Consultation: Priorities for Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee

The Welsh Assembly's key economic committee seeks suggestions on its priorities for the coming Assembly year. More details here.

Farmers hard-pressed financially

The Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution reports that it has had to help out more Welsh farmers than ever before.

The long form of cricket under threat

Tomorrow is a make-or-break day for Glamorgan Cricket. It should not be. The players should have been committed to all forms of the game. However, it was decided some years back that the county should concentrate on the Twenty20 format. There were some near misses, but at last Glamorgan have reached a T20 Blast quarter-final. The return of Shaun Tait will help, but Yorkshire are a formidable side in one-day cricket this year. I wish Glamorgan luck.

I sat on the terrace last week and was depressed by the lack of will to win in the Royal London One-Day match against Hampshire, especially after the opposing captain made what should have been a tactical error in choosing to bat first on a field still affected by overnight rain. Scoring was initially slow with an outfield which became faster during the day, but Glamorgan helped to turn a moderate target into a challenging one by dropping three catches. I dread to think what Wilf Wooller would have said to the fielders concerned if he were alive today - Fergie's hair-dryer treatment was nothing compared to a Wooller dressing-down.

The talk on the terrace was of the move away from four-day cricket to city and regional franchises playing limited-overs matches on the lines of the Indian cricket league. Have the Glamorgan committee given up a long-term commitment to traditional county cricket in favour of promoting the Cardiff Taffies (or some such)? If four-day or even three-day cricket goes, then England and Wales as a force in test cricket will soon follow.

Swans make profit but lose leader

The moment Swansea City fans had feared has arrived. Everton only had to increase their offer by £2m to overcome the resistance of the new owners at the Liberty. Ashley Williams will be missed for his experience and ability but most of all for his leadership.

But one wonders how he will adjust to Goodison. He has been used to running the show for Swansea and Wales. Unless manager Koeman specifically grants him the same rôle in the Everton defence, Williams is going to be down the pecking order in the company of other experienced internationals.

The Lowell Goddard resignation

Cathy Fox, a persistent campaigner for justice for child victims of abuse, has taken the even-handed approach of posting the responses of  the opposition to the Goddard Inquiry. One wonders how her honour's appointment, which was hailed as a bold and intelligent move sixteen months ago, is suddenly seen as perverse.

Justice Goddard's sudden resignation may not be the disaster which it might seem at first sight. Her stewardship has had the effect of taking the Inquiry out of the media eye and allowed the back-office staff to proceed with the business of marshalling witnesses and so on. It may be that the Inquiry's scope was too broad for one person to oversee. However, that is no reason to abandon any part of it. Things have gone too far. If necessary, there should be a division of judicial labour. Perhaps PM Theresa May and Home Secretary Amber Rudd would consider the suggestion made earlier that a Scottish judge without any ties which might be seen as compromising should be brought in.

South African politics grows up

That was the sense of the Guardian's response to the results of last week's local elections in South Africa. The final results were declared yesterday, and show that the ANC failed to hold several of its previous strongholds. It is worth noting that Jacob Zuma's main selling point was race, and that he conspicuously failed.

Canal development

It seems that the scheme to remove the post-war obstructions to the canal in Clydach is still a goer. I wish the promoters well, while hoping that corresponding work on the Neath and Tennant Canals is picked up again. A start should be made by maintaining the tow-path between Neath and Tonna which is I believe on an officially-nominated cycle route.

Then the overgrowth in the upper reaches could be cleared:

A great perch for ducks, but fallen trees near Cwmgwrach assist the stagnation of the Neath Canal.

Alf Siddley

It is with sadness that I learned of the death of Councillor Siddley in today's Evening Post. I remember him as a defender of traditional Labour values but always friendly and good company. My sympathies go to his family and friends.