News

Badger’s Birthday Honours

Published

9 years ago

March 4, 2015

HELLO READERS!

badgerlovescake It is one year since Badger was lured out of the comfort of his sett to cast a jaundiced eye over the outside world. And what a year it has been! Starting almost from the beginning, Badger has managed to burrow away to find information and, where possible, to bring it out blinking and shy into daylight. Badger has written something in the region of 50,000 words over the last twelve months. Some pieces have been funny; some have expressed outrage in varying degrees of bemusement and dismay; but Badger hopes that they have, at least managed to entertain and inform.

The almost unfettered licence has been given to follow his nose has sometimes caused offence, but not too often, Badger hopes, and not to people to whom Badger did not mean to cause offence. With the caveat that causing offence to those Badger thinks deserve it is both a worthwhile pursuit and causes only those with something to hide to wriggle in discomfort or complain. Being one of the friendly woodland folk of whom tree-huggers are so fond, and ( as is customary on birthdays, there will be gime gifts. Being an odd sort of Badger, it is Badger that will be doling them out to those he deems most deserving. It is for you, Badger’s readers to decide whether the right people have had their just deserts (Badger checked the spelling this time!) Public Servant of the Year.
This prestigious award is for the person who has done the most to expose the sheer incompetence at the heart of the administration of our County. The overwhelming winner of this award is Badger’s old chum ‘DIMOND’ DAVID PUGH. No single councillor did more to make sure that the Pembrokeshire public were made fully aware of just how supine, dim-witted and in the pocket of officers the !PPG Cabinet and its band of carpet-baggers are than ‘Dimond Dave’. Not a man to stint on digging a bloody big hole for himself and then to carry on digging, ‘Dimond’ Dave ranted and fulminated against those Councillors seeking information. He misled the Full Council; invented an imaginary wall on a building he claimed to have inspected; and said there was nothing to see in the grants scandal that has enveloped the council. The same scandal which has led to European funding being pull from other deserving Projects. How could ‘Dimond’ Dave have known what was afoot?

Well, he could have engaged his own critical faculties, presuming they exist, and done his own research. But no, he relied on the necessarily self-serving advice of officers who were tying to cover the tracks of their own serial incompetence and laxity (Badger said kindly).
Council Employee of the Year
Which employee has most contributed, whether deliberately or inadvertently to the gaiety of public discourse in Pembrokeshire? On the one hand Badger has to consider the claims of the Red Czar of the Kremlin, Bryn Parry-Jones, whose achievements go without explanation. On the other you have the claim of Doctor Doolittle himself, Dr Steven Jones the Council’s Director of Development, who memorably told the Audit Committee that anything found wrong with the Town Heritage Initiative and Commercial Property Grants Scheme in Pembroke and Pembroke Dock would amount to the equivalent of a few missing bread rolls from the canteen. Then we come to Gwyn Evans, the Council’s European Manager, whose Humpty-Dumpty like way with a dictionary and semantics belies his bean-counting background.

A tough call, this one. The little tin god in the CEO’s chair has come in for a lot of flak and a lot of attention. All of it richly deserved. On the other hand, he has let the muppets and puppets in the IPPG Cabinet do his speaking for him, without being quite so crass as to venture into the public debate himself. And it would be unfair to pick again on Gwyn Evans. After all, kudos should always go to the organ grinder and not his monkey. It is for this reason that the bland, arrogant and patronising remarks of Dr Steven Jones mark him out as a man apart.
As in only tangentially touching upon reality as he floats by in a cloud of self-contained self-assurance.

So: well done DR STEVEN JONES Badger sincerely hopes your future in industrial catering is a long and happy one. Remember bread rolls count when considering margin.
Business of the Year As the song goes: “You and me, we sweat and strain/ body all weary and wracked with pain”. But not if you were responsible for presiding over the almighty collapse of a business in hock to local businesses for hundreds of thousands of pounds. Mope, in those circumstances you just walk away and pretend that the accounts which showed Mustang Marine as your subsidiary were in error, even though the same accountants prepared them as prepared your own. You change your website as Mustang Marine was collapsing in effort to evade liability for Mustang Marine’s debts. Traders claim they were told that you stood behind Mustang Marine and that you would make sure they were paid. You had your own men involved at Mustang Marine, so you cannot say you did not know what was going on and what went wrong when money went on paying big directors’ bonuses and building new offices. Refineries come and dry docks go, but that old man river, the MILFORD HAVEN PORT AUTHORITY, it just keeps rollin’ along. Way to go Alec Don!
Trevor Purt Award
This award, formerly the Gordon Brown Memorial Cup, is given to the person who has created the biggest god-awful mess and then walked away from it to another well paid job.
On the basis that Bryn Parry Jones’ exit is not imminent and that Jamie Adams has the type of neck most often found on brass giraffes, there can be only one winner in the award’s inaugural year. Hats off, readers, to ‘Honorary Professor’ TREVOR PURT. Man. Legend. Beloved cost-cutting axe-man who thinks ‘excellence’ is synonymous with wrecking local health services and overseeing a series of decisions that has irreparably damaged the relationship between local people and their health care provider. The Rochdale Ranger rides off into the gloom of North Wales with Pembrokeshire’s curses ringing in his ears. Yes readers like TS Eliot’s Macavity the Mystery Cat, when the well-known brown and smelly stuff hits the fan (and it will) Pimpernel Prof Putt, won’t be there. Will we miss him, readers? It depends how big the field gun is and how accurate its ranging. (Watch out Betsi Cadwaladr! ‘Unforeseen recruitment problems’ ahoy!)
The Badger Award
That Badger has amused, annoyed, perplexed and informed his readers for the last twelve months is always nice to discover. Someone, whilst in their cups, said to Badger that he must really hate the Council, the Health Board and the Welsh Government. Badger was mortified. Badger LOVES them all. Without the constant stream of imbecilities pouring out of those bodies and others, Badger would have no material with which to work. But most of all Badger could not be Badger without the information readers send to him. And to you, readers, Badger gives his most personal and heartfelt award. His thanks.

News

Too many children in Wales living in poverty – Lib Dems want action

Published

5 hours ago

April 25, 2024

Tom Sinclair

THIS week in the Senedd, the Welsh Liberal Democrats renewed their demands for the implementation of child poverty targets.

According to a report from the Bevan foundation, 29% of children living in Wales are currently experiencing poverty (an estimated 190,000 children).

The same report highlighted that the largest percentage of children living in poverty are from working households or in couple households.

The Welsh Lib Dems are now renewing calls for the Welsh Government to create a set of targets for reducing child poverty, which the party argues will allow for more accountability.

The party has previously called for the implementation of targets, citing recommendations from the Calling Time on Child Poverty Report published in November last year.

Commenting, the Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds MS said: “The latest statistics on childhood poverty in Wales paints a very distressing image of families across the country struggling to make ends meet.

Over the course of the last six years, the proportion of children in poverty has skyrocketed. Fuelled by worsening economic conditions and a complete lack of action from both governments in Westminster and Cardiff Bay.

We cannot act complacent about these figures nor accept the clear lack of progress in fighting child poverty, behind each statistic is a child that the state has failed.

It remains painfully clear that the Welsh Government is failing to make any meaningful progress in this fight, which is why they must follow through with the implementation of clear set targets that will allow for further accountability.

We as a party have continuously called for the creation of these targets and we will not be silenced. For the sake of future generations we urge the Welsh Government to listen.”

Crime

Welsh constabulary areas record another increase in shoplifting

Published

5 hours ago

April 25, 2024

Tom Sinclair

RETAIL trade union Usdaw is deeply concerned by today’s police recorded crime statistics showing that in 2023 there were significant increases in shoplifting across all constabulary areas in Wales. In the whole of England and Wales there has been a persistent upward trend since the pandemic, which continued with a 37% increase and has now risen to the highest level in 20 years.

The Office for National Statistics released figures showing a 39% increase in shoplifting incidents across Wales and by constabulary area as follows:

Dyfed-Powys +11%
Gwent +47%
North Wales +23%
South Wales +51%

Usdaw’s 2023 annual survey of over 5,500 shopworkers found that 60% had suffered incidents of violence, threats and abuse that were triggered by shoplifting and armed robbery.

Paddy Lillis, Usdaw General Secretary says: “Shoplifting is not a victimless crime, theft from shops has long been a major flashpoint for violence and abuse against shopworkers. Having to deal with repeated and persistent shoplifters can cause issues beyond the theft itself like anxiety, fear and in some cases physical harm to retail workers. This 39% increase in shoplifting across Wales is further evidence that we are facing an epidemic of retail crime, which is hugely concerning.

“Our members have reported that they are often faced with hardened career criminals in the stores and we know that retail workers are much more likely to be abused by those who are stealing to sell goods on. Our latest survey results show that 7 in 10 retail workers suffered abuse from customers, with far too many experiencing threats and violence. 60% of respondents said theft from shops and armed robbery were triggers for these incidents.

“The scale of assaults, abuse and threats towards shopworkers and extent of the retail crime epidemic has been a disgrace for many years. This has been made worse by police cuts and a failure to legislate to protect retail staff. Usdaw has long called for action that includes a standalone offence for assaulting a shopworker and that has been vehemently opposed by this Government and their Conservative MPs on many occasions.

“Recently the Government performed a long overdue U-turn after many years of sustained campaigning by Usdaw and others. Our members have had to wait too long for their voices to be heard and common sense to prevail. We will have to see the detail of what Ministers are proposing and we are clear that it must be at least what we won in Scotland three years ago. It also cannot fall short of Labour’s commitments to 13,000 more uniformed officers, patrols on high streets, banning repeat offenders and ending the perverse £200 threshold for prosecuting shoplifters.

“The dither and delay by this Government on this issue over many years, has led to thousands of shopworkers needlessly suffering physical and mental injury. Today’s stats should ensure that their promise to legislate is done speedily. We hope that whatever the Government is proposing will be substantial and effective in giving shopworkers, key workers in every community, the respect that they have long deserved and regrettably too often do not receive.”

Business

Paramount’s key role in transformation of McArthurGlen Designer Outlet

Published

6 hours ago

April 25, 2024

Tom Sinclair

FAST-growing Welsh company Paramount is relishing the challenge of creating an “irresistible dining destination” after winning the contract to play a key role in the multi-million transformation of the McArthurGlen Designer Outlet Bridgend.

The Cardiff-based design, build, fit-out and refurbishment specialist will spearhead the re-development project of the shopping centre after being handed responsibility for revamping its popular food court over the summer.

In the coming months, the development will see the Food Court transformed into three modern, and bright restaurants, welcoming new food and beverage brands to the centre and creating more than 100 new job opportunities for the local community.

Paramount’s Construction Director, Paul Thomas, said: “The team behind the scenes at McArthurGlen Designer Outlet Bridgend have fantastic plans for the future and we’re delighted to have been entrusted with the mission to help turn their exciting vision into a reality.

“Paramount prides itself on creating places where people want to be, and my team are relishing the opportunity to help create what will be an irresistible dining destination. It’s certain to be a complex project, but we have the expertise and local knowledge to deliver outstanding results in close collaboration with our project partners.”

The owners of the shopping centre, which has been attracting local people and visitors for more than 25 years, have promised a “substantial investment to redevelop the Food Court area and replace it with new and exciting restaurants”.

Now the Paramount team is ready to lay the groundwork by removing some existing structures around the Food Court and will then introduce a series of new features as part of the overall facelift. These include new glazed entrance doors within glazed curtain walling shopfront, render and a new entrance lobby with new stairs and lifts.

The work to completely develop the Food Court in the shopping centre starts this week, and is expected to be completed in late autumn. As a result, customer favourites including Nando’s, McDonald’s and Chopsticks will be closed while work is under way.

Patrick Finney, Head of European Construction, McArthurGlen Group, said: “After celebrating our 25th anniversary last year, we’re extremely pleased to welcome Paramount on board in this important step of revitalising the Food Court area.

“These are exciting times for everyone at one of South Wales’ best-loved retail complexes and we know Paramount will work closely with us to create a truly special place for diners and shoppers of all ages.”

Paramount, whose turnover reached £45 million in 2023, employs 60 people who own a majority shareholding of the business – 51 per cent – following completion of an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) scheme in 2021, a deal which marked a major milestone for Paramount after a period of sustained growth.

The company is well known across Wales and England where it has created high-quality inspirational space for a number of leading companies. These include the multi-million-pound redevelopment of Hodge House and Fusion Point One in central Cardiff, and the fit out of Par 59 bars in South Wales and South West.

Over the next few months, Paramount’s construction team will also be completing on a multi-million-pound social housing development in Porthcawl, Mid-Glamorgan with Valleys to Coast.