Friday 6 May 2011

Probably the...

Probably the best tasting pint of my life...
After six months of hard work as a candidate, and having visited 56 polling stations on Ynys Môn today, I've just had probably the very best pint of my life (actually, the best three pints of my life.)

Whatever the result tomorrow, thanks to all readers and commenters of this blog. I've given it my best shot and whatever will be will be.

40 comments:

Prometheus said...

Well done Paul

Anonymous said...

IWJ live on S4C appears to be pretty confident of keeping his seat??

kp said...

Quite so, well done.

Now have another beer!

Photon said...

Well deserved for the effort!

What does a candidate do "visiting 56 polling stations" on polling day?

Anonymous said...

hope u do well

Richard Sletzer said...

This is probably the acid test which will determine whether the voters of Anglesey have enough common-sense to save the island or whether they will follow the dreary pattern of past elections and vote for its continuing decline.

B said...

Paul, whatever the outcome today, well done for all your efforts and hard work, It has certainly given the people of Ynys Mon plenty to think about.
B

Paul Williams said...

Photon - Once we managed to find them (easier said than done in some places) we were just having a little scwrs with the staff about the turnout in each locality and thanking them for a long days work.

Anonymous said...

Dear Paul,


Today is Friday,May the 6th 2011, a day that will decide our destiny.

Whatever happens you did your very best, we admire your courage for setting up this wonderful blog site, which has been the best thing that has happened on Anglesey for years. Long may it continue.

Your blog has opened the eyes of a lot of people on Anglesey, and the result has been incredible, the Council has been opened up to ridicule and the Councillors have retreated into their shells, we have more openness and some will say a lot more honesty, the goings on we have witnessed in the past seem to have come to a very sudden stop since the intervention and arrival of the Commissioners, all credit to you Paul, these are all your doing and you should be very, very proud.

You, have achieved more in the past 18 months, than most of the elected we have on Anglesey in their lifetime. And, for that reason, you have achieved a hell of a lot. Good luck for today, we deserve you, in our darkest hours you were there, no one else, only you, thank you very much.

Now, where's that druid penny you have kept from me for the past 23 months! xxxx

Glyn Pritchard-Jones said...

Paul

Wishing you every success,

Regards

Glyn

An Eye On... said...

Result (2007 in brackets)

Plaid 9969 41.4% (10653 39.7%)
Con 7032 29.2% ( 3480 13.0%)
Lab 6307 26.2% ( 4681 17.4%)
LibDem 759 3.2% ( 912 3.4%)
UKIP ( 833 3.1%)
Ind ( 6261 23.3%)

Turn Out 24067 48.6% (26820 51.8%)
Majority 2937 12.2% ( 4392 16.4%)

ben 10 said...

dissappointed to hear you thank IWJ more than he deserved. Especially considering the thread underneath this one.

Can we move back on to the bent council now please?

Anonymous said...

Dear Paul,
Can I just say thank you. For the first time Anglesey had the chance to have a breath of fresh air representing them- this was you. If I ignore political parties not only do I think you would be the best representative for Ynys Mon, but I think you could have been the best AM in the Assembly.

I am a Plaid man, I think Plaid Cymru are needed to carry on the 'devolution journey'. However for the first time I voted for you. Unfortunately you were unlucky with what is happening in London; had it been last year I'm sure you would have won hands down.

Although you are not an AM, I ask you to please carry on campaigning. Next time IWJ will be gone, and I'm sure you could win. Once the problems of London go, I'm sure you would have a good chance.

Ynys Mon need a local campaigner, you are this. Good luck in the future, I hope you will get to represent us some time soon. For once I can say to a politician YOU DESERVE IT.

Pob lwc, you did well- you will do it next time!

Groundhog said...

Commiserations Paul but well done on your achievement coming from a zero base to take second place and to take votes away from the usual parties. I think that most of us hope that this is just the beginning for you and that you will fight on to show that you are capable of a come-back. Fancy having a go at AO in the next big one?
I wonder how many postal votes Plaid had especially from care homes for the elderly where IWJ spends much of his time during campaigns.

Anonymous said...

Mr Druid Sir,

Considering what your mates in the Millionaires Cabinet are up to down in the smoke, that's a bl**dy good result. Well done, and here's to a better result next time (assuming your party colleagues can sort out that little problem down south).

@RedFlag: thanks for the numbers. Paul's result is harder to analyse when you spot that 6000+ former Independent voters in 2007 were looking for a box to tick, but...

Photon said...

Well done on doing so well, Paul - quite an achievement all said and done.

I wonder what now? Paul Williams as a party-aligned council candidate in 2012?

In the Know. said...

Another 4 years of feckless, band wagon jumping nonsense from IWJ. God help Ynys-Mon.

Anonymous said...

If you have achieved one thing today Paul, you have put the future of IWJ as leader of Plaid in doubt, and that is a good thing, instead of him concentrating on keeping his ego constantly inflated, he may realise that he would be better off concentrating his efforts on looking after this mess we have here. Will he do the decent thing and call it a day? Of course he won't, he's too lazy to do anything for us, all he wants is a quiet life. You did a good job Paul, you shook Anglesey and that can only be good in the end.

Hilary said...

Commiserations Paul. I'm sorry it didn't go you/our way, I hope you will try again and WIN NEXT TIME.

We succeeded here in Aberconwy-well done Janet, well deserved.

Richard Sletzer said...

Paul has achieved a tremendous result coming within a couple of thousand votes of dislodging IWJ and beating Labour into third place.

This is a great platform to build on. It is in the next two years that the next election will be won or lost. The important thing is to keep the momentum up and keep the pressure on Plaid. Next time they will be crushed.

Anonymous said...

If we are NOT happy with IWJ and Plaid Cymru, well we have the best medium in Wales here at our fingertips, to make their life Hell and to bring the pressure down on the weakness, just as we did here, in the people v IoACC, and the result was incredible, well you have to agree, it did end up being the first Council to be run by Commissioners, plan, execute and give them a run for their money.

Anonymous said...

In the know., I bleeding agree with ya!

I can't believe how many on Ynys Môn were moaning about IWJ, then they go off and vote for him again!

What short memories we have!

Anonymous said...

Paul, Thats the closest I have ever come to voting conservative - which is no mean feat! If only you'd been an independant...

Anonymous said...

To day is a very sad day for Anglesey, we have missed the best chance we have ever had for moving forward with the best candidate we have ever had on Anglesey. Paul was far superior to IWJ, but the sheep on Anglesey rather follow each other to oblivion. Its the old saying put a green Rosette on a monkey and they would vote for it.
I have never been so ashamed to think that this is best we can offer. IWJ team is a bunch of no-marks, mostly retired teachers. Who have not contributed a bit for this island, they would not know how to put a business plan together. They have never had stand on there own two feet.
I personally feel very angry that we are been governed by idiots! No wonder Anglesey is dying !
Paul all I can say you deserve better, and the people of Anglesey are the greatest loosers. Paul you have achieved a lot, keep fighting for us and long live the "Druid"

Un o Fon

An Eye On... said...

The problem is anon, that "the sheep on Anglesey" don't vote Plaid. They vote Plaid for Assembly and come the General Election they vote Labour.

The other problem is that up until yesterday the Anglesey AM sat in government. The odds are that Labour will now go it alone in Cardiff. Anglesey as a result will lose what little voice it had. Labour will concentrate on it's base of south Wales and north east Wales - the rest can go hang.

You have to remember that Labour has won control of the Assembly by running a campaign that revolved almost entirely of reminding people that the Tories were in Westminster. And it worked, same as it did in Scotland for the SNP.

Anonymous said...

Anglesey

RIP

God save us from IWJ and more "doing nothing"

The END

Anonymous said...

LLongyfarchiadau mawr Paul. Dim mater o ffaith for IWJ i fyny 1.X% ond y twf yn dy bleidlais di yn penigamp.

Tro nesaf, fydd yna lwyddiant ysgubol.

Mi gai beint efo chdi eto yn Tafarn y Rhos a thrafod blogiau ayyb.

Mr Floyd said...

Unlucky Mr Williams. We were all rooting for you; your commitment to cause and genuine integrity deserved reward.

Oscar said...

You gave them a good run for the money, well done and keep blogging!

kp said...

The SNP promises to freeze council tax for the next five years ... the SNP romps to victory.

There must be a lesson in there somewhere!

An Eye On... said...

You're obsessed with council tax KP - outside of England council tax is pretty cheap and not that big a deal to most people. Tax in UK isn't that bad as a rule - it's worse in places like Germany Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and Holland for example yet they all have higher standards of living along with higher social welfare levels.

kp said...

Red Flag, upon this matter you are so deluded.

Council tax levels in Anglesey are absurdly high in comparison to island average wages and services received.

In England, either the service provision is commensurately higher or council tax charges are considerably lower. Just ask Eric Pickles.

Anonymous said...

I voted for IWJ. I'm not convinced that you yet have the charisma needed to be an AM. Why don't you consider cutting your teeth in the corridors of power at Llangefni, make a name for yourself there and then go for an other election in 5 years time. You will have had the chance to prove yourself or to go away quietly! Pob lwc

Prometheuswrites said...

I'm with Photon on his last comment on this thread.

Think Global Act Local!

the outsider said...

Yes Druid, the Council election in 2012 would be a useful step and would benefit us all if you were elected. But what would help us most is if you put up for the next General Election.

Anonymous said...

Anon 10:20 "I voted for IWJ. I'm not convinced that you [Paul Williams] yet have the charisma needed to be an AM."

Aren't you forgetting that IWJ has no charisma either!

Anon 10:20 "IWJ team is a ..., mostly retired teachers."

Well, I'm personally surprised at that, and I can also assure you some teachers, headteachers and school/college support staff don't support IWJ at all.

Anonymous said...

"Just ask Eric Pickles."

What kind of person would suggest that in a non-ironic manner? Even plenty of Tories (at least outside Westminster) think Pickles is a clueless publicity-seeking idiot.

Away from Anglesey but still in ConDem territory, what the governing ConDem alliance has been doing and is doing in Birmingham is a disaster which has to be seen to be believed. "No cuts in frontline services" said Cameron; "no services for all but the most desperately needy" said Birmingham's version of the ConDem Millionaires Cabinet.

Fortunately last week's election in Birmingham saw the FibDems lose many seats which they'd held for decades, and the Tories lost quite a few too.

Anonymous said...

Cut public sector salaries by 25% and there will be plenty to ensure front line services can continue to improve.

An Eye On... said...

Cut public sector salaries by 25% and there will be plenty to ensure front line services can continue to improve.

Go and check the slary levels. You'll find that the ones being overpaid are the mangement and professional's. The office staff and other ordinary every day workers etc are down near minimum.

But being as it's only the mangemnent and prfessionals and graduate entry then yea - slash those ones at those levels to pieces. Do wonders for the tory vote as the tories are starting to realise hence their slowly quietening down over the issue.

An Eye On... said...

KP - ask eric pickles.

ROFL. Even tory councils routinely ignore Eric Pickles and publicly stick two fingers up to his grand pronouncements. He is a buffet-raiding idiot. The Conservative equivalant of Prescott but without the sex appeal.

Council tax charges do not co-relate to local incomes. The co-relate to demands placed on them and income from other sources. For instance the reason Westminster Council is so cheap is because it receives massive subsidies - without those subsidies it wouldn't be much diofferent. UK major employers pay the same wage level outside of London.

We get good services on Anglesey for what we pay - certainly better than Wirral, Chester, Manchester and Merseyside and they all pay a lot more than we do and in the case of Merseyside and certain Borough Councils within Greater Manchester the wage levels are very similar.

I think you possibly base your arguments on Band D and upwards and being as the overwhelming majority of people live in Bands A-C then it's not reflective. (And Band D and upwards in Cheshire/Wirral is absoultely crippling compared to here and for lowere services)