Bethan Jenkins AC/AM Blog

I just wanted to send out my heartfelt sympathy to the parents, family and friends to the two young girls from the Rhondda who died on the road between Merthyr and Hirwaun on Saturday. I know the road well having grown up in the area, and its near to where I had my crash on the Rhigos mountain.

The road can be awful in the rain, and its high time that alterations were made to it. I hate three lane roads( the Heads of the Valleys road past Dowlais is the same, and equally as dangerous) as they are confusing to navigate, especially in the dark winter evenings when you cannot see clearly the marked arrows on the road. Its always tragic to see people die so young, when they had their whole lives ahead of them.

I saw my life flash before me when I crashed in worse weather conditions over two years ago now. For me, it was lucky that there wasn’t another car coming in the other direction as I skidded across the icy road, ever closer to side of the mountain. I will never forget the feeling of having no control, that I too could be another headline in the newspaper.

I draw comparisons to swimming when I think of car crashes like this- it doesn’t matter how strong a swimmer you are, if you are out in the sea and the current pulls you away, it is almost impossible to battle against the elements. The same can be said of driving. When you are young, you often feel that you are invincible, and that you won’t ever be in a crash of any kind.

I don’t know if there are lessons to learn immediately from this, only that we have to be careful on the roads, and ensure that there are proper warnings on roads, and that people are aware of the conditions before they venture out in the car. I still have panic attacks if the weather is bad on the road, and try not to drive in such conditions, but that feeling of pure helplessness will be with me for the rest of my life.

I have recently joined http://www.twitter.com/. It is described as a site for ‘microblogging’ and a social network service. I am joining every new web based social forum I can at the moment, as an experiment of their usefulness and worth!

For anyone who is on Facebook, you will understand that it is basically the updates application enhanced- you can tell the world what you are doing in an instant, and it is also a way of having a regular conversation with others. I believe its just taking off over here, but young people, marketing companies and Politicians alike have been using twitter for some time over in America. Its useful if you are out and about because you can update what you are doing from your phone. You can ‘follow’ different people’s updates on the site, and you can also be ‘followed’ so that if someone is interested in you, you are reachable in an instant!

According to the Wikipedia site on twitter, it was started in San Francisco in 2006 as an internal company communication exercise, but it was launched officially later that year due to its instant success. People are now conducting interviews on twitter with renowned bloggers, and investigative Journalists are using it as a means of updating people on what they are doing for people who are interested in their work.

It is seen to be mre natural than a blog, which is often constructed with much thought and analysis, and can be amended constantly. Lets see how twitter takes off, and what will be the next new web phenomenon….

Plaid Conference was a success I do believe, and its now on to the local elections. Spring conferences are always shorter and to the point than the main conferences in September, but it was good to go to Newport- branching out to an area where we have a growing number of members. I recorded a few of the speeches, so I will put them up on here when I have had time to sort it all out.

I have to prepare for my trip to Brussels now( we are going on Tuesday), as I am going to view how the petitions committee works at the European Parliament alongside fellow members of the National Assembly’s petitions committee. It will be interesting to sit in on two important Welsh based petitions also- one of the LNG pipeline, and the Hafod landfill site in Wrexham. Both have generated mass local campaigns, and Jill Evans MEP has been helping to represent the petitioners on an EU level.

Apologies for failing to blog this week. I took a short break from work. I’m going to Plaid’s Conference in Newport today to see the launch of the local Government policies. Ieuan is making a speech at 2pm, so don’t forget to tune in. I’m also looking forward to popping in to a few of the fringe meetings, and talking to members.

While I was travelling back from Falmouth yesterday I listened to the debate between Alun Michael and Edwina Hart about the policies on violence against NHS staff on Radio Wales. This is a subject that the Assembly has been debating for months now, but the way Alun Michael was talking, it didn’t seem as if he was that aware of his colleague’s progress. More tension between Labour in Wales and Westminster I see… That wasn’t an attempt to take our thunder on the Conference today, I can be sure of that at least!

I will blog about the Conference goings on as soon as possible…

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Ymddiheuriadau am beidio blogio’r wythnos hon. Fe wnes i gymryd brec bach o’r gwaith. Rwy’n mynd i Gynhadledd Plaid heddiw yng Nghasnewydd i weld lansiad polisiau Llywodraeth Lleol y Blaid. Mae Ieuan Wyn Jones yn gwneud araith am 2, felly cofiwch gwylio! Rwyf hefyd yn edrych mlan at fynd i rhai o’r cyfarfodydd ymylol, a siarad gyda aelodau yn gyffredinol.

Wrth i mi deithio yn ol o Falmouth ddoe fe wnes i wrando a ddiddordeb ar y dadl rhwng Edwina Hart ac Alun Michael ar bolisiau i amddiffyn staff iechyd rhag trais yn eu herbyn ar Radio Wales. Mae hwn yn bwnc mae’r Cynulliad wedi trafod ar nifer o adegau, ond roedd y ffordd roedd Alun Michael yn son am y peth yn ymddangos fel nad oedd o wir yn ymwybodol o waith ei cyd weithwyr yn y Bae. Dadl ddiddorol arall rhwng Llafur yng Nghymru a Llafur yn Llundain… Dwi’m yn credu chwaith mai hwn oedd ymgais Llafur i dynnu sylw o’n Cynhadledd heddiw!

Byddai’n blogio am hynt a helynt y Gynhadledd yn y man..

So the Tories have called for an inquiry in to the Iraq War, oh how opportunistic of them. Do I sense an election on the way? Of course I do! Perhaps they would like to erase from history the fact that 146 of their MPs voted in favour of the war from the outset, or, because they have a new sparkling leader, does that automatically mean that they can change their opinions?

Plaid has been consistent in calling for an inquiry, and Adam Price’s campaign to Impeach Tony Blair was positive in that it sought to mobilise the peace movement in a common campaign goal. Nevertheless, these calls have fallen flat, and the Government still do not believe that it is ‘the right time’ for an inquiry, when ‘our troops’ are fighting on the ground ( and are losing morale if the latest poll of families of servicemen is anything to go by)

The Lib dems have put in an amendment to the Tory motion, asking all MPs who voted for the War to apologise. I don’t see anything wrong with this, but unfortunately I don’t see MPs offering to apologise in a hurry. Apologies are not that common in politics because politicians don’t like being wrong, or being seen to be wrong even if they know they are!

Miliband is still in denial that the war was even a mistake, regardless of the fact that even some of George Bush’s most ardent supporters in America now recognise that yes, they were, ( gulp) wrong to occupy Iraq.

An Independent inquiry is desperately needed to assess the war on every level- from clarity on the reasoning for war, to the action taken on a ground level, to the continuation of US/ British intervention in Iraq, to seeking to restore faith from the electorate in the political system. Until the London Government acknowledges this, I do not see how they can seek to even address their waning credibility.

The Scottish Government is looking at the possibility of raising the legal age for buying alcohol from 18 to 21 years of age. Now, I know that I’m fast approaching 30 and I won’t be able to call myself ‘young’ for very much longer, but if I could only try and put myself in the mind of a 16, 18 or 21 year old right now, I could be sure that they would be very confused with the varying rules and regulations that are being placed upon their lives.

They are paying taxes at 16, voting at 18, allowed to drink at 18, drive at 17. Personally, I would welcome some consistency, and I think that some clarity would naturally ensue…

What annoys me is that most of these proposals almost always ignore the opinions of young people. Although we have new ways of communicating with young people, it still seems as if the world is against them. We need only talk about ASBO’s, or the new mosquito sound device which attempts to disperse young people from large crowds as if they were rats in an dirty alleyway, to realise that we need to take a step back, take stock, and reconsider our attitudes towards young people.

So they may not vote in their droves, but this isn’t a reason to undermine them or to treat them like 3rd class citizens. Take binge drinking as an example- of course this is an issue that we must deal with, but is it really a youth phenomenon, or is it a social phenomenon( not even of our times)? Take anti-social behaviour- can we really say that it is only young people who are disruptive, and negatively affect the society we all live in? Take crime- is it really only young people who are stealing or joyriding? If you take the media at face value, you would believe as such.

I don’t pretend for a minute that those gangs of young people on our streets don’t exist, or that underage drinking doesn’t happen, but I think that over regulating what our young people can and can’t do, and more importantly when they can and can’t do it will only intensify the problems we have in Wales, or Britain for that matter. Perhaps I am an idealist, but if we could only try and treat young people with a little more respect from the outset, then at least we would be able to try and nurture a relationship of equals.

Having met some people from the USA over the last few weeks while in Berlin, we got on to the subject of drinking, where it is illegal for anyone under 21 to consume alcohol. As expected, they said that people would buy alcohol illegally and drink as groups in their University dorm rooms or houses. Changing the age limit on alcohol consumption will change little, but what will make a difference will be the changing of attitudes in society, and the way we live our lives.

Ok, so aside from the humorous comments that result from the way some AMs look and act in the Chamber from day to day in the National Assembly, I wonder whether our ability to laugh in politics is waning at a faster rate than the influence of Peter Hain over Welsh affairs. I say this in reaction to one of Glyn Davies’s latest blog posts about the McCartney vs Mills court house drama, where opposition politicians and the media launched an attack on him for his comments.
I don’t think I need to go in to the detail of the blog that reached the headlines here- I want to do the opposite.

The content of what Glyn Davies said aside, he has a valid point when stating that it may be ‘goodbye to humour’. When are politicians, or prospective politicians at that allowed to be tongue in cheek, humorous, sarcastic, without it offending others in some tiny way?

I took a blog post down( one of the only ones I have ever taken down) a few months ago as a politician’s office contacted me in such an angry, emotional way that I believed that I had no choice but to do so. This was of course regardless of the fact that the post was intended to be taken in a light hearted way, and I stated as such at the beginning of the post.

Will all future political bloggers, especially politicians, have to provide a hazard sign at the top of their blogs if they want to, or intend to say anything that may offend others, even in the slightest manner? Obviously we have to take in to account equal opportunities and fair play when we blog, but where, and how do we draw the line? People may accuse me of having somewhat simple, vague blogs on occasions, but to be honest, this is intentional as I do not want my words to be taken out of context or misinterpreted.

If I was an anonymous blogger such as Pippa Wagstaff or Normal Mouth, then I believe that I would be able to be much more free in my ways of conveying my opinions, if only because I would not be judged for it at every stage. Of course, I hear you say that I have put myself in this position, that I am an elected representative, therefore I should be held to account for my musings. Nevertheless, if the very people who want to communicate with the public fear that they cannot due to pressures from the press, other political parties, or anonymous bloggers with vendettas, then it will be impossible for us to encourage other politicians who are currently in the dark ages of communication to embrace new technologies, and to keep their feet firmly on the ground.

Many politicians have started blogs with good intentions, but have fallen by the wayside. I don’t think that this is all to do with them being lazy or uninteresting, but more to do with how they grapple with communicating in such an unregulated and judgemental environment.

( I was going to add a photo of a politician laughing but didn’t want to offend anyone by picking out one particular politician;-))

Braidd yn flinedig ar ol y teithio ddoe i ddweud y lleia, ond wedi cwpwl o gyfarfodydd yn y Cynulliad heddiw( sydd yn le dawel iawn dros y pasg, rhaid dweud) fe wnes i ffilmio ar gyfer y rhaglen i bobl ifanc ar S4C, Mosgito. Cwpwl o oriau difyr yn stiwdios Llandaf yn ymarfer cyfweliadau ar fy ngwaith fel AC, ac yn gwylio’r cyflwynwyr yn rhedeg o gwmpas y lle mewn hetiau difyr( gan fod eitem arall ar hetiau, a’u ffasiwn…) Yn ffodus does dim rhaid i ACau wisgo wigs na hetiau ffurfiol yn y Siambr felly doedd dim rhyw lawer gen i i gyfrannu i’r drafodaeth hynny!

Gobeithio’n fawr y bydd mwy o bobl ifanc yn cysylltu a mi ynglyn a gwleidyddiaeth ac ymgyrchu ar ol gwylio’r sioe heno ma. Mae e dal yn anodd i bobl ifanc sichrau bod y system yn croesawu eu barn yn rhan o’r drafodaeth gwleidyddol, ond gobeithio bydd hwn yn newid gyda dyfodiad y pwyllgor deisebau, a’r pwyllgor ar blant a phobl ifanc……

Pasg Hapus pawb!

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Im quite tired after the travelling yesterday but after a couple of meetings at the Assembly today( which is a very quiet place over easter I noticed) I went over to LLandaff BBC to film for the Welsh language youth show, Mosgito. A few hours of rehersals of interviews on my work as an AM ensued, and I then watched with vague hilarity at the presenters fleet around in random hats- as they were doing another piece for the show on fashion hats and easter hats! Fortunately for me us AMs don’t have to wear such formal attire at the Assembly so I had little to contribute to that particular bit!

I hope that more young people will contact me to get involved in politics/ campaigns following the show. Its still quite a challenge for young people to get their voice heard in the system, but I hope with the establishment of the petitions committee and the young people’s commitee at the Assembly that this will change…..

I’m travelling back from Berlin at the moment, and for someone who hates flying I am holding up thanks to the wonders of Bach herbal remedy (although its affect on my current state of mind may be entirely psychological)

I’ve enjoyed the network all in all, although it was intense at times. Neil Kinnock addressed us as Chair of the British Council last night at a buffet dinner, and although everybody expected me to launch into a heated discussion with him on devolution, I refrained when a Scottish friend over-heard him talk to a Romanian delegate about, should I say,the negatives of self determination in a devolved context.

I am sure that he carries out important work for the British Council, but it was somewhat ironic that he was promoting transatlantic links, and noting the growth of the EU when he does not recognise the importance of Wales as a Nation.

I look forward to the Network event in Ireland- we are planning for a 100 young people to attend, and to share in the experience of the network. I’ve met some very interesting, colourful people who are already shaping the way that we work in the World.