There are genuine fears that the Welsh electorate don’t know what they’re voting for – let alone when – on the 5th May, which is the date for the next Welsh Government elections, by the way. Therefore, experts in various Welsh fields are trying to ensure that at least the politicians are up to speed by “husting” them. Incidentally “hust” in Welsh means ‘be quiet!’ and the latest round of political debate in Cardiff was a strangely subdued affair…
Monday night [4th April] in Cardiff saw one of the the best attended assembly hustings yet, focusing on culture, which according to the organisers was proof enough of the importance we place on our cultural heritage in Wales. Rather than a chronological record of the evening, which would risk your patience, here is a condensed version to give a flavour of events. In all honesty, the evening could scarcely have been more watered down, although there were mitigating circumstances – UKIP withdrew at the last minute, citing lack of standing members and so the ‘mainstream’ parties could scarcely manage a disagreement between them, so united is the culture of Wales it seems!
Honour to be welcoming #WGculturehustings @Museum_Cardiff tonight – Falch o groesawu #hystingsdiwylliant i Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Caerdydd
— Amgueddfa Cymru | National Museum Wales (@AmgueddfaCymru) April 4, 2016
In the Green corner was Amelia Womack who received the first applause of the evening for her undoubted ability to convey her understanding and empathy with the arts. This was some time after the ‘opening statements’, which in some way were symbolic of the evening as the weary politicians struggled to connect with the audience in the formal setting of the Reardon Smith Lecture Theatre – possibly because they were overcome with stagefright having not expected so many people in a ‘Question Time’ style setting; or it may have been the large numbers of people tweeting about them on the #WGculturehustings hashtag; or more probably because they were tired out from working on the Port Talbot disaster. One hopes.
Womack of the Greens at least was on song in parts:
“You can’t measure culture in economic terms”.
Ironically, she then went on to use the phrase “our economy” so many times that it weakened her strong start somewhat She did manage to land a blow on Conservative evangelising about volunteers in the arts:
“When jobs are in short supply should the sector be reliant on volunteers?
Representing Conservative values was Suzy Davies AM, who began the evening by saying that she was hoping for yet more arts and culture in the Tory manifesto… that is if her colleagues could allow it – mastering that strange trick of being able to disassociate herself from any mistakes made whilst still emphasising her influence in one fell swoop. It was her assertion that arts graduates are twice as likely to be volunteers than your average citizen, thus feeding the egos in the room fairly deftly. Davies got better as the evening wore on, and actually gave a well informed and passionate performance overall as she is wont to do in the many hustings she attends on behalf of her chosen party.
To complete the trio of skilled political performances by the ladies present, Bethan Jenkins of Plaid Cymru was possibly the best of the lot, bemoaning that ours is a society where even,
“Peripatetic lessons…if they still exist are seen as a risk.”
Opening statement aside, her insistence of using the Welsh language had half the room reach for their headsets on a regular basis – especially when there was a strangely captivating bilingual exchange with Ken Skates officiated by the evening’s MC Menna Richards where Skates seemed to accuse her of laziness in the Senedd chamber, or at the very least political naivety. Jenkins did manage more than others to make the link between culture and industry, otherwise the ghost of the Port Talbot steelworks was an eerily silent presence in the proceedings.
I’d been told to watch out for Ken’s snazzy footwear (Skates?) but to my mind this young man needs to work more on his presentation of Labour’s objectives for the arts in Wales, his half-hearted and therefore only half-heard plea that the arts need to more woven into our society would have been more at home at a village hall coffee morning – which incidentally was the atmosphere that Menna Richards appeared to be advocating at some stages rather than than a capital city’s culture debate. It was all a bit comfy and cosy and left the culture vultures themselves a little uninspired. In fairness to Ken, he did manage a good off-the-cuff “That’ll be UKIP” quip when his phone went, and the more quoteworthy,
“More opportunities for young people are what’s needed.”
and
“Volunteers add value, they do not replace paid professionals,”
as if ganging up on the Conservatives would happen in Wales..!
So what of the once-mighty Liberals? Their natural home is still Mid Wales on this evidence, as the transatlantic tones of Denis Campbell extolling the virtues of Atlantic College did little to persuade this Mid Walian of their place in the capital city. I know that DC loves basketball and has many friends in London who get to see a wider variety of shows than him, but other than that I know not what points he was trying to make. Still, it must be difficult to be a Liberal Democrat after the accident. If only they could afford the tuition fees, they might learn something. He did, however, have words of praise for the media in Cardiff – saying we’re
“literally breaking the ground”
apparently. Pity, as that should be Cardiff Council’s job, some of the capital city’s potholes are terrible.
So, anyone hoping for a stellar performance for Welsh culture would have been disappointed – it was down to earth with a bump for culture vultures this week in Cardiff’s hustings. “Hust” indeed.
#HystingsDiwylliant #Wales2016 @AmgueddfaCymru #Caerdydd blog-io @Cardiffrinj heno #WGculturehustings @WNCardiff pic.twitter.com/impV6FIErs
— Dai Lingual (@DaiLingual) April 4, 2016
#Wales2016 jargon : silos, panaceas, steam & stem all prominent ! And for the most part unexplained, leaving the audience in a state of suspended ignorance if not bliss.
words DAVID WYN