Yesterday, I attended the ITV Wales Carer Awards in Cardiff. A young 9 year old boy, Daniel Matthews from Bridgend, was the overall winner. He had cared for his mother, suffering from a brain tumour until she died recently. I have a 7 year old sister, and it seems extraordinary to me how a child so young had so many responsibilities. The work of carers, and especially young carers are to be commended, and should be acknowledged much more widely.
Before I was elected, I initiated Jill Evans MEP's competition for young people to send in a DVD, or any visual images, of issues that are important to them in society, and a young carers group took part. It was memorable in that they stress how little the understanding is of the work that they do, and they came up with the idea of encouraging the Assembly to introduce a system whereby young carers have cards to show at school or college if they cannot complete homework on time, or if they have to take time off to look after their family. They could then show their card to the people concerned. It is a good idea, but it is important that we address the issues surrounding their circumstances generally, and seek to address this on a wider level.
Today I sponsored the launch of the Disabled Children Matter campaign. They are calling on the Assembly to put in practise schemes to finance services for young disabled people, and to ensure that they have fair access to such services.
In other news, Gordon Brown addressed the Labour Conference for the first time yesterday. The mood seems to be swinging towards an early General election given that the polls show support for Brown and Labour on the increase. Everyone seems to be fascinated by this new style Brown Government, but I'm a little sceptical.
Much of the support is due to the sigh of relief that Labour in Westminster can take due to Blair's departure, and little else. I sense that Brown is concentrating on all things 'British' to try and marginalise Plaid and the SNP in the knowledge of a soon to be General election, where they want a straight Labour v Tory fight.
Nevertheless, they'll have to be quite vocal to shut us up, frankly. They know that tensions exist in their own party about the future of devolution, so this surge to pander to the Unionists in London Labour is all part of an attempt at party discipline. Let's see how long things last until the cracks start to show, and until the MP's start to kick off again- the LCO's ( new Assembly powers) will be a test to this, and whether or not they will exercise their ability to veto measures, or at least disrupt Welsh Assembly led legislation.
As a party we are ready for a General election, and are ready to take on the challenge. I think that people can see through the Labour party at Westminster's 'Britishness' agenda. With the success of the SNP, and Plaid so far in Government, this is merely another scaremongering attempt by Brown and co. Plaid, arguably so, was once dismissed by critics as being a pressure group on the fringes of mainstream politics. This just doesn't wash anymore, sorry, and we are hoping for a successful Westminster election campaign, if and when it is called in the next few weeks.
Before I was elected, I initiated Jill Evans MEP's competition for young people to send in a DVD, or any visual images, of issues that are important to them in society, and a young carers group took part. It was memorable in that they stress how little the understanding is of the work that they do, and they came up with the idea of encouraging the Assembly to introduce a system whereby young carers have cards to show at school or college if they cannot complete homework on time, or if they have to take time off to look after their family. They could then show their card to the people concerned. It is a good idea, but it is important that we address the issues surrounding their circumstances generally, and seek to address this on a wider level.
Today I sponsored the launch of the Disabled Children Matter campaign. They are calling on the Assembly to put in practise schemes to finance services for young disabled people, and to ensure that they have fair access to such services.
In other news, Gordon Brown addressed the Labour Conference for the first time yesterday. The mood seems to be swinging towards an early General election given that the polls show support for Brown and Labour on the increase. Everyone seems to be fascinated by this new style Brown Government, but I'm a little sceptical.
Much of the support is due to the sigh of relief that Labour in Westminster can take due to Blair's departure, and little else. I sense that Brown is concentrating on all things 'British' to try and marginalise Plaid and the SNP in the knowledge of a soon to be General election, where they want a straight Labour v Tory fight.
Nevertheless, they'll have to be quite vocal to shut us up, frankly. They know that tensions exist in their own party about the future of devolution, so this surge to pander to the Unionists in London Labour is all part of an attempt at party discipline. Let's see how long things last until the cracks start to show, and until the MP's start to kick off again- the LCO's ( new Assembly powers) will be a test to this, and whether or not they will exercise their ability to veto measures, or at least disrupt Welsh Assembly led legislation.
As a party we are ready for a General election, and are ready to take on the challenge. I think that people can see through the Labour party at Westminster's 'Britishness' agenda. With the success of the SNP, and Plaid so far in Government, this is merely another scaremongering attempt by Brown and co. Plaid, arguably so, was once dismissed by critics as being a pressure group on the fringes of mainstream politics. This just doesn't wash anymore, sorry, and we are hoping for a successful Westminster election campaign, if and when it is called in the next few weeks.
3 comments:
Hi Bethan
Elli di newid y ddolen ar dy blogroll i fy mlog i http://this-is-sparta.blogspot.com/
Diolch
-Sanddef
It is amazing, and all young carers should be applauded. But we must recognize that when such a huge responsibility is placed on a child, it is likely to affect their life chances. It is a failure of state and society to provide professional care when children and young people are facing such tasks.
'Carer cards' are a small step to take. This is part of the child poverty and lifelong poverty problem. The real challenge is to ensure that everyone gets the care they need, so that children can grow up with a proper childhood.
quite true, Rhydian. That's way I said we need to look at the wider issues. It will be something I will look in to as part of my Child Poverty brief.
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