Welsh women bloggers please stand up.

Everyone is starting to talk about who has the most political bloggers- is it Plaid, lib dems etc (its certainly not Labour in Wales that's for sure, although Labour are excellent at providing plenty of anonymous comments...)

Nevertheless, my plea is for more Welsh women to blog about Welsh politics. From scanning welshblogindex.blogspot.com I can only identify seven women bloggers- Betsan Powys, Miss Wagstaff, Heledd Fychan, Leanne Wood AM, Jill Evans MEP, Valleys Mam, and me. If there are more then let me know. Perhaps some of the other bloggers with pseudonyms are women, but I don't think they are. Jane Davidson AM started a blog on her myspace page before the election but that has fallen by the wayside, and some of the other women candidates for the National Assembly stopped blogging very soon after the May result.

It would give a different angle on the blogosphere if more women decided to blog, but I think many are put off by the mainly male orientated vibe that the blogosphere exudes. The remarks which are left in some of the comment boxes of various blogs are sexist on occasions- one comment talked about the weight of female politicians in a negative way, for example. Yes, I know that you will say that we should take it with a pinch of salt- and believe me I do, otherwise I would never blog again, but there has to be a positive way in which we can attract more women to the world of the blogs. In other fields of interest, women have embraced the blogosphere (often to the detriment of their personal lives) but here in Wales the phenomenon hasn't really taken off.

Considering that there are so many female politicians at the Assembly we should encourage a campaign to get more women blogging and contributing to the debate online. Only then can we rival Glyn Davies's infamous wet t-shirt competition blog entry a while back...

Rali ym Merthyr yn erbyn glo brig/ Merthyr rally against open cast

Dyma cwpwl o luniau o'r brotest yn erbyn glo brig a ddigwyddodd ym Merthyr ar ddydd Sadwrn. Roedd y rali, y cyfarfod cyhoeddus a'r gig yn lwyddiant mawr ( er gwaetha'r sylw pitw a rhoddwyd iddo gan y BBC ac eraill) ac mae nifer o bwyntiau gweithredu gen i nawr yn dilyn o'r cyfarfod agored am y ffordd ymlaen. Rwyf yn bwriadu ysgrifennu at Jane Davidson i ofyn iddi wir ystyried cynnwys Ffos y Fran o fewn y buffer zone 500 m a fydd o bosib yn cael ei gyflwyno ymhen ychydig. Mae'n annerbyniol bod y glo brig yn yr ardal mor agos i dai pobl lleol. Mae son am fwy o glo brig ym Merthyr hefyd nawr, yn benodol ble mae fy rhieny yn byw yn Heolgerrig. Mae'n bwysig os oes rhaid cael glo brig yn yr ardal bod y buffer zone yn cael ei weithredu. Mae pobl wedi bod yn aros rhy hir am hwn, ac mae'n bwysig i weithredu yn awr.

Wedi i Huw Lewis siarad mor gryf o blaid gweithredu buffer zone yn yr ardal yn y Cynulliad yn ddiweddar, roeddwn i'n disgwyl ei weld o ar y rali. Ond na, doedd o ddim ar gyful y lle. Fe ddaeth Jill Evans ASE, Leanne Wood AC a Mike German. Fe wnaeth George Monbiot, gohebydd yn y Guardian siarad yn y rali, ynghyd a phrotestwyr lleol a Gordon James o Gyfeillion y Ddaear.

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Here are a couple of pictures of the protest against open cast mining which was held in Merthyr on Saturday. The rally, the public meeting and the gig were a success ( regardless of the lack of coverage given to it by the BBC etc) and I took quite a lot of actions points from the meeting. I intend to write to Jane Davidson to raise with her again the fact that retrospective planning should be granted to Ffos y Fran in relation to the 500m buffer zone. It is unacceptable that this opencasting is taking place so close to people's homes. There are talks of further open cast developments in the area also- namely in Heolgerring where my parents live and where I grew up. Its important that if there has to be open cast in the area that the buffer zone is implemented. People have waited far too long for this, and we must act now.

Having listened to Huw Lewis's rousing speech lately at the Assembly with regards the buffer zone I thought that he would have turned up for the events in his area, but that wasn't to be. Jill Evans MEP, Leanne Wood AM and Mike German were amongst the politicians present. George Monbiot, a Journalist and climate change campaigner spoke at the rally, as did local campaigners, and Gordon James from Friends of the Earth.

Leanne Wood's new blog and website

Leanne Wood AM has a new blog and a new website. Please link to them if you are regular bloggers....

London centric Question Time

Here is a letter that I have just written on the Have your Say BBC Question Time site. Basically, Leanne Wood Plaid AM was supposed to be on Question Time tonight, and today she was told that she would be replaced regardless of the fact that her name has been on the website as taking part all week. There are no Plaid politicians on the panel IN WALES. I find this totally unacceptable. Would they do the same thing to the SNP in Scotland? I don't think that they would even consider it. This is censorship on behalf of the BBC.

Please write to complain!

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I would like to place a complaint against Question Time for pulling Leanne Wood AM from the line up for tonight's show. The show will take place in Wales, yet there is no representation from Plaid Cymru- the main opposition party here in Wales. This is totally unacceptable.

In shows that take place in other parts of Britain, smaller parties, and a cross section of opinion has been represented, yet when the show is in Wales this evening, a large percentage of opinion shall in fact be ignored due to the fact that you have neglected to include Plaid representation on the panel.

I will not be watching tonight's show in protest. Leanne Wood is a hard working, campaigning AM, who has appeared on the show previously. The fact that there are no Plaid Cymru politicians on a show in Wales in the run up to May’s Assembly election is outrageous.

Regards

Bethan Jenknis

Politicians protest at Faslane. Democracy is alive!

Well done to Plaid's Leanne Wood AM and Jill Evans MEP for taking part in the Faslane protests today. They took part in the campaign Faslane 365- a continuous peaceful blockade of the trident base at Faslane, Scotland. It started in October 2006, and will end in September 2007. Faslane 365 is a protest against the renewal of trident, which at a cost of over £20bn will be totally unethical. Money could be well spent on our failing health service and our education system as opposed to an outdated and aggressive nuclear weapon.

I understand that Leanne Wood and Jill Evans have been arrested alongside another 30 Politicians, some from the Scottish Parliament, Rosie Kane of the SSP being one of them. It's exciting to see that Politicians are still taking part in direct action- an effective way of protesting and of raising awareness of important political issues. So few Politicians take part in direct action as they belittle its effect, but if you look back over the centuries, some of the most effective campaigns have been of the non-violent direct action kind. Where would we be without the Suffragettes, for example, or Rosa Parks? The list goes on.

It is typical that a Labour Member of the Scottish Parliament said today that the protest was directed at the wrong place, and that people should 'focus on Westminster- where the decision is being made.' Well, we all know that Tony Blair is intent on pushing through the retention of trident. Surely such protests will place the issue of nuclear arms at the top of the political agenda, and create a more balanced debate in Westminster? And surely, Tony, if we want to be the shining light of democracy and peace in the world, should we not reject the development of more nuclear arms, and the inevitable arms race that will follow?

The protests will continue, and if you wish to join the campaign as many pressure groups, civil rights groups and Political Parties have done, then go to the website www.faslane365.org for more information on how to get active. To see the BBC's article of the protest, go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/6239435.stm