I'm slightly out of time getting this diary up (IWMD was the 28th) - cross posted from my personal blog.

Today is International Workers' Memorial Day, honouring all the people who have lost their lives due to workplace accidents and industrial disease.

Friday marked the first day of the 'short campaign', the month running up to the Assembly elections on the 5th May.  I'm working for Welsh Labour as a photographer on the campaign.

Jenny Rathbone, Carwyn Jones and the campaign team in Cardiff Central

Cross posted with some small edits from my blog

I'm helping out with a trade union women's development weekend and we want to get reps thinking about more effective ways of getting their messages across to workers and union members.

I'm compiling a slideshow showing a range of ways of getting messages across, tapping into effective advertising campaigns, viral videos, songs, images, the Cameron airbrushed poster templates and so on.

Following on from Deaf. Learning Welsh pt 1

I thought I'd keep the title fairly self-explanatory.  I am deaf and I want to learn Welsh. [sharp intake of breath] I don't see why it shouldn't be possible, but learning languages is not easily accessible to me, for obvious reasons.

It is all well and good letting off steam and ranting about the unfairness of the world, but it doesn't create change.  The ConDem coalition attacks on disabled people are horrific and for those of us affected, incredibly frightening. To target and demonise the very people who are most in need of support in difficult economic times says a great deal about the values of the UK Government right now.

It is good to see plenty of disabled people rising up against the cuts and the damaging rhetoric, with blogs, websites, campaigning, lobbying and petitions but we have nowhere near the scale of influence, support or media attention that we really need to mount an effective challenge.

I'm long overdue a diary about the Yes campaign, calling for the legislative process to be made quicker and more effective, removing the necessity for Wales to get permission from Westminster to pass legislation that only affects Wales.  I've been involved as a photographer, working on the campaign and website images and covering events.  I'm really proud to be able to make such an important contribution to such an important campaign.

A night in with the wine and two good friends created all sorts of conversations but one in particular was about role models - in the context of the gender balance in the Assembly and why that is important. Having a gender balance in the Assembly has helped to create a very distinct Welsh (and socialist) brand of policies in Wales. Research shows that women are more likely to instigate discussions on equality, children, older people, welfare. The issues are being put on the table, debated and policies formed.

The rumblings of the ConDem steamroller are nearing with remarkable pace.  I've already commented on tuition fees, and as TBG puts it:
ThatBritGuy:

punching the poor in the face away from political and economic power.

Articles like this one always worry me...

Ministers will not be required to seek the advice of scientists when  making drug classification policy in future, under new government  proposals.

The police reform and social responsibility bill,  published last week, contains an amendment to the constitution of the  Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) that would remove the requirement on the home secretary to appoint at least six scientists to the committee.

A  further amendment to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 would allow the home  secretary to place temporary controls on substances for a year by  statutory instrument.

It's been a busy week but still it is remiss of me to have not commented on the protests against Government proposals to increase the cap on University tuition fees.

Back in the day(!) when I was studying for my undergraduate degree at Cardiff, I was lucky enough to start in 1997, the last year where grants were still available (albeit minimal) and no tuition fees were charged.  Student loans saw me through on my living expenses and I worked each summer to make up the rest of the money I needed. Doing a chemistry degree involved most days being full of lectures and lab sessions, and being deaf meant that I had to use all of my time outside lectures to catch up on what I missed from not hearing the lectures.  The additional reading involved for me was huge. I just didn't have time to work whilst studying.

frontpaged - Nomad

I'm an appointed (unpaid) Director for Disability Wales - the national association of disabled people's organisations, striving to  achieve the rights, equality and independence of disabled people in  Wales.

My flatmate's birthday present for me was a ticket to see Earthfall in their new production - The Factory - at the Wales Millennium Centre.

Every time I come across Iain Duncan Smith, he gives me another reason to dislike him.  In my whole life, I have been in the House of Commons twice and both times IDS has pushed me out of his way.  Not a teeny nudge in a crowded area, trying to squeeze through.  An almighty proper 'don't you know who I am' shove when I wasn't even in his way.

So, Reasons Why I Don't Like Iain Duncan Smith:

1 - He is rude
2 - He is a Tory
3 - He's telling the people of Merthyr to 'get on a bus' and go and find a job in Cardiff.

Yes I know, kittens again...

I'm still too angry about the ConDem Comprehensive Spending Review to be overly coherent at the moment.  If anyone saw clips of George Osborne being cheered on by his coalition friends as he announced cut after cut with a smug look on his face, you'll understand.  Parliament looked like a hall full of screeching monkeys.

Cuts need to be made but to make them so severe, so unfair and to relish them like this is sickening to see.  Labour were accused of being an ideologically driven Goverment, but good grief, that really pales into comparison here.