Carwyn Jones' Alleged Ultimate Insult To Bridgend.

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

In the life of everybody, but especially a politician, perception is everything. Whatever the actual truth of an issue events might lead people to think in one direction. And it's up to the politician to make sure that it's a perception to his/her advantage.

Carwyn Jones may no longer be First Minister of Wales but he's still an Assembly Member for Bridgend and a prominent Welsh Labour politician. Yesterday (Tuesday) was not a good day for him.

The High Court announced that it was illegal for Carwyn Jones to have made decisions on the inquiry on Carl Sargeant. The Assembly Member committed suicide in November 1987 following his sacking by Mr Jones which in itself followed allegations of sexual harassment. The inquiry was to judge the former First Minister's handling of the incident.

Now I stress as I've done in the past on this that I have absolutely no idea who is even partly responsible for the circumstances surrounding Mr Sargeant's death. But given that the High Court has advised that Mr Jones' actions in the inquiry process were illegal clearly it doesn't put him in a good light.

But other than mentioning it in passing I won't chat about the Carl Sargeant inquiry now. That will be for another day. Instead I'll focus on something else.....for Carwyn Jones has another job.

It was announced that he was to join Business News Wales to boost it's "senior advisory team" (there's a junior one?). I presume (as there's no indication otherwise) that there's a fee involved.

Imagine then that you're an employee of Ford Bridgend Engine plant. A plant that will already have half the current workforce vanish and following reports in the media that it might be threatened further if there is a Hard Brexit. Imagine how you would feel reading that. Your local Assembly Member supposedly fighting (and failing) to protect your interests as First Minister and now Assembly Member apparently feathering his nest whilst your job and indeed your future is breaking down.

As I said Perception is everything. He might be doing it for free. Or giving his money to charity. But until we know otherwise this is the perception we're getting. And if it's wrong it's up to him to put the record straight.

Potentially though it could actually get worse. The allegation, and it's no more than that at this stage, is that he's seeking a seat in the House of Lords. Imagine again that you're that employee of the Ford Bridgend Engine plant. Just think what you'd think of him then. Especially if (assuming the rumour is correct) he decides to call himself Lord Jones of Bridgend. After all as I've posted many times in this blog he does bare some responsibility for the area's decline. Particularly when it comes to Bridgend Town.

As I've also said before the one certain thing about Carwyn Jones since the Carl Sargeant incident is that he lost his skill as a politician. If I was him my next steps would be very careful indeed.

Until the next time.

The Possible Effect Of The Ford Redundancies On Bridgend Town

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

It's been about two weeks since the news leaked out and a week since it was officially confirmed that there would be widespread redundancies in the Ford Engine plant in Bridgend. I've already chatted about the effect on the people there previously. As I've said I only know some of the workers on an acquaintance level and I've not spoken to them about it since. After all you don't start a chat to a person about a possible redundancy. You just don't.

So next to the people who work there the next point of interest is the effect of this news on nearby Bridgend Town. As I've explained practically since the blog began, Bridgend Town is an urban tragedy largely brought on by the arrogant incompetence of the local Labour council. Clearly this is going to make the situation in the town even worse.

In a short space of time the town will face Brexit and the Ford redundancies. It is, as things stand now, in no position to cope.

The situation in Ford's and it's probable effects on the town is in fact another error by the Labour council. I know what you're going to say "How can you ….even as a Plaid Cymru member blame the Labour council for events out of it's control?"

Because as I chatted in this blog the alarm bells were being raised by Ford two years ago. 

The council could have, should have, set up a committee to deal with the possible scenario of plant closure or massive redundancies by Ford regarding it's effects on the town. But it does not appear to have done so. I've written before that the council seemingly runs the town on a crisis management basis. Yet when a real crisis emerges to damage the town further the management seems non existent.

Before the announcement, and I don't know the percentage between the council and private developers, there seems to have been an idea of just doing up the empty shops in the town in the hope of attracting new retailers. "Build it and they will come" as it were.

But for the most part they haven't come. Many of these shops just stand empty with a To Let sign on them and what this announcement means, combined with the Brexit uncertainty, is that it's unlikely to happen soon if at all.  I've no idea how many people being made redundant live in the area. But it's not unreasonable to assume the majority. We will have people going into the town to buy the basics for living in the supermarkets and bargain stores and that's it.

So what can be done to help the town? Well in truth I'm not sure now. The town is facing threats from things outside it's control (Brexit, online shopping, austerity) as well as the consequences of the actions of the local Labour council which I've detailed previously. The only thing I can suggest, as I've suggested before, is that the Welsh Labour council try to persuade the Welsh National Government to reduce the business rates for the town. But whether that will help, especially in the short term I honestly don't know.

For the moment things look grim to say the least.

One final thing for today. The local paper advises that they'll be a committee set up by the council to handle the immediate issues surrounding Brexit including social unrest.

Well judging by the council's history that'll end well.

Until the next time.

Welsh Trade Unions And The Welsh Labour Party. Time For A Split?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Welsh trade unions and the Labour party have been entwined for over a century. And understandably so. But as the disunited kingdom contemplates the possibility of a long dark Brexit of the soul then perhaps this partnership should not now be as strong a it was.

And, like the majority of Welsh voters (though it is declining) this support is mainly due now to what the Labour party has done in the past. It cannot be argued that in the past the Labour Party was the party for ordinary men and women. Hence it got the people's votes and most of the unions political monies.

But that was then and this is now. Past performance does not justify the votes and finances of the arrogantly incompetent Labour party of the present.

Look at the workers at the Ford Engine plant in Bridgend who are soon to be made redundant. Did they see the Welsh Labour party swing into action when the first signs in 2017 that there was a problem? No. They give Ford money to deal with the consequences of Brexit (which as I posted at the time raised questions in itself) and what good did it give those soon to be redundant workers?

Remember when the news of the redundancies first came out the comments from Welsh Labour figures (including former First Minister and local Assembly member Carwyn Jones) gave statements which were just nothing of substance.

I can give you other examples. When the announcement Tesco call centre in Cardiff was to be closed down Carwyn Jones did not know it was coming and Labour did not fight to the death to keep it open. Similarly the soon to be closed call centre in Swansea. Where was the fight from the Welsh government for the workers? I don't know whether they had union membership there (and if not Welsh Unions you should ask why) but I'd guess they're feeling betrayed by "the people's party" now.

(And by the way I still think people in Wales should boycott Virgin media for this)

So this political levy. Why can't some of it go to Plaid Cymru? Why does it have to be (in terms of political parties) Welsh Labour? After all no one would call Plaid Cymru conservative. It will have the interests of the Welsh people and those who have made their home here at heart. Plaid who tried to get zero hours contracts abolished in Wales where Labour, Labour please note, voted against.

More people are considering independence as an option for Wales.
Unlike Labour Plaid is not a party of the establishment. It will not cocoon itself in Cardiff Bay as the rest of the nation suffers. It will go out and battle for the best outcome. Not make meaningless statements of nothing as jobs are under threat.

So perhaps trade unions in Wales it's time for a split. No longer make alliances based on a glorious past but of an independent future instead.

Until the next time.

Bridgend Ford Engine Plant : The News Is Revealed

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

On Friday reports came in about the car manufacturer's plans with regard to the Ford engine plant in the area. Ford's have not confirmed the plans as they are consulting with the unions, but let's assume that these reports are correct.

So what is being reported is that in a two year period roughly half of the current workforce will be made redundant. It's not clear whether all of these redundancies will be voluntary. That's almost a thousand people who will find themselves without a job. They will be affected, their families will be affected, the South Wales area and particularly Bridgend will be affected.

Really the complete plant closure aside this news really could not be worse.

I've chatted about the plant since about March 2017 when it's future became an issue. The workforce have had this hanging over their heads since then. Whilst I do not know people who work there as friends as such I do know some people on an acquaintance basis. One person told me last year that he had been offered voluntary redundancy which he'd turned down but almost instantly regretted because he sensed the atmosphere in the place had changed. I get that. I remember feeling that very sense of foreboding in a call centre I used to work at before it closed down.

The Welsh Labour government has supported the plant through the years only recently in this blog I queried the monies it was giving Ford to support it over Brexit on the grounds that no one really knows what and indeed how Brexit is going to turn out to be. Current First Minister Mark Drakeford has issued what is best described as holding tweets on the issue. His predecessor, Carwyn Jones, who lets not forget is the local Assembly Member has promised to work to continue the plant's future. Again a bland anodyne statement when politicians should be fighting for the people who actually voted for them.

The Welsh Labour government does not appear to have done any planning for Ford cutting back in Bridgend and it's effects on the wider area. Neither indeed have the Welsh Labour council. Only a few posts back I chatted how their actions with regard to Bridgend Town should be considered urban manslaughter. Well this decision is hardly going to help the town is it? Let's assume the majority of the people threatened with redundancy are from the area. They won't be able to spend as much money on local businesses. They have had two years to deal with a worse case scenario and nothing seems to have been done. Shameful.

The council is cutting services because of the lack of grants from the Labour government. This situation needs to be reviewed. If we assume the redundancies take place then Labour needs to attract new investment and this will not occur if they allow the area to be run down.

I have been made redundant. I can remember the paralysing depression it gave me. I multiply that feeling one thousand times, then multiply the effect on their families.

This is not the greatest of moments folks.

Until the next time.

My Barber Voted Leave And Doesn't Want A Fresh Referendum

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

The thing about Christmas is this. Even the curmudgeons amongst us (two thumbs pointing at this guy) have to prepare for it in one way or another. We have been invited to a Christmas Day dinner by brother-in-law and his partner where various other people will be attending. I have to smarten myself up and this starts with my hair, which looked like a bundle of silvery spiders fighting.

So this morning I went to the barbers to get my hair cut. And as is the way of such things we started a conversation which began with Christmas. Despite my earlier view of people spending money as if it was the last supper before an execution things do not appear to have resolved themselves that way (as my earlier post on the lack of office parties in Cardiff refers).

This malaise appears to have hit online retailers. ASOS has spoken of losses in this period. This surprised me. Largely as I thought my daughter's purchases gave them a healthy profit.

Then however, and I can't exactly say this word for word, he told me that he voted to Leave and that there shouldn't be a another ballot. I, as regular readers know, voted Remain and told him so. I also said there should be a second referendum as the choice was now clear. Remain, Theresa May's deal or the long dark Brexit of the soul that the rightwingers in the Tory party seem to prefer.

He did not agree and questioned the long term effect in this disunited kingdom. I responded by saying that potentially Brexit could devastate jobs throughout Wales. I sighted (as I have in this blog before) the Ford engine factory in Bridgend as an example.

Now all of the above implies a full blown argument. This was not the case. Certainly from my side that definitely wasn't going to occur. If only because he was holding a sharp object by my face. No it was perfectly amicable. It resolved itself by using the tactic the British government seems to have deployed for most of the negotiations with the EU by just simply pretending it didn't exist.

But for most of the rest of the time there was silence as he cut my hair. My opinion of him and his of me appeared to have changed irrevocably.

Of course he is going to cut my hair again. He did a good job. But the reason why I'm writing about this is that it illustrates how split this disunited kingdom truly is. Such conversations will continue as the deadline day approaches and will probably increase with intensity.

2019 has the potential of being a very unpleasant year indeed.

Until the next time.

Carwyn Jones: He Should Resign As AM Soon

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Further to his legacy of quiet incompetence two issues have come to the surface recently which further undermines Carwyn Jones / Labour's tenure in governing Wales. Indeed the truly amazing thing is that you realise there are secret levels to the bottom of the barrel that you never knew existed.

Two issues have further come to the surface which needs discussion.

You may remember that that Bridgend council have stated that because of the cut in grants from the Welsh government social services will not be immune from decrease in monies the council will give. Well it appears from emails to the Welsh government (from Bridgend and other councils) that education would be affected as well.

Education? Wales is already amongst the lowest in international league tables. Labour have been so successful that the education minister is now a Libdem. And they are considering cuts?!

Then there is the issue of the Ford engine plant in Bridgend. Because the Jaguar plant is stopping production in Solihull for a fortnight the part in the factory that makes the engines will be shut down for five days with the workers for five days.

Carwyn Jones said that he wanted assurances from Ford that this was temporary. A Welsh government official said that "senior officials" have spoken to Ford to discuss the shutdown and the future of the plant. Why wasn't the senior of "senior officials" Mr Jones himself? After all he is the Assembly member for the area.

I've chatted before the about the monies the Welsh Governemnt are giving various firms (including Ford) to handle Brexit. Grants which I've criticised on the grounds that at time of writing (and still the case) that no one knows what Brexit is coming. This it appears has not to have stopped Ford acting in the way they have without consulting Carwyn.

He wants to continue as the local Assembly Member until the next elections but when is he is no longer Labour leader what is the point of him hanging around as local AM given that in the beginning at least he is hardly going to criticise policies created when he was First Minister even though they are crashing around him? Can anyone name a success under his leadership? Anyone?

Surely the best thing he should do is quietly exit stage left the moment his successor is announced. As I think it's dawning on Labour as it is for the rest of Wales that he will not be missed.

Until the next time

The Danger Of Emigration From Wales

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Roughly about this time last year I wrote about two people at work. One who was going to move to Australia. The other who said that (as I recall) only her children's stage at school stopped her from applying to move to Thailand.

Well another example occurred yesterday (and yes I know it's a low sample base but I'll come back to that later).

So I see this person, a young man I've known on a "How are you?" basis since I started this job a few years back. It's the first thing I ask since I've not seen him for a while. General chit chat ensues. Until he suddenly drops the surprising news that he's moving to Cyprus at the end of the month.

Now I know that this is not scientific. But it's striking to me that of the only people I know who have had the opportunity to move away from Britain two have taken the chance to go and only family circumstances of the third has stopped the other from following suit.

And of course if this most unscientific of samples is the first indicator of a trend then clearly Brexit is the cause. People have seen the economic future that leaving the EU will cause and they don't like it. Good people were misled into voting leave. And there's no apparent way to stop that now.

But what they have also probably noticed is the way some people have become much colder, more selfish since Brexit. Jackboot politics fuelled by jackboot journalism, despite being weakened by June's election, still has the power to weald damage. We all know that the Brexit result has given some people the feeling of being morally entitled to be racist to people whose only "crime" is being Polish.

It does though work both ways. Regular readers will remember my posts concerning the worries I have regarding the Ford Engine plant in Bridgend. Well I've got more than one response on Twitter along the lines of "Well Bridgend voted Leave so they just have to accept the consequences".

Now leaving aside the fact that if an area voted Leave it doesn't mean the people in the plant did. What this shows is a growing lack of compassion. Something that will not serve Britain well in the future.

If a drip of emigration becomes a flood Wales will have the danger of becoming what Ireland was during the last financial troubles and it will be mainly the young that will go. For what they will see is a country on the drift towards decline. With no clear solution in sight they will understandably think of their futures first and Leave.

The only clear future for Wales in this Brexit age is independence. For then everybody will see that there is a purpose in staying. The rebirth of a nation will not be simple, or easy, or without errors along the way. But the consequences of doing nothing will be even worse.

Until the next time.

Whilst Welsh Labour Are Not To Blame For The Situation At Ford Bridgend Failure To Act Will Not Leave it Blameless To Its Consequences

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I will say first before going on that you will find I've repeated a few things from earlier posts here. No apologies for that, as the situation regarding Ford's engine plant has moved from serious to critical.

Though no longer living in Bridgend I still work there and was about to get ready yesterday for the afternoon/evening shift when I saw an item as breaking news on Twitter. Jaguar Land Rover's contract to build engines in the plant will end three months earlier than planned at September 2020. Instantly that news was across tweetworld in various languages as well. It was considered that important and serious.

Now of course September 2020 is three years ahead. We all hope that in the meantime Ford can negotiate a contract that will replace the one that will be lost. But since March the mood music from the American car giant has not been good regarding the plant, mainly citing the consequences of the Brexit vote. Since that vote to leave the EU, and despite what the mainly right and far right wingers misled the people with, Britain has not "taken back control" from Brussels. In the case of the Bridgend engine plant control has moved across the Atlantic to Detroit.

Now the situation that the Welsh Labour government is facing is not of it's doing. However it needs to act now to deal with its consequences or it will not be blameless.

With the proposed closure of Tata Steel just over a year ago and the actual future closure of a major Tesco call centre in Cardiff the Welsh Labour government has shown itself reactive rather than proactive with regard to such events. It needs to offer even more incentives now to keep Ford in Bridgend. Of course it will cost. But the economic and social consequences of Ford leaving Bridgend will be far greater.

(As an aside local Labour AMs has suggested that the engine work that Jaguar's engines will be produced in a their own factory in Wolverhampton following a "sweetheart deal" with the Westminster government. If this is true then they are right to state that the Westminster Tory government should team up with the Welsh Labour administration so that such a deal could be offered to Ford as well. If there is a sense that England has profited at Wales' expense with the help of Westminster then the resentment it will cause will be palpable. It would be an industrial Tryweryn.

If  that did happen people will realise that Independence is the only way that the people who are born or have chosen to live in Wales can be confident that their wellbeing is considered more important than middle England.

Not even the most ardent nationalist (like me) would actually want independence because of this scenario. We do not want to glory in the misery of good people. But if the Labour AMs are correct as a long term consequence it cannot be ignored)

No one wants the engine plant to close down. The ripple out effect to people and their families as well as the South Wales economy would be on a level not seen since the nineteen eighties. But there is another factor to consider. Until moving away from the area in May one of the constant running themes of this blog was the decline of various parts of the Bridgend area, particularly Bridgend Town, because of the incompentence of the Welsh Labour council (indeed it was one of the reasons that drew me to Plaid Cymru).If Ford did close down the plant then it would be a body blow not just for the people,their families and the surrounding community but also on the area itself as it's already in decline.

Welsh Labour, in either national or local government mode, need to make a strong investment in the Bridgend area now. And I don't mean the sort of grandiose projects that for some reason they're attracted to (like killing the 135 year old Maesteg indoor market to install a library as part of a "cultural hub") more like investment in renewing what's already there.

Rather like their UK counterparts Welsh Labour should indulge in a bit of wargaming. They should ask themselves the consequences for the Bridgend area of a closure of the plant. No one wants it. But no one will forgive the Welsh Labour government either if they did not plan for this should it occur.

Carwyn Jones the First Minister must surely realise the importance of acting now with regard to Ford's engine plant in Bridgend, after all he's the assembly member for the area. Should he fail to act now and the worst case scenario occurs then he should accept Welsh Labour's share of the blame and resign.

Until the next time.

If I Lived In Maesteg This Is The One Question I Would Ask To The TalkValleys Meeting

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I, as you're all aware am a fan of Twitter and one of the organisations I follow is Bridgend County Borough Council (Labour). Along with Welsh Labour generally, Arsenal football club and D H Lawrence one of the regular villains of this blog.

Well yesterday they tweeted a forthcoming meeting of #Talkvalleys a Welsh government initiative asking South Wales Valleys communities through a series of meetings what can be done to improve current facilities where they live such as creating more jobs, childcare, transport and so on

On Thursday there will be a meeting in Maesteg at six o'clock. I was tempted to go. But then felt no. I've never lived in the town, and I no longer live in the area. It just wasn't right.

Still this is my blog......

So if I lived in Maesteg and attended the meeting this is the one question I would have asked.....

Why are you here?

For Maesteg as a town and Bridgend as an area are awaiting two decisions. Both will affect what will happen to the area for many years to come.

The first involves the Town Hall. A focal point for the town. I've mentioned before that Bridgend Labour Council have all but won their battle to get rid of Maesteg Indoor Market for the apparently necessary repairs that have to be done. I wont go into full details here but the key point is that the creation of the "cultural hub" the council want to build depends on EU(!) funding. They have bet the farm on this. There seemingly is no plan B. So what if the council doesn't get the funding? What then?

If there is no Plan B then it will affect the town in the way that a large rotting abandoned building can do. Imposing a sort of unwanted misery on the people and businesses surrounding it.

One final thought. Maesteg Town Hall is apparently in need of urgent repairs.....and yet this meeting is being held there!

And then there is the Ford engine plant.

For if Ford even lessen production it will affect everything in the whole Bridgend area and Maesteg will not be immune from this. The council, the Welsh Government, the UK government will receive less income if there is any reduction in the workforce Control because of Brexit having moved from Brussels to Detroit.

Once these two decisions have been made then the meeting should be held. For then the Maestegians will know what the town will be facing. For the moment this meeting seems just seems like central governmental gloss.

Until the next time.

So With Regard To Transport In Wales....The Price Is Right ...It Should Be A Case Of Skates Off

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

As regular readers will know when I lived in Bridgend I always wondered at how the arrogantly incompetent Labour Council assumed that if you ignored the basic realities of people's lives and just went for grandiose gestures then things would work out fine.

Doesn't matter that they've allowed Bridgend town to rot almost beyond repair and fearful what any diminution of production in the nearby Ford plant would mean to the area. Oh no. Instead you build funky new flats for "young professionals" to do whatever "young professionals" do or move the town centre library away from the town centre. That should sort things out....look at this new building here ...not the number of closed businesses over there.

And then Labour was surprised when it lost overall control of the council?

Well it appears that First Minister has taken a leaf out of the council's tactics (he is after all AM for the area). We are as people living in Wales supposed to ignore the lacklustre way the country is being run. We are supposed to ignore a stagnant economy, We are supposed to be grateful for the glories of Labour in the past and ignore the mess they're making of the nation in the present. We are supposed to ignore the years they have had in running our children's education which has proved to be so incompetent the Minister now responsible is a Libdem

"Look people of Wales." Labour will say "Look at this. We don't have an economy minister. We do things even better here. We have an "economy and infrastructure minister. Look at that...you're impressed huh?"

And the man given this grand title is Ken Skates (whose business card is probably the most impressive in Cardiff Bay if judged solely by words needed to fill it).

Today Plaid Cymru AM Adam Price has said that the portfolio is too wide ranging and that transport should be hived off from Skates' responsibilities. Of course he is right. Women (and certainly my wife) will say that men cannot multitask. What should be crystal clear though is that aside from leaders no minister whether male or female should multitask. They should focus on their portfolio which should be as specific as possible.

Perhaps Carwyn Jones should look at a dictionary. The words "Economy" and "infrastructure" means completely different things. By themselves they are massive undertakings to administer. Together Ken Skates would have to reveal a big S under his shirt to show he's capable of doing this superhuman task. Unfortunately events would suggest Skates is all too human.

I won't go into detail at the risk of boring you, but there are issues regarding the next rail franchise (an argument between the UK government and the Assembly) which a transport minister would look at intricately and also the cancellation of the electrification of the railway line between Cardiff and Swansea by London). But how can he deal with that properly when there's the minor matter of the economy to consider?

The Welsh road system is a mess at the best of times. The bus service outside of the major towns is patchy. All this shows integrated Welsh transport hub is but a dream. Then there is the proposed South Wales Metro Link. Which seems all very flashy but makes me nervous should there be any issues with cost increases down the line. It needs someone with their Skates on...wait a minute he's doing something else.

Speaking of flashy projects there was the Circuit For Wales that Labour eventually scrapped. If Bridgend Council had control of the National Assembly that would have passed through with no qualms. I'm in no way an expert, but from what I saw on TV I think the scrapping of support for it was correct. However it took a very long time (starting before Mr Skates was minister) to make the decision....as if he was too busy on other issues.

As I've said the Welsh economy is in a delicate state at the moment. The effect of Brexit on Welsh and international businesses based in Wales has yet to be foreseen (though regular readers of this blog will know of my concerns regarding Ford and Bridgend) . You would hope that the economy minister is making plans to cover all eventualities. He should. Perhaps though just like the Welsh government reaction when Tata steel proposed the closure of Port Talbot steelworks or when Tesco announced that the call centre in Cardiff will close next year the stable door will be shut when the horse has gone far, far away.

(A quick aside a spokesman for Mr Skates said "It is disappointing that Plaid Cymru seem content to use an important situation like this to play political games and exploit a situation for their own narrow ends" .  Thus saying how dare an opposition AM oppose Welsh Labour. well.It's the job of an opposition to oppose...particularly when an obvious way to improve the situation is staring people in the face)

So First Minister, forget following the tactics of Bridgend Council. Go back to basics. An economy minister, a transport minster. Accept that the Price is right and it's just a case of Skates Off transport.

Until the next time.

Brussels Would Listen To A Welsh Brexit Minister......Trouble Is London Wouldn't

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I have written before about the consequences about Brexit to Wales, with emphasis on the issue of the Ford engine plant in Bridgend. So it was interesting to hear the views of the Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies (RT I would assume standing for Rotund Tummy) who suggested that Wales should have a Brexit minister because it was too much of a job for the Labour First Minister to handle by himself.

On the surface this seems to be a good idea. Unlike their Scottish equivalents the Welsh government seems to have provided a squeaky mouse approach to the approaching cliff face jump. Indeed I have argued that they seem to lack a clear approach to any damage that the lack of EU money/business investment would cause Wales.

An example that came to light last week was the criticism of the Welsh Labour govt for their lack of communication with Irish ministers over the effect Brexit would have over the channel crossings through the Irish sea. Just taking the effect on the Welsh side the damage to the ports involved could have a knock on effect to economies of Swansea and Holyhead. But from Cardiff Bay apparently hardly anything, why should they care indeed when ferries won't spoil their privileged and subsidised view.

Bridgend to the Valleys, Rhondda to Holyhead. All of Wales will be affected in one way or another by Brexit. Possibly disastrously given the Rip Van Winkle approach currently being acted upon by Welsh Labour.

Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru have set out a post Brexit future for Wales. But of course Plaid are not the government and consequently are unable to get actively involved in the process.

So a Welsh minister targeting the needs of Wales post Brexit seems not unreasonable. And to go back to the example of Scotland (and to digress here how pathetic Welsh Labour really are in battling for Wales in comparison with what the SNP are doing for Scotland) even they have a ministry for Brexit

Unfortunately negotiating with Brussels, or at least being part of David Davis' negotiating team, is not what the Rotund Tummy one had in mind. Instead the Welsh Brexit minister should give "strong and constructive representation" to the UK government negotiators.

And therein lies the problem. For if Welsh Labour government input is to be fed through a Conservative Westminster administration we all know that the interests of Wales will be ignored. For if the interests of Wales were listened to "Super prisons" would not be built and the railways would be electrified.

Apparently the economic minister in the National Assembly sits on a pan UK committee on Brexit...a committee that has not met since February. The UK govt has just taken the Brexit ball and run away with it, if only it knew what to do. "Constructive Ambiguity" is how the UK Brexit secretary is describing the negotiations with the EU at the moment. This is of course gloss marketing speak for "We don't know what we're doing and we're making it up as we go along".

(And having spoken of the shame of Welsh Labour. Is it not equally shameful that the EU. Now a group of twenty seven states have got it's act together  unlike the British Conservative administration?)

Perhaps the Brexit ministry feels that consultation with the Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns is sufficient. A man let's not forget so sensitive to our European neighbours that he called Italians "greasy wops". It says enough about the Conservative party that a) he got away with it and b) got promoted.

Wales voted for Brexit but they didn't vote to take back control and then find London controlling the negotiations and aftermath that directly affects it. If it turns out to be the disaster us Remainers predict, then resentment will grow and with that a rise in the Welsh Nationalist movement. Whilst I believe in independence for Wales there is no member of Plaid Cymru who would wish the economic disaster that might lead it there for it's effect on the people living there.

So for the wellbeing of the UK as a whole, Brexit ministers from all the regions should be listened to and be part of the British negotiating group. Unfortunately we all know that won't be happening.

Until the next time.

A Further Thought On Ford in Bridgend And Caitlin Moran To The Rescue With Old Technology

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Yesterday was Saturday and just after lunch had to drive from where I live now to the outskirts of Bridgend town to begin the afternoon/evening shift of work. Normally my choice of  radio station of this journey is BBC Radio 4 ( the station coming back varies, but that's unimportant here) solely because I can catch up with the news at one the next time world events and me meet on these shifts will be when I've finished at ten in the evening.

The programmes before and after the news normally just wash over me. And so it should have been this time. Being a Saturday afternoon that was Any Questions where a panel answer audience questions on the issues of the day. Normally it's too predictable to be of any interest to me and occasionally annoying when a particular guest I don't like turns up. Here it was Julia Hartley-Brewer, a talk show host who can be best described as a toilet trained Katie Hopkins.

Now one of those questions was of the government's plan (and the fact that this government has a plan over anything is astonishing in itself) that no petrol or diesel cars would be sold by 2040. It appears that similar moves are being made across Europe (taking back control...ha!). The point though is whatever the timescale and how it's implemented it does appear that the future is electric. Cars will be humming to a different beat.

It was when they had finished discussing this issue that I passed the turnoff to the Ford Bridgend plant. Only then did my brain join the dots. Something I already knew but didn't register properly before.

It's an engine plant.

I have written before of my belief that the UK and Welsh governments need to move now to secure the future of Ford Bridgend. If motoring is to be electric then investment needs to be made now to make sure that the factory and the jobs are safe. The plant will need to be updated to cater for electric cars in order for it to be relevant in this new age. Ford will want incentives to do this and too be honest money should be thrown at them to be tempted to do this and fend off the consequences of Brexit. Because if the technology goes to a country in the EU, then whatever the enviornmental benefits of electric cars are the environmental costs to Bridgend will be disastrous.

Both the near closure of the Tata Steel works in Port Talbot and the closing down next year of the Tesco Call centre in Cardiff revealed governments (particularly that of the Labour run Welsh administration) that were seemingly caught out by events. Here they have time to seriously make an effort to secure the future of Ford Bridgend.

But the clock is ticking.

And to lighter matters.

Have finished Dostoevsky's The Idiot. Don't really need to say any more than I did yesterday. You know I liked it.

The next ebook on the Kindle pile is Our Italy by Charles Dudley Warner. first published in 1892. Only in this case "Italy" turns out to be California. If I understood the logic correctly. California is like Italy because of it's varied climate and landscapes. Thing is. In Chapter One there is mention of the Mojave Desert. No Geographer me but at this moment at least, before global warming changes things beyond recognition I don't recall Italy having a desert. There is also at least one moment where Europwe is compared unfavourably with the sunshine/drought/flooding/forest fire state. When you read it my first thought is "Then why the title Charlie?"

But let's be fair here. The target audience for this book now are probably Californian Geography teachers with an interest in local history. My lack of any real interest is probably because I'm so far away from the core demographic I'm in a different continent...which literally I am....specifically in fact the Italy with rain that is Wales.

Anyway I have 29 minutes according to my Kindle to go. I know this because that was the moment when a sign came up saying that it needed charging during a break at work. But unexpectedly there was a backup. Moranthology by a hardback book I'd bought yesterday in windy Porthcawl and had left in my work bag. Yet again in Ms Moran has come to my reading rescue. Not just because there was something to read but also that it's so damned good.

Until the next time.

How Welsh Independence Could Ease Inflation And the Consequences Of Brexit

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I know I no longer live in Bridgend, though it appears constantly in this blog as if I'm trying to relive the old hits and indeed next week I might have to spend a long time doing nothing there (which I'll explain should it happen at the time).

However though working near to the town I've genuinely tried to wean myself off chatting about it. One thing I haven't done, that is until yesterday, is to go near to the house we used to live in. That is the personal past and though occasionally I go against my own rule, for the most part do not believe in looking back. Do not see the point.

Yesterday however I had to go to a shop in a small shopping area nearby as I promised my wife I would given that was working the afternoon evening shift. Did what I had to do and then felt the need for a drink. So wandered into the local Tesco Express.

A quick aside here. Tesco Express is only express depending on the time you enter. It's the only place where, should you be unlucky, it's express to shop but slow lane to queue

I'd regularly visited the place when living nearby, it was let's face it a store of convenience for the singular item...mainly milk. Now however it was odd wandering in. Felt like a stranger in a strange land. Everything seemed familiar, people, layout, offers for things I rarely wanted but it was just unreal.

Shaking that all off went to get something to drink and well was shocked. Knew that inflation was on the rise, but as I looked everything that my eyes could gaze on seemed to have risen. Noticed that San Pellegrino mineral water was up, should I have some crisps with it? Well they were up as well. No I thought. Just go for what your tastebuds wanted. A small bottle of Tropicana orange juice. Last time I'd bought one of these they cost £1.

Now they cost £1.19.....£1.19!

And of course whilst invidually there may have been reasons for specific increases we all know that the main reason has been Brexit and the fallout from it. People who were misled into thinking that walking from the EU meant a bright new world of a better NHS and wonderful trade deals are now seeing that life alone is just lonely and expensive.

This current Conservative coalition with the DUP, a party that seems to have as its mantra the philosophies of a witchfinder general have started negotiations under the delusion that Britain still has an empire to back it up. It appears that rather than negotiate and accept the inevitable compromises that it would bring the government would rather bang their heads on a brick wall of hard Brexit saying that it would be "better for Britain".

People may have voted to leave the EU. But people were voting on the destination. At no stage has there, or apparently will there, be a vote on the route to get there. Life in Britain is actually tough enough already for a lot of its population. A hard Brexit will push it on a course which, for the social wellbeing of the country if nothing else, may lead to uncharted dangers. I've recently chatted on the dangers for the Ford factory in Bridgend that Brexit might cause. A hard Brexit may spread that across the United Kingdom, causing it to be even more fractured and disunited as it is now.

Hence for Wales as well as Scotland independence suddenly becomes an economic and social issue as well as a political one. For a minority Conservative government that has to be propped up to survive to force through tactics that are unpopular will cause resentment. Perhaps, the people of the Celtic regions should be independent and negotiate their own deals. Perhaps the people who care about falling off a cliff rather than those from a privileged distance away who would rather they jumped free fall from it as long as they felt morally pure should be in charge.

If Wales was independent and negotiated from its perspective alone. Then compromises will be made, but it will also be the case that the looming disaster will be avoided as well. That will ease inflation as well social unrest that is bound to happen should hard Brexit occur.

Welsh independence may need to come quicker than we think.......the clock is ticking.

Until the next time.

Is There A Welsh Labour Plan For Bridgend If Detroit Pulls The Plug?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

When it comes to this blog and Bridgend Town I feel like Frank Sinatra. I've moved away from the Bridgend area, (though I still work there) and rarely visit the town but sometimes events come along and make me want to write about it's decline even more.

I haven't been writing for a few days now simply because I've been on the early shift at work and on returning home the work jet lag just hits me and the urge for a nap is stronger that that to write. On Friday after finishing for the day needed to go to the solicitor at the town to pay off the fees owing for the aborted house purchase.

I genuinely,genuinely, had no intention on writing anything about the town. But as I was walking to the solicitor's office saw that there was another place that had closed down and for me it came as a shock.

No Longer Cooperative

Now the Cooperative bank has been in Bridgend Town to my knowledge for at least seventeen years, But not now. Mainly due to I'd argue to Welsh Labour mismanagement at both local and national level.

You will query how I could say that. Given the bank's well documented problems caused I would also argue by its abandonment of its core socialist principles of organic growth in favour of acquisition. But, rather like the Post Office's ultimately unsuccessful attempt to close the general Post Office if the town is perceived as unattractive it will receive less footfall of customers which consequently makes it venerable to closure by head office, an easy target as it were.

Shocked by the bank's closure decided after paying the solicitors' bill to visit the indoor market where I had heard that further stalls had closed. Indeed they had.

Mirroring The Town

In this row there is just one stall (the nailbar on the right) which is actually open.

There was a thriving stall here once

Regular readers of this blog will tell you I have spent a long time detailing the decline of Bridgend Town under the Welsh Labour administration. However awful though it is, things could get even worse post Brexit. As control moves from Brussels to Detroit.

As in explained in an earlier post the future of the Ford factory in Bridgend is under review. Now no one wishes for the factory to close, or for production to be radically reduced. But let us ask ourselves what will happen not just to the people who work there and their families but also to the surrounding area if that is what happens? The consequences will be disastrous. and in terms of Bridgend Town because it's in such a dire state already the effect will be to make the decline terminal as families with much less money, struggling to make ends meet will spend less. This leads us to the question what can the Welsh government in the national assembly and the local council, both run by Labour do?

Whilst how effective it could be is debatable, what Welsh Labour should do is ask the question "what if?" and see if they can make plans accordingly for such a scenario. What the proposed closure of Tata Steel showed last year and forthcoming closure of the Tesco call centre operation is that the assembly in particular was caught unawares and were reactive to events. Setting up a committee and reacting to news is not good government. It's politics being assisted by a white stick and a Labrador. The fact that Theresa May is doing the very same thing at the moment should not comfort us.

Both the assembly and the council know what the consequences for the people in the area and beyond as well as Bridgend town itself of even a reduced production in the plant. So, whilst I repeat again, no one wants the Ford plant to decline, Welsh Labour have been warned of the possibility and need to plan now for what they do if this occurs. They owe it to the people of the Bridgend area, and especially so in terms of the town, given that it's current state is the result of their mismanagement.

They have been warned. They need to prepare.

Until the next time.

What If The Worse Case Scenario Regarding Bridgend Ford Happens?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Let me explain how significant the news with regard to Bridgend Ford was. That a leaked report suggested that by 2021 there would be a cut of 1160 jobs in the Ford plant just outside of the town leaving just six hundred workers there.

I was returning from Penarth, for reasons that I'll explain in my next post but are unimportant here and had just turned the radio on. The item about Bridgend Ford was on the news.....and it was the first time ever that I've heard Bridgend being a news item on BBC Radio 3 (which if you're reading this outside the UK is a mainly classical music radio station).

The statement by Ford in response was just a masterpiece of waffle. Coming second was the response of the Prime Minister with First Minister Carwyn Jones third when he described the report as a "worse case scenario".

It's his response I want to focus on here as it's not the sort of answer that the workers of Bridgend expect from the most important elected official in the nation (or indeed the Assembly member for that region). After all would you like to be told by your doctor that you have a brain tumour and that the worse case scenario was death? No. You would expect them to be at your head before you could say antibiotic as they made every effort to resolve the situation.

What we have now is a situation where people working at Ford feel that there is a clock ticking with regard to their jobs in this major employer. But what a lot of them might not know is whether that clock applies to them. The worst of all possible worlds.

And of course there would be a knock on effect for many companies/people in the area both large and small would be equally devastating . People with less money to spend will cut back on buying goods/services. Ford is a big employer. I'll predict one thing now. Should the worse case scenario happen everyone in the Bridgend area will be effected.

Let me give a few examples. When the age of austerity began in 2008, two types of people began to notice it's effects immediately. The first were cobblers as man had the heels of their shoes redone rather than buy new ones. The other were nursery school assistants. My wife told me at the time that when she was chatting to someone who worked at are local nursery after my daughter had left there that person mentioned that she had to cut back on the number of assistants she employed because unemployed parents who couldn't afford the fees (and they are expensive) took their children out of the nursery to look after them at home.

(And from experience I'll tell you now that had my daughter been of that age when I was unemployed one of those parents would've been me)

In this blog (see labels) I have regularly detailed the decline of Bridgend Town mainly due I would argue to Labour party incompetence either at council or Senedd level. I've mentioned before that I'm going to do an update next week. But let me predict something else now. If the worse case scenario regarding Ford happens then a town in decline will be tipped into disaster.

So you might think if Labour cannot help what about the Tories or UKIP? Well do you think that Ford are going to look favourably on a plant in or out of the EU if it involves shipping cars into the European Union? What the good people of Bridgend who voted Leave was not told it appears is that in voting to "take back control" it has in fact moved to Detroit.

Which leaves Plaid Cymru. They may succeed they may fail but they would start from the clean slate of being untainted by Labour party incompetence or the red white and blue hard Brexit of the scoundrel that appears to be the Tory/UKIP position. And they would care. If I wasn't moving out of the area I'd put my name down as a candidate in the forthcoming local elections. Even though I'd have to put up with the first comment "you're English!".

Skilled people unemployed, a declining town possibly tipped over the edge, knock on effects that will damage the area for possibly a generation. The first minster should not wait for the possibility of the worse case scenario. He needs to act now.

Until the next time.