In the last referendum several people we know didn’t vote because not enough was on offer, and rebellion of this type suffers in the same way as ‘irony being lost on Americans’. Every vote is vitally important, it is probably the one action we can take and all be truly equal. Much is said about rights, the right to vote, the right to have a child, rights to benefits, and so forth, when, in reality there are no such things as rights in absolute terms. Rights are fought for and have to be maintained. We are immensely privileged because in this country, despite the growth of Big Brotherland and the nanny state, we do still all have the right to vote, we have plenty of clean water, we don’t need to starve or die without medical treatment; a child is most definitely not a ‘right’ but rather the greatest gift that life can give.

As you can tell I dislike the word ‘right’, for when something is designated a ‘right’ it becomes taken for granted and that which made it precious becomes lost. There will be a great deal of voting coming up over the next couple of years, and please use your vote and encourage others to use theirs. However, there is one ‘right’ that doesn’t come under this umbrella, the right to free speech. Built into this are certain parameters dictated by manners, but the respect of this freedom is a measure of the true greatness of democracy. CambriaPolitico - a website independent of the magazine but to which a number of our writers contribute - has been under attack recently, its webmaster does police it for offensive language but does not exercise censorship.

Politicians need to be reminded that they are the servants of the electorate.  Listening to the news one evening after Carwyn Jones had won the Labour leadership contest it seems that much is owed to the miners’ strike for the present raft of politicians, across the board. I have heard many in Plaid cite this as the main reason for their politicisation and lo and behold it is the same for Carwyn. As Clive Betts points out, CAMBRIA doesn’t yet appear frequently enough to enable us to give up to date news coverage to political events. Although it is now after the event, we have included Clive’s excellent analysis of the leadership race. As usual, it is spot on.

All too soon this year I became used to writing 2009; despite that it still only feels that we have had about four months to the year, and it has sped by at tremendous speed. Now Christmas and New Year are upon us and I would like to say a big thank you to all of our readers, contributors, advertisers, our printers, Friends and advisors, for all your support, letters, emails and telephones calls, time and advice. Please continue in the same vein!