Yesterday’s announcements on troop withdrawals in 2013 are of course welcome, they are a clear sign that we will leave Afghanistan and that there has been great progress in preparing the Afghan security forces to take the lead. But there is still much to be done there. Afghanistan is far from being a country at…
I was invited onto a BBC Wales radio programme, Sunday Supplement, last Sunday, taking a look at some of the stories making the news in the last week. I was there to talk about the long term effects of war and awful situations on the health of servicemen and ex-servicemen that had been triggered by…
David Cameron is taking a sensible lead in supporting gay marriage, one that many would not have expected from a Conservative Prime Minister. Our society has moved on so quickly and so sensibly that the homophobia of old really has been discarded to history where it belongs.
How can anyone be anything other than appalled at the decision to close Remploy factories as announced last week? (click logo for announcement) The decision is morally wrong, unsupportable from an holistic economic perspective and makes no social sense what so ever. Furthermore it is morally and socially reprehensible. Forget the economic arguments, forget who…
We all need broadband, it’s probably more important now to businesses than even a telephone system. So any improvements to services in Wales are to be welcomed. But I really would like to understand who determined that Newport should receive a slice of cash for the development of “ultra-fast fixed broadband access and large areas of public…
If the consumption of alcohol has been declining in Britain since 2004, as reported by the Office of National Statistics, why then does the Government need to consider introducing a minimum price for alcohol? There is no logic to it, especially as there has been no decline in alcohol related deaths in that period.
The Police and Crime Commissioner manifestos: Weren’t they all a bit PC (no pun intended)? Nowhere did I hear anyone saying that they would take the speed cameras off the road, and stop persecuting motorists. Nobody wanted to look for swingeing cuts to make savings to do something better elsewhere Nobody said they liked what they say,…
I will be expressing my feeling in next week’s election of Police and Crime Commissioner by spoiling my ballot paper. It’s the only way I can think of to protest – albeit in a pretty futile way – against this ridiculous election. I’ve never spoilt a ballot paper before, and have always voted as I believe in…
Over in Dyfed Powys there are 2 people standing for the role of Police Commissioner: Christopher Salmon Christine Gwyther I know very little about either of them, but I do know that Ms Gwyther used to be an Assembly Member. The one question I would want to ask her if I had the chance would…
What is it about organisations or institutions nowadays that makes them think they have to “Do Something” whenever there is a problem? I refer, in this instance, to Plaid Cymru’s suspension of Bethan Jenkins AM. Bethan appears to have committed an offence by driving under the influence of alcohol. and nobody can condone that. But the last…
Boris Johnson won in London, George Galloway won in Bradford, but what is it that made them winners? I think the answer is pretty clear: they both stood for something and both connected with and appealed to the voters.
I didn’t get to see The Queen on her visit to Wales this week, but I wish I had. I’m a bit of a Traditionalist and Royalist, but that’s irrelevant because the main reason for wanting to see her was to see the sheer sense of joy that she brings to those who turn out…