Bethan Jenkins AC/AM Blog

Cerddorion Cymreig ‘yn iawn i streicio’

AC Plaid yn cefnogi’r streic ac yn galw am newid gan y BBC

Mae Bethan Jenkins AC yn cefnogi penderfyniad cerddorion  Cymreig i streicio am dri diwrnod  o 19-21 Rhagfyr oherwydd ni fydd y BBC yn talu’r un swm i ddefnyddio eu caneuon ar Radio Cymru ag ar gyfer breindaliadau drwy gyfrwng y saesneg ar Radio Wales yn ol system taliadau PRS.

Ar y raddfa bresennol o 49c y funud, mae ugeiniau o gerddorion Cymreig yn honni eu bod yn gwneud colled o’r hyn a elwir yn y system PRS, ac yn credu, trwy eu gwaith, eu bont yn buddsoddi  yn Radio Cymru. Maent yn streicio er mwyn tynnu sylw i’r mater yma, ac mae cannoedd o gerddorion Cymreig yn cymryd rhan.

Dywedodd Bethan, sy’n llefarydd Plaid Cymru dros yr Iaith Gymraeg, Treftadaeth a Chwaraeon:

“Mae gan cerddorion Cymreig yr hawl i gymryd camau ar y mater hwn. Mae’r hyn maent yn derbyn ar hyn o bryd yn gwbl annigonol, ac yn cymryd mantais o’u hymrwymiad i radio drwy gyfrwng yr Iaith Gymraeg. Rwy’n galw ar  Ymddiriedolwyr y BBC, a chynrychiolydd Cymru ar yr Ymddiriedolaeth yn benodol,i fynd i’r afael a hwn fel mater o frys.”

Dywedodd Dafydd Roberts, o Sain: “Gwraidd y broblem yw na all y system taliadau ymdopi â cherddoriaeth lleiafrifol. Rhaid i’r BBC derbyn ac ymarfer y cyfrifoldeb sydd ganddynt i sicrhau y bydd taliadau’n cael eu dosrannu yn deg.”

Dywedodd y cyfansoddwr Deian ap Richard: “Mae’r diwydiant cerddoriaeth Cymru wedi dioddef iselder difrifol am dros bedair blynedd o ganlyniad i benderfyniadau a wnaed gan y PRS. Mae dyfodol gerddoriaeth fasnachol yng Nghymru mewn trafferth heb fuddsoddiad cyson. Rydym yn galw ar y BBC fel corff cyhoeddus i bwyso ar y PRS i newid. Mewn cyfarfod y  llynedd dywedodd y BBC y byddai’n ymyrryd  yn y broses pe byddai’r PRS yn  trin cyfansoddwyr mewn modd annheg, ac rydym yn disgwyl iddynt weithredu.’

Dywedodd Gai Toms, cyfansoddwr: “Mae’r gwahaniaeth mawr rhwng BBC Radio Wales a Radio Cymru yn dangos diffyg dealltwriaeth y PRS o’n sefyllfa diwylliannol yma yng Nghymru.. Mae diffyg ymwybyddiaeth yn effeithio ar fusnesau bach ac unigolion creadigol.”

Press Release. Datganiad i’r Wasg.

Plaid. www.plaidcymru.org

For immediate release – December 16, 2011

Welsh musicians ‘are right to strike’

Plaid AM backs action and calls for BBC changes

Bethan Jenkins AM is backing a three-day action by Welsh musicians, who are striking from December 19 to 21 because the BBC will not pay the same amounts to use their songs on Radio Cymru, as paid for English language royalties.

At the current rate of 49p per minute, scores of Welsh musicians claim that they are making a loss from what is known as the PRS system, and believe that through their work they are investing in supporting Radio Cymru. Almost 100 Welsh musicians are taking action by striking.

Bethan, who is Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson on Heritage, Language and Sport, said:

“Welsh musicians are right to take action on this matter. What they receive at present is totally inadequate, and takes advantage of their commitment to Welsh language radio. I call on the BBC’s Trustees, specifically the BBC’s Welsh representative on the Trust,  to address this deficiency as a matter of urgency.”

Dafydd Roberts, of Sain, said: “The root of the problem is that the payments system cannot cope with minority music. The BBC must accept and practice the responsibility they have to ensure that payments will be apportioned fairly.”

Composer Deian ap Richard said: “The Welsh music industry has suffered severe depression for over four years as a result of decisions made by the PRS. The future of commercial music in Wales is in trouble without consistent investment. We call on the BBC as a public body to press the PRS to change. We were promised by a meeting last year that the BBC would intervene if it believed that the PRS treated composers unfairly, and we expect them to act on their words.”

Gai Toms, a composer, said: “The huge difference between BBC Radio Wales and Radio Cymru payments show the PRS’ lack of cultural understanding of our situation here in Wales. The lack of awareness affects small businesses and creative individuals.”

DIWEDD/END
______________

LAST night, I arranged a meeting at Bridgend’s Evergreen Hall to hear from council staff their very real concerns over the job evaluation process. Ian Titherington from Plaid Cymru, and with a strong trade union background in Cardiff, spoke at the meeting to try and answer the concerns of the many people who turned up and who are utterly frustrated with the mess that this Labour-run Council has created.

Bridgend, of course,  is among the last local authorities to carry out job evaluation, a process started several years ago when council finances were in a much better state.  Under the current plan, around 2,000 workers – a quarter of the workforce – face pay cuts.  Of the 5,800 other workers subject to job evaluation, 3,173 will see their pay increased while 2,640 wage packets will stay the same. The majority of those having their pay cut will lose less than £1,000, but 2.2% will lose more than £5,000, some up to £10,000.

The council says it will not award back pay to those who have been underpaid for years, because it “simply cannot afford it”. However, a leading employment lawyer has told the Glamorgan Gazette that Bridgend council could face a “flood of employment tribunals” if back pay is legitimately owed.  Union members were balloted over industrial action after Unison said negotiations had come to very little, although I understand from the local Unison rep who was present last night, that negotiations are ongoing, but they can’t divulge the nature of the negotiations at this stage.

David MacGregor, assistant chief executive at BCBC, has said: ”Our job evaluation proposals are focusing on protecting posts, avoiding potential job losses and achieving a fair and equitable pay structure which is affordable in the current climate. It is important to remember that these proposals have not yet been finalised and are still subject to staff consultation and trade union negotiation. The proposals for public sector pensions are being led by central Government, not the council, and remain an entirely separate issue to job evaluation.”

Nonetheless, staff have told me that they have been sent information on the process, with no covering letter, and were left to work it out for themselves that they would be losing £5,000 a year. Many were also left to find out for themselves which ‘family’ of staff structure they were in, and therefore, to find out for themselves which salary they would get following this process.

At one school I know of, some £47,000 is being lost among 19 staff, and line managers were not informed of the extent of the proposals. Teaching assistants have also gone from annualised pay to term time hours, and many present at the meeting in this situation told me that they had not received this information formally from the Council.

The material sent out included an FAQ section that suggested that those who were unable to meet bills as a consequence of the jobs evaluation process should visit CAB for advice, which I found shockingly inadequate – especially for those staff, who, under the current proposals could lose up to £10,000 of their income. One person told me that due to the proposed pay cut to her salary, she would have to tell her teenage daughter that she could no longer go to University – ironic for a parent who has worked in education for a lifetime.

While Bridgend council can hardly be blamed for the financial mess we are now in, it didn’t take the opportunity to carry this process out when things weren’t this bad. It must meet all of its commitments and extend more help to those that need it by going back to the drawing board, as Angelsey Council did when it realised that the Job Evaluation proposals were not fit for purpose.

I was also astounded to find out that the council is sending out examples of forms that were filled in during the first stage of the Job Evaluation process to current staff, to assist them in filling out forms – but with the personal data of the staff attached to their comments. This is a clear breach of data protection, and I urged those present at the meeting who raised this to take the matter further.

Ian Titherington told the meeting that Bridgend has been the worst council in Wales in dealing with Job Evaluation, and that it must be exposed for this failure. He also said that staff must ensure that the current proposals are not passed, and that the ballot to accept the proposal, when it happens, should be rejected outright until the council realise that it is in the wrong.

 The lack of consultation, and the lack of communication with staff has been shocking. It was clear that everybody in the room were very unhappy with the Council. Many were appalled that some Labour Councillors had even claimed to tell them that it was not a matter for them to deal with, but for the Trade Union- very misleading indeed when it is in fact elected members making this decision, and not the Trade Unions.

This attitude is totally unacceptable, and Labour in Bridgend need to grasp this issue now, and renegotiate the whole process so that staff can actually have faith in it, as opposed to being angry about how the Labour-run council is devaluing their jobs, and hugely disrespecting them in the process.

MENNA Richards, the former Director of BBC Wales, delivered a lecture last week in which she criticised politicians for focusing on the future of S4/C to the detriment of BBC Wales and its English language output.

First of all, I’d urge Menna Richards to look at what some AMs like myself have raised in the Senedd on this matter, or look at news stories regarding the BBC’s Delivering Quality First agenda – its cuts programme – before laying any blame at the door of the Assembly or further afield.

If Menna Richards hadn’t been in post as Director of BBC Wales for the last 10 years, presiding over cuts to staffing and programming, then perhaps her words might carry weight. Searching the web to find examples of her opposition to reductions over that past decade, there is nothing to find apart from her views following her announcement to leave the Corporation, which is telling.

I cannot, for example, find comments from her expressing concern about problems to English language output on the BBC, but I can find praise for BBC Wales produced programmes such as Doctor Who and Torchwood.

In October 2007 she announced cuts to staff in Cardiff and Bangor, saying: “The next five years are going to be a real test of our creative abilities. But the ambition is simple, our audiences must regard us an indispensable part of their lives’. No sign of any urgent concerns over the future of BBC Wales there.

And of Doctor Who, she was quoted in 2008 as saying: “I think the idea that Wales is producing the single most successful television series on British television for a generation says something not only about the talent that exists here, but also about the confidence Wales has about going out there and producing output that is as good as – indeed, better – than anything else.”

All very positive and confident. There is nothing here regarding her concerns that programmes created by BBC Wales under her watch do not reflect the “obsessions” and “passions” of Welsh life. It is all about celebrating the fact that made in Wales programmes have a network audience, and which successful outside of Wales.

How does this fit with her recent concern that programmes  that reflect Welsh life are not being created? The out-of-London BBC quota means that there is a statutory obligation for many shows to be made and created outside of London. I invariably hear widespread support for this quota, but this does not necessarily lead to programming that reflects our everyday lives as Welsh citizens, though it does mean that more Welsh people can make said programmes, and gain experience in the creative industries sector. There is a key difference. But the blogger Dic Mortimer, (whatever his political motivation) has made this key point in a blog about BBC broadcasting in Wales:

“While the budget for programmes made in Wales for Wales shrinks each year, the budget for programmes made in Wales for the UK correspondingly rises, making a nonsense of the whole purpose of BBC Wales and turning it into just another London out-station. After a decade of striving Richards has achieved her aim, and now a whole 1% of BBC programmes broadcast across the UK emanate from Wales. Wow. And even in those Wales is never the subject but, at best, just a backdrop or a name-check, as in Doctor Who and its spin-offs.”

Some of you may disagree with this quote. But while in no way endorsing it, it is a point worth exploring to the extent that some independent companies – in fact, it was mentioned by Green Bay Media in the evidence session to the Assembly’s Task and Finish group on the future outlook of the media in Wales only last week – that quotas for programming should be developed into regional quotas as part of the new Communications Bill. This could mean that developing programming could be specified for a particular area of the UK, as opposed to being  ’out of London’.

This could encourage more investment in Wales, rather than production moving to other parts of England. But on top of that, the condition for change, in my view, should include creating more programmes in Wales for network specifically about Wales. For example, as TAC mentioned in their evidence session to the Task and Finish Group, a progamme could not only be developed for BBC Wales and network, but also in Welsh for S4/C, and adaoted for our national radio stations. This could widen its appeal and reach, as opposed to being confined to one broadcaster or to one medium.

There is a fine line between promoting the success of made in Wales programming internationally, and creating programmes about Wales that reflect our heritage and culture. Ideally, ideas for programmes should be developed so that the ones about Wales could be equally as successful, and resonate so that they become commissioned across the network.

We are finding ourselves in the position where Welsh-based and indigenous Welsh companies are winning commissions from channels outside of Wales to develop programmes about a wide variety of issues that have no bearing on Welsh life, partly due to cuts to both BBC Wales and S4/C. While we must encourage companies to look outward, it is deeply frustrating for companies that were created mainly with the aspiration and goal in mind to tell stories about Wales and its people, to be hindered in their creative development due to the current cuts climate.

This situation is intensified by the fact that current BBC Wales management seems to be continuing the stance that Menna Richards took when she was controller, spinning the fact that “efficiency savings” to BBC Wales will somehow make the channel better, and more effective in the future. How is this so?

It is all well and good for Menna Richards to say, now that she has left the Corporation, that politicians need to concentrate more on BBC Wales cuts. But when the people currently at the top do not recognize that there is a problem, what can we do? If current management will not say to BBC bosses in London that they are being hindered in developing programmes about Wales that reflect Welsh life, then that makes our lives more difficult in communicating our concerns to the wider public. When management  seem to question our public concerns over cuts and restructuring to BBC Wales, albeit in a more private fashion, how does this help us formulate an agenda of concern to take to BBC chiefs in London?

This was possible with S4/C because those in charge of the channel stated at every possible opportunity given to them that they opposed the cuts to S4/C. BBC Wales management have been more or less silent, while acknowledging that it is a difficult time for staff at the corporation. And has Menna Richards’s concerns been raised with Elen Clos Stephens, BBC Wales’s representative on the BBC Trust?

In my work as an AM, I try to look at the situation of broadcasting and media across the board in Wales, and do not set out to single one element out as more, or less important. People would have been quick to judge us if we had ignored the problems S4C have faced in this last year, it is worth noting.

I see that there are issues, but on a wide spectrum – in the paper industry, in broadcasting regarding BBC Wales and S4/C, and also ITV Wales, whose license comes up for renewal soon, in commercial radio regarding welsh language provision, in delivering the Hargreaves Review and so forth.

It is not helpful for a former BBC Wales Director to somehow imply that politicians are prioritizing one channel or one broadcaster over another, without truly assessing the facts, or recognizing how harmful to Wales such comments are in the current climate.

What we need to realise is that much is happening now to look for viable and creative solutions for the future, to develop the Welsh media industry so that in 10 years time we are not still looking back and talking of a crisis in an industry that is so integral to shaping our culture, heritage and way of life.

BBC Wales yesterday announced its “saving” plan – or cuts, as most of us call it – as part of the Delivering Quality First  (DQF) measures which have in turn come about as a result of the UK Government’s decision to freeze the Television Licence, and its plan to call on the BBC to cut budgets by 20% across the board.

BBC Wales told us that its budget would be cut by ￡10.7 million and that 100- 120 jobs would go in the next five years. Some 20 new posts will be created, which I’m sure will be of little comfort at all to those who will have to find new careers in a country where the media is already very weak.

Naturally, BBC Wales’ management has tried to put a positive spin on this, saying that it is protecting news, creating two new correspondent roles, for the economy and for the arts, and establishing a new investigation and research unit to aid journalists on key news programmes both through the medium of English and Welsh. The emphasis, I am told by those around the management team, is on making changes and savings to “non-content” areas of the BBC – which, I take it, are those who are not directly involved in making programmes. Management also maintains that the quality of service for the viewer will not diminish. Time will tell whether this will be possible with less staff and squeezed budgets.

Statutory consultation by the BBC Trust will now take place, with Elen Clos Stephens, Wales’s representative on the Trust, leading this process. The public can now have its say, but it will clearly be based on the announcement yesterday, and I question what weight this consultation will carry.

The Trade Union BECTU has stirred the debate up somewhat by calling on Clos Stephens to resign for failing to challenge the cuts to BBC Wales at Trust level. This is not a new line of thinking, as Cymdeithas yr Iaith also called for her to go over the BBC-S4/C funding debacle which is – for anyone who doesn’t know – still ongoing (it might be able to happen at a quicker pace if S4/C’s new chief executive were in post, but let’s not go there today).

These cuts are politically driven by the UK coalition government, and this is far from good news for Wales. The atmosphere at BBC Wales, I am told, is already tense. Dragon’s Eye will go, to be replaced by a show commissioned out to the independent sector, with a remit of creating a programme on ‘public life’ in Wales. The mid week politics show in Wales AM:PM will only be aired on a Tuesday and discontinue on a Wednesday, as it currently does. This will concern those of us in opposition parties at the National Assembly, whose opposition debates (which are always on a Wednesday afternoon) may suffer as a consequence, and thus affect people’s access to Welsh democracy by default. Staff should be rightly worried that detail on which jobs will actually go is currently vague, and this is bound to affect morale in the meantime.

When you consider the big picture it can be seen that the BBC has opted for keeping the Westminster government happy, by salami slicing budgets across the UK rather than thinking about what sort of services it should be providing, or by providing a clear vision. And in relation to Wales, of course, the key question is, if the UK Government has such little regard for BBC Wales, what is it going to do to S4/C post-2015, when the future of the channel and its funding is far from certain?

Naturally, these cuts must frame our discussion on the newly-formed task and finish group looking in to the future of the media in Wales at the National Assembly, and integral to this work, in my opinion, is making the case for the devolution of broadcasting to Wales. This is to ensure that we can make key decisions over the future of our media here in Wales, in a post-referendum-on-further-powers age, where retaining and developing interest in Welsh democracy is vital to the make up of BBC Wales, and the media at large.

Labour in Wales is opposed to devolving broadcasting at this stage, despite Peter Hain appearing to be very worried in today’s Western Mail “at the continuing cuts to political coverage”. It’s all very well to grandstand on this issue, but as far as I can see, it’s time for Labour in Wales to actually stand up and challenge the UK government on this very issue. The fact that I have been unsuccessful on two occasions already this term in attempting to encourage the Welsh Government to initiate a debate on broadcasting and the future of the media in Wales in the Senedd chamber, in government time, shows how ministers are failing to prioritise an issue that others consider is of the utmost importance to democracy in Wales and scrutinising those of who are making decisions on behalf of the people of Wales.

SOMETIMES it’s hard to work out what is going on in the jobs market. Take engineering, for example. It is this discipline that the entire fortune of the Western industrialised world was built upon. Its crucible, the birthplace of the industrial Revolution, was Britain, and Wales was hugely important.

We are surrounded by the innovations of our Welsh forebears. We live in a world shaped by them. And yet we are told to rejoice these days when a shopping centre opens, providing work for some of those that lost their jobs when a technical plant closed down in the area. Leaving aside the skills that have gone forever, nobody is asking how much money is being lost to the Welsh economy in this ongoing migration from manufacturing to service, from relatively well-remunerated to minimum wage.

At the same time, we hear that companies are crying out for skilled staff. Trevor Garlick, BP’s head of North Sea operations, recently sparked a debate by saying a failure to find experienced hands could hold back the company’s plans for growth. Similarly, Bloomberg reported that Germany was short of some 77,000 engineers. An extraordinary figure, it is at least partly borne out by BMW’s presence on UK engineering recruitment sites.

The dilemma for the Welsh Government is whether it trains Welsh students fully in the knowledge that they may disappear off to benefit another country’s economy. However, Wales’ higher education institutions offering over 50 different qualifications across sectors that include construction, mechanical, aerospace, electronics and cutting edge materials engineering, the story for students at secondary modern and high school level is far different.

This summer, Plaid researchers contacted schools across Wales to find out what engineering courses they offered. From 188 schools across all of Wales (excluding Powys, which did not respond), just 44 offer any sort of engineering qualification. That translates as just over 23% – less than one in four schools – offering engineering. Worse, just three local authority areas – Caerphilly, Neath Port Talbot and Swansea (the last two are thankfully in my region) – offer engineering at A Level. This is crucial because most universities only accept BTEC students on special four-year foundation courses, meaning they have to spend another year in higher education – and who can afford that at present?

There are some provisos here. All of the local authority areas surveyed offer BTEC (including Coleg Powys), although only three again – Neath Port Talbot, Swansea and the Vale of Glamorgan – offer the subject at A Level.

Four of the local authority areas do not offer engineering at all, either at GCSE equivalent level or at year 12 and 13. That Blaenau Gwent, once home to the mighty Ebbw Vale steelworks, should have no provision here, joining Torfaen and Gwynedd, is extremely surprising. But that Cardiff, our capital and the pre-eminent driver region in the country, should also find itself in the same bracket seems incredible.

Although manufacturing as a proportion of Welsh GDP has fallen from around 38% in 1995 to just 17% some 12 years later and currently stands at around 11%, it is still ever so slightly up on the UK average and, of the six sectors originally identified by the Welsh Government that will be supported as part of the Economic Renewal Programme, four of them require engineers.

When I learned that Cardiff was not offering engineering as an A Level, I asked the First Minister for his opinion, and also asked what the Welsh Government was doing to ensure that Swansea University, which continues to grow its reputation for engineering excellence, would remain popular with Welsh students. He replied that design and technology, along with maths and physics, were often taken by engineers and still widely available across Wales. He mentioned the Education Engineering Scheme, arguing that schemes like it had been successful in encouraging students, before admitting: “In years gone by, we know that there has been a difficulty in attracting students to study the subject”.

To be fair, the Welsh Government does offer a well-respected service for apprenticeships. But I think it could be doing a whole lot more.

To begin with, schemes are just that. They are bolt-ons to the education system. If Wales wants to compete in the 21^st Century, if it wants China and other emerging economies to come to this country for R&D and other expertise, it needs engineering and other technical skills written into the country’s educational DNA. To do that, it needs to be getting students interested in the subject well before, and not after, they study for GCSEs.

Good maths and physics remain the cornerstone of engineering, and students can begin an engineering degree with A Levels in those subjects and no previous engineering experience. However, any student who applies for a place with maths, physics and engineering at A Level is going to do better than having the first two and something unrelated.

And it is well documented that Wales, along with other parts of the UK, have an issue in getting young people interested in science and maths. The cry we often hear (and probably said at some point ourselves) is: “What’s the point of all this?” But more complex areas of GCSE level mathematics and physics such as quadratics and dynamics have real world applications in engineering. Greater interest in the former could be engendered through a greater interest in the latter. If we can get our students to live and breathe engineering, the more abstract elements should take care of themselves.

Lastly, while the apprenticeship route remains as solid as it always has been, with former apprentices rising to the very top of multi-nationals like British Aerospace, can we do more for our school leavers than sending them in cold to the system, with no previous experience? If they arrive at BTEC 2 level, they can begin making a contribution to a business almost straight away. With business owners commonly lamenting the quality of school leavers, what could this do for the Welsh economy if it were replicated across the country?

If engineering is one of the keys to a prosperous future for Wales, then education is the key to producing successful engineers. If the Welsh Government is serious about this, there can be no bolt-ons. It must sit at the heart of the education system, and for that schools must offer more than they are at present.

- This piece first appeared on Walesbusiness.

Today the campaign to save Swansea Coastguard Station held a silent protest outside the Mumbles office  as Mike Penning the Tory Shipping Minister visited to speak to staff. Rumour has it that Mr Penning had a separate and private meeting with Tory AMs Suzy Davies and Byron Davies about the proposed closure. If this is the case I am somewhat angry, as all I’ve heard from the Tories so far is how we must work cross party on this campaign.

Nonetheless the protest carried on regardless of this rumour, and we all got very wind swept at the demonstration. Many said that the weather conditions were positive in that the Minister could see for himself how necessary the service was to Swansea.Who knows, it may be enough to change his mind!

But on a more serious note, I’ve had a few emails from staff who were present at the meeting informing me that it was productive so I hope that the Minister will take this valuable knowledge back with him to London and revisit his proposals. Considering Swansea was never earmarked for closure in the initial consultation process, it is very frustrating that we have had to spend the summer mounting a campaign against the closure. Lives will be put at risk, and local knowledge of Welsh place names has not been sufficiently considered by the Minister. We are going to London on Monday as there will be a debate in Parliament about the coastguard services. I hope people will continue to support this vital and important service, and help with the campaign. Go to this website for all the latest information.

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Heddiw, mae’r ymgyrch i achub  Gorsaf Gwylwyr y Glannau Abertawe wedi trefnu protest distaw y tu allan i’r swyddfa yn y Mwmbwls wrth i Mike Penning, y Gweinidog Torïaidd sydd a chyfrifoldeb dros longau ymweld â staff i drafod y cynlluniau dadleuol. Mae si yn lledaenu bod Mr Penning wedi cyfarfod ar wahân yn breifat gyda ACau Ceidwadol  Suzy Davies a Byron Davies i drafod cau y gorsaf. Os yw hyn yn wir rwy braidd yn flin i fod yn onest, gan fod pobeth rwyf wedi clywed ganddynt hyd yn hyn wedi canbolbwyntio ar sut mae’n rhaid i ni weithio ar lefel trawsbleidiol yn yr ymgyrch.

Er hynny, fe wnaeth y brotest parhau, ac roedd e’n wyntog iawn yn y Mwmwls ar gyfer y brotest. Dywedodd llawer o bobl bod y tywydd gwyntog yn caniatau’r Gweinidog i weld drosto’i hun pam bod  angen adfer y gwasanaeth yma yn Abertawe. Pwy a ŵyr, efallai bydd y tywydd gwael yn ddigon i newid ei feddwl!

Ond ar nodyn mwy difrifol, rwyf wedi cael negeseuon e-bost  gan nifer o staff a oedd yn bresennol yn y cyfarfod yn yr orsaf sydd wedi dweud wrthaf bod y cyfarfod wedi bod yn un cynhyrchiol. Dwi’n gobeithio bydd y Gweinidog yn cymryd y wybodaeth gwerthfawr yma yn ôl gydag ef i Lundain, ac yn ailedrych ar ei cynlluniau. O ystyried nad oedd Abertawe hyd yn oed yn rhan o’r ymgynghoriad cyntaf o ran  y cynnig i gau y gorsaf, mae’n rhwystredig iawn ein bod wedi gorfod treulio haf cyfan yn ymgyrchu yn erbyn Llywodraeth Llundain. Bydd bywydau yn cael eu rhoi mewn perygl yn yr ardal yma, ac nid yw’r ffaith bod staff yn medru ag arbennigedd o ran gwybodaeth lleol o enwau trefi a phentefi cymreig wedi cael ei hystyried gan y Gweinidog yn fy marn i.

Rydym yn mynd i Lundain ar ddydd Llun gan y bydd dadl yn San Steffan am ddyfodol gwasanaethau  gwylwyr y glannau. Rwy’n gobeithio y bydd pobl yn parhau i gefnogi’r gwasanaeth hanfodol a phwysig yma, ac yn helpu gyda’r ymgyrch. Ewch i’r wefan hon am y wybodaeth diweddaraf.

Here is my attempt at a poem for the first time in…years. Its about my car crash that I have written about previously here on this blog. Let me know what you think!

Demon Days

I used to love that song,
blasting out the lyrics-
Me and Damon Albarn
live on stage in my Citroen Saxo,
Dueting on my way to work
Over the Rhigos mountain,
No fear, no concern.

The hailstones came from nowhere,
like tears when a child falls.
The car a toy,
My wheel ruling me, spinning so fast,
Like the ones at the arcades.
But it will stop- money gone, end of game.
I don’t stop.

I see the edge in the distance,
enticing me to go over.
I see the headlines in the paper
‘young woman dies on dangerous road’
‘Was it suicide? Was it her fault?’
Drive in to the side, to the cliff.
You will be safe, a voice in my head.
Whose voice? His voice?

‘In these demon days
It’s so cold inside
So hard for a good soul to survive’
I hang upside down in my seat,
That song still going,
taking over the landscape,
escaping through broken windows.
I have to get out,
Stop this music, walk away.

THE past few weeks has seen a great deal of speculation about the kind of role that Adam Price will play in Plaid Cymru in the future.

That he is talented is in little doubt. His recently-released Flotilla Report marks something of a watershed in subjecting some of the claims of Welsh nationalists to academic rigour, and should prove a crucial document in the constitutional debates Wales is most likely to have in the future, so it stands to reason that Adam should play a key role in the party.

But there are many people who are also talented and should equally lay claim to helping shape Plaid Cymru in the years to come – many who have not featured in the multitude of press speculation. It is a little galling to see the media take it upon itself to decide what names are in the frame. Given the ever-more-diminishing impact our current Welsh media has on public life, you wonder what effect any of this will have.

But in this case, it is more confusing because we all know that, as the present arrangement stands, Adam Price cannot be the next leader of Plaid Cymru, because only an Assembly Member may lead the party. To have him stand as president, as has been suggested, infers that the current incumbent, Jill Evans MEP, is not up to the job, that a woman isn’t capable of leading – or that she should give up her role for someone else when she is entirely capable of holding her own. More importantly, she deserves such a position after years of hard work for Plaid Cymru in Europe and beyond.

This kind of obsession with the individual echoes down the years in Plaid Cymru, that we can rely upon a single person to save the party – and save us from losing elections. And the person in question is always a man.

Of course, strong leadership can change the fortunes of a party for its own good. But Plaid could be in danger of ignoring the reality of modern day political parties and how they operate if we seriously think that one person can save the day in such a way – even if that one person is the not-so-subtly nicknamed “Prince across the water”.

No doubt this piece will be viewed by some (most likely those outside the party) as an attempt to engineer a rift, but that’s not the reason for writing it. I sincerely want to challenge Plaid and its members to think about what we want to achieve as a team of people, as opposed to falling into believing that it takes just one special person to change the party, or develop it without thinking about how they can take people with them on that journey, building a team around them – including, crucially, succession planning.

The leadership contest is on its way following Ieuan Wyn Jones’ announcement that he will stand down, and a new leader is expected around the time of the 2012 spring conference, giving plenty of time for campaigning and – more importantly – considerable internal debating within the party. I don’t want to hear about how great an individual is in isolation. I want to hear how that individual can unite Plaid Cymru, build for the future and – most of all – reach beyond the party and attract new voters and new members into the Plaid ranks. This means new members from all over Wales, and from its different social and ethnic groups.

I would favour a left-of-centre leader, but a left-of-centre leader that is genuine in that agenda, and who will work to realise the electoral benefits of such a strategy. I have heard it said that Plaid should ditch the lefties, that we should appeal to disaffected Conservaties and Lib Dems. But should targeting such voters be seen in isolation to pursuing a left-of-centre policy programme? I think not. Nothing is as black and white as some politicians and political pundits would have us believe. Policy is far more nuanced than a simple headline.

Let’s hope this is just silly season fare and that we can look forward to a true and deep analysis of the future of Plaid Cymru from those within the party and those reporting on it, so that we can all feel part of that discussion, and feel that it is actually relevant to the party that we belong to, instead of a hotch potch of ideas, or anonymous comments attributed to senior figures and reported as fact when it is anything but.

I hope this root-and-branch review seeks the views of as many of the membership as is possible, in order to address the claim that rank-and-file are removed from decision-making processes. I also hope the review will reflect their ideas rather than cherry pick – even if some of those ideas appear controversial.

One final thought. I don’t believe that Plaid needs to assess what we stand for. We know we are a party that seeks independence for Wales through ever greater powers for the Assembly. It’s how we put this vision in to action is key, how we implement our ideas to complement our narrative – that is what the electorate will be interested in. If we complicate this, or turn this way or that, it will only be Plaid Cymru that suffers in the long run.

-       I’ll be developing some of these ideas on my blog in the weeks to come.

A FEW weeks ago, I led a Plaid Cymru debate in the Senedd regarding the Communications Review that has been initiated by Jeremy Hunt MP, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and I specifically called on the Welsh Government to respond to the review. Hunt had written an open letter, asking people to send initial comments about what they would like to see in any  new Communications Act. There was a clear focus was on deregulation, and an expansion of digital media, while Plaid Cymru focused on any possible implications the new Act could have for regional commissioning, and on the future of broadcasting in Wales.

Here is the debate if you want to look at what was said in the Senedd.

What is interesting in light of the Murdoch phone hacking scandal is that the Communications Act could be brought forward as a consequence. The Act was supposed to come in to play in 2015, but some are now saying this is too late in light of the urgency of the matter.

Some MPs are now calling for new regulation to be introduced at an earlier date. The future of cross media ownership is of course an integral part of any new Communications Act, ensuring that the system is open and accountable so that no one person, family or organisation can dominate the media again as the Murdoch’s have done for so long, without proper scrutiny.

However, those in the independent creative industries have been a little more cautious, with Pact chief executive John McVay saying that it was not easy to speed up such a complex piece of legislation.

“If the government is going to accelerate anything on the Comms Act, I would simply urge them to concentrate on what isn’t working and leave alone the things that are. Clearly there is a desire to do something post-fallout, but we don’t want them to throw the baby out with the bathwater.”

The DCMS has said it would make a decision on timing regarding the Communications Act when the judicial inquiry into phone hacking is more advanced. I think at this stage that it depends on what the inquiry suggests as actions for the way forward. But what this Act could present Wales with is an opportunity to provide the legislative landscape for its own, distinctive media. As we have seen with Media Wales, we are fast approaching a crucial period in the history of our media and if this act doesn’t get it right, we could be left with a shadow of what we have now, which many complain isn’t good enough as it is.

If we rush into any new legislation, Wales may miss a once-in-a-generation opportunity to put in place something that will benefit the country as a whole. As such, we need time to get our response right. I am hoping that the task and finish group on the Welsh media that will start in September as part of an enquiry by the Equalities and Local Government committee which I sit on in the National Assembly will begin this process. Little good comes of rushing through legislation on a kneejerk, and while we have all been appalled by what has happened at News International, a far more measured response will provide a better solution there, as well as a robust Welsh media that is equipped for the 21st Century.