Sunday, September 09, 2007
Golwg goes for another golden duck
It is noticeable that whereas the Western Mail spent much of the summer relying extensively on Golwg to fill its pages, the Welsh Language magazine itself has been turning to the internet. Whilst journalists on the newspaper were ringing up to ask for an advance copy of Adam Price's column, Golwg's gossip columnist was scouring blogs for material.
The outcome of this little fishing expedition was that a month ago they discovered that I was undertaking the long trip north for the National Eisteddfod, put two and two together and got five. To be precise they speculated that I had travelled to Mold to gather support for a challenge to Mike German's leadership. They could not have been more wrong and I said so on this blog. Now they have come back, effectively calling me a liar. Forgive me if I use this space once more to reply.
The piece is headed 'Black propaganda' and starts off by stating that 'A month ago Jack asked whether Peter Black was in the Eisteddfod looking for supporters in order to challenge Mike German for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats. Peter Black’s response was to criticise this gossip column (ouch!) and say that he definitely wasn’t going to challenge Mike German and he accused Golwg of publishing a “silly season filler”. Who us?'
Er, wrong. I have never stated that I was not going to challenge Mike German, least of all in the blog item they refer to. I have not definitely said that I will challenge him either, just that there needs to be a contest and I am prepared to be a candidate if necessary. Thus when they conclude by stating that 'This week he announced his intention to try for the leadership of the Welsh party. May we have an explanation, Peter?' they have got it wrong again.
The facts remain the same: I go to the Eisteddfod most years, I am currently the Welsh Liberal Democrat spokesperson on Welsh Language and culture and I took the opportunity of the event being held in Mold to spend a weekend with my mother and to introduce her to the Maes. Hasn't the silly season finished yet?
Why do I need to explain this anyway? Surely the Welsh Liberal Democrats did enough for the language whilst in Government to have established themselves as strong supporters. As such the Eisteddfod is a natural place to find us plying our trade.
The outcome of this little fishing expedition was that a month ago they discovered that I was undertaking the long trip north for the National Eisteddfod, put two and two together and got five. To be precise they speculated that I had travelled to Mold to gather support for a challenge to Mike German's leadership. They could not have been more wrong and I said so on this blog. Now they have come back, effectively calling me a liar. Forgive me if I use this space once more to reply.
The piece is headed 'Black propaganda' and starts off by stating that 'A month ago Jack asked whether Peter Black was in the Eisteddfod looking for supporters in order to challenge Mike German for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats. Peter Black’s response was to criticise this gossip column (ouch!) and say that he definitely wasn’t going to challenge Mike German and he accused Golwg of publishing a “silly season filler”. Who us?'
Er, wrong. I have never stated that I was not going to challenge Mike German, least of all in the blog item they refer to. I have not definitely said that I will challenge him either, just that there needs to be a contest and I am prepared to be a candidate if necessary. Thus when they conclude by stating that 'This week he announced his intention to try for the leadership of the Welsh party. May we have an explanation, Peter?' they have got it wrong again.
The facts remain the same: I go to the Eisteddfod most years, I am currently the Welsh Liberal Democrat spokesperson on Welsh Language and culture and I took the opportunity of the event being held in Mold to spend a weekend with my mother and to introduce her to the Maes. Hasn't the silly season finished yet?
Why do I need to explain this anyway? Surely the Welsh Liberal Democrats did enough for the language whilst in Government to have established themselves as strong supporters. As such the Eisteddfod is a natural place to find us plying our trade.
Comments:
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Exactly Peter,
My ccommentary of this is as follows.....
If you (or any other lib dem AM) were going to go for it, you would need to do the work with the membership.
Part of that, would be going to as many Lib Dem events as you could (witness the competition between Huhne and Clegg for after dinner speaking), the point is, you would not go to the Maes to win over vast numbers of WLD members. Maybe if we were Plaid right now then it would be worthwhile. The point is, I don't know, maybe you are going all-out to beat Mike (my feeling is that you don't want to be leader but equally you don't wan't Mike to be), but whatever, you wouldn't see the eistedfodd as a leadership campaigning opportunity. Therefore, it is golwg searching for a story. They got certain elements right, (i.e. you don't want MG as leader)but this was a made up story, you were going to the Eistedfod because you are a Welsh politician. (at least, you combined some family time and enjoyed yourself).
My ccommentary of this is as follows.....
If you (or any other lib dem AM) were going to go for it, you would need to do the work with the membership.
Part of that, would be going to as many Lib Dem events as you could (witness the competition between Huhne and Clegg for after dinner speaking), the point is, you would not go to the Maes to win over vast numbers of WLD members. Maybe if we were Plaid right now then it would be worthwhile. The point is, I don't know, maybe you are going all-out to beat Mike (my feeling is that you don't want to be leader but equally you don't wan't Mike to be), but whatever, you wouldn't see the eistedfodd as a leadership campaigning opportunity. Therefore, it is golwg searching for a story. They got certain elements right, (i.e. you don't want MG as leader)but this was a made up story, you were going to the Eistedfod because you are a Welsh politician. (at least, you combined some family time and enjoyed yourself).
# posted by 
: 10:33 PM
: 10:33 PM
You must have skin as thin as a prostitute's perineum to respond to this bit of tittle tattle!
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# posted by : 1:33 PM
: 1:33 PM<< Home
