Flanders outperforms Belgium

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The financial analysts Moody's have increased Flanders credit rating. This is good news for the Flemish Government. In future the Flemish authorities could borrow money at a cheaper rate.

A lesson for Wales and an objective for a Welsh Government - A higher credit rating than the British and equal too other nations in Europe.

Flanders hopes that the forthcoming round of negotiations between Belgium's regions and language communities will deliver greater fiscal autonomy.

Mr Van Mechelen told a press conference that he is confident that Flanders will be given greater powers over taxation.

Why are the British so afraid of granting Wales fiscal autonomy? Perhaps they are afraid that Wales will be more successful in running it's own affairs than the British are. The Flemish have proved it!

The World Class Wales Awards

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New Zealand's global community of expatriates are a potent force in New Zealand's economic growth – sharing their expertise and building the international connections that are crucial to New Zealand's future.

New Zealander's embrace awards from their own country, no mention of outdated OBE's or CBE's from the British.

We should be doing the same.

Budget passed with support of socialist's too!

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The Basque parliament will pass on Thursday the 2007 budget for the Basque Autonomous Region, thanks to the agreement with the Basque Socialist party for the second year in a row.

Continue reading "Budget passed with support of socialist's too!" »

Cardiff's Adult Porn Link

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Fine words from WAG.

“We’re also delighted that our strategy of developing a consistent brand, showing the real Wales and remaining true to ourselves really does work.

I am definitely not delighted by the way the British market Cardiff, the British should be stripped at once of the right to market Wales as a tourist destination overseas, time and again they have failed and this latest effort is just negligent. Come on First Minister please do what is right for Wales rather than cow tow to the British - deliver the exclusive right to market Wales as a tourist destination globally for the WAG. Wales and our people can only benefit.

This is how the British do it. When you have opened this VisitBritain webpage please click on "Cardiff Initiative" under the title Related Websites.

REMEMBERING

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On September 11, Catalonia commemorates the 1714 Barcelona defeat during the War of the Spanish Succession. As a punishment for their support to the claim of Habsburg Archduke Charles to the throne of Spain, institutions and rights of the territories of the Crown of Aragon were abolished by the victorious absolutist Bourbon monarchy.

In 1980, the restored Generalitat de Catalunya (autonomous Government of Catalonia), as its first public act proclaimed 11 September the Catalan National Holiday.

Organizations and political parties traditionally lay floral offerings at the monuments of Rafael Casanova and General Moragues for their fight against the Bourbon army.

Catalan citizens also meet in the Fossar de les Moreres, where they pay homage to the defenders of city who where killed and buried in that place.

Throughout the day, there are political demonstrations, concerts and celebration events. Many citizens wave the flags of Catalonia: senyeres.

Continue reading "REMEMBERING" »

www.icwales.cym

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Coming soon?

Already Catalan newspapers are using .cat not .es (Spain)

www.avui.cat/
www.elpunt.cat/
www.regio7.cat/
www.segre.cat

Gross

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Please stop comparing Wales to the North-East of England.

Instead, compare it to small independent self governing nations.

Of course though then you would have to have some real ambition and the power to do the job.

Connecting with the Diaspora

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the Welsh Assembly Government now has a presence in Amsterdam, Bangalore, Beijing, Brussels, Chicago, Dubai, Dublin, Hong Kong, Houston, Milan, Munich, New York, Ontario, Paris, San Francisco, Seoul, Shangai, Singapore, Sydney, Taipei and Tokyo, and we are currently looking at how these can best contribute to promoting Wales in the future

Also now in North Wales.

Any chance for the WAG to use to use it's "presences" to connect with the Welsh Diaspora, just as the Basque do?

Redwood the Mime

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What I would like to see is the return of the English Parliament to Westminster. Everything which is an English matter, including health, education, local Government, planning and law and order, should be considered only by English Members of the Westminster Parliament meeting as the English Parliament. This would give England the same devolved powers as enjoyed in Scotland, create a stronger sense of English identity around the traditional Parliament of England, and avoid any extra costs and hassles associated with devolution in Scotland and Wales.

Should Mr Redwoods vision come to pass, or indeed current Conservative policy, will it mean that only part-time MP's elected from Welsh Constituencies would be allowed to vote on Orders in Council from the Senedd at Westminster?

Then if English, part-time Scottish and part-time Northern Irish MP's could not vote why should appointed and hereditary Lords be allowed to?

Primary Law making powers for the Senedd is the only logical DEMOCRATIC answer

Burberry made in Wales?

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Are the Burberry goods made in the Rhondda labeled as Made in Wales?

Mervyn Burnett, GMB Senior Organiser said: "Obviously we are pleased with the announcement as GMB members will have some financial security over Christmas and into the New Year. This will not however deflect GMB members' campaign to keep production on the Treorchy site on a permanent basis and therefore our campaign to "Keep Burberry British" will continue."

Does he really mean "Keep Burberry English"?

Made in England (Netherlands)

and

Made in England (France)

and

Made in England (Finland)

Reality TV

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The TV programme has been widely welcomed in Flemish nationalist circles. Bart De Wever (Flemish nationalist), an ally of Flemish Premier Yves Leterme says that Flemish and Walloon independence are coming a step closer every day.

Meanwhile the BBC is doing it's best to promote Britishness under who's direction one can only guess. What will they come up with next?

European Parliament Office in the Senedd

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Back in the day it was noticed that while the English and the Scots have a European Parliament Office, Wales does not.

Jill Evans MEP raised this issue at an European and External Affairs Committee meeting in the Senedd.

Therefore, we have to look at how we, and Wales, can influence this process. I would like to suggest some concrete but fairly simple measures that could be taken. First, a physical presence is important. Since my election, I have campaigned for us to have a European Parliament office in Wales. There is one in Scotland and one in England, and we have discussed this matter previously in committee. These offices do a good job, alongside the European Commission offices, providing information and a focus for the parliament, which is the only democratically elected part of the EU. I had hoped that, with the building of the new Senedd, something could be incorporated into that, even it were only an interactive communication point for the parliament, which parliamentary officials have discussed before. I ask the committee to revisit this issue to see whether something could be proposed to the European Parliament so that we have a physical presence in Wales.

Your second point is very good. After I was elected, I wrote to a number of organisations in Wales asking them to support the proposal to have an office in Wales. I had an excellent response at the time. It is fair to say that the five of us, as Members from Wales, agreed on this at the time. We made a formal application to the European Parliament, but, at the time, it was looking at enlargement and so the resources were all allocated to the new countries rather than to existing countries. In the meantime, I have raised the matter several times, but there have been no formal developments. I do not believe that a formal request has been made to the Assembly. Therefore, the fact that the commission exists means that you can put this on the agenda or we, as Members of the European Parliament, could contact the commission and apply for it to be placed on the agenda; that is the way to move forward. With all the technology that we have, there is no reason why we cannot have somewhere in the Assembly for people to communicate directly with the European Parliament. That is the way forward.

Please take action and write to the Shadow Commission asking them to get a European Parliament Office in the Senedd because the people of Wales deserve it.

Continue reading "European Parliament Office in the Senedd" »

Why wait for the British?

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The Government has published the Health Bill 2006 which provides an independent inspectorate of all nursing homes and residential centres for children and people with disabilities.

Real laws that could really help the most vulnerable people in our country, why wait for the British?

Health centres and a bit more

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Health centres vary greatly in size. The largest employ hundreds of doctors and provide highly specialized services. In health centres in remote areas, doctors have to be able to cope with emergencies as well as offering basic health care. Attached to each health centre there is usually a hospital for people with mild or chronic illness, a small laboratory, a radiological unit and a physiotherapy unit.

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Preliminary Evaluation for Immigration

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The Preliminary Evaluation for Immigration enables you to obtain directly online a free summary evaluation of your chances of being selected by Québec.

As Quebec sees it, having it's own immigration policies are vital to it's national interests.
Why don't the British want to let Wales control its own migration policies?

A future Wales Ministry of Immigration could has prepare a guide about Wales to help immigrants in their transition towards your new life in Wales, starting right now.

Just like they do in Quebec.

Continue reading "Preliminary Evaluation for Immigration" »

ourselves alone

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There was an English newspaper, an Irish newspaper and a Scottish newspaper.

...............and then the British were gone.

So far, all the decision-making in these matters has been placed on the Scots. That has to stop. The English deserve their referendum, too, on whether they wish to remain in any sort of union with Scotland. If they can have their own Parliament, then why shouldn't England? If they wish to be separate, then why should the English subsidise them? Above all, why should the rights of the English majority be so aggressively denied?

Continue reading "ourselves alone" »

British forget Anglesey

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What is more worrying is that this promotion is being backed by the New Labour Welsh Government.

Please click on www.visitbritain.com/vb3-en-sg/onlineshop and see "Great British Heritage Pass" and click on - Find out more. Then click on "Attractions" in the left handside dialogue box to see the map.

It is unacceptable for our Government to be abdicating it's responsibility in this way.The British are incompetent and should not be in charge of marketing Wales at all.

NEW TO WALES - Immigration

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Imagine it could happen in Wales too.

100% of the Asylum cases processed in an average time of 114 days

100% of the Visa cases processed in an average time of 51 days

This Immigration policy is not administered by the Germans, instead a small European country legislates for and decides on the immigration policy that best suits it's own needs.

Immigration must be devolved to the Senedd because then Wales itself, can decide how best it's own needs can be met.

quality-of-life index

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The Economist Intelligence Unit has developed a new “quality of life” index based on a unique methodology that links the results of subjective life-satisfaction surveys to the objective determinants of quality of life across countries.

The British placed 29th.

The Top five being:

1.Ireland
2.Switzerland
3.Norway
4.Luxembourg
5.Sweden

How about a target for the next Welsh Government to get Wales in to the top 20 countries Worldwide quality-of-life index?

As the top 5 counties are small and independent, then independence and the power to design laws and implement policies to meet the specific needs of that country (rather than follows someone else's) seems to be the pre requisite for success.

From an interview with Frank Field MP former welfare minister talking about the English:

The whole business about Great Britain is a fiction which the English thought up as a polite way of binding in the Scots, the Welsh and the Irish. But those nations have their own identities and so do we and I think we are all stronger in asserting our primary identity

How much longer can Wales afford to bare the British Burden?

National Days

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The British claim St Patrick as British.

Born in Britain, he was carried off by pirates, and spent six years in slavery before escaping and training as a missionary.

Lets make some changes and have St David's Day as a national holiday in Wales. Please take action.

There are currently no special offers

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Is having the phrase “There are currently no special offers“ displayed prominently on a website aimed at attracting customers good marketing?

No brainer (again) isn't it?

In Scotland though they understand marketing.

The Ladies European Tour held an event at Machynys Peninsula GC in Wales last August that was covered widely in the European media.

Please copy and paste, Machynys Peninsula GC into the course name search, here and then click search.

Disappointed? I was and so I bet are the owners of Machynys Peninsula GC.

The Catalans list all the golf courses by name, seems the easiest way to do it and it works.

I could go on but I will stop now.

MARKETING 101

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If you had a billion dollar business would you let your major competitor market your product in your most important markets?

No brainer isn't it?

Yet this is what the New Labour Government in Wales is doing.

International visitors make a significant and important contribution to the Welsh tourism economy. In partnership with VisitBritain, we are active in selected overseas markets, developing marketing messages to increase international visitor spend.

Category A

USA
Germany
The Netherlands

Category B

Belgium
Japan
Australasia
Ireland
France

While VisitBritain promotes England in France, Germany, Netherlands and Ireland

If letting VisitBritian market a non England country is so beneficial why are the Irish marketing so successfully independently?

Rally Storbritannia

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Petter Solberg klatret til 3.-plass etter tredje fartsprøve av Rally Storbritannia fredag. Finske Marcus Grönholm leder årets siste VM-runde.

If one of Norway's's leading newspapers is not mentioning Wales, instead using "Storbritannia" - Great Britain to describe the rally, then comments by Andrew Davies must be cast in doubt.

Andrew Davies, said:

The international profile and media coverage of the World Rally Championship is second only to F1 in motor sport so gives us chance to showcase Wales globally.

And so in France TV2.

Sébastien Loeb ne participera pas la semaine prochaine au rallye de Grande-Bretagne (1-3 décembre).

Again "Grande-Bretagne" - Great Britain, not mention of Wales.

I could go on but I will stop now.

Devolve Policing

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For all its rhetoric about being tough on crime, the current government (British) has been more willing to waste millions of taxpayers’ money on a harebrained, politically-motivated scheme to merge forces than to put cash into the running of local police services.

The British Home Office is not competent to run the Scottish Police Forces because the policing needs of Scotland are different to that of the British. The Scottish Police answer to the Scottish Executive.

Equally the needs of Wales are different. A National Wales Police Force should be funded by and answerable to the Welsh Government because only then can the exclusive needs of Wales be satisfied.

The Catalans have their own Police force responsible to the Catalan Government and are even opening new police stations and so do the Basques.