They Blog For You

I’ve always liked cars, which may perhaps be a dangerous thing for any minister to admit to.   Notwithstanding, I do like cars and in my constituency town of Ruthin one day last summer, I saw a car that was – to my wholly subjective eye – utterly beautiful.  It was a [...]

As regular readers will know, we moved house in June.  Since then, we have entertained a succession of electricians, carpenters, plumbers and decorators.  All of them have carried their work excellently and have been a pleasure to have around us. It has, as I predicted, been a long haul.  But now [...]

“The first day I  arrived in Parliament, I sat down to dinner and soon discovered that I was the only one on the table whose grandfather hadn’t been a Prime Minister.” Filed under: Life Tagged: Overhears [...]

Wise words for Ed Miliband from Alastair Campbell today. Speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, Tony Blair’s former director of communications pointed out that the current Labour stance of simply criticising Government plans for spending reductions, without putting forward any cogent alternative proposals, just won’t wash: “He’s only just been elected, but [...]

I must admit to being quietly pleased at the re-appointment of Peter Hain as shadow Welsh Secretary, much as one enjoys the experience of being reunited with a mislaid pair of comfortable, well-worn of shoes. Given, too, that he was Secretary of State for so long, he will be able to continue [...]

Image via Wikipedia The shadow cabinet election results, declared yesterday evening, have attracted much comment in Wales.  Eight Welsh MPs, all of them former ministers, three of them Privy Councillors and two of them  former cabinet members, stood for election, yet none was successful. Asked to explain this on BBC Wales news, [...]

An all-day ministerial excursion took me today to Wrexham, the part of the world where I was brought up and which, in my admittedly prejudiced opinion, is one of the most interesting corners of Wales, with a rich military, industrial and social heritage. There, I learned some facts of which I was [...]

I’ve always liked cars, which is probably a dangerous thing to admit to in these politically correct days in which, in certain quarters, the likes of Jeremy Clarkson are suspected of covertly bearing the mark of the Beast.      Notwithstanding, I do like cars and in Ruthin today, I saw a car that [...]

My sincere admiration goes to Gillian Duffy, the lifelong Labour supporter from Rochdale, whose trip to the shops last April to buy a loaf of bread turned into the defining moment of the 2010 general election campaign. Given her very public humiliation at the hands of the leader of her party, [...]

This evening, I paid my annual visit to the Old Colwyn East Residents’ Association.  The meeting, which was well-attended, was also very lively.  The secretary, David Curtis (who is shortly to retire, which will be a major loss to the Association), read the minutes of the previous month’s meeting.  I was [...]

Visited the Anglesey show today, which was so well attended that we had to wait in a queue for forty minutes before entering the showground.  When we finally got in, it was well worth the wait.  The weather was perfect, with the large crowds clearly enjoying themselves.   I was pleased to [...]

Yesterday, for the sixth year running, I participated in the judging of the annual “Glyn in Bloom” competition, which has become a firmly established feature of civic life in that part of Colwyn Bay. The concept is simple: Glyn is divided up into individual streets, and first, second and third prizes [...]

Llanrhaeadr show yesterday, and the weather turned fine after an early morning cloudburst. The show was one of the best attended of recent years, with high standards in all classes, particularly the pony section. Entering the showground, I did a double-take at the incongruous sight of an enclosure what I thought were [...]

Less than three months after announcing his resignation from the Opposition front bench, Jack Straw has announced it again. This time, however, he has also announced his intention to publish his memoirs, which he says he hopes will be “readable” and not “tedious or self-serving”.  I have no doubt that, being [...]

As Monty Slocombe has pointed out in his usual courteous and understated way, there has been little blogging on this site over the last few days.  Primarily, this has been due to a significant increase in my workload; I thought an MP’s life was busy, which it is, but ministerial [...]

Appeared on BBC’s Politics Show this lunchtime and was, inevitably, asked about the resignation of David Laws.  Certain sections of the media are trying to spin the line that this was a homophobic witch-hunt, but it was nothing of the sort.  The allegation against David Laws is that he diverted [...]

In a couple of weeks, we will be moving house.  I can’t say I’m looking forward to the prospect, although I know it’s time to go: our house, which served us well while the boys were growing up, and of which we have many so happy memories, is now just [...]

Apologies for the light blogging of late, but life has been rather hectic over the past seven days. Yesterday evening, after driving back from London, I attended the annual dinner of the North Wales CBI at the St David’s Park hotel, Ewloe.  There were a number of extremely good speeches, including [...]

An incredibly busy couple of days. Monday was spent in Cardiff, settling into the Wales Office building in Cardiff Bay, meeting the very welcoming officials and generally getting my feet under the table.  There was a very successful visit by the Prime Minister to the Assembly, where we met the Presiding [...]

Throwing open the curtains this morning, I am greeted by a brilliantly clear day.  So clear, indeed, that it is hard to believe that, high above me in the stratosphere, there is a pall of Icelandic volcanic ash so dense that, once again, flights from British airports are grounded. The ash [...]