On Tuesday, February 6th, there will be a by-election in the Alyn and Deeside constituency following the death of sitting Assembly Member Carl Sargeant of the Labour Party.
The facts in the public domain are that on November 7th last year Sargeant took his own life four days after being forced to step down from his post of Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children. This was linked with allegations of sexual harassment or misconduct.
The death and the circumstances surrounding it have been covered extensively, but with the ‘Welsh’ media being its usual cowardly self when honest reporting carries any risk of annoying the Labour Party. Fortunately, there are other sources who can not be intimidated by the bruvvers.
Guido Fawkes reported that Sargeant was being ‘bullied’ back in 2014 by someone in Carwyn Jones’ office, almost certainly Jo Kiernan or others working with/for her. Jo Kiernan left her post after the May 2016 Assembly elections.
Then, news of Sargeant’s sacking was leaked to a number of quarters in the media and elsewhere before he himself had met with Carwyn Jones. Again, the finger points to the First Minister’s staff.
Due to the circumstances of his death Sargeant post mortem has been turned into something of a saint, and a victim. So it may be time to put the record straight.
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THERE’S BULLIES AND THERE’S BULLIES
First, let’s look at the allegations of ‘bullying’.
I find it difficult to believe that Kiernan or anyone else on Carwyn Jones’s staff could physically bully a burly individual like Carl Sargeant, so what we are talking about here is almost certainly something different. I suggest that it was psychological pressure or mind games, with which an unsophisticated man like Sargeant was ill-equipped to deal.
From what I know of him he was very much Old Labour, of the Labour Club rather than the bistro, mushy peas rather than guacamole. Which makes it no surprise to learn that his home town of Connah’s Quay has a fine example of such an establishment.
The sort of place where the ‘made men’ of the local Labour Party hang out, to be approached by supplicants seeking advice, or a favour (or maybe asking to have somebody whacked). Where for every ideologically committed party member you will find three or four who are in the locally dominant party in order to boost their standing in the community, while bringing in a little extra money.
Ah! those Labour clubs of yore – where are they now? Gone, most of them, thank God. Which makes Connah’s Quay something of a throwback, a curiosity. And this I think accounts for Carl Sargeant’s problems with Carwyn Jones’ back-room staff who, if not New Labour, were certainly less antediluvian than the denizens of Connah’s Quay Labour Club with whom Sargeant was familiar.
No doubt what these sophisticates did qualifies as ‘bullying’ (what doesn’t nowadays?) but it might have been no more than a few clever and devious people being nasty to a man they viewed as a dinosaur. They may even have seen it as a game.
Unless of course they choose to employ the Nuremberg Defence by arguing that they were only obeying orders.
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THE MAN HIMSELF
From the information I’ve received I’m prepared now to say that despite what many want us to believe, Carl Sargeant was no saint.
One incident of bullying that’s been reported has Sargeant’s hand on an intern’s throat with the intern pinned to a wall and Sargeant screaming at him. The crime? – getting Sargeant’s lunch order wrong.
He is said to have been in a relationship with a woman running a very prominent women’s organisation; an organisation that received a grant not unadjacent to £400,000. When she ended the relationship Sargeant made life difficult for her.
There were other relationships, a number with civil servants, who left their jobs at some cost to the public purse.
One source told me of great mirth among Flintshire councillors when Sargeant’s wife found out about his swordsmanship and to pacify her he had to shell out on a cruise.
Less funny are persistent rumours of dodgy procurement deals that are said to have somehow benefited Sargeant’s extended family and friends. It’s even rumoured that BBC Wales was investigating these allegations until the Labour Party took out an injunction.
Most civil servants are mystified by Sargeant’s beatification, for his department had the highest absence and sickness rates, with two senior civil servants taking early retirement, again, at some cost to the public purse.
It’s even been suggested that Sargeant was stitched up because Carwyn Jones wished to clear a path for his anointed successor, Vaughan – ‘I’m black, I am’ – Gething. Though it now looks as if the timing of his own departure may no longer be in the First Minister’s hands.
And yet, despite his many failings, I am assured that the final allegations made against Carl Sargeant, those that got him sacked, and perhaps led to his suicide, were fabricated.
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THOSE IN THE SHADOWS
Given that Jo Kiernan was long gone from Carwyn Jones’ office when Sargeant was dismissed she was unlikely to have leaked the news . . . but may still have been involved.
For after leaving the employ of our Beloved Leader she betook herself unto Deryn Consulting, where she must have felt right at home among schemers and plotters just like herself, almost all of them with political experience and therefore a great interest in events in the Bay.
The word in the corridors and conference rooms is that the whispering campaign against Sargeant continued when Kiernan teamed up with Deryn (which might suggest that her antipathy was personal as well as – or rather than – political). He reciprocated by refusing to employ Deryn.
But Deryn wields (or used to wield) considerable political clout, and perhaps Sargeant underestimated his adversary, for few now doubt that Deryn was instrumental in his downfall, with some singling Cathy Owens out for special mention.
Guido Fawkes tells us, “Cathy Owens, head of Deryn and herself a former special adviser who was embroiled in an earlier bullying scandal, took to the BBC in the days before Carl’s death to allege sexual harassment from an unnamed politician. She pointedly did not rule out Sargeant from her unsupported allegations as part of a concerted campaign to try and humiliate and discredit him.”
If the name Deryn rings a bell it’s because it’s the same company that has been involved in trying to destroy both the reputation and the political career of Assembly Member Neil McEvoy. I wrote about it just over a week ago in Plaid Cymru and the defenestration of Neil McEvoy.
I regard Deryn as a very dangerous organisation: A danger to democracy, and a threat to people’s faith in politics. That Deryn is so influential is indicative of how in less than twenty years devolution has been corrupted.
◊
THE SON ALSO RISES
And now we face a by-election on Tuesday to elect another Assembly Member for Alyn and Deeside.
As the name suggests, the constituency straddles Afon Dyfrdwy and runs east to the border and Chester, while also running south to Llay, Gwersyllt and Coedpoeth on the outskirts of Wrecsam.
I’ve always thought of the northern section as a rather bleak and characterless area, unattractive industrial towns and dormitory communities, the western edge of the Cheshire Plain, somewhere to pass through on the way to somewhere else.
But there you go, that’s just the opinion of someone lucky enough to have been born and raised in a city of hills and beaches.
Given the short time frame between the death and the by-election, further shortened by the Christmas and New Year holiday, plus the circumstances occasioning the by-election, Labour may have had little alternative but to choose Carl Sargeant’s son, Jack.
And it might have seemed like a wise choice.
For young Jack offers everything: ‘You want to vote Labour – vote for young Jack Sargeant’. ‘You want to give Labour a gentle kicking for the way they treated poor old Carl – vote for his son, Jack’. This is bloody clever, worthy of Baldrick. Let’s hope it gangs agley like the schemes of Blackadder’s dogsbody.
My advice to the voters of Alyn and Deeside is this. If you want to show your anger at the unnecessary death of Carl Sargeant then don’t vote for the party instrumental in his death. Don’t vote Labour.
Of course, you may believe what young Jack says about going down to Cardiff Bay and getting the truth about what happened to his father. If so, just think about that for a minute. If they were too much for Carl Sargeant then they’ll eat the boy alive. So again, Don’t vote Labour.
Think of young Jack and put his welfare first – Don’t vote Labour.
◊
THE LESSONS
I’ve mentioned Deryn and the treatment meted out to both Carl Sargeant and Neil McEvoy, so I hope you’re getting the message. Cardiff Bay – and here I include politicians, advisers, lobbyists, third sector parasites – is now a national disgrace, an embarrassment to us all.
Not only is it corrupt to its stinking core but it has cost us billions of pounds as money has been diverted to unworthy causes because those getting the money are well connected, or because they’re shagging so-and-so. Yes, there is to be an investigation into how the case was handled by Carwyn Jones, but I’m not holding my breath because ‘investigations’ down there reveal nothing.
Wales is now the poorest country in Europe, and the most corrupt. And it can all be traced back to the Labour Party and Cardiff Bay. Is there something in the air? Because even before we had devolution Cardiff Bay gave us the biggest case of corruption in Welsh history. I wrote about it here in Corruption Bay.
There have always been sound economic and other arguments for moving the Assembly out of Cardiff, preferably to somewhere more central like Aberystwyth or Llandrindod. If we did that then investment and jobs would be far more likely to be spread fairly around the country.
Not only that, but if we moved the Assembly then other investment would surely follow, such as road and rail communications. Allowing our Assembly Members to jump on a train and be home in a couple of hours.
For Cardiff Bay is detached from the city and even more isolated from the country it claims to serve. It has become a world unto itself, with its own mores, its own distorted standards, all of which are damaging Wales.
Had he not been exposed to the temptations of Sodom-in-the-Bay poor Carl Sargeant would be downing a pint this weekend in Connah’s Quay Labour Club, and the voters of Alyn and Deeside wouldn’t be voting on Tuesday.
Cardiff Bay killed Carl Sargeant.
♦ end ♦
UPDATE 08.02.2018: In one of the most bizarre election results in recent Welsh history Jack Sargeant was elected as the new Assembly Member for Alyn and Deeside. Thanks to the untimely death of his father he was able to increase Labour’s majority over that gained by his father in 2016.
We now wait to see whether he falls into line as a loyal AM to leader Carwyn Jones, or whether he keeps to his promise to get at the truth about his father’s suspension. If it’s the latter then the Labour Party in Wales, and certain semi-detached ‘helpers’ it has used, such as lobbyists and third sector bodies, could be in for a rocky spell.
We can but hope.
You’re a libellous cunt and I can’t wait for you to get sued for this. Absolutely out of order.
As one of the organisers of the anual Cardiff St David’s Day Parade, the brief attendance of Carl Sergeant some years ago convinced me that he was no friend of Wales. He briefly showed himself at the start, expressed his displeasure at seeing so many Draig Goch flags, made disparaging anti Welsh comments and left. Nothing unusual you might think from Welsh Labour
You’re not the only one to suggest that Carl Sargeant was anti-Welsh. I’ve been told he was very supportive of David Taylor of the ludicrous Aneurin Glyndwr website. Remember that?
Jack- off topic I know but I was entertained to hear that Vaughan Gething has spoken out about ‘reactionary social media’ ‘criticism of the NHS’ – I wondered if it was your blog that he was talking about or mine.
I have a story for you that may be of interest what with you raising concerns about Third sector scams.
Some of your readers know that i write a blog focussing on research fraud, abuse and neglect in health and social care. I have blogged extensively about my own experiences with MIND, a charity that I know to be rotten to the core. Over the last few months I have been contacted by several ex employees of MIND telling me that dreadful things are happening but no-one dares go public or be identified.
A few days ago a lady who used to work for MIND in Flintshire contacted me and said that she wanted to go public on what she had seen because it was just so bad – financial swindling, neglect of patients so serious that there had been a suicide, unqualified staff out of their depth and giving jobs to their mates and falsification of information in order to extract more dosh out of the Welsh Govt for ‘services’ that are not being provided.
I subsequently wrote a post about it all. Her e mail address was hacked and then my blog came under serious attack from a toe rag calling himself Daniel who somehow disabled my ‘block comments’ facility. He then bombarded both me and the whistleblower with shite for hours – it ended in messages to our personal e mail boxes telling us that he was literally going to send the boys around. We found out that this threatening bastard is the partner of the Chief Officer of Flintshire MIND. The matter is now in the hands of the police.
I have exposed a great deal of serious crime on my blog and named many people, but I have never experienced anything like this. I no longer live in Wales because of threats made to me by those involved with the North Wales paedophile gang, so I do not feel physically at risk, but my informant undoubtedly does.
This is a ‘charity’ which receives millions from both the Welsh and Westminster Govts and is given contracts to provide mental health care in partnership with the NHS. Stephen Fry is the President and Alastair Campbell an ‘ambassador’.
And this is what they do to whistleblowers.
I don’t think I’ve written much about the NHS, so I doubt if Vaughan Gething is referring to me, though I’d be honoured to be labelled ‘reactionary’.
This story about MIND interests me. A quick look at the MIND Cymru website gives a ‘Pwyllgor‘ of 8, of whom only one is a man. So it looks like yet another wimmin-run third sector body. Other info on the site makes it clear that MIND is an Englandandwales outfit with a token Welsh set up so as to make it easier to screw funding out of the ‘Welsh’ Government.
I’ll make a few enquiries of my own.
http://www.stephenfry.com/contact/
No harm in giving him a nudge with your information Sally.
…and you think that arrogant sack of shit would pay any attention ? He’s a self obsessed mentally fragile person whose involvement in MIND is probably down to his strategy for seeking attention. Shallow celeb wanker – and I’m being light on the criticism.
Thanks for the link Big Gee, certainly interesting info, but I tend to agree with Dafis. I also gave a full time job on my hands at the moment collating and collecting the evidence for a police investigation re the Threatening Bastard’s e mails to me and the whistleblower, one of which names her children and gives details of private meetings and social occasions that I attended when I still lived in north Wales. He is also constantly contacting the hoster in an attempt to have my blog taken offline.
No one likes bad publicity or pressure Dafis. regardless of the old saying “any publicity is good publicity”
Sally.
Who’s your host? Back up your content, so if you experience the same as Jac suffered by having Google pull the plug on him, you won’t have lost anything. As it says in in the right hand panel of this page – if you want an uncensored and safe blog site I’m always here. Jac can attest to the fact that no one has yet been able to shut him up after he left ‘Blogger’.
http://sccambria.com
Big Gee, thank you, that is very kind and I might well need you and quickly. I have not actually libelled the person who is making asinine complaints and I and the whistleblower who has so enraged him have a mountain of nasty, threatening messages that he has sent us.
The problem I’ve got is that I am receiving messages from my hosted from a ‘no reply’ e mail address demanding that I act – without being told what the alleged crime is! I cannot send them the mountain of crap that the complainant has sent me and I cannot send them the evidence that I have to back up my allegations!
The hoster is Fasthosts.
Help and advice would be much appreciated.
I have just received another e mail from the harasser telling me that he will continue to make complaints until I get fed up and give in.
Sally –
You should receive a reply soon to the query you sent me via my SCCambria web-site.
Again, Dr Sally, thank you for everything that you are doing to expose those who have no moral compass. What you and other Whistle blowers are bravely doing, is the most meaningful thing anyone could do, worth more than any career or pieces of silver. Intimidation is part of the bullying that comes with the territory of those who are on the ropes, they will not win. There are many more Whistle blowers coming forward, including many good policemen, who want to live with a free conscience, to stop the cover ups and to protect children.
Brian Gerrish speaks to police child abuse whistleblower John Wedger
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tsy194wX04c
Appropriate tributes in your tweet column from Neil McEvoy referring to the predicament of the Kurds and the passive disregard on the part of Western powers and politicians who normally are quick to voice an opinion.
Just watch all the sucking up to Turkey whose only interest in the whole fiasco is the promotion of its own position in the region. They want to kill off the Kurds, have the upper hand over Syria, and neutralise any threat that might come from Iran. They are scared of Russia so suck up to them while also staying “onside” with the US/NATO axis ( a member ! ) but as vicious and untrustworthy as any snake in the summer’s grass. I suppose it’s just a continuation of US & UK policy, aided and abetted by EU/NATO members, which actively promotes Islamic authoritarianism while purporting to oppose it. Even ISIS is making a comeback in parts of Syria and Iraq. And no doubt if it suits their case the West will use the Kurds to spearhead their next campaign against ISIS or any new wave of Islamic nutjobs.
Nothing to do with the Alyn & Deeside by-election, and even less to do with our new party. However as this post has touched on Middle East and Islamic subject matter, under the circumstances, I thought you might be interested in this. It’s a refreshing nibble in the middle of this heavy stuff about ‘Jack’ the Lad and other domestic politics in our little country.
Incisive article originally published by GR in September 2014.
Terror attacks in Western cities (Manchester, Paris, Brussels, Nice, Barcelona…) allegedly perpetrated by Al Qaeda-ISIS.
Much like Al Qaeda, the Islamic State (ISIS) is made-in-the-USA, an instrument of terror designed to divide and conquer the oil-rich Middle East and to counter Iran’s growing influence in the region.
The fact that the United States has a long and torrid history of backing terrorist groups will surprise only those who watch the news and ignore history.
The CIA first aligned itself with extremist Islam during the Cold War era. Back then, America saw the world in rather simple terms: on one side, the Soviet Union and Third World nationalism, which America regarded as a Soviet tool; on the other side, Western nations and militant political Islam, which America considered an ally in the struggle against the Soviet Union.
The director of the National Security Agency under Ronald Reagan, General William Odom recently remarked, “by any measure the U.S. has long used terrorism. In 1978-79 the Senate was trying to pass a law against international terrorism – in every version they produced, the lawyers said the U.S. would be in violation.”
During the 1970’s the CIA used the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt as a barrier, both to thwart Soviet expansion and prevent the spread of Marxist ideology among the Arab masses. The United States also openly supported Sarekat Islam against Sukarno in Indonesia, and supported the Jamaat-e-Islami terror group against Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in Pakistan. Last but certainly not least, there is Al Qaeda.
Lest we forget, the CIA gave birth to Osama Bin Laden and breastfed his organization during the 1980’s. Former British Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, told the House of Commons that Al Qaeda was unquestionably a product of Western intelligence agencies. Mr. Cook explained that Al Qaeda, which literally means an abbreviation of “the database” in Arabic, was originally the computer database of the thousands of Islamist extremists, who were trained by the CIA and funded by the Saudis, in order to defeat the Russians in Afghanistan.
America’s relationship with Al Qaeda has always been a love-hate affair. Depending on whether a particular Al Qaeda terrorist group in a given region furthers American interests or not, the U.S. State Department either funds or aggressively targets that terrorist group. Even as American foreign policy makers claim to oppose Muslim extremism, they knowingly foment it as a weapon of foreign policy.
The Islamic State is its latest weapon that, much like Al Qaeda, is certainly backfiring. ISIS recently rose to international prominence after its thugs began beheading American journalists. Now the terrorist group controls an area the size of the United Kingdom.
In order to understand why the Islamic State has grown and flourished so quickly, one has to take a look at the organization’s American-backed roots. The 2003 American invasion and occupation of Iraq created the pre-conditions for radical Sunni groups, like ISIS, to take root. America, rather unwisely, destroyed Saddam Hussein’s secular state machinery and replaced it with a predominantly Shiite administration. The U.S. occupation caused vast unemployment in Sunni areas, by rejecting socialism and closing down factories in the naive hope that the magical hand of the free market would create jobs. Under the new U.S.-backed Shiite regime, working class Sunni’s lost hundreds of thousands of jobs. Unlike the white Afrikaners in South Africa, who were allowed to keep their wealth after regime change, upper class Sunni’s were systematically dispossessed of their assets and lost their political influence. Rather than promoting religious integration and unity, American policy in Iraq exacerbated sectarian divisions and created a fertile breading ground for Sunni discontent, from which Al Qaeda in Iraq took root.
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) used to have a different name: Al Qaeda in Iraq. After 2010 the group rebranded and refocused its efforts on Syria.
There are essentially three wars being waged in Syria: one between the government and the rebels, another between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and yet another between America and Russia. It is this third, neo-Cold War battle that made U.S. foreign policy makers decide to take the risk of arming Islamist rebels in Syria, because Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, is a key Russian ally. Rather embarrassingly, many of these Syrian rebels have now turned out to be ISIS thugs, who are openly brandishing American-made M16 Assault rifles.
America’s Middle East policy revolves around oil and Israel. The invasion of Iraq has partially satisfied Washington’s thirst for oil, but ongoing air strikes in Syria and economic sanctions on Iran have everything to do with Israel. The goal is to deprive Israel’s neighboring enemies, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Palestine’s Hamas, of crucial Syrian and Iranian support.
ISIS is not merely an instrument of terror used by America to topple the Syrian government; it is also used to put pressure on Iran.
The last time Iran invaded another nation was in 1738. Since independence in 1776, the U.S. has been engaged in over 53 military invasions and expeditions. Despite what the Western media’s war cries would have you believe, Iran is clearly not the threat to regional security, Washington is. An Intelligence Report published in 2012, endorsed by all sixteen U.S. intelligence agencies, confirms that Iran ended its nuclear weapons program in 2003. Truth is, any Iranian nuclear ambition, real or imagined, is as a result of American hostility towards Iran, and not the other way around.
America is using ISIS in three ways: to attack its enemies in the Middle East, to serve as a pretext for U.S. military intervention abroad, and at home to foment a manufactured domestic threat, used to justify the unprecedented expansion of invasive domestic surveillance.
By rapidly increasing both government secrecy and surveillance, Mr. Obama’s government is increasing its power to watch its citizens, while diminishing its citizens’ power to watch their government. Terrorism is an excuse to justify mass surveillance, in preparation for mass revolt.
The so-called “War on Terror” should be seen for what it really is: a pretext for maintaining a dangerously oversized U.S. military. The two most powerful groups in the U.S. foreign policy establishment are the Israel lobby, which directs U.S. Middle East policy, and the Military-Industrial-Complex, which profits from the former group’s actions. Since George W. Bush declared the “War on Terror” in October 2001, it has cost the American taxpayer approximately 6.6 trillion dollars and thousands of fallen sons and daughters; but, the wars have also raked in billions of dollars for Washington’s military elite.
In fact, more than seventy American companies and individuals have won up to $27 billion in contracts for work in postwar Iraq and Afghanistan over the last three years, according to a recent study by the Center for Public Integrity. According to the study, nearly 75 per cent of these private companies had employees or board members, who either served in, or had close ties to, the executive branch of the Republican and Democratic administrations, members of Congress, or the highest levels of the military.
In 1997, a U.S. Department of Defense report stated, “the data show a strong correlation between U.S. involvement abroad and an increase in terrorist attacks against the U.S.” Truth is, the only way America can win the “War On Terror” is if it stops giving terrorists the motivation and the resources to attack America. Terrorism is the symptom; American imperialism in the Middle East is the cancer. Put simply, the War on Terror is terrorism; only, it is conducted on a much larger scale by people with jets and missiles.
Written by Garikai Chengu who is a research scholar at Harvard University.
RIGHT back to Welsh politics and our struggle for independence.
Christopher Davidson’s book “Shadow Wars” is an excellent history of duplicious dealings of US &UK foreign policy vis a vis Middle East/Islamic world. It’s a bit heavy going in places but reinforces in detail much of what’s been said above.
Thought we could all appreciate the irony of this tweet – timing very pertinent
Cathy Owens
@cathy_owens
20h20 hours ago
Today also a good day to reflect on the near invisibility of female political journos in Wales. Has had significant impact on how harassment, abuse and misogyny covered here.
Are we all expected to feel well and truly bollocked, ticked off, consigned to the naughty step ? Had a seriously objective female ( or male) commentator offered that tweeted comment one might pause to reflect, but as it comes from that patently dodgy source I find it hard to suppress the urge to vomit !
i desisted from replying…reluctantly
relax, it doesn’t do you any good to suppress or desist especially reluctantly. You obviously have an urge.. and Jac and others are very supportive on these pages. All sorts of urges get cut loose here much to the dismay of any mainstreamers/conformists that pop in from time to time. There again it helps keep them in touch with reality.
i often do , but i know the results of being outspoken, as i have done a number of times while working for public sector and finding the door shown to me as a result! so you got to shut it in Wales to eke a living !
best keep your identity as anonymous as possible then. This site is always grateful for good quality insight and intelligence from good people working in public services that are often led by absolute pricks.
Yes. This is one reason why GVA in Wales is so low. There are two types of enterprise..
(a) Where speaking out is positively encouraged. Employees are encouraged to suggest better ways of doing stuff and are actively engaged in safety. Where ‘whistleblowing’ is an alien concept as that is a requirement of the role. These tend to be innovators, enterprises which grow organically rather than acquire and asset strip, where the scientists and engineers pull the strings at board level, and public relations is just a small department who’s task is communication of complex concepts.
(b) Where speaking out is discouraged, usually by clauses in contracts. Employees are expected to just perform roles, where changes in the way things are done is on a ‘need to know basis’ and ‘whistleblowing’ is when someone makes public a bad deed which is always a failure in the enterprise. It’s where public relations is a board level activity, essentially to make out the enterprise to be something it’s not. To cover up, give a positive image to a negative and incestuous activity.
Enterprises of type (b) who have something to hide are those who employ Deryn, for example, to influence government. Examples are a high street chemist who under staff the pharmacy and make catastrophic errors in prescribing (Boots), or the soft drinks industry who flog sugar laden beverages and seek to place a positive gloss over their activity. You just need to look at the Deryn client list to see examples.
In the public sector, the culture of suppression is even more evident.
The result asks serious questions of Plaid Cymru. They lost almost a thousand votes compared to 2016 and have been leapfrogged by the LibDems. This is a constituency that hosts the AirBus factory, the constituency with the biggest ‘Brexit’ issue in Wales. It shows that Plaid Cymru are not relevant in north east Wales and something the leadership will probably ignore and just put down to the ‘dead daddy factor’. The reality is that Plaid Cymru is not relevant in the ‘industrial working class’ areas of Wales.
Plaid Cymru are the politics of skinny latte of posh coffee shops of the Bae bubble and not relevant to the burger vans of the Deeside industrial estates.
The reality is that Plaid Cymru is not relevant in the ‘industrial working class’ areas of Wales.
Plaid likes to pretend to itself that it’s left wing. It isn’t – it’s liberal-leftist which is not left wing at all. It’s a public sector obsessed middle class construct that the working class do not relate to at all and never ever in a month of Sundays ever will.
Plaid should be asking itself why is it that the working class vote – the lower half of socio-economic group C1 as well as C2, D and E vote Conservative more than they vote Plaid, and across the UK vote Conservative more than they vote Labour.
The leadership of Plaid is so inept and out of touch with ordinary people that their greatest success is to make Carwyn Jones and Labour Wales look slick, professional and extremely competent.
And I’m a Plaid member.
that is a damned good summing up of that party’s predicament – all selfinflicted too ! Shame there aren’t many perceptive people like you among their leadership group. But pseudo socialist “left wing” politics, with its torrent of new ishoos every month or so, is sooooo much more interesting when hanging out with trendy friends at the local salon.
Thing about Plaid’s leadership (and this occurred to me the other day) is how they may see themselves… now I don’t mean how they describe themselves because like all politicians what they say and do/are are rarely the same.
Leanne talks about about populism being bad and far right politics being the evil. She describes anything she disagrees with as far right (that means Tories). The problem is that in Wales anti-Toryism is popular… which in the confines of Wales and Welsh politics makes her a “Populist”. So the question I find myself asking is how can she reconcile this with her beliefs? Because her beliefs are not confined within the Welsh political sphere. They are in the British sphere where the Tories rule and anti-Toryism is not the popular ideology. Or maybe shes not even thought of that… which is pretty concerning too.
Now I’m not passing judgement either way on those beliefs. But bit concerning for the leader of the Party of Wales.
This is just a time filler as we wait for the By-Election result with bored anticipation to see who gets the Free for Life Ticket from Alun & Deeside to Cardiff Bay Island. Yes it has become an offshore island remote from Wales and the Welsh people. With some continental drift this Cardiff Bay Island may hopefully attach itself to some elite English region. This “posting” is really on the subject of Metamorphism. Earlier I have been watching an Arts programme on TV about the Royal Collection. Towards the end HRH Charles took a role part. As I was looking at him, I suddenly saw HRH in a different light and guise. I could not figure it out for a while, and then it suddenly dawned upon me. I suddenly realised that HRH Charles and Dafydd El’ are metamorphing into one and the same poser royal personage. There is something about both of them that connects them, at their age now, into the same personality and looks. Is it my fading eyesight or are they now one and the same. Our Peer of the Realm Lord Dafydd El’ is now one and the same as the Prince of Wails with all their annoying imperfections blended.
What have you been drinking?
Nah. One has got a horse face and the other a Guinea pig face. The horse faced one has no birthmark. However there is a lot of evidence accumulating that there is a degree of shape shifting among the royals – maybe you caught a glimpse of it? See the video!
I won’t sleep soundly in my bed tonight after viewing that! I bet he and Camilla have cured more than a few Peeping Toms in their time. (I’ve had a couple of nightcaps, Jac, by the way).
I’ve been waiting for the Alyn and Deeside updates too, more to see the turnout and majority for Jack the Lad really. Not many 23 year olds can be certain of landing a job on £60K plus a year, probably job for life, excellent pension scheme, expenses, no need for ANY qualifications other than preferably being the offspring of the last muppet to do it. Why is the Lad so skinny anyway? With his Dad being a big guy, did “the Sarge” get first call on the food shop? And he needs to ditch that awful long coat he’s wearing, which if you’re 6 stones soaking wet just makes him look like Victoria Beckham with a beard. And why does he wear gloves in so many shots? I’ve watched a few videos with the Lad in and he looks SO uncomfortable. I’m almost cringing for him. Someone older and wiser should have taken him aside and given him good advice, to take time to grieve properly, not to involve himself in the shit his father was involved in, because though he will make lots of moolah, at 23 there’s a life to be lived properly. A Welsh Labour AM for decades, maybe all your working life, well it’s hardly what I’d call living.
Anyway, welcome to Wales 2018! I sometimes think we get what we deserve.
I offered advice, but my offer was rejected.
We do get what we deserve Stan.
I watched the Alyn and Deeside TV debate a few days ago and many people in the audience spoke about the disconnect with Cardiff, about how money is not invested in their area etc etc. And then they still vote Labour in with a 6,500 majority.
Some will have voted for Jack because of what happened to his father but the only logical reason I can think of for the rest voting Labour is that they think everyone else would be worse. It can’t surely be because they think Labour are doing a good job.
Or do they ?
Plaid looks like its got Stalinist powers. Funny thing is they will have very few members and no territory on which to exercise those powers. Takes a bunch of real woolly thinkers to give themselves draconian powers ahead of winning anything.
Dafis, you disappoint me: if you’re going to make Stalinist analogies how can you forget show trials?
Show trials ? They couldn’t even hold a fuckin’ sheepdog trial without a major enquiry into whether or not it was fair on the sheep. Without serious member numbers or territory, the analogy is purely tongue in cheek.
As for having a show trial for McEvoy they might fabricate “evidence” that could raise a titter of approval in the salons and parlours of the Bay set, but out in the real world it would only serve to consolidate the body of opinion that favours McEvoy. It’s getting to the point where I would back McEvoy even if he was the biggest sack of shit in creation( which he isn’t !) just to be opposing the Deryn/Plaid cluster of conspiratorial deviants.
I’m beginning to think you have developed a distaste for the denizens of The Bay.
Embedded in my palate a long time ago – I’m incurable under present conditions, wholesale environmental change required ! Prescribe more McEvoys and eliminate tosser A.M’s and their various influencers, policy aides and other hangers-on.
just catching up on some of your recent tweets
that reference to the clearance of rural Wales has been a pet theory of mine for decades certainly before intro of milk quotas and the process has gathered momentum since. Back in those “good old days” when we were lads and the likes of Jock Wilson came to Wales to enable a fairly peaceful Investiture, we had English people come to Sir Gar to buy farms whose kids went to local schools learned Welsh and became integrated into the local communities. Even the parents could get by in varying degrees of spoken Welsh. Now no fucker bothers, or very few anyway. And many of the more recent newcomers are the goodlife tosser variety.
As for Adams’ endorsement of Corbyn, well old Jeremy will have to live with that. No doubt the Tories, if they are still awake, will weaponise it and that in turn will present Leanne with yet another chance to spout one of her favorite lines – ” It’s not fair, it’s those Tories see…”
I just wish Adams would say something critical about Wales like – “Carwyn Jones is doing a really fine job aided by Leanne Wood and we anticipate lots more good to come from these two over the next few years “. Get that published and the other parties might do better at next election, and watch CJ and LW try to deflect that endorsement !
Slightly off subject, but on the other hand relevant to many of your recent Blog postings Jac, including this one – why is nobody, especially the problematic greasy well lubricated “wimmin’s groups”, not trying to pin any of the WAG issues to the involvement of the key figures in the Freemasons? Maybe the Freemasons simply do not exist in Cardiff Bay, but my sensitive nose suggests they do, If so, why are these “wimmin” not digging? Probably not, because they are so much involved in their own nasty cross party clandestine conspiracies they are keeping their head’s down on their paymasters. These are just my simple opinions. Can anyone shed light into this active but murky darkness?
Much of what these wimmin do is justified – by them – as countering the influence of the all-male Freemasons. Which I’ve never accepted because two wrongs don’t make a right and if you’ve got a beef with the knee-flashers then do us all a favour by targeting and exposing them. But what the wimmin are doing is emulating the Masons and giving us another network of hidden power wielded against the public interest.
What’s more, Freemasonry is not the force it once was. Many younger men find it all a bit ridiculous. So we could end up with the situation where the the wimmin have their counter-Freemasonry movement but without Freemasonry, so then some men will decide they need to organise and . . .
………. yes the same thoughts crossed my mind. Indeed the plotting and devious manouverings of Deryn and other assorted “birds” is superficially very reminiscent of various masonic antics in the past. However, to their credit, the old funny handshake mob never resorted to shrieking and wailing as a tactic. The main problem in countering them was that they crept around discreetly, hiding in plain sight was one of their favoured ploys, while scheming and advancing the interests of fellow Lodge members.
Jac, you are correct that the wimmin created their own corrupt back scratching network, that was why I had such a problem with them. But with regard to the Freemasonry that was used to facilitate criminal activity and child abuse in north Wales, the wimmin were often the bed fellows and relatives of the Freemasons. There were all those wives of the corrupt police officers, lawyer and judges who were Masons, the key woman who facilitated the paedophile gang in Gwynedd was the mistress of a Freemason who was Mr Big in the gang and Antoinette Sandbach, the former AM and now MP for Eddisbury in Cheshire, is the daughter of the former Provincial Grand Master of north Wales. Sandbach is too young to have been involved with the gang herself and her dear old dad is now dead but Sandbach is busy protecting those that are still alive and the reputations of those now dead. Sandbach began her political career at the knee of David Jones MP – a Freemason who knows a lot more about the paedophile ring that operated in north Wales than he has ever let on.
Your reference to the use of personal email for government business is interesting. Similar to the use of a private server by Hilary Clinton. That certainly gave Trump some ammunition. What was his phrase again, “lock her up”.
It’s not my reference Wynne. That claim was made by Andrew RT Davies after Carwyn apparently let slip about it in the Senedd.
It is also referenced here: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/politics/questions-over-carwyn-jones-use-14227468
Very interesting blog Jac. Good work.
I’m not sure you’re right about Dafydd El though. A mate of mine is the Chief Exec of a well known organisation in the north, and the Lord told him this past Christmas that he hoped to do TWO more terms!!
I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he is now actively wangling for Carwyn’s job- even if he has to go the whole hog and become a Labour AM. It would be entirely consistent with his oft-stated philosophy of ” the long walk through the institution s’. Or more accurately perhaps, entirely in keeping with his huge sense of self-importance and pomposity.
I saw some signs of this on “Pawb a’i Farn” on S4C last Thursday night, when he insisted he was still a cultural nationalist who thought he could now serve Wales better outside of Plaid Cymru. If that’s the case, what’s to stop him from joining Labour?
He’ll be telling Labour members that he could restore some gravitas and authority after Carwyn’s fall. And his arse-licking of Charles and the English monarchy could also serve him well here, since that could prove his loyalty to the British establisment which is of course, a pre-requisite for a Labour First Minister in Wales.
It may sound a long shot. But, if it’s between Drakeford, Skates, Gethin , Iranca Davies and the Lord- I honestly think he’s in with a chance…..
If DET does hope for two more terms then he’ll have to stand as an Independent, and I can’t see him being elected, especially if LSR decides to move to the Assembly. What’s more, the next election isn’t until 2021 and DET is already into his 70s, so two more terms takes him well into his 80s!
The bullying culture is endemic in the Labour party, and especially prevalent in the Welsh Labour. However, for the most part, we only normally hear of that bullying in regard to how they bully the minions that report to them from ‘outside’ the Welsh Government bubble. Indeed, such bullying was reported quite recently by ITV Wales news. It can be found here:
http://www.itv.com/news/wales/2018-01-10/nothing-changes-from-year-to-year-other-than-the-words/
In this case, the complainant was talking about the then Health Minister – Mark Drakeford. It is not the first time such stories have leaked out either. I have heard of occasions where ‘charities’ and other 3rd sector organisations have been threatened with having their funding removed if they spoke out against any policy he wanted to introduce. Of course, that is the only way that Mark Drakeford could bully anyone as one look at him proves that he could not physically bully his way out of a paper bag. But many sources will point to him being a real nasty piece of work in the world of Welsh Politics. Given his open support for Corbyn and the Momentum nut-jobs behind him, then it should be no surprise. But, having royally screwed up his Health Portfolio when he had it, his mate Carwyn then gave him the job of Finance Minister. Unsurprisingly, he has turned out to be completely clueless about Finances too and the news today (look for the Adam Price article in Llais-Y-Sais’) suggests that he could be about his arse served up to him on a plate over the M4 relief road if the opposition parties do ‘combine’ to take it down.
In regard to Carwyn Jones, the man certainly has enormous balls and chutzpah because he is grimly hanging on his role as First Minister by his fingernails. The question is how long he can keep hanging on ?
We already know that Neil McEvoy has no love for Carwyn, and it now seems that RT Davies is also going for the jugular in a big way (as you suggest in the article), with him sending out formal questions on paperwork (and publishing them on social media) so that they cannot be denied.
Frankly, the latest revelations that Carwyn has been conducting Welsh Government business through a personal email address, could be significantly serious in regards to his future. Government business is supposed to be conducted through WAG email systems as only those email systems have any accreditation of meeting HMG standards and security. If he is found to be conducting Govt business through a personal email address, especially if he has been discussing Govt information that comes under various Govt-specific legislation (such as the Official Secrets Act), then not only is it a dismissable offence, he could also be prosecuted for it. It is certainly what would happen to any Civil Servant who was found to be acting in this way.
As regards the lobbying by various firms, but specifically Deryn, well that is something that the Welsh Govt has learnt from the European Parliament. The EP has literally hundreds of Lobbying firms sharing office space with them in Brussels. Nothing, no law, legislation or directive, comes out of Brussels without coming under scrutiny by these lobbyists. In most cases, nothing comes out without having been modified or adapted by those Lobbyists in the favour of whatever clients they are working for. The EU is rife with it, which is why most legisaltion that gets passed in the EP is usually to the great benefit of Big Business, or of even greater benefit to the politician(s) or beauracrat(s) involved. McEvoy has certainly spooked Deryn, and it is likely that other lobbying ‘consultancies’ are also spooked by him and want him gone as badly as Deryn do. Is it really any wonder that our Welsh Assembly is so infested with lobbyists when they look to the European Parliament as a shining example of the way they should behave ?
Sadly, few in Plaid Cymru seem to have anything about them to challenge the status quo. They are seemingly happy to keep their heads down and go along with the mediocrity that Wales has had to make do with for the 20 years the Assembly has been in existence. It is interesting that it takes a cock-up on Carwyn’s part to actually provoke some reaction from Plaid and we have seen that in the spat between Adam Price and Carwyn this week, backed up by Rhun Ap Iorweth.
What really needs to happen is for the likes of Adam,RT, Rhun and NM to keep pushing this hard because recent events have shown that Carwyn is rattled, and when he is rattled he makes a lot of slip-ups due to his tendency to ‘tackle the man and not the ball’.
Will that happen ?
Well, RT is certainly making all the right noises this week.But whether he will keep that up without support from others remains to be seen.
NM’s hatred of Carwyn is enough that I doubt he will let up any time soon, but what we don’t know is how much pressure he is under from other quarters. Everybody has their breaking point, I just hope that NM is nowhere near his yet as he is the one person I think could actually crack the corruption in the Bay wide open.
AP has had his toes trodden on this week and has shown that anger can provoke him into action. But the question must be whether others in Plaid will tell him to back off because they don’t want to cause too many ripples.
It has been quite an eventful week (for a change) in Cardiff Bay. Hopefully there is a lot more shit due to fly over the coming days. Shit that will make Carwyn’s life even more difficult. Lovely isn’t it ?
Max – Mark Drakeford is the biggest most poisonous snake in a sheep’s clothing that you’re ever likely to discover.
When he worked as a social scientist at Cardiff, Drakeford’ s publications always said the right thing in terms of challenging the insanity that neoliberalism and then Blair’s bizarre version of it had unleashed upon the world. I used to reference Butler and Drakeford in my own work frequently.
But then I found out a few things about Mark Drakeford. I noted that when he finally became Health Minister he completely ignored correspondence from patients telling him of how they had been neglected and abused by the NHS and social services. He ignored correspondence from me giving him details of a major research fraud which risked people’s lives. He shared a public platform with the fraudsters a few weeks later and gave newspaper interviews plugging their ‘intervention’.
Then the Tawel Fan scandal in the Betsi exploded in his face – he had been told repeatedly that patients were being abused but failed to act. Even after Tawel Fan, he misled some of the relatives and made excuses not to meet them. When he was finally forced to speak to them he was insulting and upset people.
Before becoming an AM, for years Drakeford was spad to Rhodri Morgan. The Rhodri who knew damn well that the serious problems in the NHS in north Wales were a legacy of the North Wales Child Abuse Scandal – the NHS worked with the social services to conceal what was going on. The fatheaded oaf Rhodri who knew that dreadful things were happening but just sunk another few pints and carried on concealing the mountain of shit. Rhodri was briefed by his advisor – Mark Drakeford.
Mark Drakeford knew all about the paedophile ring in north Wales – he was a social worker in Dyfed whilst a paedophile ring operated in the social services in Dyfed. And the ring in Dyfed had links with the ring in north Wales. When Gwynedd Social Services could no longer deny that there was a huge problem with children in care being abused, they organised a review of their children’s homes to be carried out by – Dyfed Social Services. The Chief Exec of Gwynedd County Council who invited senior officers up from Dyfed to reassure him that there was no real problem had previously been the County Secretary for Dyfed. He then became an advisor on the Committee which advised on the establishment of the Assembly after the yes to devolution vote.
When the police investigations in north Wales in the 90s which found ‘no evidence’ of a paedophile ring – although it was later admitted that there was one and furthermore witnesses had been killed – were conducted they should have arrested Mark Drakeford (as well as a few others we know and love) and taken him in for questioning.
Of course Drakeford likes Jeremy Corbyn – it won’t be anything to do with their politics, it Is because Jeremy is a man after Drakefords own heart. Corbyn was told repeatedly by whistleblowers that children in care on his patch in Islington were being abused by a paedophile ring which had infiltrated the social services. As in north Wales, children were trafficked to Europe for sex and used for child porn. One whistleblower disappeared and was never seen again and some children were found dead. Jeremy did bugger all.
The paedophile ring operating in the London boroughs had links to the ring in north Wales – the London boroughs were sending children ‘on placement’ to north Wales into the arms of the paedophile gang.
Drakeford is a wobbly version of Keith Vaz.- his rise in politics was as a result of him knowing where the bodies are buried. Literally.
Drakeford was elected to the Assembly in 2011. He suceeded Rhodri Morgan’s seat. Take a look at every AM who was newly elected to the Senedd along with Drakeford – virtually every single one of them had been involved in concealing the organised abuse of children in care. In 2011 the voices demanding a new investigation into the North Wales Child Abuse Scandal and the possibility of a related Westminster Paedophile Ring could no longer be silenced. So the Senedd was packed with people who had kept the lid on all of the shit lest another high level cover up a la Waterhouse was needed.
I can understand if Jac’s readers are sceptical – but take a look at the evidence, it’s all up on my own blog.
An earlier comment on this blog made reference to the low calibre of politicians. It is true, most of them are utterly mediocre. The system actively selects for corrupt yes men. Or of course corrupt yes wimmin.Take a look at the 2011 intake and you’ll understand what I mean.
I see that Richard Wyn Jones has been on Sunday Politics stating that Carwyn has no support in Welsh Labour and will soon be gone. I have been very rude about Carwyn’s failure to sufficiently challenge serious entrenched corruption in Wales. But he is someone who’s background/CV shows no signs at all of him ever actively concealing the barrel of shit that was the decades long abuse and trafficking of children in care by organised criminals. God help Wales if Carwyn does go because if you take a long hard look at the biographies of those who might replace him it becomes clear that Carwyn is the least dangerous option. Wales has sleep walked into a very serious problem.
You obviously know far more about Drakeford’s past than I do Sally. What I know of the man is mainly what others have told me in recent years.
I also saw that interview with Richard Wyn Jones. Quite scary that he thinks Drakeford is in line to become the next First Minister should Carwyn fall. In my eyes, that would be a dreadful choice, but then it is Welsh Labour we are talking about.
Can’t see Skates getting the role of FM either as he lacks gravitas and has never been convincing whenever I have seen him speak. Same goes for Gething. When the questions get tough he simply runs away.
In the spat between Adam Price and Carwyn Jones there has been an accusation that Carwyn had instructed ‘civil servants’ to dig some dirt on the Plaid AM in relation to the Hywel Dda Health Board consultation. Whilst I’m of the opinion that these civil servants are puppets often having loyalty to Whitehall rather than Wales, one thing they are not, is crooked. They would spot arm-twisting to release confidential information a mile off, as they did with the minister over the Blaenau Gwent racetrack. It that instance it was the civil servants themselves who blew the whistle.
I suspect therefore that Sophie Howe is Carwyn’s source, this leak being of of miss-information, and it is this that has made the breach apparent.
The Commissioner for Wellbeing and Future Generations is required by statute to examine the Hywel Dda Health Board consultation to ensure it complies with the Act. This would have included details of any responses from AMs, Adam Price having his constituency within the health board footprint. It’s only as a result of the health board providing duff info to Sophie, that Carwyn exposed himself within the Senedd.
The real question to ask is about the role of Sophie and why the Commissioner for Wellbeing and Future Generations, who is supposed to be independent, has been weaponised against opposition AMs as a poodle of the First Minister. I would expect that the Carwyn to Sophie emails to be significant in the use of personal accounts for ministerial correspondence should a criminal investigation be warranted.
Those towns have the highest per capita income in all Wales, bar Cardiff.
I’m not sure about that, but whether you’re right or not I still find then ugly.
Possibly because an awful lot of people living there actually come from and work in West Cheshire. Bit like Wrecsam has also become a dormitory town for Chester and West Cheshire.
Problem is, if you live in the Chester area and only earn 20k, unless you are living in a council.housing association house you have serious problems. So for people on fairly low incomes – even down as low as minimum wage, it’s cheaper to live in Queensferry, Connah’s Quay, Llay, Wrecsam etc etc and commute – hence why the public transport there is plentiful and affordable.
You can live a far higher standard of life on 20K living there and commuting than you can back over the border in Chester.
“There have always been sound economic and other arguments for moving the Assembly out of Cardiff, preferably to somewhere more central like Aberystwyth or Llandrindod. If we did that then investment and jobs would be far more likely to be spread fairly around the country. Not only that, but if we moved the Assembly then other investment would surely follow, such as road and rail communications.”
Moving the centre of gravity of Wales to its actual centre is fundamental to its survival. People are already questioning the relevance of Wales when institutionally it appears to be simply an old name imposed upon a group of competing city-regions separated by sheep and reservoirs.
A lot of work was done by Plaid Cymru to develop a vision for knitting the country together. Its chief output was the 1970 Economic Plan for Wales. This should have been the Blaid’s unique selling point because few others were doing this work, because few others cared if there were bits of services in Wales run as extensions of England.
What happened? In the early 80’s I had the misfortune to hear DET speak in Caerdydd. As there was talk of reviewing the economic plan, I asked him what he thought an update should include. I’ve never been more disappointed with an answer. He ranted about the plan being a naïve tool of capitalism that ignored the working class. In response to another question, he denounced interest in Llewelyn and Glyndwr as feudalist, stating baldly that Welsh history began with the industrial revolution. What the now proud Marxist-Monarchist thinks today, I neither know nor care but these attitudes have become endemic. Was someone paying him, or blackmailing him, to hold the Blaid back?
Re-centering Wales is a challenge because there are few votes in it. Everyone’s now expected to know that what’s good for Caerdydd is good for Cymru. Economic orthodoxy states that agglomeration increases productivity, so it must be so, hence the constant looking to Bristol and Liverpool. The target seats for nationalists, north and south, are largely outside the central zone, while the zone itself is unlikely to welcome the arrival of thousands of the great-and-good from Whitchurch and Cowbridge. The Development Board for Rural Wales is remembered with suspicion as something of an anglicisation agency.
Does it need to be thought through then? Yes. Otherwise it only recalls the Cromwellian-style plantation of Powys that Caersws was planned to be. Or it could be the Brasilia of Wales, potentially as detached as the Bay. If it CAN be done right, then should it be done? In the long run, there is no national alternative.
noticed your tweet regarding microchipping of pets. This is a good thing in that it can help owners retrieve dogs or cats that have strayed or retrieved from thieves etc etc.
However the chipping of pets is an experiment in movement logging and in due course the “big powers” like the EU, Russia, China, USA and aspiring big powers like UK will start chipping humans. At first it will be a routine if you are an immigrant, or if ever held for interview by the police. The next stage will be something like kids being chipped on entry to post 11 education, and finally when a child is born. With advances in miniaturization of components ( Gee can brief you on this ) there is capability to track both movement and activity. It will be justified in Wales so that incidents of harrasment, groping and other deviant activities can be monitored and depending on whether your face fits, or not, you will be punished.
and you can bet your bottom dollar it will be tried out in Wales first under pioneering legislation introduced by our elected AM’s as happened with plastic bags, organ donation etc etc pioneering legislation for some dragged up reason by a civil servant.
you are quite right – this the way things are going – a lot of things being tried out on animals first.
All cows have an ID passport or card and individual tags. Tony Blair brought this in [foot and mouth] next step the sheople will need ID cards [andMchips] – it was once to be brought in by Blunkett to monitor immigrants supposedly – no-one could claim benefits without an ID card.
Things may have moved on so cattle are now chipped as well there was a bolus chip reader being introduced once. Just look next time you go through passport control – a photo of you pops up when you check out into the airside area logged and readable from the chip in your passport.
All very depressing and a so called INDEPENDENCE will change nothing for ‘Corrupt Cymru’ 1536 – 2018 hence, fin! Cymru Game Over! PS: Welsh Assembly aka Palace of Malice will sink in it’s own shit in time, maybe?
Independence with the same politicians we have now, or others like them, would be a disaster, even worse than devolution, because the system of patronage and cronyism they’ve built up can only survive with regular handouts from elsewhere, be that London or Brussels.
Give these bastards independence and they’d bankrupt Wales in a very short time. They have no idea of how to create wealth, in fact, most of them are anti-business and regard prosperity as something evil.
If these useless bastards were running an independent Wales we’d have government by third sector, we’d be taking in immigrants from all over the world, and our homeland would soon descend into a lawless shit-hole where anyone who criticised Albanian gangsters would be a ‘racist’.
That’s where those focusing narrowly on independence have got it all wrong. Independence would be a disaster without a revolutionary change in mindset.
Just ask yourself – would things be any better with Carwyn or Leanne running an independent Wales?
“Just ask yourself – would things be any better with Carwyn or Leanne running an independent Wales?”
Is there a substance strong enough to bring on such an hallucination ? And if there is, is there also an antidote that can bring us safely back to earth without causing permanent damage ?
It’s a nightmare, and the only cure is to wake up. By which I mean, realise that independence with the politicians and the political mindsets we have today would be an absolute disaster for Wales.
Until we can produce more imaginative and competent politicians with different ideas on how to run a country it’s best not to think about independence.
If you like conspiracy theories you might even believe that our political Parties in Wales deliberately allow the dross to rise to the top. This ensures that anyone with any sense would run a mile from independence rather than allow these muppets complete control over our affairs. I don’t 100% subscribe to that personally but have heard it suggested that many of our “brightest” politicians were far from the sharpest tool in the box in their former professional careers.
Sadly, most of them never had any kind of “former professional career”,they became active politicians from an early age pursuing their own personal agenda regardless of how zany it might be. And anyone with a “successful track record” in running a 3rd sector operation is likely to be a deviant anyway.
And of course, she’s too busy attacking the ‘far right’ at the moment to worry about the workings in the Bay of Plenty
“Violent, terrorist extremism is coming from a far-right, supremacist place. Whether it’s anti Muslim white supremacism or religious supremacism, it comes from the same political place. If we don’t name it, we can’t defeat it.” #No2theFarRight
Wales is poor and corrupt, and that has nothing to do with any imaginary far right – but everything to do with Plaid Cymru’s soul-mates in ‘Welsh’ Labour.
Shows her lack of a proper education. If she could be weaned away from the “flat earth” view of life where everything is on a single linear plane she would realise that the world is a sphere and much of what goes on in it is also 3 dimensional. I suspect that Leanne herself might even be 3 dimensional if she stepped out from behind that cardboard cutout of herself. Eventually the penny might drop that that “Far Right” place is next door to that “Far Left” place that is her idea of heaven. Silly fuckin’ cow, she’s lost any credibility she ever had.
Same recycled soundbites that she comes out with quite often these days. Problem is that being so absolute that “terrorism” and stuff comes from one area of the imaginary spectrum is that she is venturing very close to extremism herself. Because well centered people can see any cause any where on the “spectrum” can generate an extremist element.
It may just be simpler that she limits where she gets her news. Guardian through and through… “far-right” is the new label replacing “fascist” – many Guardian readers could barely get to grips and use the latter terminology in a way that suited their cause (while not sounding like uneducated morons) – they needed something more ambiguous to throw around with those that disagree with them. Limiting what news outlets you read means that you form your world view and opinions through the kaleidoscope of some one elses limited world view. Also reinforces your beliefs which can at some point become dangerous.
As I said there… IRA stuff falls between the cracks… and no matter how people feel about them they are left-leaning. Quite a few other examples too. But Guardian and what not don’t focus on such things.
Quite a few things I’d never heard before in your piece there, Jac. An informative read that one.
With regard to the Carl Sargeant business and specifically the actions or inactions of Commissar Carwyn, one of the things that has stood out for me has been the relative silence of Leanne Wood in trying to bring the FM to account. Contrast this with the way RT Davies has handled it. On numerous occasions things have emerged in debate in the Senedd only for RT to be putting things into writing, asking further pointed questions and demanding answers, before the sun has set in the Bay. His determination to nail Carwyn down has been picked up by the media and at the same time gets broadcast on things like Twitter. Where has Leanne been? This whole sordid affair should have been a gift for Plaid as well, and it’s one that should keep on giving.
So why is she so backward in coming forward on this? My own theory is she’s too closely connected to the source of the accusations against Sargeant and taking an aggressive stance against the Commissar might be construed as having sympathies for Sargeant in the way he was treated. My gut feeling is she probably backed his sacking 100%. I’d bet a sizeable sum on the fact she knows the intimate details of the charges levied against Sargeant, who made them, and furthermore I bet she knew it all well before they were ever brought to the attention of Welsh Labour in that week when Sargeant got his marching orders. If she could see beyond the Band of Sisters she’d realise that this is no longer about whether or not Sargeant make unwelcome advances or worse. It’s all about did Carwyn follow the right procedures, was Sargeant still owed a duty of care, was he let down, and last but not least, what about those several instances where Carwyn inexplicably gave media interviews following the sacking, that may well have tipped Sargeant over the edge?
We know that Leanne Wood is intimately acquainted with those who engineered Sargeant’s sacking, and this is one reason she’s staying schtum. But also remember, these are the same people involved in the vendetta against Neil McEvoy, which gives her another reason to keep well out of it.
Her close association with some very nasty wimmin will come back to haunt Leanne Wood.
On a busy day for our rugby team I’ll use a football analogy ! Own goals galore from Simon Thomas, a guy who appears able to head the ball from the far end of the pitch into his own net, best he stays off the pitch until he learns who his real opponents are. Then the strike partnership of Leanne & Co gifted stacks of chances at peppering CJ’s net and they don’t even touch the ball ! Bunch of dithering jessies the lot of them.
Seriously, Stan is right, like so many others. Leanne & Co are wedded to CJ’s position either directly or via the Deryn conspirators, not just on the Sargeant issue but in all probability many others.
It’s because Labour is viewed as a ‘progressive’ party, just like Plaid. And this position allows Plaid to overlook Labour’s manifest failings because the alternatives are far worse (so Plaid tells itself).
I mean, who wants prosperity and honest government when we can have poverty and corruption – all controlled by politicians and their appointees?
I think Jack is holding the seat. He’ll be gone next elections. Its just to prevent any anti-Labour sentiment. They must lack confidence in him not to put him in the public eye – maybe hes not ready in which case he shouldn’t be running. Still its not about being ready is it?
Deryn. Way I see it is that no element within politics should be taken lightly. They may feel the same about you – certainly considering Plaid Newydd on the horizon. Expect a dirty, dirty game the Bay. Expect they are preparing for some eventualities… ones they can imagine anyway. Maybe why Plaid has become more aggressive? But its too late. Never felt a home in Plaid being an English speaker and they’ve made no effort to change their outlook.
As for Neil he appears to be max devo. Sovereign parliament could mean either but usually when the rest of us talk about Independence we don’t split hairs… so a grey area label there. I think one of the Labour4Indy Wales lot said if you want something you need to ask for more.Think those are some of the wisest words I’ve heard.
The involvement of Deryn explains the complete apathy of PC and their failure to make any political capital out of any of this either the alleged bullying or the alleged corruption. But willing to cannibalise on Neil McEvoy
Adam Price complaining about Carwyn and Putin’s’ Russia by damn! Completely useless. And isn’t the PC complaints and appeals process Putin’s Russia?
Mind you the other parties haven’t been up to much either. It was NM who raised Deryns contract and land sale issues etc wasn’t it?
Yes, and Neil McEvoy also called for a register of lobbyists, such as we find elsewhere. But Labour said no and the wimmin at Deryn stuck a few more pins in their voodoo dolls of McEvoy.
Wherever you look we see both Plaid Cymru and Labour in each other pockets raking in the cash. Neil McEvoy has made some powerful enemies by speaking out. An example is Tonia Antoniazzi, Labour MP for Gower, who claimed she had to use a Foodbank when she was a head of languages teacher, previously lived in the Llanelli constituency campaigning for Nia Griffith.
Tonia has a brother Jon, presumably too busy and not prepared to do a Sunday roast for hungry Tonia as Jon is married, to Helen Bradley. Helen was formerly Head of News and Research for Plaid Cymru and is now Strategic Communications Lead at Chwarae Teg.
Chwarae Teg is the charity name of a company of limited liability. It’s real name, as registered at companies house, is Fair Play (Workforce) Limited. They got a grant of £5351,508 from the Welsh Government in 2017 (£6362,379 in 2016) and a EU grant of £3,045,458 (£2,369,430 in 2016). It has a director that has overall control of the company. It’s Cerys Furlong, the chef executive, former Labour councillor for Canton, and former chair of Cardiff City Council.
You say …. “One incident of bullying that’s been reported has Sargeant’s hand on an intern’s throat with the intern pinned to a wall and Sargeant screaming at him. The crime? – getting Sargeant’s lunch order wrong.”
Well fair enough, if a lazy kid can’t get a man’s fodder right then he deserves a whack. And that wasn’t in any way sexual assault or harrasment, was it ? A lax attitude to discipline gets you nowhere, as it undermines the authority of the state.
You also say ….”Less funny are persistent rumours of dodgy procurement deals that are said to have somehow benefited Sargeant’s extended family and friends. It’s even rumoured that BBC Wales was investigating these allegations until the Labour Party took out an injunction.” Well there you go, Carl appears to have been involved in something that is common currency among Labour politicians – liberating funds from the public purse. Deviant by our standards but the going rate among the bruvvers ( and sisters).
You add that …”Most civil servants are mystified by Sargeant’s beatification, for his department had the highest absence and sickness rates, with two senior civil servants taking early retirement, again, at some cost to the public purse.” This is a common problem in the public sector. At one time the period designated as time off sick on full pay or nearly full pay was called “sick leave” by staff at quite senior levels and was used extensively for things like away trips to Dublin, Edinburgh and Paris. So, the fact that it happened in Carl’s domain only goes to prove that there is still a prevalence of lazy cheating bastards in the Welsh civil service. The scam of early retirement on grounds of ill-health is also commonly used especially as with the correctly worded chitty you can get out with minimal dilution of pension benefit and a cash lump sum (probably tax free!)
As for Gething being Carwyn’s anointed, well that could send dear Ken “Iron Ring” Skates into a fit of deep depression as he is visibly energised by the prospect of the Fuhrer’s role coming up for grabs sooner rather than later. At least the choice between him and Gething will be easy to express in Black and White terms !. Sadly, both are rigid adherents of the AngloBrit supremacist party line as neither of them has the balls to tell London Labour to fuck off out of Wales despite having ample capacity to moan about the current London Tory regime.
It’s a hell of a choice, isn’t it – Gething or Skates! But who else is there?
It could put Labour in a bit of trouble, because both Rhodri and Carwyn, for various reasons were able to reach out to many of the more patriotic elements, but with either of those buggers in charge Labour will be exposed as the BritNat party it is.
Unless of course they’re lining DET up to take over.
Eluned Morgan, Mark Drakeford.
Doubt it’d be DET. He may not survive the next election and looks like LSR maybe in the hunt for his Senedd seat. Same could be said for McEvoy and Drakeford though. Potential embarrassment if either became FM and lost their seat afterwards.
Gething is very low profile I doubt a lot of people actually know who he is.
DET isn’t standing again.
Good advice from you to the voters of Alyn and Deeside Jac. We will soon know the outcome.