True Wales - on the button ...

... with today's press release.

TRUE WALES PRESS STATEMENT

19^th February 2013

True Wales is appalled that politicians, who claimed that the 2011 referendum was a 'minor tidying up exercise', are now calling for the devolution of policing and criminal justice.  It is notable, however, that they want full budget transfers, courtesy of the UK taxpayer, to fund their separatist plan.

These individuals explicitly denied that a Yes vote would lead to tax powers, a separate legal jurisdiction and the devolution of policing and criminal justice.  As True Wales accurately predicted, the people of Wales are never to be allowed a proper debate on the extent of the devolution journey.

It seems evident from their submission to the Silk Commission Part II that Ministers in Cardiff Bay are keen to cut, one by one, every tie that binds us to the United Kingdom. 

... all predicted by True Wales,

... all denied by politicians,

... all denied by separatists,

... so, who do we trust ?

.

The 3 C's, ...

... complain, challenge and Carwyn.

I should, as a taxpayer, complain about the monumental folly of  North Wales seabass,or more to the point, complain to the administrative party who were firmly in charge.

I should, as a taxpayer, challenge the current administration to publish the business plan and advice that has been used in the formulation of its plans to nationalise Cardiff Airport.

... and Carwyn might like to answer the complaint and challenge, he is, after all is said and done, the First Minister of our Welsh Assembly Government, who else should answer ....

.... or might I just lie back like the majority and let events fly over my head ?

... are our children disadvantaged by Welsh ?

A letter in today's Western Mail raises issues that need to be addressed ....

Foreign languages suffer from Welsh

 SIR – I was dismayed by the letter from Mererid Morgan of the WJEC (“Languages are a skill our jobseekers need”, Nov 7). I am astonished that this year only 25% of Welsh GCSE pupils entered a modern foreign language. In 2004 Estyn made a study of GCSE uptake in Welsh schools: the study found that GCSE entry by 15-year-olds had fallen from 45% in 1997 to 34% in 2003. Estyn also found that uptake was lower in Welsh Medium and  bilingual schools; 35% in EM schools and 30% in WM schools. In 2007 the Welsh Department of Education made a further study of Modern Foreign Language uptake; by this time only 28% of 15-year-olds entered a modern foreign language at GCSE and only 21 of those passed at A*-C. England at the same time entered 46% with 31% gaining A*-C. In England 40% of pupils took GCSE in a modern foreign language this year but the recent introduction of the “English Baccalaureate” has resulted in an increase in year 10 pupils taking languages. At advanced level Wales lags behind England in the main languages with 32% of English students gaining A*-A and Wales having 23% of students with an A*-A pass. Mererid Morgan is mistaken in thinking that bilingual Wales has an advantage in foreign language teaching, on the contrary, we have replaced foreign language study with compulsory Welsh lessons in all schools.In every survey of parents a majority say that they are against compulsory Welsh lessons and now even Simon Thomas AM for Plaid Cymru is questioning the utility of compulsory Welsh. Leighton Andrews needs to ask whether Wales is well served when we produce a workforce unable to communicate with the world outside Wales.  J.Jones, Ynys Mon.

WM link

So, could our children be disadvantaged by the teaching of Welsh !

Welsh language might just ...

... be at the point where it creates divisions, not for lack of cultural support, but because E·ON the electric utility service provider based in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany doesn't believe it can deliver competitive priced energy to the peoples of Wales, it has made public the fears that many people have, the fear that nation building by Cardiff Bay politics will be that "bridge too far", it will cost the little people far too much to the point where goodwill is lost at the checkout.

New Welsh language legislation obliges [under the law] private sector firms providing energy, telecommunications and transport to provide a bilingual service.

The E·ON warning is to be found in a leaked letter from E.ON.  The letter was part of its role in the recently-ended consultation on the exact standards the companies will have to meet to comply with the legislation, the firm says it is likely that the higher costs of providing the new Welsh language services will be mirrored in price rises for all customers in Wales.

E·ON ...

"We understand and support the overall aim of the consultation to increase the opportunity for Welsh people to use their language in their own country. 

"We are also fully aware and accepting of the fact that we would have to change how we operate in Wales in order to promote the Welsh language. 

"Our concern lies in both the cost and complexity of the proposals set out in the consultation. 

"We believe that the lack of flexibility in the proposed standards means that the cost of compliance will be high."

It continued ...

"In addition, we are concerned that the standards could make the acquisition of new customers in Wales less financially attractive to energy suppliers and therefore reduce customer choice.

I believe this means E·ON is threatening to withdraw from the market delineated by the reach of the legislation, would other energy suppliers follow E·ON and withdraw from our marketplace ?

E·ON expands ...

"These increased costs could be reduced if energy suppliers were able to match the activities provided in Welsh to demand from their customers. 

"We feel an incremental approach to providing Welsh language services would be more efficient and offer greater incentive to develop Welsh language provision further."

This is a reflection on the fact that demand for Welsh language services is very low except in very specific geographical areas of Wales, is there a business opportunity for a Welsh language service that could be used [shared] by all the private sector firms affected by  the legislation ...

... or could it be this new legislation is not so concerned with providing a good service to Welsh speakers but an attempt to restructure society in Wales, might the Welsh Language Commissioner take a leaf from the exploits of Cnut the Great who demonstrated the futility of standing in the path of waves [social progression]. 

When Scotland's former Auditor General Robert

... Black asks the question " ... is providing the current range of free public services sustainable", the Scottish National Party administration in Scotland said ...

The Scottish government said it remained committed to the council tax freeze, free prescriptions, free bus travel and its public service reforms.

... neatly sidestepping the question with a predictable sound-bite, but ignoring issues surrounding the big ticket items on societies agenda, items such as ...

Free personal nursing care.

When those schemes were set up in Scotland there was no hint given that the costs of those would be rising as quickly as they are now.

... projections relating to the seemingly minor concessionary travel scheme show costs could reach half a billion pounds by 2020s.

The Auditor asks the question ...

"... were the Members of the Scottish Parliament aware of that when they launched the policy?"

... and provides a frightening answer ...

"I suspect the frank answer is not. So to that extent I think I am on safe ground by saying the affordability of some this has to be questioned, we do need to revisit it. Every pound that goes on bus passes for well off older people is a pound that is not available for other things."

... he continues ...

"MSPs have become too cut off from the way services are delivered in local communities. He argued they should spend less time on passing unnecessary laws, to free up more time for budget scrutiny."

Robert Black believes that ...

"... political and media focus on the independence issue is leaving little space or opportunity to address the great challenges which we are facing. 

There is clear leadership on the independence debate, but on many of the other big issues, it can feel as if the politics of Scotland hasn't fully come to terms with the challenges we are now facing. 

No one party or leader is prepared to take the risk of being the first mover in re-thinking policies, whether it be penal reform (or) reshaping the health service.Consider the growth in police numbers from 6,900 in 1949 to more than 17,000 now, despite the use of technology for policing, and without any politician asking why the higher numbers are necessary. 

He said scrutiny of public services is "episodic and patchy" and mostly conducted at Holyrood, remote from the localities where the services are delivered".

Why would I write about devolved Scotland ?

Its because the conditions that exist in Scottish politics are mirrored in the politics of devolved Wales, I would say every word used by Robert Black is equally applicable to the machinations in Cardiff Bay.

It is time our politicians took time out and considered what it is to be like the little people who rely on the services delivered by government ...

... and to ask the little people very specifically whether propositions are acceptable  and to act in accordance with the wishes of the people.  

High double standards, a prerogative in Wales where ...

....  do as I say, not as I do, is the preferred way of  Carwyn and chums ...

In June, Health Minister Lesley Griffiths said she would be instructing all seven local health boards (LHBs) in Wales to publish their own corporate risk registers on their websites to :

... assess the likelihood of each risk ..., assess the impact ..., and have counter-measures in place should a risk become reality...

Carwyn Jones [the first minister] personally turned down a BBC Wales request under the Freedom of Information Act to see the government's corporate risk register.

... he said its disclosure would cause "substantial harm".

The registers are a list of all risks an organisation faces, here it is our Cardiff Bay administration.   

The risks assessed include financial, security and IT,  though not restricted to the three important considerations.

The chair of the assembly's public accounts committee, said...

"It smacks of double standards".

 ... the administration said ...

"Publishing risk registers may also appear to legitimise possible but unlikely risks"

"This could prejudice and distort informed public debate about important issues which in turn could have an impact on the conduct of public affairs"

Now myself, I have a need to see the truth, to see the difficult decisions governance deals with each day, I don't have a problem with political warts, I particularly have a need to judge the decision makers by their real actions not the spin.

It's a black day for democracy when political tyranny becomes the norm.

How long before the next election ? 

Is UKIP standing in Caerphilly at the next election ?

WAG, delusion or deceitful or just ...

... plain incompetent, it's a question to ponder.

Devolution is very simple when the rules are followed, and although there are many aspects to devolution in Wales, there is a simple fundamental rule for Carwyn Jones and Co, devolution has distinctive bounds ...

"The Government of Wales Act is clear that the assembly cannot legislate to modify the functions of a minister of the crown without their consent, unless such a modification is consequential or incidental to other provisions in the Bill."

...in simple English, Cardiff Bay cannot legislate Westminster out of Wales, no-matter how seemingly inconsequentially, without the approval of Westminster.

So what's it all about ?

Carwyn and Co, and the company is the whole assembly, voted to pass the Bill that is said to "tidy up and streamline the way council bye-laws in Wales are made", it all happened on 3 July with no members objecting.  The link and the link.

That seems straightforward, except it cuts out of the local government loop the Secretary of State (SoS) for Wales, it has modified the functions of the Rt Hon Cheryl Gillan.  So has WAG been delusion or deceitful or just plain incompetent, there can be very little doubt that the Assembly members collectively are pupils before the headteacher whilst the SoS exists, they have an obligation by virtue of the conditions of Government of Wales Act 2006 to protect her ( it could very well be a him in the near future ) very existence. 

So did this very Welsh Assembly decide behind closed doors with its very secret civil servants to attempt the removal of the SoS from part of Civic Wales by stealth ?

I'm inclined to believe so, Carwyn and Co have tried to disfranchise the SoS of a function, this would have been the very thin end of a democratic wedge, a precedent that future legislation could build upon to divest Wales of the links to Westminster by stealth.

The rules of engagement are changing, it is a short journey from stealth to deception ... neither of which produces Justice for the little people no-matter where they exist.  If the Assembly and its administration at Cardiff Bay wish to cut the links to Westminster the question should be put to the electorate ...

Do you want independence, Yes or No.

... else the Assembly should draw in its neck and stick to the rules that the peoples of Wales have approved through their endorsement at the ballot box.

Returning to the question ...

... delusion or deceitful or just plain incompetent

I'll leave you to decide ....

What would Kier Hardy ...

... have thought about our wannabe emperor's new clothes lectern ?

Carwyn Jones needs a ...

... £1800 podium and the £4500 Welsh slate emblem on the wall together with flags, missing were the trumpets and soldiers at attention when he made a grand entrance ... 

... he, is it Mr President or Carwyn Jones these days, was reported by Betsan Powys as saying "We kept costs to a minimum".

On the other hand, a century ago Kier Hardy speaks to the people with little more than relevance ....

... whilst Carwyn Jones needs a lectern to speak to the press ( are they children to pump up the numbers in the audience I wonder) , he needs to grip the sides to stop himself from falling in excitement ...

... but he just doesn't cut it like President Obama, relaxed, at ease with himself and the world that knows who he is, with or without a lectern ...

... there can be no doubt our First Minister, how soon before he calls himself Prime Minister or President, has illusions of grandeur, to the little people of Wales he is the King who wears no clothes ...

What's next I wonder, maybe a limousine but to keep up with President Obama Wales would need its very own ...

... Secret Service Presidential Protective Division ...

It's a bit too much over breakfast ..........

... can you fool all (update) ...

... the people all of the time ?

Lesley Griffiths

Betsan Powys

Wales on Line

... this politician seems to think so.

... if there were such a thing as Justice, then Carwyn Jones would remove her.

... if there were such a thing as honour, then Griffiths would go,


Update, the British Medical Association say the report is discredited.

The borrowers ...

... of Wales, no film script, its the real thing, WAG wants to borrow £ billions.

The big question is how do the politicians propose to fund their political "retail" therapy, by repaying from the £15 billion block grant, or by joining the Big Society with a local income tax.

Financially there is little to choose between payment from the block grant and payment from a local income tax, both are the means to an end, but democratically the difference is between night and day, chalk and cheese, it puts final approval of spending where it should be, at the ballot box.

So David Cameron, give them borrowing powers coupled to tax raising powers, let them be accountable via the ballot box.

Well Carwyn, for Wales read England.

In today's (£) Times ...

The failings that spell trouble ahead for Britain – one in five can’t read or write.

Politicians dreaming of a high-tech, skills-based economy leading a march to recovery suffered a rude awakening at the hands of the European Commission yesterday. Britain, it says, is held back by having too many illiterate and innumerate adults with no qualifications and is not doing enough to help them.

According to research by the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training, the number of low-skilled jobs will fall by 51 per cent this decade, while medium and high-skilled jobs will rise by 16 per cent and 21 per cent, respectively. The Commission said that Britain could gain “significant economic and social benefits” from doing more to address the needs of people with no qualifications, including increasing their capacity to benefit from vocational training. "Given the long-term trends in demand for higher skills, the UK has not yet addressed its basic skills problems sufficiently. Many challenges remain, and there is no certainty that the UK can ensure that enough of the young people entering the labour market will have adequate skills in the short to medium term," it said. 

A report by the World Literacy Foundation found that one in five adults in Britain was “functionally” illiterate.

Brussels also told the Government that it needed to pursue a long-term strategy to improve the capacity and quality of its infrastructure, such as easing the pressures on transport and energy networks. It said that as part of the Government’s austerity measures, public sector net investment would fall sharply by 2014-15, "exacerbating shortcomings in transport infrastructure". It also said that a lack of housing supply was a potential source of instability. “The high levels of household debt accumulated over the past decade are linked closely to high house prices and represent an important imbalance in the UK economy,” it said

Rachel Reeves, Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: "This is just the latest international organisation to warn that the Conservative-led Government urgently needs a plan for jobs and growth."

It's all devolved, the responsibility in our green and pleasant land rests firmly in the lap of the Labour led administration at Cardiff Bay.

Plaid Cymru alliance with trade union ...

... ( PCS) is no different to an alliance between politicians and any other interest group, it is the imposition of a sectional interest upon the whole of society, in this instance the imposition of sectional interests upon civic society found in Wales.

Following a meeting between  Darren Williams, PCS’ campaigns officer for Wales and Plaid Cymru leader Monday last, he confirmed that the union was prepared to work alongside anybody they believed shared their objectives.  He confirmed that Peter Harris, PCS Wales secretary met Leanne Wood to talk informally about a few proposals for taking forward some campaigning work.

There is a darker side to this alliance, minority politics (Plaid has been reduced to a minority party in Wales) can by association with other radical minority interest groups disrupt the life of people disproportionate to any numerical influence gained at the ballot box.

Is there a positive note that democracy can bring from this alliance ...

... Wood has coupled a trade union with her political party in a public manner, there can be no doubt as to where Plaid Cymru would take Wales, to an even darker place than Carwyn Jones who yesterday suggested WAG might buy Cardiff Airport, nationalisation in the 21st century seems so out of place, so 19th century.

But we get what we vote for in a democracy ....... someone at the Assembly might like to remind the sitting members that they have a job to do that requires a quality of purpose, hot topics such as Education and Health .......... buying airports is such political bullshit ...

... is Carwyn singing to Wood .............. "move over darling" ?

Leighton Andrews and Ice Cream, ...

... do you see the connection between the Wales administration Education Minister and the favourite summer pudding (in the USA many prefer frozen custard, both are good) ?

In Wales Andrews oversees the failing education of our children, falling standards for the most basic skills, the Welsh baccalaureate qualification that fails to live up to expectations, under funding of education in Wales is a disgrace to the tune of £600 per pupil each year when compared to England, despite education funding being budgeted exactly the same at Westminster.

Leighton Andrews, through his department, instead of solving the problems takes a different tack, on funding it stops publishing figures for comparison, and to excuse the basket case of WAG failure he lays the blame East of Offa's Dyke, he blames ...

... English exceptionalism !

... he dismisses change by assigning a label to disparage its worth, whilst England offers options for education, whilst excellence is pursued as you travel East from Cardiff Bay, in Wales we have a system devoid of ideas, and an inability of politicians to admit they have screwed up, failed at least two generations of children, failed two generations who will watch as the skilled jobs haemorrhage Wales.

And the Ice Cream ....

In the words of Patrick Jake (P. J.) O'Rourke ...

"The symbol of universal salvation is ice cream.  We are blessed with an infinite number of cleverly created delicious flavours.  But we are required by law to use someone else's tongue to lick them."

What a to-do ...

... the Aneurin Bevan Health Board fined £70,000 by the Information Commissioners Office for sending a report containing explicit details relating to a patient’s health to the wrong person.

 Hat Tip Valleys Mam

The safeguarding of personal information by public and private bodies, should be awarded the gravitas the public apportion it, but what about the Aneurin Health Board …

It serves an estimated population of over 639,000, approximately 21% of the total Welsh population?

435,013 patients were seen and treated in Outpatient clinics during the year 2010/2011?

21,103 outpatient appointments were carried out in mental health?

Between April and July 2010, 1476 bins of waste medicine were collected from pharmacists in the Gwent area? Placed end to end this would be the length of 79 double decker buses.

2.5 million GP consultations take place every year in the Health Board area. 88,000 calls were made to the GP our of hours service, 60% of these were made over the weekend?

47,244 operations are carried out in our acute hospitals, Caerphilly District Miners' Hospital, Nevill Hall Hospital and the Royal Gwent Hospital.

There were 150,712 new patient attendances at our Accident and Emergency Departments.

There were 10,529 new patient attendances at Minor Injuries Units in community hospitals.

 Unfortunately having to pay the fine of£70,000 this record of service will be reduced, my prediction.

 So my question to those that impose the fine ...

As a taxpayer and patient of the Aneurin Health Board ...

... why are you penalising me and every other of the 639,000 people served by the Aneurin Health Board because an otherwise excellent clinical organisation has a problem with its administration.

The politicians that created a legislative structure that penalises innocent patients because of administrative mistakes smacks of political duplicity, the inability to formulate the means to protect

personal information is juvenile. We don't need fines,

But when the Information Commissioners Office head of enforcement, says

"....... organisations across the health service must stand up and take notice of this decision if they want to avoid future enforcement action from the ICO."

He confirms the actions of the Information Commissioners Office were an attempt to bully other health service organisations into submission, better if this organisation became proactive amongst the disparate taxpayer funded organisations, help them get better ....... but the fine is the easy way out, all mouth and trousers by un-civil servants.
 

Wales, time for effective education ...

... (there were nearly 100,000 surplus places in Wales last year) must begin with an urgent need for information from both parents, pre-parents and local authorities ...

... from parents what medium do you want to educate your children with, English or Welsh ?

... from pre-parents (boys and girls, men and women without children of school age), as for parents.

... from local authorities, how many surplus places do you have.

... only then can the recommendations of Estyn be implemented. 

Governors and teachers leaders say the issue is more complex and needs more consideration, this position is of course bullshit ...

... the only complexity is the notion that parents might object to busing children to fewer schools, in a world where budgets are very tight the local authorities might like to extend a questionnaire to the whole taxpaying network of its borough, it might like to offer the existing (complex) option as a fourth option ...

... do you agree to keep the status quo and agree to a 25% increase in your council tax.

... the opposition of school governors and teachers becomes less complex when the people who pick up the tab each year are consulted.

The story in full.

When Leanne Wood asked Carwyn Jones ...

... if he supported 5 job Russell Roberts he twisted the debate cleverly to force Wood into a recorded humiliation she will find difficult to loose...

... the question though has been answered by the electorate in Tonyrefail East, the results :

In
Paul Wasley Independent 629 votes (elected)
Bob McDonald Labour 610 (elected)

Woods answer
Russell Roberts Labour 576 .......... and rejected by the people who matter.

Failed
Phil Doyle Independent 549
Greg Powell Plaid Cymru 430
Hendrik Haye Lib Dem 178

Plaid have been sold a pup ...

... by the supporters of community councillor Leanne Wood (aka Plaid Cymru Party Leader), she just doesn't have the polish that the First Minister has in abundance.

When she failed to trap Carwyn Jones into criticising his own Labour politicians in the Rhondda, a local issue for Woody (she's a Rhondda girl), he wanted to out Plaid's indifference to the plight of working men and women throughout Britain .... but he changed tack, from his list of "questions awkward" came his killer stroke to send her to the back of the class with a dunces cap firm on her head .....

“Does she (Leanne Wood) have full confidence in Neil McEvoy (extreme Plaid of Cardiff), someone who she’s condemned in the past?”

Her response was ....

"I’m not responding to that !"

... with crossed arms reminiscent of "Brian's" mother in Monty Python's Life of Brian.

 

Carwyn voiced the sound ....

"Aaaaaaah"

 ... laughs all round (the debating chamber and hills of Wales).

McDonalds have a lot to ...

... teach our home grown politicians, because no-matter how you view their food, and the Chicken Legend with Batavia lettuce and Spicy Tomato Salsa in a bakehouse roll makes a mouth water, they know how to get things to the customers ............

In Wales, like so many parts of the world, we have a housing crisis, at least that's how politicians refer to it ......... crisis ..........we should have a solution at hand, there are enough politicians across the political divides of our green and pleasant lands, there are ...

Plaid Cymru, the home-grown separatist party without an original idea that can be shared, it said :

It (Plaid Cymru) wants to devolve primary legislation to housing, and pledge more affordable housing over the next four years.

Liberal Democrats, the mishmash of liberal tolerance that they couple with a we know best relationship with the world, it said :

They (the Welsh Liberal Democrats) place emphasis on bringing empty homes back into use, bringing more private money into housing and protecting any new social rented housing from being sold under the Right-to-Buy scheme for a minimum of 25 years, in areas where this is needed.

Conservatives in Wales on the other hand seem to have lost the plot completely when they were reported as saying :

The Conservatives pledge to tackle the problem of 'garden grabbing' and halting inappropriate development on flood plains in the countryside.

The Labour Party come to the rear of this motley crew with help upgrading the insulation, bathrooms and kitchens of those living in social housing :

They (Welsh Labour) say it remains committed to a strong mix of social and private housing, and promises a further £1.2bn to deliver the Welsh Housing Quality Standard for all council and housing association tenants across Wales.

Now to be fair, the current Welsh Assembly Government has put its toe into the waters that hold a real solution for those in need of good homes, I reported it last Tuesday, the Ely Project.  The only things this excuse for governance had to stump up was a loan of £6 million (chickenfeed by political standards), and I think public sector land, why no other plans ?


Now back to McDonald's, I wonder what they would do if they were sitting in Cardiff Bay with the "motley crew", I think they would have a programme up and running within 18 months delivering at least 10,000 homes (social housing) a year for a decade.  It money for old rope, in the UK if the people living in the homes fall an bad times the government picks up the tab, it's better business than the Quarter Pounder Deluxe with Bacon, unfortunately in Wales .........

............ we have an enormous amount of political .....

..................................... bullshit .

Organ donation with WAG is another ...

... dogs dinner.


The basic proposal ......

Opt-out systems are characterised as hard or soft:

1. ... in a hard opt-out system the removal and use of organs and tissues is permissible unless the deceased objected during his or her lifetime;
2. ... in a soft opt-out system the removal and use of organs and tissues is also permissible unless the deceased objected during his or her lifetime, but after death relatives are involved in the decision making process around donation.

The Welsh Government is proposing a soft opt-out system for Wales.

So at a stroke this parody of administration will take away my wishes Post-mortem.


What price democracy, what price moral autonomy, what next from our second division politicians at Cardiff Bay.

At a stroke they have lost this organ donor.

At BBC Wales there has been a general debate, it seems opposition to this proposed legislation is shared with many others, the debate has stopped, but the sentiments remain as a record.

Politics in wales ...

... is a little like the inside of a teenagers head !

Woolly, without substance or a credible plan, that moves in a circular manner ......

So where do you throw an idea, not an original idea, a borrowed idea from another part of the world that fills a very urgent need in "Business UK".

Do you share it with our regional political parties, our Welsh Assembly Government .........

... Labour in power, do we send a note or email to ( correspondence.edwina.hart@wales.gsi.gov.uk ) the Business, Enterprise, Technology and Science minister Edwina Hart Assembly Member ((MBE, OStJ, that's a fourth grade award that could match her political abilities, yes she has taken to adding her medals of honour); unfortunately this politician pays lip-service to the world of commerce, she is on record as proposing re-visiting the world of Karl Marks.  So Wales is sidestepped and off to Westminster we go.

After leaving the rarefied world of left wing Wales politics it comes as quite a shock to walk through doors to The Palace of Westminster, only to be met by a veritable wall of confusion, inside this confusion the hubris shown by the politicians of Westminster beggars belief, they constantly try to make sense of (British) life in order to impose its narrow political view on the peoples (of the United Kingdom), and most recently the government has failed at every turn because it was forced to compromise.

If politics fails, where next ?

Going right to where I began ...

... the Valley Orchard black mission figs, the Scharffen Berger chocolate or the organic garden mint, I chose each ingredient to compliment and enhance the natural goodness of Laloo's ® Goat's Milk Ice Cream.

... how would "Dai the Drag Bevan" (a work colleague from Swansea), a lifetime vegetarian, finance his Cwm Tawe (Swansea Valley) Goat's Milk Ice Cream Company, where would he go for finance that would fit in with the very seasonal nature of his idea ?

... he might consider  :

                                                ... to be continued !