Author Archives: Gwyn Griffiths

Rees-Moggery, or … well, I never realised that!

By Gwyn Griffiths | Published 1st December 2009 - 7:25 pm

You can tell that a general election is coming when William Rees-Mogg starts using his Times column to talk up his various offspring who have been selected as Conservative candidates, linked to reminiscing about his own efforts in the Tory cause – “I recall that when I contested Dunny on the Wold in 1867 Benjamin D. was most generous in his advice and time”.

In past years these columns have entertained us with their somewhat optimistic views of likely familial success – I especially enjoyed his claims of an unsuspected Tory breakthrough in Fife!

This time two of …

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Posted in Opposition watch | Tagged | 5 Comments

Opinion: Doctor Beeching was not to blame for everything!

By Gwyn Griffiths | Published 18th September 2008 - 1:36 pm

I caught a fair chunk of the Transport Debate from Conference on Wednesday morning, and generally I found it impressive. But, there are two points I’d like to explore.

First, at least two speakers appeared to claim that government support for the railways has increased a thousand-fold since the days of British Rail. Now, I’m quite happy to accept that there has been a significant increase under privatisation. I also realise that calculating the overall level of support is not easy given the byzantine complexity of the relationship between the various public and private sector entities involved. 

But the estimates I have …

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Posted in Conference, Op-eds | 6 Comments

But Mr Gladstone, are you local enough?

By Gwyn Griffiths | Published 30th June 2008 - 1:45 pm

It would appear that the ‘local’ credentials of the candidates proved to be something of a talking-point in the recent Henley by-election.

Certainly, in Crewe & Nantwich it was a constant theme in the election literature. The Conservatives went so far as to claim that their man was “the only local candidate” – despite the fact that he lived further from the constituency than his Lib Dem rival, and that one of the ‘fringe’ candidates had lived all his life in Crewe! But, as a rather more experienced campaigner put it to me – with a shrug of his …

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Posted in Op-eds, Parliamentary by-elections | 17 Comments