The Welsh Assembly

Leighton Andrews: my part in Hitler's downfall

2005-01-20T14:40:00.000-08:00

Labour AM Leighton Andrews would like it to be known that he has not called for a ban on the display of swastikas. To be clear:

I have supported a call for a review of the public display of the swastika, as suggested by my colleague Alun Pugh AM. This has been inaccurately reported by one blogger as a call for a ban. In my view, a review would entail some examination of the context of where and how it might be appropriate for the swastika to be used.

We hope that's clear, everyone.

Hitler, Alan Pugh's part in his downfall

2005-01-16T14:53:00.000-08:00

Alan Pugh,the Assembly Culture Minister, has written to the Home Office, asking for a review of the law about wearing and displaying Nazi regalia.

There is another unpleasant mass murderer in the 20th Century for Alan Pugh to consider:

It is generally agreed by historians that if famines, prison and labour camp mortality, and state terrorism (deportations and political purges) are taken into account, Stalin and his colleagues were directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of millions...most estimates put the figure between 8 and 20 million

[source: Wikipedia on Stalin]

So no doubt Alan Pugh will be asking the Home Office to consider reviewing the law about CCCP t-shirts, little USSR star lapel badges and the like.

But no, hang on, there's no bandwagon to jump on and no easy headlines in that one.

Yes, Alan, we didn't like to see Harry in the uniform. No Alan, the immediate response isn't to change the law 64 years after the event.

Brian Gibbons and the NHS in Wales

2005-01-14T14:47:00.000-08:00

The auditor general for Wales produced a damning report on the management of the NHS by the Welsh Assembly. The new Health Minister, just interviewed on the TV said:

the aim is to move into a new phase where we enhance the patient experience

Looks like he's following the example of his unloved predecessor Jane Hutt, if only in his bizarre speech patterns.

Intriguing suggestion

2004-10-29T09:06:00.000-07:00

Culturenet Cymru still won't reveal the 100 Welsh Heroes database so there's an intriguing sugestion that statistical analysis of the published figures may demonstrate that the poll results were interfered with in the manner suggested by Culturenet Cymru's ex-IT Manager.

NHS Safe?

2004-10-29T07:47:00.000-07:00

Jane Hutt has been health minister since the Assembly was founded.

A Welsh assembly minister has criticised an out-of-hours health service after his two-year-old son was left waiting for treatment.
84 Year-old great grandmother ecovering from heart attack had to wait two hours for a GP
Elderly patients are missing operations and hospital appointments because they cannot afford to go to hospital
A 90-year-old's woman was refused admission at Machynlleth hospital because there were no beds available
Staff crisis shuts hospital ward
Patients from Powys face longer waits for surgery compared to those waiting from across the border

Kinnock against more assembly power

2004-10-28T14:17:00.000-07:00

Former Labour leader Neil Kinnock has said he would campaign against extra powers for the Welsh assembly if there is another referendum on devolution

Put an end to this

2004-10-28T05:33:00.000-07:00

It seems that the Chair of Culturenet Cymru has now confused Simon Thomas, MP about the program (or, 'programme', as Mr Green calls it) that was written by the ex-IT Manager to fiddle the 100 Welsh Heroes votes.

Mr Green told Simon Thomas that a program did indeed exist but was for the purpose of entering postal votes. But in reality, the program dealt with percentage adjustments and could not be used in the way claimed by Mr Green.

When will Mr Green properly investigate the misuse of funds by Culturenet Cymru? We're told that he should talk to Culturenet's Acting Director, the Marketing Manager, and the 'Data/Web' Officer.

Not Culturenet Again

2004-10-23T18:19:00.000-07:00

Sorry to harp on after our brief break about that tiresome error, Culturenet Cymru, but it seems that Peter Black has been getting somewhere with the clownish Alan Pugh. Only, where he's getting is confusing.

Alan Pugh's response to Peter Black is too delicate to bear much scrutiny so this will be quick.

The Chair set out clearly the nature of the legal advice received. Culturenet Cymru received legal advice that articles in the press could be regarded as defamatory, but that Culturenet Cymru’s resources, which are derived from public funds, should not be spent on legal action unless there was no choice

Now, the advice about resource usage is not legal advice. And it wasn't articles in the press that someone at Culturenet had said were defamatory but the remarks made by the ICT Manager.

We're happy to repeat the true statement that the 100 Welsh Heroes poll was fixed, it was fixed from the beginning, it was fixed every week, it was fixed to encourage future funding of Culturenet by appearing to be a worthwhile project, and that many of the staff at Culturenet Cymru knew this was the case.

We're also happy to report that either the investigation by 'the Chair' (Andrew Green) has been completely ineffective or someone's telling porkies. Or both.

The National Library and the Welsh Assembly

2004-10-10T07:20:00.000-07:00

The Welsh Assembly is proposing to take direct control of the National Library Given the record of the Assembly we wonder if this is a good idea. Then we recall the record of the Libary and its managers and decide on balance it's probably a good idea.

Assembly Online is alive!

2004-09-28T15:21:00.000-07:00

We thought that the Assembly Online website had died but we noticed a new media briefing, dated the 28th September, has suddenly appeared. Can this really mean that there were no media briefings from the Welsh Assembly from the 13th July to the end of September? Ok, a new session has only just started and the AMs have been away but surely the work of the Assembly doesn't grind to a complete halt for over two months?

Wales on the Web

2004-09-19T01:29:00.000-07:00

Another peculiar website from the Welsh Assembly. What's wrong with Wales points out a few oddities with the website 'Cymru ar y We' (CAYW). This website pompously calls itself the 'All Wales Portal' and says this about itself:

Wales on the Web does not provide access to websites that exist purely for commercial reasons

But if you take a quick look around the websites it links to you'll find:

Cardiff International Airport
Swansea Airport
Ffestiniog Railway
Snowdon Mountain Railway
New Theatre, Cardiff
S.A. Brain & Co Ltd
The Welsh Whisky Company
Cinetig, Welsh animation company
Bridgend Farmers Market
Welsh Lamb & Beef Promotions Ltd
The Welsh Meat Company
Back 2 Wales, 'a premier golf tour company'
Seren Media Limited 'business evolution consultancy through ICT and Internet solutions'
Avantis Ltd
B-DAG Ltd
CDSM Interactive Solutions
Dragonffli Records International
Presents Ankst
Sain
Aled Jones (his official website)
Charlotte Church's official website
Tom Jones (official website)
HTV Wales online

Which, as far as we can see, are all websites that exist for purely commercial reasons. We wonder what's going on here and why we can't simply use Google anyway.

Perhaps CAYW is a pricey job-creation scheme.

Jane Hutt attacked by Labour MP

2004-09-18T10:42:00.000-07:00

The Welsh Assembly Health Minister, Jane Hutt, has been attacked for complacency by an ex-Welsh Office Health Minister, Cardiff Central MP Jon Owen Jones.

The MP calls Jane Hutt's remarks inadequate and complacent.

Cancer wait in Wales

2004-09-14T23:56:00.000-07:00

From a BBC story about NHS waiting lists:

A mother-of-two says she is "appalled" after being told she will have to wait 17 weeks to see a consultant over her breast cancer fears, breaking guidelines that it should be 10 days

The Minister, Jane Hutt's response?

"During August I met with the trust's new chief executive, Hugh Ross, and trust chair, Simon Jones, and made breast care services the first item on the agenda for discussion.

"As a result, the trust has instigated a five-point action plan to address the issues raised, including short-term measures and a longer term strategy."

Welsh NHS safe in her hands then.

2004-09-04T13:48:00.000-07:00

100 Welsh Heroes Poll rigged

WotW - Moving on to 100 Welsh Heroes: was the poll rigged?

DJ - Well of course it was. It was a marketing-led project from the start and I'm afraid marketing often has little to do with either Culture or truth. It was a project to establish the name of Culturenet Cymru.

Wrong again and out of control

Culturenet Cymru's ex-IT Manager has contacted us about the damaging allegation apparently made by someone at Culturenet that he designed Peter Black's website.

"If this report in the Western Mail is true it appears to be another example of Culturenet Cymru getting it wrong, failing to address a complaint and attacking the messenger", said Mr Jones, "only now the motives of an elected member of the Welsh Assembly are being questioned. It's clearly time for a fundamental review of Culturenet's funding and management control."

He continued, "It's great to see an AM with a weblog - it's well-written and often amusing - but I might never find work again if it was thought I'd designed it. In fact I had nothing to do with its design."

"It's a red herring, anyway. Culturenet still isn't dealing with another fact - that the 100 Welsh Heroes poll, entirely funded by public money and reportedly costing in the region of £150,000, was rigged. Perfectly valid votes were discounted and a large number of voting records were made up. Why doesn't Culturenet let an independent and competent person examine the database?".

2004-08-31T08:43:00.000-07:00

A news item about the North Wales Visitor Centre on the Welsh Assembly website claims the centre is part of the Assembly’s commitment to being accessible to all the people of Wales.

Why not try making the Welsh Assembly website accessible when you have the opportunity? It's the law, after all.

2004-08-25T11:30:00.000-07:00

Welsh NHS queues lengthen

The number of patients facing long waits for NHS care in Wales has risen according to a BBC report.

Is this what Jane Hutt was talking about when she said, We are doing things differently in Wales.?

I think there's a good case for taking the NHS away from the assembly - at the moment, the NHS in Wales doesn't have a good reputation,

independent health analyst Roy Lilley

Dr Calland said that a 2003 report urging the service to modernise had had little impact so far, despite "a great amount of talk" in the Welsh assembly

BBC report Friday, 25 June, 2004

2004-08-23T08:28:00.000-07:00

Seen on Investor's Business Daily : If Kerry thinks he's being slandered, he should answer with facts —not with insults, threats and lawsuits.

Same could be said about Welsh political life too, don't you think? It's been a month or so now since Culturenet Cymru denied the Heroes poll was fixed and said that legal advice was being sought; because of that, the Culture Ministry at the Welsh Assembly is refusing to investigate the matter further. But Culturenet hasn't taken any legal action and the truth of the matter could so easily be demonstrated by allowing people to see the database.

Why not answer with the facts? There can be only one reason.

2004-08-12T17:14:00.000-07:00

An appeal to the Welsh Office, frequent visitors to this site

This site is taking quite a few hits from the Welsh Office (IP address range 194.81.116.0 - 194.81.116.255).

Could you ask the Culture Minister, Alun Pugh, to ask Culturenet Cymru to turn over the 100 Welsh Heroes database to an independent and competent person who could take a look at all those made-up votes and all those valid votes that were not counted?

Thank you.

2004-07-30T10:09:00.000-07:00

Show us the data

The ex-IT Manager of Culturenet Cymru is reported as having stated that:

The 100 Welsh Heroes poll was fixed
The fact of the fix is easily discoverable from the database
Someone seems to have used National Library computers to post nasty messages

The response of the Assembly and Culturenet Cymru has been:

It isn't true
No you can't see the database
It still isn't true
Anyway we sacked him for gross misconduct
No comment
No you still can't see the database
So there

Seems a reasonable response over a mere £150,000 of taxpayers' money.

2004-07-24T09:37:00.000-07:00

Culturenet Cymru : cleaning out the stables

The Assembly and the Assembly-funded body, Culturenet Cymru, insist that the online poll, '100 Welsh Heroes' was legit and above-board. Meanwhile the ex IT manager of Culturenet has gone public about the seeming misuse of computers at the National Library of Wales.

Culturenet Cymru staff are being very brave by putting their jobs on the line by claiming nothing untoward has happened.

These people work for us and they spend our money. All they need to do is make the database available.

Who is making sure your money is being spent properly?

2004-07-24T09:33:00.000-07:00

Bonfire of the quangos

We're equivocal about Rhodri Morgan's announcement that the Assembly would be taking over a number of Welsh quangos. It's not that we think bodies such as the National Museum of Wales, or the Welsh Lanuage Board, are well-managed at the moment - but we don't see any evidence that Assembly Civil Servants will cope any better.

2004-07-20T06:35:00.000-07:00

Wired News article about AssemblyOnline

Wired News has an article about accessibility activists, particularly the splendid Matthew Somerville and his Accessible Odeon site - but it also mentions AssemblyOnline, the attempt to make content from the Welsh Assembly a little more usable and a little more accessible.

The article says that the website formed part of the recent disciplinary case brought against the developer. Can this really be true?

Nothing would suprise us about the way the Assembly's run but this is incredible news. Talk about shooting the messenger...

2004-07-19T16:14:00.000-07:00

More about the National Library

It seems, from the IP addresses recorded, that somebody at the National Library of Wales has been using their computers during working hours to post libellous messages about the ex-IT Manager of Culturenet Cymru, and his girlfriend, on OpenWiki.

Here are three records from OpenWiki:

Revision: 44 . . July 19, 2004 08:50 View (diff) . . . . . . 193.61.220.xxx
Revision: 41 . . July 15, 2004 09:25 View (diff) . . . . . . 193.61.220.xxx
Revision: 36 . . July 7, 2004 17:18 View (diff) . . . . . . 193.61.220.xxx

And you can check the 193.61.220.xxx IP address range here

We are all sure that the Library will pursue an investigation into this. To help out, Watson suggests it's someone who's at his or her desk before 9 and who is smart enough to use OpenWiki but dim enough not to realise they left the Library's IP address behind.

2004-07-18T10:22:00.000-07:00

100 Welsh Heroes

After the revelations that the 100WelshHeroes poll was rigged we have a glimpse of the real top 10 for you:

Tom Jones
Mike Peters
Phil Campbell of Motorhead
Manic Street Preacher 1
Manic Street Preacher 2
A large leek
Manic Street Preacher (dec'd)
Cayo Evans
My granny
Ivor the Engine

We see that Culturenet Cymru says the ITC Manager who blew the whistle on this was sacked for reasons entirely unconnected with the poll. Here are 4 reasons for the dismissal and only 1 of them wasn't really mentioned in the disciplinary proceeding. Can you guess which?

Creating the website ">www.assemblyonline.org
Publishing the site statistics of a private weblog - on the weblog
Mentioning that he was looking for another job
Constantly singing excerpts from Light Opera

Looks to us very much like the dismissal and the way the poll was conducted are connected - appallingly bad management.

2004-07-10T18:11:00.000-07:00

That email about RSS in full:

With reference to the use of RSS newsfeeds and weblogs, I can assure you that Cymru Ar-lein is keen to explore all appropriate new technologies to facilitate and improve service delivery

There are merits in using RSS to drive content directly from our site to recipients automatically, quickly, and without interference from viruses and spam. The combined use of RSS and Weblogs in the education and learning communities is also very impressive and introduces the world to a whole new interactive Internet.

At this stage, however, Cymru Ar-lein is not in a position to do more than monitor the rise in popularity of both RSS and Weblogs. While keen to embrace and promote appropriate new technologies both within the National Assembly for Wales and throughout Wales as a whole. Cymru Ar-lein must move at a pace which is feasible for our customers. Translating the enthusiasm that stakeholders have toward using ICT into their habitual use of the Cymru Ar-lein fora is a slow process, but one that is more about the culture of ICT usage than it is about the nature of the tools used. Thus, promoting the use of the Cymru Ar-lein fora by stakeholders and within the National Assembly for Wales remains a priority

2004-07-10T18:06:00.000-07:00

Looks like the Welsh Assembly is not quite ready for RSS. Cloudsoup's doing a good old job of worrying at the tired old bone of Welsh bureacracy but why bother?

2004-06-30T16:44:00.000-07:00

According an Audit Commission report, people in Wales are waiting longer for routine surgical treatment. Read the BBC report yourself to decide if Jane Hutt's response makes any sense. She says, on the one hand, that the figures are out of date; on the other hand the report would help identify areas where change was needed