seren - cymru_fach

Slump... did we just have a boom?

noreply@blogspirit.com (Lewis JONES) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 14:33:11 +0000

News that Wales (and most of the Western world it seems) is heading for a slump has prompted the odd wag to ask "what, was that a boom"?
Wales for the past 10 years of Brown-inspired "boom" has seen a growth in minimum-wage jobs, soaring credit debt and a collapse in manufacturing industry. The only boom has been the artificial house prices, partly fuelled by localised booms in areas around Cardiff, the Swansea marina and the Chester overspill in Flintshire and Wrexham. Other factors are the college-related boom around Aberystwyth, which can be linked into the buy-to-let mania that has further fuelled house price inflation. Rural Wales has generally been hit by incomers moving from wealthier parts of England, pricing local people out of the housing market entirely.
All this has left Wales further behind in terms of wealth within the UK. There are 47,000 people in the UK earning £350,000 or more - only 500 or so live in Wales. If you earn £35,000 or more in Wales, you are among the wealthiest 10% of the population.
Persistent levels of low pay are at the root of many of our problems - poverty is linked to ill-health, poor housing and low levels of academic achievement. Low incomes limit people's abilities in so many ways it means the wealthier minority have a persistent advantage and that advantage is increasing.
Tackling low pay levels - the average full-time wage in Wales is just £19,100 - would tackle debt, welfare dependency and be far more productive than trying to address the symptoms rather than the causes of many of society's problems. There's a lack of affordable childcare - not because child minders or nurseries pay their staff a good rate but because people aren't paid a decent wage in the first place. It's affordable if you're middle class and able to earn £30,000 or more.
Why isn't low pay on the political agenda? Perhaps because too many of the politicians, senior civil servants, policy advisors, poverty professionals, council leaders, senior council officers, lobbyists and trade union leaders are part of that elite 10% earning more than £35,000.

Stop the School for Slaughter

noreply@blogspirit.com (Lewis JONES) — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 10:40:00 +0100

It's been labelled the School for Slaughter by its opponents. Its proponents call it the biggest ever investment in Wales.
Now a campaign to fight the establishment of a new military training centre in St Athan is gathering pace.
In January 2007, the London government announced the success of the St Athan and Metrix bid to establish a new military training academy.
In Wales, the first Minister Rhodri Morgan and the economic minister Andrew Davies sprayed champagne outside the Senedd in celebration. The local media gave the impression was that this was just about the best thing that had ever happened to Wales: £14 billion worth of contract and around 5,000 jobs.
But how will this military academy contribute to the Assembly's proud goal of achieving sustainable development? What exactly is Wales committing itself to when it signs up for the St Athan deal?
• A future based on militarism
• A commitment to military privatisation
• A welcome mat for the world’s largest missile manufacturer
What will be the impact of the academy on local quality of life – on traffic congestion, for example, and housing affordability? What will be the impact on Welsh education, and the social and political values that are taught to Welsh children and youth?
For those who are committed to a nuclear-free Wales, they should be aware that the Royal Navy’s Maritime Engineering School, which contains the Nuclear Systems Group, is projected to move from HMS Sultan to St Athan by 2017. The Nuclear Systems Group trains the Naval Officers responsible for operating the nuclear submarines that are the heart and soul of Britain’s Trident nuclear weapons system.
A fuller analysis of the issues is now available on the Cynefin y Werin website, , from where much of this article was shamelessly filched.
2,000 bilingual pamphlets have also just been printed to highlight the case against the military academy - to get a copy contact here.
Promoters of the St Athan Defence Training Academy claim the Academy is good for Wales because of the jobs it will create. When the Academy was announced in January 2007, the South Wales Echo described it as a “massive jobs bonanza.” Welsh politicians and media have claimed that the Academy will create as many as 5,550 on and off-site jobs, and that these will be “highly skilled jobs” in fields such as “mobile communications, IT, engineering, logistics, even photography.” Such claims, however, do not stand up to close scrutiny.
In reality, most of the jobs will come from re-locating trainers from other military bases that are being closed in England. There will be jobs for local people - minimum wage work in catering and security.
The PCS union, which represents the trainers, is fiercely opposed to this centralisation of services because it will be a massive Private Finance Initiative scheme that effectively privatised military training and threatens many jobs.
A recent mobilisation of campaigners saw 30 peaceniks gather outside the base and further action is being planned.

Employment - but what kind?

noreply@blogspirit.com (Lewis JONES) — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 00:30:00 +0100

It appears Wales is leading the way in terms of job creation.
As part of the launch of a further £1.8 billion in EU grant aid for the West and Valleys, Danuta Hübner, the European Commissioner for Regional Policy, has congratulated the Welsh Assembly Government.
She said, “The Welsh Convergence ERDF programme 2007-2013 is even more ambitious than the 2000-2006 ERDF programme with 70 per cent of investment being earmarked for jobs and sustainable growth. This strategy is already working in Wales – parts of North Wales now have the highest employment rates in the entire EU."
Which begs the question - if we're creating all these jobs, why are we still one of the poorest parts of the EU?
That much is clear from the fact that much of Wales qualifies for the EU grant aid because it is below 75% of the average EU GDP.
Two answers spring to mind - one is that much of the job creation is low-paid and unskilled. The real boom in jobs in North Wales is among minimum wage workers, many of them migrant workers. The only boom has been for gangmasters, low-wage bosses and landlords who pack Poles into houses like sardines in a tin.
Second is that much of the EU aid is hoovered up by large institutions, consultants and government bodies with the resources to apply for these grants and the means to match fund them. Few community groups have such resources and most communities have little to show for the massive Objective One funding that was allegedly pumped into the area from 2000-6.

West Lothian and the Tryweryn Question

noreply@blogspirit.com (Lewis JONES) — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 12:25:00 +0100

We're frequently reminded of the "West Lothian Question", the situation whereby Welsh and Scottish MPs are allowed to vote on issues relevant to West Bromwich but not West Lothian (as Tam Dalyell so succinctly put it back in 1979).
It's a question that's never been properly answered during the devolution debate and growing powers for the Assembly make it even more absurd that Welsh MPs can vote on health and education matters, for example, that affect English constituencies but don't impact on their own voters.
This is often cited by English nationalists, usually in opposition to devolution. But there is less publicity given to what could be termed "the Tryweryn question".
Back in pre-devolution days, Liverpool Corporation's desire for water (mainly to supply industries that are now long gone) led it to Tryweryn, near Bala. An Act of Parliament was needed to permit the damming of the valley and the drowning of a Welsh community, Capel Celyn.
35 of the 36 Welsh MPs voted against the move but it was passed with the help of English MPs who knew nothing about the community they were voting to destroy.
Not surprisingly, the symbolic nature of the drowning of Capel Celyn in the 1960s still resonates among nationally minded people in Wales.
The manifest injustice then should not be perpetuated now. Welsh MPs should not vote on issues solely for England. There is therefore a clear case for a reduction of Welsh MPs in Westminster because the bulk of decision making on day-to-day matters in Wales takes place in Cardiff.
The savings made by reducing the numbers of MPs should be put towards increasing the numbers of AMs who can therefore scrutinise and hold the Assembly government to account more fully.
We have half-and-half a democracy at the moment, with neither half functioning properly.

Labour unionist to the core

noreply@blogspirit.com (Lewis JONES) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 23:54:02 +0100

David Cornock's insight into the Labour Party's soul searching after its May election setback is interesting:

Eluned Morgan said Labour had to face up to the fact that in some areas "people simply don't like what we are doing".

She added: "We should not be tiptoeing around the nationalists despite being in coalition with them."

Former Secretary of State Paul Murphy told the meeting Labour should resist the possibility of "an obsession with identity in Wales".

(Assembly) Leader of the House Carwyn Jones said Labour should proclaim its unionist beliefs more - a move welcomed by one devosceptic MP.

Former first secretary Alun Michael said the Assembly should be increased to include 80 members, two per constituency, with no regional list AMs. He also suggested a Northern Ireland-style power-sharing deal in which all parties would share responsibility for making devolution work.

Eluned Morgan's point about tiptoeing is something Plaid Cymru should bear in mind, as it tiptoes round the new coalition partner for fear of causing it to collapse. Let's get one thing straight - One Wales is an agreed set of objectives with 2/3rds of the AMs backing it. Criticising Labour on anything outside that is fine and, indeed, should be a priority as Gordon Brown sets about making his bizarre Britishness a key aspect of any forthcoming election.
Labour, as Carwyn "the devolutionist" Jones, reveals is Unionist to its core and is therefore the enemy of anyone seeking self-determination for Wales (as are the other big two London parties).

Having said that, Alun Michael's point about increasing the number of AMs is interesting and would be a vast improvement on the unworkable list AM set-up, which has created second-class AMs with few of the constituency ties or workloads of the First Past The Post AMs.

the red-green agreement

noreply@blogspirit.com (Lewis JONES) — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 23:44:38 +0100

The UK media's news blackout about the historic Labour-Plaid agreement prompts this posting.

Firstly, some background:

On May 3, Labour achieved its worst percentage result in Wales since 1918 (33%) but managed to hang on to 26 seats out of the 60 Assembly seats.
Plaid gained three AMs to go to 15, Tories 12 (+1), Lib Dems were static on 6 and Trish Law retained her seat as an independent People's Voice representative. Forward Wales AM John Marek lost his seat in Wrexham to Labour.
Prior to the election Labour had made much of the threat of "vote Plaid, get Tory" - i.e. that Plaid would do a deal with the Tories and Lib Dems in the event of a hung Senedd.
This appeared to be happening when the leaders of the three parties agreed a so-called Rainbow alliance. The agreement was essentially Plaid's policies with some Lib Dem add ons with the Tories content just to be back in some kind of power at a national level for the first time in 10 years. Four left-wing Plaid AMs - all women - stood up against this deal, saying Plaid's left philosophy was at odds with Tory philosophy.
At the same time, the Lib Dems national executive managed to tie on a vote to approve the deal and, on that basis, they rejected the Rainbow deal.
Labour moved quickly and formed a minority government. The Rainbow momentum was lost.
Then a curious thing happened. Adam Price, Plaid's leading strategist and MP for Carmarthen East, posted a message on his blog advocating an alliance between the two left-wing parties in the Assembly. Plaid and Labour.
Before people start choking at the idea of Labour as a left-wing party, it's as well to recall that Welsh Labour has remained essentially Old Labour - rejecting private finance initiatives in health and education, maintaining comprehensive education and keeping business at bay and introducing modest reforms such as free prescriptions for all (something taken up by the SSP) and free bus passes for all Welsh pensioners.
Plaid had run the campaign on a social democratic platform of reforms (what it could deliver within the Assembly's limitations) coupled with demands for greater powers for the Assembly.
So the idea made sense but seemed to have missed the boat. Then Edwina Hart, a Labour minister, came out publicly and supported the idea of a red-green coalition.
Suddenly momentum grew and One Wales, an agreement that combined most of Plaid's policies with firm commitments to halt all privatisation and PFI in the NHS and keeping council housing in the control of local authorities, was born. The agreement also commits Labour to a referendum on a Scottish-style Parliament and to campaign for a 'yes' vote.
Only a red-green alliance can deliver on the constitutional issue because a 2/3rds majority is needed in the Assembly to trigger a referendum. Plaid and Labour between them have 41 members out of 60. The Rainbow couldn't meet that criteria.
Plaid was - and remains - split between those wanting red-green and those who see the chance to ditch Labour, which has ruled Wales ruthlessly for 80 years, and impose a Plaid-led coalition with Ieuan Wyn Jones (Plaid's leader) as First Minister.
But the four left-wing women AMs were joined by others and voted through the red-green deal.
Labour meanwhile has started to tear itself apart, with a clear split emerging between the AMs (generally in favour) and the MPs (generally against) - of course, a Parliament in Wales would mean reducing MPs in London.

What next?
On Friday, a special Labour conference will vote on the agreement. On Saturday, Plaid's National Council - a democratic body made up of party delegates - will vote on the same agreement. If it goes through both meetings, as expected, then a Labour-Plaid government will be in power.

Adam Price's blog makes it clear that this is not only a historic agreement but that it is intended to drive a wedge into Labour - to divide the pro-devolutionists from the unionists in the party. From the tone of various MPs and AMs today, it looks like it's working.

For comrades outside Wales, I'd urge you to take a look at the One Wales agreement - take a look on Ted Jones's blog for the full version. You may be surprised.

God bless the Prince of Wales!

noreply@blogspirit.com (Lewis JONES) — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 12:49:30 +0000

If Prince Charles didn't exist then republicans would have to invent him.

He's probably done more damage to the monarchy in the past 20 years than any of its opponents and his latest gaffe continues in this fine tradition.

The Western Mail reports that he has launched a legal clampdown on the use of the Three Feathers symbol:

“Letters have been sent by Buckingham Palace to several Welsh companies demanding they stop selling items bearing the insignia, regarded by many as representing Wales itself, and not merely its Prince, immediately.

Sent from the Lord Chamberlain's Office, copying in Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall's offices, the letters spell out that the emblem 'usually known as the Prince of Wales Feathers' is 'the personal property of the Prince of Wales, and as such is protected from misuse by law'."

There are thousands of products, from mugs and rugby shirts to business logos and stationery, that use the symbol. All, apparently, without the authority of his majesty.

Ernest Brooks, who runs his own jewellers in Ammanford, was among those who got a letter and he wasn't impressed at being told to remove the Prince of Wales Three Feathers badge from a range of jewellery:

"Prince Charles has inherited the symbol. It's more than 600 years old and he's allowed to use it by the people of Wales, not the other way around."

Except that Carlo thinks he has a divine right to rule, has a servant to squeeze his toothpaste out with a silver tool and is totally ignorant about Wales and the world.

Dai Lloyd, the Plaid AM, comments that this will backfire even among the minority of the Welsh population who still hold the monarchy in some respect.

Still, this is a good thing. Hopefully all those awful three feathers rings and logos will now be replaced by something more appropriate - how can anyone wear the three feathers with the "Ich Dien" (I Serve in German) with any pride?

Ich Dien? Twll dy din, Carlo.

St Athan - is it good for Wales?

noreply@blogspirit.com (Lewis JONES) — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 19:30:00 +0000

It's taken some time for me to focus on the St Athan "jobs bonanza". Perhaps it was Andrew Davies's rant that did it, so I did a bit of digging. And it's very interesting what you can find in MoD Press Releases.

The 4,000 jobs being created by the MoD's new training base in St Athan will not be for locals:

"Some 3,400 military and 3,000 civilian instructors and support personnel...are potentially affected by the DTR Programme."

This means that 6,400 jobs are going in more than nine bases in England to try to squeeze into 4,000 jobs in Wales. Most will be skilled trainers who move to St Athan, leaving the usual security and cleaning minimum wage jobs for the locals.

This, apparently, will boost house prices. Is this a plus?

The transition will start in late 2008 and is expected to last five years.

So let's count those jobs in 2013 and remind ourselves of the politicians' promises. They might sound something like this BBC report from 2003:

"The Defence Aviation Repair Agency (Dara) has confirmed it will go ahead with a £77m hi-tech maintenance centre - securing 3,300 jobs. Project Red Dragon, which secures the jobs at RAF St Athan, will be built on a 100-acre site at the base in the Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales.
The long-awaited government approval comes after months of uncertainty over the future of the site.
It is expected to act as a springboard for plans for an aviation centre of excellence at RAF St Athan, in the Vale of Glamorgan.
Assembly First Minister Rhodri Morgan said this could potentially create a further 4,000 jobs."

The jobs, of course, were as hyped as these but never materialised.

Whatever became of Rhys Ifans?

noreply@blogspirit.com (Lewis JONES) — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 22:54:06 +0000

Among the troublemakers running riot in Clwyd (just the name of that long-abolished county gives you a warm glow) in the 1980s was a spiky youngster called Rhys Ifans. Here he is after painting slogans for Cymdeithas yr Iaith and getting picked up by the fuzz, which is always painful.

Wonder what became of him?

(Shamelessly nicked from Flickr)

Prisons full - unless you're for peace

noreply@blogspirit.com (Lewis JONES) — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 09:24:25 +0000

The prisons crisis has thrown up some interesting anomalies.

Lindis Percy, a 64-year-old peace campaigner, has been sent to prison for non-payment of a fine imposed after she protested outside a US signal intelligence station in Yorkshire. She was given a seven-day sentence in a County Durham jail, despite appearing in court with a broken arm in plaster.

Meanwhile Derek Williams, a convicted child pornographer who admitted downloading 180 indecent images of youngsters onto his computer, was released by Judge John Rogers in Mold because the prisons are full. He fully expected to get a prison sentence and the crime warranted one. He's back home in Blaenau Ffestiniog.