Will try and tackle a few of the issues thematically.

Local Government: Cardiff is indeed not the only example where Plaid and the Liberal Democrats form part of the same administration at a local government level. My original post does not state this, but I can understand why people concluded a Cardiff-centric approach. The choice of the capitol was simply in the context of the original article which I referenced, so this conception was more a product of context or ego than anything else. There are indeed several other authorities where the two parties share power. Since the Lib Dems are in Cabinets in some 14 of Wales’ local authorities, that is not surprising. What does mark Cardiff out, however, is a point which perhaps I should have made: it is, I think, the only authority where the ruling coalition is solely composed of Plaid and the Lib Dems.

Tagging: There may well be problems with the tagging software on Freedom Central. Our own WalesHome technology is not perfect either, since some browsers seem unable to leave comments. But I don’t think this takes away from the original point that I was making.

Ideology: There is of course a big difference between socialist and liberal parties and the post does not, I hope, confuse them. The common ground which is being pointed to is in respect of policy not ideology, notwithstanding the references made to ideological inheritance. Accepting that, it surprises me that parties which do not have explicitly liberal ideological roots are perceived as intrinsically illiberal. For many activists, and certainly for voters, it is through the prism of policy and not ideology that parties are viewed. Further, I think there is more to be said in reference to political parties being hybrid creations from different ideological streams and have some sympathy with the view expressed by Welsh Connection: “Someone referred to the differences between a socialist party and a liberal one. In reality both Plaid and the Lib Dems are hybrid parties.” This may be a theme worth returning to and writing on, taking on board the whole party political spectrum.

Blogging: I was struck by the observation “Political knock about on blogs often stems from the personalities who blog in my view. I also think the Lib Dem/Plaid blog thing is more to do with the fact that the people involved go out of their way to highlight each other’s supposed failings.” This chimes with one of the territories I identified in the original post. In truth it was the online skirmishes which first got me to consider this whole issue and perhaps as an avid consumer of online media there is more than a chance that I have over-emphasized the degree of conflict overall.

But it certainly made an interesting basis for a well-read post and a vibrant discussion thereafter.

Seems a bit a voodoo if you ask me.

That is the same semantic bullshit that is in an around the debate about who is ‘progressive’ and who is not.

Can you please refer me to any policies that Plaid support that are not liberal? Liberal politics are very important to me, so I am keen to hear you Peter.

The Lib Dems were born as a merger between the Liberal Party and the Social Democrats and caonatin strands of both.

Plaid grew out of the Liberal movement in the early C20th, and the liberal wing of the party is probably the largest (Dafydd Iwan refers to himself as a liberal) but also has an increasingly vocal Socialist/Social democratic wing.

The do indeed have much in common, and the fact that with their heartlands are (with the exception of Ceredigion) mutually exclusive means that they should really stop attacking each other and concentrate on oncreasing their representation in their target areas to the extent that they could form a Plaid/Lib Dem coalition in 2011.

Of course they could be really smart and put up joint candidates. Does anyone know in many constituencies the combined Lib Dem/Plaid vote would give them a majority? Or where it is so close that if they pooled their resources they could wn a seat?