45 years ago I made a pitch for the Director-General job. Didn’t get it – mind you, I was only 13. But I did get a reply from Ian Trethowan, who was DG at the time. All these years later I’m proud to work for the BBC.

Didn't you just switch it off

Lindsay Whittle MS, being sworn in by the Clerk of the Senedd and chief executive, Manon Antoniazzi (📸: Senedd Cymru)

Plaid's Caerphilly by-election campaign always felt a question of whether it could pull off the victory you could see available in the numbers. PC had a block of about 8,000 voters, and local knowledge from its council base - could they get Labour voters to switch over?

Bernard Gentry is out as Welsh Tory chair after a year. Asked if he was forced out by senior party figures, he told me: "Some people might say that. You won't hear me saying that."

The Welsh government started talking about the budget on Monday in apocalyptic terms, raising the spectre of mass redundancies because of statutory cuts if it cannot get a deal. It has ended Tuesday with both big Senedd opposition parties ready to talk

Nathan Gill was at the forefront of the Brexit push in Wales in the mid 2010s. He's now admitted that he spent part of the tail end of his career taking bribes from a pro Russian politician in Ukraine to say things for him in the European parliament, and elsewhere www.bbc.com/news/article...

There's a major Welsh by-election happening in Caerphilly next month. The prime minister is unsure if he will campaign in it www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The campaign has begun Labour's Eluned Morgan says her party would find it 'tricky' to pass a budget if it lost the Caerphilly election, warning of cuts as a result www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A pallbearer for Hefin David's funeral was among those in Caerphilly constituency who received a mail out from Reform on the day of the service

Senedd by-election on October 23 in Caerphilly, Senedd presiding officer announces

A big part of the ambitious 2016 Senedd intake, Hefin David was keen to make an impact. The Caerphilly MS was an independent voice in the Labour group who banged the drum for the causes he most cared about, autism among them.

The speculation was: UAE, Saudi, Qatar, Turkey, Switzerland, or the Vatican The reality is: USA Wasn't expecting that. Trump-Putin summit in Alaska next Friday.

A source gets in touch with the Pen-y-bont Bro Morgannwg Labour shortlist Bearing in mind Sarah Murphy is the incumbent Others: Helen Mary Payne Camilla Beaven Huw John David OBE Jonathan Simon Cox OBE Neelo Farr William Rhys Goode Carys Stallard

The Caerdydd Penarth Labour shortlist in no particular order Helen Gunter Huw Thomas Laura Rochefort Kanaya Singh Ruba Sivagnanam Mutale Merrill Stephen Brooks Peter Bradbury

My piece for BBC Wales Today on efforts to raise £40,000 to carry out more work and secure the future of Garth Pier in Bangor.

Before the row came into the open over the Labour Caerdydd Ffynnon Taf selection I heard of rumours that ministers were involved in a row over whether a candidate was ruled out of order Sources have since told me that the first minister had stepped in on that candidate's behalf

Eluned Morgan has publicly backed Owain Williams, a Labour member at the centre of a selection row in Cardiff www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The FM has put her name to the statement on Gaza issued by a spox earlier

Gaza, Plaid's line from Liz Saville Roberts: “Recognition of a Palestinian state should not be conditional on the actions of the Israeli government. The right to self-determination belongs to the Palestinian people, not to an occupying power.

Gaza line from Welsh gov: “We strongly welcome today’s statements by the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary. The situation and suffering in Gaza is intolerable.

We've been leading the Wales index today with the latest in the Gilestone saga After ospreys were found there, the site bought by taxpayers for millions to help the Green Man business out lost £500,000 in value www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Former PCS chief Mark Serwotka was on Radio Wales Breakfast on Friday talking about the new party being set up with Corbyn Asked Re: whether they would stand Senedd members, he essentially told the radio station it had not been decided, although he indicated he would like to

A Senedd committee calls for the names of the relatives of MSs who work for other MSs to be anonymised www.bbc.com/news/article...

BBC NEWS / AFP / BBC NEWS / REUTERS JOINT STATEMENT: “We are desperately concerned for our journalists in Gaza, who are increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families. "They are now facing the same dire circumstances as those they are covering. "

Eluned Morgan has essentially told office workers in Welsh gov they'll lose their offices if they don't go in

What will happen to Ofwat in Wales? The Sir Jon Cunliffe report seems to aim at NRW taking on the powers, although it left the door open to someone else doing it There wasn't a lot of detail from Welsh gov about what it will do - except that it will set up a regulator www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Wales is getting a water watchdog to replace Ofwat - which might end up being NRW. Details sketchy at present but it is being devolved. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I've had quite enough existential shock thanks

As well as votes @ 16 for UK elections, there's some voter ID changes here that will on the face of it make it easier to vote if you've got a bank account and not another form of ID. There will still be a disconnect with Welsh elections though, which don't require them. www.gov.uk/government/p...

The Senedd Covid committee - a kind of mini inquiry - was doomed after the Tories walked away from it in March. Today it was formally wound up. Plaid say if they formed the next Welsh gov they'd do a Wales only inquiry themselves. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Ministers insisted things were happening between the UK and Welsh governments on devolving youth justice and probation in the Senedd on Tuesday - despite comments from Lord Timpson on Monday which a Labour MS said had poured cold water on them

Assisted dying will be one of the biggest things the Senedd is going to be dealing with over the next couple of years - specifically, after the next Senedd election according to the Health Minister www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The Labour MS for Llanelli is not impressed with the Welsh government's pulling back on tree planting in the SFS scheme

👀

If there's a list of highly important Welsh gov policies, SFS is quite high on it. Details out today. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

These comments from Lord Timpson suggest probation and youth justice aren't getting devolved soon www.bbc.com/news/article...

ICYMI Police investigate sex abuse claims against men linked to Church in Wales www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Tory MS Sam Rowlands says the number of vehicles donated via the Senedd4Ukraine campaign has hit 40

The flagship policy in the Welsh government's budget deal last February was to cap bus fares for 16-21 year olds at a quid. One problem - younger children could end up paying more. Ministers have now found £7m to fill the gap www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

New poll out for Wales from Sky/More In Common - sample size 885. This seems to be the 2nd so far that has Reform in the lead. Tories on fourth again but at 10%. Labour third again, suggests doing better but still third. Plaid 2nd.

Reform still doesn't have a figure in Wales they can call leader. David Jones is the most senior Welsh politician to join them - according to his statement though he doesn't want to be an elected politician again www.bbc.com/news/article...

Welsh Tories had complained about a chant of "death death to the IDF" at a demo on Tuesday. South Wales Police have confirmed it is not taking action over the complaint. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

While a UK minister tells an MP to be "grateful" for Welsh rail money, BBC Wales learns that some of the £445m announced last week will pay for the Cardiff Central upgrade, something that had not been immediately apparent in the spending review www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The Welsh Secretary has said the wind farm announcement is a vindication of not devolving the crown estate. Eluned Morgan, the Welsh FM, used her Red Welsh Way speech to make the case in May, saying she wouldn't let "them take our wind" on her watch

Was interesting to hear Jo Stevens on Radio Wales Breakfast earlier saying that the announcement of two firms that will develop new floating wind farms was a "vindication" of the position not to devolve the Crown Estate

Results of Afan Ogwr Rhondda Labour selection - 1. Huw Irranca-Davies, 2. Buffy Williams, 3. David Rees www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Interesting

Money bods warn of potential gloom in Welsh budget off the back of the spending review - although Mark Drakeford says its a big if www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This sentence from the Chancellor led Labour sources and a UK gov minister to clarify that most of the money is actually much sooner than that, over the spending review period.