Rhodri Morgan's urges hit American shore

Welsh culture (and our First Minister) will make a huge splash in Washington DC for ten days starting today.

And 80 trade ambassadors will be there to drum up businesses for Wales. The nation will be taking centre stage as the featured country at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in the US capitol. Sights and sounds of Wales will join African American oratory and Latin American music programmes as the main themes of this year’s festival.Wales will put on an exciting programme of activities to an expected million visitors, including concerts by Last Choir Standing winners Only Men Aloud and harpist Catrin Finch.

More than 150 poets, singers, musicians and craftsmen will be showcasing their crafts at a site portraying many aspects of Welsh cultural life, landscape and environment. An installation by Angharad Pearce Jones runs the length of the central festival walkway, and takes some of the more common textures and aesthetics of Wales to Washington - including dry stone walls, kissing gates and rugby posts. Visitors will also be able to sample food from Wales.

First Minister Rhodri Morgan, who will be representing Wales at the festival’s opening ceremony on Wednesday, said:

No longer will Wales be Europe’s best kept secret. With so many ‘experts’ from Wales showcasing their talents at one of the world’s biggest cultural festival events, we have a unique opportunity to raise our profile in Washington and right across North America.

Visitors to the festival will be able to learn more about our traditional and contemporary cultures and we hope that inspires them to visit, study or invest here. To coincide with the festival, we are also taking the biggest trade mission to leave Wales over to the United States. Around 80 companies will be participating in the event with the aim of making contacts with American companies and winning new business.

Let's hope he leaves his urges at home.

President-elect Obama makes history and a rousing speech

Democratic Senator Barack Obama has been elected the first black president of the United States.

"It's been a long time coming, but tonight... change has come to America," the president-elect told a jubilant crowd at a victory rally in Chicago.

• Acceptance speech in full


• Election results in full

The man has come a long way in two years since a 2006 poll predicted McCain would win landslide against him. At the end of an extraordinary 21-month campaign that has seen him inspire millions of people into political involvement, simple enthusiasm was on Senator Obama's side. About six in 10 of the Democratic candidate's voters said they were excited about what their man would do as president. Crucially, fewer than three in 10 people who voted for Mr McCain felt the same way about him. Now there's a black family in the White House.

Most recognised man on the planet

You rarely see them together, and some say that they have merged to a certain degree. I say, if you work together, then why not holiday... I mean, represent Wales together. Yes... the First Minister and Deputy First Minister for Wales have held hands across the pond, and taken in a spot of diplomatic/touristic/joint ministerial venture in the USA.

Deputy First Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones has presented a tribute from Wales to one of the most famous sportsmen ever - former world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali.

Muhammad Ali is the ‘favourite son’ of Louisville, Kentucky - location of the 2008 Ryder Cup competition at the Valhalla course - and he and Mrs Lonnie Ali met a Welsh delegation at an official “Muhammad Ali Welcomes the World to Louisville" event.

Mr Jones said:

Muhammad Ali [insert name here when applicable] has been an inspiration to many in my generation - and it is a great privilege to meet him in person.

We have produced our own crop of boxing greats - from Tommy Farr, the 'Tonypandy Terror’, who fought Joe Louis back in 1937 [well done Assembly Researchers], to Joe Calzaghe, a champion in our own days. Wales has followed Muhammad Ali's career in the ring with great excitement and empathy.

The meeting was one of the highlights of an official visit to the United States this week which marks the official handover of responsibility for the Ryder Cup to Wales in 2010. It took place in the Muhammad Ali Centre, Louisville, which promotes his legacy to future generations and shares the stories, and lessons from his life, with the world. During the evening, Mr Jones presented the former champion with a special Muhammad Ali 'Grogg' from Pontypridd.

Muhammad Ali is described as still ‘the most recognizable man on earth’. Over forty years after he burst on to the scene as a gold-medal winner at the 1960 Rome Olympics, he remains a magical figure, known and loved throughout the world.His success as a boxer is widely respected, but Ali's greatest triumph lies in his legacy as a champion, leader, humanitarian, and artist. His work both inside and outside the ring truly makes Muhammad Ali "The Greatest of All Time."

There's only one Plaid member that's hoping to move up/down a weight or two. All rumours and propaganda of course, but the most recognised man in Plaid Cymru, the part-time philosopher-politician himself would make a welcome addition to the corner of Plaid Cymru in most corners of Wales.

2008 Candidate for US President Quiz

Everyone else seems to be doing it so I don't want to be left out. Here are my results from the Pick Your 2008 Candidate for President quiz (I'm surprised!):

86% Barack Obama
85% Hillary Clinton
83% John Edwards
80% Chris Dodd
80% Bill Richardson
77% Joe Biden
56% Dennis Kucinich
53% Mike Gravel
52% Rudy Giuliani
50% Mitt Romney
48% John McCain
40% Tom Tancredo
35% Mike Huckabee
34% Fred Thompson
19% Ron Paul

All I need to do now is become an American citizen in time to vote.