Report calls for urgent action to boost employment in South Wales Valleys The economy and labour market of the South Wales Valleys remain mired in difficulty, with just 46 jobs per 100 residents of working age, a report has stated. Next Steps for the Valleys, the new report...

The economy and labour market of the South Wales Valleys remain mired in difficulty, with just 46 jobs per 100 residents of working age, a report has stated

An open letter to Nigel Farage - Bishop Steven's Blog Bishop Steven writes an open letter in response to Nigel Farage MP's immigration policy which was launched in Oxford this week.

A courteous but very impressive rebuke to Nigel Farage from the Bishop of Oxford.

"I heard no compassion in what you said...".

"I disagree profoundly with your attempts to ... increase fear of the stranger in our communities".

Do read.
blogs.oxford.anglican.org/an-open-lett...

Norway 2 England 1 1981 Commentary YouTube video by Michael Alcorn

I had to explain this to my 14 yo granddaughter.
Here’s the link for those too young to understand

youtu.be/PqZTP8-8wIs?...

Keir Starmer is caught in yet another trap of his own making | Rafael Behr The prime minister’s immigration approach follows a now-familiar pattern: letting fear of a difficult argument get in the way of policy that might work, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr

This is very good from @rafaelbehr.bluesky.social (and more edifying than another Enoch Powell meme).

Before he was elected, I remember talking about what Starmerism would be. The closest I could get was ‘respect’. The problem with that mantra is now emerging.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Text of poem - Groping. Moving away is only to the boundaries of the self. Better to stay here, I said, leaving the horizons clear. The best journey to make is inward. It is the interior that calls. Eliot heard it. Wordsworth turned from the great hills of the north to the precipice of his own mind, and let himself down for the poetry stranded on the bare ledges. For some it is all darkness; for me, too, it is dark. But there are hands there I can take, voices to hear solider than the echoes without. And sometimes a strange light shines, purer than the moon, casting no shadow, that is the halo upon the bones of the pioneers who died for truth.

‘Groping’ - #RSThomas
(Frequencies, Macmillan)
#Ymbalfalu #Groping
#Bardd #Barddoniaeth #Cerdd
#Poet #Poetry #Poem

A collage of a smiling female nurse in scrubs holding a small child in her arms who is cradling her face tenderly. On the right is a background of newspaper cuttings about atrocities in Gaza. Along the bottom in the foreground is a significant heap of hundreds of individual eyes in jagged shapes. These are either victims or witnesses - or both. The child wears trousers covered in the word Love.

'Phoenix of Gaza' collage and chalk pastel. 2025

#art #collage #redcross #nursing

I bet you smile admiringly every time you see yourself in a mirror.

The north of England had high hopes for this government. Why is it only offering us crumbs from the south? | Peter Hetherington Neglect of schemes like the Tyne Bridge restoration contrasts sharply with bullishness over southern projects, says journalist and regional affairs expert Peter Hetherington

Like Peter Hetherington I’d assumed Labour had a plan to address regional inequalities within England. Instead all we’ve got is a soundbite about generating growth everywhere (which is consistent with widening inequalities) and a renewed focus on the SE 🧵 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Last summer was the safest on Wales’ roads since record began Last summer was the safest on Wales’ roads since records began, according to new police statistics. The latest police recorded collision stats, covering July – September 2024, show collisions on Welsh...

Last summer was the safest on Wales’ roads since records began, according to new police statistics
nation.cymru/news/last-su...

Did you know that Wales has its own kind of Valentines Day?

St Dwynwen’s Day is celebrated very year on 25 January. She was a princess who lived in the 4th century and is the Welsh patron saint of lovers.

Make someone’s day and wish them a Happy Santes Dwynwen Day!

Pob lwc i chi.

Forget the ‘red wall’: the 'graduate without a future' is the voter politicians need to woo | Dan Evans Downwardly mobile graduates are arguably becoming the UK’s electoral kingmakers – and could spur a political revolution, says sociologist Dan Evans

Dan Evans, being brilliant in the way only Dan Evans can.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Cadair Idris this morning from across Cardigan Bay

Oi! I walk past my great grandfather’s farm Richard Davies It was a shout resounding through my childhood. I’d be walking across a field mushroom picking in the half-light or climbing over a barbed-wire fence with my mate Gareth in tow to get…

This is all difficult for Wales. We’re not supposed to criticise farmers.

They are the guardians of the countryside, they provide all the food, they don’t pay any inheritance tax

They’ve got huge assets but little cash ✍️Richard Davies

Today has seen the clean up begin after thousands of tonnes of climate enhanced water flooded through the steep - sided Valleys, and the Welsh Government row back on the requirement that farmers plant trees to obtain public subsidy.

Exciting morning of train travel with TfW.
Aber to Birmingham 9.30 train failed 3 times to get from Machynlleth to Caersws.
We then conclusively broke down at Machynlleth on our third visit in 2 hours. So we all just got in the next train.
A normal exciting journey if you use the service

Yeah. A bit like watching Wales play rugby at the moment. But at least it doesn’t take 3 hours to get to the seeming inevitable conclusion.

What is about a supreme athlete, competitor and seemingly really nice guy that you don’t like? Can’t be envy, surely? 🤢

I feel the same. I was starting to enjoy the new experience.