Letter from the new Editor

THANK YOU FOR ALL THE KIND MESSAGES OF THANKS and goodwill sent to Henry and the magazine, I will strive to ensure that CAMBRIA continues to deserve your support and appreciation. Over the last ten years thousands of letters, emails and telephone calls have come into our offices from all manner of people and all walks of life. We have met some wonderful people and learned an enormous amount. It has been exciting, albeit hard work.

Wales has an incredible wealth of heritage and beauty, much of which I know that I would be unaware of were it not for CAMBRIA. When I think of some of the stories: of Owain Glyndwr, of Gwenllian at Kidwelly, the beautiful Nest, to name but a few, I cannot imagine why film makers have not tapped into the romance, the beauty, and the tragedy that makes up so much of the history of Wales. Looking back over ten years of CAMBRIA we have covered quite an eclectic mix of subject; our hope is that we will never be predictable and that we will contin¬ue to evolve and develop. We certainly have no shortage of ideas. In his last editorial Henry spoke of the vision he had for CAMBRIA, a magazine that could compete on the international stage, hold its head high on any airport shelf alongside those of other countries. Not parochial or small minded, but a paean to its landscape, culture and history, all of it, and especially for those who are not already familiar, an introduction to her psyche. Last month we had two complaints that we were a 'South Wales magazine', and, over the years this is a criticism that has been levelled at us several times. In view of the topics we have covered this is most bizarre as the magazine is a record of events and opinions, people and landscapes regardless of geogra¬phy. We have always sought to overcome the myopic and divisive 'north-south mentality' and be a one-Wales magazine.

It seems that it is more important now than ever that we should pull together. Of course there will be criticisms of the Senedd, there always will be. It has been a very long time since we governed ourselves, we will make mistakes, but they will be our mistakes. Wales is being reborn, it is only natural that this should be a painful process.

On a lighter note, I would like to welcome Roy Noble on board as a regular contributor. Over the years, we have often been asked for a bit more humour, so here it is.

Anrhydedd Cymru'r Cyfanfyd - The World Wide Welsh Award, inspiration of Dr Arturo Roberts, publisher of the Welsh-North American newspaper Ninnau, is being presented to Jan Moms this year in recognition of her outstanding achievements. Her writing is known and admired world-wide. Her commitment to Wales has been exhilarating for us all. Her kindness and encouragement to us at CAMBRIA, have provided tremendous and invaluable support. The President of the Eisteddfod Court, D. Hugh Thomas, will make the presentation in the main pavilion at 1.30pm on Tuesday 7th August. May I encourage all our readers to attend this very special ceremony and honour one of our greatest national treasures. Elfed Roberts, Chief Executive of the National Eisteddfod says; 'I well remember the presentation of this highly prestigious award in Llanelli in 2000, when a capacity audience filled the pavilion to honour Gwynfor Evans. We look forward to a similarly great occasion this year.'

Frances Jones-Davies

PierHead

This story about Tony Blair (or Tony B Liar to squaddies) because of the Iraq problems he created for himself) seems almost too good to be true.
There's long been a tale going around Welsh Tories con¬cerning our recently-departed prime minister's early interest in politics.
We all know that Mr Blair's background and private education would both incline him to support the party which usually wins elections, in other words, the Conservatives.
While holding Britain's top political office, the Sedgefield MP has indeed succeeded in solidly occupying that centre ground where the Tories were once encamped.
Many of the policies he has pursued have seemed solidly-Tory, which has helped him, no doubt, to his three successive election wins.
According to the Tory tale, Mr Blair's interest in Tory policies goes back much further than Mrs Thatcher's time. For it was claimed by a Welsh Tory full-timer that Mr Blair once filled in an application form to join the Conservative Party.
It is said that the application form still exists...somewhere.
Quite frankly, the story looks more like a Tory dream than a matter of substance. ... Unless someone can find that application form!
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Lisa Francis, the former Aberystwyth hotelier who made an impact on the Assembly during her four years as a Tory for Mid and West, believes that MPs are becoming redundant in Wales.
After losing in Mid and West region (because her party won Preseli and Carmarthen West constituencies), she mused about how politics is changing.
"There used to be all these joint committees at which MPs used to turn up, as well as the AMs, but in the last couple of years we have been seeing less of the MPs," she said.
Of course, if a party possesses a good organisation and holds both seats, it is sufficient for only one elected repre¬sentative to attend. But with MPs having little say in what government decides for Wales, it is more likely that they are at last realising that their job stops at the doors of Westminster. "They are becoming redundant in Wales," said Ms Francis.
The Tories' culture and language spokesman in the Senedd is rinding it's taking at least a month to close her office in Aberystwyth, her home town for some years now.

Then it will be time to look for another job. Or even to find another electoral challenge. At which point presiding officer Dafydd Elis Thomas should perhaps look to his laurels.
Brought up in Dinas Mawddwy, part of Dwyfor Meirionnydd, Ms Francis talks of fighting that seat again. There's no chance of beating Lord Elis-Thomas (he possesses one of the largest majorities in the Assembly) - "But, look out; he can't stay for ever; at some time he'll have to retire," she said
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There's nothing like moving backwards by going forward. That is precisely what seemed to be happening when Assembly chief executive and clerk Claire Clancy delicately purveyed a dark leather folder a yard across the Senedd chamber containing a letter to be neatly signed by re-elected presiding officer Lord Elis-Thomas.
Ms Clancy is, of course, far more a pen-pushing, target-chasing chief executive than the legally-expert clerk carefully schooled in the intricacies of law-making precedent and the tortuous ways of politicians whom she replaced.
Former Commons hand Paul Silk was sadly shunted back to the Houses of Parliament to make way for her — surely one of the first examples of the Senedd moving forward to its new (albeit seriously deficient) law-making powers by taking, de facto, a step backwards organisationally.
Former Assembly Committee Clerk and then head of Member Research Services Adrian Crompton has taken on Mr Silk's crucial position, but in the definitely second-rank position of Director of Assembly business.
The letter Ms Clancy daintily carried to the presiding officer represented another step backwards. In the past, AMs simply pressed their voting buttons to appoint the First Minister, and that was that.
But now that vote is no longer sufficient. A letter had to be sent to Lizzie (faxed and then posted), telling her that Rhodri Morgan had been "nominated", and asking her to allow that nomination to stand and to appoint him as a "Minister of the crown". Mr Morgan was then formally sworn in - with an oath that omits any need to serve Wales, stating rather that he will "well and truly serve Her Majesty".
With all this backward-looking palaver for the sake of a person who has never been titled "Queen of Wales", perhaps it was no surprise that two of the more hot-headed members of the Plaid group decided they had better things to do than turn up to gawp when the Queen of England limousined up to open the new Assembly. Instead, Leanne Wood (South Central) and Bethan Jenkins (South West) spent time visiting homelessness projects in Swansea.
No doubt there would be more support for republicanism if it didn't entail electing a superannuated politician infamous for trying to push divisive dogma down people's throats.