GogLite

• Posted by Tom Bodden at 7:20 PM | add or read comments (1)

Blogging wil be light over the next few days as I chase the spring sun in the Mediterranean.
However, feel free to comment on any news of the day and I'll try to find a computer terminal to update the site.
What about DFM Ieuan Wyn Jones' decision to scrap the contentious A494 'superhighway' through Deeside? Protesters will be happy but what do those drivers on the clogged uproad network from North Wales to the north west and those unhappily evicted from homes on the proposed route?
Plaid Cymru is flexing its political muscle at its spring conference in Newport, what are the near-future prospects for the coalition with Labour?
And the mighty Blues face the old enemy at Anfield on Sunday - will they show the world's greatest derby match on TVs in Florence without mentioning the Uefa cup penalty shoot-out?
How can I go away?

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More pay

• Posted by Tom Bodden at 10:19 AM | add or read comments (7)

The mid point of a quiet three-week Easter recess at the National Assembly led me on a tour of the darker corners of the institution’s website.
There is the report of the independent panel set up to deliberate on the contentious issue of AMs’ pay.
This issue of the inflation-busting 8.3% pay rise, which flared up just before the recess, may well be thought to have burnt itself out by now.
But there were a few questions raised in this report that were worth pondering, especially as they were disregarded by the commission which settled the pay deal.

Continue reading "More pay" »

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Civil serfing

• Posted by Tom Bodden at 8:48 AM | add or read comments (3)

A whistleblowing blogger in Whitehall has been tracked down by cyber-detectives and suspended from her job as a civil servant in the Department of Work and Pensions. (Hat tip: David Jones MP)
But the internet is increasingly becoming a refuge for disgruntled public sector staff.

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Faith, hope and charity

• Posted by Tom Bodden at 9:34 AM | add or read comments (3)

UPDATE 2: Aberconwy AM Gareth Jones has just issued a statement declaring that he will not be accepting the recommended pay award as Plaid AMs opposed the 8.3% rise in principle.
"In the first and second years, I will donate the above-inflation element (i.e. above 2.5%) of the pay award to local hospices - St David's Hospice, where I was a Trustee, and to Ty Gobaith Children's Hospice, and also to Aberconwy Women's Aid and the North Wales Air Ambulance."
But he added: "More generally, I am not pleased that AMs are being seen to have a public row over whether they should get 76% or 82% of a MPs pay.
"My view is that there should be parity of pay - MPs and AMs have an equivalent workload and an equivalent level of responsibility.
"That could just as well be achieved in my opinion by reducing MPs pay to match that of AMs, especially since their actual responsibilities within Wales have been drastically reduced over the last eight years."

Continue reading "Faith, hope and charity" »

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What you pay your AM

• Posted by Tom Bodden at 7:48 AM | add or read comments (2)

This blog predicted it.
Now the political row has erupted about the inflation-busting 8.3% pay rise for our AMs.

Continue reading "What you pay your AM" »

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New job for Lord Wyn

• Posted by Tom Bodden at 11:30 AM | add or read comments (0)

David Cameron has just been speaking to the Conservative faithful in Llandudno.
He sprung a St David's Day surprise by bringing newly retired Lord 'Wyn' Roberts, 77, out of retirement to head a review of the party's attitude to devolution.

Continue reading "New job for Lord Wyn" »

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