News

Badger smells more than a rat

Published

12 years ago

September 29, 2013

Readers will have read exclusively in this newspaper about the collusion of certain Councillors in a scheme intended to help top boss Bryn Parry-Jones avoid tax.

There are times when even Badger is astonished by the way in which some members of the Council, having found one level, appear to find murkier depths to plumb with ease.

Look at the six faces opposite: The leader of the Council, his predecessor, a former deputy leader of the Council, a former cabinet member, a current cabinet member and the former leader of Pembrokeshire’s Conservatives: there they are.

These are the faces of the Councillors who sat behind closed doors in a meeting that, in a time of brutal cuts to Council services, decided that a man paid more than the Prime Minister needed a big tax break to make ends meet in his retirement.

Well that condensed milk and those tinned pilchards won’t buy themselves, will they?

Let’s look at some of the sorts of figures involved in the calculations of the Staff Remuneration Committee to see if we can get close to the size of Bryn’s Big Break. The Council, as is usual, have decided that such is Bryn’s importance and magnificence that the public should not have the details of the pot of public money he gets for his part in bringing such shame to Pembrokeshire that the Welsh Government had to intervene in the Council’s operations.

Readers may be surprised to learn that not only is Bryn’s salary actually a matter of public record – although Pembrokeshire County Council held out against revealing his hefty salary for many moons– but calculations used in other local authorities are widely available online.

In 2011, Haringey Council produced the following figures for someone on a salary of £150,000 (much less than his Bryn-ness):

Salary at beginning of year	£150,000
Service at beginning of year	25 years
Pre-2008 service at beginning of year	22 years
Increase in Pay	6.6%
Salary at end of year	£160,000
Service at end of year	26 years
Pre-2008 service at end of year	22 years
Inflation over year (Consumer Price Index)	2.5%
Pension accrued at beginning of year	£48,750
Lump Sum accrued at beginning of year	£123,750
Pension accrued at end of year	£54,667
Lump Sum accrued at end of year	£132,000
Value of “pension savings”	£80,323
Excess over annual allowance of £50,000	£30,323
Tax charge if 40%	£12,129
Tax charge if 45% (from April 2013)	£13,645
Tax charge if 50%	£15,161

Local government pensions work on the basis that employers and employees make contributions to the scheme. In order to permit Bryn to avoid tax what the IPPG led Committee did was to make it possible for Bryn Parry-Jones – as well as his fellow highest-paid officers – to choose to salt away the equivalent value of the Council’s contribution to their pensions to somewhere the tax man wouldn’t be able to get his mitts on it.

The change in the tax laws which brought about this tax dodge “arrangement” only affects those described as ‘very high earners.’ In fact the reason the change was brought in, ostensibly, was because of a quarter of all pension tax relief was going to only 1.5% of members of the pension scheme.

Bryn is one of the 1.5%.

These members – and take a good look at the mug shots opposite – thought that in a period when services were being cut and the wages of the lower paid employees were being slashed, they would give the best paid of their best paid employees a chance to avoid paying tax.

They have colluded to give those most able to afford tax to avoid it at the expense of everyone else.

Cosy and complacent: it appears they sat around a table in secret session to carve out a sordid tax dodge.

They should be ashamed. They won’t be.

Five of these sat together and decided to cut low-paid workers’ pay knowing that Bryn is trousering a big tax-free wodge of Council Tax payers’ cash.

It stinks.

The members of this Committee have colluded to let their very well remunerated Chief Executive avoid tax.

The Welsh Audit Office don’t seem to like it. Why should we?

Let’s also put this in context. At the time this meeting took place, the Council had just been the subject of the report that led to Welsh Government intervention in Pembrokeshire’s affairs. That report said this about our County Council (emphases added):

“The absence of effective governance in relation to safeguarding and protecting children REFLECTS FAILURES WITHIN THE CULTURE OF THE AUTHORITY AS A WHOLE. The shortcomings with the authority’s arrangements to safeguard and protect children are longstanding and systemic. This is indicative of the deep-seated nature of these problems and failings within the authority … THIS IS INDICATIVE OF A CLOSED, NOT AN OPEN OR TRANSPARENT CULTURE.”

So it was – as the minutes of the meeting put it – to aid the retention of the person in charge at the time the Council failed most spectacularly in its duty to us that the Committee members opposite decided that so essential was Bryn’s contribution that he needed an annual five-figure sweetie to stay.

Shortly after the child safeguarding issue came to prominence, a vote of no confidence in Bryn was tabled by Councillors who were, to say the least, “disappointed” in his management. He survived the vote as ‘Cwmbetws’ and his cohorts rallied round him.

Smell a rat?

It stinks of other odours, too: those more associated with the dairy farming with which John Davies and Jamie Adams will be familiar.

Badger was thinking of illustrating this point with the quote from Animal Farm about some animals being more equal than others. Instead, he remembered something he read when being taught history by former Director of Education, Graham Longster.

Senator Joseph McCarthy was notorious for helping create the ant-communist hysteria in America during the early 1950’s. His claims became more outrageous and vindictive as time went on. He finally met his come-uppance before a Senate committee in 1954.

Joseph N. Welch, Counsel for the US Army, finally – exasperatedly – asked McCarthy the lethal: ‘You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?’

Shut a library. Close a school. Cut bin collections. End public toilets. Slash workers’ wages. Tell everybody the cuts are unavoidable. But for God’s sake give Bryn the Merciless a tax break.

Look at the faces opposite again.

Ask Joseph Welch’s question of them.

Community

Princess of Wales praised for ‘skill’ during local wool mill and factory visit

Published

6 hours ago

February 3, 2026

Tom Sinclair

Royal tour shines spotlight on west Wales textile heritage and local jobs

CATHERINE, Princess of Wales was told “she’s got the skill” after trying her hand at traditional textile work during a visit to west Wales on Tuesday (Feb 3).

The royal spent the day meeting staff and apprentices at two well-known manufacturers – Melin Tregwynt in Pembrokeshire and Hiut Denim in Cardigan – highlighting the region’s long-standing reputation for craftsmanship and small-scale, high-quality production.

Stitching and mending at historic mill

At Melin Tregwynt, a family-run woollen mill that now operates as an employee-owned trust, the princess was guided through each stage of production, from weaving to finishing.

In the quality control room she was invited to mend a blanket using a needle and thread, carefully repairing the fabric under the watchful eye of experienced staff.

Paula Harding, who has worked at the mill for more than a decade, praised her technique, saying: “She did it right – and she didn’t go through the other side. That’s skill. She’s got the skill.”

Laughing, the princess told workers: “You make it look so easy,” adding that the craft was clearly “a labour of love”.

She asked questions about the history of the business, which has produced Welsh-designed blankets and throws for more than a century, and spoke with several generations of the same families who have worked at the mill.

‘Made in Wales’ denim

Later, the princess travelled to Hiut Denim, the Cardigan-based firm credited with bringing jeans manufacturing back to the town after large factories closed in the early 2000s.

The company now focuses on small-batch, premium denim and employs skilled cutters and machinists locally.

During a tour of the factory floor, the princess tried cutting out a pair of jeans and helped stitch a “Made in Wales” label onto a finished pair that staff said would be presented to the Prince of Wales.

“He will love those,” she replied.

She joked that there was “no pressure” when handed the cutting tools and said she enjoys making clothes herself, admitting the most adventurous project she had attempted was sewing a pair of pyjamas.

The royal also stopped to greet Barney, the factory’s English cocker spaniel, drawing smiles from staff.

Meeting well-wishers

Crowds gathered outside both sites to catch a glimpse of the visitor, with the princess spending time chatting with families and children before moving on.

The visit forms part of ongoing efforts by the royal household to showcase traditional industries and skilled manufacturing across the UK, with west Wales’ textile sector recognised as a key part of the region’s heritage and economy.

For workers at both businesses, the message was simple: the spotlight on locally made products and homegrown skills was just as important as the royal presence itself.

***Local flavour: The Princess of Wales chats with staff and accepts a jar of Crwst’s Welsh honey butter before departing Cardigan following her visit to Hiut Denim (Pic: Crwst).***

Crime

Man spared jail after admitting child abuse image offences

Published

7 hours ago

February 3, 2026

Rieve Nesbitt-Marr

Police seized devices after intelligence linked Pembrokeshire address to illegal cloud storage accounts

A 23-YEAR-OLD Pembrokeshire man has avoided immediate custody after admitting making and possessing indecent images of children, including extreme bestiality material.

Ryan Beale, aged 23, appeared at Swansea Crown Court for sentencing this week.

At his first hearing, before magistrates on December 31, he entered guilty pleas and being granted conditional bail.

The court heard the case followed an intelligence-led police investigation linking Beale to a Dropbox account suspected of storing illegal material. Officers executed a warrant at his home on December 18.

During his arrest, Beale told officers: “I don’t use Dropbox,” claiming his email and Google accounts had been compromised.

However, police seized his mobile phone and computer equipment. A forensic examination found the email address connected to the Dropbox account stored on his device. Although the account had also been accessed from overseas locations, including Nigeria, investigators were satisfied it was controlled by Beale and linked to a larger cloud storage account containing significant volumes of illegal content.

Officers discovered 120 Category A images, 36 Category B images and 29 Category C images.

Category A represents the most serious level of abuse.

The material included extreme and disturbing bestiality content. Further Category C images were also located within the Dropbox account.

Two identified victims depicted in the images were girls aged nine and eleven.

Beale initially denied the allegations but later admitted the offences.

Passing sentence, at Swansea Crown Court on Tuesday (Feb 3) the His Honour Geraint Walters said: “This was not an innocent pastime. Every time an adult views that image, a child is still being abused.”

He added that an early guilty plea had spared Beale immediate custody but warned the offences would have lifelong consequences.

“The public have no time for anybody doing this,” the judge said. “If you’re doing this, the police will find out. They didn’t knock on your door randomly — they knew what they were looking for.”

Beale was sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years. He must complete 20 days of rehabilitation activity and pay £300 in prosecution costs.

The court also imposed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, ordered the forfeiture and destruction of his electronic devices, and placed him on the Sex Offenders Register for ten years.

“If you keep yourself out of trouble, you won’t have to serve that custodial sentence,” the judge told him.

Entertainment

One Night in Dublin returns to the Torch with a brand-new show

Published

7 hours ago

February 3, 2026

Tom Sinclair

ONE NIGHT IN DUBLIN is heading back to the stage at the Torch Theatre with a lively new production fronted by renowned Irish singer Danny Muldoon.

Tickets are already selling fast for the feel-good celebration of Irish music, which promises two hours of songs, stories and plenty of craic.

Backed by an award-winning five-piece band, Muldoon leads audiences through a packed set of sing-along favourites including Galway Girl, Tell Me Ma, The Irish Rover, Dirty Old Town, Whiskey in the Jar, The Wild Rover and The Galway Shawl, along with many more well-loved classics.

The show recreates the atmosphere of a bustling Dublin pub, complete with fiddle, whistle, guitars, banjo, bodhrán, accordion and driving drums, transporting the audience straight into “Murphy’s Tavern” for an unforgettable night of live entertainment.

Fans can also expect hits from Irish legends including The Pogues, The Saw Doctors, The Dubliners, The Fureys, Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphys.