Philadelphia Freedom - Happy Birthday America!

It's the 235th anniversary of the signing of America's Declaration of Independence in 1776.


A younger, leaner looking author
with Liberty Bell in 2005

 It's a day of great celebration for our cousins on the other side of the pond and I for one am happy to pass on my very best wishes to them on this day.

Philadelphia Freedom
When I holidayed along the east coast of America in 2005, I visited Boston which was of course the home of the Famous Tea Party which galvanised local feeling against the colonial repressors.

I've also been to Philadelphia and I must admit that I greatly underestimated the city before my arrival. On a whirlwind 2 week tour that took in Toronto in Canada before Boston and New York, Philadelphia was to be our final stop and it wasn't one that filled me with great excitement.

For a historian, this was a near sacrilegious underestimation of a city that lies at the very heart of what it is that America are celebrating today.

For Philadelphia was at the heart of the actions and ideas that fuelled the American Revolution and led to its Independence. It was there in Independence Hall that the declaration of Independence was signed after the Second Continental Congress voted for independence and for the first decade, the city served as the American capital between 1790-1800 before Washington took over the reins of power.

Having quickly grappled with the historic significance of this final city of my holiday, I lapped it all up. I visited Independence Hall, the venue of that famous declaration and also the adjacent Congress Hall which housed the initial meetings of Congress during this period - both the Senate and House of Representatives.


A Philadelphia Montage with
Independence Hall in the bottom right.

I also visited the nearby Liberty Bell Center to see the famous cracked bell that was one of many that reputedly rang in the news when the Declaration was publicly read on July 8, 1776. I also visited the wonderful National Constitution Center which tells you anything and everything that you could ever want to know about America's constitution which though far from perfect (particularly when dealing with the Native Americans), remains in my book, one of the purest expressions of democracy that has ever been written - and in the 18th century!

I have my copy of the Declaration of Independence which I bought then with me now. As it famously stated:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that amongst these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness".

In tribute to my American friends and this day of pride in their nation and on a belief that at its core was as near perfect as could be expected now, let alone then, this apt Elton John composition with a visual montage of Philadelphia by a native of the city.

Happy Birthday America!

JPR Williams, Heavenly Singing & Mindless Vandalism

Go back to 1176 and you will find that the first ever Welsh Eisteddfod was held in Cardigan Castle under the auspices of the Lord Rhys.

It is quite apt then that one of the biggest of the modern Eisteddfods in the west Wales region is Cardigan's Gwyl Fawr Aberteifi which has a long and proud 59 year tradition which helps make it so.

Heavenly Singing
Last night I had a very enjoyable time at the final evening of Gwyl Fawr Aberteifi 2011 where I could endulge myself in my love of Welsh music and in particular, Welsh choral music.

Because I am without hesitation, first and foremost, a Choir man. I adore listening to the Choir competitions more than I do the recitations or the solo singing performances (although I do greatly enjoy these as well). In the Gwyl Fawr, there are 4 choir competitions - for the youth, for women, for men and for a mixed choir. The winner of each then go toe-to-toe for the 'Choir of the Festival' trophy which is the one they all want to win.

Give me a choice and I will always go for the Male Voice Choir. There is something that calls out to my Welsh soul when I hear one in full flow and last night, it was a pleasure to listen to the 4 Male Voice Choirs that had come to compete and indeed had travelled some distance to do so.

JPR in his Welsh 70's pomp

Côr Meibion Y Machlud had travelled up from south Wales and amongst its ranks on stage last night was 1970s Welsh rugby wizard, JPR Williams giving it his all as was his way on the rubgy pitch. However, on this occasion, he and they came last!

In third were Côr Meibion Clwb Rygbi Treforys (Morriston RFC Male Voice Choir) who brought a staggering 60 members all the way up from Swansea to compete.

Côr Meibion Taf from Cardiff came a very respectable second but the clear and straightforward winners last night for me were our very own Côr Ar Ol Tri who were a good distance better than their south Walian rivals. Their win proved very popular in the hall as can be expected but unfortunately however, the overall Festival Choir award was given to the Ladies Choir Côr Merched Canna from Cardiff - never mind, better luck next year Côr Ar Ol Tri!

Mindless Vandalism
The evening certainly perked me up after the great anger and frustration that swept over me the evening before when I received a 'phone call from our CAB Bureau Manager at 10.15pm on Friday evening notifying me that there had been an act of mindless vandalism at the Bureau for the second time this year.

I broke off from watching The Kennedys and made my way down to the Bureau as Trustee Board Co-Chair to find that a brick had been thrown at one of the paines of glass at the front of the building. One of the local residents who always keeps an eye out for us, spotted this damage on his way back from the Gwyl Fawr on that evening and called our Bureau Manager.

We waited for the police to arrive and once they were gone, we cleaned up and made our ways home at about 11.30pm.

What greatly frustrates me is that someone decided to target the CAB - an organisation that exists to help people and to do good in society. Why, of all places in the world, target the Citizens Advice Bureau? I find it incredulous. As I've said, this is the second such incident in recent months - the last time a large plank of wood was forced through re-inforced windows and made a much greater mess than what we witnessed this Friday evening.

But whilst that original act was perpetrated in the early hours of the morning, this most recent mindless act occurred sometime between 6.30pm and 9.30pm - in summer time daylight hours. I just can't fathom and undestand the mentality here in doing what was done and at a time when they could so easily have been seen. Do these people have no shame? Well, they certainly are shameful in their actions.

So over the course of the weekend, I've seen to some degrees both the worst and the best of our area but I'm glad that it was the former that was followed by the latter because it at least means that I move into a new week in better heart than would've been the case had it have been the other way around.

Ceredigion to Trump Carmarthenshire Council in Filming Meetings?

My Ceredigion County Council colleague Cllr Alun Williams blogged here yesterday about the Council's decision on Thursday to investigate opening up its public meetings to film recording after the furore surrounding Carmarthenshire County Council a few weeks ago.

For those who missed it, Carmarthenshire County Council found itself in hot water for the way it dealt with a blogger who filmed a Council meeting.


Jacqui Thompson's arrest after filming a meeting of
Carmarthenshire County Council recently

The blogger in question was Jacqui Thompson whose critical blog on Carmarthenshire County Council can be found here. The full story and details of this incredible event was originally broken and can be viewed here on Carmarthen Journal journalist Alexander Smith's media blog.

It has since been taken up by the New Statesman, BBC Wales, Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and many bloggers.

A number of friends have asked for my thoughts on the matter as a Councillor from neighbouring Ceredigion County Council. I can only apologise for the delay - having been away at Andrew Reeves' funeral in Edinburgh when the news broke, I've had a rather fraught few weeks since with more funerals to attend. This blog post has remained partly written since and only now have I had the time to complete it fully.

Ceredigion County Council's Position
I've been a Councillor in Ceredigion now for 7 years and more often that not, there aren't any members of the public in the viewing gallery when we have our Council meetings. There are times to the contrary of course when emotive subjects like contentious planning applications are in front of the committee or the full Council is considering the future of small local schools, when the community turns out in force to listen to the debate.

I say that there are times when the gallery is empty but that isn't quite right. We do have one keen local resident, James from Borth, who sits in on every single public meeting. It might seem overly enthusiastic for some, but to me it's the mark of a democracy that anyone who has the time and inclination to attend every Council meeting, is allowed to do so.

There are of course occasions when sensitive issues are being discussed and when the Council decides to go into 'committee' which is when the press and memebrs of the public are excluded. As a rule, we only do so when necessary and there are very rarely complaints from those present in the gallery when we do - it is understood and accepted that there are times when this must be done.

But if the public can watch public meetings, why can't they film them if they so wish? The House of Commons finally allowed the cameras into the Chamber in the late 1980s and of course with the modern, devolved nature of politics, we are well used to watching our elected representatives in the chambers of our Welsh Parliament in Cardiff and likewise in Edinburgh and Belfast.

Why then is this not always the case in local government and certainly not so in Carmarthenshire? We complain about a lack of engagement between local residents and local authorities and bemoan the often low local government turnouts and yet, if there is an old-fashioned tendency to think ill of technology then we're going to find ourselves continuing to fall behind the ways of modern Britain. It was not that long ago that I can recall a colleague of mine, Cllr Amy Kitcher finding herself in hot water for Tweeting during a meeting of Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council - the horror of it! It does strike me as being completely backward that we can not grasp the opportunities that technology gives us to open up local government and to rid ourselves of the image of being old fashioned and averse to change.

On this point, I must admit that whilst not being the biggest of 'Tweeters', I did actually Tweet live from a Ceredigion County Council meeting last December when the Council voted to support the Yes for Wales extra powers referendum. I was so excited at the vote that I just couldn't contain myself and had to tell the world!

Having contacted the senior officers within the Council to clarify Ceredigion's position, I have had it confirmed that at present, the Chair has the discretion to allow the filming of Council meetings. In my memory, filming has been allowed for the BBC prior to the beginning of a conentious debate in recent years (I can recall now retired BBC journalist John Meredith taking shots of the Chamber in the minutes leading up to the start of a Council meeting) but was not continued during the meeting itself.

Support from Swansea
A more recent development came from a call by Swansea City Tory Councillor Rene Kinzett for Wales to follow the UK government's lead in allowing the public to film meetings of local Councils. I know Rene from when he was a Liberal Democrat member and though he defected to the dark side, it's good to see that he still has good liberal tendencies! His comments on the BBC Wales website make much sense.

He says:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"As long as the filming itself does not interfere with the good order of the meeting, then there should be no objection to a taxpayer filming the proceedings of those we elect to spend hundreds of millions of pounds of our money at a local level.

"The involvement of the police and the arrest of a member of public and her removal from the public gallery in handcuffs is a deeply worrying development.

"The United Kingdom is a democracy and the right of electors to watch their democratically elected representatives at work, from the House of Commons, to the Senedd and down to our county and town halls, is a hard won right."

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Perfectly sensible words Rene. I couldn't agree more.

We've never had in my memory, such an embarrassing situation in Ceredigion as was experienced recently in Carmarthen. It does not do anything to enhance the reputation of local government and those within it to see what happened, occur.

There are as Alun said in his blog, differences in opinion within the Council as to whether the authority should film the meetings itself for the public to view or whether those in the gallery should be given the ability to film the Council meetings themselves if they so desire. These discussions will be debated when the report comes back to Council in the autumn I'm sure but the principle now seems set and positive progress, from Ceredigion's side of the border at least, is being made to open up local government to those we represent.

Because at the end of the day, if we can not embrace modern technology in local government, then we may as well all pack up our bags and go home.

David Cameron: An Aston Villa fan?! Oh me of dear oh my.

Well apparently it was a relatively well known fact but not until today did I realise that Prime Minister David Cameron is, like me, an Aston Villa fan.

I must admit, it doesn't really fill me with pride!

This Birmingham Mail article shows this photo of the PM jogging through Hyde Park wearing an Aston Villa shirt.

I was not aware, but his Villa credentials are actually quite pukka. His Uncle was a former Chairman of the club and he first attended a match aged 13. My first Villa Park appearance in the autumn of 1995 was also at age 13 which is greatly disconcerting!

Famous Villains
He is one of a number of well known famous fans. I knew that Prince William was a fan and also world-known violinist Nigel Kennedy. Also, Pike from Dad's Army , played by Ian Lavender, was a fan and wore the Claret and Blue scarf in the series. I was stunned recently when Tom Hanks admitted in an interview to being a fan as well. As he put it:

"Years ago I was in London and I was watching a football match and it happened to be Aston Villa.

"I thought: 'I like their colours and I like the name so I'm gonna be an Aston Villa man from now on'".

Being a big Tom Hanks fan, I thought this was brilliant! Suddenly, I felt I was in good company!

But like with Cameron, I wasn't aware that the Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King is also a fan as is Grammy-Award winning singer Amy Winehouse.

So maybe I'm not in such good company after all?!

My Internet Stat Porn Monthly Report (10) June

This is my tenth monthly round-up of blog figures for anyone who is remotely interested in who reads my little blog. These stats for the month of June come courtesy of google analytics.

Another Busy Month
After the record shattering antics of May, June was a quieter month, albeit only slightly.

Although my output for the month of 25 blog posts was the lowest monthly total since last October, I still reached near parity with the record-breaking viewing figures from May.

It was the exploits of Rory McIlroy at the US Open that meant that I experienced on 20th June, the second ever busiest day on my blog. The Rory McIlroy - A Leap of Faith to Join the Immortals of Golf blog post which I wrote back in April shot up as a result to become the 3rd most read blog post that I've written of all-time.

Because of that one blog post in particular, the viewing figures for the month were impressive. In June I had a total of 5,844 absolute unique visitors to my blog, down only marginally from my May record of 6,485 and up on 3,971 in April, 3,764 in March, 3,926 in February, 2,370 in January, 1,702 in December, 1,024 in November, 701 in October and 597 in September.

The 5,844 visitors made 6,222 visits to my blog in June, again only marginally down on the May figure of 6,908 (compared to 4,335 in April, 4,237 in March, 4,308 in February, 2,668 in January, 2,180 in December,1,396 in November and 1,107 in October) and viewed 8,787 pages (compared to 9,738 pages in May, 6,239 in April, 6,121 in March, 6,447 in February, 4,240 in January, 3,435 in December, 1,991 in November and 1,711 pages in October).

The top 10 stories by direct page views that you've read this month were:

1. Rory McIlroy - A Leap of Faith to Join the Immortals of Golf
2. Has Mark Webber Blown It?
3. Wembley Bound with Swansea City AFC
4. 'The King's Speech' - The Book Vs The Film (SPOILER WARNING!)
5. Labour's Leighton Andrews' Extraordinary Live TV Coco Pops Outburst
6. Terry Pratchet: Choosing to Die
7. Phillip Schofield is in the Priory?
8. As the Yemenese Domino Falls, is Syria next?
9. Dear Lembit Opik, With All Due Respect, Your Opinion Doesn't Matter Here Anymore.
10. A Service in Memory of Andrew Reeves

Of the 10, 4 were written this month - the other 6 are popular blog posts written in months past that continue to attract hits. It was a rather solemn month as my popular blog posts ranged from Andrew Reeves' untimely early death and also the moving Terry Pratchet documentary on assisted dying. There were lighter moments as well however as a Phillip Schofield wheeze on Twitter caught the eye.

My Has Mark Webber Blown It? blog post remained at No.2 and thus making the top 5 for the 8th consecutive month despite having still never made the monthly top grade!

Blog Traffic
Of all of the blog visitors, 15.48% were through direct traffic (up from 14.24% in May), 47.07% came from referring sites (down from 50.16%) and 37.45% via search engines (up from 35.60%).

My top 10 referring/search engine sites for the last month were (with change from May):

1. Google (No Change)
2. Facebook (No Change)
3. Blogger.com (+1)
4. Twitter (-1)
5. rialtocr.blogspot.com (+2)
6. Lib Dem Blogs (-1)
7. Lib Dem Voice (-1)
8. aol.com (No Change)
9. liberalengland.blogspot.com (+1)
10. Yahoo (New Entry)

An International Blog!
The visitors to my little blog came from 107 countries/territories this month - down marginally from the 123 record of May, but on the 94 in April, 88 in March, 85 in February and 68 in January (with a cumulative total of 155 countries/territories having supplied visitors to my blog to date).

The top ten countries to date are as follows (with position change from May & % of total views):

1. United Kingdom (No Change) 47.9% (-0.7%)
2. United States (No Change) 22.2% (+2.6%)
3. Germany (No Change) 2.6% (-0.4%)
4. Canada (No Change) 2.5% (-0.3%)
5. Australia (No Change) 2.1% (-0.2%)
6. Ireland (No Change) 1.8% (-0.2%)
7. Brazil (+2) 1.4% (+0.2%)
8. Poland (-1) 1.2% (-0.2%)
9. France (+1) 1.1% (+0.1%)
10. Holland (-2) 1.1% (-0.1%)

It has continued to be a very cosmopolitan blog this month and honourable mentions must go in particular to the 6 new countries/territories that have provided its first viewers to my fledgling blog this June.

Greenland, the British Virgin Islands, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Bolivia and Laos have all supplied their first readers to my blog during the past month!

Fair play to them all, and to you all, for putting up with my ramblings!