Repossessions hit the roof

Repossessions grow as Welsh families struggle to pay mortgage. Repossession levels grow to 1,117 in Wales. Worrying times for thousands in Wales as Welsh families struggle to survive in a cruel world.

Labour Euro campaign gets under way with no coverage at all?

Labour have started their Euro campaign this week A little early to starta campaign that will fail to capture the imagination of the Welsh people. Poeple like Jill Evans spend halt their time in Gaza because the European Parliament has no powers whatsoever. The election is allready a foregone conclusion!!! Then why on this earth are Labour putting forward 4 candidates. Only if a nuclear missile hits us and knocks out all other voters will Labour win 4 seats. This election is more dire than any other election on the face of the earth. In Wales it would be like voting in a dictator. We allready know who's elected allready!!!! 2 labour 1 plaid 1 conservative as simple as that! Why hold such a dire election tht will never capture the imagination of the public like the Gibraltar election does!!!! If we want Europe to be succesful fist we have to sort out the notion that the European commisioners have to muh power and we should pass more powers on to the elected officials in the European parliament. Until then Europs is farcical.


Welsh Labour today pledged a huge ‘backs to the wall’ effort to combat the recession.First Minister Rhodri Morgan said, "In today’s interdependent world, you need to pool all of Wales’s governmental strength with all the UK’s governmental strength with a pan-European effort to shorten the recession."He joined Paul Murphy, Secretary of State for Wales, in a two-day tour of Euro-funded projects across South and West Wales, starting at the Riverfront Centre in Newport.Labour Euro-candidates team of Derek Vaughan, Lisa Stevens, Rachel Maycock and Leighton Veale said ‘It is crucial at this difficult time to fight for Welsh jobs and Welsh businesses at all levels, in Wales, in Westminster and in Brussels."Derek Vaughan, who heads Labour’s list for the European Parliament elections in June, said "This recession shows more clearly than ever before that Wales needs to be a fully active part of two strong unions, a strong UK and a strong Europe to safeguard the jobs and businesses we have and to create new jobs wherever we can."Introducing Labour candidates to the people of Wales, Secretary of State Paul Murphy said: “The team of Labour candidates we’re introducing to the people of Wales today is a strong, dynamic and talented one. "

Horse Shoe???

Who's crackpot idea was this £2m 'Angel of the North' AKA a White Horse of the south!!!! 33 times larger, 164ft in height crazy. Tourists could mistake it for a Trojan horse!!!! What are they keeping in their the whole Kentish town of Ebbsfleet who are about to revolt. Are the members of the cabinet hiding from the public because they don't want to be impeached? Why build a gigantic horse we're not in Greece and we are not Trojans. It just makes me want to go down to Kent and rip it open to see what's inside. You Never know, it might be an invasion force from the Middle East. A tourist driving along in a car one night might think it's a UFO and could crash their car causing a multiple collision road traffic incident. One it's a waste of money, two it's a traffi hazard and three what the hell is it supposed to be?

Unemployment hits 100,000- Assembly can do little

100,000 now un-employed in Wales and 52 jobs to go at the a Cheese Packing plant in Wrexham. It has raised by 7% since the start of 2009. In the early years of the Assembly over 100,000 jobs were created in Wales and the unemployment level dropped to 4% . Now the Assembly is in midst of an economic crisis unemployment levels have gone through the roof. It really is shocking with what limited powers the Assembly has the little it can do. It does raise the question of the effectiveness of the Assembly and until it gets more powers the Assembly will not be able to help Wales in any economic crisis. With the lack of control the Assembly has on the job markets during a recession. How successful was it really in creating 100,000 more jobs and reducing the unemployment rare. Wouldn't we have created all those jobs in Wales and reduced the unemployment rate if the Assembly hadn't have been created in 1997. It gets me on my high horse that the Assembly has no power to legislate effectively and when it tries to do something bold and impressive the nit wigs in Westminster stop them. The Assembly is still a white elephant until it can make legislation that can help Wales in an economic crisis. Until then it can't be taken seriously. An Assembly that has the right ideas on how to save the economy in Wales and they haven;t the tools to do any sort of work on it at all. It is disgraceful that an institution designed to aid the people of Wales especially in difficult times can only watch and see their nation crumble all around them because they never had the power to do anything.

Treganna 'ethnic cleansing' comments by Councillor Patel take a dramatic twist

As earlier stated a Labour councillor declared the ongoing public consultation by Cardiff Council to close Lansdowne Road Primary and replace it with a Welsh language medium school as 'ethnic cleansing'. This is a disgraceful act and should be dealt with appropriately by the Labour Party and he should resign with immediate effect. His words are despicable. Gordon Brown would be forced to resign if he used such words. Why not Mr Patel? Mr Patel should do the honourable thing and retire before he makes any more mistakes which could be devastating for the local community and Labour's reputation. Today South Wales Police are ordering an investigation into his misconduct under the Public order act. Rightly so, this matter needs to be dealt with professionally. It could be interesting what the Police investigation throws up and will any charges be bought upon Mr Patel. It was a complete disgrace to hear people cheer Mr Patels comments on ethnic cleansing at the public meeting.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/cardiff-news/2009/02/06/police-investigate-coun-ramesh-patel-s-ethnic-cleansing-school-remarks-91466-22867298/

SOUTH Wales Police are investigating comments made by a city councillor who described plans to close a primary school to make way for a Welsh-medium school as a form of “ethnic cleansing”.
Coun Ramesh Patel made the contentious comment at a public meeting to discuss controversial school reorganisation plans for Canton. As a governor of Lansdowne Primary and a local councillor, he said he addressed the meeting to raise concerns that plans to close Lansdowne to make way for the Welsh-medium primary Ysgol Treganna would have a negative impact on the ethnic diversity of these school communities.
But, following a complaint, South Wales Police have now launched an investigation under the Public Order Act. The act includes the offence of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour.
Cardiff Council proposed closing Lansdowne Primary and allowing the site to be taken over by nearby Ysgol Treganna, which is severely overcrowded because of record demand. Under one option, a new but smaller Lansdowne Primary would open on the Fitzalan High site.
He told the meeting that 44% of pupils at Lansdowne Primary were from an ethnic minority background, while only a small minority of children from Ysgol Treganna were from ethnic minorities. He argued that closing a school with such a strong ethnic mix to replace it with one lacking such diversity was no better than “ethnic cleansing”.
Neil McEvoy, Plaid group leader and deputy leader of Cardiff Council, has now made a formal complaint to the council regarding the comments made at the meeting, held at Lansdowne Primary on Monday. Meirion Prys Jones, chief executive of the Welsh Language Board, also expressed his disappointment.
Mr Prys Jones said: “These comments were very ill-advised. The Welsh language belongs to everyone in Wales, and is something which unites rather than segregates us as a nation.”
And Canton parents – including actor Morgan Hopkins, who described the remark as “objectionable” – have reported the matter to the police.
Mr Hopkins, who is vice-chairman of the Ysgol Treganna’s supporters group, said: “It was such a horrendous thing to say. To bring race into this issue is highly objectionable. It promotes the idea that parents who opt to send their children to Welsh-medium schools do so because they are racist. It upset so many parents and just simply cannot be justified.”
Coun Patel has apologised and said that in hindsight he should have used the expression “polarisation” rather than “ethnic cleansing”.
He admits his use of the phrase resulted in his argument being misunderstood.
Reiterating his position, he said: “What I want to see in all our schools is a good balance of children going to every English and Welsh school. Ideally I would like to see an equal balance.”

Treganna troubles continue Patel 'ethnic cleansing'!!!!!!

Local labour councillor Ramaesh Patel has dexcribed the moving of Lansdowne Road pupils to make way for Ysgol Treganna pupils 'ethnic cleanisng' during a local meeting. The governor of Lansdowne Road seems to be barmy. This councillor has been barmy for quite a while now. But to come out with something like this is extroadinary. He shows a total disregard for Lansdowne pupils and Treganna pupils by trying to create a race war and trying to create friction between Welsh and English langauge communnities. This councillor and his Labour colleagues certainly don't have any regard whatsoever on what's best for the pupils of Treganna and Lansdowne. They haven't tried to solve anything only to enflame the situation. Have they offered any solution to this growing dispute? Nothing more needs to be said about this matter but should an elected official like this really be running our local councils? If Gordon Brown or Ieuan Wyn had said this they would have been sacked. Labour need to boot him out of touch before he causes more mayhem amidst their ranks. For a councillor to say this at a local meeting is disgraceful and hopefully the council will deal with him appropiately because comments like this are not valid.



A CITY councillor has been accused of sparking a race row after he compared plans to close a primary to make way for a Welsh-medium school as a form of “ethnic cleansing”.
Labour councillor Ramesh Patel made the contentious comment at a public meeting to discuss controversial school reorganisation plans for Canton.
As a governor of Lansdowne Primary and a local councillor he addressed the meeting to raise concerns that plans to close this school to make way for the Welsh-medium primary Ysgol Treganna would have a negative impact on the ethnic diversity of these school communities.
Quoting official council figures, he said that 44% of pupils at Lansdowne Primary were from an ethnic minority background while only two children from Ysgol Treganna were from ethnic minorities.
He argued that closing a school with such a strong ethnic mix to replace it with one which did not have such diversity was no better than “ethnic cleansing”.
Plaid Cymru group leader and deputy leader of Cardiff council Neil McEvoy has now made a formal complaint to Cardiff council regarding the comments.
Responding to the criticism, Mr Patel last night said he regretted the fact that he had used the phrase “ethnic cleansing” and in hindsight realised he should have used the word polarisation.
But he stands by his argument that closing schools with a diverse population of pupils would not be of benefit to Cardiff as a cosmopolitan capital, and said that view was welcomed by Lansdowne parents at the meeting.
Mr McEvoy says he reported the matter to the council after he received complaints from parents from Ysgol Treganna.
He described Mr Patel's comments as a cynical attempt to spark a race row.
And he has called on First Minister Rhodri Morgan, who employs Mr Patel as a personal assistant, to condemn the remarks and decide whether someone with such extreme views should be working for him.“I find it very disturbing that a Labour councillor employed by Rhodri Morgan seems to be manufacturing racial tension in order to further a political campaign.”: next page

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/cardiff-news/2009/02/05/patel-s-regret-over-his-ethnic-cleansing-remark-91466-22857831/

New welsh language act does it go far enough

A new Welsh language act is on the horizon. With the laws over certain areas likely to be made in Cardiff in the near future a new Welsh language act may only be a couple of years away. The first of the Twenty first century. But will it be enough to do what the Assembly strives to produce a truly bilingual Wales I doubt it. Forcing people to speak the Welsh language would never work and this LCO has nothing to do with forcing Welsh language down people's throats. I never understand how people can say the Welsh language has been forced down people's throats.

This LCO just doesn't go far enough

Services that might be affected by Welsh language legislation according to the BBC

Gas, water, or electricity services
Sewerage services
Postal service and post offices
Telecom services
Education, training, or career guidance
Railway services
Services to develop or award education or vocations qualifications

If we look at all these services that might be effected by new legislation most if not all of these services already provide some sort of Welsh language service. The WAG should be looking at making all businesses with a turnover of more than £2m to provide a truly bilingual service. Big businesses need to be made to create a service that is truly bilingual and promote the Welsh language in the Work place. People need to be told that the Welsh language service is their and it needs to be easily accessible. If the service is not in front of me and ready to use I’m not going to use it, am I now.I go into Tesco to use the self service checkout machines. I use the Welsh Language service on the machine and what do I find they’ve only translated half the words into Welsh. What do they call bread in welsh ‘bread’. What do they call milk ‘milk’. Is this acceptable? This feels to me like a second rate service compared to the English language. If I want to use it in Welsh why should I be looking at a supposedly Welsh service when half is in one language and the other in another one. Tesco had hardly bothered to translate the items of food from English to Welsh. They translated bits and bobs and called it a bilingual service!!!!!!!

Big businesses who make billions and millions of pounds in profit each year should under legislation be forced to provide a truly bilingual service after millions of pounds of public money shouldn't the banks be forced to produce a bilingual service now they have been propped up by Westminster. I take it under any new Welsh language legislation the banks would be forced to create a bilingual service because they have received more than £200,000 in public money. I would like to know what they mean by a bilingual service. Does it mean one pamphlet translated into Welsh and one back room boy who can speak Welsh. Shouldn't the Assembly try and make everything bilingual like they do in Catalunya. Nearly all the food packaging in Catalunya is in two languages.

Can't the Welsh Assembly look at promoting bilingual food packaging or making sure businesses had a certain proportion of their staff that could speak Welsh representing the proporton of the population that could speak Welsh. The Assembly should be looking into new ways into developing the Welsh language new initiatives. This LCO doesn't shout out initiative or something new and bold. We want big companies like Microsoft and Vodaphone to introduce Welsh language programming at competitive prices that is accessible to the Welsh public and is a service of quality. When I walk into a store or use a Welsh language service I don't want to find I have to wait for hours to try and get hold of someone to speak Welsh to. I don't want a service that is only half translated into the Welsh language. To get more people to use the Welsh language the plain truth is you need a language service that is provided by many organisations is easily accessible and is a quality service. The services provided in many Banks, Supermarkets and institutions is an appalling one and is not one of quality at all.

The Principality Building society has a Welsh Language service but the only way to get this Welsh language service is to ask for it personally. I didn’t even know that you can get your bills only through the Welsh language if you ask them personally. I didn’t hear it through an advertisement campaign but another source. Is this acceptable? It once again shows me welsh language speakers are subject to a second rate service. Yes we have to fight for the Welsh language to survive more people need to use the Welsh Language service. But not everybody feels like they want to fight to save the Welsh Language and people aren’t going to use it if the service isn’t their and it isn’t one of quality. We need a Welsh language service that is of quality and is easily accessible. People aren’t going to use the Welsh Language if they have to climb over mountains to find the Welsh language service. A month ago as part of a project researching into banking services in Cardiff. I found that not one bank in Cardiff except the principality was offering a completely bilingual service in both Welsh and the English Languages. We asked all the banks why they didn’t operate a fully bilingual service. The answer we got from one member of staff in RSB was ‘we are a Scottish bank’!! This was staggering; the bank of Scotland didn’t have a bilingual service because they were a Scottish Bank in the Capital of Wales. If this is the attitude that banks take there is no hope for the future. Will we ever get a Wales where the Welsh and English languages stand together in harmony? If banks say there is no demand for Welsh Language services, maybe there is no point having Welsh language services.

If we want a truly bilingual Wales a Welsh language act has to be one that is fool proof is strong and makes businesses comply with a service of true quality. We need the majority of the private sector to be covered by a Welsh language act and we must press businesses to promote the Welsh language in the work place. Their is no point having a new Welsh language act if it's very weak and doesn't change much. I want to be able to go my bank, local shop or pay bills by using a service that is as good in quality as the English language. Even today a government minister says they can't put the Welsh language on ID cards because the Welsh language has too many letters!!!!!!!!!! This is bang out of order. A language act must be a quality one that promotes the Welsh language and promotes the use of the Welsh language in day to day situations. It must be one that invests in the future of the language and making big businesses like Microsoft and Samsung and Telephone company's to provide services and programmes in the Welsh language or fine these companies heavily. What we need is a strong, radical Welsh language act to safeguard the language for future generations. Their is no point having 40% of children in Wales being able to speak Welsh but can't use the language in every day life after they leave school.

Distinct Russian groups join together in protests

Hundreds of protests were held in Russia disgruntled at how the financial affair has been handled by the Kremlin. Thr Russian government raised the import tarriff on cars and 2,500 people gathered in Vladivostock disgusted at the rise in the tarriff. Moscow saw thousands of civil rights activists, communists and pensioners co-ordinatinating protests on rising food and utility bills. The first time in decades such diverse groups had come together in decades to protest on matters of importance.

With thousands of protests also seen in France where hundreds of thousands marched in french cities. Violence was seen throughout French cities with an estimated 2.5m people taking to the streets asking for better protection of jobs and demanding pay rises. 300,000 marched in Paris. violence erupted on the fringes of the Paris protest. Young men wearing scarves across their face were charged down by riot police after throwing stones and bottles, tearing up manhole covers and lighting fires in the Opera district.

With hundreds of protests being seen over Europe due to the financial crisis come election time will any sitting government be able to keep their place in office? As the crisis worsens protests will get bigger and more violent and it might see many people being injured or killed by mass protests. Perhaps we will say government ministers starting to resign over then next year because of the way they might have handled this recession.

Welsh house prices rise in December

A bit of good news in Wales at the end of 2008 did see house prices rise by 1.8% according to the land agency. A ray of light at the end of a very dark tunnel. As thousands in Wales continue to lose jobs. House Market is a very funny thing as to why House prices would rise at all in a recession is mind boggling. Overall 2008 saw an average decrease 0f 8% painting a gloomy picture for the rest of 2009. How far will prices go down until they reach rock bottom. The average house price is £129,000 which is much lower than all the other regions on this island. With Wales the nation who are suffering the worst for wear in terms of jobs. It does look very gloomy. Merthyr Tydfil suffered the wors plunge in House prices over they year as house prices reduced in value by 21%!!!!

Numbers of churchgoers rise in Wales

I'd like to know why hoards of Welshmen are going back to church in Wales. The number of people going to church has risen from 12% TO 24 %. The figures might be a bit wishy washy but it would be interesting to know why people are going back to church, is it because people are worried of the nature of their financial affairs because of the recession. It would be interesting to find out. It astonishes me after years of church attendance decline it could suddenly begin to rise again. Are the people of Wales reviving old traditions and religion. Are the Welsh going to go to church in their droves and back to the days where up to 70% went to church. Will Wales reduce the shackles of a secular country. It would be interesting to see if the Welsh revived their christian faith. Who knows we might one day once again see hundreds of thousands of Welshmen going to our hundreds of churches. It is very unlikely especially with the multicultural society we have today.

http://www.newswales.co.uk/?section=Community&F=1&id=16208
Welsh people are going back to church in force, according to figures released today (Friday).Between September 2007 and September 2008, churchgoing in Wales doubled (up from 12% to 24%), representing the highest increase in church attendance anywhere in the UK.Christian relief and development agency Tearfund regularly interview 7,000 members of the public around the UK about their churchgoing habits, as part of wider research about perceptions of society and world issues, and have identified an unexpected upward trend in church attendance.'We have been carrying out this research for over three years, and have consistently found that Wales shows lower church attendance than in the rest of the UK but now, for the first time, Wales is not significantly below the national average,' saysMatthew Frost, Chief Executive of Tearfund.'Our understanding is that more people are attending now than before, even if that is only a couple of times a year rather than every week. This might mean going to church at one of the high points in their family's year, such as Christmas orEaster, or attending Sunday services or midweek events.'This is immensely encouraging, because it shows that people are associating church and a belief in God with hope and joy, and a positive way to spend leisure time.'Could this be evidence of a mini Welsh revival?'The research questions were framed deliberately to exclude attendance for weddings, baptisms, funerals and other invitation-only events so as to concentrate on voluntary attendance.Tearfund interviews 7,000 people every six months

The governments most expensive warship

This our armies most expensive warship apparently the greatest ship of Her Majesty's navy!!!! It cost a staggering £700m of taxpayers money!!! Can't think what £700m of taxpayers money could do to help the economy!!!!! It is more sophisticated thatn any US warship, are we going to take on the USA in a naval battle? A waste of money who knows? But it certainly look like it, especially when their are many more similar to this ship being built. Wasting millions of pounds on many more ships is not the best way to spend money during a recession.

How will the government get the balance of economy and environment right?>

Today the government announced huge plans of £2.3 billion for automakers. Will this safeguard the jobs of the 810,000 workers in the industry permanently for decades to come. The real question is that these highly skilled workers in the long term future plans of this government would be out of work because this government dreams of a world with few cars and transport being powered by solar cells. The government want to safeguard all these hundreds of thousands of jobs but also wants this country to be an emissions free one. Now how can we get this balance right? If the government want everyone to have cars powered by hydrogen. Then surely it should re-haul the system completely and train every car manufacturer to produce hydrogen cars. The market for new cars is reducing in this country every day with more and more of us buying our cars second or even third hand.

Their is not much of a market for cars any more in this country. Wouldn't it have been better for the government instead of giving people benefits giving people vouchers that would mean they would have to spend them within a number of weeks on a certain item and stop people especially on benefits from hoarding money or have a scheme where by the government would match whatever you put up for a new car for you to go out and buy one. Helping to rejuvenate the car industry and help people to buy cars or economically viable cars. Instead of writing off debts of the car industry couldn't the government as a one off too start the ball rolling again, offer tax incentives for people buying new cars, they could pay the cost of half the car and the member of the public pay the other half. Wouldn't this be better imagine how many people could buy a car with £2.1billion. Saying an average car cost £10000 and the government offered to help people pay half the car which would be £5000 which could help 40200 cars to be bought on this island. Wouldn't that boost the car industry as a rough idea.

I don't know much about the car industry but clearing debt or loans is not going to answer the long term or short term problems of the car industry. Nobody is buying new cars anymore especially with the government going green and no one is going to be buying cars now because they haven't got the money. It seems billions were wasted on the bank industry and now the car industry with no regulations or measures within these plans. The plain fact of life if no one buys cars then hundreds of thousands of jobs will eventually be lost unless the government thinks up a radical plan and gets the whole industry rejuvenated into making low carbon emission cars which are cheap and reliable. By manufacturing low carbon emission cars on a huge scale and to some extent making people these cars the only ones available on the market then this might rejuvenate the market. The car industry is changing and these highly skilled workers need to be re trained in the highly competitive global market and when the car industry dramatically changes our workers must be the ones who are ready. The government want us too use public transport and on the other hand want us to keep buying cars, it doesn;t add up does it!!!!!!!

The government needs to be held to account, why has it saved the car industry in such a manner???? Not the construction industry or the shipping industry!!!!!!!!! If the government helps one industry surely it must help all industries!! It certainly doesn't add up investing so much in the car industry while not offering anything to the construction inndustry in such plans.

Jne Davidson and co finally has right idea for using waste to supply our homes with energy

Wales can no longer see waste as something simply to bury and forget - it is a resource that can be used to heat our homes and public buildings.That was the message today as a £7.8 million boost to create a “next generation” environmentally-friendly recycling plant in South East Wales to generate energy from waste was announced.But Friends of the Earth Cymru said it could mean a massive, over-sized incinerator coming to south east Wales.Environment Minister Jane Davidson said the funding will help get Prosiect Gwyrdd started. The Project is a joint initiative between five South Wales councils which will look at the best way to dispose of municipal waste that can’t be recycled or composted. The extra funding for Prosiect Gwyrdd will be up to £7.8m in a full year of operation depending on the final costs of the project.Ms Davidson said , “We need new collection services and new infrastructure to use waste in the best possible way and stop dumping in landfill. The extra Assembly Government funding opens the way for Prosiect Gwyrdd to move forwards so we can make the most of our resources by producing much needed energy.“It will also mean investment in jobs as this new plant is constructed and people employed to work and run it, providing local employment.“This significant investment means Wales can continue to lead the waste and recycling agenda. Continuing to landfill is not affordable, financially or environmentally.“We must recycle or compost as much waste as possible and maximise the benefits of the renewable energy that can be produced from source separated food waste and treatment of residual waste. “We will be working with local authority consortia across Wales to develop similar facilities in other areas to deal with residual waste and these important projects will also attract a similar level of support to ensure they proceed quickly and help us to meet future EU waste diversion targets.“We can no longer see waste as something simply to bury and forget it is a resource that can be used to heat our homes and public buildings.”Friends of the Earth Cymru campaigner, Haf Elgar, said: "There's a danger that the so-called 'Prosiect Gwyrdd' could become Project Greenwash. "This public money looks set to pay for a massive, over-sized incinerator to come to south east Wales."Incineration is not green. It might produce energy, but it's inefficient, and possibly even worse for the environment than landfill. A recent study has shown that incineration emits more greenhouse gas than any other waste disposal option."Incineration hits recycling rates, produces hazardous waste, and large plants demanding waste from across the region mean hundreds more lorries on the roads every day."And in these changing times, councils signing up to 25 year contracts of producingwaste is just bad business sense."There is much the Assembly Government can do to help councils with their waste management. But sponsoring these polluting monsters should be no part of it."http://www.newswales.co.uk/?section=Environment&F=1&id=16154

Calzaghe dreams of Millennium superfight

Undefeated Welsh boxer Joe Calzaghe is reported to be considering a "swan song" final fight at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.Daly Telegraph boxing reporter Gareth A. Davies claims that he understands from a source inside Calzaghe's team that "three US opponents are in the frame" at present. Calzaghe could be lined up for a rematch with Bernard Hopkins,or face Chad Dawson or Ronald 'Winky' Wright.Calzaghe, who turns 37 in March, remains undefeated in 46 fights.He recently ruled out the idea of another fight but Gareth Davies says Calzaghe admitted he dreams of fighting in front of 60,000 fans at the Millennium Stadium.

http://www.newswales.co.uk/?section=Sport&F=1&id=16120

Councils across Wales criticised for discussing things it has no control over, WAG is doing the same

In a month where Swansea council and council's across Wales were criticised for passing motions urging the Government to end the “dark and dangerous” battles going on in Gaza. The Assembly is going to have a debate on a conflict or affair it has no control over whatsoever. As councils this month have been criticised for such actions as taking a stance on “stand up and take action against poverty” campaign. Councils across Wales and especially the Welsh Assembly government should be debating on issues that they can have an impact on education, LCO's, NHS and not wasting time debating on a conflict that we as a nation can not have much effect over at all. The Gaza conflict involves such forces as the UN and the countries involved themselves. If we had a member in the UN fair enough but Wales has no say in what happens in Gaza and councils across Wales don't have a say in such matters either. The Assembly has not got a lot of power but it should be making the most of it's time to debate matters that matter to the Welsh people like the bursary they give to Welsh university students who stay in Wales or the deepening economic crisis which is shedding jobs at a terrifying rate. It is OK for Politicians at local and Assembly level to have there views on global affairs but they should be concentrating on issues they have the power to control and not waste our money by talking about it in debates or meeting where they should be making vital decisions on education and council tax. These politicians can come out with there views I'm not against that but not when they should be deciding on the future of our mothers medical care and our children's future and instead they decide if the Israeli's have made a mistake by attacking Gaza. We should condemn all councils in Wales and the Assembly for having needless debates and wasting valuable time and money by having debates on issues they have no control over whatsoever especially when it doesn't even involve the nation they are supposed to be governing. I support the Assembly to have any debate at all to do with anything that has an effect on Wales what about the collapse of the Media industry in Wales or lack of it!!!! Surely it would be better having a long debate on that and see what can be done than to discuss an affair that has no interest in the people of Wales at all!!! How often do councillors meet once a month and Assembly members once or twice a week. Then they shouldn't waste time on a silly debate and get straight down to business. If politicians in Wales discuss things that are not relevant to this great nation they should be dismissed by voters at the next election. The UN call for a ceasefire was ignored for weeks and if councils and the Assembly think they will have an effect they must be barmy. If anyone can persuade me in the opposite direction and tell me that councils and the Assembly need to debate these matters, I'll gladly listen. This kind of time wasting needs to be stopped and the Assembly needs to concentrate on more things than debate the Gaza conflict. Will anyone even hear about the views of our Assembly members probably not because almost 90% of the people in Wales don't read a Welsh newspaper and if the Assembly wants to raise awareness of decisions it makes then it needs a strong and vibrant media scene. In a country where most of it's population don;t know that the Assembly can make laws it's a sorry state of it's own. Perhaps the Assembly might have to go as far by funding a paper in Wales all by itself. It was a great debate in itself especially from Alun Ffred Jones but his words will not have an effect on the people of Wales or the Worls because the rest of the World will not listen to him and the Welsh people don't have the means or the media facilities to decipher what the Assembly think of the Gaza debate. The only people who will find out are those hard nosed people who have an interest in politics.

Dissapointed by rendition of Star Spangled banner

800,000 at the inaguration of President elect Barack Obama and when it came to the star spangled banner only the singer was singing it and not one other person. Imagine how it would sound if those 800,000 people had sung star spangled what a sound it would have made. Imagine 800,000 Welshman singing Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau I think it's an opportunity missed by the Americans. It would certainly raise national morale if they all sang it together. Is their any reason only one person sang Star Spangled banner at the inaguration?