Not too far from the National Assembly building in Cardiff there’s a cheeky sign outside a pub door.
“Wanted,” it says. “Traditional customers. Ask inside for details.”
On May 3, Wales goes to the polls to choose a new round of assembly members.
If Labour does badly, Rhodri Morgan won’t return as First Minister. If it does well, he will, but only until 2009.
Morgan, like Tony Blair, gave good notice of his departure.
But they see little else the same. Morgan is like that city pub. He has had his eye on the traditional customers…
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The Debate
Should Green Arrow and his 82-year-old mother, a former Labour activist, vote BNP in the upcoming National Assembly elections?
I am trying to persuade them otherwise… http://whatiswales.blogspot.com/2007/04/race-to-may-poll.html
Feel free to contribute.
Race to the May Poll
The British National Party will launch its manifesto for the National Assembly elections tomorrow.
It is fielding 20 candidates on May 3 – its largest campaign so far in Wales.
Its teaser ahead of the launch is for a pledge to “tear down the Severn Bridge toll-gates, and in their place erect a monumental bronze statue of Rebecca to symbolise the right to freedom of movement in Wales”.
The action would, it says, act “as a reminder to all who pass, of the heritage of the Welsh people”.
The party’s continual references to heritage and tradition provide clues of its underlying obsession – race. The campaign might make it appear that the party has moved into the mainstream, but the unpleasantness remains.
However, the BNP seems confident that it will soon have a representative in Wales – not at the assembly, but perhaps following next year’s council elections.
Take a look at the new edition of The Big Issue Cymru, out from Monday, to see a breakdown of the history of the BNP in Wales – and an analysis of its future.
Runners and Riders
Been spending time for The Big Issue taking a closer look at the candidates for next month’s National Assembly elections.
Something about the Tory party’s list of hopefuls caught my eye.
Henrietta Hensher, Daisy Meyland-Smith, Gerry Frobisher, Felicity Elphick, Norma Lloyd-Nesling, Antoinette Sandbach…
Real people?
Or characters from a Jilly Cooper novel?
Greg Lewis 