| The tainted First Minister on 21:48 - May 7 with 1694 views | Boundy |
O dear never mind, it seems lying comes so easy . |  |
| "In a free society, the State is the servant of the people—not the master." |
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| The tainted First Minister on 21:50 - May 7 with 1695 views | Whiterockin |
Wales online said that there were skeletons in the cupboard waiting to come out. If true why don't they just put them out there. |  | | |
| The tainted First Minister on 08:14 - May 8 with 1613 views | Boundy |
| The tainted First Minister on 21:50 - May 7 by Whiterockin |
Wales online said that there were skeletons in the cupboard waiting to come out. If true why don't they just put them out there. |
Were or are skeletons ? if his donation money came from monies loaned to Neil's company then that's against the ministerial code (hard to prove I know) | |
| "In a free society, the State is the servant of the people—not the master." |
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| The tainted First Minister on 10:24 - May 8 with 1582 views | Whiterockin |
| The tainted First Minister on 08:14 - May 8 by Boundy |
Were or are skeletons ? if his donation money came from monies loaned to Neil's company then that's against the ministerial code (hard to prove I know) |
"Speaking to WalesOnline Mr Jones, who left Labour to help establish the SDP, said: “This is a real decision. If Mr Gething’s vote fails they would have to nominate somebody else. The Labour group could put forward someone else, they could nominate Jeremy Miles.
“I don’t think they will. Its a very loyal party. At the end of the day they may think it's too much trouble. The party hardly ever rocks the boat.”
Regarding the other parties he said that he thinks the Tories in the Senedd “will play fast and loose” because “it's to their advantage to have Vaughan Gething”. He added: “Whether they are valid or not there are skeletons in his cupboard, and those skeletons are not going to go away.”
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/politics/former-labour-mp-calls-party-2883921 | | | |
| The tainted First Minister on 15:33 - May 8 with 1506 views | Boundy |
| The tainted First Minister on 10:24 - May 8 by Whiterockin |
"Speaking to WalesOnline Mr Jones, who left Labour to help establish the SDP, said: “This is a real decision. If Mr Gething’s vote fails they would have to nominate somebody else. The Labour group could put forward someone else, they could nominate Jeremy Miles.
“I don’t think they will. Its a very loyal party. At the end of the day they may think it's too much trouble. The party hardly ever rocks the boat.”
Regarding the other parties he said that he thinks the Tories in the Senedd “will play fast and loose” because “it's to their advantage to have Vaughan Gething”. He added: “Whether they are valid or not there are skeletons in his cupboard, and those skeletons are not going to go away.”
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/politics/former-labour-mp-calls-party-2883921 |
The pressure is building on him but an arrogant man has no shame .
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/welsh-first-minister-rejects-covid-inquiry | |
| "In a free society, the State is the servant of the people—not the master." |
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| The tainted First Minister on 17:07 - May 8 with 1475 views | SullutaCreturned |
Maybe it's time those "loyal" non boat rocking labour people actually showed loyalty to the people they are meant to be serving and did what is best for Wales rather than what is best for them and their shonky party?
All they are interested in is staying in power no matter what they need to say for that to happen.
Personally, I don't believe Gething. | | | |
| The tainted First Minister on 22:12 - May 12 with 1310 views | Boundy |
| The tainted First Minister on 17:07 - May 8 by SullutaCreturned |
Maybe it's time those "loyal" non boat rocking labour people actually showed loyalty to the people they are meant to be serving and did what is best for Wales rather than what is best for them and their shonky party?
All they are interested in is staying in power no matter what they need to say for that to happen.
Personally, I don't believe Gething. |
A double page spread in Saturdays' Daily Mail. A longish read but imo worth it ,which sums up todays state of a non union.
From the Daily Mail Sunday 12th May
The great devolution disaster: Grotesque levels of corruption. Pygmy politicians. An obsession with woke dogma. And an upsurge in the nationalism it was supposed to tame
By STEPHEN GLOVER FOR THE DAILY MAIL
Today marks a very significant day in our country's history. Exactly 25 years ago, the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh and the Welsh Assembly in Cardiff sat for the first time.
What high hopes there were in some quarters! Scotland's parliament hadn't met for nearly 300 years. Wales had never had its own assembly. Tony Blair's New Labour promised the United Kingdom nothing less than a new constitutional settlement.
We were told – and many believed it, though I certainly didn't – that Scotland and Wales would be better governed under Devolution than they had been from Westminster.
The Union would supposedly also be safe. George Robertson, a Scot and member of the New Labour Cabinet, had promised Devolution would 'kill nationalism stone dead' north of the border.
Was ever a political forecast so comprehensively confounded? Nor have assurances of improved governance been remotely fulfilled.
Devolution was New Labour's pride and joy, though Blair later claimed in his 2010 memoir that he 'was never a passionate Devolutionist'. Perhaps the sinuous former PM could already see things were not turning out as well as he and his fellow constitutional iconoclasts had hoped.
In Scotland, the political tribulations of the Scottish National Party have recently attained new heights. Twelve days ago, we endured the spectacle of a third-rate, over-promoted Scottish First Minister committing political hara-kiri.
Two weeks before the hapless Humza Yousaf stabbed himself in the back, there had been an earlier earth tremor north of the border.
Peter Murrell, husband of former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and ex-chief executive of the SNP, was charged by police in connection with the embezzlement of funds from his party.
Mr Murrell may of course be innocent. But his arrest after a year-long investigation, combined with the pantomime of Mr Yousaf's resignation, somehow symbolises the dysfunctional nature of Devolution in Scotland.
This week the SNP chose a new First Minister, John Swinney, unopposed. He is a plodding politician who failed to set the heather alight as the Scot Nats' leader two decades ago. Why would he do any better this time?
Wales's predicament is almost as dire. Newly-installed Labour First Minister Vaughan Gething, no titan in the political firmament, is facing accusations over a £200,000 campaign donation from a company whose owner was twice convicted of environmental offences.
Peter Murrell, husband of former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and ex-chief executive of the SNP, was charged by police in connection with the embezzlement of funds from his party
What grieves me as a Unionist who sees himself as British first and English second is that our fellow citizens in Scotland and Wales have in effect been abandoned to the devices of incompetent, mediocre and sometimes corrupt politicians.
Conservative ministers look at the pitiable state of the Labour-run NHS in Wales, where waiting lists are even longer than in England, and jeer. One can understand their wanting to make political capital. But shouldn't they be showing concern for Britons trapped in what increasingly resembles a madhouse?
The theory is that democracies adjust when people are badly governed and voters will sooner or later turn to alternative political parties that offer more sensible policies. Unfortunately, this theory doesn't obviously apply to Scotland and Wales.
Despite its corruption and serial ineptitude, the SNP remains in government after 17 years. Polls suggest that a resurgent Labour Party could win more seats than the flagging Scot Nats in the forthcoming General Election. It might even form the next administration in Holyrood when elections, due in May 2026, take place.
But Scottish Labour is in many respects indistinguishable from the SNP. Both are centre-Left. What mainly separates them is independence, with Scottish Labour against (though its former leader Kezia Dugdale has recently revealed she is increasingly drawn to it) and the SNP wildly in favour.
On many other issues the two parties think alike. For example, Scottish Labour supported the Scots Nats over the Gender Recognition Act. This would have enabled transgender 16-year-olds to declare themselves male or female without medical endorsement – if the Westminster Government hadn't blocked it, using a power that hadn't been exercised before.Similarly, Scottish Labour backed the SNP's recent illiberal and near-lunatic hate crime laws, which have enraged people such as JK Rowling. Its leader, Anas Sarwar, has said that Scottish Labour won't repeal the Act if his party forms the next government in Holyrood.
Scottish Labour has also mostly gone along with the SNP's tax-raising heists following Holyrood's acquisition of new powers in 2016, recklessly bestowed by the Tories. Nicola Sturgeon and her cohorts set about fleecing Scottish taxpayers.
God knows, south of the border we are groaning under the burden of excessive taxation but it's worse in Scotland. People there earning more than £26,562 a year pay 1p in the pound more tax than in England, which is increased to 2p more in the higher income bracket. Top earners are subjected to an extra walloping.
The upshot is that even those on relatively modest incomes are paying thousands more in tax than counterparts in England. Mr Sarwar has suggested that Scottish Labour might trim tax for middle earners but, given his party's traditional love of high taxes, voters would be wise to be sceptical.
So in tax as in other matters there's little to choose between the SNP and Scottish Labour. Unless voters turn in droves to the Scottish Tories – an unlikely event for all kinds of historical reasons – our fellow citizens are, as a consequence of Devolution, imprisoned in a high-tax economy.
Admittedly, largely thanks to the Westminster government transferring more than £8billion a year to Holyrood under the so-called Barnett formula, the Scots enjoy perks unavailable to the English.
They have free prescriptions (as do the Welsh and Northern Irish) and don't pay tuition fees at Scottish universities. Council tax has been frozen in Scotland during this tax year.
These handouts engender justifiable resentment in England towards the Scots and further undermine our already weakened Union. Just one more instance of the pernicious effects of Devolution.
As for the Labour-run Welsh government, it has so far been given fewer tax-raising powers than Holyrood, though this hasn't prevented it from squeezing extra cash from taxpayers wherever it can.
Sir Keir Starmer has said that he wants to increase the scope of the administration in Cardiff. He declared last year that if he moves into No 10 he will make changes leading to 'Wales having power over its economic destiny'. That implies enhanced tax-raising capabilities.
It seems practically insane to give yet more powers to a government that has presided over the never-ending calamity that is the Welsh NHS, as well as plummeting educational standards.
The latest Pisa international rankings show that Welsh schools have fallen further behind those in the rest of the United Kingdom, while Scottish schools, once famed for their excellence, have declined in reading, science and maths.
By contrast, English schools showed modest improvements across the board.
As for the Labour-run Welsh government, it has so far been given fewer tax-raising powers than Holyrood, though this hasn't prevented it from squeezing extra cash from taxpayers wherever it can
Why would anyone propose further powers – these could include a second chamber (even more politicians!) for the devolved nations – to a government in Cardiff that has failed on so many fronts?
One of its latest idiocies, champ-ioned by First Minister Mark Drakeford before his recent retirement, was to impose a 20mph speed limit in all built-up areas. This measure has proved so unpopular, even Mr Gething's administration is considering reversing it in some places. Wales is dominated by the more populous Labour-voting south of the country. However misguided its policies, however mediocre and occasionally sleazy some of its politicians, Labour has a tribal following that apparently ensures its survival as the ruling party no matter what sins it commits.
With breathtaking effrontery, ministers in Cardiff recently instructed farmers across Wales to set aside 10 per cent of their land for permanent tree planting. Unsurprisingly, many of them resent being pushed about in this way. Would Westminster in pre-Devolution days have been so high-handed?
The tragedy is that Wales never really wanted Devolution in the first place. In New Labour's 1997 referendum, only about half of Welsh people bothered to vote, of whom fractionally more than 50 per cent supported Devolution. A constitutional and cultural upheaval took place even though only about a quarter of the country voted for it.
What a disaster this has been! I don't, of course, suggest that England has been perfectly governed for the past two decades, but the experience of the Welsh and Scottish has been far worse. Devolution has spectacularly failed to deliver the promise of better and more efficient government in either country.
It's also almost certain that both Scotland and Wales are poorer than they would have been without Devolution. According to official figures, between 2011 and 2023 gross national product per person increased appreciably more in almost every English region than in Scotland. We may not have done very well down south but Scotland has performed even worse.
Yet rather than question the wisdom of New Labour's misguided revolution, Sir Keir proposes more of the same. More powers for devolved governments that have made such a hash of things.
As for the Tories, they've forgotten that they ever opposed Devolution and cheerfully hand over new powers to Holyrood and Cardiff. Whenever things go wrong, they can barely suppress their feelings of schadenfreude. Look what happens when the centre-Left takes over!
What has happened is that millions of British people have been consigned to government by pygmy politicians from which they seem unlikely to escape.
Does the implosion of the Scot Nats offer a thin silver lining? It's true that the party's collapse almost certainly pushes the prospect of independence further into the future. Nevertheless, polls suggest that around half of Scots remain in favour of it. Devolution – which has splintered the country once known as Great Britain into mutually uncomprehending parts – will surely one day lead to an independent Scotland.
In the meantime, we can only look on forlornly as British citizens in Wales and Scotland suffer its baleful consequences.
The 25th anniversary of Devolution will doubtless elicit sanctimonious claptrap about its glorious benefits from politicians who – unlike the people they govern – have profited from it.
Although the Holyrood Parliament first met on May 12, 1999, its official opening took place months later, on July 1. Queen Elizabeth attended the ceremony in the General Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland.
Donald Dewar – New Labour's main architect of Devolution and the new First Minister – delivered a stirring speech in which he welcomed 'the day democracy was renewed in Scotland, when we revitalised our place in this our United Kingdom'.
He declared that Rabbie Burns's poem A Man's A Man, which had been movingly sung, reminded us that 'honesty and decency are priceless virtues'.
How bitterly ironic those words now sound. Democracy hasn't been renewed. Far from it. Scotland's place in the United Kingdom has been weakened and there's precious little evidence of honesty and decency in the corrupt and incompetent SNP.
Yet this is our country, Britain, and it is our fellow Britons who are paying the price for Labour's catastrophic project. | |
| "In a free society, the State is the servant of the people—not the master." |
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| The tainted First Minister on 22:39 - May 12 with 1296 views | builthjack |
The Mail. Jeez, does anyone actually own up to buying it? |  |
| Swansea Indepenent Poster Of The Year 2021. Dr P / Mart66 / Roathie / Parlay / E20/ Duffle was 2nd, but he is deluded and thinks in his little twisted brain that he won. Poor sod. We let him win this year, as he has cried for a whole year. His 14 usernames, bless his cotton socks.
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| The tainted First Minister on 23:04 - May 12 with 1279 views | JumpingJackFlash |
| The tainted First Minister on 22:39 - May 12 by builthjack |
The Mail. Jeez, does anyone actually own up to buying it? |
Yeah,
“What grieves me as a Unionist who sees himself as British first and English second is that our fellow citizens in Scotland and Wales have in effect been abandoned to the devices of incompetent, mediocre and sometimes corrupt politicians.”
Whilst there is some truth in this, has the writer been getting no news whatsoever from Westminster?
Corruption on an industrial scale.
Baroness Mone was presumably unavailable for comment. | | | |
| The tainted First Minister on 00:16 - May 13 with 1255 views | majorraglan |
| The tainted First Minister on 23:04 - May 12 by JumpingJackFlash |
Yeah,
“What grieves me as a Unionist who sees himself as British first and English second is that our fellow citizens in Scotland and Wales have in effect been abandoned to the devices of incompetent, mediocre and sometimes corrupt politicians.”
Whilst there is some truth in this, has the writer been getting no news whatsoever from Westminster?
Corruption on an industrial scale.
Baroness Mone was presumably unavailable for comment. |
Daily Mail is a mouth piece for the Conservative Party and it’s clear they’re focusing on the SNP and Labour for the forthcoming GE. When they refer to corruption, why don’t they mention the PPE contracts because that’s on a scale much larger than anything in Scotland and Wales and it involves numerous politicians at the heart of Government. | | | |
| The tainted First Minister on 07:49 - May 13 with 1209 views | Boundy |
| The tainted First Minister on 22:39 - May 12 by builthjack |
The Mail. Jeez, does anyone actually own up to buying it? |
Never said I bought it , anyway care to comment on the content ? | |
| "In a free society, the State is the servant of the people—not the master." |
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| The tainted First Minister on 08:22 - May 13 with 1199 views | Boundy |
| The tainted First Minister on 00:16 - May 13 by majorraglan |
Daily Mail is a mouth piece for the Conservative Party and it’s clear they’re focusing on the SNP and Labour for the forthcoming GE. When they refer to corruption, why don’t they mention the PPE contracts because that’s on a scale much larger than anything in Scotland and Wales and it involves numerous politicians at the heart of Government. |
Why is it so difficult for poster to concentrate on the topic rather than yet more what aboutery , We all know that this Tory government has been a disaster for the country and the sooner gone HOPEFULLY for the betterment of everyone.
It may come as a surprise to some but all papers have a political biase the Mail included. | |
| "In a free society, the State is the servant of the people—not the master." |
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| The tainted First Minister on 08:35 - May 13 with 1181 views | AnotherJohn |
I think most of us get the point about the scale of corruption, but I suspect we are even more concerned about the scale of mismanagement of public services, especially when it comes to the NHS, education and transport. And then there is the rampant wokery that feeds into most policy areas. | | | |
| The tainted First Minister on 08:39 - May 13 with 1181 views | Whiterockin |
| The tainted First Minister on 08:22 - May 13 by Boundy |
Why is it so difficult for poster to concentrate on the topic rather than yet more what aboutery , We all know that this Tory government has been a disaster for the country and the sooner gone HOPEFULLY for the betterment of everyone.
It may come as a surprise to some but all papers have a political biase the Mail included. |
We all know that the Conservatives running the country through Westminster have been an absolute disaster and will soon be gone. But this does not exonerate the Senedd who are also a disaster and completely out of touch with the majority of the Welsh public. The support that was there at the last Senedd elections is dwindling fast. When criticism is justifiably aimed at the Senedd staunch Labour supporters can only argue "what about Westminster". Why not deal with facts and put up a reasonable counter argument defending the Senedd, they can't because there isn't one. | | | |
| The tainted First Minister on 10:21 - May 13 with 1145 views | union_jack |
| The tainted First Minister on 22:39 - May 12 by builthjack |
The Mail. Jeez, does anyone actually own up to buying it? |
Whether it was the Daily Mail or The Morning Star writing that, it’s bang in the money.
You, of course will never admit that as you and a few others are clouded by nationalism never mind how inefficient or ineffective that may be. |  |
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| The tainted First Minister on 13:04 - May 13 with 1105 views | SullutaCreturned |
| The tainted First Minister on 08:39 - May 13 by Whiterockin |
We all know that the Conservatives running the country through Westminster have been an absolute disaster and will soon be gone. But this does not exonerate the Senedd who are also a disaster and completely out of touch with the majority of the Welsh public. The support that was there at the last Senedd elections is dwindling fast. When criticism is justifiably aimed at the Senedd staunch Labour supporters can only argue "what about Westminster". Why not deal with facts and put up a reasonable counter argument defending the Senedd, they can't because there isn't one. |
Amongst the many pointless things they say s "they don't spend their time trawling the media for anti Welsh negativity" which is paraphrased of course.
Thing is, you don't have to trawl the media, the bad news has been front and centre for a long time.
The suggestion that criticisng Welsh labour makes you a tory is entirely risible. Then again, the people actually laughing are the politicians who contnue to coin it in at OUR expense. Tese politicians are everywhere, here, Hoyrood, Stormont and Westminster. They are in every party and while they fleece us for a living some still defend them.
From April 20th right up to today, only th names have changed though of course we have more "government" than back then. maybe there's an irony in these Tories talking about levelling up when back in Cromwells day they were called the "Levellers" but what does it matter, those sitting in our now 4 government chambers have been wrecking this country, dividing it, reducing it, fleecing it. | | | |
| The tainted First Minister on 13:56 - May 13 with 1062 views | builthjack |
| The tainted First Minister on 07:49 - May 13 by Boundy |
Never said I bought it , anyway care to comment on the content ? |
Perhaps you sat in the library for a day. Free. | |
| Swansea Indepenent Poster Of The Year 2021. Dr P / Mart66 / Roathie / Parlay / E20/ Duffle was 2nd, but he is deluded and thinks in his little twisted brain that he won. Poor sod. We let him win this year, as he has cried for a whole year. His 14 usernames, bless his cotton socks.
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| The tainted First Minister on 14:05 - May 13 with 1057 views | raynor94 |
| The tainted First Minister on 10:21 - May 13 by union_jack |
Whether it was the Daily Mail or The Morning Star writing that, it’s bang in the money.
You, of course will never admit that as you and a few others are clouded by nationalism never mind how inefficient or ineffective that may be. |
Brilliant post 👏 |  |
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| The tainted First Minister on 15:21 - May 13 with 1024 views | SullutaCreturned |
| The tainted First Minister on 13:56 - May 13 by builthjack |
Perhaps you sat in the library for a day. Free. |
Or he saw it online, it's a brave new world. | | | |
| The tainted First Minister on 15:34 - May 13 with 1005 views | Boundy |
| The tainted First Minister on 13:56 - May 13 by builthjack |
Perhaps you sat in the library for a day. Free. |
No comment on its content then , no real suprise there, by the way the Internet has been invented  | |
| "In a free society, the State is the servant of the people—not the master." |
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| The tainted First Minister on 18:23 - May 16 with 843 views | majorraglan |
I’d imagine a sizeable chunk of the negativity is definitely is down to racism which is alive and kicking in many places, that said in my opinion Gething hasn’t exactly helped his cause with what I believe to be done very poor decision making regarding the donation to his campaign or his actions and conduct regarding Covid.
My personal view is he shouldn’t be the FM. | | | |
| The tainted First Minister on 18:30 - May 16 with 832 views | Whiterockin |
| The tainted First Minister on 18:23 - May 16 by majorraglan |
I’d imagine a sizeable chunk of the negativity is definitely is down to racism which is alive and kicking in many places, that said in my opinion Gething hasn’t exactly helped his cause with what I believe to be done very poor decision making regarding the donation to his campaign or his actions and conduct regarding Covid.
My personal view is he shouldn’t be the FM. |
I would say little if anything is down to racism, he is just a shocking first minister who got the position in a questionable manner. I will be very surprised if he lasts 12 months, nothing at all to do racism. | | | |
| The tainted First Minister on 21:04 - May 16 with 765 views | AguycalledJack |
He’s got no option other than to play the race card. He’s been crap in any position he’s held. He can’t defend how crap he’s been so has to play the race card as a means of explaining why he’s being criticised, otherwise it is clearly apparent how crap he’s been.
Add in the donation issues and he’s in the 💩. | | | |
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