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David Cameron walks across a narrow walkway high above the conference centre's vast entrance hall to get to his latest round of tv and radio interviews.

A nice fusion of form and content there as he continued to walk a narrow path for the next half hour - the one that allowed him to lay some blame for the economic crisis at Gordon Brown's door, while at the same time making clear his intention to 'do what he can to help'. He may not have suspended his critical faculties during the walk over the suspended walkway but here was the responsible Leader of the Opposition who is listening to those in his own party who advise against giving a Prime Minister who is down a good kicking.

'I spoke to the Prime Minister last night ...' he told each and every interviewer. 'Today is a day for working together'.

I don't imagine he'd had time to hear the people of Dudley having their say on Breakfast News. If his advisers had been listening, they would have heard one ordinary voter after another sending him a message that showed Gordon Brown's 'no time for a novice' jibe had struck home.

Welsh activists out and about last night may be utterly convinced that George Osborne is up to the Chancellor's job and that David Cameron turned the credibility corner long before coming to Birmingham. They sense that the prize is near now and they just can't wait to get the job done. But in Dudley - and it's fair to assume in Delyn and Dwyfor Meirionnydd - they're really not so sure. And with every day that the economy plunges deeper into crisis, with every share price that falls through the floor, David Cameron will have to persuade them one by one that they're wrong. He was on the case this morning:

'The lesson from the US is clear today of all days - we must work together'.

The later the election, the more time he has to do that; then again the later the election the more time those Welsh Labour MPs have to hold on to the desperate thought that 'maybe, just maybe' the economy will somehow save them from ruin.

As for Lord Wyn Roberts' report on further powers for the Assembly, Mr Cameron told Radio Wales this morning we'd learn more about it 'in good time'. From memory his answer on further powers was almost identical to the one he gave last year as the sun rose over Blackpool: 'we want to make devolution work'. You won't be surprised to learn that the issue is nowhere near the top of his agenda. He initially seemed a little uncertain when interviewed yesterday whether the report had been published yet. That doesn't point to buring bad news. It points to having nothing clear to say yet and so having little motivation for saying anything at all. He has, after all, plenty of other things to talk about these days. But 'making devolution work' won't cut it as a policy position for much longer.

And what about a decision on as parliamentary candidate in the Vale of Glamorgan? There is, he says, 'plenty of time to make that decision'. The suspended Alun Cairns might take some comfort from the fact that his leader spoke very warmly about him. 'He's worked extremely hard ... he made a mistake and apologised for that'. Mr Cameron will 'look at the circumstances'.

But given the extraordinary economic circumstances and even one or two rumours that the conference here in Birmingham may come to a premature end, he might not have time to do that for a little while yet.

Perhaps those Welsh delegates who haven't yet made it to Harvey Nichols - and one or two haven't, how shall I put it, let the credit crunch put them off - should hurry up.

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• - What's this?

Eleven days ago Brynle Williams let rip at Welsh farmers who had failed to vaccinate their cattle against the extremely unpleasant Bluetongue virus.

"The vaccine has been made available to all farmers across Wales so it is vital they use it" he railed.

I assume he meant them to use it on their cattle - but it turns out he's in fact used it on himself. During the debate on Bluetongue in the Senedd, the Shadow Rural Affairs Minister revealed that he has somehow contrived to inject himself with the vaccine, which means that in another nineteen days or so he'll be immune to the disease. It's no recommendation, he says, but I'm still here.

The bad news is that he may suffer a bit of high fever, excessive salivation, swelling of the face, neck and tongue, even a touch of frothing at the mouth. Perhaps he should be tested.

The good news is that his tongue will be truly on message.

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• - What's this?

It looks as though I'd put two and two together and got five.

I'd heard the Conservative buzzwords in Birmingham - "confident decision taking".

I'd listened to their own description of the process of granting more powers to the Assembly as "a cumbersome procedure ... unsatisfactory".

And I'd assumed that this week we'd finally get to hear how Lord Wyn Roberts believes David Cameron could sort it all out in government.

Lord Roberts' interim report was delivered in July. For a while it was 'sitting on David Cameron's desk'. Now I'm told it's been read by 'a handful' of people, some of whom had fervently hoped it would be unveiled here in Birmingham, making clear the party's position on granting more powers to the Assembly.

But it won't be. We're going to have to wait for 'some weeks, maybe months'.

Granted David Cameron can't afford to get this wrong.

Granted it's taken Nick Bourne a good while to get from leading the No campaign to leading the push for more powers to the Assembly.

But someone is going to use that word soon: dithering and that, in David Cameron's Conservative party, is not allowed.

By the way Nick Bourne has just let slip that a Conservative Government could reverse the law that prevents candidates for the National Assembly standing in both individual constituencies and on regional lists - that he's been talking to Oliver Letwin about a Tory government delivering just that.

As a priorty? The sole nugget of information gleaned from the final session of the day entitled 'a report from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland'.

No wonder we were congratulated for having "the endurance and perseverance to still be here'.

UPDATE: Come on, say the Welsh Conservatives. People on the doorsteps aren't asking us what Lord Wyn Roberts has written in his report. They're talking about schools and hospitals and ...

Re-introducting dual candidacy?

Ahem ...

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• - What's this?

Yes, we have a No campaign.

The group calls itself "True Wales" because "members felt that those who support Wales' presence in the United Kingdom have been for too long unfairly categorised as "anti-Welsh". True Wales aims to represent the true feelings of the huge majority of people in Wales who wish to remain in the United Kingdom".

Who are its members?

They describe themselves as "Labour, Conservative and Independent politicians and activists who believe that further law-making powers for the Assembly would lead the people of Wales down the slippery slope to independence".

There are two Davids involved: one, David Rees is a Labour councillor from Risca - a man who has in the past and having met him more than once, I can guarantee that this David never imagined he'd be lining up alongside the other one: the Conservative MP for Monmouth.

David TC Davies MP a few weeks ago and fear of "Soviet style poverty" for Wales has persuaded him to throw in his lot with 'True Wales'.

"I want Wales to remain an integral part of the United Kingdom and I shall be pleased to be working with Socialists, Liberals and Independents who share that commitment. Whatever our political differences on other issues, I believe that we can represent the views of the majority of people in Wales".

What do they want? A referendum.

When do they want it? Soon.

Ditch the All Wales Convention and its fact-sharing, fact-gathering mission is the message. No need for a "propaganda campaign undertaken with the full might of the machinery of government. The people of Wales are astute enough to know the answer to the question is either "yes" or "no".

On Tuesday the First Minister and his Deputy made it clear that they have absolutely no intention of counter-launching a Yes campaign.

Let's see if 'True Wales' makes its mark - more of a mark than many in Cardiff Bay seem to be anticipating.

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• - What's this?

He danced in and he danced out - Ben Bradshaw I mean, the Health Minister who cheered louder than anyone as Gordon Brown proclaimed that "a Labour government has now achieved the lowest ever waiting times in the whole history of the NHS".

It was a long speech and the Prime Minister gets collared for too much detail so perhaps we shouldn't blame him for not adding ".. in England".

This was a crowd willing Gordon Brown to give them reason to stand and cheer. What they got was Gordon the man delivering the most coherent attack on the Conservatives many will have heard from Labour in a long time.

As the crowds streamed out, one Welsh voice sounded relieved. "Now 'Go 4th' feels like a real campaign to win a fourth term" she beamed "instead of a warning that we're about to come fourth in the election".

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• - What's this?

Last night Gordon Brown was in the conference hall rehearsing the speech he hopes will get him rather more marks from party activists than David Miliband's apparently intentionally under-played six out of ten. But Plaid have already given him full marks for - one that contained these lines:

"It's time to complete devolution ...

For there is something more vital at stake for your entire society - that only the completion of devolution can deliver.

How can you, as an Assembly, address common criminality, low-level crime and youth disorder when you are responsible for only some of the lever for change? When you have responsibility for education and health and social development but have to rely on Westminster for policing and justice?

The people of Northern Ireland look to you to deal with these matters because to them they are important. Full devolution is the way to deliver better services, tailored to the needs of all communities, regardless of the politics. Is is the best way for you to serve them. "

He's talking 'over there' of course and not 'over here'. All the same what happens over there will inevitably impact on us over here - an argument I've heard the man who was Secretary of State over there and is now Secretary of State over here make in the past. So what does Paul Murphy make of it? Devolution doesn't come in one size fits all he says, his argument clear despite a 6am start. Devolution in Northern Ireland is based on 'a tailor-made agreement' after all.

But what do WE make of devolution?

I'll approach with caution and not just because it's described in the press release as one "of the most comprehensive surveys undertaken in Wales to gauge public understanding of the Principality's political landscape".

'Principality'? I thought we'd stopped using that 'over here'.

I approach with caution because I'm no expert on polls. But look back over a sequence of opinion polls over the last decade or so and support for a full law making parliament has remained stubbornly static below forty per cent - around 39 per cent at the beginning of the decade, followed by a dip and then a gradual rise back to the 39 per cent level in this week's poll.

Since 2001 there's been little movement so is it fair to ask this: when is one man's gradual increase in appreciation of devolution another's virtual flat-lining?

And when Rhodri Morgan and Ieuan Wyn Jones read yesterday's figures, what did they see? A Wales that is about to - or steadfastly refusing to - scratch its seven year itch?

What would be the "comfort zone" needed for them to agree to press the red button on a referendum? Opinion 70-30 in favour of full powers? 65-35? My colleagues in Cardiff will ask Mr Morgan and Mr Jones at this morning's lobby briefing - don't hold your breath.

But one government backbencher with a good hotline to the centre says that there may be no need to wait for the kind of decisive shift in opinion that's seemed so elusive over the last few years. The thinking goes, apparently, that the positive turnout will far exceed those who would rush to the polling station to try and block further powers and that means that the current 50-50ish split actually means we're a lot nearer the trigger point than it might otherwise seem.

But remember 1997. What nearly derailed the whole devolution project in Wales was the big turnout against. Would so many noes would turn out now that the principle of devolution is well established? That remains to be seen and there certainly won't be a "scrap the whole shooting match" option on the paper.

But there remains that very gradual increase/virtual flat-lining - take your pick - in public support.

While the First Minister and his Deputy remain stubbornly opposed to the setting up of a cheerleading Yes campaign to get things moving, the

While he says those who are cautious on a referendum are wrong and that there's stronger support than many think, he also has this to say: "The question of when to trigger the referendum is, of course, a matter of political judgement, and that judgement needs to be based first and foremost on an assessment of the public mood. But assessing the public mood is to a large extent a subjective rather than an entirely objective process. It certainly isn't just about counting numbers on a particular question. Opinion polls can help to inform that judgement, but they should never be allowed to become the determinant. There is otherwise a risk that we wait until the polls show that the argument has been clearly won before we start to present the case; and I don't understand how anyone would ever expect to decisively win any argument without putting the case."

Has David TC Davies' intervention on a No campaign spooked some people? Are they concerned there could be more of the same on the way?

But enough of seven year itches. The feel-good music blaring from the speakers in the conference hall is a reminder enough that Gordon Brown has just seven hours to hone that speech.

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• - What's this?

Another Welsh Labour consultation is kick-started today in preparation for the 2011 Assembly Manifesto.

Yesterday it was Leighton Andrews and the Welsh economy. Today it's Alun Davies and Nia Griffith tackling the language.

"All too often the debate on the language has been hijacked by lawyers and lecturers" they write, though they can't possibly be thinking of Counsel General Carwyn Jones who delivered what was a very similar take on Labour's future direction on the language at the Eisteddfod this year.

The message is that it's time Labour claimed its place at the forefront of the debate, a debate it wants to steer away from linguistic rights and in the direction of jobs, skills, opportunities and partnerships.

"Now though" they sum up "is the time to make a clear, Welsh Labour message on the Welsh language" - a rather different one to I imagine.

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• - What's this?

Making it to the great city of the North - no, not Bangor - is one thing.

Tapping into the message of loyalty, be it for now/ until Glenrothes/until Christmas/until the Spring European elections is easy enough. It's on every corner, in every interview recorded. Plugging into the chat afterwards in the cafes and bars of Manchester - 'he's going, just not yet' - is easy too.

Logging in? Now that's another matter but at last, here we go.

Welsh night, as my colleague reports, was an 'up and at 'em' kind of night. A rousing speech from Gordon Brown was followed by a rousing speech from Jane Hutt - not a line you get to type every day.

The Prime Minister's sin of omission - "thanks to our hardworking MPs, MEPs and councillors" - had AMs shifting uncomfortably until "Rhodri and his administration" got a mention. "Thank God for that" whispered one MP who'd seen the official protest coming.

The tribute to Glenys Kinnock was heartfelt. Neil was in tears: "That's why I love 'er!" The man standing just behind me was moved to join in. "We all love 'er Neil!"

The attack? That's easy too - that was directed towards the Tories, the party that hasn't changed, whose commitment to hard-working families, to the NHS is all a scam to win the next election.

"The Tory values may not have changed but, luckily, neither have ours". That was from Huw Lewis, addressing conference this morning but not, let's be clear, in any way inching towards any kind of leadership bid. Neither was Carwyn Jones last night as he worked the room, or should that be marquee. Neither was Leighton Andrews. No sign of Andrew Davies in Manchester, or of Edwina Hart who, the story goes, has heard one simple message from all directions this Summer: she's simply got to stand.

If she does, the race gets intriguing. If she's minded not to? Well then what she does about strikes me as equally intriguing.

But then any attempt at bidding for the leadership has been banned by the Welsh Executive, who spelled out to the entire Labour group of AMs a little while ago that it's the Executive and no-one else who fires the starting gun on that particular race.

I hear they have a meeting on October 18th to thrash out the final rules and regulations surrounding the race for the leadership, the one that hasn't started yet and will only start when they say so ... easier said than done.

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• - What's this?

Wales is a small country.

It wants to become a small and clever one but for now, let's accept the challenges presented by being small, especially for a Health Minister trying to sort out the future of neurosurgery in Mid and South Wales.

It's a long story, that in its latter stages went something like this:

In 2006 Health Commission Wales . It concluded that "the current organisation of neurosurgery services in South Wales is not clinically sustainable and is inefficient".

In other words, in a small country, there just weren't enough patients to keep open two surgical units in Cardiff and Swansea. Two units were unsustainable and Cardiff won out.

The protests started: patients, clinicians, and MPs in and around Swansea were up in arms.

The closure was put on hold by the then Health Minister, Dr Brian Gibbons until after the election. Ah, clever.

In July 2007 the new Health Minister, Edwina Hart, one of the AMs who had asked for a re-think, invites James Steers, an Edinburgh-based consultant neurosurgeon and past President of the British Society of Neurosurgeons, to lead a review on the future of neurosciences for Mid and South Wales.

This afternoon his recommendations were made public. It turns out that if you create "a single neurosurgery service" or a "neuroscience network" for which specialists on both sites work, you can keep Cardiff and Swansea open. The single service can guarantee the volume of patients needed - in a small country - to ensure standards are high enough and access is close enough to home to be acceptable to patients.

Cardiff claim victory thanks to this line: "A single neurosurgery service must be established at the earliest opportunity, co-located with Neurocritical care, complex and spinal deformity surgery, neurology and essentially paediatric neurological care including paediatric neurosurgery, which should be ... collocated in an adjacent child health setting with its own facilites, including paediatric critical care".

You'd be hard pressed to come up with a better description of the University Hospital in Cardiff, wouldnt' you? "I can see how some people might think that" says one expert diplomatically.

But Swansea evening papers and politicians are equally delighted that their unit remains open. They're celebrating victory for common sense and an approach, which, they say, was first suggested by Swansea-based clincians all those years ago.

Pretty clever, in a small country, to have both sides claiming victory ...

As I press the 'publish' button Peter Black AM hurries past to record an interview for Wales Today. He's read the report again, "particularly that bit about co-location" and he's not so sure now that the news for Swansea is as good as he'd first thought.

The Health Minister, by the way, won't be giving interviews.

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• - What's this?

"If you were born in Cardiff, why didn't your parents call you Betsan South Glamorgan?"

A question endured in school over and again but now, of course, I know the answer. As has proven, it would have been too dangerous a name to adopt.

Who is Christopher? He is - or was - a civil servant of many years, employed by the Welsh Assembly Government and who was sacked as a result of publishing an anonymous blog.

Whether the case against him stands up or not has been a matter of some discussion in parts of the Welsh blogosphere (particularly ) already.

For what it's worth, this is what I know.

The latest suggestion is that his tribunal case is going ahead, that it's unlikely to be heard until next year but that it will be discussed in an internal meeting, presumably in government offices in Cathays Park, next week.

Why was he sacked?

His thoughts on "Who would be a leader in a wicked, wicked world" drew the attention of someone in Cathays Park in July of last year. A flurry of confidential Emails started:

"This is the blog I mentioned earlier - reading it all and the profile places the individual in the Bay picking up plenty of insider stuff on WAG".

The then Permanent Secretary, Sir Jon Shortridge, gets involved.

"The Permanent Secretary has asked me to check if any emails have gone out to this blog site (or if people apart from ... have browsed). The site has contained some detail which may have links with leak enquiries".

He was sacked and and as things stand is taking his case to tribunal, despite his union, the PCS, heeding advice they've been given that he has some mountain to climb, such a mountain, carrying the threat of such a big bill at the end, that they've decided he must climb it alone.

Solicitors acting for the government don't mince their words. In letters I've had sight of they sum up the conclusions of the Employment Judge (and bear in mind I'm quoting their own summing up here, not quotes from a transcript) like this:

the "claim has little reasonable prospect of success", the blog was "contrary to the civil service code" and "has the potential to cause an embarrassment to the Welsh Assembly Government", therefore breaking the code. Had 'Christopher Glamorgan' been guilty of "excessive internet abuse and potential copyright infringement" alone the judge seems to conclude that a final written warning would have been enough. However the blog, "the most serious of the issues", means dismissal "would fall within the band of reasonable responses available to a reasonable employer".

The letter ends on what I'll call a blunt note: go ahead and we'll apply for a full costs order against you, one that covers all fees, charges, disbursements and expenses incurred by WAG.

Give in now and we won't.

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• - What's this?

A young colleague from Scotland isn't sure what to say next.

He told his audience that Gordon Brown would be out if Labour lost Glasgow East to the SNP. They did of course. John Mason MP was in Aberystwyth last week, offering cups of coffee to those who turned up to campaign for him and sharing with Plaid what they could learn from the SNP's focus and by-election machinery.

But Gordon Brown is still there. "What do I tell them when it comes to Glenrothes? That he's .. um ... absolutely gone this time?"

Then David Cairns struck his blow giving Scottish reporters - and British Prime Ministers -more to worry about. I've no idea what the reporter told his audience then, nor this morning when the hit the headlines. But he'll find nothing but sympathy amongst those Welsh Labour politicians who'll admit to having no idea where this ends either.

"It's as bad as you can imagine", "There's a debilitation that happens and it's hard to see how it'll pan out", "Labour are in it up to their necks", "Don't think I haven't woken up on some mornings and thought, where the hell is this going?" But all of those who picked up the the phone (and some didn't) were clear on one thing: things should not be going in the direction David Cairns and others have been pushing them.

The theory?

That the country won't thank Labour for "faffing" around at a time when the government has got to be seen to be getting on with it, 'it' being saving jobs, keeping the markets as calm as possible, persuading people like my very reasonable friends - who texted first thing this morning to say they were off to the Halifax there and then to withdraw all of their money - that they should not be panicking.

That it'll take six months to have the ideological battles Labour are due and now is not the time to have them. Last Spring? Maybe ... but not now. Re-energise the party? Pull the other one.

That there is no real alternative to Gordon Brown and that if he shows some mettle during the party conference in Manchester next week, if he sets out clearly why he should be allowed to carry on, if he acknowledges all the concerns about his leadership, organisation at Number 10, presentation of policies and proves he's keeping his head, then, goes the theory, "maybe, just maybe", Labour can pull through.

Do they really believe that? I think they do. At the very least they genuinely believe there is no consensus that he should go, in other words that the majority of the PLP hold the same view and the branches they've visited at home agree that despite being up a creek with fewer paddles by the day, now is not the time to get rid of the leader.

Do they really believe Labour can win another General Election? Some do, partly because the worse it gets, the wilder the headlines around the economic downturn, the more the leap into the arms of David Cameron or Nick Clegg becomes a leap of faith.

Then again "Gordon might be out in a few weeks".

And if Labour politicians really did venture to bet on the fortunes of their own party, there may well be a betting shop somewhere in Wales that's just taken money on there being a new leader by Christmas, followed by a short, sharp campaign and a General Election in the Spring.

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• - What's this?

Kirsty Williams, according to , is 'pathologically incapable of saying something she doesn't believe'.

So believe this: as Welsh Lib Dem leader she would take her party into coalition with the Conservatives. Her answer was as straightforward an answer as you can get to a straightforward question: 'Yes, I would. There you have it' (IF it delivers a good deal for Wales of course).

Not a "U-turn" on her position over the rainbow coalition last year she explained, just in case anyone in the cosy conference room might have been left with that impression. No, she opposed the so-called rainbow deal because it was never deliverable.

"I can't brush over the fact that there was a disagreement then" - that much she was happy to admit - "but that deal was never deliverable. I would have been open to a deal if I thought it would have been deliverable".

Now it must be said that some of us got a rather different impression back then, the impression that she'd be hung, drawn and quartered by her supporters if she'd even countenanced such a deal. But not so says Kirsty who'll hope that more than just her ardent supporters are prepared to believe her.

Will there be a leadership election at all? Kirsty ('I'm doing my best Betsan, I'M out there) remains in the dark.

So are we. So are all the Welsh Lib Dems I've asked. So, perhaps, is Jenny Randerson?

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• - What's this?

So come on then, let's answer the studio presenter's staple question at this time of year:
"What's the mood of the conference, Betsan?"

Only this time I get more than 30" to tell you about it.

The mood? Quiet confidence, growing pragmatism.

The Plaid of the past few days is a party that's at ease with being government, at ease with itself, at ease with where it's heading. The lanyard-wearing grassroots have confidence in Plaid Ministers, confidence in Ieuan Wyn Jones, confidence that the next leader will take them along the path of further electoral success.

And despite the spectacular knocks inflicted by Llais Gwynedd in the local elections, despite the collapse of the Welsh language daily that never was - such a cherished commitment by many of those who are here this week - I've spotted little bitterness or disillusionment for that matter. A great dollop of realism, yes but that's a very different animal.

It's as though delegates have got the T-shirt of political disappointment early on and decided to put it away in a drawer rather than bring it with them. They know that governing in coalition means compromising and frankly, they're up for it as long as they retain that belief that in the end, a fully self-governing Wales is at least somewhere on the cards.

Until this morning I'd heard little mention of the promised referendum on further powers - barely a mention on the official stage or in the cafes and bars. Isn't this the one pledge in the One Wales Agreement that for some, made it worth signing?

Then along comes Plaid President, Dafydd Iwan and kicks off his speech with a reference to the "all-important referendum on further powers on or before 2011". It went something like this:

"Whatever compromises we have to make in the everyday business of government, we must never forget what we set out as a party to achieve 83 years ago - a fully self-governing Wales, where the Welsh and English languages are equal in status, where the people are sovereign and social justice and equality is paramount".

He talked of full membership of the European Union, full official status for the language in the EU and of how Plaid must make the running on the referendum, "showing the huge advantages of increased powers for the Assembly" - a call for a Yes campaign?

The applause was thunderous but how many of those applauding in the hall genuinely believe that the Labour/Plaid government will hold that referendum on or before 2011?

As it happens I'd already asked some 15 random delegates that very question this morning before the President got to his feet. Twelve said no/no way/sadly not/of course not. Three said yes, though one wife changed her mind a bit when her husband shook his head ("well my heart says yes anyway") and another would only bet a fiver on it.

A straw poll that means nothing very much but is interesting to me in this respect: not one of the twelve who said no thought that there ought to be a referendum by 2011 but think Labour will stall, or fail to deliver. They just don't think you want one, let alone want to vote 'yes' in one. In other words they think the referendum would be lost and so don't want one on or before 2011.

Ask Ieuan Wyn Jones about it and he reiterates the pledge that is in the Agreement, caveat and all. Perhaps for Plaid members that particular clause in the agreement is becoming more like the Good Friday agreement every day - the crucial word is agreement; ultimate delivery matters much more than sticking to deadlines.

So where does the 'greed and betrayal' fit in?

That was Adam Price MP in his speech: gentle delivery, venomous lines, the same targets:

Gordon Brown: "the so-called socialist son of the manse who has ... sold his soul", leader of a party "that's been brought by vested interests and the super-rich Labour was founded to counter". A challenge to Welsh Labour to forge their own way "rather than commit political suicide" and this on the Conservatives: "They talk about a broken society. They should know. They broke it".

The laughs came from his questioning of David Cameron's fondness for Gavin and Stacey and Nessa - the jokes as it happens.

And an unusal final line: "I'll see you on the streets of Gwauncaegurwen" delivered (not in real anticipation surely?) to Peter Hain.

What does Plaid want? A more progressive tax system, a windfall tax on energy companies and a reintroduction of retail price controls. He alluded to rolling out the to other areas such as railways. There must be a joke there somewhere about Adam Price wanting to turn Wales blue. I'll work on it.

Good conference? For pragmatic Plaid, yes.

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• - What's this?

Ieuan Wyn Jones arrives in half an hour or so, at a guess welcomed by the usual stage-managed line of applauding party workers.

They like him. They've found they genuinely admire the man but still can't help wondering ever when Adam Price gets to take over.

"I like Ieuan. I like everyone, me" as one stalwart put it this morning. Can you really imagine a delegate in Perth in a few weeks' time talking in quite the same way about Alex Salmond?

Plenty wondering whether former Aber student (1975-78) Rhodri Glyn Thomas is considering making way in Carmarthen East? Or did I really hear someone suggest a straight swap?

MAKING YOUR MIND UP

Decisive = good.
Dithering = bad.

MPs who speak out against the war in Iraq but voted for it; MPs who campaign against post office closures in their own patch but don't vote to save them in Parliament - will all be in for it in the leader's speech.

So what does he make of Plaid, in government, committing to "support a study on the proposed Severn Barrage" (a committment endorsed by the party of course) while Plaid in conference just overwhelmingly voted to support a motion proposed jointly by the Plaid group in the Assembly to oppose the Barrage?

Decisive?

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• - What's this?

Visit Aberystwyth, as Plaid delegates will over the next few days and you can't very well ignore Constitution Hill. Consti would be pretty hard to disguise too given its size. I climbed up it on New Year's Day (yes, the morning after the night before) so believe me, I should know.

But it'll be no surprise is Ieuan Wyn Jones and his troops do their best to disguise their focus on constitutional issues at this year's annual conference.

From what Mr Jones has been telling us, it'll go something like this:

1. The economy is a disaster area and we feel your pain.

[You're worried about the next bill that lands on the mat and talking about the price of petrol, not referendums and conventions. We're with you all the way, from Blackwood to Beaumaris.]

2. Gordon Brown has lost the plot.

[Labour is letting you down but to be fair, it's the PM who is ignoring your immediate needs. A billion pound to combat fuel poverty? Too little, too late. But there's not a lot our partner, Rhodri can do about it].

3. The Tories are going to win the next General Election but don't think for one minute that would be any better.

[You're not entirely convinced that Cameron can get you out of this mess are you? No, we thought not. Ever thought of voting Plaid? We still need strong representation in Westminster after all.]

4. And if there's not an awful lot Rhodri can do about it, the same goes for us.

[We're doing what we can to stand up for the ordinary people of Wales but ...]

5. We haven't got the tools to do quickly what needs to be done to ensure a supply of affordable homes, to come up with mortgage rescue schemes and so on [so can't you see? We need the tools to do the job.]

There - and all without mentioning the constitution once.

Off we go to put some flesh on the bones.

UPDATE: Just guess who else is heading up to Aberystwyth this weekend. Which Labour Government Minister could really do without being seen heading off in the same direction as Plaid? A leadership contender who won't want to be snapped supping in the same town, let alone the same bar as his Plaid colleagues?

Carwyn Jones must be cursing the timing of his college reunion.

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As you walk through the doors of LC2, the snazzy, revamped Leisure Centre in Swansea of which the Liberal Democrat-run council is so proud and the Labour group so critical ("too expensive, too fancy, too inaccessible to local people"), you'll see one word on the orange wall that faces you: CORE.

I assume it has something to do with fitness and exercising given the size of the gymnasium the building boasts but I couldn't help thinking it was curiously appropriate for this morning's visitor.

Kirsty Williams was in Swansea to announce she'll be launching a bid for the leadership once Mike German stands down on October 11th. Curiously appropriate then because this is a woman revered by some, reviled by others for her role in scuppering the rainbow coalition, for confirming that view of Lib Dems, third party activists, as believing at heart that there's as much to be gained from being on the outside, without power as in exercising real power.

And because if Kirsty Williams needs to answer one question it's this: where is the core Lib Dem vote in Wales? And if she believes in it, how can she mobilise it?

What did we hear about this morning?

Social justice, decent public services, community empowerment, nothing you couldn't have heard from a politician from any party in Wales. Granted it's early days. Today wasn't a launch; it was a notice of intent. Give the girl time.

But isn't that lack of a core vote her party's big problem in Wales? She may have grown up and formed her political ideas at her grandmother's kitchen table in Blaenymaes "in the teeth of Thatcherism" but that was then and this is the now of cosy-liberal-Cameron-Tories.

Take a look at what have been saying to the Guardian. Take a look at Suzy Davies' number one concern for the "broken society" and remind yourself that Suzy is the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate in Brecon and Radnorshire - for the Conservatives.

Isn't it Kirsty herself who in the past has bemoaned

Yes, it is. And now is her chance to spell out how she intends to break through it.

Karl the bookie (who does his best to help us all break through gloopy grey leadership campaigns) has Kirsty as the favourite to take over (though it'll be "no walk in the Beacons" - ouch).

These are his odds:

Kirsty Williams 1-2 (fav)
Jenny Randerson 6-4

and should a third Lib Dem lady find a way to enter the race:

Kirsty Williams 8-15 (fav)
Jenny Randerson 11-8
Eleanor Burnham 8-1

The bigger question: will Jenny Randerson enter the race?

Karl seems to think Mike German is odds on to nominate her. I'm quite certain I've heard him say publicly that as outgoing leader, he won't nominate anyone. Eleanor Burnham could of course. Then again the party could change the rules at their Special Conference and allow an MP to nominate ... enter Cardiff Central's Jenny Willott. (Roger Williams and Mark Williams have already put their weight behind the other Williams).

All Jenny Randerson would say today is that she's thinking about it.

By the way work your way towards 'the core' in LC2 and you come across two other signs; one points to the EDGE, the other to the PEAK.

May the best woman win.

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Ok, so I give up.

It's a quiet day, the end of the world isn't until tomorrow and I've no idea what to blog about.

I'll console myself with the thought that I'm not the only one .

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A note for your diaries: it looks as though Kirsty Williams, the , or as her biggest fan actually put it 'the nearest thing to an Obama' - which isn't quite the same thing after all - will be launching her leadership bid on Wednesday.

I'm guessing it's unlikely there'll be official car magnets or logo buttons but Mick Bates had better start the breathing exercises anyway.

If spending a week at the Bluestone holiday village in Pembrokeshire convinced her to come out into the open and go for it, I wonder what effect breathing the same air had on the other AM to book in: Carwyn Jones.

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Glad to be back at your desk?

Dafydd Iwan's back as Plaid president beating Elfyn Llwyd by 2500 votes to1800. No desk as far as I know, just relief all round in Plaid's new HQ that things didn't get messier.

How do we know how many of Plaid's 7300 members voted and for whom?

It's no thanks to Plaid who apparently have a policy of keeping stumm about actual results. Another call this morning: are you quite sure about that? "Yes." Why? "I'm not sure really but that's how it's always been ... from what I've gathered".

The approximate figures slipped out in conversation with the man who got 1800 - just in case anyone thought he'd taken a drubbing.

Earl Grey can console himself with and the thought that he won't now face the arduous task of signing personalized adoption certificates for loyal Plaid voters queuing up to buy a brick in their new HQ as a "great gift for a friend". With friends like that ...

And what of Welsh Assembly Government staff? Itching to get back to their desks come Monday morning? Not exactly, according to the annual Staff Survey. (Apologies if you took this home as bed-time reading during the Summer: I'm playing catch-up).

Now granted plenty of WAG staff will tell you the Staff Survey isn't worth the paper it's written on/time it takes to work out whether you truly 'understand how your work contributes to the obectives of the organisation' on a scale of 1 - 5 etc. As a Ö÷²¥´óÐã employee I have more than a little sympathy with them.

Granted more believe they earn a fair whack for what they do this year than last - 9% more. 69% enjoy their work and 60% would recommend the Welsh Assembly Government as a good place to work.

But look among the lowest favourable scores and you'll find that only 25% responded favourably to the statement: "I have confidence in the Management Board".

Only 28% agree that 'The organisation puts the citizen at the heart of its decision making".

And how many are proud to work for the Welsh Assembly Government this year compared to last?

54%, down by what looks like a pretty significant 24% from last year.

Is it simply because the way they measure these things has changed? Or are WAG staff trying to tell something?

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So what exactly did Nick Bourne say over his cornflakes when he read in that his favourite former AM David Davies is to launch a No campaign?

Did Cheryl Gillan put on her Joyce Grenfell voice, the one she's been overheard using on the phone to the Monmouth MP in the past: "No, don't do that David".

But it's too late for the Conservatives: he has.

And it's too late too for all of those non-Tory no supporters who must have been hoping, once again, to fall in behind a rather more unifying figure than David Top Cat Davies. There will surely have been a few choice comments in the Touhig and Kinnock households this morning too.

David Davies is not well known for keeping his former fellow No campaigner, Nick Bourne, up to speed with what he's up to and so there's little surprise that this gauntlet has been thrown down by the man that is has, in the way that it has. But while the Welsh Tories may indeed prefer to concentrate on winning more seats in Wales at the next General Election and doing their bit to oust Gordon Brown - rather than having a hypothetical discussion about something they don't even know whether it'll happen (or words to that effect) - the gauntlet is still down.

Which means we can safely assume that David Cameron will now read Lord Wyn Roberts' review on the Conservative take on further devolution, the one that's apparently been sitting on his desk all Summer, the one that pledges to hold a referendum if he wins the next election? "It's not that simple" I'm told.

But can we assume that the gauntlet will well and truly be taken up at the party conference in Birmingham in a few weeks time? Or will it be shoved in the corner, in the hope that Nick Bourne won't now have to prove that not only is he in favour of further devolution: he can actually deliver his party's support for it?

What of the other side?

Sleepwalking seems to be the metaphor of the moment.

David Davies: "They (WAG) are committed to holding a referendum on full lawmaking powers for the Assembly before 2011, and my concern is thast if the opposing points are not made, we could be sleepwalking towards independence. It's about time the people of Wales woke up to what is facing them".

: "At present, no matter whether the referendum is held before or after 2011, those advocating more powers are sleep-walking to defeat".

The response from the Labour Plaid government? Just in:

"This is clearly another matter of private grief for the Conservative party. Six months ago they announced that they would review their policy on further devolution for Wales and they still haven't reached any conclusion. In the meantime they remain bitterly divided. Their Assembly Leader, Nick Bourne claims that the Tories have "faced their demons" and are committed to supporting a referendum on full-law making powers, whilst David Davies MP is desperate to champion a 'No' campaign. Who exactly speaks for the Conservative party in Wales? They need to tell the people of Wales where they stand.

The Welsh Assembly Government on the other hand is focused on what needs to be done to trigger a referendum. The All-Wales Convention is currently monitoring the state of public opinion and doing the necessary work to assess the levels of support for further devolution. It will of course become necessary in due course for a Yes campaign to be established in order to help secure a successful outcome to a future referendum."

So how due now is "due course?"

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Back for 24 hours and I'm yet to have a conversation that hasn't included the 'l' word: leadership.

Let's start with Labour.

Wouldn't Peter Hain rather chew off his own right arm than use it to sign his name,

Why on earth would anyone imagine a scenario that has Eluned Morgan MEP, Cardiff girl, throwing away her chances of taking over from Rhodri Morgan as AM for Cardiff West one day and standing, instead, in an almost certainly unwinnable (and imaginary) by-election in Clwyd South?

Why publish now a story that did the rounds in Cardiff bars (I'm looking at a saved text message sent from one) some months ago. It may have been a little less embroidered but it was dismissed even then as, well, unlikely really. It is, as one of my colleagues puts it poetically , the kind of stuff the green-fingered Tory parliamentary candidate Glyn Davies would put on his roses.

So why now? Could it be that hidden in the Western Mail's story there is a sentence - a little seed - that someone hopes has been planted deep enough to pass us by? But that in such fertile ground it might be left to grow unnoticed?

How about this one from an anonymous source:

"The obvious solution is to buy time by having Rhodri stay on until at least 2010".

Let's just keep an eye on it, see how it fares and move on to Plaid.

Is it likely that Dafydd Iwan will see off Elfyn Llwyd's challenge for the presidency of Plaid this Sunday and retain the job by a huge margin/less of a margin than he thinks.

So the story goes, though as to margins, everyone seems to be guessing. What they all know to be true is that the job ain't what it used to be and that the boss is Ieuan Wyn Jones.

And so to the Lib Dems.

Has Kirsty Williams finally stopped pretending (and I mean pretending to herself) that she doesn't have to go for the Liberal Democrat leadership in the Assembly when Mike German stands down on October 11th?

Apparently, yes.

So prepare yourselves for Brecon and Radnor young gun v Cardiff Central old hand, Kirsty Williams v Jenny Randerson. Get ready too for that conference in Clydach on October 11th where the starting gun is fired and the party will debate dozens (94 pre-pruning) amendments to the constitution. From who should be Welsh leader - leader of the AMs, MPs, MEPs (they're in optimistic mood), any one of the above, none of the above - to the so-called "Eleanor Burnham clause", the one that would allow an ambitious AM wanting to stand for the leadership but who just can't seem to persuade a single fellow AM to nominate them, to turn instead to an MP.

Ah. It's just as though I never went away.

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