BBC News:Biased Against Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales....Through Sheer Laziness

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Whilst I'm in Essex (until Monday, possibly tomorrow) a man said to me that he did not understand why people outside England felt that the news was English based. He sighted the example of the sexual harassment allegations against for SNP leader Alex Salmond.

Now whilst I'm obviously not going to discuss the allegations against Mr Salmond (except to say in passing that I can't see what current SNP leader and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has done wrong here) he is still a prominent figure in British politics. So you can see why it made the UK news.

I really couldn't be bothered to argue. Firstly because perception is always the key to your point of view. I'm sure if this guy moved to the other countries that make part of this disunited kingdom he would understand then.

But the other reason is I didn't have a laptop or tablet to hand when this conversation occurred. Because otherwise I actually had a recent example.

It was this report on BBC News Online. Not any regional byline you understand but the UK as a whole that English schools faced a shortage of teachers. It referred to a recent report by an educational think tank on the subject.

The webpage is here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-45341734

And the key point is that there is nothing wrong in the article itself. The issue is that people in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales would have looked at it and asked what was the situation on this issue regarding their nations....given that education is devolved. As licence fee payers on this UK website they would have been entitled to know.

But no. The article is England only. There are not even links to the situation outside England.

This is the issue. The journalist could have done a bit more research before writing the piece to include the situation outside England even in passing but failed to do so.

That's lazy journalism....and that's one of the reasons why people not living in England feel that BBC UK News is biased against them. I know with the internet more and more people are turning against the BBC and cancelling the licence fee for this reason.

And for me I feel that moment's fast approaching.

Until the next time.

Why Plaid Cymru Should Not Panic Part 3: Leanne Wood's Leadership

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

If you placed a bet about ten months ago on which Welsh political party would be having a leadership contest then Plaid Cymru would have been the bookies favourite. All of this starting it should be noted when Welsh Plaid Cymru AM said that he would like to stand for the leadership of the party should Leanne Wood resign ( As I noted at the time a nuance that was tucked well into the BBC Wales online article).

But no. Labour, UKIP (though less of a party more a comedy combo) and now the Welsh Conservatives will be holding elections for party leader now that Andrew RT Davies has announced his intention to quit to spend more time with his food.

Leanne Wood though is still standing.

And yet through these months there have been chip, chip, chipping away at her leadership by I suspect people who should know better. The latest being former Plaid Cymru MP Elfyn Llwyd. It's time then to step back a little and examine Leanne Wood's leadership.

As I think I've mentioned in this blog before. There is I suspect a parallel universe where Dafydd Wigley did not resign because of ill health and became the Welsh Alex Salmond figure leading the party in the National Assembly and planning for a Welsh referendum. However we live in this universe. Mr Wigley did resign. And was replaced by the disastrous Iuean Wynne Jones. A man who went into coalition with Labour which did not help Plaid at all (the tenplate for Nick Clegg) and crucially muddied the waters about Plaid's attitude to independence. As I've also said in this blog before if Plaid Cymru is not the party of independence for Wales then it is nothing.

Since she took over as leader the party has stabilised, it is not in freefall. It's critics may want a speedier turnaround but let's face it slow progress is better than no progress at all. Also a lot of it's critics did not try to turn the party around between the leadership of Wigley and Wood fast enough and yet it is they who are criticising the steady progress she has made.

And the real, key question is would any other leader have made any difference to Plaid's popularity at that time. I suspect not. Leanne Wood's success has been to push the party back into a place where it is no longer ignored by Welsh Labour. It is feared by Welsh Labour. Because only Plaid can produce a realistic alternative for voters in Wales that most of the people could relate to.

Name recognition by the Welsh public of Assembly Members is of course disturbingly low but I would suspect she would come second to Carwyn Jones.

I know I'm repeating myself here yet again. But if the next general election is held before the elections for the National Assembly for Wales then Plaid may have problems because many Welsh people might vote for Labour to get the Tories out. If this happens it's not Ms Wood's or indeed the party's fault. That would be just circumstance. The real test for her (as she has acknowledged) is the next Welsh Assembly and local elections. Here is where Plaid must use it's resources to show Wales that it is the party of alternative to the arrogant incompetence to Welsh Labour.

But in the meantime, with Welsh Labour having surrendered itself to Westminster. The Welsh Conservatives being run as a glorified glove puppets to London  and UKIP producing stand up comedy in the Assembly it is not the time for the attacks on a leader who has being doing a good job. Especially by people who did not help the party's position when it was at it's lowest ebb before she took over.

Until the next time.

During Breaks At Work There's Always Alex Salmond

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well being as I am an Englishman living in Wales who's a member of Plaid Cymru really couldn't resist " Alex Salmond The Dream That Will Never Die" when I saw it in the library. It's his account in diary form of the Scottish Independence Referendum two years ago. During breaks at work it was finished and was worth it.

Now to quickly recap why I became a member of Plaid Cymru as I would not vote Conservative if there was a gun pointed to my head I became disillusioned with Labour partly because of its sleep apnoea approach to the closure announcement in May re Tata Steel (happily about to be withdrawn according to the news) as well as the negligence and incompetence it has run Bridgend in both the assembly and the council. As I've explained in previous posts if a town could cry in despair like a widow in a funeral it would be Bridgend. Also I came to the view that Wales could live without England, it wouldn't be easy and mistakes would be made but it could be done.

I won't bore you (at least not today) with why Plaid Cymru has fallen behind in the race for independence from the SNP (though I'd say a large portion of the blame could fall on its previous leader Ieuan Wyn Jones) it has brought itself back from its lows thanks in no small regard by its current head Leanne Wood.

So we look with admiration and, let's face it envy at what the SNP have achieved.

Alex Salmond has many skills as a leader. Personable,witty, clever but not condescending. Able to adapt himself to an audience but not being patronising to it. But largely of course he is a man of principle, that of independence.

These qualities show themselves in the book. As well as the forces of "the establishment" targeted against them headed it would appear by the Labour Party in an action which has turned out to be the political suicide note for them in Scotland.

This book was published last year just before the May general election where the SNP won almost all of the Scottish seats so that they became the third biggest party in the UK. What the book also shows with hindsight was how unlucky Alex Salmond was given that one of the arguments used against independence was that Scotland would no longer be in the EU (bet there are many EU officials who regret that now).

History will look kindly on Alex Salmond (the loser) and not on those who won the referendum. Perhaps he can take a little comfort from that.

Until the next time.

In Which My Addiction To Books Continues

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well it was time to pay my debts to society and feed my addiction at the same time. That's right to pay the overdue library bill and to buy more books.

First stop was Pyle library. The journey was not great, rain, grey skies thunder and a bolt of lightening a few blocks away.

The Things I Do For Reading

And you can guess that I couldn't resist borrowing another book which was this.

Melanie Jones - L'Amour Actually

Picked specifically because I doubt whether anyone from UKIP would buy it.

Onward then to Porthcawl and the library there.

The Dark Weather Made The Local Church Even More Gothic

So when I went to the library the first thing to do after paying my overdue dues was to pick the football book to read. It actually turned out to be an easy choice.

Garry Monk - Loud, Proud & Positive

I won't chat about this book (written when he was captain of Swansea City but not it's manager) properly until I've finished reading it. But suspect that with hindsight it will be the most bittersweet football book I've ever read.

Also noticed (and borrowed) this.

Alex Salmond - The Dream Shall Never Die

This is his book on the Scottish Referendum. Worth a read. Suspect another referendum soon with a different result.

After that went to the Porthcawl Animal Welfare Shop to buy some Pelican/Penguin paperbacks. Armed with a budget of £3.80. In the event I bought three. These were the first two.

1113 - C S Forester - Flying Colours

1114 - C S Forester - A Ship Of The Line

For me it's rather interesting this because currently I'm reading a later Horatio Hornblower book and am in two minds about it. Will chat about this when I've finished.

The other was in the Penguin Modern Poets series.

19 - John Ashbery,Lee Harwood,Tom Raworth,

It cost 65p for the three which leaves a budget until Monday of £3.15.

Until the next time.