Starting With Hinckley Point Nuclear Mud Coming To Cardiff Every Welsh Labour Policy Should Start With The Question Would Aneurin Bevan Have Approved?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Within the Welsh Labour Party there is no more totemic figure than Aneurin Bevan. For he of course was the man who as minister brought in the National Health Service. Free healthcare at delivery is something that people in Britain, despite the problems an underfunded service provides, cherish. And for the most part it's a view people hold whatever their political views are otherwise.

He is the man who has a statue in Cardiff City centre. Something you know that former UK leader Neil Kinnock, his son member of Parliament Stephen the Bald Eagle and definitely current but soon to be ex First Minister Carwyn Jones will not get.

He is the man who either personally and/or through the National Health Service current Labour politicians will constantly mention as an achievement of Socialism. And it is true. But as I've said before in this blog, Welsh Labour of today uses the past to hide it's current arrogant incompetence in leading Wales in the devolved administration.

Now I don't agree personally with every view of Aneurin Bevan. He did not for example believe in Welsh nationalism. But in the context of this post that's not the issue for we are talking about Welsh Labour party policy here.

So starting with the issue as I've discussed before of the decision by the Welsh Labour government to allow EDF to deposit radioactive mud from Hinckley Point nuclear power station in Cardiff Bay (and as an aside there will be a demonstration outside the National Assembly building today. If I wasn't working I'd have definitely have joined) every Welsh Labour policy that I chat about in this blog from now on will have this question in it:

Would Aneurin Bevan have approved?

Of course all of this is hypothetical. But is Welsh Labour seriously saying that this pivotal figure in the Socialist movement in Wales would have been so stupid not have asked the question I and others have asked with regard to this?

What are the consequences if the science is wrong?

Is Welsh Labour seriously saying that Aneurin Bevan would think to himself that it was OK to completely trust in Science and allow mud from a nuclear power station to be dumped by, and let's not forget this, the capital city of Wales? Is Welsh Labour saying that Aneurin Bevan would not have wondered of the consequences of the science being wrong on the enviornment and people of Cardiff and the surrounding area?

Of course he would not have agreed to it. And yet current day, arrogantly, patronising, incompetent Welsh Labour has. Welsh Labour don't forget everybody, the supposed party of the people.

That is how far the Labour party in Wales have travelled folks.

Incidentally on the specific issue of the Hinckley Point Nuclear Mud I'm going to tweet Labour leadership favourite to replace Mark "Red Cairns" Drakeford and Welsh minister for Health Vaughn Gething and  on whether they approve of the dumping.

Not as if I'm stirring things of course....

Until the next time.

The Insomniac Meanderings Post: Tory Shill Edition....Apparently

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well it's as I write this 5:51am on a Sunday morning. Though I've actually woken up an hour before. Slowly the weather is turning. Summer now but daylight is showing it's head later than normal.

Tell you what I've been called various things on Twitter but never a Tory Shill before. It was from a Labour party supporter saying that Plaid Cymru and not them was the party for me given my experience and knowledge of the arrogant incompetence of Welsh Labour.

So to put it another way. I must be the only person to be accused of being Tory for supporting Plaid.

My first thought was "Well he hasn't read my blog" (yes I know vain). But then it occurred to me that it personified Labour arrogance. As if only Labour can help the poor and downtrodden in society. Yet in Wales as we've previously discussed they're part of the establishment. They're also therefore part of the problem.

And here's a question. Anuerin Bevan, founder of the NHS rejected Welsh Nationalism as a backward and reactionary movement. But in the light of Britain of today, where the Westminster elite (even a Corbyn one) rule Wales as a colony and given the bloated and uncaring state to their voters of Welsh Labour. Is there a possibility that he would consider Plaid now? Worth a thought.

I've seen a number of tweets from people who say they want to immediately get out of the United Kingdom for an independent Scotland/Wales. I myself have said that in the scenario of a dark hard Brexit of the soul it might be the best option for Wales if the consequences of staying in the UK are worse.

What's interesting is that I'd predict now that the very people who would argue against Scotland/Wales crashing out of the UK are the same who'd wet themselves at Britain crashing out of the EU.

And now soft drink news:

Coca Cola have brought out new flavoured colas. There's "Feisty Cherry" (which doesn't seem to taste that different to normal cherry cola), "Peach" (which tastes nice in the beginning but gets flat after a while) and "Exotic Mango".

Now Exotic Mango for some reason gets to me. After all in Britain surely all mangoes are exotic? Marketing gone to level stupid.

Sunny out there. Not sure what I'm going to do. There is a 10KG fun run in Barry island today. But to be honest the words "fun run" don't seem to make sense in English.

Right wife awake. Time to go for now.

Until the next time.

Why Plaid Cymru Should Not Panic Part Three: Welsh Labour And The NHS

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I have mentioned before, and will repeat, that should the next general election fall within the next twelve months Plaid Cymru will find the going difficult if the electorate feel that there is a good chance of getting rid of the current Conservtive coalition of chaos with the Witchfinder general party that is the DUP.

The beneficiary of such a vote will be the Labour party led by Jeremy Corbyn. As I've also stated previously Welsh Labour have been lucky that the party of Corbyn has propped up what is, essentially the party of Blair despite it's clear arrogant incompetence on such issues as the running of the economy and education.

My view is that Plaid Cymru should battle to retain what it has in Westminster but go all guns (other metaphorical weapons are available) blazing with regard to the next Welsh Assembly elections. For then it can target a Westminster Corbyn government but crucially Carwyn Jones' Welsh Blair Labour (plus one Libdem for education) administration in the Senedd.

This would then be the moment for Plaid to say to the electorate of Wales that they, and only they follow in the traditions of the old Labour party and that the current Labour takes their vote for granted and then proceeds to destroy through mainly incompetence central tenets of Welsh (and people living in Wales) voter values such as a decent education for our children.

Which leads us to the National Health Service.

The Welsh Labour party will always tell you that it was they who created the National Health Service. This is factually incorrect. It was the old Welsh Labour party who created the NHS. Think about it. What do you think would happen if New Welsh Blair Labour was charged with the reform of the Health service in a parallel universe where the NHS did not exist. Would they have created it? Of course not. There would probably have been a public/private mixture. Point being they would not have created for all conditions a service that is free at the point of delivery.

Why can I say all of  this? Because you should judge Labour's record in running the Welsh NHS. A record which, whatever the issues are in England, Conservative Ministers and the Daily Mail use as a weapon to attack Labour governance. The irony of those who would rather the NHS be destroyed attacking Labour for it's record running it cannot be overemphasised.

Average waiting times for treatments and diagnosis are higher in Wales than in England. England, the country with a bigger population has a turnaround time generally quicker than Wales. How is this possible that people are waiting longer for an operation that will improve their lives or a diagnosis where they can work out how they need to handle what the future will bring?

An "ageing population" is not an excuse either. Whisper it gently. People in England grow old too.

So the probable reason, rather as in education, is incompetence in the administration of health in Wales. Welsh Labour have these big grandiose ideas with regard to health boards and the like but don't realise that there are problems until it's too late. Having on occasions actually cut the health budget they then throw money to try and resolve it realising that to do nothing will be a vote loser with the electorate. Trouble is that even if it cures the problem of the Welsh National Health Service, I suspect that any reforms will not be quick....and there will be pain.

Come the next Assembly elections Plaid Cymru will need to emphasise time and time again that Welsh Labour incompetence is destroying the NHS as it is the education of our children. That Plaid Cymru is the inheritor to the ideals of Aneurin Bevan and not the Welsh Labour party of Blair.

The opportunity to improve the lives of people living in Wales, and yes with the ultimate goal of independence is there.

But patience is needed.

Until the next time.

Goodbye To Porthcawl Library

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I know this is premature. I know that the move might fall through. But today (Monday) I went to Porthcawl library for what is probably the last time.

Why? Well three reasons. Firstly once the process of moving house goes into full swing giving back library books would be put in the back burner, and then forgotten.

Secondly, and conversely, dealing with the library is simple. Return the books. That's it.

Thirdly though, and most importantly, unlike some things I was going to do but will put off until the move is complete (going through an Elizabeth David book and volunteering for a food bank will have to wait) this was to be the first thing I was stopping that I was doing. It was also the first thing that would affect me. As the libraries in Bridgend (bar one) I consider a friend.

Porthcawl library is not the best library in the Bridgend area (in my opinion that's Pyle) as it is slightly small. In all other respects I have always enjoyed and looked forward to my visits there. It has a staff that knows what they're doing and, as I've explained previously, tolerate my bad jokes (On having to pay a fine "I thought you were going to throw the book at me").

As in all good bookshops what made this library (like the others in Bridgend..bar one) good was it's ability to surprise you by borrowing a book that you had not expected to want. I'm not saying that they would all be good (ie a biography of Aneurin Bevan) but you'd be prepared to give it a go.

I walked in. Gave the books and walked out. What I was not going to do was linger.

Goodbye

To Marion Keyes and Mark Chapman my apologies. Once the situation is sorted will make a beeline for your books. I promise.

Purchasing Penguin paperbacks though hasn't stopped. As I was in Porthcawl I went to the PAWS charity shop where for £2 I got this.

H E Bates - Country and Other Matters

This is a collection of five of his books, Fair Stood the Wind for France,The Wild Cherry Tree,Dulcima,The Four Beauties and Seven by Five (there were actually six but The Triple Echo is missing).

Regular readers of this blog will know that I'm not currently an H E Bates fan. My view of A Little Bit Of What You Fancy, the last of the Larkin books was that it was a UKIP wet dream of an England (not you would note Britain) that probably never really existed.

However as I hope Michael Palin showed my views on one book does not necessarily mean that they will be my views on another so we live in hope.

So goodbye Porthcawl,Pyle,Aberkenfig, Maesteg and the old Bridgend Town Centre library. It was fun.

As for the new Bridgend Town Centre not in the town centre abomination library which the Labour Council got EU money to action. I hope you (but not the books inside) rot.

Until the next time.

How To Make Aneurin Bevan Boring And Other Books

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well the two library books I took out about three weeks ago have now been finished. The first of which was Nye:The Political Life of Aneurin Bevan by Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds.

As I understood this book from the introduction it's mentioned to be relatively neutral from the biographies that preceded it. Well in that it succeeded.so much so that it should be subtitled Fifty Shades Of Dull.

What this is essentially is a ponced up essay with a foreword by Lord Kinnock . A man whose socialist legacy is so great his Labour MP son takes his daughter to private school.

It is too short. Two hundred and sixty pages is just not even scratching the surface of a life such as Bevan's. There were many moments in this where the phrase "in one bound he was free" came into my head as it whizzes through his political career yet in a style where you could see more emotion in a tombstone.

For example the creation of the National Health Service is given a chapter of just eighteen pages. Eighteen? Even eighty would've probably been not enough.

As for the book being "the political life" of it's subject. The author is happy to go into tittle tattle. He mentions that Bevan was not the love of his wife's Jennie Lee's life (apparently that as a man who died earlier) something I don't remember when reading her book My Life With Nye in the eighties (read in London then when moving to Wales would've never entered my head). Furthermore he says they had an "open marriage". I won't question that statement,I don't know. What I will condemn him for is immediately afterwards mentioning that Bevan got on well with Barbara Castle but saying that there was no record of an affair. Why mention it then? Is it because she was probably the most successful female British politician before Margaret Thatcher?This was just plain petty.

Speaking personally whether it is pro or anti my political beliefs I want political books to have a political belief powering them or else it's just ends up like this. The most pointless political book I've ever read.

The only good thing I will say about this books is that it inspires me to read Michael Foot's biography which I already suspect will be miles better

The other book, which of course could not be more different was My Life In Football by Trevor Brooking. I loved this book. But I think you could realise from my idolatry when borrowed that it would have taken a great deal for me to have disliked it. I am biased I admit it. The only slight minus point was that it was the second best football book I've read this year. Alan Stubbs is still so far the best.

As I wont be able to go to the library until Tuesday it means I need new non Penguin to read. Tomorrow I'm off to Epping for the weekend for reasons I'll explain on Sunday or Monday. I'm not taking the Fatima Meer autobiography of Nelson Mandela because I'll probably finish it before this trip ends and then I would probably have to watch Midsomer Murders with my mother (that is digital hell let me tell you). So the next book(s) I'll be taking there are.

The Helene Hanff Omnibus

This is an omnibus of her books other than the one I bought in Bridgend a few weeks back. I've read 84 Charing Cross Road before and loved it. Will reread that again.

Until the next time.

In Which Books Are Bought, Borrowed And Discarded And How Labour Is Further Destroying Bridgend Town

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well I wish I could say we as a family went out on Tuesday but due to various reasons, mainly due to daughter's sudden and deep attachment to the land of nod we didn't. Ironically the only person who went out today was me. Though that was because I'd things to do.

First port of call was Porthcawl to bring back and borrow books from the library. Before that though went into the Porthcawl Animal Welfare Shop (PAWS) to see whether I could get any vintage Penguin Paperbacks.

I was lucky. There were two.

1682 - Laurie Lee - Cider With Rosie

This is the classic book about the author's childhood in a Cotswold village. Would recommend it. Did enjoy it. Though not I suspect as much as others did.

Obviously you can guess by now that I've read it. The other Penguin paperback is on the bookshelf as I'm writing this. But that one is not a pre ISBN vintage Penguin paperback. That one has to go.

I'll make sure that it goes to a good home that I promise, Next time I'm in Porthcawl I'll let the PAWS people get their paws onto it. They're good with books and as the orange spined Penguin is in good condition they won't put it down.

2787 - John Galsworthy - Over The River

I have read two John Galsworthy books. In Chancery and The Silver Spoon. Both, in particular The Silver Spoon, were so awful they should have come into the so bad it's riveting category. So you see don't hold much hope when I get round to reading it.

Later in Porthcawl it was time for the library. The football book was not an easy choice. Nothing seemed to grab my attention. Was going to plum for Sven Goran Erricsson's autobiography when all of a sudden another book caught my eye and there became no contest.

Trevor Brooking - My Life In Football

For me Trevor Brooking was when I was growing up the West Ham player of his generation. A polite, measured man he was one of the few footballers where you could use the word cultured to describe his play without appearing poncey. He was always modestly brilliant. If I had the talent he was the player I wish I could become. And he married a blonde Scandinavian. For a teenage boy what better role model could there be?

That though was not the only book I borrowed.

Nye - Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds

Aneurin Bevan was the sort of politician that believed in social justice for everybody and not just the few. It was people like him that still give the Labour party in Wales a residual loyalty amongst the Welsh voter that their current bloated,incompetent smug selves no longer deserve.If he was alive today I believe Nye Bevan would have voted Plaid Cymru.

I'm looking forward to reading both library books. But let's continue with the current state of the Labour party in Wales and in particular an onward theme of this blog the decaying state of Bridgend town thanks to sleep apnoea way they've been running it. On Monday the local BBC Wales news had a report that the Labour council had decided, subject to a consultation and a considerable cost, depedestrianise those parts of the town centre that was pedestrianised around the millennium, The idea being that it would help the local retail businesses.

A round of applause you might think, at least for the fact that the Labour council had made a decision whilst fully awake. However that should be tempered by the fact that it was the Labour council,at considerable cost and despite protests from traders, that made the decision to pedestrianise those very same streets in the first place.

Personally I doubt that depeedstrianism will stop the town's decline. A start might be car parking. If you lower the prices that might help persuade people to stay around, go to restaurants etc. instead of just going into the free ASDA car park (for I think a two/three hour limit -  and closed late evening) to do a few essentials and then straight out again.

I look at Pontypridd which is a fair comparison and don't see a decline. Perhaps the councillors should raise themselves and travel up the Valleys to have a look. Bet they'd move swiftly if I'd suggested the Caribbean instead.

And now the latest potential Bridgend Town victim.

The ground floor of the building to the right is the main Post Office. But not for much longer it appears. The proposal, subject to consultation, is to move it to the nearby branch of W H Smith early next year.

The confirmation

Now I'm not sure but I suspect that the Post Office would take over the basement floor of the current W H Smith building, given that this was the scene when I went there at around three pm yesterday.

Empty at three pm!

If I'm right then let me tell you that it's less space than the main Post Office uses now.

Again I blame the Labour council for this situation. You might ask why. You may say that Post Offices throughout the country are closing down or merging with W H Smiths and this would be true. Would have to also point that the only time I'd been using it recently is to pay our car tax bills.

However the Labour council has allowed Bridgend council to decline. When a town declines fewer people want to go there as often as they did in the past. Consequently more businesses close even fewer people come and so a vicious circle begins.

As a consequence the Post Office can if not close then severely maim their presence citing financial pressures without expecting a great deal of protest. Thus a major town hub is weakened and another building (the offices above are for let) becomes completely derelict.

Well done Labour. Falling asleep on your laurels again.

Let's end with another book I bought at a charity shop in Bridgend Town...and it's not a Penguin.

Helene Hanff - Letter From New York

Helene Hanff, author of 84 Charing Cross Road, wrote a series of essays on living in New York in the late seventies and early eighties for BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour. This is the book of those talks. As 84 Charing Cross Road will always be a favourite of mine I just could not resist buying it.

Until the next time.