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Yes and that is fine and I agree with that. Perhaps we should start a new thread about the merits and demerits of centralisation / decentralisation. My point was that that Cardiff has the lion's share of Public Sector jobs and a DVLA type development outside of the SE in the future would be vey unlikely under Welsh Labour. I am certainly not in the game of championing jobs coming here from the rest of Wales. The SE being the exceptional where a massive shift is needed if Wales is to develope. I remember in the old Jack Army days when people like me stuck our heads above the parapet and we were shot down in flames with claims of 'chips on your shoulders' when we criticised e media and the original housing of the Assembly HQ (for that debacle was the start of it). That one is almost airbrushed out of history and I would not be surprised even now to receive pelters for just mentioning it ;-)
You have mission in life to hold out your hand,
To help the other guy out,
Help your fellow man.
Stan Ridgway
0
The 2016 Assembly Elections: Which way will you be voting & why? on 09:49 - Apr 6 with 2018 views
I accept that WAG cannot do it alone I believe however they have been caught out and the current support is too little and too late. It would be nice to see Corbyn and Carwyn standing side by side calling for at least a temporary takeover to facilitate new ownership. Assumimg this can be found of course.
You have mission in life to hold out your hand,
To help the other guy out,
Help your fellow man.
Stan Ridgway
0
The 2016 Assembly Elections: Which way will you be voting & why? on 09:52 - Apr 6 with 2018 views
He is pretty left wing and I agree with most of his comments in relation to national politics. I like him. He is the one of the wittiest posters on here. If a tad grumpy ;-)
You have mission in life to hold out your hand,
To help the other guy out,
Help your fellow man.
Stan Ridgway
0
The 2016 Assembly Elections: Which way will you be voting & why? on 09:55 - Apr 6 with 2015 views
Selective rubbish. I know it is a 16 pager but I suggest you go back to page one. Much of your accusations you have made there could be directed at yourself.
You have mission in life to hold out your hand,
To help the other guy out,
Help your fellow man.
Stan Ridgway
0
The 2016 Assembly Elections: Which way will you be voting & why? on 10:07 - Apr 6 with 2012 views
I imagine i'm one of the three or four you refer to. In an earlier post I talked about a letter I had published in the EP where i talked about road infrastructure spend on the M4 relief road of £1.5 billion. Councillor Clive Lloyd, in his reply, referred to WAG grants for the Hafod Relief Road and the Kingsway. The Hafod Relief Road will end up costing £4.5 million. I don't know the figures for the Kingsway.
The Relief Road cost is a fact.
Everyone, when referring to the M4 Relief Road, talks about £1 billion. On the news recently it was stated that the cost had risen to between £1.1 and £1.2 billion. And that cost does not include compulsory purchase of some of the land needed to build it. It WILL be built if Labour have the power. You know it and I know it.
Why do you not consider this official evidence of disproportionate WAG spending in Cardiff ?
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The 2016 Assembly Elections: Which way will you be voting & why? on 10:18 - Apr 6 with 1998 views
What didn't help also? The die-hard donkey voters whom through family tradition and heavy industrial ties to Labour that used to vote Labour at EVERY election are passing away never to be replaced. They go and the 'hand-me-down' other family member(s) vote and instinctive vote for Labour behavioral voting trend goes with it!
Add to that the "They're all the f#cking same" cynicism........And add to that many working class e.g. 'construction industry' type(s) no longer see Labour as their party! Why? You should have worked at Parc Fforestfach for Bovis Lend Lease? Stuffed full of Romanians and other East Europeans driving the indigenous work force wages down, making working conditions even worse and stealing jobs in the process. Its a case of not voting for Labour ever again or voting for UKIP instead!
And I am ITK to tell you this fact! It is not I lie i.e. Gower Labour were and are absolutely terrified of UKIP and declining core support usually refereed to many as donkey voters. Do not come on here to slag my (working class oik!) opinion off because I shall come on here again and elaborate further.
[Post edited 6 Apr 2016 10:52]
Argus!
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The 2016 Assembly Elections: Which way will you be voting & why? on 11:23 - Apr 6 with 1958 views
I'm amazed how many people in this thread are happy for Wales to keep centralising wealth in the south east. Again, look at the link to the BBC article I put up yesterday, the south east is the only part of Wales which doesn't receive emergency funding from the EU because it's not hideously in need.
What about all the tax jobs being centralised in Cardiff? Or the BBC? In England, there are BBC HQs in Birmingham/Manchester, we don't get any? Again, Sport Wales who are funded by the government decide to redevelop Sofia Gardens, not St Helens, because we don't need a big tourist attraction bringing in millions of pounds do we? Cardiff does.
The apathy of people in Swansea is alarming. People buy the whole 'good for Cardiff, good for Wales' nonsense and you'll continue to struggle to attract good jobs here for you and your family. What proof have i? 20 years of Labour governance! These aren't pie-in-the-sky assumptions. Neither are the figures quoted which are being ignored by many of the Labour apologists. You point these figures out and you're disparagingly called a 'bitter Jack' by the Uncle Toms who are happy to keep the status quo.
Plaid have promised to introduce a bill, ending the relief road and to distribute investment. We won't be worse off than we currently are. £20m for our city centre regeneration and nothing towards our city deal? It's an insult.
Exactly, and most of us openly state we're not nationalists, don't desire independence. We merely want change and something approaching equality with our spoilt-brat neighbours. Clearly, acejack would rather jobs continued to be leaked, investment continued to go into Cardiff, and our city goes to the dogs.
But then again, everyone he knows probably votes Labour so why not vote Labour too eh? The old, 'As long as it's not those bloody Tories'....I despair with the Welsh electorate. Like a beaten dog that keeps going back for more.
Clearly you and Private Partz are different in that you believe that Plaid should govern Wales and the latter is using them as a protest vote.
Therefore, other than the M4 relief road (which so obviously does not only benefit those in the South East), can you name one other major project that Plaud have said they would not continue to fund or proceed with? Hint, their manifesto keeps many of the projects Welsh Labour have proposed that you seem to be absolutely against.
As we've said before, the £1.1bn M4 relief road is over a considerable amount of time. Plaid wouldn't be able to say, actually here is a block grant of £500m each to Swansea and Llanelli councils to do what they want with.
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The 2016 Assembly Elections: Which way will you be voting & why? on 11:43 - Apr 6 with 1934 views
Firstly, why don't you start by not insulting anyone who supports Labour as a "beaten dog that keeps going back for more". you may disagree with my viewpoint, but it's fairly obvious that I haven't just used soundbites or an emotional tie to Labour like you have suggested.
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The 2016 Assembly Elections: Which way will you be voting & why? on 11:48 - Apr 6 with 1932 views
You do not want independence, but want to elect a party who have the independence movement as part of their raison d'être.
And you remarked just the other day how you couldn't understand that I don't support some of the policies of a party that I want to see get elected....
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The 2016 Assembly Elections: Which way will you be voting & why? on 12:14 - Apr 6 with 1916 views
Because that's a goal which is, currently (and thankfully) unachievable. Whereas, Labour can, and will, press ahead with their plans to keep pumping all their investment into the most affluent part of Wales - out of curiosity, what part of that sounds left wing to you?
And yes, I agree that Plaid would almost certainly press ahead with most of the plans, which is why I would like to see the WAG disbanded. It's been a disaster for everywhere in Wales except Cardiff. I literally see Plaid as the lesser of many evils. They're the only party which has said they'll distribute investment. Given 20 years of investment into one city, I think it's got to be worth a shot.
Great, so you say they will distribute investment elsewhere. Other than them just saying that to get elected, can you point to a part in their manifesto (the document that dictates how they will govern) that promises the projects, that get you so angry when the SE receives them, going to other parts of Wales?
You would like to see the WAG disbanded? I too am not a fan of it particularly. Sorry if this sounds demeaning, but how on earth could voting for Plaid and having them govern make things better for you?
- Their manifesto demonstrates they will continue with the projects you so despise - The electorate (aside from Private Partz) tend to vote for the party they voted for last time or at local elections. Thus, we could be in a situation where we send an entirely impotent Plaid delegation to Westminster, without any hope of influencing legislation on a meaningful basis (see the SNP in Scotland) - if the Welsh Assembly is disbanded, those not as informed or quick-witted as you will vote for Plaid anyway (the "Party of Wales" nonsense), therefore guaranteeing that Wales is frozen out of British politics for the rest of time
I would love to see any evidence you have that this would not be the case, because scholars and commentators alike would appear to support this.
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The 2016 Assembly Elections: Which way will you be voting & why? on 13:12 - Apr 6 with 1882 views
For what it's worth, I take your point, but at the moment, these are the best option. Sadly, devolution will never leave and, if anything, the WAG will continue to get more power and influence. This terrifies me because 1) it'll be a Labour gov't for the next century, 2) they've done a dreadful job so far, not just in terms of distributing investment, but healthcare/education etc.
"For devolution to work for the whole of Wales, we cannot allow investment to be concentrated in one corner of the country at the expense of other areas. Prosperity must be delivered to all parts of Wales by spreading investment to deliver an all-Wales recovery. So alongside the establishment of a new Investment Commission, we will introduce a Regional Renewal Bill that will enshrine in law a requirement on our Welsh Government to ensure that investment benefits all parts of our nation. This will, incidentally, fit in with our proposal for the future of local government in Wales, where we’re advocating the bringing together of our current local authorities to work together across regions, with economic development an obvious function on which they can cooperate on a regional level, much as is currently being developed with the North Wales Economic Ambition Board, and the city regions of the south, but in a way that is replicated Wales-wide."
They're the only party to promise such a thing, and therefore, will have my vote as the best of a bad bunch and, hopefully, to give Labour the kick up the arse it needs so hopefully, they start treating us like a proper second-city, like Birmingham, or Glasgow, and get investment.
You and certain others can hold your heads up high, your conscience(s) are free, mine is also. You are doing the very best to wake people up! I would love to see the WAG disbanded also.
Like you said some people really do have Utopian views. They should just take a pop down to ANY local Job-Centre Plus and meet reality eye-to-eye and see what is on offer down there. Those places are no greater testimony/evidence of what those Red Tory Labour Impostors have brought us! Career politicians and traitors to founding Labour priciples nothing more n' nothing less.
Argus!
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The 2016 Assembly Elections: Which way will you be voting & why? on 13:34 - Apr 6 with 1870 views
The main driving force behind the poll on this thread is the complete disillusionment with, and mistrust, of the Labour Party.
It has been fashionable over the last few years for political minded thinkers to worry about the rise of the far right across Europe and link it to the success of UKIP here.
In my opinion the most worrying event in British politics has been the complete defeat and capitulation of the Labour Party;
- Presided over a shambles of a government in the 70s and lost the trust of the voters.
- Only managed to return to power in the 90s by shifting the party to the centre-right.
- Made a total balls up of governing once more and again lost the trust of the majority of the voting public...
...but this time it seems more serious. Why?
- Lost power in Scotland....didn't just lose power, were humiliated actually.
- A void of ideas. At the last election all they could do was try a hollow re-brand with a chosen leader that was completely unelectable...proving just how out of touch with the public they really are.
- A judder to the hard left. The election of Corbyn was basically a fuk you to the rest of the country. They are now completely unelectable in the eyes of most of the sane grown ups left in the UK.
This current Labour party are universally laughed at but I reckon it's far more dangerous than that. We have had; - evidence of Postal ballot fraud - the inability to deal with Muslim elders excluding Labour women in constituencies where Islam dominates. - The documented rise of anti-semitism within the party - The fraternizing and support of Corbyn and co. with known enemies of the UK - The complete absence of public debate within the party regarding the question of the EU. - The likely demise of Welsh Labour, starting with this election, is likely next.
It strikes me that the core Labour support now is a disenfranchised bunch of serial angry protesters who oppose virtually everything the UK stands for (the self loathing is palpable) who could possibly lash out given the right circumstances. They could in no way be described as viable opposition. Their capitulation to the SNP has already put at risk the future of the UK. If they lose ground in Wales too it will point to a trend which is gathering pace.
If Wales went the same way as Scotland, UKIP could end up being neck and neck with Labour in the context of the UK.
Things would be really desperate for Labour then and desperate people do desperate things.
(I find it thoroughly depressing that in 2010 the public looked like they were making Lib Dems the party that would challenge Labour but only 6 years later it is UKIP and the Nationalists who have profited....I worry for our children's future)
Wow. A heavy duty post there. Much admired as you back up all your opinions. I don't share your concerns about the National Labour Party.. I think Corbyn is a reflection of a party trying to get back to its roots although I read with interest your comments on racial issues in the local branches. A serous development if true. Nor do I think the the situation was terminal for Labour at the last election. I agree about the leader though, they just had the wrong Milliband in charge. I am almost embarrassed to make such a comment after your eloquent post but I genuinely believe the electorate is that gullible. The same type of voter that will sit on its hands here and allow virtually all investment to be pumped into the SE of Wales mirroring England 20 years ago. God knows if they will ever get near to redressing the balance there but that is for another debate. I find it thoroughly depressing as well but for slightly different reasons but thanks for your thought provoking post nonetheless. Certainly something to think about.
[Post edited 6 Apr 2016 23:04]
You have mission in life to hold out your hand,
To help the other guy out,
Help your fellow man.
Stan Ridgway
1
The 2016 Assembly Elections: Which way will you be voting & why? on 22:07 - Apr 7 with 1710 views
What exactly does the UK stand for these days? As far as I can see we're just a whore to neo-liberalism/globalisation/international finance and have been for decades.
If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face--forever.
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The 2016 Assembly Elections: Which way will you be voting & why? on 23:28 - Apr 7 with 1666 views
It's late and I will be busy for the next 3/4 days. Your question deserves a proper response and I will post what I believe the UK stands for and how the Labour Party fails in this regard early next week.
I find your statement "we're just a whore to neo-liberalism/globalisation/international finance and have been for decades" very sad indeed.and revealing.
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