May 10

 Media danger 

As an old reporter I am sorry to say that reading newspapers and watching and listening to broadcast news these days is a danger to our health.

I am doing it much less, tired of the endless negative, sensational accounts of most topics, especially war, the economy, who did what in lockdown and the impending doom of the UK.

Just look at a few recent stories-

Economy: Man goes to the library to stay warm; More than 2m adults cannot afford to eat every day: Fire chief warns against fires in efforts to save heating.

War: Putin preparing for long war.  Sixty killed in Russian air strike. Ukrainians in UK face years of war trauma therapy.

Politics: Chaos in Northern Ireland.  Partygate, Beargate.

Travel: Chaos at airports for holiday travellers.

Just a sprinkling of the shower of depressing news. Give it a rest, please.

Worse than negative, in fact, more often 

As

R 

May 10

 Oh, dear!

In my last school report just months before World War Two broke out the report from my history master was devastating. ‘Too vague and romantic’, he  wrote, accurately. He meant my knowledge of and enthusiasm for dates and monarchies was abysmal. 

It has never improved as my blog yesterday confirmed. 

Any of my readers - are there any? -  could see the catalogue of errors. Robert, who must live and breathe figures pointed them all out and he will edit my offering.

So thank you, Robert and for the rest of you, please forgive me. I will not  be quoting dates again. 

 With my failing memory, it is fatal.

 enthusiasm for dates and monarchies  most of it eas made up

Skinner

Historic

June 2022. An historical month and year. The platinum anniversary of the queen’s reign that began dramatically with the sudden death death of her father, King George V1 in 1952.

I remember it well, and many royal events, going back to the solemn radio announcement of the death of King George V and  in the 86 years since, those that have shaped her.

I recall as a schoolboy standing in the crowds opposite Wandsworth county hall for what I think must have been a visit by the queen’s mother Queen Elizabeth soon after the abdication of uncrowned Edward VIII.

We waved the mini flags and ‘goody bags’, gifts, I presume, from Wandsworth council.

I have seen the queen many times, first when I was a reporter covering her visits to Wales. Always at the rear of the press motorcade, when she stopped for an engagement I had to race up and report it.

When we were in our flat in Caerphilly Rosemary set  up a camera in our window overlooking the main Street to get an exclusive picture for the South Wales Argus as the queen drove past.

She missed it. 

Later, when I was city and county public relations officer I was at royal lunches in the city hall .

I have even provided briefing notes for her visits.

And, a unique experience, I went down a coal mine with her in the Rhymney Valley, following her as she stopped to talk to colliers and pat pit ponies.

My last royal  experience was an evening at Buckingham palace seven years ago, celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust of which I am now the oldest member in Wales, and was introduced to her and the Duke of Edinburgh.

But that’s enough name dropping!

As almost the same age as Her Majesty, I had hoped I might get an invitation to the celebrations in London. I am still waiting.

 

 

I went down a coal mine in the Rhymney Valley with her.

Two of the most exciting royal events were the gardena

May 6

Election aftermath

For anyone involved in elections the count is a momentous occasion. Jubilation or despair. And overwhelming tiredness after long hours of tension. 

In Wales where unlike in my day it was all cut and dried in one day, the count dos not begin until next morning, meaning a sleepless night for the candidates.

For almost sixty years as a reporter and in local government I was caught up in the excitement, the frenzy.

There were stories to write and in my council years reflection on the difference the result might make to me if my council changed hands, which happened from time to.time.

The biggest upheaval in my career was when the London Borough Hounslow went from blue to red overnight with almost all the members who had appointed me thrown out. I soldiered on, unlike my colleague in the neighbouring borough who lost his job.

Whatever the size of the council the prize is to control, to have power. I was fortunate that all the ones I worked for showed initiative and innovation. None more so than my first, Caerphilly urban district, that became nationally noted for its pioneering work in housing - the first housing association in Wales - and promoting industry and commerce. I advertised our first industrial state at a penny a square foot. A USA firm, Gem Corporation, built the first hypermarket  in Wales in Caerphilly in the early 1960s.

In its most ambitious move, the council bought lock stock and barrel the town’s huge railway works, ‘the Welsh Swindon’ after its closure.

In the years that followed I kept ratepayers in Wales and London interested and informed of the work, the successes and problems of the men and women they had voted in.

I was the first local government public relations officer in,Wales, at that time looked upon with suspicion of bias towards my council. It was demanding yet rewarding occupation..

National governments may hold the purse strings but it is the local councillors who have the most impact on our ordinary daily lives. 

As the new councils take over in most difficult of circumstances they deserve our interest and support. I vote for that,

 

May 5

Sell out

Forty years after Mrs Thatcher offered council house tenants an offer they could not refuse the government is thinking of repeating the move..

Not believing their good fortune, by 1995 2.1 million had bought their home at a knock-down price - a 60 % reduction - and Britain has been struggling ever since to provide enough affordable homes.

Almost 70% of people in the UK own property, far fewer than most European countries. In Germany it is only 20%.

Useful if you are among those fortunate ones, with some properties, including London, worth more than £1 million. but increasingly difficult for the younger generation, coping with crippling costs and having to resort to renting.

And what  the did the he government do with that £28billion windfall? It disappeared in the treasury coffers and did not produce a  single new house. 

I am fortunate in owning an excellent Wales and the West Housing Association flat.

Founded in 1965 it now owns 12,000 properties, mostly for rent. It is one of the biggest providers of affordable homes houses and flats, building hundreds a year.

This could be in danger if the government goes ahead with its ill-advised plan that would exacerbate the dire housing situation, denying young people a chance of a home of their own.

May 4

A growing idea

Since I was a child I have been fascinated by growing fruit. My first attempt in our back garden at Bushey Road, West Ham, to produce my own strawberries was a failure but over the years I have had some success in producing fruit and vegetables in my garden at Winnipeg Drive, Cardiff.

I have even raised tomatoes and mint in tubs on my flat balcony in Penarth.

So I am delighted to see that this grow-at-home idea has caught on. Across Britain hundreds of groups are transforming spare land into micro gardens, producing fruit and vegetables for their communities.

‘Fourteen years ago in Yorkshire a ‘Right to grow’ was organised and the local council allowed them to plant trees and vegetables in unused, neglected public land.

Now the idea is catching on and more local authorities are seeing the benefits of using verges and waste land to grow food.

The next step is to persuade the government to back the scheme and it seems possible as there is cross party support.

I have been impressed by town streets overseas lined with apple trees, providing an array of blossoms and free apples, in contrast to the ill chosen street trees throughout Britain that are a danger to pedestrians - and scooter riders like me.

It would go some way to meet the soaring cost of fruit and vegetables, much of which is imported.

May 1

 May Day

May Day May Day

Not a celebration but a danger signal, a cry for help. That is how not just Britain but much of world has reacted, and with good reason. 

My memories of May Day are almost all benevolent. When I was a young reporter in the Rhymney Valley a regular May Day story I sold to the national papers was the inevitable annual Bedwas and Machen council’s busmen’s strike.

Today’s media stories are much more significant - war, economic problems, parliamentary upheaval, and the lingering effects of covid.

This uncertainty adds to the interest in the local government elections on Thursday.As usual, fascinated by it, I shall stay awake watching the story unfold. 

For many years I was in th thick of it, as a reporter and then local government officer. 

I have watched the fervour and excitement, the elation of the winners and dejection of the losers.

I have seen the politics of councils change overnight - one year in London most of the seats on Hounslow council were upturned.

I hope, but do not expect to see a much needed increase in people voting. Our record is poor. The average is under 40%. Compare this with 80% in Tokyo.

The highest is Australia, at over 90 %. Not surprisingly as voting is compulsory.