Wales makes it 16

Wales has lowered the voting age to 16:

16 and 17 year olds can now officially vote in Wales for Senedd elections.

Votes at 16 & 17 come into force on Monday, as part of the Senedd and Elections (Wales) Act 2020.

Next year’s Senedd elections will be the first in which 16 and 17 year olds and legally resident foreign nationals are allowed to vote in Wales, in a major expansion of the franchise. Around 65,000 16/17s are expected to benefit.

The move is a victory for young people, following campaigning from ERS Cymru and a coalition of youth and civil society campaigners.

Congratulations to the Welsh for recognising that teenagers are equal citizens! But isn't it time New Zealand followed suit?

Climate change: Wales ends coal

The Welsh regional government is banning all new coal mines:

Future coal mining applications are set to be rejected as a matter of policy for the first time in Wales.

New proposed planning rules, which are due to be finalised by the Welsh Government by the end of the year, would only allow permission under "wholly exceptional circumstances".

[...]

Haf Elgar, director of Friends of the Earth Cymru, said: "It is a historic moment. This is the end of coal in Wales after a long association and history."

She added: "We have to be aware of our global responsibility and the impact all of the coal has had over the years and to make sure that we really do play our part in Wales now to be globally responsible and to reduce our carbon emissions,"

This is something that needs to happen if we are to avoid catastrophic temperature change and the human consequences it entails. we can't afford to burn the coal we're already mining, let alone dig up more, so its go to stay in the ground. And if somewhere like Wales, which was once one of the biggest coal mining areas in the world, can do it, then so can we.

So, when is the government going to follow suit?

A revealing "joke"

Last Friday was April Fools Day, and media institutions around the world took the opportunity to publish the fake stories they've wanted to all year. The Independent's offering? Scotland and Wales 'could form own country' if Britain votes to leave EU:

Scotland and Wales are in preliminary talks to split away from the UK and form a new country if Britain votes to leave the EU in June.

The extraordinary proposal has been discussed by members of the Welsh Assembly and Scottish Government, and it is being taken seriously by the UK Government...

And that's how the English political-media establishment view Scotland and Wales' nationhood: as a joke. And that is precisely why both countries should leave the UK.

What's Welsh for "fuck you"?

The Independent today has a fluff piece on "9 absurd things you're not allowed to do in [the UK] Parliament". Along with all the ones we have inherited - not speaking to one another directly, not calling people liars or hypocrites - there's also one which is outright offensive rather than merely absurd:

Speak in Welsh

The United Kingdom’s regions promote a number of languages: Most notably, Welsh has half a million speakers, Scots tens of thousands, and a similar number Irish.

Unfortunately for speakers of these languages, speeches in the House of Commons can only be made in English. Quotations in other languages are allowed, however.

Unlike in the European Parliament there are no live translation services available for members.

Pretty obviously, this is because the UK Parliament grew out of the English Parliament, which viewed the other constituent nations of the UK as subject peoples to be lorded over, rather than partners. But the UK isn't supposed to be like that now - instead its supposed to be a partnership, and is evolving towards a loose federation. In the modern UK, refusing to recognise the languages of the UK's constituent nations is a denial of that nationhood - and therefore of that partnership. Which isn't the way to go if you want those nations to stay together.

UK elections

The UK went to the polls on Friday for a national referendum on the voting system. Sadly, the marginal improvement of preferential voting could not compete against the desire to kick Nick Clegg in the bollocks for crawling into bed with the Tories, and so FPP will be retained. They say people get the government they voted for, and in the UK's case its going to continue to be unrepresentative and unaccountable. Hopefully it will be a lesson to them.

Meanwhile, those parts of the UK with fairer voting systems had regional elections. In Scotland, which uses MMP, the Scottish National Party won an absolute majority - something no-one expected to happen. They're taking this as a mandate for greater autonomy, and there is likely to be a referendum on Scottish independence within the next four years.

Meanwhile, in Wales, Labour came within a hair's breadth of an absolute majority, winning 30 of the 60 seats on only 37% of the vote. Wales uses MMP, but a broken version which proportionalises regionally rather than nationally. With only 4 list seats in each 12-seat region, the result is massive, structural overhangs which benefit Labour and shortchange everyone else. The overall result is highly disproportionate; the Gallagher Index for the Welsh election was 10.4 - practically an FPP result. By contrast, Scotland, which proportionalises across larger regions with a better balance between list and electorate seats, had 7.5; New Zealand's last election, out most disproportionate under MMP, was 3.8.

Pushing Welsh Devolution

A decade ago, as part of the Blair government's devolution program, the UK government created the Welsh National Assembly. Initially a talking shop with limited powers (essentially overseeing the old Welsh Office), it has since gained some limited legislative powers. And now, it looks set to gain a whole lot more:

A national referendum should be held in Wales with a view to giving the Welsh assembly full law-making powers, a major inquiry has decided.

The All Wales Convention, established by the assembly government, said a 'yes' vote in favour of boosting powers was obtainable but not guaranteed.

Opinion polling for the convention indicated 47% of people would vote 'yes' in a referendum and 37% 'no'.

Scotland effectively has its own national government (well, except for abortion, nuclear power, drugs, treason, foreign policy and independence - areas where the English don't trust the Scots to obey), and the natural question is "why not Wales"? And when you look at it, there's little justification for them not to have such powers (hell, there's little justification for them not to be independent - but that's a question for the Welsh people).

The next step is for the Welsh Assembly to pass a referendum motion, which must then be approved by the Secretary of State for Wales. Assuming that is not vetoed, they'll be able to vote on it by the next Welsh elections in 2011.