Moving on

Tweet The sharp-eyed may have noted a slight change to the masthead of this blog a couple of days ago. And given some of the speculation I've been reading and hearing, here's the explanation from the horse's mouth as it were.

Sometimes in life, I find that a particular song, book, or phrase sums up a point which I've reached, and I was listening to the radio as I was driving along the other day when they played "The Gambler" by Kenny Rogers. The chorus runs:

You've got to know when to hold
Know when to fold
Know when to walk away
Know when to run

I've never been much of a gambler, but "knowing when to fold" is a skill which applies in a lot of other fields as well. It isn't easy though. When you've invested years of your life in a project - to say nothing of effort and money - there is a natural tendency to want to see things through. There's something of an emotional investment involved as well.

"Knowing when to fold" doesn't just apply to the forthcoming Assembly election, of course, but my attention has focussed very closely on that over the last couple of weeks. I've given it a great deal of thought personally. I've listened to the comments of a number of members as well. Their analysis is varied; some I agree with, some I do not - but the detail of that is a story for another day.

With all things, there comes a time to let go and move on, and the view that I should do so was sufficiently strong for me to heed the advice. The suggestion made in a comment on Vaughan's blog today that I will not be putting my name forward for the nomination in Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire is entirely correct, although some of the other comments are well wide of the mark. It would have been nice though if the commenter concerned had allowed me to make my own statement in my own way. Plus ça change...

Plaid Cymru is fortunate in having plenty of other options available locally. That is something which was not the case back in 2004 when I was originally pressed to stand. I have encouraged Nerys Evans to apply, and I am confident that she will win the nomination if she does so. I wish her well, and hope that she achieves the success which she deserves.

Elin Jones visit

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Nerys Evans and I hosted a meeting in Llanddewi Velfrey last week at which Elin Jones spoke to a group of farmers. We had a really good session with Elin outlining the policies which she and the government are following, and then an opportunity for questions and debate.

There was lots of praise for the way in which Elin has approached the job, and her knowledge and understanding of the farming industry, although there's always more to be done of course. Those in the industry certainly understand how Plaid can and does make a real difference in government.

One of the biggest concerns for farmers locally remains the question of getting a fair price for the produce they sell, and the way in which the large supermarkets are able to dominate and control the market, because four or five large companies are effectively pitted against thousands of small farming businesses.

Even for those who believe in the free markets from an ideological perspective, the current process doesn't operate fairly, and on this issue, the charge was led by Sir Eric Howells, who lives locally and frequently writes on this matter to the local papers and the Western Mail. When the market is distorted as heavily as it is in this case, we need government intervention to fix prices at a fair level.