Clearly a victim of off-field shenanigans, a club which seldom hit the heights but had a comfortable existence for most of its League history should not have been driven to this. I feel particularly sad because the first Liverpool match I watched after I moved down to London was at Brisbane Road. I can't remember any of the detail of the match except for the wing-switching of Alan A'court, who scored both the 'pool's goals, and Ian Callaghan . Orient must have been good, because they shared the spoils on that occasion and were at the end of the season joint promotees to the top division with Liverpool. What I remember most was the walk from the station (Lea Valley?) through lines of trees bearing spring blossom in a park which now seems to have been replaced by a business estate. It makes a depressing but apt parallel.
Sunday, 30 April 2017
Air pollution
A study part-funded by the British Heart Foundation, showing a link between air pollution and both heart disease and stroke, strengthens the case for government action. Ed Davey, who was Energy Secretary in the coalition government and before that an environmental campaigner, was understandably exercised. He said “The health risks associated with toxic air are becoming clearer by the day. Yet still this government is failing to come up with a proper plan to reduce air pollution in our cities. The Conservatives must not kick the can down the road any longer. The longer we wait to tackle the air pollution crisis, the more people will die prematurely at the hands of this silent killer.”
He hailed the high court decision to compel the government to publish its action plan on pollution, which ministers had attempted to hold back until after the general election on specious "purdah" grounds: : “This is a dramatic defeat for the Conservative government. Ministers have used taxpayer money to try to hide proof of their environmental failures. And they have even failed there, too. With scientists showing the health impact of air pollution being far worse than we thought, it is disgraceful for the Conservatives to try to bury the truth from voters.”
He hailed the high court decision to compel the government to publish its action plan on pollution, which ministers had attempted to hold back until after the general election on specious "purdah" grounds: : “This is a dramatic defeat for the Conservative government. Ministers have used taxpayer money to try to hide proof of their environmental failures. And they have even failed there, too. With scientists showing the health impact of air pollution being far worse than we thought, it is disgraceful for the Conservatives to try to bury the truth from voters.”
Saturday, 29 April 2017
Swing to populism not universal
Liberal International points out that in local elections in Finland earlier this month, the hard-line Eurosceptic party, the Finns, saw their support tumble from 17.7% in the 2015 national election to 8.8% this time. Liberal parties maintained their position.
Friday, 28 April 2017
Leading health academics find Cancer Drugs Fund a dangerous waste of money
The Daily Telegraph reports that a study by King's College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine labels the Conservatives' Cancer Drugs Fund “a 'quick-fix' election promise that wasted more than a £1 billion and left dying patients in agony”. It seemed from the start to be a gimmick that played on English electors' deep-seated emotions, to the benefit of multi-national drug companies rather than to the NHS as a whole. The latest study, and the changes that have been made to the policy, tend to confirm this view. The report in the normally Conservative-supporting Telegraph goes on to say that the analyis "concluded that less than half of the drugs provided by the fund had undergone adequate clinical trials before being used, and the average median life extension they afforded was just 3.2 months. The study also pointed to evidence suggesting the medicines were too toxic for some patients, forcing them to abandon treatment."
If Andrew RT Davies's Welsh Conservatives had had their way in the 2016 Assembly elections, the NHS in Wales would have been burdened with a cancer drugs fund. However, the response by Carwyn Jones and Vaughan Gething, the New Treatments Fund, appears to be open to the same criticisms as the English scheme.
If Andrew RT Davies's Welsh Conservatives had had their way in the 2016 Assembly elections, the NHS in Wales would have been burdened with a cancer drugs fund. However, the response by Carwyn Jones and Vaughan Gething, the New Treatments Fund, appears to be open to the same criticisms as the English scheme.
Blue Riband production moves to Poland
This story would, before the referendum, have been cited as one of the malign effects of the European Union. A multi-national company has shifted production of a popular British confection to another EU state because costs are less there. It was done by Cadbury, even before the Kraft/Molendez takeover. In that case, Poland was also involved, along with the Republic of Ireland.
Now there are fellow-Remainers who blame Brexit for the move, which seems illogical. If anything, Brexit should increase the incentive to keep sweetie production here because of the tariff barriers which would be erected. However, it could be that the York factory relies on Continental labour which would be choked off if Mrs May has her way.
There is a short history of Blue Riband on Morrisons' web pages. I had not realised it was originally as Scottish as Tunnock's tea cakes or Barr's Irn-Bru. I do recall it becoming more bland in flavour in the 1960s, which must be when Rowntree took over Gray Dunn.
Now there are fellow-Remainers who blame Brexit for the move, which seems illogical. If anything, Brexit should increase the incentive to keep sweetie production here because of the tariff barriers which would be erected. However, it could be that the York factory relies on Continental labour which would be choked off if Mrs May has her way.
There is a short history of Blue Riband on Morrisons' web pages. I had not realised it was originally as Scottish as Tunnock's tea cakes or Barr's Irn-Bru. I do recall it becoming more bland in flavour in the 1960s, which must be when Rowntree took over Gray Dunn.
Thursday, 27 April 2017
Triple lock under threat
The latest posting on the blog of the local party (though clearly a reproduction of a Great George Street media release) applies. It is possible to read this as a fulfilment of one of the few realistic warnings by George Osborne before the EU referendum. However, it is quite likely that the Conservatives were always going to drop the commitment from any post-2015 manifesto. They had stopped claiming credit for the specific (and Liberal Democrat) policy some time ago.
It was noticeable at Prime Minister's Questions yesterday that the blow which shook Mrs May was landed not by the leader of the official opposition with his six questions but by Angus Robertson with his two.
It was noticeable at Prime Minister's Questions yesterday that the blow which shook Mrs May was landed not by the leader of the official opposition with his six questions but by Angus Robertson with his two.
Authoritarians and science
When I put up my UK version of the Holocaust Museum's poster on Facebook, Gary Lewis of Pencoed suggested that I add "and science" to the fourth sign up from the bottom. One looks at the words and deeds of ultra-Conservatives on both sides of the Atlantic and takes his point. From denial of accepted scientific opinion on climate change to repudiation of warnings of the effects of pollution on the air and seas, the Trump administration is taking the US backwards. Leading figures in our Conservative party are no better, but thankfully have less power. Indeed, the democratic process in the Western world should ensure that this official obscurantism is reversed over the electoral cycle.
Thinking back to the archetypal fascists, Mussolini and Hitler, one would have to say however that the reverse is true. The fascist movement in Italy is linked with an artistic revolution which embraced science and technology. The mixture of absolutism and science had its adherents in England, too.
Like Mussolini, Hitler welcomed innovation as a means of reviving the German war machine and making it more efficient*. The Nazis applied science to mass executions in the infamous gas chambers. The philosophy behind those mass executions could be found in the theory of eugenics, which was accepted by some serious scientists in the first half of the last century and which lingered after the second world war in Canada and Sweden. It is said that among Hitler's reading material in Landsberg gaol in 1924 (when he wrote Mein Kampf) was an essay by HG Wells promoting eugenics.
Perhaps we should not watch out for disdain for science as a sign of fascism, but rather for an obsession with science to the exclusion of development in the arts.
*He missed out on the computer revolution, though. One wonders whether history could have been changed if he had given more support to Konrad Zuse.
Wednesday, 26 April 2017
Antisemitic candidacy terminated
I am all for local Liberal Democrat parties choosing their own candidates, but there are limits. Locals clearly thought they had made the popular choice for the strongly Muslim Bradford East constituency in re-selecting David Ward, who has consistently blamed "the Jews" for most of what has gone wrong in the Middle East and perhaps for some of our own ills, too. I don't know what levers Tim Farron pulled, but it has been announced this afternoon that Bradford will have to think again. For Ward to continue would be a source of embarrassment for our general election campaign and probably for some local government elections in parts of England too.
Movies
"The great near-art form of the twentieth century" (David Lean, as recounted by a name-dropping Warren Beatty on the latest Film Programme)
Tory party leader not questioned on her homophobia
An interview with Mrs May was broadcast on Radio Wales this morning. There were questions about the ground she wants the general election to be about (leaving the EU) and splits within the Conservative Party, but not about her consistent record of voting against every reform of the law as it relates to same-sex relations. Nor was there investigation of Mrs May's desire to remove all our civil protections by abrogating the European Convention on Human Rights.
Perhaps the usually excellent Felicity Evans did put the questions but Conservative Central Office refused to sanction broadcasting the recording if they were included. We should be told.
This is a subject I intend to return to when the general election campaign proper begins.
BBC: now we know
No sooner had I posted this than seeming confirmation that BBC management have an interest in keeping their cushy jobs came through. (Praise the online people - who are the only ones under threat in government pressure for cuts - for posting this information.)
Tuesday, 25 April 2017
What has the BBC got against us?
The corporation has given more prominence to opinion surveys (more and more discreditable) than to the remarkable surge in membership of the Liberal Democrats or, scandalously, to our record in council by-elections since this time last year, not to mention the changes in vote share in parliamentary elections:
The tendency of the Beeb in recent years to suck up to the people in power has been noted elsewhere. But this is more than blind support for the Conservatives. Could it be that they believe that a Liberal Democrat government would look seriously at the way the BBC is funded?
The tendency of the Beeb in recent years to suck up to the people in power has been noted elsewhere. But this is more than blind support for the Conservatives. Could it be that they believe that a Liberal Democrat government would look seriously at the way the BBC is funded?
Non-EU trade
The HMRC statistical release of Non-EU trade by declared Currency of
Invoicing statistics is due to be published today.
Monday, 24 April 2017
From settings of Longfellow to Sports Report
Looking forward to my regular dose of Private Passions, I mused not for the first time on what got me hooked on orchestral music first of all. Much must have been subliminal, from the old Kolster-Brandes radio mounted high (so that my infant fingers could not fiddle with the knobs?) in the living room. BBC broadcast a wide range of music* on the Light Programme in those days, and on the Home Service enlightened Children's Hour producers would use light classical pieces as incidental music to serials. Sometimes the music was not so light. One sci-fi series effectively used a piece of Bartok's night music.
All this was consciously reinforced later when I was allowed to go to the pictures on my own. I can't say I remember Hugo Friedhofer's score for Joan of Arc, but Vaughan Williams' orchestral music (later to be amplified into a symphony) for Scott of the Antarctic certainly made an impression as did the Cornish Rhapsody, the theme of Love Story, a vehicle for Stewart Granger and Margaret Lockwood. Not long after seeing the film, I was allowed to accompany my parents to rich acquaintances (I am guessing the family of an officer who knew my father during the war) who possessed a radiogram and stacks of 78s. Invited to pick something, and no doubt expected to light on a dance band number, I spotted Cornish Rhapsody. "Oh, you won't like that." I was told, but I did and I believe the company did too.
Before writing this post, some research was necessary to refresh my memory. I had assumed that the pseudo-concerto was by Addinsell or Alwyn or one of the émigré composers given employment by sympathetic British studios in the 1940s. Instead, it turned out to be by Hubert Bath, the man also responsible for Out of the Blue, the long-time signature tune of Sports Report.
Bath was almost as prolific a composer for British film as the aforementioned composers, and certainly the earliest of the three because he contributed to the sound-track of Blackmail, Alfred Hitchock's and Britain's first talkie.
But he was much more than that, as this appreciation shows. He wrote operas and set poems based on literary greats like Hardy and Longfellow. He wrote orchestral suites, cantatas - I would love to have heard his Men on the Line for the male voices of the Great Eastern Railway - for piano, organ, some inventive combinations, and for brass band. One of his band competition pieces was in use until the 1970s. He would make a great Composer of the Week - if only enough of his work has been recorded.
Bath died at Harefield, Middlesex on 24 April 1945, just days before VE Day.
*even jazz, thanks to the persistence of Charles Chilton, as he revealed in his reminiscences
All this was consciously reinforced later when I was allowed to go to the pictures on my own. I can't say I remember Hugo Friedhofer's score for Joan of Arc, but Vaughan Williams' orchestral music (later to be amplified into a symphony) for Scott of the Antarctic certainly made an impression as did the Cornish Rhapsody, the theme of Love Story, a vehicle for Stewart Granger and Margaret Lockwood. Not long after seeing the film, I was allowed to accompany my parents to rich acquaintances (I am guessing the family of an officer who knew my father during the war) who possessed a radiogram and stacks of 78s. Invited to pick something, and no doubt expected to light on a dance band number, I spotted Cornish Rhapsody. "Oh, you won't like that." I was told, but I did and I believe the company did too.
Before writing this post, some research was necessary to refresh my memory. I had assumed that the pseudo-concerto was by Addinsell or Alwyn or one of the émigré composers given employment by sympathetic British studios in the 1940s. Instead, it turned out to be by Hubert Bath, the man also responsible for Out of the Blue, the long-time signature tune of Sports Report.
Bath was almost as prolific a composer for British film as the aforementioned composers, and certainly the earliest of the three because he contributed to the sound-track of Blackmail, Alfred Hitchock's and Britain's first talkie.
But he was much more than that, as this appreciation shows. He wrote operas and set poems based on literary greats like Hardy and Longfellow. He wrote orchestral suites, cantatas - I would love to have heard his Men on the Line for the male voices of the Great Eastern Railway - for piano, organ, some inventive combinations, and for brass band. One of his band competition pieces was in use until the 1970s. He would make a great Composer of the Week - if only enough of his work has been recorded.
Bath died at Harefield, Middlesex on 24 April 1945, just days before VE Day.
*even jazz, thanks to the persistence of Charles Chilton, as he revealed in his reminiscences
Sunday, 23 April 2017
Cuts to social services, yet the government does not stop this rip-off
And where was the "socialist" opposition?
Online VAT fraud cost the taxpayer between £1 billion and £1.5 billion last year but not a single prosecution has taken place, according to an investigation by the National Audit Office.Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor Susan Kramer was expectedly angry:
“It is a disgrace that not a single VAT fraudster has been brought to justice. Taxpayers are being ripped off to the tune of £1.5 billion and small businesses are being undercut, but still this Government won’t act.
“This chronic failure to go after online fraudsters will be made even worse by a hard Brexit. Our Chancellor should be stepping up European cooperation to tackle tax evasion, instead he is threatening to turn the UK into an offshore tax haven.”
Saturday, 22 April 2017
Possible LD coalitions
I am still in the middle of a campaign to get more Liberal Democrat councillors into the chamber of the civic centre in Port Talbot. National politics comes well down the list of my concerns at present. However, Tim Farron's honesty in not ruling out a coalition as a result of the general election on June 8th has raised a mini-storm. A comment on an unrelated post here seems to invite my own views.
I want to see the Liberal Democrats as the largest party in the new House of Commons - in these volatile days, not an unrealistic aspiration! Failing that, I would want Tim Farron to go into coalition with a party, or cross-party group of MPs, on a programme which closely matches our manifesto, but we should not go into government for the sake of it. We should be prepared for constructive opposition, even in a hung parliament. As a believer in proportional representation, which leads to a wider representation of opinions in national parliaments, I believe this is the only valid stance.
However, a sticking point for me would be serving under the present prime minister, who is the most untrustworthy I can remember (and I am including David Cameron in the comparisons), or under the current leader of the Labour party who has been a grave disappointment even to his own supporters.
Jennie Rigg puts it all more bluntly.
I want to see the Liberal Democrats as the largest party in the new House of Commons - in these volatile days, not an unrealistic aspiration! Failing that, I would want Tim Farron to go into coalition with a party, or cross-party group of MPs, on a programme which closely matches our manifesto, but we should not go into government for the sake of it. We should be prepared for constructive opposition, even in a hung parliament. As a believer in proportional representation, which leads to a wider representation of opinions in national parliaments, I believe this is the only valid stance.
However, a sticking point for me would be serving under the present prime minister, who is the most untrustworthy I can remember (and I am including David Cameron in the comparisons), or under the current leader of the Labour party who has been a grave disappointment even to his own supporters.
Jennie Rigg puts it all more bluntly.
Wise words from a Liberal party historian
William Wallace (Baron Wallace of Saltaire) writes on Liberal Democrat Voice:
Theresa May has defined this seven-week election campaign as all about Brexit. But it won’t be, and it can’t be, however hard she and her party, and the partisan right-wing media, try to hold attention to that. (Did you see the Daily Mail font-page headline on Wednesday, ‘Crush the Saboteurs’?) The condition of our schools, the tightening squeeze on their budgets while Mrs. May wants to spend money on grammar schools, the continuing cuts in grants to poorer local authorities, the deepening crisis in the health service, will all attract public attention – because they are closer to most people’s immediate interests than the long-term future of Britain and our place in the world.
As a son of England he naturally concentrates on the way the Tories have impacted on the NHS and education there. However, whatever happens to spending by those English departments is reflected in the settlement for Wales. Affecting Wales directly are cuts to social spending, the privatisation of the parole and probation services, the withdrawal of legal aid from those who most need it and attacks on civil liberties. I would expect the LD candidates for Aberavon and Neath to speak to these and more in the coming general election campaign, and to the Labour so-called opposition's failure to halt them.
Theresa May has defined this seven-week election campaign as all about Brexit. But it won’t be, and it can’t be, however hard she and her party, and the partisan right-wing media, try to hold attention to that. (Did you see the Daily Mail font-page headline on Wednesday, ‘Crush the Saboteurs’?) The condition of our schools, the tightening squeeze on their budgets while Mrs. May wants to spend money on grammar schools, the continuing cuts in grants to poorer local authorities, the deepening crisis in the health service, will all attract public attention – because they are closer to most people’s immediate interests than the long-term future of Britain and our place in the world.
As a son of England he naturally concentrates on the way the Tories have impacted on the NHS and education there. However, whatever happens to spending by those English departments is reflected in the settlement for Wales. Affecting Wales directly are cuts to social spending, the privatisation of the parole and probation services, the withdrawal of legal aid from those who most need it and attacks on civil liberties. I would expect the LD candidates for Aberavon and Neath to speak to these and more in the coming general election campaign, and to the Labour so-called opposition's failure to halt them.
Friday, 21 April 2017
Farage backing into the limelight again
Nigel Farage contends that he is too busy in Brussels to consider standing in this June's general election, according to a BBC report. This will be yet another excuse for the Beeb to replay what has passed for their prime-time coverage of the European Parliament, one of Farage's vicious and mendacious personal attacks on fellow-MEPs and their elected officials.
It is rather like covering Cruft's by repeatedly showing a mongrel pissing against the judges' table.
It is rather like covering Cruft's by repeatedly showing a mongrel pissing against the judges' table.
Women's Party?
It is noticeable that of the seats which are perpetually on our target list (including many that Liberal Democrats ought to win back from the Conservatives), more than in previous years have women candidates, and good ones at that. Sandi Toksvig used to be a LibDem; will she return to the fold, or at least give us an endorsement?
The LD "snap" candidates are shown here.
Thursday, 20 April 2017
At last: Bob Marshall-Andrews realises he is really a liberal
Mark Pack reports. It can only be his tribal connection to the Labour Party which has prevented him from making the break before. Bob Marshall-Andrews has a great reputation of standing up for civil and human rights to the extent that he had a record of rebelling against the Blair-Brown governments which is surely second only to the current leader - who he clearly despises for rather different reasons.
I cherish his response to criticism from Labour HQ in the run-up to a general election. When threatened that if he did not moderate his rebellions he would not receive a constituency visit from prime minister Blair, he responded with words to the effect: "Can I have that in writing?".
He and wife Gill have also made a contribution to ecological housing (in conjunction with Future Systems) at Druidstone in Pembrokeshire.
I cherish his response to criticism from Labour HQ in the run-up to a general election. When threatened that if he did not moderate his rebellions he would not receive a constituency visit from prime minister Blair, he responded with words to the effect: "Can I have that in writing?".
He and wife Gill have also made a contribution to ecological housing (in conjunction with Future Systems) at Druidstone in Pembrokeshire.
Who do Europhiles vote for?
This cri de coeur from a socialist-inclined but EU-supporting citizen on Facebook is typical:
My background and general educational upbringing tip me firmly into the Labour camp but JC has disappointed me with his weak capitulating stance on Brexit. I am also a greeny at heart but I know it's a wasted vote and I still haven't forgiven the Lib Dems after their broken student loans promise - so where do I go?
As a democrat, I would say: vote for the person who best represents your philosophy and your feelings about what needs to be done for the country and for your community. The weight you place on our position within the European Union has to be balanced against social policies which might affect you more. For instance, the front-runner may be an anti-article 50 Conservative, but one who also wants in England to privatise the NHS, reintroduce the divisive tripartite education system and remove tenant protection.
As to student loans, the message still has not got through: the 2010 LD party manifesto called for the abolition of the student loans system. We did not get our way on this because there was a majority in the Commons in favour of retaining the system, naturally including the Labour party who had introduced it in 1998 in spite of a manifesto pledge that they would not. There were many candidates who personally signed up to a NUS pledge to (a) improve the system; and (b) vote against an increase in fees. It is a matter of regret that individual Liberal Democrats in government - though not, I am proud to say, Welsh Liberal Democrat MPs including junior minister Jenny Willott - individually went back on (b), but it was not a party failing. Moreover, even the NUS would admit that the changes to the system thrashed out by Vince Cable were a vast improvement, thus fulfilling (a).
My background and general educational upbringing tip me firmly into the Labour camp but JC has disappointed me with his weak capitulating stance on Brexit. I am also a greeny at heart but I know it's a wasted vote and I still haven't forgiven the Lib Dems after their broken student loans promise - so where do I go?
As a democrat, I would say: vote for the person who best represents your philosophy and your feelings about what needs to be done for the country and for your community. The weight you place on our position within the European Union has to be balanced against social policies which might affect you more. For instance, the front-runner may be an anti-article 50 Conservative, but one who also wants in England to privatise the NHS, reintroduce the divisive tripartite education system and remove tenant protection.
As to student loans, the message still has not got through: the 2010 LD party manifesto called for the abolition of the student loans system. We did not get our way on this because there was a majority in the Commons in favour of retaining the system, naturally including the Labour party who had introduced it in 1998 in spite of a manifesto pledge that they would not. There were many candidates who personally signed up to a NUS pledge to (a) improve the system; and (b) vote against an increase in fees. It is a matter of regret that individual Liberal Democrats in government - though not, I am proud to say, Welsh Liberal Democrat MPs including junior minister Jenny Willott - individually went back on (b), but it was not a party failing. Moreover, even the NUS would admit that the changes to the system thrashed out by Vince Cable were a vast improvement, thus fulfilling (a).
Wednesday, 19 April 2017
Metal theft still a cause for concern
Residents of Cadoxton wardened housing had trouble with metal thieves while I was a councillor in that ward. There were also thefts on the Great Western main line. Counter-measures were taken and there seems to have been no recurrence round here. However, metal theft is clearly still a cause for concern in England, because there is a symposium in Westminster later today. The introduction states:
Metal theft affects everyone, whether they know it or not. This crime continues to pose a significant problem in the UK, with an estimated cost to the UK economy of £770 million according to the Association of Chief Police Officers. There are also personal, societal and environmental costs, whether it is damage to a church roof, power outages or rail passengers and train operating companies faced with costly delays after cable has been stolen from the railway.
Latest figures reveal that there were 16,155 metal theft offences recorded by the police (42 forces) in the year ending March 2016, a decrease of over a third (38%) compared with the same forces for the previous year. Over the same period (for the same 42 police forces) infrastructure-related metal theft offences, which include those that have a direct impact on the functioning or structure of buildings or services, decreased by 36% while non-infrastructure-related metal theft decreased by 40%. There were 3 metal theft offences per 10,000 population in England in Wales in the latest year.
Despite these decreases, which the government suggests show that the Scrap Metal Dealers Act, which came into effect in October 2013, is working, as the price of metal again begins to increase, challenges remain. Consequently, the government responded to a request from the British Metal Recycling Association (BMRA) to review the existing legislation. The government launched a consultation in December 2016, which will close at the end of January. They have indicated that they will engage with representatives of the scrap metal and metals recycling industry, the energy and rail networks, the Church of England and other religious bodies Historic England, as well as representatives from Gypsy, Traveller and Roma organisations, local authorities and the police.
A particular question that remains to be answered is whether the government will reintroduce funding to tackle mental theft that came to an end when the taskforce, established to provide a co-ordinated response to metal theft, was disbanded in October 2014. While this is unclear, it is more important than ever to promote multi-agency working to ensure the most effective response to metal theft, something that is already in effect, as the police are working with Historic England to crackdown on theft from churches and historic buildings.
The Scrap Metal Dealers Act is one of the little-noticed but important achievements of the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition and it would be a pity if the current all-Conservative government relaxed enforcement.
Metal theft affects everyone, whether they know it or not. This crime continues to pose a significant problem in the UK, with an estimated cost to the UK economy of £770 million according to the Association of Chief Police Officers. There are also personal, societal and environmental costs, whether it is damage to a church roof, power outages or rail passengers and train operating companies faced with costly delays after cable has been stolen from the railway.
Latest figures reveal that there were 16,155 metal theft offences recorded by the police (42 forces) in the year ending March 2016, a decrease of over a third (38%) compared with the same forces for the previous year. Over the same period (for the same 42 police forces) infrastructure-related metal theft offences, which include those that have a direct impact on the functioning or structure of buildings or services, decreased by 36% while non-infrastructure-related metal theft decreased by 40%. There were 3 metal theft offences per 10,000 population in England in Wales in the latest year.
Despite these decreases, which the government suggests show that the Scrap Metal Dealers Act, which came into effect in October 2013, is working, as the price of metal again begins to increase, challenges remain. Consequently, the government responded to a request from the British Metal Recycling Association (BMRA) to review the existing legislation. The government launched a consultation in December 2016, which will close at the end of January. They have indicated that they will engage with representatives of the scrap metal and metals recycling industry, the energy and rail networks, the Church of England and other religious bodies Historic England, as well as representatives from Gypsy, Traveller and Roma organisations, local authorities and the police.
A particular question that remains to be answered is whether the government will reintroduce funding to tackle mental theft that came to an end when the taskforce, established to provide a co-ordinated response to metal theft, was disbanded in October 2014. While this is unclear, it is more important than ever to promote multi-agency working to ensure the most effective response to metal theft, something that is already in effect, as the police are working with Historic England to crackdown on theft from churches and historic buildings.
The Scrap Metal Dealers Act is one of the little-noticed but important achievements of the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition and it would be a pity if the current all-Conservative government relaxed enforcement.
Tuesday, 18 April 2017
Mrs May breaks her word again
She was going to continue to 2020. Yet, for tactical - and possibly transitory - reasons she has decided to ask the Commons to vote this government out of office.
Of course, if she had been honest, she - as the head of a government which had changed the policy on which it had been elected, under a different PM - would have submitted to a general election in the autumn of last year.
[Later] A colleague on Facebook writes: "One also wonders how much the timing has to do with the Police reports to the CPS on the expenses scandal?"
If the CPS decides to proceed with enforcement action, then twelve Conservative seats could change hands, more than reversing the government majority.
Of course, if she had been honest, she - as the head of a government which had changed the policy on which it had been elected, under a different PM - would have submitted to a general election in the autumn of last year.
[Later] A colleague on Facebook writes: "One also wonders how much the timing has to do with the Police reports to the CPS on the expenses scandal?"
If the CPS decides to proceed with enforcement action, then twelve Conservative seats could change hands, more than reversing the government majority.
Winston Churchill and a federal Europe
For some reason, Churchill's attitude to a community or union of European nations has come to the fore recently. Even after achieving what they claim is a decisive and permanent victory, Leavers have found it necessary to stitch together various one-liners from Churchill, from different contexts, and claim it is a coherent passage from a speech to parliament. This they cite as a clear declaration by the great man that Britain will always stand alone. (Remainers had been guilty of the lesser sin of quoting from a genuine speech, but cutting out a key sentence .)
This, from the online Hansard archive, sums up Churchill's real attitude. It comes from an adjournment debate on foreign affairs in May 1953:
Where do we stand? We are not members of the European Defence Community, nor do we intend to be merged in a Federal European system. We feel we have a special relation to both. This can be expressed by prepositions, by the preposition "with" but not "of"—we are with them, but not of them. We have our own Commonwealth and Empire. One of the anxieties of France is lest Germany, even partitioned as she is now, will be so strong that France will be outweighed in United Europe or in the European Defence Community. I am sure they could do a lot, if they chose to make themselves stronger. But, anyhow, I have always believed, as an active friend of France for nearly 50 years, that our fortunes lie together.
Churchill resisted the break-up of the Empire and cherished our Commonwealth links. However, if he were alive today he would surely recognise the reality of the situation, that we were no longer the Mother Country able to call on the unquestioning support of Commonwealth nations. He certainly approved of European cohesion. Earlier in the same speech he had said:
As I have urged for several years, there is no hope for the safety and freedom of Western Europe except by the laying aside forever of the ancient feud between the Teuton and the Gaul. It is seven years since, at Zurich, I appealed to France to take Germany by the hand and lead her back into the European family. We have made great progress since then. Some of it has been due no doubt to the spur to resist the enormous military strength of Soviet Russia, but much is also due to the inspiring and unconquerable cause of United Europe. We have Strasbourg and all that it stands for, and it is our duty to fortify its vitality and authority tirelessly as the years roll on. We have the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation, which has done such beneficent work in consolidating the material strength and sense of unity of European countries; we have the European Payments Union and there is also the European Coal and Steel Community, on which I believe we have observers.
This, from the online Hansard archive, sums up Churchill's real attitude. It comes from an adjournment debate on foreign affairs in May 1953:
Where do we stand? We are not members of the European Defence Community, nor do we intend to be merged in a Federal European system. We feel we have a special relation to both. This can be expressed by prepositions, by the preposition "with" but not "of"—we are with them, but not of them. We have our own Commonwealth and Empire. One of the anxieties of France is lest Germany, even partitioned as she is now, will be so strong that France will be outweighed in United Europe or in the European Defence Community. I am sure they could do a lot, if they chose to make themselves stronger. But, anyhow, I have always believed, as an active friend of France for nearly 50 years, that our fortunes lie together.
Churchill resisted the break-up of the Empire and cherished our Commonwealth links. However, if he were alive today he would surely recognise the reality of the situation, that we were no longer the Mother Country able to call on the unquestioning support of Commonwealth nations. He certainly approved of European cohesion. Earlier in the same speech he had said:
As I have urged for several years, there is no hope for the safety and freedom of Western Europe except by the laying aside forever of the ancient feud between the Teuton and the Gaul. It is seven years since, at Zurich, I appealed to France to take Germany by the hand and lead her back into the European family. We have made great progress since then. Some of it has been due no doubt to the spur to resist the enormous military strength of Soviet Russia, but much is also due to the inspiring and unconquerable cause of United Europe. We have Strasbourg and all that it stands for, and it is our duty to fortify its vitality and authority tirelessly as the years roll on. We have the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation, which has done such beneficent work in consolidating the material strength and sense of unity of European countries; we have the European Payments Union and there is also the European Coal and Steel Community, on which I believe we have observers.
Uncollected business rates
Unpaid council tax has long been a burden on local authorities. Last year, ITV news reported that Neath Port Talbot CBC had £4,336,360 outstanding, the fifth highest out of the twenty-two authorities in Wales.
Non-collection of council tax attracts more unwelcome attention, but Neath Port Talbot has trouble with business rates, too. (Technically, these are National Non-Domestic Rates, or NNDR for short - Powys CC provides a useful explanation.) There are at least half-a-dozen viable businesses in Neath town centre which are not shown as paying NNDR on the schedules published on the county borough's own web-site, while appearing on the official rating list (to query what a premises should be paying in NNDR, go to https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/view-my-valuation/cca/search.).
This failure may be seen as victimless as regards Neath, seeing that the money is not retained by the county borough but goes to the government for redistribution. However, not only does the shortfall have to be made up in other ways, but it is also unfair on competing businesses in the town who honestly stump up their business rates.
It could be, of course, that the records are incomplete: NNDR has been paid but has not been recorded. If so, I apologise to the county borough's officials, but would query whether "Freedom of Information" really means what it says if the published data are wrong.
Non-collection of council tax attracts more unwelcome attention, but Neath Port Talbot has trouble with business rates, too. (Technically, these are National Non-Domestic Rates, or NNDR for short - Powys CC provides a useful explanation.) There are at least half-a-dozen viable businesses in Neath town centre which are not shown as paying NNDR on the schedules published on the county borough's own web-site, while appearing on the official rating list (to query what a premises should be paying in NNDR, go to https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/view-my-valuation/cca/search.).
This failure may be seen as victimless as regards Neath, seeing that the money is not retained by the county borough but goes to the government for redistribution. However, not only does the shortfall have to be made up in other ways, but it is also unfair on competing businesses in the town who honestly stump up their business rates.
It could be, of course, that the records are incomplete: NNDR has been paid but has not been recorded. If so, I apologise to the county borough's officials, but would query whether "Freedom of Information" really means what it says if the published data are wrong.
Afan valley commercialisation
It seems that the doubts I raised on Facebook about the loss of access for leisure cyclists and walkers to parts of the Afan valley as a result of a commercial enterprise are shared. This article also points to the minimal business record of the man behind the Cwm Afan scheme, so enthusiastically endorsed by Labour in Neath Port Talbot and in Cardiff Bay. A contributor to Jac's article writes:
There are leisure facilities already present in the valley, most notably a mountain bike centre which has had substantial council investment from the taxpayers of Neath Port Talbot, and of course a building up at Glyncorrwg which has a café, which was funded by Communities First.
The ‘ponds’ at Glyncorrwg are a series of reclaimed colliery reservoirs stocked with fish. The cycle paths, which taxpayers paid millions into, are the ones which run along the trackbed of the old Rhondda to Swansea railway line from Blaengwynfi (Rhondda tunnel) down to Port Talbot, and its spur up to Glyncorrwg.
The forest plantation came into the possession of Natural Resources Wales (Forestry Commission). The old coal tips were reclaimed at public expense, the land having been gifted to the council from the National Coal Board.
There are some similarities to doubts raised by David TC Davies MP about the "Circuit of Wales" business plan.
There are leisure facilities already present in the valley, most notably a mountain bike centre which has had substantial council investment from the taxpayers of Neath Port Talbot, and of course a building up at Glyncorrwg which has a café, which was funded by Communities First.
The ‘ponds’ at Glyncorrwg are a series of reclaimed colliery reservoirs stocked with fish. The cycle paths, which taxpayers paid millions into, are the ones which run along the trackbed of the old Rhondda to Swansea railway line from Blaengwynfi (Rhondda tunnel) down to Port Talbot, and its spur up to Glyncorrwg.
The forest plantation came into the possession of Natural Resources Wales (Forestry Commission). The old coal tips were reclaimed at public expense, the land having been gifted to the council from the National Coal Board.
There are some similarities to doubts raised by David TC Davies MP about the "Circuit of Wales" business plan.
Saturday, 15 April 2017
Lies, damn' lies and Labour tabloids
You would think from "Local Voice", the Birmingham-printed "newspaper" which is being pushed through Neath and Port Talbot doors, that the council is putting more money into education.
What is actually happening is that Labour-run Neath Port Talbot council has budgeted for an increase in school building. They are actually cutting the money available to run the schools - this in spite of an increase in the pupil deprivation grant obtained by Liberal Democrat education secretary Kirsty Williams.
It is rather like building grand new hospitals but denying them the money to spend on more doctors and nurses.
What is actually happening is that Labour-run Neath Port Talbot council has budgeted for an increase in school building. They are actually cutting the money available to run the schools - this in spite of an increase in the pupil deprivation grant obtained by Liberal Democrat education secretary Kirsty Williams.
It is rather like building grand new hospitals but denying them the money to spend on more doctors and nurses.
Friday, 14 April 2017
70th anniversary of the World Federation of Liberalism
Liberal International reports:
On 10 April 2017, Liberals from around the world came together on the same spot at Wadham College, University of Oxford, where Liberal International was established 70 years ago this month. In 1947 Liberals from 19, mostly European, countries united in the aftermath of the horrors of World War Two to form our political federation and promote a world order based on liberal values; today, with over 100 members across 5 continents, our liberal movement is truly global.
On 10 April 2017, Liberals from around the world came together on the same spot at Wadham College, University of Oxford, where Liberal International was established 70 years ago this month. In 1947 Liberals from 19, mostly European, countries united in the aftermath of the horrors of World War Two to form our political federation and promote a world order based on liberal values; today, with over 100 members across 5 continents, our liberal movement is truly global.
Thursday, 13 April 2017
Not a time for new retail development
The trend is against town centre shopping. The Evening Post today bemoans the "lost shops" of Swansea city centre. Neath is therefore swimming against the tide in its town centre redevelopment. A leading councillor points to the comparatively low vacancy rate in Neath, but I would contend that this is a result of a good mix between housing and shopping in the centre of Neath and that anything that tips the balance is a bad thing.
Liberal Democrat values outweigh referendum vote
It is worth reading the comments to this posting on Liberal Democrat Voice. There are very few who are absolutist about the EU.
Wednesday, 12 April 2017
"A backward trend in local elections"
Thus begins Lawrence Bailey's column in the Evening Post yesterday. The former Swansea Labour leader bemoans the way in which national politics have come to dominate local campaigning. It seems to me that this is more of a problem in England. Certainly all of LibDems' election literature here has concentrated relentlessly on local issues, though Labour must feel handicapped by the retrenchment of the press in Wales. More people locally are influenced by the Daily Mail and the Sun than by more local media.
He goes on to twit Liberal Democrats for not fielding enough candidates to achieve a majority on Swansea City Council. It seems to me that he should be grateful to the media for once, in not giving due prominence to the remarkable resurgence in local government elections on the part of the Liberal Democrats. If more of our people had been aware of our success elsewhere they would surely have had the confidence to come forward in the expectation of winning.
Labour, too, have had their troubles. I have heard of difficulties of filling their slate of candidates in some Neath wards, while on the other side of the county borough de-selections have resulted in former Labour councillors standing as independents against the new appointees. As Mr Bailey says, "expectations are that it could get messy."
He goes on to twit Liberal Democrats for not fielding enough candidates to achieve a majority on Swansea City Council. It seems to me that he should be grateful to the media for once, in not giving due prominence to the remarkable resurgence in local government elections on the part of the Liberal Democrats. If more of our people had been aware of our success elsewhere they would surely have had the confidence to come forward in the expectation of winning.
Labour, too, have had their troubles. I have heard of difficulties of filling their slate of candidates in some Neath wards, while on the other side of the county borough de-selections have resulted in former Labour councillors standing as independents against the new appointees. As Mr Bailey says, "expectations are that it could get messy."
Senior council executive salaries: it is a seller's market
Guido is making much of the level of salary paid to some local authority chief executives. I am not going to defend some of the extreme figures quoted in his article, nor of the above-average pay in one neighbouring authority.
However, having sat on at least one council meeting exercising a choice of senior executives, I can attest that the pool of suitably-qualified local government officers who are prepared to up sticks to a new authority is disappointingly small. It might be larger if party political considerations did not play a part, and if agents and head-hunters did not get involved, but even so, it is a seller's market.
There is also the publicity factor. Local authority chief executives operate in the public eye while their equivalents in business pull in many times their salary while not being subject to the same sort of scrutiny - until they misbehave egregiously. It should be noted that Jes Staley's annual bonus at £1.2m is twice the highest salary quoted by Guido.
However, having sat on at least one council meeting exercising a choice of senior executives, I can attest that the pool of suitably-qualified local government officers who are prepared to up sticks to a new authority is disappointingly small. It might be larger if party political considerations did not play a part, and if agents and head-hunters did not get involved, but even so, it is a seller's market.
There is also the publicity factor. Local authority chief executives operate in the public eye while their equivalents in business pull in many times their salary while not being subject to the same sort of scrutiny - until they misbehave egregiously. It should be noted that Jes Staley's annual bonus at £1.2m is twice the highest salary quoted by Guido.
Tuesday, 11 April 2017
GPS monopoly being broken
The European Parliamentary Research Service Blog gives an update on the EU's Galileo and Copernicus systems.
Galileo, the long-awaited European global navigation satellite systems, is at a turning point in its history: it reached initial operational capacity in December 2016 and is expected to be fully operational for 2021. This autonomous European civilian tool, which can be used anywhere on earth, transmits positioning and timing data from space for use on the ground to determine a user’s location. Alongside it, the European geostationary navigation overlay system (EGNOS), which improves the accuracy and integrity of the American global positioning system (GPS) over EU territory, became fully operational in 2011.
Delays and cost over-runs can be explained through political, technical, industrial and security issues. It is estimated that by 2020, the EU and ESA will have invested more than €13 billion in these programmes. This public investment, although much larger than that initially planned, matches the cost of similar programmes such as GPS, and is justified by the need for the European Union to have strategic autonomy in the field.
Securing the Copernicus programme
The Copernicus programme is a user-driven programme which provides six free-of-charge operational services (atmosphere monitoring, marine environment monitoring, land monitoring, climate change, emergency management and security) to EU, national, and regional institutions, as well as to the private sector. The programme builds on the initiative on global monitoring for environment and security launched in 2001. It aims at filling the gaps in European earth observation capacities. Data is provided from space infrastructures, particularly the sentinel missions developed under the programme, and in situ infrastructure supported by the Member States. Copernicus services are mainly operated by European Union (EU) agencies.
The Navstar Global Positioning System was developed by the United States Department of Defense. It remains under the control of the US authorities who can selectively "turn off" parts of the system. However, under President Clinton, the US renounced the use of "selective availability".
Galileo, the long-awaited European global navigation satellite systems, is at a turning point in its history: it reached initial operational capacity in December 2016 and is expected to be fully operational for 2021. This autonomous European civilian tool, which can be used anywhere on earth, transmits positioning and timing data from space for use on the ground to determine a user’s location. Alongside it, the European geostationary navigation overlay system (EGNOS), which improves the accuracy and integrity of the American global positioning system (GPS) over EU territory, became fully operational in 2011.
Delays and cost over-runs can be explained through political, technical, industrial and security issues. It is estimated that by 2020, the EU and ESA will have invested more than €13 billion in these programmes. This public investment, although much larger than that initially planned, matches the cost of similar programmes such as GPS, and is justified by the need for the European Union to have strategic autonomy in the field.
Securing the Copernicus programme
The Copernicus programme is a user-driven programme which provides six free-of-charge operational services (atmosphere monitoring, marine environment monitoring, land monitoring, climate change, emergency management and security) to EU, national, and regional institutions, as well as to the private sector. The programme builds on the initiative on global monitoring for environment and security launched in 2001. It aims at filling the gaps in European earth observation capacities. Data is provided from space infrastructures, particularly the sentinel missions developed under the programme, and in situ infrastructure supported by the Member States. Copernicus services are mainly operated by European Union (EU) agencies.
The Navstar Global Positioning System was developed by the United States Department of Defense. It remains under the control of the US authorities who can selectively "turn off" parts of the system. However, under President Clinton, the US renounced the use of "selective availability".
Monday, 10 April 2017
Immigration
The extent to which Mrs May has misled us over immigration is laid out here. The graph which is based on the same data as the government's Brexit White Paper is particularly illuminating.
Sunday, 9 April 2017
Alexander "Greek" Thomson
When I was on a contract in Glasgow, I passed a prime example of the work of this great architect, who was born 200 years ago today. Depressingly, it had fallen into a state of decay. One trusts that it has been rescued in time for the bicentennial celebrations.
It is interesting to see from wikipedia that Thomson was a pioneer in sustainable building. There is much more to be discovered at the Alexander Thomson Society website.
It is interesting to see from wikipedia that Thomson was a pioneer in sustainable building. There is much more to be discovered at the Alexander Thomson Society website.
Saturday, 8 April 2017
Ken Livingstone - the Welsh connection
Jonathan Calder praises the Ken Livingstone of the past (and deprecates his recent witterings on the subject of the Third Reich). I must admit that he was an attractive personality in those days. I remember his taking part in a Radio 4 nature trail and giving herpetology a good name. But one should also remember the ruthless way he deposed the then leader of London Labour - and the man the 1981 electorate assumed would be the leader of the GLC - Andrew Macintosh, in a back-stage coup. His co-conspirator was the late Illtyd Harrington, uncle of Hinterland's Richard Harrington.
Friday, 7 April 2017
The EU needs to take Hungary in hand
The EU cannot (quite rightly) resist Turkey's application for membership on the grounds of her civil rights abuses and slide into dictatorship while at the same time turning a blind eye to similar moves in Hungary. Tom Arms details how far the birth nation of George Soros has moved towards crypto-fascism.
If the Conservative government were communitaire, it would be leading the fight to bring Hungary back into line, just as the EU slapped down the neo-Nazis in government in Austria at the end of last century. Sadly, Tories see the EU only in terms of monetary flows.
If the Conservative government were communitaire, it would be leading the fight to bring Hungary back into line, just as the EU slapped down the neo-Nazis in government in Austria at the end of last century. Sadly, Tories see the EU only in terms of monetary flows.
Civil servants and gifts
When I read my Private Eye this morning, I wondered if the civil service had become more corrupt in the decades since I left it. Back then, accepting the smallest of gifts was looked at askance. If a member of the public, having been helped strictly in the line of duty, left a bottle of wine on your doorstep out of gratitude, you were expected to hand it back. I am gratified to discover that things have not changed much.
So this report in the Eye is either defamatory or relates to an elevated layer of government where normal rules do not apply:
Arms manufactureres that have pocketed the fattest cheques for the Ministry of Defence over the past decade showered the officials who pay them with fifts, dinners and cocktail parties worth a combined £100,000. [...] senior officials at Defence Equipment and Support [...] accepted more than 1,000 gifts and hospitality worth £40,000 in total. More junior but still important staff, including top military personnel, [accepted £60,000 worth].
So this report in the Eye is either defamatory or relates to an elevated layer of government where normal rules do not apply:
Arms manufactureres that have pocketed the fattest cheques for the Ministry of Defence over the past decade showered the officials who pay them with fifts, dinners and cocktail parties worth a combined £100,000. [...] senior officials at Defence Equipment and Support [...] accepted more than 1,000 gifts and hospitality worth £40,000 in total. More junior but still important staff, including top military personnel, [accepted £60,000 worth].
Thursday, 6 April 2017
European Parliament vetoes diesel emissions supervisory agency
UK Tories and Kippers help swing the vote
There was a vote in the European Parliament recently which points the way in which the Conservatives want to go in future. They are resisting any pan-European agency, even if the target is better, consistent, testing of motors' exhaust emissions and hence better consumer protection.
VoteWatch Europe reports:
New European supervisory agency rejected, British MEPs made the difference
The MEPs rejected the setting up of a separate and independent European agency for vehicle surveillance that would have had the power to test vehicle emissions in laboratories and in real driving conditions. This independent body was aimed at addressing the problem raised by the inquiry committee concerning the maladministration by both member states and the European Commission. The vote on the establishment of this agency was very close: 333 voted in favour, 347 against, while 9 Members abstained.
The call for a new European agency would have been a strong signal from the European Parliament for “more EU” at a time when European unity is facing great challenges. Not surprisingly, British Prime Minister Theresa May’s political party voted against the agency, as well as the governing party in Poland Law and Justice (PiS), which have tended to reinforce its reclusive position in the EU over the past few weeks.
Many political groups have been divided when voting on the establishment of a new European agency. For instance, the Italian 5 Star Movement voted in favour and did not follow the majority of its Eurosceptic group, Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD). Similarly, the opinions in the centrist and far-left political groups have diverged substantially, with some Members voting on national lines in both groups (for example, French MEPs took position in favour of this new agency, while the Czech and Dutch Members opposed it).
- See more at: http://www.votewatch.eu/blog/dieselgate-british-meps-decisive-on-rejecting-new-supervisory-agency/#sthash.pP2lX2Gh.dpufCentenary of US' entering the Great War
On 6th April 1917, President Woodrow Wilson signed a declaration of war on Germany. The entry of American troops was to break the impasse in Europe.
Wednesday, 5 April 2017
We need more MPs like Sarah Olney
She clearly has a higher IQ than the rest of us, but otherwise she is very human, a professional and a wife and mother. I hope even those who are partisans of other parties will ignore the purely party aspects of these interviews and agree that there should be more grounded MPs in the House of Commons.
http://www.libdemvoice.org/sarah-olney-interview-part-1-before-becoming-an-mp-53755.html
http://www.libdemvoice.org/sarah-olney-interview-part-2-the-richmond-park-campaign-53757.html
http://www.libdemvoice.org/sarah-olney-interview-part-3-politics-53759.html
http://www.libdemvoice.org/sarah-olney-interview-part-1-before-becoming-an-mp-53755.html
http://www.libdemvoice.org/sarah-olney-interview-part-2-the-richmond-park-campaign-53757.html
http://www.libdemvoice.org/sarah-olney-interview-part-3-politics-53759.html
Tuesday, 4 April 2017
Monday, 3 April 2017
Network Rail
John Redwood raises concerns about the priorities of Network Rail. It is sadly not the only quango which has been distracted from its main purpose by the attractions of financial manipulation.
It's what Wales voted for, part 14
Has UKIP gone to pot?
BBC reports that UKIP members in North Wales are to meet to discuss deselecting a regional AM, Michelle Brown. The allegation is that she has brought the party into disrepute. Eighteen instances have been cited, including this story; http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/ukip-am-denies-smoking-drugs-12542767
Sunday, 2 April 2017
Saturday, 1 April 2017
The capital is to get an improved train service
29 March 2017, 16:09
ARRIVA TRAINS WALES is set to double capacity on some of the busiest trains into Cardiff
Details at https://arrivatrainswales-newsroom.prgloo.com/news/arriva-trains-wales-is-set-to-double-capacity-on-some-of-the-busiest-trains-into-cardiff-1/.
If I learn of any improvements for commuter services from West Wales and on the Maesteg line, I shall not hesitate to post them here, but do not hold your breath.
Labour MEP's broadcasts do more harm than good
There was a rare appearance by Derek Vaughan on Radio Wales this morning. He was defending the place of Britain in a greater Europe. If I recall correctly, the last time he was on, he was arguing against Brexit.
Does he not see that by surfacing only when his own lucrative job in Brussels and Strasbourg is under threat he only strengthens the impression of Leavers that the EU benefits only those politicians on the gravy train? Considering that his office employs an assistant in South Wales, the dearth of information as to what MEPs in particular and the EU in general have done for Wales during his term is scandalous.
My own party is not blameless. While individual Libdem MEPs in England were very good at keeping their constituents informed regularly about events in the European Parliament, we did not nationally keep up a commentary on the EU as we did on the Westminster parliament (except in the early years of the coalition, but that is another story). The BBC neglected its duty to keep the British public informed about an institution that has an effect on our lives, and other players hostile to the European project rushed to fill the gap. Libdem campaigners would argue that the first call on limited funds must be to get Liberal Democrat MPs and councillors elected, but that does not mean that all campaigning funds should have been spent in that way. Business, too, was unaware of the danger of ignorance until it woke up on June 24th.
Does he not see that by surfacing only when his own lucrative job in Brussels and Strasbourg is under threat he only strengthens the impression of Leavers that the EU benefits only those politicians on the gravy train? Considering that his office employs an assistant in South Wales, the dearth of information as to what MEPs in particular and the EU in general have done for Wales during his term is scandalous.
My own party is not blameless. While individual Libdem MEPs in England were very good at keeping their constituents informed regularly about events in the European Parliament, we did not nationally keep up a commentary on the EU as we did on the Westminster parliament (except in the early years of the coalition, but that is another story). The BBC neglected its duty to keep the British public informed about an institution that has an effect on our lives, and other players hostile to the European project rushed to fill the gap. Libdem campaigners would argue that the first call on limited funds must be to get Liberal Democrat MPs and councillors elected, but that does not mean that all campaigning funds should have been spent in that way. Business, too, was unaware of the danger of ignorance until it woke up on June 24th.
BBC announces Farage appointment
The British Broadcasting Corporation has announced that Nigel Farage will be the new director of news and current affairs. The board of governors has expressed its hope that this appointment will put to rest allegations of bias and usher in an era when the BBC's coverage reflects the objective views of the majority of its viewers and listeners.
Mr Farage (who is expected to be awarded a knighthood in the upcoming Queen's birthday honours) was characteristically humble in his own media release. "It is about [adjective deleted] time. The first thing I shall do is kick out the whingeing lefties like Andrew Neil. Clearly I will have to retain one or two real communists in order to maintain balance and will consult Donald and Vladimir on this.
"I will also crack down on the use of consultants and look hard at how privatisation is going. I have already asked an independent think-tank, the Institute for Direct Democracy in Europe, to investigate and report back."
It is understood that Mr Farage is anxious to restore balance to the Corporation's European coverage. Talks have already begun with the Netherlands' Party for Freedom with a view to replacing all BBC-Parliament's reports from the EU with "The Geert Wilders Hour".
Mr Farage sees no conflict of interests in retaining his rôle as political adviser to Fox News. He also plans to stay on as a Member of the European Parliament. Replying to criticism at the time he took the job with Fox, Mr Farage said: "those who are professional politicians always need to climb the greasy pole because it is their only chance to boost their earnings. The politician with outside interests is much freer. I can do a much better job on the occasions when I visit Brussels."
[Later] In the past I have removed my pre-lunch posts of April 1st. I have left this one up as I feel it may prove to be prophetic.
Mr Farage (who is expected to be awarded a knighthood in the upcoming Queen's birthday honours) was characteristically humble in his own media release. "It is about [adjective deleted] time. The first thing I shall do is kick out the whingeing lefties like Andrew Neil. Clearly I will have to retain one or two real communists in order to maintain balance and will consult Donald and Vladimir on this.
"I will also crack down on the use of consultants and look hard at how privatisation is going. I have already asked an independent think-tank, the Institute for Direct Democracy in Europe, to investigate and report back."
It is understood that Mr Farage is anxious to restore balance to the Corporation's European coverage. Talks have already begun with the Netherlands' Party for Freedom with a view to replacing all BBC-Parliament's reports from the EU with "The Geert Wilders Hour".
Mr Farage sees no conflict of interests in retaining his rôle as political adviser to Fox News. He also plans to stay on as a Member of the European Parliament. Replying to criticism at the time he took the job with Fox, Mr Farage said: "those who are professional politicians always need to climb the greasy pole because it is their only chance to boost their earnings. The politician with outside interests is much freer. I can do a much better job on the occasions when I visit Brussels."
[Later] In the past I have removed my pre-lunch posts of April 1st. I have left this one up as I feel it may prove to be prophetic.
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