Plaid-led Assembly Commission?

I would've thought that one Assembly Member of sixty, defecting from one political party to another would be newsworthy from a collective, objective, and transparent National Assembly for Wales. Obviously not!

A sign of things to come...

When Sugar doesn't taste so sweet

Tim Montgomerie posts on a sour Sugar:

Alan Sugar is a prat. He's a dipstick. He's a wally. (As well as not having an enormous intellect).

Roger Alton, Matthew d’Ancona, Liz Anderson, Martin Bright, Jeremy Clarke, Nick Cohen, Nicholas Coleridge, Lloyd Evans, James Forsyth, Julia Hobsbawm, Rachel Johnson, Dylan Jones, Mary Killen, India Knight, Rod Liddle, John Micklethwait, Fraser Nelson, Matthew Parris, Stephen Pollard, Hugo Rifkind, Andrew Roberts, Alan Rusbridger, Sebastian Shakespeare, Paul Staines, Sarah Standing, Mary Wakefield and Toby Young have written this letter to The Spectator in protest at Lord Sugar's threat to sue The Daily Mail's Quentin Letts for calling him a ‘telly peer’ who ‘doesn’t seem to have an enormous intellect’.

One of the letter's signatories, Matthew Parris, has gone further still in today's Times:

"This is outrageous. What a prat. What a dipstick. What a wally. Alan Sugar is threatening to sue my former fellow-sketchwriter, Quentin Letts. A letter to The
Spectator this week, to which I have just added my name, protests that the libel
lawyers Herbert Smith have written to Mr Letts complaining that on LBC radio he
called their client a telly peer who doesn’t seem to have an enormous intellect; and that a writ will follow unless he pays Lord Sugar’s legal costs to date, donates an undisclosed sum to charity and gives a written undertaking never to criticise their client again. Find me a bucket, I feel sick. This from a delicate flower who has made his media career verbally humiliating people."

Matthew Parris at his best. Read his full column here.

Lembit too cool for school?

Lembit is attempting to distract me from watching a programme!

'A Prince for Wales?' on BBC One Wales to be precise. Huw Edwards is asking the great and the good of Welsh life, as well as the ordinary people, about a prince for Wales.

Lembit's new glasses are distracting me beyond belief!

Comment Nominations

Taking place in October, The Comment Awards are the first to celebrate comment in all its forms - both print and online from the Commentariat across both newspapers and the blogosphere.

There are 12 award categories, and you can make nominations for as many or as few award categories as you wish by clicking the nominate button on the homepage. Each nomination must be supported by a minimum of 3 or a maximum of 5 articles.

Civil servants take 10 'freebies' each

The Daily Telegraph reports that figures to be disclosed today will show that supposedly impartial mandarins, many in charge of departments with large Whitehall budgets, have repeatedly been entertained by firms.

The Daily Telegraph has been told that around 180 civil servants will be named in a list published today. It will detail approximately 1,800 items in total that have been declared by Whitehall employees - an average of 10 trips for each official.

The hospitality mainly covers lunches, dinners and receptions. However, there is also more lavish entertainment including high-profile international rugby matches and other sporting events.

Invites to other exclusive occasions, like the opera and the Chelsea Flower Show, that make up the circuit of hospitality events, was also accepted.

Among those who have been offering the "freebies" were banks, financial consultancies and news organisations.

It comes as ministers seek to clamp down on civil servants who accept hospitality from lobbyists and companies seeking to influence legislation. The recent "Lords for hire" scandal has heightened the need for tighter control among those in Whitehall and Westminster.

In view of Wales being firmly part of the UK and its public servants largely forming part of the UK public sector/civil service, I wonder if any of the 'Cathays Park hundreds' would like to come clean as they form part of the Home Civil Service?

Dead tree press can't see the wood for the trees

At this time of the year we're in need of a good story that not only demonstrates the inconsistency of those running the WAG machine, but also an example of the civil service not getting their own way and promoting one of their own numbers from within.

This story also makes a refreshing change from the media ignoring what other AMs have claimed in expenses. Instead, they choose to turn the rack on the Conservative leader Nick Bourne over a piddling iPod in a desperate attempt to make the story run and run until his resignation as group leader. Hoping then to happily turn the story into a column stocking filler by running another series of leadership election stories that saves them from having to examine and attack the policies and politics of the Welsh Assembly Government.

More effort should be placed on looking into the National Assembly rules and regulations on expenses that allows what may seem by the general public to be inappropriate claims being made by elected politicians. We need to remember that no politician has broken the rules of the Assembly as laid down by Assembly Commission staff.

Have the Western Mail also gone soft on the Assembly Government since coalition? Fear appears to have set in when it comes to taking on the Labour establishment and particularly since forming a coalition with Plaid Cymru. This needs to change.

The Western Mail's latest column filler - iPodGate - should go a long way to guarantee Nick Bourne's short term survival as leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the National Assembly. Welsh politics and political parties are not led by small Welsh media outlets, and no one is going to have the stomach to oust a leader just because a campaign is being run by a Welsh newspaper.

The Welsh Conservative party and group in the Assembly shouldn't follow the Western Mail's lead. It wouldn't be good for party politics in Wales whatever party you support.

Anyway. Enough of my rant before Christmas and back to the other Welsh politics story in the Western Mail that isn't classed as 'iPodGate' or 'a soapbox for Adam Price MP'.

This story of Christmas cheer can be read in the next blog.

Court frees Malaysian blogger

A Malaysian court has ordered the release of a prominent government critic free from detention on grounds that his arrest under a colonial-era security law was unlawful, local media and his lawyer have said.

Raja Petra Kamarudin, a high-profile political blogger, was detained in September for allegedly stoking racial tensions by publishing articles that the government said insulted Islam, inflamed racial tensions and tarnished the country's leadership.

But the high court in the state of Selangor ruled on Friday that the Malaysian home minister had acted beyond his powers in having the blogger arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA), Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, Raja Petra's lawyer, said.

He quoted Judge Syed Ahmad Helmy Syed Ahmad as saying that the grounds given for Raja Petra's detention were insufficient and that his arrest under the ISA was unlawful.

"It's a historic ruling and definitely a wonderful step in terms of civil liberties in Malaysia," the lawyer said.

Some of Malaysia's most popular blogs offer stinging anti-government commentaries and present themselves as a substitute for mainstream media, which are controlled by political parties or closely linked to them.

According to government estimates, there are more than 700 Malaysians who blog on social and political issues.

[Pippa Wagstaff is currently on a blogging break]

Are the Senior Civil Service in Wales earning their salaries?

This post has been in my inbox for some time. Other events have taken over and we seem to forget - far too quickly - how much our public servants earn in relation to the majority of the population. Since Amanwy has now pointed out the latest in the Assembly Government hierarchy, which is the brain-child of new Permanent Secretary Dame Gillian Morgan, I've decided to finish this post.

The Welsh Assembly Government have announced a major re-organisation at Senior level of the civil service in Cathays Park. A new layer of senior civil servants will be created in an effort to join-up government. A policy-performance-bridge between the existing heads and the Permanent Secretary. They are to be called Director General posts, with each earning a salary of £130,000 (I expect there to be a tagline of 'more available, depending on experience' added in somewhere). Expected themed responsibility will cover: Sustainable Futures; Public Services and Local Government Delivery; People, Places and Corporate Services; and Finance. Under each Director General will be the corresponding existing departments, divisions, and branches.

In an ideal world, the Assembly Government will look to outside the Assembly in order to fill these new roles, and not look to reward those that are already stagnating in their current roles within the Cathays Park-based civil service. I can only imagine how many of the existing heads will be rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of promotion. This may prove to be a consolation prize for some, and only time will tell how many of them will be positioning themselves for these new roles. There are a few that had their noses put out of joint when Dame Gillian Morgan - an outsider - was put in charge back in May.

Not taking into account that dreaded word 'bonuses', the 30 highest-paid civil servants in the Welsh Assembly Government together earn at least £3.3m, the Western Mail revealed in August of this year. This new announcement is - in no doubt - partly a way to reinvigorate our perception of the civil service by bringing in 'a welcome relief' at the same time as a fresh approach, far removed from the old management style of Sir Jon Shortridge. There's no more mileage in the romantic mantra of "Don't go changing to try and please me, I love you just the way you are." Dame Gillian Morgan wants to be seen as a manager promoting something radical within the civil service - concentrating on delivery with a different approach to her predecessor, and putting to bed the theory and rumour that she's going to concentrate too much on health in Wales, given her background.

Whatever the reason, laden with good intention, some will see this as an extra layer of bureaucracy and pure empire building of old-school proportions; or even a career-laden structure to progression for senior managers within Cathays Park. I'm a healthy cynic and also believe that Dame Gillian thinks that there's too many at the top table. Weekly/monthly meetings are taken up by too many items on the agenda, and wants to keep the talking to the few. Departments are difficult to downsize, so are kept the same. The Director General 'bridges' should be able to carry forward the right messages to the top-dog in each, and via these new bridges, the message should be carried forward without fuss to the department heads below. Sadly, as noses will be put out of joint in the process, people will largely forget that those that lead the divisions will remain the same, subject to any knock-on promotion.

Being seen to look outside the Assembly and advertise externally for new talent may be seen as forward thinking, however, the wind is taken out of its sails when you find out this is not new thinking, but common public sector practice.

The salary may very well reflect the roles, but more emphasis needs to be placed on measuring whether a good job has been done in each senior civil service role. At the moment this is only carried out internally, and sometimes by the media taking pot shots - occasionally in the dark.

The obligatory public relations guff that follows the installment of these new top-dogs will soon disappear, and when the air clears, all we're left with is a layer of 'strategic geniuses' that, in time, turn out to be another layer in the silo that make little difference to policy ideas and performance when those that command the middle ranking troops remain the same.

The data shows top civil servants continue to earn significantly more than the Assembly Government Ministers responsible for policy.

The First Minister receives £78,355 on top of a basic AM’s salary of £50,692. Cabinet members are paid a top-up of £40,645.

Corin Taylor of the Taxpayers’ Alliance said: “If you’re spending a great deal of taxpayers’ money you should be accountable for what you do and how you are remunerated. If people are doing a good job and their details are out in the open we won’t begrudge them.”

Ten of the 30 civil servants with the largest salaries work in health divisions:

At the top of the list

1. Dame Gillian Morgan, the Permanent Secretary (between £160,000 and £165,000)

2. Ann Lloyd, Chief Executive of NHS Wales (between £160,000 and £165,000)

3. Dr Tony Jewell, Chief Medical Officer (between £155,000 and £160,000)

4. Gareth Hall, Director of the Department for the Economy and Transport - former WDA (between £135,000 and £140,000)

5. Dr Gwyn Thomas, who, as director of Informing Healthcare, is charged with encouraging better use of information in the NHS.

6. Jeff Buggle (£130,000- £135,000) and Bob Hudson (£120,000-£125,000) – both directors in the department for health and social services.

8. Dr Christine Daws Finance Director (between £115,000 and £120,000)

9. Simon Dean, Director of Service Delivery and Performance Management, Health and Social Services Department. (between £115,000 and £120,000)

10. Derek Griffin, Chief Executive of CAFCASS Cymru, the body which looks after the interests of children involved in family law proceedings (between £115,000 and £120,000)

11. Bernard Galton, HR Director (between £110,000 and £115,000)

12. Martin Sykes, Chief Executive of Value Wales (between £110,000 and £115,000)
13. Richard Davies, Director of the Department for Public Services and Performance, Mike Hopkins, head of the lifelong learning and providers division, and Dr Jane Wilkinson, deputy chief medical officer, are all paid between £105,000 and £110,000.

Of the next 15 top-paid officials, six are on between £100,000 and £105,000, and the remaining nine, between £95,000 and £100,000.

One day of the year when you can be seen as special

It just happens to be a long solitary walk to retirement and a handsome pension waiting for little achievement, and an even lower public and political respectability from your peers and critics, for one person.

It also happens to be the the First Minister's 69th birthday tomorrow. This blog wishes him a happy birthday. Put your feet up on the office sofa with your glass of orange juice to read your papers. Delegate more to others for just one day. Sit back and enjoy the one day of the year that you can be seen as special.

Are you sitting comfortably? Good.

I have some bad news!

Not only has someone summed up your ministerial career in a way that makes you Wales' very own Gordon Brown:

Damn right: Rhodri Morgan is the biggest disappointment to happen to Welsh Labour devolutionary hopes since Ron Davies had his moment of madness. At least
Ron hasn't given up on politics, which Rhodri clearly has. They sat on him over the Richard Commission, they undermined his ministership at every turn. He was so demoralised and knackered he had to sit back and watch while London Labour
launched its viciously anti-Welsh hacks, and now he's waiting to retire so he can watch some golf. What a waste of undoubted talent. The man has become invisible and irrelevant.

The party had high hopes of him, those of us at least who thought the future was devolution. He's like Gordon Brown: spent all his time wanting the job, then when he gets it is a big soggy squib.

Don't be downhearted, it gets better. In August I reported that Rhodri's Facebook group "Rhodri Morgan Appreciation Society" had remained static in membership. September 2007, 20 members; August 2008, 20 members. There's good news in that the membership has risen to 22 in time for his birthday.

I hear you say there must be a BUT.

The bad news is that Welsh Labour's Communications Officer Martyn Williams, and Luke Ellis 'number two' of Minister Carwyn Jones have both left the society.

Life can sometimes be difficult. Congratulations must be given to Assembly Members, Alun Davies and Joyce Watson for remaining members.

Happy Birthday for tomorrow, First Minister.

Politics Show: Wales and the West?

I'm a woman of routine and was surprised to discover that 'Wales' will not be broadcasting today as part of the Politics Show. As much as I like the West, I'll miss his cheeky little face today.

Will have to get back to cooking Sunday lunch.

EU Regulation of Blogs: attempt to ban anonymous blogging

Hat-tip to Valleys Mam for drawing this to the attention of the Welsh blogosphere, and to Debacle for the original blog coverage:

Full Daily Telegraph article with comments.

Marianne Mikko, an Estonian centre-left MEP, is concerned that growing numbers of blogs are being used by individuals with "malicious intentions or hidden agendas".

"The blogosphere has so far been a haven of good intentions and relatively honest dealing. However, with blogs becoming commonplace, less principled people will want to use them," she said.

Mrs Mikko has proposed that bloggers should be required to identify themselves and that some popular blogs should come with a declaration of interests.

"We do not need to know the exact identity of bloggers. We need some credentials, a quality mark, a certain disclosure of who is writing and why. We need this to be able to trust and rely on the source," she said.

Chris Heaton Harris, a British Conservative Euro MP, has rejected any moves to "regulate and restrict independent media sources".

"Mrs Mikko obviously does not understand that blogs have become the life blood of a vibrant democracy," he said.

"I hope these proposals are kicked out."

Thursday's vote in the European Parliament is not legally binding but is an indicator of growing EU concern over the influence of blogs on the internet.

A recent internal European Commission report, leaked three weeks ago, found that the EU was losing the battle for hearts and minds online.

"Blog activity remains overwhelmingly negative," it said.

National Assembly for Wales Survey Results

I must say that I was alarmed (not) by the Assembly's positive spin in their statement "One of the most comprehensive surveys undertaken in Wales to gauge public understanding of the Principality’s political landscape has shown that 70% of people want Wales to have either full or partial devolution."

Lib Dem Commissioner in the Assembly, Peter Black AM has provided us with a full account:

The Assembly Commission has just published the results of the most comprehensive survey undertaken in Wales to gauge public understanding of the nation’s political landscape.

The survey was commissioned by the National Assembly for Wales and carried out by Aberystwyth University's Institute of Welsh Politics in collaboration with GfKNOP. It involved questioning over 2,500 people in June and July 2008.

When questioned, the majority of respondents (39%) wanted Wales to remain part of the UK but to have its own elected Parliament with full law-making and taxation powers. 31% of the people questioned wanted the Assembly to retain its current level of powers and 10% wanted Wales to become a fully independent nation.

Of the remaining respondents, 15% wanted to return to the pre-devolution status and 6% expressed a ‘don’t know’ opinion.The survey indicated that this preferred constitutional status was based on a robust level of political understanding among respondents. When asked to identify the scope of the National Assembly for Wales’ law-making powers, 77% correctly identified that it “has powers to make laws in a number of areas, and these can be expanded with the agreement of the UK parliament’.

The survey also indicated that there is an increasing homogenisation of opinion and understanding across Wales. Previous surveys had seen variations in levels of support across various regions. However, the National Assembly for Wales survey indicated that there was more consistency in people’s aspirations towards devolution across the country, and aligned to this was a greater consistency in levels of understanding. (There was a modest regional difference in understanding across Wales on the Welsh Assembly’s law-making powers, with 72% of people in North Wales giving the correct answer, compared to 83% in South East Wales.)

However, the survey also indicated that many Welsh citizens are unclear about the distinction between the National Assembly for Wales and the Welsh Assembly Government, with 52% admitting that they know only “a little” about the National Assembly for Wales.

I was particularly intriqued by the question which sought to determine how people get their information about the Assembly and Welsh politics. In percentage terms this is summarised as follows:

TV News (87%)
Friends, family and word of mouth (66%)
Local newspapers (64%)
British newspapers (56%)
National Welsh newspapers, Western Mail and Daily Post (39%)
BBC Radio, such as Radio 4 and 5Live (42%)
The Internet (37%)
Radio Wales/Radio Cymru (36%)
Commercial Radio News (23%)

Note the relatively high score for the internet. The breakdown of which daily newspapers the respondents rely on for news is also interesting:

Daily Mail (named by 12.8% of all survey respondents)
Daily Mirror (9.5%)
The Sun (9.1%)
Western Mail (6.3%)
South Wales Echo (5.0%)
Daily Telegraph (4.8%)
The Times (4.3%)
Daily Express (4.2%)
Daily Post (3.6%)
South Wales Evening Post (3.5%)
The Guardian (3.2%)
South Wales Argus (2.8%)
The Independent (2.0%)
Daily Star (1.7%)
Evening Leader (1.5%)
Wrexham Evening Leader (0.9%)

The Western Mail confirms its position as the pre-dominant Welsh newspaper even if its circulation is lower than more local offerings such as the South Wales Echo and the Evening Post. Top of the heap though is the Daily Mail. What is that all about?

Total Politics Results: Media Blogs

Four Welsh Media blogs have made it into Iain Dale's Top 30 Media Blogs list for his Guide to Political Blogging in the UK 2008-9.

8. David Cornock (BBC, though not an official one)
12. Betsan Powys (BBC)
13. Vaughan Roderick (BBC)
20. 07:25 to Paddington (Western Mail)

The full list and entire series can be followed by clicking on the following link to Iain Dale's Diary.

Health gimmick taken up in millions

As the BBC and Western Mail have reported, the Welsh Assembly Gimmick Government's main gimmick - in order to make it stand out from Westminster - isn't quite going to plan.

The number of prescription items dispensed in Wales rose by 2.9m in the first year of free prescriptions, official figures show.

The number of dispensed items rose 5% from 59.1m in 2006/7 to 62m in 2007/8, the
equivalent to 20 items per person.

The chief medical officer said it showed there was more preventative work and more cancer drugs prescribed. But the Lib Dems said the figures proved their concerns of introducing free
prescriptions.

The figures follow a five-year general trend of an increase in items dispensed.

The National Statistics on GP prescribing showed the net cost of the prescribed items was £584m - an increase of 1% on the previous year - and equivalent to £188.90 per head.

Wales' £3 prescription charge was abolished in April last year by the Labour and Plaid Cymru run assembly government.

Wales' Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Jewell said:

We know that in Wales we have more people with long term illnesses than England. These figures reflect the fact that more preventative work is being undertaken, with GPs prescribing medicines which are helping people manage their chronic conditions and keeping them out of hospital, reducing the cost and pressure on the NHS.

We are also issuing more medicines used to treat cancers, as cancer therapy has improved to a point where, for a number of patients, it is now a chronic condition, plus GPs are helping more patients with diabetes manage their condition under the new enhanced contract.

The figures also show we are increasing access while reducing costs. The net cost per prescription item decreased from £9.80 to £9.42.

But Welsh Lib Dem health spokesperson Jenny Randerson said:

We warned the (assembly) government that giving free prescriptions for all would be disastrous and today's figures have vindicated our position. A 5% increase (in items claimed) is disastrous when the (assembly) government is refusing to fund vital lifesaving drugs. The cost of this gimmick will be with Welsh patients for generations.

While millionaires claim their free paracetamol, the health service will continue to be to stretched to provide life saving services.

Shadow Health Minister Jonathan Morgan, Tory AM, said the figures showed people in Wales were becoming increasingly reliant on prescribed medicine:

The number of prescriptions being issued for cardiovascular problems for example has risen by 141.5% and these are often for the largest, most expensive items. Rather than micro-managing the NHS, the assembly government should be looking at improving the nation's health. Only then, as we become a healthier country, will costs fall.

Opposition politicians immediately said the figures were evidence that the Welsh Assembly Government’s flagship £30m-a-year policy had been a disaster. But doctors said the 2007-08 increases were in line with previous year-on-year rises in prescriptions in Wales and reflected the ongoing poor health of the nation.

Farewell Bob (1952-2008)

Former BBC Wales sports correspondent Bob Humphrys has died two months after he confirmed he had cancer.

Mr Humphrys, who was 56 and lived in Cardiff, passed away with his family at his bedside.

He had presented Wales Today's sports coverage for 20 years before taking early retirement this year. He was married with three children, and revealed his illness in an article written for the Daily Mail newspaper in June.

His brother John Humphrys, presenter of Radio 4's Today programme, said:

He was a great journalist and a great man and we will all miss him so much.

Pippa met him in the City Centre years ago and thought he was very charming and down to earth. A much-missed personality from Welsh television. Farewell Bob. Rest in Peace.

Tragedy in Antigua

Going off tangent from politics, I couldn't help but notice that the police officer heading the inquiry into the murders of a British honeymoon couple in Antigua has quit. This will be of little or no comfort to both families during their time of grief. My second thought - after trying to get my head around what the families must be going through at the moment - was one of cynicism. I can't help thinking that the two resignations are a desperate attempt by the island to save its tourism industry. Let's hope that their replacements and assistance from the UK will bring about a speedy but just arrest.

It also sickens me to hear that their families have been hounded for their stories by the insensitive element of the media, when they should be left alone to come to terms with their sad and tragic loss. May they both rest in peace.

The island's minister of justice said Detective Chief Ron Scott had resigned for personal reasons. The Canadian officer had been appointed in February to head and reform the local force.

Mr Scott had been supervising the inquiry into the fatal shootings of Ben and Catherine Mullany, both 31 and from south Wales.

The couple from Pontardawe in the Swansea Valley, were shot in their hotel cottage on 28 July, the last day of their honeymoon, in what police think was a robbery which went wrong. Catherine Mullany, who was training to become a GP, was killed instantly after being shot in the head.

Her husband, a University of the West of England physiotherapy student, died a week later after being airlifted to hospital in Swansea in a critical condition.

Several people have been questioned in connection with their deaths.

Mr Scott is the second top officer to resign in a month - Michael O'Neil, the former deputy commissioner left earlier.

Justice Minister Colin Derrick said a replacement for Mr O'Neil had been identified and was due on the island shortly.

DotCYM, an unsavoury opportunity for some

A £20,000 grant to secure a "dot cym" internet address for Wales is to be given by the assembly government.

Deputy First Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones said the money was to support the DotCYM campaign for a Welsh version of the .com or co.uk endings. He said it would "open up new marketing opportunities and help promote the Wales brand."

Broadcasters on BBC Wales news were reluctant to pronounce the proposed "dot CYM" type internet address. Instead, spelling out the name as "dot C-Y-M"

I wonder why this could be. Surely it couldn't be down to the opportunity for some on the World Wide Web. Just goes to show that some things are not thought through from start to finish.

Leighton jumping ship... again!

Matt Withers from 'Wales on Sunday' in a new post on his blog, 'All aboard the Miliband Express' speculates on

... the growing number of Labourites, seeing the way the prevailing wind is blowing, are being lured by the fresh face, boyish charms and fighting talk of Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

Rhodri Morgan thinks any kind of leadership bid would be "suicide". But at least one of his Labour ministers is keen to be intellectually linked to the man known as 'Brains'. Here's a press release sent out by Deputy Regeneration Minister Leighton Andrews today:

LABOUR Minister Leighton Andrews [MW: an outside, outside contender for leader of Welsh Labour] says that that genuine community empowerment must be at the heart of the next phase of devolution.

The Rhondda AM, who co-ordinated the successful Yes for Wales campaign in 1997 will speak of the need for "double devolution" - echoing a phrase first used by Foreign Secretary David Miliband in his role as Environment Secretary in February 2006.

Speaking during a Community Housing Cymru debate at the National Eisteddfod in Cardiff, Mr Andrews will say:"It is not just about transferring law-making powers from Westminster to the Assembly - we should be championing the transfer of more power to our communities as well. Double devolution, in other words."

Gosh - and this from the man who once wrote: "The success of Gordon Brown as the new Prime Minister provides a strong lesson for Welsh Labour on how to renew itself in office seamlessly. We must ensure that we build on the platform that Gordon Brown has built for us."

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, or even loose endorsement in this case. If you can switch from one political party to another in order to suit your needs and political outlook, why not from one leader to another within one party?

Bloggers put Wales in political spotlight

Too busy with work and the family lately to notice these kind words from Iain Dale "who runs one of the country’s most influential blogs"

Mr Dale sees blogs not as a way to sway mass opinion but as a means to introduce new ideas to debates.

He said: “It’s an incredibly liberating experience for ordinary people who might have an interest in politics.”

He follows the discussions on 38 Welsh blogs

Of those 38, I’d say a good half are done by ordinary people who have no record of party-political activism,” he said. His favourite is by former Conservative AM Glyn Davies, but he has respect for Liberal Democrat AM Peter Black. Peter Black’s is the one I’ve been reading longest. His blog is interesting because he won’t just come out with the Lib-Dem spin. He gives real views on things. If people think you’re just mouthing your party line they won’t be interested.

He considers Labour MP Paul Flynn’s “excellent” and regularly reads Ordovicius, Miss Wagstaff Presents and Valleys Mam.

Thanks for the endorsement Iain.