More on the Welsh Wiki (Wiki Deddfu)

[Harold Schiffman]

Wiki Deddfu

Wiki Deddfu, the brainchild of Plaid Cymru MP Hywel Williams who hopes
the new format will encourage discussion of an issue – language
legislation, was launched at Westminster yesterday: Anyone will be
able to edit the entries on various aspects of language policy, with
the hope that, over time, a consensual picture will emerge."I don't
want it to be a site for anoraks, I want some direct opinions from
people who are interested," said Mr Williams.

"I don't think there has been anything like this before; most
legislators think in terms of getting the experts to tell them what to
do. This is the other way around, and I would claim it fits our little
country better than the expert model." As Tomos Livingstone explains,
the launch comes as the Assembly Government prepares to ask
Westminster to hand over a large chunk of language policy:  The move
is the most contentious of the requests from Cardiff Bay under the new
bit-by-bit transfer of powers introduced in the Government of Wales
Act.

The formal request is due in spring, with the powers – provided MPs
vote in favour – handed over later in the year. Ministers in Cardiff
Bay would then have a relatively free hand to introduce changes to the
law. Current legislation only obliges the public sector to provide
services within the medium of Welsh, and there are constant complaints
that the 15-year-old Act is now out of date. But small businesses in
particular are resistant to the idea of extending it to the private
sector. The Wiki Deddfu site is the latest effort by politicians to
use the internet to provoke policy debate. The Standards Committee
must be spitting blood.

http://this-is-sparta.blogspot.com/2008/02/wiki-deddfu.html

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