News

Badger and the rule book

Published

11 years ago

March 4, 2015

badger84image IT IS an important principle of public life, readers, that citizens have certainty as to the meaning of the law. Even in private law it is well-established, for example, that where there is ambiguity in the words of a contract then the interpretation of the contract — provided it can be rectified — must be in favour of the party upon whom the burden of performance falls under its terms. Similarly, even statute law can be put to the test that words bear their normal meaning in the event that the law, regulations or guidance given under powers devolved to public txxlies (like Pembrokeshire County Council) are unclear.

The Pembrokeshire Herald has had cause to look at the Council’s European Manager, Gwyn Evans, before. He is the senior officer who was disciplined for rewriting the report of a meeting to make himself and other officers appear in a favourable light. He is also the senior officer, who Badger knows from his pal Moley in Cardiff, has claimed to WEFO that this newspaper had apologized to him for misreporting what he said to the Audit Committee in January. it seems that when it comes to rewriting history, Mr Evans knows no bounds. We did not apologize.

Mr Evans’ words to the Audit Committee speak for themselves and any gloss he wants to put on them on the basis of semantics and an after-the-fact realization of his mistake in saying -categorically — the Audit Committee would find nothing wrong with the grants schemes he administered and for which his department had responsibility — is a matter for his conscience and his employer’s judgement. in the light of his subsequent conduct in seeking to manipulate a public record, perhaps the weight given to his words by usually supine and tame Cabinet members should be tempered. Mr Evans clearly does not believe that words carry their normal meaning.

Rather like Humpty Dumpty and Jamie Adams, he believes that a word means what he means it say, neither anything more nor anything less. As an illustration of the above point, Badger noted a few words on Old Grumpy’s website about Mr Evans’ approach to how language should be interpreted. Grumpy reported that Mr Evans’ interpretation of the English language shows that he uses a very special dictionary indeed.

For example, guidance he prepared reads: “The specification should be agreed PRIOR to the applicant obtaining quotations [my emphasis] in order to avoid the need for revision. It MUST be sufficiently detailed to enable a full understanding of the proposed works and the methods and materials to be used. This level of detail will help contractors to quote accurately and prevent problems and misunderstandings occurring when the work is in progress. “Conditions in the offer letter should only be used to adjust minor omissions or details of the proposal and should never be relied upon to make substantial adjustments to a specification, therefore the specification should be agreed & approved PRIOR to going out to tender [my emphasis]. 5.3 Submission and agreement of specification and plans.

(a) An itemised and detailed specification should be submitted at this stage. Plans should also be submitted if these are required e.g. to show the details of lost features to be reinstated. (

(b) Carefully assess the specification and establish which items are eligible and which are ineligible.

(c) Agree the itemised specification with the applicant/agent and ask them to seek at least three independent itemised quotations…” It was pointed out by ClIr Jacob Williams that the procedure adopted to manage the grants process did not match the procedure. He asked the Council’s Monitoring Officer, Lawrence “brown envelope” Harding to explain the Council’s failure to follow its own policy manual.

Climbing astride his high horse, Gwyn Evans told Councillors “I shall answer your e-mail because AS THE AUTHOR of the Commercial Property Grant Scheme Procedure Manual I KNOW Bk. I I kR THAN ANYONE how it should be interpreted.” Before going on to claim that the words: “(b) Carefully assess the specification and establish which items are eligible and which are ineligible.” And ”

(d) Agree the itemised specification with the applicant/agent and ask them to seek at least three independent itemised quotations…” didn’t mean that there should be agreement PRIOR to going out to tender as to what is ineligible and what is not. Mr Evans can only mean that the word “prior” does not mean “BEFORE”. Badger has checked his dictionary, Readers. “Prior” damn well does mean “before”. Its opposite is “subsequent” (or “after”). If Badger is right, readers, when Gwyn Evans uses the words “CAREFULLY ASSESS” he cannot mean “cautiously evaluate”. Those words must bear another and entirely separate meaning known only to Mr Evans.

What Badger does know is that there have been major and substantial revisions to works attracting grants. The guidance is supposed to avoid that. It has failed miserably to ensure that end and the failure begins and ends with the person responsible for it. if you claim the credit, you have to bear the blame. It follows, therefore, that there are three plausible or possible interpretations of the position Mr Evans has adopted. Either:
• Mr Evans used the word “PRIOR” when what he meant to write was “WHEN YOU AND ME FEEL LIKE IT”: or • Mr Evans does not know what the word “PRIOR” means; or • Mr Evans is possessed of such arrogant certainty
that he will never be challenged by councillors or other officers that he just winged it.
Badger is quick to point out that he does not for a minute believe Mr Evans is arrogant. Ignorance is quite bad enough. And so we go back to the beginning, readers. Citizens are entitled to expect certainty when dealing with public authorities. They should not be obliged to guess what passed through a council officer’s mind while he sat on the privy scribbling on his note pad. If you were tendering on the basis of the procedure manual and followed it you would be at a disadvantage, all because you do not possess Evans Sensory Perception: the ability to read the mind of an officer who evidently believes the rules of language and its construction do not apply to him.

Health

Resident doctors in Wales vote to accept new contract

Published

4 hours ago

December 18, 2025

Tom Sinclair

RESIDENT doctors across Wales have voted to accept a new contract, with 83% of those who took part in a referendum backing the agreement, according to BMA Cymru Wales.

The contract includes a four per cent additional investment in the resident doctor workforce and introduces a range of reforms aimed at improving training conditions, wellbeing and long-term workforce sustainability within NHS Wales. The BMA says the deal also supports progress towards pay restoration, which remains a central issue for doctors.

Key changes include new safeguards to limit the most fatiguing working patterns, measures intended to address medical unemployment and career progression concerns, and reforms to study budgets and study leave to improve access to training opportunities.

Negotiations between the BMA’s Welsh Resident Doctors Committee, NHS Wales Employers and the Welsh Government concluded earlier this year. Following a consultation period, a referendum of resident doctors and final-year medical students in Wales was held, resulting in a clear majority in favour of the proposals.

Welsh Resident Doctors Committee chair Dr Oba Babs Osibodu said the agreement marked a significant step forward for doctors working in Wales.

He said: “We’re proud to have negotiated this contract, which offers our colleagues and the future generation of doctors safer terms of service, fairer pay, and better prospects so that they can grow and develop their careers in Wales.

“This contract will help to retain the doctors already in training, and also attract more doctors to work in Wales, where they can offer their expertise and benefit patients.”

Dr Osibodu added that the BMA remains committed to achieving full pay restoration and acknowledged that challenges remain for some doctors.

“Whilst this contract sets the foundations for a brighter future for resident doctors in Wales, we recognise that there are still doctors who are struggling to develop their careers and secure permanent work,” he said. “We need to work with the Welsh Government and NHS employers to address training bottlenecks and underemployment.”

The Welsh Government has previously said it recognises the pressures facing resident doctors and the importance of improving recruitment and retention across NHS Wales, while also highlighting the need to balance pay agreements with wider NHS funding pressures and patient demand.

The new contract is expected to be phased in from August 2026. It will initially apply to doctors in foundation programmes, those in specialty training with unbanded rotas, and new starters, before being rolled out to all resident doctors across Wales.

Crime

Swansea man jailed for online child sex offence dies in prison

Published

4 hours ago

December 18, 2025

Tom Sinclair

A SWANSEA man who was jailed earlier this year for attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child has died while in custody.

Gareth Davies, aged 59, of the Maritime Quarter, was serving an 18-month prison sentence after being convicted in May of sending sexually explicit messages to what he believed was a 14-year-old girl. The account was in fact a decoy used as part of an online safeguarding operation.

The court heard that Davies began communicating with the decoy between November and December 2024 and persistently pursued the individual, later attempting to arrange a face-to-face meeting. He was arrested after being confronted by the decoy operators.

Davies had pleaded not guilty but was convicted following a trial. At the time of sentencing, police described the messages as extremely concerning and said his imprisonment was necessary to protect children.

It has now been confirmed that Davies died at HMP Parc on Wednesday (Nov 27) while serving his sentence.

The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman has launched an independent investigation into the death, which is standard procedure in all cases where someone dies in custody. No cause of death has been released at this stage.

A coroner will determine the circumstances in due course.

Farming

Welsh Conservatives warn climate plans could mean fewer livestock on Welsh farms

Published

4 hours ago

December 18, 2025

Tom Sinclair

THE WELSH CONSERVATIVES have challenged the Welsh Government over climate change policies they say could lead to reductions in livestock numbers across Wales, raising concerns about the future of Welsh farming.

The row follows the Welsh Government’s decision, alongside Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Liberal Democrats, to support the UK Climate Change Committee’s Fourth Carbon Budget, which sets out the pathway towards Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

The Carbon Budget, produced by the independent Climate Change Committee (CCC), states that meeting Net Zero targets will require a reduction in agricultural emissions, including changes to land use and, in some scenarios, a reduction in livestock numbers.

During questioning in the Senedd, the Welsh Conservatives pressed the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs on whether the Welsh Government supports reducing livestock numbers as part of its climate strategy.

Speaking after the exchange, Welsh Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Samuel Kurtz MS, said the Welsh Government could not distance itself from the implications of the policy it had backed.

Mr Kurtz said: “By voting in favour of these climate change regulations, Labour, Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats have signed up to the UK Climate Change Committee’s call to cut livestock numbers in Wales, and they cannot dodge that reality.

“The Deputy First Minister’s smoke-and-mirrors answers only confirm what farmers already fear: that Labour, along with their budget bedfellows in Plaid and the Lib Dems, are prepared to sacrifice Welsh agriculture in pursuit of climate targets.”

He added that the issue came at a time of growing pressure on the farming sector, pointing to uncertainty over the proposed Sustainable Farming Scheme, the ongoing failure to eradicate bovine TB, nitrogen pollution regulations under the Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZs), and proposed changes to inheritance tax rules affecting family farms.

The Welsh Government has repeatedly said it does not have a target to forcibly reduce livestock numbers and has argued that future emissions reductions will come through a combination of improved farming practices, environmental land management, and changes in land use agreed with farmers.

Ministers have also said the Sustainable Farming Scheme, which is due to replace the Basic Payment Scheme, is intended to reward farmers for food production alongside environmental outcomes, rather than remove land from agriculture.

The UK Climate Change Committee, which advises governments across the UK, has stressed that its pathways are based on modelling rather than fixed quotas, and that devolved governments have flexibility in how targets are met.

However, farming unions and rural groups in Wales have warned that policies focused on emissions reduction risk undermining the viability of livestock farming, particularly in upland and marginal areas where alternatives to grazing are limited.

The debate highlights the growing tension between climate targets and food production in Wales, with livestock farming remaining a central part of the rural economy and Welsh cultural identity.

As discussions continue over the final shape of the Sustainable Farming Scheme and Wales’ long-term climate plans, pressure is mounting on the Welsh Government to reassure farmers that climate policy will not come at the expense of the sector’s survival.