Here's the first of what will become a monthly round up of the major goings on in the Welsh Assembly.
The Welsh electorate delivered a decisive "yes" vote in the March 3rd referendum on primary law making powers, by 63.5% to 36.5%. Turnout was poor, but respectable at just 35.2%. Monmouthshire was the only local authority to return a "no", and even then by less than 400 votes.
As a result of the yes vote, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg raised...
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Thursday, 31 March 2011
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Did "One Wales" deliver?
The 3rd Assembly is to be officially dissolved on March 31st and the election campaign will get into full swing.
In June 2007, Labour and Plaid Cymru signed the "One Wales" agreement and went into coalition together in the Assembly. The document "One Wales - A progressive agenda for the government of Wales" contained a...
Thursday, 24 March 2011
The Welsh Metro
A few months ago, the Institute of Welsh Affairs together with Cardiff Business Partnership published a "metro system" proposal for south Wales. The cost of the scheme was estimated to be £2.5billion. The scheme involved electrified heavy-rail, bus rapid transit and trams not only connecting the valleys to Cardiff, but...
Thursday, 17 March 2011
Build for Wales!
Plaid Cymru have a habit of having at least one policy in every manifesto that is "fanciful" and as Betsan Powys puts it "leaves the party wide open attack - and even ridicule".
There were signs that Ieuan Wyn Jones announced "one of those" policies yesterday. On closer examination though, things get interesting.
Plaid want to raise capital funds for Welsh infrastructure investment - a "Build for Wales" fund - via a city bond issue. Public borrowing...
Thursday, 10 March 2011
Who held back the electric car on Anglesey?
No, Anglesey Council had nothing to do with it this time.........
It's estimated that the automotive sector is worth £3billion to the Welsh economy, once the supply chain is taken into account. Automotive exports from Wales were worth £428million in 2009, making it the sixth largest Welsh export group. This is despite...
Friday, 4 March 2011
Not just a yes vote, it's also a confident stamp of nationhood
607 years in the making
Harking back to my pre-referendum predictions, I think this qualifies as "pleasantly surprised".
Wales finally has a "proper" national parliament for the first time in more than 600 years, you could perhaps argue for the first time ever in its history. The yes vote might have only been a tiny step...
Thursday, 3 March 2011
Referendum (#1) Predictions
They're cuddling up to Carwyn now - but will the knives come out before the election campaign?
We won't know until tomorrow afternoon whether the Welsh electorate have (or haven't) endorsed a move from Part 3 to Part 4 of the Government of Wales Act 2006 (yawn).
All recent official polls indicate that Wales will,...
Wednesday, 2 March 2011
Steering the good ship Cymru to prosperity?
(Pic : BBC Wales)
In the 1990's, American businessman and one of the founders of Churchill Insurance, Henry Engelhardt and several others wanted to strike out on their own in the car insurance business. The choice of location came down to Brighton or Wales. The Welsh Development Agency offered a £1million grant,...
Tuesday, 1 March 2011
Pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad
St David's Day 2011 - Cardiff (Guardian Cardiff Flickr)
I'm not a patriot.
"Devotion" to a piece of land contained within a line of a map is quaint and anachronistic.
Odd sentiments for a nationalist, I know.
But the land doesn't matter. The people do.
The people of Wales are the constant throughout it's history,...
