I haven't managed to blog for a while because it's been quite busy. I went to the BT call centre in Cardiff on Friday night that takes the calls for Children in Need. I've put a picture on my blog of the event. It's not often I'll advertise another politician from a different party, but Jenny Willott MP attended the event also, so here we have it!!
It's a Sunday afternoon, and so I have a little more time than I do in the week to blog. I've just been watching Huhne and Clegg rip each other to pieces on the Politics Show, which was quite a spectacle. Considering that Peter Black's blog posts centre mostly on Plaid Cymru, and on our internal differences etc, I wonder how detailed a response he will give to what I can only describe as an embarrassing situation for the Lib dems on live television this morning. It seems that tensions are fraught between the two leadership camps in the run up to the vote, and that they are reverting to personalising the issue- another thing which the Lib dems do so well. Does anyone remember Charles Kennedy?! Being a bystander to the leadership race, and purely on today's performance, Clegg seems to be coming out on top. He managed to take the moral high ground to Huhne's personal attacks on him as 'calamity Clegg', but that's about as much as I can muster in enthusiasm for this contest for today I'm afraid.
Of course, Plaid have had an interesting week, to say the least- what with the discussion on our defence policy, and the House of Lords. On the latter issue, I am disappointed that our party has decided to send members to the House of Lords. It just seems to me that we should be concentrating our efforts on campaigning on a referendum on a Parliament for Wales, and utilising our best people in this area as opposed to sending them to an undemocratic body in Westminster. In my opinion, this action will only serve to bed Plaid Cymru down further as part of the London based political agenda.
I hope I am proven to be wrong, and that we will gain from having representatives who scrutinise laws and measures effectively at the House of Lords when they are selected next year, but I firmly believe that we should be concentrating our efforts elsewhere. As a party that spearheaded the cash for honours inquiry alongside the SNP, we should be distancing ourselves from this institution, not actively legitimising an undemoctratic body, which Gordon Brown has announced that he has no intention of reforming during this term of Parliament, at least.
Nevertheless, the reality is that the party has endorsed representation at the Lords. I can take a good guess as to some of the names that will be considered. Can you?!
It's a Sunday afternoon, and so I have a little more time than I do in the week to blog. I've just been watching Huhne and Clegg rip each other to pieces on the Politics Show, which was quite a spectacle. Considering that Peter Black's blog posts centre mostly on Plaid Cymru, and on our internal differences etc, I wonder how detailed a response he will give to what I can only describe as an embarrassing situation for the Lib dems on live television this morning. It seems that tensions are fraught between the two leadership camps in the run up to the vote, and that they are reverting to personalising the issue- another thing which the Lib dems do so well. Does anyone remember Charles Kennedy?! Being a bystander to the leadership race, and purely on today's performance, Clegg seems to be coming out on top. He managed to take the moral high ground to Huhne's personal attacks on him as 'calamity Clegg', but that's about as much as I can muster in enthusiasm for this contest for today I'm afraid.
Of course, Plaid have had an interesting week, to say the least- what with the discussion on our defence policy, and the House of Lords. On the latter issue, I am disappointed that our party has decided to send members to the House of Lords. It just seems to me that we should be concentrating our efforts on campaigning on a referendum on a Parliament for Wales, and utilising our best people in this area as opposed to sending them to an undemocratic body in Westminster. In my opinion, this action will only serve to bed Plaid Cymru down further as part of the London based political agenda.
I hope I am proven to be wrong, and that we will gain from having representatives who scrutinise laws and measures effectively at the House of Lords when they are selected next year, but I firmly believe that we should be concentrating our efforts elsewhere. As a party that spearheaded the cash for honours inquiry alongside the SNP, we should be distancing ourselves from this institution, not actively legitimising an undemoctratic body, which Gordon Brown has announced that he has no intention of reforming during this term of Parliament, at least.
Nevertheless, the reality is that the party has endorsed representation at the Lords. I can take a good guess as to some of the names that will be considered. Can you?!
3 comments:
hi Bethan
I have blogged on the Hulme v Clegg fight How sad was that Ive added a link so that you can see it replayed
Iawait Mt Blacks comments with interest.
I think the LD have mega problems
Well Bethan, despite the fact that we are both firmly on Plaid's left-wing, I have to disagree on this one. I will never call anybody Lord, and dislike the aristocratic, undemocratic and corrupt nature of the House of Lords.
However, I was glad when we did vote for the motion, and was one of the many who voted that way yesterday afternoon. Nobody in the party likes the undemocratic Second Chamber of Parliament, but I am firmly convinced of the case for having Plaid representatives there.
I think that by not voting to endorse the motion, we would have been cutting ourselves off from a crucial mechanism of the UK Parliament. Nobody in Plaid likes the structure of the British state but this is the state we have at present, and in order to further the aims of a full Senedd and independence, that's the state we have to use.
Surely the top Plaid bet has got to be Dafydd Wigley, and possibly Cynog Dafis...however the Western Mail reckon weather presenter Sian Lloyd is a dark horse! A snub to Lembit maybe?
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