Plaid Cymru Newport West

The real stitch up!

2010-05-05T04:13:00.000-07:00

For once I agree with Tony Blair. For the first time since around 2001. Vote with your heart this election. David Cameron of course has been quick to warn voters against this. Warning of political stitch up should there be a hung/balanced parliament. But then he would. For without a clear majority he'll be unable to decimate the welfare state, part privatize the education system, build more nuclear power stations, stop and search immigrants, encourage the election of reactionary police chiefs, underfund devolved government and communities, and let the richest in society off inheritance tax. All of which are pretty much manifesto pledges once you read between the blue veined lines.

Of course the real stitch up is not the possibility of hung parliament. It is the system which has since 1950 allowed the tories to take on average 40% of the popular vote but maintain an average of 46% of the parliamentary seats. What is 6% among cronies? It is an average head start of at least 36 seats, and assuming Labour enjoy a similar advantage we have 12% or around 65 seats in the UK parliament that are taken out of the democratic equation before even a vote is cast. If this is democracy then I'm champion the Wonder Horse. For me the current situation is an abuse every bit as bad as the 2 member constituencies that existed prior to the Representation Of the People Act of 1948.

The stitch up Mr Cameron is the privilege and bias throughout our society that gives your ilk an unfair crack of the whip. This imbalance can only be undone by the people.

So yeah, vote with your hearts. And if you live in Wales vote with your heads too. Vote Plaid.

My sources for the stats above are here and I guess are more or less accurate:

http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/uktable.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_elections

A post in haste

2010-05-04T04:24:00.000-07:00

It is demanding wok keeping a blog going with no time to spare. Even when I have a moment so much has passed it seems difficult to prioritise what to write about.

So let's keep this simple and succinct

Of all the parties in wales Plaid have the most socialist and radical agenda. Disillusioned labour voters not preocuupied with immigration paranoias need to look no further.

For those who vote on pragmatics rather than ideals- of all the principle parties in Wales only Plaid are committed to protecting Wales and our communities from the cuts outlined by the other 3 parties- ensuring Wales hets equal treatment with other parts of the UK. There are, if you like, £300 million reasons to vote Plaid.

A vote for Plaid is a vote for protection of public services, a vote for electoral reform, a vote for the anti- war movement, a vote for the environment, and a vote against the private sector interests who practically bankrupted the UK and now stand to profit while we pay more in tax. A vote for Plaid is a vote for the democratic left and a vote for Welsh communities.

On Thursday therefore- Vote Plaid.

Simples.

Brown Strikes Football and PR

2010-03-10T04:22:00.000-08:00

A bit of a random post this- a far from inclusive summary of things that have been on my mind since my last post.

Firstly just a cursory message of support for those public sector workers on the picket lines last week. If the prospect of being laid off in these grim times (still grim even if not still an official recession) were not bad enough- the prospect of being laid off for considerably less than was previously agreed contractually is even more grim. I would like to know what the governments official stance is on large employers trying to renegotiate redundancy terms before cutbacks? It is a bit like offering workers an umbrella on a rainy day then, as it clouds over, replacing it with a cocktail stick parasol. (albeit a cocktail parasol worth up to £60,000 or the equivalent of three years service whatever is lower).

The principle issue of the strike however is not really the detail of the redundancy package- but the fact that the government should make such explicit preparations to lay off so many public sector workers. bakers create the crisis, the public carry the cost, and public servants pay off the debt. It is hardly fair, and fairness is what we should demand of our politicians. Besides, in order for the government's fresh redundancy proposals to be necessary a significant proportion of public sector works face the prospect of the dole queue. With that in mind the strike deserves our support.

Secondly Brown. Poor old Gordon Brown. No sooner has he finished his tete a tete with Piers Morgan than he tries to elbow in next to Adrian Chiles onMatch of the Day. One would hope Brown had more significant things on his mind than Theo Walcott's disappointing form in world cup year. Although his take on Portsmouth's current financial woes would be genuinely interesting.

Brown's PR problems are well documented. It seems the paparazzi cannot resist snapping his face in midst contortion. Brown initially tried to improve his public image by taking smiling classes, and wearing a maniacal grin as false a Tony Blair's. He overlooked the fact the public did not take to Blair's grin- we always knew it was false. We were subdued by the inscrutable control of his emotions- Blair only ever had/has two expressions. Manic false smile or mock grave concern. As false as these expressions are they were somehow more convincing than Brown's tutored emoting. No matter how many prime time shows Brown appears on he just lacks the charm to play the part of man of the people. And charm just can't be learned on the lap of PR gurus.

This is the principle difference between the Brown and Blair. Charm. And there ability to sound and look plausible and likeable when falsifying. There was never a gaping ideological gulf between them. Put simply Blair was just a more convincing liar than Brown. He tricked more voters (this one back in 1997) with his lies and media-spun truths than Brown can and will. It was merely a flagrant abuse of his talent for partial truths/lies which led to Blair's political demise. Brown's will most probably come as result of being a less convincing liar at than either Blair or Cameron.

This is the soul of cynicism at the heart of my political engagement. Overall it is probably healthier to assume our politicians are misleading us and to let them prove otherwise. To do this requires that the electorate demonstrate greater faith in the political process than we currently have (not trust in the politicians but faith in the process!). And with that faith comes greater expectation, and subsequent accountability on the side of those elected. We need to expect more from our leaders- and they need to be held up to account more rigourously. This requires a level of dialogue and engagement that can't be attained through PR channels- MoTd, This Morning, the Piers Morgan show, or any tabloid newspaper. We do not need our leaders to have greater visibility- we do not need to feel that we 'know' them. Power itself needs to be disseminated from the centre to the people, and in order for this to be meaningful we need a devolved government with proper powers. Hence Plaid in Wales innit.

Tory's show their form (again)

2010-03-04T00:16:00.000-08:00

As this sorry sagademonstrates somethings never change. If it is not George Osbourne languishing on billionaire's yachts it is the whole damn tory party whoring the already dubious British 'honours' system, in exchange for some tax exempt cash to bolster their election campaign.

Cameron may well claim the tories are some latter day party of the people, but only if those people are wheeling heads of industry, who have been dodging taxes in one of the poorer countries of Central America for years. To quote the Belize Prime Minister on Ashcrofts supposed tax dodging there.

"Ashcroft is an extremely powerful man. His net worth may well be equal to Belize's entire GDP. He is nobody to cross."

Ashcroft's reluctance to contribute in eglatarian fashion should have come as no surprise to the Tories. And their pleads of ignorance in this case reflect either incompetence or corruption- or most probably both.

The fantastic 4?

2010-03-03T09:05:00.000-08:00

4 labour councillors have announced their resignation over the fact that a probable lameduck candidate (maybe tamsin dunwoody) is being parachuted into Islwyn now Don Touhig is resigning. I like parachuted in- it conjures up images of Tasmin Dunwoody making her way from Crewe on a Mary Poppins style umbrella.

Aside from the issues of in-fighting there is something peculiar about these resignations.

Presumably the 4 councillors are worried about the new candidate lacking independence from central office. This is to neatly overlook the fact that Don, bless his hypocritical reversible coloured socks (red outside blue inside) has pretty much towed the labour party whipping line since the outset. There is already no independence of mind or conscience in the Islwyn labour party. He even contrived to vote against laws to stop climate change, like only Labour MPs in safe seats can.

Clearly a vote for Steffan Lewis, Plaid's candidate in Islwyn, can be the only way to ensure a vote in the Westminster elections will be a vote for an independent minded candidate. Accordingly I would hope (but not expect) the labour 4 to be joining the plaid ranks soon *doesn't hold breath*.

The Plaid International

2010-02-21T06:38:00.000-08:00

Contrary to what one might suspect from the title of this post Plaid have not developed an election manifesto and policy document comparable to the genius of Guy Debord. Nothing as wild as that is at foot yet. However there is anti-war humanitarianism in the ether.

Elfyn Llwyd has been speaking about Afghanistan. A great time for him to re-emphasise his own and Plaid's deep suspicion to this conflict. For those of you that still care to remember the facts of the UK's incessant warfare over the last decade, the Afghan campaign was initially justified, sneakily, by an understandable emotional response to Sept 11th. Afghanistan was, they said, the coalface of the war on terror. This seems to be forgotten now, and most people would struggle to to tell you the aim of this conflict. The war has however been criticized by those on the left from the outset as being a de-facto means to impose Western control on fossil fuel resources.

An ongoing conflict like this is in some way unavoidable given the material condition of the UKs economy of course. Here in Britain we have a war economy, dependent on the defence industry, so it is only logically fair to assume that we will be either directly engaged or supporting conflict somewhere in the world for the foreseeable future. If we weren't the wheels would fall off BAE, Senergy and countless others

As the Party of Wales Plaid always maintains an international outlook, and has a proud tradition of peace, in stark and consistent opposition to all the other principle parties in Wales. Adam Price's campaign for Blair's impeachment for war crimes back in 2004 being a great example.

For those in Wales with conscience (and we are very several!) the militarism inherent in British history is an anathema (WW2 withstanding). And the practical denouncements and actions of Plaid's elected representatives indicate a wider aspiration that gets to our very core. The vast majority of people desire peace, and abhor war. Yet the challenge is how to bring about a society that fulfills this uncomplicated yet deeply problematic aspiration. While not the answer to this age old dilemma itself, the advancement of devolution in the united Kingdom is one way to bring the pacifistic ideal from the realms of the hypothetical to possible fruition. The devolution of defence powers to properly democratic national parliaments would encourage a dialogue and co-operation across these islands. It would encourage more interaction with our european neighbours, and in short the kind of self interested campaign based on US neo-liberal aims that we have the misfortune to witness now would be close to impossible. Crucially devolution could stimulate the kind of economic development and accountability that could sever the UK's dependency on the arms sales- by variously nationalising the defence industry at first, then transforming its infrastucture from within.

These are big dreams of course. Huge dreams. They look pretty damn difficult to attain even to me. They undoubtedly look impossible to attain by many, and undesirable aims in the first place by others. They are dangerous dreams. But unless you can dream huge dreams like this, and make some efforts towards their satisfaction, then there is no point engaging with the politics of our age for any reason expect personal self aggrandisement.

The question remains however- of how to bring these aims to be. It starts with small gestures. The phased withdrawal from Afghanistan would be a start. A vote for Plaid in Wales come election day would be another.

After a geography imposed hiatus...

2010-02-21T06:37:00.000-08:00

The plaid newport blog is back.

I know you've all missed me!

I moved house this weekend

2009-03-02T02:20:00.000-08:00

57 varieties of boxes, bags, and makeshift containers were thrown hastily onto the back of Trefor Pew's Reseiclo van, and we made our way to Chepstow like Beverly Hillbillies or Wacky Racers, mishaped packages bouncing on top of the highsided truck.

As I don't live in Newport anymore and will not be acting as press officer for the branch at newport west, for purely geographical reasons, then it is only fair that this blog is wound down a bit. New posts shall appear here however, but with diminished frequency- maybe from electoral candidates, and from myself when the times feel right (probably as we build up to the euro elections).

I shall be continuing blogging however- a things art, writing, politics, everything but biography blog will appear soon enough (over the week or two- possibly sooner). Those of you interested will be able to follow more regular posts there.

This is not goodbye then, more a see you later.

slaters x

Chomsky gives his support to Cardiff Students:

2009-02-26T23:51:00.000-08:00

From Cardiff Stop The War:

The occupation of Cardiff University has ended with success as Cardiff University acceded to the occupiers’ key demand – to divest from the arms trade. Cardiff University have given students written confirmation that they have divested from the arms trade and have instructed fund managers not to reinvest.

The occupation ended at 4pm today with the mass of students walking out together waving occupation banners and chanting ‘Free, Free, Palestine’. They then held a ‘Books not Bombs’ rally as they marched around campus declaring their success.

The victory comes after three days of occupation which has made students across the campus aware of the £209, 000 worth of shares which, until yesterday, Cardiff University held in the arms trade. This included BAE Systems and General Electric who supplied Israel with weapons used in the recent attacks on Gaza.

The Cardiff Occupation, organised by Cardiff Students Against War, was in opposition to the University’s investment in the arms trade and to the atrocities committed in Gaza, where 1.4 million Palestinians are blockaded in a semi-autonomous apartheid state.

The occupation has been inundated with messages of support including most notably one from Noam Chomsky:

I am very pleased to learn about the courageous and honourable actions of the Cardiff University students. These are particularly significant because of Britain's role in arms sales generally, and it's contribution to the savage onslaught on Gaza and on the occupied territories generally, second only to the decisive role of the United States -- a disgrace for all of us. I hope you have the greatest success in arousing public opinion and bringing these crimes to an end.

The action at Cardiff is the twenty-eighth UK student occupation to have taken place in the last few weeks. This unprecedented wave of student dissent has seen many university’s capitulating to demands. The Cardiff activists hope their success will inspire other students to hold occupations on their own campuses.

Arla Gramper, 22, who took part in the occupation said: "Our success here at the occupation is a great realisation of what can be achived by direct action. It’s a starting point upon which we plan to build larger, wider reaching campaign to engage many more people in the debate and lobby the university.”

The actions don't end here and Cardiff Students Against War will continue to campaign to ensure the University cements its promise not to reinvest by putting it in policy and to fight against the deportation of Saudi ex-BAE trade unionist Yahya Al Faifi.

Iraq War Evidence

2009-02-25T05:14:00.000-08:00

Unamazingly Jack Straw yesterday defied the will of the information commissioner and refused to publish the details of the cabinet's discussions on the Iraq War.

Presumably the truth- that government thought the war was illegal and then lied about about anyway, would be quite damaging.

We all suspect the truth, but cannot have it confirmed to us while Labour remain in power.

So we have a government that breaks international law and vetos the release of this information to protect its own interests , is complicit in torturing its suspects but has a foreign minister who tries to cover it all up, and a home office minister facing a proble because she gave herself an illegal £100,000 defacto bonus. All this, just in the last week.

Welcome to the labour government. It is 2009.

Tuition Fees and Coalition Government:

2009-02-25T02:36:00.000-08:00

When Labour and Plaid agreed to share power in Wales in 2007 they made a series of agreements and pledges that formed the basis of coalition government. We all know that agreement as One Wales. On the subject of tuition fees here is what One Wales has to say:"

"We will provide extra assistance with student debt and maintain existing fee levels in Wales up to and including 2009/10. We will maintain the current level of resource throughout the four year Assembly term, doing whatever is possible to mitigate the effects on Welsh-domiciled students if the Westminster government lifts the cap on fees in 2009."

Unfortunatley Labour's interpretation of "whatever is possible", at this juncture, is to follow the lead from Westminster, and saddle Welsh students with additiontal burdens of debt come 2011. Labour's proposals may follow the letter of One Wales, but they certainly abandon the spirit of the agreement. Disappointingly Plaid leaders in Welsh government seem all to ready to temporarily suspend principle in this instance, and try to reshape Plaid's policy to suit Labour's planned public spending cuts. In the process of doing this they wish to ride roughshod over Plaid's election promises not to introduce tuition fees if in power.

Ieuan Wyn Jones (Plaid's affable, diplomatic, and somewhat inert leader, in case you missed him) may well point to pragmatism. He can also talk of the limits on ambiton that come with coalition governement. In this he has a point. The purpose of government is to slice the pie as fairly as possible, and as we are dependent on Gordon Brown the portions tend to be stingey- cuts to higher education spending are part of this process, arguably, brought to a head by recession. Ieuan fails to note however the other aspect of government. Which involves campaigning and standing by what you profess to believe in- and doing what you said you would do. It is a sign of the cynicism of the times that this seems naive- but pragmitism must be wedded to idealism if politicians, and democracy, are to serve any purpose. The career of most politicians, the average ones that is, are determined by the ability to compromise. The career of remarkable politicians is shaped by their refusal to do so. In this sense, by trying to alter a key Plaid policy mid-term- Ieuan Wyn Jones reveals himself as an unremarkable politician- closer to his colleagues in government than he is to the wishes of his own party.

All this points to a much wider problem at the heart of coalition governement. I know as a party activist I am not alone is asking what Plaid are attaining, and how are Wales benefitting, through our presence in government. Key policies cannot be introduced through the loathsome cumbersome LCO process, as there is constant interference from disgruntled MPs. Wales stands to lose a mammoth £500 million in future spending. The All Wales Convention is grinding slowly to the already suspected conclusion that a referedum on further powers is both winable and loseable. Devolution could even potentially be deferred rather than progressed even with Plaid in power.

This is hugely frustrating as in Europe, Assemby, and Westminster, Plaid have so much to offer. In government however we begin to risk being seen as New Labour's lackeys with added patriotism. There seems little point in supporting a party that will, when push comes to shove, endorse, however reluctantly, key policies they opposed when in opposition. Plaid are better than this split on tuition fees. The cost of power should never be the abandonment of key principles- not unless that Tony Blair and his ilke were right all along?! And that can't be right.

Local Food

2009-02-22T09:52:00.000-08:00

I always try not to think of Tubs from the League of Gentleman when I mention the word local. But I always end up thinking of the dark comic characters in their strange shop whenever I consider food policy- 'local food for local people!'

These semantic concerns aside however- I am passionate about local produce. I have campaigned actively on the subject. It is therefore with pleasure that I read:

"Plaid MEP Jill Evans has welcomed a vote in the European Parliament backing her proposal to give preference to locally produced food products. The parliament is reviewing an EU scheme to provide food support worth over 400 million pounds this year alone.

Ms Evans hopes the change will be made permanent and will be a boost to farmers, and local food producers.

The EU food distribution scheme is part of the Common Agricultural Policy. The European Commission wants the subsidised food to be purchased on the open market, but Ms Evans believes this would be a missed opportunity.

I think the long term health of both environment and the European economy will depend on developing and supporting local systems of food production. If we are to slink out of the slipstream of globalisation then we need to see more domestic food production backed with fair trade policies for imported goods. For those of you into modernist anarchist collectivism 'what Kropotkin said'. A long term commitment to local food produce is imperative, and Plaid have not overlooked this crucial area of policy like other principle parties.

The current initiatives on local food acquisition are excellent. As is Jill Evan's proposed initiative. These are just the beginning however.

I would favour a range of tax incentives for businesses that support and develop local food production. I'd also favour consumer education on local, and Fairtrade produce, and would hope that government would drive consumer awareness of the topic by co-ordinating education efforts with a number of NGOs such as the Soil Association and Fair Trade groups, for example. There are good, but disjointed efforts, in this direction already.

Current EU legislation, and commitment to the free market, make more radical actions highly problematic, but with time and effort perhaps we can begin to prepare soft commodity economies that are both sustainable and not based on progressions from colonial systems of trade. This is some way off, and will take a rethinking and reshaping of the current supermarket business models, we even have to pay a bot more for for stuff in the long run, but it is totally necessary. As a society we need to shift the way we think about, and consume, food.

call for the immediate resignation of Jack straw and David Milliband

2009-02-16T23:56:00.000-08:00

It turns out that MPs and intelligence officials may well have known of the Mi5 using torture (incidentally against British citizens, although this does not alter the severity of the crime)- and concealing the evidence of this torture from the British public.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/16/pakistan-torture-mi5-agent-binyam

link to the guardian article

If this is proved to be the case then Jack Straw (then foreign Secretary, now Justice Secretary for heavens sake) and Milliband- current foreign secretary- should resign with immediate effect. As should any MP who saw these documents and has maintained their silence.

No-one who sanctions the use of torture should hold public office in Britain, not if, as a society, we are serious about the rule of law and the maintenance of human rights.

Strikes and ideological emphasis

2009-02-13T06:24:00.000-08:00

I have been disappointed by the strikes that have taken place across the country. Nothing wrong with a bit of militantism, of course, but as we slip into the "worst recession in one hundred years" (Education minister Ed Balls, ex-treasury spokesperson) I have been disappointed by the tone. "British Jobs for British workers" to me seems a vacuous complaint- as it implies that foreign labour is to blame for the current crisis. This is not the case. Banks are to blame. The neo-liberal capitalist model is to blame, markets are at fault. Workers from Poland, Portugal, Italy, or anywhere else for that matter have nothing to do with this crisis.

This does not mean the strikers don't have some valid points. Labour being sourced as close to home as possible makes sense for communities and economy alike in the long run. Flexible labour markets are essential to protect the interests of any worker who for want or necessity needs to look beyond their immediate horizon but corporations should not be permitted to abuse this flexibility to control labour costs at the expense of communities. Generally a much greater degree of homogenity regards the commodity costs of labour need to be in place, internationally, so as to avoid exploitation, and statal instruments being manipulated at the hands of supra-national employers. It comes down to Marx at the end of it, the basics of his historical analyis are as sound now as they ever were. "Workers of the world unite" innit. The savage caprice of capitalism should be chided and resisted- not the principle of employing foreign labour.

It also raises the question of what exactly is British?

My understanding of Plaid's position on Welshness is clear. Wales is for those 'who live in Wales'. Culture can be portable but citizenship is activated by residence, making the ideal definition of Wales an inclusive expression. Whatever Britishness is it is unclear and exclusive. I have never been comfortable with the imperial and colonial baggage that comes with this peculiar sense of nationality, expressed without reference to written constitution.

Britain is in crisis however. For Ed Balls to say we are in the worst economic state for over a hundred years is to talk of the collapse of modern Western economics. Bascially, Britain was in a better financial state when the empire collapsed, than it is now. The great depression, that led to the great observational novels of Orwell in the UK, for example, is of lesser magnitude than the current capital crisis and knock on recession. If Ball's analysis is even remotely accurate then where we go from here is crucial. We cannot afford to pursue the agenda of either politicians or the business community that brought us to this precipice.

In Wales Plaid is by far offer the best opportunity to make the kind of social democratic reforms necessary given the dire extent of the current situation. The responsibility for wider change does not lie with any particular politicians or with party political dogma however. The forces and reaction that led to the 'wild cat strikes' need better chanelling.

The BBC, Sky, and Gaza

2009-01-26T12:17:00.000-08:00

The BBC, and Sky, are refusing to broadcast the Disaster Emergency Committee's (that is 13 neutral aid agencies that work internationally in disaster zones and co-ordinate Aid efforts) request to the British public to donate for Gaza. This effectively denies the DEC millions of pounds in much needed funds.

With hospitals bombed, water in short supply, and no electricity, the humanitarian situation in Gaza is dire. One does not need to take sides in this conflict to acknowledge that Aid is urgently required and would abate suffering. The BBC and Sky's decision not to broadcast is effectively the end of any pretense of objectivity in the Israel/Palestine situation. They would prefer not to allow any unstated implication of Israeli culpability for the crisis rather than save the lives of those swept up in a savage conflict, and at the heel of repression. Perversely the BBC, and Sky, have cited objectivity as their reason not to broadcast, which requires Orwellian logic to comprehend. The ministry of Truth is alive and well. No doubt the clocks of the BBC trustees, and those in Murdoch Towers, are striking 13.

Actually, it is the kind of decision one expects from Sky that chimes with Murodch's neo-liberal heartbeat. But I am taken more disappointed by the BBC, who since their undeserved castigation over the Kelly affair have become increasingly like a poor man's CNN.

I stress to add that these are my views and not necessarily those of Plaid!

However-it would be a liberal fallacy for the 'should they broadcast the appeal' to dominate the agenda here. The question should also be of continued British trade with a military regime content to use illegal Weapons in unilateral action against their neighbour. One does not need to approve of Hamas to disapprove of the Israeli government's actions. The BBC, and Sky, should be criticised for their actions, and lopsided coverage- but ultimately it is not these corporations that are to blame- but more the deep-seated liberal hegemony that places little value on the lives and struggle of Palestinians. It is this imbalance that feeds terrorism. Even Bush and Blair, the head antagonists, acknowledged that a peaceful solution in the Middle East was required. By persisting in support of this Israeli government, and governments with a similar uber-zionist agenda with no respect for international law, we are in one way complicit in the murder of innocent Palestinians and Israeli's alike.

Ultimately the relationship between East and West is in the fabric of both our economy and our society- I personally interpret the BBC, and Sky's, actions to be only baffling and misjudged at best and at worst Islamophobic and deeply prejudiced.

Cometh the hour cometh the man

2009-01-21T04:57:00.000-08:00

After a strange 3 month odd hiatus in which we all held our breath and hoped Bush did not do anything else horrendous, a last satanic hurrah, it seems Obama is finally upon us. And praise be.

Ever since that night of hope back in November expectations have been high. In fact expectations have been so high that the media's sole role since seems to have been to collectively manage our expectations, at least in the UK. Right wing commentator after right wing commentator has lined up to tell us 'don't expect any major changes, don't expect things to be very different.' If Obama ran on the ticket of change, then the pre-inaugural message has been one of moderation.
Change is upon us, but don't expect too much of it.

The reasons for this are clear. In order to actually get elected Obama needed to reach much further to the left than any president in my living memory. The anti-war and anti-bush majority fell into line and voted in their masses in a way they simply seemed not to for
Kerry. Obama has been voted in on a mandate not of radicalism, but radical expectation. It leaves questions hanging with speculative optimism in the air

When will climate change be addressed in earnest?
Will the Palestinian peoples' rights and sovereignty be afforded the
same recognition as Israel?
When (not if) will Guantanamo close?
How will the economy be saved?
When will troops pull out of Iraq?
etc etc etc

Bush has indeed left a painful legacy.

This Iraq question, for me at least, is moot. While a humanitarian disaster of epic proportions, and the sparks will not settle in the region for some time to come, commercially Iraq is a tentative success for the West. The oil reserves are being sold off, and oil men who
stood to benefit most from the invasion will see to it that the effort and loss was, for them, necessary. Haliburton, Shell, BP, BHP Billiton, et al- they are more or less happy. And as long as they are happy then the withdrawal will commence, more or less on schedule I guess.

Of course Guantanamo can close too. After years of torture and denial of adequate legal process the detainees, as they are called, are sure to have given up any information deemed useful for fighting the War on Terror. Even for the most embittered hawk Guantanamo has passed its
use. As for the war on terror this will now surely be fought with different tactics. And probably, hopefully, under a different name. Unilateralism is out. Diplomacy is in. Expensive military actions are no longer the order of the day- the country is broke.

Forgive the cynicism here. But I cannot see how the kind of change, redistributive, green, and equality based, envisaged by many of those who voted for Obama, is truly possible in the United States. Even if the man himself is willing the machine is not. The mechanics of state will surely resist realignment, and the kind of fundamental shifts in the social economic model necessary to produce meaningful change just don't loom large enough, with enough determination, in the American psyche. The kind of de-centred socialist programme that is hoped for by many will be kept in a state of deferral. Neo-conservatism is dead and gone for now, its economic raison d'etre in tatters and its motives deeply unpopular and unsustainable, even in a democracy a
flimsy as the United States. Capitalism is still alive and kicking and as hungry as ever however. And in order for its appetite to be sated it requires fresh meat and thinking. Neo-Keynsianism is the order of the day. The workings of trade and commerce will continue to be bolstered and bailed out, with massive investment in public works to at least keep employment as high as possible. More 'expensive' or 'radical' proposals will be on hold.

Genuine progressives and revolutionaries are set to be disappointed, but it is not all doom and gloom. At least, with imagination, even within the limits of Keynsian liberalism, it would be possible to undertake massive and urgent investment in green energy. With international leadership on this issue and US commitment to reducing carbon emissions cataclysmic climate change might, possibly, just, be avoided. Catastrophic wars will be less frequent too. A less aggressive trade policy with some parts of the third world is also likely. There will be no ethical foreign policy magic bullet, especially with economic protectionism prevalent in the trade arena, but things will surely be an improvement on the years of Bush.

In all it is a telling indictment of the hole in which we find ourselves that even limited and cosmetic change is seen as cause for one hell of a party.

Obama is, in all likelihood, just cosmetic change. Famously he is, as BBC reporter Paxman keeps telling us, as if we hadn't noticed "the first black man to be president of the united states." This is a tremendous symbolic hurdle to be crossed. It was needed. Equality is on the agenda and the lips. It is now clear that with ambition and ability that we can all of us climb to the top of Rat Mountain (unless of course you are, for example, Prince Harry and born into privilege,
in which case you don't have to). Of course we have seen significant symbolic leaders in other countries too. Here in the UK we got our first ever (and only to date) female Prime Minister back in 1979. She dove-tailed Reagan's economic policies, went to war with Argentina,
smashed trade unions, splintered community and social cohesion, decimated primary industry, and was ultimately forced to resign over popular revolt against her taxation policy. She didn't do much for feminism, and spent the best part of her career portaying a distance from her sex. She was the Iron Lady, a woman beyond the supposed limits of her biology. Clearly Obama is of a vastly different school from Thatcher- but just it goes to prove that symbols need to be judged above all on the content of their character. And politicians should be held to account on the basis of their policy. We in the UK have also had a populist leader hailing from the left after years of conservative misrule. Unfortunately that was Tony Blair and we all
know what he will be remembered for.

Ultimately, with all my thoughts on this spent, I am guilty of playing the media's game that I criticised at the outset of this article. I am a tiny part of the industry of expectation management. I risk the kind of cynicism that breeds that apathy so apparent across the
British Isles. But maybe not. The promise was Change We Can Believe in.

Now is the time, for all those wonderful Americans who voted for this change, to continue to strive for it. Mutual responsibility and hunger for change begins, it does not conclude, at the ballot box. If Obama disappoints, or is frustrated in office, it is the American people who must continue the process that reached the first of many potential crescendos on November 4th.

In the words of Peter Falk- one last thing. Imagine for a moment if we woke this morning to Mccain and Palin. Imagine the almost universal depth of despair. Now remember again that we have Obama and be glad. God bless America. It is the first time in years, even in jest, that I find myself saying that.

Adios Guantanamo
Goodnight torture and special rendition
You shall not be missed.

Newport march for Gaza

2009-01-19T06:08:00.000-08:00

Approx 500 people marched through central Newport on Saturday to mark their protest at the Israeli assault on Gaza. It was an energetic march made in good spirit and enjoyed widespread support particularly, though by no means exclusively, from Newport's Muslim population. A rally took place in John frost Square, where, among others from across political parties and groupings, Leanne Woods of Plaid Cymru spoke. Sadly Plaid AMs from this area where unable to attend.

Thankfully a ceasefire has now been declared which at least creates a window for meaningful and uninhibited humanitarian work to begin.

I would like to reiterate my sentiments made earlier in the month. For the rights, security, and sovereignty of both the Israeli and Palestinian people to be respected in equal measure.

here are some photos of the march- taken on my mobile phone.

Letter to Paul Flynn MP for Newport West

2009-01-11T14:07:00.000-08:00

Dear Mr Flynn

As one of your constituents I feel obliged to write to you on the subject of the current conflict in Gaza.

I am of the opinion that had unilateral action of this sort, against sovereign territory, been undertaken by an Arab nation, as opposed to Israel, the talk in the corridors of power of NATO etc would be of regime change (of course regime change imposed from the outside will always be met with violent resistance). Instead the UK government has to date failed to make an unequivocal condemnation of this Israeli aggression. With scant regard for civilian life in this densely
populated area this military action is in breach of international law, and will surely only exacerbate tensions and insecurity in the area and beyond. The extent of the human suffering itself in this conflict is surely grave and massive, and is so incomprehensible to us that the
severity can only be guessed at.

By maintaining silence, diplomatic and trade relations with Israel, our government is complicit in the perpetuation of illegal occupation, war crimes, and apartheid. I urge you with all seriousness to campaign that the UK government break relations with Israel until this
current military action is ended, and the borders of 1968 are respected (as is the wish of the UN and the larger international community, and influential factions of the democratically elected
Hamas government).

Action such as this, demonstrating solidarity with the oppressed, the vast majority of whom are followers of Islam in this instance, would ensure the foreign policy legacy of this nominally social democratic Labour government is something other than the humanitarian disaster that is the Iraq War, that so dented the reputation of this administration. I would hope that you, together with MPs, AMs and MSPs, across party benches, could be instrumental in bringing this legacy to bear.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this matter. I advise you that I am publishing this letter on my blog plaidcasnewydd.blogspot.com, and intend to publish your forthcoming reply unless you take specific objection or request for omission.

Yours Sincerely

Election Speculation

2009-01-07T04:41:00.000-08:00

Rumours persist in speculation of an election early in 2009. By this I do not mean that like a sniffer dog I skulk in the corridors of Whitehall, or that I have been party to political pillow talk. Nothing so illicit. I simply mean that after chatting with friends I have heard rumours, from those apparently in the know, that there is an election likely early in 2009. And if these rumours have reached my ears they must be pretty insistent rumours, as I have not one jot of insider knowledge of my own to go on.

Personally I am indifferent as to when the best time for an election would be, for Plaid. The sight of Brown clinging on to the bitter end would be amusing/dismaying. and things as they are with the economy Things Can Only Get Worse. So in many respects the longer Brown waits the better. Regardless of when the next election happens it is likely to be coloured by what effects people most anyway- hatred of the tories or disappointment with New Labour, and in this equation Plaid are likely to do well. If an election was called in Feb it would most likely be a parliament close to hung. This would give the balance of power to Celtic Nationalists and Lib Dems and this would be pretty much the ideal result for Plaid. Whoever wins we will be stuck with either another New Labour or a Tory government regardless. This, in my opinion, makes the case for further devolution as strong as it has ever been, and much needed. Wales needs to be a bastion of de-centred social democratic governance, a world apart from the values of middle england. We will only be able to make this a reality with a proper parliament with proper powers.

Bring on the All Wales convention.
Bring on the euro elections.
And yeah, bring on a general election sometime too.

Gaza Protests

2009-01-06T07:48:00.000-08:00

Demonstrations and events relating to the crisis in Gaza are continuing in Wales:

* Protest march through Cardiff at 2pm on Friday January 9, assembling on the green opposite City Hall.

* Fundraising benefit concert on Wednesday, January 7, at 7:30pm in Dempseys, Castle Street, Cardiff: tickets £5 or donation at the door, in aid of charity Middle East Childrens Alliance.

* Fundraising dinner in aid of Islamic Relief Fund Wales, Thursday, January 8, 6 pm-10 pm, City Hall Cardiff; tickets £15 from 0782 4465159

Plaid politicians on the situation

Jill Evans MEP

"Plaid Cymru has long campaigned for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine and for a two-state solution. We opposed the siege of Gaza which caused such terrible suffering. Gaza itself is smaller than Wrexham or Rhondda Cynon Taf but has a population of 1.5 million. The bombardment and now the ground invasion of this poor and heavily populated area will cause untold misery.

"There have been many calls for a ceasefire which Israel has ignored. The time has come for action.

"One concrete step would be for the European Union to suspend Israel’s privileged trade agreement with Europe, which requires Israel to respect human rights. This would send the clearest signal of the need for an urgent ceasefire."

Plaid President Dafydd Iwan said:

"In my New Year message, I called for people to work together to create a more peaceful world. Most of the world's problems can be better served by talking and negotiations than by military might.

"The state of Israel is showing once again that it believes everything can be solved by military action, and they are in danger of losing the support and sympathy of people across the world who see this as a totally unnecessary act of aggression against a country which is in no position to defend itself.

"We must work with the United Nations to bring peace and stability in the Middle East, but I fear this latest action has made everything more difficult, including the rebuilding of civil life for Palestinians and Israelis.

"The UK government must revoke its support for any new agreements with Israel. The European Parliament should refuse to endorse any extension of existing agreements and should exert its influence to prevent further EU benefits going Israel whilst it fails to observe its international legal and humanitarian obligations."

Book your place on the coach for the Gaza protests in central London Jan 10th.

CARDIFF
Coaches stopping 8 am, Museum Steps, Cardiff & 8.30 Bus Station, Newport
Tickets - £16 waged / £10 unwaged
Contact - Adam Johannes, cardifftroopsout@googlemail.com or 07940108146 to book

Israel/Palestine/Gaza

2009-01-02T08:18:00.000-08:00

I was chatting to a friend of mine the other week, a journalist who used to work for a Palestinian news agency. He was telling me how many younger people in Palestine would favour a confederal peace settlement. By this he means the creation of a joint Arab/Jewish state where all citizens were afforded the same rights and opportunities. He also said that such a settlement would be impossible. Such is the entrenchment and hatred on the extremes of both sides.

One begins to get a sense of the racist and supremacist ideology of some Zionists by reading, the dire vitriol of, for example Ralph Peters. A quick glance at various Hamas manifestos throughout history and you will find terrifying anti-semitic language and calls for the destruction of Israel. Even a cursory understanding of history lends credibility to the motives of such extremism however.

History is a role-call of tragedy. The persecution of Jews throughout Christian history, a process which found ultimate expression in the atrocities of the holocaust, makes the desires for a Jewish homeland completely understandable. The diaspora had failed spectacularly to protect its people. This also makes sense of the suspicion with which the the non-Jewish world is held by some Israeli factions. Really, despite periods of tolerance, there have been episodes of extreme violence and persecution against the Jews for generations.

History however should not be used as a blank cheque book. Persecution at the hands of Europeans in decades and centuries past does not excuse the Israeli actions of now. This is a very real and very modern persecution that is being inflicted on the Palestinians as their lands are blockaded and occupied and their people, soldiers and civilians alike, are left destitute and murdered. It seems geo-political convenience will not permit the application of International Law. Israel continues to hold illegal nuclear weapons and occupy land while the international community (europe, US, and arab nations) wrings its hands in muted complicity, making only overtures to the notion of a peace process. This reality does not at all justify acts of violence against the larger Israeli populace, but it explains it.

Most vile of all has been the Israeli government using attacks against their population as an excuse to press home their ideological and geographical advantage in the region over the last week. The silence from the international community, in part down to leaders unwilling to interrupt their Christmas break I imagine, has been a disgrace. A new administration is on the way in over in Washington, and they are unlikely to be as pliable as the Bush hawks. In light of this the Israeli government has presumably moved to decapitate the Hamas leadership and attain as many bargaining chips as possible when dealing with new Secretary of State Clinton and President Obama.

Hamas are a beast from the sludge and desperation under the colonial boot. Seen from the Palestinian side that beast is most like a Phoneix. This Phoneix, as it appears to some, offers hope, and that is the currency all political organisations wish to posses. It is hope that wins elections, and why Hamas are a democratically elected party of government.

This current Israeli incursion deserves to be condemned from every humane and educated quarter as it moves, without regard for civilian life, to cement its supremacy in Gaza.

Notes on Welsh Nationalism and Happy New Year

2009-01-01T13:45:00.000-08:00

Over Christmas I went to my brother's house for lunch. It was a family affair with a grand buffet, the normal kind of Christmas family party that I hated from my mid-teens until my 20s then started to enjoy again a few years back.

Over a sausage roll (staple Christmas fare) he asked me- "you still writing for those nationalists then?" This use of the word nationalist pricked my ears, as it is a most often used by those attacking Plaid. Nationalism does not enjoy a universal positive image in the UK. The legacy and memory of two world wars ensures that the word is viewed with a suspicion. The trick of those who would attack plaid is to try and make an unmentioned link between nationalism and fascism. But as anyone who has viewed Plaid's policies can tell you there is hardly a right wing bone in the body politic. In fact Plaid's policies, like those of Nationalist governments and parties the world over (SNP, Sinn Fein, Fianna Fail, Catalanists), veer from centrist liberalism to socialist (while never, obviously, becoming national socialist) As a party I think it is fair to say Plaid are well to the left of the current Labour party, and to the right of, for example, the SWP. The left/right divide is of course a crude and increasingly inadequate model for understanding the political spectrum.

There are of course innumerable nationalist parties out there that harbour vile right wing elements. The Northern League in Italy (Italian regionalism in general has a distinctively right wing flavour) would be a prime example of this. The Republican party of the US is another. It goes to prove that words and concepts are tricky. Meanings are not fixed. And nationalism is a schizophrenic entity. For every Bismark there is a Michael Collins.

Crudely speaking nationalism has its roots in two distinct historical tendencies. One being libertarian republicanism, which first found expression in the US and French revolutions, and the writings like those ofTom Paine. The other kind of nationalism has its roots in fascism and national socialism. The kind preferred by Franco, Musolini, and Hitler, that champions the myth of rebirth and the myth of the nation. It is laced with social conservatism and racism. However, nearly all political movements have swallowed and embraced nationalism to some extent. We are all of us nationalists really.

Unless you believe in the immediate dissolution of the EU, the UN, the removal of all national borders and all nation states by means of revolution, you yourself are a nationalist in one form or other. But I guess we don't think of it like that most the time. We rarely interrogate our identities, they seem implicit rather than fluid. Identity however is not fixed, especially not national identity.

So when asked if I am a nationalist I say yes. While not without problematics it seems no crime to me, and I am proud to state, that the Welsh people deserve sovereignty. We all of us regardless of nation deserve democratic institutions answerable the the people. Power should be disseminated to the masses. The greatest happiness for the greatness number of people is only attainable once the greatest number of people have the power to attain autonomy and mastery over their socio-political destiny. This is where socialism comes in. I am pipe dreaming and waxing lyrical of course, but there is a proud tradition of this in Wales and beyond. "I am not the only one of my kind".

Either way, word up, here is one hope for the new year.

That the sovereignty and rights of the people of Palestine are respected in equal measure as Israel's right to exist. Another pipe dream of course, but never-the-less an historical imperative.

Happy new year to you all and thanks for reading x

Review Of the Year

2008-12-22T03:39:00.000-08:00

It is that time of the year again. A time of taking stock of all that you have, or more likely would like to have. A time when we turn to family, tinsel, and maybe the idea of the innocent baby Jesus, to stave off the yawing emptiness at the edge of our lives.

It has been a funny old year. On a personal level I am grateful for my partner's much improved health, the new flat, and the handful of poems, articles, and essays I've had published. And the few songs I've manged to write and perform with the aid of my trusty acoustic guitar.

This world is bigger than me however, at least the world feels bigger than me, which is why I joined a political party. The most openly democratic, and leftist party, in Wales that is. As Ron Davies once said "devolution is a process not an event." I am pleased with my tiny contributions to this event- an event which could, with time and luck, see a dynamic Wales and Welsh people, institutionally ready to face the numerous challenges ahead, and an example of democracy and co-operation in practice. Such heady aspirations are of course flavoured with cynicism.

This year, for example, we have seen:

The Iraqi government start selling off www.handsoffiraqioil.org The Iraqi people's oil reserves. Such a moves render the invasion and occupation a total commercial success while cementing the legacy of humanitarian disaster.

The world watched on with a face somewhere between horror and disapprobation as Burmese rulers sat upon their hands after the country was hit by acyclone and aid failed to be distributed.

The collapse of the Western Financial sector. Our liberal capitalist system was only saved by state intervention on an unprecedented scale. The coffers of central treasuries around the world have been ransacked in order to ensure the continued lack of integrity in the global capital markets and the restoration of the appearance of liquidity. All in all it is a vindication of Lenin's maxim 'that capitalists will always have the funds to prevent any crisis, as long as it is the workers that foot the bill.'

There were no palpable human rights improvements in China as a result of the OlympicGames. Any cynicism from the Welsh people is largely drowned out by cheers as Nicole Cooke brings home the first British Gold medal.

Bolivia faces an internal crisis as the country's wealthy elite make the most self interested claims for autonomy ever. The media, and the left in general, is weirdly silent in its support for the Evo Morales government (even if Tony Benn et al did eventually send out an excellent letter to the broadsheets)

Civilians suffer as Russia is engaged in a game of geo-political chess in Georgia

Italy elect Silvio Berlusconi (again). He forms a coalition with the far right and Italy is given a de facto fascist government (again).

The US electorate defy prejudice and a somewhat dicey electoral system to elect Barrack Obama. He'll take the reins of this imperial looking democracy in the New Year.

There is no real development in the fight against Climate Change, just the familiar prevarication.

Closer to home

Gordon Brown doubles the income tax burden on the poorest in society by imposing a 100% income tax increase on the lowest earners, he then has to backtrack (a little bit). Tax rises for the richest are postponed until after the next election.

Benefits are to be reformed. It seems the sick and incapacitated might be forced to work for free at Tescos or the suchlike in order to keep benefits.

Wales sees a 25% increase in unemployment in three months. Public sector jobs are still cut in Wales.

New Labour first want to shut 1000s of post offices, then want to keep them open. Now it seems they wish to part privatise them.

Key Plaid policies like the Welsh Language Act, and the reversal of the right to buy, are given a hard time by New Labour MPs as they come before them in the form of LCOs. Some talk (correctly) of a constitutional crisis. Most people are unaware of this as they don't know what LCO stands for.

Everyone's favourite droll mopheaded bumbling reactionary closet racist Boris Johnson is elected as mayor of London.

An open verdict is returned on the John Charles De Menezes shooting. The jury were prohibited from returning the verdict of unlawful killing.

Gwent Ambulance response times are among the worst in the UK. (a post on this subject is forthcoming)

On the plus side

Plaid make some gains and new Labour suffer massive defeats in the local elections. Even Kier Hardie's old stomping ground of Blaenau Gwent is lost by New Labour.

SNP make key gains in Scotland- even taking Glasgow East.

There is a special fund for sub-post offices.

Train lines are finally being improved and extended in Wales.

There is a special mortgage relief fund in Wales.

It looks like the devastatingly awful idea of an M4 relief road is all set not to happen (as the Welsh transport budget has been syphoned off to pay for the London Olympics, apparently)

OK- that concludes my review of the year- if there anything that I've missed (there must be) please fill me in...

Why new Labour really 'saved' the Post Offices:

2008-12-19T08:14:00.000-08:00

A few weeks back Peter Mandelson apparently championed a policy to save the Post Offices from threats of closure. A host of New Labour MPs, who had campaigned to keep these amenities open at local level, and then voted for their closure (if they bothered to vote at all), breathed a sigh of relief. Now they could claim to be saviours of this essential public service even if it was their lot who had imperiled it in the first place.

Now the real reason why the post offices were saved isrevealed however. New Labour intend to part privatise the service- and endanger up to 50,000 jobs in the process.

Post Offices have only been saved so that the costs associated with running it can be bumped off the balance sheet, and treasury coffers can be boosted by the sale. As ever, with PFI, there will be be no real saving, and while the risks of running the service will continue with the government any profits will be skimmed off by the private sector. No wonder this practice was so readily embraced by big business.

The usual, and numerous criticisms, of PFI will be be as appropriate with this deal as they are elsewhere. New Labour however, remain wedded to this accountancy sleight of hand.

Winter Fuel

2008-12-16T13:12:00.000-08:00

This campaign was launched today. I think the logic of such a move is indisputable- while of course such a move flies in the face of New Labour and Conservative politicians keen to keep the private sector sweet at all costs.

Gwent Winter Deaths 2007

Blaenau Gwent
24

Caerphilly
46

Islwyn
40

Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney
44

Monmouth
42

Newport East
32

Newport West
52

Torfaen
36

Wales Jobs Losses

2008-12-04T07:58:00.000-08:00

Wales' economy is shrinking faster than the rest of the UK. There are 95,000 unemployed in Wales and there has been over a 25% increase in job losses in the last few months. Unemployment is certainly rising faster than in the rest of the UK. Presumably the government should be protecting as many jobs as they are able right now, but what you may ask is the response of the Westminster Labour government? They plough ahead with plans to shut tax offices across Wales. Just before Christmas. Offices are to shut in Aberystwerth, Bridgend, Carmarthan, Pembrokshire, Brecon, Bangor, Pontypool, and Rhyl.

With a stronger devolution settlement the One Wales government would presumably be able to protect these jobs, but with so much executive and legislative power still residing in the South East nothing can be done. Welsh Labour MPs meanwhile seem keener on hindering Welsh Language and Housing LCOs, in an effort to prevent the creeping feeling of irrelevance, rather than lobby meaningfully to protect the interests of Wales as a whole.

The whole issue of job cuts in wales is wider, and more deeply felt, than devolution however. All those angered and effected by the vicious caprices of the economy at this time should look to campaign together on this, and many other, issues.

Glamorgan Gazette

2008-11-27T08:03:00.000-08:00

I popped over to Bridgend today. While I was there I stopped at a caf' for a mug of tea and and a sandwich, and had a read of the Glamorgan Gazette. The headline story was, superficially speaking, almost amusing. It concerned two drunk blokes who had pleaded guilty for nicking "the holy Mary mother of Jesus and the nativity bed" from a local church. A stupid drunken crime basically.

As I read on the facts were revealed. I read how 'one of the men was homeless having been released from prison 6 days earlier.' This did make me angry (not real anger, but the sort of anger you get from reading things which is a different kind of anger from the proper anger when you end up shouting). Why on earth was someone released from prison only to end up on the streets where, vulnerable, they are far more likely to fall back into patterns of drinking, drugs, and subsequently crime? Fortunately, in this instance, the crime was relatively trivial.

This case is indicative of the rehabilitative failure apparent in our criminal justice system. It demonstrates how the emphasis is squarely on punishment rather than prevention. Letting loose someone with past criminal form, very probably with alcohol problems, alone to fend for himself on the streets, is a recipe for trouble in anyone's books.

I understand that people should not be 'rewarded' for criminal behaviour. I appreciate the idea that we are all responsible for our actions. However, there are social forces at work that can exceed individual capacity. With re-offending rates through the roof, violent crime on the rise, and convictions on the up, surely it is time for a fresh approach- an approach based on rationalism and compassion rather than the urge for retribution.

8 Reasons to Dislike the PBR

2008-11-24T15:18:00.000-08:00

OK- I've just noticed Adam Price has beaten me to it with a PBR reaction. I haven't read his yet and hopefully I'm not just reiterating what he has already observed. (I expect his observations are acuter than mine. He was there live after all :-) )

My main take on it, as a layperson, is that despite welcome fiscal stimulations and interventions the report neglects and fails the needs of Wales and of
the vast majority of taxpayers across the UK in key areas.

This is a bit suprising. We were led to believe through the numerous leaks beforehand that radical things were afoot. But what we have is a report that offers only crumbs to working people. The mainstream media of course paints it differently. They seem to think that Brown and Darling have embarked on a gamble just short of the sort of radicalism exhibited in early revolution Cuba, even if the CBI themselves welcomed the report this morning. Don't be fooled though-

Spin aside these are the key facts:

1. Growth in public spending is actually set to slow from 1.8% to 1.2 %
2. VAT decreases have grabbed headlines. But the effects of this in the pocket are negligible, crucially there is no need for retailers to pass the decrease onto consumers. Even the lowly 2% decreases may not be reflected in prices. Re-instating the 10% tax band for lowest earners would have had a much more tangible benefit. This, however, is not on the cards.
3. The increase in income tax for highest earners, which should have happened back in 1997, is dated to after the next election. So if Labour lose the next general election the increase will be postponed or reversed by the likely Tory victors.
4. The planned increases in national insurance contributions will hit middle income earners and small businesses hard.
5. Of the £3 billion set aside for public works only £100 million is set aside for green projects. This is a massive missed opportunity. If there was any good side to this recession it was the opportunity to substantially 'green' our economy. It is likely more money will be set aside to increase motorway capacity than for green energy
projects.
6. Big business sees almost immediate benefits with a tax holiday for foreign dividends planned from 2009. Basically there is no tax reduction or exemption for the poorest, but for the rich who spend outside our economy.
7. There is no mortgage relief fund. The 3 month delay before repossession proceedings is good- but any homeowner who finds themselves long term unemployed, or under long term financial pressure, will still be at risk from repossession.

Last but by no means least-

8. There is no new money for Wales. Despite Welsh unemployment rates rising and house prices falling among the fastest in the UK there is no additional help earmarked specifically for Wales. We must instead restructure, if deemed necessary, under the unjust confines of the Barnet formula.

New Labour may have broken fiscal rules, and this was totally necessary under the circumstances. But as ever they are short of innovation. This is because Brown and Darling don't have a genuine social democratic bone to rub between them, let alone a socialist one.

When the first increase in income tax for the highest earners is postponed for at least another 3 years, and we are told that is re-distribution, it sums up the full extent of the neo-liberal crisis we are still in the midst of. New Labour seem to be stage managing the financial crisis by making overtures to the left- while making no meaningful ideological break with the past.

The Tories response to the current crisis meanwhile: Do Nothing.

Right- I'm off to read Adam Price's more immediate reactions. I suggest, if you have not already done so- to do the same....

2008-11-15T05:56:00.000-08:00

Remember Warwick Lightfoot....?

I thought not. He was once an important and shadowy figure behind the scenes of the Tory government, and he acted as an adviser over the chancellors who brought us the last recession.

today he was voicinghis opinions over the current recession.

"The exchange rate has fallen sharply this year, by about 16% overall. In my judgement, that's been a good thing...

"But you do not want, even in a very deep recession, your exchange rate to go into some kind of free-fall because it completely undermines confidence in your economy."

The problem with Lightfoot pontificating on the economy was that it was the ethos of financial de-regulation, of which he is such a keen proponent, that brought not only the last recession, but the current one as well. So taking advice from Lightfoot about the economy is a bit like taking advice from Napoleon on the merits of invading Russia.

George Osborne however, desperate to be seen as having something to say, that does not remind people of Russian oligarchs and luxury yachts, is spouting the Lightfoot dogma. If, as one would expect, there is not a run on the pound, George Osborne will start to look very silly indeed.... a Tory meltdown starts here? Probably not- but expect George Osborne to take a polite demotion some time soon.

Glenrothes result

2008-11-07T02:01:00.000-08:00

A few years back I had the pleasure of watching the England and Wales cricket team contest an Ashes cricket series which was eventually won by England (as they are usually called, somewhat erroneously if for convenience's sake).

At some point, maybe the third test, Australia started celebrating a drawn match. I was stunned, the win at all costs and win easily mentality of the Australians had been transformed. They had taken to celebrating results which would have once been seen as disappointing, or at least expected. Change was afoot. England (and Wales!) went on to win the Ashes.

It is this air of unmerited triumphalism that figures in today's headlines. As New Labour celebrate holding on to Glenrothes, Gordon Brown's neighbouring constituency. A new constituency created mostly from Central Fife this was, until the SNP resurgence, safe territory. Don't be fooled by the spin, the song, and the dance. If they are not to be reduced to a rump in Scotland, as the tories now are, New Labour have to hold some seats like Glenrothes. And the SNP increased their share of the vote by 3%, with a 4.6% swing form Labour to SNP. So while the SNP may be a bit disappointed at failing to get another scalp, this is no time for New Labour to bask in glory.

The headline -LABOUR CELEBRATE HOLDING SAFE SEAT- would have an all together different feel to it. One that points accurately to their current decline.

Calls For A Green Windfall Tax

2008-11-06T02:41:00.000-08:00

Earlier this year, after much pressure from the left both inside and outside of the New Labour Party machine, it was announced that a windfall tax was under consideration.

Then- a short time later a windfall tax was categorically ruled out . Just one day after the French nuclear giant EDF announced it would buy the UK's creaky nuclear assets after all. I am not saying the two decisions are connected. But it is foolish to think that a Windfall Tax on profits would not necessitate a restructuring of the EDF offer. Business sense dictates that you will pay a great deal less for, or not bother buying at all, a business that's profits will be taxed, than you would for business which is entirely shareholder friendly.

Going back to at least 2006 there have been calls for a windfall tax based at least in part on Norwegian Oil Legacy programmes. Yet the debate in the UK did not explicitly mention leaving non carbon emitting energy out of the tax. Perhaps this was assumed. But it was not made clear.

A green tax of this nature would be a masterstroke. By ring-fencing carbon tax revenues the government could create a giant capital fund- the interest payments on this could presumably be directed at alleviating fuel poverty. It would also incentivise investment in green technology green energy projects. The energy companies could effectively claim tax back, and this would accordingly be directed at schemes that reduce emissions and create jobs.

That is one possibility. I'd be very interested in running it passed Hilary Benn and Ed Milliband. Given that this New Labour government has presided over one of the lowest tax regimes for the rich ever, while forcing the burden onto the working and middle classes, I won't be expecting a positive response. I'll let you know though. Interesting to note that this proposed tax would exempt nuclear fuel energy providers from paying a penny- while opening up the door for them to receive huge investment grants. Could this make it more attractive to this New Labour government? If we suppose the windfall tax was a consideration for EDF then perhaps it would.

The other possibility is my favoured one. It involves nationalising the energy companies, breaking up the US owned national grid, and encouraging community owned, and produced, green energy. Together with bringing the costs of installing solar energy panels right down- by installing them in every home, and insulating every home (with wool, a commodity we the Welsh are rich in).

This second proposal is the clearly the more radical, and in keeping with my understanding of Plaid's ethos. It is ideas like this supported throughout the grassroots that, as I said at conference this year 'makes Plaid like Plaid, not just New Labour with a red dragon on the sleeve.' However- radical proposals would only be attainable after a period of transition. So the former proposal of a green windfall tax could help facilitate the latter.

I'd be fascinated to hear your thoughts. Clearly something needs to be done. The governments current policies of going nuclear, building an expensive and inefficient Severn Barrage, and making optimistic targets for decades into the future, with no plans of how they will be reached, are failing the climate. Failing the climate is failing our future. To be honest it seems New Labour favour the soft selling of climate change, in order to avoid risking the wrath of big business. The Tories are committed ideologically to more of the same. I despair of English politics, but at least in Wales Plaid offer a green, and progressive, alternative.

election night

2008-11-04T15:17:00.001-08:00

It is election night, just gone 11pm GMT- and in a few hours the world will know whether America will elect the most bold and exciting US presidential candidate, certainly in recent history- or John Mcain.

Already the democrats are poised for a legal struggle if the persistent rumours of electoral purging of African American voters and dodgy voting machines appear to have influenced the result. This, like in 2000 when bush stole the election, could prove significant.

I feel sick with nerves. My memory of a tearful November 2004 feels as fresh- when I remember realising how the world was stuck with Bush for another 4 years. So I am drinking wine here as calmly as I can manage, little sips.

I can't concentrate I am that nervous, so no more posting as of yet.

Needless to say- together with 99.9% of Plaid, am routing for Obama.

2008-10-28T05:12:00.000-07:00

As Leanne Woods has argued more articulately than I the government are getting off on scapegoating the poor these days. It seems hardly a week goes by without a new crackdown on benefit cheats, the 'workshy', or immigrants.

Quite obviously benefit fraud is a serious, and populist, matter for politicians. Yet the costs of benefit fraud do need to but into perspective. Not that our tabloid press, which leads the foaming at mouth brigade, are too keen on perspective. It is estimated that in 2007 the cost of benefit fraud was £690 million. Up a remarkable £678 million for the £18 million of 2006. (This leap makes one wonder how the figures are calculated, or where all these additional fraudsters are coming from). These are a not insignificant sums per annum, and could better spent, but it is substantially less than the costs of the taxpayer bailout of the financial system, for example.

The vitriol aimed at the 'undeserving poor', and all the valid claimants who are caught in the cross fire, would be better directed at the unregulated financial system that treated the UK economy as a casino chip. Unfortunately for anyone who holds a flame for the values of objectivity and truth it is much easier to cast aspersions than take responsibility.

Costs in the UK Economy:

Benefit Fraud: £18 million to £690 million (see above)
Cost of MPs expenses: £86.8 million
War on Iraq: £at least 5 billion
Replacing Trident: £76 billion
Corporate Tax Avoidance: £25 billion
UK Bank Bail-out: £500 billion

Now there are lies damn lies and statistics. It is not my intention here to question the relative merits of defence expenditure and so forth (although you can probably guess my position just from the tone of this article). But clearly, as the evidence bears out, the amount of column inches, and level of hysteria, directed at the minority of fraudulent benefit claims is entirely disproportionate. I just wish collective indignation and anger was directed with greater urgency elsewhere.

Does Newport need a rebrand?

2008-10-24T06:47:00.000-07:00

Newport needs lots of things but one thing it doesn't need is a new golf course. The swank Celtic Manor is just off the M4 and this of course will be home to the Ryder Cup in a couple of years. This could be the most exciting thing to happen to Newport in many a year. Not since the Chartists rose up in an effort to establish constitutional democracy has there been such an air of expectation. The Ryder Cup offers golf the chance to line up with Goldie Looking Chain in being a source of local cultural pride.

All this has been too much for the newly elected Conservative led council. Keen to be seen as full of new ideas, and to pull in as much tourist revenue as possible, they have hit upon the idea to rebrand the city. Newport sounds a bit downtrodden, they reckon, so best to call the city Newport-On-Usk instead. It seems there is an historical precedent for this. Back in the days before the industrial revolution Newport was indeed known as Newport on Usk. Thing is, as anyone familiar with the cost of London's Olympic logo knows, rebrands can be exceptionally expensive. And it isn't just logos. All council branded materials, all signs, buses, and letterheads, would need to be redone. the cost could easily run into hundreds of thousands.

As the city council has just been landed a below inflation settlement now would be the worst time to direct funds away from front-line services. And even if Newport-on-Usk sounds pretty there are any number of initiatives that could be taken in order to make tangible improvements to Newport's tourist infrastructure.

anyway- that is the background- here is Marshfield community councilor for Plaid, Keith Bennett, on the subject:

As a community councilor I know first hand how hard pressed our services are right now. Therefore I feel I have to speak out against this idea to change our city's name.

This Conservative led council has cut back on committees and allowances inherited from the New Labour administration. They said this was because the money would go to front-line services. Now they wish to put the money into an expensive marketing exercise instead. Newport City Council has had a below inflation settlement from government. Cuts will be made or taxes raised. To be ploughing tax
payers money into redesigning logos, and away from hard pressed public services like primary schools is frankly ludicrous. Or have the Conservative councilors forgotten that there is a credit crunch on?

The South Wales Argus argued against a similar re-brand of the Gwent Healthcare trust earlier this year. On the basis that it would detract money from front-line services. The Argus were correct then and they would be right to oppose this Conservative inspired waste of tax payers money now. The council should concentrate instead on making real improvements to this city not just changing the name. As Shakespeare said 'that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet'

New M4 would be bad for business

2008-10-20T07:21:00.000-07:00

I sent this letter out to the south wales Argus today (see below).

For those of you not in the know the Assembly is looking into spending several transport budgets all at once (£350 million) on a few miles of motorway skirting round Newport. Effectively this scheme is a bypass that allows you to bypass the existing motorway that itself allows you to bypass the centre of Newport. So road planning has reached the point where you need to build by-passes for by-passes.

Officially we are now at a point consultation with the motorway. Public, environmentalists, and businesses are being consulted. After this consultation the motorway will go ahead as planned. That is the normal result of such a consultation. Government can say how they have consulted and very carefully, and gravely, decided to do what they planned to do all along thank you very much.

The new M4 would also, somewhat incidentally, though none the less crucially in my opinion- carve through an area of scientific interest, home of cute little mice and voles, and roman ruins. Unfortunately environmental cases- however strong- rarely influence infrastructure decisions. Politicians and the public are both swayed more by economic rather than environmental concerns. For this reason all my campaigning against the motorway will be based on the unsound business case for this new motorway. It is this argument that the environmental lobby need to win if the motorway is to be stopped. The sad thing is that many people couldn't give a stuff for voles and curlews. Fortunately for the voles and curlews however- the business case for the motorway is frightfully weak, as this letter below hopefully begins to illustrate:

The proposed Levels M4 development in Newport would be bad for
business. Tolling motorists and freight vehicles twice- once at the
Severn Bridge, then again at the new M4 as planned, would deter rather than encourage business into Wales.

We are told by the New Labour politicians planning this scheme that the 'economic case' for this motorway justifies the £350 million cost. And that tolling this new stretch is a key to its economic viability. But this 'economic case' for the motorway is shaky at best. Just last week there was credible evidence that one toll at the Severn Crossing was damaging for Welsh business. Are we really meant to think that adding another toll deterrent just a few miles down the road will encourage business into Wales? This new toll will actively discourage investment.

All environmental concerns aside the more you study the Levels motorway proposal the more logically conflicted it becomes. The assembly would be better off holding on to this money and making improvements to our rail infrastructure instead. One key step to tackling climate change is freight on rail. As the new motorway proposal is environmentally unsound and economically incredulous it would be best for everyone if the plans were abandoned now.

Plaid of course are not against all new roads just as they are not against new development in general. Just this week Jonathan T Clark, Westminster candidate for Monmouth, was saying how a new trunk road was needed in the Caldicot area. Plaid are for development- but not when development satisfies only the needs of vested interests and rich lobbyists- but Wales and Welsh communities on the whole.

Scrap Council Tax?

2008-10-16T14:30:00.000-07:00

That sounds 'controversial' (imagine me doing that annoying index finger gesture). However, now would be a fantastic time to rethink the existing council tax system.

Welsh councils have just been given a below inflation cash settlement from the government. While this doesn't sound to bad at first it doesn't take a genius to work out that, since councils are paying more for stuff like the rest of us, they will have to cut spending and jobs to make ends meet. Or, just as unpopular and unfair, raise council taxes. In fact council tax increases are abysmal- as it is the hardest pressed (usually the hardest working in my experience) who notice council tax increases the most. Cutting spending is equally dire. Less money for schools, for police, for refuse collection, leisure facilities, and all the other really important things councils pay for.

When governments cut council budgets they effectively pass the buck for spending cuts onto elected bodies that are not central government- thus spreading the blame when Primary schools need to close, or the lollypop lady gets the sack.

Spare a thought everyone for poor Blaenau Gwent- who this year voted out the New Labour council, and have been handed a measly 1.7% increase in spending, which is like a 3.8% cut (I am not saying these two events are connected or that the outgoing Labour council acted out 'slash and burn' tactics. I am not saying the same thing happened in Newport either. These are just scurrilous rumours.)

With greater powers for the Welsh assembly, and a Plaid government heading it up- we could see off this situation by introducing a local income tax. Plaid has long argued for this. Like conventional income tax local income tax would ensure the rich pay 'slightly' more for local services and the harder pressed less. The current system, based on anachronistic valuations of your house, is not really fair, and it leaves no room for equitable targeted increases directed at those most able to pay. In this way negative effects of a recession in Wales could be mitigated with Plaid in power.

So scrap council tax- of course not- rethink it- yes.

Mortgage Relief and the economy

2008-10-14T06:44:00.000-07:00

In a fanfare, together with billions of squid being doled out to the banks, interest rates were cut last week. All part and parcel of the taxpayer rescuing the failed private sector.

It seems the model made so popular by Thatcher and Reagan, and subsequently deregulated further by Bush, has failed. It was a bad idea to take Adam Smith's enlightenment era advice of 'let the market alone' literally after all. As many of us knew before the credit crunch. The official line of 'no-one could have seen this coming' simply is not true.

Ideology aside the immediate evidence for now is that banks are not passing on the interest rate cut to those struggling with mortgage payments. In fact mortgage rates remain, at best, static. With massive support from the taxpayer to bail out banks in their hour of need the least we should expect in return are mortgage rate reductions, so that ordinary families can live free from the fear of repossesion.

With the limited powers and resources available to us the Plaid deputy housing minister Jocelyn Davies has already taken crucial steps to protect homeowners caught up in the current crisis. But the banks should be caring less about profit and more about their consumers until this crisis has passed. One would hope for an immediate half a percent reduction in mortgage rates. With greater powers Wales could add this string to any bail-out actioned.

Unfortunately this rate cut does not seem to be on the cards and the most we can hope for in the short term is that the gloom mongering news is abated for a day or two and that the economy can take a breath and begin to recover.

The upshot of the entire rescue package is that New Labour, through effectively nationalising so many banks, inadvertently, and in a very roundabout way, end up fulfilling one of their key 1993 manifesto pledges. It is all very much the accidental death of New Labour economics.

Anyone hankering for a socialist utopia on the back of all this nationalisation should not get their hopes up though. It seems most unlikely that either the Tories or New Labour would allow for a similar nationalisation deal to be permitted for any part of the Welsh transport or energy sector. It is one rule for the bankers and another one for the rest of us. This incumbent government in Westminster are the same crew who were until recently declaring an end to boom and bust and asking the FSA to back off the banks. New Labour economics have failed-and in Wales only Plaid have a convincing programme to begin to replace it.

No hope in David promotion

2008-10-14T05:44:00.000-07:00

Wayne David, MP for Caerphilly, was last week promoted to junior minister in Gordon Brown's government. This is clearly payoff for New Labour loyalty and it provides opportunity make a rubbish joke. How does a Welshman get a new Labour promotion? Carefully.

Very carefully in Mr David's case. He, like his Newport East colleague Jessica Morden, has carefully avoided voting against his government on one single occasion. In other words, like so many welsh new labour MPs, he was against an inquiry into the Iraq war, for post office closures, for abandoning the 10p income tax threshold, pro-ID cards, and for 42 days detention without charge (a measure that was abandoned today by central government in light of overwhelming cross party opposition in both places, lords and commons alike).

In South Wales it seems we are stuck for now with New Labour MPs who will do nothing to offend Westminster and upset the New Labour project. This, of course, is one reason among many why to vote for Plaid.

While it would be nice to applaud more Welsh representation at government level it seems David's promotion is nothing more than a thank you after years of forgetting his values and kow-towing to the likes of Blair and Brown. Hopefully the good people of Caerphilly will remember this come the long delayed general election and vote for Plaid. How delicious if Wayne David was to lose to Plaid again, as he did in Rhonnda not so long ago.