given any information or guidance to Welsh councils on this issue. I asked,
“Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please provide copies of
all:
A) directives
B) discussions (emails / memos)sent to all or any Welsh councils relating to the following:
1) filming of council meetings
2) tweeting at council meetings
3) blogging of council meetings”
The response was:
“I have not found any information that fits this description. The Minister for Local Government and Communities has not issued any advice, directives or memos to Welsh councils regarding this matter.”
Of course the Welsh Government would argue that they leave such issues to the local authorities, however, this lessaiz fare attitude isn’t always the case in Welsh Government and local authority relations.
Well, it has been a quiet summer in politics and on this blog (I was busy getting married, so sorry for no posts). However, things are beginning to look interesting within Plaid Cymru. A while ago I blogged about the Plaid leadership race, or non race at the time. I set a prediction of who might go for the top job after Ieuan Wyn Jones announced that he will be stepping down. Back then I gave a list of five possibilities, and within days one of the names I listed had thrown their hat into the ring. However, today comes a new announcement that a second person on my list has made her intentions known. Today Elin Jones published on her website a statement, clearly indicating that she will run for party leader.
The statement reads very much like a letter of application, however there are some hints of the kind of leader she will be. She is keen to point out her Socialist and Republican values, as well as her west Wales roots. How long will we have to wait before we hear who else will officially go for the job? Not long i would guess.
Rebecca riots 1839
It was inevitable that public outrage would follow the terrible scenes of rioting in London, Manchester and other cities in England; and rightly so. It is inexcusable for mobs to trash, loot and burn shops, houses and vehicles. However, it is sad to see the outrage take on a knee-jerk reactionary guise, where people, who would normally be level headed harp on about how the police hold use lethal force, or even send in the army to deal with rioters. Some also would suggest that the rioting thugs should be sent to Afghanistan to see what real men are like (although they don’t seem to explain how the already stretched forces there would cope with these idiots running around).
Of course, this is the usual fear-based right wing views you’d expect to see in between the squalid leaves of rags such as the Daily Mail; however it would seem its not enough to tout for the indiscriminate shooting of looting scum, but there seems to be an eagerness to attack anyone who suggests that there needs to be an attempt to understand the causes of these riots. What these ‘hang ‘em high’ types fail to realise is that riots do not happen for no reason, and unless the government gets to grips with the causes of rioters discontent then what is there to stop it happening again? I agree that all rioters caught should feel the full force of the law come down on them, however I deplore any view that supports extra-legal punishment of rioters.
What, then, does history teach us about civil unrest and outright rioting. Any school student of history will tell you that every event has a cause and a consequence. From riots such as Merthyr in 1831, Rebecca riots 1839-42 to those in the late 20th century one thing is always clear about their causes, they always arise from socio-economic grievances. When you have a group of people who have no stake in society, no hope of changing their circumstances, and nothing to lose then it only takes one spark to set to all off.
Rioters should be dealt with as harshly as the law prescribes, with no exception, after all wanton destruction and mindless vandalism must no be excused, but to get on a soap box and tout the merits of shooting rioters will not help the innocent people who have been affected by these terrible events. It is only through identifying and getting to grips with the causes of the riots can we avoid similar incidents in the future.
Local Authorities Minister
With Carmarthenshire County Council continuing to show the rest of Wales how to avoid scrutiny and stifle the democratic process, I received a response from my regional AM concerning filming at council meetings. Ok it wasn’t a response from my AM as such, rather it was a relaying of the Local Authorities Minister’s view. Here’s Carl Sargeant reply.
It would seem that the minister thinks that filming without prior consent shouldn’t be allowed; fair enough say you, however this is just licence for controlling chief executives, mayors and chairpersons to avoid transparency which suppresses local democracy. The minister also explains that he disagrees with filming people without their knowledge and permission, again fair enough; however, councillors are public representatives and are acting publicly in council meetings, so should be ready for people to film them while debating and voting on matters that will affect their constituents.
However, I contacted the AM regarding her view on the principle of filming should be allowed in council meetings. However, the principle isn’t expressly discussed in the reply, but the minister does outline that the Welsh Government does support councils’ engagement with the public. The minister has not, as of yet, set out guidelines for councils on this issue as shown in my recent FOI request, he does encourage councils to make the maximum effort in engaging the public in their proceedings. However without guidelines councils won’t do anything they don’t have to. This is all ambiguous stuff, with the minister relying on good will, and as we have seen, some councils are short of that.
It was good to see that the minister commends Carmarthenshire’s plans to webcast proceedings, and that it is an example to other councils. However a similar idea (Carmarthen TV) has been mooted for a while and as of yet is still to be seen. I suppose time will tell.
