Election XVII – Meanwhile…

Uncertainty is the only certainty on this last day of election campaigning before voting gets under way tomorrow morning. That uncertainty may be interesting for people like me and nerve-wracking for politicians, but it’s the civil service for whom it causes a real challenge. They have to be ready to swing into action to deliver [...]

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Election XV – Coalition Conundrum

I’m raising the C-word on this evening’s Wales Tonight. After all we’re grown-ups. Politicians from the four main parties don’t like you to use the c-word – of course I mean coalition – during an election campaign. I can understand why: none of them know exactly how the maths will work out on May the [...]

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Election XIV – Age Cymru photos

Thanks to those kind people at Age Cymru who’ve sent me these pictures of the question time event I was involved in on Monday.

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Election XII – the grey vote.

‘Make sure you tell them to remember the grey vote.’ That was the clear message I was given today by a group of women at Age Cymru’s election Question Time which I hosted earlier.  They’d had chance along with a large number of other older voters to quiz a panel made up of the four [...]

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Election XI – Welsh Conservative manifesto launch

The Welsh Conservatives have launched their manifesto today, meaning that all four of the main parties in this election have now laid out their promises for us. You can read the manifesto in full here. It’s the smallest of all four manifestos, coming in at just 32 pages but as small books go it has [...]

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Election X – Welsh Labour manifesto

Three down. Today it was Welsh Labour’s turn to publish its manifesto.  Called ‘Standing Up for Wales’ you can read the full manifesto here. It’s a big document – coming in at 109 pages compared with Plaid’s 53 and the Liberal Democrats’ 66. And Labour, particularly the manifesto’s author Andrew Davies, reckon that in this [...]

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Election IX – pictures from Welsh Labour

  This marvellous photo (marvellous because of its quality not because my bonce is centre frame) is one of many taken by Natasha Hirst, a photographer who’s documenting Welsh Labour’s campaign. I was at one of the party’s press briefings at its Cardiff HQ, Transport House in Cardiff this morning. That’s BBC Wales’ Political Editor [...]

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Election VIII – Welsh Liberal Democrat manifesto

Day Two of manifesto week sees the Welsh Liberal Democrats set out their election promises. You can read the manifesto, which they’ve called ‘Wales Can Do Better’,  here. It’s main theme is tackling waste: money-wasting, time-wasting and wasting of the potential of people. That’s why the very first pledge you read is to Root out [...]

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Election VII – the Passenger

From partner to passenger. That’s what Plaid leader Ieuan Wyn Jones became in the words of Welsh Labour spokespeople today. Mr Jones has been Economic Development minister as well as Deputy First Minister for the last four years of coalition government in Cardiff Bay. And when asked to list his achievements, he frequently points to the [...]

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Election VI – Here come the police

Would-be Assembly members are about to get their collars felt as the police make their grievances abundantly clear later in an effort to put them top of the agenda. And look at the language they’re using: officers feel ‘disgusted and completely demoralised.’ Strong words from a group of people who aren’t allowed to strike. But [...]

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