The blog on council tax will be my last for a little while.
That “rant” on the Green Investment Bank was uncharacteristic of me. If I'm completely honest, I shocked myself.
As I said in the introduction and follow up, AMs and the civil service have a tough job and should be “afforded a bit of slack every now and again”. I respect, even admire and look up to, anyone that puts their head on the block and enters public service like that – whether party activist, councillor, AM, MP or civil servant. They're a braver person than me. It wasn't personal.
Despite a few good things happening elsewhere, for a “national government” it's indefensible and I stand by what I've written. I'm surprised that someone with as meticulous an eye for detail as Edwina Hart would allow it to go out with her name on it. To see the Welsh Government emblem on that rubbish was embarrassing. By allowing myself to be wound up by it though, I might've let myself down, even if I felt it was a symptom of a wider problem. I doubt it's going to be my last word on the matter though.
On those wider problems, I neglected to mention that Gareth Hughes and Syniadau have covered this before, citing civil service reforms enacted in Scotland. There's also an interesting discussion in the comments section at Syniadau.
Interestingly, the First Minister has launched a “New Deal”, which you can read here, as a vision for public services. It tantalisingly addresses a few of the concerns we've all raised, and even hints at something similar to a “National Civil Service Academy”, which I suggested in the follow up to the original post. Under the “Sir Humphrey” talk, there are actually a few reasonable ideas in there. Funny how timings work out, isn't it?
There's a real crisis out there and it's not because of any lack of underlying will - but administrative paralysis, head-in-the-sand attitudes and shoulder-shrugging.
Any solution seems to be short-term – whether it's grants or handouts, fairly modest tinkering or spreading public investment thinly. Although that works sometimes, the bigger things, that haven't been addressed since the Great Depression, are still there and it's crippling the Welsh economy.
I wish we'd stop arguing over the semantics - whether it's right that Wales has this power or that power, coming up with excuses or blocking reasons as to why such and such wouldn't work, focusing on the wrong targets, or getting the bureaucracy and frameworks right - and actually got round to a unified sense of purpose, and took the bigger steps to turning this tanker around. At the same time we should be taking a bit more responsibility for ourselves, and having bolder visions that aren't limited in ambition or scope.
It's also important we have an effective opposition - a point raised on A Change of Personnel. I've mentioned before how effective “tag-teaming” can be. As I've also mentioned in the follow up to the “rant”, people need to be put over the coals for this. Questions have to be answered.
If they can get away with the little things, one day they'll get away with something big. They could already have done for all we know.
It's just a shame that in spite of all the posts where I've pointed to good things the Welsh Government has done, all the posts on ideas for independence (or indeed with further devolved powers) and other constitutional issues - it was an incredibly negative and cynical piece that garnered wider attention.
I don't want to run that type of blog. The time's right to take a step back.
In the meantime, I direct you to the Independence Index if you want to go over my lengthier posts (and maybe a few you've missed).
I'll still respond to any comments, but I'll take a break from new blogs until May.
Until then – hwyl fawr!
That “rant” on the Green Investment Bank was uncharacteristic of me. If I'm completely honest, I shocked myself.
As I said in the introduction and follow up, AMs and the civil service have a tough job and should be “afforded a bit of slack every now and again”. I respect, even admire and look up to, anyone that puts their head on the block and enters public service like that – whether party activist, councillor, AM, MP or civil servant. They're a braver person than me. It wasn't personal.
Despite a few good things happening elsewhere, for a “national government” it's indefensible and I stand by what I've written. I'm surprised that someone with as meticulous an eye for detail as Edwina Hart would allow it to go out with her name on it. To see the Welsh Government emblem on that rubbish was embarrassing. By allowing myself to be wound up by it though, I might've let myself down, even if I felt it was a symptom of a wider problem. I doubt it's going to be my last word on the matter though.
On those wider problems, I neglected to mention that Gareth Hughes and Syniadau have covered this before, citing civil service reforms enacted in Scotland. There's also an interesting discussion in the comments section at Syniadau.
Interestingly, the First Minister has launched a “New Deal”, which you can read here, as a vision for public services. It tantalisingly addresses a few of the concerns we've all raised, and even hints at something similar to a “National Civil Service Academy”, which I suggested in the follow up to the original post. Under the “Sir Humphrey” talk, there are actually a few reasonable ideas in there. Funny how timings work out, isn't it?
There's a real crisis out there and it's not because of any lack of underlying will - but administrative paralysis, head-in-the-sand attitudes and shoulder-shrugging.
Any solution seems to be short-term – whether it's grants or handouts, fairly modest tinkering or spreading public investment thinly. Although that works sometimes, the bigger things, that haven't been addressed since the Great Depression, are still there and it's crippling the Welsh economy.
I wish we'd stop arguing over the semantics - whether it's right that Wales has this power or that power, coming up with excuses or blocking reasons as to why such and such wouldn't work, focusing on the wrong targets, or getting the bureaucracy and frameworks right - and actually got round to a unified sense of purpose, and took the bigger steps to turning this tanker around. At the same time we should be taking a bit more responsibility for ourselves, and having bolder visions that aren't limited in ambition or scope.
It's also important we have an effective opposition - a point raised on A Change of Personnel. I've mentioned before how effective “tag-teaming” can be. As I've also mentioned in the follow up to the “rant”, people need to be put over the coals for this. Questions have to be answered.
If they can get away with the little things, one day they'll get away with something big. They could already have done for all we know.
It's just a shame that in spite of all the posts where I've pointed to good things the Welsh Government has done, all the posts on ideas for independence (or indeed with further devolved powers) and other constitutional issues - it was an incredibly negative and cynical piece that garnered wider attention.
I don't want to run that type of blog. The time's right to take a step back.
In the meantime, I direct you to the Independence Index if you want to go over my lengthier posts (and maybe a few you've missed).
I'll still respond to any comments, but I'll take a break from new blogs until May.
Until then – hwyl fawr!
