No discrimination in Caerphilly ...

... an update, the timely response from Cllr. Fussell.

Hello Mr Tyler,

The Apprenticeship and Trainee (A&T) scheme has been designed to attract any local individual who may be currently going through or completed education or further education. The council has linked with training partners and government agencies to support the delivery of the schemes and these include Active Pathways, Job Centre plus, Princes Trust, Stepping Stones 14 to 19 Unit, ACT, ITEC, College Ystrad Mynach, Educ8 and a few more.

In its delivery the council have taken on board apprentice posts within its own services and these posts allow the individual to continue to progress their education via college , university. In addition some graduate posts have also been created in specific council areas.

It's accepted that the partners for the A&T scheme are local educational and training establishments and that most applicants will be from the immediate Caerffili County, however this may not always be the case and its not a deciding factor when going through the application process.

I hope that I have answered your question in as much that we source apprentices and trainees from a wide pool of establishments who deliver a service to people who may live in Caerffili, but not necessarily so.

Regards

James Fussell

Cabinet Member for Human Resources
(Ward Member for St Martins)

No discrimination in Caerphilly then ....

... but in the less than civilised areas a different tale !

Discrimination in Caerphilly ...

... by the Plaid administration, the tip of an iceberg or isolated case.

Naturally I have asked Cllr Fussell the question ...

Could you define your expression “local people” in the context of the article.

I wonder how non-local people are disbarred from the opportunities, might it be place of birth or could it be related to where a person has lived during the previous decade ?

There are other movements in Wales using petitioning to gain legal discrimination to prevent "non-local people" being given social housing, with Caerphilly leading the way where will it end ...

... is my daughter a non-local, she was born in England, my wife has only lived in Wales for ten years, is that sufficient qualification to become "local" ............

Kant wrote in his ...

... famous essay on "Perpetual Peace":

"Many say a republic would have to be a nation of angels, because men with their selfish inclinations are not capable of a constitution of such sublime form. But precisely with these inclinations nature comes to the aid of the general will established on reason, which is revered even though impotent in practice. Thus it is only a question of a good organization of the state (which does lie in man's power), whereby the powers of each selfish inclination are so arranged in opposition that one moderates or destroys the ruinous effect of the other. The consequence for reason is the same as if none of them existed, and man is forced to be a good citizen even if not a morally good person.

The problem of organizing a state, however hard it may seem, can be solved even for a race of devils, if only they are intelligent. The problem is: 'Given a multitude of rational beings requiring universal laws for their preservation, but each of whom is secretly inclined to exempt himself from them, to establish a constitution in such a way that, although their private intentions conflict, they check each other, with the result that their public conduct is the same as if they had no such intentions.'

A problem like this must be capable of solution; it does not require that we know how to attain the moral improvement of men but only that we should know the mechanism of nature in order to use it on men, organizing the conflict of the hostile intentions present in a people in such a way that they must compel themselves to submit to coercive laws. Thus a state of peace is established in which laws have force."

 ... but is his observations of a Europe seemingly in perpetual warfare relevant today, in Britain, in Wales ?

To reform or not reform, that ...

... is a question for the people.

The referendum of 5th May this year asked the public whether they wished to keep the first-past-the-post system for Westminster elections or switch to the alternative vote (AV), the reply from the electorate to our politicians was a 2 to 1 in favour of the current "First Past the Post" system, an unambiguous rejection of change; in Wales the national vote rejected the proposed change by a margin that matched very closely the national vote.

So when an anonymous Labour Party spokesman (Wales) says:

"... our position is crystal clear - the Tories in Westminster have no mandate for changing the electoral system in Wales".

... they are utterly wrong, the referendum gave Westminster a mandate.  Of the 440 voting areas across the country, the Yes votes supporting change made up the majority in only 10 areas.  The 10 areas are: Cambridge, Camden, Edinburgh Central, Glasgow Kelvin, Hackney, Haringey, Islington, Lambeth, Oxford, Southwark; I don't see a Wales constituency in the list.

So why are Carwyn and chums so afraid of a change that would revert to the peoples preference, it is must be because they are afraid the "also ran" parties, including my Tory preference, who would be put out into the cold by the electorate. It's obvious that publically they must be seen to oppose the proposed change because the buffoons and poltroons of politics, and organisations that hang onto the coat tails as "reformers", because of the heinous label being bandied about by probable losers...

"Gerrymandering."

Fortunately for all, the electorate prefer a winner to a loser, so Carwyn's bluster is just that, I am sure behind closed doors there is the expectation of great things to come .......... from the left wing !

Wales through the eyes of the Times ...

...journalist Giles Coren :

God, I love Wales. And I love the Welsh. They are so much more mellow, more at peace with themselves and with the world, than the people of this United Kingdom’s other smaller nations. They’re not all up in your face with their tedious folklore and nationalist yearnings and the anti-imperial truisms of long, fighty memory. They’re not all wiry and shouty and drunk and thinking they invented poetry. They just chill their boots in their gorgeous country, and speak to each other in the lilting calypso of their magical language – no doubt about what terrible bastards the rest of us are – and sing their songs and eat their wonderful food and look out at the sea. 

  ... yesterday 19 Nov 2011, he obviously missed the ten percent that would float Wales off into the Irish sea, fortunately for the reputation of the peoples of Wales.

Right to buy, here in Wales ...

... the politicians will probably say no to the people.

Across the boundary that was Offa's Dyke David Cameron and Nick Clegg will reveal details on Monday of their vision to democratise housing further, Margaret Thatchers flagship programme of council house sales is to be upgraded to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

The average £26,000 discount for a council home is set to jump to about £52,000, with tenants in London and the South East saving even larger sums under the new scheme, additionally first-time buyers will be eligible for 95 per cent mortgages, similar to those available at the height of the property boom five years ago, and underwritten by the government.  Will the new loan guarantee result in lenders providing mortgages with deposits of only 5 per cent, compared with the 20 per cent or more that has to be paid at the moment?


Mr Cameron will also confirm plans to release thousands of acres of public land owned by hospitals, schools and the Ministry of Defence to allow, in theory, up to 100,000 homes to be built.

Good news?  Probably, it has every chance of working, the right ingredients are ready to put into the mixing bowl, unfortunately for the peoples of Wales mainstream politics is firmly embedded in the politics of the last century so the scheme is unlikely to migrate westwards ..............

.............. yet we all pay the same taxes ?

If you build it, they will ...

... come to the market.

Two quiet reports have made the news, both should have been shouted from the rooftops of our various political houses, and surprise surprise, it is not just Westminster that is able to act, our very own Assembly is able to contribute to the solution and share considerable kudos with Westminster !

The first report relates to the governments (Westminster) intention to inject billions into the economy, with the proviso that each investment be sold onto various markets, energy, various infrastructure such as roads and hospitals, and the Coup de grâce is social housing.


The second report in today's Times by the country’s largest listed residential landlord "Grainger" that predicts the shortage of housing will force 50% of the population to rent by 2026.

One man's desperation is another man's opportunity, and this particular conundrum opens the door for Carwyn into Downing Street, not with a begging bowl, but with an opportunity to share in the finance bowl.  The intention is not to coerce businesses into building for the future, but for government to under-right projects that would then be sold on to those best fitted to finance and manage the ensuing business.

Carwyn is positioned to gain capital for much needed social housing, such projects do not have to be sold on to outfits such as Grainger, there would be sufficient time for existing social landlords local to the Principality, though in the larger scheme it wouldn't matter a jot as long as the peoples of Wales could live in good homes.

It's a roller-coaster world that a life-changing ...

... condition presents to the unwary, it focuses the mind, cutting through the crap and identifying those that would have you change your life to suit their unbecoming style, particularly politics, and it is here I would start.

There exists in cyberspace an anonymous creature that uses the penname "Welsh Ramblings", he writes here of Wales and his vision of a very socialist society, to give credit, there is consistency, a single minded purpose to drive Wales into the arms of a Albanian style dictatorship of the 1950's.  The latest diatribe consists of an attack on the WAG Labour administration entitled "Labour: against Welsh democracy", it is because the penny has dropped amongst the Cardiff Bay politicians that "First Past the Post" produces stronger government, I wrote following the last election that the Labour Party would have a governable majority were it not for the system that introduces losers into the political equation.

Democracy is left at the ballot box as the electorate make their choice, what comes after should be "winner takes all", who wants anything other than winners at the Assembly.

Peter Black today wrote ...

In fact the mandate for the Assembly's voting system lies in the 1997 referendum, when voters supported a partially proportional system of electing AMs, in which the constituency boundaries were tied to those for Westminster.

... Liberal Democratic bullshit, the electorate were given two choice questions:

• I agree that there should be a Welsh Assembly.
• I do not agree that there should be a Welsh Assembly.

... no mention of voting systems on that particular ballot paper, the recent referendum did ask the electorate whether it was their wish to move from the FPTP currently used for National Elections, the electorate made a categoric choice, it wishes to keep FPTP rejecting second place politics.  It was politicians and their familiars that created the Wales voting system, not the people.

... a message to Peter Black goes something like "........... the electorate, we do not like lies."

And to finish my Sunday night post, I was diagnosed as diabetic just three weeks ago, I am fortunate it is only Type 1; medication, diet and exercise has taken over my life, fortunately it doesn't affect the mind, not just yet anyway.

... and congratulations to Jon and Miranda on the arrival of Amelie, a pretty little girl.