Dyw pethau ddim yn edrych yn dda iawn i Alun Cairns wrth iddo ymladd i gadw ei le fel ymgeisydd seneddol y Torïaid ym Mro Morgannwg. Petai’n ymgeisydd yn Llundain, yn hytrach nag mewn ardal ddiarffordd fel y Fro mae’n siŵr y buasai wedi gorfod rhoi’r gorau iddi’n barod. Byddwn hefyd yn fodlon dadlau y byddai’r chwip Torïaidd wedi’i dynnu oddi arno yn y Cynulliad Cenedlaethol hefyd. Y rheswm dros ddweud hynny yw’r ffordd y mae’r blaid Geidwadol wedi mynd i’r afael ag achos James McGrath, yr ymgynghorydd arbennig i Boris Johnson, maer Llundain. Dyma sut mae’r newyddiadurwr Marc Wadsworth yn adrodd yr hanes yn y Guardian ar-lein.
When I put to McGrath that an influential black columnist for the Voice newspaper suggested that...
Mae’n bosib bod darllenwyr cyson y blog yn gwybod yn gwybod yn barod nad oes gen i lawer o amynedd gydag Alun Cairns AC. Efallai bod y ffaith ei fod yn Dori o Glydach yn rhywbeth i’w wneud â’r peth; mae’r ffaith ei fod wedi bod yn gweithio i Lloyds TSB hefyd yn cyfri yn ei erbyn yn fy meddwl i - dyna yw fy manc innau ac mae meddwl bod fy arian wedi bod yn mynd i’w dalu ef yn uniongyrchol yn broblem arall. Wrth gwrs, fel aelod cynulliad, mae fy arian yn parhau i’w dalu i wneud ei waith!
Pan glywais i am ei ffopa ar raglen Dau o’r Bae ar Radio Cymru mae’n rhaid imi gyfaddef fy mod wedi ymroi i schadenfreude – pleser dymunol iawn ond rhywbeth i’w gadw’n gyfrinachol ar y cyfan dwi’n teimlo. Mae gweld Tori yn cael ei haeddiant wastad yn bleserus, ond yn fwy...
What is it with Conservative AM's and their lust for a seat at Westminster. It would seem that Alun Cairns AM will try and emulate his colleague David Davies and stand for a Westminiter seat in the next general election. It would seem that these conservative AM's value a cushy seat at Westminster above a seat in Cardiff Bay... only goes to show that there are elements within the British Conservative Party who look at the assembly with disdain, and cant wait for a ticket out of there to the parliament in London!MORE HEREPosted by...
Alun Cairns AM worries about the impact of falling newspaper sales on the scrutiny of our elected representatives.
Culture Minister Alun Pugh AM reports on a day of campaigning and testing out his Welsh.
Plaid candidate Bethan Jenkins looks at splits in the Swansea Lib Dem group and Peter Hain's intervention on a Lab-Plaid coalition (further comment on this comes from Blamerbell, Taffia Don and Guerrilla Welsh-Fare)
Labour's YouTube attack ad has caused a bit of a stir - Blamerbell, Emma Greenow (Tory candidate for Bridgend), Huw Lewis AM (Lab, Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney), Sophie Howe (Lab candidate for Cardiff North), Daniel Davies, Trefor Jones (Tory candidate for Ceredigion)
Whether or not St David's Day should be a national holiday has also been much discussed - Blamerbell,...
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The gloves are off, because as all good politicians know you can't sling mud if you're hands are tied up.So much for parties putting forward a positive future vision for Wales at this election. Labour spent their conference slagging off the Tories and inadvertently drawing attention to David Cameron's current popularity. Plaid kicked out at Labour, and the Tories, in turn, volleyed a few missiles back towards Rhodri Morgan.Nobody really bothered to attack the Lib Dems, so Peter Black stepped up to attack Plaid for attacking Labour.Meanwhile, the Lib Dems claim they are whiter than white (or goldener than gold), but Alun Cairns reminds us that they fought the 2003 campaign on a misfiring 'Kick the Tories out' platform.Soon, the twisting of facts and figures will go into overdrive, leaving...
Penddu at Independent Wales warns that Plaid must remain a broad coalition.
Jeff Rees criticises Peter Hain's apoplogy for Wales' part in the slave trade and calls for the devolution of justice to Wales.
Daniel Davies looks at Rhodri Morgan on the Labour leader's seventh anniversary as First Minister.
Taffia Don suggests that Rhodri Morgan's enviro-gaffe demonstrates how 'out-of-touch' he is while Ted Jones thinks the First Minister may have been getting inspiration from Turkmenistan.
Steffan Lewis accuses Dai Davies MP of betraying the people of Blaenau Gwent.
Conservative leader Nick Bourne AM is interviewed by epolitix and reignites talk of a 'rainbow coalition' Government.
Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM accuses the Conservatives of hypocrisy over the NHS.
Conservative candidate Prof....
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Trefor Jones, Conservative candidate for Ceredigion, asks why Labour is dragging its feet over a new Welsh Language act.
Rhodri Morgan's green gaffe hasn't gone unnoticed - Ted Jones, Steffan Lewis, Richard Hazelwood and Emma Greenow (Con candidate for Bridgend) all wade in.
Prof. Dylan Jones-Evans, Tory candidate for Aberconwy, reports on the lessons that Wales could learn from the most socialist country in the Western world.
Plaid candidate Mark Jones looks at the polling data and concludes that Labour should be worried.
Blamerbell looks at internal party polls (again, not good for Labour) and the blog/mainstream media divide.
Plaid candidate Bethan Jenkins reports on last night's Plaid/Spencer Davis gig. It was organised by Linet Purcell (Plaid candidate for Aberavon) and was by...
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From within his fortress Luke Young blogs on Ron Davies' return - as does Seren, Peter Black AM and Blamerbell.
Seren also asks whether the St. Athan announcement is all it's hyped up to be.
Alun Cairns AM thinks Rhodri is preparing for a bad result in May.
Tomos Livingstone weighs up how Blair's departure will affect the Assembly election but doesn't understand the fuss about Andrew Davies' anti-Plaid outburst.
Glyn Davies AM explores the idea of state funded political parties.
Nicholas Michael Morgan calls for Scandinavianisation not Balkanisation.
Matt Withers reports that Welsh Labour's campaign is having to run everything through London.
Peter Black AM notes that the Tories have finally got around to taking Peter Davies off their candidate list.
Blamerbell looks at the...
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Neath and Aberavon Lib Dems complain about Neath Port Talbot council employees' use of Youtube.
Young Monmouthshire Tory James Skinner calls for Cameron to take a stronger line on immigration.
Alun Cairns AM criticises Enterprise Minister Andrew Davies on corporate hospitality and Labour's 'spin' on health services in Carmarthenshire.
Tomos Livingstone reflects on the possibility of different time zones for England and Wales.
Leanne Wood AM outlines why she's against a complete ban on smoking in public places.
Glyn Davies AM also offers his thoughts on the smoking ban, gay adoption and the power of the the blog.
Cardiff Councilor Francesca Montemaggi questions the Government's latest initiative to promote Britishness.
Brit Nat Watch mock Rhodri's "English are jealous" claim...
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Right, with that meaningless pun out of the way, what on earth is Alun Cairns talking about HERE?After their group meeting at 12:00pm they stated that they would stand shoulder to shoulder with the Conservatives and Lib Dems and vote against the proposed budget unless there was additional money for education. - at least consistent with the early part of last week.However, by 3pm this afternoon, they had issued a statement that they were going into negotiations with Labour, privately.At Plaid's 12pm press conference, Ieuan Wyn Jones could not have removed himself from the other opposition parties any more emphatically. He couldn't trust them and they told all his best secrets in public, he said, tearing off the head of his Nick Bourne voodoo doll under the desk. In fact, he was positively...
Wales briefly entertained the prospect of a non-Labour government today, before Ieuan Wyn Jones pulled the plug on it all with this statement:'Any discussion of a coalition is unrealistic. Labour are the party in Government and they have the responsibility to deliver that budget. The issue remains whether or not Rhodri Morgan will put more money into education,' he said.Word is that Plaid AMs forced him into a corner and poked him in the ribs until he clarified his earlier position, which hinted that he'd be prepared to go into coalition with the Tories and the Lib Dems if Labour was defeated on the budget.The Tories, bless them, got somewhat carried away with it all. And the slightest sniff of power brought out their true colours, as they got to work on the blogs, dreaming of all the...
It's been a day of 'For God's sake think about the children' in Welsh politics today.First, the Conservatives promised to change the 9 to 5 culture of the British workplace.Alun Cairns, the Welsh Tories' Enterprise spokesman, told me that he wants businesses to become more flexible, so that parents can fit their work around parenting routines. The Tories will give rate relief to businesses that change their ways, so that more parents can pick their children up from the nursery at midday, as Alun does.But Plaid think they've trumped that: they'll give parents money towards childcare.Ieuan Wyn Jones, Plaid's leader, told me that if they are elected in May's Assembly elections they'll make sure every family has access to cheap, affordable child care.And all this on the back of Labour's...
If George Bush was as clumsy as two members of the Welsh Assembly the world might have ended by now.Yesterday, the chamber was full in anticipation of the big budget vote at the end of the day. But there were other items to get through first.The opposition planned to vote out the Business Statement in the same way that they later rejected the budget.The result should have been 29-30 against the government. But they ended up winning the vote 30-28.Apparently the electronic voting system was just too complicated for some politicians.The concept of pressing a button against the vote got the better of the Conservative Party's Alun Cairns, who accidentally voted in favour of it."I need to confess that the opposition lost the Business Statement because I voted the wrong way. I can’t explain....
