WALES DIARY: THE QUEST FOR DEVOLVED POWER

Monday 22. February 2010

The ancient Greeks had an expression that went something like “The mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small.”

And so it is with the road to greater powers for Wales. A recent vote represents a small step towards greater democracy for the nation’s people — if you look hard enough.

The vote by the assembly’s 60 AMs triggered a process conceived in 2008 which will end in a referendum aimed at increased law-making powers for Wales.

The current morass of measures dictate that Welsh politicians must go cap-in-hand to Westminster for permission to enact the simplest policies to improve the lives of their constituents.

Backing for this trigger vote had been edged with doubts, uncertainties and provisos — despite all four parties swearing allegiance to a future Welsh legislative body with increased powers.

So it has been with most issues surrounding devolution before and since the wafer-thin majority in favour of its introduction 11 years ago.

While the vote was passed, there’s little doubt that the next steps will take a similarly timorous path towards a referendum which is likely to take place following assembly elections in May 2011.

And there are immediate hazards despite the recent “trigger” vote — not least that Welsh Secretary Peter Hain has 120 days to draft a piece of legislation specifying the question to be put in the referendum and the date it will take place.

Devolutionists in Wales will therefore have to remain vigilant. Timid leadership can spread a lack of confidence in the people — and in this case it could put further devolved power to the people in doubt.

A mountain to climb

An advert for applicants to manage the cafe at Hafod Eryri atop Snowdon’s 3,560ft peak proved a blessing for pun-makers. Any person wanting to take on this “top” job would need to be on “peak” form and would have a mountain to climb — the cafe’s opening last year was marred by complaints of lengthy queues and a litter-strewn environment.

Daily Telegraph restaurant critic Jasper Gerard said that the cafe served cup-a-soup and preheated sausage rolls and baps that left him “sick at the stomach.” He did not reveal what his butler thought.

Cafe owners the Snowdon Mountain Railway are up for the challenge, though, and are seeking to recruit “a manger to fulfil an exciting new role. Someone with the appropriate experience of managing in a busy catering environment.”

The Telegraph didn’t bother sending a correspondent during the four-year construction of the 300-square-metre building from materials brought up from the quarries of Blaenau Ffestiniog. Workers had to face winds of up to 150mph and temperatures which plummeted to -20°C. Some had to walk halfway down the mountain at the end of one working day because the train could not get to them.

The job advert mentioned that a number of staff stay overnight at the centre and that in the past they had helped to rescue people stranded on the mountain. It didn’t specify whether successful applicants would need to get the crampons on in between producing gourmet meals.

Into the 20th century?

Question: What European country the size of Wales boasts not a single mile of electrified railway? Answer: Wales.

This information accompanied a claim by Labour’s Welsh Secretary Peter Hain that ambitious plans to electrify the railway between London and Swansea announced by Gordon Brown last July at a cost of £1 billion could be scrapped under a Conservative government.

The Tories have raised questions about the affordability of the project, due for completion in 2017, at a time of curbs on public spending.

It’s all about general election shadow boxing, of course, with 2017 far enough away to ensure no-one notices whether the chicken comes home to roost.

Meanwhile at Chester, Crewe, Birmingham and Bristol passengers will have to wait on their way to Wales while the sleek — if cramped — Pendolinos are unhooked and the (t)rusty old diesels are hooked on as a prelude to trundling through the wonderful Welsh countryside.

By Roy Jones

(First published in the Morning Star 22.2.10)