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A note to Rhodri:

This is a bit previous I know Mr Morgan but in a month's time you'll be turning 70. There will be a wave of good wishes coming your way, no doubt about that. Fellow politicians, ordinary people up and down the country, journalists and commentators will all wish you well.

You're still set, as far as we know, not just to open your presents of course but something else too - the race to take over as leader of the National Assembly Labour party.

It's very nearly happy birthday Mr First Minister.

Yet ask ordinary Labour party members who should take over from you and they are curiously untouched by the battle to come. I'm not sure why and neither are they.

Is it about to come alight, once you've blown out the candles on your cake?

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• - What's this?

Back in May Given his well known anti-war stance the visit divided opinion.

Now it looks as though Lindsay Whittle has had an offer to take up arms himself ... at least I assume even clay pigeon shooting requires some sort of gun.

Who makes the offer? None other than former Secretary of State for Wales and independent member of Caerphilly Council, Ron Davies. Along with details of a shoot in a "delightful country retreat" in the Sirhowy Valley - which he extends to fellow Cabinet members - he adds the message "Any one fancy a challenge?"

Plaid Councillor Allan Pritchard spots a flaw in the whole concept.

"I wonder if it is a bright idea to entrust elected members with loaded shotguns. More importantly and bearing in mind the high regard that cabinet members are held in by some of this group, I must question the wisdom of mixing guns, landowners, business people and councillors within shooting range of one another. Having had recent front line combat duties, I wonder if our Great Leader could attend in his flack jacket and combat gear to represent us at this event".

Great Leader Whittle is non-committal.

Who'd have had the former Welsh Secretary down as a member of the shooting brigade?

By the way I assume clay pigeon shooting requires accuracy ... as does making sure you don't send Email challenges to the wrong people.

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• - What's this?

Who got their GCSE results today? A generation entirely educated under New Labour.

So have things got better? If you're interested take a look at tonight's Newsnight. The plan is to concentrate on England 1997 to the present day but they'll take a look too at what has happened post devolution in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

They're wondering who's got the right answers?

You're welcome to spell out your thoughts on the Newsnight blog or if that's a bit too posh, you can always stick with me.

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• - What's this?

Given confirming the rumours that have been rife for quite some time, I found myself playing a guessing game over lunch.

Call it Assembly Risk.

If you were Adam Price, would you make sure you went for an Assembly seat in 2011 rather than risk others overtaking you as shoo-in for party leader? If so, where would you stand?

I think our counters eventually landed on Neath.

The discussion as to how many more years Ieuan Wyn Jones will want to lead the party ... or the party will want Mr Jones to lead it prompted a look back through the archives. For what it's worth this was how I saw the Assembly Risk board back in April 2007.

Ieuan Wyn Jones

The timing could not have been better.

I was searching for the right words to capture Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones without falling back on tired phrases like "steadfast solicitor" or "meticulous manager".

Then one of his own MPs came to the rescue. "He's punctual, he's a good negotiator, a good man and woman manager," said Adam Price.

"He's a good country solicitor, that is the way he comes across".

With friends like these...?

It did get better, though: "He gets the job done".

And there you have it. His own party knows that to sell him to the voters as a charismatic, exciting prospect as first minister would get nowhere.

It's just not his style and so for now, it cannot be theirs. But if those very same voters have lost their trust in the charismatic Tony Blair, have had enough of the far better known First Minister Rhodri Morgan, then Plaid may well be hoping that a man who gets the job done quietly is just what they're looking for.

So does he get the job done? A plus point to start: he's held on to the tricky seat of Ynys Mon since 1987 as MP, then as AM. That's no mean feat, and his voters must think he's doing a decent job.

But he has led Plaid since 2000, and in that time its assembly seats have fallen significantly from 17 in 1999 to 12 in 2003.

He may have delivered as campaign director in the first assembly election but under his leadership, the party lost precious, crucial ground four years later, and lost its Westminster seat of Ceredigion in the 2005 election.

The promise from his supporters was that he would grow into the job of leader. He was, after all, taking over from Dafydd Wigley, a politician who lacked neither charisma nor that magic ability to appeal to voters across Wales.

The party's 2003 manifesto, he said, offered voters "nothing short of a blueprint for the transformation of our country".

It didn't work. Voters who had taken a punt on Plaid in 1999 decided against a second flutter. They didn't like the blueprint, and perhaps the boss didn't do it for them.

Every constituency seat Plaid lost in May 2003 went to Labour. On the morning after the night before Mr Jones stood outside his party's Cardiff headquarters and read out his resignation statement.

The man who had been MP, AM and party president had lost the confidence of too many of his colleagues. He would continue to represent Ynys Mon in the assembly but that was it.

Or at least, that was it for a couple of months.

On 15 September 2003, Mr Jones made a swift comeback as leader of the party in the assembly, and folk singer Dafydd Iwan became party president, as the roles were split.

A tick in the charisma box there. But even that win was a close-run thing, with a small majority over rival Helen Mary Jones.

There was no point pretending that anything like all those people who had lost confidence in him had regained it over their summer holidays - but he survived.

The qualities that won him tough battles in Ynys Mon over the years - determination, a genuine belief that Plaid must represent the whole of Wales - won him a few tussles in Cardiff Bay too.

And now he faces the next big test.

Plaid will be disappointed not to add at least two - perhaps three - seats. It's not exactly heady stuff.

But remember those pictures of Rhodri Morgan at the Senedd with Mr Jones before Christmas? They were cutting a deal which led to Plaid agreeing not to vote down the Labour assembly government's budget.

Much as some Labour supporters hated it, Mr Jones was saving Mr Morgan's skin. Only hours after Welsh Tory leader Nick Bourne had said the opposition parties would unite to form a government if the budget fell, Mr Jones offered Labour an escape.

Responsible politics and grown-up leadership? He thinks so.

There was more than one Plaid supporter wondering what on earth he was playing at but crucially, his AMs stood firmly by his side.

As he left the building that evening, he clutched a plastic carrier bag. "Isn't it amazing what you can buy with £13m?" he grinned.

Will there be more deals struck by him after 3 May? Welsh Secretary Peter Hain has ruled it out, and Rhodri Morgan's spokeswoman says there's little appetite for deal-making amongst Labour AMs.

Let's see what the voters and the complex maths of assembly elections bring the "good negotiator".

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• - What's this?

This morning the door shut on some cancer patients in Wales - those suffering with renal cancer and who were hoping to get drugs called Avastin, Nexavar and Torisel on the NHS. The National Institute of Clinical Excellence announced they had not been approved as first treatment options for advanced kidney cancer or cancer that has spread around the body. They were deemed not to be cost-effective.

NICE also turned down the use of Sutent as secondary treatment options for people with either form of the disease.

In January the drugs had been made available in Wales until NICE came to its final decision. Decision made, the response from the Welsh Assembly Government and from Edwina Hart was swift and unequivocal:

"The Minister expects clinicians in Wales to follow NICE recommendations for the use of these drugs now that the final guidance has been published, although patients who have started treatment with one of the drugs not recommended by NICE should be allowed to continue treatment until they or their clinician consider it appropriate to stop."

In other words: I said in January you could carry on prescribing here in Wales even though they'd already stopped in England but now, sorry, it's over. Stop prescribing to new patients. Final answer.

A few moments ago a second statement was issued and this is it:

"The Minister is considering the NICE guidance and taking advice from clinicians". We're told to disregard this morning's statement.

The second statement is described as a "clarification". It's no such thing. It says something quite different to the first. It means that if a cancer patient saw a doctor this morning, that doctor could not have put them on any of these drugs. If they see the doctor tomorrow, they'll be told they can have them, for now.

Edwina Hart was already being accused by the former Conservative health spokesperson, Jonathan Morgan, of falsely raising the hopes of cancer sufferers and of misleading the National Assembly. Both the Tories and the Liberal Democrats castigated her for raising hopes, only to dash them.

I think the language is about to get much, much stronger.

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• - What's this?

That moment near the end of the 10 o'clock news where Huw Edwards says "goodbye for now" because it's time for the news "where you are" makes a friend of mine wince, throw something at the telly and bend my ear whenever I bump into him.

He was born up in the north of England and now lives and works for the NHS in Wales. In fact he's a pretty crucial bit, now, of the NHS in Wales and has been for some time - a bit that's about taking big lumps out of small babies and saving their lives. He's interesting to talk to about health policy in Wales and there's no way that devolution has passed him by. He thinks about it because he feels the impact of it on his job every day. There are days when he likes it more than others.

However when Huw gears up for that handover, he squirms.

I don't think it's just the 'bye for now' bit. It's the 'where you are' bit that really gets him. Yes, he knows Huw is right because what you're about to get is indeed the news where you are and yes, he does want to know what's going on where he lives and works but does Huw HAVE to put it like that?

Let's face it, I say, isn't is possible that you hate it because it brings out that part of you that thinks devolution has not improved patient care, that militates against it and that - sorry about this mate - just needs to get over it. Or leave the room at 10.26pm.

He came to mind yesterday during a debate on how we in Wales cover the General Election. The question posed wasn't a brand new one but it's a more pertinent one than ever given the extra powers granted by the Government of Wales Act 2006.

Dilemma: what happens when a whole programme, being broadcast across the UK during the General Election campaign, is dedicated to - let's say - health? You can picture it. Candidates from all parties standing at lecterns, each being given a chance to spell out where they stand on all sorts of contentious issues relating to health policy. The presenter will be putting their feet to the fire while making it clear that these issues relate to 'England only' every now and then because he or she will have been told to. The candidates will all be fighting seats in England. Health is devolved so extending an invitation to candidates standing anywhere else would make little sense.

So should the programme be broadcast in Wales or not?

1. Yes. As long as the presenter makes it clear the issues being debated relate only to England and that how these candidates - if elected - vote will have no direct effect on health policy "where you are" in Wales. Why not? Just because you live in Wales it doesn't mean you're not interested in debates across the border in England and want to be properly informed about them.

2. Yes but the Welsh Health Minister (and Ministers from other devolved nations) should be given a lectern too and a chance to chip in on why some issues are dealt with very differently here. They could give practical examples of where a different approach has led and add to the context/debate. Just because you live in England it doesn't mean you're not interested in debates across the border in Wales and want to be properly informed about them.

3. No. It's not relevant to Wales. Showing it here would just confuse voters at a time when being clear about which policies would affect their everyday lives is crucial. They will be informed about it anyway if they read newspapers, watch network news programmes, listen to the radio, read online news reports etc.

4. No but why not broadcast a programme here with candidates standing in Wales? Voters wants to learn about their attitude to health policy even if the way they vote in Westminster doesn't directly impact on constituents in Wales.

Getting this one right? Tough, whatever you make of "where-you-are wincers" as I'll dub them. So a hint: contributions like 'None of the above - show a re-run of the Grand Slam winning match against France' aren't helpful, no matter where you are.

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• - What's this?

A colleague has just been interviewing Jane Hutt about this year's A level results.

He's giving the Minister for education an A* for her Welsh. 'Much improved' is apparently not in it and he reckons she'll soon by doing live interviews yn y Gymraeg.

Full marks.

Perhaps the Minister has been hiding her linguistic light under a bushel for some time but can we assume that having her sights on the First Minister's job has persuaded her to shove the bushel to one side?

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• - What's this?

Didn't they do well?

.

My inbox is full of glowing headlines. Here's a sample of those quickest off the mark:

"Another successful year for Cardiff's A level students";
"Once again this year Conwy County Borough Advanced Level students have performed exceptionally well, with all grades showing an improvement on the high level achieved last year".
"It has been another outstanding year for A Level students in Caerphilly County Borough with an overall pass rate of 97.7% (Grades A - E), across all examination boards, surpassing the Welsh average of 97.6%;
"Students across Blaenau Gwent have reached even greater heights this year with the county borough's best ever A Level results";

"A cause of celebration" says the Education Minister Jane Hutt.

So they did do well.

Next question: did your child/sister's son/next door's girl/grandchildren do well enough in what

Hang on, you say, that's not relevant in Wales. Education is devolved. Michael Gove may get to revamp the system in England but not here. Education policy will be decided by the Welsh Assembly Government, not by whoever's in charge in Westminster.

Bang on but what if your child/sister's son/next door's girl/grandchildren want to go to University in England? If a Media Studies A level from a school in England is worth less in future than one in English or Maths, do we really think admissions officers in universities in England will regard a Media Studies A level taken in Wales any differently? Hardly.

So what do the Welsh Conservatives, who'd like to be in charge of education in Wales, think about Mr Gove's views on A levels and league tables? Did he do well or do they want to stick up for standards and for that Media Studies A level?

Silence. No press releases falling into inboxes. How come?

Does Paul Davies, the Tories' education spokesperson in the Assembly agree with a policy of giving "harder" subjects more kudos? Or to put it in multiple choice language, is Mr Gove right or wrong?

The party in Wales, he says, will spend the next few months discussing policy issues, formulating their own plans for 2011. "It's quite possible we'll agree with him but first we must have the debate".

Given we're likely to hear various versions of it between now and the General Election - marks out of ten for that response?

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• - What's this?

Have you heard the one about the statistician?

Probably ...

There's probably a psephologist joke out there somewhere too but the last one I sat down and listened to wasn't in jokey mood. As he saw it too many journalists were taking for granted that the Conservatives will win the General Election. He was fed up of reminding journalists that the fat lady hasn't sung - in fact, he suggested, she hasn't even chosen her repertoire - and that David Cameron does not have the next election in the bag.

There are Labour MPs who will now tell you it's game over.

Institutions in the city might be making decisions based on the probability that David Cameron will make it to Number Ten.

Come to think of it, no-one would hate the idea of governing by coalition more than those very institutions but the numbers man had a simple message: do some crunching and think on the real possibility of the Tories needing to form some sort of political partnerships.

Plaid Cymru's Adam Price MP, has been there, done that of course. He's got a red and green I-helped-form-One-Wales '07 T-shirt somewhere in his wardrobe, perhaps next to the I-helped-kick-Labour-into-touch one that is still in its cellophane bag but might come in handy one day.

He probably recognises, too, the dangers of starting discussions that yield nothing but flack.

I don't know about you but doesn't strike you as looking ever so slightly like a shopping list?

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• - What's this?

Not that long ago Steve Lowe and Alan McArthur visited Cardiff Bay as part of their "Quest for Britishness, Britain, Britons, Britishness and the British." They've written a book called Blightly and this is what they made of Assembly and Assembly politics:

"Maybe the chamber's on fire when Rhodri's in town. Maybe it was more combative before Labour and Plaid Cymru got pally. Maybe the Assembly is just very boring. Probably the latter, and probably because it has powers roughly equal to no powers at all. If the Scottish Parliament, in the (reasonably accurate) words of Simon Jenkins, 'has all the powers of a pre-Thatcherite town council', the Welsh Assembly has powers more along the lines of a parish council ... So this is the bright new devolved democracy, is it? Because to our eyes it looked - sorry about this - just b****cks".

It may be "very boring" if you drop in on a Tuesday afternoon. You may agree with them as to why that might be. But forgive me for punching the air, then, when my colleague Vaughan Roderick drew my attention to

Total Politics Top 40 Media Blogs

1 (1) Spectator Coffee House
2 Paul Waugh
3 (2) Ben Brogan
4 (5) Nick Robinson
5 (6) Comment Central
6 James Delingpole
7 (9) Peter Hitchens
8 FT Westminster Blog
9 (13) Vaughan Roderick
10 (4) Boulton & Co
11 Lobbydog
12 (11) Red Box
13 Guardian Politics Blog
14 (10) Melanie Phillips
15 John Rentoul
16 (3) Three Line Whip
17 (7) Paul Linford
18 (15) Blether with Brian
19 Bagehot's Notebook
20 The Steamie
21 (12) Betsan Powys
22 (8)
23 Paul Mason
24 Ed West
25 Martin Bright

Apart from the fact that Vaughan is now officially the Big Daddy of Welsh political blogging ... ah all right, we knew that anyway but now I'll have to buy the chocolate EVERY day for the next year ... I bet I'm not alone in celebrating the fact that there are three Welsh blogs in the top 25 - two of them based in the Assembly. is there too at number 36.

Thanks to all of those who went to the trouble of clicking/voting and let's hope some of those who've not read our blogs before - but will now - might have their own take on what is bright, what is boring and what is ... that other b word.

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• - What's this?

Private Richard Hunt, the 200th soldier killed while fighting in Afghanistan will be remembered by his superiors and his mates as "a true Welsh warrior".

He died on Saturday in hospital in Selly Oak from wounds he suffered in an explosion near Musa Qa'la in Helmand province three days earlier. He was with the 2nd Battalion The Royal Welsh, was twenty one and had enthusiasm and potential "by the sack-load" according to both commanding officers and the friends he'd made while training and serving in the army. He would have been twenty two this Sunday.

That he's the two hundredth soldier to die will matter little to his family. That he has died couldn't matter more. They've lost a son, a brother, an uncle and immediately sent their thoughts out to all of those who've been bereaved, from number one to two hundred and sadly, already beyond.

Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth has read the tributes to Richard Hunt. He'll have seen that the "real Welsh Warrior" was keen to get to Afghanistan, wanted to "get stuck in." His death, Mr Ainsworth recognised, was a tragedy for his family and his fellow soldiers.

He will have recognised that every one of the two hundred deaths has been a tragedy. He'll recognise too that the two hundred dead milestone is one that spawns headlines, makes people call into debate programmes to question the war, makes vivid what the Prime Minister has described as "a very difficult Summer" - but he'll know that passing this particular milestone is not unexpected, an inevitable part of the strategy being followed in Afghanistan.

. "This hypocritical government" should end it, should cut through what he's described as "the public's vague support for a misunderstood war" and admit it is lost.

Mr Flynn is a man who regularly declares war on the government - another Welsh warrior perhaps but I've rarely heard him more angry than he was this morning. He's just left having set out his own version of what 'recognition' should really mean in this instance: a realisation that the stated aims of the war in Afghanistan are unattainable.

Clearing terrorist networks from Afghanistan, supporting the elected government against the Taliban, tackling the heroin trade that funds terrorism and building longer term stability - all laudable aims said the Labour member for Newport West but each and every one of those wars have already been lost.

"We should say so now" he repeated over and again, not because a milestone has been passed but because it is true.

There'll be no such recognition by the government of course because, as the Prime Minister has repeated over and again, it is not true that his government's aims in Afghanistan are unattainable. But what Mr Flynn knows will really count most is a recognition not by politicians but by the public - vague or otherwise - that this milestone is just about the last it can stomach.

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• - What's this?

What was that I wrote earlier? "I'm yet to see an AM or MP competing on stage."

I gather that the Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones is competing tonight with ABC, the choir from Aberystwyth.

Congratulations on a Bala first Minister but given I'm the opposition, here's hoping it's the only first you'll be getting tonight!

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• - What's this?

There's been a steady stream of politicians - from all parties - visiting the Eisteddfod field.

Party workers made honest and open by the fresh Bala air have been gauging which ones attract punters to their stands and which ones cause the crowds to stay away. I'm not sure it's the most reliable of yardsticks but it looks as though the Eisteddfod-o-meter has been born.

Mutterings from the Lib Dem camp that every other visitor has something to say about 'that' Lembit Opik. The Eisteddfod faithful aren't his natural following, perhaps ... but Ceredigion's Mark Williams? "They lurve him" claims one Lib Dem who's spent more hours than most on their stand and who seems reasonably content with the one up, one down score.

I'm yet to spot an AM or MP competing on stage mind you. If they did take that step from the maes - or field - to the stage they'd be caught on camera by Tapas, the company who hopes you'll be so taken by your performance that you'll want it on DVD for ever more.

I gather that as Elfyn Llwyd, the local MP, walked past their stand with the Secretary of State - Peter Hain was one of the first to visit this Eisteddfod - they had quite a debate about the name of the company. One expected snacks and wondered whether Tapas was a Welsh word? There is, after all, a Welsh-only rule isn't there, he asked? The other had the job of explaining the pun that takes you to Madrid, not to Meirionnydd.

I read here that Mr Hain had brushed up on his Welsh before turning up. As in Neath in 1994 where he spoke in Welsh on the main stage much to the delight of those who were there, He kicked off his comments here in Welsh before switching to English "because I don't want to put Elfyn to shame in his own constituency!"

Nicely done!

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• - What's this?

A friend escaped the Eisteddfod field for the day and set off for Llyn Tegid and a trip on the Bala Lake Railway. I'd have him down as a culture vulture but let's face it, even culture vultures have to fly the competition-laden nest every now and then.

He was a bit taken aback to see that he and his family were sitting aboard a steam train called "Holy War". Taken aback and slightly disconcerted. I've checked and he's right. No idea why it carries the name but trainspotter or otherwise, you can read about it .

I make a careful leap from that train to the sound of - perhaps we'll call it hissing steam and a heating up in the battle between Carwyn Jones and Huw Lewis for the Welsh Labour leadership. Both were here yesterday, though I didn't manage to catch up with them. I didn't hear Carwyn Jones' speech but like you, I've read about it. it was very well trailed and an event that made its way to the Eisteddfod jungle drums. If you were interested in politics and could make it, you'd probably be there - a fact that has caused some frustration in the Huw Lewis camp.

The line that 'Carwyn Jones is the natural successor to Rhodri Morgan' gains effortless currency, they say, when he's seen giving a speech, care of Cymdeithas Cledwyn, to the Eisteddfod faithful. He doesn't have to say it himself. Their man, though, still has to fight it.

You'll sense some of that frustration in .

No surprise there perhaps but listen to the Labour figures who have ventured to the Bala - amongst them long-standing servants of the party and wise old heads - and you'll hear frustration in their voices too: that they still don't know exactly when Rhodri Morgan intends to stand down. The worry? That instead of using every puff of steam to propel their party towards a General Election they look like losing, they'll have to use their energies to finding a new leader for the party in Wales.

They won't say it out loud perhaps but to those who'll listen, they're saying it with increasing urgency.

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• - What's this?

Yes, thank you, Pembrokeshire was fantastic. They've wrung me out and I'm hoping that after all that rain I may have shrunk just a little bit.

It's straight up to the National Eisteddfod in Bala where my main concern this morning was the timetable of the piano solo for the over 19s and the under 12s solo. But another timetable made sure former Plaid president Dafydd Wigley's lecture for the Parliament for Wales campaign was pretty packed: his proposed timetable of a referendum on law-making powers.

Mr Wigley, still waiting for another title, set out that timetable as he saw it. It went something like this:

Option 1: a referendum before the General Election?

Verdict? Well nigh impossible and impractical. He can say that again and did, just to be perfectly clear. You can't call a snap referendum as you can a snap election. Rules is rules and it would take between 3 - more like 6 months by Mr Wigley's assessment - to call and hold a referendum. A referendum before next May? You'd have to call it early in the Autumn, it would be used to punish an unpopoular Labour government in Westminster, there's uncertainty around Rhodri Morgan's departure date, it would make next to no impact amidst all of that.

It won't happen. Quite.

Option 2: a referendum on the same day as the General Election.
Verdict? Any debate would be drowned out by campaigning for the election. Not a runner.

Option 3: After a General Election, before the Assembly Election.
Verdict? A goer and the former Plaid president's outright favourite.

Why? Where will we be in November 2010? Governed, quite possibly, by the Conservatives in Westminster. Would David Cameron be tempted to hold a referendum? Kick start the process in May, get a 'final answer' by November 2010. What better platform for the Conservative campaign in Wales for the Assembly election in 2011? Would the Tories want to be seen to be standing in the way and not giving Welsh voters the chance to cast their vote? Why not go for it early?

There would be no other election campaign to cut across a referendum campaign; voters would 'already have punished Labour'; Labour would prefer the thought and find easier to sell the option of Labour-made rules in Wales than Tory-made ones in Westminster; Conservatives who wanted to campaign for a yes vote could do so with no General Election in the offing and with no other election campaign on the go, Labour and Plaid would find it less difficult to cooperate on a referendum campaign.

Getting manifestoes written for the Assembly Election would be so much easier if the parties knew how much power they would have (or, of course, have failed to gain. Not many in the audience who contemplated that one).

A long list. As I said, Mr Wigley's favoured option.

Pitfalls? At a UK level, Labour may well be looking for a new leader. A new leader would be in place in Wales but would he or she have had time to make a mark? Wouldn't it be relatively easy for the Conservatives to argue that this was part of 'old Labour business', the sort of 'business' people were clearly fed up with and had not voted to support? Figures like - and I quote - Paul Murphy, Wayne David, Chris Bryant and Glenys Kinnock would be free to campaign against a yes vote.

All in all? Supporters of a yes vote ought to listen carefully and put a big, red circle around autumn 2010. He boomed just to make sure they could hear him over the wind.

Option 4: same day as the Assembly election in 2011.
Verdict? Some (think of the local AM ...) have been "charmed" by the idea. Not so Mr Wigley. Yes, it would save money and it would be hard for Labour MPs who don't want to see a yes vote to say so out loud in the middle of an Assembly election campaign where Labour's support for further powers is a clear policy but it would confuse voters, UKIP would stand in seats where the Conservative candidate supports further powers and it would be "a nightmare for Plaid canvassers". Yes, you can work with Labour when in government and fight them during an election campaign but work with them on a referendum campaign and go for them in an election campaign on the same doorstep, during the same pitch to the same housewife? A few in the middle rows shuddered.

"Don't play into the hands of the no campaign" boomed Mr Wigley again.

Option 5: after the Assembly election.
Verdict? Leave the long grass out of this.

The doors open, everyone rushes out to get to the pavilion in time to see who takes the crown home this year.

Mr Wigley leaves a prize - his idea of a prize of course - on the table for Welsh Secretary Peter Hain before he headed off himself. If Mr Hain is prepared to argue, as he told Golwg last week, that LCOs still unresolved at a time of a General Election should not automatically fall if a new government takes the reins and that the Conservatives, if they win, should be asked to play ball and accept that they represent 'the will of the people of Wales', why not call a referendum before a General Election and call on David Cameron to play ball (I translate a phrase of North Walian Welsh that I can't quite imagine Mr Hain uttering) if he wins the election and go ahead with it?

Mr Wigley foresaw a feather in Mr Hain's cap and the "ugly possibility" of Cheryl Gillan, as a future Welsh Secretary, 'defying the will of the people of Wales' and reaching for that veto.

Crowns. Feathers in caps and what the former head honcho of Plaid knows can only be seen as a very public challenge to current leader, Ieuan Wyn Jones.

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• - What's this?