And to that list can be added the name of Dai Davies, the independent
MP for Blaenau Gwent elected following the death of Peter Law last
year, but who went almost unnoticed as Peter's widow Trish captured the
same seat in the National Assembly.

So how is Mr Davies settling in at Parliament?

Like Mrs Law, you will recall, he vowed to speak up for the people of
Blaenau Gwent and provide a voice on the issues that matter for them.

Alas! It seems some residents of that constituency are less than
grateful for Mr Davies' endeavours in London.

Chief of these is Ken Brookman of Ebbw Vale, who put his pen to use
last week by writing to the Gwent Gazette moaning Mr Davies has only
voted in the Commons eight times since being elected and that few of
his written questions he has tabled are relevant to Blaenau Gwent.

For the record then, here's what's been concerning Mr Davies since
becoming MP.

Who can doubt that these are the pressing issues concerning the good
folk of Ebbw Vale and beyond?

More than 30 of the 175 questions Mr Davies has posed of ministers have
related to nuclear weapons. Eight have related to the Department of
Health (devolved in Wales) and, more specifically, the Private Finance
Initiative (not relevant to Wales).

Last October he demanded of the Foreign Office the question being posed
in social clubs across Blaenau Gwent: Will Foreign Secretary Margaret
Beckett be placing details in the House of Commons library of exactly
what she discussed with the Mexican President on her recent visit?
(This was followed up the next month with a request to know what Tony
Blair had discussed in a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Answer: not Blaenau Gwent).

He followed this up in September, asking Climate Change Minister Ian
Pearson "what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Barnsley
Metropolitan Borough Council's scheme to reduce its carbon emissions
through the installation of woodchip fuel in its heating system" -
quenching the insatiable thirst among his Valleys constituents for
updates on local authority heating systems in South Yorkshire.

The following month he had another pressing question, perhaps posed by
watching too many World War II films - asking the Transport Minister
what research had been done into using airships to carry passengers
around the UK. Unfortunately for Mr Davies, who can't drive, "no
studies have been undertaken".

And, just in case some naysayers claimed he wasn't doing enough to
boost job prospects in his constituency, last year he asked "whether
the Olympic delivery authority will be required to monitor the
ethnicity of owners and workforces of companies contracted to work on
projects for the 2012 Olympics".

Allo Allo rene

CONGRATULATIONS are due to Rene Kinzett, elected last week to lead the
Welsh Conservative group on Swansea Council less than a year after
leaving the Liberal Democrats.

"The message to people across Swansea and South Wales is clear - if you
want to get rid of the tired, clapped-out, worn down, embarrassment of
a Labour-run Assembly Government, then the only party you can vote for
is the Welsh Conservatives," said Mr Kinzett.

Presumably he'll be doing his best to fight the perception of Tories as
preferring "short-term popularity to taking the tough decisions for the
long term".

A verdict delivered in May 2005 by, er, Rene Kinzett.

* STILL, they may be short-sighted, but they are environmentally
friendly - and further proof of the Tories' green turn comes with a
message that now accompanies all of their e-mailed press releases.

"Think before you print - do you really need to print this e-mail?" it
asks. "If you do, print it double sided."

Ever environmentally-minded, this columnist is pleased to confirm he
has never bothered printing a press release from the Welsh
Conservatives.

Flynn's dirty talk

NEWPORT West MP Paul Flynn has been talking s**t in the House of
Commons - or at least debating whether it is acceptable to do so.

On Monday the friend of foul-mouthed rappers Goldie Lookin Chain
suddenly came over all prudish, interrupting after Slough MP Fiona
Mactaggart uttered the s-word.

"(Westminster) council has even counted the amount of s**t that goes
through our local sewers, which is considerably greater than it was 10
years ago," she said, prompting Mr Flynn's interruption.

"I am sure that was not a parliamentary word," she realised. "I am
sorry."

But that was not good enough for Mr Flynn.

"On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker," he asked, "following your
lack of ruling on the word that the honourable lady used, I would be
interested to know whether it is appropriate to use that word as a
noun, but not as an adjective?"

The Deputy Speaker replied: "The honourable gentleman can take it that
it was appropriate to use the word in the way that the honourable lady
used it, otherwise I would have intervened," thus finally putting that
particular parliamentary quandary to bed.

Too mushy for some

PETER Black, Lib Dem education spokesman, is less than impressed with
last week's column which detailed political predictions for the year,
not least the suggestion he may step into Lord President King Dafydd
Elis-Thomas' size nines as the Assembly's Presiding Officer after the
election.

"I have no such ambitions," he insists. "I could not afford the Armani
suits."

He has also been pontificating on the comments of Margit Irimia, mother
of Lembit pik's cheeky, bum-touching girlfriend, in last week's paper.
Mrs Irimia, you will remember, described the affair as "like a mushroom
growing overnight", and admitted to marking on her calendar the day her
daughter consummated the relationship.

"My first reaction was to consider the particular conditions needed in
which to make mushrooms grow," notes Mr Black.