A Life Inside & Outside of Politics - Mark Cole

Shame on Luis Suarez. Shame on Liverpool FC

2012-02-11T14:59:00.000Z

I haven't made any comments on the Evra Vs Suarez saga to date but today's latest development as viewed in this clip below has forced me into a response. For those who don't know (where have you been if you don't?!), I'm an Aston Villa fan and therefore have no additional gripe with one of these teams over the other - my views are those of a football fan.

It is to Luis Suarez's shame that he didn't shake Patrice Evra's hand after the latter reached out to do so at the start of today's big match. Suarez has paid the price with a long ban and should've had more about him than to reduce himself further by rebuffing what was a laudable act by Evra in the trying circumstances.

It further reduced any respect I have for a club after recent comments by manager Kenny Dalglish on Suarez's return from suspension only inflamed matters further. Dalglish should know better than to say what he did.

The Warren Gatland Example
Indeed, a good example of a manager speaking the truth of a situation even if it doesn't necessarily help his own team was that of Welsh rugby coach Warren Gatland when he admitted last weekend after the tense Ireland Vs Wales 6 Nations opener that Bradley Davies should've been given a red card instead of the yellow that he received for that spear tackle in the 2nd half. Gatland was right and us Welsh were very lucky that referee Barnes didn't see it that same way at the time.

Sometimes, managers need to rise their heads above the din and the parochial nature of sporting life and actually say what is right. Dalglish didn't and today's actions by a petulant Luis Suarez further goes to demonstrate just how out of touch he and his football club are on this matter.

For that alone, I was delighted that Manchester United ended up winning the game.

Mike Bassett: England Manager!

2012-02-08T23:09:00.000Z

Sorry, but all things considered after what has been an incredible 24 hours for English football...I just couldn't resist!

Happy 80th Birthday to a Cinematic Maestro - the John Williams Sound

2012-02-08T21:00:00.000Z

Surely cinema's greatest ever film-score composer, John Williams, celebrates his 80th birthday today.

His compositions are instantly recognizable and act as a veritable walk through of a 'Who's Who' in late 20th century and early 21st century cinematic history.

He has won 5 Academy Awards (47 nominations) and 4 Golden Globes (22 nominations) and 20 Grammys (59 nominations). His 47 Oscar nominations makes John Williams the record-holder for the most Oscar nominations for a living person and is the second most nominated person in the history of the Academy Awards behind Walt Disney's 59. Forty-two of Williams' Oscar nominations are for Best Original Music Score and five are for Best Original Song. He won four Oscars for Best Original Score and one for Best Adapted Score.

This happens to be my 500th blog post. But instead of using many words as for one who enjoys writing has become my custom, I will break from that to leave instad a sample of his wonderful musical legacy, to speak for itself...

1975 - Jaws

1977, 1980, 1983, 1999, 2002 & 2005 - Star Wars

1978 - Superman

1981, 1984, 1989 & 2008 - Indiana Jones

1982 - E.T.

1990 - Home Alone

1993 - Schindler's List

1993 - Jurassic Park

1998 - Saving Private Ryan

2003 - Harry Potter

2011 - War Horse

My favourite of these? Either Indiana Jones or Home Alone...or Superman!

Happy 80th Birthday John Williams!

ELO - Livin' Thing

2012-02-08T15:00:00.000Z

On my new (ish) mobile Android phone, I've got this Shazam app which can sample any 30 seconds of music and pretty much without fail, instantly tell you what song is being played and by whom.

Loads of people have it or a similar such app of course but that doesn't stop me from showing it off at any given opportunity! Having said that, I've rarely actually used it for it's proper purpose. Most of the time I use it to decipher a song I already know to show those with me at the time how it works.

But last week, it happened to do exactly what it's meant to do. I was sitting in Aberystwyth's Varsity with a friend Rob Hardware when I heard the strains to a song that I recognised but which I could not place. It was a song which I had not heard in a long time and which, despite my eclectic love and knowledge of most things musical, I would never in a month of Sundays have placed.

This is where for once, my Shazam app came in handy for the right reason. I pointed my 'phone up in the direction of the nearest speaker for the 30 or so seconds required for it to collect the sample and within seconds it gave me an answer that pleasantly surprised me.

The song with that catchy hook in the chorus which I had not heard for years but which I instantly knew I liked on hearing it again was Livin' Thing by of all groups, the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). It was one of those wonderful dawning moments of realisation. I've always had a soft spot for that unique ELO sound even though I would't go so far as to call myself a fan. I clearly didn't have enough of a knowledge of their back catalogue otherwise I'd have known that Livin' Thing, with it's wonderful use of strings (which I've always enjoyed in a good pop tune) was their song.

But now I know, and I will never now forget that lovely musical fact because of my snazzy Shazam mobile app.

The King is Dead: Long Live the Queen

2012-02-06T12:58:00.001Z

Today is the 60th anniversary of Accession Day. On February 6th 1952, a young Princess aged 25 learnt whilst in Kenya, that her father had passed away in his sleep. Her father was King George VI and she would now become Queen Elizabeth II.

A year ago I wrote here about my interest in the Royal Family and of her many accomplishments amassed during the past 59 years. She is now, as I also blogged here back in May, the second-longest reigning monarch after her great-great grandmother Queen Victoria.

Here is an account of those days of accession.

For those who wish to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee, that opportunity will come in June. Today is not a day of celebration. It is a day of recollection and of quiet reflection for the passing of a King, a husband and for a father.

Going Global

2012-02-04T10:16:00.001Z

Though my blogging musings have been lighter over the past month or so, this blog has nevertheless made some international strides in recent weeks.

America
Firstly around Christmas, I was contacted by a business from across the pond in America asking for an opportunity to advertise with selected links in blog posts that matched their product. You probably won't have seen then, but they are there and in the last few days, the $40 (£25) payment reached my bank account via PayPal. It's only a small amount but after just over a year, it's a pleasant bonus to find that my musings can help earn me a little money along the way! More than that for me, it's great to know that people from all over the world are reading this blog.

BBC World Service
It's a surreal concept but it was re-iterated again yesterday when my Innocent Until Proven Guilty - Chris Huhne & John Terry blog post of earlier that morning was picked up by the BBC. I had a call in the afternoon from a BBC World Radio Service researcher in London asking for me to contribute on their 'Have Your Say' programme with Neil Hamilton and former Chicago politician Jim Laski about being innocent until proven guilty. I've spoken on radio many times - mainly on local or regional radio. Never have I spoken on the World Service! It was again a rather surreal 10 minutes and though I was interupted a few times by the presenter it doesn't bother me - you roll with the punches in such an environment! It can be heard here.

It was neverthless great that this little blog of mine managed to catch the eye and gave me that opportunity to speak to the World in this way that I have never quite experienced before.

A Small World
People from 178 nations or territories have visited this blog over the past 17 months or so. That has been one of the greatest enjoyments that I have taken from this blog in that time - the realisation that it really is a small world and we are all just a click away from touching the lives of others.

Innocent Until Proven Guilty - Chris Huhne & John Terry

2012-02-03T12:12:00.000Z

I know it's a rather boring thing to believe, particularly when you read a lot of the newspapers nowadays, but I still hold onto that most basic tenet on which our judicial system is built - that you are innocent until proven guilty.

It is a particularly apt moment to re-consider this in light of two high-profile cases this week.

Chris Huhne

Chris Huhne's decision today to stand down from the Cabinet to fight his case is a sensible one. He pleads innocence on the charges of perjury and if he is to fight his battle for that truth then he is right to do so without the weight of Cabinet responsibility on his shoulders.

It will mean a minor Cabinet reshuffle which will we are told likely bring Ed Davey MP into the Cabinet. He will have a tough task as Chris Huhne proved to be an effective Cabinet Member on Climate Change. Huhne's future now of course depends on that court case. The course of British Justice will take its course and we will have to take it from there. In the meantime, he remains the Member of Parliament for Eastleigh.

John Terry
The case of England's football captain is a slightly different matter. He too will face his day in court in July having pleaded not guilty to charges of racism against Anton Ferdinand.

The big question was whether he should (a) remain England Captain and (b) remain a squad member going into the Euro '12 Finals which will conclude a week before his judicial appearance.

Well, he is of course innocent until proven guilty as I say and I therefore see no reason why he should be excluded from the English team. If Fabio Capello believes him to be central to the English set-up, then he should go to the finals.

But should he remain as the England Captain? I have to say no. Considering his previous history having been stripped of the English Captaincy after his affair with the wife of a colleague, his position was precarious. As the moral leader of his nation's footballing hopes, it was not appropriate that he hold that position at this time. It is therefore in mind to the FA's rare credit that they have this morning formally announced that Terry will not captain the team going into the summer.

The difference here is that Huhne rightly fell on his sword whilst Terry failed to make the same call and found the decision made for him.

Time will tell how the judicial system will treat them both in the months to come but it would seem to me at this moment that the one has dealt with the situation in such trying circumstances with more dignity than the other.

My Internet Stat Porn Monthly Report (17) January

2012-02-01T12:00:00.000Z

Here is my seventeenth monthly round-up of blog figures for anyone who is remotely interested in who reads my little blog. These stats for the month of January come courtesy of google analytics.

A Calm Month
In one way, January was a busy month, in another, it was not.

My output for the month of 15 blog posts was my lowest ever and indeed was less than half of the 33 written in December. Despite this, my January total viewing figures were nevertheless actually up on the previous month.

In January, I had a total of 3,019 absolute unique visitors to my blog (up on my December total of 2,753 though down on my May record of 6,485). Those 3,019 absolute unique visitors made 3,215 visits to my blog in January (again up on the 2,954 total from December though again down on the 6,908 record from May). They viewed 7,499 pages (marginally up on the December total of 7,310 pages but down on the the October record of 11,517 pages).

The top 10 stories by direct page views that you've read this past month were:

1. Andy Murray Needs to Summon the Rory McIlroy Spirit for Sporting Immortality
2. Why Alex Salmond rightly holds the Ace in the Unionist Pack
3. Labour's Leighton Andrews' Extraordinary Live TV Coco Pops Outburst
4. 9am: Swansea City AFC - Premier League!
5. On Becoming Engaged!
6. The Aberfan Perspective
7. 'The King's Speech' - The Book Vs The Film (SPOILER WARNING!)
8. Nos Da i 'Denz' o Pobol Y Cwm - 1984-2012
9. Brian Blessed, Chancellor of Cambridge University?!
10. Total Football: In Praise of Swansea City

Of the 10, only 4 were written this month though this isn't surprising considering I'd only written 15 in total this month. The other 6 are popular blog posts written in months past that continue to attract hits. The 4 that I wrote this month came in at No.2, 5, 8 and 10.

They included the news of my engagement and also a rare bilingual Welsh post on the 'death' of a favourite fictional character from the Welsh soap opera Pobol Y Cwm. I need to write more in Welsh and this will hopefully spur me on to do so.

Blog Traffic
Of all of the blog visitors this past month, 12.10% were through direct traffic (up from 11.61% in December), 23.67% came from referring sites (down from 28.33% in December) and 64.23% via search engines (up from 60.05% in December).

The bounce rate for the month was 19.50% (up on the December total of 14.69%). 81.40% of the total were new visits as opposed to 18.60% returning visitors.

An International Blog!
The visitors to my little blog came from 86 countries/territories this month - down from my December tally of 97 and down further on my May record of 123, with a cumulative total of 178 countries/territories having supplied visitors to my blog to date.

The top ten countries to date are as follows (with position change from December & % of total views):

1. United Kingdom (No Change) 52.3% (+0.2%)
2. United States (No Change) 18.2% (-0.1%)
3. Brazil (No Change) 2.1% (-0.1%)
4. Germany (No Change) 2.1% (=)
5. Canada (No Change) 1.9% (=)
6. Australia (No Change) 1.6% (-0.1%)
7. Holland (No Change) 1.5% (+0.1%)
8. Ireland (No Change) 1.3% (-0.1%)
9. France (No Change) 1.3% (+0.1%)
10. Poland (No Change) 1.1% (-0.1%)

A calm month with relatively marginal changes all-round.

It has continued to be a very cosmopolitan blog this month and honourable mentions must go in particular to the 3 new countries/territories that have provided its first viewers to my blog this January.

Grenada, the US Virgin Islands and Lesotho have all supplied its first reader to my blog during the past month!

Fair play to them all, and to you all, for putting up with my ramblings!

28th January 2002 - A Day That Changed My Life

2012-01-28T09:06:00.000Z

In January 2002 I began keeping a diary. My father had done so for decades and despite many previous stalled attempts, I decided to give it another go. This time it proved more successful and my diary ran for over 7 years until the very day I became Mayor of Cardigan in May 2009 (to my regret, the sheer workload that came with the role obliterated any time I had to continue with the diary).

I've therefore been looking back with some nostalgia at those first few entries a whole decade ago. I was a second year student in Aberystwyth University living in Pantycelyn Halls of Residence and enjoying a new leash of life through the new confidence it had given me - a confidence that I had been lacking in secondary school.

Contact Lenses
Within weeks of that new year, and noted for posterity in that first diary, was a day that really did change my life completely.

I'd been mulling the possibility for some time but had rejected the call but on January 28th 2002, I decided to make the leap and attend a fitting for contact lenses at the Aberystwyth branch at Raynors.

Amidst the activities of what was already a busy day, in the middle of my report back on that day, I wrote in my diary:

"Then to Raynor's for a 4pm contact lenses appointment. Took ages to put in and take out but much quicker at 2nd attempt. Quite happy with them - now just need to get used to them".

It was a relatively mundane diary entry for what would prove to be a life changing decision.

The appointment itself really must've been a strength of patience for the poor woman helping me because it really did take an age for me to put the lenses in at first effort. By ages, I mean well over an hour! Putting one lense in and then the other before removing them one at a time. Of course, the whole concept of putting your finger into your eyes is one that makes anyone flinch and on this first occasion, I did so continuously! She had the patience of a saint and in fairness had probably seen it time and time again with first time contact lenses users.

A New Mark Cole
My diary over the following weeks included many updates on the slow journey of my getting used to wearing the contact lenses and despite some setbacks, I held firm and it wasn't long before the processes were like second nature to me.

10 years on, I still wear contact lenses religiously and am thankful for that day when I decided to make the jump.

Why the overhype? Well put simply, you'd need to have known me beforehand I expect to understand. Only my friends who have known me for more than 10 years will remember me before I wore contact lenses. My eyesight has always been poor and since I was a child I'd always worn rather thick glasses - your 'Harry Potter specks' if you like. It was something I think that was always on my mind going through those always challenging years in secondary school. Though a pleasant and attentive pupil, I certainly lacked in a level of self-confidence in school.

Going to University changed that significantly as it gave me an opportunity to meet new friends and to reach out beyond the levels to which I had previously. But still there must've been an underlying sense of unease with myself because otherwise, why would I have wanted to have a contact lense trial in the first place?

I can not underestimate how those contact lenses changed my life. Suddenly, from my small sink-side mirror in Room 210 in Pantycelyn, I was looking at a new Mark Cole. He didn't wear glasses but instead looked as he would've when he was born. It may read as an odd thing here, but suddenly I felt as if I looked attractive - something I expect I had never felt previously. Suddenly, I became much more comfortable within my own skin and that gave me greater confidence in how I lived my life from there on. It meant I could now go on daredevil rollercoaster rides and see where I was going! It meant I could have my haircut and see the progress in live time and not just hope that when I put my glasses on at the end that all would be fine! Little things and bigger things, it revolutionised how I saw myself and therefore how I lived my life as a result.

It's odd how something relatively trivial had such a large impact on my life but when speaking to friends, I have often spoken about how the day I first wore contact lenses was the first day of a new life.

That day was 28th January 2002. It's been a great 10 years and I can look back today in particular at a choice very, very well made.

My Top 10 National Anthems

2012-01-27T19:26:00.001Z

Thanks to Peter Black for bringing this brilliant article from the BBC about the 'sing-ability' of the Welsh national anthem 'Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau' to my attention.

I have a soft spot for national anthems. They can say a lot about the country that it represents. Each has a unique quality that makes it stand out from the rest. In fact, so keen am I for these musical oddities, I have been known to run an audio round in quizzes that I have written for various gatherings, with a 'Guess the nation that this anthem represents' theme. Sad, I know!

As a particular connoisseur of sporting events and occasions, I have long been used to hearing the anthems of various countries being played, either in the build-up to a team event or in the celebratory occasion of a podium conclusion to a team or individual event.

It goes without saying that 'Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau' is my Number 1. Yes it's because it's Welsh, but for any patriotic Welshman, it has a passionate resonance and a melody that inspires us greatly. I'm delighted that this academic article has shown that it comes out favourably on the 'sing-ability' scale though it doesn't surprise me at all.

So I'm taken it for granted that it is my favourite and removing it from the ensuing list which will countdown my otherwise Top 10 National Anthems.

No.10 - USA (Star Spangled Banner - Marvin Gaye at the 1968 World Series)

No.9 - Australia (Advance Australia Fair - Delta Goodrem at the Melbourne Cup)

No.8 - China (March of the Volunteers - with subtitles)

No.7 - Germany (Deutschlandlied - 1998 British GP Podium Ceremony)

No.6 - Russia (National Anthem of the Russian Federation)

No.5 - France (La Marseillaise)

No.4 - Brazil (Hino Nacional Brasileiro)

No.3 - Italy (Il Canto degli Italiani)

No.2 - Canada (Oh Canada!)

My number on though has to be the anthem that united a nation in more ways than one. Merged in 1997, Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika employs the five most widely spoken of South Africa's eleven official languages - Xhosa (first stanza, first two lines), Zulu (first stanza, last two lines), Sesotho (second stanza), Afrikaans (third stanza) and English (final stanza). It is an incredible and worthy attempt to demonstrate and honour the multi-cultural make-up of a nation.

No.1 - South Africa (Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika)

Meeting my Childhood Heroes: Andy 'The Viking' Fordham, Richie 'The Prince of Wales' Burnett and Me

2012-01-24T20:00:00.000Z

Apologies to those who are not conoisseurs of the darting world for my back-to-back blog posts on this fine sport but it has indeed very much been a darting weekend for me.

As I mentioned yesterday, Jamie Lewis' wonderful weekend in qualifying for the full PDC circuit for the next 2 years is great news for us who know him here in his native Cardigan.

As it happens, on the 3rd day of that 4-day Q School in Barnsley, I was safely ensconced in another darting environment whilst keeping a close eye on his progress all-the-same.

Worthingtons Scarlets Darts Masters
To be precise, I'd been given time off for good behaviour to attend the inaugural darts masters at Llanelli's Parc Y Scarlets.

As a big fan of darts since I was a child, this was my opportunity to meet superstars of the game such as Phil 'The Power' Taylor, Simon Whitlock, James Wade and Mark Webster whilst also brushing shoulders with boyhood heroes of mine such as Co Stompe, Richie Burnett and Andy Fordham in what was a 5-Nations darting exhibition.

Having bought VIP tickets early on for the event, we got to enjoy a splendid (and it really was) 3-course meal prior to the event whilst greeting the above mentioned stars including Vincent van der Voort, John Henderson, Robert Thornton, Paul Nicholson and Barry Bates.

But whilst the 10 playing darters were introduced to us rather briefly, the two guest darters Fordham and Burnett arrived much earlier and were hanging around the bar at leisure talking to fans and signing
autographs.

Andy 'The Viking' Fordham

At this point, the 15 year old in me got all excited and along with my friend Eleri who was with me and who was no less enthused, went over to wait in the impromptu Andy Fordham queue.

One of the most popular players on the circuit, Andy Fordham famously broke a run of losing in 4 BDO World Championship semi-finals when he won the crown in 2004 in his only appearance in the final. By now a postgraduate student in Aberystwyth University, I was still an avid darts fan and was delighted at what was a famously popular victory for the likeable Fordham.

His battle with his weight has been well known. He was known to consume some 25 bottles of lager before playing a dars match and at one stage weighed 31 stone. He's make great strides to lose much weight after that 2004 win having been told by doctors that his liver was 75% dead. He entered the TV programme Celebrity Fit Club and in time, he managed to lose some 15 stone.

But unbeknowns to me, a difficult personal year for my hero had led to him putting back on the weight. He has shot back up from 16 stone to 24 stone and when he signed my programme on Saturday (see above photo), he looked it. This wasn't the fitter, leaner Andy Fordham, but much more like that famous figure that lifted that famous trophy back in 2004. I didn't really take it in at the time as I was just too excited to see him and indeed, this was the image of the man that I had grown up with. But thinking back, with the sight of him drinking what seemed to be a watered down lager, it is a great concern. He said to me, "You don't mind I sit down do you?" and who was I to argue with this legend of the oche?

But it is a concern and I hope that he returns to full health soon as he has stated that he intends to do.

Richie 'The Prince of Wales' Burnett

Whilst waiting to see Andy, there at the bar standing a few feet away from us was Burnett, sipping a pint and chatting to fellow fans. I was a big fan of his when he reached 3 BDO World finals and won the crown in that first final in 1995 - Wales' first BDO win since Leighton Rees in 1978. He's making a worthy comeback on the PDC circuit and happily posed for photos with us and signed our programmes. What a star!

At this point I must add that Eleri was getting ridiculously excited! For me, Andy was the more iconic of the two stars but it was clear that Eleri hero-worshipped Richie!

The Darts
In the competition itself, it was a joy to watch from our VIP oche-side seats, the 15-time World Champion Phil Taylor in action. I've never seen the greatest dart player there has ever been play live before, but I have now. He and James Wade comfortably despatched Mark Webster and Barry Bates in the semi-final whilst Australia's Simon Whitlock and Paul Nicholson defeated Scotland's John Henderson and Robert Thornton after the latter had knocked-out the Dutch duo Co Stompe and Vincent van der Voort in a preliminary round.

In the final, despite leading 'The Machine' 3-0 in legs, Paul Nicholson lost 4 on the spin to James Wade who gave England the first rubber. 'The Power' then defeated Simon Whitlock to avoid the necessity of a doubles decider. The tournament victory then was England's and Rupert Moon of the Scarlets led the presentation ceremony in front of a packed 2,000 strong crowd in the Delme Thomas Centre.

It was a great night watching some of the world's present best darters competing for national pride and also some older blasts from the past. Speaking of which, before the final, Burnett and Fordham played a best of 3 legs exhibition match which Richie won 2-1.

The crowd lapped it all up. The walk-ons were fantastic fun! With every player coming on to their own chosen anthem, it gave the whole room plenty to get animated about! Many (and I would have to add myself to this list!) would be standing on their chairs and clapping manically to the beat as for example Phil Taylor came on to his iconic theme 'The Power' by Snap, Simon Whitlock came on to 'The Land Down Under' by Men at Work, Robert Thornton entered to the strains of The Proclaimers' 'I would Walk (500 Miles)', whilst the Welsh crowd went wild for Mark Webster's entry to The Stereophonics' hit 'The Bartender and the Thief'.

The one thing I did disapprove of were the Walk On Girls. At the Lakeside, the BDO don't demean women by using them as eye-candy whilst leading on the players but the PDC have clearly got a different philosophy on such things. Personally, it's not to my taste.

Apart from that, it was a brilliant night. I hope to see these darting giants again in the future but for now, I can at least say that I've seen and met some of my childhood heroes and can personally state that Richie and Andy were gentlemen - happy to meet their adoring fans and re-inforcing in this one at least that status of hero worship which they deserve and which I'm pleased to say, was not mis-placed.

Jamie Lewis puts Cardigan on the PDC Darting Map

2012-01-23T19:00:00.000Z

It's been a great weekend for Cardigan's top darter Jamie Lewis.

Yesterday, the 20 year old gained a 2-year PDC Tour Card after coming through stiff competition from a 200+ strong field in the PDC's 4-Day Qualifying School in Barnsley.

Source: Red Dragon Darts

I've known Jamie and his family here in Cardigan for a number of years and as a keen follower of darts since I was a child, have taken a particular interest in Jamie's development as a former World Youth Darts Champion through to his progression onto the senior BDO and now PDC, darts circuit.

Jamie is a smashing lad. Indeed when he was 18, he became the first Welshman and youngest ever darter to be voted the British BDO Personality-of-the-Year. As the previous winner Martin 'Wolfie' Adams said of Jamie on him winning the prestigious award at the time: "He is a great lad, a credit to the sport of darts and I congratulate him on the award which is well-deserved".

Having taken strides forward in the BDO, he entered the PDC's Q School. I've been keeping a keen eye on the developments throughout the weekend on the PDC website and after 3 days of consistent, solid performances, Jamie gained one of the final 4 automatic Tour Cards yesterday afternoon out of a crowd of 204. This is a stunning achievement in itself and shows that the faith that many in the know in the darting world have in Jamie is well placed. Indeed, in avoiding having to earn his Tour Card via the 4-day cumulative Qualifying Order of Merit, Jamie out-gunned well known darters such as Andy Jenkins, Peter Manley, Chris Mason, Colin Monk and former BDO World Champions Les Wallace and Andy Fordham.

Indeed, Jamie beat the former World Championship semi-finalist Andy Jenkins 6-3 in legs yesterday in the final round to win his Tour Card outright.

The PDC Tour
This important milestone in Jamie's career means that he will now be one of only 128 PDC Tour Card holders for the following 2 years. This means that he will be guaranteed a place in all of the PDC's ranking tournaments which have a total £5m prize fund throughout the season. Jamie will now brush shoulders with the likes of Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis, Simon Whitlock, James Wade and Raymond Van Barneveld who he shall now strive to compete against in the TV majors later in the coming season.

I'm excited for Jamie for the years ahead. He has so much potential and he now has the opportunity to demonstrate that at the very highest level in World darts.

Good luck Jamie. You've put Cardigan on the PDCs darting map and we're very proud of all of your achievements. Now go and win some more!

Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana

2012-01-21T10:10:00.000Z

I adore classical music as I have testified time enough previously in this blog. Despite the annoying ad breaks, I am I must admit, a keen fan of Classic FM. Indeed, it is the 'default' radio station on my bed-side radio.

Every spring sees the climax of the annual Classic FM vote on our all-time classical tracks. It is apparently, the world's largest vote on classical music. I've never entered before but I may do this year. They request 3 song choices from each viewer - a Gold, Silver and Bronze choice for our top 3 individual pieces of classical music.

My problem is the narrowing down of the sheer wealth of classical music that I enjoy to just 3 tracks. It feels like an almost impossible task.

But one of the front-runners would certainly be this piece that I heard on Classic FM this morning and which I have adored since before I can remember.

It's the romantic and in my book, highly under-rated Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni.

Nos Da i 'Denz' o Pobol Y Cwm - 1984-2012

2012-01-19T21:01:00.000Z

Mae'n noson drist. Mae trigolion Cwm Deri yn delio gyda marwolaeth Denzil 'Denz' Rees arol 28 mlynedd ym Mhobol Y Cwm. Y diwedd yn dod yng nghannol gem o Scrabble!

It's been a sad night. The death of Denzil 'Denz' Rees after 28 years in Cwm Deri on Pobol Y Cwm brought to an end the life of the 10th longest-serving character in UK soap opera. He passed away tonight in the middle of a game of Scrabble!

Nos da Denz bach. Cysga'n dawel.

Good Luck Chris Coleman

2012-01-19T19:00:00.000Z

So today the worst secret in British football became public knowledge.

For a good week or so now it has been abundantly clear that the FAW were looking to appoint Chris Coleman as the next Welsh football manager.

There have been murmurings of discontent at his apparent choice. Most notably from Welsh Captain Aaron Ramsey. But the concerns that Coleman will shake up a settled backroom staff has been calmed by his insistence that he will work alongside those who were there before.

Gary Speed
It's this 'before' that is understandably causing so much angst for all involved. The FAW found themselves in the near impossible position of trying to find a way forward in the aftermath of Gary Speed's shock, sudden death as I posted about at the time at the end of November.

With the national team on the up and with a new cast of young up-and-coming, aspiring new players beginning to make their international mark, the blow of Gary's death was doubly felt. So much potential but suddenly, a shock to the system that now required a careful and compassionate transition to a new management team.

It is an unenviable task in the circumstances.

I would normally comment about the alternative candidates for the job and whether the choice made by the powers that be was a wise one. I certainly didn't hold back on my opinions when by beloved Aston Villa chose Alex McLeish as manager back in the summer.

So I could mention the only other name that had shown interest in the role, the ever-popular John Hartson. Popular with the players but lacking in managerial expertise? But then wasn't Mark Hughes in a similar position when he took on the Welsh reins a decade ago? What of Ryan Giggs, Ian Rush or Dean Saunders? All respected names in their own right.

Well, in all fairness to Chris Coleman, I see no point in going over the maybes or the alternate possibilities. At the end of the day, he's a well respected former player in his own right having played for Swansea City, Crystal Palace, Blackburn and Fulham and at the latter, showed great promise as a young manager before moving on to Spain and Greece where he managed Real Sociedad and Larissa respectively.

In the awful circumstances in which we have found ourselves, it is to Chris Coleman's credit that he has willingly put his name forward for any self-respecting Welsh football fan's dream role considering that it is in the worst possible circumstances imaginable.

As the BBC report on his appointment mentioned, Mark Hughes himself said of the news: "I think he'll [Chris] do a great job and respect the legacy Gary left behind."

In the circumstances, that is all we can wish for.

Good luck Chris Coleman. I don't envy you in the job ahead but you have my 110% backing. Go and make Speedo and the rest of Wales proud.

Back to the Future: Senna Signs for Williams

2012-01-18T15:00:00.002Z

It feels as if there's a little bit of history repeating on the news yesterday that Bruno Senna has signed to drive for Williams F1 this season.

Ayrton
The timing for me is particularly poigniant. I recently watched the film Senna on DVD which chartered the career of Bruno's legendary uncle, Ayrton Senna.

Uncle Ayrton Senna with a young Bruno

As a connoisseur of Formula One and of its history and heritage in particular, the film was an absolute triumph. I was absolutely blown away at the raw archive footage and family sanctioned home videos that was used to guide us through the short-lived life of one of motor racing's greatest-ever drivers.

In places it reduced me to tears. Watching Martin Donnelly's career-ending crash at Jerez in 1990 sent shivers of horror down my spine. But watching the build-up to the San Marino Grand Prix of May 1st 1994 was heart-breaking.

I remember the moment vividly. I was on holiday that weekend with my parents in Cornwall and for once as a result, missed the race itself. I had begun watching F1 back in 1991 as a then 9 year old and Senna was for me the villain of the peace when up against my hero Nigel Mansell.

On the Friday of qualifying, April 29th 1994, Rubens Barrichello suffered a horrendous crash. Watching it in the film, it looked horrifying. How did Rubens survive that, like Donnelly did in 1990 I will never know. A day later however, Roland Ratzenberger was not so fortunate. On Saturday 30th April 1994, he became the first fataility in F1 since Elio de Angelis in 1986.

The next day, Senna, so the film tells us, went out to drive in only his 3rd race for the under-performing Williams with an Austrian flag hidden in his overalls. He had planned to unfurl it on the podium in memory of Ratzenberger at the end of the race. Senna never got to made that gesture.

Dad, Mum and I were driving back that Sunday afternoon from Land's End - the only time before or since that I have visited the British mainland's most south-westerly point. We were driving back listening to the radio news bulletin which to this day I recall announcing that 'the sporting world is mourning the death of...'. I can remember instantly thinking that it was surprising that they were still leading on the news headlines with the death of Ratzenberger a full 24 hours later. Then came the words that must've sent the coldest of shivers down mine and my father's backs - 'Ayrton Senna'.

Until I watched the film in recent weeks, I had never seen in the 18 years since, that moment when his Williams crashed at the Tamburello corner at Imola. I never wanted too. It was a rare race that I didn't watch live and I couldn't bring myself to watch the death of a superstar of the track after that. But the film, made with the permission of Senna's family, brought me to a head with that awful moment. As I watched it and the moments afterwards as the emergency services strived in vain to save him, I was moved to tears.

Bruno
Now, only weeks later, the news is that Senna will race for Williams once more. In this case, the younger nephew will replace the Brazilian compatriot that was so fortunate to survive that crash on the Friday at Imola '94.

Ayrton and Rubens at Imola '94

After 19 distinguished years in F1, Rubens Barrichello looks set to bow out to the young Brazilian having started in an all-time record 322 Grand Prix. As a big fan of Rubenio, I will miss him if this does indeed mark the end of his F1 career.

Will Bruno Senna step-up a level at Williams in 2012? His form to date has been mixed and the very name that he carries must surely weigh heavily on his shoulders. But I'm sure he will do his best to do the family, and the memory of his uncle Ayrton, proud.

As for Rubenio, he can be thankful that he raced in the safest era of F1. The past decade was the first in F1 history in which there were no fatalities. 15 F1 drivers were killed in the 1950s, 14 were killed in the 1960s, 12 were killed in the 1970s, 4 were killed in the 1980s and 2, Roland and Ayrton, were killed in the 1990s. There have been no fatalities since but there have been some close scrapes.

So whilst Bruno races on, Rubenio, unlike the 47 who have lost their lives between 1952-1994 has at least lived to tell the tale of his career to his family. Ayrton Senna was the most recent in a sadly long-line of drivers who never had that opportunity.

The Greatest at 70: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali

2012-01-17T14:00:00.001Z

There is little than can be said of Muhammad Ali that has not been said already.

So to celebrate his 70th birthday today, I felt it apt to publish a handful of clips from his life that gave us an all-round view of this man - the boxer, the entertainer the man, the humanitarian, the Olympian.

The Boxer
We begin with what he did best. I could've chosen one of any number of videos to demonstrate just why he was a phenomenal sportsman in the ring but for me, one stands out.

Is this the greatest punch ever thrown in a Boxing Ring? In 1974 in the famous 'Rumble in the Jungle', Ali won back the World Championship Belt against George Foreman at the grand old age of 32. Harry Carpenter's Radio commentary added to the majesty of the moment as he described how Ali did it with a punch that came out of nowhere. It was the Ali way - soak up the punches and then counter-attack from off of the ropes.

"...and I don't think Foreman's going to get up...AND HE'S OUT. Oh my God, he's won the title back at 32".

The Entertainer
Ali wasn't just quick and fleet of foot in the ring - he was quick with his mouth too.

Michael Parkinson saw this side of him more than most of his contemporaries. He interviewed Ali in 1971, 1974, 1975 and 1981.

You can't fail to watch this montage of Parky's favourite moments in his 'special relationship' with Ali without smiling at Ali's quick-witted responses.

The Man
Ali was diagnosed with Parkinsons Syndrome in 1984, aged just 42. It has proven to be the greatest fight of his life but as in his earlier years, his tenacity, his dogged determination and his faith have seen him through.

Here he is, speaking on MSNBC News in 1991. Not even aged 50, the shocking change in his condition is clear as his speech has slowed from the hurtling speed of his earlier years as shown above, to a quiet but considered and deliberate murmour.

The Humanitarian
In his retirement, Ali has dedicated his life for humanitarian ends. For his work with the US civil rights movement and the United Nations, he received the the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a White House ceremony and the Otto Hahn Peace Medal in Gold of the UN Association of Germany (DGVN) in Berlin - both in 2005.

That same year, his $60 million non-profit Muhammad Ali Center opened in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. In addition to displaying his boxing memorabilia, the center focuses on core themes of peace, social responsibility, respect, and personal growth.

The Olympian
For me, as one who was too young to remember him in his pomp, there is one moment, one memory that I do own and which will forever remain with me. It was his lighting of the Olympic Torch at the official opening of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics to the sound of Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy'. Watching this again for the first time in over 15 years brought me to the edge of tears.

This for me, spoke of a greater strength than he ever showed in the Boxing Ring. It spoke of a resolve to live his life and to continue to fight, in the full light of media exposure, his greatest battle of all.

The Greatest
To conclude my birthday tribute to The Greatest and to bring us back full cirlce, this clip from those same Olympics in 1996 when the IOC Chairman Juan Antonio Samaranch presented Ali with a replacement Gold Medal for the one that he had won in the 1960 Olympics in Rome but which had since been lost.

If the sight of him lighting the Olympic Cauldron nearly moved me to tears, this did the jov completely. Watching him accept the applause and adulation of the crowd and of the professional basketball players of the day, was wonderful.

It showed above all, that he is loved, respected and adored by all. Not only for what he achieved inside the ring, but for everything he has done outside of it, as well.

Happy 70th birthday Muhammad Ali

Total Football: In Praise of Swansea City

2012-01-15T19:01:00.000Z

After years of prevaricating, I finally made the jump last week and ordered Sky TV.

I arrived back from the darts at the Lakeside last Monday just in time for the Sky engineer's arrival for the installation.

So today I sat down to watch my first ever live Premiership match from the comfort of my own sofa. I could've watched Newcastle Vs QPR of course but no, there was live Masters Snooker on the BBC and a Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Ding Junhui sizzler at that and anyway, what better first live match could I watch than Swansea City Vs Arsenal?

Total Football

Those first 90 minutes were an absolute joy to watch and validated my decision to buy Sky TV in one fail swoop.

Swansea City out-passed Arsenal! They played the Gunners at their own game and came out deserved winners. They had 55% of the possession, made over 100 more passes than the Londoners and had a higher pass completion rate!

That, in anyone's mind, is phenomenal. The fact that they did so having gone a goal down in the opening 10 minutes, makes it an even worthier effort.

As I blogged here back in April, I was at Wembley when the Swans won their place in the Premiership. It was a joyous day. But looking ahead, there was no doubt that a tough year lay ahead. Since then, the Swans have lit up the Premier League with the same sparkling brand of football that has brought them up through the league pyramid in recent years. They've been praised by senior commentators in the game and by the likes of old-hands such as Harry Redknapp who have extolled their many virtues.

Brendan Rodgers deserves much credit for instilling into his squad the continued confidence to play the attractive brand of football that has won them so many admirers. It has meant as we head into the second half of the season that they sit happily in the top half of the table. There's still work to do but that 'magic' 40 points mark which is usually seen as the level required to stave off relegation is quickly drawing-in.

On today's performance, Swansea City should be preparing for a second season in the top flight. It would be a sad day for football if that didn't turn out to be the case.

Why Alex Salmond rightly holds the Ace in the Unionist Pack

2012-01-12T20:00:00.000Z

I've been quite bemused this week at the toing and froing between Edinburgh and London on the issue of the timing of the referendum on Scottish independence.

David Cameron made a right dogs dinner of the situation.by attempting to put pressure on Alex Salmond and the SNP to bring forward the referendum to a time of Westminster's choosing.

Westminster watchers need to remember who it was that won the election in Scotland back in May of last year. Not only did the SNP win that election, but they transformed the political landscape north of Hadrian's Wall by winning an outright majority in a system run under proportional representation - a stunning electoral achivement. They did so on the promise of calling a referendum at the latter end of this Parliament.

So I'm sorry, but Alex Salmond has the electoral mandate to do exactly what he has stated in recent days - to hold a referendum in 2014.

Is the concern for economic investment in Scotland in the current constitutionally uncertain climate David Cameron's main worry as he states or is it just a ploy to try and get at the SNP? I expect it's a bit of both but it does him and Westminster more generally no good to be seen to be attempting to force this issue with the Scottish Parliament when they have already achieved an overwhelming mandate to do exactly what it is that they state wil occur in 30 months time.

Don't get me wrong here. I don't like Alex Salmond - I never have. I despair of his brand of nationalism which for me is rather distasteful and inward-looking. But he must be putting something into the water because it would seem that a lot of people like him and it does not do the Unionist camp any good to be trying to undermine him by a British Prime Minister whose own party can only muster a single Scottish Member of Parliament.

Of course there is concern that the Union might break-up but the decision must reside in Scotland and their elected government have the moral right to call that date at a time of their choosing. 2014 of course is of particular historic significance because it will mark the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Banockburn of 1314 when Robert the Bruce crushed the forces of King Edward II. There may be concern that the SNP will use this co-incidence to galvanise nationalistic fervour in favour of a new break from England. This I'm sure will undoubtedly be the case but again I say, tough. The SNP won the election and have the mandate to choose that date in that oh so significant year if they so wish. It doesn't mean that they have a cast iron certainty of winning the referendum of course, but they do have the right to choose that date all the same.

The Scottish Liberal Democrat Conundrum
As to the role the Scottish Liberal Democrats should play in this on-going saga, whilst I don't wish to tread on the feet of my own Celtic colleagues, I have taken great interest in the many comments made on-line by them over recent days. The response to Secretary of State Michael Moore's intervention in the House of Commons on Tuesday was particularly interesting. Andrew Page, Caron Lindsay and Alex Folkes certainly felt that he made a fine attempt at clearing up Cameron's mess.

Dan Falchikov however, believes that his comments were just another example of how the Scottish Liberal Democrats need to stop digging. As he said:

"The Liberal Democrats as a party that has always backed home rule should not be seen to be impeding the properly expressed wish of a democratically mandated Scots government.

"A period of silence from Moore, Cameron and Osborne on the constitutional question would be welcome - and might buy the Scottish party some breathing space to remove itself from the unionist hook it has impaled itself on".

This feeling chimes with the sentiments made by Andrew Page who blogged:

"There is absolutely no advantage into being tied into a Lab-Con-Lib alliance in which our distinctive voice and vision would be drowned out. We can do little for the cause of Scottish liberalism if for the next three years we are simply a minor partner in a coalition of negativity. In any case, the "no" campaign does not need us, and we don't need it. Instead, we have to find means of informing the political debate, speak common sense where necessary, to act as a sobering force, questioning detail and empowering the electorate to make an informed choice".

I sympathise particularly with Dan and Andrew's concerns.

As they see it, it is a matter of being seen as a positive force in the referendum and not necessarily as being simply reactionary. After all, the Liberal Democrats are a Federal Party. So why not support the provision of a referendum question that includes the 'Devo-Max' option of greater autonomy whilst remaining within the Union? It makes it clear that the party is not stuck in the past and wants a prosperous and free-thinking Scotland which at the same time has the cushion of continued association with the United Kingdom.

As a radical Welsh liberal, it is what I would wish to see here. A strong and powerful Welsh Parliament and civic society, deciding on its own issues whilst leaving the fundamental issues of defence to a federal UK-wide government.

These things are never straight forward of course but I would sense that the Scottish Liberal Democrats have an opportunity to carve out their own unique space in this debate. Otherwise they will be painted into the same corner as the Conservatives and Labour. This of course is exactly what Alex Salmond wants and therefore must surely be a situation that is best avoided.

Cardigan Bath-House Petrol Station Go-Ahead

2012-01-11T12:25:00.000Z

I've spent the morning in the monthly Ceredigion County Council planning committee here in Aberaeron.

Once more we've seen the latest chapter in the on-going saga that is the Bath-House development which I have commented on in this blog numerous times previously.

I called-in the application before the full committee because of the concerns in town and in the area about the slippage on site on the plateau which has been built to house the proposed Sainsbury's supermarket. We've already been told that the plans are 12 months behind time because the cut and fill land is not stable as is the case with the new Bath-House-Gwbert link road. I felt that this information needed to be shared to planning committee members before they came to a decision.

So whilst this plan is an improvement on the one that was refused last summer when the Environment Agency Wales objected to the initial plan of housing the petrol tanks above the Afon Mwldan relief tunnel, there are clearly still concerns. Yes, the now proposed petrol station will not be situated above the tunnel and the risk of seepage into the water course is therefore reduced, it will nevertheless be placed within the plateau that remains unstable.

A lively debate followed my comments as a local member and many Councillors on the committee echoed my concerns and those of local residents about the very security of the land on which this proposed petrol station and indeed the supermarket, is supposed to be built on.

With some reluctance, the planning committee accepted the officers' reassurance that no build could proceed until the engineers on-site have confirmed that the land is ready for the development. I don't have a vote as I am not a member of the committee but of those that did, all were in favour of approving the petrol station save one Councillor, who objected.

It was right that the concerns were brought to the committee so that they were fully informed of current concerns in the town and I'm grateful to those Councillors who added to that that I said.

My Internet Stat Porn Monthly Report (16) December

2012-01-04T13:00:00.001Z

Here is my sixteenth monthly round-up of blog figures for anyone who is remotely interested in who reads my little blog. These stats for the month of December come courtesy of google analytics.

A Busy Month / A Quiet Month
In one way, December was a busy month, in another, it was not.

My output for the month of 33 blog posts was the highest since March. This was due to my daily Musical Advent Calendar countdown to Christmas which accounted for 24 of the 33 posts. Despite this, because that bulk was of a niche interest, my December total viewing figures were markedly down on the previous month.

In December, I had a total of just 2,753 absolute unique visitors to my blog (down on my November total of 4,159 and substantially so on my May record of 6,485). Those 2,753 absolute unique visitors made 2,954 visits to my blog in December (again down on the 4,346 total from November and substantially down on the 6,908 record from May). They viewed 7, 310 pages (down on the Novmber total of 10,780 pages and the October record of 11,517 pages).

The top 10 stories by direct page views that you've read this past month were:

1. 9am: Swansea City AFC - Premier League!
2. My Xmas Card from Nick Clegg and Miriam Gonzalez Durantez
3. Labour's Leighton Andrews' Extraordinary Live TV Coco Pops Outburst
4. 'The King's Speech' - The Book Vs The Film (SPOILER WARNING!)
5. The Master of Political Cartoon Satire - The Independent's Dave Brown
6. Brian Blessed, Chancellor of Cambridge University?!
7. 2011: A Bad Year for Bad Men - Kim Jong-il joins Bin Laden & Gaddafi. Who's next?
8. The Aberfan Perspective
9. Ed Balls Can't Count
10. The Princes in the Tower - A Gruesome 1483 Royal Mystery: Solved

Of the 10, only 4 were written this month though this is the best new entry effort since August. The other 6 are popular blog posts written in months past that continue to attract hits. The 4 that I wrote this month came in at No.2, 7, 9 and 10.

Blog Traffic
Of all of the blog visitors this past month, 11.61% were through direct traffic (down from 13.57% in November), 28.33% came from referring sites (down from 43.49% in November) and 60.05% via search engines (up from 42.94% in November).

The bounce rate for the month was 14.69% (up on the November total of 7.34%). 78.54% of the total were new visits as opposed to 21.46% returning visitors.

An International Blog!
The visitors to my little blog came from 97 countries/territories this month - down from my November tally of 99 and down further on my May record of 123, with a cumulative total of 175 countries/territories having supplied visitors to my blog to date.

The top ten countries to date are as follows (with position change from November & % of total views):

1. United Kingdom (No Change) 52.1% (=)
2. United States (No Change) 18.3% (-0.1%)
3. Brazil (No Change) 2.2% (=)
4. Germany (No Change) 2.1% (=)
5. Canada (No Change) 1.9% (-0.1%)
6. Australia (No Change) 1.7% (-0.1%)
7. Holland (+1) 1.4% (+0.1%)
8. Ireland (-1) 1.4% (=)
9. France (+1) 1.2% (=)
10. Poland (-1) 1.2% (=)

A calm month with relatively little change in the Top 10 apart from Holland's continued move up to 7th from 8th and a rise from 10th to 9th for France.

It has continued to be a very cosmopolitan blog this month and honourable mentions must go in particular to the 5 new countries/territories that have provided its first viewers to my blog this December. This is the highest number of new nations to have visited my blog in a given month since last July.

Djibouti, Kyrgyzstan, Andorra, Nicaragua and Haiti have all supplied its first reader to my blog during the past month!

Fair play to them all, and to you all, for putting up with my ramblings!

On Becoming Engaged!

2012-01-02T14:07:00.003Z

It has certainly been a memorable start to 2012!

I had decided before Christmas that I would propose to Alyson on New Year's Day. 2011 has health-wise, been a tough year all round for us so I decided that the perfect way to begin a New Year was to look forward and not back and what better way of doing that than by proposing marriage?!

We've been together now for 2 years and a week (since Boxing Day 2009) and you know when friends and family are constantly asking when will there be an announcement that in the eyes of the wider world, this was the next logical step. Thankfully for Alyson and I, it was also how we saw it. We have spoken about the future and getting married so it wasn't exactly an 'out-of-the-blue' proposal but having said that, I wanted to get it as right as possible.

Tradition

So I bought the ring in the old year. Knowing that Alyson isn't one for flashy jewellery, I bought a small, under-stated but lovely looking ~~9 carat diamond 3 ring stone~~ 9 ct gold, 3 stone diamond ring (thanks Stephen!) as shown here in the photo. I must admit, that on searching for the ring in Carmarthen one afternoon late last year, I was very much like a fish out of water! Anyone who knows me will laugh at the concept of me tryng to find a suitable engagement ring for Alyson! But, I took a no-nonsense attitude into the enterprise and having visited 4 or 5 different stores that afternoon, I made my decision and bought the ring that same day!

With Alyson being an only child, her family are very close and they have made me feel like a part of the family over the past 2 years. So it was only right that I do the traditional thing in advance and ask for parental blessing for me to ask her the question. Again, I did this in the old year and because they are so close, I asked both her mother and father for their blessing and not just her father as is the traditional way of things. I'm glad to report that they consented!

The History
That brought the final question of the 'where' and the 'when'. The 'when' as I had decided above would be on the first day of a New Year. The 'where' was not so straight forward. With the weather over the New Year here in west Wales so changeable, I was owing much to luck.

In the end, I left it to my father to decide. Dad's is a south Pembrokeshire family and I spent the first 17 years of my life living down near Loveston and Martletwy so my roots are firmly planted in the soil of the south. Dad passed away back in 2003 but we have fond memories of him and a wealth of his home-made videos which he would customise from home on his editing suite. Many of those videos started with the views of the sunsets in the west Wales sky and the one that always stays with me are those sunsets at Landshipping on the Cleddau Estuary played to a relaxing classical music back-drop. Landshipping as the crow flies can be no more than 4 or so miles from my paternal home and barely a mile or so from Martletwy where I attended Sunday School and where my father's sister Aunty June and her family, my cousins, live today. My great-Aunty Dolly lived in Landshipping too and I vaguely recall visits down to the village and to the same quay there from where my father filmed much of his video footage.

Down at the quay also is the small monument to Pembrokeshire's greatest mining disaster when, on Valentine's Day, February 14th 1844, 40 miners drowned in a horrific accident at the Garden Pit mine there. The shaft was 67 yards deep and much of the workings ran beneath the estuarial waters of the Cleddau and Daucleddau rivers. Miners were at their work when the usual water seepage, which was encountered at this mine suddenly began to increase in volume. This concerned the miners so much that they left the mine only to be sent back after being reassured that all was well. One hour later the sea broke into the workings in such a deluge that 40 miners were drowned, unable to escape the torrent.

In 2002, the bilingual Memorial Plaque there was erected by the community in memory of a disaster that tore the heart and soul out of the community. I haven't been to Landshipping in that time and it's quite likely that my father never saw this plaque before he passed away in 2003. The names are of young men and children of the village and it struck home with me to see that the surnames of 5 of them was 'Cole'. Indeed, 3 of them were John Cole. My name is John Mark Cole. My father's first cousin is John Cole. Indeed, when my paternal grandfather Benjamin married my paternal grandmother Maud, she didn't have to change her name - she was already a Cole from a different branch of the name .Such is the popularity of the Cole name down in south Pembrokeshire! It was from her side of the family that great-Auntie Dolly came from and she as I have stated above lived in Landshipping. So I intend to investigate into my family history on my father's side as I expect that it quite sadly may be the case that a number of these names on the plaque, are distant relatives of mine.

The Big Ask
So, being a sentimentalist at heart with a close association to my family history, I chose to go back to Landshipping for the first time since I was a child and I proposed to Alyson there down at the quayside. Tradition being as it is and many have asked me this over the past 24 hours, I can now confirm that I did get down on one knee and propsed to her in Welsh and she did indeed say yes!

The weather wasn't the best but during the time we were there, we were fortunate enough to have had a lull in the showery rain that had persisted all day. We drove back to Llanboidy to Alyson's home to tell her parents the news. On the way, I called my mother and spoke or left messages with my 4 elder siblings to tell them the news also! Everyone I'm pleased to say, was delighted!

So, there you have it! I am now engaged and may I take this opportunity of thanking everyone who in the past 24 hours have shown such love, affection and friendship on our happy news. Mine and Alyson's Facebook page has gone absolutely insane on the news! I've had over 200 'likes' to the status and relationship updates and innumerable messages of goodwill from friends near and far. Alyson can account for the same.

So 2012 is here, it's a new start for us and looking forward, may I wish everyone a happy and a positive year.

A Happy ABBA New Year to you all

2012-01-01T16:31:00.000Z

As the lyrics of this highly under-rated ABBA song goes...

"Happy new year, Happy new year, May we all have a vision now and then, Of a world where every neighbour is a friend".

I wish all of my blog readers a happy, prosperous and peaceful 2012.

The Princes in the Tower - A Gruesome 1483 Royal Mystery: Solved

2011-12-29T20:17:00.001Z

As a historian and in my earlier years, a particlarly keen Royal historian to boot, there there were a handful of dates that intrigued me because after all, we all like a good mystery.

What happened to King Edward II in 1327? What happened in 1399 to King Richard II? To what end came of King Henry VI in 1471? How was it that King Charles I met such a gruesome end in 1649?

They all of course run in a similar vein - the unglorious deaths of once glorious monarchs.

The Princes in the Tower
But there's one mystery that as a child, always haunted me. That of the Princes in the Tower in 1483. The fact that they were children themselves probably had a lot to do with it but also of course is the fact that history down through the 500+ years since has thrown up a multitude of differing explanations as to what happened.

Did they in fact survive or were they indeed killed? If the latter, when exactly did they die? How did they die and at whose hand was it at which they perished?

These were answers that I never expected to have a clear answer too and yet, all that has changed.

One of my seasonal reads has been Alison Weir's authoratitive dealings and detailed research on the matter and it has set out as reasonably as can be expected, in the cold light of day, the facts as they are known from the Chroniclers of the time. She deals with all of the various claims and counter-claims in a methodical and balanced manner, which is how I like it.

The Answer to the Mystery
So what happened to the boy King Edward V and his younger brother Richard, the Duke of York?

Well, they were indeed murdered, not surprising really but there you have it. Talk of the younger Richard having escaped are not borne out by the facts as they are known. Indeed, the finding of the bones of two young boys in the Tower in 1674 is generally regarded as being those of the two Royal brothers. An exhumation and examination of the bones in 1933 further suggested as soundly as could be perceived at that time, that this was the case.

But who did it? Well, for any real enthusiast, I would commend Alison Weir's insightful book to you as she clearly rules out the revisionists claims of it being either Henry, the Duke of Buckingham or indeed King Henry VII as the culprits.

Yes, the traditionalists were boringly right all along - it was wicked old Uncle Dick what done it.

As Alison Weir states, the evidence and the motive is clearly there but what she does that I had never seen before is set down the details of the deaths.

The boys in the Tower were never seen in public after Richard's coronation on July 6th. But from the evidence available, Alison King pinpoints the date of death as at the dead of night on the 3rd/4th September. She has enough evidence on which to base this claim. It was Sir Thomas More, writing forty years later, who provides the only clear and unambiguous account of the young Prince's fate. He had access to numerous sources who were alive at the time and who participated in public affairs during Richard III's reign and his comments stand up to the sources of the time who had not seen More's account themselves.

He relates to us, as Alison Weir suggests, that the order was given by Richard, whilst progressing towards Gloucester following his coronation, to one John Green, to carry a letter to Sir Robert Brackenbury, the then Constable of the Tower, to kill his nephews, Brackenbury however, refused to carry out the deed. Richard then approached a close confidant, Sir James Tyrrell to do the deed and as he sought advancements, was receptive to the request.

Richard sent Tyrrell to the Tower with an order that the keys be surrendered to him for one night by Brackenbury. Only on the orders of the King would the Constable have given up the keys to the Tower having done so, More further tells us that Tyrrell employed two men to carry out the murder - Miles Forest and John Dighton. With Tyrrell standing outside the bedchamber to guard, Forest and Dighton suffocated the boy Princes by smothering and stifling their air supply with the feather bed and pillows.

Thomas More reported that their bodies were then buried 'at the stair foot meetly deep in the ground, under a great heap of stones'. He believed that the bodies were later moved but the findings of 1674 sugested that he was right in the first instance all along.

The Court of Law Vs the Court of History
Of course, the limited evidence available would likely not stand-up in a modern day court. But on the evidence that is available as Alison Weir disects it, the court of history looks damningly on Richard and for good reason.

What would lend even extra weight to the explanation given above would be a new examination of the bodies as medical advances since 1933 could probably ascertain the sex and age of the bodies.

Until then, we will know no more than we know now.

But what I know now as opposed to the little that I knew before is enough for me to sumise categorically in my own head, the how, the when and the why of this most Royal of murder mysteries.

It was indeed Richard III what done it.

A Time for Goodwill to All

2011-12-26T16:17:00.000Z

I hope everyone is enjoying the festive break - I certainly am. It's an opportunity to be with the family at a rare time when everyone is overcome with the sentiment of goodwill to all. Long may be it last.

Here is my annual little effort to sprinkle some goodwill around at this time of year. I delivered my Xmas Council greetings card shown here to residents living in my Aberteifi Rhyd-Y-Fuwch ward in the week leading up to Christmas.

I hope that they and all who read this are having a peaceful time and let us not forget how fortunate we are to have so much when far too many in the World, have too little.

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 24! The Finale!

2011-12-24T10:03:00.000Z

It's December which means for those who have them, it's been the time to get out those chocolate advent calendars!

But for those of you who, like me, don't do such things anymore (and indeed for those of you who still do!), I thought I'd give my own unique little twist on this festive time of year with my Musical Advent Calendar countdown of my Top 25 favourite Christmas songs!

I've been blogging a song a day, culminating today on Christmas Eve with this, my all-time favourite Christmas song.

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 24!

So this is it. My No.1 all-time favourite Xmas song.

It really wasn't a difficult choice in the end. There is something very earthy about The Pogues & Kirsty McColl's 'Fairytale of New York'. The harmonies between the two protaganists works out perfectly. I'm also a fan of Irish music so the melody rings perfectly for me.

It also has for me, one of most memorable lines in Christmas music

"The boys of the NYPD Choir were singing Galway Bay, and the bells were ringing out for Christmas Day".

So, that's your lot!

24 days and a countdown of my Top 25 Xmas songs. Some surprise choices no doubt and some unexpected omissions maybe I'm sure but then this is merely the choice of one person. I hope you've enjoyed them all the same.

May I take this opportunity of wishing all of my readers a Merry Christmas.

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 23

2011-12-23T10:00:00.000Z

It's December which means for those who have them, it's time to get out those chocolate advent calendars!

But for those of you who, like me, don't do such things anymore (and indeed for those of you who still do!), I thought I'd give my own unique little twist on this festive time of year with my Musical Advent Calendar countdown of my Top 25 favourite Christmas songs!

I'm blogging a song a day, culminating with my favourite on Christmas Eve. So let's continue on our seasonal countdown...

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 23!

Today we have my No.2 all-time favourite Xmas song.

It is simply one of the most joyful melodies I have ever heard. Anyone who doesn't smile on hearing Mariah Carey's 'All I Want for Christmas' must have a heart of stone. It also has the most playful of videos which helps to further sell the song.

It also made a stunning appearance in the film Love Actually. I'm a soppy goat at the best of times but when young Olivia Olson gave us this rendition near the end of the film, it absolutely blew me away.

It shows how infectiously joyful the song is and that's why it's made No.2 on my Xmas list.

It would've easily have been my No.1, but there's one song that's trumped it...

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 22

2011-12-22T08:00:00.000Z

Ed Balls Can't Count

2011-12-21T15:00:00.000Z

It is rather alarming to read this story in today's Independent from Labour's Shadow Chancellor.

He rashly calls on Liberal Democrat MPs to leave the coalition immediately and to join Labour in an alternative Government. He says:

"I think it would be much better now and for the future of the country if they did. It would be in the national interest. I don't think they should wait until 2015".

As the piece continues:

He points out that the Coalition's law bringing in five-year fixed-term parliaments allows for a new government being formed without a general election.

This is the Shadow Chancellor. A man who should have a decent head for figures. So how does he envisage this new Government being able to Govern in the 'National Interest' short of a general election and without a majority in Parliament?

The whole concept smacks of an incredulous disregard for the facts as they stand today.

Yet, earlier in the same interview, Balls says:

"We are also facing a massive catastrophe in Europe. 2012 feels like the most dangerous year in my life. It is a very, very dangerous time...What we have seen is the inability of political leaders in the eurozone to put short-term politics aside and do what's right. This is about leadership. They have got to act and they can't. It is existential...when it happens there will probably be a crisis moment that puts things into deep freeze, making it hard to trade and hard to finance...the impact on growth and jobs is really dangerous."

I agree with his concerns. So how on Earth does he think that replacing a Government in Westminster with a healthy majority for one that could not muster enough numbers to pass through basic leagislation is going to help matters?

At a time of danger as he states, such a Kamikaze move would be absolutely disastrous for Britain. At this time of economic peril, stability is needed more than ever before. A change of Government on the current numbers as Balls calls for would be one of most destabilising events that could occur in the UK over the next 12 months.

The idea is preposterous and indeed, fundamentally dangerous at this time. Whatever the party politics of the situation, it can not work. If it could, then we may had a different result in May 2010 from the Coalition Governemnt that was eventually formed.

I can't believe that Ed Balls could make such a reckless suggestion. As Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, he should have a better grasp of figures and political common sense than this.

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 21

2011-12-21T09:00:00.000Z

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 20

2011-12-20T09:20:00.000Z

2011: A Bad Year for Bad Men - Kim Jong-il joins Bin Laden & Gaddafi. Who's next?

2011-12-19T15:03:00.000Z

Back in May here in my blog, I commented on how 2011 was turning out to be a bad year for bad men on the news that Bosnian Serb Military Commander Ratko Mladic had been arrested by his own Serbian authorities.

As I said at the time...

"After Osama Bin Laden's capture and death at the hand of US forces, Bosnian Serb Military Commander Ratko Mladic has been arrested by his own Serbian authorities and awaits a probable extradition to the International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague.

"With Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi under extreme siege from NATO forces in Tripoli and with long-standing leaders in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and Syria either out of office or struggling under severe local unrest to go that way, it has been an extraordinary 2011 for those who have been seen to use their powers for wrong".

When I wrote that post, little could I have realised that the names would keep on falling.

Gaddafi's recent fall was the most graphic depiction of a tyrant being stripped of his overwhelming power by his own people.

By contrast, today's news that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has died, supposedly of a heart attack whilst on the train, does not have the visual depiction of an end of a dictator's reign as those of Gaddafi or Osama Bin Laden or earlier, Saddam Hussein.

But it is nevertheless another incredible event that has seen the death of another of the world's most tyrannical leaders in this year, 2011.

North Korea's secretive ways and it's nuclear threat has made it one of the last outposts of a Cold War that came to an end a generation ago. Since succeeding his father in 1994, Kim Jong-il has done little to bring his nation back in from the cold. With his death, there is a mutual hope and fear for what is an unknown future in one of the most unstable corners of the world. In what direction will his little known 3rd son Kim Jong-un lead his nation no-one knows. He was educated in Switzerland, is 27 years old and was only unveiled as his father's chosen successor last year.

These are volatile times and for long-standing dictators, an increasinly worrying one.

Who's next? Mugabe? Assad? Castro?

There's still 12 days to go before we move into 2012 but one thing is certain, the world is a very different place to the one of December 2010.

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 19

2011-12-19T11:00:00.000Z

It's December which means for those who have them, it's time to get out those chocolate advent calendars!

But for those of you who, like me, don't do such things anymore (and indeed for those of you who still do!), I thought I'd give my own unique little twist on this festive time of year with my Musical Advent Calendar countdown of my Top 25 favourite Christmas songs!

I'm blogging a song a day, culminating with my favourite on Christmas Eve. So let's continue on our seasonal countdown...

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 19!

Today we have my No.6 all-time favourite Xmas song. I probably fell in love with Brenda Lee's 'Rockin' Around the Chistmas Tree' when I heard it as an 8 year old on the soundtrack to Home Alone which introduced me to a wealth of wonderful American festive hits.

So here's that version from the sountrack followed by a modern take in the name of charity which I adore too by Mel and Kim.

A Love of History - an 8 year old's thanks. RIP Auntie Elinor.

2011-12-18T12:45:00.000Z

It's been a sad week.

My mother's sister, my Auntie Elinor passed away peacefully last Saturday aged just 67. She had battled ill-health all of her life but recent years had been particularly difficult for her.

Yesterday, the family and the community of Eglwyswrw gathered at my maternal family's Bethabara Chapel in Pontyglasier to pay our final respects. Along with my 3 elder brothers, I was one of the pall-bearers. It was a role I have never undertaken before and it was particularly sad as we took her coffin in the cemetary after the service, past those of her mother and father (my grandparents), her brother-in-law (my father) and her grandparents (my great-grandparents). She is now at rest from this world, placed immediately behind the final resting place of her Uncle (my great-Uncle) Sidney.

The bilignual service was led very respectfully by the relatively new Minister Roger Morgan. In it, he relayed many fond memories that we as a family have of her and which will remain. He also read out a lovely message from the Irish country and western singer Paddy O'Brien, of whom Auntie Elinor was a big fan. Indeed, she was a member of his fan club and had met him in Ireland on a coach trip there when she was in better health in the 1990s. I e-mailed him on the Friday, notifying him of the sad news and thanking him for bringing her happiness and enjoyment throughout the years. To my pleasant surprise, from his home in County Cork, he replied within a matter of hours with this message. It was read out at the service yesterday.

I'm so so sorry to hear that Auntie Elinor has passed away. It's very humbling to know that she got so much enjoyment from my songs and indeed without people like Elinor I could not have made a career in music. She is now in a wonderful place from where she will look after all of you in very special ways. I feel privileged to have known her and just by knowing her has been a wonderful help to me along the pathway of life. May her gentle soul rest in peace. You are all in my thoughts and prayers at this very sad time. God Bless you always

Yours in Sympathy

Paddy

It was the least I could do for Auntie Elinor as it was she who helped me to realise a love of history which has extended through to an undergraduate and postgraduate degree in the subject in University.

I was only 7 or 8 years old when by pure chance, I bought a pack of playing cards whilst on a particularly wet holiday with my parents. But they weren't playing cards. To my annoyance, they were information cards about the Kings and Queens of England and Scotland. It however clearly triggered something inside of me which I had not known existed because I soon came to enjoy devouring the small pieces of information that were now before me.

On the back of this sudden and unexpected new interest, Auntie Elinor bought for me as a Christmas present in 1990, my first proper history book. She perfectly bought me a book about these same Kings and Queens and it gave me a wonderful opportunity to explore in more detail what I gleened from those information cards.

I still have that book and a photo of it, and the inscription that I wrote inside it at the time, can be seen in this blog post. I treasure this book simply because it was the one that began and inspired in me a wider love of history. I am particularly thankful to Auntie Elinor for introducing me properly to this subject matter which has become one of my greatest loves.

She is now at peace and I hope that she's now playing that piano-accordion to her parents and all of our family and friends who are up above.

Cysga'n dawel Auntie Elinor.

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 18

2011-12-18T11:00:00.000Z

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 17

2011-12-17T10:00:00.000Z

My Internet Stat Porn Monthly Report (15) November

2011-12-16T19:00:00.000Z

Here belatedly is my fifteenth monthly round-up of blog figures for anyone who is remotely interested in who reads my little blog. These stats for the month of November come courtesy of google analytics.

Calming Down
As with September and October, November has been a quiet month.

Indeed, my output for the month of 18 blog posts is the lowest since this blog got going in earnest in September 2010.

In November, I had a total of 4,159 absolute unique visitors to my blog (down marginally on my October total of 4,218 but substantially so on my May record of 6,485). Those 4,159 absolute unique visitors made 4,346 visits to my blog in November (again down marginally on the 4,581 visits total from October and substantially down on the 6,908 record from May). They viewed 10,780 pages (down on my October record of 11,517 pages).

The top 10 stories by direct page views that you've read this past month were:

1. Gary Speed
2. 9am: Swansea City AFC - Premier League!
3. Labour's Leighton Andrews' Extraordinary Live TV Coco Pops Outburst
4. Wembley Bound with Swansea City AFC!
5. The Aberfan Perspective
6. Twitter's Anti-Bullying 'Words Can Hurt' Sensation and how I was bullied in school
7. British Guns on Dublin's Streets
8. Andy Murray Needs to Summon the Rory McIlroy Spirit for Sporting Immortality
9. The Master of Political Cartoon Satire - The Independent's Dave Brown
10. 'The King's Speech' - The Book Vs The Film (SPOILER WARNING!)

Of the 10, only 2 were written this month - the other 8 are popular blog posts written in months past that continue to attract hits. The 2 that I wrote this month came in at No.1 and 6.

Although a quiet month on the whole, my blog post on the sudden, shock and much publicised death of Welsh football manager Gary Speed made November 27th the second ever busiest day on my blog with 988 visitors in those 24 hours alone. That blog post as a result quickly moved up the charts to become my 5th most read post of all-time out of a total of over 450. My blog post this past month on bullying also proved popular.

Blog Traffic
Of all of the blog visitors this past month, 13.57% were through direct traffic (up from 9.36% in October), 43.49% came from referring sites (up from 35.91 in October) and 42.94% via search engines (down from 54.73% in October).

The bounce rate for the month was 7.34% which again, like with the September and October figures seems remarkably low to me but then who am I who to argue with Google Analytics?! 85.25% were new visits as opposed to 14.75% returning visitors.

An International Blog!
The visitors to my little blog came from 99 countries/territories this month - down from my October tally of 104 and down further on my May record of 123, with a cumulative total of 170 countries/territories having supplied visitors to my blog to date.

The top ten countries to date are as follows (with position change from October & % of total views):

1. United Kingdom (No Change) 52.1% (+1.2%)
2. United States (No Change) 18.4% (-0.6%)
3. Brazil (No Change) 2.2% (-0.2%)
4. Germany (No Change) 2.1% (-0.1%)
5. Canada (No Change) 2.0% (=)
6. Australia (No Change) 1.8% (-0.1%)
7. Ireland (No Change) 1.4% (=)
8. Holland (+2) 1.3% (+0.1%)
9. Poland (-1) 1.2% (-0.1%)
10. France (-1) 1.2% (=)

After their mamouth leap up the rankings in October, Brazil have consolidated their place in 3rd whilst the only significant change this past month is Holland's move up from 10th to 8th.

It has continued to be a very cosmopolitan blog this month and honourable mentions must go in particular to the 2 new countries/territories that have provided its first viewers to my blog this November.

The Faroe Islands and Benin have both supplied its first reader to my blog during the past month!

Fair play to them all, and to you all, for putting up with my ramblings!

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 16

2011-12-16T10:02:00.000Z

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 15

2011-12-15T18:00:00.000Z

It's December which means for those who have them, it's time to get out those chocolate advent calendars!

But for those of you who, like me, don't do such things anymore (and indeed for those of you who still do!), I thought I'd give my own unique little twist on this festive time of year with my Musical Advent Calendar countdown of my Top 25 favourite Christmas songs!

I'm blogging a song a day, culminating with my favourite on Christmas Eve. So let's continue on our seasonal countdown...

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 15!

Today we move into my Top 10 of Xmas songs.

We begin with a song that transcended music. Band Aid's 1984 Xmas smash will go down in the pantheon of musical history not because of what it was, but because of what it stood for and the way in which it was created.

But having said that, it's still a bloody good song. 'Do they know it's Christmas?'

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 15

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 14

2011-12-14T15:22:00.000Z

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 13

2011-12-13T10:59:00.000Z

My Xmas Card from Nick Clegg and Miriam Gonzalez Durantez

2011-12-12T12:22:00.000Z

So today in the post, I rather unexpectadly received a Xmas card from Nick Clegg and his wife Miriam Gonzalez Durantez.

Now, as I prepare to enter the year in which I turn 30, I must admit that my memory isn't always the best but having said that, I'm pretty sure that this is the first time that I've received such a card from the Liberal Democrat Party leader and now Deputy Prime Minister. I may be wrong here but it doesn't stand out in my memory from years past so I'm presuming that this is the first time I've appeared on one of his lists.

Jim Hacker in Yes Minister
It immediately brought to my mind the sight of the hapless Jim Hacker in that 'Party Games' episode of Yes Minister when as Chairman of the Conservative Party, he found himself swamped with a mountain of Xmas cards that he had to sign in differing variations depending on who the recipients were.

It made me wonder how many Xmas cards that Nick Clegg and his office feel obliged to send and to which various groups. For example, I can't be sure as to why it was decided that I should receive a card though don't get me wrong, it is a nice gesture which I appreciate.

The card is not signed by Nick as party leader or as Deputy Prime Minister. It is actually quite a personalised looking card signed by Nick and Miriam. Now of course I realise that the signatures are printed from the original as to sign each one individually could take weeks as was indeed Jim Hacker's concern and whilst it was a basic message that wasn't written specifically for me, the fact that it comes over as a more personalised card with the front depicting a family of snowmen made me feel that I was on the 'personal' list of card recipients. Of course I don't know whether this is the case or not. I mean, has Nick Clegg used the same card and internal wording for every single card sent or are there indeed different messages and signatures for varying groups of individuals as was the case with Jim Hacker?

I don't know, but as I say it is a nice touch and it has given me a perfect excuse to find and replay that memorable scene from Yes Minister...

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 12

2011-12-12T08:00:00.000Z

It's December which means for those who have them, it's time to get out those chocolate advent calendars!

But for those of you who, like me, don't do such things anymore (and indeed for those of you who still do!), I thought I'd give my own unique little twist on this festive time of year with my Musical Advent Calendar countdown of my Top 25 favourite Christmas songs!

I'm blogging a song a day, culminating with my favourite on Christmas Eve. So let's continue on our seasonal countdown...

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 12!

Today we witness one of the most surreal duets in the history of pop music. The whole concept of putting Bing Crosby and David Bowie together on the same single must have come about as the result of some hallucinogenic drugs, but in this case, it was an inspired choice! The pre-amble chat before the song is wonderfully bizzare!

'Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy' was recorded on September 11th 1977 for Crosby's up-and-coming Christmas TV special. The show aired on November 30th but by that time, Crosby was dead. He died on October 14th, of a massive heart attack, barely a month after this incredibe recording, whilst in Spain having completed a full round of golf.

So here is Bing's final musical triumph, and possibly the most unlikely, of them all.

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 11

2011-12-11T10:00:00.000Z

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 10

2011-12-10T10:14:00.000Z

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 9

2011-12-09T15:35:00.000Z

It's December which means for those who have them, it's time to get out those chocolate advent calendars!

But for those of you who, like me, don't do such things anymore (and indeed for those of you who still do!), I thought I'd give my own unique little twist on this festive time of year with my Musical Advent Calendar countdown of my Top 25 favourite Christmas songs!

I'm blogging a song a day, culminating with my favourite on Christmas Eve. So let's continue on our seasonal countdown...

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 9!

Today we have a song that has only become a seasonal favourite of mine over the past year or two. I'd never given this song any credit in years gone by and yet somehow out of nowhere, I am now a firm fan of David Essex's 'A Winter's Tale'.

Watching the video over now, it's hard to fathom that this is the man who was recently on Eastenders, almost 30 years later!

But still, it's a sweet melancholic ballad and I adore it!

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 8

2011-12-08T08:00:00.000Z

December 6th - A Tragic Day for the Orbison Family

2011-12-07T23:13:00.000Z

The news today that Barbara Orbison, the wife and manager of the iconic rock star Roy, has died of pancreatic cancer at the age of just 60 is awfully sad. The fact theat she died yesterday on the 23rd anniversary of her husband's death makes it that much more poigniant.

Barbara and Roy Orbison
Source: BBC News

They met in 1968 when she was 17 and he was 32 and they married 9 months later.

He divorced his first wife Claudette (yes, THE Claudette) before re-marrying her but she was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1966. Whilst touring England in 1968, he heard the news that his home in Tennessee had burned down and his two eldest sons were killed in the fire.

Roy died of a heart attack aged just 52 on December 6th 1988 just as he had found a new lease of life with the Traveling Wilbury's.

He was a giant of rock and roll and I am huge, huge, huge fan.

They are survived by Roy's remaining son with Claudette, Wesley and by his two sons with Barbara, Kelton Orbison Jr and Alexander Orbison.

For them and for all 'Big O' fans out there, there is only one song that I can play at this sad time. It's the one place where nobody ever dies.

'In Dreams...'

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 7

2011-12-07T11:00:00.000Z

It's December which means for those who have them, it's time to get out those chocolate advent calendars!

But for those of you who, like me, don't do such things anymore (and indeed for those of you who still do!), I thought I'd give my own unique little twist on this festive time of year with my Musical Advent Calendar countdown of my Top 25 favourite Christmas songs!

I'm blogging a song a day, culminating with my favourite on Christmas Eve. So let's continue on our seasonal countdown...

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 7!

Today we have a highly under-rated song from the best band of all-time. Yes, even though Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody was the Christmas No.1 in both 1975 and 1991, their only actual festively inspired tune failed to make as much of an impact when it was released in 1984 making only No.21 in the charts. The fact that no promotional video was made for the song probably plays a large part in this.

But I love it...and so should you. 'Thank God it's Christmas'.

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 6

2011-12-06T10:00:00.000Z

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 5

2011-12-05T09:30:00.001Z

Wales' Wing Wizzard Signs Off - Recollections of a Magical Millennium Stadium Experience

2011-12-04T17:00:00.001Z

Yesterday, thanks to a last minute spare ticket offer from one of my older brothers, I found myself in the unexpected but wonderful position of being able to see Shane Williams' emotional farewell in person.

It was my first visit to Cardiff to see a Welsh rubgy international since the last ever test match at the old Arms Park / National Stadium on March 15th 1997. Back on that day, Wales were soundly beaten by England in the old 5 Nations Championship but from the old stands, I was able to watch Johnathan Davies take his Welsh bow as he retired after winning 37 Welsh union caps having spent his career traversing the codes of rugby league and union. Though only 3-6 down at Half-Time, the Full-time score read 13-34 but despite this, the curtain call gave Davies his final moment in the sun as he scored his final points in international rugby with the last points of the game as he converted a late Rob Howley try.

Nearly 15 years later (having witnessed a 2003 Scotland Vs Wales Six Nations match in Murrayfield inbetween), I returned yesterday to the Millennium Stadium to watch a player who had not even started out back then in 1997, to take his final bow as well.

Wales' Record Try Scorer
Yes, the word 'legend' is overused and particularly so in the world of sport.

But for Shane Williams, no other word can do justice to the impact that he has had on Welsh and international rugby.

Having made his international debut back in 2000 at the relatively grand old age of 22, he would become a central member of both the 2005 and 2008 Welsh Grand Slam winning teams, scoring tries against Italy, Scotland and England in 2005 and against Italy, Scotland, Irleand and France in 2008. He was named the player of the 2008 tourament and later that same year, he became the first Welsh-man to be crowned the IRB International Player of the Year. He would go on to overtake Gareth Edwards as Wales' top try scorer in the history of the northern hempsphere's premier international championship and helped Wales to a record-equalling World Cup semi-final appearance back in the autumn.

But there was still one game to play...

A Magical & Emotional Atmosphere
Shane had decided to postpone his World Cup completing international retirement by one match so that he could finish a proud and distinguished career for his country in front of his home fans. It was therefore with much delight that I clutched at the 11th hour offer of a ticket to see that match yesterday.

We arrived in the stadium for the 2.30pm kick-off at 2pm by which time a multitude of Welsh Male Voice Choirs sitting in the old stand that backs onto the Arms Park were already in full swing. It sent the shivers down the spine to hear them sing a favourite of mine 'We'll Keep a Welcome' before they launched into renditions of Sospan Fach, Gwahoddiad, Cwn Rhondda, Calon Land, Men of Harlech and Delilah.

Although it was a dry Cardiff afternoon, the decision by the powers that be to close the roof for the match proved in my mind to be an inspired choice. The enclosed nature of the match gave a real sense of togetherness and added to what was a special and unique atmosphere.

After the Male Voice Choirs sang, we watched a video on the big screens of Shane's best moments in the red shirt of Wales. It cranked up the emotional levels even further before the man himself led out his country to the sights and sounds of those wonderful, blazing Millennium Stadium pyrotechnics. The surge of emotion running through the crowd was electric and when Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau was sung and Shane could be visibly seen to be struggling under the weight of the occasion, it really was something to behold. There are few times when I have ever been as proud to sing my national anthem as I was at that moment yesterday afternoon.

The match itself didn't wholly live up to the occasion. The first half was a well fought, evenly balanced affair and at 6-3 ahead at Half-Time, I felt it gave a decent reflection of the match at that stage. But Wales never turned up for the first 20 minutes of the second half and the sin-binning Yellow Card didn't help matters though in my opinion was wholly deserved. Three Australian tries pretty much put the result beyond us and a great sense of anti-climax was sweeping through the stadium. But suddenly, a Rhys Priestland try gave a glimour of hope.

Wales' Wing Wizzard Signs Off
As the game entered its final 5 minutes, I was aware that Shane may be substituted so that the crowd could give him a standing ovation. This seemed to make sense to me and so it was that I kept looking out for him to see if Wales could somehow orchestrate a final hurrah for the small man in stature, but big in heart, before his retirement.

The final minutes of an illustrious Welsh
rugby union test playing career

It was with this in mind that my celebrations for Priestland's try were slightly muted as Shane was on his shoulder ready to score had he have made the pass. But Priestland touched over himself and the chance had gone. Thankfully, I was proved incorrect with the substitution judgement and the game went into overtime with Shane still on the pitch. From my low-level, ground-side vantage point, my eyes kept darting across the pitch as Wales put together one final attack to look for that No.11 figure. He was either on our left-wing or on the far side right-wing. The accompanied photo here illustrates this vantage point with the No.11 standing alone from the pack, waiting for his moment. He was here on our side when Priestland opted to go for the line himself but suddenly, minutes after I took this photograph, he was now on the far right-side as the ball was spread out wide in the dying seconds.

Suddenly there was a gap and the ball found itself in Shane's grasp. He had an overlap which he could've used but like Priestland before him, was not going to give the ball away with the line at his mercy. We went absolutely bonkers! The sight of our Shane scoring a final try for Wales in his final match, in the final minute, with his final touch of international rugby was a historic sporting moment to savour. We didn't care now that we'd lost the match 18-24 because our boy had signed off his international career in the same way that he had played over the previous 11 years - with passion, skill, a deftness of foot and a raw burst of speed that left those behind him in his wake.

Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful!

It was a 58th and final try for Wales in 87 appearances. This, along with 2 test tries for the Lions brought him to a final round figure of 60 international test tries - leaving him in 3rd place in the all-time list of international test try scorers behind Daisuke Ohata's 69 in 58 appearances for Japan but most significantly, just behind Australia's David Campese who crossed over 64 times in 101 appearances.

His interview straight after the final whistle as he held onto his two children, both with the name 'Dadi' on the back of their No.11 rugby shirts and his failed attempts to keep his emotions in check pulled at the heart-strings even further. It was a moment he had deserved after a career's service for his country.

A remarkable career, a remarkable player who proved that in rugby terms, small can be beautiful and who put a decade long smile onto the face of a nation.

So it was yesterday, that a nation cried and wept with joy as a name that will do down in Welsh rugby folklore alongside the likes of Bary John, Gareth Edwards, Mervyn Davies, J.J. Williams, J.P.R Williams and Neil Jenkins to name but a few, made us smile one last time. I'm proud to say that 'I was there' when it happened.

Thank you Shane. Diolch am yr atgofion felys.

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 4

2011-12-04T10:52:00.000Z

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 3

2011-12-03T09:23:00.000Z

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 2

2011-12-02T08:25:00.000Z

Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 1

2011-12-01T20:59:00.001Z

£300,000 Annual State Pension Uplift for Pensioners in Cardigan

2011-11-30T11:00:00.000Z

These are clearly difficult times. Today sees the largest strike in the UK in some 30 years over the issue of public sector pension reform. At the same time, the economic winds are turning decidedly chilly.

But there was good news in the autumn statement made in Parliament yesterday.

In particular, as a Councillor in a ward with a high number of retired local residents, I was very pleased to see an uplift in the State Pension by £5.30 a week from April 2012, delivering its single largest ever cash increase. The pension credit standard minimum guarantee will increase by 3.9 per cent in April 2012 to ensure poorest pensioners also benefit from the triple guarantee. This equates to an annual increase per person in the state pension of £275.60.

This of course compares particularly favourably to that infamous Labour Government increase in the State Pension of just 75p.

Here in Cardigan, a total of some 1,090 pensioners will benefit from the increase - to the total tune of £300,404 a year. Across Ceredigion more widely, 17,150 pensioners will benefit to a total of £4,726,540.

The mark of a society many will argue can be demonstrated in how it treats those who have contributed to it for their entire lives, and now depend on it in for support following retirement. With ever increasing energy costs, life is not getting easier, but this uplift of £275.60 a year per pensioner, shows them a great deal of respect and living in a town with a large number of pensionable age, I am pleased that they will righly benefit from the new Triple Lock that guarantees them a fair increase in their State Pension.

Ceredigion Council Unanimously Call on Health Minister & Hywel Dda Local Health Board to Scrutiny

2011-11-29T09:57:00.000Z

Last week I blogged here on a Health motion that Cllr Elizabeth Evans and I proposed and seconded for a full meeting of Ceredigion County Council yesterday.

I'm pleased to report that the motion was passed unanimously by the entire Council.

We have called on the Health Minister in Cardiff Bay and the Hywel Dda Local Health Board Management Team to meet with us as a full Council to answer a series of questions regarding the service provision in Bronglais Hosptial but also the future capital spend plans for Cardigan Hospital, Tregaron Hospital and the future Cylch Caron project and the Aberaeron integrated healthcare centre.

Passions were high in the Council as members showed a relatively rare but important show of unified strength against the Hywel Dda Health Board in particular and their perceived lack of direct accountability and their stubborn unwillingness to attend public meetings to discuss their plans with elected Councillors and local communities at the same time. The public meeting in Tregaron last week is a case in point - a crowd of some 150 local residents met to discuss the sudden and unconsulted upon donwgrade of hospital beds there from 20 to 12 but where the local health board? They hid behind a pre-written statement that was read out at the meeting. Here in Cardigan, the same health board recently withdrew with just a week or two to spare from a public meeting with the Town Council and the Hospital's League of Friends about Cardigan Hospital. It does not engender confidence in their actions if they continue to avoid public scrutiny like this.

So we now await for a response from Hywel Dda and also from the Health Minister Lesley Griffiths. We are expectant and we will not take no for an answer.

Gary Speed

2011-11-27T13:21:00.000Z

I woke up this morning wondering whether I could bring myself to support Swansea City against my life-long love of Aston Villa this afternoon. Breaking allegiances for a match after 19 years of support was a big thing for me. I was going to blog about it. Now, quite frankly, I couldn't give a damn who wins the match.

There are some things in life that are wholly inexplicable. Events that shock, stun and numb beyond comprehension.

The news that Gary Speed has been found dead, apparently by his own hand, has caught everyone unawares.

I'm incredibly numb right now. There are no words that can truly express the feeling and sense of loss right now of a young man who had the world at his feet.

A professional for Leeds, Everton, Newcastle, Bolton and Sheffield United, he held the record for Premiership appearances at 535, until recently overtaken by David James. He was Wales' most capped outfield player with 85 national appearances to his name.

He became the Welsh national manager only last year on December 14th and has since turned around a nation's fortunes by leading us to a run of wins and a rise from 117th to 50th in the FIFA World Rankings.

He did not live his private life in the tabloid newspapers. He had two young children and seemed to lead a happy life and there was so much potential looking forward.

Gary made an appearance on Football Focus only yesterday and he was laid back and seemed to be excited about these future challenges.

We don't know what was going on within but a form of depression that must have brought about this incredulous and disbelieving news is heartbreaking. Depression is suffered by a large percentage of the population and it takes far too many lives. It has apparently taken another this morning and it is just a solemn, horrendous development which I just don't want to believe.

RIP Speedo, my thoughts go out to his friends and family at this awful, heart-breaking, devastating time.

My Freddie Mercury Interview in Golwg - English Translation

2011-11-27T12:03:00.000Z

Back on Thursday on the 20th anniversary of Freddie Mercury's death I commented here in my blog that I had given an interview to the Welsh language weekly magazine Golwg about him and my love for the music of Queen.

Here is that interview with an English translation for those who have requested it.

20 years since the death of Freddie Mercury, Cllr Mark Cole from Cardigan still marvels at the magnitude of his talent...

"I was 9 years old when I came across the music of Queen, and that after Freddie Mercury's death in 1991. They had re-released Bohemian Rhapsody at Christmas-time and it went to No.1 for the second time. This was the first time that I had heard this odd, long song. It was totally different to everything else that I had heard before.

"I like a range of music. everything from Classical to the Beatles to Oasis to Sinatra to Pulp. But to me, Queen are at the top of the pile.

"I remember going to Blackpool in 2000 for a YFC convention and I came across Queen's Greatest Hits II in HMV there...buying it and realising that the band had so much more music than I realised - on the radio they tend to only play songs such as 'Don't Stop Me Now' but the band have so many more wonderful songs.

"As the words from Radio Ga Ga say: "Our music changes through the years". Between 1971 and 1991, Queen showed how to change with the times. Madonna is a different example of an artiste who has changed with the times in the 1980s and 1990s.

"I like all of Queen's music, but I get pulled more towards their later stuff in the late 1980s and early 1990s

"Like the music, Queen's videos were so different and unique. For the song 'The Miracle' (1989), four children act as the members of the band and at the end, Freddie and the band members appear and join the child actors to sing in the video. It's brilliant. In the video for 'Breakthru' (1989), the band are on the train The Miracle Express and it attracts the attention instantly.

"I have read many books about Freddie and the band. He knew from 1987 that he was HIV+, but he carried on to record songs. It's clear in 'The Show Must Go On' , the final song on the final album, that he was saying thank you to his fans: "Inside my heart is breaking, my make-up may be flaking, but my smile still stays on" - here was a man who was facing death in a heroic manner.

"At the beginning of the year I saw The King's Speech. I studied history in University and I love it. I enjoy biopics that revolve around real everyday life. I enjoy going to gigs and I have seen Elton John, Billy Joel, Kenny Rogers, Madness and the Manics. But the best band that I have seen were Madness in the CIA in Cardiff. They were incredible, giving a great performance.

"I often consider how much of a shame it is that I was too young to see Freddie live. But I have seen Queen with Paul Rogers, so I have seen the Guitarist Brian May and the Drummer Roger Taylor live at least, and they were fantastic.

"In their final album before Freddie died, Innuendo, there's a song called 'I'm Going Slightly Mad' - at times in life, particularly when you're a Councillor, you feel as if you're hitting your head against a brick wall. It's a comfort to listen to this song and know that other people feel the same".

Cardigan's Primary & Secondary Schools will get £71,100 of Welsh Pupil Premium funding

2011-11-26T10:18:00.000Z

Yesterday I blogged here about the Welsh Assembly budget deal between Welsh Labour and the Welsh Liberal Democrats.

The budget is to be officially voted upon on December 6th but once it has been passed, it will give Welsh schools an extra £34,299,900. As a share of that, Ceredigion pupils who are classifed as being on free school meals will benefit to the tune of £450 each - a county total of £511,200. In a small authority such as ours, these are significant amounts of monies to our schools.

Here in Cardigan town, we will benefit from a combined total of £71,100 that will to go our school children who need that funding the most to reduce the impact of poverty on educational attainment. Ysgol Gynradd Aberteifi, our primary school here in Cardigan, will benefit to the tune of £36,450 whilst Ysgol Uwchradd Aberteifi, our secondary school, will benefit to the tune of £34,650. As a Governor in both schools I know that this will be welcome extra funding.

So well done to Kirsty Williams and the Welsh Liberal Democrat team in Cardiff. Even in opposition, we're still managing to deliver on an election pledge of ours from the 2010 General and 2011 Welsh Assembly elections. Our children are the ones who will benefit from this and I can't think of a better way to influence politics for the better than by doing that.

Responsible Opposition - Welsh Liberal Democrats support Labour Assembly Budget

2011-11-25T18:57:00.000Z

Whilst the Liberal Democrats continue to make tough decision in Government in Westminster, here in Wales of course, the Welsh Liberal Democrats are in opposition.

Today, led by Kirsty Williams, we proved that we can be responsible in opposition here in Wales just as we are being responsible in Government in London.

Welsh Assembly Budget
Last week, Labour lost a vote on its budget in Cardiff Bay. Back in May they missed out by a matter of only a few thousand votes on gaining an overall majority in the Assembly and instead came eye-wateringly short on 30 out of an Assembly of 60. So last week, the Welsh Conservatives, the Welsh Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru joined together to tie the vote at 29-29 (Presiding Officer and Deputy Presiding Officer don't vote). With the tie, the Presiding Officer cast her vote for the status quo and the Labour budget fell by 29-30.

With this paralysis and the threat of another defeat against the Labour Government next week, there have been background discussions between all parties but particularly between Labour and the Welsh Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru.

Welsh Pupil Premium
This afternoon, Kirsty Williams announced that an agreement has been made between Carwyn Jones' ruling group and the Welsh Liberal Democrats.

As Kirsty says here on the Freedom Central website, she will lead her group of 5 to support the budget on December 6th having secured £32.04 million, of which £20 million is new money, for a Welsh pupil premium to reduce the impact of poverty on educational attainment. In addition, the Welsh Liberal Democrats have been able to agree an Economic Stimulus Package of £38.9 million to be spent on a range of measures to stimulate the economy and protect jobs.

The Pupil Premium was one of the Liberal Democrats' main election pledges in the 2010 General Election and it has been since rolled out across England. Now, thanks to the Welsh Liberal Democrats, it will be rolled out in Wales as well. More funding shall also support an economic stimulus package that will help boost the economy and protect jobs in what are extremely difficult times.

As Kirsty concludes:

"The Welsh Liberal Democrats are a small group in the National Assembly, but our influence in the budget negotiations will have a big influence on children’s lives and will help give our economy a helping boost.

"It would have been easier politically to walk away, but the Welsh Liberal Democrats have instead worked with our political opponents to agree a budget for the good of Wales. We are proud that our influence will make a difference to children in Wales and provide a welcome boost to the economic recovery".

A responsible opposition? Ed Milliband could well take a leaf out of Kirsty's book.

How this 9 year old came to love Freddie Mercury and Queen

2011-11-24T08:00:00.000Z

They say that February 3rd 1959, the day when Buddy Holly died, was the day that music died. Another such similar date it could well be argued was November 24th 1991.

As a 9 year old, I can only vaguely recall the death of Freddie Mercury. Only 10 days earlier on November 14th 1991, the only grandparent that I ever met and knew passed away. 5 days later on the 19th, he was buried. I didn't attend the funeral but was back in the wake instead. I remember it vividly because the news on the TV showed the release of Terry Waite after 1,763 days of captivity in the Lebanon the previous day.

It had been a rather tumultuous few days because this was the first time I had ever experienced the death of a close relative. Then 5 days after the funeral came the news that this important, well known singer from a popular rock group had also passed away. It was clearly a bad month for good men so this 9 year old thought.

I had never heard of Freddie Mercury let alone listened too or had an appreciation for the music of Queen. Yet the irony here is that it was Freddie's tragic early passing that acted as the catalyst to change all this.

In the December, as a tribute to its author, the remaining members of Queen re-released Bohemian Rhapsody as a Double A-side with These Are The Days Of Our Lives. Suddenly, the airwaves were full of this insane, random and lengthy song that first hit the top of the charts 16 years previously. It became the first song ever to get to number one twice with the same version and is also the only single to have been UK Christmas number one twice with the same version. It remained at number one for five weeks that winter to go along with the nine weeks during which it originally topped the charts in late 1975 / early 1976.

A Wonderful Fanaticism
With its second, second coming the next summer as a classic part in the film 'Wayne's World', I can recall being bemused by this intriguing 'new' sound. I kept wanting to re-listen to it. I kept wanting to sing the many different, eccentric parts within it. Suffice to say, I was hooked.

Over the coming years through secondary school, I was joined in my growing enthusiasm for Freddie Mercury and the music of Queen by school mate Luke Rowland. We'd listen to Queen religiously and my interest grew. But it was only as I was on the cusp of leaving secondary school in early 2000 that I graduated beyond the music of Queen's 'Greatest Hits'. I recall a trip to Blackpool for the annual YFC national convention with James Rees, a fellow member of Llawhaden YFC and whilst there, I bought with great excitement from HMV, Queen's Greatest Hits II. Suddenly I'd opened the door to a whole new decade of Queen music and to a 80s sound which I arguably preferred over their heavier 70s vibe. I wonder if James can recall me listening to this new sound sensation on my walkman in our hotel room overlooking the Irish Sea at the same time that we watched the all-Welsh World Championship Snooker Final between Mark Williams and Matthew Stevens? I still do!

As I went to University in Aberystwyth, my love for Queen showed no signs of abating. It helped that in Sarah Green, a housemate of mine in my 5th and final year, I had found another Queen soul mate. Indeed, I recall buying her the Queen Greatest Flix DVD as a birthday present at that time!

Official International Queen Fan Club Convention!
As time moved on, I bumped into Robin Whitmore who like me by now was a Liberal Democrat local party organiser from the East Anglian side of the country. He too was a Queen fan but he put me in the shade - he'd been a member of the Official International Queen Fan Club since the early 1970s - before I was even born! He enticed me to join him in attending a Queen Fan Club convention as he had never been before but wanted company in doing so. I did so in early 2009 at the Breen Sands Pontins resort in the west country! It was one of the most surreal weekends of my life and I absolutely enjoyed every moment of it. The eccentric enthusiasm, love and joy for the music of Queen that was felt there by all of the 1,000 or so attendees was just an electric experience which I hope to re-live again in the coming years.

I also joined Robin in witnessing the closest I will ever get to seeing Queen live in concert when I saw Queen + Paul Rodgers live in the CIA in Cardiff during that same period. Listening to Brian May singing '39 with the whole audience joining in with him remains one of the most special moments of my life. It was a truly exceptional, unforgettable experience.

On the back of the convention, I just had to join the Fan Club! I'd never joined before but I have been a member ever since.

My Golwg Interview
Having contacted the Queen Fan Club to ask for Welsh based members, Barry Thomas of the popular Welsh-language magazine Golwg was given my details and contacted me some years ago asking whether I would give an interview as someone who lives in the public-eye but who has this every-day love and enthusiasm for a popular rock group. Of course I would be!

But the interview never materialised until I had a 'phone call out of the blue last Friday. It was Barry, years after his initial query, asking whether I could give him that interview to coincide with the 20th anniverary of Freddie's death. I did and it has duly been released in today's edition of Golwg on that very anniversary. I supplied to him this photo that shows me with a mere sample of the videos, cassette tapes, CDs, books and magazines that I have as a Queen fan - as well as my fan club membership card of course!

It has gone full circle for me. Because if it hadn't have been for Freddie's untimely death 20 years ago today and the re-release of Bohemian Rhapsody that came as a direct consequence of that, I would never have become a fan at the time that I did. That doesn't mean of course that I wouldn't have become a fan at a later stage - with music of the calibre written by Freddie, Roger Taylor, Brian May and John Deacon, it would surely only have been a matter of time before I'd see the light. But the simple and sad truth of the matter is that it was in my case, Freddie's death that led directly to my interest and love for the band which he helped shape into one of the greatest in 20th century music.

For me, there's no question about it - they are the best band of all-time. My many blog posts here about them and their music will prove testimony to that belief.

Thank you Freddie. You are still alive in your music. The Show Must Go On.

Health Motion to Ceredigion County Council (28-11-11)

2011-11-21T12:12:00.002Z

Next Monday, I shall be seconding a motion being proposed to a full meeting of Ceredigion County Council by Cllr Elizabeth Evans, in support of our health services here in Ceredigion.

The motion calls for a meeting with the Welsh Assembly's Health Minister and the change management team at the Hywel Dda NHS Trust to answer the great concerns being expressed at present about the future provision of services in mid-Wales' only District General Hospital in Bronglais, Aberystwyth and also to clarify the future plans for Cardigan Hospital, Aberaeron Integrated Health Centre and the Cylch Caron project in Tregaron.

The motion below is self-explanatory and I hope that it will receive the unanimous support of Councillors from across the Chamber to send a clear message to Hywel Dda NHS Trust and to the Welsh Assembly Government that we will not stand idly by in Ceredigion whilst the threat to our health services increase.

COUNCIL NOTES:
Ceredigion County Council notes that Hywel Dda Health Board under the direction of the Welsh Government (WG) Health Minister is undertaking a substantial review of Health Service delivery in its operational area, and as a council we are concerned what this will mean for Ceredigion particularly in light of the Health Minister’s decision to put on hold long awaited capital expenditure on health projects within the county, namely Cardigan, Aberaeron and Tregaron.

Ceredigion County Council further notes that a change management team has been brought in to achieve this substantial change. Ceredigion County Council notes that this substantial review has been directed by WG to provide a service that can operate within the constraints laid down by the Health Minister in her announcement on Tuesday 1st November.

COUNCIL BELIEVES:
Ceredigion County Council believes that these constraints laid down by the Minister take no account of Ceredigion’s rurality which has to be considered as a significant factor in the matrix of any health care provision. Operationally, the Minister has stated that no District General Hospital (DGH) will be shut. However, there is only Bronglais DGH between the A55 corridor in the North of Wales and the M4/A48 corridor in the South. Therefore, Bronglais is of strategic and primary importance to the delivery of safe health care in a geographical operational area that covers half of Wales and needs to be adequately resourced by Welsh Government

Ceredigion County Council further believes that any down-grading whatsoever of any one of the core services currently provided at Bronglais would render the population at severe risk. Services at Bronglais DGH must include: abdominal/colo-rectal surgery, accident and emergency, cardiology, elderly medicine, gynaecology and obstetrics, maternity, oncology, orthopaedics, paediatrics, respiratory, stroke facilities, and mental health services together with all on-site supporting services. These core services and their supporting elements are essential to the delivery of a sustainable and safe healthcare provision in the area otherwise the loss of anyone of these individual services will render this facility no longer able to serve the population as a fully functional DGH which can provide a safe, timely and accessible health care service appropriately to the population; again it must be stressed that this must be adequately resourced by Welsh Government.

COUNCIL RESOLVES:
To write and to call for urgent meetings with both the Minister and the Change Management Team at Hywel Dda with all Councillors in order to:

Strongly argue that Bronglais DGH should keep all the services listed in the above paragraph and to nurture the continued development in all areas where expertise already exists. Consequently, Bronglais DGH must be considered separately as a special case given its geographical position within Wales and the continued ground-breaking developmental research, which has already been professionally recognised.

Clarify in its entirety the capital expenditure position and the operational intentions for Cardigan Hospital, Aberaeron Integrated Health Centre and the Cylch Caron, Tregaron projects.

Proposed by: Cllr Elizabeth Evans
Seconded by: Cllr Mark Cole

Timmy Mallett, Perry Como & Dangermouse

2011-11-20T17:33:00.000Z

For a child of my era, it's been a rather sad week.

The death of songwriter Lee Pockriss at the age of 87 reminds me of a song that he wrote that was originally a hit in 1960 for Brian Hyland but which I remember 30 years later as a 1990 hit for a boy-hood idol of mine, Timmy Mallet.

As well as writing 'Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini' he is also credited with a particular Perry Como favourite of mine from 1957, 'Catch A Falling Star'.

Another loss this week has been that of animator Mark Hall who was a co-founder of Cosgrove Hall with Brian Cosgrove and was responsible for creating, amongst others, Danger Mouse and The Wind in the Willows. He died of cancer at the age of 74.

Dangermouse was an iconic children's cartoon of the 1980s and is adored by children of that era. Having David Jason lead with the voice of our hero was an added touch of genius.

Twitter's Anti-Bullying 'Words Can Hurt' Sensation and how I was bullied in school

2011-11-18T14:33:00.002Z

Is sensation too strong a word? Well, if your 4 minute long Youtube musings on bullying are re-tweeted by Stephen Fry via John Prescott to their combined total of 3.5m + followers and is being shown in school assemblies across the country in the fight against bullying then yeah, I call that a sensation.

Here below is Hannah Thompson's video on the effect that school-yard name-calling bullying had on her as a 13 years old.

Now I must declare an interest here. I know Hannah and I know her very well. She came to work with us in Mark Williams MP's office as a painfully shy and quiet work experience pupil from Tregaron Secondary School back in around 2008 when she would've been about 15 (I may be wrong with the dates but it's about this time).

As she says, she and her friends were quirky and rather off-the-wall with their sense of humour but I must admit that I took to it instantly. Who at that age would go and become huge Cliff Richard fans for example?! As an office and as a party, they fitted in effortlessly. The name that we in the office gave to Hannah and her gang which included Holly and Aithne as well as others was the 'Tregaron Mafia'. They quickly became involved in local politics and have been fantastic supporters locally over recent years.

So I must admit that I am ridiculously proud that our Hannah has became such a Twitter viral sensation and for such an important cause to boot. Here is that video.

Being Bullied
I was also bullied verbally at school. It was also in the form of name-calling and snide remarks made behind and often in front of my back.

Specifically, it was the the fact that I had big glasses (such has been my poor short-sightedness from a very young age) which led to the unfortunately inevitable '4 eyes' comments but most significantly the fact that my slight speech impediment with which I can not say the letter 's' clearly and have a difficulty in rolling the letter 'r' made me the easy butt of many cruel jokes.

Looking back, the bus trip to and from school was never an easy one for me and I can often remember wanting to break down and cry because of the harsh things said of and to me. I always stood my ground, grinned and bared it but on the inside, I was an emotional mess. It certainly made me more reticient when it came to speaking up in class. Because at the back of my mind as I was often reminded, I had this ever so slight lisp which made me sound different to everyone else. I hated it.

How on earth I managed to lift myself up from all of the knocks that I received from this I do not know. There must be a wilful force within me that doesn't let such injustices get me down. I'm proud of what I have achieved in the 10+ years since I left school and I hope that young people in Cardigan and more widely who may suffer now with what I suffered from then, can use me as an example of how such things should never be allowed to hold you back. I still have that same speech impediment but I don't realise it much of the time now. It's just a part of who I am and everyone accepts me for who I am in the whole and not just in part.

So well done to Hannah for reminding us that 'Words Can Hurt'. They certainly can but as she says, it's a big world out there that extends far beyond the school yard.

Hannah, you are an inspiration and I love you and your eccentric, weird and wonderful ways to bits! Don't you EVER change!

Free Xmas Parking in Ceredigion

2011-11-15T13:00:00.000Z

Ceredigion County Council's Cabinet this morning agreed to allow for free parking throughout the county from 10am on the 3 Saturdays running up to Christmas - the 10th, 17th and 24th December.

Traders from Cardigan have been making the case for free festive parking in the town for years because of the negative impact that the same policy in neighbouring Carmarthenshire has had on trade in our town. It has been exacerbated by a new policy to a similar effect coming into force this year in Pembrokeshire.

This year, the County Council Cabinet Member for Highways, Cllr Ray Quant has come down to Cardigan to meet with representatives from the Cardigan Chamber of Trade and from the Cardigan Traders organisations who have pushed him on this issue. He also accepted an invitation to meet with Cardigan Town Council in the summer where we again made the same comments to him.

It is a great concern because whilst the big supermarkets such as Tesco in Cardigan can afford to supply to its customers free parking, the town centre businesses must reply on the good grace of the local authority to keep its parking charges at an appropriate and reasonable level. To support local businesses and also the local residents who use them, this is therefore a weapon in the County Council's armoury which it has at its disposal but which it has never before utilised in Ceredigion,

I was present in the Cabinet meeting this morning and spoke on the issue. I stated that I personally supported an extentsion to the free parking period to take in the two weeks before Christmas from 12th December to the 24th which was an option in the paper put before the meeting. At a cost of £3,000 a day, it would've meant a total of £36,000 that would need to be found from the Corporate Finance Budget as a means of supporting local business. But with tight budgets, the Cabinet opted to support the 3 Saturdays prior to Christmas option.

It is a shame that this scheme could not have been taken a step forward in this case as I called for, but it is at least a positive step forward which will now have set a precedent for next year and beyond when we can seek to expand on this early Christmas present for local residents and local town centre traders.

This is a positive result for those Cardigan traders who have been campaigning for years to level the playing field with neighbouring towns such as Newcastle Emlyn and Carmarthen. It can go further but Cllr Ray Quant fairly delivered on his promise back in the summer to take these calls back to his department and to push for this positive change.

'17 years partying, shagging tarts and embarassing the country'

2011-11-14T14:02:00.000Z

So for 33 year old Milan-based journalist Giovanni Riga, this at least will be Silvio Berlusconi's epitaph.

Goodbye Silvio - please close the door behind you

His comment on the scandal-strewn period in office of the out-going Italian Prime Minister in today's Independent speaks volumes for a discredited maverick who rode on the wave of populism and whilst doing so, fed the self-interest of those business aquaintences who surrounded him whilst allowing for his nation's economic fortunes to reach the precipice of disaster.

Papandreou - Gone / Berlusconi - Gone / Zapatero Next?
After the near collapse of the Greek economy over the past week, it is now the Italian economy and its future that has claimed the political life of its Prime Minister. Next week, Spain goes to the polls in a general election with opinion polls pointing to a change of Governemnt. Socialist Prime Minister Zapatero looks set to follow Papandreou in Greece and Berlusconi in Italy as political casualties of the European economic fall-out.

In Spain, it will be the people who will decide who leads them, but quite incredibly, that hasn't been the case in Italy. Such has been the ferocity of the economic storm that threatens not only Italy but the whole continent as a result, that President Napolitano installed the technocratic and un-elected Mario Monti as Prime Minister yesterday.

An Un-Elected Italian Prime Minister - could it happen in the UK?
It is when you take a step back and consider it, an extraordinary state of affairs. For the sake of pulling Italy through incredibly difficult economic waters, the establishment have been forced to bring in a respected former EU Competition Commissioner to implement the cuts and labour reforms required to cut Italy's £1.18trn debt.

Imagine if this economic shock led to such a political solution in the UK? A run on the markets and an unsustainable burden of debt brought the government down. Snap elections would only heighten market fear and so the only reasonable answer would be to form a government of national unity. But to do so, a leader of such a government would need to be acceptable to all. This is where Greece and Italy have found themselves precariously placed in recent days - finding an individual who can count on the support of Parliament to pass unpopular measures.

What of the UK in such a situation? In the case of a national economic emergency, would the Labour opposition willingly bring itself to formally support a Conservative Prime Minister such as David Cameron? It is difficult to envisage. Certainly there would I expect also be no willingness to support the decision to allow the leader of the opposition to take on the reins of government - only an election could precipitate such a scenario.

There would surely be a search to find a suitable Government candidate who could count on that all-party support but who such an individual could be I don't know. But to go where Italy have gone and appoint an un-elected Prime Minister who has no seat in Westminster is constitutionally incomprehensible. The closest that we could get to such a situation I would think would be to appoint a respected Member of the House of Lords who could at least speak from Parliament albeit from the wrong House in Parliament.

Such a precedent of course has been made when Sir Alec Douglas-Home was selected as the Conservative Party Leader and Prime Minister in October 1963 on Harold Macmillan's resignation due to ill health. He was appointed Prime Minister on October 18th 1963 and he disclaimed his Earldom as the Earl of Home and other peerages on the 23rd October. For the next two weeks he belonged to neither House of Parliament. As Sir Alec Douglas-Home, he contested and won a by-election in the safe seat of Kinross & West Perthshire and took his seat in the House of Commons on November 8th.

Good Luck Mr Monti
Could it really happen in the UK? It is incredibly unlikely of course. But then the Italian experiment does have one particular advantage. By not being constrained to an electoral constituency, Prime Minister Monti can push ahead with what are likely to be deeply unpopular economic measures, secure in the knowledge that he is not directly answerable to the Italian people at the ballot box. Such a perverse situation will give him a free-er hand to do what is perceived to be necessary.

Mario Monti - our future rests on his shoulders

Italy currently lives in exceptionally turbulent times but all of our fates hinge in Prime Minister Monti's ability to bring the Italian economy back from the brink. It is surely to large for the EU to be able to rescue if it were to default and if that did happen, it would destroy the Euro and plunge the continent into another recession and as half of our exports in the UK are puchased by our continental neighbours, this is a doomsday scenario that we simply can not encountenance.

So we wave a relived goodbye to that partying, shagging embarassment of a former Italian Prime Minister and put our faith in his replacement who has absolutely no electoral mandate whatsoever.

We live in interesting times.

We Will Remember Them

2011-11-11T09:00:00.000Z

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

You are forever in our thoughts, we are forever in your debt.

RIP

11/11/11

Olympic Torch Comes to Cardigan!

2011-11-07T09:37:00.000Z

What a wonderful start to the week!

I've woken up this morning to hear that the Olympic Torch will be travelling through Cardigan town on it's tour of the UK, on the afternoon of Sunday May 27th!

Olympic Torch Route on Sunday, 27th May 2012

As the BBC website details here, it will travel from Swansea to Aberystwyth via Carmarthen, Haverfordwest, Fishguard and Newport before arriving in Cardigan en-route towards its overnight destination in Aberystwyth.

The concern was that it may make its way up from Carmarthen to Aberaeron via Synod Inn and miss out west Wales completely but that now will not be the case!

I'm absolutely delighted that this iconic sporting emblem will be coming through Cardigan. I raised the matter in 2009 when I was Mayor when the opportunity of welcoming the Olympic Torch to our community first became feasible.

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for us and will act as a great spur to encourage tomorrow's Olympians from within our midst to make that extra effort in their pursuit of excellence.

Roll on May 27th!

A Musical Tribute to a much missed Dad on his 75th Birthday

2011-11-06T21:14:00.000Z

Today would've been my Father's 75th birthday. He passed away in June 2003 aged just 66 and I have mentioned him many times before in this blog. His lasting legacies to me are plentiful, many of which I have touched upon previously.

But to celebrate his birthday today, I wanted to remember him through the music that he enjoyed and which I in turn in turn, grew to enjoy and love also.

He listened to a wide ranging mix of music did Dad and I suppose that in itself answers why my taste in music is so eclectic.

Here below is just a sample of Dad's taste in music. He liked ABBA and Chiquitita in particular but it was through his playing of the instrumental Arrival that I fell in love with that under-rated piece of music. He often played the sound of the Wurlitzer and it became a regular sound from his bedroom and his editing suite. I now have one of those CDs and when I play it, I think of him and the holiday when we and mum went to Blackpool to see the illuminations and visited the Tower Ballroom itself.

We often had David Alexander playing in the car. Dad was a fan and it wasn't long before I knew all of his lyrics off my heart - I still do. Though Dad couldn't speak Welsh, he had a deep love of Welsh choral music as now do I.

ABBA - Arrival

Blackpool Tower Wurlitzer

David Alexander - Working Man

Welsh Male Voice Choir

Finally, the music that will always remind me of my father more than any other - the wonderful sound of the Strauss family Waltzes. Every year we would sit down together to watch the live coverage of the New Years Day Concert from Vienna on BBC2. I still do so to this day.

The Blue Daube - Johann Strauss (Vienna New Years Day Concert)

This music touches me because it clearly touched my father. When I listen to it, he is still alive. It therefore goes without saying that I listen to this varied mix of music often.

So this Dad, is for you - your music and through you, my music. Or what I really mean is, our music. Happy Birthday and thank you for everything.

Britain's Greatest Footballing Manager - Sir Alex Ferguson (closely followed by Brian Clough)

2011-11-06T19:13:00.000Z

Today is my father's 75th birthday. He wasn't much of a football fan but he did take me to Villa Park on my first trip to that footballing mecca of my life back in the autumn of 1995 when I was 13.

So he wouldn't have had much interest in the fact that his birthday coincided with a remarkable date in footballing history and to my amazement, I only realised it myself in recent days. For on my father's 50th birthday on November 6th 1986, Alex Ferguson became manager of Manchester United. Little could the footballing world have realised what a momentous moment that day would turn out to be in the world of British football. Little, no doubt, could my father have cared!

An Old Trafford Legend
Back in December I blogged here on Sir Alex's feat of overtaking Sir Matt Busby as the longest-serving manager in the history of that famous old club that since 1910 has played its home matches at Old Trafford.

Now, we stand at an incredible landmark in what is an incredible career. 25 years as manager at any club in the current 'hire 'em and fire 'em' climate is incredible enough but to have lasted that length of time at the helm of one of the world's biggest clubs and with all of the pressure that goes with that hot-seat makes it even more so.

His Honours List is just mind-boggling. 12 Premiership titles, 5 FA Cups, 4 League Cups, 2 Champions League titles, 1 European Cup Winners Cup title and a win each in the UEFA Super Cup, the Intercontinental Cup and the FIFA World Club Cup speak volumes in themselves. But it is longevity and his ability to re-build teams from within the club during that time to ensure that they remain at the pinacle of English football and the ability of those new teams to maintain that high standard is what marks him out for me as an extraordinary and unique individual within his profession.

The Competition?
Because let's not beat about the bush here, in my mind, Sir Alex Ferguson is the best British footballing manager of all-time. A big call? Absolutely and many will of course disagree. But as an Aston Villa fan that could grind many an axe with old Fergie (see the 1992/93 Premiership season and the 2010 Carling Cup final as examples), I am nevertheless first and foremost a historian and this historian can look back and realise that when he has long gone, Sir Alex Ferguson will be rightly considered a genius.

Ferguson - Paisley - Clough - Shankly

Scousers the world over will scream the name Bob Paisley and for good reason - 6 league titles, 3 league cups, 3 European Cups, 1 UEFA Cup and 1 European Super Cup stand the test of time at Anfield.

Bill Shankly also has a stellar record at that same club - 3 league titles, 2 FA Cups and a UEFA Cup.

Then what about 'Ol Big 'ead? Well, Brian Clough deserves his place in the pantheon without question. Indeed, I would arguably place his achievements above those of Paisley and Shankly. Why? Because he managed to win the league championship with unfancied clubs in the shape of Derby County in 1972 and Nottingham Forest in 1978 having brought both up from the second division - something that today would be nigh-on impossible to achieve. He then went on and matched Paisley's feat of back-to-back European Cup victories of 1977 and 1978 with those of his own in 1979 and 1980. A truly remarkable though tortured charcater.

Aberdeen
The names of Don Revie, Jock Stein, Bill Nicholson and Stan Cullis will also be mentioned and again for good reason. But like with Paisley and Shankly, they could only work their alchemy at a single club.

This for me is why Ferguson sits atop the pile. Why? Well, because for me his genius lies, similarly as it does with Clough, in the fact that he managed to prove his greatness at not just one, but two clubs.

Clough did what he did at two unfashionable clubs. Unfortunately however, although his longevity at the latter was of an impessive standard, the footballing results weren't - 4 League Cups were the sum total of his final 10 years at the City Ground with his final season ending in the ignominy of relegation in 1993. It was a sad way for a genius who could turn the ordinary into the exceptional, to end a controversial but glittering career.

Sir Alex Ferguson is the best of this illustrious bunch not because of what he has done at Manchester United, but because he did all that he has done there having done the same at Aberdeen before that.

Ferguson winning the European Cup Winners Cup
with Aberdeen

To say that he led the team from Pittodrie to 3 Scottish league titles, 4 Scottish FA Cups, a Scottish League Cup and a European Cup Winners Cup as well as the UEFA Super Cup is just playing with statistics. What he did, and what no man has done since, is smash the Old Firm stranglehold in Scottish football to bits. No team since his final league title win at Aberdeen in 1985 outside of Glasgow has been able to match that feat. That is a 26 year hold on the Scottish title by either Rangers of Celtic and the saddest thing is that that shows no sign of changing any time soon.

His back-to-back title wins with Aberdeen in 1984 and 1985 in addition is only the second time in the history of a Scottish league that dates back to 1890 in which a club outside of the Old Firm duo has won outright back-to-back titles. The other was Hibernian in 1951 and 1952. That fact in itself is absolute madness but demonstrates just what a genius this man is that he could break that iron-like grip in a way that had hardly ever been done before and has not been done since.

In total, Sir Alex Ferguson has won 48 trophies as a manager, making him the most successful British football manager in history. But as my comments above testify, the sheer number isn't what makes him the best - it is his longevity, his proven track record with 2 different clubs in two different countries and an ability to reinvent a team to stay at the summit time after time after time that makes him the stand-out manager in the history of British football.

As a neutral footballing fan of Aston Villa support, I can make this argument without being blindly biased towards one club or another as most who make arguments in this debate inevitably are.

Sir Alex's Long Shadow - The Sir Alex Ferguson Stand
To mark his 25th anniversary, it was a wonderful touch by the club to honour the moment by re-naming the club's old North Stand in his honour. It is a fitting tribute which, like his incredible achievements, will last the test of time.

It will however, as will those achievements over these past 25 years, cast a long shadow over the club and that of his successor. When will Sir Alex leave the dugout? Who knows. He probably has a good 5 years left in him and I'm sure he'd like to match the one record that he yet holds - that of Bob Paisley's 3 European Cup victories. But whenever he does, as was the case when Sir Matt Busby retired after 24 years at the helm, it will take a giant of a character to fill his shoes.

Looking up from the dugout at that name looking back down at him, whoever it may be, probably won't help!

Falling into the Abyss - A Greek Tragedy

2011-11-02T12:00:00.000Z

From economic and financial turmoil to the brink of political catastrophe, you've got to hand it to the Greek Governemnt - they're not doing anything by halves.

Prime Minister George Papandreou's snap decision to hold a nation-side referendum on the latest EU debt rescue package caught everyone by surprise. The negative reaction of European stock markets on hearing the news yesterday bore testament to that.

It is a quite incredible twist in events that has seemingly stolen from the jaws of an improbable victory, a catastrophic defeat for Greece.

The latest EU bail-out deal was probably as good as Papandreou could've hoped for. It would've meant a 100bn-euro loan to Athens and a 50% debt write-off of its current debts. But of course, the problem with that is the planned austerity measures that go hand-in-hand with this financial support. The cuts in pensions and public sector wages and the lay-off off thousands of workers has understandably caused an angry response from the populace to these measures that have already gone before and those that lie ahead if this additional package were accepted.

Papandreou: On a wing and a prayer?

Papandreou's Political Gamble

The Greek Prime Minister however has decided to play the biggest gamble by risking the loss of the package afforded to him by the EU in the face of the angry reaction that he has received at home.

The likelihood is that the referendum could well be lost and with it surely, the last remnants of Greece's place in the 17-nation Eurozone. In the short-term, the financial bankruptcy of a nation that this would presumably precipitate would be worse than anything currently being experienced by the residents of Greece. Though having said that, the longer-term repercussions once a new and more reasonable level has been found for the now reconceived Drachma may be more hopeful for a weary and tired nation.

Short-term pain but long-term gain then for Greece if they were to refuse the bail-out and force an early exit from the Eurozone? I'm no economist but this lay-man asks the question.

Greek Elections?

Yet, we may not have a referendum after all.

On Friday, Papandreou faces a Confidence Motion in his governemnt which he himself has tabled. This is a Government that now has a wafer-thin majority of just 2 in a Parliament of 300. It also includes a number of his own party members who have openly called for him to quit as leader. If he loses the vote on Friday and it could well happen, then there will likely be a snap general election. This will cause even more turmoil at a time when what is required is steady and calm leadership to steer a nation through unprecedented waters.

He may of course win the vote on Friday and still go on to lose the referendum which in itself will surely result in the fall of his government and fresh elections anyway.

Europe Awaits

But of course the repercussions of Greece's decision doesn't just remain within its own borders. The remainder of the Eurozone and indeed the remainder of the membership of the EU including Britain, await with baited breath, every nuanced move made in these delicate and dangerous times.

The reaction of the markets yesterday was not a positive sign and the biggest worry now is that until a referendum is held, the uncertainty in the markets is only going to increase. The talk is of a January referendum with some optimistically holding out for one as early as December. Either way, the best-case scenario is that the European markets have 4 weeks of limbo during which the situation can very easilty deteriorate. At worse, it could be the New Year before the situation becomes clearer.

The Abyss

Papandreou has played his ace card - the card that gives the final authority on Greece's economic future to the people of Greece. It is in fact, rather apt that he has done so when you consider that it was in Ancient Greece that the concept of direct democracy took shape.

But it is the greatest of gambles. He may win his confidence motion on Friday and win around a sceptical public to support the package in the referendum. If he does, his decision will be viewed by many as a masterly show of cunning resolve.

But is it? What it has done is exacerbated the sense of crisis that surrounds this whole sorry tale. A tale that began when Greece was allowed entry in the Eurozone in the first place. French President Sarkozy was candid in speaking to the media recently when he said that the decision to allow Greece into the Eurozone in hindsight now looks like a mistate. Without question, he was correct.

But the past can not be altered. The future however is another matter but we do not know what that future has in store for Greece and for the rest of Europe.

Greece stands at the abyss and in my opinion now, it's going to fall right into it. This is the greatest tragedy of all.

My Internet Stat Porn Monthly Report (14) October

2011-11-01T11:00:00.001Z

This is my fourteenth monthly round-up of blog figures for anyone who is remotely interested in who reads my little blog. These stats for the month of October come courtesy of google analytics.

Calming Down
As with September, October has been a relatively quiet month.

My output for the month of 20 blog posts is my lowest since last November when I blogged 19 times and one less than my total for last month.

In September, I had a total of 4,218 absolute unique visitors to my blog (up on my September total of 3,636 but down on my May record of 6,485). Those 4,218 absolute unique visitors made 4,581 visits to my blog in October (up on the 3,859 total from September but down on the 6,908 record from May). They did however view 11,517 pages has eclipsed the previous best in May of 9,738 pageviews.

The top 10 stories by direct page views that you've read this month were:

1. The longest headed goal in footballing history?! Arise, Jone Samuelson!
2. Wembley Bound with Swansea City AFC!
3. 9am: Swansea City AFC - Premier League!
4. Brian Blessed, Chancellor of Cambridge University?!
5. Labour's Leighton Andrews' Extraordinary Live TV Coco Pops Outburst
6. Rory McIlroy - A Leap of Faith to Join the Immortals of Golf
7. Happy 65th Birthday Freddie Mercury
8. 'The King's Speech' - The Book Vs The Film (SPOILER WARNING!)
9. British Guns on Dublin's Streets
10. 3 Ceredigion County Councillors admit their £12,000 expenses errors

Of the 10, only 2 were written this month - the other 8 are popular blog posts written in months past that continue to attract hits. The 2 that I wrote this month came in at No.1 and 10.

After 4 months at the top, my Rory McIlroy - A Leap of Faith to Join the Immortals of Golf blog post fell down to No.6 and was replaced by The longest headed goal in footballing history?! Arise, Jone Samuelson! blog post which, thanks to my Brazilian readership, has instantly become my 5th most read post of all-time!

Blog Traffic
Of all of the blog visitors this past month, 9.36% were through direct traffic (down from 12.52% in September), 35.91% came from referring sites (up from 25.92% in September) and 54.73% via search engines (down from 61.56% in September).

The bounce rate for the month was 8.40% which again, like with the September figures seems remarkably low to me but then who am I who to argue with Google Analytics?! 80.24% were new visits as opposed to 19.76% returning visitors.

An International Blog!
The visitors to my little blog came from 104 countries/territories this month - up from my September tally of 98 but down on May record of 123, with a cumulative total of 168 countries/territories having supplied visitors to my blog to date.

The top ten countries to date are as follows (with position change from October & % of total views):

1. United Kingdom (No Change) 50.9% (=)
2. United States (No Change) 19.0% (-0.7%)
3. Brazil (+7) 2.4% (+1.2%)
4. Germany (-1) 2.2% (-0.1%)
5. Canada (-1) 2.0% (-0.2%)
6. Australia (-1) 1.8% (=)
7. Ireland (-1) 1.4% (-0.1%)
8. Poland (-1) 1.3% (-0.1%)
9. France (+1) 1.2% (=)
=10. Denmark (-1) 1.2% (-0.1%)
=10. Holland (New Entry) 1.2%

In possibly the greatest shake-up up of my monthly top 10 since I began blogging, my Brazilian readership doubled in the space of just a few weeks as some 700 or so viewed my The longest headed goal in footballing history?! Arise, Jone Samuelson! blog post. I know Brazilians are crazy about football, but that really is crazy! As a result, Brazil shot up from 10th in my all-time list up to 3rd. Wow!

It has continued to be a very cosmopolitan blog this month and honourable mentions must go in particular to the 2 new countries/territories that has provided its first viewers to my blog this October.

Kazakstan and Angola have both supplied its first reader to my blog during the past month!

Fair play to them all, and to you all, for putting up with my ramblings!

When Jimmy Savile met Rod Hull & Emu

2011-10-29T17:30:00.000+01:00

He was one of the most eccentric names and faces in British entertainment.

He was the first ever presenter of Top of the Pops in 1964 and remained at the healm for 20 years. He returned for an episode in 2001 and was on-hand to co-present the final ever episode on July 30th 2006.

Savile was also well known for his charitable support. He competed for good causes in over 300 professional bike races and 212 marathons including the London Marathon at the age of 79. He raised millions of pounds for charity and for his efforts, he was awarded the OBE in 1971 and in 1990 he was knighted for his services in the Queen's Birthday Honours List. That same year he was honoured with a papal knighthood from the Vatican making him a Knight Commander of Saint Gregory the Great (KCSG).

For me however, he will always be remembered as the man who 'fixed it' for children of my generation by making their dreams come true. 'Jim'll Fix It' ran for 286 episodes from 1975-1994. Here is that famous opening theme and then a memorable Xmas special clip from 1976 with that other fabulous eccentric, Rod Hull and his side-kick Emu.

He was an eccentric character with a dress sense, a vocabulary and a taste in jewellery and cigars that marked him out from the crowd. He was a one-off. At 84, he certainly lived life to the full.

RIP Jimmy

A Prayer for Bangkok

2011-10-29T11:00:00.000+01:00

The increasingly concerning picures coming out of Thailand over recent days have saddened me greatly.

Source: BBC News Website

Its capital Bangkok is on the cusp of succumbing to an awful flood which has already taken more than 370 lives. Heavy monsoon rains have been causing flooding in Thailand since July with flood waters continuing to creep into northern districts of Bangkok. The centre remains mostly dry for the time being. Officials however have warned that high tides due this weekend, combined with the flow of run-off water from inundated central plains, could cause wider flooding.

The city is surrounded by flooded plains and the situation could deteriorate badly over the coming days.

My Bangkok Experience
The reason why I take a particular interest and concern in this news story is because I have been to Bangkok myself before.

It was back in 2008 when I spent two days and nights in the Thai capital city on arriving in the country before moving on to Chiang Mai in the north. I've happily admitted that out of all of the different locations that I visited during that 2 week stay, Bangkok was not a favourite of mine. To me, it was too much of a modern Asian tourism hotspot. It quickly dawned on me as I visited Chiang Mai and Kanchanaburi that Bangkok was not representative of the Thai nation in the more traditionally cultural sense.

Neverthless, it was a fascinating experience. Driving around in a Tuk-Tuk through the polluted Bangkok air was an unforgettable experience and I was delighted to successfully complete my first transaction in bartering with a local trader for a traditional Thai umbrella outside the Grand Palace. Unfortunately, within a matter of hours I then went and left it at the Railway Station where we'd called in to book our sleeper-train tickets to Koh Samui for later in our holiday. Typical!

We stayed in two different hotels during the two nights. They weren't the Ritz but then they did the job quite adequately - as long as you had a working fan in your room to deal with the humidity, you'd be ok. During the first night, not long after checking-into the hotel from the airport, I recall walking around the city at midnight - it was a bustling live city which for this little westerner that had never experienced the culture of the Orient at first hand was an eye opening experience. The next morning, I took the photo on the right, looking down from our hotel room on high at flooded streets below.

This remember is the city centre and here you had flooded streets. The example here as dated was on January 30th 2008 - you can see quite clearly the sight of moving cars making their way through high levels of water.

So the sad sights being witnessed this week, though are clearly to the extreme of what I myself witnessed in 2008, seem to signify a trend of a kind.

I hope that catastrophe can be averted this weekend. Thailand is a beautiful country with a welcoming people. They do not deserve this.

UK royal succession laws pulled kicking and screaming into 21st century

2011-10-28T11:08:00.006+01:00

At last. At long, long, last.

The UK's Royal Succession laws have been altered to give equal gender and religious equalities where they did not exist previously.

As this BBC News Website article states, the leaders of the 16 Commonwealth countries where the Queen is head of state have unanimously approved the changes at a summit in Perth, Australia. Sons and daughters of any future British monarch will therefore have equal right to the throne. The ban on the monarch being married to a Roman Catholic has also been lifted.

It therefore brings to an end the archaic situation where a younger male was given precedent to the throne over an elder female. A modern example is that of Princess Anne, the Princess Royal. Though the second child of Elizabeth II, she falls behind her younger brothers Andrew and Edward and their children in the line of succession to the throne simply because she is female.

Such a farcical anomaly should've been put right decades ago when equality legislation was being passed by Parliament in the 1970s.

The Monarchy has been pulled kicking and screaming into the 21st century with this long overdue decision. Of course, for many, this isn't enough. For a truly meritocratic nation, surely we should be a Republic? Yes, I can't argue with that. But I'm a pragmatist in such things. At the moment I'm a 'better the devil you know' realist and am happy to see the monarchy continue into the foreseeable future. Controversial and against the views of many of my liberal colleagues? I'm sure. But hey, this is my opinion.

Speaking of the future, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's children will now fall into line with this new status so if William and Kate's first child is a girl and not a boy, then it is likely (if the Monarchy survives to such a date) then that our future Monarch, like her great-grandmother, will be a Queen Regnant.

The change to the marriage law is also greatly welcome. To discriminate against Catholics in such a way as to not allow them to marry the Monarch as has been the case since 1688 is absolute folly. Repealing this ban is long overdue but welcome for it.

These are small additional blows for gender and religious equality, but important ones all the same.

Epilogue
Since I wrote this blog post earlier today, Stephen Glenn has written this excellent counter-factual blog post on the history of the Monarchy had males and females had equality to succeed to the Throne throughout the ages. I highly commend it to you to read. My favourite counter-factual? Kaiser Willhelm II of Germany reigning as King William V of the British Empire - only in counter-factual 'what if' scenarios could such a thing have been possible!

Ceredigion County Council to Investigate Local Authority Mortgage Scheme for First-Time Buyers

2011-10-27T16:00:00.000+01:00

Ceredigion County Council voted unanimously today to support a feasibility study to look into supporting a Local Authority Mortgage Scheme to help first-time buyers enter the market and find a home in the locality.

The motion was proposed by the Welsh Liberal Democrat group on the Council and in a relatively rare show of consensus politics, was supported unanimously by members from across the Chamber.

The scheme is an exciting one which has already been put in place by Welsh Councils in Conwy and Cardiff.

How would a Local Authority Mortgage Scheme work?
Well, as an example...

Say a house is for sale for £100,000 with a deposit required of £25,000 i.e. 25%. The prospective first-time buyer however only has £5,000 i.e. 5% available. The Mortgage provider in the current financial climate requires a deposit of 25% so the purchaser needs to find a 'critical friend' for the remaining 20%.

At this point, the council steps in and offers to be a guarantor for the remaining 20%. The Council does not hand over £20k to the purchaser but rather deposits the £20k with the bank. The bank in turn pays the council interest on this money - one English authority currently receives 4.7%. The Bank only dips into that 20% if the borrower defaults. If the bank incurs a loss the council cash would provide the indemnity.

The bank then provides the purchaser with a 95% mortgage.

In the event of non-payment, repossession and a distress sale, the buyer takes the first 5% risk, the council takes the next 20% of risk, and the bank takes a loss in the property falls below 75% market value. The council, or ratepayer, is taking on the risk that the bank deems unsafe.

Officer Support
Cllr Paul Hinge and Cllr Ceredig Davies who proposed and seconded the proposal rightly spoke to the Director of Finance in advance of submitting the motion to gather the support of the department for such an idea. The officers were enthused about this scheme and now the details need to put into place for a motion to be put forward to the Council in the new year.

Although I've now been on the County Council for 7 years, at the age of 29 I remain the 'Baby of the Council' so I spoke from that perspective on the matter in the Council Chamber during the debate and spoke up for the need for the authority to do all that it could to help young first-time buyers to make that huge first step onto the housing ladder. I was fortunate as I said in Council, to have had the support of my family to make up for the 'black hole' between my savings and the required deposit required for the mortgage. Without that support, I wouldn't be in this house which has been my home for these past near 6 years. But I was fortunate to have that support that is not afforded to all of my age. That is where the County Council have an opportunity to step in and to be that 'critical friend'.

It's an exciting project and I look forward to seeing the detailed policy come back in front of the Council for approval in the new year.

Below is the Motion that was proposed by the Welsh Liberal Democrat group this morning and which was supported unanimously by Independent and Plaid Cymru Councillors.

COUNCIL BELIEVES:
Ceredigion County Council believes that prospective first time buyers of affordable homes in Ceredigion are at a distinct disadvantage insomuch as they may well fulfil all the criteria set-out for the purchase of their first home but in the economic climate that exists and the requirement of very large deposits, they are unable to get a foothold on the housing ladder or indeed gain access to a home for themselves.

COUNCIL NOTES:
The turmoil in the financial and banking sectors has had a negative effect on the economy and on the local housing market. There has been a particular impact on first time buyers because of the general reduction in the loan to value mortgages from 95% down to 75% necessitating a deposit of some 25% of the house value. Mortgage insurance and shared ownership schemes have helped play a part in reviving the market but are unlikely to normalise the market for first-time buyers who are seeking an affordable home it is likely that low loan to value mortgages are likely to continue for some time. The lack of first-time buyers continues to depress the housing market and this consequently is having an adverse effect on our local economy. As a consequence of this, there is a real need to bring forward a scheme that will help stimulate the housing market and the wider economy.

COUNCIL RESOLVES:
Ceredigion County Council resolves to enact a feasibility study to ascertain whether a Local Authority Mortgage Scheme (LAMS) is a viable way in which the Local Authority can intervene and help first-time buyers enter the market and find a home in the locality.

Proposed by: Cllr Paul Hinge
Seconded by: Cllr Ceredig Davies

Will Libya follow Tunisia into the light or Egypt into the unknown?

2011-10-24T13:00:00.000+01:00

It has been a monumental weekend for the Arab Spring.

Gaddafi's capture in Libya and the fall of Sirte made yesterday's proclamation of National Liberation in Libya feasible and it, as sure as anything, will have sent a stark warning to the likes of Syria's Assad who continue to crack down on internal dissent. It was an extraordinary spectacle to watch in the cradle of the Libyan uprising in Benghazi and whilst there's many difficult obstacles to overcome on the hoped for route to an open and democratic future, Libya don't have to look to far for a fine example of what can be achieved in a short space of time.

Free Elections in Tunisia
With a wonderful stroke of luck, as Libya rejoiced its formal declaration of liberation yesterday, in neighbouring Tunisia a hopeful and thankful population walked in their millions to the polling booths to cast their first vote in an open and fair election.

It shows what can be achieved in a relatively short space of time. For it was in Tunisia that the Arab Spring sparked into life last winter and where President Ben Ali fled on January 14th. Only 9 months later, the structures have been put into place to allow for a safe and fair election - one in which over 100 political parties are competing to elect a 217-member Constituent Assembly which will write a new Constitution and elect an interim-Prime Minister. Because of the system of Proportional Representation that has been used for the election and the plurality of male and female candidates, the result is likely to see the highest ever female Parliamentary representation in the Arab world.

Early reports estimate that 90% of the 4.1m registered voters have taken up their right to choose their elected representatives. There is clearly then a strong appetite in this once autocratic nation to take a democratic lead in deciding who it is that runs its own affairs. This of course it to be celebrated and welcomed most warmly.

An Uncertain Future for Egypt
However, on Libya's far border from Tunisia, we witness more concerning developments.

Barely a month after the flight of Ben Ali in Tunisia, Hosni Mubarak stood down on February 11th as Egyptian President. He transferred his powers to the Egyptian Armed Forces who immediately dissolved the Egyptian Parliament, suspended the Constitution of Egypt, and promised to lift the nation's thirty-year emergency laws. It further promised to hold free, open elections within the next six months, or by the end of the year at the latest. Protests have however continued through the summer in response to the perceived sluggishness in instituting reforms.

In the same similar timescale, Tunisia have managed to bring about democratic reforms that have not as yet been forthcoming in Egypt.

A Democratic Libya?
So Libya has two ways of looking as it begins the long journey towards instigating its future forms of governance.

With the NTC in charge, the hope very much is that the wind is blowing in the right direction. As I blogged here a few days ago, there are many surmontable obstacles that Libya needs to overcome. One of those is to meet the desires of its people in an orderly fashion. I stated then that the Libyan people needed to remain calm whilst their nation is rebuilt and soon enough, democratic elections will come.

For it is of course far to easy to oversimplify the situation in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. They have all awoken from different styles of autocractic and dictatorial rule but that should not mean that Tunisia's example can not be replicated over the border in Libya.

What fills me with hope is that those Gaddafi-regime weary Libyans, need not look across their eastern border in trepidation at what could be conceived to be the take-over of a nation from one autocratic regime to another. Instead, the civil war weary inhabitants of Sirte, Misrata, Benghazi and Tripoli can instead look across their western borders and witness an example of what can be done in a relatively short space of time.

If the Libyan nation goes to the polls in open and free elections next summer as is envisaged by the NTC, then the transition to an open and plural society should be secured. If however, those same new interim leaders defer and obfuscate to such a degree that we find ourselves still awaiting elections in Libya this time next year, then resentment and hostility will likely manifest itself as it is doing in Egypt at this present time.

The world is watching Libya's every move. Here's hoping that at the same time, Libya is watching Tunisia's every move, and not Egypt's.

Christina Perri - Jar of Hearts

2011-10-23T19:00:00.000+01:00

I'm not a big fan of 'modern music'. That for anyone who knows me, is a given. Anything recorded post-1996 generally attracts a disapproving glance from this direction but there are of course notable exceptions.

It must also be said that Alyson's more modern tastes have inevitably rubbed off on me. I would have to grudgingly admit now for example, that I rather like Lady Gaga. But I don't shout about it too much as it would ruin my reputation of being an old sage when it comes to my musical tastes.

One of my slow burning favourites from 2011 has been this hit from unheralded artiste Christina Perri. I wasn't keen on it at first but the more I've listened to it and the lyrics, the more it has registered on my radar. In particular, Christina's top note near the climax to the song is absolutely captivating. It's a beautifully pure and haunting sound.

Enjoy.

For our returning Welsh Warriors...

2011-10-22T08:03:00.000+01:00

As played on Classic FM this morning for the returning Welsh rugby squad after their brave, battling World Cup heroics.

Cymru am Byth

Reflections on the Death of a Libyan Tyrant

2011-10-20T18:00:00.000+01:00

So, there we have it - he's dead.

In all fairness, those photos were of nobody else other than the former tyrannical leader of the Libyan nation.

In the end, it came so suddenly. But then, that's how these situations usually climax. It certainly makes sense the long final battle for Sirte. Many had considered that Gaddafi's presence may have slipped away to foreign soil as his grip on power collapsed after the fall of Tripoli on 22nd/23rd August. But clearly whilst many of the old regime did escape with their lives, Gaddafi went back to his birthplace for a final battle. It makes sense of course because this was where his support was greatest. Indeed, the sudden collapse of Tripoli was almost unsettlingly brisk. It would turn out that it would be Sirte and not Tripoli that would put up the greatest resistance.

A month later and with the final surrender of Sirte all but confirmed, this sudden development has brought this civil war the gruesome sights that millions of Libyans had fought for since hostilities begun on February 15th.

Caught Dead or Alive?
Should he have been caught alive to be put on trial in the Hague? Ideally, yes. Does his death make him a martyr for his remaining supporters? It is a concern. But having said that, his death will bring a sense that the civil war has now, after 8 months, come to an end.

Source: BBC News Website

It is easy for us here in the west, sitting on our comfy sofas and watching these incredible scenes unravel live on the 24-hour news cycle to pontificate about what should have been done. The truth of the matter is that Gaddafi will have been found by angry Libyans who will have wanted revenge for his actions that resulted in the deaths of thousands of Libyans over not just the past 8 months, but also, over the past 42 years.

With emotions running so high, this really has to be expected and in its own way, respected - even if this is not the way we may have gone about things in the west.

Well done to the UN and to NATO
I am not one that supports international action for the sake of it. I supported Afghanistan. I opposed Iraq. For me, the support of the UN is pivotal in whether foreign intervention is legal or not.

As I blogged about at the time back in March, the UN did the right thing to authorise support for the then Libyan rebels. With the support of France and the UK, NATO were right to carry out its targetted bombings of Gaddafi's defensive positions. This is not a position that I take lightly but the real-politik of the situation sometimes requires such actions. I am pleased that the UK played its part in this necessary venture but today's events will hopefully bring that involvement to a close.

An Uncertain Future
So what next? The NTC will soon move to Tripoli and a full transition to democratic elections will begin in earnest.

But there may be some time before those elections take place and quite frankly, there's no hurry. I hope that the Libyan population give its new transitionary government the time to put a broken, war-torn nation back together. More important right now for Libyans is not the ballot box but clean flowing water, electricity and a home in which to live. There is now a need to build a civic society from nothing that will stand as a basis for a future democratic state.

This will all take time. A long time. It will only work if the various factions and tribes in Libyan society pull together and work towards a common goal. If they don't, Libya's future may still be a bleak one.

The lesson of Iraq and Afghanistan was that elections for elections sake, mean nothing. George W. Bush's fanaticism about this being the hold grail of foreign intervention was horribly misplaced. I hope that Libya does not make the same mistake. I don't think they will. Because more than anything, this has been an uprising from within. NATO air strikes were critical of course, but that support would never have been given if there wasn't a clear sense that Libyans were themselves rising against their tyranical dictator and needed the extra support.

This has been a Libyan victory and they now need to ensure that the future is a Libyan one. Get the infrastructure right, improve the living standards of its residents and a transition to a democratic future is possible.

It is a historic day in Libya. But it is one that reminds us why he was so sought after in the first place.

For the family of Yvonne Fletcher and for the 270 families effected by that disaster on December 21st 1988 and also for those killed by the IRA with the use of Gaddafi-sold semtex, it is a day possibly, to reflect on how this man brought such horror to their world.

It's time to move on but for many, moving on is not so easy because of the actions of Muammar Gaddafi.

This is the end of the beginning as the UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon stated in his response to the news. The work for a fair, free and open future in Libya has only just begun.

A Sight for Sore Welsh Footballing Eyes - No.45 in the World

2011-10-20T14:00:00.000+01:00

Only back in August, Welsh football hit the doldrums. Placed at No.117 in the FIFA World Rankings, we had fallen below those footballing giants from Azerbaijan, Guatemala, Haiti and Guyana. Oh, and the Faroe Islands.

It resulted in the embarassing sight of Wales being drawn in the same bottom pot of European seeds for the 2014 Brazilian World Cup qualifying campaign as the likes of San Marino and Andorra.

But, back-to-back wins in the Euro qualifiers against Switzerland and Bulgaria have suddenly propelled Gary Speed's young team up to a 17 year high of 45th place in the world. This suddenly places Wales above the likes of the Czech Republic, Cameroon, Ukraine, Poland and Austria.

It also places them back above Scotland (51st) and Northern Ireland (84th) as the second highest Home Nation in the list behind 7th placed England.

Ironically, despite being drawn as one of the bottom seeds in that World Cup draw, things could've played out much worse. As it happens, Wales have been drawn in Group A in what will be a real Balkans hot-house. They will play Croatia (12th), Serbia (23rd), Belgium (37th) and Macedonia (93rd) who happen to be managed by former Wales boss John Toshack. Oh, and let's not forget Scotland.

It really is a quite ridiculous state of affairs but then, having fallen so low, winning against much higher rated teams will do wonders for your ranking and that's what Wales have done these past few months with 3 wins in 4 matches. Of course, the youthful, basic raw talent has always been there but only now are we starting to see what it can really do.

Speaking of Toshack, I do feel sorry for him. Because it was his policy of bringing through the Welsh youth onto the international stage from an early age that has set the basis for where Gary Speed's boys are today. Toshack's problem however was that he ran out of time. By playing the long-game, he effectively destroyed Wales' short-term aspirations. But maybe, just maybe, that long-term strategy may just reap dividends in the future. Here's hoping.

We're still a way off Wales' best-ever ranking of 27th that was achieved under Terry Yorath's leadership in August 1993, but this is at least improvement.

What next? This is Welsh football - I haven't got a clue.

Malta or Cyprus?

2011-10-19T09:00:00.000+01:00

Alyson needs a holiday and in fact, so do I.

Indeed, unless I leave these British shores before the end of the year, 2011 will be the first year in which I have not had a foreign holiday since 2004.

Ever since that first holiday in this series to North America in 2005, I've caught the travel bug. There's a big old world out there with new experiences and things to see and learn. Expanding our horizons to learn of other cultures and traditions from those of our own is one of the most fulfilling things that I have ever done.

So after what has been a difficult summer health-wise, we're considering a short break late next month. It will also be our first holiday together. Nothing's set in stone but the idea that has been mulling around in our heads is a short break to the Mediterranean. In particular, we're thinking of either Malta or Cyprus as two island destinations which neither of us have previously visited.

If readers have views or reviews on either, please do comment below as we are genuinely unsure at this moment in time, which one we may choose.

Goodbye Betty and thank you for the Hotpots

2011-10-17T10:00:00.001+01:00

I've been away in Wrexham over the weekend at Welsh Liberal Democrat conference. It must be said that what was a pleasant weekend was destroyed by the rugby result. I can't write fully about it right now because it's too painful. Suffice to say, the manner of the defeat was bitterly difficult to comprehend and cast a shadow for me over the entire weekend.

An added source of sorrow on Saturday was the news that Coronation Street legend Betty Driver has died aged 91. It's no secret that I'm a big Corrie fan. But as a man of heritage, despite my relatively younger age, it is the history of the Street that enamours me more than the modern day goings-on down on the Cobbles. The link to the past means a lot to me so I take great comfort in knowing that the likes of Emily Bishop, Rita Sullivan and Ken Barlow form a direct link to a time on the show when those same Cobbles were trodden on by the shoes of Ena Sharples, Annie Walker, Albert Tatlock and Elsie Tanner. Betty's on-screen alter-ego, Betty Turpin (and later Williams) shared that same heritage as she had been working behind the bar at the Rovers Return since 1969. She appeared in over 2,800 episodes during the past 42 years and though in many cases was an under-stated character who never had many major plot-lines throughout those 40+ years, she nevertheless played this matriarchal figure that anchored the programme down to its proud roots and traditions.

There have been countless eulogies for her in recent days and deservedly so. But I'd like to mention Daran Hill at Wales Home who gave a more personal account of this stalwart figure which deserves a read and which I for one, can not better.

In addition, thanks to Liberal England, I fell upon this Desert Island Discs interview with Betty which was transmitted only back in January this year.

An incredible character with a wonderful sense of humour, she will sorely missed.

So we bid adieu to Betty and her hotpots, not that Betty Driver would mind - in real-life, she was a vegetarian!

A Corrie legend has left us and when the news is broken in the Rovers Return over the coming weeks, there will be tears. I suspect that I will be one of those to shed them because we haven't just lost our Betty, but we've also lost one of those indelible links to that glorious past.

Sleeping Rough in Aberystwyth

2011-10-14T09:00:00.001+01:00

Last Thursday night, I joined a hardy handful to sleep on the streets of Aberystwyth to help raise awareness for World Homelessness Day which was last Monday, October 10th.

The 'Big Aberystwyth Sleep Out' was organised by the local branch of the homelessness charity 'The Wallich' and I had been invited as a County Councillor to spend 12 hours between 8pm last Thursday night and 8am last Friday morning, sleeping outside the Matalan store in town with little more than a sleeping bag and a number of layers of clothing to keep warm.

I've often thought of doing such a thing but the opportunity has never arisen until now. I was therefore pleased to accept and along with some 15 other members of the local community, we did so last week despite the cold and wet weather.

Lib Dem student Ollie Dunckley joined me and we were in good company as in particular we were joined by local Aberystwyth Town Councillor Wendy Morris-Twiddy and Cambrian News journalist James Nicholas. But it was the company of 23 year-old Jamie, who had previously lived on the streets and in hostels before settling down and starting his own business who brought alive to us the real-life context of what this 12 hour shift for us meant for those who have to live with it on a regular basis.

Sleeping Rough in Aberystwyth

We settled down by midnight into our sleeping bags but despite having some shelter, the blustery wintery weather made its presence felt. As the heavy showers came down, the wind often saw it blow the rain over us as we made our best efforts to keep warm and dry under our sleeping bag covers. I personally found it quite difficult to fall asleep. What struck me was the feeling of a lack of security and the vulnerability of being in such a position - even though we were of course fortunate to have a good pack of us all supporting each other in doing the same thing. When I did eventually manage to fall asleep, I did so relatively soundly and awoke at 6.30am with the dawn slowly coming upon us. By 8am we had all departed.

Of course, we were fortunate. We had tea and coffee available to us thanks to the support of local businesses and we also had the nearby Council toilets open all evening for us. We also, as I noted above, had each other. These are luxuries that those sleeping in shop doorways the length and breadth of the land have not got. What we experienced during those 12 hours was the mere tip of the iceberg of how it must be to live on the streets.

But even that small window into this world taught me that it is a harsh, cold and unpleasant life out there. I will certainly never look at a homeless individual living on the streets in the same light again.

How I helped Nick Clegg's office sort out its computer gremlins

2011-10-13T08:00:00.000+01:00

Well, it's kind of true.

Yesterday I received an e-mail from Nick Clegg's office in response to one I had sent to him back in August. Not a quick response I hear you say? Well, indeed. Funnily enough, the reason I wrote to him in the first place was due to this snail-like response of his office to e-mail correspondence.

Let me explain...

Back in August I'd been contacted by a local resident in Cardigan who happens to be a Liberal Democrat member as well. He had e-mailed Nick Clegg on a number of policy based issues that were on his mind. But the response was not quickly forthcoming and so he asked me to help him in inducing a response from the Deputy Prime Minister. I therefore sent this e-mail (with his name blocked out for confidentiality) to one of Nick Clegg's many e-mail addresses...

Mark Cole, Aug-11 19:40 (BST):

Dear Nick,

You recently received correspondence from **** **** who is a Lib Dem member in Cardigan. As he mentions below, he has had no response to that communication - not even an acknowledgement.

He understands that your office will be busy, dealing with a mountain of correspondence I'm sure but he would appreciate a holding response until he receives a fuller reply in due course.

Could I therefore suggest as a follow-on to this that an automatic e-mail acknowledgement system is set-up? Our local Lib Dem MP Mark Williams has one so that local residents know that their e-mails have arrived safely. Just an idea.

I would greatly appreciate it if your office could reply to **** as he is a conscientious member of the party.

With kind regards,

Cllr Mark Cole

Well, 2 months have rolled on and suddenly, out of the blue, I received from a member of Nick's staff this e-mail in response yesterday...

**** ****, Oct-12 15:30 (BST):

Dear Cllr Cole,

Thank you for your email and your suggestions to Nick Clegg MP. I am replying on his behalf.

I am sorry that **** **** had to wait so long for a response, and that he did not receive an acknowledgement on sending his message. We have now contacted **** **** addressing some of his concerns.

We have recently moved to a new system to manage and respond to correspondence, and we have experienced a few problems with this. We have now resolved the issue and acknowledgement emails should be sent out to everyone who contacts Nick.

Thank you for your email and your concern. You were quite right to point out that **** **** had not received a response, and we hope that the situation has now been resolved. Needless to say we are reviewing our systems in order to deal with correspondence more efficiently.

Kind regards

**** ****

Office of Nick Clegg MP

So there we have it. Clearly, Nick's office has been experiencing problems in dealing with what I'm sure is a deluge of correspondence. But as eventually explained in the e-mail, hopefully all is now in hand and whilst there was a long wait in getting a response I'm pleased that one was eventually received and with sincere apologies for the delay.

3 Ceredigion County Councillors admit their £12,000 expenses errors

2011-10-12T21:03:00.000+01:00

Last week, I commented here on a Cambrian News article which had brought to light the fact that 2 Ceredigion Councillors had been overpaid a total of nearly £12,000 in expenses over the past 11 years.

In that post, I commented that neither of the two had been named which was unfortunately casting a shadow over the remaining 40 of us who had not made the error.

Today's Cambrian News front page however, rectifies that. As this article states, there were actually 3 Councillors who had wrongly overclaimed. They were Cllr Haydn Richards (Plaid Cymru) who over-claimed £1,203.40, Cllr David Evans (Plaid Cymru) who over-claimed £5,100.42 and Keith Evans (Independent) who over-claimed £5,484.12 in travel expenses.

They had all paid back the overpayment and I believe the reasons that they gave in mitigation for their errors.

It was only fair on the remainder of us that they stepped forward and admitted their mistakes and I'm pleased that they did so.

Under the new system that is in place, such errors shouldn't occur again.

A Boring 2011 F1 Season? Not a chance. Well done Seb Vettel!

2011-10-09T09:00:00.001+01:00

It is the venue where F1 folklore has been written and another chapter was written today.

The Japanese GP at Suzuka witnessed those epic tussles between Prost and Senna in 1989 and 1990. It witnessed an emotional World Championship win for Damon Hill in 1996. It was also the venue for World Championship success for Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher. Amidst such an illustrious list, it is apt that Sebastian Vettel today won his second consecutive F1 crown at the circuit by the fairground today.

It had been written on the wall for much of the season and today, with 4 races yet to go, he has made a mockery of his world class opposition by sealing a historic back-to-back Championship win.

Should we complain at this relative procession though? Absolutely not. I've heard a few moans that this season hasn't been as close and exciting championship wise as in recent years but that should not take away from Vettel's achievement. He has shown himself to be a class above this year and has confirmed his own credentials as one of the best of his generation.

In his victorious quest, Vettel has out-gunned former World Champions Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.

With 5 World Champions on the track, we really are living through a golden era of F1. The fact that 2011 did not see a final race showdown only demonstrates how well Vettel has done against such stern opposition. Indeed, this is now the exception rather than the norm. In 2006 (Alonso), 2007 (Raikonnen), 2008 (Hamilton) and 2010 (Vettel), the championship went to the wire. In 2009, Button only secured the title in the penultimate race. So this is the earliest Championship win since 2004.

When I was growing up throughout the 1990s, a last race championship decider was a rare and relative luxury - nowadays, we have had a wealth of last race nail biters to enjoy. So let's not worry too much that on this occasion the championship has been decided early.

Youngest ever double World Champion
So let's look more at what has just been achieved.

Sebastian Vettel is now the youngest ever double F1 World Champion. In doing so, he has become only the 15th driver in the history of F1 to win 2 World titles - joining an illustrious list that includes the likes of Stewart, Lauda, Piquet, Clark, Graham Hill and Fittipaldi.

But Vettel has done more than that. By winning two World Championships back-to-back, he joins an even more exclusive list by becoming only the 9th driver to have done so - along with Ascari, Fangio, Brabham, Prost, Senna, Schumacher, Hakkinen and Alonso.

2012?
He will look at 2012 as an opportunity to really cement his place in the history books. If he can win a 3rd consecutive championship, he will match a feat only previously accomplished by Fangio and Schumacher.

It's a big ask and one which Hakkinen and Alonso failed to achieve in 2000 and 2007 respectively. But Vettel, in that Germanic Schumacher mold has something about him. In my opinion he is truly world class and at such a young age, has the ability in my mind to challenge some of those records that Schumacher set during the past 20 years.

It's a big ask but of all of the drivers on the grid, I sense that Vettel is the one more than any other, who can do so.

Time will tell but in the meantime, warm congratlations to Seb on today's fantastic achievement.

Ireland Wielded the Dagger, but will not wear the Rugby World Cup Crown

2011-10-08T20:29:00.001+01:00

In politics the old phrase goes that he who wields the dagger, never wears the crown. It could well be said of Michael Heseltine. Ireland, are the 2011 Rugby World Cup equivalent of Michael Heseltine.

In those 80 minutes against Australia in the group stage which resulted in that stunning 15-6 win, they blew the 7th Rugby Union World Cup wide open. The expectation of a titanic first ever New Zealand Vs Australia final was instantly blown to smithereens. Suddenly it was now an all-but dead cert that we would have a clear cut South Vs North Hempisphere final - all thanks to a heroic Irish display.

You would feel then that Ireland deserved to reach the final to face the All Blacks, South Africa or perhaps a re-match against the Australians for their efforts. But fate can be a cruel mistress and so it proved today.

Heroic Ireland
As a Welshman, I was obviously jubilant at the fantastic result this morning. But as a neutral, I would have been desperately sad for the Irish. Despite their earlier heroics in the tournament, it was an equally brilliant defensive performance today by Wales that meant Ireland would not reap the rewards that they had sown.

In his graceful blog post this morning, Stephen Glenn rightly noted that this was the last opportunity for the likes of Brian O'Driscoll, Ronan O'Gara, Gordon D'Arcy, Donncha O'Callaghan and Paul O'Connell to shine on the world stage. They had set themselves up to do so in incredible style with that earlier result, but it was not to be. We will not see their likes again in another World Cup and it is indeed likely that this will be their international swansong. What has arguably been the best decade in Irish rugby history is reaching a critical moment in its development and those that we will not see grace an international rugby pitch again will be missed. This was the golden opportunity for them to sign off in a blaze of glory but instead it was with more of a whimper that they left the field of play. It is sad that this has proven to be the case.

Wales Rampant
For Wales however, it is of course a different story.

When the World Cup started last month, as I blogged here, my hope and expectation as was that of the Welsh nation was that we should at least reach the Quarter-Finals. After our shambolic pool stage exit in 2007 however, we knew that nothing could be taken for granted. It was nevertheless expected that we would just about get through the so called 'group of death' by defeating Samoa and Fiji and would gracefully and respectfully bow out to the might of the Tri-Nation Champions Australia in the last 8.

But that's where reality took a different course and Ireland played those 80 minutes against Australia for which we owe them a debt of gratitude. It is Wales and not Ireland however that has taken a growing momentum into the knock-out stages and demonstrated their potential at a yet higher level. Our narrow opening match defeat to current champions South Africa showed that the potential was there but how ironic it now is that had we have won, we would have ended up playing Australia in the final 8 anyway! As it turns out, that narrow loss was followed by a battling win against Samoa and then impressive performances in defeating Namibia and particularly Fiji.

The try count has been high, the level of play has been fast-flowing and the defence has been stern. Indeed, Wales' points difference in the pool stage was only bettered by the All Blacks themselves.

We now look ahead at a French team whose only consistency is its inconsistency. They turned up and played well against England today but who knows which French team will appear next Saturday. Either way, Wales have got a wonderful opportunity to reach a historic first ever World Cup Final.

Shane Williams Scored his 57th Welsh Try Today

Whatever happens, Wales are now guaranteed two more matches in the tournament - matches that, similar to the likes of O'Gara and O'Driscoll today, are likely to see the final flourishes in international ruby from Stephen Jones (if he plays) and Shane Williams. It was Shane who showed just what he brings to the team when he scored his 57th Welsh try to put Wales on their way this morning (his 59th Test try in total - 2 scored for the Lions). It is not inconceivable that what we saw today could be his last try for Wales. I certainly hope not but it reminds me that the thought of a Welsh team without him is not one I can easily get my head around and yet the burgeoning young talent in the team, led by the likes of George North should leave us in no doubt that the future is looking incredibly positive for Welsh rugby.

But that's for tomorrow. The here and now is a golden opportunity to write ourselves a great slice of Welsh sporting history and our boys are up to the challenge.

But at this time of great hope and excitement for Welsh rugby, I spare a thought for a gallant Irish side and those players who will have to put their hopes in a new generation of young Irish hopefuls.

When Kylie Minogue met Lord Ashcroft

2011-10-06T16:22:00.001+01:00

It was quite a surreal sight but one which I was nevertheless quite touched with when I watched this BBC News piece yesterday.

Lord Ashcroft awarding an Honorary Doctorate to Kylie Minogue?! Not even in the scripts of Neighbours could you have considered such a thing possible.

But this wasn't Ramsey Street. No, this was Anglia Ruskin University where the 43 year old superstar was recognised for her work in promoting breast cancer awareness with an Honourary Doctorate in Health Sciences at a ceremony in Chelmsford.

Kylie was already a beloved celebrity but the way in which she valiantly fought against her own battle with breast cancer only increased this love and affection still further.

Her award here then was justly rewarded but it was amusing to see the comedy in the moment as Kylie tried to tease the top Tory donor as he gave her the official command.

Having never been to University herself, she said her father would be justly proud to see her receiving this academic honour.

Well done to Kylie or as we should now call her...Dr Minogue.

Ceredigion Councillors Overclaim £12,000 in Allowances

2011-10-06T10:44:00.000+01:00

This week's Cambrian News has reported on this story in which two Ceredigion Councillors have been overpaid £11,787 in expenses over the past 11 years.

The report notes that the overpayments have been paid back and that a shake-up of the allowances system should ensure that such errors are not made in the future.

However, because neither Councillor has been named, it does cast a shadow over the remaining Councillors on the Council. I know for example of one Councillor who has already been upbraided in the street by a local resident, accusing him of over-claiming on expenses to which he categorically responded that he was one of the 40 innocents out of a Council of 42.

This of course is the concern - that the errors made by two Councillors could reflect badly on the remainder of the Council. I would therefore take this opportunity to state that I am not one of those two Councillors. Indeed, I have not claimed a penny in expenses since my election so over-claiming on them is in my case, a particularly implausible likelihood!

The longest headed goal in footballing history?! Arise, Jone Samuelson!

2011-10-02T21:16:00.001+01:00

I can't believe that I missed this stunning headed goal from Norway last weekend.

As shown here on the BBC News website, Jone Samuelsen has written himself into footballing folklore with what is surely to be confirmed as the longest headed goal in the history of the game. It was scored for Odd Grenland in injury time to cap a 3-1 victory after the opposing Tromso IL goalkeeper went up to the opposite side of the pitch to take part in a corner for his team.

What makes it remarkable is that the goal was from within Jone Samuelsen's own half and is reputedly some 57m from the goal itself. It has now made an internet sensation out of this unheralded Norwegian footballer - such was the outlandish proportions of this freakish footballing act.

Well done Jone Samuelsen - you've just created a little bit of quirky footballing history and I salute you for it!

My Internet Stat Porn Monthly Report (13) September

2011-10-02T11:43:00.000+01:00

This is my thirteenth monthly round-up of blog figures for anyone who is remotely interested in who reads my little blog. These stats for the month of September come courtesy of google analytics.

After the August malfunction, normality has resumed although the re-setting of the Google Analytics link to my blog has thrown up some new and rather odd statistics.

Calming Down
The start of my second full year in blogging has been a relatively quiet one.

My output for the month of 21 blog posts is my lowest since last November when I blogged 19 times. This was mainly through my week away in Birmingham when I left the laptop at home.

In September, I had a total of 3,636 absolute unique visitors to my blog (down on my May record of 6,485). Those 3,636 absolute unique visitors made 3,859 visits to my blog in September (down on the 6,908 record from May). They did however view 9,725 pages which was only marginally eclipsed by the May best of 9,738 pageviews.

The top 10 stories by direct page views that you've read this month were:

1. Rory McIlroy - A Leap of Faith to Join the Immortals of Golf
2. Labour's Leighton Andrews' Extraordinary Live TV Coco Pops Outburst
3. Wembley Bound with Swansea City AFC!
4. Johann Hari: A Personal Apology
5. Andy Murray Needs to Summon the Rory McIlroy Spirit for Sporting Immortality
6. A Gareth Epps Sized Lib Dem Conference Farce
7. Happy 65th Birthday Freddie Mercury
8. 'The King's Speech' - The Book Vs The Film (SPOILER WARNING!)
9. Brian Blessed, Chancellor of Cambridge University?!
10. Red or Black? Ant & Dec Win Either Way

Of the 10, only 3 were written this month - the other 7 are popular blog posts written in months past that continue to attract hits. The 3 that I wrote this month came in at No.4, 7 and 10 - revolving around Johann Hari, Freddie Mercury and Ant and Dec's ITV Show Red or Black?

During the course of the month, my Rory McIlroy - A Leap of Faith to Join the Immortals of Golf blog post remained at No.1 for the fourth month running and has now become my blog's most read post of all-time.

Blog Traffic
Of all of the blog visitors this past month, 12.52% were through direct traffic, 25.92% came from referring sites and 61.56% via search engines.

The bounce rate for the month was 8.01% which seems remarkably low to me (as opposed to a bounce rate of 67.78% for the past year).

An International Blog!
The visitors to my little blog came from 98 countries/territories this month - down from the May record of 123, with a cumulative total of 166 countries/territories having supplied visitors to my blog to date.

The top ten countries to date are as follows (with position change from August & % of total views):

1. United Kingdom (No Change) 50.9% (+1.3%)
2. United States (No Change) 19.7% (-0.6%)
3. Germany (No Change) 2.3% (-0.1%)
4. Canada (No Change) 2.2% (-0.1%)
5. Australia (No Change) 1.8% (-0.1%)
6. Ireland (No Change) 1.5% (=)
7. Poland (No Change) 1.4% (-0.1%)
8. Denmark (No Change) 1.3% (=)
9. France (+1) 1.2% (=)
10. Brazil (-1) 1.2% (=)

It has continued to be a very cosmopolitan blog this month and an honourable mention must go in particular to the 1 new country/territory that has provided its first viewers to my fledgling blog this September.

American Samoa has supplied its first reader to my blog during the past month!

Fair play to them all, and to you all, for putting up with my ramblings!

A £9m Funding Jackpot for Cardigan Castle - Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice!

2011-09-29T14:10:00.001+01:00

What a brilliant day for Cardigan!

The Welsh Assembly Minister for Heritage, Huw Lewis AM, officially announced in the grounds of Cardigan Castle this morning that the Cardigan Castle project has been successful in drawing down some £4.5m in European Regional Development Funding.

This goes on top of the £4.7m funding that was secured back in March from the Heritage Lottery Fund and which I blogged about here at the time.

Cardigan Castle in 2014? It's going to happen!

This means that over £9m has now been secured for this pivotal project not only for Cardigan and our wider community, but also as I blogged about back in March, for Wales and its heritage as Cardigan Castle was the venue ot the first ever Welsh Eisteddfod back in 1176.

I explained back in my March blog of the importance of the castle culturally to Wales and to the local economy and of my personal association with the castle from my childhood love of history through to my Mayoral year back in 2009/10 when it was my Mayoral Fund for the year. This community support is now the final piece of the jigsaw that will mark the completion of an extraordinary journey.

The Cadgwan Trust has been set the target of raising £150,000 from the local community to show its support and some £20,000 of that has already been raised. This amount is important because the large sums of money that have been offered are on condition that this local fund it met. So out of a mamouth £9.5m or so project that was until only a few years ago a pipedream for those of us who wanted to realise the potential of our castle, we are now just some £130,000 short of the total sum.

The work on sight is now likely to start next year and for a start, those awful stanchions at the front of the castle walls will come down. The antipicated completion date of 2014 is now a realistic expectation.

I really can not overstate how big this news is to Cardigan. The dreams of countless individuals and the wider community are now finally on the verge of being realised. The fact that this is so in the middle of an economic downturn makes it an even more exceptional story.

For those who have visited Cardigan in the past and have driven past this large, closed off and overgrown castle over recent decades, they will know just what an achievement this is. If it wasn't for the castle volunteers, everyone at Cadwgan BPT as well as to the staunch support of Ceredigion County Council and the Welsh Assembly Government, none of this could have been possible. This has shown how collaborative working, can reap dividends.

Griff Rhys Jones visited the castle with the popular Restoration programme back in 2004. Cardigan Castle almost made the final but just missed out on qualifying as the best runner-up.

Now, nearly a decade on, Cardigan Castle will be restored to a new glory! I never thought that I could confidently say those words but here I am, doing just that!

Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice!

A Tribute to a Comedic Genius - RIP David Croft

2011-09-28T10:17:00.000+01:00

It was with great sadness that I heard yesterday that the great, indeed possibly Britain's greatest ever comic writer, David Croft has passed away. At the age of 89, he outlived his wife of 61 years Ann Croft by a matter of just months.

It was only last month that I blogged here about the death of the legend John Howard Davies and now the comedy world has lost another great man from that golden era of comedy in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

His writing and producing credits are like a Who's Who of Britian's best comedy through the decades.

With Jimmy Perry, he wrote Dad's Army, It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Hi-de-Hi! and You Rang M'Lord? With Jeremy Lloyd he wrote Are You Being Served? and 'Allo 'Allo as well as others. His final comedy piece was Oh, Doctor Beeching! which he co-wrote with Richard Spendlove.

His writing was refreshing as it was targeted for a family audience and as a result has remained timeless down through the decades. I must admit that I am a huge fan as my DVD collection will testify. The almost full range of Dad's Army, as well as many episodes of Hi-de-Hi, You Rang M'Lord and Oh Doctor Beeching! sit proudly on the shelf at home. I'm also a fan of Are You Being Served? and 'Allo 'Allo. He also introduced us to some of the now most well known comic catchphrases that have lasted the stretch of time. Such favourites as "Stupid boy". "They don't like it up 'em", "Don't Panic!" and "We're doomed!" all come from Dad'd Army alone!

It was David Croft who, as a producer, introduced the famous vignettes of the main cast after each episode of his various series following the now immortal words "You Have Been Watching ...".

Here is just a sample of my favourite David Croft inspired comic creations...

But I'll leave the final word on these classic comic creations with Croft himself,,,

You Have Been Watching...a Comedy Genius

The British Political Conference Season - The Insider Media Perspective

2011-09-27T15:00:00.000+01:00

We're in the middle of the political conference season. Ed Miliband will be delivering his keynote speech to the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool this afternoon following Nick Clegg's speech last week to the Liberal Democrat conference in Birmingham. Next week it will be David Cameron's turn in the Tory conference. Here in Wales, Plaid Cymru also had their annual autumn gathering two weeks ago.

Whilst I was in Birmingham last week, I spent a few hours at the bar in the company of one of Wales' political reporters. We had a good chat about all things political and rugby (it is World Cup season after all!) and I asked him how in his experience, did the different political party conferences compare. What he relayed to me gave a fascinating insight into a media perspective on these political gatherings.

He said that in his view the Liberal Democrat conference was a 'very nice' kind of gathering. The kind where delegates will drink a cup of tea and have a sandwich. Certainly more professional now that we're in government compared to how it was in years gone by but still with a sense of eccentricity about it. I can't really disagree with that! What interested me particularly though was his view on the conferences of the other parties as I have no insider knowledge of them.

When it came to the 'fun' stakes, he said the Labour Party conference, particularly in Wales, was the worst. It was tribal and from what he was implying, didn't have any redeeming features of which to speak. I suppose the inner-party rivalries and the factionalism that was rife during the latter part of their 13 years in power took its toll internally. His take on the Plaid Cymru conference was interesting in that he said in recent years, particularly since they went into government in Cardiff in 2007, they had tried to become more professional themselves and had lost a lot of the 'fun' aspect that had been before. It is now apparently, a party conference that runs on media spin and policy soundbites more than ever before.

But it was his take on the Conservative conference which for me was the most interesting. The Conservative Conference he said was easily the most enjoyable. He said that it was their over the top exhuberance that made it so much more lively than any of the others. Whilst liberals might be drinking tea and eating sandwiches, Tories would be drinking champagne and dining much more lavishly. I suppose this is the Conservative way.

He said that out of all of the party conferences, the worst in his personal opinion as a neutral observer was the Labour conference. The Lib Dem and the Plaid Cymru conferences came in on about par with each other but the Conservative Party conference was far ahead of the rest.

I know of friends who visit all party conferences on behalf of their work, and it would be interesting to hear whether this is the kind of view also held by those working in the voluntary sector or in private enterprise. For whilst this is only one political reporters take on this rather unique and quirky part of British political life, it surely must resonate with others who have experienced the goings-on at all of the party conferences in recent years?

Personally, I'm just thankful that I don't have to attend them all. 5 days at the Liberal Democrat Federal Conference per year is more than enough for me. It is an exhausting few days and I don't know how those lobbyists who live on the conference circuit manage to do so!

An Ode to Sosban Fach: Llanelli RFC - 5000 Matches and Still Singing

2011-09-26T08:30:00.000+01:00

I am football before rugby. As a Welshman, this is almost slightly contentious. Having said that, as anyone who knows me will testify, I am sports mad and am a keen follower of the oval shaped ball's game as well. Life is only relative, after all.

Being from deepest west Wales, you would think that my allegiances would naturally gravitate towards the Scarlets of Stradey Park. Most West Walians have supported Llanelli RFC over Swansea RFC although there are many honourable exceptions.

I in fact, support neither. Or should that read, both? Because when it comes to rugby, my support is not as tribal as most. I simply support all of the Welsh regions and of course with a passion, the national side. When it comes to the Magners League or the Heineken Cup, as long as Welsh clubs progress, that's all I care about. It also doesn't help that of my University mates, there's a split between Scarlets and Ospreys fans.

So I'd like to think that on this matter at least, I come from a place of moderation where my views are not blinded by stringent club loyalty. So the comments that are to follow should be taken with that perspective.

The Heart of Welsh Rugby - Llanelli RFC
What does mean a lot to me in the broadest sense is history and heritage.

It is with this in mind that I salute the 5000th match played by Llanelli RFC and their modern alter-ego, the regional Scarlets side last Saturday night at the new Parc Y Scarlets.

Whatever your Welsh rugby allegiance, it would be a brave man who would not accept that the embodiment of the passion and soul of the history of Welsh rugby does not reside in the club that until November 2008 played at the legendary Stradey Park.

5000 games on from its reputed first match on January 1st 1876, the club and region can recall Welsh legends that played in the red of Llanelli. Without doubt its finest hour came in the 1970s when the likes of Ray Gravell, Gareth Jenkins, Delme Thomas, Phil Bennett and Derek Quinnell played for a team that was coached by the best Welsh coach the national team never had the honour to play under - Carwyn James.

In their near 140 year history, they have supplied the Welsh national side with at least 17 Captains since 1891 and have supplied the British and Irish Lions with at least 24 players since 1938.

The Day the Pubs Ran Dry
Throughout the years, Llanelli have incredibly never lost to Australia. They've played them 5 times and won in 1908, 1967, 1984 and 1992 to go alongside their 28-28 draw in 1975.

They have also defeated Canada (1903), Czechoslovakia (1957), Tonga (1974) and Fiji (1985) but there is one match and one scoreline that is and will forever, be etched on the collective memory of the Welsh nation for as long as a rugby ball is kicked.

October 31st 1972 was the day immortalised by the Welsh folk singing comedian Max Boyce as 'The day when the pubs ran dry' when Llanelli beat the mighty All Blacks by that unforgettable scoreline, 9-3.

Now I know that Swansea RFC fans will respond with the comment that they have supplied the Welsh national side with at least 20 captains since 1891 and the British and Irish Lions with at least 23 players since 1904. They will also add that they have defeated South Africa 3-0 back in 1912, it was they who first beat the All Blacks 11-3 in 1935 and it was they who beat the then World Champions Australia 21-6 in 1992.

Indeed, Cardiff RFC fans could also add their tally of at least 36 Welsh captains since 1884 and that they have supplied the British and Irish Lions with at least 40 players since 1904. They could also boast of their victories against South Africa in 1907, a 100% record against Australia with wins in 1908, 1947, 1957, 1966, 1975 and 1984 and also against the All Blacks of New Zealand in 1953 by 8-3.

But it is with the wonder of television, in that golden decade of Welsh rugby, against that most stern of international opponents, that Llanelli RFC's victory in 1972 will surpass all others in the annals of Welsh club rugby sporting history. Whether Swansea or Cardiff fans accept this is a mute point - it is a simple and unquestionable fact.

Happy Anniversary i'r Sosban Fach
Llanelli's famous ode is the song, Sosban Fach. Such is the team's interconnection with this song that catalogues the troubles of a harassed housewife, that saucepans sit proudly atop the rugby posts at the new Parc Y Scarlets.

They'll be singing Sosban Fach down in Llanelli and throughout Wales and beyond for years to come and Welsh rugby and Wales as a nation is all the better for it.