Thursday 27 January 2011

Anglesey Councillors stand together by falling out

BBC Radio Cymru - Taro'r Post

On Taro’r Post today there was a discussion about merging Anglesey County Council and Gwynedd County Council. Taking part where John Chorlton and Goronwy Parry, both Anglesey Councillors, both against the merger with Gwynedd County Council.

And well done to both of them for putting forward a united front by…arguing amongst themselves, requiring a Gwynedd Councillor from Caernarfon to intervene and tell them to behave.

Also I was interested in the argument put forward by John Chorlton, that if Councillors want to fall out with one and other in private behind closed doors it has nothing to do with us. John knows best, sadly his best is not good enough.

It has everything to do with us, and it’s blatantly obvious that the Councillors still haven’t got it. The problem isn’t with the Council at such, the problem has always been political infighting amongst Councillors that has resulted in a political impasse. There’s no point them denying it now – all of Wales have heard them acting like children on the very programme you would expect them to behave and show some decorum at least.

One is a Labour Councillor, the other is a Conservative Councillor, so the political parties cant even blame the independents this time.

Wednesday 26 January 2011

Education, Wales and Finland

Let’s be honest as a nation we are not doing very well in education, but then again neither is England.

The argument that this is down to lack of resources does not wash. Take Finland, who are recognised as having one of the best education systems in the world, they as a percentage of GDP actually spend less on education than we do in the UK.

The Welsh Assembly has already accomplished a great deal, getting rid of league tables to start with, putting emphasise on play for early years another. But we can do much more, so why not learn from the education system in Finland.

Forget large schools, think small community schools. Prepare children and young people for the life ahead of them, and not just to pass exams. Remember that dry academic studies are not suited to everyone, we should develop worthwhile vocational training.

Buildings are important, so is equipment, but they don’t teach teachers do. That is why Finland is succeeding, it invest in its teachers, it trust its teachers to set the curriculum - We need to invest our trust in our teachers.

Forget England, Gove will see to that, lets us learn from the proven best and hopefully as a result become world leaders ourselves.

Post of the Past:
Education
Education in Finland
Learning with Finland

Read More:
Worries over Wales-England school funding gap

Tuesday 25 January 2011

Ynys Môn and the Kingdom of Gwynedd.


It’s a pity that some people don’t know their history when trying to defend the Conservative imposed Anglesey County Council. It was John Redwood in 1996, and I can’t recall a referendum then either.

The sovereignty of Ynys Môn? - never had one; we have always been part of Gwynedd, the Kingdom of Gwynedd that is.

Learn more:

Read the book 'A history of Wales' by John Davies
or
Wikipedia -
Kingdom of Gwynedd

Update - It seems the Welsh Assembly have similar thoughts about merging the Councils see BBC Betsan's blog

Local Good Governance Boards

The below is an edited version of an idea I have published before:

There is much written about the key principles of good governance, one of which is accountability. As the blogger, the Druid and others have said ‘how can you hold a Councillor to account if you do not know what they stood for in the first place’.

It is clear that the current model on Ynys Môn is not working; simply saying, “let’s get rid of all the current leaders” is not an answer if we have no alternative model. As President Obama said about good governance in Africa, and quite apt to our local level as well - “Africa doesn’t need strongmen, it needs strong institutions”.

David Beetham in his study ‘Liberal Democracy and the Limits of Democratization’’ summaries the meaning of democracy as:

“A model of decision-making about collectively binding rules and policies over which the people exercise control, and the most democratic arrangement is that where all members of the collectivity enjoy effective equal rights to take part in such decision making directly - one that is to say, which realizes to the greatest conceivable degree the principles of popular control and equality in its exercise”

So how could this ideal be achieved?

How about - In addition to a Good Governance Commissioner, appointed to check that the Council follows good governance principles, and to deal with complaints against the Council, the idea of Local Good Governance Boards.

Local Good Governance Boards would be made up of volunteers invited to join and trained by the Good Governance Commissioner. The members would be drawn from a cross-section of the community, in addition to key stakeholders such as i.e. business community, voluntary organisations, charities, and the church.

Their primary purpose would be:

  • To encourage and lead local debate about the needs of the community through the development of a local framework.
  • To monitor and report on the work of the local councillor, judged against the councillor's manifesto.
  • A conduit for debate about important issues that affect the local community and based on the local consensus make recommendations to the councillor (and or others) as to the way forward. On certain important issues, hold local referendums. The councillor would need to publish clear reasons why they decided not to follow the recommendations made. If a referendum were held there would be a clear mandate.

Friday 21 January 2011

No. 456 Squadron RAAF

HAMPSHIRE, ENGLAND. 1943-09-23. AIRCREW MEMBERS OF A MOSQUITO NO. 456 SQUADRON RAAF OF FIGHTER COMMAND BASED AT RAF STATION MIDDLE WALLOP. LEFT TO RIGHT: 409368 FLYING OFFICER (FO) M. N. AUSTIN, MELBOURNE, VIC; 411157 WARRANT OFFICER A. S. MCEVOY, SYDNEY, NSW; 411411 FO R. S. WILLIAMS, PATONGA BEACH, NSW; 404891 FLIGHT LIEUTENANT G. PANITZ, SOUTHPORT, QLD; 403330 PILOT OFFICER (PO) G. F. GATENBY, BATEMANS BAY, NSW; 404897 PO J. M. FRASER, BRISBANE, QLD; 404543 FO J. W. NEWELL, MAREEBA, QLD; 403128 PO A. M. ABBEY, COFFS HARBOUR, NSW; 414280 FO S. D. P. SMITH, BRISBANE, QLD; 403654 FLIGHT SERGEANT A. J. KEATING, SYDNEY, NSW (IN FRONT).


"No. 456 squadron was formed on 30 June 1941 with Defiant aircraft, as a night fighter unit. This was at RAF Valley with only a few RAAF personnel to begin with.

Operations began on 5 September 1941 with the squadron already converting to Beaufighters. The Defiants left in December. On January 1942 the squadron’s first success took place with the shooting down of a Do 217. Until March 1943 the squadron flew defensive night patrols over the Irish Sea but during 1942 the Beaufighters also supplemented day fighters on convoy patrols. 1942 was also spent developing techniques of co-operation with searchlights.

The first few months of 1943 saw the squadron converting from Beaufighters to Mosquito II aircraft. With the new aircraft, the squadron began intruder patrols over France and undertook daylight sweeps over the Biscay coast with the objective of catching enemy fighters trying to engage Coastal Command’s anti-submarine aircraft. In March 1943 the squadron moved to RAF Middle Wallop and in October it was concentrated at RAF Colerne.

In February 1944 the squadron moved from Wales to RAF Ford and flew night defensive patrols over southern England using Mosquito VI and XVII aircraft. The squadron was also involved in countering the flying bomb attacks.In December 1944, the squadron was moved to RAF Church Fenton and converted to Mosquito 30 aircraft. It worked to protect Bomber Command bases against fighter attack.

In March 1945 it transferred to RAF Bradwell Bay in East Anglia to fly bomber support missions over Germany. These operations lasted until the end of the war.

The squadron was disbanded on 15 June 1945."


Sources:

Wikipedia
National Cold War Exhibition

Tuesday 18 January 2011

NHS - we remember Aneurin Bevan

Listening to David Cameron yesterday, talking about the dismantling of the NHS as we know it, with a top to bottom reform (even though in their manifesto they said they would not) made me question whether the veneer has finally started to crack on that polished image the Conservatives have tried to portray.

Is the nasty ‘Tory’ party back, is it their way or the highway. What happened to constructive dialogue and the big society? - instead it seems we were told anybody that doesn’t agree with the ‘Leader’ needs to grow up - or what we ask, is he going to take his football home?

Luckily for us the Lansley NHS reforms are for England only, or are they – will the Welsh Conservatives follow the lead of their leader?

Anyhow let me remind you of the days when politicians were politicians with this extract from an essay by Aneurin Bevan about the NHS from 1952

"When I was engaged in formulating the main principles of the British Health Service, I had to give careful study to various proposals for financing it, and as this aspect of the scheme is a matter of anxious discussion in many other parts of the world, it may be useful if I set down the main considerations that guided my choice. In the first place, what was to be its financial relationship with national insurance; should the health service be on an insurance basis? I decided against this. It had always seemed to me that a personal contributory basis was peculiarly inappropriate to a national health service. There is, for example, the question of the qualifying period. That is to say, so many contributions for this benefit, and so many more for additional benefits, until enough contributions are eventually paid to qualify the contributor for the full range of benefits.In the case of health treatment this would give rise to endless anomalies, quite apart from the administrative jungle which would pe created. This is already the case in countries where people insure privately for operations as distinct from hospital or vice versa.

Whatever may be said for it in private insurance, it would be out of place in a national scheme. Imagine a patient lying in hospital after an operation and ruefully reflecting that if the operation had been delayed another month he would have qualified for the operation benefit. Limited benefits for limited contributions ignore the overriding consideration that the full range of health machinery must be there in any case, independent of the patient's right of free access to it. Where a patient claimed he could not afford treatment, an investigation would have to be made into his means, with all the personal humiliation and vexation involved. This scarcely provides the relaxed mental condition needed for a quick and full recovery. Of course there is always the right to refuse treatment to a person who cannot afford it. You can always 'pass by on the other side'. That may be sound economics. It could not be worse morals.

Some American friends tried hard to persuade me that one way out of the alleged dilemma of providing free health treatment for people able to afford to pay for it would be to 'fix an income limit below which treatment would be free while those above, must pay. This makes the worst of all worlds. It still involves proof, with disadvantages I have already described. In addition it is exposed to lying and cheating and all sorts of insidious nepotism.

And these are the least of its shortcomings. The really objectionable feature is the creation of a two-standard health service, one below and one above the salt. It is merely the old British Poor Law system over again. Even if the service given is the same in both categories there will always be the suspicion in the mind of the patient that it is not so, and this again is not a healthy mental state.

The essence of a satisfactory health service is that the rich and the poor are treated alike, that poverty is not a disability, and wealth is not advantaged."

The above extract and much more of his words can be found at:
Aneurin Bevan and the foundation of the NHS

Saturday 15 January 2011

RAF Valley is important and essential.

RAF Valley provides a vital service (not forgetting employment), especially its Search and Rescue unit (SAR). The dedication of its staff who risk all; in any weather, to save those in need is beyond doubt.

From BBC News March 2010:

An RAF search and rescue crew based at Valley on Anglesey have received awards for their bravery during flooding at Cockermouth in November 2009.

More than 200 were rescued by emergency services - 50 by RAF helicopters - as water levels reached 2.5m (8ft 2in).

The four crew from Valley, and one other from RAF Boulmer in Northumbria were involved in a 11.5 hour mission.

The Valley crew were the first to be scrambled and they rescued 27 people trapped by flood water in Cumbria......

Read full story: BBC News

I like many others have campaigned against the proposed total privatisation of SAR.

The SAR unit on Valley was established to train RAF staff and to provide an essential means of rescue in the mountains, should one of their planes crash during a low flying exercise.

Whilst we welcome all support for RAF Valley, it is a bit rich that Plaid Cymru on one hand want to defend the RAF SAR service, whilst on the other calling for the banning of all low flying aircraft from North Wales.

Hywel Williams, the Plaid Cymru Member of Parliament for Arfon, said recently “It is high time that areas such as RAF Valley have some certainty.”

You mean the 'certainty' of their (Plaid Cymru) policy, banning all low flying training from North Wales, meaning RAF Valley would shut altogether including the SAR unit?

Or would that be their ‘Bourne defence’.


Post from past:
Dark days ahead for RAF Valley
What is the true cost of sea and air rescue

I like the French

And so does President Obama, who in a recent speech said, “We don’t have a stronger friend and stronger ally than Nicholas Sarkosky and the French people”

This rather upset some people, Andrew Roberts for one, who in today’s Times says “Ignore Obama when he cosies up to Sarko" [Sarkozy]. To paraphrase what he said “Please sir, sir, we love you more, honestly sir, we love Americans much more than the French do…”

For his argument he looks back into history, and the English obsession with Charles de Gaulle.

If I as a welsh person ever mentioned the past and how badly we had been treated by the English I would be told off.

The Welsh and the French share something in common, a minority of the English thinks it’s ok to take the ‘piss’. We on the other hand have moved on, we shrug our shoulders and ignore the car crash that is English insecurity about who they are.

In strength we shall find unity, in peace we shall find prosperity, we stand together united or forever alone in our polarity.


Posts from past: viva le france

Thursday 13 January 2011

Organ donation is a good thing to do.


I’m not religious in any way, and to me the subject of donating organs on my death is simple - when I’m dead I will no longer have need for my body, but it would be a shame to see any useful parts going to waste, after all it’s recycling, sort of. Whether, there will be many useful parts of my body left, is another matter.

Even if you are religious I fail to see what the major problem is. Isn’t the body just a vessel that transports the soul through this world on its journey to somewhere else, but that won’t happen till Jesus returns from his holidays?

I think the proposed presumed permission to organ donation is a good idea. OK some people may not, be it on religious or other grounds, but they can always opt out if they feel so strongly about it.

Sadly it seems, once again, some wish to turn this; a sensible idea, into a political football, and for once I hope all politicians will think of the benefits this proposal would bring and of those it will save, rather than some shallow political point scoring.


Register Online: NHS Organ Donar Register

Sunday 9 January 2011

No. 312 Squadron RAF


No. 312 Squadron RAF was a Czechoslovakian-manned fighter squadron of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.

It was first formed at Duxford in July 1940, equipped with Hurricane I fighters and crewed mostly by escaped Czechslovakian pilots. Its first victory was a Junkers Ju 88 above Liverpool by Alois Vašátko, Denys Gillam and Josef Stehlík on 8 October 1940.

Alois Vašátko DSO DFC (25 August 1908, Čelákovice, Czechoslovakia – 23 June 1942) was a Czech fighter pilot.

After graduating from a teacher's institute, he became a teacher in Litoměřice. A couple of months later he was drafted into the army. He finished his military service in 1929 and started studies at several army institutes. During the years 1937–1938, he attended pilot training in Olomouc, and in March 1939 he became an active pilot.

Following the first dissolution of Czechoslovakia and the annexation of Bohemia and Moravia by Nazi Germany, he fled the country. He travelled to France via Poland and after re-training at a fighter school at Chartres he joined Groupe de Chasse I/5. Flying a Curtiss 75, he shot down fifteen airlplanes (shared kills included). He became the most successful Czechoslovak fighter pilot in the Battle of France.

After the retreat from France Vašátko took part in the Battle of Britain. He joined 312. (Czechoslovak) Squadron and together with Denys Gillam and Josef Stehlík scored its first victory, as they downed a Junkers Ju 88 above Liverpool on 8 October 1940.

On 5 June 1941 he was promoted to the position of Squadron Leader and on 30 May 1942 he became Wing Commander of the newly created Czechoslovak Fighter Wing. Together with Josef František and Karel Kuttelwascher Vašátko is one of the most successful Czech fighter pilots. He was killed in action in June 1942, when he crashed into the sea after a dogfight with Fw 190s, colliding with the aircraft of Unteroffizier Wilhelm Reuschling from 7 staffel, Jagdgeschwader 2.

Vašátko had been awarded many Czechoslovak and Allied orders and medals, including French Legion d’honneur – Chevalier, Croix de Guerre with seven palms, two golden stars and one silver star and the British Distinguished Flying Cross (D.F.C.), which he received on the day of his death.

Saturday 8 January 2011

RAF Valley


Extract from RAF website:

The [RAF] Station opened on 13 February 1941, in No 9 Group, Fighter Command, and for the first few weeks of its existence was called Royal Air Force Rhosneigr after one of the nearby villages, but was re-named Royal Air Force Valley on 5 April 1941.

On 3 March 1941, No 312 (Czech) Squadron moved in from Speke with its Hurricanes and began flying convoy patrols over the Irish Sea, and by the time it departed for Jurby on 25 May 1941 it had claimed the destruction of a Ju 88 during one such sortie. It was replaced by No 615 Squadron from Kenley, also flying Hurricanes, and was joined on 10 May by 'A' Flight of No 219 Squadron who brought their Beaufighter IFs on one month's attachment from Tangmere and whose nocturnal activities claimed several enemy aircraft. In the June, 2 sections of Hurricane IIBs of No 302 (Polish) Squadron and one section on No 68 Squadron with Beaufighter IFs arrived at Valley for one month's fighter defence duties.

Friday 7 January 2011

It’s not just Halal it’s Kosher as well!!

On Radio Cymru Taro’r Post the Rev Geraint Morse called for all Halal meat to be labelled clearly. Now there's no problem with that as such, but I take issue with the argument he put forward, which was that he objected to the actual prayer said during the killing? - as if that was the most important thing to the welfare of the animal.

Absolute claptrap and utter rubbish. In the first instance lets get some facts straight, Halal meat is killed in a very similar way to Kosher meat. But I don’t think he mentioned the Jewish community.

Maybe he had missed the following report in the Independent, 21 June 2010 by Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent

New EU rules require compulsory labelling of halal meat.

Millions of cows, goats and chickens are slaughtered without stunning each year in the UK under Muslim and Jewish practices, which enjoy an exemption from animal welfare laws.

The RSPCA, other welfare organisations and the Government's veterinary experts say the practice is cruel and should be ended, but another concern is that the meat re-enters the general food chain where it is unwittingly consumed by the general population.

In a series of votes on food labelling this week, which also backed compulsory country-of-origin labelling on all meat, MEPs voted by 559 to 54 for compulsory labelling of the religious slaughter of meat without stunning. While kosher and halal meat is well labelled in specialist butchers and food outlets, the regulation would alert general consumers to supplies entering the mainstream food system.

EU member states will have to approve the legislation and it is likely to return to the European Parliament for a second reading. Once adopted, food business will have three years to adapt to the rules. Smaller operators, with fewer than 100 employees and an annual turnover under €5m (£4.2m), will have five years to comply.

Animal welfare groups welcomed the move. Dr Marc Cooper, a farm animal welfare scientist at the RSPCA, said: "Clear labelling is something we have been calling for, so that the welfare-conscious consumer can be informed about the method of slaughter. From a welfare point of view, it's an unnecessary practice. It causes pain and distress."

The British Veterinary Association (BVA) said: "The BVA believes that all animals should be effectively stunned before slaughter to improve the welfare of these animals at slaughter. However, as long as slaughter without stunning is permitted, the BVA has argued for any meat from this source to be clearly labelled to enable all consumers to fully understand the choice they are making."

Religious slaughter is banned in Switzerland, Sweden, Norway and Iceland. The UK has stopped keeping statistics, but Meat Hygiene Service figures from 2004 suggest that 114 million halal animals and 2.1 million kosher animals are killed annually.

One Muslim organisation, the Halal Food Authority, insists that slaughterhouses stun the animals to render them insensible to pain, but in other halal and almost all kosher slaughterhouses, animals bleed to death without stunning.

Religious groups say that doing so would be against their interpretation of religious texts, and they are exempted from the terms of the Welfare of Animals (Slaughter or Killing) Regulations 1995.

In a report last year, the Farm Animal Welfare Council said chicken and turkeys were likely to be conscious for up to 20 seconds after a transverse incision is made across their neck."Such a large cut will inevitably trigger sensory input to pain centres in the brain," the council said. "Such an injury would result in significant pain and distress before insensibility supervenes."

Professor Bill Reilly, president of the BVA, said: "This is a huge step forward in improving the welfare of animals at slaughter. The more consumers understand these issues, the more consumer power can make a difference."

Halal and kosher

*Each year more than £2bn is spent on Halal meat by British Muslims. The Arabic word means "lawful" or "permitted". The opposite of halal is haram. Meat can only be called Halal if the animal is blessed before it is slaughtered.

*Kosher slaughter is predicated on the principle of "tsa'ar ba'alei chayim" (not causing unnecessary suffering to animals). Historically, the kosher killing technique was one of the more humane methods available.

*Traditional halal meat is killed by hand and must be blessed by the slaughterman. More than 70 per cent of animals whose meat is sold as halal are electrically stunned before they are killed.

*Islam has strict laws on the proper method of slaughtering an animal. One, called dhabihah consists of a swift, deep incision with a sharp knife on the neck that cuts the jugular vein.

*Madonna and Jerry Hall are among celebrities who are reportedly fans of a strict orthodox Jewish diet, while a number of US clinics offer kosher diet therapy.

*KFC is among a growing number of fast-food retailers that have trialled Halal meat in communities where demand is strong. It has 85 stores with an all-halal menu.

*Up to three-quarters of poultry sold as halal in the UK is falsely labelled, a representative from the English Beef and Lamb Executive's halal steering group said. Most is slaughtered by a machine, not an individual.”

In Rev Geraint Morse own words in welsh:

“Fel Cristion, dydw i ddim am fwyta cig sydd wedi ei baratoi o dan reolau Islamaidd, gyda gweddi Arabaidd, boed yn gig wedi ei brynu o'r archfarchnad neu ei fwyta allan mewn pryd bwyd.

Labeli clir

Gofyn am labeli clir ydw i er mwyn sicrhau bod pawb ohonom yn deall beth yr ydym yn ei fwyta. Os ydy'r label yn dweud "Halal", gall Mwslemiaid ei fwyta'n dawel eu cydwybod. Ond os nad yw'n dweud "Halal" gall eraill ohonom fwyta'n dawel ein cydwybod hefyd.

Does dim angen i chi dagu ar eich cig moch bore 'ma, oherwydd does dim y fath beth i gael a chig moch "Halal". Dydi Mwslemiaid ddim yn bwyta porc.

Ond beth am y frechdan cyw iâr ichi wedi paratoi ar gyfer amser cinio, neu'r cig oen ar gyfer swper heno?

Efallai'r peth gorau i'w wneud yw prynu cyw-iâr a chig oen Cymreig. Bydd hyn yn ateb y broblem - efallai!"

or in part translated

"As a Christian, I do not want to eat meat that has been prepared under Islamic rules, with an Arabic prayer, whether meat has been bought from the supermarket or eaten out in a meal. "

Read more : BBC website - Cymru Bywyd

Thursday 6 January 2011

Local Heroes - Sir Thomas

Sir Thomas



If you asked me to name the capital of North Wales I be inclined to answer Liverpool, well I am Liverpool FC supporter.

The links between Anglesey and Liverpool run long and deep; be it for commerce or cultural reasons, but it is the sea and shipping that binds us most strongly.

This is illustrated perfectly by the life story of Sir Thomas, who when young caught a boat to Liverpool to seek his fortune.

Sir William Thomas was born at Hirgraig, Llanrhyddlad, 5 December 1836. When only 18 years of age he sailed to Liverpool from Holyhead and became a clerk in a shipping office. He started a business as a Ship insurance broker and manager in 1860 and by 1862 was trading under the title "William Thomas & Co, Ship and Insurance brokers”.

By 1874 he had shares in 21 vessels, most of them coastal schooners. In 1883 he became a local councillor and Chairman of the Bootle Finance Committee and in 1892 he was appointed Justice of the Peace and Mayor of Bootle. He commissioned the building of the last of the big Sailing ships the "Annie Thomas” in 1896. In 1897 he was appointed High Sheriff of Anglesey. The Garreglwyd estate was purchased by him in 1897. By 1899 he was again Mayor of Bootle and had control of 40 ships.

He was generally held in awe by the whole of the Liverpool shipping fraternity and he was a personal friend of Lloyd George, who stayed with him at Aigburth when he was in Liverpool. But although a successful businessman he was extremely generous and obliging to the Liverpool and Anglesey community to which he belonged. His promise to the deacon from Llanrhyddlad has almost become a legend - "for each pound you collect I will give you two pounds to build a chapel at Llanrhyddlad". The chapel at Bethel Hen is testimony that Sir William Thomas kept his word.

In 1915 he died in Liverpool and was buried at Bethel Hen in Llanrhyddlad the foundation stone of which he had laid in 1909.

On Thursday, 11 March 1915, after a short funeral service at his Liverpool home, his body left Lime Street station at 8.05 am for Anglesey. After arriving at Valley, a funeral procession was made through Llanfachraeth and Llanfaethlu , arriving at Bethel Hen Chapel, where the internment service was conducted by Rev R R Hughes.

The route from Valley to Llanrhyddlad was lined with people and without exception the windows of all the houses were covered. Mr Williams, the veterinary surgeon was heard to say, "We will not see the like of this man again".

Wednesday 5 January 2011

In praise of Anglesey refuse service


The Times newspaper today reports that the Local Government Minister has written to England's local council’s to remind them of the importance of a regular bin collection, suggesting that bins should be collected on bank holidays. In the Daily Post there was an article saying that some councils may take up to 3 weeks to clear the backlog, with accompanying pictures of rubbish piled high.

My suggestion they should all come to Anglesey, to learn from the excellent service provided by our bin men. True, on my little road they did not collect the rubbish Christmas week, but I wasn’t surprised, the road was deep in snow and was a total no no for large vehicles.

But as there was an additional black bin collection day, the week afterwards, instead of the usual green bin day; which they collected without fuss, this meant no problems.

So continuing my ‘Positive 4 Anglesey’ theme, I give thanks to Anglesey bin men and women who worked hard even on bank holidays to ensure our rubbish was collected and recycled with the minimum of fuss.

Saturday 1 January 2011

A vital service for North Wales.

Front Entrance to the Hospital

As a patient of the Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital what I am about to say should come as no surprise. I have a heart condition and I am receiving excellent care from Dr Hall and colleagues.

The Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital is an award winning NHS Foundation Trust, which has achieved the highest score in the country for "overall patient care" in the 2009 Care Quality Commission's National Inpatient Survey.

It was worrying therefore to read in the Daily Post, that due to a funding shortfall some North Wales patients may not be able to receive the treatment they need at the Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital. Dr Eamonn Jessup, a GPs’ representative, labelled the situation an “unmitigated disaster” which would “put patients lives at risk”.

Why has the Betsi Cadwaldr health board dithered so much and allowed this totally unacceptable position to arise?

It's time for the Welsh Assembly to step in and sort this mess out, if they do not then Edwina Hart needs to seriously consider her position.

Read More:

Daily Post

LHCH Website