Why First Minister Carwyn Jones Should Resign Over His Syrian Statement Of Nothing

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

As I'm writing this the situation in Syria suggests that the American/UK/French airstrikes were just a one-off for the moment. Now for what it's worth I gave my opinion on this in the last post, and nothing has changed since the missiles actually were fired. But this post is not about my views, or the way Theresa May looked unwell in the past couple of days as she allowed Britain to be subjugated by the American property developer.

No it's about the amazingly small statement on the conflict issued by the First Minister of Wales Carwyn Jones.

My Twitter timeline was shocked by his apparent support to the airstrikes. Having read it I'm not so sure. Having read it again I actually think it's a lot worse

This is what (whilst having a telephone conversation to the Prime Minister) he said:

"I offered my support to any intervention that could prevent a further atrocity...."

And that is seemingly clear. The First Minster of Wales supports the air strikes on Syria.

But it goes on...

"....but it is vital that any action forms part of a wider long-term plan for the region"

So in a criticism of Blair and Cameron over Iraq/Libya Carwyn Jones is saying that you cannot do this sort of action without planning for it's consequences.

And yet we have heard nothing from America/UK/France that suggests there is any long term plan. The President of the United States has said there will be further strikes if there are any further chemical attacks by Assad. But that's it. Nothing that actually suggests that should the Syrian leader use any other sort of weaponry there will be a response.

Let's read that part of the statement again.

"....but it is vital that any action forms part of a wider long-term plan for the region"

If there is no long term plan for the region by America/UK/France. If this was just an attack on the bases and that's it. Then that part of the statement suggests that the First Minister is against the air strikes.

Now what I'm going to say now is speculation on my part and let me stress that. But to me the only logical explanation is that Carwyn Jones was trying to have his cake and buy the patisserie. That he was hedging his bets with the fence he was sitting on.

No one truly knows how the Syrian issue will end up. But it's in moments like this when nations turn to it's government. Where people expect a leader.

What Wales got was a politician.

And that's why he should resign.

Until the next time.

With The Potential For War, Let's Talk About A Dodgy Lunch And My Celtic Blood

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

It's very odd to be in a nation on the brink of entering into a war with Syria. After all on the one hand you're conscious of this hovering in the background as you lead your life doing daily life things. But on the other those mundane tasks (milk is needed! Have to go to the shop tomorrow) suddenly become appreciated and important in view of the uncertainties.

So let me (for what it's worth) make my position clear. I'm against any potential war with Syria. Assad is obviously a bad man. But like Iraq and Libya there seems to be no clear plan for the consequences of war. And if those two countries should have taught us anything, it's that my enemy's enemy is not necessarily my friend.

As for the Prime minister Theresa May she grows pathetic with every second. So desparate for a trade deal with the United States post Brexit she is using military forces to help pander the whims of a property developer with delusions of grandeur.

It was in this atomosphere that wife, daughter and myself went into a place part of a chain of restaurants this Friday lunchtime. I won't go into exact detail (other than it was in the Vale of Glamorgan) because I don't want to get people sacked. But when we entered at two o'clock we were told to wait whilst the waitress checked if there were any reservations.....even though there were plenty of empty tables.

When on eventually getting to the table we ordered our starter. Our starter you understand which took...pause for dramatic effect ...thirty five minutes later.

And there was more. We asked for extra red sauce during the main meal. A promise to return was only kept when we'd finished. As for a refill of the cola. We lost patience waiting and got it ourselves.

How did we complain? Well of course in the way that most people in these islands would deal with this situation. We did not tip. Except mentally transmitting a psychic thought that being quick and correct would help in the future.

Whilst we were waiting, and I'm not sure how the subject was brought up, we discussed family trees. Daughter having taken an interest in the subject and having been on these online websites.

It was interesting. For it turned out that whilst I'm English by birth I'm the only one of us three who (judging on what I know so far) doesn't have any English blood in them. Whilst I'm not a believer that nationality should be judged on "blood" it nonetheless showed up some interesting facts. Like my wife, unquestionably Welsh, has some English blood from some ancestor on her father's side centuries ago. And as for me. Judged by blood I'm mainly Italian...except for the portion coming from my great grandmother...who was Scottish (indeed Glaswegian).

So perhaps this explains why I'm a Plaid Cymru member and a supporter for Welsh and Scottish independence.

It's in the blood.

Until the next time

Blog Villain Bridgend Welsh Labour Council: When Even Offering Something For Free Is For The Most Part Worthless

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Last time I spoke about Bridgend Welsh Labour Council, I enquired whether they had reached a situation where the consequences of years of their urban mismanagement of Bridgend Town had meant that they just quite simply lost control. Whether they had no strategy for it's future. Whether essentially it was being run on a crisis management basis.

Well I noticed on their Twitter account yesterday that they, along with a group which are trying to regenerate Bridgend Town were offering that the first hour of the relatively newly built (November) Rhiw car park would be free.

Now my instant reaction was to say "well that's encouraging". But when I said instant I meant instant. For what I soon realised was that they were indulging in media spin.

The car parking charges are one of the issues that have so damaged the town and discouraged people from visiting with a consequent damage to local shops and amenities. The nearby outlet centre's Macarthur Glen's car park is free, as are those in Maesteg. Of the other main town in the area Porthcawl, whilst there are charges there are also many places to park for nothing.

What the tweet did not offer was a similar deal for the other car parks in the town run by the council. Why? Why focus on one car park in the town and not the others? It lacks a coherent strategy. Especially as most people would just park in the nearby ASDA's anyway. A car park with a three hour free parking limit.

And how exactly does a "first hour free" car parking encourage people to wander around the town? Relax with a coffee or marvel at the empty retail wrecks with which talking generally the council should bare some responsibility for? What a "first hour free" car parking charge will do is to make people drive to the car park, do one quick targeted shop, and drive out again. Hardly something that will bring urban renewal to the town.

Incidentally as a quick aside the council's Twitter account also revealed that it's also on Instagram. Spoiler alert: You won't find pictures of the many empty shops in Bridgend Town on that account.

What Bridgend Labour Council should do is make all of it's car parks free for at least a three hour period. That way the town could benefit a lot more from it's visitors. It would not be a quick fix to the urban tragedy that is Bridgend Town thanks to Labour.

But it would be a start.

Until the next time.

On Books: Including Being Disappointed With Dickens And The Book Genre That Brexit Will Kill Part Two

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Haven't done a post with regard to the books I've read for a while so here we go.

Let's deal with The Lemon Tree Café by Cathy Bramley first. Regular readers to the blog know I like to randomly pick books from the library outside of my comfort zone. This piece of chick lit potboliery definitely comes into that category.

I wish to say I was pleasantly surprised. But no. Really was a waste of my reading time. Though let's be clear here as a fifty four year old man I was definitely not in the target audience.

Because as regular readers will know I make every effort not to spoil the plots of the books I chat about it's impossible to explain fully why I didn't like The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens. A spoiler was incidentally one of the reasons as I already knew what happens to one of the characters. It is difficult for a reader to hide him or herself from some part of a classic novel before reading it no matter how hard they try.

The other reason I can mention here is the fact that the chief villain, Mr Quilp, is of restricted height. Now I know what you're going to say. Why not just call him a dwarf? (My blog my rules) and also there are many able bodied villains in Dickens novels? Why get put out over this.

The answer to the second point is that Mr Quilp is a greedy landlord and moneylender. Assaults his wife and desires (when she is an adult) to have the character of Nell as his second wife. There are no redeeming features to him whatsoever. And to make that even more clear as a contrast to the pure and innocent Nell Dickens makes him physically different as well. This was clearly deliberate in a Victorian society where the only good "dwarfs" are those miners who help Snow White.

Dickens was playing to his audience.

You may remember some time back I chatted about the sort of book where a Briton, frustrated in one way or another about the way his/her life is going, decides to move to a country in the European Union (normally one with sunlight), starts growing [insert Mediterranean produce here], and slowly through misunderstandings with the locals and about their customs grows to love the new home.

Whilst a lot of this type of genre was smug twaddle I'd mentioned that this would die because of Brexit as even if you voted Remain it would be too depressing to read something that would be for most people unobtainable.

What did not occur to me until starting to read Lucy Wadham's excellent 2009 book The Secret Life Of France is there is another type of British immigrant to the EU. The sort of person who emigrated not out of a love of growing lemons but of a significant other.

Being British but having married and living in France she is the perfect guide to life there. The real skill of the book is to effortlessly discuss an aspect of French life, say health, on a national basis and combine it with her own experiences.

I read this in a day. It's that good.

The point is post Brexit whilst I'm sure there will be some Britons able to emigrate to an EU country and marry abroad these will surely drop. Then of those people able to move to the European Union how many of those would be able to write a book about their life in a new country as Ms Wadham has done?

This type of book will wither and probably die. Which is a tragedy. Because the British people will lose people like Ms Wadham giving us a guide to and an understanding of our European neighbours. And so Brexit amongst it's many other damaging consequences might lead to Britain just not understanding the people around us. Which will be a tragedy and potentially dangerous.

So treasure Ms Wadham's book and (if well written) books like it.

We won't see their like for a while.

Until the next time.

A Caravan Killing Near Barry Town

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Just outside Barry Town there is an industrial estate. And when I say an industrial estate I don't mean a small group of warehouse type buildings (though there are those too) but large structures including a small power station and other factories where industrial people do industrial things.

Along one of the roads around this area there is a lay-by in front of one of these places. And, for a month now, becoming almost a tourist attraction, there has been this....

Well and truly dead

Now in the beginning when it was left there it was actually more upright than it is now. But like some hunted animal it could not stand the pain of being ravaged in such a manner and collapsed.

Who could have done it? Well the woman who was passing by when I looked around this said that it was "campers". The usual suspects. But I don't think so. Because despite the ransacking that took place according to this woman the caravan killers took the number plate, the windows and the chassis. Things that could have led them to the owners. Which makes me believe that despite the look of all this being carried out by mindless yobs, the perpetrators knew what they were doing.

Also this action (presumably at night) was done at a spot where the killers could feel they wouldn't get caught....despite more than one sign saying that there were CCTV cameras around.

I think this caravan was killed by professionals. People who knew what they were doing and probably have done this sort of thing before.

A caravan contract killing

Anyway things went to a stage where in windy weather (rare in Wales I know) parts of the contract killed caravan could fly off to the nearby road. So I contacted the Vale of Glamorgan council, asking (given the length of time) when is it going to be removed. Their response was that they could not do anything because the dead beast was on private land but the company that owned it was arranging it's removal.

I thanked them. But then I thought again. Surely given that it was on layby contract flytippers could put anything on this spot. Things potentially even more hazardous than the caravan but they could not do anything because it was on private land? Even though it was by a public road? So I relayed this thought to council. Which is why (or so my fragile male ego would like to think) whilst the carcass is still there the place has been blocked off by a steel caged fence.

And I feel for the caravan. I suspect once it led a happy life, and now it's just been beaten, murdered and dumped like so much trash.

Until the next time.

In Which A Day Trip To Porthcawl Makes Me Think About Blog Villian's Welsh Labour Council's Management Of Bridgend Town

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

On Friday wife daughter and myself had one of those rare days where we had the day together when one of us were not working and we all of a mood to go out. However as it was midday the decision as to where to go was not easy. The morning (it was about eleven) was bright so the obvious choice, nearby Barry Island, wasn't really a starter as being on a school break it was likely to be packed.

So I suggested Porthcawl. We would know side streets to park and then wander round a town and a seafront that we all liked. As no obvious alternatives presented itself it won the day.

Well I can't say it was the most enjoyable trip. Largely because the weather decided to be occasionally showery and permanently grey from the moment we arrived. We had clearly displeased the Bridgend weather gods by moving away from the area.

Porthcawl Town Centre

The town looked a bit weary that day and noticeably lacking in the numbers of people you would expect in an Easter bank holiday school break. However it was not the moment to properly judge the place. Partly as I said the weather was not a "Come to Porthcawl!" invitation (apart to idiots like me)  but also there was work being carried out along the seafront that also might have affected visitor numbers.

Some of this work was to bolster the town's flood defences but the other, advertised by a sign and partly financed by the National Lottery (of which I'll come back to later) was a forthcoming Porthcawl Maritime Centre.

Now exactly what this will provide we don't really know until this built but clearly this is designed to attract new tourists to the area as well as regular visitors whether the weather is sunny or stormy. And you know what? Building something like this in a seaside area is not unreasonable. There is a strategy at work.

And it got me thinking. There is something similar (though as I've argued in this blog before flawed) going on in Maesteg with the proposal to turn the town hall into a "cultural hub" (whatever that means). "Renovate it and they will come" seems to be the motto here. Thus boosting the economy of the town.

But as I've said there are problems. Not least because at time of writing financing is not secured as the council are waiting (longer than anticipated) for the result of their proposal to the National lottery. This being the third proposal. A refusal here could mean that the iconic building is abandoned. Something that would be a disaster for the town and the council will have only themselves to blame having badly mismanaged the originals proposals in the first place.

However when it comes to mismanagement that pales into insignificance when compared to the Welsh Labour Council's action regarding Bridgend Town. I've gone through in this blog how their arrogant incompetence have turned what I understood to be a once proud place into an urban tragedy.

When I looked around the town as I did a few weeks back it did not occur to me then of the possibility that the Labour council now realise the consequences of years of  their inept rule but do not have a strategy of how to deal with it because the problem has got so bad. Why is it that the only recent building/renovations of any significance in the town involve social housing (a good thing) over shops (why given the vast swathes of empty retail outlets do this?).

This is not strategy. This is town planning on the hoof

I mentioned before that there is "a taskforce" in Bridgend council that is dealing with the issue of empty retail space. According to the local paper they have sent a questionnaire to shop owners asking how they can improve the situation. A move that strikes me as shutting the shop door after the customers have bolted.

There is nothing in Bridgend Town that would attract the regular casual visitor and seemingly nothing planned. This would presumably mean that the Welsh Labour council are running the town in crisis management mode. If I'm right. This is just unacceptable. If I'm wrong then perhaps the people of Bridgend Town should be told what vision the council has for it's future.

Until the next time.

A Severn Bridge ReName Too Far

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well I wake up and go online. What you may ask is the biggest news in Wales? Unemployment? Brexit? The state of unease that has permeated the nation for a long time now and doesn't seem to go away?

No.

Instead we wake up to the news that Secretary of State for Wales and blog villain Alun Cairns announces that the Second Severn Crossing is going to be named "The Prince Of Wales Bridge". Instantly turning it into architecture as curtsy.

Republicans will tell you that when the British nation faces uncertainty or crisis there is always media focus on the Royal family to provide a distraction. So given that there is a wedding, a birth, refurbishment of a ship and various palaces at the taxpayer's expense we must be facing a very bleak future.

This renaming of the bridge, so unnecessary given it's decades old,is just another obsequious icing on that cake. And if you want servile cometh the hour cometh the Cairns.

And what is the toady one's justification for all of this? Well firstly that only Republicans will object. Well speaking as one it's true that Republicans do object, but how does he know that it's only Republicans? Well the clue comes in his next response. That he spoke for "the silent majority" revealing a level of ministerial mysticism unheard of in British politics. I'll come back with my guess of what the "silent majority" thinks in a moment.

Prince Charles, he also said, deserves this renaming for the work he does for charity. Rubbish. I would assume that as a proportion of the finances at their disposal and the time available to them that there are many more people who have given themselves to charity work than Charlie boy. But do you think Cairns is going to rename a bridge for them?

In fact to be fair to Alun Cairns (a statement which if I ever have to read out loud it'll be through gritted teeth) he has only one real argument going for him. That he contacted First Minister Carwyn Jones about the proposed name change and he didn't object. However all that proves is that in front of royalty Labour politicians can be as servile as their Conservative opponents.

My guess is that the "silent majority" will object to the renaming of the bridge because of the Pro Consul way Cairns has acted. Not allowing the people to have their say as to what the bridge should be called is not democratic. I suspect the majority would have picked other names than the Prince Of Wales. Names which would not give the impression of trying to ingratiate yourself with royalty by kissing it's backside.

And my view of what the name should be? Well there's actually nothing wrong with the Second Severn Crossing as it does exactly what it says on the road sign. However if there needs to be a new name how about one that is clearly Welsh, welcoming and actually is close to the Welsh word for bridge?

Ponty it is then.

Until the next time.

Wales Is Treated As A Second Tier Nation In Law and Order......And In Cricket

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Haven't been blogging for a while. Am awaiting one thing before chatting about the mystery of a dead caravan. But for the moment let's chat about minor issues like law and order.

Wales is a nation. Let's mention that first. It's not a town snuggled up in the Midlands to remembered only in election times. And yet it is denied powers that are given to cities let alone nations. Policing and justice responsibilities have been under the control of the Scottish government since devolution but does Cardiff Bay have a sniff of them? A chance of getting them? Well of course not. And with political slimeball Alun Cairns at the helm at the Welsh Office that won't happen.

Manchester has powers over policing. London will have some powers over Justice. Yet Wales, a nation, is being told to be grateful with what you have and run away like a good little child..

I have said before, and will say again in my blog until I'm blue in the face, that all of this stems from the fact that the Welsh people (taken as a whole) are just far too nice. Liberties and rights are denied them because they are just too nice to argue. "Mustn't grumble" is a phrase I hear when someone moans about some aspect of Wales that's not right. Well perhaps the Welsh people should grumble, and shout, and like the Scots shout loudly.

And this placidity permeates into sport. The governing body of Cricket in Wales is the ECB. Now those not used to the acronym might think that the C in ECB stands for Cymru. No it stands for Cricket. So to be clear the English and Wales Cricket Board does not have Wales in it's acronym at all.

A minor thing you might say. But I'd argue that symbolism is everything. It should be the EWCB. But Wales is absent from the acronym. Subsumed into England.

As indeed is the team. When Test Matches are played it should be England and Wales vs [insert a test playing nation here]. But no when Welsh players play an important international game they play for England.

You know the arguments already against Wales having it's own test team. The biggest is that it will be a minnow against more powerful opponents (including England). But Cricketing independence is an allegory for political independence as well. For whilst a Welsh cricket test team would indeed be small initially, and will falter. It will also grow, establish itself and then thrive amongst other cricketing nations.

And perhaps subconsciously, that's why it's not yet happened.

Until the next time.

"Let's Watch A Film Together As A Family" Says The Wife And Daughter......I'd Rather Not

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

It has been a wet and miserable Easter Holiday weekend. In fact as I'm writing this it's 3:54am on Easter Monday...and it's raining. But this occurs the previous day. The wife has cooked an excellent Sunday dinner. No denying this. But once the dinner has been eaten, and we're seated in front of the TV she says the words that strike fear into my brain.

"Let's Watch A Film Together......"

Now personally I would have rather watched something online. There would have been some free sports stream somewhere. Or I could have listened to something whilst wife/daughter enjoy a movie. Or (and this is what my body was beginning to tell me) I could have just taken a nap.

But of course she does not say "Let's watch a film together". What she says is "Let's watch a film together.....as a family". To me they are dreaded words. Because it's very difficult (not impossible but very difficult) for wife, daughter (who is a teenager) and myself to find something that we can all enjoy. And the person who causes the most problems.....is me.

Wife's/daughters tastes in movies seem to have merged together now. Mine however has resolutely stayed still and then gone into reverse. Not interested in holiday blockbusters anymore, or crime or indeed anything taken as a whole. I even bought a Radio Times Film Catalogue in Harlow (admittedly for £2.50 from the original £25) in the hope it might inspire me to go through the listed movies in the same way as I would be happy to do so in a library. But it hasn't worked. In fact the last film I really really liked (and I've bought a copy on Amazon video) was Julie and Julia starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams.

And my reference to a library is important here. Because as regular readers to this blog will know I'm happy as I grow older to go random on what I read. It doesn't mean I'd like it you understand, but I'd give it a go. But movies? My instinct is to go all Trump and a build wall from them entering my mind.

Being so resolute in my disinterest means that I can't generally choose the film for us to watch as I'm disinterested. The Catch 22 of the couch potato.

Even so. Here I am trapped into watching a film I don't want to watch because not watching it means in their eyes I don't care about the family. And the thing is, even if I was more tolerant of most movies the choices of wife/daughter I'd find difficult to watch anyway. A few weeks ago the film was "We Bought A Zoo" starring Matt Damon and Scarlett Johannson about a guy who, (surprise,surprise) buys a run down old zoo in California. It's not a spoiler alert to say that the only real surprise was not that the story was "based on true events" but the zoo is in England.

I wished I'd taken a nap in that movie. Yesterday I did take a nap through the movie they watched (though in fairness, as I'd mentioned in my previous post I'd woken up too early in the morning because of insomnia and after a full meal sleep had caught up with me). When I woke up with about twenty minutes remaining they looked at me as if I'd just announced I was leaving them to shack up with a woman half my age.

Doubt I would have liked the movie they saw anyway. Goodbye Christopher Robin was telling the story of the troubled relationship between the creator of Winnie The Pooh A A Milne and his son (Christopher Robin), Thing was, I knew about that already and (whisper it gently) as a child I preferred the Disney films to the original stories.

But of course that didn't matter to wife/daughter. What mattered was that I'd lost an afternoon of spending time "as a family". Whether I'll regret it in the future time will tell but to be honest, at that particular moment I didn't really care.

Until the next time.

How Kenneth Williams Spoilt A Susan Sontag Essay, Why Broadway Can Prove West Ham Fans Don't Have High Expectations And Other Ramblings Of Another Too Early On A Sunday Morning Insomnia Post

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well as I'm writing this it's 5:56am on Easter Sunday morning. I'm not working today, I have no real plans and yet here I am awake. Insomnia rules again.

Have finished Susan Sontag's Penguin pocket book of essays I bought last week. All very interesting and intellectual. Her essay on "Camp" clearly showed her knowledge and intellectual breath. Trouble is, when I think of "Camp" in relation to a manner of behaviour I think of someone like Kenneth Williams or  Larry Grayson which she probably never heard of being American. So it was difficult to look at it in a more reflective, calmer mode.

That of course is my problem. My other problem is that she is far more cleverer than I am. When (and not if) I approach a Susan Sontag book again, I have to get my brain into fifth gear from page one. That as a reader is my responsibility. Whatever a Susan Sontag book is, I've learnt that she demands attention from page one.

West Ham won yesterday (hooray) but a lot of focus has been put on the club recently due to it's poor performance in previous games (including against Swansea City, which living in South Wales I was reminded of constantly) and the protests against the board.

When the mainstream media looked at the situation they got people, including ex manager Harry Redknapp (a manager who I did respect when he was at West Ham. After all under him you didn't have to look at the bottom of the table to find out where your team was) who agreed with the idea that the club's supporters had high expectations.

Rubbish.

West Ham fans are not glory seekers. They are fans because they believe passionately in their team. All they expect is for the team to put in a shift. To make an effort. To do the best they can.

And if you don't believe me then I would refer you to Broadway and the origin of the West Ham familiar chant "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles". What other chant anywhere in sports would have something like these lines referring to blowing bubbles.

"...just like my dreams they fade and die. Fortune's always hiding. I've looked everywhere"

Is this the song of a team supported by people with high expectations? No. We are West Ham supporters. We are realists. But we also care. And it's the fact that we care which is what confuses the media and ex players to think we have ideas above reality.

It's now 7:35am. The sun is actually shining. Wife/daughter are asleep. Perhaps we should go out. But wife has bought beef and is actually looking forward to cooking for lunch and, well, how can I argue with that?

Must admit I do enjoy riling right wing Americans with regard to gun control. After all the rest of the world thinks that their gun laws are mad and yet somehow they're right. Tell you what? They don't like me.

One of them pointed to a particular graph of homicide rates. Just four countries in the graph HE TWEETED were worse than America's. The rest were better than the USA.I wonder why. These people really are thick. Thick and with guns in their possession.

Well wife and daughter awake. So time to close off for now.

Until the next time.

When Science Loses To Emotion : Hinckley Point Nuclear Plant Sediment Is Coming To Cardiff

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I have always thought of myself as a man who accepts what science tells me. That science is there to provide the facts whatever your gut instinct tells you otherwise. Scientists have the qualifications, they have the knowledge that I do not. My interests was in books or watching sporting physical activity than Physics.

Yet when it comes to the sediment from the Hinckley Point Nuclear Plant in Somerset coming to Cardiff Bay science suddenly loses to emotion. I become the person who will scream in protest despite what science tells me otherwise. Whether it is right or wrong does not matter. It's what you think inside that wins.

Hinckley Point is the site of a new nuclear power plant. Replacing the old one that is being disused. The sediment and mud from the disused plant that it's replacing is going to be disposed of a mile outside Cardiff Bay.

Now Science in the form of Natural Resources Wales who have done tests tells us not to worry. Perfectly acceptable results they will say. Now move along please.

Of course they may be right, no they are probably right....but...

Emotion tells me....no nags into me...something different.

What (emotion will ask me) if science is wrong? Or, as has been suggested, the tests are inadequate?

Then you would have the situation that radioactive waste has been dumped on Wales in the same way that criminals are being dumped on Port Talbot if the proposed super prison is built. This is the impression that's being given. Rubbish that Westminster does not want England to handle? Toss it over the Severn Bridge?

If the science is wrong/inadequate then you will have this dumped mud endangering the coastline not just of Cardiff but also nearby Barry Island and Porthcawl.

And what if the science is really wrong? What if there's a possibility that it endangers not just the environment but the lives of people as well? This is being dumped not in an isolated spot where there lives one man, his dog and a flock of sheep but near the capital city of Wales, Along  the coastline there are places such as the aforementioned Barry Island and Porthcawl where people come for breaks or days out by the sea.

Emotion tells me that this isn't right.

And if you tell me that I should just accept the science and shut up. I'd ask you this. Would you take the sediment where you live?

Bet you'd get emotional then.

Until the next time.

S4C...The Welsh Language Channel....Not The Responsibility Of Wales...Let's Pause And Reflect Here

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well Welsh Language channel S4C received the news yesterday that from 2022 it's funding will be mainly from the TV licence fee. It was also announced that the recommendations of a review of the channel would be accepted and announcements on how it's implementation would be made in due course.

This decision was not announced as you would think by Carwyn Jones in the National Assembly building in Cardiff but by the Conservative Secretary Of State for Wales, blog villain and all round political slimeball Alun Cairns.

That's right. Westminster and not Wales has control of Welsh media issues. Even though some right wing commentators would disparage the language they do not understand they seem happy that they and not the devolved administration has responsibility for it.

Now of course Westminster has responsibility for the English language Welsh stations as well. With regard to those it would not be difficult to spilt UK and Welsh parts of say, BBC Wales between Cardiff and London. But for the moment let's focus on S4C. The station is after all for the Welsh language and yet politicians living outside of Wales can have influence over it's future.

So for example S4C is to be given more responsibilities with regard to digital services (which I would hope, as I've mentioned before would include another channel. S4C suffers at having to provide a full range of programming in just one channel) however there would be no extra money provided for these services.

The National Assembly urged on by Plaid Cymru would have made sure that S4C would have got that money (the Labour Party is only a minority administration). But no. London Parliamentarians, most of whom would not be Welsh  or have never even visited Wales will make the decision.

And as a side issue. Remember the furore of "English laws should only be made by English MPs"? Yet here's a Welsh TV channel whose future can be decided by non Welsh MPs.

So you would think that the Welsh Government would want devolved broadcasting powers for Wales. Particularly in such an obvious case such as S4C? Well....err.. no. Independent AM propping up the Labour administration, Welsh Government Culture minister,former Plaid Cymru leader and Welsh Fame Is The Spur candidate Dafydd Elis-Thomas (see my previous post) says that devolved broadcasting should not be considered at this present time. Welsh Labour, with the inability to grow a pair when it really matters, have acquiesced.

S4C then...the Welsh Language channel.....not the responsibility of Wales but Westminster. Let's pause and reflect on that.

Until the next time.

Ryszard Kapuscinski : Truth or Lies?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Firstly a correction. I said a couple of posts ago that the poetry reading organised by Griffin books in Penarth and featuring Carol Ann Duffy was going to be in May. In fact it's in June. And, work permitting I intend to go, becoming if it occurs the first poetry reading I've ever attended.

Anyway I've finished the Penguin pocket book of Ryszard Kapuscinski's An Advertisement For Toothpaste, a collection of four non fiction essays from the early sixties set mainly in the Polish countryside unlike the work across the globe that he's remembered for.

He was a journalist in when Poland was Communist. And the thing with him is that with his book The Emperor he became to my knowledge the only non fiction Communist writer translated into mainstream fiction in Britain. In that sense he was unique

As I said when I bought this book there is a feeling of trepidation surrounding it. As since I last read one of his works decades ago allegations have surfaced with regard to the veracity of his writings. I'm not sure, in Wales over half a century later, whether I read fiction or non fiction. "Magical journalism" which is how he described his work (and of what I read remember liking) is not really an answer.

(And as a quick aside. If you think I'm saying all of this because he was Polish. I'll have the same fear if I ever read a book by either Norman Lewis or Patrick Leigh Fermor again. Writers who I loved when I was much younger, but who have had similar charges put against them.)

So obviously what I'm going to say next is a guess and should be read as such. To be a reader and to be unsure what you're reading is a true account is a new and unsettling experience for me. Remember we're not talking here about viewpoints, but actual events.

I finished the book thinking that what I had read was probably an exaggeration of the truth, which is of course a lie. But like all really good lies there seemed to be a foundation of honesty.

Let's take a mild example. He is helping in "The Stiff" to transport a body of a dead coal miner with a group of other men across a Polish region where they meet a group of young women, who are of course pretty. Their joie de vivre a counterweight to "the Stiff" of the title. My view was .....really?

Incidentally "magical journalism" seems to be a way of allowing unnecessary long words into a narrative (and yes I'm making assumptions here as this is a translation). Girls view a fight in a dance hall as "metaphysical". Personally I've always assumed they view a fight in a dance hall as something they should move away from . Also he somehow was able to in this very same essay set in a Polish dance hall in the early sixties to include the words "Egyptian hieroglyphics". The question here is.....why?

The Emperor his most famous work about Haile Selassie is considered as an allegory for Communist Poland. After reading this book I have my doubts. For although the picture it presents of early sixties Polish countryside is not a good one on the other hand two of the stories seemed like Communist propaganda to me.

The title essay: An Advertisement For Toothpaste has an assertion that to obtain material possessions people in a Polish village are not buying toothpaste. I mean that's just a load of rubbish. Did not believe that for one second.

The other story where Communist propaganda seemed to be in play was The Taking of Elizabieta. Here the Catholic church is seen as a secretive and sinister organisation. Now I have no love for the Catholic church but at that time it was considered the only real opposition to the Communist authorities. So clearly there's an agenda here.

Magical journalism? The magic has gone for me.

Until the next time.

The Return Of The Library

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Now that things are slowly shifting back to normal I can return to those things abandoned due to Essex exile. Yesterday was the turn of the library.

And my local library, no matter how small and unglamorus it is, was there for me.

I know you're impressed

So for the first time in a long while was able to pick two books at random to borrow. This was the first.

Cathy Bramley - The Lemon Tree Café

Now what I'm going to say is based on first impressions but I don't think I'm going to like this. I read a similar book last year by Carole Matthews. There seems to be now a sub-genre in chick lit which has to include cakes. Patisserie Passion as you were. Anyway we'll see how things turn out.

The second book seemed at first glance more interesting.

Lucy Wadham - The Secret Life of France

This is an account of an Englishwoman's life marrying and living in France. It appears to have garnered good reviews. As I've mentioned previously when chatting about another book. These are worth reading now if only because as a genre they will wither away because of Brexit.

It was good to be back.

Until the next time.

The Brief Return Of The Bookshop, Penguin Paperbacks and A Quick Word About Greetings Cards

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Wasn't working today (Monday) so the wife had some tasks for me to do.

"Get some ham as long as there are no purple bits in it".

Which I did. Apparently though the look was so white it was inedible so in the bin it went.

"Why did you get me Wholemeal bread?"

"I thought you liked it".

"I like Wholegrain idiot"

Oops...

But the one thing I did do without any argument or comeback was to post a couple of birthday cards the wife bought the day before. I went to Penarth to get some stamps before posting the letters. Job done.

Now a quick aside about cards. My wife is not the only woman I know who takes an interest in cards to such a forensic level it's CSI in it's thoroughness. She particularly takes interest in the verse.

Unless the card is humorous (rarely find them funny) I however have no interest in reading the verse. As long as the event, the picture and to whom it's referring to are OK I'm happy enough. And just for the record, when I receive a card I read what someone has written but the verse could be in Chinese for all I care.

Anyway back to Penarth and I was walking past the local bookshop where I noticed a series of miniature Penguin Paperbacks called Penguin Modern being displayed in a sought of light olive green cover.

The bookshop is called Griffin Books and it's that type of quirky place which is slowly disappearing from the local high street so more power to it's elbow. Unfortunately as we currently live in an apartment in the hunt for a proper home my book buying ways have been curtailed so much as though I would like to as there is no space currently for me to be a regular customer.

Ditto my collection of Penguin paperbacks which is locked in storage as I speak. Held until the moment arrives when I can open them and start reading "properly" again. At the moment the Kindle holds sway. And although as I've explained before the e reader has it's uses, there is something about the quiet pleasure of turning a page the electronic usurper can't match.

But here was a situation where the books were just £1 each and they were pocket book size....so....yes I was tempted......and having succumbed I went in.

Looking at the shelf where these Penguin Modern books were (fifty of them) the shop assistant/manager mentioned that they had been popular and were selling well. I could see why. There were works from authors from many parts of the globe such as Italo Calvino and Chinua Achebe. Eventually though I plumped for these two.

Different

Ryszard Kapuscinski was a Polish journalist who wrote The Emperor about the last days of Haile Selassie in Ethiopia and a collection of journalism called The Soccer War which I have read as well as other works that I haven't. I read once a review of a book that questioned a lot of the veracity of his work but as I haven't got round to reading that book I've no idea how valid that critique was.

Susan Sontag is a writer I've never read (so many books so little time) but I'm looking forward to reading her.

And so I was thinking. You know what I could just collect them. They're only small and wouldn't take that much space. I'd also be supporting my local bookshop.

Then I'd realised I'd made a mistake. I remembered too late that I didn't collect Penguin paperbacks with coloured bindings after 2013, Because their new owners did not recognise trade unions. I was so excited to buy an actual physical book it just slipped my mind.

Obviously I won't buy any more. But I feel I owe a debt to the Griffin Bookshop even though they wouldn't know (or probably care). So this is what I'll do. They are arranging a poetry reading in May (including Carol Ann Duffy). If I can make it I'll go there. If not I'll buy a hardback book from the shop.

Support your local bookshop.

Until the next time.

The Occasional Sunday Ritual Of Going To IKEA....Starring A Swivel Chair

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Now that regular churchgoing is a thing of the past. The Sunday pastime that comes closest to it is the visit to the Swedish furniture giant IKEA. Occasionally we pay homage as a family to the store that sells furniture we build ourselves and yesterday was just such a day.

As I've mentioned on this blog before. I'm not anti-IKEA as such. I like it when they produce furniture with clean Scandinavian lines. The other half of IKEA? The furniture that looks like the designers were on drugs? Not so much.

We were there to get a swivel chair and a desk for daughter. And immediately as we entered she and I played the well known game of insulting each other using the names of IKEA furniture.

Examples included:

"You no good Skrigg".

"You have a Tidafors for a brain"

"You look as ugly as a dying Vejmon" (That was my daughter to me)

Wife didn't really get involved until she told us to stop taking the Micke. That being the desk we eventually picked but couldn't take on the day as it was too big for my mighty Kia Picanto to take.

But we did pick the swivel chair. Or rather two pieces of the swivel chair. The base bit with the all importnant wheels (the Sporren) and the chair itself  (the Vasberg).

As in:

"Do you have the Vasbergs with the Sporren?"

"No it's just the way I walk".

So we took it back to the apartment and whilst wife/daughter had to go out again it was my responsibility to put this swivel chair. This I did slowly and completed it. I carried it by the seat.....only to have the Sporren drop from the Vasberg and almost crash onto my feet.

Thankfully it missed and I sorted the situation out before wife/daughter were able to come back and laugh at the old Vejmon.

It moves up and down, it swivels, it glides.

I did this.....I Know You're Impressed

Until the next time.

The Continuing Rambling On An Early Sunday Morning British Summertime Post. Including Plaid Cymru,An Old Blog Villian And A New One

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

It is as I'm starting to tap this 6:17 on a Sunday morning. Not too bad you might think. Until I realise that today is the first day of British Summertime (seeing Spring would be nice) and so the clocks have moved forward by one hour. So essentially my brain is on 5:17.

It seems that now I've settled back to living in Wales the insomnia has returned....yippee.

Wife wants to spend today going round IKEA getting a chair for our daughter. IKEA on a Sunday....I'd rather not.

You know given that the first few months of this year were spent looking after my mother in Essex I've lost the sense of sense of time. Only now am I beginning to sense that it's nearly April.

Plaid Cymru have had a Spring conference and the headlines is that it's "lurched to the left" to attract more voters. Of course words have their power "lurch" describes a sudden and violent movement whilst driving when you suddenly realise you've gone the wrong way.

Personally I feel that as long as the perception is that the party is not trying to out Corbyn Corbyn there is nothing wrong with this. Any policies though have to be catered for Wales and the people living there. There is nothing objectionable about "Socialism With A Welsh Face".

Old blog villain Bridgend Labour council have raised their heads from the Porthcawl sand and have suddenly apparently realised that there are empty houses and shops in the borough. Particularly in Bridgend Town and are setting up "a taskforce" to find out why and deal with it.

Regular readers of this blog would not be surprised that such a situation in Bridgend exist. Particularly with regard to the town. Perhaps the Labour council don't realise the problem because they have helped cause it with the rates, the pedestrianism, the car parking charges and I could really go on.

It seems that part of their social housing solution is for people to live over shops. That's fair enough but in Bridgend Town there is a good chance that those shops will be empty. You know Bridgend Town could be the first place in Britain where the town centre might have more accommodation than it does shops. Now there's a thought. Welsh Labour....supporting the community.

From time to time the National Assembly of Wales forgets that it's a Labour run administration and tries to act Conservative. Last week it's proposed a merger of local authorities throughout the country. Presumably to get "efficiency savings". How very Tory.

Now personally I'm against it. Particularly because it would be very administratively difficult to control the large swathes of area involved (for example Bridgend/Rhondda Cynon Taff). With regard to the proposal to merge Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan council though there would be a particular problem because of new blog villain Cardiff Labour council.

As I chatted about earlier this week. The attitude towards the Vale of Glamorgan by Cardiff Labour Council has been very Captial City. What is clear is that Cardiff Labour looks down on it's neighbour (Barry Town being "A town without purpose" according to one councillor which was not the only example) and this will only create antagonism. Let me make a prediction. Any Cardiff/Vale merger is not going to work because if this.

As I'm writing this the Australian Formula One Grand Prix is on. Have lost interest in this sport for a long while now. Probably the remaining bit will die next year when it goes pay TV. Trust me that I wasn't interested enough to pay money in TV subscriptions on it. I suspect that next year that there will be many people like me who hold the same view. Formula One will become like cricket. Slowly withering away.

Anyway that's enough rambling for today.

Until the next time.

Going Back To Watching The Pobol In The Cwm

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

During my roughly two nearly three months of Essex exile whilst looking after my mother many things that I used to do had to be put to one side. Watching the Welsh language soap opera Pobol Y Cwm  (People of the Valley) about the goings on in a village in West Wales on S4C was one of them. Now of course even in Essex I could have just downloaded it and watched the programme as and when I could. But I won't lie. For most of the time I'd other things on my mind and I neither really had the time or the inclination.

But that was then and this is now. Mum is better and I sit before you on a Saturday morning watching a recording of the omnibus edition I did last Sunday......as you do.

When you miss a soap opera for a considerable length of time you are conscious of the changes. The omnibus opens with a mother and her daughter (Sioned) arguing over the theft of a wallet. Something obviously happened during my absence. Also teenage Chester seems to have a girlfriend. A fellow student with multi-coloured dreadlocks. Presumably common in the Welsh Valleys. Last time I saw the soap he was in jail.

Sioned's partner. A man who she beat up and was practically bald seems to have grown a full head of hair and become a window cleaner. Did not recognise him at first

Both their relatives disapprove of the relationship. So they want to leave the village of Cwmderi? Where do they want to go to? Australia! I've written before about people leaving Wales since Brexit. Now here it is in soap opera form. Eventually they don't go. Instead there's an (accepted) proposal of marriage at the airport as the young couple are about to leave.

To get the money for the fare Jason borrows it from Gwyneth (with interest!). A woman who has turned into the local moneylender since I last saw the show. The man (Sion) who she was with seems to have turned his attentions to another  (Anita) whose niece is arguing with another character over the ownership of a cat.

When the couple do leave the village his mother and her grandmother panic. These are two characters I remember from when I started watching the soap oh those years ago. You do anchor yourself to those type of characters. A sort of soap nostalgia I guess

The new doctor came as a surprise. Bryn Fon. Actor, singer and as I remember it when my daughter was a toddler the Welsh language voice for Bob the Builder.

Sheryl the hairdresser is having a fling with Gethin the mechanic. Which is all very ironic as the man she's with (Hywel) was the Cwmderi Casanova when I started watching the soap. Gethin was living with Ffion who was the wife of the local priest years ago before as I remembered it he turned to murder. As a career change goes that's dramatic.

Interestingly in a pub scene in the Deri arms there were books in the background (?). One of them happened to be by Sue Grafton. A writer of private eye stories who died recently. Was this a subtle tribute or just coincidence?

Of course there were more plotlines than those I've chatted about. One particularly emotional one with regard to abortion.

It was an omnibus after all.

It was good to be back.

Until the next time.

UKIP In Wales. The Comedy Continues.....As Does The Ignorance

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Since this has been the first proper week I've been in Wales since looking after my mother for the past few months there have been some issues that I've not yet feel able to chat about since returning from Essex exile. Simply because I'd not the opportunity to look into them properly (such as the Barry furnace, the dumping of mud from mud at Hinckley Point to Cardiff and what has been described as a potential "lurch to the left" by the party I support Plaid Cymru - Gut instinct nothing wrong with that unless it's perceived as way of out Corbyning Corbyn. Then it will fail).

So what I'm saying is that if you think for the moment I'm avoiding chatting about particular subjects. Well guilty.....for now.

But one thing that apparently hasn't changed during my time away is the regional comedy that's UKIP in Wales. From appointing Neil Hamilton as it's leader. To watching another Tory defector move to UKIP and then move back to the Tories (Ignorance is bliss...it's also Mark Reckless). To seeing Nathan Gill choose between his roles as Assembly member for in the Welsh Assembly or as Member of the European Parliament....and choosing Europe.....let that sink in.

The point is that even before the party looked stupid on a United Kingdom level it has become a laughing stock in Wales long before that.

A few days ago Neil Hamilton continued in this vein as he sent this tweet @NeilUKIP protesting about the Brexit transit deal and what he sees as it's dire effect on the fishing industry.

I'm calling on Britain's fishermen to get their rods out and march on Downing Street, to send a message to Theresa May that Britain's fish cannot be used as a bargaining chip at the EU negotiations. @FishingforLeave

Now my first reaction was to go all Carry On and Oh err Missus at his call for fishermen "to get their rods out". But then something else occurred to me. Something much more serious.

UKIP are talking about the fishing industry around Britain as they understand their concerns and fight for them. But even I, a man who has never been on a fishing boat, knows that the people who work on these boats don't use rods..... they use nets. 

Anglers use rods.

UKIP claim to care about the fishing industry and yet here is it's Welsh leader being ignorant of it.

UKIP are a party without a purpose. Like the dead fish Nigel Farage threw into the River Thames (was that legal?) it's just there for show now and nothing else.

Until the next time.

The Farewell Tour Of The McDonald's Menu Part 5: The Fillet O Fish Burger

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

As regular readers of this blog will be aware. I have decided to abandon eating fast food after going through the standard McDonald's menu as and when opportunities occur.

A couple of days ago it was the turn of the Fillet O Fish burger. Why they describe it that way, as if it was created by a leprechaun , is one of the of the great mysteries of Western civilisation. But for now I'll let it pass.

I must admit when I was younger this was my burger of choice. Only to show people that I was different, an individual. No bits of cow, oh no. I follow a different drum me.

However I soon learnt that not following the crowd meant that in a drive thru you had to park in a designated spot and wait whilst they cooked the thing. This happened so often that I just gave up and joined the masses asking for a Big Mac medium meal with a Diet Coke so at least I'd get the stuff there and then.

And you know what? Although I went inside the McDonald's on Tuesday. When I asked the young woman for that meal she said "It will take a little time as we'll need to cook it"(!!)

Anyway here's the result.

I know you're impressed

You might notice the hole at the top of the burger. The bit of bread that was there was stuck in the box. Was unimpressed by that.

It was of course edible but really it's no more than a fish finger with sequins on. Although the more I'm doing this exercise the more I'm growing to dislike the McDonalds' fries. Puny thin things aren't they? There really is a need for them to butch up and become chunky.

But there we go. Another medium meal knocked off the list.

Until the next time.

Barry Town: It's Purpose Is That It's There

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Had to go to Barry Town this morning for a few pieces of shopping which I couldn't get in Penarth. Nothing major you understand. Went in. Did my business went out. Job done.

But I was caught out in a newsagent when I saw a headline in the local newspaper. Where Barry Town was described as "a town without purpose".

Now I didn't need to read on to know that the remark would have only been said by councillor from Cardiff City Council. It has (and I know this as a Londoner) a kind of arrogant capital city mentality that some (note the word some folks) people in any capital city possess.

The Labour councillor Russell Goodway (who amazingly lives in Barry and was born in the Vale of Glamorgan) was discussing the pan South Wales "Cardiff City Deal" which is designed to create jobs and investment throughout the region. He was asked about investment in smaller towns to which he said that Barry Town was " a town without purpose" because the "purpose it was created no longer exists".

I have said before and will repeat that I like Barry Town. Rather like Harlow it's a place that whilst I wouldn't compare to Paris or Milan is far better than it's reputation. It seems a friendly town with an adequate array of shops. It's not escaped austerity, but it seems to have made a better fist of adapting to it than Bridgend Town

By Mr Goodway's skewered logic. You can argue that if you exclude it's centre and the Bay (as that's where the National Assembly is) Cardiff is a city without a purpose. Of course it's a rubbish argument. All town and cities evolve when circumstances occur. Even if (as I'd argue with the case of Bridgend) these circumstances were (Welsh Labour Council) self inflicted.

The Cardiff Council Labour Leader (not Goodway) spoke of towns outside the capital needing "a reason to exist" beyond being a commuter town. Even that comment smacks of crumbs from an arrogant Welsh Labour man's table.

Barry Town has investment in housing, infrastructure, roads and new factories. Being outside of the capital city but being close to it will do the place no harm at all. And of course if local businesses need to do business overseas they could always use Cardiff Airport....which is in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Of course Barry Town's original purpose no longer exists. No one ships coal from the docks in Wales anymore. But to denigrate as merely a "dormitory town" and nothing more shows the contempt of Cardiff Welsh Labour and needs to be countered.

Until the next time.

Let's Chat More About Snow,The Vale Of Glamorgan Council And The Metropolitan Police

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

The more I thought about it. The more I felt I should return to something briefly mentioned in my last post.

There was I. Aimlessly on the laptop on a Sunday morning looking out at the snowy scene outside and suddenly thinking "Is my daughter's school going to be open tomorrow?"

So onwards to the Vale of Glamorgan council website I go and find to my surprise that (for what I learnt later is a six month experiment) they are trying to earn extra dosh by putting ads there. Now personally I don't think adverts should be put on state websites anyway as a matter of principle. But in the midst of Hotels.com and tour operators that tell you to "go mahoosive" (and again no idea what that means) one ad catches my eye.

It's for the Metropolitan Police.

YOU CAN KEEP YOUR CITY SAFE

Then it goes on to say that there are incentives for people to join the Metropolitan police in London and become Police Constables.

Which makes me (and yes this is another ad on the website) Confused.com

Now you have to ask what is the Vale Of Glamorgan Council doing showing an ad that appears to encourage people to move from the borough and indeed Wales? (And let's make it clear here. The website stated that the council choose the ads).

The council really should stop this ad. It does not do them or Wales any good at all.
Are they saying that South Wales does not need anymore to apply for it's police force? Of course not. Potentially what they are doing is allowing for an emigration of talented individuals away from the Vale and Wales (with - and did they think of this at the time? - the consequent loss of council tax revenues).

But of course the key point is this. Wales is not considered by the UK government capable of running law and order through the National Assembly. This means that the Metropolitan police can poach talent from South Wales without reproach. Another emigration route from Wales begins.

Until the next time.

Being Random On An Early Sunday Morning Including the 6 Nations, Alun Cairns And Why I Don't Like Gerald Durrell

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Because of Essex exile whilst looking after my mother it's been a while since doing this but here I am at 6:48am on a Sunday morning. Wife and daughter are asleep. Nothing I can do at this time but go online and chat.

First things first. It's snowing outside. Nothing at first glance that suggests it's as bad as a few weeks back. But it's settling...and continuing.

Highlight of the day weather permitting are the two FA cup quarter final matches on BBC1. That's my Sunday sorted. Don't feel sorry for wife/daughter. They'll have their own back later on with Call The Midwife and The Durrells based on the early life of Gerald Durrell.

I feel you know that I'm one of the few people who doesn't particularly like Gerald Durrell. This though is a consequence of reading books out of sequence. For I've not read (not out of choice more so many books so little time) My Family and Other Animals. I.e Gerald Durrell as little kid fascinated by the wildlife around him. No the book of his I've actually read was called The Beaufort Beagles. This was Durrell as adult zoo professional. Taking animals from their natural surroundings and shipping them off thousands of miles away. And whilst no one will ever remotely suggest that I will challenge David Attenborough as naturalist of the year that is just not right.

A quick word about Wales performance in the six nations. They came second and this is used as a justification for the Pro 14 league. Well no. People like me who are against the current structure argue about the affinity of some supporters in their designated area (eg the Rhondda Valley to the Cardiff Blues) not about the ability of players. Of course though in the old system Wales produced their best rugby being the Brazil of the egg shaped ball in the seventies.

John Inverdale. A broadcaster I once liked but now seems to be focused too much on England for presenting duties on the Wales/France game wanted to focus on reasons why they did so badly. They were tired from the British Lions tour of the summer seems to have been the general consensus from the Welsh and French summarisers with him. Ok. They obviously know more about rugby than I do. But that's really no excuse for them coming fifth in a league of six.

It's 7:44 as I'm writing this paragraph now. And about that snow.....worse now.

On Twitter there is mention that Secretary of State for Wales and professional slimeball Alun Cairns (who has blocked me on Twitter...something I'm proud of) has put out a job vacancy for a director of media communications. Knowledge of Wales is apparently not required. Again Wales is treated in a way that no one else would be treated. I've said it before and I'll say it again the problem with the majority of the Welsh people is that they're far too nice. They should rebel in the way the Scots and the Irish would.

Of course when I say the majority of the Welsh people are nice Alun Cairns is not included. Caring about Wales didn't stop him becoming Secretary of State so why does knowledge matter when trying to spin things around his way?

Well wife is awake so one final thing. Snow is so bad that I've just accessed the Vale of Glamorgan website with regard to school closures. They have ads in that site. And August those for a booking website and a travel company that's "so mahoosive" (I'm fifty four. No idea what that mean) There's an ad for people to become police constables in London. 

Are they saying that South Wales is a crime free area?

Until the next time.

The Farewall Tour Of The McDonald's Menu Part 4: The Quarter Pounder With Cheese

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I have mentioned before in this blog that before abandoning all fast food outlets I intend to eat everything from the standard McDonald's menu. Today on returning from Essex the opportunity came up to do that so I took it.

The menu in the local McDonald's revealed that the next one on the list was the Quarter Pounder with cheese so I took it.

Here it is.

The word we're looking for is pathetic

I always imagine the quarter pounder to be the jealous little brother of the Big Mac. After all everyone looks up to the Big Mac. It's after all Big, with the manly word Mac by it's side.

This was just,well,pitiful. I mean look at the splurge of yellow between the buns that's apparently cheese. Or the bit of cow for the burger bit. It is (not in another burger chain way) Wimpy.

For heavens sake the most impressive thing about this meal were the fries.

Definitely not going to miss this meal anymore.

Until the next time.

Why Eddie Jones Should Not Come To Cardiff During the Next Six Nations

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

English national rugby coaches have been, whatever you think of them otherwise, diplomatic when discussing their opponents. Polite, quiet and very careful as to what they are going to say.

So it's a shock that the most unpopular English National coach in my lifetime to other countries in the Six nations championship turns out to be an Australian. Eddie Jones was unpopular before yesterday's video came to light but now things have reached such a level that he should have sent a thank you card to Vladimir Putin or else he would have been undoubtedly headline news.

The Irish I'm sure can defend themselves from being described as "scummy". But let's talk about Wales shall we and his description of the entire country as a "little s**t place".

As I've said often on this blog Wales is not without problems for reasons that are probably too complex for Mr Jones to understand.....but so does England  . A fact that Eddie Jones would appear to be more like his namesake Mr Ed in that he approached the subject with blinkers on.

Having a quick look at his career it would appear that the only part of Wales he knows is Cardiff on Six Nations matches. It doesn't seem he's visited any other part of the nation as well and yet there it is, in all the diversity of it's regions North and South East And West described as a "little s**t place.

Has he seen the golden beaches of Tenby? Or just taken in the views from the South Wales Valleys? Of course not.

I have seen tweets that suggest that all he was doing was providing "banter". Well that's rubbish. As I have said, national coaches should be diplomatic with their opponents. But also the point needs to be made. Eddie Jones wasn't insulting the Welsh team....he was insulting a nation.

I have said before that if there is a problem with the majority of the Welsh people it's that they are just too nice. What needs to happen is that the Welsh Rugby Union need to grow a pair and insist that Jones does not attend the six nations match between Wales and England in Cardiff next year. To allow Jones to attend would reduce the WRU to a sporting lapdog and would be an insult to Wales.

Until the next time

The Essex Exile Epilogue....Hopefully

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well after a period of about three months I've left my mother back in Essex and have returned to Wales alone. Whilst she is not one hundred percent better, she is well enough to look after herself now allowing me to come home with a clear conscience.

What have I learnt in all of this? Well I now know that Harlow is a far better place than it's reputation and that the TV series Bones has become a surprising favourite with me, creeping up as if unawares.

And of course I've missed seeing my wife and daughter during this period. And yes, I've missed Wales as well. For as I think I've mentioned before whilst I would certainly defend Essex to all comers it's not home.

But of course the most important thing is my mother's health. And although she is better a line has been crossed that all children no matter how old have to face. For when you have seen a parent in hospital for a length of time then there comes a moment when you realise that you're the parent now.

I have mentioned to her that she should move to Wales and live if not near then with us. For the first time she has not argued.

That is how much the events of the past few months have hit her.

Until the next time.

Wandering Again Through The Welsh Labour Shame That Is Bridgend Town.

Hello there. hope you're feeling well today.

As regular readers will know I have chronicled the decline of Bridgend Town since I began this blog a few years back in view I would argue of the rule of arrogant incompetence by the Labour council.

I haven't done this for a while. Partly because I've moved from the area (though I still work there) but of course for the main reason that as I've been in Essex exile looking after my mother I haven't been in Wales let alone Bridgend for the past few months.

(A quick aside. I'm writing this from Essex at my mother's home after her week's recuperation with me and my wife/daughter in Wales. But tomorrow will be leaving her to return the Vale of Glamorgan, She is not 100% but well enough that I can leave her alone with a clear conscience. Barring a disaster Essex exile will be over. I'll chat about that tomorrow)

But yesterday for reasons I won't bore you with I had before work the chance of wandering around the town and decided to do just that. Now before going on need to say that it was just two hours including grabbing a carton of chips and trying to eat it on the go without dropping them for lunch, a sort of potato jenga. So this was no scientific survey, just a wander.

So let's start with good news.

This store closed down last year but has now reopened. Never seen this in Bridgend Town before but worth mentioning. However for the most part nothing seemed have changed. A few new shops cannot hide the many empty ones.

The Latest Example

I wanted to see whether there are any changes from some particular examples I've previously mentioned. Let's start with the case of the Mcdonalds. Closed down in 2000 and left to rot for seventeen years until demolished late last year to be replaced by social housing and, incredibly given the aforesaid many empty shops in the town, retail units.

Anyway three to four months have passed since I last saw it so let's see how the building work is going on.

Err....

So at this moment it's the closest Bridgend Town shoppers will ever see a gap there. Let's hope that this is not going to take as long as the resolution of what to do with the Mcdonalds.

And what about the Nolton Arcade? Where aside from the two shops that back onto Nolton street every single shop has closed down?

Unchanged

And the Bridgend Indoor Market where there are many empty stalls. Well that was unchanged as well. Personally if I was a stall holder I would think that the council didn't really care for me. Little things you understand such as this.

It's March But The Christmas Decorations Are Still Up

Even when work is done to improve the town there seems to be potential problems, One of the buildings being renovated was First minister and local Assembly Member Carwyn Jones' old office (yes even he left Bridgend Town). All very well you might think, except whilst the work is being done there is a sign TO LET on it. The question is why do this when there are empty units in the very same street and those nearby. What purpose does this serve?

There was a particular shop closure that caught my eye. The business (a florist) didn't close down but said in a notice that it wasn't able to operate in Bridgend Town and was moving to nearby Porthcawl. Now what I'm going to say is off the top of my head and I might be wrong but I think that there are no florists in Bridgend Town.

It used to have two not that long ago.

Porthcawl has two.

It occurred to me that in any region what should be the biggest town should be the one that has more to offer than the other towns in the region. In the Bridgend borough though there is more of a debate in comparing Bridgend Town with Porthcawl or Maesteg.

Bridgend Town deserves better.

Until the next time.

It Might Have Been International Women's Day But Fathers And Sons Is Better Than Wives And Daughters...And Other Books

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today,

Well have been reading a few books since we last chatted. So let's start with a biography of Robert Burns by John Sharp. If this book was a meal I'd describe it as edible but nothing more. I'm sure there are better bios to use your time on instead.

You may remember a few posts back that I chatted about Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell and that I didn't like it. Well in the random way I pick books to read the next book turned out to be Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev (and it was random....honest!).

Whilst not perfect I enjoyed it. On the one hand you get the sons, with their youthful hopes,ideals cynicism, and disdain for their elders. Also properly discovering for the first time the mystery that are women. On the other there are the fathers. Men you feel are dissatisfied. The feeling that as their best years have passed them by they haven't yet found a certain peace within themselves.

There is more of the sons than the fathers, and as now I belong to the former I would have rather seen it the other way. Still of the books I'm chatting about today this was the best in my view.

The Angel of Terror by Edgar Wallace is one of those books that's perfectly acceptable as long as your brain is cruising in first gear. That said, Erle Stanley Gardner is better.

To be clear with regard to my criticisms of other Wallace thrillers it didn't strike me as racist and regard to sexist whilst the heroine has moments of dimness where she needs the help of men the cleverest villain is a woman. So I suppose that is some sort of equality.

Beowulf then. No one knows who wrote this epic poem but I think we can hazard a guess that it was a man, Indeed I'll go further by saying that it was not the sort of man who would wander lonely as a cloud and chat about daffodils either.

At the risk of being beheaded by the ghost of some Viking warlord what it didn't do is become one of those exceptions to my disregard of poetry. Ditto The Dalby Bear and Other Ballads by George Borrow.This time though I think this was my fault as I downloaded writers mentioned by Robert Macfarlane in his book Tracks ( W H Hudson was another) but in my eagerness to download everything I disregarded the fact that this is a ballad so probably better appreciated with music. I'll give George a pass.

Regular readers will know that there are certain writers that I describe as literary Switzerland in that whilst I don't dislike them I don't understand why they're considered great either. Anton Chekhov falls into this category and taken as a whole The Schoolmistress and Other Stories does not change anything.

There are exceptions. The title story (which is the best of the collection) and a few others make you sit up and take notice. But for the most part I just shrugged and moved on to the next tale.

In another tick off the literary bucket list the book I'm reading now is The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens. Can't say I'm happy with the portrayal of the villain but I'll chat about that when I've finished.

Until the next time.

Perhaps...Just Perhaps...The Lack Of Top Tier Free-to Air Welsh Rugby Might Be A Good Thing

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I am writing this, after all these months, in Wales. My mother is with me but next week I'll take her back to Essex and can leave her with a clear conscience. For whilst she's not a hundred percent she is well enough to look after herself. Barring an unexpected disaster Essex Exile has now finished.

One thing I discovered by accident when my mother was discharged from hospital but too ill to look after herself was that Welsh club rugby (shown on BBC Two Wales) was in fact available in Essex on the red button. So I had the very odd but almost comfort blanket feeling of watching it from far away.

This however is soon to be a thing of memories. Because the BBC have lost the rights to show Welsh club rugby (from the Pro14 competition) to pay TV operator Premier Sports.

It's not clear whether free-to-air top tier Welsh club rugby will be unavailable from next season. Premier Sports also own the FreeSports channel and negotiations with S4C are still ongoing. But for the moment let's assume that free to air coverage will be at the very least curtailed.

I've chatted before (whilst I'm not an expert on rugby) that I'm not a fan of the current structure of top tier Welsh Club rugby. Believing that it's greatest failure was that an assumption that because a place might be in a region's catchment area fans would automatically come to it (the South Wales Valleys and Cardiff Blues come to mind). The crowds, with or without free to air coverage have been I would argue consequentially pitiful compared to what would have been expected.

Taking away free to air matches would mean that the Pro 14 league will slowly fade away for most people. Out of sight out of mind. It will I'd predict in Wales anyway whither and die.

And for those of you who would trumpet the Pro 14 "product". I would point out that it's not just BBC Wales who've lost the rights. So have SKY. Don't you think if they really cared they would have battled tooth and nail to have kept it?

But perhaps....perhaps...it might be a good thing. S4C already and probably so will BBC Wales shows Welsh rugby games in the lower tiers. With clubs that are more connected with their community. With the focus on these clubs. Perhaps their crowds will increase. Perhaps more people will ignore the top tier and instead come together to support their local team.

Perhaps therefore there will be, all be it by accident, a return to the old values of Welsh club rugby.

Perhaps.

Until the next time.

More Reading At Outpatients

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well last Monday I was at outpatients with my mother. And as per usual there was the wait, and then another wait, and then another wait. And in the meantime I read. Some of these books were started before we went into the hospital and others were finished afterwards but they all bar the first had the outpatients reading vibe upon them.

Romance of Roman Villas (The Renaissance) by Elizabeth Champney then. When I started this read I said I didn't know what it was going to be. Now that I've finished it I can truly say nothing has changed. I wasn't really sure whether I was reading a historical novel, or a biography or art history. One moment the Borgias were being discussed. The next there were quotes from William Morris. My head hurt.

Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell was the next read. The good thing about this was that it's definitely a novel. And..... well.....that's it.

Written to be published in a magazine between 1864 and 1866 whilst this was (though obviously decades later) in a Jane Austen manner it was nowhere near as good. As regular readers will know Jane Austen is for me in that group of writers that comes in that neutral "literary Switzerland" territory.

Elizabeth Gaskell is however (based on the books I've read) more moving into the D H Lawrence blog villain category. Possibly this is to do with the reputation of North and South (which I haven't read) as a social novel in the Dickension mould. Wives and Daughters is anything but. Inconsequential is the best word I can describe this....and the most kindest.

A Hero Of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov is another book which I didn't like, Essentially a collection of tales with the overall arc surrounding them all I can say is that I suspect I would have enjoyed it more if I was Russian.

So now it's a biography of Robert Burns by John Sharp. Let's hope I like it better than this lot.

Until the next time