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| First Minister Mark Drakeford with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in Barry, in 2019 Source: Mail Online |
More recently Mr Drakeford has been bragging in the Senedd about his industrial relations record of bringing people together compared with the 'entirely absent' UK Government who, he claimed:
"abandoned their responsibilities and mean that thousands of people are unable to travel due to the dereliction of duty, which is so apparent in their approach to industrial relations.
"It is a remarkable triple whammy, isn't to have brought the railways to a standstill, to have brought the airports to a standstill, and, finally after about eight weeks, I think, to have woken up to the fact that the 5p that was taken off the price of petrol hadn't been passed on to people in that part of the transport sector as well. It is a remarkable record of failure, and I'm afraid it's people, not just in Wales but across the United Kingdom who are paying the cost of that failure today. "
Despite his claims to have superior skills over UK Government ministers, actually "fewer than 10% of normal rail services were running" in Wales with most of the country having no services at all.
Road traffic is often at a standstill at the M4's gateway to Wales yet the First Minister used his devolved powers to veto the M4 relief road, thus retaining a permanent bottleneck to provide a better environment for wildlife than for the long suffering people who live alongside congested areas of the M4 and are subjected to increased levels of pollution in the atmosphere.
Drakeford's suggested alternative was that people should be encouraged to travel by rail but at the first whiff of heavy traffic as a result of major events in Cardiff, people are urged not to use the railways.
Train operators asks people not to use its services as fears grew of travel chaos for the recent Tom Jones and Stereophonics stadium shows in Cardiff.
Before the Ed Sheeran show on Friday, May 27, there were 13 miles of queues on the M4 westbound, from the Prince of Wales Bridge to the Brynglas Tunnels in Newport. WalesOnline summed up the situation thus: "Fifteen mile jams, seven-hour trips and massive queues for trains: What people remember most about Ed Sheeran's visit to Cardiff."
When the First Minister was challenged on his decision to scrap plans in 2019 for a new stretch of motorway around Newport, he dismissed claims the road would have helped cut congestion using the bizarre reason that "Even if a decision had been made to go ahead with an M4 relief road, it would have made absolutely no difference at all over the last weekend, because it would, even from today, be another five years before such a road could be opened".
M4 chaos prompts Cardiff event questions. Motorway tailbacks, parking pandemonium and railway station queues. It took one family three hours to get across the Severn Bridge. By the time they got to the out-of-city parking, the shuttle buses had stopped running. They were left about £350 out of pocket.
The First Minister's excuse sounds like a recipe for doing nothing, much like the fate of social care which so desperately needs fixing.
According to the Nuffield Trust, Health and social care account for almost half of the devolved government’s budget but record-breaking NHS waiting lists and the deteriorating performance of the ambulance service and A&E departments are the consequence of a "broken" health service in Wales.
"Vulnerable and elderly patients medically fit to be discharged remain in hospital for longer than necessary because social care support is scarce."
Another example of Mr Drakeford's weird way of thinking? The problem has not been tackled in the past and it would take too long to resolve so continue to ignore it.
It may make sense to the First Minister in his strange little world but not to those on NHS waiting lists or in need of social care.
Latest figures show that there are over 700,000 people across Wales waiting to start NHS treatment. The numbers waiting longer than 36 weeks reached the highest on record - at just over a quarter of a million (258,189) while social care is underfunded and carers undervalued.
'Abandoned responsibilities' or 'radical socialist traditions' First Minister?
Dripford is and always has been a total waste of oxygen and rations.
ReplyDeleteTwenty five years of Labour government in Wales and it's worse than ever.
Never never never trust a politician.
DodoJo is also surprisingly quiet on the matter.
Mark Drakeford was elected Welsh Labour leader a short while before I moved back to Wales, and when I first heard the news of it my heart sank. The rumour was that he'd succeeded Carwyn Jones principally because he was perceived as being on the left of the Labour party and was an ally of Jeremy Corbyn. Those didn't strike me as being noticeably significant qualifications in terms of - inevitably - becoming first minister. Especially as my impression, from what I'd previously seen of him, was that he was plodding, pedestrian, and, to be frank, as dull as the proverbial ditchwater.
DeleteBut as it turns out I was entirely wrong. OK, he's hardly a sparky and witty performer, but the experience of Johnson in Westminster should surely have cured anybody with an ounce of sense of overvaluing that. But Drakeford's cautious, careful - and indeed plodding! - handling of the coronavirus crisis in Wales - way more competent than the burbling shifting inconsistent idiocies of Johnson in England - prompted me to the realization that perhaps being a tad plodding and boring might not be so bad after all!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-61421977
DeleteI suspect the father and extended family of this poor child will hold a different opinion of "plodding and boring" being "not so bad after all".
Negative reports of ineffective social services departments run by Labour councils under the Labour Welsh Assembly Government must be avoided at all costs.
What does DodoJo have to say about this?
Dripford is in the habit of speaking with a forked tongue.
Deletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-61965230
Mention of Cardiff traffic reminds me of the epiphany when I realised Barry Morgan had nothing to offer the CiW. Some years ago, on a cold November night our deanery united for a confirmation. Traffic was gridlocked from the M4 to the centre. This meant Barry having to leave his car and come by Shank's pony, as did many in the congregation. The service started 30 minutes late. Barry preached on how the CiW was the only institution in Wales that could get people to turn out in large numbers on a winter's night. What caused the traffic jam? Wales was playing at the Millennium stadium! Talk about a lack of insight.
ReplyDeleteBully boy Byzantine --Bazza was ever full of bull bagels!
DeleteThe lack of trains in Wales is due to the knock-on effect of the strike in England. TfW is not on strike. But don't let that stop you blaming the WG.
ReplyDeleteTrue. The only train services operating in Wales during the current dispute are those which are under the direct control of Trafnidiaeth Cymru.
DeleteFor reasons which I don't remotely understand, the Glamorgan valleys lines north of Radyr are under the control of TC, and trains are running as normal. But from Radyr southwards they aren't, and so passengers proceeding southwards to Cardiff have had to transfer to a bus.
And from what I hear, by some other Byzantine quirk trains between Cardiff and Severn Tunnel Junction are also unaffected by the UK-wide dispute, and are running as usual.
Odd system - wholly opaque to me at least.
Some years ago Bangor Cathedral hosted the all-Wales presentation of medals and certificates to choristers from around the Principality. It was a sweltering hot day; the cathedral packed ... and ++Morgan had rudely decided to call in to see an old chum in Llyn which was to delay his arrival in Bangor by at least 45 minutes. Children and parents were at the point of heatstroke waiting for him to arrive. Eventually he did but rather than rush to the vestry to robe up for the procession and apologise to the kids and parents inside he stopped to give a BBCTV camera team a 15 minutes long 'head to camera' interview outside; not about the excellence of young choristers or the event, but about very important him going to London for some Royal event. Self promotion. I was standing outside. I was livid. I am some 2" taller than ++Morgan and sometimes forget my 'mild-mannered' career reputation. He knew exactly who I was. I verbally and not quietly laid into him in front of the BBC crew and derived much satisfaction in reducing him to size of a cowering flea. He was for once 'gobbed'. He was ashen-faced. No one had ever spoken to Bishop/Archbishop Barry Morgan in such verbally-hitting terms before. Indeed he was shaking at the rebuke. At service end I ensured I was first to the West Door glad-handing in his line of sight. Yep he cowered again ... and then shuffled off hastily to take refuge in the vestry: to hide. No, he's not a Bully boy. Whack him head-on and as most little weakling cowards are, he crumbles. The Rev. Clifford Williams might remember how I reduced Morgan to similar submission of cowering capitulator in matter of Williams's legal battle against his 'bishop'. This is perhaps giving away my pseudonym anonymity to some - but worth it if it encourages others to treat the likes of Andrew John, Barry Morgan and even Mark Drakeford as turnips. Hit them where it hurts. They can't take it. And I know already that ++Andrew is of the same jelly-eel skin. He can't take man-on-man.
ReplyDeleteOld Bill
Like all bullies Barry Morgan is definitely a coward.
Deletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-61928898
ReplyDeleteFifty years of hell on earth finally replaced with a respect for life.