大象传媒

The Electoral Commission's postbag just got that little bit heavier.

This time the correspondence is from the Secretary of State for Wales - and Work and Pensions Secretary - Peter Hain. Late last night he left Cardiff and left us under no illusions that all donations to his deputy leadership campaign were listed online for all to see.

Tonight he's admitted that he failed to register a #5,000 donation by Labour's new chief fund raiser, Jon Mendelsohn. That the Electoral Commission weren't told about it was, he says, an "administrative error".

This from Mr Hain:

"In the light of recent events, it has come to my attention that a donation from Jon Mendelsohn to my deputy leadership campaign was mistakenly not registered with the Electoral Commission," Mr Hain said in a statement.

"Jon Mendelsohn made a personal contribution of #5,000 at the end of June 2007. We wish to make clear that this was entirely an administrative error on the part of my campaign. I very much regret that the donation was not registered as it should have been and I am taking immediate steps to do so."

Mr Mendelsohn wasn't the party's fund raiser at the time he made the donation but if his name's familiar to you, it's because he's facing calls for his resignation because he was aware two months ago of the donations to Labour made via third parties by property developer David Abrahams.

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• - What's this?

Wales@Work are on the plain English warpath.

We'd like to nominate this clarification of questions raised at the Vulnerable Children LCO Committee on 25 October 2007.

Both of the words 'and' and 'or' may be used conjunctively or disjunctively. In the case of partially overlapping concepts of the kind under consideration here we think it is better to use 'and'. Although this may be more a matter of taste when looking purely at the syntactic merits, we think there should be a strong case for departing from the use of 'and' in this word pairing given its use in current enactments on the same topic.

LCOs. Don't you just love them?

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• - What's this?

One theory I heard in London last week was that MPs had treated the Assembly as a parent might a child: letting it find its own way in the big wide world, holding back for fear of being accused of interfering. Perhaps that had gone on for too long and 'holding back' had led to a lack of familiarity, an unhealthy distance.

But things were now improving, went the theory. Welsh Ministers were making the trip down to Westminster more regularly. Parent was getting reacquainted with child; famliarity was breeding contempt. Oh no, not that bit.

Today the Secretary of State, Peter Hain, has made the trip to Cardiff. And his message is pretty specific:

鈥淚 am a devolutionist. I always have been. I helped to deliver the original devolution settlement for Wales, as well as the enhanced 2006 Act, and I am as passionate as anyone else about seeing it succeed.

鈥淪o I have a presumption in favour of legislative bids.

鈥淟et me be clear that there is no case whatsoever for the Assembly to be required to supply every detail of future, perhaps unforeseen, Assembly Measures. Under the 2006 Act Parliament鈥檚 responsibility is to transfer enduring competence, and must accept there will be scope for the implementation of policy not yet contemplated.

鈥淏ut, by equal measure, Parliament cannot rubber stamp or let anything through 鈥榦n the nod鈥�. Each request for legislative competence will be subject to scrutiny, as the Government made clear during the passage of the 2006 Act. We will make a judgement on the detail of each proposed Legislative Competence Order. How clearly defined its scope is. Whether it is within the terms of the overall settlement for the Welsh Assembly Government to legislate in a certain field. And whether a purpose for the transfer of power can be identified.

鈥淲e have no desire to meddle in future policy developments which are the prerogative of the Welsh Assembly Government and the Assembly. That would be against the spirit of the Act.

鈥淏ut it is an important principle that Parliament and Whitehall Departments are allowed to probe the basis of legislative requests, and that in doing so are not presented as 鈥榰nreasonable鈥� or 鈥榦bstructive鈥�. The mentality that sees Parliament as an 鈥榠nconvenience鈥� will itself act as a roadblock to devolution鈥檚 progress, and is in any case against the terms of the settlement as entrenched by the people of Wales in 1997".

Someone asked me in response to Monday's posting whether anything happened in the Senedd on Tuesday. Yes, it does. Yesterday journalists were given this hand-out by the Assembly Government, a list of 'Frequently Asked Questions' on the legislative process shared out during Counsel General Carwyn Jones' lobby briefing.

Q: "Does the UK Government need to be made privy to what the Assembly wishes to do with the power that the LCO transfers before they agre to the LCO?"

A: The Welsh Assembly Government's immediate policy intentions should not be the determining factor when considering the proposed order ... In other words ... the detail of the Measures themselves will be a matter for the Assembly - this is the nature of the enhanced devolution settlement".

I'm clear about one thing only: the LCO-route has been a bumpy one, so bumpy that Peter Hain has come with a message. He clearly agrees that the process isn't working as effectively as it should. A lot's been done in 15 months but anyone who's tempted to suggest that Parliament's part in the whole process is a bit of a nuisance; that Parliament is meddling unnecessarily in what is Assembly business - that's not just unhelpful; it's counter-productive.

So just you try and go ahead and publish plans without cabinet clearance in future, just you try and draft orders that are so broad it's impossible to see the edges and that road will get a whole lot bumpier.

Off to read Hansard's record of a debate in the Lords last week on the Local Transport Bill. Lord Glentoran was none to please that the Lords "are being asked to sanction a general transfer of powers when the Welsh Ministers cannot or will not say how they intend to use it".

Perhaps he'd appreciate a copy of the Q+A handed out yesterday.

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• - What's this?

I left the building last night to the strains of students standing outside in the cold chanting their call for a Welsh Federal College, while inside the great and good of Welsh academia stood in the warmth, launching the Welsh medium national development plan. I spotted one or two familiar faces who've been accused by their students in the past of 'having aching feet'; in other words of fancying a sit-down in a professorial chair ... and that tends to mean keeping your mouth shut.

There were warm words in the Senedd but I doubt whether there's much fire in the belly on this one.

Guess which objective belongs to which crowd:

"The establishment and maintenance of a flexible, responsive, and sustainable bilingual learning environment across Wales based upon best pedagogic practice to ensure a high quality student learning experience'

and

"What do we want? Welsh Federal College! When do we want it? Now".

So what IS a Welsh Federal College? It doesn't involve concrete. It is rather an attempt to create a framework of support, training and eventually delivery of more higher education through the medium of Welsh. It's about ensuring "a substantial and independent funding stream". Or as someone whispered in my ear, it's about having a chance at last to train a new generation of lecturers in subjects other than drama and Welsh history.

A couple of top notch constitutional lawyers would come in handy by the way.

The chanting students want lecturers to be paid directly by the Federal College. The Government want the lecturers paid, as they are now, by their own colleges. The students want 拢20 million, last night Jane Hutt announced that 拢4.3 million will be made available over 3 years.

Inside there were nods and smiles but someone must have got busy with their Blackberry.

It took all of thirty seconds for the chant outside to change to "Pedair miliwn ddim yn ddigon", "Four million is not enough".

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• - What's this?

NO cabinet meeting today

NO Ieuan Wyn Jones who's off in India.

NO Lib Dem briefing because Mike German has a prior engagement.

NO interviews with Alun Davies AM tomorrow morning after all, though they were planned. But unless he manages to intercept the Electoral Commission's postbag tomorrow, there will be a letter in it from him accusing Plaid Cymru of "fraudulent and illegitimate activities" during the election campaign and attacking them for 'stealing' the election from the people of Wales. Rumours of an almighty row upstairs and what you may like to call 'further cracks in the coalition'. Now then. Interviews arranged this morning; cancelled half an hour ago. What exactly is the time difference between Cardiff and India?

NO cracking story for our programmes of how Peter Hain, in his role as Work and Pensions Secretary, is planning to force unskilled jobless benefits claimants into training when they've been out of work for six months ... because that'll be in England only.

Tory MP David Davies (the one who is NOT the Shadow Home Secretary) is NOT a Tory twit or at least the Independent report that the New Statesman have accepted that he did NOT brandish a taser gun for the GMTV cameras last year "while his smiling family tucked into their cornflakes". He says he does NOT mind "this Tory twit nonsense" but did mind the weapon waving stuff. Someone will be relieved he's settled for an apology.

I'm NOT being told who's in the running for the Plaid Cymru seats in the House of Lords but get the impression they're keen on having a Baroness as well as a Lord or two. How does Baroness Jarman of Mountain Ash East sound? Or Baroness Davies of South Wales West?

But there is one bit of news I've been looking forward to sharing with you and given the paucity of real news, today's the day.

A Minister came down to do a round of interviews last week and left his half-drunk mug of tea behind. His 'One Wales/Cymru'n Un' mug that is. Yes, there's a coalition mug and when we discovered it, it was half-empty/half-full (take your pick).

One Wales in green, Cymru'n Un in red above a colourful wave of a healthy nation swimming, cycling, walking, windsurfing and ... building aircraft engines. No tea drinking. No made in China stamp. And no obvious cracks. Not yet.

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• - What's this?

If a terror suspect could be detained for a maximum of 58 days and an LCO for a maximum of 60, does that mean a potential new block of power for the Assembly is deemed even more dangerous than a potential terrorist?

The question came up over coffee yesterday, in London as it happens where it became pretty clear that while I cared rather a lot about the fate of LCOs - lucky girl that I am - there are MPs who find them 'turgid', couldn't give two hoots whether they make it back to Cardiff unscathed and that with Gordon Brown on the ropes, the fate of the affordable housing LCO isn't, after all, keeping Tory MPs awake at night. Let that be a lesson to me.

Lesson learnt, off I went to the Welsh Affairs Select Committee,. Jane Hutt's grilling went something like this:

David Jones, Stephen Crabb and Mark Williams: Why do you want these powers over special educational needs transferred to Cardiff at all?

Jane Hutt: Because it's appropriate and we want to get on with the job.

DJ/SC/MW: But what will you use them for?

JH: There's genuine cross party support for this LCO, there was no UK bill coming up that we could use as a vehicle to transfer the powers so we're doing it this way instead.

DJ/SC/MW: But what will you USE them for?

JH: Well I could outline a few plans we have in mind but I'm not going to spell out for you what exactly we intend to do because ... well as long as it's appropriate, there's rather a lot we could do.

DJ (exasperated)/SC (puzzled)/ MW (aghast): But this is all so ... vague!

JH: Ah but all for the good of Welsh children.

DJ/SC/MW: Give over! It's just ... opaque.

Huw Davies (Senior Welsh Legislative Counsel enters the fray): No, not opaque. Broad. Really broad. As broad as we can make it, at the outer edges of the Assembly's power. That sort of broad.

DJ: Can't you at least define which children this LCO could affect? Isn't clarity more important than being ... broad?

JH: Not really, no. If clarity means less competence in this instance, forget it.

Hywel Francis (Chair): Now Minister, the plan was that we'd scrutinise these LCOs jointly but you've gone ahead and done your bit before coming to us. How come?

JH: Ah yes, sorry about that but we just wanted to get on with it. This parallell scrutiny is all right though isn't it? No? We'll try to stick to joint in future then, shall we?

HF: Yes. Please. That's what I told everyone would happen because that's what I was told would happen so let's stick to plan A, shall we?

JH: Broadly ... yes.

Now, when I say it went 'something like this' I'm using the term in the broadest possible sense ... of course. But you get the picture. And what's more, there's little doubt any more that politicans at both ends of the M4 are getting the picture too.

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• - What's this?

So let's recap: we already know 12 of the men and women, good and true, who'll sit with him on the All-Wales Convention steering committee. To prove I can cut and paste, they are: Lynne Neagle, Christine Chapman, Alun Davies, Jeff Cuthbert, Helen Mary Jones, Alun Ffred Jones, Dai Lloyd, Nerys Evans, Nia Griffith, Nick Ainger, Jessica Morden and Ian Lucas.

We can work out three of the final four, given Plaid Cymru have only 3 MPs.

So who takes up the final place? If it's not Cynog Dafis then I'll personally wear Sir Emyr Jones Parry's 'big tent' to the Wales Office Christmas reception.

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• - What's this?

A quick post to let you know that I'm attending an International Childcare Conference today and won't have much time to attend to the blog. I'll do my usual round of everyone else's blogs later, glass of wine in hand - a pleasure at the end of every day.

By the way on Wednesday evening the Standards Committee is considering the use of blog sites by Assembly Members. Committee Members are going to "consider the issue of Members publishing to blog sites and the potential for this to result in breaches of the Code of Conduct, and consider whether to issue a note to Members regarding the use of blogs".

In my absence you're welcome to suggest your own note to Members on their use of blogs. Go on: help the committee out with some dos and don'ts.

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• - What's this?

I learned a new phrase this week : 'trendless fluctuation'. I heard it at a breakfast seminar on Wednesday and despite the early hour and torrent of bar charts, it's stuck with me for some reason.

I was reminded of it just now listening to Radio Wales' Called to Order. Not because I spotted a so-called 'trendless fluctuation' - and no, I doubt whether anyone other than a social scientist would be capable of that - but because I thought I spotted a very definite trend.

It kicked off down in Bournemouth at the Labour Party conference: pro-Plaid leadership spinning from Labour. Plaid Ministers had so far been, well, pretty impressive, said with surprise rather than reluctance. Ieuan Wyn Jones was conducting himself well. The inference here that they'd expected the man to be out of his depth but that so far, he was waving not drowing.

But Plaid Cymru as a party? Forget 'em. The snatched conversations over coffee and between fringe events suggested little had changed there.

I've spotted the same kind of inference from one or two Labour politicians since then and tonight on Called to Order, there it was again. Wayne David MP praising Ieuan Wyn Jones AM as 'a real diplomat', a man who is 'playing the part' of deputy leader of his country very well.

But Plaid Cymru as a party? Forget 'em. A party torn between the constructivists (good) and the destructivists (bad). Here's what he actually said:

"I think there's a clear divide now inside Plaid Cymru between, if you like, the constructivists - those people who want to engage in government.

Ieuan Wyn Jones is up in Westminster this week, you know, a real diplomat playing the part extremely well as deputy first minister.

And you've got the destructivists, if you like, those who want to, you know, fight against the establishment, end the defence training academy in St. Athan, that's Jill Evans MEP, and Adam Price, who wants to scrap the Welsh Office, have a referendum as quickly as you can and all the rest of it.

And there's a clear division, clear tension, now inside Plaid Cymru."

So as partners in coalition? They're ok. As a party that could actually lead the country? Pull the other one.

Does that work?

And has anyone else spotted the trend?

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• - What's this?

Politicians, said Rhodri Morgan a few minutes ago, rate communicators but few ever touch people's souls like Ray Gravell did.

He was speaking at a packed Stradey Park, talking not only to the thousands who were there in their scarlet and black but to the many, many thousands who were watching this remarkable funeral on television.

The speech was pretty much 'off the cuff' we were told this morning - a bit of a gamble where our First Minister's concerned - but he got it right. He spoke, mostly in Welsh by the way, about a man who had C-Y-M-R-U written in his bones, who was a Welshman not just 'acha dydd Sadwrn' - on Saturdays - but every day, week and month of every year.

And while the man from Mynydd y Garreg might not have expected to hear the Tebbit Test mentioned at his funeral, Rhodri Morgan's own version - the Hen Wlad fy Nhadau test - would have had his utter approval. Every line of the national anthem spoke of Ray Gravell said the First Minister: he passed with flying colours.

Grav would have enjoyed the reference to poet Waldo Williams' "Cymru'n Un" as well I suspect, the translation of 'One Wales' that's become the semi-official title of this coalition government surprisingly quickly.

I've just popped down to the canteen and the television screens are all showing the funeral. At the sandwich bar, the talk is of the funeral, one civil servant wondering whether the death of such a Cymro as Ray Gravell would have touched so many people just a decade ago? Would a funeral conducted more in Welsh than in English not have caused more discomfort back then? I tread carefully but it's an interesting thought.

Incidentally the six o'clock news are running a Welsh story today - one about the Assembly Government's plans to hold a consultation on the use of electric collars on dogs and cats. They're minded to ban things like the 'Bark Terminator' but you won't be surprised to learn that "there are strong views for and against" their use. They want to get it right and both the Animal Welfare Act and the Government of Wales Act require them to consult first.

I've just got a call from another bit of the 大象传媒 asking whether I knew that the Kennel Club had been to Cardiff last week and had 'tested the collar on AMs?'

I'll leave it there.

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• - What's this?

If you're having trouble posting comments, apologies once again.

Why? The explanation is here.

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• - What's this?

So what's the news "where you are" as Huw Edwards et al put it. (Incidentally I know of an emminent and highly respected clinician who physically squirms every time he hears that phrase ... so let's hope he's too busy to read this).

Now that we know how much local authorities are getting, how well has your council done?

Broad brush strokes first.

Powys is at the bottom of the pile (which I'm trying not to take personally) - just a 1% rise in their basic revenue support grant. "Someone's got to come bottom" added Mr Gibbons truthfully and logically if not exactly wisely. There is extra money for everyone to deal with waste management, school places, social housing, social pressures and the environment but let's talk basic bucks here. For Powys that's 1%.

Where does inflation stand? Brian Gibbons offered up a few figures before we seemed to settle on 2.7% but be aware says Mr Gibbons that the Treasury worked from a figure of 2% when the money was passed on to the Assembly Government. Be aware too, let me add, that the WLGA talk about real inflation figures in local government of more like 7%. So let's stick to the middle ground and use the figure we gleaned from the Assembly Government last week: 2.7%.

Bad news then for Powys by anyone's maths. And not much better for Conwy (1.1%) and Anglesey (1.1%).

Who comes out on top? The Vale of Glamorgan gets a healthier 3.6%. Bridgend get a 3.1% rise, Cardiff, Caerphilly and Carmarthenshire 2.8%.

How come? Even broader brush strokes tell this story: officials use "a really complex formula" based mainly on population figures but also taking children, roads and housing into account. That's how they come to the percentage increases, which are "meant to" better reflect what's actually happening on the ground.

Does this mean then that people are leaving rural areas and that therefore, put simply, rural areas are getting less? Yes. The population of Powys for instance has fallen by .3%. In Wales overall the population has grown by .2%. Doesn't that fail to reflect the greater difficulties faced by councils in more rural areas? The answer seems to be no, they don't believe that. This formula, as I said, should better reflect the reality of life 'where you live' so why are we surprised that most money - and in fact the highest increases - go to the areas where more people live?

Does Brian Gibbons think he got the best deal he possibly could for local councils? Is he comfortable with this settlement in other words? I don't know about others but I took from the answer that no Minister is ever happy with any settlement (other than the Finance Minister perhaps he added every so slightly pointedly) but that he did his best. He was on a sticky wicket this morning but held his ground pretty well.

So what does all of this mean for your council? 大象传媒 Wales's news online service have the figures in full.

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• - What's this?

It's probably not my job to issue a rallying cry but I'll go for it anyway. If you think it's not my place, you'll be quick enough to tell me after all.

Last Thursday we were huddled around the television screens giving the Finance Committee our undivided attention. Just as families were huddled around the flickering sets back in the 1950s glued to the coronation or to Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men, we were hanging on the committee's every word. We weren't Watching with Mother mind you. We were hoping to watch Andrew Davies and his Special Advisers getting it in the neck. And waiting. And waiting.

Did the Minister get it in the neck? Did he heck! Did the Moneypot Men (doesn't really work given one is a woman but I'm trying ...) squirm in their seats, forced to reveal the truth behind one budget line and opaque column after the other under intense and unforgiving scrutiny?

What do you think?

Had there been sharp exchanges, had there been incisive questions that pinned them down, you would have known about it. You would have watched them on Wales Today and Newyddion that night. You would have appreciated that the new committee system, where Government policy must be properly scrutinised, is not only up but hitting the ground running.

But there was nothing. Television packages will survive without them; a healthy national assembly surely can't.

There were some decent questions about presentation of the figures, about a real-term cut in the education budget, about cross-border contracts. One of the most pointed questions came from Lynne Neagle, AM for Torfaen. At least she's got the idea that the whole point of the Ministers being there these days is that they answer the question and that if they don't, you ask it again until they do, or until it's clear they won't.

But intense scrutiny? Pull the other one.

If there was ever any danger of getting Andrew Davies on the hook, the committee spectacularly let him off it time and again.

Alun number one - Cairns - did his best to get things going from the Chair. Yes, I know he's a Tory and he would, wouldn't he but at least he's a politician who seems to recognise the difference between opposition, pure and simple and decent scrutiny. The man's got a job to do and it's in his interest to do it well. But where were Alun numbers two - Davies - and three - Ffred Jones? Just not in the mood to help him out? Or still trying to work out how far Labour and Plaid backbenchers can push it in committee?

There are rumours of a training seminar. I thought only the 大象传媒 did things like that but apparently not. I don't know if it's entitled "How to Give Good Scrutiny" but I hope it's soon and that it works.

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• - What's this?

... just got bigger.

Joining Labour's Lynne Neagle, Christine Chapman, Alun Davies and Jeff Cuthbert in the steering group of the All Wales Convention are Plaid Cymru's Alun Ffred Jones, Helen Mary Jones, Dai Lloyd and Nerys Evans.

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• - What's this?

'Unprecedented', 'shattering', 'shocking': the kind of words that make you sit up and listen. Or in this instance, read.

Last night I was given a copy of a letter signed by 36 leading Welsh health clinicians, or as I'm putting it this morning, just about anyone who is anyone in clinical research in Wales. It's the kind of list that has you reading the text of the letter they've sent to Rhodri Morgan very, very carefully.

They don't pull their punches. They accuse the Welsh Assembly Government of appearing to contradict its own priorites of supporting research and development - not just in the area of health and social care but more generally ('small, clever nation' ring any bells?) by cutting a million pounds from the budget of the body that's responsible for scientific, medical research. Patients will miss out. Higher education institutes will find it even tougher to attract good people and to win competitive grants.

Pound for pound they say, we would be spending 拢46 million per year in this area if Department of Health levels of funding applied in Wales. Instead we're spending 拢26 million and even that has been - apparently - cut by a million.

And most damaging of all perhaps is their final point: that "the development of a National Institue for Health Research, a commitment in the One Wales document, will fail to be delivered".

And guess what? It turns out that the man appointed by the Health Minister, Edwina Hart, to lead the way in Wales on health research and development resigned the day after the draft budget appeared.

Why do I say his budget has been 'apparently' cut by a million? Because this draft budget is extraordinarily hard to read. Where it used to be relatively straightforward to work out which bit of the budget was going to be spent where, now there are big pots of money and a plan that Ministers compete for their slice of the millions. So who eventually gets what? Well it's Saturday and we still haven't worked it out. We'd hoped members of the Finance Committee had worked it out by the time they met on Thursday but - well, they seemed pretty non-plussed to me and, I suspect, to the Finance Minister. Andrew Davies may have been rattled once or twice but left the committee room pretty much unscathed.

But the clinicians seem pretty clear about it. The million has gone. Where? Who knows but no-one seems to have told them about it. And anyway let's face it, whether it's found or not by the time the draft budget is finalised, they're not a happy bunch. WAG simply say funding they're behind medical scientific research, funding in this area has altered significantly and ministers are still in discussions to finalise funding arrangements.

The Finance Committee meets again next week and will concentrate on health spending plans. The Health Committee meets on Wednesday. Who's on the list to speak to them? Might they now like to add to it?

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• - What's this?

I'm jumping into the Mastermind Cymru chair this Sunday evening on S4C. One brave contender faced this question, had a stab at it but got it wrong.

Q: A decision by magistrates in Llandudno in 2003 NOT to ban WHO from driving, after his fourth speeding offence, prompted Private Eye to ask, 鈥淚s Plaid Cymru a political party or a racing team?鈥�

A: ?

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• - What's this?

What happens to old Assembly Members?

Some turn into must-read bloggers, some into 'colourful' authors, some vow to make it back next time. One awaits a letter from the Assembly telling him to take down the sign outside his office that states he's still an AM.

John Marek has incurred the wrath of the sitting Wrexham AM, Lesley Griffiths and the Assembly itself for 'misleading the public'. If only he'd known they were that worried about it, he'd have painted over it already he tells the . Actually he says he'd 'have had the sign painted over' which isn't quite the same thing as going out there with his paintbrush but you get the picture. Or in this case, the blank, white sign.

But wait: there's more. Guess who'll be officially working in Mr Marek's old Regent Street office from December 3rd? North Wales AM Eleanor Burnham.

The crucial question is whether the paint will have dried in time for her to have it re-painted ... again?

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• - What's this?

Thursday night? It must be Cardiff for Chris Huhne and Nick Clegg, the men who want to step into Menzies Campbell's running shoes. No time for idle chit chat. I get two minutes with Mr Clegg, about 45" with Mr Huhne, whose eyes shut down the moment I ask why he thinks Mike German has plumped for his opponent.

The news had clearly reached Nick Clegg. "I thought he was telling you that tomorrow ... but Mike and I go back a long way ..." He even managed to keep smiling as the Welsh Lib Dem President, hurrying past, got his name wrong. "It's Nick actually!" These two horse races - enough to confuse even your sharpest Lib Dem minds.

And being Lib Dems they'd thought long and hard about how things should be done. Who goes first? 'We drew lots earlier' the very full room is informed just as the bus from Brecon arrives a bit late. And there's more good news. Anyone can ask a question because 'this is a federal event'. Not us journalists though. Their 'friends in the media' would be asked to leave before the Q+A. If they're still here someone added ominously.

Two decent speeches from two men who really do seem to want the job. They both want it because being third isn't good enough, because the other parties are devoid of ideas, because they're fathers who want a better world for their children, because they know what it's like to live on the breadline (Chris Huhne once lived with a pensioner on the Peabody estate and Nick Clegg knows plenty of people from the poorer parts of Sheffield) but most of all, because they believe that there are thousands of us who want a Lib Dem revolution and would vote for them if they managed to deliver one.

If. I couldn't help myself. As Nick Clegg spoke I kept thinking about John Culshaw's impression of Tony Blair: "hand gesture, smile, tug shirt sleeves ...". It got even more confusing. He got on to the 'poorest kids'. "We've got to make sure more money goes to the poorest kids. It works. I've seen it. I've been to Rotterdam ..." Suddenly Pamela Stephenson's Not the Nine o'clock News social worker appeared before me: "Look I know these kids ..."

Chris Huhne got the longest claps but then his speech was prepared and full of 'that'll get 'em going' lines. Nick Clegg went for the off-the-cuff approach, mentioned Wales far more, seemed to think about Wales far more. He didn't even bother with the insults, having deflected an earlier "I don't want to be an heir to Blair or David Cameron's stump - or was that stunt? - double" from Huhne.

As we were turfed out, a lurid orange bucket went round - along with a plea from the new Welsh leader (did I just say 'new?) to his captive audience to get the local election campaign off to a flying start. "拢10 can buy you 1000 extra Focus leaflets."

Be warned.

More news from the President as I left the room. It was all right he said. Someone had given Mick Bates a few quid so he could put his hand in his pocket.

Roll on the Lib Dem revolution.

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Hat-tip for my colleague Guto for this one.

Guess by how much the Wales Office budget has gone up next year?

The answer is around 80%: a massive leap from 拢4.58 million to 拢8.44 million.

They get 拢8.25 million in 2009 but the bonanza's over by 2010. They'll have to get by on just 拢4.4 million.

'Dealing with legislative opportunities' obviously costs. A lot.

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You start learning and you just can't stop.

Which four Labour AMs will be part of the AM/MP group who'll decide on the membership of the All Wales Convention and its terms of reference?

The four, nominated and voted in by the group, are Lynne Neagle, Alun Davies, Christine Chapman and Jeff Cuthbert.

So if it's four AMs from both ruling parrties and four MPs from both parties, who will be Plaid's 'fourth' MP?

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Are there tanks parking on the lawn?

The Welsh Affairs Select Committee is to hold an inquiry into cross-border public services, kicking off early next year.

The committee "is particularly interested" in cross-border services as they affect further education provision; higher education;specialist health provision; transport links; pay differentials and staffing levels in the civil service and broadcasting. Fair enough you might say - a wide range of areas, all deserving scrutiny.

Read on and you can almost hear Conservative Member for Clwyd West, David Jones rubbing his hands with glee as he writes the press release. He notes his delight at the work ahead and his hope that this 'timely' inquiry will prove 'instructive' to the Welsh Assembly Government, or as he puts it 'a Welsh Assembly Government that is, increasingly, perceived by North Walians as remote and out of touch'.

(I know that 'working with our neighbours' is something the Assembly Government claims to embrace at every opportunity but do wonder if every AM's response will be quotable when it comes ...)

Why now? Because if Welsh authorities want to behave independently and ensure that the Welsh pound - most obviously the Welsh health pound - is spent in Wales and if that means patients from North Wales crossing the border to England far less frequently and heading South instead, then Welsh MPs want a say. It should be interesting stuff but expect cross fire as they get stuck into cross-border issues.

By the way a snapshot of life in the Oriel - in other words the Senedd gallery.

Today's Events.

1100 - 1500
Alison Halford Book Launch.
Sponsored by Alun Cairns (he of the "black glistening hair, distinctive hair and elegant cufflinks protruding from well-cut suits")

1700 - 1900
Undertakers.
Sponsored by Rhodri Glyn Thomas.

Minister for Fun?

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How many reference librarians does it take to change a light-bulb?

(said with a perky smile) "Well, I don't know off-hand, but I know where we can look it up!"

Perhaps Dafydd Wigley might like to brush up on his library jokes. Not only because the House of Lords has a great one but because - and whisper this - he's my tip as the incoming President of the National Library in Aberystwyth.

Shhhhhh!

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A long day yesterday. What did I learn all in all?

Over breakfast with the Heritage Minister, Rhodri Glyn Thomas two things: that he supports Welsh journalism and journalists, though if that means spending any money (beyond coffee and pastries), he may have to think again.

I also learned that the All Wales Convention isn't simply there to ensure a 'yes' vote in the referendum (and I use 'the referendum' as short hand ... take that to mean 'a referendum if we ever get one') - no, not at all. According to Mr Thomas it's there to ensure the yes vote is an informed one. Aha, that's all right then.

Mid morning I learned that the government really weren't going to budge from 3.30pm in handing out the budget and the Special Advisers who patiently try and explain it to us (or should that be 'explain away'?) Given that Good Evening Wales is on the air at 4pm that means you get no more than basic headlines - the headlines they have very kindly flagged up for us - while we're still busy searching through endless columns of figures, trying to find where the bodies are buried. But then that, of course, is the plan.

Not even lunchtime yet and I'm still learning, that Mike German's mother had called the Western Mail not to complain that they'd got her son's age wrong a few weeks ago - they'd aged him by some three years - but to complain that they'd given the impression he'd been born before his parents were married. So there you go. Mike German is - officially - not a ... you get the drift.

I learned too that he grimaces, laughs a bit too much and talks rather fast when he says he isn't that bothered about Peter Black's monstering of the leadership in his blog. He has no intention of spelling out when exactly he's planning to stand down either. 'Next year' is good enough for the group, he says so it's good enough for us. He'll take the political playing field, the views of the groups in Cardiff and Westminster into account and only then will the new All Wales leader tell us that - with the blessing of the whole lot of 'em - he's off.

I then learned that on budget day there's no time for lunch and that no amount of comparative figures from the last three years really help when you're handed the big brown envelope.

Imagine you're the Finance Minister, you've got very little money to play with and it's bonfire night. What do you do? You come up with a nifty phrase like "bonfire of inefficiency" and pledge to save 拢600million by 2010. That 'by 2010' is worth thinking about for a start. An awful lot of figures you'll hear from here on in will be 'by 2010' or 'by 2011'. That will mean more often than not that the Welsh Assembly Government are adding the figures from years one, two and three before presenting them to us ... exactly what they accused the Treasury of doing to make the figures seem more palatable. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?

Most of what I learned you'll know all about by now. But you may have missed that the All Wales Convention, along with the commission to look at the Barnett Formula, will cost 拢2.5million. Perhaps the Special Advisers who worked that one out were inspired by the date again ... a penny for the Guy, a pound each for the Convention.

I'm still trying to learn how many of Plaid's 7 for 07 pledges have made it through to the money-where-your-mouth-is stage and the same goes for Labour's 11 for 11. The Assembly Government assures us they're there. Now we've asked officials to show us the money - not just the column but the pot of money that will pay for honouring pledges. More on that when the maths starts adding up (or falling apart).

At 6.30pm on Wales Today I not only learned never to push 'firework' metaphors too far again but that Steve Thomas, the Chief Executive of the WLGA was in Rome last week. When the details of the local government settlement started to leak out he threw caution to the wind, switched on his Blackberry and started sending furious messages ... from inside the Sistine Chapel. Divine intervention never came but in case you're interested, the reception is great, particularly when you stand next to a Bernini.

AT 7.30pm I learned that the people of Crwys Chapel not only care how Wales is represented on network tv and radio but spot glaring errors from a great distance.

And at 9.30pm I got home to find that the fantastic young girl who makes sure the children aren't left standing at the school gate when I'm elsewhere, learning about things, has found another (proper) job.

What was that in the Western Mail about bleak times ahead?

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