Countdown - 64 (working) days to ...

... I day !

... and in Scotland the separatist agenda continues too play to the gallery, play to the crowd, perform to get the approval of the audience.

Give separation a chance and we will abolish ....

• rules on under-occupancy
• take housing benefit out of Universal Credit

... nothing that describes a brave new Scottish world, just Deputy SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon  highlighting unpopular measures that might or might-not be changed by a future SNP government if the peoples of Scotland vote for independence next year !

With less than 13 working weeks before retirement I was reminded by a brother that I need to plan to fill my time in the future ....

walking the dog
fly fishing (once again)
baking ( bought "100 cakes and Bakes" by  Mary Berry for the Kindle this week ).
having a beer in the evening
not working until midnight

... and try to be a help sometimes.

Today I am taking into work a few Devonshire Splits (recipe) ...

It's a real pain being a diabetic, making but not eating ..............

Why Salmond and Cameron ...

... must never meet in a debate about Scotland and the intentions of the separatist agenda ...

BBC story here

... it's is simple, Cameron is not a Scot, my advice David ...

... stay south of the border and keep your mouth firmly shut, the Scots must defend their Scotland isolated from the vagaries of Westminster, you might like to send a memo advising MP's of all parties that this is a fight amongst 21st century Scottish clans, not a 21st century Bannockburn in which Salmond is in a battle with the rest of the United Kingdom.

A final word David, you do not have a Scottish accent, remember this very small detail.......

,

To have and to hold in Wales, ...

... but not as much as in Scotland or Ireland:

Westminster plans to spend an extra £531 million in Scotland this year, boosting that department’s Expenditure Limit by nearly 2%. It plans to spend an extra £327 m in Northern Ireland, boosting the Limit by 3%. It plans another £107m in Wales, a rise of 0.7%.

Two questions ....

...why is Wales receiving a disproportionate increase compared with Scotland, proportionately the amount should be £189 million (per head of populatin ?

more importantly ....

... why the extra spending at all when so many have tightened their belt in the extreme ?

... I wonder how Jack would read this ?
 

Language dilemma for ...

... Meri Huws the Welsh Language Commissioner.

Westminster has decreed that EU doctors coming to work in the UK from April will have their language and communication skills tested by nominated senior doctors.

In Wales we have the Office of Language Commissioner who may do anything she (currently female) considers appropriate to:

• Promote the use of Welsh
• Facilitate the use of Welsh
• Work towards ensuring that the Welsh language will be treated as equally as English.

This includes promoting opportunities to use Welsh and encourage best practice in the use of Welsh by people dealing with other persons, or providing services to other persons; a recent Investigation report published into the implementation of Betsi Cadwaladr University Local Health Board’s Welsh Language Scheme (NHS in Wales).

The difficulty I envisage is satisfying the commissioner and the public in need of the NHS in Wales, as all our doctors are registered with The General Medical Council (charity registered in England
GMC0002 and Wales (1089278) and Scotland (SC037750)) and as there is no requirement for language skills other than English ...

... what is the point of our Welsh Language Commissioner.

The Western Mail asks ...

... the very simple question

How far does the Welsh Government want to take devolution?

... a more searching, much more relevant question would be

How far do the peoples of Wales wish devolution to be taken?

... an adjunct question would be

Does devolution need to be developed further, for whose benefit ?

Devolution, like Pandora's box, is opened never to be closed, unlike Pandora's box of mythology the contents are not evils, but mediocrity, the task at hand is to demand that politicians and their parties introduce "quality" into the workings of governance.

Only when the Welsh Assembly can be described as a Quality Institution should the Western Mail question be answered.

No, but, yeah, but, no, but...

... sums up politics in Wales, where the Health Ministers' plan for ground-breaking organ transplant legislation in fact changes little !

Not for the faint hearted, confused in the extreme ...



...It becomes apparent that ...

... nothing is in fact going to change.

• Government takes control of the deceased
• then hands back to the family final consent
•  ... and friends of the deceased
• no matter what decision the deceased had made
• any uncertainty will halt the process.

 We arrive at the 30 minute point and the committee introduces the concept of "Trumping" into law, could this be a first for WAG, we have a law that seems to be designed to confuse, by the 43rd minute trumping becomes an established expression .....




Although this legislation manages "no change", having said that, if a convicted prisoner is moved to Cardiff Prison from Bristol (44 minutes into the recording), he becomes eligible for the virtual organ transplant programme, will the Secretary of State for Wales seek a judicial review to give prisoners a green exemption card, or will WAG use this perfectly useless legislation as a first step on the road to the separation of England and Wales criminal justice ?

Leighton Andrews ...

... at the helm of education influences our future ...

................... we have a bespoke grading in Wales.