Capturing Cardiff

When we think of politicians, we tend to think of crusty old men, with beards like rhododendrons, sitting uncomfortably in designer suits. The advent of New Labour in 1995 saw politicians try to become slick city types, but still they couldn’t overcome this age old perception, and with the prominent MPs of the time being people like Tony Benn, Michael Howard and John Major I’m not surprised.

But the National Assembly for Wales in Cardiff Bay has been the scene of a quiet revolution. The young legislature hosts a membership that is challenging the traditional perception of politicians; 20% of Assembly Members are under the age of forty. That figure itself isn’t that remarkable, nor is it that different compared to Westminster, but the impact that these young AM’s have had is far more significant.

In December Kirsty Williams was elected as leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, at the ripe old age of 37. Carwyn Jones, the man widely tipped to take over as First Minister this year, is 41. There is speculation of a leadership coup within the Welsh Conservatives led by Darren Millar and Jonathan Morgan, 32 and 34 respectively. Two of Plaid Cymru’s most prominent AM’s Bethan Jenkins and Nerys Evans are 27 and 28 years old.

This has made me wonder whether the prominence of young AMs in Wales has changed attitudes. Do people in Wales see politics as a career rather than a vocation?

The danger with younger people in elected office is the perception that they are simply there to climb the ladder of power as fast as they can. Fresh out of University they will work for a political party, live and breathe local politics and before they know it, they will be standing for elected office.

But Dominic Hannigan says that isn’t necessarily the case. A 25 year-old Liberal Democrat party worker, Dominic stood in the 2005 Assembly election for the Cardiff South and Penarth constituency; he is now a Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate.

He believes that having less ‘life experience’ doesn’t mean that young people can’t be effective politicians, besides what constitutes life experience anyway? Dominic believes that being a good politician is all about the person, their ideals, beliefs and personal skills.

But why are there so many down the bay? Is there something in the water here that makes us all want to become politicians? The Cardiff political scene is a youthful one, with a lot of young activists, councillors and political support staff; it seems that this community is attracting other young people down to the Senedd. The electoral system here in Wales is also having an impact, because it works on a system of proportional representation; this means that some AMs are not elected directly but chosen from a central list. Parties use these lists to try and boost diversity in the chamber, and so most of the younger members are elected thanks to the list system.

Younger politicians are a good way of attracting a largely apathetic public into politics. As much as I dislike using Barack Obama as an example, he has shown how engaging with the young vote increases turnout. And as these whipper snappers continue to rise to prominence the hope is that they can emulate his success.

Dominic Hannigan thinks that the Welsh Assembly is doing quite a good job of being youthful, but feels that more can be done, and by looking at the positions of power, we see that he may have a point. The Assembly Cabinet, which holds most of the decision making power of the institution, is full of your archetypal stiff politicians.

Having spent hours in and around the Assembly I can’t help noticing the hordes of young support workers milling around. I also can’t help feeling that they all harbour hopes of one day becoming an elected official. But does this really matter? As long as our politicians are there because they want to make a difference to society, surely it can’t matter if they're 17 or 87? And yes there will be the odd one with no social skills but a first in political science; equally there will be someone with a wealth of life experience who can’t construct a coherent sentence.

The quiet revolution is set to continue... what impact it will have is still unclear.

Steffan


Here's my interview with Dominic Hannigan:




Here's a Google Map of the under 40 AMs

View Larger Map


Hwyl Fawr

The Digital Revolution - What I've Learned So Far

Unless you’ve been watching repeats of “Only Fools and Horses” for the past ten years and haven’t ventured outside or read any newspapers then you’ll be aware of the change that has happened. The 19th Century saw the Industrial revolution, the 1960s brought us the sexual revolution and now we have the digital revolution.

I have had mixed feelings about this so called revolution, as I have discussed in previous posts. The impact it is having on my chosen profession is significant, and therefore the impact it is having on me is significant. To deal with this I have tried to befriend this new technology, with varied success.

There are aspects of the digital revolution that I think are simply brilliant. The fact that anyone with a laptop and some photos can make a little narrative about anything they want, and publish it to the World, is in my opinion genius. Digital storytelling shows that it’s not just Hollywood that can make you laugh, smile or cry. I had loads of fun coming up with my effort. .

Blogging, despite the views of people like Steve Lovelady who thinks bloggers are “salivating morons”, does offer people the chance of insightful conversation with people from all over the World. My experience with blogs has made me believe that they are brilliant tools for people to talk about specific issues, niche subjects and raise awareness. But never should they take over the traditional media. There is strong evidence that shows the digital revolution has left some behind, and we must always remember them.

For all the good the digital revolution has done, it has also done some things that it should be made to go and sit in the corner for. With so much content being posted online all day every day, finding quality journalism has become a more difficult. This concern has been around for some time, and has only intensified of late.

Another problem with the digital revolution is that of churnalism. Larry Kramer once said after ‘Google News’ was short listed for an award, “that’s like nominating the Yellow Pages for a National Magazines Award”. To be fair to the digital revolution this isn’t only an internet specific problem.

Whether you think it’s a good or bad a thing, like those before it, the digital revolution is here stay. My movements will be forever known to every man woman and child in my network thanks to Twitter and Facebook and I have come to accept this as a positive thing. I can instantly contact anyone who I’ve ever said hello to if I want, and journalistically that’s a really useful tool to have in your back pocket. I can read Mr Jones from Tycroes’ opinion on income tax, or watch a story about a man’s dog that brings a tear to my eye.


The digital revolution has opened up the World to everyone, and if you have the patience to trawl through the rubbish there are scores of gems to find.

Hwyl fawr

Steffan

Image used courtesy of ninakulhawy @ Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/ninakulhawy/2356930878/