The Welsh economy stands its ground for now

The Welsh economy has displayed a sign of resilience this week as it is officially the only part of the United Kingdom where unemployment levels have fallen. I think we must all thank the First Minister and the Labour-Plaid Welsh Government for the swift way in which they rolled out the ProAct scheme.

However, as the Conservatives and Lib Dems have pointed out, the Welsh economy remains weak. We still rely far too heavily on the public and service sectors and when we emerge from the other side of this recession we must all start to consider ways in which to strengthen the Welsh economy.

Rebuilding the Welsh economy will be expensive, and will have to start by vastly improving education (both academic and vocational) and supporting more apprenticeships. The Government will need to invest billions into business start-ups and expansions (and I emphasis invest, not subsidise) and we as the public need to appreciate the imperativeness of organisations like International Business Wales.

Blogging Drought

I've been trying to write a decent post about local government for the last month but I keep drawing blanks. I have been distracted by becoming increasing cynical of politics and the media.

Story after story has been about MPs expenses. Honestly, I have heard so much about this MP or that MP claiming for a toaster or for God knows what, I really couldn't give a damn any more.

Then we have the beginning of the General Election campaign. Gordon Brown keeps buggering everything up. First he announces that the Iraq inquiry will be held in private. They he says parts will be held in public. And finally, after (unprecedented) criticism from the Military and from the author of the previous Iraq report, he says that as much of the report as possible will be held in public.

On the right, the mask is slowly slipping off David Cameron's face. Less wealthy people can expect to suffer under his Conservative administration as severe cuts hit government expenditure.

And to make everything worse, the Liberal Democrats are failing to make any political capital, essentially brining an end to my dream of a hung parliament that may well be the 'Progressive Parliament' to follow the 'Sleazy Parliament'.

If I become any more cynical I might take an extended break from politics altogether.

Faster Broadband - For richer but not for poorer

This week heralded the news of the provision of faster broadband, but only in the North of Cardiff and the Muswell Hill area of London. BT have masterfully targeted some of their richer consumers by targeting their faster service in the wealthy suburbs of our two capital cities. Although we need faster broadband speeds throughout the country as an internet connection has become a necessary component in the infrastructure that is key to economic prosperity, would it not have been more beneficial to trial the new service in an poorer valleys or rural community.

There are still stories of 'notspots', areas where amazingly the only internet connection available is dial-up, which today is a barrier to business, education and leisure. The government promises that all properties and businesses will have access to Broadband by 2012 when ASDL/Broadband would have been available to many customers for over a decade. Why is BT so slow in delivering Broadband to rural communities who are already under immense pressure under the current economic climate? Why does BT trial next generation Broadband services in the leafy suburbs rather than in communities where is would make the greatest difference to business?

Banksy Exhibition

Yesterday I went along to the Banksy exhibition at Bristol Museum. Banksy's work has in the past been extremely controversial in Bristol, where the council have spent thousands cleaning up his 'work' around the city. However, an appreciation of his work grew, which led to a poll asking whether the city council should retain one of his most famous pieces.


The artwork, show above can be found on the side of the city sexual health clinic facing Park Street. It's one that I am now really familiar with and I think its easy to read that the artist could be making a statement about modern society.

Now, the management of Bristol Museum have coordinated an exhibition of his work is secret. Much of his work had a very strong political theme. There were a couple of installations, especially the animatronic ones that made some telling observations about our society.

I really enjoyed the exhibition and would recommend it to everyone. Whether you like his work or not, you will certainly appreciate his commentary on an increasingly surveillance-based and hypocritical world.

Cautious optimism as Ffos Las Racecourse opens

It’s a difficult time to be opening a racecourse but Dai Walters, a horse racing enthusiast and local businessman has thrown his wealth into the building of a racecourse at Ffos Las, Trimsaran, about 5 miles away from Llanelli town.

I am far from being a fan of that which is equine, but from what I have read in reviews and articles the new racecourse promises to be something special. It has already been praised by some of Britain and Ireland’s top jockeys and trainers and there is a buzz of optimism surrounding the development.

The last attempt at building a racecourse was at Great Leighs near Chelmsford, Essex, which opened fourteen months ago and went into administration in January of this year. There seem to be several marked difference between Great Leighs and Ffos Las and the management of the latter protest that they have learned the lessons from the former.

It’s yet to be seen whether Ffos Las can be a success, but strong ticket sales as well as a sold out inaugural meeting bodes well for the future. Such an important venture in an area like Southern Carmarthenshire should help boost tourism in towns like Kidwelly and Burry Port as well as draw more people into the National Botanical and Aberglasney gardens.

Time to take a back seat

Politics at the moment is exciting, quickly paced and incredibly boring. Since the inevitable failure of Plaid’s motion to dissolve Parliament yesterday and the perception that Gordon has managed to get back on top of the horse, we as voters and party members can do little but sit back and watch ‘democracy’ take its course.

It feels strange to say so, but with the looming summer break, an exhausted Labour party, an ill-prepared Conservative party and the perennially useless Lib Dems, it seems that anybody trying to contribute to politics from outside Westminster will have do just see what happens.

Although the Labour party has taken the government as hostage, there are signs that things are getting better. If the improvements in the economy feed through to people before May 2010 and Gordon can turn his government around Labour just might be able to make a comeback. As unlikely as that may seem we are living in a new political age and only time will tell what will happen.

Meanwhile, let’s have a conversation about policy and maybe even electoral reform.

Looking ahead to the general

I thought I'd power up Excel and draw a graph. As you can see, the victory in Llanelli belongs to Plaid, with a strong showing for the Conservatives and UKIP.The turnout was low (around 30%) so its difficult to apply these figures to a general election. However, considering the state of the Labour government at the moment it should give Plaid a lot of hope for the next Parliamentary election.

This is the first published result of a proportional election held in Llanelli and as so its very interesting. The turnout is very low, but Plaid are the main beneficiaries, with UKIP and the Conservaties score well. Although, I cannot see how the right wing vote will be repeated in a general election. I am really disappointed that the Greens did not beat the ultra-nationalist, and I hope that in the future that the Greens will develop a greater presence in the local area.

It's difficult to derive anything from the Lib Dem result. They have one council seat from about 30 in the Llanelli area and they won 946 votes. They came in fifth place so I will assume that they have a long way to go before they develop a competitive presence in the constituency.

Although I am partisan, I do appreciate the results from a democratic system. I would like to see a more proportional arrangment in the future. However, the political system remains weak in areas like Llanelli that has been neglected by Westminster and even Cardiff over the years.