Blogging by proxy
That's it. I'm buying a Blackberry. How can you be surrounded by cables and laptops galore but fail to get an internet connection? Answers on a postcard to Llandudno. No luck yesterday then but today, via a man pressing a button two hundred miles away, I'm back online by proxy.
A quick catch-up then: Gordon Brown unveiled his much-trailed "contract out of poverty" in his speech last night without putting much flesh on the bones. None at all in fact. A promise from Welsh Office Minister Huw Irranca-Davies on Wales Today last night that more detail will be revealed over the coming days. The Prime Minister also reiterated, almost word for word, a message we've heard from him on devolution at previous conferences:
"Proud of Wales, proud of devolution, proud of innovative changes the Welsh Assembly has made" but "there is no Wales-only, no England-only, no Scotland-only solution to the biggest challenges we face".
He did refer to the word "parliament" with regard to the Welsh Assembly mind - not sure we ever heard Tony Blair do that.
The Prime Minister was welcomed effusively by Betty Williams MP who'd organised a gift for his young sons: a pack of books written in Welsh. She hasn't revealed what they were but I'm betting on the recently published "Sali Mali a'r Hwdi Chwim" (Sali Mali and the fleet-footed hoodie). A safe environment is very much on message after all.
Rhodri Morgan's speech promised to veer way off message with a joke about the Archbishop of Wales and Sharia law. The camera was trained on Gordon Brown's face throughout .... The convoluted punchline turned out to be about rugby and perfectly innocuous. Mr Brown looked thoroughly, thoroughly relieved.
On to today: Harriet Harman galvanised the troops, attacked David Cameron and heaped praised on Peter Hain. Paul Murphy went on the attack against the Lib Dems (they'll say anything to get elected, are responsible for chaos, confusion, weak leadership and have no vision), David Cameron's Tories (no mention at all of the Tories in Wales) and Plaid ('we may be sharing power with them in the assembly but there is no wider pact ... We will fight them every step of the way"). The last got not one but two rounds of applause.
Why have I skipped last night? Because the most interesting story is proving a bit hard to stand up. Rhodri Morgan may still be arguing that the only people talking about his possible successor are journalists but on that, he's wrong. There are plenty of people talking about it.
The story involves Unison and an emergency motion criticising the use of private sector suppliers in public sector procurement - a motion that at one point, we gather, named Public Sector Delivery Minister Andrew Davies. Now it's been withdrawn and Unison members have disappeared upstairs to have a bit of a chat.
What was going on? "Just a bit of a misunderstanding" according to Andrew Davies who's talking to Adrian Masters on Conference Live as I type.
People at this conference aren't just talking about the leadership race. It seems to me they're thinking hard about it - and planning ahead.
Late update from Llandudno....
So Jeff Cuthbert is officially as smart as a Welsh 17 year old.
Or Welsh 17 year olds are officially as smart as Jeff Cuthbert.
Take your pick.
The Caerphilly AM took on Eirias School pupil Vicente Solera-Deuchar (conference steward moonlighting as quiz contestant) to prove that "Welsh pupils are smarter than ever thanks to Labour investment in schools".
What did we learn?
That Jeff Cuthbert needs to brush up on his maths.
That Pocahontas had a first name - Rebecca.
And that it's really hard to keep up the momentum at conferences when the big speakers have done their bit and gone home.
I'm Betsan Powys, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Wales' political editor. I'll be blogging the inside track on .
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what utter twoddle.
i was at the conference all weekend and didn't have a single conversation about the leadership. It stikes me that the only discussion about the leadership begins when journalists ask 'what do you think about the leadership?'.
another example of poor coverage of welsh labour from ´óÏó´«Ã½ Wales
Indeed, the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Wales news was trying to make a big thing about Rhodri Morgan saying that Labour would campaign against Plaid in local elections, but the fact is that we are only in coalition in the Assembly, we are not in coalition in everything.
If Plaid are the main opportant of Labour in one of the councils, then it is obvious that Plaid and Labour would campaign against each other on that local level, as they will in the European Elections and the next UK General Election.
It is not really news, and is avoiding reporting what was said on bread and butter issues of child poverty, education, health, issues that the public acttually care about.
"He did refer to the word "parliament" with regard to the Welsh Assembly mind - not sure we ever heard Tony Blair do that."
Speech by Prime Minister Tony Blair to the Welsh Assembly (30 October 2001)
"I am sorry if that is the case but if I were speaking today before any Parliament in the world, I should feel obliged to talk about the issue that rightly preoccupies people and I hope the people of Wales will consider it a mark of respect not of disrespect if I do so here. "