Questioning the Oath of Allegiance

The Assembly Chamber can be a perfect place to draw attention to campaigns that politicians are involved in outside of the Assembly. For some time I have been a member and supporter of Republic, the campaign for an elected head of state, and I am also supporting their Challenge the Oath campaign.

I earlier asked the Counsel General, Carwyn Jones AM:

"Would you support a change in the rules regarding the oath of allegiance and, if so, would you agree to discuss the matter with the relevant law officers?"

Mr Jones replied:

"It is not something that has been discussed. It is not something certainly the government has a view on. It would take obviously changes to legislation at Westminster for that to happen. It is unclear to me what the viewpoint of the entire Assembly would be on this issue."

Perhaps it is time that the whole Assembly talked through these issues and came up with a range of options of who AMs can swear their allegiance to.

His Royal Helicopter Trips

So Prince William has been jollying around the country in a Chinook helicopter. Of course, he has been flying helicopters as part of his training with the RAF. I'd expect helicopter training to involve all sorts of simulated missions and combat scenarios. But amazingly, more than £50,000 of public money has been spent on trips including flying the helicopter to land owned by his girlfriend's parents, and to a cousin's stag night on the Isle of Wight. Given that the Prince only had ten days of Chinook training, these trips seem bizarre, when normal airmen and women have to undertake far more gruelling tasks.

These episodes might seem trivial, but serve to further discredit the royal family's image. Most people are currently struggling to pay their bills and mortgage, and would find it difficult to accept this sort of showing off.