My Welsh Blogosphere

You can read my contribution to Dave Raybould's series 'My Welsh Blogosphere' at the Welsh Bloggers website.

Reported Missing

Much curiosity this afternoon over which assembly government minister's Blackberry has gone missing.

Tory AM Darren Millar's released data he's requested about the WAG gadgets that have been lost or stolen in the last few years, and what they cost to replace.

Almost £21,000 in total.

The figures reveal one ministerial Blackberry was lost or stolen in 2008, costing around £250 to replace.

Civil servants have managed to lose 28 laptops since 2006, with the taxpayer footing a near £19,000 replacement bill.

There are no details of whether these items were left on trains or stolen at gunpoint, so I remain open-minded as to whether the computers went missing due to forgetfulness or criminality.

Civil servants also reported six Blackberries and two other mobile phones went missing up until the end of 2008 (£1,740).

Breakdown of losses
2005: no losses were reported
2006: 16 laptops lost/stolen [All civil servants]
2007: 4 laptops lost/stolen [All civil servants]
2008: 8 laptops lost/stolen [All civil servants]; 7 blackberries lost/stolen [6 civil servants and 1 Minister/Deputy Minister]; 2 mobile phones lost/stolen [All civil servants]

Average Costs
Laptops £678
Blackberries £250
Mobile Phones £120

Total Costs
Laptops £18,984
Blackberries £1,750
Mobile Phones £240

Grand Total £20,974

The costs don't include the items already reported missing during the first quarter of 2009: three laptops (civil servants), four mobiles (civil servants) and three Blackberries (from two civil servants and one special adviser).

BNP leaflets "illegal"?

Adam Price wants the Royal Mail to stop delivering the BNP's European election leaflets.

The Plaid MP says they're illegal, because photos accompanying quotes from supporters are stock photographs of models - rather than snaps of the supporters themselves.

Do photos of Nick Griffin not bring out the vote?

Ironically, given the BNP's anti-immigration policy, some of the models are likely to be foreigners. That's because the image details on istockphoto.com show some of the photos were taken by US-based photographers.

Plaid say the leaflet deliberately misrepresents people's views, infringes copyright, and breaches the Royal Mail's rules on the distribution of election material.

Adam Price says 'It is a sick irony that the people photographed, and indeed the photographers are from other countries - the very people that the BNP seeks to demonize.'

In reality, it is unlikely that a legal challenge will succeed and it seems the preferred method for attacking the BNP is to offer a public condemnation of their policies and constitution.

There are events taking place in Swansea, Cardiff and Flint this morning as part of Hope Not Hate Day.

Image: Formication/Flickr Creative Commons license

Dorries Denial

Tory MP Nadine Dorries has pre-empted a Telegraph story about her expenses claims with a pretty forceful rebuttal on her own blog.

Seems like she sat on the Caps Lock button in the process.

The one recurring theme in the expenses saga appears to be the suggestion that MPs have claimed money for all of the items that appear on a submitted receipt. The MP then denies that specific items (mini bar drinks in Dorries' case, feminine hygiene products in the case of another male member) were ever intended to be refunded.

There are plenty of legs in this story yet, and it's doing wonders for the Telegraph's sales figures.

More Twit-fluence

I've updated my list of the influential Welsh people you should be following on Twitter.

Micro-blogging is all the rage, dontcha know?

Click here to see the list.

If you want to follow me on Twitter, click http://twitter.com/huwthomas

Gurkha Update

Miss Wagstaff has a helpful rundown of which Welsh MPs voted with the government against further settlement rights for Gurkha veterans (those who retired pre-1997).

My previous comments on the Gurkha issue can be found here.

"Johnson for PM"

Polly Toynbee, the unashamed champion of Gordon Brown's premiership and continual Labour optimist, uses tomorrow morning's Guardian column to call on Brown to stand down.

'It's all over for Brown and Labour. The abyss awaits.'

In a damning critique of his leadership, she denounces his destruction of Labour's electoral chances, and says his promises on closing the wealth gap have all come to nothing.

'As long as he remains leader, there is nothing that wretched Labour candidates can plausibly say on the doorstep at next month's European elections. They are struck dumb. Why should people vote for them?'

'The horse manure bought on expenses is garnish for a decomposing government. The heart of the matter is the economy, and Brown's responsibility for the bubble years.'

'He personally is to blame for Labour's failure to ensure that ordinary people on median incomes and poor people at the bottom received a bigger share in national growth: it turns out that they fell back and only the wealthy prospered.'

'Labour made the rich richer and the poor poorer: growth for the few, not the many.'

Toynbee says only Alan Johnson can restore any respect to the role of Prime Minister, and to the Labour party. She also says Johnson is the only man capable of offering anything resembling a challenge to Cameron's Conservatives (though she concedes Labour still won't win).

On the morning of June 5, the morning after the Euro-elections, the men in grey suits should knock on Gordon Brown's door. So says Polly.

European Dilemmas

The Conservatives, now surely worth a flutter to win next year's general election, would do well to read yesterday's editorial in the Financial Times ahead of next month's European poll.

My brief sojourn to Brussels last month was enlightening. It was evident that the thorny issues surrounding the Conservatives' membership of the EPP group in the parliament had yet to be resolved.

David Cameron has stated that he wants the Tory MEPs to withdraw from the EPP, which has more federalist ambition than CCHQ can comfortably cope with.

But the FT argues an interesting point: if Cameron's Conservatives want influence in Europe, the EPP is about the only place they can achieve it.

EPP members chair committees and thus help shape European policies; its members come from centre-right governments which run influential European states; it is the parliament's largest group, and withdrawing from it amounts to surrendering real power in Brussels.

When British politicians attempt to convince the electorate that Europe really matters, it isn't just hyperbole. Europe has real influence which is beyond the appreciation of many voters, and while the Conservatives can be more confident than their opponents of governing Britain in a year's time, they risk giving up the power they already wield at a European level by retreating from the EPP.

Gurkhas: Opportunity Lost

Forgive this foray into matters not directly associated with Welsh politics.

I'm currently in London and last week I covered the small gathering of Gurkhas in Westminster as the Home Office posted an announcement on its website about the new immigration rules for Gurkha soldiers.

As I spoke to Gurkha veterans, their representatives and supporters, it became clear that they were fully expecting a restrictive and controversial decision by the government. And they got one.

Once the new regulations were revealed, the sense of scandal amongst those former soldiers and their relatives who had gathered to witness the publication was palpable.

Despite the rhetoric of the Gurkhas' spokesman and the visible emotion of the actress Joanna Lumley, there was constant discussion amongst the politically-minded who were monitoring the morning's events that it could have all been so different.

Gordon Brown and his government are in desperate need of a 'good news' story. And when the opportunity for one presented itself in the chance to extend a welcome to this band of soldiers and their families, the chance was batted away with such force that it created waves of revulsion not only amongst the Gurkha campaigners but among the popular press and a great many of their readership.

And so, five days later, the Labour government has suffered only its fourth Commons defeat since the party came to power in 1997. Gordon Brown, through the Home Office decision not to relax the rules on Gurkha immigration into Britain, has not only lost an opportunity to court public opinion at a time when the economy and an approaching flu pandemic are souring the mood of the nation even further. He has also deepened the resentment of the popular press towards his government, and further boosted the Conservatives' ambitions for a landslide victory at the next general election.

I have resisted writing-off the government's chances of staying in power past the next national poll, but surely there can be little chance of saving Labour if policy decisions and ministers' public attitudes continue to rile the electorate quite so effectively.