Big Society- Big Spin.

This is an important time for Wales, and let no-one tell you any different. The problem lies in the fact that we have a Con-Dem government set on cutting what it can from public expenditure, and selling off the rest. While my statements about the Passport Service, for example, are at this point speculative we can be certain that DEFRAs decision to sell off what it can of England's forests. At least in Wales, under a Plaid rural affairs minister, we have opted to keep Forestry Commission land in public ownership.

This will be the the first of many proposed state sell-offs under the Con-Dem government. I'm not sure exactly what a Big Society is but the only thing worse than Big Government is an unregulated private sector. It seems to me that Cameron's vaunted, and taunted, Big Society is the worst kind of spin- disguising slap dash spending cuts and privatisation, the ransacking of communities and the foundations on which they are built, in the name of profit- brushed off and over in the name of 'public consultation' and 'people power'. It is the shame of the Labour Party that MPs in safe seats would not consider a rainbow coalition to keep the Tories out. And we can see now how both Labour and the Lib Dems are more than prepared to say one thing in government and another in power. Say what you like about the Tories but at least you can always expect the worst of them.

Over the next few months the people of Wales will have the historic opportunity to establish their own parliament. The Assembly has been a success in many respects but there is far too much un-devolved and left in the hands of the likes of Blair, Cameron, Brown, and Osborne. With a proper parliament we can insulate ourselves against the worst, and build a nation in stark contrast to that of the the current Conservative and Lib Dem government.

On a separate but essential note I'd like to express my solidarity with 10,000 workers facing lock out in the Rhondda.

The future of the passport service?

Anyone with even a passing interest in Welsh and Newport affairs would have heard already at the planned closure/jobs decimation at the Newport passport office, but the issue could well have resonance for all those worried at how the current Con-Dem administration plan to overhaul/ruin our public services.

The civil service, no doubt inspired by self interested analysts (hired by new labour) in the business consultancy community, have determined that there is 'spare capacity' in the passport system. 'Spare capacity' is a very ambiguous word to use in the context of a public service and it neatly disguises the fact that the UK'S Identity and Passport Service is profit making.

Plaid Cymru of course supports the PCS and other trade unions in their battle to prevent the planned closures.

Given that the service is performing well, with just a perceived bit of slack in the system, what is the motivation behind the passport office closures? Tighten this slack and it may well prove impossible to get an emergency passport given the waiting list and demand in the existing offices. It is difficult to be conclusive of course without access to government documents. Rest assured that there is a comprehensive Freedom Of Information Request being made to this extent. What is clear however is that public sector cuts are not the only aspect of Tory DNA. They are driven too by the desire to privatize and push public profit into the hands of shareholders. It may well, therefore, only be a coincidence that Sarah Rapson the current CEO of the Identity and Passport Service was once a senior manager for American Express- the company that runs an emergency lost passport service in partnership with the UK government.

I, for one, look forward to the Home Office denying there are any plans whatsoever in privatizing any aspect of the UK's passport service.