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Favourite Things

By Tom Bodden on Dec 17, 08 08:37 AM

For fans of the Sound of Music, here is an alternative version of 'My Favourite Things' which AMs can sing along to:

iPods and web sites, and repairs in the kitchen,
Bright Dyson cleaners and warm woollen cushions,
Digital cameras, without any strings,
These are a few of my favourite things.

Cream coloured curtains and thousand pound sofas,
Food bills and gas bills, and kettles and toasters,
Sat navs, and Sky subs, and restaurant meals,
These are among my favourite deals.

Pays party rent for office and cleaning,
Interest on mortgage for second home pending,
Wide screen TV sets with surround sound and stand,
Throw in insurance, before it gets banned.

When the hacks bite, when the polls swing,
When I'm feeling sad,
I simply remember my favourite things,
And then I don't feel so bad.

What could they have been thinking?
UPDATE: Conservative opposition leader Nick Bourne has pledged to pay back £229 in taxpayers' cash he spent on an iPod on expenses.
Tory colleague Alun Cairns will also repay £169 he paid for an iPod in his expense claims.
It follows Mr Bourne's announcement that he was making a £250 donation to the NSPCC.
and Mr Cairns' donation of £200 to the charity for wounded service personnel, Help For Heroes.
Mr Bourne said: "Although the purchases of these iPods was within the rules of the Assembly and authorised by the fees office, I recognise the perception that this expenditure was inappropriate.
"We apologise to the people of Wales."

And the winner is...

By Tom Bodden on Dec 10, 08 08:06 AM

det.jpg
Tidy suits and best frocks were dusted down for the political shin-dig of the year at Cardiff's imposing City Hall.
More than 300 politicos and their camp followers gathered to chew the fat - unless they were vegetarian - raise a glass, and snipe, in the best possible taste, at the judges' selections for the Wales Yearbook awards.

A doctor writes...

By Tom Bodden on Dec 5, 08 03:26 PM

The third economic summit for Wales met in Cardiff Bay, unveiling another wedge of cash to ease the slide into recession.
The extra £68m, we were told, was on top of £877m worth of support from accelerated spending by the Assembly Government.
First minister Rhodri Morgan was drawn into a painful analogy.
"There are about five different things going on which eventually will effect the improvement in the life of the patient.
"The patient is sick but they're having blood transfusions, there's oxygen masks on, there's sort-of drips and all these different things and eventually the patient gets better.
"At this moment we don't know when that's going to be."

Welsh Secretary Paul Murphy was moved to add:
"We are the doctors."

Censored

By Tom Bodden on Nov 26, 08 07:59 AM

MaeWest.jpgOne man's Freedom of Speech is another man's gratuitous insult.
For many, censorship is offensive.
But billed as the 'poetry reading they tried to ban', Welsh writer Patrick Jones will travel to the Assembly building in Cardiff Bay to deliver extracts from his latest book, Darkness is where the heart is.
A previous promotion at a city bookshop was cancelled after a complaint to the outlet Waterstone's by the group Christian Voice.

Good PR

By Tom Bodden on Nov 17, 08 10:40 AM

Rhodri Morgan's conversion to the idea of the PR method of voting in council elections surfaces at an interesting time.
Just as Labour-Plaid relations appear, on the surface at least, to be deteriorating over the LCO log jam at Westminster, the Labour leader in Wales is warming to one of the Lib Dems' iconic policies.
Could this be the hint of a prospective future deal to Lib Dem leadership challengers Kirsty Williams and Jenny Randerson?
Coalition sceptic Lib Dem AM Peter Black is quick to remind us that when Rhodri had a chance to vote for PR in the Senedd - he did.
But it was all a big mistake.

"Trust me, I'm a doctor."

By Tom Bodden on Nov 12, 08 05:52 PM

This is dodgy ground. Especially for a journalist of a tabloid variety, apparently.
But those good people at the committee on standards in public life have been doing their homework on attitudes and trust felt towards our politicians.
Dear me, you are a cynical lot.
Unless your calling is a GP, head teacher, judge, or police officer, you had better look away now.

For God and Empire?

By Tom Bodden on Nov 6, 08 09:07 AM

kylieobe.jpgWales should have its own Order of Chivalry as part of the honours system.
That is the view of Conservative AM David Melding who is calling for a reform of the outdated Royal honours system for the new devolved age.
He wants the Order of the British Empire (motto 'For God and Empire') replaced with something akin to an Order of St David.
"I don't think it would be lost on anyone in this chamber that we no longer have an empire," he told the Senedd.

Change is afoot in the senior ranks of the civil service in the Welsh Assembly Government.
New permanent secretary Dame Gillian Morgan (no relation) is seeking to drive a new delivery culture in the public services.

Yes, Welsh Minister

By Tom Bodden on Oct 22, 08 08:19 AM

images.jpg
THE scene is the hypothetical Westminster office of the Secretary of State for the Constitution and Wales.
The minister, private and permanent secretaries are gathered when the telephone rings shrilly..
Private secretary (answering phone with look of concern, places hand over receiver) stage whispers: "It's Lord Daffyd Ellis, he's on about the Assembly's powers again. You haven't replied to his letter."

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Girls allowed

By Tom Bodden on Oct 15, 08 09:47 AM

When politicians declare they want to quit to 'spend more time with their family', it is sometimes a euphemism for a more intriguing scenario.
So when one such surprise decision comes along, that could be judged as interesting.
But two? That has to be a conspiracy, hasn't it?
Perhaps not.

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Tom Bodden - the Welsh Affairs Correspondent of The Daily Post

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