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Welsh Conservatives pledge millions for hospices and veterans

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THE WELSH CONSERVATIVES have announced major new spending commitments aimed at improving end-of-life care and support for military veterans in Wales.

Party leader Darren Millar MS used a policy forum in Cardiff on Saturday (June 14) to unveil proposals which include £40 million in extra funding for hospices and a range of new measures to support the country’s 115,000 veterans.

Among the pledges is a plan to extend free bus travel to all veterans regardless of age, a £3 million boost for Veterans NHS Wales to fund peer mentoring services, and the creation of a National Military Museum for Wales.

Mr Millar told the forum: “I have an ambition for Wales to become the most veteran-friendly nation in the world.

“A Welsh Conservative Government will extend free bus travel to all 115,000 military veterans in Wales, no matter their age. We will invest an additional £3 million into Veterans NHS Wales to fund peer mentoring services.

“We will also honour our heroes, including those who are still with us, and those who have gone before, by establishing a National Military Museum for Wales.”

On hospice and palliative care, Mr Millar criticised the current Welsh Government for what he described as a lack of support.

He said: “It is disgraceful that the hospice movement in Wales has been saddled with huge tax rises without one penny from the Government to help.

“I do not believe we should be making it harder for dying people to get the care they deserve.

“No matter what people’s views on the Assisted Dying debate, everyone supports the need to improve access to high quality end-of-life and palliative care.

“A Welsh Conservative Government will invest an additional £40 million over the term of the next Senedd into Welsh hospices and palliative care. We will ringfence funding for Wales’ children’s hospices to meet 50% of their operating costs, providing the biggest boost in palliative and end-of-life care in Welsh history.”

According to the Welsh Conservatives, children’s hospices currently receive less than 20% of their running costs from the Welsh Government.

The proposals are part of the party’s pre-election policy development and are expected to feature in its manifesto ahead of the next Senedd election.

 

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Loch Ness cruise boat Jacobite Queen makes stop in Milford Haven

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A BOAT best known for carrying tourists on Scotland’s famous Loch Ness has been spotted alongside the docks in Milford Haven, drawing interest from locals and harbour users.

The Jacobite Queen, a traditional passenger excursion vessel built in nineteen forty-nine, was photographed tied up at Milford Dock earlier this week.

Originally launched as the Tyne Queen, the craft operated as a ferry and pleasure boat in the north east of England before later being renamed and used for sightseeing cruises on Loch Ness, where thousands of visitors boarded her for trips across the iconic Highland waters.

According to comments shared locally, the vessel is currently “on passage heading down on the south coast”, suggesting Milford Haven is a temporary stop rather than a permanent base.

The boat’s windows and lower sections appear boarded up, a common practice when older passenger vessels are laid up or travelling between seasons, helping protect interiors from weather and damage. There are no signs of incident or emergency repairs.

Her arrival has provided an unusual sight against the working backdrop of the docks, with the vintage white-and-purple hull standing out among commercial traffic.

For many, it is a small but welcome reminder of Britain’s surviving historic passenger fleet quietly passing through Pembrokeshire waters.

Cover Photo: Jacobite Queen alongside Milford docks this week (Pic: Berty Barrett).

 

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Eating habits revealed by wearable cameras and AI

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NO single tool can accurately measure people’s diets, but new research shows that combining different methods — from wearable cameras to analysing dietary biomarkers — could be the most reliable picture of what people eat.

In a review published in ‘Nature Food’, an international team of scientists highlights long‑standing problems with traditional self‑reported dietary tools, which often rely on memory and guesswork and place a heavy time burden on participants.

These limitations make it difficult for researchers and policymakers to reliably link diet with health outcomes, and to understand how diets are changing in response to global sustainability challenges.

The review brings together emerging evidence from nutrition science, metabolomics, microbiome research, computer vision and sensor technologies.

Dr Thomas Wilson, from Aberystwyth University’s Department of Life Sciences and a co‑author on the review, said: “Accurately capturing what people eat and drink is one of the biggest challenges in nutrition research. Traditional methods rely heavily on self‑reporting, which we know is imprecise. By integrating modern tools – such as biological biomarkers and digitally assisted reporting – we can dramatically improve accuracy while reducing the burden on participants. This opens the door to much more reliable research and helps us better understand the role of diet in long‑term health.”

The paper highlights new technological advances, from wearable cameras that capture meals in real time, identifying foods and estimating portion sizes with the help of artificial intelligence, and smartphone apps that prompt users to reduce memory‑related errors.

The authors also highlight biomarkers of food intake (BFIs) as a promising advancement in dietary assessment.  BFIs detect chemicals in urine, blood or poo that correspond to specific foods or dietary patterns, offering objective insights into what people have eaten.

The authors emphasise that no single technology can solve all the challenges of dietary assessment. Instead, they propose an integrated, flexible framework that can be tailored to different research settings – from controlled dietary interventions to large‑scale population studies.

The authors argue that emerging dietary assessment tools will be essential for advancing precision nutrition, improving dietary recommendations, and supporting evidence‑based policies for human and planetary health.

Dr Wilson added: “As we confront global challenges – from rising diet‑related diseases to the need for more sustainable diets – getting a clearer picture of what people truly eat is crucial. The technologies now emerging give us a real opportunity to build the next generation of dietary assessment and, ultimately, to support healthier lives and food systems.”

The international research was led by scientists from the University of Copenhagen, in collaboration with Aberystwyth University, Medical University of Graz, the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Wageningen University & Research.

 

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Sponsors secure future of Pembrokeshire Coast Triathlon

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Valero and Mainline back award-winning Broad Haven event ahead of July championships

A MAJOR sponsorship deal has been agreed to support one of Wales’ longest-running triathlon events, giving a boost to this year’s Pembrokeshire Coast Triathlon in Broad Haven.

Pembrokeshire Triathlon Club has confirmed that Valero Pembrokeshire Oil Terminal and Mainline Pipelines Limited will act as main sponsors for the 2026 race, providing financial backing to help deliver the popular community event.

Abi Price, representing Valero Pembrokeshire Oil Terminal and Mainline Pipelines, a Valero company, with Helena Tollick, Pembrokeshire Triathlon Club (Pic: Supplied)

First staged in 1994, the Broad Haven competition is widely regarded as the longest-running triathlon organised by a grassroots club in Wales. It was named Welsh Triathlon Event of the Year in 2025 and regularly attracts competitors from across the country.

Organisers say the 2026 event will host both the Welsh Standard Distance Triathlon Championships and a round of the Welsh Triathlon Super Series. The race is also set to be filmed for broadcast on S4C.

Jamie Dow, Senior Manager at VPOT, and Tim Rudd, Senior Manager at MLP, said supporting the event was a way of giving back to the local communities where staff live and work.

They said: “Being the longest-running triathlon event in Wales organised by a grassroots club makes this event really special to the communities we live and work in. We are delighted to be able to sponsor the Pembrokeshire Triathlon Club.”

Club chair Helena Tollick said the sponsorship would help keep entry costs affordable while maintaining high standards.

She said: “This support, alongside backing from other sponsors and the local community, enables us to deliver a top-quality event at a fair price in a stunning setting. It also helps the club continue to thrive.”

This year’s Pembrokeshire Coast Triathlon takes place on Sunday, July 5. Entries and further information are available via the club’s website.

 

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