| Seven Points That Stood Out |
A Political Diary |
| Interesting Things Said and Written , Public Life of Wales , December 31, 2024 |
//**666Several currents can be seen that occur and re-occur in the public language of Wales. They differentiate the inner dialogue of Wales from that in England and Scotland. One is the common recourse to slogans and catch-phrases that take the place of authentic, freshly minted statement. The result is a relentless banality. On 13th November a report on national well-being was issued. “The new report warns that this pledge requires long-term, cross-government action in order to improve people’s lives and address inequality.” But a law is not a pledge. Derek Walker, Future Generations Commissioner for Wales said: “I welcome the Report’s findings that stress the need for effective, integrated, and joined-up policymaking focused on better outcomes for people. This requires public bodies to meaningfully involve the people of Wales in decisions.” This is vague bordering on nonsensical. Executive authority is there to do that, execute. Government by perpetual consultation of organised groups, that is vested interests, is recipe for stasis. The Government of Wales: “We continue to be determined to do everything we can within our powers to tackle poverty. It is only through working collaboratively across Government, with all our stakeholders in Wales and with the new UK Government, that we will be able to have a lasting impact on poverty and inequality.” https://nation.cymru/news/wellbeing-in-wales-did-not-improve-between-2023-and-2024-report/ * * * * 2nd November 2024 the Economist published a robust essay “When politics is about hating the other side democracy suffers.” “When voters believe that politics creates economic and social gains in which everyone can share, regardless of their party, they feel more warmly towards the other side. By contrast, when they see politics as a fight over a limited set of resources, they are susceptible to campaigns that set them against each other. "When people think their government is effective they tend to feel better about politicians. Likewise, if they expect to thrive in the coming years and if they feel good about their lives then they tend to look on political parties more sympathetically. In all these cases, the improvement in voters’ sentiment is greater towards rival parties than their own.” “...The right is also more likely to see society in terms of competing groups. If the right is quicker to attack this way, though, the left is inclined to respond by disqualifying its critics’ views as bigoted, immoral and fundamentally illegitimate. Thus tit begets tat. “Negative partisanship is not simply unseemly; it can drive politics into a downward spiral. In a healthy system everybody has something to gain from working together. Government presents a whole landscape of possibilities, some of which can appeal to factions in rival parties. The anti-politics of negative partisanship collapses this into a one-dimensional, zero-sum spectrum between us and them. “...When government becomes dysfunctional, partisans prosper. As our data show, that is because the country more closely resembles a one-dimensional, zero-sum place that rewards negative partisanship as an electoral tactic.” “...In a healthy polity, British politicians would have come together to work out which Brexit would best meet the many interests in play. For some Brexiteers, though, the “hardness” of the deal became a purity test instead of a question of practical politics. Remainers, including The Economist, filled the vacuum with passionate calls for a confirmatory referendum, fuelling a betrayal narrative according to which true Brexit was being sabotaged by deep-state Remainers. Brexit and its aftermath did grave damage to Britons’ faith in their politicians’ competence. “Brexit stretched and twisted Britain’s poorly codified constitution. Traditions, norms and institutions are normally accepted as good ways to rein in the passions. However, if politicians can convince their supporters that the character of their opponents imperils the nation, they can frame the breaking of norms and stretching of rules not as constitutional vandalism, but as courage and strong leadership.” https://www.economist.com/interactive/essay/2024/10/31/when-politics-is-about-hating-the-other-side-democracy-suffers * * * * 22nd November 2024: Political parties are independent institutions. It is up to them to select candidates for public office. The Government issued draft guidance as to how all parties should conform to its wishes. But governments are not lobbying organisations. They legislate. Legislation, the path of the executive, was absent. The document stated: “Political parties may need to review and revise their arrangements for selecting candidates for the scheduled 2026 and future Senedd elections in light of changes to the voting system. "In doing so, they should consider whether in their circumstances they may incorporate provisions about the inclusion and placement of women candidates on their candidate lists and what any such provisions should be.” Cathy Larkman of the Women’s Rights Network in Wales said: “While this proposed guidance to political parties in Wales is entirely voluntary, which avoids the previous shambolic embarrassment of their attempt to lever in so-called ‘gender quotas’ without having the legislative competence to do so, it is disappointing and frustrating to note that Welsh Government has apparently learnt little from that humiliation.” From: https://nation.cymru/news/welsh-government-bid-to-revive-gender-balanced-senedd-plan-provokes-new-row/ https://www.gov.wales/diversity-and-inclusion-guidance-for-registered-political-parties-draft-guidance * * * * 29th November 2024: Governments raise taxes. That is what they do, that is what binds governors and governed. A tourist tax is underway. The language that accompanied it included: “This week, the Welsh Government has introduced a Bill which will do just that. If passed by the Senedd, it will give local authorities the ability to introduce a small charge on overnight visitor stays in their area – this is known as a visitor levy.” Tourist tax, a simple phrase used across Europe, versus visitor levy. When five syllables replace three that is a give-away. “We want everyone to be able to enjoy everything our beautiful country has to offer. We believe local infrastructure and services should be funded by all those who use them.” As legislation the tone comes over as hesitant. . “It will be up to local authorities to decide whether they apply in their area, based on the unique needs and features of their area. Before they do so, they must consult locally to help inform their decision.” https://nation.cymru/opinion/a-visitor-levy-is-an-investment-in-our-future/ * * * * 7th December 2024: The Eonomist looked at public services in Wales. “The conversation, among women who have finished a tai-chi class, is about private health care. Jill, a retired secretary, has shelled out for one operation after the nhs cancelled on her five times. She is now thinking about paying for a cataract procedure. She knows half a dozen others who have decided to do the same. If you need to drive, you have no choice, she explains. “Public services are in a sorry state all over Britain. They are worst in Wales. Before the general election in July, Conservative politicians pointed to the country of 3.2m people, where Labour dominates politics at all levels, and argued that the party had messed up so badly that it could not be trusted with national power. The argument failed to land. But the Tories’ observation about Wales was correct. “In 2022 Welsh 16-year-olds scored worse than their peers in England, Northern Ireland or Scotland in tests of reading and maths set by the oecd, a club of mostly rich countries. Wales also fell behind the international averages. Few alarm bells rang in Cardiff as a result. “The performance was so low, and the reaction was so shoulder-shrugging,” marvels Luke Sibieta, who studies education at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a think-tank. “It is hard to know how teenagers in Wales are faring in other exams, as its curriculum and grading systems are distinct. But they are not impressing admissions officers. In 2023, 30% of Welsh 18-year-olds were accepted to university, compared with 37% of English 18-year-olds. The gap is widening. “As the young fall behind in school, the old wait for medical procedures. In June the Office for National Statistics estimated that the number of “open patient pathways” (not exactly the same as the number of waiting patients) was equivalent to 22% of the Welsh population. In England the ratio was 13%. The Opinions and Lifestyle Survey shows that a larger share of people are waiting in Wales than in any English region, including the poor north-east. “One consequence is the zeal for private medical treatment seen in the Caerphilly Miners Centre. The Private Healthcare Information Network, a non-profit outfit, estimates that 7,900 people were admitted to private clinics and hospitals in Wales in the first quarter of this year, almost twice as many as five years earlier. Wales is unique in the United Kingdom in that most people who receive private medical treatment pay for it themselves. Elsewhere it is usually covered by health insurance. “Other parts of the state seem to be functioning little better. Robert Jones of Cardiff University calculates that 159 out of every 100,000 Welsh people were in prison in 2023, many of them in English cells. That is higher than the imprisonment rate of English people (140 per 100,000); indeed, it is the highest rate in western Europe. Why this should be is a puzzle. Wales has a slightly lower rate of recorded crime than England. “It does not help that Wales is poor, with a gdp per head about one-quarter lower than the United Kingdom as a whole. Westminster’s formulae for spreading money around treat the country less generously than Northern Ireland or Scotland. But money cannot explain everything. In the most recent oecd test of reading ability, the average Welsh pupil fared worse than the poorest quarter of English pupils. “We’re poorer in Wales, but even if you adjust for that, we’re underperforming,” says Tom Giffard, the Welsh Conservatives’ education spokesman. “A more likely explanation for Wales’s dismal performance is policy. The country voted narrowly for a devolved assembly in 1997, and its government has gradually acquired more power. It has pursued ostentatiously distinctive policies, putting what a former first minister, Rhodri Morgan, once called “clear red water” between Wales and the rest of Britain. “Some of those policies are popular or clever. Wales does not charge for medical prescriptions, and it funds social care for old people more generously than England. It was the first country in Britain to charge for plastic bags. A new default speed limit of 20mph in built-up areas, though hugely unpopular with drivers, could catch on elsewhere. But the Welsh government’s policies on public services have failed. “Schools remain under local-authority control, in contrast to England where many have become independent academies. Whereas schools east of Offa’s Dyke churn out data, Welsh ones generate little for public consumption. What data are available are almost incomprehensible. “I can’t make head nor tail of it,” says Mr Sibieta, an expert on these matters. The Welsh nhs has not subjected hospitals to targets as stringent as those in England, and has been less keen on using private providers. Health spending has been less protected from cuts. “Sometimes incomplete devolution seems to be the problem. Richard Wyn Jones of Cardiff University thinks that is true of criminal justice, where Wales remains bound to the English legal system but has acquired control over matters like drug rehabilitation. The result is a complicated pattern of responsibilities with nobody truly in charge. “Welsh people are becoming more willing to assign blame locally, however. Earlier this year the Welsh Election Study found that 87% of people think the health service is worse than five years ago and 54% think the education system is worse. More blame the Welsh government for those failings than the British government (by contrast, they tend to condemn Westminster for declines in law and order and in the standard of living). “In 2026 Wales will elect a new Parliament. Labour seems likely to face a strong challenge from Plaid Cymru, a nationalist party, and Reform uk, a radical-right party. If it is pushed into second place, it will snap a remarkable record, since Labour has come first in every nationwide election in Wales since 1922. And it would lead to a cheery conclusion: failure has a price.” https://www.economist.com/britain/2024/12/03/welsh-voters-think-their-government-has-mismanaged-public-services-rightly * * * * 10th December 2024: Finola Wilson, a Director of Impact Wales, an education company, wrote about Government language relating to teachers as “enabling adults.” “If this is implemented, it will represent nothing less than an ideological shift in how teachers are expected to teach in Wales. Being a teacher is an active role; teachers are professionals who use their knowledge and enthusiasm to engage and educate. This guidance undermines the role of a teacher, stripping them of their professionalism and downgrading their status from an intellectual and psychological guide and instructor to a mere facilitator.” https://nation.cymru/opinion/have-teachers-in-wales-been-rebranded-by-the-welsh-government/ * * * * 23rd December 2024: John Steinbeck is a literary giant. The Nobel Prize in Literature 1962 was awarded "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception" Wales’s children’s commissioner Rocío Cifuentes takes the view that to read him is psychologically and emotionally harmful. The story was all over the media in England. A spokesperson for WJEC said “This is a new qualification, and as such, our starting point for selecting texts was not the existing English literature qualification." It said it aimed to "reflect a modern and inclusive Wales", adding: "We have provided a choice of work from writers of diverse backgrounds, nationalities, genders, and communities. We believe this new selection will enrich the educational experience by providing a choice of texts that explore themes that will resonate with learners.” Jeffrey Jones: Doesn't the Children's Commissioner for Wales realise that people like her are one of the reasons why Trump is in the White House? Reform must be over the moon.” |
Reviewed by: Adam Somerset |
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