If Borgen made it to the Bay

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Kirsty Williams and Cameron Diaz
Image caption,

Cameron fan: Welsh Lib Dem leader Kirsty Williams and Cameron Diaz

What's Welsh for spin doctor?

Thanks to classy, compelling political drama Borgen we know that in Danish it's 'spin doktor'.

I reckon it's probably spin ddoctor in Welsh in that case but you may know better.

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Welsh double: Leanne Wood and Eve Myles

Why, asked the Western Mail a few days ago, external, can't we create tense, must-watch political drama?

Why isn't there a Welsh Borgen that makes "the political humdrum relevant, exciting and perhaps most surprisingly, human." I'm with them all the way.

Power-play exists in all parliaments, as does the humdrum.

As for strong women? Christiansborg has its fair share, but then so does the Senedd.

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Double take: Carwyn Jones and Derek Brockway

So, having run through "the perfect storm of challenges" facing the NHS in Wales, discussed whether the School Standards and Organisation Bill will do its job and the surprise in John Humphrys' voice as he asked Carwyn Jones how come Wales has so few tax payers on the 40p rate, let alone the top rate, there was a chance in yesterday's party briefings to ask one final question: if there were a Welsh Borgen, who would you want to play you?

Leanne Wood went for home-grown talent Eve Myles, while Kirsty Williams asked tentatively whether she could be so bold as to request Cameron - Diaz, not David.

"I was once compared to her," she said.

"Cameron on a very bad day, me on a very good one."

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Change of fortunes? Opposition leader Andrew RT Davies and Carwyn Jones

What of the men?

The First Minister was in no doubt: his well-known body double, Derek Brockway, external. Less weatherman walking, more First Minister leaning.

But what was that about power-play? Who, I asked Andrew RT Davies, would you like to see playing the feisty leader of the opposition?

"Carwyn Jones."

See what he did there?

Tomorrow I'm heading - not to Copenhagen, but to Amsterdam - ready for the gripping drama of the Prime Minister spelling out just what "negotiating a better relationship" with the EU might mean in real life. It would "hang a close sign" around British business, says Ed Miliband.

If you're First Minister of one of the two regions in the UK that are net recipients in terms of EU funding, it sounds unwelcome and dangerous. For the first time, says Carwyn Jones, "there is serious concern about whether the interests of Wales can be advanced effectively in Europe by the UK Government".

No doubt Conservatives in the Bay would suggest he'd do well to concentrate on his own efforts to boost the Welsh economy. Mr Jones is in Turkey on a trade mission, with the Conservatives' condemnation of "lazy Labour's £200million export fall" ringing in his ears.

The First Minister will spread "the message that Wales is open for business" say his own side.

See what they did there?