Face to face?
The new Prime Minister is off to Stormont next week where he'll attend his first meeting of the British Irish Council, hosted by Northern Ireland's First Minister, Ian Paisley and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.
Gordon Brown is expecting to come face to face with Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, the leaders of administrations in the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey and, of course, the First Minister Rhodri Morgan.
Might he get a chance instead to congratulate Plaid's Ieuan Wyn Jones in person?
I'm Betsan Powys, Â鶹Éç Wales' political editor. I'll be blogging the inside track on .
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Well Betsan, Rhodri spending a bit of time in hospital and Ieuan stepping up to visibly lead the new coalition will do no harm to the need for the two fledgling coalition elements of the radical Welsh Left to gain a sense of 'all for one and one for all'. Watch on in horror rainbowistas as the process of reconciliation of the patriotic left begins......
would be nice if you said something about rhodri- perhaps get well soon would suffice?
I'm sorry, Herbert, but after 40+ years involved in politics, both mainstream and fringe, the term 'patriotic left' rings hollow for me.
In my time I have always found that too many on the left were concerned with 'ishoos' a long way away, from Vietnam to Iraq, with hostility to the USA underpinning it all. Wales and what was best for our people rarely entered into their thinking, and when they were forced to focus on Wales they argued that decisions handed down from London were what we needed.
This is partly because too often the left in Wales has been un-Welsh, non-Welsh or plain anti-Welsh. If, as you argue, there is such a creature as a patriotic left then it's about time this (for me) mythical beast began to make itself heard. It's been slumbering for too long.
If this happens then, to balance it, we need a patriotic right. Some would suggest that the Conservative Party is moving in the right direction, but it will never fit the bill. Plaid is today more left and less patriotic than when I joined over 40 years ago. As a consequence, patriots of the right like myself - genuine Welsh Tories - must remain homeless and unrepresented.
Couldn't agree more, Royston. For a small nation we have a lot of issue at home that need urgent attention. So it seems insulting to the great people of Wales that the liberal left have always seen the plight of others more important than that of their own.
Still. Hope springs eternal. I am brimming with hope that Mr Jones will inject some patriotism back into Welsh politics.