Voting is on Thursday; a simple 'YES' or 'NO' for legislative powers on 20 issues some of which will affect angling.

I've scanned the pages to save a lot of typing.

Anyone any thoughts? Constructive or otherwise?

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Save the softmouth trout

Personally I hope the "No" vote wins as I think this lot have too much power already and aren't really cut out for Government and the responsibility that comes with it. They have made a right mess of education already if the latest reports are to be believed. I can see Wales being bankrupt in the next 3 years unless the assembly are pulled back in. Unfortunately the "Yes" vote will win I suspect and we'll be totally fcuked.

Voting is on Thursday and it's simple? Jesaas Eph - you the next Gaddafi?

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Help fund the WTT study of the Softmouth

"Jesaas Eph - you the next Gaddafi?"

Well Mubarak's wife Suzanne was Welsh, which made Egypt's charming previous heir apparent Gamal Al Din Mohammed Hosni Sayed Mubarak (جمال الدين محمد حسنى سيد مبارك‎) part Welsh. Thankfully Wales has no links with Gadaffi except possibly a previous first minister wielding an even madder, although similar, hair-do.

I can't see them making a bigger fist of matters as they are. Some firm leadership, decisions and decisive action on failing salmon rivers and on the INNS front eg Dikerogammarus would be welcome for a start.

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Save the softmouth trout

Are you offering to tackle it or asking someone else to do it?

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Help fund the WTT study of the Softmouth

I'll be voting "Yes" despite a lot of doubts. I'd like to think our own lawmakers couldn't make more of a mess of Wales than Westminster has so far. Let's hope they don't let us down....

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Musha rig um du rum da

Mmm! More bureaucracy Wales, Westminster and Brussels

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How poor a thing, sometimes I find,
Will captivate a greedy mind - Isaac Walton.

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*****©(

Why do we need Law Making Powers? This country isn't big enough for a four way split in governing bodies! I envisage far more problems for the Welsh when (or if) we are completely regulated by the Welsh Assembly! The only beneficiaries of a yes vote tomorrow will be the members of the National Assembly, who will undoubtedly find some further remuneration in their pockets; and the powers to become Welsh Barron's.

We always loose out - when there's change made - just for the sake of changing the power over Wales.

I've voted "No"! I'm not giving a bunch of 2nd rate politicians more power. Only about a quarter of the Welsh voting population voted for devolution so it's hardly a mandate!

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“There is no more lovely country than Monmouthshire in early spring. Nowhere do the larks sing quite so passionately, as if somehow inspired by the Welsh themselves. There is a blackbird on every thorn and a cock chaffinch, a twink as they call him there, on every bush...... It moved me profoundly. I had been spared to see another spring, and I thank God for it.”

Oliver Kite
“A Spring Day on the Usk”
A Fisherman’s Diary

"Only about a quarter of the Welsh voting population voted for devolution so it's hardly a mandate!"

Quite right. the 1997 referendum was carried by the narrowest of narrow squeaks. However the motion was carried. Turnout then was just over 50%, more than for many elections in the same regions.
Split was:
Hardly an endorsement for the fledgling Assembly; which wasn't strengthened until 2006 (Goverment of Wales Act). Perhaps that should've been a referendum, but it wasn't. Instead Wales was given the 'Legislative Competence Order' a mechanism whereby powers had to be requested from Westminster to legislate on each and every occasion. The referendum today is merely to free up this lengthy and beaurecratic process. Many in the 'no' faction seem to think it a poll on the Cardiff Goverment's performance, perhaps tapping into latent dissatisfaction in an East/West split?

I had hoped this discussion would have entailed matters relating to angling, the ecology of our waters, how they are run, invasive species, funding, and perhaps peripheral issues such as canoe access; otherwise I'd have stuck it in Viewpoint.

Exit polls show a higher than expected 25% turnout. Voting at my station seemed brisker than some previous General Elections, suprising, most admitted being in the 'Yes' camp. Just as well as a strong 'Yes' will free the Assembly to concentrate on future buisness investors and economic development, flexible to deliver growth and jobs in what has been a time of austerity.


PS. I voted 'Yes' if you hadn't guessed.

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Save the softmouth trout