tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34112832.post2652323620153894283..comments2023-11-05T09:37:36.840+01:00Comments on A View From Rural Wales: Its No Excuse, Mr Hain.Glyn Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10442114752573417252noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34112832.post-16750735264290123612007-12-28T13:42:00.000+01:002007-12-28T13:42:00.000+01:00Anon - well sort of! Lets see if I can do it agai...Anon - well sort of! Lets see if I can do it again - although to lose my seat as a result of the PR system did not feel like being sacked.Glyn Davieshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17344589217554138315noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34112832.post-84518174413928461702007-12-22T15:16:00.000+01:002007-12-22T15:16:00.000+01:00glyn you are living proof that public servants who...glyn you are living proof that public servants who resign can make a comeback while those who hang on until they are sacked cannot.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34112832.post-85522740640953678602007-12-22T15:01:00.000+01:002007-12-22T15:01:00.000+01:00VM - Politics is like that. It was so fashionable ...VM - Politics is like that. It was so fashionable to kick anyone who had anything to do with Quangos at that time, that most politicians wanted to jump on the wagon which they themselves had created. I didn't see much option but to resign - because the Secretary of State at the time did not support me. And I'd always said that without the full support of the Secretary of State, I would not want to do the job. Both Peter Walker and David Hunt had given me that level of support - but John Redwood took a different view. The only way to have saved myself would have been to dismiss innocent people - and that I would never do. It remains my opinion that the hoo-hah was ridiculous - and that abolition of the Board (disguised as a merger with the WDA) dealt a huge blow to the economy of Mid Wales, from which it has suffered ever since. Rural Wales does not have a 'champion' anymore. Ironically, I'm back into doing that sort of thing on a voluntary basis as President of the CPRW.Glyn Davieshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17344589217554138315noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34112832.post-18210652476574339622007-12-22T12:12:00.000+01:002007-12-22T12:12:00.000+01:00Glyn I remember the ho hah over the DBRW at the ti...Glyn I remember the ho hah over the DBRW at the time. I could never understand the big fuss over what was such a small part of what the Board was ab out. I had several good friends who worked for the Board and Rural Wales was left with a major gap when it went.<BR/>I didand still do not see that anyone should have resigned at the time. May be its because you are an honourable man, makes you wonder about some politicians today -of all shades.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34112832.post-59948818045548263282007-12-21T23:18:00.000+01:002007-12-21T23:18:00.000+01:00christopher - I was listening to the story of John...christopher - I was listening to the story of John Smith's death as it unravelled on the car radio. There was a couple of hours between when it was announced that he'd had a heart attack and that he'd died. I was driving away from all the hoo hah. I had delivered my resignation letter and cleared off. There was none of this false crap involving exchange of letters. I was too upset about things and just disappeared for a few days to recover. To this day, no-one knows where we went. John Smith was a good man.Glyn Davieshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17344589217554138315noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34112832.post-28797078276002851762007-12-21T23:04:00.000+01:002007-12-21T23:04:00.000+01:00opps, May 12 not May 14.opps, May 12 not May 14.Dr. Christopher Woodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09066490027824527304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34112832.post-51976670261707706992007-12-21T23:01:00.000+01:002007-12-21T23:01:00.000+01:00Ahhh, good on you bonnie Glyn, and don’t you worry...Ahhh, good on you bonnie Glyn, and don’t you worry too none, you have a lot of good chemistry about you, and you did nothing wrong, so in Glaswegian, ‘that’s not you then’. <BR/><BR/>But yeah, a date to remember (May 14th, 1994) - the day John Smith died; I was in my last but one year of my chemistry PhD at Glasgow University (which has one of the biggest chemistry departments in Scotland). Being at Glasgow University I learnt from others there that John Smith graduated from Glasgow University (which means he has a University of Glasgow “matriculation number”). <BR/><BR/>If memory serves, Charles Kennedy also graduated from Glasgow University (so Charles Kennedy also has a unique Glasgow University matriculation number). <BR/><BR/>Also, if memory serves, at least one of John Smith’s daughters was studying at Glasgow University at the time of her father’s death (I think another daughter had recently graduated from Glasgow too), which kind of made the news even sadder. If memory serves, his daughter was an undergraduate in law at Glasgow University. I think it was the day that "law" as a "job" came into my mind. <BR/><BR/>The news of John Smith’s death shocked everyone at Glasgow University - it was like we had lost an angel. John Smith had some good chemistry about him and it was a great tragedy for his family and British politics when he died.Dr. Christopher Woodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09066490027824527304noreply@blogger.com