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The Welsh Senedd just voted for Covid passports because of a Zoom glitch

“Covid pass plans agreed in knife-edge Senedd vote”, the BBC reports:

Mandatory Covid passes in nightclubs and large events will be introduced in Wales as planned on 11 October after Welsh ministers won a knife-edge Senedd vote.

The measures were agreed with 28 politicians voting for and 27 voting against.

It came despite politicians in the opposition uniting against the plans.

The public will be expected to show evidence of being fully vaccinated or having a recent negative Covid test.

Conservative Vale of Clwyd Member of the Senedd (MS) Gareth Davies did not take part in the vote, with the Tories citing “technical difficulties” for what happened.

[…]

Ahead of the vote, Conservative MS Darren Millar could be heard telling Presiding Officer Elin Jones: “I’m sorry we still have a member who is desperately trying to get into Zoom.”

Ms Jones replied that she would still hold the vote: “We have made every opportunity possible for that named member to get in, including sharing my personal phone.”

I was not without sympathy for Elin Jones, the presiding officer. It has happened many times in many assemblies that a vote passed or failed because a member could not physically reach the chamber in time. One cannot spin things out forever. There has to be a cut-off point.

I can also see the reasoning behind the Labour-controlled Senedd’s refusal to re-run the vote.

Asked about holding a re-run of the vote, Eluned Morgan [Baroness Morgan of Ely, Minister for Health and Social Services in the Welsh Government] told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast with Claire Summers that that is “not how democratic processes work”.

“You don’t keep on having a vote until you get the answer that you want,” she said.

I do see her point, though I also note that both Elin Jones and Eluned Morgan were entirely in favour of re-running a vote until they got the answer they wanted when it came to the popular vote to leave the European Union.

I digress. Though this vote imposing Covid passports on Wales will stand, a bad smell hangs over the manner of its passing. Enough people have shared the experience of struggling to log into Zoom meetings since this pandemic began to ensure that sympathy with Gareth Davies will be widespread. Another thing… I tried to think of a way of saying “some people will think this looks suspicious” without sounding like a conspiracist myself but there isn’t one. All I can do is state for the record that I think this incident was a cock-up, not a conspiracy. But the trouble with every combination of voting and technology is that the process is opaque. If Gareth Davies had failed to reach the chamber in time because his car had got stuck in traffic, he and we could all be reasonably sure that was all that had happened. There is no such instinctive assurance that no one’s thumb was on the scale with Zoom. The Senedd should dump this “hybrid model” or whatever they call it where some members meet in person and others clock in, or fail to clock in, via Zoom. Stop mucking around, earn your pay, go back to meeting in person.

Astonishingly, Broness Morgan actually boasted of Welsh Labour’s mandate to pass this law:

“What we know is that the people of Wales want to be protected.”

“We had a huge mandate as a result of the election because of our cautious approach.”

Baroness, your mandate for this is about one electron thick.

15 comments to The Welsh Senedd just voted for Covid passports because of a Zoom glitch

  • Rudolph Hucker

    “You don’t keep on having a vote until you get the answer that you want,” she said.

    Except in Ireland or Scotland?

    I still like Paddy Ashdown’s emphatic response (even though he expected the Brexit vote to say No)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHSFPUpntmI

  • Rudolph Hucker

    As the majority of the Welsh population is along the south coast of Wales, and most of that is within one hour of the Severn Bridge (toll free) into England, we can now expect a regular influx of Welsh folk voting with their wheels, and driving to events across the border.

  • APL

    “Zoom glitch”

    Another instance where technology, that thing we all had such high hopes for, has been used to gerrymander the vote.

    Vaccines and the associated passports are useless, this event, where entry was conditional on possession of a vaccination certificate, proof of imunity or a positive lateral flow test immediately prior to the festival – essentially, no one got in unless they were medically clear – resulted in 5,000 reports of COVID-19.

    And all this manic hysteria over a condition that can be successfully treated with Benedryl and Azithromycin.

    And by the way, we know know without a doubt, that having been vaccinated, does nothing to impede ones ability to catch COVID-19.

    And in fact, because you may have COVID-19 are vaccinated against COVID-19, but may be unaware that you have COVID-19 – yet well enough to be walking around in the community spreading the condition to others. If you’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19, you are in fact, a superspreader of the condition.

  • Mr Ecks

    Hopefully the Welsh will take no notice of this crooked shite and boycott nightclubs for raves and leave sporting shite alone. No fucking match is worth letting CCP-style social credit tyranny get its foot in the door. And likewise ignore any LD BS planned by Duckturd.

    Bogus Johnson is waiting to see how this evil flies before making his own powergrab.

  • Johnathan Pearce

    On the London Tube obedience to the mask mandate is uneven. It’s falling into contempt.

  • Zerren Yeoville

    “You don’t keep on having a vote until you get the answer that you want,” she said.

    Really? Given her political stance I would think there is a better than 99% chance she was not merely a Remainer but an eager supporter of as many so-called ‘People’s Votes’ for the purpose of overturning the original result as would have been necessary.

    It might also be added that the Welsh Government itself was established on a mandate “about one electron thick” – specifically, a referendum turnout of 50.22%, of which ‘Yes’ took 50.3% and ‘No’ took 49.7%. That’s a 0.6% margin of victory on a turnout of a very slim fraction over half of those eligible to vote.

  • Rudolph Hucker

    Just wondering, who owns and runs the Welsh voting systems?

  • Paul Marks

    There is doubt over whether the people of Wales voted for this expensive Assembly to be created.

    It is not as bad as the, terrible, Scottish body (which, alas, the people of Scotland did vote for) – but I can not think of any good the Welsh Assembly has done. Still perhaps other people are better informed on this matter than I am – and can tell me of the good things it has done, perhaps it has done many good things.

    Nor do I know of the people of Wales want Covid Passes – I hope they do not.

    I suspect that most people in Scotland DO want them – after all they voted for the SNP which made expressing non “Woke” opinions a “crime”, even if you were just speaking in your own home.

    For example, if a person said “Down with Big Brother” in their sleep – this might be construed as an attack on the Minister who brought in the Act – and he is brown, so “Down with Big Brother” would clearly be racist “Hate Speech”.

    I repeat that the SNP-Green regime in Scotland, which believes that “1984” is an instruction manual to be followed, was freely elected – and no one seriously suggests the election was rigged.

    They also (unlike the people of Wales) voted for the European Union. Oh well – different people like different things.

  • Raymond

    Paul, I live in Scotland and I don’t think ‘most people’ want Covid Passes. I’ve had conversations with quite a few folk who have told me that they’ve had more than enough of this BS. Unfortunately, a high percentage are (a) unwilling or unable to question the narrative and /or (b) unwilling or unable to tap into the courage required to actively oppose the tyrants, even when they feel that something fishy is going on.

    http://raymondweir.blogspot.com/2021/10/the-clean-versus-unclean-open-letter-to.html

  • JohnB

    APL – “If you’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19, you are in fact, a superspreader of the condition.”

    I have actually wondered about this very point because you still have the viruses hanging around you, they just don’t make you sick?

  • Paul Marks

    Raymond – I do not doubt your word Sir, but something does occur to me.

    It requires no courage to VOTE against the SNP and their “Green” allies, it is a secret ballot (no one need know a voter is not “Woke”).

    People know what these totalitarians will do – they did it BEFORE the Scottish elections, for example the crushing of Freedom of Speech even in your own home. As well as the Covid totalitarianism.

    And yet the SNP and other such, won that election.

    Why? Why do people vote for tyranny?

  • Raymond

    Paul – At the last election the Natz got around 45% of the vote from a 63% turnout. A lot of folk were clearly sleeping. There is, at least, some hope that a lot of them will have woken up by the time we are asked to vote again.

  • APL

    JohnB: “I have actually wondered about this very point because you still have the viruses hanging around you, they just don’t make you sick?”

    The anti Covid19 injection, is not a vaccine, and it isn’t a sterilizing therapy. So, yes you can get infected and by some reports you do carry a higher viral load than someone who hasn’t been ‘vaccinated’ but has caught COVID-19. Which may be entirely down to the fact, that the latter feels ill and retires to bed or treats him/herself with benadril or whatever OTC medication and 95% of the population are in the bracket ( Not at significant risk of dying from COVID-19 ), and are thus likely to recover, after a week in bed.

    Meanwhile, the vaccinated are wandering around and acting as vectors of disease. Which if you remember was the hysterical justification for the lockdown and the mask mandates and all the shite we’ve had to put up with over the last eighteen months.

  • Paul Marks

    Raymond – thank you for correcting my ignorance, and I apologise for being so ignorant Sir.

    I had no ideas that turnout in Scotland had been so low – I should have known, but I was ignorant of the basic facts.