Make my day
If you missed The Politics Show you'll have missed Secretary of State Peter Hain making it searingly clear that whille he's 'devo-friendly' (a term Nick Bourne used in the same programme) he does not believe that the Welsh Labour Party or Wales will be ready for a referendum 'during this Assembly term'.
No surprises there perhaps but pretty bluntly put at the end of the week Rhodri Morgan came out with the opposite view. So when I'm in London on Monday briefing my colleagues on 'where we're at in Welsh politics' and they ask whether there'll be a referendum - or not - before 2011 is out, what do I say? Yes unless they bottle it? Or yes, unless they realise that doing the right thing is bottling it?
By the way I spent yesterday at St Augustine's Church in Penarth where the choir - Cordydd - was launching its CD of John Rutter's Requiem (bargain at £12.98.) I'm the third alto from the right.
There were two highlights during last night's concert: hearing star soprano - and stunning Requiem solosit - Elin Manahan Thomas singing the Pie Jesu. It was effortless and remarkable.
The second was hearing her mother saying that she never misses an installment of this blog. Mrs Thomas: you and your daughter made my day.
I'm Betsan Powys, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Wales' political editor. I'll be blogging the inside track on .
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Most of the people I know are ready for a referendum right now - 'yesterday' even...
And it virtually doesn't matter what the question is - the answer is NO!
"The second was hearing her mother saying that she never misses an installment of this blog".
That certainly makes two of us! And I imagine there are hordes like us?!!
If you want the 'inside' story of Welsh political life unravelled in a clear, incisive way this is the blog that does it!!
Mix in subtle slants of humour and the 'personal' perspective on events as they unfold. All in all - quite a concoction, and a very good read!!
David Penfold, NEATH
And there was me thinking you weren't allowed to advertise on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ ! I'm sure you sound lovely. I also hear Peter Hain is losing his SpAds again, perhaps you should tell him to be more careful..
A super concert but, might I say, a shameless plug!
Seems to me that we do not need an Assembly after all, since Peter Hain not only knows what the people of Wales want now but he also knows what we will want in four years time.
No need for a referendum then, he says, because he knows we'll all vote against! So, no need for democracy either I suppose. What's the point when our Secretary of State
knows best?
If the Tories adopt the idea of restricting debates on English issues to English MPs, and win the next election, then our MPs will find it harder to justify their existence. A full parliament in Wales would make the position - and the number - of our MPs impossible to justify.
Which tells me that Hain doesn't want a referendum for fear it might be won. So let's press ahead with it, and if it divides and damages the Labour Party, well, that's an added bonus. What matters is what's best for Wales, not what's best for Labour or individual MPs.
Monday 30th...Where are you Betsan?
Hope Peter Hain doesn't have you "hostage" in his cellar aginst further "unauthorised" Wales moves to exective powers "down the bay"!
He's in an "angry" mode...and as for "Little Wayne"! No-one asks HIM.
ANYTHING.
No change there.
Does John R. Walker really want the status quo? That is the only other option.
John. R. Walker is just an old fashioned British Imperialist who lives in Welsh Wales but despises anything Welsh...so it would be unfair really to expect him to know what he wants.
Whether or not Peter Hain says the referendum should not take place before 2011 does not make a whit of difference. His views are quite irrelevant to the rapid progress of devolution. By that time Scotland will doubtless be independent and a demand for a Welsh Parliament will be insistent and vociferous. The Plaid/Labour coalition is committed to a referendum and it only the timing of it that counts.