Llandudno and Colwyn Bay local

All change

2010-09-04T08:41:00.000+01:00

Just about the only thing you can be sure of in life is that nothing stays the same forever. Locally, the area in which we live has been undergoing change quite rapidly, although we've been spared the traumatic wholesale clearances often experienced by those who live in the cities.

On the web, things have been changing across the past couple of years, too, and the Llandudno Local forum's chequered past has finally been resolved through a move which sees the creation of a brand new local forum, the Three Towns forum. Run by those who have managed the old Llandudno Local forum over the past twelve months, this new forum sees the closure of the old one, which Kindways - the Computer Repair Centre in Trinity Avenue, Llandudno - have generously hosted for over a year, and the opening of the new Three Towns project, which seeks to provide a free-to-use forum for all those on the internet in Llandudno, Colwyn Bay and Conwy.

The new forum will retain the old forum postings as an archive on the same site but will run under a simpler and more effective software system, which is widely regarded as one of the best around.

Going off the rails

2010-08-18T09:02:00.001+01:00

It took a year, but the report about the derailment last August of the Trams on the Orme is finally out. And it makes worrying reading. From the report:

Immediate cause
71 The immediate cause of the collision was the lower points moving under tram 6 directing its rear into the path of tram 7 (paragraph 34 and Recommendation 1).
Causal factors
72
A causal factor was the wheel forces overcoming the tumbler’s holding force and changing the position of the points (paragraph 37 and Recommendation 1). This was a result of three factors:
l the effectiveness of the holding force on the points had reduced due to wear and degradation of the points (paragraph 46);
l the points did not have a facing point lock (paragraph 54), and l there were no procedures in place to routinely measure the condition of, or undertake remedial actions upon, the points (paragraph 56).

Perhaps the management of the tramway might care to explain why they seem to place greater emphasis on the drivers' ability to converse in Welsh then they appear to on passenger safety.

The Great Orme Tramway is probably the biggest attraction in Llandudno besides the Orme itself; to ensure it maintains its tourist pulling power, there can't be any shortcuts taken with safety.

Catching the cheats

2010-08-15T10:06:00.001+01:00

It's a truism that many blogs take an unmitigated delight in heaping derision upon the last government, and that those easily led souls also glean a lot of their information from that bastion of xenophobic bigotry and right-wing propaganda, the DFM. But in their haste to condemn the benefit cheats and scroungers, the Tories (in particular) seem to have forgotten something: that the biggest single loss to the UK economy today doesn't emanate from benefit cheats and 'scroungers'.

In fact, there's an estimated £71 billion missing from the UK's exchequer - £71bn that's been taken by criminals from the pockets of every UK Tax payer. That's seventy-one times the estimated fraud (£1bn) of benefits cheats, about whom the DFM gets so exercised.

So who are these criminals and why haven't they been caught? The answer is fairly simple; they're tax dodgers. Read on...

Working for the Public and Commercial services Union and using HM Revenue & Customs data, I estimated tax evasion in the UK to be at least £70bn a year in March 2010. Recent World Bank data on the size of the UK shadow economy suggests a slightly higher figure. In the year to March 2010 HM Revenue & Customs cut more than one in eight of its frontline staff who might tackle this issue.
Beating tax evasion and the £25bn a year UK tax avoidance industry is the best way to rebalance the government’s books. So why is no one in this government willing to embrace this issue and devote the resources to it that would create new jobs, enhance the quality of law and order in this country, uphold democracy and in the long run result in tax cuts for all honest people while maintaining essential public services we all rely on?
Richard Murphy
Director, Tax Research

Interesting stuff. Perhaps those who roundly condemn the less fortunate in our society might look at who is really fleecing the UK econmy.

Greed and Gormlessness

2010-08-13T12:17:00.000+01:00

The Pier pavilion site is causing a lot of consternation in Llandudno at the moment, with significant efforts being made to get something done about what has become an 18-year long eyesore on the front. A lot of myths abound but the reality is actually pretty simple. The site owner refuses to negotiate on any plans for the site that don't involve him getting a huge amount of money based on its potential for residential planning which - as it's a conservation area - isn't going to happen.

Over the past few years, numerous attempts have been made to get him to agree to something and - although he has professed interest at the outset - at the last minute he's pulled out and refused to meet with anyone.

Many folk think Llandudno and the WAG should take a compulsory purchase order on the site, but there's a big snag: Llandudno isn't a designated regeneration area. The entire coast from Rhyl to Colwyn Bay is, and then from Conwy to Bangor but Llandudo's been left out.

So - because of one person's greed and the WAG's refusal to consider Llandudno as a necessary part of their regeneration strategy, the town is stuck with an eyesore that cannot but put visitors off visiting again. Time to start lobbying the WAG, perhaps...

Be not afraid of greatness

2010-08-11T08:32:00.000+01:00

As we slither towards the new school year and the looming A level and GCSE results' days we thought it might be a good idea to compare the most recent inspection reports of the three main English-medium secondary schools that serve the area - Ysgol John Bright, Eirias High and Ysgol Bryn Elian.

Running a comprehensive school is a complex business, but the person responsible - the Head Teacher - is paid extremely well to do the job, so it seems reasonable to expect that they take responsibility for the quality and results the school produces.

Many students will be wondering which schools do best for their sixth formers and, to those who have children, few things will matter as much as the secondary school they will eventually choose. In the past, that choice was non-existent, the Secondary being decided largely on the choice of Primary. Things have been changing for a long time, however, and now parents can choose the secondary school they want, within reason. To add to the local natter about what the schools are like, however, the government made it possible to see the inspection reports and it's from the 2008 and 2009 reports that this blog is taken.

Inspection reports aren't simple things to read, so we've extracted the most pertinent aspects and shown them below.

The first thing to read is the summary. This shows the overall grade, if you like, that the inspectors have awarded the school.

Eirias: Eirias High School is a very good school which has many outstanding features.

John Bright: Ysgol John Bright is a good school with some outstanding features.

Bryn Elian: Ysgol Bryn Elian is a good school with potential

Probably the next thing to check is how they perform against all the the schools in Wales. Inspections use a standardised scoring method to assess schools:

Grade 1 good with outstanding features
Grade 2 good features and no important shortcomings
Grade 3 good features outweigh shortcomings
Grade 4 some good features, but shortcomings in important areas
Grade 5 many important shortcomings

so that - in effect - the more 1s and 2s, the better. So how did the three schools score on the critical Key Questions?

But the most important aspect of the inspection - and that which matters most to parents - is the assessment of the quality of teaching and learning. Here, the inspectors mark the lessons observed against the Welsh averages using percentages. Again, they grade with 1 (Best) to 5 (worst).

Across Wales 19% of lessons get a grade 1, 57% a grade 2 and 21% grade 3. So how did our three schools do?

From the table above, it can be seen that Eirias had a massive 41% of lessons judged as good with outstanding features, while John Bright had 12% and Bryn Elian managed 9%.

Finally, it's always worth looking at the statements made by the inspectors about the same sorts of areas in each school.

Perhaps the most telling statement is made about how learners progress. About Eirias, for example, the inspectors note that

"the attainment of learners shows outstanding progress when compared to their abilities on entry. They fulfil their potential and are well prepared to move on to their next stage of learning. This, too, is an outstanding achievement."

while about John Bright they state

"The quality of guidance and support is outstanding. Teachers and support staff encourage pupils to give of their best and give very good pastoral support. The provision for pupils with special needs, and for all pupils at KS4 when preparing for external examinations, is extensive. They are well supported at this time and their progress against their targets is closely monitored."

In Bryn Elian's report they say

"In KS4, the school has managed to address the fall in performance in 2007, producing a significantly improved set of results in 2008. The standards of attainment in GCSE in 2008 are such that they return to an improving trend established over the three years prior to 2007."

Inspection reports only offer a snapshot into the work and quality of any school. Nonetheless, it can be seen that the main English-medium secondary provision in Llandudno and Colwyn Bay is far above average.

Bite not the hand

2010-08-10T08:40:00.002+01:00

Jason Weyman's current blog entry mentions, among other things, his expenses. Recently, a few posters on Oscar's blog have been making somewhat negative remarks about Jason and expenses and that's something which is fairly easy to do. Jason - after all - is a public figure and expects the flak along with the plaudits, even if most emanate from anon. But it's worthwhile reading his blog, because Jason is a great deal more open about his intentions and reasons than most. Most importantly, however, Jason is telling people what's happening - something of which - in a Council obsessed with secrecy and covert actions - many other councillors might do well to take note.

We need more like Jason Weyman.

Sick of what?

2010-08-07T15:55:00.000+01:00

Now here's an interesting one. Apparently, sickness and absenteeism cost Conwy CC (and hence all of us) over £1m last year. Is it that stressful working at Bodlondeb?

Hurry, hurry, hurry!

2010-08-05T07:44:00.000+01:00

Hi Carneades,

To celebrate 150 years of Britain’s most loved and outrageous couple, we’re working with Visit Llandudno to host the wedding of the century at the smallest church in the UK, St. Trillo’s Chapel in Rhos-On-Sea – Thursday 5th August at 10am.

I found your Llandudno and Colwyn Bay blog and, as someone interested in the area, I wondered if you’d like hear more about it for the blog? We’ll also be producing a short spoof wedding video, which should be really good fun – which we’d be happy to share if you’re interested.

We're waiting with baited breath for more news!

In the land of the setting sun

2010-07-26T15:20:00.001+01:00

So just after we'd sent out the warning notices to folk warning them about the low water levels and telling them it had been the driest spring since 1929 (which it has) the good old British summer decides to revert to form.

But there's something about holidays in North Wales and the weather. It only seems right, really, that showers, wind, hail, fog and the odd volcanic eruption should enter - stage L - to play their part in making the holiday challenging. Which is, after all, the way most UK families view their annual expeditions, anyway.

It's all very well popping off to the costa del sherry and being done to a turn on the oceanic spit that qualifies as the hotel beach, but where's the challenge, where's the thrill in timing your post-breakfast dash for the car precisely to avoid the thunderous downpour that emerged, from a hitherto unblemished blue yonder, to attempt a rapid submersion of the youngest? It's staying one jump ahead of the iniquitous grey drizzle that adds that something special to the average UK holiday and provides such a sense of achievement when the family, having weaved their wind-blown, drenched ways around storm showers, mini hurricanes, low clouds and tsunamis, each competing for a place in the Guinness record book under the 'biblical deluges' section, finally make it back to the hotel, having walked the two miles from where they'd had to park the car and crash onto the beds in their warm, dry bedrooms while they watch the sun finally emerge and bathe their rain-sodden hairlines in lambent glory.

More tea, anyone?

Badgering...

2010-07-15T08:04:00.000+01:00

There's little that does so much to raise the emotional temperature than the suggestion that slaughtering badgers is a 'good idea'. Badgers, after all, are emotionally embedded in our national psyche, not least because of their portrayal in Wind in the Willows and various Disney animations, and those opposed to the proposed cull clearly feel incredibly strongly about the rightness of their cause.

It's a thorny issue, however, and one which the embattled cattle industry sees as decimating their herds if nothing is done. But is culling the right way forward?

The reality is that they chose a cull because badgers are easily captured and killed. Had the threat emanated from a parasitic or insect-borne contagion, then culling would have been impractical, so other avenues would have been explored, if for no other reason than culling flies is at best an awkward proposition.

This ruling does, however, focus the minds of the WAG on the alternatives, such as vaccination. And perhaps that isn't such a bad thing.

It's not that hard

2010-07-14T13:11:00.000+01:00

Toy Story 3 is already another massive hit for the Disney-owned Pixar studios, and people are starting to wonder if Pixar can do anything wrong.

Apple have now sold 3m iPads in 80 days and - again - there's little sign of them putting a foot wrong.

But there's a common connection between Apple, Disney and Pixar: Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs founded Apple, founded Pixar and is a senior director on the board with Disney. At the helm of the second largest company in the US, Jobs is widely respected for his innovation and leadership.

But there's not a huge secret in what Apple, Pixar or Disney do. It's one word: Quality. Those of us who've used Apple computers for 20 years knw they're not just the best, the least likely to fail, the most secure and the most well-equipped, but they're also - to top it all - the easiest to use.

By extending quality, reliability, ease of use, and - above all - customer-friendliness in to the fields of computing and mobile communications it's not hard to see why Apple is on course to become the biggest company in the US and possibly the biggest in the world. Perhaps local councils and hotels could learn something from them.

Freedom of Information

2010-07-11T10:40:00.001+01:00

Making a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act seems a simple enough procedure. But public bodies can refuse information on several grounds, which include

Section 21 - information accessible to the applicant by other means

Section 22 - information intended for future publication

Section 30 - investigations and proceedings conducted by public authorities

Section 31 - law enforcement

Section 32 - court records

Section 33 - audit functions

Section 38 - health and safety

Section 39 - environmental information

Section 40 - personal information

Section 41 - information provided in confidence

Section 42 - legal professional privilege

Section 43 - commercial interests

Section 44 -prohibitions on disclosure

However daunting that list may appear, the fact is that all pubic bodies have to supply information when asked unless they can specifically identify reasons under the above sections why they can't, when they also have to tell you why.

There are, however, no compulsions that they have to help you find out exactly what it is you don't know, so the whole process becomes something of a detective game.

To stay ahead of any potential obfuscation strategies, FOI requests should follow some simple rules:

Keep it as precise as you can. Use a precise time frame and identify what it is you want to know as precisely as you can.
Use financial years instead of calendar years when dealing with the councils.
Include your full name and address.

As an example, the Maesdu Bridge is the current 'hot-potato', and we all want to know exactly why there was what appears to have been such catastrophic mismanagement of the project. In this case you need to identify which committee dealt with the original proposals, who was the project manager and why it all went belly-up.

Let's turn back the tide of secrecy

2010-07-10T09:18:00.000+01:00

Chris, a regular poster on this blog, sent me these two extremely pertinent comments yesterday:

Also worth saying that surely it's the five Councillors making the complaint who are much nearer to being guilty of making "vexatious, malicious or frivolous complaints"When the ombudsman rejects their claim, I hope Cllr. Jason Weyman then demands an apology - after all, Jason would have had to have made an apology, if the ruling had been against him.

On the wider case of Council's appearing to love secrecy, I agree. The reason is simple enough. No-one wants to be seen as looking daft or greedy, and so the opportunity not to (by making sure that inconvenient information doesn't get in the public domain) is irresistible.There needs to be more scrutiny of how these powers are exercised, but in an era pining for less public sector bureaucracy, this is not going to be generated by 'the system' - any such scrutiny has to come from individuals.

We agree. We'll help this to happen by publishing a guide to making FOI requests and then reporting councils who appear to be behaving furtively and using excessive secrecy in their dealings. We also appeal for local and county councillors, who agree with this stance, to contact us to show their support.

What don't they want us to know?

2010-07-09T10:08:00.000+01:00

When those who have a little power seek to retain that power and widen its remit, then nasty things happen. Fellow blogger and all-round nice-guy Jason Weyman, is the subject of a complaint after members of Towyn and Kinmel Bay Town Council voted to send a complaint to the Ombudsman for Wales after he posted comments on his blog.

The comments, which came in the wake of the suspension of Kinmel Bay county councillor Geoff Corry for failing to declare personal interests and concerned a proposed town council audit, were removed two days after being posted.

At the meeting, Cllr John Bevan described the information contained in the blog as being “defamatory to the council” which reveals a rather big hole in his comprehension of the English language and the law as defamation only applies to individuals.

Cllr Peter Worswick proposed the matter be sent to the Ombudsman for Wales, who conducts independent investigations into complaints made about the behaviour of both town and county councillors.

The motion was carried with five of the eight councillors present voting in favour. The chairman and Mayor, Cllr Ken Stone, abstained from the vote, with two voting against, so good on them.

It was also alleged Cllr Weyman had broken a section of the county council Code of Conduct, stating members of the council should “not make vexatious, malicious or frivolous complaints about anyone who works for, or on behalf of, your authority”. Now, this is very important and we need to be clear on what its purpose is.

This regulation is there to protect council employees and fellow councillors from nutters who say daft things without foundation to cause trouble. That's what the word "vexatious" means, while "frivolous" means lacking in seriousness, and "malicious" means their motive was simply nasty.

Jason has shown none of these qualities in his blogs. On the contrary, he simply reports what is happening but we know that Conwy doesn't like that at all.

But hang on; there's another interesting fact. The last councillor reported in this way was one John Oddy - another blogger. Besides the fact that thy both run blogs, they're also both independents. Curious?

Councils thrive in the dark recesses of secrecy and delight in cloaking their activities in the shroud of 'confidentiality' but we should be asking what exactly is it that they don't want us - their paymasters - to know? What scares them so much that they feel the need to classify most of their committee meetings as 'not open'?

We should celebrate people like Jason Weyman and John Oddy, and we shold demand that more of these people start their own blogs and expose the goings-on for us - their paymasters - to see. If we don't as Burke said "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

Secrecy

2010-07-03T13:42:00.000+01:00

Conwy CC is obsessed with secrecy. They're not alone, of course, but what makes them different is that we pay their wages.

Byron Davies was temporarily relieved of his duties on Friday, 26th March, following a complaint to North Wales Police. No details of the alleged crime were revealed at the time, but Mr Davies has been suspended on full pay ever since. He has not been charged, which seems to suggest that either there's insufficient evidence or the CPS has refused to prosecute. The delay is almost certainly down to lawyers dragging their feet, which should surprise no one. But a three month delay between suspension and resolution is a travesty and unfair to Mr Davies. The Police should either charge him or declare the case unsustainable.

CCBC has been silent.

The Maesdu bridge saga continues to astonish those who live in Llandudno, and someone - almost certainly an officer in the CCBC organisation - has made what can only be described as a catastrophic mess in the budgeting, planning and project management areas, and we need to know exactly what has happened and why such a massive overrun of costs has been incurred.

CCBC has been silent.

New blog in town

2010-06-27T08:06:00.000+01:00

Blogs get started for all sorts of reasons, and sometimes those reasons are less than altruistic. But the recent Mostyn ward election has ignited some interest in the form of a new blog by one of the contenders - Jason Edwards.

In his extremely well-written blog, he sets out his stall and, although he failed to get elected, this seems like someone the town would find very valuable.

His blog is here:

http://jasonedwardsllandudno.blogspot.com/

and a quick read through leaves the impression that he values clear communication above all else - a salutary reminder for the rest of the local and Conwy Councillors, many of whom think a computer is a wooden rack fitted with little sliding beads.

Good luck Jason - and welcome to the world of bloggers.

There's no business

2010-06-16T10:46:00.000+01:00

The sun's being kind to us at the moment (the thermonuclear one, not the rag) and this summer looks fairly positive in term of potential visitors.
Llandudno trades relentlessly on the nostalgia factor; many of those who return - year after year - first visited when they were children, and are now reintroducing the next generation to its delights. Trouble is, they're a vanishing commodity. People talk fondly of Happy Valley, the Palladium, the Pier Pavilion and even places like the Old Rectory tea gardens, but these are all gone or in decline, and little new is replacing them.
Happy Valley was, of course, remembered most for the shows, and it wouldn't take a massive investment to create a basic facility that would allow for regular performances. Essentially, a concrete stage, some sort of canopy, electric points and a returning of the stepped, tiered seating that once housed the deck chairs. There are so many performing groups in Llandudno now, holding their own shows every week, that it would be simplicity itself to arrange a rota for interested societies to perform once a month throughout the season.

All it needs is someone with vision and enough time to see the idea through. Any takers?

School's out

2010-06-15T08:19:00.001+01:00

If there's one thing which is absolutely guaranteed to bring out villagers with pitchforks and hay rakes, it's the subject of primary school closures. With numbers falling throughout the country, however, schools have to be closed, and it's easy for those no longer involved in education to dismiss the concerns of villagers as parochial and short-sighted.

But in a tiny village, the local school is much more than it seems. It's a social resource for the entire village, for starters. A place where people meet, gossip, exchange information, views and make arrangements.

In villages where the population is not particularly mobile, it's also more than that. It's a store house of childhood memories and experiences, which is why threatened closures evoke responses which are largely unrelated to reason and economics.

Unfortunately, given our current economic situation, doing nothing isn't an option, and as long as UK legislation demands that children be educated and that they must attend school then schools are going to have to close.

Unless these small communities start to change things. Legislation does not require all children to attend school; it only requires that they be educated and that councils provide schools in which that can happen. There is nothing, however, to stop parents from educating their own children at home or from taking over schools themselves and educating the children there.

Let's not pretend this is easy; it isn't, because the communities would have to fund the school themselves, they'd have to meet standards for the education they provided and they'd have to be led by someone who really knew how to deal with council officials and the department for education and learning. But it's possible and - if communities feel as strongly about preserving their village centres as they seem to, then they should be aware that they won't be the first to go down this path.

And so it begins

2010-06-12T08:29:00.001+01:00

The Labour government came under a lot of fire - some say rightly - for over-legislating and creating too much paperwork in many aspects of everyday life. Now the first signs are emerging that the new coalition may be reversing the trend, but at some cost to those who most need protection.

A landlords register and new regulation of letting agents were to be introduced by the previous Labour administration but the new government has scrapped the plans.

Interestingly, the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) said cutting the plans would aid rogue landlords. Citizen's Advice also criticised the decision.

Housing Minister Grant Shapps said the sector was already governed by a well-established framework.

But renting a flat, say, is the only way many hard-working people can afford to put a roof over their heads. These people - the unmarried, childless but fully employed and extremely hard-working - are the very people we need in the economy and we ought to be protecting their interests, if only to avoid the massive costs to the community incurred of them hitching up with someone, having ten children and then applying for benefits and housing from the local council.

Ian Potter, operations manager at ARLA, said: "A great fear is that a lot of agents who were looking at tidying up their practices will now feel they can run amok and add to the poor reputation we have at the moment."

What is particularly ironic, however, is what the Tory housing minister added. He told the BBC the government wanted to focus instead on increasing home ownership, a rather odd aim with mortgages beyond the reach of most single workers. Of course, the Tories will always look after those who stand to make money out of others, and those who slavishly support Tory policies should remember that their history has always been thus.

You couldn't make it up

2010-06-11T14:11:00.000+01:00

Love 'em or loathe 'em, caravan sites and the North Wales coast have a long-standing affinity for one another. But last week, our beloved Conwy County Council decided to move against Michael Clark, the director of Golden Sands holiday park in Kinmel Bay, who readily admitted his company unlawfully put up signs on railings and on a trailer board in a pub car park.

After the case, Conwy’s head of regulatory services Phil Rafferty defended the authority.

He said: “There is a persistent problem with the display of unauthorised advertisements. We hope this successful prosecution will send a clear message to those who appear to be ignoring the law.”

Aha. So they deliberately set out to make an example of Mr Clarke, then? Quite apart from the dubious ethics involved, it would be interesting to see if anyone in Conwy CC can explain why they appear to have entire departments dedicated to driving away tourists. A few weeks ago, the same council decided to come down heavily on people who erected birthday banners at roundabouts. If it was the script for a farce, you might be able to believe it, but the officers of the rudderless Conwy CC seem to have the bit between their false teeth and are charging in all directions, waging war on those whose livelihoods depend on attracting tourists.

Let's see it in perspective. Under age drinking is serious, so presumably they've taken harsh measures against places found serving alcohol to children. Pot holes in roads are causing thousands of pounds of damage to tax payers' cars, so presumably there's a massive effort to repair them taking place. And of course they're ensuring that all the main roads into Llandudno leading to the beautifully maintained West Shore are open and running smoothly.

If all the above aren't happening, then how come they have time to waste mounting expensive prosecutions against those simply trying to advertise their living?

let's see if they decide to abide by the Government's advice for full disclosure of their accounts and expenditure. And then let's see just how many of these overpaid officials we really need in these straightened times.

The council pie

2010-06-09T08:43:00.001+01:00

The speech David Cameron gave on Monday should leave no one in any doubt that we're being softened up for the significant cuts that will be coming. The thing everyone's wondering is who is gong to suffer most.

The biggest slices of government expenditure are threefold: education, Health and Social security and - perhaps surprisingly - Local Government.

Last Friday, the government released its detailed spending figures and the fact that the 24,000,000 items of expenditure remain largely impenetrable to the average (or even, so far, the expert) should come as no surprise to anyone, given the ministerial obsession with secrecy.

It'll be interesting to see what gets cut, although Tory administrations traditionally favour jobs. But given that Local Government represents a very large slice of the pie, perhaps stopping salaried cabinet positions might be a good way forward? Expenses - yes, they're fair enough, but what do we really get from the paid councillors around here? Little, it seems, other than more and more secrecy. Perhaps we need to devise some criteria for failure for their roles.

Cumbria and the media

2010-06-06T13:04:00.001+01:00

The recent events in Cumbria have evoked the usual slurry of suggestions about banning all guns, 'lessons to be learnt' and the evergreen 'questions to be asked'. The event itself was bad enough, but the media's craven response to this type of event remains the only constant in an otherwise depressing replay of our previous gun massacres.

The answers for dealing with anyone who is so depressed and unstable as to go around shooting people before killing themselves are fairly straightforward. There's almost nothing you can do. This sort of thing happens - thankfully, not often, and we as a nation continue to slaughter far more per day on the roads than are ever killed by manics and maniacs.

On the 'lessons to be learnt' cliche, trotted out repeatedly by an unimaginative and time-worn media, there is only one: stay away from madmen with guns. Otherwise ,Cameron's response was excellent. We are long overdue a break from knee-jert reaction legislation.

What's in a million?

2010-06-02T09:50:00.000+01:00

Some years ago thee was an article in the Times which suggested few children can grasp the concept of a million. It was, the article argued, such a massive number that the only way to try to make them see its reality was to have a board in the classroom with a million dots on.

Today's children, however, are learning in an era when a million isn't that much anymore. A lottery winner who only scooped a million would feel hard done by; a country with a population of one million hardly qualifies as a country and how many people d'you know with a 1 Mb disc drive? The billion has become the unit of choice, making it easy to see just how awful a mess the banks' mismanagement has left us in, terabyte hard drives are becoming commonplace and our entire approach to thinking about quantity has changed.

All of which made it a little sad when the Torygraph fixed its sights on a leading Liberal coalition partner for a rule infringement that - in the scheme of things - amounted to almost nothing. Of course, the DT and its owners know all about rule infringing, loopholes and bullying.

The DT is owned by the Barclay brothers, who bought the island of Brecqhou, one of the Channel Islands, located just west of Sark. Their own mock-Gothic castle on Brecqhou, designed by Quinlan Terry, features 3 ft granite walls, battlements, two swimming pools and a helicopter pad. The brothers are tax exiles, and give their address as Le Montaigne, 7 Avenue de Grande Bretagne, 98000 Monaco.
Although they make their money from the UK, they pay not one penny in income tax, which makes it rather odd that they should choose to hound those who do and those who can be seen to be infringing rules. Their respect for the democratic process is well documented. On 11 December 2008, they were in the news for pulling out their investments (which include hotels) from the island of Sark, causing 100 staff to be made redundant (one sixth of the population) and threatening the economic stability of the island after local voters did not support candidates championed by the Barclay brothers. The brothers had previously warned that if the voters chose to bring back the 'establishment' Sark leaders that are still aligned with the feudal lord then they would pull out of Sark.

Perhaps those who so avidly devour the pages of that august organ should know more about where their money is headed.

Another Whiskey, Humpy?

2010-05-30T10:56:00.000+01:00

The New Scientist reports that a landmark case which pushed through laws banning the drug mephedrone - popularly known as 'Miaow Miaow' - has come under strong criticism after a toxicology report of the two teenagers thought to have died from the drug showed neither had actually taken it.

"Legal high kills two teens," cried the Daily Express earlier this year. There followed a steady stream of stories in the UK media of the dangers of the then little known "legal high".

The government subsequently rushed through an emergency ban on the drug and related compounds that became law in early April. Although implicated in 27 deaths, a report by the International Centre for Drug Policy at University College London found it to be a contributing factor in just one.

Today, this knee jerk reaction came under further criticism following the negative toxicology tests. Reacting to this finding, David Nutt, chair of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London, said: "If these reports are true, the previous government's rush to ban mephedrone never had any serious scientific credibility."

"This shocking news should be a salutary lesson to the tabloid journalists and prejudiced politicians who held a gun to the heads of the ACMD [Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs] and demanded that this drug should be banned, before a single autopsy had been completed," adds Colin Blakemore, professor of neuroscience at the University of Oxford. "The only good that might emerge from this fiasco is a long-overdue review of drug control policy."

When are our politicians gong to start thinking from themselves and not merely pandering to the berserk and vested interests of a heavily biased media?

A shot too far

2010-05-28T22:29:00.001+01:00

The news that a customer fired a gun at two McDonalds' drive-through staff makes you wonder briefly if customer satisfaction in McDonalds has reached new lows. The truth, as always, is slightly different.

Andrew Robert Hallows produced a black gun, which turned out to be an imitation bb firearm, and shot twice at the restaurant workers.
In court yesterday it was described by defending solicitor Bethan Jones as "a prank which went horribly wrong".
Hallows said that he would see how they would react when he fired at the hatch. He did not believe it would hurt anyone because it was not a powerful gun.

It's inconceivable that anyone could think that firing a replica weapon at someone in a public place could be regarded as a 'prank', but it seems there's no beginning to some people's talent.

All Stand

2010-05-27T08:27:00.002+01:00

It's a quintessential axiom that committees both aspire to epitomise democratic procedure, whilst simultaneously impeding progress and decision-making. That's why private industry endows an executive with power to take decisions on the spot, and then face their board, where the quality of their decisions will be examined.

In small groups, vesting power in the Executive also helps things happen quickly. But the most significant committees for most people in Llandudno and Conwy are the town and county councils, neither of which - it seems - can take meaningful decisions rapidly, and the larger of which is still without a CEO, the newly appointed one still suspended on full pay. That in itself is a bad state of affairs, since he's entitled to either be charged or exonerated with a great deal more alacrity than shown thus far.

Town councils, however, are notorious, and Llandudno is no exception. It was revealed today on the Llandudno local forum that significant amounts of time were expended in October last year as they deliberated over the momentous matter of when the tea break should be.

It's easy to see this sort of thing as typical small-town lunacy, but the reality is that there's no great competition for council places. Young, committed, intelligent and resourceful individuals don't want anything to do with it, and individuals like John Oddy and Jason Weyman are the exception. We need more like them, but that will only happen if the right people can be persuaded to stand.

Time to say something fast

2010-05-26T16:33:00.000+01:00

You will no doubt have heard of the recent cases where pharmacists have refused to dispense drugs because the drugs are contrary to their religious belief. The General Pharmaceutical Council, which is replacing the existing Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, is consulting on its code of ethics.

The proposed code of ethics enshrines such discrimination as the official ethical policy. If this offends your sense of justice, you have until 28th May to object, this coming Friday in other words.

This is the proposed code of ethics; clause 3.4 is the offending one, although I also draw clause 3.3 to your attention.

http://tinyurl.com/234g6ub

Remember that just because a patient is referred to another provider, they may not be able to act on that advice. Not everyone has access to private transport and there may be other considerations. Further, a patient may be so embarrassed or confused that they do not attempt to find another provider. This clause dismisses the welfare of patients and panders to the abstract whims of the pharmacist.

There is an on-line consultation form

http://tinyurl.com/288n6xp

Weight there for a moment

2010-05-24T09:00:00.000+01:00

OVER half the adult population of North Wales is overweight or obese, according to latest figures. The Executive Director of Public Health, Andrew Jones, says "Throughout Wales 57% of the adult population is categorised as overweight or obese, with the lowest North Wales percentage – 53% – being in Conwy and Wrexham.

The report also highlights serious drug problems in north west Wales. In 2008 in Anglesey there were 331 men admitted to hospital due to drugs, with Gwynedd second in the table on 197 and Flintshire lowest on 105.

Anglesey also has the highest number of alcohol-related admissions to hospital among males, whilst the highest figure for hospital admission and deaths among females is in Conwy.

Now here's a thought; in their bid to reduce costs and the impressively large deficit with which the mismanagement of the banking world has landed us, might the new coalition government start to think about criteria for hospital admissions? What would be the validity of creating categories of patients which were then ranked in order of treatment priority?

Superficially, this idea has some attractions. Making the drunk who'd fallen down the stairs wait longer than the elderly grandmother who slipped on the ice seems to have some merit. And should the drug abuser be made to wait for their treatment until the cancer patient had finished? And what about the habitual violent offenders, who often attack the very people trying to treat them? Should they even be given access to A & E? But there's also the obese, the smoker, the McDonalds' addict...

At a time when the new government is seeking cuts, some of these ideas may seem tempting - but at what cost?

The world's mine oyster

2010-05-22T07:42:00.000+01:00

The news that fake bank notes with a face value of £350,000 were found stashed at converted farm buildings near Connah’s Quay makes you wonder if we should be jailing the forgers or putting them up for a Queen's award for industry.

Crime takes many forms, of course, and the temptation for the right to mutter about sentences not being long enough and throwing away keys doesn't really stand up to scrutiny, when you realise that the UK already imprisons a greater percentage of its population than any other EU country (139 per 100,000 of the national population), a statistic which places it above the mid- point in the World List - itself more than a little interesting. The United States has the highest prison population rate in the world, some 686 per 100,000 of the national population, followed by the Cayman Islands (664), Russia (638), Belarus (554), Kazakhstan (522), Turkmenistan (489), Belize (459), Bahamas (447), Suriname (437) and Dominica (420).

But we digress. Forgery - like the audacious theft from the Paris Museum of Modern Art - isn't the easiest way to make money, although the irony isn't lost in the case of forgery.

But perhaps what really ought to concern us is that these forgers almost certainly worked long and hard, had significant overheads, high risk factors and their only 'crime' (banknotes themselves have no intrinsic worth - they're simply promissory notes) was to dilute the overall money supply slightly. To have a really significant effect, cause untold misery for millions, wreck entire economies and achieve lasting fame they would have had to been making perfect forgeries on a massive scale.

Or perhaps they should simply have got themselves into banking.

Get a life

2010-05-21T10:19:00.001+01:00

The big news today is that several Americans have managed to create a self-replicating form of life from synthetic DNA. As news goes, this event is perhaps more significant than most, but at the moment the chance of you creating your favourite pet out of a box of supermarket cleaning fluids and cornflakes is still a fair distance away.

Creating life is nothing new, of course; would-be parents do it all the time, but what's interesting about this achievement is that people weren't used and part of the DNA is synthetic. And it joins a list of discoveries and advances in Biology which include cloning, human genome mapping and freeze-dried spam to compete for the best theory of abiogenesis.

Of course, the media will soon start muttering about scientists 'playing God' and those who don't really understand what's happened (that's most of them) will start painting dark pictures of what might happen if this synthetic life escapes the confines of the laboratory. And, as with genetically modified crops and insects, or recombinant DNA experiments, the consequences of getting it wrong don't really bear thinking about. As one worrying example, imagine a virus being created that attacked grass.

But we've always pushed the boundaries of what's possible, and scientists have always tried to comprehend why things happen. And, if creating life synthetically becomes routinely practicable, then perhaps we could introduce some into the next CCBC meeting.

The new Government in video

2010-05-18T09:05:00.001+01:00

No news is Purdah

2010-05-15T08:44:00.000+01:00

If you were wondering why news seemed to stop during the last days of the general election, it's because of a little-known convention known as 'Election Purdah'. Applied by and to the civil service, it states:

"It is customary for Ministers to observe discretion in initiating any new action of a continuing or long-term character. Decisions on matters of policy and other issues such as large and/or contentious procurement contracts on which a new Government might be expected to want the opportunity to take a different view from the present Government should be postponed until after the Election, provided that postponement would not be detrimental to the national interest or wasteful of public money."

Essentially, there's a news blackout about on-going issues and potential initiatives, which is why the Afghan war received little mention in the final week. It carries no force in law, but is widely viewed as having a moral imperative.

Of great import

2010-05-14T09:47:00.000+01:00

As we forge towards a bright new political world, it's encouraging to know that CCBC has its mind firmly focussed on the things that matter.

Their attention has been caught by ‘Happy Birthday’ banners and other signs which the public put up without permission.

A Conwy Council spokesman sagely observed: “Unauthorised adverts, such as events’ banners, birthday banners and business signs are becoming more widespread, but many people don’t realise that such displays are a criminal offence. If adverts affect highway safety, and if they’re put on safety railings for example, they can be removed and the matter may result in prosecution.”

However, Sean Martins, from Llandudno Junction said: “It’s a pretty Orwellian thing to do. What about signs for candidates in gardens and fields during the General Election?”, which is a good point. Presumably, bearing in mind the gravity of the situation, immediate prosecutions will be launched against all the candidates who dared to allow their supporters to erect signs.

Well, at least we know where to make some savings come the inevitable fiscal crunch. In the Conwy Council's planning department might be a good start.

Who reads the papers?

2010-05-12T11:49:00.001+01:00

Yes but you don't go...

2010-05-10T14:29:00.001+01:00

Sung to the tune of 'When the Foeman Bares his Steel' from the Pirates of Penzance.

Nick Clegg.

When the foeman bares his steel,
The Brown Family.
Tarantara! tarantara!

Nick Clegg.

We uncomfortable feel,
The Brown Family.
Tarantara!
Nick Clegg.
And we find the wisest thing,
The Brown Family.
Tarantara! tarantara!

Nick Clegg.

Is to slap our chests and sing,.
Tarantara! tarantara!
Nick Clegg.
For when threatened with emeutes,
The Brown Family.
Tarantara! tarantara!
Nick Clegg.
And your heart is in your boots,
The Brown Family.
Tarantara!
Nick Clegg.
There is nothing brings it round
Like the trumpet’s martial sound,
Like the trumpet’s martial sound
Nick Clegg & The Brown Family.
Tarantara! tarantara!

Nick Clegg & Vince Cable

Tarantara! tarantara!
Tarantara! tarantara!
Tarantara! tarantara!
Tarantara! tarantara!
Tarantara! tarantara!
Tarantara, ra, ra,
Tarantara!
Ra, ra, ra, ra,
Ra, ra, ra, ra,
Ra, ra, ra, ra,
Ra, ra, ra, ra,
Ra, ra, ra, ra,
Tarantara, ra, ra,
Tarantara!

David Cameron
Go, ye heroes, go to glory,
Though you die in combat gory,
Ye shall live in song and story.
Go to immortality!
Go to death, and go to slaughter;
Die, and every Cornish daughter
With her tears your grave shall water.
Go, ye heroes, go and die!

Conservative front bench
Go, ye heroes, go and die!Go, ye heroes, go and die!

Nick Clegg.
Though to us it’s evident,
The Brown Family.
Tarantara! tarantara!
Nick Clegg.
These attentions are well meant,
The Brown Family.
Tarantara!
Nick Clegg.
Such expressions don’t appear,
The Brown Family.
Tarantara! tarantara!
Nick Clegg.
Calculated men to cheer,
The Brown Family.
Tarantara!
Nick Clegg.
Who are going to meet their fate In a highly nervous state.
The Brown Family.
Tarantara! tarantara! tarantara!
Nick Clegg.
Still to us it’s evident These attentions are well meant.
The Brown Family.
Tarantara! tarantara! tarantara!

The voters
Go and do your best endeavour,
And before all links we sever,
We will say farewell for ever.
Go to glory and the grave!
Conservative front bench
Go to glory and the grave!
For your foes are fierce and ruthless,
False, unmerciful, and truthless;
Young and tender, old and toothless,
All in vain their mercy crave.

Nick Clegg.
We observe too great a stress,
On the risks that on us press,
And of reference a lack
To our chance of coming back.
Still, perhaps it would be wise
Not to carp or criticise,
For it’s very evident
These attentions are well meant.
The Brown Family.
Yes, it’s very evident
These attentions are well meant,
Evident,
Yes, well meant;
Evident,
Nick Clegg & The Brown Family.
Ah, yes, well meant!

Conservative front bench The Brown Family.

Go, ye heroes When the foeman

                 Go to glory!                                                   bears his steel, Taranta-
        Ye shall,    live in                                                      ra! tarantara! We un-
               story. Go to death and                                           comfortable feel.    And

go to slaughter; Die, and find the wisest thing, every every Cornish Daughter Taranta ra! tarantara! Is to

With her tears your grave shall slap our chests and sing

Tarantara

For when threatened with emutes, Taranta-
ra! tarantara! And your
heart is in your boots,Taranta-

There is
nothing brings it round, Like the
trumpet's martial sound, Like the
trumpet's martial sound,

David Cameron
Conservative front bench

Away, away!

The Brown Family.
Yes, yes, we go!

David Cameron
These pirates slay!

The Brown Family.
Tarantara!

David Cameron
Then do not stay!

The Brown Family.
Tarantara!

David Cameron
Then why this delay!

The Brown Family.
All right, we go!
Yes forward
Yes, forward on the foe,
on the foe, Yes, forward on the foe,

David Cameron
Yes, but you don't go!

The Brown Family.

They go, they go! We go, we go!
Yes forward
Yes, forward on the foe,
on the foe, Yes, forward on the foe,

David Cameron
Yes, but you don't go!

The Brown Family.
At last we go,
We go, we go,

David Cameron
At last they go, at last they go!
We go, we go,

At last they really, really go!

The Brown Family.
We go, we go, we go, we go!

91-a Brita Kongreso de Esperanto Llandudno

2010-05-10T13:43:00.000+01:00

Thanks to Bill Chapman for letting us know that Llandudno's hosting the 91st British Esperanto conference at the Imperial hotel from 14 - 17th May. Based around the Latin languages Esperanto soon found itself superseded by the ubiquity of English as the international language but it still commands a loyal following of those who like to keep their intellect limber and their vocal skills current. And they're a welcoming crowd, so both they and the Imperial will welcome visitors.

Bonan tagon al vi!

Chill in the air

2010-05-05T15:38:00.000+01:00

This article from the Independent is a good indicator of what we - as a nation face - if the Tories sweep in:

In 2006, a group of rebranded "compassionate Conservatives" beat Labour for control of Hammersmith and Fulham Council, a long stretch of west London. George Osborne says the work they have done since then will be a "model" for a new Conservative government, while Cameron has singled them out as a council he is especially "proud" of.

People who took this at face value were startled by the first act of the Conservatives on assuming power – a crackdown on the homeless. They immediately sold off 12 homeless shelters, handing them to large property developers. The horrified charity Crisis was offered premises by the BBC to house the abandoned in a shelter over the Christmas period at least. The council refused permission. They said the homeless were a "law and order issue", and a shelter would attract undesirables to the area. With this in mind, they changed the rules so that the homeless had to "prove" to a sceptical bureaucracy that they had nowhere else to go – and if they failed, they were turned away.
We know where this ended. A young woman – let's called her Jane Phillips, because she wants to remain anonymous – turned up at the council's emergency housing office one night, sobbing and shaking. She was eight months pregnant. She explained she was being beaten up by her boyfriend and had finally fled because she was frightened for her unborn child. The council said they would "investigate" her situation to find "proof of homelessness" – but she told them she had nowhere to go while they carried it out. By law, they were required to provide her with emergency shelter. They refused. They suggested she try to find a flat on the private market.

For four nights, she slept in the local park, on the floor. She is still traumatised by the memories of lying, pregnant and abandoned, in one of the wealthiest parts of Europe. The Local Government Ombudsman investigated but the council recording of the case was so poor she said it "hindered" her report. After a long study, she found the council's conduct amounted to "maladministration". Since they came to power, the Conservatives are housing half as many homeless people as Labour – even though the recession has caused a surge in homelessness. That's a huge number of Janes lying in parks, or on rotting mattresses by Hammersmith Bridge.

Why would they do this? The Conservative administration was determined to shrink the size of the state and cut taxes as an end in itself. Rather than pay for it by taking more from the people in the borough with the most money, they slashed services for the broke and the broken first. After the homeless, they turned to help for the disabled. In their 2006 manifesto, the local Conservatives had given a cast-iron guarantee: "A Conservative council will not reintroduce home-care charging". It was a totemic symbol of leaving behind Thatcherism: they wouldn't charge the disabled, the mentally ill or the elderly for the care they needed just to survive.

Within three months, the promise was broken. Debbie Domb, 51, is a teacher who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1994. She had to give up work, and now she needs 24/7 care. After being lifted up by a large metal harness and placed in her wheelchair so she can talk to me, she explains: "This was always such a great place to live if you were disabled. You were really treated well. Then this new council was elected and it's been so frightening... The first thing that happened when they came in was that they announced any disabled person they assessed as having 'lower moderate' needs was totally cut off. So people who needed help having a shower, or getting dressed, had that lifeline taken away completely. Then they started sending the rest of us bills."

She "panicked" when a bill came through saying she had to pay £12.50 for every hour of care she needed. "I thought, 'Oh my God, how am I going to do this?' The more care you need, the higher your bill, so the most disabled people got the highest charges. Everyone was distraught. I had friends who had to choose between having the heating on in winter and paying for their care ... I know a 90-year-old woman with macular degeneration who can't see, and she had to stop her services. There are lots of people who have been left to rot, with nobody checking any more that they're OK, and I'm sure some of them have ended up in hospital or have died." One of the council's senior social services managers seems to have confirmed this, warning in a leaked memo that the charges could place the vulnerable "at risk".

She added " I know an 82-year-old woman who's never been in debt in her life who is being taken to a debt-collection agency for care she needs just to keep going."

Each year since the Conservative council was elected, the pressure on the housebound has increased. Meals on Wheels brings one good, hot meal a day to people who can't get out. The council jacked up the charges for it by £527 a year – so half of the recipients had to cancel it. A local Labour councillor documented that the council rang up a 79-year-old woman with dementia, and when she seemed to say she didn't need any food, they cut off her meals.

The cost of almost all council services has sky-rocketed, to fund tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the wealthy. David Cameron says he wants to make Britain "the most family-friendly country in the world" with "childcare as a top priority", but his showcase council has increased charges for childcare by a reported 121 per cent – a fact that makes the warnings about Michael Gove's planned "top-up fees" for nursery places seem even more ominous.

We know cuts are going to be made, and they're going to hurt. But the stark choice that faces us as voters is deciding where the axe should fall. This council has decided it should cut off the most vulnerable of society - those with dementia, MS, the abused, the homeless. But most of all, it has made a deliberate choice to protect the wealthy and punish the poor.

Cameron said: "When I look at the record of what the Conservatives have done here in Hammersmith and Fulham, far from being embarrassed as the Conservative leader, I'm proud of what they're doing."

Going, going...

2010-05-03T10:07:00.001+01:00

Gordon Brown didn't 'lose' the debates (despite winning several of the arguments) because he's bad on TV: he lost, to put it bluntly, because some voters dislike him so much that they stop listening when they see him.
So the question for Labour's upper echelons isn't why they got suckered into a debate. It's why they sleepwalked into an election with a leader they knew was unpopular, ducking every chance to replace him.

This comment from the Guardian demonstrates rather neatly why GB won't be walking into No 10 on Friday, and why New Labour have lost the confidence of the electorate. In the new, all-consuming, Endemol-inspired reality show that is the 2010 General election, he's about to be the first housemate given the boot.

For the past two years, Labour leaders have known Brown was an electoral disaster waiting to happen. From his strange little facial habit, to his unutterably boring drone, the real surprise is why his own party haven't lynched him long ago. Because they knew just how bad he was.

The surprisingly engaging Cameron and the astute Clegg, along with his fearsomely brilliant wing-man, Cable, however, ought to be streets in front. But they're not. The well-organised and detailed polling being undertaken reveals that more than 40% of voters still haven't decided who they're going to vote for, which means there's everything to fight for.

In the UK, we elect a local, personal representative - not a party - but the reality-TV style of this year's election, coupled with the unparalleled ubiquitousness of broadcast media means we're actually being persuaded that we're voting for one man. And that's working against the least likeable.

There's a reason New Labour slaughtered everyone in sight all those years ago. Tony Blair. But that party's failure do do anything about the man who has the same effect on voters as a large dose of Vallium means a lot will be joining the dole queue very shortly.

Unless, of course, someone pulls off a master-stroke and they get rid of GB before Thursday. Now there's a thought…

Please, let it all end

2010-05-02T08:09:00.000+01:00

Probably the most telling comment in the election thus far was made by Nick Clegg when he told a haranguing questioner "You should go into politics!".

A lot of people forget that politicians are simply applicants in a hugely overcrowded labour market. Unlike normal job applicants they have to apply to us - the general public - for a job, and we decide which candidate gets a five year contact of employment.

And that's where any involvement from their employer ends. Unlike the rest of the working population, once employed they set their own salaries, their own expenses claims, their own hours of work, their own pension schemes, their own perks, their own holidays - the list just goes on and on.

What is perhaps most astonishing is that we happily concur in the scheduling and operation of this most lucrative of gravy trains, which often end with dismissals in five years' time, but retention of pension rights, lucrative positions on boards and utterly hagiographic publications of their cash-driven existences.

Is it any wonder that most people still have no idea what or even whether they're going to vote?

The other way

2010-04-29T07:58:00.001+01:00

One of the advantages - some say the only advantage - in a general election month is that everything else stops happening. The saturation coverage of elections manages to marginalise almost everything else that's still going on, and only the apposite intervention of a volcano provides any relief from the otherwise wall-to-wall, excruciating monotony only merciless dissection of minutiae can provide.

So, in the true, boring-you-to death-about-the-election spirit, here're some interesting facts: the UK is one of only a few governments to use the first-past-the-post voting system, or 'Plurality' voting system.

If more than two parties with substantial support contest a constituency, as is typical in Canada, India and the UK, a candidate does not have to get anything like 50 per cent of the votes to win, so a majority of votes are "lost".

Dividing a nation into bite-sized chunks for an election is itself a fraught business that invites other distortions, too. A party can win outright by being only marginally ahead of its competitors in most electoral divisions. In the UK general election in 2005, the ruling Labour party won 55 per cent of the seats on just 35 per cent of the total votes. If a party is slightly ahead in a bare majority of electoral divisions but a long way behind in others, they can win even if a competitor gets more votes overall - as happened most notoriously in recent history in the US presidential election of 2000, when George W. Bush narrowly defeated Al Gore.

The anomalies of a plurality voting system can be more subtle, though, as mathematician Donald Saari at the University of California, Irvine, showed. Suppose 15 people are asked to rank their liking for milk (M), beer (B), or wine (W). Six rank them M-W-B, five B-W-M, and four W-B-M. In a plurality system where only first preferences count, the outcome is simple: milk wins with 40 per cent of the vote, followed by beer, with wine trailing in last.

So do voters actually prefer milk? Not a bit of it. Nine voters prefer beer to milk, and nine prefer wine to milk - clear majorities in both cases. Meanwhile, 10 people prefer wine to beer. By pairing off all these preferences, we see the truly preferred order to be W-B-M - the exact reverse of what the voting system produced. In fact Saari showed that given a set of voter preferences you can design a system that produces any result you desire.

So there you have it. All voting systems are notoriously flawed, doomed to failure and inevitably lead to the wrong party and candidates being elected.

But all this overlooks one simple fact: we don't need MPs at all. The country functions perfectly well during their lengthy summer breaks, bank holidays and other times when the house isn't in session. That's because the executive minds the shop and generally follows established protocols. It's true MPs were needed years ago, because asking everyone's opinion on every issue was impossible. But a lot has changed, even in ten years. It's now technically achievable and thus perfectly feasible for everyone in the UK to vote when asked on a law. The internet has made that possible. That means anyone could put together a law they liked, submit via the internet to the public, who could then vote and pass it into law.

Of course, you'd need some sort of organisational committee structure, but the members of that could be elected in the same way, and dismissed just as easily.

Wonder why our MPs like to keep things the way they are…

Hung by their lanyards

2010-04-27T09:18:00.001+01:00

The question of a hung (or balanced) parliament came up on Any Questions last Friday, and predictably both the Labour and the Conservative panel member asserted that it would lead to unstable and economically disastrous coalition government.

Here's a remarkably frank observation from a Danish friend:

Obviously they would say that, but I suspect they actually believe it too. Do they never look at other countries? To the best of my knowledge, Denmark has not in my lifetime had anything other than coalition government - no party has had an overall majority in that time that I can recall. Yet I hardly think anyone would seriously suggest that Denmark is less prosperous or less well-governed than the UK. We've had very stable government for many, many years; our per capita GDP ($55,942) is the fifth highest in the world (after Luxembourg, Norway, Qatar and Switzerland). The Uk ($35,728) comes in 21st place.

If Britain is so different, and if coalition really would be disastrous, what does that say about British politicians and their regard for the wishes of the electorate?

Cool, man

2010-04-25T10:37:00.000+01:00

The Times today carries an article by Dominic Lawson, in which he attributes the 'climate of fear' engendered over any scientific issue as created by those largely to blame––the tabloid newspapers, the means by which scientists who aspire to a high public profile can achieve notoriety (just so long as they are prepared to indulge in some unprofessional exaggeration).

There might be some truth in what he alleges, as we slide towards an ever more risk-free society, but he would do well to remember that when the government ignores the advice of its own scientists, which it is doing in the case of the drugs advisory council, then responsibility for the consequences in terms of society rests entirely with those who make the laws.

Wonder if any of the current band of politicos will have the courage to suggest legalisation of cannabis?

Sorry?

2010-04-24T15:25:00.003+01:00

Ten reasons why Nick Clegg is Britain's Barack Obama

Revealed: the uncanny similarities in the lives and political DNA of Nick Hussein Clegg and Barack William Paul Obama

Is Nick Clegg the British Barack Obama? Photograph: Steve Caplin

"Clegg's ... against-the-odds message of change is energizing young voters and has the British press comparing him to President Obama."
Washington Post, 22 April 2010.
So what do Nick Clegg and Barack Obama have in common?

1. Both men have exotic middle names

Obama: Hussein
Clegg: William Paul

2. Both men had to defeat political giants to win party leadership

Obama: Hillary Clinton
Clegg: Chris Huhne

3. Both men grew up in a minor island overshadowed by major continent

Obama: Hawaii
Clegg: Britain

4. Both men troubled by smears and rumours

Obama: Secretly born in Kenya
Clegg: Secretly bought Ikea cake tin

5. Both men published inspirational works of literature

Obama: Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
Clegg: Learning From Europe: Lessons in Education

6. Both men achieved notable 'firsts'

Obama: First African American president
Clegg: First party leader from Chalfont St Giles

7. Both men favour cutting-edge television drama

Obama: Likes The Wire
Clegg: Likes Morecambe and Wise

8. Both men admit to past dabbling with strong substances

Obama: "Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it."
Clegg: "Peanut butter – I'm an addict! I will go to great lengths to find some if it is not actually readily available."

9. Both men are associated with prestigious accolades

Obama: Won 2009 Nobel peace prize
Clegg: Made video for 2008 British curry awards

10. Both men inspired by charismatic spiritual leaders

Obama: Rev Jeremiah Wright
Clegg: Paddy Ashdown

Taken from the Guardian unlimited, today.

Since 1945...

2010-04-23T15:33:00.000+01:00

How the papers say

Another report, anyone?

2010-04-23T11:43:00.002+01:00

The results of a doubtless extremely expensive and 'radical' survey into the sometimes parlous state of the North Wales coast are in and contain a number of truly astonishing suggestions, never before made. These include

- landscaping and screening off caravan parks to “reduce their visual impact”
- a new waterside experience and destination focused around Rhyl’s former funfair site at Ocean Beach and Foryd Harbour
- Colwyn Bay’s Eirias Park becoming a major focus for events
- A new focus of activity in Colwyn Bay around a regenerated Victoria Pier

These groundbreaking ideas, combined with the earth-shattering revelation that the bulk of tourists to the quaintly termed “non-aspirational” resorts along the Conwy and Denbighshire coastline were people with nostalgic childhood memories of the area, make us all realise why we pay consultants so much. How anyone would have come up with these truly innovative ideas without this impressive survey escapes us completely.

But wait a minute; did anyone read any of the local blogs?

This survey cost a lot of money, will almost certainly not be translated into action, and apart from parroting what's been said locally for years misses crucial factors such as what makes resorts around the world so successful: novelty transport systems - trams, monorails, miniature trains; sandy beaches - Miami used have only stones, until they asked the US corps of engineers for ideas, who responded by creating a totally new, thickly sanded beach in a relatively short time; great hotels with reasonable prices and an integrated transport policy, designed to encourage the car owner, not punish them.

Note: the above ideas are copyright, and will incur substantial charges if we re-print this page and send it into the WAG.

Now we know why Oscar calls them the Arsembly.

Makes you wonder

2010-04-22T08:30:00.000+01:00

From the Guardian:

I doubt if Rupert Murdoch watched the election debate last week. His focus is very firmly on the United States, especially his resurgent Wall Street Journal. But if he did, there would have been one man totally unknown to him. One man utterly beyond the tentacles of any of his family, his editors or his advisers. That man is Nick Clegg.
Make no mistake, if the Liberal Democrats actually won the election – or held the balance of power – it would be the first time in decades that Murdoch was locked out of British politics. In so many ways, a vote for the Lib Dems is a vote against Murdoch and the media elite.

I can say this with some authority because in my five years editing the Sun I did not once meet a Lib Dem leader, even though I met Tony Blair, William Hague and Iain Duncan Smith on countless occasions. (Full disclosure: I have since met Nick Clegg.)

Full story here

Spots on

2010-04-20T10:39:00.000+01:00

Iceland is a wonderful place. From their awesome scenery, with volcanoes around almost every corner, and glaciers scrunching their way towards the sea, to their predisposition towards every conceivable type of fish prepared in almost every conceivable way, their minuscule population, most of which is centred in the capital, to their world-class symphony orchestra, drawn from a total population a third the size of Cardiff's, Iceland is a place where life and death, art and science are sharply juxtaposed.

We'd probably panic somewhat, if Snowdon starting erupting, particularly as Snowdon isn't volcanic, but that's a minor matter. But Icelanders? They pack sandwiches, warm clothes and a thermos and go out to have a picnic and watch the eruptions.

And they're a delightful, warm, pragmatic and highly educated people, whose command of English would put many a native speaker to shame. Their volcanoes also erupt quite frequently, which poses the question as to why we don't remember all this trouble with ash before. The answer, as the lyricist would say, is blowing in the wind.

For a few months we've been in the grip of an odd weather pattern, which is doing nothing to blow all the ash away from us. This time of the year we'd normally be watching the spring flowers decimated by the traditional spring storms, gales, deluges of rain and overcast skies. Now - none of it. This, apparently, may be down to sunspots, the lack of which is possibly going to cause a few years of colder than average winters, which is doubtless good news for the energy industry, kids whose schools have to close and ski retailers. Sunspots are not, as they may sound, a solar form of acne, although the current state of the sun does suggest that it's had the galactic equivalent of Clearasil applied. They are an indicator of the sun's activity, and, although it's been getting more active for the past 400 years, it's now started to become less active - a trend which is likely to continue for the next 100 years. But hey! Let's look on the bright side. At least we won't have to worry about that air-conditioning for a while.

One down...

2010-04-19T16:12:00.002+01:00

For those with an insatiable electioneering appetite:

The first election debate in 15 seconds....

What's in a word?

2010-04-18T10:11:00.002+01:00

On Oscar's blog the other day the subject turned to scrounging, prompted by an article in the egregious DFM. In the comments, two were fairly amusing, although one was precipitated by the other:

I wrote "In terms of birth rate, the lower socio-economic and attainment groups are breeding happily, while the older, ambitious and career-orientated are only having 1.7 babies per couple, a pattern being repeated in most developed countries. What to do about that, however eludes pundits and politicians alike."

to which the ubiquitous Moi (Again) replied…

"How on Earth do you have 0.7 of a baby? Surely this (generally first class) exponent of the British Language has not heard of the word "average"!"

which led to thoughts of language in general. A great deal is assumed in written communications if the writer assumes it's perfectly clear that the (apparently obvious) meaning is absurd. So when penning "1.7 babies" it is absurd (but nonetheless quite amusing) to imagine 0.7 of a baby, and the assumption is made by the writer that folk will automatically add in the word 'average' for themselves.

But that's not always the case, and some of the oddest things have been written, often because the reader does not share the mental context of the writer. This often happens in technical manuals, where significant contextual awareness is assumed by the writer, and too often in instruction manuals for machinery originating in Japan.

Japan, of course, is fair game, with such wonderful instructions to car-hiring tourists as

"When a passenger of the foot heave in sight, tootle the horn. Trumpet at him melodiously at first, but if he still obstacles your passage, then tootle him with vigour"

or the mind-boggling invitation in Tokyo hotel rooms:

You are invited to take advantage of the chambermaid

But perhaps the best examples of assumptions for the sake of brevity come from newspaper headlines. The following show just how dangerous too much assuming can be:

Stiff Opposition Expected To Graveyard Plan

Car Dealers Will Hear Car Talk At Noon

Lack Of Brains Hinders Research

Policeman Help Dog Bite Victim

Man Denies He Committed Suicide

Four Battered In Fish And Chip Shop

Ban On Boxing After Death

Boy Wanted To Kill Man

Bodies Needed To Look After Graveyard

Protestors Tried To Spoil Play But Actors Succeeded

30 Year Friendship Ends At Alter

and almost certainly the best

No Cause Of Death Determined For Beheading Victim

Smoke above

2010-04-17T07:58:00.002+01:00

Well, the clash of the titans didn't produce much in the way of surprises, and we're still in danger of being blanketed by too much hot air and dust by the continuing emissions from that hotbed of calderic excitation, the national press.

Meanwhile, with the entire country a lot quieter, it's worth remembering that the last time there was a shut down of air space on a similar scale - 9/11 - global temperatures showed a slight but nonetheless measurable rise which was, apparently, all to do with the lack of jet emissions, which play a part in reflecting sunlight at high altitudes.

It's been an odd few months, in weather terms, and the trend towards these repeated spells of high pressure could mean a massive heat wave in June and July, and that would not be nice, except for Fan manufacturers and air con salesmen. Staying cool, of course, is far harder than warming up; it's easy to slip on another pullover, or have a nice cuppa, but cooling down is a more difficult process, without resorting to cold showers and baths.

Whatever the weather, and whether we like it or not, the political temperature's bound to rise before May and the British people, in their joint wisdom, choose the government they believe will create the least mayhem for the future. Let's hope they get it right.

Careful!

2010-04-14T08:35:00.003+01:00

As Snowdonia claimed the life of yet another young man last night, a brief walk on the Great Orme yesterday served to illustrate just how fortunate we are that there aren't many more serious accidents.

Yesterdays cool but fine weather afforded a wonderful opportunity for walking, so we took full advantage. Parking in Hafod y Mor, opposite the Headlands' Hotel, the walk was up the road leading to the Ski slope, across at the base of the slope then up the steps to the top.

Despite a haze, the views from the top were good, and strolling to the cliff top immediately above the toll road meant it was possible to gaze at the pier from a God-like perspective, search for those intrusive but elusive wind turbines, consider how we would change the world with a wave of the arms and watch the antics of other walkers.

When the excited cries of a young child drew notice, it was possible to see that a mother and 4 or 5 year old had positioned themselves very close to the edge of a pretty sheer rock-wall face. The mother was shouting at the child to behave, but the child was still perilously close to the edge. Eventually, both moved off, but from that single example it was easy to see how folk can be lulled into a sense of false security by the imperceptible merging of man-made and fenced walkways into a wild country setting.

Both the Ormes are magnificent, wild, dangerous and unpredictable, but there are a lot of city dwellers whose experience of and preparation for this sort of terrain is inadequate, given the potential for disaster. As the season progresses, it's almost inevitable that there will be an accident on one of the Ormes, and the question that will be raised is how much should the country park or Mostyn's do to warn people that there are dangers. The amusing sign on Conwy mountain which informs you that you're approaching a steep drop, moments before the mountain drops - almost vertically - into a caravan park about 800 feet below seems incongruous, but perhaps what we need is better education for the visitor, with pamphlets in each hotel at the season's start.

Even then, there will be some who will call for the Ormes to be fully fenced, and that would be an aesthetic disaster. We need danger in our lives and we need to learn how to manage risk; it's part of life and growing. But perhaps we also need to warn visitors that babies don't bounce - especially from 200 feet up.

An improbable fiction

2010-04-13T10:28:00.001+01:00

It's good news that Theatr Colwyn is getting a much-needed revamp. Theatre and entertainment, music and singing are essential components in the fabric of any community or society and Theatr Colwyn has seen a lot in the past. About 20 years ago, the World Harmonica Championships were held there, so the place is no stranger to important events. The Arts Council provides with unimaginable largess for London opera-goers, yet comparatively little - if at all - for the bedrock of the theatrical industry - the provincial theatre. This sort of fiscal snobbery misses several points, but the important one is that talent doesn't recognise social class or wealth. Some of our best entertainers - true geniuses - hail from North of the M25, yet the big government quangos seem to be remarkably myopic when it comes to funding the very operations that would bring these geniuses to a wider audience.

Too much is often invested in the capabilities of the individual manger, also; ITV's unbelievable stupidity in cancelling Foyle's War some years ago and Greg Dyson's instant re-scheduling of Neighbours to suit his daughter's school are just two examples. Perhaps it's time we had just a little more accountability in the entertainment industry - and a few more comedians that were actually funny.

Values

2010-04-12T12:19:00.000+01:00

Last night on Countryfile, the 'regular' farmer, who makes a weekly appearance, was shown delivering lambs and bottle feeding some of the rejected. He made an interesting observation whilst so doing. He said 'Bottle feeding lambs, given the cost of dried milk and the time it takes, doesn't add up economically.'

Although the comment was made almost as an aside, those younger viewers who heard it might still be somewhat mortified.

Yet at lambing time, it's easy to forget the farming is an industry and not an extension to a Disney theme park. Farmers in North Wales work mighty hard and have to take tough decisions.

But where do we draw the line? Every year, the Great Orme goats hit the headlines, usually because - lacking natural predators - they reproduce too quickly and to an unsustainable level. Every summer, also, a young or old goat will get stuck on a ledge, prompting an avalanche of calls from concerned tourists. §yet do we do these animals any favours by rescuing them and thus ensuring the older and weaker genetic traits get passed down through the generations? It's easy - and fashionable - to condemn those who believe in non interference with the natural processes, but perhaps sensible thought should be given to how best to deal with wild animals who have to survive, even if only on the Orme.

Nature, after all, has been dealing with this for millions of years.

Aha, Jim lad!

2010-04-11T10:15:00.000+01:00

At 108, Okushima takes to the floor for traditional Japanese dances. She was born when Japan had only recently seen off the shogun warlords. If an ageing population is on the way, she is not a bad advert for what we have in store.

In 1984, Japan had the youngest population in the developed world, but by 2005 it had become the world's most elderly country. Soon it will become the first country where most people are over 50 years old.

The fertility rate in Japan is just 1.2 children per woman, far lower than the 2.1 needed to maintain a steady population. And they're not alone. In 19 countries, from Singapore to Iceland, people have a life expectancy of about 80 years. Of all the people in human history who ever reached the age of 65, half are alive now. Meanwhile, women around the world have half as many children as their mothers. And if Japan is the model, their daughters may have half as many as they do. In just a generation, world fertility has halved to just 2.6 babies per woman. In most of Europe and much of east Asia, fertility is closer to one child per woman than two, way below long-term replacement levels. The notion that the populations of places such as Brazil and India will go on expanding looks misplaced: in fact, they could soon be contracting.

The long term implications are significant, because we're acquiring a population of older, very experienced, intelligent people who have time on their hands and a desire to fill that time with productive but non-stressful occupations. Thus we have ex-Police superintendents stacking shelves at Tesco, ex-senior social work managers selling boots and shoes, ex-lecturers serving coffee and ex-nuclear physicists looking after trees. These people comprise an enormous resource for the country in terms of skills, knowledge and experience, and it will be interesting to see which of the main parties promises to use that resource for the UK.

Spring has sprung

2010-04-10T08:32:00.002+01:00

This being the first weekend in a long time that the central heating can safely be turned off, the sheep are mainly white through their coat colour, instead of snow and rabbits are escaping their burrows without the aid of an ice breaker, it's probably safe to assume that Spring has arrived.

With the advent of spring come all manner of delightful distractions; flowers competing desperately to attract the attention of any passing bees, an increase in white tails bobbing madly as young rabbits realise there's someone coming across the field, tiny lambs and not-so-tiny lambs pushing exhausted mothers into a hedge as they try to get an early breakfast and the appearance of hedgerow birds and flowers.

In town, you can almost smell the impending Extravaganza, and this year's event will be massive, as always, competing only briefly with the Colwyn Bay Prom Day.

Like it or loathe it, the Extravaganza is organised entirely by volunteers, and it takes roughly a year to plan. The event costs a lot to mount and in all fairness it does a lot for the town, kick-starting the season like no other event. If you feel you can do better, or if you simply want to get involved, the committee will welcome your interest.

This year, the organisers face the headache posed by the continued closure of the Maesdu Bridge, which will restrict traffic to only one entrance route to the town across the weekend. But if you don't like crowds, and would prefer a quieter, more relaxing activity venue, then you could do worse than try the brand new pitch and putt course, pioneered by a member of the Llandudno Local forum.

Finally, don't forget the wonderfully quiet, scenic cafe on the Great Orme Marine Drive, where you can chill out (often literally), enjoy a legendary tea cake and watch the sea-world go by.

Big Bother

2010-04-09T09:12:00.000+01:00

As the greatest of reality shows gets under way, it's mildly absorbing fun to ponder which of the contestants will win. Will it be the older bloke, with the boring voice and the funny mannerism when he's talking, a twitch which serves to distract at least this observer, or will it be one of the two younger blokes; the smooth-talking smarmie, who seems short on facts but makes for great watching or the little chap who is telling us all how he wants to change the world?

Of course, we're really all waiting for the Challenges. Things haven't really warmed up as of yet, but a few soakings, egg-throwings, walking on thin planks in funny costumes and singing in a mud-pool and we'll all enjoy the entire process much more.

And given the ubiquity of the internet, bloggers, facebook, forums and iPhones, we may also see contestants gaining votes for helping their fans, irrespective of party affiliations. Which is really how it ought to be.

This is also a wonderful opportunity for Plaid, a group whose power base is expanding because they are genuinely so good at helping their constituents. And perhaps we could do worse than follow the US model, with individual States being able to legislate on almost anything, but federal control being retained by the White House.

Sniff...

2010-04-08T08:29:00.001+01:00

It's a curious thing about politics and politicians, but they seem to come with an instant 'disbelivability' tag. The expenses scandal last year should have changed the political landscape for ever, but listening to the main party leaders it seems as though very little has changed.

It becomes increasingly difficult to accept their assurances and lack of courage and honesty. A simple illustration is drugs. The drug advisory council is now all but bereft of the scientists - the people who take decisions based on evidence and fact - and the council might now just as well be a political department. Most people in the UK would probably support the legalisation of certain drugs, but which party would have the courage to say that in an election manifesto?

Maybe we really do get the politicians we deserve.

Schooled to succeed

2010-04-07T09:19:00.000+01:00

North Wales Tourism's chairman Chris Jackson, who is also the Welsh Mountain Zoo’s administrative director in Upper Colwyn Bay, said: “The feeling generally is that it has been a below par Easter to date, that’s largely due to the weather. But the English schools still have the best part of two weeks on holiday so there is still hope that we can get something back from visitors.”

The Liverpool and Manchester education authorities started the 'official' Easter break on Monday, and don't return until Monday 19th, so there's time for the visitor numbers to pick up in what is a crucial period of the year for our tourist-related businesses.

The Easter break is a mixed blessing for most comprehensive schools; few outside of the school world realise that many bring in their A level and GCSE students for revision, extra work and tuition, all in the teachers' own time. Eirias - to give one example - has always run a full timetable for students during the Easter break, which can be invaluable, as a concentrated period of working - free from the distractions of school bells, lesson changes and those who simply don't want to work - can make the difference between an A and a B grade in the results. Those who condemn the education system would do well to remember that it's because of the selfless effort of so many local teachers that our schools locally are among the best in the country and - in the case of Eirias - the best in the UK.

Jam today

2010-04-06T11:30:00.000+01:00

Welcome to Sunny Llandudno! And enjoy a leisurely drive home, as you stare out of the window at miles of cones, queues and frustrated motorists.

As anticipated, the merry japes of the Highways chappies ensured more than a leisurely drive home for those stuck in a six mile tailback at Abergele on Monday.

The ever helpful but rather unaware Denbighshire County Council deputy leader Eryl Williams said the roadworks were needed to repair the bridge, damaged by a lorry.

He said: “It was a major reconstruction over months, not just this weekend. I sympathise with drivers but they could have researched many other good, countryside routes.”

That would be the A5, then? Assuming anyone can extract themselves from Llandudno, since there's only one route in and out until the ephemeral working crews at the Maesdu disaster area reappear, both the A470 which they'd have to take, and the A5 are not known for being the easiest to drive. Or perhaps he means any of the multitudinous back roads, replete with their merry little pothole collections, tractors, wandering sheep and single track widths. What a scoundrel he is!

An even more helpful Welsh Assembly Government spokesman said: “One lane was closed over the bank holiday weekend while we undertook essential safety works to the bridge parapets. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, and hope to reopen it on Wednesday.”

Ah. But did they close it because it was a bank holiday? You have to wonder if they have a calendar in their offices, which outlines bank holidays and they simply assume that's the best time to close carriageways, without using their brains to consider whether that's also the best time to make everyone navigating the horrendous mess think very carefully about ever visiting Llandudno and other holiday resorts again.

Of maybe someone in the WAG is a '50s buff, and simply wants to give everyone the chance to re-live the halcyon days of that decade, when only a single carriageway connected North Wales to Manchester and Liverpool.

Never mind; two more bank holidays coming up, so they'll be able to plan carefully which major routes to shut down then, so they can create even longer tailbacks. Ooh, aren't they awful?

Holiday fun!

2010-04-05T10:01:00.000+01:00

Being a bank holiday, and thus a day on which - by definition - no news occurs, the mind turns to thoughts of…just about anything, really. Like why Einstein's brain was smaller than average, or how hard it is to recreate a trough-led Tsunami in a laboratory, why hot water freezes faster than cold or why the WAG makes it so hard to find a set of plans for a new road that's being built just North of Llanwrst, the first warning of which was a sign blandly informing us all that "work starts here for 48 weeks on 25th April", which will bring cheer to the hearts of all those who seek to make a living out of the tourist market in Llanrwst and Betws.

Being a coastal community (as, in a sense, the entire UK is) we're much preoccupied with thoughts of water, Piers, solitons and visitors, but we do sometimes forget that tourists are a vital component of the fiscal circle of life, particularly when they're driving a twenty year old car at 30 mph in the middle of the A470.

But hey! The weather's slated to stop raining - eventually - and it might even become a tad warmer. And then we'll all be able to moan about heat waves, flies, global warming and the state of the roads. Happy Holidays,,,

Egged on

2010-04-04T10:57:00.000+01:00

There's a curious but growing tradition that seems to be to wish folk "Happy Easter!", although there's as yet no exchange of presents, nor the greeting "Merry Easter!", which sounds even odder.

Easter was known as Ēostre in Anglo Saxon, which is presumably where Oestrogen makes its appearance, and was - like all religious festivals - itself a conversion of a pagan festival which preceded it.

Notwithstanding all this erudition, it's safe to say that most people enjoy easter eggs, think the whole thing is no yolk, adopt a thick-shelled attitude to all the ribaldry and hope for the weather to stay fine.

Happy Ēostre!

That's a wrap

2010-04-03T08:41:00.000+01:00

You might not notice, but yet another film has been made in Snowdonia - this time the remake of Clash of the Titans. The Daily Post erroneously reports that

not since Pierce Brosnan’s 007 used Snowdon as a stand-in for the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan has Wales’ foremost peak and surroundings played such a vital role in a major film

but in fact Snowdonia plays host to film makers of every persuasion on a regular basis. The Great Orme itself was used three times last year alone for shooting both feature films and adverts (watch the Landrover ad that uses the postcard motif carefully), the uninspiring Prince Valiant was shot in Gwyrch (Abergele) Castle, Willow in Betws Y Coed and an episode of Hetty Wainthrop in Penryhn beach and Bryn Elian School, and those are only some examples of the filming that takes place on a regular basis. Local suppliers make props, such as Daunts, although these are often unseen, since the heroes have to set forth, dauntless…

The weather in Snowdonia can be tricky, as we know, but it's a testament to just how scenic the area is that so many film-makers make the trek here and eschew the more usual locations. Many years ago, Carry on up the Khyber was made in Porthmadog when extras were paid ten bob each per day. Film making is very good for the area in many ways, and we can always look forward to a film about CCBC and its work. Possible titles could include "From here to Eternity" ,"Lord of the Rungs" or "We did it our way". Tickets, anyone?

They're late

2010-04-02T08:11:00.001+01:00

Yesterday's April fool announcement on this blog about CCBC's plans for Happy Valley seems to have struck a chord, possibly because this sort of thing is becoming an all too familiar pattern for CCBC. In fact, we probably need a new county motto for CCBC: "Decimate not Innovate".

That aside, the Easter weekend promises the usual traffic chaos on the A55, although the main problem is on the East bound carriageway, so at least visitors will make it here fairly easily.

Providing the weather behaves itself, we can look forward to the start of another season, and we can hope that this year sees some real ideas and progress in respect of Happy Valley - a wonderful site that has been allowed to deteriorate beyond recognition. We allowed sheer stupidity and greed to lead to the incredible loss of the Penmorfa and we mustn't repeat it, although all might not be lost. Ten years ago, the Times wrote

Thanks to the survival of two of the holiday homes of Alice Liddell, the child who inspired the Alice books, Llandudno has long been the world centre of Mad Hatters, March Hares and Mock Turtles

In 2012 we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the writing of Through the Looking Glass and it would be innovative indeed if something could be created for the same year we're expected to host the Olympics to remind visitors that Llandudno's more than just a seaside town. Although avarice saw the demolition of the house itself, the outline and foundations remain and could be rebuilt. Arguably, a new Alice attraction could be created as a walk-through experience in some of the larger houses nearby as they come up for sale. The old joke 'Nostalgia's not what it used to be' couldn't be more wrong; nostalgia's a bigger incentive for visitors now than ever, thanks to the ubiquity and availability of information. And creation of something along the lines suggested could be a wonderful and lasting legacy. And the irony of CCBC caring about Alice in Wonderland shouldn't be lost...

Sad times

2010-04-01T08:01:00.000+01:00

From inside sources, we can reveal that CCBC have plans in hand to remodel Happy Valley and the gardens in a major cost-cutting exercise. The overall plan is to remove a lot of the terracing in the gardens, along with most of the plants and trees, and lawn the entire area, so that the current amphitheatre modelling will be continued right up the ski slope. In effect, the whole of Happy Valley and the old outdoor theatre will become a grassy hillock, bereft of trees, plants and interest for visitors. This plan, however, has been quietly slipped through to anticipate the furore that might erupt if the plans to concrete the decaying Haulfre Gardens become a reality.

That's bigamy

2010-03-31T15:46:00.000+01:00

Judge John Rogers QC imposed a nine-month prison sentence and said: “A prison sentence is inevitable for an offence of bigamy."

It might seem strange, but our statute book still retains some of the most obsolete, quaintest and oddest crimes imaginable.

We all know, of course, the hoary old tales that in the UK, a man who feels compelled to urinate in public can do so only if he aims for his rear wheel and keeps his right hand on his vehicle but did you know that a pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants – even, if she so requests, in a policeman’s helmet.

Other bizarre laws include taxis, and it's illegal to put rabid dogs or corpses in a London taxi or to flag down a taxi if you have the plague, which is worth remembering ,if the weather's that bit warmer.

Among the many illegalities our MPs perpetrate, it's worth noting that it's illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament and an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British monarch upside down.

Under the UK’s Tax Avoidance Schemes Regulations 2006, it is illegal not to tell the taxman anything you don’t want him to know, though you don’t have to tell him anything you don’t mind him knowing.

Two interesting laws about the Scots and Welsh include Welshmen being banned from entering Chester before sunrise and from staying after sunset and legal to murder a Scotsman within the ancient city walls of York, but only if he is carrying a bow and arrow.

However, compared with some parts of the world we have it easy. Most adolescent boys should avoid Indonesia, where the penalty for masturbation is decapitation.

Perhaps it's time we asked the political candidates if they're going to reform the laws of the UK to bring them into line with the 21st century. And while we're at it, if Wales gains full independence perhaps we could adopt a constitution that would guarantee us the right to bear arms. Just a .44 Magnum would do.

.

To boldly go

2010-03-30T09:37:00.004+01:00

Politics can be depressingly like football. Both seem to encourage polarisation, both seem to acquire supporters who delight in the yobbish behaviour so decried by all political parties and football supporters (so who does it, then?) and both seem to work towards the lowest common denominator in terms of message.

It doesn't have to be like that, of course, as last night's debate between Cable, Osbourne and Darling demonstrated, but the simple fact is that most people who unreservedly support a political party do so without using their brains. It's easy, after all, to re-print swathes of the Daily Torygraph, or masses from any right-wing publication and swallow it hook, line and sinker (to escape from the unremitting football analogies for a moment) but real life isn't like that. The fact is that whomever wins the next General Election is going to do broadly similar things: increase taxes, cut back services and make most people poorer. Why? Because the UK can't simply do its own thing any more. We're in thrall to the very people who're responsible for the mess we're in - the Banks.

And as if that wasn't depressing enough, the EU has multiple conditions to ensure we don't go our own merry way, no matter how much politicians like the egregious Osborne would have us believe they can. Anyone who says otherwise is sadly uninformed.

But for light relief, Star Trek aficionados might be interested in the current trend of matching a character from the Next Generation & ST:DS9 to our current contenders.

Thus far, Brown is matched with Worf, while Cameron is matched with Data. Neither is a flattering comparison, so feel free to contribute any ideas you might have.

Per ardua ad asda, as they say in Basingstoke...

Slaving away...

2010-03-27T15:03:00.002Z

This is bound to be an interesting time for us, locally. As we await further details about the fascinating events of Friday at CCBC, the comment made about slavery being a way forward is worth considering.

Ancient Rome had (broadly) three categories of population: citizens, non-citizens and slaves. As with any society, it was more complex in reality, and the struggles that took place between the wealthy landowners (Patricians) and the rest of the citizens (Plebians) echo British Airway's problems quite eerily.

But perhaps the ancient Romans had something, when they made the position of Citizen something to which you had to aspire. And reintroducing slavery - a status which could be meted out to offenders in the same way as prison sentences or community service orders are now - could have an interesting effect. It would - at a stroke - cut down on prison building, provide plenty of fresh air and exercise for the former inmates, and - best of all - those who paid their due to society in full, by completing their tenure as a slave - would be awarded full citizen status.

And, of course, the ultimate spin-off would be the reintroduction of the games - gladiatorial, naturally. Think what Simon Cowell would pay for that.

Pardon?

2010-03-26T16:02:00.001Z

"THE SENIOR official of a North Wales council has been temporarily suspended during a police investigation.
Byron Davies, chief executive of Conwy County Borough Council, has been relieved of his duties "temporarily" the authority said on Friday.
The council said: "A complaint has been made to North Wales Police against Byron Davies, Chief Executive of Conwy County Borough Council.
"He is currently understood to be assisting the Police and has been relieved of his duties with the council temporarily."

Mea Culpa

2010-03-25T08:29:00.001Z

Well, just about the only things of any direct importance to emerge from Darling's speech yesterday were potholes. Which is a tad ironic, since they don't actually emerge.

But why 'potholes'? One source suggests that our ancestors were constantly patching roads. In fact, it's suggested the first potholes date back to Roman times, when potters dug up hunks from the clay roads - hence the name.

Which might work, if Romans had used clay. But they didn't. The term 'pot-hole' in the sense of "a deep hole of more or less cylindrical shape" was in use in 1826 by geologists and civil engineers to describe naturally-occurring holes, which were thought to be the result of water action. The holes in question were actually effects of glaciation. By 1878, the word was sometimes written without the hyphen.

In 1898, an author in the Archaeological Journal used "pot-hole" in the sense claimed above:

"That the manufacture of pottery was carried on in Haying in former times is shown by the existence of 'pot-holes', i.e. holes from which clay has been taken."

However, this has nothing to do with defects in the surface of a road. The use of 'pot-hole' to describe bad roads is given in a news item from 1909, which complains that "artificial watering and constant scavenging" are ruining the local macadam roads. But macadam roads are made of crushed stone and cement.

Roman roads, like macadam roads, were made primarily of stone rather than clay. Here's a description of the canonical Roman road from the Encyclopedia Britannica:

In its highest stage of development the Appian Way was constructed by excavating parallel trenches about 40 feet (12 metres) apart to mark its exact location and to indicate the nature of the subsoil. The foundation was then covered with a light bedding of sand or mortar on which four main courses were constructed; (1) a statumen layer of large flat stones 10 to 24 inches (250-600 millimetres) in thickness; (2) a rudus course of smaller stones mixed with lime about 9 inches (225 millimetres) thick; (3) the nucleus layer, about one foot (300 millimetres) thick, consisting of small gravel and coarse sand mixed with hot lime; and (4) on this fresh mortar a summa crusta, or wearing surface, of flint-like lava about six inches (150 millimetres) deep.

But the Romans had two big advantages over us when it came to building and maintaining roads: they built them straight - mainly because chariots initially had trouble turning corners, the Romans having not quite cottoned on to the idea of a differential, but also because it made getting to the next country to conquer quicker.

The second advantage they had was slaves. And it's here where Darling missed a trick. Reintroducing slavery would save us a packet. We could use long term prisoners, who would enjoy the day out, working in the fresh air, getting plenty of exercise, or simply designate a nearby nation - perhaps the French - as slaves. And he could be reasonably sure no other party would come up with that idea.

Mea Culpa, as they say in Rome….

If wishing made it so

2010-03-24T10:46:00.001Z

As we all await, with pre-taxed baited breath, the budget, it might be worth thinking of things that could well bring in a few billion to the treasury's rattlingly empty coffers, so here's a list of ideas, to start the balls rolling.

Impose a 45% tax on Mephedrone.

Introduce a 75% higher income tax rate for the following: Consultants (non-medical), parking wardens, MPs, County Councillors, MPs, the Royal family, MPs and - oh,. did we mention MPs?

Introduce a 2000% special purchase tax for all four by four owners based on postcode. Those with London and other big-city addresses pay top whack; those who live in rural areas pay nothing.

Introduce a 'performance tax' for MPs; exact amount to be determined in a constituency-wide vote each March.

Happy Budget Day!

The times they are a changin'

2010-03-23T10:23:00.004Z

We've emerged from both a real and metaphorical drought to find all sorts of things happening, locally, nationally and internationally.

The news that eleven pubs facing closure over the Easter weekend because they were caught selling alcohol to young people and instead been given the option of squeezing it in at a time when they'll stand to lose a lot less money has met mixed reactions, the most common of which seems to be the 'one law for them' type of response.

Curiously, the 'enforcer', Roly Schwarz, said:

"This decision is not made lightly but the number of premises involved here makes for unusual circumstances and could give out a message that the towns themselves were closed for Easter,'

which makes a number of truly bizarre assumptions, not least being that the visitors are either potential inebriates or too stupid to read properly. Either way, when we're talking about encouraging under-age drinking, neither he nor the council emerges with much credit.

On the national front, the Government's desire to make every one (except lawyers, interestingly) totally accountable is finally coming back to bite them, as yet more tales of MPs holding down multiple 'jobs', taking free holidays (and the tax payers), and selling their souls generally emerge. One blogger - the Jobbing Doctor - has an answer of sorts. He's proposing that it's high time that MPs were themselves governed by a quango of independent non-elected folk:

First thing I would do is reform the holidays. We are allowed 6 weeks a year, so that can be the same for the politicians. As we are having HMRC crawling all over our tax returns, let's do the same for MPs. We have targets, so there should be some for politicians. We also do not have proper training for MPs, so they should all pass a language, competence and probity test before being allowed to be an MP.

Finally, Obama is busy making history, as the USA takes its first steps towards a reform of their wobbly health-care system, by bringing the powerful insurance companies into line.

Fascinating times lie ahead.

Not so Happy, Valley...

2010-03-22T09:12:00.000Z

As the new season begrudgingly sneaks its way in through the snow covered mountains, there's a comic inevitability that some folks' thoughts turn to spring.

Spring : new lambs, new flowers, cold nights and warming days. More to the point, a steady increase in visitors to plough money into local businesses, which in turn just possibly might lead to more shops being occupied, more rates being paid and thus a better funded council, who would then be able to provide better facilities for us, the locals.

Well, that's the way it's supposed to work. But does it?

In 1999, The NWWN reported that a £500 000 Heritage Lottery funded scheme was being proposed to re-build a permanent stage in Happy Valley which would allow live shows to be put on throughout the season.

Town Councillors were said to be "Thrilled that the valley was once more going to be a tremendous asset to the town".

When the article was written, it was expected that the work would have been completed within a year, yet now - 11 years later - there's little to show the place was once a focus for visitor activity and a wonderful venue for shows of all kinds throughout the summer season.

So what happened? Why did the promised stage never appear? Did the money get used elsewhere?

We need to know.

A blaze of glory

2010-03-21T09:26:00.002Z

The recent fires above Conwy that you could both see and smell from Llandudno were the cause of much debate, but that debate does lend an interesting perspective to the whole business of statistics.

In the Daily post ,operations manager Gareth Wyn Griffiths claimed 245 appliances or fire engines were called out at £340 a time, a total of £83,300. Though most fires were attended by full-time firefighters, many were tackled by part-time crews. It costs around £100 an hour for a crew of five part-time, or retained, firefighters – making the cost even higher.

He also noted - somewhat self-deprecatingly "We are coping with the strain through successful management, but these fires could be tying up firefighters and resources needed to save lives elsewhere."

It's always tempting to swallow stats like those without asking some pertinent questions. So we'll do that.

The claim that "245 appliances or fire engines were called out at £340 a time, a total of £83,300" assumes they cost nothing to be left in their sheds, or wherever, so we're presumably expected to deduce that the cost of £83,300 is down to petrol. Now, prices have risen in the past year, but that seems rather a lot for fuel. Or is that the hire charge for a fire engine? Curiously, fire engines do move when they're aren't any fires. in fact, North Wales doesn't have that many fires, which is why we have few full-time firemen, so those that work within the fire service spend a lot of their time rehearsing. These fires probably provided some real on-the-job training opportunities for them.

But his subsequent observation that "… these fires could be tying up firefighters and resources needed to save lives elsewhere," implies that if your house catches fire and granny is left screaming for help from the attic, the gorse fires come first. So what was that about "successful management"?

Fire fighting's a dangerous job, and those who do it deserve their accolades, but reducing incidents to the level of ticket-punting and bald financial figures does little to generate real concern over the real issues of gorse burning during a drought and can deflect attention from the seriousness of mountain fires in general.

All good things...

2010-03-20T08:07:00.002Z

Strange, really, how the smallest things that affect your life. On Tuesday evening, all was right with the world, but our music server had stopped playing during the night.

We are an all Mac household, and we have nine computers, all doing their thing, perfectly, smoothly, without complaint, infections or any of the dreadful afflictions that PC owners seem to suffer on a daily basis. However, Wednesday morning, the iMac providing our untrammelled access to music stored on the server wouldn't reset. It reported a fatal error with the disc drive, which required a new drive, major upheaval and two days of non-stop work with a lot of screwdrivers.

Now, I don't blame Apple; they don't make the hard discs, you see, and - while those bits of technology are normally phenomenally reliable, they are - after all - only a rusted pice of metal or glass with a fishing line hanging a sensor microns above and spinning at ridiculous speeds all the time, so there's bound to be the odd bad batch that only last three or four years.

But the other day our 24 year old dishwasher also gave up the ghost, along with our 19 year old freezer. Makes you wonder, though; is nothing built to last these days?

Distractions

2010-03-16T09:03:00.000Z

It's an interesting time, as they say in parts of the world where explosives, missiles and suicide bombers are par for the course. Naturally, our interesting time is a little less unhealthy, but the news that Tryfan might not be as high as was once thought, coupled with the petition to turn the A55 into a motorway sits well with the local Nuclear Power chaps, who are suggesting that they might build a nice bypass for a village in Anglesey so they can build their shiny new Nuclear Power station.

If you're ~~all~~ both wondering exactly what the connection is, it's all to do with distractions. The Nuclear power industry is in the throes of making a comeback. Years ago it received a dreadful press, largely because of silly issues, like contaminating a large chunk of Russia and North Wales, doubling cancer rates and generally being a bit sloppy with some of the most lethal substances known to man. So the A55 - which never fails to cause controversy - and the height of Tryfan have both provided useful talking points, when otherwise folk might be nattering about death and destruction over their elevenses.

The Nuclear power industry spends an enormous amount on PR, yet there's a quiet acceptance growing that we generally prefer warm and well lit homes to living in caves, and that if we're to continue enjoying the benefits of central heating, hot showers and Chris Evans (although whether that last should be described as a benefit is debatable) then we need nuclear power. Wind power, despite its 'green' credentials, which are rather less than might be imagined after the manufacturing process has been taken into account, is really just another distraction, with many long-term reliability issues. Tidal power - which could be really effective - needs technology still in a fledging state, and the promise of Fusion - the great hope for tomorrow - is still, er…tomorrow's dream. Realistically, we need nuclear power, just not too close. Perhaps they could hollow out Tryfan and use that?

A laugh a vote

2010-03-15T08:23:00.001Z

This blog is apolitical so, to redress the balance slightly, enjoy these:

The problem with political jokes is that they get elected!!
*
The government is sneaky. They raise the tax on alcohol, then make sure that the country is in such a mess that you drink more.
*
Honesty in politics is much like oxygen. The higher up you go, the scarcer it becomes.
*
During Britain's "brain drain," not a single politician left the country.
*
Make your MP work - don't re-elect him.
*
You Tories will never win here in Norfolk if you keep tellin us you're goin to reduce taxes. We NEED our TAXES! The buses are terrible round here.
*
Chap in the Midlands goes into his usual pub and greets his friend the barman.

'Have you heard that joke about the young Conservative who went into a pub?'
'Watch it' comes a voice from down the room, 'I'm a young Conservative!'
'Don't let it worry you,' says the first chap, 'I'll tell it slowly!'
*
A man went in for a Brain transplant operation and was offered a choice of two brains by the surgeon. He could choose either the Architect's brain which would cost him £10,000 or a Tory Politician's which was £100,000.
"Does that mean that the Tory politician's brain is much better than the Architect's?" exclaimed the clearly puzzled man.
"Not exactly" replied the surgeon, "the Tory politician's has never been used."

Your count votes

2010-03-14T08:23:00.000Z

In democracy, your vote counts. In feudalism, your Count votes....

Your vote counts...

2010-03-14T08:01:00.000Z

Prime Minister, and self proclaimed saviour of the terrestrial world, Gordon Brown dies and his soul arrives at the Pearly gates to meet Saint Peter.

"Welcome to Heaven," says Saint Peter, "Before you come in, we need to make sure that you are in the right place by having you visit both hell and heaven for day"

"Just let me into heaven; I'm a good Christian; I'm a believer, I'm a son of the Manse" says the PM.

"I'm sorry .. but we have our rules," Peter interjects, and, with that, St. Peter escorts him to an elevator and Gordon goes down,, down ...all the way to Hell.
The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a lush golf course. The sun is shining in a cloudless sky. The temperature is a perfect 22C degrees. In the distance is a beautiful club-house. Standing in front of it is Harold Wilson and thousands of other Socialist luminaries who had helped him out over the years --- John Smith, Michael Foot, Jim Callaghan etc. Everyone was laughing, happy, and casually but expensively dressed.

They run to greet him, to hug him and to reminisce about the good times they had and they play a friendly game of golf before dining on lobster and caviar.

During the course of the day, Brown meets the devil and they get on well as the devil appears to be just like Gordon - a really friendly bloke who tells funny jokes, someone who pulls hilarious nasty pranks. Returning to the Pearly gates by elevator, Gordon is sent upwards to Heaven for his day there.

Brown spends the day with the honest, good-natured people there who enjoy each other's company, talk about things other than money and treat each other decently. No fancy country clubs here and, while the food tastes good, it's not caviar or lobster. And these people are all poor. He doesn't see anybody he knows but he likes being treated like everyone else, because he knows that he is someone special.
At the end of the day, Gordon returns to the Pearly Gates to meet up with Saint Peter and makes the decision where he is to stay for Eternity - he chooses Hell - and then makes the journey down wards.

The doors of the elevator open and he is in the middle of a barren scorched earth covered with garbage and toxic industrial wasteland. He is horrified to see all of his friends, dressed in rags and chained together, picking up the roadside rubbish and putting it into black plastic bags. They are groaning and moaning in pain, faces and hands black with grime.

Shocked, Brown makes his way over to the Devil, saying " I don't understand this. Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and a club-house and we ate lobster and caviar and drank tequila. We lazed around and had a great time. Now there's just a wasteland full of garbage and everybody looks miserable!"

The Devil looks at him, smiles slyly and purrs, "Yesterday we were campaigning; today you voted for us!"

Time. Now.

2010-03-13T11:41:00.001Z

You might only just have heard of Operation Punnet, or might have assumed that the strawberry Police enforcement unit is rigorously checking the number of seeds on each strawberry, but the reality is far different and much more serious.

Operation Punnet, run jointly by North Wales Police with Conwy and Denbighshire County Council licensing teams and other agencies, saw a staggering 11 pubs in Ruthin, Denbigh and Llanfair DC ordered to close their doors for two days.
A further two pubs in Colwyn Bay and Abergele had their licences suspended for a week or more. All 13 boozers were caught out by Test purchasers, all girls aged 15 and 16, sent to try to buy alcoholic drinks in December and January, supervised by undercover police.
As punishment for serving them, the Central Hotel, on Station Road, Colwyn Bay, can’t sell alcohol for two weeks after staff were twice caught selling to the test purchasers.

Police say alcohol-related violent crime inside these premises dropped by 56% on average while measures to stop selling to underage drinkers were active, and incidents of alcohol-related violent crime in neighbouring streets in Rhyl also dipped by 11% during those three months, a statistic which translates to 27 fewer assaults and public order offences, compared with a similar period in the previous 12 months.

As a new ID scanner, which takes a photo of official documents like a driving license or passport, and flashes up the person’s picture on a computer screen is being pushed hard, the redoubtable Roly Schwarz, said: “We’ve found some people let into pubs have actually had their ID checked, and it shows they’re 17, so this will help door staff work out people’s ages quicker.”

Alcohol and teenagers don't mix. The evidence is overwhelming, from the additional strain on the NHS to the community effects of vandalism, assault, criminal damage and anti-social behaviour. Pubs who serve it to youngsters without ensuring that they're the appropriate age ought to be closed - and fast.

Learning by degrees

2010-03-11T07:44:00.000Z

The Guardian reports to day that Lucy Neville-Rolfe, Tesco's director of corporate and legal affairs, says school-leavers have basic problems with literacy and numeracy and that many also have "what you might call an attitude problem". She adds: "They don't seem to understand the importance of a tidy appearance and have problems with timekeeping ... Some seem to think that the world owes them a living," adding "There are growing questions over various aspects of our exam system. There seems to be a fair amount of evidence now that [exams] are getting easier and failing to stretch people. The proportion of firsts and 2:1s has risen enormously so it's much rarer to get a 2:2 than a first. People who are clever today are achieving the grades of the very clever a couple of decades ago."

And in that final sentence, she betrays not only her lamentable grasp of education but also a total inability to understand what constitutes intellect.

It's likely that she has a point - of sorts. There are school leavers out there who fulfil all the criteria she lists but there are as many - if not far more - that don't, and the question is why she doesn't hire them. But the final statement she makes is not only wrong, it is incredibly misleading. Firsts are still hard to come by and what she so quaintly terms 'cleverness' has little do with gaining one. But the final evidence of her extreme paucity of understanding is her sweeping comment about the value of degrees.

Is she arguing that a needlework degree from John Moore's is worth less than a physics degree from Warwick? If she is, then she needs to look at the consultancies who hire graduates, and who have known for many years that degrees are judged firstly by subject and secondly by who awards them. Anyone gaining a degree from a university in the Russell group is given priority at interviews. Perhaps she needs to brush up on her research skills…

Flushed with success

2010-03-10T10:36:00.000Z

The news that Gwynedd pubs and cafes are, rather ironically, 'queuing up' to take £500 from the council in return for letting the public use their toilets makes for interesting reading. Public toilets are a major issue in all the local areas, with none in Mostyn Champneys or Parc Llandudno, other than those provided by the businesses themselves.

But it's taken a long time for Gwynedd to catch up with New York, where a city-wide ordnance was enacted decades ago making all public buildings provide toilets for everyone.
Holiday towns and resorts need public toilets; and if those owned by the councils are too dangerous, dirty or simply unpleasant to use then coercing businesses into providing them for visitors seems the way to go. Vandalism is the oft-quoted reason for the councils not providing them, but it's far less of a problem when people have to walk past security cameras to a toilet hidden away in the large department store - there's a reason why most stores have their toilets on the top floor.

But perhaps the other issue is why people vandalise toilets. Homebase was forced to close off their toilets, because they were being wrecked on a weekly basis. Some people might complain about the insidious introduction of cameras everywhere, but it they do their job, then perhaps we need to put up with them.

Things that go bump

2010-03-09T08:29:00.001Z

At least one hotel in the area holds a clairvoyant or spiritualist meeting on a regular basis. Now, both these 'disciplines' are interesting, not least because of those who most vociferously oppose them.

Clairvoyants are seen mainly as carnival entertainers; Gypsy Rose Jones or some such who, after having had their palm crossed with silver (or, more likely, a fiver or two) will spout meaningless twaddle about you and your future, hoping desperately you won't ask them why - if they can see any of the future at all - they didn't sell their shares in British Gas before the last slump so they wouldn't have to spend eternity talking rubbish to the terminally naive (assuming they didn't want a career in politics). Those who claim to be able to see the future are also usually expert at seeing the past. The tabloids delight in plucking the hitherto unknown from their justified obscurity to claim foreknowledge of a dreadful event, as witness the papers immediately following the 9 / 11 terrorist atrocity.

Some of these people are markedly more dangerous, however, and label themselves 'prophets', formulating prognostications of doom and gloom which - because of the vague and enigmatic manner in which they're presented - can always be claimed later to refer to a specific event. Which begs the question as to why they weren't a tad more specific in the first place.

Curiously, given that their day jobs revolve around the unfathomable, unprovable and supernatural, church leaders are usually the first to condemn those who seek to suggest that the church doesn't have a monopoly on such goings-on. Some churches espouse faith healing - an even more dangerous variant on the Gypsy Rose product line - and their proponents merrily wheel out lines of 'witnesses' who willingly testify that they were healed through prayer or the 'touch', who can always be relied upon to quote a 'Doctor' or 'Doctors' who all swore that they'd never seen anything like it, leaving aside that if faith healing actually worked, doctors by now would be bored silly with tribes of terminally ill patients leaping to their feet in the 'Faith' OR and dancing away into the twilight.

The biggest crime committed by the charlatans, however, is to breed an inherent mistrust and disbelief in the claimed powers. By using fakery, accomplices and observing subtle clues they can put on a good show, with bitter disillusion usually being the only fallout product, although in a society which worships the supernatural and which seeks to elevate the inexplicable to sainthood, the exacerbation of incipient serous mental illness can be a risk.

But the real problem is that it might all be possible. Who knows? Only the genuine clairvoyant, probably.

The mind of God

2010-03-08T08:57:00.000Z

Monday morning isn't necessarily the best time to ponder the secrets of the universe. In fact, it's probably not the best time to do very much, at least until the first couple of strong. black cups of coffee have doused the oesophagus. But it is perhaps the best time to consider how little we - as a species - really know about anything.

Take gravity, for instance. ECPs (extremely clever people) have been trying for many years to come up with a theory to explain why the universe exists, and how. EMECPs (even more extremely clever people) have centred their thoughts on M-theory; M-theory can describe any of 10 000 000 000 000 000 000…and so on universes. Some physicists argue that this is evidence that there are multiple universes, but others think it just means the theory is untestable.

The list of what we don't know is almost infinitely long, and rather worryingly impacts significantly on our everyday lives. There are those - often avid devotees of "24" - who firmly believe that torturing suspects will comprehensively protect us from any and all attacks, despite clinical evidence from studies which proves fairly conclusively that prolonged physical torture acts on the body to flood the brain with stress hormones such as cortisol and the catecholamines, reducing the size of the hippocampus, which is important in retrieving long-term memories; the amygdala, which forms part of the fear network; and the frontal lobes. In addition, prolonged stress can also lead to the creation of false memories based on information and supposed facts presented by the interrogator.

Given that we know so little about almost everything, therefore, one has to ask why the media continues to bombard us with 'facts' which are nothing of the sort, and continually scare us into believing that just about everything causes cancer.

Or more pertinently, why do we continue to buy newspapers?

..and throw away the key!

2010-03-06T11:09:00.002Z

The Venables case is making the headlines, today, along with the NSPCC calling for more powers for social workers to see potentially abused children alone. Locally, it's reported that ambulances were queuing like B list celebrities at the Oscars outside Glan Clwyd hospital yesterday, while a quote from 'Disgusted' (presumably of Acacia Avenue) bemoaned the situation with regard to a patient she'd brought over.

At first glance, these stories share nothing in common. But scratch the surface, and there are more common elements than initially - at least - meet the eye.

In a very real sense behind each of these events lies a trend; a trend where society appears to be failing its most vulnerable. This is not a political issue, although the parties concerned will doubtless try to accuse each other of being in some way responsible for it, along with the demise of sterling, the state of the NHS and the lunar occultations of the Pleiades.

But Venables' crime, the call for social workers to be given the power to see vulnerable children away from their parents and the endless lines of waiting patients all beg the question of whether society can deal with the deranged, the dangerous and the desperate, without deploying resources far and away greater than any thus far deployed.

There are those whose answer to the likes of Venables, child molesters, rapists and parking wardens is "Lock 'em all up and throw away the key!", a somewhat impractical option, given that someone has to clean out the resultant mess left by decomposing bodies, or - less often heard - "Hang 'em all!", but such solutions themselves pose other questions. If we reintroduce the death penalty, can we be certain that no miscarriages of justice will occur? These are difficult to remedy, once the victim is no more.

Imprisonment where 'Life means life'. the rallying call of the far right for aeons, it seems, also ignores the fact that resources for more prisons will be needed, and the health issues of a rapidly ageing prison population don't bear thinking about. Besides which, it's also important to remember that we lock up a significantly higher percentage of our population than any other European country, which itself suggests that either our population behaves more badly or we simply have too many laws, any infractions of which can land you in pokey.

In fact, successive governments have been struggling, and mostly failing, to deal with the problem, even when they had the resources. In the days ahead, when resources will be stretched thin, perhaps it's time to start to think about what social issues we ought to prioritise as a society, and which we can afford to let slip. But given the increasingly interlinked nature of our society, perhaps we need to start asking our local Candidates how they would address the issue in not more than three sentences, and without using the phrases 'Lessons to be Learnt", "Maximisation of Resources" and anything else that fails to answer the question asked.

Social issues a`re difficult to resolve, and we're not as good at it as some of our European neighbours, but the impending election at least gives us the chance to ask them what they would do. So long as we demand a straight, unequivocal, honest answer. And good luck with that one.

The Devil or the Deep Blue Sea?

2010-03-05T08:08:00.001Z

It's always an interesting week in politics, especially so when our hard-done by Lords and Masters (that's the MPs we're talking about) award themselves a massive pay rise, at the precise time when the entire public sector is being told there won't be any pay rises at all, millions face seeing their pensions devalued or removed and the opposition-bashing enters a more virulent phase.

It's currently fashionable to denigrate the Labour Party for its 'achievements', and - let's face it - by not reversing the Tories' initiatives in Education, Health and Welfare, they deserve criticism. But before we all assume that it's time for a change (as we do, from time to time) it's worth pondering if we'd be any better off under the Tories.

This is, after all, a party, one of whose biggest supporters is that bastion of democracy, Robert Mugabe, a party whom the Electoral Commission - no less - accused of interfering with the inquiry into Lord Ashchroft's dodgy donations and a party led by a man who - it was revealed today - intends to spend some of his time raising money for the US Republican party, by hosting paid-for 'meets' with its biggest donors.

That last one is interesting, because it reveals that we'll almost certainly have even closer ties with the US under a Cameron-led government and it's also worth noting that the single biggest difference between the Labour and Tory parties in government over the past 20 years has been the distribution of wealth. The Tories consider tax avoidance for the wealthy to be acceptable and see off-shore residence coupled with donations to their party as being desirable in the extreme.

But - in the last resort - you have to follow your conscience at the polls and ask yourself what sort of government do we really want? The answer just might be to reform the voting system, as has been said on this blog many times before.

Happy Talk

2010-03-03T08:49:00.000Z

Ask anyone in their fifties or sixties visiting Llandudno what their best memories of the place were and you can bet that Happy Valley will be mentioned. Happy Valley - a chunk of wooded hillside tucked into the NE corner of the Great Orme, thus protected from the prevailing wind, once hosted many of the typical seaside attractions we associate with holiday resorts in the UK. In the true sense of the word, it's unique - even now - although time has erased some of the better features.

But the one thing which most remember Happy Valley for is the Theatre. For many years - up until the 1960s, in fact - the legendary performer, Alex Munro, hosted a live show in the theatre which stood at the rear of the present cafe. In these days of pre-recorded entertainment, it's hard to imagine the effect of a group of singers and dancers giving their all on an outside stage for the entertainment of the holidaymakers, plus what little they could persuade the visitors to part with. Even at the height of the season, it was tough going, as the vast majority of the visitors chose not to pay, and sat - instead - on the surrounding hillside, which forms a natural amphitheatre for the stage.

Happy Valley was given to the 'People of LLandudno' back in 1887 by the Mostyn family, and for many years was put to great use. Although the years have taken their toll, the geophysical shape of the place, which provided such outstanding acoustics, remains, and it's clear that live shows there could not only be recreated, but might well prove extremely popular. To do that, however, the existing land would have to be returned to the original 'tiered' form, to allow for some form of seating.

This is not an impossible aspiration; CCBC has, in its wisdom, bulldozed the site, removed the old stage and tiering, and left it as a pale imitation of what it used to be, but this could all be recreated, and without vast expenditure.

Locally, interest in performance art has never been higher, with several groups of performers competing to attract visitors in Llandudno throughout the summer season, an excellent youth theatre, performing courses run by the local schools and the College and Llandudno's own town band. What all this needs is the will to draw the strands together and surmount the not inconsiderable logistics involved in mounting a weekly or even daily show throughout the season.

On past experience, it's unlikely CCBC will be of any help,and might actually be quite active in hindering, so what's needed is someone with the time and the ability to start the ball rolling. Any takers?

Risky stuff

2010-03-02T08:53:00.000Z

Risk: the effect of uncertainty on objectives (whether positive or negative). Risk management: the identification, assessment, and prioritisation of risks followed by coordinated and economical application of resources to minimise, monitor, and control the probability and/or impact of unfortunate events or to maximise the realisation of opportunities.

And we wonder why people hate the phrases 'risk management', or 'risk assessment' and 'health and safety'.

And yet, the actual mechanics of risk assessment are known to every half-decent parent who ever takes their kids on a day out, or holiday, or watches them playing. What causes all the resentment is the way in which the small-minded implement legislation, and the sheer ignorance, both of what comprises 'risk' and of the legislation.

It's the 'risk' issue that the DFM loves to play with, of course, in their frequent articles about what can kill you, when they write in their singularly disingenuous way that eating carrots can double your chances of contracting toe cancer. Which, if the original risk was 0.0001% means that the risk is now 0.0002% - or, in other words, indistinguishable from sheer chance.

Of course, many fear dying in a 'plane crash, although the odds of that having are so massive you'd have to fly in a 'plane every single day for 19000 years. But at least you'd get some frequent flyer miles.

The WHO collates risk stats, but it's a big job, and the last year for which we have complete figures is 2000. Nevertheless, they make interesting reading.

In that year the major causes of death in order were

      Tobacco (18.1 percent of total deaths)

      Poor diet and physical inactivity (16.6 percent)

      Alcohol consumption (3.5 percent)

      Microbial agents (germs 'n stuff)

      Toxic agents (people drinking bleach and drain cleaner)

      Motor vehicle crashes

      Incidents involving firearms

      Sexual behaviours

     Illicit use of drugs

The interesting thing about all those factors is that they're a product of human activity. And it's important to remember that when we talk about climate change and its causes, we're talking about risk, and it's the risk that human activity may be causing it that worries the better scientists.

Important information

2010-03-01T10:01:00.000Z

This blog (in common with others) has been receiving a number of comments which are racist, anti-semitic and unpleasant, often aimed at David Cameron and Gordon Brown. For those comments not planted by robots, please note that we will refuse to publish anything which makes baseless allegations or libellous remarks, so it will easier if you simply stop wasting your time and posting them.

And so it continues (II)

2010-02-28T08:45:00.000Z

Today, in the usually considered and understated tones of its sister paper, the DFM, the Sunday Mail has a story about dog ownership, suggesting that the government is considering making people pass a test before they can own a dog.

In fact, not only is this an excellent idea, but it's worth considering whether it could be extended to parenthood. Perhaps it's about time that we restricted conception to those who are able to bring children up properly.

Yesterday we were inundated with EOTW (end of the world) warnings about torrential rain, 100 mph winds and the end of civilisation as we know it this weekend from a massive storm moving towards us destined to end all life on earth. Turns out they were talking about London, which might get a strong breeze and an inch of rain. Of course, had it been Wales or Scotland getting battered, then we'd have been consigned to a footnote in the 'and finally' section of the BBC's news and weather.

Cameron is about to tell the party faithful that it's their 'Patriotic duty' to vote GB out of office. In the past, when threatened, governments have looked for an outside cause or war to distract their critics. Perhaps Gordon should consider invading France? It could prove a popular move, as France is a nice size to accommodate all those asylum seekers who seem to like it over here, we'd get a nice holiday coast on the Med and we could use EuroDisney to offset the deficit. Oh, wait; Eurodisney is still £2bn in debt and made a loss of £50m last year. Oh well, perhaps we should just invade London instead. Then at least we could take over the BBC and get more balanced weather reports….

Hmmm....

2010-02-27T15:02:00.003Z

A big congratulations to Cllr Chris Hughes who this year celebrates ten years of being chairman of the Friends of the Pier. Just look what he's accomplished in this article, dated November 1999...

Ha!

2010-02-26T20:06:00.002Z

New Scientist reports today that happiness isn't necessarily good for you. Psychologist Joe Forgas at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, suggests that happiness's negative effects all stem from a cheery mood's tendency to lull you into feeling secure. This makes you look inwards and behave both more selfishly and more carelessly.

To probe the effect of happiness on selfishness, Forgas and his colleague Hui Bing Tan put 45 students into good or bad moods by giving them positive or negative feedback on a "cognitive test" that they had taken. In fact the test was a fake and did not measure cognition, while the feedback bore no relation to their performance.

In related news, the mutilated bodies of two Australian psychologists were found inside a test centre, recently. They had been smothered with large numbers of test score sheets. Police want to speak to a number of happy-looking students seen afterwards.

Once more unto the Beach, dear friends

2010-02-24T15:42:00.000Z

The latest débâcle to appear from the WAG is the scandal of the unspent millions from the Communities First initiative, in which it was revealed that £140m had gone to partnerships, mainly to employ staff and run projects. The WAG was also roundly criticised for a lack of clarity and guidance from the Assembly Government.

The PAC committee stated: “Our conclusions are that, overall, the Communities First programme has not delivered good value for the significant amount of public money spent on it, and that this is largely because of weaknesses in the Welsh Government’s construction and management of the programme.”

Hmmm. Well, there's probably more than a grain of truth there. But without wishing to defend the frequently incompetent WAG it has to be said that giving out money is a fraught process, and asking civil servants to monitor the process and not expect them to spend most of the money on themselves reveals a worrying lack of awareness on the part of the politicos.

It's not that civil servants are dishonest as individuals. It's simply that they work within a self-perpetuating system in which to gain your badge of honour you have to create a bigger administration team than your rivals. What our WAG members fail to realise is that administration is not a means to accomplish something - it's the end result. You are judged by the size of the department in which you work, and thus the incentive to spend more on staff, offices, nice chairs and lots of paper clips is irresistible to the well-trained Mandarin.

But look at it this way: all those little local offices and people mean they have to eat somewhere, so the local chippy is probably doing quite well.

Bully, Bulli, Bello...

2010-02-23T12:15:00.001Z

The attempt to paint our Gordon as a bully is rather odd. After all, this isn't the first time there's been such allegations, and the last time they surfaced his numbers actually rose.

But what is a bully, exactly? The description given by the Oxford Dictionary is "a person who uses strength or power to harm or intimidate those who are weaker." so, in effect, it could apply to anyone who has subordinates. The problem, of course, is in the perception of the 'bullied'; shouting at one person might simply have the same effect as water and ducks; shouting at another might reduce them to a quivering wreck, so defining bullying isn't as simple as some people make out. The curiously misguided lady who decided to stand up and say that her 'helpline' (why is it that word makes us wince?) had received calls from victims at the heart of government but won't release this information because it's confidential (but then why did she speak out at all?) seems strangely short on facts.

And it won't be lost on some that the dictionary definition of 'bully' can be applied equally well to any commander at war.

So it seems that it can be more the setting that determines if bullying is acceptable. Bullying in the workplace is perhaps uncommon although bullying of staff by senior management in schools has risen so dramatically that there are special services for staff who feel bullied. A major part of this type of bullying seems to be the governmental obsession with ticking boxes and doing things exactly by the book in teaching - characteristics on which female staff seem to thrive, but which men often find difficult. Interestingly, there are signs that teaching is becoming an all female career, which raises serious questions about role models for impressionable young males. And questions about whether we want the young taught by what has become in recent years an emasculated profession, where spontaneity is dead, originality discouraged, innovation frowned upon and immense power given to head teachers, most of whom are now women, continue to rear their heads.

Of course, perhaps Gordon's own schooling has left him wanting revenge. Now, there's a thought…

And finally

2010-02-21T12:20:00.000Z

In a break from our more serious issues, we’ll be bringing you a car designer who’s crossed Toyota with Quasimodo and come up with The Hatchback of Notre Dame. We had hoped also to have been bringing you Arthur the Human Chameleon, but this afternoon he crawled across a tartan rug and died of exhaustion.

The House of Commons was sealed off on Friday after police chased an escaped lunatic through the front door during Prime Minister’s question time. A spokesman at Scotland Yard said "It was like looking for a needle in a haystack."

West Mercia police announced last night that they wish to interview a man wearing high heels and frilly knickers, but the Chief Constable said they must wear their normal uniforms.

The search for the man who terrorises nudist camps with a bacon slicer goes on. Inspector Lemuel Jones had a tip-off this morning, but hopes to be back on duty tomorrow.

Finally, it was revealed in a government survey published today that the Prime Minister is doing the work of two men. Laurel and Hardy.

Snow, snow, thick thick Snow

2010-02-20T08:52:00.000Z

It's little surprise that so many folk are ready to listen to the climate sceptics, uninformed, uneducated and deceptively-agenda-ridden as so many are. While the Jet stream sits enjoying its break in the Med, we continue to shiver and watch our central heating costs spiral under repeated blankets of snow and nights of hard frost.

But the climate is complicated. Really, really complicated, and the disciplines involved in its study are hard: fluid dynamics, Physics, Chemistry, Meteorology, Engineering - the science of Climatology involves all and more of these. So when the sceptic sticks its head above the snow-covered parapet and squawks 'Wot global warming?' you can be pretty sure their maths and intellect are both restricted to double figures.

New Scientist - one of the more respected scientific journals - has a piece about this today. It's long, but written in lay terminology, and it's worth reading. Essentially, it talks about the chemistry of the atmosphere and what can be learnt from volcanic eruptions. Specifically, Sulphur Dioxide - which has a cooling effect on the world's atmosphere. The climate is changing - that's beyond doubt - but we're only just starting to understand why and how.

Many a slip

2010-02-19T12:20:00.000Z

Along with many others, no doubt, the Winter Olympics has been compulsory viewing in the Carneades' household over the past week. The Winter Olympics is notable for the immense levels of skill required. Just sliding without falling on ice is tricky, yet the top contestants fly into the air and rotate so rapidly their features become a blur. It's been while since we've had anyone to equal the likes of John Curry, Robin Cousins or Torvill and Dean, but Cousins' erudite, analytical commentary is still an integral part of the Olympic figure skating competition for BBC viewers. And it contrasts sharply with the incredibly stupid, vacuous, inept and repetitious, mixed metaphor commentary we sometimes get on snowboarding, or the Luge, for example. Comments like 'That's a world class start!' or 'They're calling him the next Klammer / Bergman / [insert name here]' reveal the lamentable inadequacy of so many sport commentators, as they grope for phrases so well worn they wouldn't sell on ebay.

When you can see what's happening for yourself, the last thing you need is some has-been or never-even-been-there telling you what's taking place before your very eyes, or adding their own brand of hysterical bigotry. If they want to do that, they should commentate on snooker - except the egregious Virgo has that style sewn up.

Cousins' - like Snooker's Davies - knows the sport inside out and explains what's happening in detail. His eye for precision and minutiae is extraordinary, and his expert accompaniment, in partnership with the delightful Sue Barker, make watching those events in which they're involved a real joy. Great pity the Beeb doesn't have more of these people.

To be or not

2010-02-17T15:35:00.000Z

As the announcement setting the date for the general election draws ever nearer, the spades are out, and entrenched positions are being dug at a rate of knots.

Politics is the UK is a strange business. The dreadful system of voting we have in place ensures the two-party system’s survival, and it’s only because Gordon Brown is starting to feel the heat that he’s talking about discussing a reform. But views on Brown, Blair, Thatcher and Major are polarised, with many placing Thatcher at the top of their ‘to loathe’ list and many equally regarding Blair as a warmongering liar.

A local Aberconwy Tory observed the other day that ‘I reckon Mrs Thatcher will go down as a great Prime Minister’ which, if nothing else, proves how short memories can be. So it’s often worth stepping back and looking at what different PMs have left as a legacy to the UK.

Margaret Thatcher's "principles of capitalism are under question," wailed Maurice Saatchi, the man who gave us the "Labour isn't working" slogan in 1979 – before his heroine tripled unemployment. A Billy Elliot version of history has made Thatcher a "boo-word in British politics", London's mayor Boris Johnson bleats. If only young people knew, insist the irreconcilable Tory diehards, what a basket-case Britain was in the 1970s – an "offshore banana republic", a land of perpetual power cuts, strikes and unburied bodies – they would understand why millions had to lose their jobs, industries and communities had to be destroyed and billions had to be handed over to the wealthy. Britain in the 70s, the high Tory Simon Heffer wrote last week, felt like the Soviet bloc, where men with "bad teeth and ill-fitting suits" (union leaders) called the shots in public life.

You'd never guess from all this fevered snobbery and retrospective catastrophism that average economic growth in Britain in the dismal 1970s, at 2.4% a year, was almost exactly the same as in the sunny Thatcherite 1980s – though a good deal more fairly distributed – and significantly higher than in the free-market boom years of the last two decades. Nor would you imagine that there was far greater equality and social mobility than after Thatcher got to work. Or that, while industrial conflict was often sharp in the 1970s, there was nothing to match the violence of the riots and industrial confrontations of Thatcher's Britain.

Tony Blair was unique; the most electable politician in years, was how Frank Fields describes him, but what did he actually achieve? The Labour government from 1997 produced the longest period of sustained low inflation since the 60s, introduced the National Minimum Wage, cut overall crime by 32 per cent, got young people achieving some of the best ever results at 14, 16, and 18, has added 85,000 more nurses, 32,000 more doctors, and brought back matrons to hospital wards.He also oversaw the raising of child benefit up 26 per cent since 1997, brought in the £200 winter fuel payment to pensioners & up to £300 for over-80s and added 36,000 more teachers in England and 274,000 more support staff and teaching assistants. You can also include the dreadful child tax credit system, the cleanest rivers, beaches, drinking water and air since before the industrial revolution, free TV licences for over-75s, free off peak local bus travel for over-60s, free eye test for over 60s and free entry to national museums and galleries.

But there’s also the incredibly worrying PFI scheme, the imposition of more managers than doctors in the NHS and more. In terms of Northern Ireland, however, his input might have resolved a dangerous situation but most folks over here don’t worry about that too much.

Sadly, what he will be most remembered for is the war, most critics having conveniently forgotten Thatcher’s escapade. However, so long as we have the two party system and the first-past-the-post voting process, we’ll have polarisation of views, centred on which Prime Minister did the best The truth is that all Prime ministers want power, and with that power they often forget just how the normal folk in this great country of ours live. Perhaps we need to elect a benign dictator of no fixed political persuasion, endow them with ultimate power for one year, then take a vote at the end of the year to decide if they’re worth keeping sacking or shooting. Maybe then we’d get someone we deserved. Or maybe we already have.

The big bang

2010-02-16T09:51:00.001Z

With echoes eerily reminiscent of an episode of Yes, Prime Minister, the Daily Post tells us today that "Peace protesters, including activists from North Wales, yesterday blockaded a nuclear weapons site where warheads for Trident submarines are made."

In the '60s the CND was a force to be reckoned with, but it seems their rhetoric hasn't changed much to adapt to the modern world. Brian Larkin, from Trident Ploughshares which helped organise the protest said:

“This comes at a time when even major political parties are questioning the logic of spending up to £97 billion on useless weapons. Although the Government now seems to have delayed the next phase of Trident replacement until after the general election, the ongoing construction of facilities at the AWE for the design, development and manufacture of new nuclear warheads is illegal and immoral and will only lead to further proliferation of nuclear weapons.”

Nuclear weapons are interesting things. They're probably the only weapons which cost as much as they do, are fiendishly complex to manufacture, design and test, and which everyone desperately hopes will never be used. But useless?

In an age where the boundaries between the goodies and the baddies are no longer clear-cut or identifiable, when countries filled with people who have not only made it pretty clear that they hate anything Western and will happily die in the process of taking a few Westerners down with them are slowly acquiring the technology that will enable them to build their own nuclear weapons and when there's never been a time when nuclear material has been less clearly accounted for, then it might be argued that it's probably sensible to ensure we're at least on something of a level playing field.

At some point in the future someone, somewhere will detonate a nuclear weapon on their enemies. Of that we can be certain. Why? Because in the entire history of the human race, there's never been a weapon devised that wasn't eventually used. The countries that have their own weapons at least have the capacity to make the aggressors stop and think. And that may be all we can hope for.

Up. up and awaaaay....

2010-02-15T11:26:00.000Z

Further to the previous article, which seems to have raised some concerns (!), flicking through the latest AAIB bulletin reveals that there was a minor crash on Anglesey the other month. Nothing unusual about that, you might think, except the details. It was a private pilot in a fifty-six year old aircraft. The pilot's age, however, was 80.

You might be surprised to know when the plane you're flying to Paris in next was actually built. Airlines routinely fly passenger aircraft built in the '60s and '70s. Of course, the MOT for aircraft is a tad more stringent than for cars, but aircraft are not always the modern miracle you might think.

The really modern ones - the fly-by-wire Airbus variety - depend entirely on computer software to operate the mechanical bits. For years, those who really understand such matters have been pointing out two things: the first software ever written was inherently flawed, for a variety of complicated reasons. Secondly, all current software has been based on all preceding versions of the inherently flawed software. More ice, anyone?

Flying high, high, high

2010-02-14T16:05:00.000Z

In the past, Carneades was a pilot. Of Aeroplanes, in case anyone was thinking ships. In the UK, once having gained your pilot's licence, you're automatically sent the Air Accident Investigation Branch's merry monthly bulletin, which spells out in curiously formal language the number and intensity of accidents to aircraft in the UK each month. This last missive was no exception, with the usual slew of pilots falling ill at the controls, bumping into each other with their aeroplanes - usually on the ground, it has to be said, and falling into ditches, running off runways and other delightful pastimes.

Flying - by plane, anyway - is comparatively safe, these days, and the most you're usually at risk from is an aberrant ice cube in your drink. But it's worthwhile remembering that every month, at least fifteen UK airports report collisions, and that includes at least three of the really big ones. Sometimes these make you laugh, such as the time a mechanic retracted the landing gear on a 747 in Cardiff whilst the thing was standing in a hanger, or last month's incident where the bloke pushing a 737 out didn't see an air bridge and bashed the side in with the wing of the plane he was pushing. But at least the AAIB is one quango we won't be glad to see go. You can't be too safe in an aeroplane.