April 28ybeere

It’s not exactly reaching fever pitch but the local government elections are at least creating more than usual interest.

And they are important as councils provide most of our services. Despite this, national government continues to insist on central control, often denigrating their efforts and underfunding them.

In my long involvement I have come to admire the work of local government members and staff although I maintain they were more effective when they had more responsibilities - and non paid members.

One of the disadvantages was it precluded many people, mainly men, who could not spare the time when making their career.  

It was generally the major industries and companies that allowed their staff to become councillors.

My memory of first reporting Caerphilly district council was the clicking knitting needles of the excellent women members.

Most of my forty years working for and reporting local government was spent in meetings, generally evening, and it was a relief when the larger councils opted for daytime working

By this time councillors were paid, quite handsomely, which made it a more attractive for many as a full time occupation.

My most arduous days were as press and information officer for the newly formed London borough of Hounslow when at critical political times there were all night sittings.

When  I retired I spent many enjoyable weeks scanning Penarth local council minutes at the county archive office.

I found it so interesting I wrote a book, ‘Who runs this town’ tracing the  one hundred years of Penarth urban district council and the men and women who, for nothing but self satisfaction, and perhaps, understandably, a sense of power and achievement, served their community.

Local government today is, for better or worse, much different, but men and women stilll give their time and experience.

I admire them and our councils, but am less than satisfied with national government.

April 28

 Care home exodus ‘illegal’

The government’s transfer of hospital patients to care homes without testing for  asymptomatic coronavirus was illegal, the High Court has ruled.

This results from legal action taken by two relatives of residents who were among the many thousands of elderly and vulnerable residents who died.

The High Court ruling blamed the then health minister Matt Hancock for failing to take into account the risk.

Mr Justin Coppel QC representing Dr Cathy Gardner and Fay Harris described it as the one of the most devastating in the modern era.

In ‘ Pandemic! My Care Home Diary’ describing  life at Sunrise Cardiff I told how coronavirus had exposed the shambolic state of social care, and the plight of the elderly and most vulnerable. 

The figures are shocking. - in the first wave almost 2000 care homes - one seventh of all homes in England - had severe outbreaks. In the three waves over almost two years 274,043 care home residents died, 45,632 involving covid.

I reported the plight of care homes had been made worse by the lack of PPE, personal protective equipment.

I added, ‘As demand for action grows, the elderly and vulnerable in our care homes are being forgotten, it is claimed, are being airbrushed out’.

What a terrible indictment of failure.

It will probably be years before the full story is told in the public inquiry but how we elderly were s disastrously let down must never be forgotten and never allowed to happen again.

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April 27

Utter confusion

Just at a time when effective decisions and unity is so important, this government is failing in many ways. 

Despite stubbornly continuing high Covid infections and hospital admissions it is being shrugged off.

The long running shambles over Partygate is now not expected to be resolved one way or another for weeks - fortunate timing for some. 

Instead of  tackling the massive problem of the failing economy the House of Commons spends much of its time on media driven non stories, like the farcical alleged deliberate leg crossing.

Where is the leadership, determination and even the ability to put things right, to come to the aid of the millions of citizens enduring their worst living conditions for decades.

The answer, sadly, is it that it does not exist. 

Politics is more important than policies.

April 25

Guessing game 

Misinformation is a much used word these days, with Russia a past master at the dark and dangerous art, but it is not only muzzled reporters and broadcasters to blame.

Newspapers, old fashioned journalism, still cares too little for accuracy in its bid to revive sagging circulation figures.

The latest example, in my view, is the reporting of the  French presidential elections by our press and, particularly the French papers.

For weeks they have been almost breathless in their forecast that the race was close, that the far right Marine Le Pen could be about to oust Monsieur Macron.

And what are they saying today?

They are hailing an impressive victory with the presidents cantering home with a reported 17 point advantage.

On to the next guessing game, our local elections next week.

But

April 26

Water power

The news that the Welsh government plans to go ahead with schemes to use energy from the sea to provide electricity is welcome but far too limited.

If, and it is a big if, they are ever completed, they would produce a mere trickle, compared with the massive but proven Severn harrage scheme that has bee floated for decades.

Four possible projects around the Anglesey coast have been announced, the first of which has received a £35 million grant from what is probably the last EU regional government scheme.

That and the other schemes would cost billions of pounds.

The most ambitious project - pie in the sky ? - is the North Wales tidal lagoon stretching for 19 miles from Prestatyn to Llandudno.

Compare the Anglesey plans with the massive Severn Barrage scheme, first floated many decades ago, which the government is now once again considering.

The Anglesey Morlais project would instal turbines to produce energy from what is accurately described as one of the world’s largest tidal streams.

The Bristol Channel, site of the Severn Barrage scheme, has the second highest tide in the world.

Geraint Llewellyn Jones, a director of the Morlais project company, emphasises the huge potential of water power which he says, was much better than wind or solar power.

He is right. The Severn Barrage scheme, last costed in the late 1970s at £18 billion, now revised to £30 billion, was predicted to produce one seventh  of the electricity needed in Britain and would last for two hundred years.

The Anglesey projects if,  to use a perverse analogy, they ever get off the ground, would be just a drop in the ocean.

April 23

Hold on….

One of the most unwelcome changes blamed on Covid is the difficulty and frustration of making phone calls.

Whether is a government department, energy company, shop, hospital clinic or doctor’s surgery it is never easy. 

Almost inevitably you find yourself in a queue. 

Sometimes you are given a number but mostly there is no indication of the time you will have to hang on.

But before you get to that you probably have to choose from a number of options, often given at such speed you have to listen again. 

If you are like me old and hard of hearing you give up. 

This morning was typical. I had to ring my local surgery to change an appointment time. Because I have difficulty hearing on the phone I asked  Melissa, my very efficient and cheerful help, to do it.

She was told at first she was number three in a queue but after a ten minute count down she became number three again.That simple call took half an hour, and wasted a lot of time.

I gave Covid as the possible reason for this procrastination but more likely it is a staff and money saving operation. 

The customer or patient is just not important these days.

And it is even more difficult for old people like mec Call centres are a the worst, I find.experience

April 21

 Cardiff  by sea

The biggest and most successful development in Cardiff over my lifetime has been the Cardiff Bay barrage. It has transformed old Cardiff from an attractive city although scarred by smoke belching steel plants into one of Britain’s most attractive cities.

I realised this again yesterday when I drove my scooter from Penarth across it to Cardiff.

From Penarth seafront I drove up to the town centre, past St Augustine’s church, a prominent landmark, and down to the Penarth Marina - once a flourishing dock, onto the barrage.

The old Cardiff was by the sea but it was certainly not a seaside town, No beach, deck chairs or holiday attractions.

It was a busy port, like the much smaller one in Penarth.

When I was a child, the interesting part of the waterfront was the pontoon from which the family set sail for days-out on the paddle steamer, the Cardiff Queen.

Today, Cardiff Bay is a bustling resort, complete with the obligatory big wheel, boat trips, restaurants and cafes, dozens of them.

Beside the imposing red brick Pierhead building, built in 1897 as headquarters of the Bute Dock Company. is the modest sized elegant glass Welsh parliament building, the Senedd, open to everyone, for years a favourite coffee stop for Rosemary and me.

I stopped at the waters edge, watching. dozens of yachts skimming over the water and the mini ferries taking trippers across the bay to Penarth Marina. 

It was not always so. For many years the Taff and Ely rivers had created a problem for the city,  flooding.

When I was with Cardiff city council serious flooding was a regular feature with the area bordering  the castle and Bute Park worst affected. I used to be in the team dealing with the regular emergencies.

The idea of a barrage met vigorous opposition including from local residents who claimed it would make matters worse, and there were opponents worried about the danger to the rich, prolific wild life in the estuary.

One of the objectors was local city council member Rhodri Morgan, later to be the First Minister.

The five year, £220million  project by the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation involved creating locks, bridges and sluice gates across 1.1km, creating a one mile road between Penarth,and Cardiff.

It was an example of cross party partnership bewteen the city and South Glamorgan.

The result has exceeded expectations, more than meeting its main purpose.

Its massive, complicated machinery controls the flow of water from the Bristol Channel - the second highest tide in the world.

It has managed to satisfy most of the concerns of the environmentalists by providing conservation areas and a facility for salmon to swim upstream, impossible in  the days of the mines and steelworks.

I thought of all this as I sat in the park half way between Penarth and Cardiff, watching children at play by the sheltered waterside and people at the cafes.

Thanks to the barrage Cardiff today compares favourably with many seaside cities throughout the world.

The gorgeous view of our capital with its steadily growing skyline of tall buildings and the iconic rugby stadium to the north across the bay reminds me of many I have seen, including, most spectacularly, the view of Toronto city from its lovely small island

The barrage has done Cardiff proud. 

I am more proud of it than ever.

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That was confirmed yesterday when I drove  on my scooter into Cardiff via the magnificent Picturesque route. I drive ufrom Penarth seafront up to town, climbed past St Augustine’s church that dominates the skyline and down to the Penarth Marina.

Then, on a lovely sunny morning I leisurely crossed the barrage onto the footpath and the mile or so into  bustling Cardiff Bay.

Hundreds of others were enjoying the vista of Cardiff, looking every bit  capital city with thee,egant bbuildinds, some in the city centre almost skyscrapers.

It matched, and even bettered some of the many cities I have seen around the world, reminding me especially of zToronto viewed from its Isla d 

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The view 

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