A week away

We note that a Natwatch.co.uk correspondent will be reporting from the National Eisteddfod in The Faenol, Bangor this week.

Natwatch2 is also visiting the festival. I hope that the mysterious correspondent will enjoy her stay - I'm sure that Plaid will have a stall in a corner of the Maes, and will no doubt welcome her with open arms.

Who speaks for the Nats?

Presumably the Daily Post's coverage of the Aled Cottle e-mail affair is boosting the page views of Natwatch.co.uk, and therefore this must have contributed to the high number of recent postings.

Anyway.

Price4President is prioritising his own safety, and Natwatch2 assumes that threatening e-mails have sent to Natwatch Towers.

P4P self-righteously proclaims:

But nobody - and we mean nobody - has the right to threaten violence against us just because they don't like our politics.

This comes as a shock to Natwatch2, especially after reading a number of previous posts by Price4President suggesting interesting uses for Nats.

Aled Cottle

Price4President puts the boot in by making Aled Cottle's ill-judged email the front page of the Daily Post.

Friends in high places, eh?

Price4President curiously does not jump at this chance to tar all Plaid members with this brush:

Nat Watch would like to make clear that we do not believe that the views of Mr Cottle are shared by the vast majority of Welsh or Scottish Nationalists.

NatWatch2 wonders what has brought on this change of heart?

Nat crisis in North Wales

Plaid does not seem to tire of supplying NatWatch's peashooter with ammunition. Perhaps their current ethic is "Any publicity is good publicity"?

Strangely, no distortion of events or quotes is offered in this entry. However, NatWatch2 were highly amused by the Photoshopped pic of DET saying "Every day when I wake up I thank the Welsh I'm a Lord".

We were also touched by Price4President's rare concern for the views and wishes of Meirionydd Nant Conwy's local party members. Showing a soft side for the "xenophobic Nats"?

Leanne-gate continues

Price4President keeps up the pressure on Plaid with Leanne Wood's memo.

He links to this BBC story about the matter, and stating that Lord Thomas has publicly criticised Ms Wood. No such criticism is quoted in the story.

I won't say any more as Leanne Wood answers back today in a piece in the Western Mail. I'm sure she's more than capable of defending herself.

Leanne-gate

Price4President finaly picks up on the Western Mail's story on Leanne Wood's memo.

This, of course, is music to NatWatch's ears. Unfortunately, there are not many details about the memo's contents, and PC are unsurprisingly tight lipped about it.

Natwatch2 is surprised to say the least, given Ms Wood's socialist leanings.

However, I have heard rumours that it was written before Ms Wood was in full grasp of the facts with regard to the spending public funds on casework/party political work.

True to form, Price4President does manage to distort at least one point. He states that:

...she and former nat AM Geraint Davies relied on confidential casework details when election canvassing. Such information may well be subject to data protection law.

But the article states that of the 2500 cases that Geraint Davies dealt with during his time as an AM:

A very small proportion of those people indicated that they would be voting Plaid Cymru in telephone canvassing.

"Relied on confidential casework details", as opposed to phoning up his clients and ex-clients and asking how they would vote?

Now, from my (limited) knowledge of the Data Protection Act, this kind of use of data is not a breach.

But I digress.

For once, Price4President may have a point. But I think that more should be known before a full blown Nat bashing session starts. In any case, the BBC has Leanne Wood bravely stating:

I have absolutely nothing to hide, so I welcome any inquiry into the expenses system. However, such an inquiry shouldn't be confined to regional assembly members. All AMs, MPs and MEPs' expense accounts should be examined.

Does any one have a copy of the memo? Send it to the address on the right so we can make an informed judgment.

Never mind terrorism, what about form filling?

Price4President marvels at Elfyn Llwyd MP's Olympian lack of proportion at having changed the subject from terrorism to the lack of Welsh language licensing forms during Prime Minister's Questions last week. Price4President quotes Ann Treneman's diary piece from The Times, 14/7/05, which "captures the mood of the house".

However, after reading the original piece, the "mood of the house" is distinctly different from the disdain towards Elfyn Llwyd portrayed in Price4President's edited version.

It is also worth reading Hansard's account of Elfyn Llwyd's words:

May I associate myself fully with the expressions of condolence and sympathy from the Prime Minister earlier, and on behalf of Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National party fully support the Government in their efforts to bring to justice the awful men and, I presume, women who are responsible for the attack?

On an entirely separate matter, which is quite urgent, will the Prime Minister intervene personally to alleviate the problems of many licensees in Wales who have availed themselves of the right, under the Welsh Language Act 1993, to submit forms through the medium of the Welsh language? The deadline is 6 August and no such forms exist. Is the Prime Minister not a little discomfited that 12 years since the passing of that Act, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, of all Departments, has no Welsh language scheme? Does he not now agree that there is a need for a proper, new and robust Welsh language Act?

Forgot to add that first bit in, did we?

Welcome to NatWatchWatch

With the addition of NatWatch.co.uk to the blogosphere, this blog has been created in response.

Price4President, NatWatch's webmaster, has opted not to have comments on his blog, conveniently ensuring that his statements cannot be challenged.

Therefore NatWatchWatch (or should that be NatWatch2?) is here to challenge Price4President's acid tounged 'wit'.

Naturally, the comments on this blog are open to all, so that NatWatch2's posts can be critiqued if necessary.