Rhondda Records Home Page

NEWS ALERTS !!

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DON'T YOU JUST LOVE THE BANKRUPT US of A ?

Seven more US banks go bankrupt in the US.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation(FDIC),
says the number is rising, with 103 US bank
failures closing their doors this year alone!
And the failure rate in 2010 is higher and much
faster than in 2009's 140 bank failures.

This level of failure will cause more instability
in the US economy, & be passed on to the world.

The American banks closing their doors are
Home Valley Bank (Oregon), Southwest USA Bank
(Nevada), Community Security Bank (Minnesota),
Thunder Bank (Kansas), Williamsburg First
National Bank (South Carolina), Crescent Bank
& Trust Company (Georgia) & Sterling Bank(Florida).

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DAGONG DROPS CREDIT RATING of US & UK

The Chinese president Hu Jintao said 3 months ago
that the world needed a new credit rating agency
with "an objective, fair, & reasonable standard".

Dagong is that new agency, & says it assesses a
country's creditworthiness, using methods that
are more objective than agencies in the West,
like Fitch, Standard & Poor, or Moody...

Guan Jianzhong, Dagong's chair, says:

"The reason for the global financial crisis
and debt crisis in Europe is that the current
international credit rating system does not
correctly reveal the debtor's repayment ability."

Dagong Global Credit Rating Co is using "wealth
creating capacity" and foreign reserve strength
as its benchmarks, & the results are startling!


The US falls to AA

The UK & France drop to AA-
joining Belgium, Spain, Italy & Malaysia.

China rises to AA+
joining Germany, the Netherlands & Canada.


Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the International
Monetary Fund, says "Asia's time has come."

The IMF says Asia will grow by 7.7% in 2010.

The US, it says will grow at 3.3%.

The eurozone might manage 1%.

Emerging nations presently hold 75%
of the world's £5.6 trillion reserves.

Who does Dagong rate now at AAA?

Norway, Denmark, Switzerland,
Singapore, Australia & New Zealand.

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GENERAL STRIKES IN GREECE AND PORTUGAL

General strikes in Greece & Portugal on Thursday
bring planes, trains and ferries to a halt in
new protests against massive spending cuts.

The general strike in Greece is the sixth so far
this year... and comes just hours after their
parliament increases the retirement age to 65
as part of a pensions cut of billions of Euros.

Public administration, hospitals & state companies
as well as all forms of transport are closed.
Several thousand people take part in rallies
in Athens and other major cities, and two
separate rallies march on the Greek parliament.

The retirement age has been increased from 60 to 65
and pensions cut by an average of seven percent.

Portuguese rail workers were the spearhead of
the day of action called by unions in Portugal
against their savage government spending cuts.

Unions say general strike is also affecting steel
electrical and chemical industries, with mass
demonstrations called in several cities.

Portugal's "socialist" government's new measures
include higher taxes, cut welfare payments, and
a "hiring freeze" in the public sector.

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WELSH ECONOMY WORST IN UK - AND FALLING

Welsh exports over the last year fell by a
staggering £1.7 billion (16.8%), say HM Revenue & Customs.

Both exports to EU countries (18.2%) and
to non-EU countries (15.2%) fell massively.

Out of all the areas of the UK, Northern Ireland
saw the biggest fall and Wales the 2nd largest.
Scotland, now with full law-making powers, has
increased its exports to the world by 3.6%.

The West country & the City of London increased
their exports so much, that the UK's overall
figures (7.4%) still look good, despite the
collapse in Wales, the North & N Ireland.

A report by Professor Robert Huggins & Daniel Prokop
of the Centre for International Competitiveness
at the Cardiff School of Management at Uwic,
shows that exports from Wales are the lowest
in the UK, & that Wales suffers a “significant
lack of engagement in the global economy.”

Not surprising really, when most of the valleys
- since coal's demise - have failed to tackle
their glaring lack of any economy worth talking
about. Rhondda Records says it to you straight -
until you admit that investment needs to be made
in a new economy for the valleys - Wales economy
will stay as it is - a basket case, begging for
grants and subsidies. Let's make a fresh start,
and look at ways to use our natural environment.

Our genius for hard work and co-operation could
be a world beater - IF we look to science and
the unused land that covers 80% of our valleys.

Penrhys Boilerhouse Project could lead the way..
by using green energy & exploring new products;-
with YOUR help. Let's face the future with hope!


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UN CALLS FOR NEW WORLD CURRENCY - OR
ALL EFFORTS "WILL COME TO NOUGHT"

A new United Nations report is calling for
the creation of a new global reserve currency
to run alongside the US dollar...

"that no longer relies on the US dollar
as the single major reserve currency,"
says the report, World Economic & Social
Survey 2010: Retooling Global Development.

"The dollar has proven not to be a stable
repository of value, which is a requisite
for a stable reserve currency," it says.

The report points to "a trap inherent in the
reserve and payment system, whereby reserve-
creating countries are able to run payments
deficits - as long as other countries find it
in their interest to keep building up their
international reserves in the currencies of
the reserve-creating countries."

"If this trap is not eliminated, all financial
regulatory reform will come to nought," it warns.

A new system should allow for better pooling of reserves
at the regional and international levels, it says,
which "must not be based on a single currency
or even multiple national currencies but instead,
should permit the emission of international
liquidity (such as SDRs) to create a more
stable global financial system."

"A feasible evolutionary path towards a more
stable system, is one along which, there is
an increased use of SDRs, within a system of
nationally supplied reserve assets,
dominated by the dollar," it says.

The SDR, or Special Drawing Rights, is an
international reserve asset, created by the IMF
to supplement member countries' official reserves.

Its value is based on a basket of the dollar,
the euro, the Japanese yen & the pound sterling,
& SDRs can be exchanged for freely usable currencies.

"In the future, and given the changing weights
in the global economy, other currencies,
including those of emerging market economies,
will need to be included in the SDR basket."

The report suggests that IMF members start the
process of increasing use of SDRs - as a currency
for central bank operations - among themselves.

In this regard, the report indicates that - under
present rules - the US has a unique blocking vote
on the issue of increased SDR allocations.

"SDRs could be increased through periodic allocations
in line with the expansion of international
commerce," the UN report stresses.

"To summarize, reducing dependence on the dollar
through increased use of a created currency
made up of a basket of currencies such as the SDR
could be a significant step towards greater stability
in the world economy," the report concludes.

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FRANCE ON GENERAL STRIKE, NOW GREECE

Greece is paralised by a general strike, and
Neo nazis used to break up the march, through
violence, say union members at the city mayhem.

France is also moved by a general strike,
as labour unions demand that the government
drops its plans to attack pension rights.

Transport, museums, schools, universities and
the postal system are all paralysed.

The Louvre Musee, Orsay Musee and Pompidou Musee,
all French cultural icons, confirm that they've
closed doors to join Thursday's general strike.

In primary schools, half the nation's teachers
participate in the protesting army of workers.

Strike notices respected in the private sector,
even include banks, garages and supermarkets.

Last week, the French government announced it's
going to try to defer any statutory retirement
age from 60 to 62 in 2018, but now faces strong
opposition from France's mighty labour unions.

The biggest union federation CGT expects a million
French people to take to the streets to demand
that the government's pension reform dies quickly.

Labour Minister Eric Woerth, however, says that
the government will push forward the reform, no
matter how massive the mobilization is.

Le Figaro publishes a dodgy poll to "prove"
that 58% of French people think the pension
change is "acceptable." The business daily
Les Echos posts another poll showing that
56% are against the change.

President Sarkozy says he is willing to continue
negotiating with the unions on the issue.

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TORY UNEMPLOYMENT? --- FIGURES !

Do you still believe that your country prints
its own money? Well, it doesn't. Even money
has been "privatized," - to private money lenders.

Except for coins, all of our money is now printed
and/or created as loans advanced by private banking.

Banks create the money for loans, but not the
interest a country needs to service its loans.
To pay the interest, new loans are taken out
by governments - and so on and so on.

So the question is, why does Cameron bang on
about UK sovereignty & "keeping the pound",
while massively deflating the UK economy?

It is most definitely not to "save the currency".

Not only is the entire money supply now created
by private banks, but a few very big banks
control "derivatives," which run to hundreds
of trillions of dollars. These big banks could
always get bailed out by taxpayers, but this
has reached its final limit now.

There isn't enough money in the entire world
economy, to "save" the banks and us, from a
massive derivatives default today.

You might argue that a government bank, such
as the Post Office "Peoples' Bank", as proposed
by many progressive sections of the Labour,
Trade Union and Socialist movement, could make
non-interest loans to build infrastructure and
keep our people from the worst effects of crisis
..... as the Chinese are doing so successfully,
but the Lib Dems prefer to suck up to the Tories
& "preside", (or deputy preside) over a demarche.


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US MASSES START TO MOVE !!!

Thousands of workers and union members, angry
over lost jobs and the taxpayer-funded bailout
of banks, march on Wall Street last month.

After, the US Senate passes a financial reform bill.

Protesters demanded that big banks be held accountable
for their role in the financial crisis.

People at the rally called for new regulations
to be enacted against Wall Street banks, and
blame the banks for triggering the recession.

The protesters, including people hurt by the mortgage crisis,
held up signs saying "Wall Street Overdrafted Our Economy"
and " Reclaim America."

Some 100 people enter a building housing JPMorgan Chase.
They handed a letter to a building worker and chanted
"Bust up big banks!" and "People power!"

The protesters then walked a few blocks and crowded
into a Wells Fargo and Wachovia building lobby.
But a Wachovia spokesperson says the company
"did not receive" any such letter.

PEOPLE POWER AND MASS MOBILISATION WORKS !
- ISN'T IT ABOUT TIME THE UK TRIED IT !!!

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US PROTECTIONISM LEADING US TO WORLD SLUMP

The US has now imposed anti-dumping duties
ranging from 30% to 99% on imports of steel
pipes used in oil and gas wells from China -
a move that "might" escalate trade disputes
between the two countries.

The Commerce Department says in a statement that
prices for the Chinese pipes, or "oil country
tubular goods (OCTG)," are 29.94% to 99.14%
lower than fair value when sold in the US market.

According to the department, 37 Chinese firms
will receive a final dumping rate of 29.94%,
and all other Chinese exporters are subject to
the final dumping rate of 99.14 percent.

The US International Trade Commission (ITC),
an independent federal agency, could still
cancel the anti-dumping duties if its members,
but only if they find in a vote that US domestic
steel producers aren't harmed by the Chinese
products - worth 1.1 billion US dollars in 2009.

The ITC is scheduled to issue its final injury
determination on or before May 24th.

The Commerce Department has already set duties
on CVDs at 10.36% to 15.78% on Chinese-made OCTG.

A month later, the ITC voted for the duties.

The case is backed by the United Steel Union,
which is a driving force in many recent trade
actions against China, and seven US producers:
the US Steel Corp, Maverick Tube Corp, Evraz
Rocky Mountain Steel, TMK IPSCO, V&M Star LLP,
V&M TCA and Wheatland Tube Corp.

China strongly opposes the US decision, saying
that it is a protectionist move.

"China expresses strong dissatisfaction and is
resolutely opposed to this," says Yao Jian,
spokesperson of China's Ministry of Commerce.

"This does not comply with WTO agreements on
subsidies. The US used an incorrect method to
define and calculate the subsidies, which has
resulted in an artificially high subsidy rate,
hurting Chinese firms' interests," Yao says.

"We hope the US can get rid of bias & accept
China's market economy status soon, to tackle
these double standards thoroughly and give
Chinese enterprises equal and fair treatment."

US industries also express strong dissatisfaction
with the trade case, saying such a protectionist
move will inevitably hurt US companies.

The trade restrictions will "hurt US industries
by raising their costs and making sources of
supply uncertain," Eugene Patrone, executive
director of the Consuming Industries Trade
Action Coalition states.

He says the tariffs will make oil and gas
exploration and production more expensive,
and delay projects. They work against the US
goal of being less dependant on imported energy.

The onset of the global recession appears to be
triggering an increase in disputes world-wide.

World requests for protection from imports in the
first half of 2009 were up 18.5% compared with
the same period of 2008, according to the World
Bank-sponsored Global Anti-dumping Database.

That increase follows a 44% increase in new
investigations in 2008. China has become
the main target of rising protectionism.

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SOUTH AMERICA ESCAPING USUK's GRASP

As USUK run around the world, losing their minds
and bombing innocent civilians to cling to power,
Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Brazil,
Venezuela and Chile shows a better way.

China is now Brazil's largest trading partner
and biggest export market.

Venezuela is China's fifth largest trading partner
in Latin America with trade worth $7.15 billion.

China now is Chile's largest trading partner,
& Chile is China's 2nd largest in Latin America.
Their trade volume is a record $17.7 billion.

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The UK manufacturing sector is showing "minus
growth"... only the bloated "service" sector
of undeserved consumption is recovering now.
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UK's SERIOUSLY ILL BEING 'FORCED BACK TO WORK'

Seriously ill and disabled people are now having
their benefits stopped & are being pushed into
"finding" work without any help or support,
several top UK charities warn now.

The Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
was introduced in October 2008 to replace incapacity benefit for new claimants.

But Citizen's Advice say that since the allowance
started, its advisers across England and Wales
have been reporting that high numbers of
seriously ill & disabled people are being found
"fit to work" under the new work capability assessment.

People found to be "fit to work" include those
with advanced stages of Parkinson's disease
and multiple sclerosis, as well as people with
severe mental illnesses, and some dealing with
acute short-term health problems, such as
waiting for open heart surgery.

69% of people assessed are refused it.

Citizen's Advice's report is backed by 18 other
organisations, including Macmillan Cancer Support
and the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

They warn that the medical test people undergo
is not able to assess real fitness for work,
because it does not account for the complexities
of many illnesses and disabilities.

Health workers hear numerous reports of hurried medicals,
where vital details are missed and unjustifiable
assumptions are made. They say the assessments
do not place enough emphasis on the impact of
mental health issues on people's ability to work.

The charities say that failing the assessment
has an enormously detrimental effect on people.
People who "fail" are told they must find work,
and are put on jobseeker's allowance, which is
a much less supportive benefit, & in some cases
they end up with no means to live at all.

Citizens Advice also warns that the stress of
the test and the prospect of having to fight
unfavourable decisions at a tribunal, does put
considerable pressure on people, and risks
making it harder for them to return to work.

David Harker, chief executive at Citizens Advice:

"The current test to determine eligibility for
ESA isn't working. We are seeing cases where
the Government's aim of moving people into work
is being totally undermined. Seriously ill and
disabled people are being severely let down
by the crude approach of the work capability assessment."

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THE POWER OF TRUE DEMOCRACY

Iceland rejects the Icesave bill to compensate UK "investors"
with 93.1% of "no" votes in their referendum.

93.1% are against the bill, to compensate
UK & Dutch bank customers for losses after
Icesave, an Icelandic Internet bank,
crashes in the Autumn of 2008, says RUV.

RUV points out that only 1.8% of voters agree
with the bill. There are 230,000 eligible voters.

Iceland's PM Johanna Sigurdardottir says
"a much better offer" is now on the table
from both the Netherlands and the UK.

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INTEREST RATES TO RISE?

China and most of the world are cutting their
holdings of US debt.

According to the Treasury International Capital
(TIC) report, foreign holdings of US Treasury
securities fell by 53 billion dollars in
December, a new record drop.

The figures reflect lower demand for US Treasury
obligations and other assets, including stocks
and government agency debt, sales of which, are
funding the huge US balance of payments deficit.

The 53-billion-dollar decline in holdings came
primarily from a drop in government holdings,
which fell by 52.3 billion dollars.
The holdings of foreign private investors
fell by 700 million dollars during December.

While China and most other countries are cutting
their holdings of US long-term securities,
Japan and the UK are increasing theirs!

Japan is now the largest holder of US Treasury
securities, the US Treasury Department reports.

Japan boosted its holdings of US Treasuries by
11.5 billion dollars to 768.8 billion dollars
in December. China's is now $755.4 billion.

The UK's holdings increased to $302.5 billion,
up from 277.6 billion dollars in November.

Any reductions in holdings, if they continue,
could force the US government to make higher
interest payments at a time when it is
running record federal deficits.

In 2009, foreign holdings of US Treasuries fell
by 500 million dollars. In 2008, foreigners
increased their holdings by 456 billion dollars
as the global financial crisis led to a flight
to the relative safety of US government debt.

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A Nigerian militant group claims to have attacked
an oil pipeline operated by Royal Dutch Shell PLC
in the Niger Delta.

The Joint Revolutionary Council says it attacked
a pipeline of Shell's Nigerian subsidiary in Rivers state.
That pipeline takes oil from several flow stations
and feeds into Shell's export terminal at Bonny.

Shell spokesman Tony Okonedo says he is
"not aware" of an attack.

This news comes after Shell says saboteurs have ruptured one its pipelines in Bayelsa State.


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CHINA OPTS FOR INVESTMENT IN RURAL AREAS

China's first 2010 policy statement:

"The biggest potential for boosting domestic demand
lies in rural areas; the foundation for securing steady
and relatively fast economic growth is based upon agriculture;
the toughest work of securing and improving people's
livelihoods stays with farmers."

One point raised is that Local Authorities making
money out of local land sales, are being advised
to direct the cash raised, into science & farming.

A similar policy in the Welsh valleys, please!!!

"Most of the fixed-assets investment and money
earmarked for education, public health and
culture this year should go to rural areas,"
says the document. "Local governments should
also channel more money raised from selling land
use rights... to the countryside."


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*!*!*!*STOP PRESS*!*!*!*

NIGERIAN DELTA REBELS THREATEN ALL-OUT ATTACKS

Nigeria's main militant group has called off
a three-month-old cease-fire in the Niger Delta
and is threatening "an all-out assault"
on Africa's biggest oil and gas industry.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND),
says it can't trust the government any longer
to sincerely negotiate on their demands for
more benefit from the region's natural resources.

"All companies related to the oil industry
in the Niger Delta should prepare for an all-out
onslaught against their installations and
personnel," say the group.

Attacks by MEND on Nigeria's oil and gas industry
have prevented it from producing much above
two-thirds of its capacity, costing it about
$1 billion a month in lost revenues.

The last instability there pushed up world oil prices.

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CHINA DRIVES US INTO SECOND PLACE

China overtook the US as the biggest auto market
in 2009 & auto makers should see stronger growth
this year, an industry group says.

Boosted by the Chinese government's stimulus measures,
passenger car sales last year soared to 10.3 million
and total vehicle sales are estimated at 13.6 million,
the China Passenger Car Association says.
That represents growth of about 45% from 2008.

By contrast, US sales of cars and light trucks
plunged 21% in 2009 to 10.4 million as a shaky
economy kept buyers away from showrooms.
This is the first time any country has bought
more cars than US citizens... or denizens!

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US IMPOSES EVEN HIGHER DUTIES ON WIRE-DECKING FROM CHINA.

The US government has just slapped preliminary
anti-dumping duties on imports of more than 300
million dollars worth of wire decking from China,
the Commerce Department says.

The department claims it found "dumping" of wire
decking from China after an "investigation".

Tariffs of between 42.61% up to 289%
are now being imposed and collected until
a "final determination is made" in the case.

Wire decking reinforced with structural supports
is designed generally for industrial and other
commercial storage rack systems.

From 2006 to 2008, imports of wire decking from
China increased 49% by value and amounted to
an estimated 317 million dollars in 2008,
according to the US Commerce Department.

Five US producers including AWP Industries Inc,
ITC Manufacturing Inc, J&L Wire Cloth Inc,
Nashville Wire Products MfgCo Inc, and Wireway
Husky Corporation, filed petitions to ask for
anti-dumping and countervailing duties last year.

On November 3rd, 2009, the Commerce Department
set preliminary countervailing duties (CVD)
ranging from 2.02% to 437.73% on the same product.

The US is imposing duties on a variety of Chinese
goods including steel pipes, grating and tubular
goods based on "other investigations".

The wire decking anti-dumping case is another move
that could escalate trade disputes between the
two major trade players in the world.

The trade barriers set by the US government are
denounced by China as a "serious act of trade protectionism."

Economists are warning that these protectionist
moves by the Obama administration will ultimately
hurt US-China trade relations, which are becoming
much more important due to the global financial crisis.

Protectionism will hurt the fragile world economy
which is starting to pull out of the worst
recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s,
says Uri Dadush, senior associate and director
in the Washington-based think tank Carnegie's
International Economics Program.

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UK ONLY OECD COUNTRY STILL IN RECESSION

The CIPD & the British Chambers of Commerce,
agree that the UK is heading for higher job losses,
cuts in wages, benefits & public services.

They then argue that the only way to win through,
is for us to have a big increase in retail sales!

SELFISH STUPID EMPLOYERS - CAN'T THEY SEE
PAST THEIR OWN HIGH STREET CASH REGISTERS?

How can retail businesses EVER do well,
if we're all conned into a permanent slump?

COME ON, WORKING PEOPLE - THINK ! CREATE ! TRY !


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CHINA SAYS...

China is developing a new economy, called
"the circular economy", and says the real
reason why the global warming summit failed
in Copenhagen, was because developing countries
saw through the Western plan to "cut Carbon",
for what it REALLY was - a contemptible plan to
introduce trade barriers to stop Asia's rise.

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SOUTH AMERICA DUMPS US DOLLAR

Members of a bloc of nine Latin American nations
now agree to use a new currency named the SUCRE
for trade among themselves, from January 2010.

No sucres will be printed or coined, but the
virtual currency will be used to manage debts
between governments while reducing reliance
on the US dollar and on Washington in general.

Cuba has already signed an agreement to pay
for a shipment of Venezuelan rice in sucres,
says Rogelio Sierra, the island's deputy foreign minister.

The Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas trade group's
member nations are Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua,
Honduras, Ecuador, Bolivia, Antigua and Barbuda,
San Vincent and the Grenadines, and Dominica.

Honduras will leave the bloc after the June coup
that toppled leftist President Manuel Zelaya.

Zelaya's deposed foreign minister attends the
summit, but the acting government in Honduras
is unlikely to stick by any agreements made.


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US MOVING TO TRADE WAR WITH CHINA

The US Commerce Department announces it is
setting final countervailing duties (CVD)
on imports of tubular goods from China
(worth $2.6 billion)the biggest US trade action
so far, against China.

The US "International" Trade Commission
made its "final" determination on the case
on January the 7th, 2010.

Ihe government issued a countervailing duty
on January the 14th, 2010.

China's Ministry of Commerce expresses strong
opposition to the US decision, saying it is
a protectionist move & hurts Chinese companies' interests.

"This does not comply with WTO agreements on subsidies.
The US used an incorrect method to define and
calculate the subsidies, which has resulted in
an artificially high subsidy rate, hurting
Chinese firms' interests," spokesperson Yao Jian says.

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THEY THINK IT'S ALL OVER...

But the gravest aspect of the crisis is that
there will probably be a second downturn in 2010.

The real estate bubble in non-residential buildings,
i.e. offices, supermarkets and hotels,
is the next hurdle for the UK, and it's SERIOUS.

The bankruptcy of supermarkets occupying large
construction plots is now being reported,
as well as that of various office speculations.

The Financial Times is calling attention to this sector
and the likelihood of it being the next crisis
after the collapse in the residential sector.
The FT estimates that $6.7 trillion of assets are
compromised in the commercial real estate sector.

Credit cards are now another "bubble threat",
at an estimated one billion dollars.

"Plastic money" has reached over-saturation, by
inciting the public to credit without limits,
encouraging them to have several credit cards.

Speculation in oil prices is feeding another bubble,
and price movements are strongly influenced by speculation,
far beyond the real relationship between supply and demand.

Even the "fiscal" crisis is FAR from resolved.
Banks considered to be in a "dangerous" situation
increased to 416 by the end of the second quarter;
there were 305 at the end of the first quarter.

These banks have degraded due to liquidity problems,
levels of capital or quality of assets.

As a consequence, their lack of credit
will freeze consumption and private investment.

Another barrier is the reduction of demand at
world level, which is diminishing in high-
spending countries like the US, the UK, Australia
and New Zealand, and not increasing sufficiently
to compensate for growth in saver countries like
China, Japan and Germany.

A double-dip downturn is on as the US government
continues to accumulate deficits by printing,
so inflation will rise, interest rates will go up
and will abort any short term recovery.

China is not continuing to buy US bonds
to the same extent as in previous stages
and its government is proposing a transformation
of the international system based on the dollar.


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HUGE US/ASIAN BANK BANKRUPT, SO TAKEN OVER.

The San Francisco-based United Commercial Bank
reopens as branches of East West Bank,
after being shut down by US regulators
& sold to Pasadena-based East-West Bancorp.

The California Department of Financial Institutions
approved overnight the purchase of the debt-laden bank
which has 16 branches in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

East-West Bancorp made a purchase & assumption
agreement with the FDIC, which also includes
all 63 US branches of United Commercial Bank,
its branch in China's Hong Kong & the subsidiary
of United Commercial Bank, which is
headquartered in Shanghai, China.

Depositors automatically became depositors of
East West Bank, and kept insured by the FDIC.

Dominic Ng, Chair, President & CEO of East West:

"This is a transformational event for both
institutions and represents an exciting
growth opportunity for East West."

Founded in 1973, East West Bank boasts
a total of 137 branches in the US.
It gains $10.4 billion in assets, including
$7.7 billion in loans & $6.5 billion in deposits.
It also assumes $9.2 billion in liabilities.

This makes East West Bank, California's 2nd
largest bank and the US's largest bank now
focused on serving the Asian/US community.

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MANY COUNTRIES FOLLOW IRAN & DROP SINKING DOLLAR

Iran is requesting that Japan replace the dollar
with the Yen in all oil transactions with Iran.

Since October 2007, Iran has received 85% of its
oil revenues in currencies other than the dollar,
& Tehran is determined to find a substitute
for the remaining 15%, the report adds.

Iran suggests other currencies such as the Euro
and the United Arab Emirates' Dirham will now
replace the dollar, worldwide, for oil revenues.

The constantly declining value of the dollar
and persistent economic crisis in the US
is forcing many countries to drop the currency
in favor of a more stable and valuable one.

Saudi Arabia, South Korea, China, Venezuela,
Sudan and Russia have all taken steps to replace
the US dollar in their foreign exchange reserves.

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EVERYONE IS MOVING & CHANGING - EXCEPT US

We had to have the stimulus to get the economy
kick started again," says Clyde Prestowitz,
president of the Economic Strategy Institute,
"but the stimulus is inflationary, so if you
keep doing it you will wind up with a nightmare
scenario. So therefore it's a high priority to
stop doing it, but if you stop it too soon...
then you're back in the soup."

The G20 has already approved more funding for
the IMF & World Bank to help poorer countries.

Finance ministers also agreed last month that
the IMF, which is dominated by European countries,
should allow "more representation & influence"
from the emerging developing countries.

But Prestowitz says the G20 is neglecting more
fundamental issues that need huge readjustments.

"We have a global economy characterised by
enormous imbalances with the US, Britain
and a few other mostly Anglo countries,
running chronic trade & current account deficits
- & Asia, Germany & the Middle East, running
chronic current account surpluses," he says.

"That system is not stable; it was a big reason
behind the economic crisis of the past year;
it's still there and has not been addressed."

USUK need to stop being the world's conpersons...
DAMN this political correctness !!!

************************************************

IT'S LONDON THAT SMELLS OF CORRUPTION

We all know that those dirty little "tax havens"
launder money and cheat, and - if pressed -
most of us can name a few of the places the world
says MUST BE cleaned up, as they are too corrupt.

Jersey, often named as such a "tax haven",
complies with 44 out of the 49 recommended
anti-money laundering and anti-crime measures
laid down by the International Monetary Fund.

Compared with just 36... by London, UK.

**********************************************

IF TWEEDLEDUM WON'T PRIVATISE WELFARE...

As the economy falls about our ears, those plans
to persecute (sorry, help) dole claimants...(sorry, "customers & clients") were stopped for
a few months by the very companies meant to profit
from a "results based" back to work programme.

In view of the lack of work & MASS unemployment,
those shark firms wanted 50% "up front".
It wasn't granted.... and instead, London is now
paying over £1,200 - just for placing a job ad.!!!

Who is to suffer now, under this new sick plan?
ALL OF US ! (First 18-25 yr olds, then the older
adults, then the elderly) - just like in Hitler's
vicious system, first the most vulnerable are to
be targeted as scapegoats for a bitter section
of the working class to gloat at, and then ALL.

*****************************************

UK CAUSED THE CRISIS - NOW LONDON
MAKES DEBT SLAVES OF THE UK's PEOPLE

Economists with the IMF say the US & UK lead
the world - in "anti-crisis" spending.

The world’s largest financial centres –
New York and London - are located in
these two countries: & it is impossible
to overstate the role which these two centres
played in causing the "money bubble" crisis.

The largest bailout programs are in the US & UK.
The US has spent $3.6 trillion - a quarter of its
annual GDP - to win the fight with recession.
That's $10,000 per tax payer in the US.

The UK has spent $2.4 trillion - 94% of GDP –
equal to $30,000 per tax-payer.

The UK’s national debt will double during the
next five years to $16.51 trillion, RBC reports.

And in the Rhondda, stripped of its economy,
people are being asked to make savage cuts,
and genuinely sick people are being forced
on to fake "work" schemes, or have their
benefit cut, while we all wait for another
city "bubble" to explode. The world is watching,
as a UK government forces the sick to find work !

*************************************************

AFTER THE BUY-OFF...

The US move to raise tariffs on tires imported
from China, to save 5,000 jobs, risks losing
100,000 jobs in distribution, as imported tires
were $50, & now tires will cost at least 3 times
more... it also risks a damaging world trade war.

Let's hope this move is a small one, to placate
union resistance to Obama's health plans....
because - if it isn't - the US is taking us all
to a ruinous future, in the name of America FIRST.

***********************************************

CHINESE ECONOMISTS: US MUST ACT, NOT JUST TALK

Leading economists are urging the US to use
concrete measures instead of just empty words.

Their calls come amongst widespread concerns
that US measures to battle the financial crisis
are so far only creating another credit bubble
and failing to discipline financial markets.

"So far the US government and Federal Reserve
have failed to provide China with any details
of how its countermeasures against the financial
crisis will not lead to serious capital losses
to China's holding of its treasury bonds and
foreign reserves," Yu Yongding, a renowned
think tank economist with the Chinese Academy of
Social Sciences, tells China Daily.

Yu's concern is shared by China's leadership,
and Premier Wen Jiabao is repeatedly expressing
his concerns on the issue.

Yu says the US is trying to reassure China
that its $2.1-trillion foreign exchange reserve
is safe and that the dollar will remain strong.

"But nobody knows whether the US, if it gets
desperate, can refuse the temptation to
inflate away its debt burden."

Yu says China has missed good opportunities
to diversify its holding of foreign reserves
but that there is room to bargain with the US.

Lou Jiwei, chair of China Investment Corp, which
manages the $298-billion sovereign wealth fund,
admits that the risk of a decline in the dollar
is a major national issue for China.

Lou says the CIC can buy anywhere in the world,
but can't avoid buying US assets because the US
economy and capital markets are so large.

Lou says the CIC is building a broader investment
portfolio, designed to hedge against inflation
and deflation, and to provide guaranteed returns
in "the event of a new crisis".

"We have to be in everything because you never
know what's going to happen in this world," Lou says.

Lou's CIC was set up in September 2007, with
$200 billion foreign currency reserves from the
central bank, which has its own stockpile of $2.1 trillion.

Lou urges the US to take courage to root out the
real causes of the financial crisis and step up
immediate measures to manage its $4 trillion in
toxic assets in US and other banks.

"The US should not only be a good teacher
but also a doer," says Lou, adding that the US
is very experienced at tackling bad assets.

He recalls that the US taught China to separate
bad-performing assets from its State-owned banks
several years ago and now the corporate governance
and balance sheets of Chinese banks are in good shape.

"But now I am disappointed the US just teaches
and doesn't show itself willing to act," says
Lou. "Only by solving the fundamental problems
can the US ensure a financially safe world."

************************************************

AND THEY THOUGHT IT WAS ALL OVER...!

UK borrowing is predicted to be far higher
both this year and the next, than it was
when the UK was forced to apply to the IMF
for a loan in '76, after overseas "speculation" .

************************************************

LIES, STATISTICS, & THE UNEMPLOYED

Unemployment among young people in Europe
is rising much faster compared to other adults.
4.9 million youngsters across the EU were made
redundant in the first quarter of 2009, alone.

In the first quarter of 2009, unemployment
in the EU for those aged 15-24 reached 18.3%.

The highest rates? Spain (33.6%), Latvia
(28.2%), and Italy (24.9%), and, of course,
the UK (18%+)... AND IN WALES ???

The true figure for ALL claimants in the UK
(after excluding carers & the GENUINELY ill),
is approximately FOUR MILLION unemployed!

To check this out - go to:

http://83.244.183.180/100pc/wa/ccstatgp/ctolddur/
a_carate_r_ccstatgp_c_ctolddur_aug08.html


Our society is eating its own young.
All the policies that have been put in place
- or are contemplated - have one thing in common:
maintain the income, security and assets of older generations
and shift the burden onto the young or next generations.

The young have no jobs, and if they have jobs,
they have no job security and fewer benefits.

Student loans are creating a generation of debt slaves...
a student loan is the ONLY debt which "sticks" when bankrupt.

Why don't we give young people the chance to own affordable houses?
Why is the government subsidizing older home owners?

Societies that eat their young don't do well.

************************************************
************************************************
Which company tops Ernst & Young’s list
of the world’s largest companies?
China’s Petrochina. Just nine months ago,
the USA’s Exxon Mobil was ranked first.
************************************************
************************************************

MIND BOGGLING US DEFICIT

The US deficit tops one trillion US dollars
for the first time ever.

The cost of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is a major factor,
and the deficit is widened by the huge sum
the government has spent to prop up bankers,
combined with a sharp decline in tax revenues.

The soaring deficit makes Chinese and other
foreign buyers of US debt nervous, and will
make them reluctant lenders in the future.
It could also force the Treasury Department
to pay much higher interest rates, to make
US debt acceptable longer-term.

"These are mind-boggling numbers," says Sung Won Sohn,
an economist at the Smith School of Business
at California State University. "Our foreign
investors from China and elsewhere, are starting
to have concerns now about not only the value of
the dollar, but how safe their investments will
be in the long run..."

*************************************************

STRANGE, ISN'T IT ?

America's banks and "the city" in London
have an answer to the crisis... more cash !
They have an answer for the rest of us too
... less cash !

For the "saved" banks, bonuses are back.
Even at the supposedly UK government-controlled
Royal Bank of Scotland...

Stephen Hester, chief executive since November,
is believed to be getting $16 million per year.

Half a million US citizens lost their jobs
last month, yet "experts" tell us that "green shoots"
are coming - just like the Bankers said in the 1920s !

Despite ALL other countries of the world,
including France and Germany, calling for policy
to change, the IMF has been strengthened and
those, like Latvia, forced to apply to it
are told to deflate, while the rich countries,
you guessed it, are "told" the exact opposite !

This is GUARANTEED to lead to a huge worldwide slump,
which will inevitably lead to another World War.

UK governments are leading Wales to war, poverty and cuts,
as they serve US & London city usurers and gunrunners.

STRANGE, isn't it, if YOU don't DO something to change this !!!


***********************************************

PREPARING FOR A US COLLAPSE

As US unemployment figures strip naked their
underlying "crisis of overproduction",
Wall Street plummets to new lows.

China announces overnight that it is now
encouraging Chinese companies to settle
their international trade claims in yuan.

*************************************************

HERE IT COMES ....

The UK government is freezing all student grants and loans
and cutting financial support for trainee teachers
as a result of the recession, it announces now.

Plenty of money to conquer Afghanistan, pay for Trident,
bail out the banks and insurance companies...
but no money at all for working people,
whose wages haven't risen since the 1970s.

The government acts for the city of London's
financial parasites... ignoring everyone else !

Hold onto your hats - it's going to be a bumpy ride!

If the valleys act to fund agriculture & science,
and rebuild their economy at a community level,
they will play to their greatest strengths,
and can then claim true vision and courage.

************************************************

GREEDY WEST MOVES TO ECONOMIC WAR ?

China defends its exports policy as the
US and EU file a complaint with the WTO.

The US and EU are determined to exploit China's
strategic raw materials. As long as our greed
in the West for more tat continues as a "dog eat
dog" game, nations will be ruined in the chase.

China is determined NOT to let that happen.

An unnamed official with China's Ministry of Commerce
defends China's restriction on exports of bauxite,
coke, magnesium, zinc and silicon metal, among others,
saying its export policies are consistent with WTO rules.

These export restrictions protect the environment
and natural resources, the official says.

The US and EU claim that China's export restrictions
create unfair advantages for Chinese industries
and distort world competition & break WTO regulations.

The European Commission says China's move to
reduce some raw material exports may affect 4%
of the EU's industrial output, or 500,000 employees.
The EU imported 4.5 billion Euro's worth
of these materials from China in 2008.

According to the WTO's dispute settlement mechanism,
China, the US and the EU have a 60-day period to consult.
If no solution appears, the plaintiffs can move
to establish a WTO panel for a formal ruling.

*************************************************

WORST IS YET TO COME, WARNS IMF - CO-OPERATE !!!

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF's managing director,
says "The large part of the worst is not yet behind us."

Kiel Institute for the World Economy's Global
Economic Symposium (GES)
– 300 business people, public policymakers and academics –
is calling for a new age of global co-operation,
to succeed this passing age of globalisation.

It argues that free markets have delivered
spectacular economic growth and lifted millions
out of extreme poverty in recent decades,
but are now causing climate change, a rising gap
between the world's richest and poorest countries,
plus food shortages and energy insecurity.

Professor Dennis Snower, Kiel institute president
and director of the GES: "We have succeeded in
exploiting the magic of markets, but we often
fail where those markets fail."

The report can be read at:

www.global-economic-symposium.org.


_______________________________________________

HI-FLIERS TAKE IT ALL !!!

In 1989, chief executives pocket 17 times
more than average earners.

By 2007, those same "captains of industry" are
earning 75 times more than the average worker.

_______________________________________________


FLYING LOW !!!

The global airline industry nearly doubles its expected losses
for 2009, to $9bn, amid what it calls an unprecedented crisis.

Giovanni Bisignani, head of the International Air Transport Association (Iata),
tells the group's annual meeting that the impact
of the global economic crisis on the industry
is worse than that of the September 11,
2001 attacks in the US.

"There is no modern precedent for today's economic meltdown. The ground has shifted..."

***********************************************

GREEN ENERGY COULD REKINDLE OUR ECONOMIC "BOILER HOUSE".

Investing in renewable energy and energy-saving sectors
can create four times as many jobs as investing
the same amount of money in fossil fuels, says
a report by a US research institute.

The Report's authors suggest that:-

Compared with the traditional energy sectors,
clean energy is a new area with more room for growth,
which means more infrastructure construction and more jobs.

By shifting toward a greener economy, we can also
reduce dependence on non-renewable sources such as oil and coal.

Major oil-rich areas are also geo-politically sensitive,
which can lead to inflated or volatile prices.

Reducing the use of fossil fuels slows greenhouse
gases, the key to tackling climate change.

Foresight is necessary in the energy industry,
because it involves a country's economic and strategic safety.

If we foster a low-carbon economy, it will
not only stimulate immediate demand, but also
lay a solid foundation for long-term growth.
A solution, therefore, is to combine economic
recovery with tackling climate change.


The Brookings Institution also suggests that:-

We cannot bet our future on reductions in oil prices,
because we might face greater economic and
geo-political risks, once the economy revives.

************************************************

BRITAIN'S BA BATTERED BADLY

British Airways announces their biggest loss
since the company was privatised in 1987.

BA reports a loss before tax of 401 million pounds
after its results are hit by "a weak pound and higher fuel costs".

BA made a revised profit of £922m in the previous year.
Chief executive Willie Walsh says he sees
"no signs of recovery anywhere".

***********************************************

UK DEBT NEARING 100% OF GDP

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's now downgrades
its outlook for the British economy, saying it
is growing increasingly worried about the UK's
huge and growing budget deficit.

S&P credit analyst David Beers says the ratings agency
is basing its lower view of the UK's credit rating,
"on our view that, even factoring in further fiscal tightening,
the UK's net general government debt burden
may approach 100% of GDP, and remain near
that level in the medium term".

The news pushes shares in London down sharply
and causes gilt yields to soar. The FTSE 100 at
one point tumbles over 2%, or 100 points, to 4352.
Sterling falls three cents to $1.5530.

Manus Cranny, senior market commentator of MF Global Spreads:
"This is exactly what the UK really did not need.
The Treasury will now be hamstrung as its delicate
attempts to flood the market with gilts to fund
the deficit could literally be in tatters if S&P
is followed by other agencies."

*************************************************

ICELAND - HERE WE COME ?

Could Britain be the next Iceland?
Sterling lost a third of its value in 2008.

The Icelandic krona lost half its value
before it was suspended in October.

When the krona collapsed, the debts of Icelandic banks
were 600% of GDP,
which seems uniquely horrific - until you discover
that Britain's bank debts now total
450% of its GDP.

************************************************

The US dollar is no longer Russia’s basic reserve currency.
The euro-based share of reserve assets of Russia’s Central Bank
is up to 47.5% ... above the 41.5% of investments
held in dollar assets, Vedomosti states.

The dollar has thus lost the status of being
the reserve currency for the Russian Central Bank,
says the annual report which the bank provides to the State Duma.

***********************************************
READ ABOUT HOW BANKERS ARE STARVING US ALL AT:

http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/
globalrecession/2009/05/20095161253214553.html
***********************************************

AMERICA THE UNFAIR

The true extent of the social disaster of the US
is not being shown to the rest of the world,
at least not by the mainstream media.

One third of US adults are functionally illiterate;
Real unemployment is 20% but may actually be higher;
60 million people in the US live below the poverty line;
Millions are being thrown out of their homes,
unable to pay mortgages, while millions of
children in the US go hungry.

What's left of productive industry in the US
is being dismantled further, because plants
are closing due to bankruptcy or because
production is being moved to China or elsewhere.


**************************************************
Maceys - the "world's largest store" shrinks
and announces it is closing nearly a dozen stores.
**************************************************

CAR PRODUCTION IN UK "MORE THAN HALVES" IN ONE YEAR

************************************************

Official: US dollar dominance in world financial system challenged

A recent loan agreement between China and Argentina
conducted in their own currencies, is another jab
at the US dollar's dominance and the IMF, says
the executive director of a nongovernmental organization
participating in the UN's financial summit.

"The US dollar is being challenged every day
more and more, as the US doesn't meet IMF standards,"
Jo Marie Griesgraber of New Rules for Global Finance Coalition
tells reporters attending a preliminary meeting.

The agreement allows Argentine businesses to buy
Chinese imports directly in Yuan, cutting out
the IMF middleman and allowing both countries
to avoid the headache of dealing in US dollars.

*************************************************

YANKEE DOLLAR FALLS TO SUCRE

Members of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA)
introduce a regional currency for mutual settlement.
The Sucre (Sistema Unico de Compensacion Regional),
is put into circulation in January 2010.

For the time being, the Sucre bears a resemblance
to Europe ’s ECU (the European Currency Unit),
which was a virtual currency before the introduction of the euro.

The first joint Latin American currency is a victory
for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his allies in Cuba.
The two countries founded the ALBA in 2004
to oppose Washington’s plan to create a
free trade zone for the two Americas.

ALBA has so far followed a practice of barter exchange.
For example, Cuba provides specialists for
Venezuela’s social programs in return for oil.
Members of ALBA receive Venezuelan oil at discount prices.

The dollar peg became a weak point of the organization,
but this new currency is expected to remove any
political and economic risks of dollar-based trade.
Hugo Chavez said the Sucre would be launched as a virtual currency
and will then grow as a fully fledged regional currency,
which can help Latin American countries
remove the dictatorship of the US dollar.

ALBA unites Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Honduras,
Nicaragua and Dominica. Ecuador is an observing nation,
and Paraguay is likely to become a member in the near future.

**************************************************

THE AMERICAN DREAM STATE ENTERS NIGHTMARE

California's unemployment rate increases to 11.2%
the highest level since the government began keeping
systematic records in 1976, the US Department of Labour reports.

The state, which accounts for the largest share of the US economy,
loses more than 62,100 jobs in March, the 12th consecutive month
of sharply increasing official unemployment.

***********************************************

Alvaro Uribe, the Colombian president, says he agrees
that the world's poor should not pay
for a crisis that began in the US.

World leaders should adapt their nations' economic models accordingly,
following the near collapse of the global financial system, he says.

"We need to have a new concept of capital:
Capital that should be used for
the construction of social wealth," Uribe says.

***********************************************

LATEST ANALYSIS FROM THE UN

Joseph Stiglitz argues that a global crisis
requires a global response, but responsibility
for responding remains at the national level.

Each country is trying to minimise the impact
on its own citizens and so stimulus packages
are smaller and more poorly designed than they
otherwise could be; and, he argues, this is why
a globally coordinated stimulus package is needed.

The UN Experts Commission on the global economic crisis,
which Stiglitz chairs, now submits its preliminary report.

The report urges stronger measures focused on
developing countries, through grants, without
the past "conditions" which enforced financial
deregulation, the root cause of the crisis.

The source of liquid funds today, Stiglitz says,
is Asia and the Middle East; but why should
these countries contribute money to organisations
in which their voice is limited and which push
policies that are against their values and beliefs?

Many of the governance reforms proposed for the
IMF and the World Bank – face a process which is
too slow, and the crisis will not wait, the report says.

It is imperative that assistance is provided
through a variety of channels, in addition to,
or instead of, the IMF, including new or
existing regional institutions.

G20 leaders strongly condemned protectionism
and committed themselves not to engage in it.
But the World Bank notes that 17 of these 20 countries
have already undertaken protectionist measures,
most notably the US with its "buy American"
provision in its "stimulus" package.

These subsidies and bailouts provided by the US, Stiglitz says,
have already changed everything for the worst, perhaps irreversibly.

One important medium-term initiative urged by the UN commission
is the creation of a global economic coordinating council,
which could coordinate economic policy and assess problems.

As the downturn deepens, we still do not have
an adequate framework for whole countries
facing bankruptcy, Stiglitz says.

The US dollar reserve-currency system, he says, is "fraying".
The UN commission argues that addressing this old issue
is essential if we are to have a robust and stable recovery.

Such reforms will not occur overnight, he says,
but "they will not occur ever", Stiglitz urges,
"unless work on them is begun now".

********************************************

WHY THE DOLLAR IS DOOMED

The US, the world's most developed country,
is scrambling to "solve" an unprecedented financial crisis
that originated in the US and is shattering the world.

In response, the US has announced massive rescue plans
leaving a big question mark as to how it will
get enough money to finance those plans.

The US Congress has recently sanctioned a $787
billion stimulus plan, which is only a small
fraction of their overall plan.

The US-based San Francisco Business Times reports
that the US government and Federal Reserve
are harboring a huge 8.5-trillion-dollar rescue plan,
...about 60% of the country's GDP.

Obama is expecting a record $1.75 trillion
US federal fiscal deficit this year.
The fiscal figure reached $459 billion last year.

This year's deficit will be 12.3% of US GDP,
the highest since World War II and far exceeding
the recognized 3% alarm level. Obama also foresees
a $1 trillion deficit in 2011.

Many US experts say Obama's estimate is too optimistic,
and the actual deficit will be even bigger,
as Obama is excluding US liabilities in his projection.

Who will be able to provide the finance
for the enormous fiscal deficit of the US government?

The US Treasury Department estimates the US government
issued up to 2.56 trillion dollars of treasury bonds in 2009,
and will issue at least 1.14 trillion this year.

By the end of 2008, outstanding treasury bonds
stood at $10.7 trillion. 29%, or $2.862 trillion,
are held by foreign governments or investors.

That means the country's reliance on overseas
investors holding treasury bonds has been raised
by 10 percentage points from eight years ago.

"The world simply cannot buy any more new
issuance of US treasury bonds," says Yu Zuyao,
an honorary economist with the Chinese Academy
of Social Sciences (CASS), who used to head
the CASS Institute of Economics.

Many countries have their own hands full, and like the US,
are using their capital to counter the financial crisis,
consolidate their financial system, and fuel
their own stimulus packages to revive the real economy,
even though they hold foreign exchange reserves in US dollars.

Emerging economies hold a combined $5.5 trillion in forex reserves,
but most of the reserves have already been used
to buy US treasury bonds, says Yoko Kitazawa,
an expert on international affairs, in Sekai (The World).

However, the trade surpluses of these regions and countries
are eroding because of the collapse in global trade.

As a result, forex reserves of these regions and countries
are expanding at a slower pace, or even declining.

The latest estimate from the World Trade Organization
says global trade shrank by 9%, or more, in 2009.

As the largest holder of US treasury bonds
and the world's second largest exporter,
China's forex reserves may have decreased by
more than $30 billion in just two months.

China's forex reserves stood at about $1.95 trillion
at the end of 2008, the largest in the world.

The Economic Information Daily reports that China
has liquidity of only $300 billion to $500 billion
in forex reserves now, citing a report from an
unidentified ministry-level research institute.

Yang Bin, CASS economist, says the US is luring capital
scattered all over the world to the US,
by floating excessive treasury bonds, which could be
a threat to developing countries which are crying out for capital.

Economic development in many developing countries is,
to a large extent, counting on an influx of overseas capital.

The US-based Institute for International Finance
warns that capital flows into emerging markets
risk collapsing, in this "financial" crisis.

The association of large banks estimates that net
private sector capital flows to emerging markets
was no more than $165 billion in 2009,
which is less than half of the 466 billion in 2008
and only a fifth of the 930 billion in 2007.

The crisis and global economic recession are also
aggravating world poverty. The UN says that
reduced growth in 2009 led to an income loss
of around $18 billion (46 US dollars per person)
for 390 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa,
already living in extreme poverty.

This loss represents 20% of the per capita income
of the poor in Africa, far exceeding the losses of developed nations.

The majority of low-income nations, or 43 out of 48,
are incapable of providing a government stimulus
for the poor, according to the report.

In addition, the excessive US treasury bonds,
its enormous fiscal deficit, and issuance of the dollar
that far exceeds the demands of their economy,
will cause world-wide inflation and depreciate the dollar.
This could be another heavy blow to the world economy
in this downturn, and to developing countries in particular.

"The immense 'US treasury bonds bubble' has not only
badly weakened new demand among investors, but also
put foreign investors in danger of seeing their
dollar-denominated assets shrink in value," says Yu.

The US Treasury Department says US government bonds
held by foreign countries are down by $4.7 billion.

This is the first time other countries have
sold US treasury bonds since March 2007.

But China's purchases are decelerating.

Capital is fleeing the US. In January, foreign investors
sold $43 billion of long-term US bonds,
compared with an inflow of $34.7 billion.

The US is facing a capital account deficit
of $148.9 billion, if short-term bonds are included,
as foreign governments and institutions become
reluctant to buy more US bonds. The deficit
compares to $609.9 billion in surplus for the whole of 2008.

***********************************************

ON THE EVE

The Chinese call for a new WORLD ECONOMIC CURRENCY
as a strategic reserve. This will help them, AND
save the world. The US and UK call for the dollar to stay...
which will help "them", and ruin the world.
Guess which world our leaders will fight for !!!

***********************************************

THOUSANDS DEMAND CHANGE ACROSS EUROPE

Tens of thousands march through European cities,
demanding action on poverty, job losses and climate change.

In London an alliance of more than 100 trade unions,
aid agencies, religious groups and environmental organisations
call on world leaders to commit to reforms.

"Never before has such a wide coalition come together
with such a clear message for world leaders,"
Brendan Barber, general sec. of the TUC, says.

"The old ideas of unregulated free markets do not work
and have brought the world's economy to near-collapse,
failed to fight poverty and have done far too little
to move to a low-carbon economy."


About 15,000 people march in Berlin sporting headbands
reading "Pay for it yourselves";
some carry a black coffin topped with red roses,
symbolising the "death of capitalism".

A demonstration held in Frankfurt, Germany's
banking capital, is led by the slogan:
"We won't pay for your crisis".

In Vienna, the capital of Austria, around 6,500 people
gather in the city centre with paper piggy banks,
balloons and signs that read "Capitalism can't be reformed".

We shall see.

*************************************************

The British International Motor Show, 2010,
is now cancelled, organisers say.
It is the first time in peacetime that the
century-old event is not taking place.

**************************************************
In January, 2009, 2.5 million workers strike in protest
at French government attempts to make workers pay;
In March 2009, FIVE MILLION march !
**************************************************

FACING THE FUTURE

Beddington, the UK government's appointed expert,
says a major push is needed to develop renewable energy supplies,
boost crop yields and better utilise existing water supplies.
England, he says, faces higher food prices
and a huge water shortage.
It's not ALL bad news, then !

***********************************************

A SMALL WORLD SHRINKS

The World Bank says that the global economy
shrank in 2009, for the first time since World War Two.

Read "Reflections" in Granma, on this crisis -
it dares to mention "OVERPRODUCTION" as a main feature !

http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2009/march/lun9/reflexiones4.html

***********************************************

AND THEIR SOLUTION? - "CUT MINIMUM WAGE" !!!

The British Chambers of Commerce say:
unemployment across the UK will reach 3.2 million
- over 10% of the workforce - by the second half of 2010.

*************************************************

CO-OP DIVI UP - STOCK MARKET DIVI DOWN !

Benjamin Pedley, managing director, LGT Investment Asia:
"The real concern at the moment is even though
stock prices are down 53% in the US,
from the peak of October 2007...
dividends are being cut at the fastest pace since 1955.
That gives investors even fewer reasons
to buy into the stock market."

**********************************************

IRELAND ERUPTS: MARCH LEADERS DEMAND BANK NATIONALISATION

Well over 100,000 people march through Dublin.
While the head of the march is in Merrion Square,
the tail is still a mile away, in Parnell Square.

The Irish government is imposing a tax on workers
to pay for the financial crisis affecting pensions.

An Irish government spokesperson:
"The reality is that we are not able to meet the public service pay bill
in the circumstances of declining revenue."

Fine Gael and Sinn Féin call for elections,
and Sinn Féin's new vice-president, Mary Lou McDonald,
says "corrupt bankers" must be sacked.

At the rally, David Begg, general sec. of the
Irish Congress of Trade Unions, says:
"nationalise the Irish banking system",
and save the country's economy.

Peter McLoone, Impact union, says
workers don't cause economic collapse,
but are "being forced to pay for it".

Among those marching are recently sacked workers
from SR Technics, Irish Defence Forces members,
of the military union PDFORRA, and members of
the Garda (police) Representative Association.
Uniformed firepeople (persons?) lead the march.

13,000 civil and public servants strike next,
and thousands more in the civil service and education
are voting on mass industrial action.

***********************************************

NO PRECEDENT: US DECLINE

Between 2000 to 2008, the US share of world production
plunged from 31% to 23%, and will fall to 21% by 2013
- a decline of 32% in 13 years. China's share of world production
over the same period is expected to double to 9%.
This is the fastest fall (with the possible exception
of the Soviet Union) of any empire in history !

*************************************************
Credit rating agency Moody's Investors Service
issues a warning that the banking system in Eastern Europe
is increasingly vulnerable to "economic crisis".
And who owns this poisonous debt? WESTERN European banks !
*************************************************

OBAMA's "BUY AMERICAN" COULD RUIN EVERYTHING !

The "Buy American" provisions in the 787-billion-stimulus bill
that Obama signed into law, gives hope of saving
the world's economy a smack in the face.

"Buy American" prohibits the purchase of foreign iron,
steel and manufactured goods ( ! ) for ANY
stimulus-funded infrastructure project.

The "Buy American" provisions could force
developing countries to resort to trade barriers.
The gigantic US economic recovery package
virtually shuts the door on developing countries,
raising the possibility of tit-for-tat treatment.

Developing economies, including the emerging ones,
have become an important engine for world economic development,
and no revival plan can do without their cooperation and support.
It is thus unrealistic to exclude the many developing economies
from any stimulus strategy. Yet this is what the US is doing.

Justin Yifu Lin, the World Bank's chief economist,
says developed economies mired in downturns
should not close their doors for self-protection,
and should try to help emerging economies expand their domestic demand.

Princeton University economics professor Burton Malkiel:
"Buy American provisions invite retaliation by other nations,
and the spread of "beggar thy neighbour" policies
throughout the world."

Resorting to trade protectionism can ONLY
trigger a vicious cycle worldwide.

*************************************************

REVIVE AGRICULTURE OR "POOR HARDEST HIT"

Britain faces a major food crisis unless urgent steps
are taken to revive its flagging agricultural sector,
warns one of the world's most influential thinktanks, Chatham House.

"What we had thought of as an abundant food supply is anything but.
Western societies, in particular, have tended to
take their food supply for granted.
The global system will reach breaking point unless action is taken."

The report's authors call for more money to fund
farm expansion, agricultural innovation and skills.

It also calls on the government to address the power of supermarkets,
whose ability to dictate terms to farmers
is blamed for many of them going out of business.

The report concludes: "There is a real potential for demand growth
to outstrip increases in global food production.
Effects on developing countries would be devastating.
Developed countries will be affected, too.
Expectations of abundant and ever cheaper food
could come under strain. The UK can no longer
afford to take its food supply for granted."

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

China and Switzerland are studying the creation of
a bilateral free trade zone in 2009,
as part of their efforts to tackle
the challenges of the global financial crisis.

*************************************************

70% IN UK REJECT EURO - SOON THE EEC WILL REJECT UK

The chance for Britain to join the Euro
will never happen, because the UK public is
fed on xenophobic, racist and arrogant lies.
And, since the eurozone will not want such
a sinking economy to enter anytime in the future,
investment guru Jim Rogers warns against investing in the UK
and says the pound is "finished."

***********************************************

REPLACE AGRICULTURAL IMPORTS, SAYS CUBA

RICARDO Cabrisas, vice president of the Council of Ministers,
describes the replacement of imports, beginning
with foodstuffs and agricultural products, as a
strategic objective for Cuba.

The vice president stresses that agriculture
gives the greatest immediate contribution
to the national economy.

************************************************

DON'T WORRY - CHANGE !!!

In the two weeks ending November 20th, 2008,
the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 16%.
In the two weeks ending November 20th, 1931,
the Dow fell 16%.

If that WORRIES you, consider this:
In the last five weeks of 1931,
the Dow fell 20% more,
then went on to lose another 47%
before finally hitting rock-bottom on July 8, 1932.
Only the start of the 2nd World War
led to economic production rising.

*******************************************

CHINA SHOWS WALES THE GOOD WAY

China is investing hugely in agriculture,
low-cost housing projects, infrastructure,
energy conservation and social welfare.

********************************************

CUTS AND PRIVATISATION OPPOSED

Trade unions, Charities, anti-poverty groups and
progressive academics have all come together
to work to stop controversial welfare reforms
which cut benefits to people who cannot work.

See full article at our "One Union" Page.

*********************************************

Two leading thinkers, Neil Lawson and Stephen Thake
have been commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation
to examine the best way forward for Britain.

... READ WHAT THEY SAY, on the Co-operative News Page.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Iranian newspapers quote Mojtaba Hashemi Samareh
- top adviser to President Ahmadinejad -
as saying the country is converting its dollar
foreign currency reserves into gold.

************************************************

Dmitry Medvedev and Chavez meet and the Russian
president says Moscow and Caracas could switch
to national currencies in bilateral payments.

"We have discussed with President Chavez the use of
...the ruble and the bolivar, in bilateral payments,"
Medvedev says at a news conference in Caracas.

*******************************************

Unemployment figures show Wales is suffering
more than any other part of the UK.

The Tories accuse the assembly government
of having "no idea" how to solve Wales' unemployment.

Trade unionists say the figures are "awful" for Wales.
TUC Wales general secretary Martin Mansfield:
unemployment "must be public policy priority number one".

"Because the gap between earnings and benefits has grown,
the newly unemployed are facing a bigger cut in income
than in previous recessions," Mr Mansfield states.

An assembly government spokesperson:
"WAG will continue to do everything we can to
help support the Welsh economy during this difficult period,
and to be in good shape to benefit from the economic upturn
.........when it arrives."

***************************

US PRINTS ITS WAY TO PLANETARY RUIN

The US Federal Reserve has opened a new line of credit
for the central banks of Mexico, Brazil, South Korea and Singapore.

Similar credits are issued to the central banks
of Australia, Canada, Denmark, the United Kingdom,
Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland and the European Central Bank.

The central banks will receive funds in exchange
for hard currency reserves, which have sustained
considerable losses due to the financial and trade crisis.

This consolidates the economic power of the US dollar.

The IMF is injecting large sums of money
into its Eastern European clients.
Hungary "receives" the equivalent of 20 billion euros,
a large part of which are dollars from the US.
Their machines keep printing and the IMF keeps granting loans.

However, the World Wildlife Fund says that, at
the current rate of spending, by the year 2030,
humanity will need the resources of TWO planets
to maintain its lifestyle.

Developed capitalism hopes to continue plundering the world
as if the world were still able to sustain it.

Insane ? Yes ! Greedy and corrupt ? Of course !

Going to stop them ?

******************************************

CHINA LOOKS AFTER ITS FARMERS

Farmers' income to be doubled by 2020

The Communist Party of China (CPC) approves
a resolution on rural reform and development.

The Party vows to integrate urban and rural economic development,
and ensure a sufficient supply of home produced foods.
The per capita net income of the country's rural population
will be doubled and absolute poverty eliminated in rural areas.

China will ensure all rural residents' access to
vital education, medical care and sanitation facilities
as well as guarantee a basic standard of living.

In addition, a set of resource-conserving and
environment-friendly agricultural production systems
will take shape by that year, the document says.

The setting of a tangible goal for farmers' income
growth is seen as very important.

China's ambitious goals will go nowhere without
the prosperity of farmers, who account for a
large proportion of the country's population.

Since 2001, Chinese farmers have enjoyed a 6.2%
growth in their incomes every year, and 7.5% year-on-year since 2004.

******************************************

Eurozone banks face heavy exposure to East European debt.

The share prices of Italian Unicredit, Austria's Erste Bank
and Raiffeisen International are all down
more than 60% from a year ago.

After a wave of Eurozone bank insolvencies led to
an industry concentration through rescue mergers
in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK,
Austria may be left holding all the debt in Eastern Europe.
Loans have reached a critical level - €240 billion
- or €32,600 per inhabitant.

According to the Telegraph: Austria’s bank exposure
to emerging markets is equal to 85pc of GDP –
with a heavy concentration in Hungary, Ukraine,
and Serbia – all queuing for rescue packages
from the IMF. Exposure is 50% of GDP for Switzerland,
25% for Sweden, 24% for the UK, and 23% for Spain.
The US figure is just 4%.

European loans in danger of default dwarf US losses.

Neil Mellor, a strategist at Bank of New York Mellon:
"This is the biggest currency crisis the world has ever seen."

Experts fear a chain reaction within the eurozone.
The risk is a surge in capital flight from Austria –
the country that set off the global banking collapse
of May 1931 when Credit-Anstalt went down.

The latest data from the Bank for International Settlements
shows that Western European banks hold almost all the exposure
to the emerging market bubble now bursting.

Hungary is now raising interest rates by 3%
to 11.5% in a desperate attempt to defend
the forint’s currency peg in the ERM.

*****************************************

HOOVER MANUFACTURING... GONE FROM MERTHYR!

Workers lead a small procession from the plant,
after the loss of 337 production jobs.
Around 100 staff still work at the site,
as it retains its headquarter status.

One union man says:
"We hope the Welsh assembly and Merthyr council
will get together and bring jobs back to the valleys."

What about building an economy?
Why should the valleys
EXPECT jobs to be "brought here"?

With production now transferred elsewhere,
the assembly government says its priority now
is to support those who are losing their jobs.

It says a team of specialists, including representatives
from Merthyr council and Hoover, are already
studying how the factory site could be used.

"I understand fully the disappointment
that very many people in Merthyr feel..."
says Deputy First Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones.

"But the end of manufacturing means
that a site of some 30 acres
is now available for redevelopment.

"Our task now is to look to the future -
and make good the loss of jobs and the impact
of the closure on the community."


************************************************

REMEMBER HOW WE "BRITISH" LOST ALL OUR PENSIONS?

Cristina Kirchner, Argentina's president, has
nationalised $30bn in private pension funds,
saying it is necessary to protect retirees
in the global financial crisis.

The government takes the step after 10 companies
in the private pension sector suffer severe
losses in the crumbling stock and bond markets,
according to an Argentinian official.

The measure is approved by the Argentinian congress.
Private pension funds strongly criticise the measure
(well, they WOULD, wouldn't they !)
as a "short-term" move and say their assets remain "healthy".

The 10 firms together administer around $30bn
in retirement savings of 53% of Argentinian workers,
and take $4.6bn each year in new contributions.

Eight of the 10 are controlled by private banks.
One is a co-operative and another is controlled
by state-owned Banco Nacion.
Kirchner says: "We are taking this decision in
the international context in which the G8 countries
and others are seeking ways to protect banks.

"WE are protecting our retirees and workers."

*****************************************

The next stage for an economy which only consumes,
and has had its financiers "saved", is MASS UNEMPLOYMENT.

DO YOU BELIEVE THE OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT FIGURES?

*********************************************

UK's ECONOMY BASED ON USURY IS "UNBALANCED".
PROPORTION OF ENGLAND's WORKFORCE IN AGRICULTURE?
TWO PERCENT !!! WHY IS WALES FOLLOWING ENGLAND?
WE HAVE THE LAND! WE HAVE THE IDEAS!

************************************************

CHINESE BANK IS TOP PROFIT MAKER IN THE WORLD

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
(ICBC), the country's largest lender, says its
first half after-tax profit totals 64.88 billion yuan
(9.47 billion US dollars), and makes it
the world's most profitable bank.

HSBC, the world's most profitable bank last year,
says its net profit in the first half is 7.72
billion US dollars, down 29% from last year.

************************************************

When inflation is properly measured, the US
economy has experienced little, if any,
real economic growth in the 21st century.
Yet, according to economist Joseph Stiglitz,
the total cost of the wars on behalf of US
and Israeli hegemony is $3 trillion.

Without a rapidly expanding economy, there are
insufficient tax revenues to cover these costs.

SOMEONE should tell the British public the TRUTH -
WAR AND GREED ARE SHORT-SIGHTED WAYS TO MAKE MONEY !!!
(Read our novel, "COME ON HOME", please !)

************************************************

Israel asks America to give aid in euros.
Condi says Washington's got no problem with that.
Egypt asks for the same, and is refused.

The self-important West is heading for a series of shocks.
Will it cause us to change ? Or blame others !

************************************************

THE UK ? HOW SAFE IS A COUNTRY THAT LIVES OFF "USURY?"

BIGGEST FALL IN UK STOCK MARKET HISTORY !!!

The "free market" is failing;
and the Government has no answer.

Join with us.... and we can
show the world how working people
here build a wonderful life together..
It's EASY...

***************************

Here's a clue... from economists at the World Bank:

"Economic growth of the agriculture sector is at least
twice as effective at reducing poverty as any other sector."

The University of Glamorgan Commercial Services
are proud that 2009 saw us train in the region of
1650 delegates across the range of our professional
and postgraduate courses, both nationally and
internationally. From a Welsh perspective,
approximately 10% were trained as a result of
accessing the Welsh Assembly Government's ReAct
funding, provision for those who have suffered redundancy.

We look forward to continuing our range of
successful partnerships via training and by
means of University facilitated consultancy
and knowledge transfer projects into 2010.

Details of all our courses are available
on our UGCS website - go here to view:

http://www.ugcs.co.uk/

Once again, we look forward to working with you in 2010.

Sent by:

UGCS Ltd, University of Glamorgan,
Trefforest, Pontypridd, CF37 1DL

Tel: 01443 482482 Fax: 01443 485916

E-mail: ugcsmktg@glam.ac.uk www.ugcs.co.uk


*************************************************

THE SINCERE APPLIANCE OF SCIENCE

Cuban biotechnology products now contribute to
the diagnosis, prevention & treatment of 26 diseases.

In 2007, Cuban pharmaceutical and biotechnology products
were the country’s second highest export item,
only exceeded by nickel. The income generated
from pharmaceuticals sales? - $350 million.

IRELAND BEAT ENGLAND AT TWICKENHAM !!!

Looks like 2010's Championship might go to "family" !

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Wales In Union - Official WRU Gifts & Merchandise


Wales In Union Store Now Open

The Wales In Union Store has great New Year Gifts
for the Welsh Rugby supporter, including;

The Official WRU Calendar 2010

The Brand New DVD twin pack -
'Wales Greatest Victories v England

Plus keyrings, pin badges, car air fresheners, mugs, etc.


Official WRU Calendar 2010

Keep track of 2010's matches with your WRU calendar,
complete with 12 images of your sporting heroes.

Comes with a free fold-out poster
to commemorate the momentous stand off
before last year's New Zealand match.

Welsh Rugby's Greatest Victories v England

This DVD twinpack features every minute of
the 1999 match at Wembley and the 2008 match
at Twickenham, with bonus content and features.

Visit us now to see our full range of
Official Welsh Rugby Union Gifts and Merchandise.
We offer free postage and packing
on all orders over £10.

www.walesinunion.com



************************************************
************************************************

Let The Dragon Roar!

Order the single / ringtone Now!

Text 'Wales' to 78789

For further information, visit:

www.wrucd.co.uk

Let The Dragon Roar!

'Let The Dragon Roar!' is now available for
download from iTunes for just 79p -

If you don't have iTunes, Paste this into your browser:

http://indiestore.7digital.com/welshmusic/

to go to the Music Wales Download Site
or simply text 'Wales' to 78789

Texts cost £1.50 including the single / ringtone

*************************************************
*************************************************

WE DID IT - enjoy it !!!
The Grand Slam Shop is open for business at
www.grandslamshop.co.uk

Grand Slam 2008 T-Shirts are available
in mens and ladies sizes and we have a range
of Welsh Rugby CDs at specially reduced prices.

More products will be arriving so visit us now
and join our members list to receive exclusive offers!

WWW.GRANDSLAMSHOP.CO.UK

*********************************************

WALES - CHAMPIONS !!!

2008 - GRAND SLAM WINNERS...
2009 - WORLD SEVENS CHAMPIONS !!!

Wales are celebrating their Sevens World title
after beating Argentina in the final in Dubai 19-12.

The Pumas beat Wales in the Pool stage,
but we took control of the final, as Aled Thomas
broke through a minute from full time,
to seal a famous victory.

"This is amazing, it's going to take a while to sink in,"
says Wales captain Lee Beach.

---------------------------------------------

Wales Sevens squad:

Lee Beach (Neath, capt), Rhodri McAtee (Cornish Pirates),
Lee Williams (Scarlets), Tom Isaacs (Newport),
Aled Thomas (London Welsh), James Merriman (unattached),
Tal Selley (Dragons), Aled Brew (Dragons),
Craig Hill (Newport), Rhys Webb (Ospreys),
Richie Pugh (Exeter Chiefs), Dafydd Hewitt (Blues).

************************************************

As you know, we Welsh are not given to boasting about rugby,
and take no pleasure at the misfortunes of England.

Cardiff Blues run riot at Twickenham.
Gloucester 12-50 Cardiff Blues

Cardiff bring the Anglo-Welsh cup back to Wales - again.
Yee Haarr - HAAARR !!!

***********************************************

HOW DID CALZAGHE BEAT JONES ?

Calzaghe threw 985 punches to Jones' 475,
landing with 35% to Jones' 33%.

***********************************************

LET'S TURN YOUR RUGBY CLUB...INTO A COMMUNITY HUB

The Welsh Rugby Union is working on a £1m package
to encourage clubs to develop facilities for all ages.

Chief Executive Roger Lewis says he wants to
forge partnerships with politicians to turn
clubs into community hubs.

Discussions are underway with the assembly
government and local councils.

Mr Lewis: "The clubs are the hubs of the community,
and rugby is one of the bits of glue
which keeps the community together.
But the clubs can be so many other things as well.
We've been talking to the Welsh Assembly
Government to see what else the clubs can do.
Can they do coffee mornings for young mums,
a place for old folk to drop in?
Can they be an IT centre?"

Mr Lewis said there were similar communities
all over Wales that could benefit from using
improved rugby club facilities.

The WRU is planning a £1 million package to help clubs
to promote grassroots rugby facilities over the next year.
A quarter of a million pounds from the Sports Foundation
is offered to clubs in match funding for any scheme.
The WRU says it will provide an additional half a
million pounds to clubs in loans to boost facilities.

"We want to give this cash to clubs who really
want to develop facilities," Mr Lewis says.
"We want to see places like my home club, Cefn Cribwr,
grow and flourish and there are similar places across Wales."

**************************************************

PONTY's WELSH WIZARD HONOURED

A blue plaque is unveiled in Pontypridd,
to the late Freddie Welsh, former
world lightweight boxing champion.

The plaque is unveiled by Welsh former boxer Dai Dower, 75.

Mr Welsh was sent to California because of ill health,
and took up boxing following a suggestion
from his physical fitness instructor.

Born Frederick Thomas, Freddie changed his name
to prevent his mother from learning about his
new boxing career in the United States.

He was awarded the first Lonsdale Belt in 1909
for winning the European lightweight boxing title.

In 1914, he won the world lightweight title in London
on a points decision. He retained the title until May 1917
when he was knocked out by Benny Leonard at Manhattan Athletic Club.

Mr Welsh served in World War I and then
returned to boxing before retiring in 1922.

He invested his money in a health farm and gymnasium,
but lost it all and died penniless in New York in 1927.

***********************************************

FARMER ALED OWEN wins his second World Sheepdog Championship...

Mr Owen, and his sheepdog Roy, from Corwen in Denbighshire,
wins by one point over Netherlands rival Ron Snoeck.
Aled won his first world trophy the last time,
six years ago in Bala, Gwynedd.
Mr Owen says there was also only one point
in his first triumph; "I don't make it
easy for myself, do I ?"

More than 240 dogs and handlers from 22 nations
competed in Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire.
Mr Owen was among the favourites to regain the
2008 Land Rover World Sheepdog Trials title
over the four-day contest at Dinefwr Park.

Mr Owen receives £3,000, and a solid gold shepherd's whistle
commissioned by the International Sheep Dog Society's
main sponsor, Gilbertson and Page, plus a gold medal.

The event is staged every three years and attracts
contestants from countries as far as New Zealand,
Australia, South Africa, and the United States.

***********************************************

PREPAY ENERGY METERS "STILL OVERCHARGING" ?

Five out of the six big energy suppliers
still overcharge customers using pre-pay meters
- despite new Ofgem rules -
the National Housing Federation says.

Ofgen capped how much pre-pay customers can be charged
over those paying by direct debit, in September.

The NHF says Scottish Power, British Gas,
Npower, Scottish & Southern and E.On
have all failed to meet the cap.

Energy retailers deny breaching the rules,
and Ofgem says it will "investigate".

Ofgem imposed a cap of £88 on how much more per year
gas and electricity companies could charge pre-pay customers
over those who pay via direct debit.

The regulator found that
"service costs for pre-payment meter customers
are £88 per customer higher than for a direct debit customer".

But the NHF, representing 1,200 housing associations
in England, claims that Scottish Power, British Gas,
Npower, Scottish & Southern and E.On
have now all failed to meet the cap.

In September, it says, pre-pay customers at the five firms
all paid much more than those paying via direct debit.

Those at E.On were charged £99 more,
& those at Scottish Power paid £108 more.

EDF was the only one of the major companies
that the NHF says did not overcharge.

NHF chief executive David Orr has written to Ofgem,
demanding that it investigates whether or not
firms have breached their licence conditions.

"Ofgem will now have lost the confidence of
millions of pre-pay customers across the country.
The situation is an absolute disgrace."


*************************************************

UK ENERGY PRICE RISES DOUBLE THAT OF EU

Consumer Focus says firms appear to be raising prices 'with impunity'.

Energy prices in the UK are increasing twice as fast
as the European Union average, according to the latest figures.

OECD statistics show that gas and electricity bills
rose 29.7% in the past year compared with 15% in the EU.

Government watchdog Consumer Focus says UK customers
are being hit "faster and harder" than those in Europe.

Consumer Focus chief executive Ed Mayo says the UK
could learn from other countries which are doing
more to keep their prices down.

"The UK has a relatively free market, but the freedom
to cut prices in the early years now seems to be the freedom
to raise prices with impunity."

"Of course, those least able to afford it suffer most.
The suppliers must offer their most vulnerable customers
social tariffs and reduce prices generally
at the earliest opportunity."

**********************************************

PROTESTS LIT BY GAS PRICES IN GLOBAL MELTDOWN

Dozens of protesters met outside British Gas'
Cardiff headquarters to demonstrate against
energy price rises and the economic crisis.

The People Before Profit Alliance want its event
to launch a public debate on the failing economy.
The rally began at 2pm outside the company's
offices in Churchill Way in the city centre.

Their protest is supported by local trade union leaders,
pensioners groups, and by Plaid Cymru AM Leanne Wood.

The Alliance believe British Gas rises are unnecessary
as parent company, Centrica, announces over £1bn in profits.
As part of the protest they demand the government
renationalise British Gas and other energy companies
and subject them to a windfall tax on their profits.

The Alliance's Jonny Jones: "We want the protest
to act as a lightning rod for people who are
disenchanted about not only the British Gas price
rises but also the greater economic downturn.
It is quite clear that we haven't seen anything like
the current economic crisis since the Wall Street Crash of 1927.
As it starts to take a grip you can be sure the
government and companies are going to make
workers pay for the crisis by holding down wages
and calling for us to keep an eye on our debts."

Mr Jones says the alliance are now planning to
organise a public meeting where the best way
forward can be discussed.


*********************************************

Higher Welsh energy bills "inquiry".

The energy regulator Ofgem is examining why
people in Wales pay more for their electricity
than customers elsewhere in the UK.

Ministers in Cardiff and London asked for an investigation
after research by a watchdog group showed that
Welsh consumers are paying up to 10% more.

If correct, customers in Wales pay £47m year more
than necessary for their energy.

Welsh Assembly Government Sustainability Minister
Jane Davidson and Welsh Secretary Paul Murphy
both asked for the investigation.

"Sir John Mogg will ensure that the watchdog's review of energy markets
will examine differences between different parts of the UK," says Ms Davidson.

"At a time when more people are at risk of fuel poverty
due to rising prices it is important that Ofgem looks at
regional price differences to ensure that Welsh consumers
are charged the same as other parts of the UK.

"The evidence produced by Energywatch indicates that consumers
in Wales are paying more for their electricity than elsewhere."

Ms Davidson, who is meeting the six energy suppliers,
says the problem often hits "the most disadvantaged members
of society, such as the elderly, families dependent
on benefit and the sick and disabled."


******************************************


HERE'S THE REPORT !

Energywatch says customers pay £14 a year more
for their power in south Wales, and are the
"worst hit" in the UK.

They pay 5% more for electricity than consumers in north Wales
and 10% more than those in England and Scotland.

Energywatch is calling on the regulator Ofgem to review prices.

Wendy Davies, Director of Energywatch Wales;

"The research confirms what we have suspected for some time,
that consumers in Wales are being charged more
for their electricity than consumers in Scotland
and England and for no good reason."

"£14 a year more on an electricity bill may not sound like a lot
but collectively the suppliers are making millions of pounds
of profit from Welsh consumers who are struggling to cope with
average annual energy bills of £1089."

Energywatch says that, even after 10 years
of competition in the market, many suppliers
typically charge consumers in their original monopoly area
more than those in other regions.

Ms Davies says: "This finding demonstrates very clearly
that loyalty simply does not pay.

"Anyone who has remained loyal to their original
gas or electricity supplier, having never switched,
would be wise to look around for a better deal."

Energywatch Wales says 270,000 households
are now classed as "fuel poor,"
more than DOUBLE the number (130,000) in 2004.

Plaid Cymru AM and spokesperson for social justice, Dai Lloyd
calls for the establishment of an independent energy ombudsman for Wales.

"The current charging inconsistency is nonsensical
and the public needs a strong voice to fight their corner," Dr Lloyd says.



****************************8



IF YOU'RE POOR - YOU'LL PAY MORE !

The government should force energy firms to offer poorer customers
fairer prices if they do not do so of their own accord,
an advisory body insists.

Allan Asher, Energywatch, says the entire energy market
should be reviewed by the Competition Commission.

He says: "The price rises we've seen are not justified.

"There'll be more, but sadly
the market is not working well
and that's leading to consumers paying
much, much more than they need to."

The UK market is dominated by six providers.

British Gas, the UK's biggest power provider,
insists on an increase of 15% in the amount
it charges for gas and electricity.

The move follows increases by Npower,
which lifts its electricity prices by 12.7%
and gas by 17.2%, and EDF Energy, which put up
its electricity tariffs by 7.9% and gas bills by 12.9%.

The National Consumer Council warned in 2007
that the government's target to end fuel poverty
amongst vulnerable consumers by 2010 will be missed,
unless energy suppliers are FORCED to
reduce prices for low income consumers.


FPAG chairman Peter Lehmann says that low-income customers,
who generally use more expensive pre-payment meters,
have always paid more, but that the gap
has almost doubled since 2005.

"If they were £70 more expensive to run two years ago
- and we don't think they were -
they are not £120 more expensive to run now,"
Lehman says, about the higher rates charged to "token meter" accounts.



**********************************************

A school near Bridgend (well, it's near the Rhondda, innit!)
...has achieved its first green flag award,
with a little help from our feathered friends.

Pupils at Heronsbridge Special School, Bridgend,
rear chickens, and then make use of the eggs
in the school café.

The pupils also harvest & send apples from
their school orchard, to a cider company.

Teacher Julie Blackwell:
"They collect the apples that have fallen to the ground.

"They're then sent off to Gwynt y Ddraig cider
company in Llantwit Fardre, who use the apples
to produce cider."

Proceeds from the sale of Heronsbridge Autumn
Magic Cider are then passed back to the school.

Green flags are presented by Keep Wales Tidy
to schools that improve their environment
and promote green values.

Pupils at Heronsbridge also recycle leftover
food waste, paper and old mobile phones,
like many other schools taking part in
the Eco Schools Wales scheme.

They also have more innovative ideas...
Ideas for projects come from the school eco-committee,
which is composed of pupils, staff and parents.

"I want to plant plum trees to add to our apple
trees," says 15yr-old Jamie Rowlands.

"We have room near the orchard and
we could pick them and eat them."

Pupils are also trying to pass on the
lessons they learn, to the wider community:

Robyn Ford, 11: "I make my mother recycle at home.
We recycle plastic, paper and metal."

Heronsbridge, in achieving its first green flag,
has attracted praise from the local authority:

"I think they have developed some very special
and appetising ways of getting the green flag,"
says Alana Davies, cabinet member for children & young people.

The school has many more original ideas which
it hopes to develop in the near future:

Ms Blackwell: "We're going to tackle transport next.
Due to the nature of our pupils,
they're all taxied or mini-bussed in.

"I'm hoping to launch a pilot project
where staff will car share, so we can
reduce our carbon footprint, and we have
plans to build an eco-lodge, which will
incorporate solar panels and nesting boxes."

THE INSPIRATION OF WALES !

WALES BEATS NEW ZEALAND !

Below is a list of CORRUPTION.
As you can see, the UK is just
above Barbados, and below Hong Kong.

1 New Zealand

2 Denmark

3 Singapore

4 Sweden

5 Switzerland

6 Finland

6 Netherlands

8 Australia

8 Canada

8 Iceland

11 Norway

12 Hong Kong

12 Luxembourg

14 Germany

14 Ireland

16 Austria

17 Japan

17 United Kingdom

19 United States

20 Barbados

But, a source suggests privately, if Wales
were included separately, they would "beat
those..." "...Kiwis easily". The source is
quoted anonymously, for security reasons.

*************************************************


REFERENDUM FOR REAL POWER FOR WALES.

Emyr Jones Parry & the All-Wales Convention
have come out in favour of moving to a referendum.

1. Make a point of talking to your friends and colleagues
about why Wales needs its own Parliament

2. Make sure people understand why
we should not be treated as second class citizens.

3. Make it clear that what’s good for Scotland
is good for Wales.

4. Write to your local newspaper, phone your local radio station
and tell them that Wales deserves a proper Parliament.
Radio Wales will be asking for your views on programmes
throughout the day.

Make sure your voice is heard by phoning

03700 100 110

or texting 811012.

You can also send a message to the programmes online by going to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/radiowales/
sites/shows/news.shtml

The news programmes on BBC and ITV
will also be asking your views.
Make sure you have your say today !

5. Use twitter, Facebook, blogs and any medium
available to you to spread the Word!

6. Sign Wales' petition for a proper parliament NOW:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/radiowales/
sites/shows/news.shtml


************************************************

BARNETT FORMULA "LOSES WALES £8.5 BILLION A DECADE"

The Barnett formula was devised 30 years ago
as a "short-term arrangement", and has been
criticised for as long... with NO RESULT!

Now Welsh Secretary Peter Hain says the formula
"needs to be re-examined", after a UK House of Lords
select committee report says the formula is
"arbitrary and unfair" and should be scrapped.

Mr Hain says "we've got to make sure
that Wales get a fair deal in the future."

The Lords report wants money allocated based on need.

A report for Welsh ministers last week also warns
that if the Barnett formula is NOT changed,
Wales could lose up to £8.5bn a decade.

The system does not consider the health, age or
wealth of people in different parts of the UK.

The Lords select committee report concludes:
"The Barnett formula should no longer be used
to determine annual increases in the block grant
for the United Kingdom's devolved administrations."

The committee recommends an independent expert body
be set up to devise a new formula and review its progress.

New grants could be introduced within three years,
with any changes in funding phased in over a longer period,
"preferably not exceeding seven years", the report recommends.

The Holtham Commission, established by the Welsh
Assembly Government, says Barnett is "arbitrary"
and in "urgent need of reform".

Commission chair, economist Gerald Holtham, warns
that underfunding of Wales could reach £8.5bn
over the next decade. That's £2,900 for every
man, woman and child in Wales.

He calls for a new funding formula to
reflect the actual cost of providing services.

Plaid Cymru says the Barnett formula should be
ended "as a matter of urgency".

Adam Price MP: "all the evidence
now points towards the need for change.

"As this report clearly shows, the Barnett formula was only ever designed as a short-term quick fix.

"It is now so outdated that any opposition to scrapping it
would be irresponsible and an insult to the people of Wales."

A Treasury spokesperson:
"The Barnett formula has served the UK well over the years.

"It has proved to be a robust mechanism for
allocating spending to the devolved administrations
and has stood the test of time.

"There are no current plans to change the Barnett formula."

************************************************

GREEN CHARTER FOR BUILDING SECTOR
ANOTHER FIRST FOR WALES !!!

A "green charter" to cut carbon emissions from
Wales' construction industry has been signed by
more than 40 building groups and organisations.

The assembly government says the agreement is
the first of its kind in the UK.

The Environment Minister Jane Davidson AM:
"Today is another Wales first in the battle against climate change."

The charter is a joint initiative between
the Welsh Assembly Government,
the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC)
and the Design Commission for Wales.

Organisations signed up to the agreement include
building companies, colleges and trade bodies.

They promise to support energy-efficient buildings,
share examples and increase training.

Ms Davidson says the charter confirms
Wales' commitment to reduce its carbon footprint.

"The built environment is the largest contributor
to greenhouse gases in Wales. The way in which
we construct and use our homes and other buildings
accounts for 40% of our total carbon emissions.

"It is vital that all our new buildings are
energy efficient and as green as possible."

Richard Jenkins, Federation of Master Builders:
"I remain concerned that despite the manifesto
commitments of the Labour-Plaid coalition, the
promise to devolve building regulations to Wales
- the key tool in delivering real change in the construction industry -
is yet to be fulfilled."

The Federation of Master Builders (FMB)
represents around 600 builders in Wales
and is one of the trade bodies signing the charter.

Its director in Wales, Richard Jenkins:
"Global warming is not going to wait
until the economy gets better.
It's about getting willing partners
to make our buildings in Wales more sustainable."


******************************************


SUPPORT STEADIES FOR MORE WELSH POWER

Half the people of Wales want our assembly to
have full law-making and taxation powers,
a new survey indicates.

49% back full law-making and taxation powers.
31% want to keep the current arrangements.
Only 15% now support abolishing the assembly.

The assembly government is to hold a referendum
on better law-making powers by May 2011.

The survey was carried out by Aberystwyth University's
Institute of Welsh Politics, with pollsters GfKNOP.

It uses a large sample of more than 2,500
telephone interviews conducted in June and
early July this year.

In June 2007 an ICM poll for BBC Wales showed similar numbers.


******************************************


£170m from RCT Homes - "not just a landlord -
a major local social enterprise".

RCT Homes is starting a £170m plan to refurbish
over 10,000 homes in the south Wales valleys.

RCT Homes calls it "the biggest home improvements
programme Wales has ever seen".

It aims to bring homes in Rhondda Cynon Taf
up to a new Welsh "housing quality standard"
over the next five years.

Organisers say the scheme will use the local workforce
and help to develop local labour skills.

Called the RCT Homes Major Improvements Programme,
it involves the installation of about 5,000 kitchens,
4,000 bathrooms and 6,000 energy-efficient boilers.
Other improvements include installing new central heating systems,
rewiring properties, improving security measures and working on
roofs, chimneys and walls as well as spending
£1m a year on environmental enhancements.

RCT Homes' model is being promoted by the Welsh Assembly Government
as a new path for social housing;- run as
a community mutual organisation.

As part of this, tenants can become RCT Homes members
and decide on the future of their homes,
housing services and local communities.

Since the membership scheme launch in spring 2008,
hundreds are applying to become tenant members.

Tenants are now playing an active role in decisions
on the various groups and panels which run
its decision-making process.

RCT Homes has already created 53 new jobs and
encouraged contractors to use local labour to help
generate 61 other jobs and training opportunities.

Chief executive Andrew Lycett:
"RCT Homes is not just a landlord -
it is a major local social enterprise.
As well as raising the standard of homes,
we are working with our tenants and their local
communities to create a sustainable legacy of
increased employment and higher skill levels."

Deputy Regeneration Minister Leighton Andrews,
and Rhondda AM, is launching the programme:-

"Taken together these strands provide a strong platform
to drive forward sustainable community and economic regeneration
and improve the quality of life for thousands of people
living in communities throughout Rhondda Cynon Taf."

"This is not a one-off opportunity but an ongoing,
long-term investment. This early success will be
replicated in communities throughout Wales and
the assembly government is committed to ensure
the maximum benefits are achieved."


***************************


First Welsh law in modern times !

The Welsh assembly uses its new powers to make it
easier and quicker to claim compensation after
negligent treatment by the Welsh NHS....

The NHS Redress Measure carries the
Royal Badge of Wales, for the first time.

Dafydd Elis Thomas says it is
an "historic milestone for Wales
and the National Assembly for Wales".

"The passing of the first assembly measure into law
heralds a burgeoning confidence in the new
law-making constitution of Wales.
In addition to the NHS measure, three other measures
are being considered by the assembly -

The Healthy Eating Schools Measure,
The Learner Travel Measure and
The Learning and Skills Measure:
The Playing Fields Measure and the Recycling Measure
are also awaiting consideration."

The assembly is also gaining further powers,
to make charging for home care more equitable across Wales.


****************************


THE MEN OF TOWER

First Minister Rhodri Morgan pinpoints
the miners' buy-out of Tower Colliery
as THE pivotal moment in our self-confidence.

He says the referendum in favour of devolution in 1997
would not have been won without the self-confidence
shown by the 239 miners who bought Tower.

"If it wasn't for the fact that the Tower colliers
decided to take their future - and their children's future -
into their own hands, I don't think we as a nation
would have won the battle for the referendum.

"It was such a boost to our national self-confidence -
if they could do it, we could do it."

"WORKING TOGETHER"...and "CO-OPERATION"...
WORDS TO INSPIRE...
WHICH TOWER OVER
"GREED", and "SELFISHNESS".


On Friday 24th January 2008, miners and their families
held a last parade at 1100 GMT.

Tyrone O'Sullivan;
"... a salute for the life it's given us."

"When there was the miners' strike,
and all the rapid pit closures,
there tended to be something resembling a wake afterwards.
In Tower's case, it's a celebration of the last 13 years.
... we'll raise the banner and tip it towards the pit
as a salute for the life it's given us."

From the pit, the 270 workers travelled to the Penywaun club,
where the decision to buy the pit was made.

Each miner who donated his redundancy,
is having a say on the future of the site.

Mr O'Sullivan says jobs and affordable homes,
will be "a fitting tribute."
"There could be lakes there, and places to walk.
I believe our company can leave a legacy to the community
that will see today's toddlers able to find a job
up in the valleys when they're 16 or 17,
instead of having to leave the area.
It will be the greatest tribute that the workers could give.
We'll be leaving jobs, not statues."

Deputy first minister Ieaun Wyn Jones says
the colliery has been "an inspiration".
"It is an icon of Welsh resistance.
The abiding history of a mining community
which fought against all the odds
and scored notable success."



********************



Gordon Brown salutes the Welsh valleys as the
birthplace of the UK's National Health Service.

Mr Brown says the NHS, which was founded 60 years ago
by Ebbw Vale MP Aneurin Bevan, was inspired by
the experiences of Wales' valleys in the 1930s.

He insists the NHS is "the jewel in the crown of
any legislative achievement in the last century".

He defends devolution's role in enabling the Welsh
Assembly Government to set its own health priorities.

"It was a deliberate decision, a political decision,
made by that post-war Labour government and made by
a government that was inspired by the experience
of Wales, and I think it's true to say that the
National Health Service was born in the valleys of Wales.
It was an original idea in our country that
people all over the world look at, and even
in America today you see the debate in the
presidential election: it's about exactly that.
One of the big debates is about creating a
health service which is available to all."


**********************************

ASSEMBLY MEMBERS UNITED

There is huge cross-party support amongst AMs
for Wales to be granted the same powers
as the Scottish Parliament, a poll reveals.

80% of AMs, surveyed by Ipsos MORI back law-making
and tax-varying powers to be transferred to Cardiff.

Every Plaid and Liberal Democrat member surveyed
supported Scottish-style powers in Wales.

75% of Labour AMs and 66% of Conservatives back extra powers.


************************


Wales' senior civil servant Sir Jon Shortridge
retires after nine "key" years in office.

He says the issue on devolution is
"not whether it should continue but
how far and how fast it should develop".

He says he is proud of the organisation's achievements,
including the Government of Wales Act 2006.
The new legislative powers given to the assembly government,
he describes as an "innovative piece of legislation".

"What we have now is a system of government in Wales,
which is much, much better than it ever was.
It is much more closely aligned to the needs of the people of Wales
and we've got ministers and elected members who are
genuinely representing the interests of the people of Wales.
Obviously that connects with us as officials
and we're in a much better position
to provide a better service".

Mr Morgan pays tribute to his work and thanks him for
"leading the civil service through exceptional and unparalleled change".

"Jon has played a key role in supporting the establishment
of what is a very different system of government in Wales."



*****************


The archbishop of Wales says it is "immoral"
for Wales to not have full law-making powers in the near future.

Dr Morgan; "the present settlement is demeaning to Wales
and therefore I think that people like myself
can't divorce themselves from the life of politics."

Dr Morgan says he believes
"more and more people are on board with devolution"
and when a referendum on more powers is held
it will be won easily.


******************



MADOC PLAQUE REMOVED BY THE ALABAMA PARKS DEPARTMENT!!!

The Daughters of the American Revolution
placed a plaque near Fort Morgan on Mobile Bay in 1953:-

"Prince Madoc, a Welsh explorer,
who landed on the shores of Mobile Bay in 1170
and left behind, with the Indians, the Welsh language."

This plaque has gone - removed by the Alabama Parks Department.


We need all Welsh organizations to contact Sam Jones,
Mayor of Mobile about the missing Prince Madoc plaque
that denoted where Madoc landed at Mobile Bay in 1170.
mayor@cityofmobile.org
Thank you.
Billy E. Price
cscitizen@alltel.netVP
Alabama Welsh Association http://www.alabamawelsh.com/

*******************************************

Here's a letter from "News from Wales and the World",
run by Carwyn Edwards.

Prince Madoc (Madog).
Myth or legend? Not either!

Madog arrived here in America in 1170.
I carry stories of the Welsh who came to America
during that time period. I am a Shawnee "wisdomkeeper"
of my particular group. Through no choice of their own,
these Welsh squatters became Shawnee Native Americans.
In a word, they became "captives" (those left
standing after the battle). They were adopted
into my Shawnee group. This was long before
Christopher Columbus was born.

Columbus "discovered" the island of Haiti,
never setting eyes on North America.
Why white Americans celebrate this horrible loser,
is beyond my comprehension! By the time the first
white settlers came to western Pennsylvania in
the early 1700's, they were met by Shawnees who
had more than a few European features to them,
such as light colored eyes and light colored hair.
And these Shawnees spoke Algonkin mixed with Welsh words.
But make no mistake, they were Shawnees, and they
did not take kindly to white European theft of their land.
They had been Shawnees for about two or three hundred years.
Their decendants were no longer "white people",
and they fought like hell to hold onto their lands.
The Yengese (English), were especially hated!
And the ones from Virginia were "walking targets"!
The English were the worst of the thieves!
Followed by their white Scot-Irish "brothers".

The French and Indian War (1754 -1763)
was a particularly brutal war.
My Shawnee people were heavily involved in this war.
We sided with the French in order to stop the
British from taking all of our land.

Prince Madoc may well be a "long-ago grandfather" of mine.
My DNA is rather "interesting"!
My first heritage is Shawnee-White Madoc Native American.
The European heritage will always remain secondary,
since we still remember who stole all of our Shawnee land,
as well as all of America and Canada.
I'm sure that our South American indigenous
brothers and sisters, feel the same toward Europeans.
Sad history indeed! And the "take-away" from our
Native Americans, here in America by our government
in Washington, D.C. never ends! They won't be
happy until we don't have one square inch of our
land left! Either that, or our few reservations
will "glow in the dark" from all of the nuclear
waste dumped on them by the federal government.

I am trying to learn more about my long-ago
ancestors from Wales. Always speak your Welsh
language. Never let it die! After about 1830,
we were forbidden to speak our Algonkin-Welsh language.
I only speak English, which was forced down our throats.
In the eastern U.S., the white American federal
government sent our children to white schools
to "take the Indian out of them".
We are now trying to restore our culture,
but it's difficult, since so much has been lost.

From what I have read, I believe that the English
did the same damage to your Welsh culture.
Take care my friends,
Ken Lonewolf / Shawnee-White Madoc Native American.

***********************************************
TRY THIS ! http://walescan.com/be-independent
***********************************************

Where is the HAPPIEST place in BRITAIN ?
POWYS, in WALES ! The area of Brecknock,
Montgomery and Radnor in Powys
is the happiest place in all of the U.K.

*******************************************

TAFF VALE PRECINCT PLAN IS PASSED

Taff Vale precinct is being demolished.
A scaled-down redevelopment plan for the
Ponty' "eyesore" is passed by planning councillors.

The centre in Pontypridd will be demolished
to make way for three large shops, three small
shops, a restaurant and a river terrace.

Rhondda Cynon Taf Council says building work
is expected to begin in spring next year.

The developers, Taff Vale Limited, have said
the project will take 12-13 months to complete.

The 1960s-built Taff Vale shopping precinct's
redevelopment is considered an important part
of rejuvenating the town, a major meeting point
for the people of the Rhondda valleys.

The plans approved by RCT's development
control committee are focused on retail.

It includes the demolition of the office block
in Taff Street to ground floor level.

Councillor Paul Cannon says the new plans are a
"visible sign of private sector confidence in Pontypridd".

"Clearly the proposed scheme can play an
important role in the key objective of
enhancing Pontypridd town centre as
a major shopping destination in south Wales."

************************************************

TWO RIVERS SYMBOL FOR RHONDDA

Councillors vote for a £50,000 Y-shaped sculpture
to be built at the side of the road leading to the Rhondda.

Rhondda Cynon Taf council vote in favour of the 25ft (7.6m)
steel work of art to be positioned alongside the A4058 near Trehafod.

Bangor-born artist Ann Catrin Evans is including
words of the hymn Cwm Rhondda in the sculpture.

It is paid for with a Welsh assembly government grant
as part of funding for the £98m Porth relief road.

The shape signifies the meeting of
the Rhondda Fawr and Rhondda Fach rivers.

************************************************

PONTY' LIGHTENS UP

Pontypridd's Old Bridge and the railway viaduct
built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel are being lit up.
The lights are being fashioned by Lulu Quinn.

Assembly government deputy regeneration minister
Leighton Andrews;
"The illumination of these two historically-
important structures will have a significant
visual impact and highlight an interesting
and important part of Pontypridd's past."

The Bridge over the River Taff was the longest
single-span bridge in the world, when it was
built by William Edwards in 1756.

The stone railway viaduct was built by
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, in 1837.

Other plans include reopening the lido in
Ynysangharad Park and a new shopping centre.


***********************************************

A design has been unveiled for a contemporary
sculpture at the gateway to Pontypridd.

The sculpture, by Andy Hazell from Knighton in
Powys, is due to be sited next to the A470
opposite the former Brown Lenox chainworks.

To see the design, visit;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/
south_east/7642507.stm

***********************************************

BLUE PLAQUES SHOW "INCREDIBLE HERITAGE" OF RHONDDA CYNON TAF

A series of plaques are being put up in RCT
remembering its famous people, events and places.

Thirty sites are chosen on the Rhondda Cynon Taf
heritage trail, which receives £49,200 from the
Heritage Lottery Fund.

Council cabinet member for culture and recreation Robert Bevan:
"We have an incredible heritage in Rhondda Cynon Taf
and one which we remain justifiably proud of.
This is our opportunity to showcase the people,
the places and the events of our county borough
to all those individuals who live in, work in
or visit Rhondda Cynon Taf."

The council's libraries and museums service
worked with voluntary organisations and individuals
for nearly two years to select the 30 sites.

People, places or events which already had a plaque
or anyone who died less than 10 years ago were ineligible.

The 30 plaques include:

In the Rhondda:
Footballer and manager Jimmy Murphy,
Pendyrus Male Choir, William Abraham MP,
Castell Nos medieval castle, Treorchy Male Choir,
The Cory Band, Labour Party organiser Elizabeth Andrews,
Tonypandy Riots, Donald Houston, Cymmer Independent Chapel.

In the Cynon Valley:
Hirwaun Ironworks, Hen Dy Cwrdd Chapel in Trecynon,
Tramway Bridge between Trecynon and Robertstown,
Gadlys Ironworks, The Palladium in Aberdare,
Market Hall in Aberdare, rugby player Dr Teddy Morgan,
Abernant y Groes colliery in Cwmbach,
cyclist Arthur Linton, Navigation House in Abercynon.

In Taff Ely:
Boxer Freddie Welsh, industrialist Dr Richard Griffiths,
pioneer of cremation Dr William Price,
opera singer Sir Geraint Evans, Nantgarw China Works,
the Guildhall, Pwysty weighing house, and the
parish workhouse in Llantrisant, the Reverend
William Evans, and author Richard Llewellyn.


*************************************************
*************************************************

CONTROL IS KEPT BY "KEEPING RECORDS"

Archie Cochrane pioneered research into the health of miners,
and his biography is now reissued in paperback.
Cardiff University are publishing the paperback edition.

Prof Archie Cochrane's study of lung diseases in the valleys
helped set new health care standards.
He championed evidence-based medicine
and properly controlled drug trials.

Prof Cochrane, born in Scotland, moved to south Wales in 1948.
"One Man's Medicine" was first published in 1989,
a year after Cochrane's death, as a record of his career.

It covers his early volunteer work, as a medical student,
for an ambulance unit in the Spanish Civil War,
and the years he spent as a medical officer
and POW, in Greece and Germany.

His '50s studies of pneumoconiosis and fibrosis
- common lung diseases in the Welsh mining population -
became famous for the record numbers who voluntarily participated.

Some 25,000 people from the Rhondda Fach and Aberdare valleys
volunteered for his research project, which included
recording detailed surveys and chest x-rays.

Prof Cochrane started his autobiography in 1985,
but due to ill health recruited Max Blythe,
now retired professor in clinical sciences, as co-author.

Prof Blythe says Cochrane's research is "hugely significant"
because it shows the extent to which the health
of whole communities can be investigated.

He remembers "a caring and charismatic friend".
"Archie was always debunking the pomposity in medicine.
"He was not afraid of challenging traditional medical attitudes,
and would always say we must have the data
to back up medical opinions."

"No one before in epidemiological surveys had achieved
90% response rates of survey populations."

... must be a Rhondda record !

VALERIE WOOD-GAIGER ON THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING INVOLVED

Valerie Wood-Gaiger joined the Women’s Institute
as a young woman. She then became a lapsed member
until the age of 61. Now 67, she holds an MBE,
and in March this year was also given a special
award for Innovation in Education.

She won through the recent competition we featured,
to become Sky’s W-Icon, and receives a prize of £10,000
which she can use to donate to any good cause.

Valerie: "I only applied the day before the
competition closed, and before I knew it I
found myself in the top 10. We then had two
days to ask people to vote for me. I live in
Myddfai, where there are only about five computers!
So I enlisted help from my grandchildren.
I was amazed that I received votes from Ukraine
to California; Latvia to Australia!
I am thrilled that Wales has another winner.
The judges actually decided to have two winners.
The other one is Emma Cunningham, a 35 year old,
from Hampshire. Between the two of us we illustrate
the wide age range of women involved with the modern WI.

The prize money will be donated to the ‘not for profit’
company Learn with Grandma, which I co-founded
after I read that 64% of grandparents look after
their grandchildren on a regular basis.
In the past that was something they did because
they wanted to, but these days, with both couples
having to work and so many divorces, it is almost
becoming a full time commitment. I want to use
this money to help people all over the country
have fun without breaking the bank, especially
important in these economically difficult times.
I am researching a directory, designed for grandparents
that will list free and cheap places to take the grandchildren.
I think I am going to call it "Grandma’s Guide
to Great Days Out". While it is being built,
it will soon be available on line but it will be
published as a book as soon as possible.

The aim is to help grandparents and those on low incomes
to find interesting but low cost places to take children
and grandchildren. At the moment everything seems
very expensive and if a couple of children are
involved it can be prohibitively so.
Grandma’s Guide will help people to plan days
out that can be fun, create lasting memories &
could be educational too. So, if you know of a
great place to go that is free, or is great
value for money, please let me know. I’ve already
persuaded the National Botanic Gardens to offer a
free day to grandparents to bring along their grandchildren."

Valerie is becoming used to winning prizes -
she won a first in WI Myddfai Show this year for
her custard tart. She searched Google for the
recipe of the superb custard tart she ate in
Portugal, while on an archeological dig last summer.
She says some may not be aware that, as well as
being fun, the WI is, and always was, a strong
campaigning organisation. One current campaign
is against slavery in the West. Valerie's just
returned from a conference in the Ukraine on
language learning where she was the keynote speaker.

If you would like to learn more
about Valerie Wood-Gaiger MBE
please go to: www.4learningenglish.com


**************************************
**************************************


BE AWARE, SAYS W.I.'s JANET JONES !

Shoppers in Pontypridd are being encouraged to
stop using plastic bags.

Janet Jones, vice-president of Pontypridd Women's Institute,
says it's the first step.

Members of the Women's Institute and Friends of the Earth
have joined forces to explain to shoppers
how bags damage the environment.
648m plastic bags are now used in Wales annually
and MOST are distributed free of charge.
Every bag takes up to 1,000 years to degrade.

Mrs Jones: "With the support of traders and shoppers alike
we can make a real difference to the environment
thanks to this initiative.

"This is just the first step to a long-term desire
to put a stop to plastic bags being used in the town
because of the massive impact it can have on wildlife
and the local ecology when discarded."

Rhondda Cynon Taf council says it wants to create
a "plastic-bag free RCT" with a scheme covering
the whole county borough.

RCT deputy leader Councillor Anthony Christopher:
"This is a very exciting initiative within the county borough
and I'm sure that with so much support from partner agencies
we will not only make Pontypridd plastic bag-free
but eventually the whole of Rhondda Cynon Taf."

A Welsh Assembly's sustainability committee report
is calling for a new charge of up to 20p when shoppers
use disposable plastic carrier bags at checkouts.

The Irish Republic introduced a levy in 2002
which led to a 90% drop in use across the country.


**************************************************
**************************************************


ANOTHER BRAVE WOMAN... WITH A "GLOBAL CURRICULUM"

Special educational needs consultant Charline Evans
fell downstairs at her Pontypridd home 18 months ago,
breaking her leg in three places.

She kept herself busy during recuperation
by watching videos of Michael Palin and Ewan McGregor
travelling the world, and something "clicked".

"I was watching these programmes and I was thinking
there was something missing... they hadn't
included children in their programmes.

"I thought, wouldn't it be good to travel around the world
like they did, but include schools on the way."

While still in plaster, Charline designed a website
describing her plan to travel around the world
visiting 80 schools in as many different countries,
and realised from the amount of feedback she received,
that her idea was a great one.

"I started approaching organisations for funding
to make the trip but there was a lot of concern
about me travelling around the world on my own.
A lot of people didn't think that what I wanted
to do was achievable. Some of the countries I
wanted to visit were at war. There was a 98% HIV
rate in the part of Uganda I wanted to visit,
and I also wanted to go deep into the Amazonian rainforest
to look at the indigenous population there.

"A lot of my journeys were going to be to very remote schools.
Many people thought I was a little crazy
and nobody was willing to give me any finance."

So Charline sold her house to raise money to make the trip,
packed her belongings in a rucksack and took the leap.
Her first stop, on 29 February 2008, was to
Coed y Lan primary school in her hometown.

In April 2008, she arrived in Italy, then carried on
to Europe, Africa, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand,
Singapore, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada,
the United States, central America and back to Wales.

On Friday 1st May, 2009, she visited her 80th, and last, school;-
Maes yr Haul primary school in Bridgend.

"I hadn't travelled much before. Just with some
colleagues to Australia. So it was the first time
I'd travelled on my own.

"I wanted people to be able to see what it's like
to go to school in different parts of the world.
It wasn't a commercial venture; it was just something I wanted to do.

"At each school I visited I took in video recording equipment
so that the teachers could make a short film about their school
and about their hopes, dreams and fears for the future."

Charline used most forms of transport, including
airplanes, ferries, canoes, and even a camel.
She kept her website updated along the way, by
using web facilities in airport lounges and internet cafes,
and now has 80 hours of film in twelve different languages.

"It was occasionally dangerous but it was worth the risks.
When I was visiting a school located halfway up a volcano in Ecuador
there was smoke and ash belching out and I also found myself alone
with a guide in the south American jungle,
surrounded by poisonous frogs and things."

Now back home in Wales after 15 months,
Charline's plans are yet to be defined.

"I've rented a house in Brecon and I think I'm
going to sleep for the next 80 days. Then I'm
going to reflect on my journeys, and the stories
I came across, and decide where I go from there.

"It looks like it's going to develop into a
much larger project than I imagined. As far as I'm aware
it's the first time anybody has done anything like this.

"I want to revise and develop the website further.
I looked recently and saw I have 5,223 users around
the world making use of the resources available there.

"I have had offers of work from Canada
and the Japanese want me to write a book.

"We are currently working on a cartoon version of my trip,
and I have been approached by universities in Istanbul and America,
to look into creating a global curriculum for the future."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A SINCERE APOLOGY

Between the 10th and the 13th of June,
THE WELSH BRASS ARTS FESTIVAL
was held at the Parc and Dare, Treorchy.

Rhondda Records failed to report it, and
we sincerely apologise to all who hold
the superb and wonderful contribution
brass bands and brass music has played
and continues to play, as precious elements
of our shared life in Wales.

To listen to Parc and Dare's band
in full furious flood, go to:

http://www.brassbands.co.uk/festival.htm

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""


A woman is sent back from the UK to Patagonia
after immigration officials "refuse to believe"
she is travelling to Wales to learn Welsh.

A former Welsh rights campaigner is denied a visa
to take part in the biggest-ever US exhibition
of Welsh culture over offences committed decades ago.

Music publisher Arfon Gwilym is invited to take part
in Smithsonian Institute’s exhibition as a folk,
penillion (harp accompaniment) and plygain (carol) singer...

but the FBI get there first...

Arfon Gwilym is a peaceful man who engaged in
non-violent protest decades ago to resist
the obliteration of his people's culture.

He poses no threat whatsoever to the security
of the United States. Furthermore, the American
people are being denied the educational and
cultural benefits which this important exponent
of Welsh culture has to offer.

All who care, please write to the following.
It is recommended that all such correspondence
be accompanied by this letter:

http://url.ie/1ufz

The President
The White House
Washington,
D.C. 20500

Hon. Hillary R. Clinton
Office of the Secretary
Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington,
DC 20520

Hon. Janet Napolitano
Office of the Secretary
Department of Homeland Security
Washington,
DC 20528

Those living in the United States are
urged to write to their U.S. Senators

http://senate.gov

and Congressional Representative

http://www.house.gov

Those in Wales are encouraged to write to
Members of Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru

http://www.cynulliadcymru.org

urging them to speak out and
possibly issue a resolution on this case.

Those in other countries may write to
the United States Embassies, Consulates and
Diplomatic mission within their respective countries.

http://www.usembassy.gov

Both these people are victims of the "War on Terror",
as our fear of foreigners is abused simply
to keep stricter social control.

You've Got A Friend

Wales' favourite radio presenter releases his
first ever single in aid of Diabetes UK Cymru.

Please support this by previewing the single on iTunes

You can also get the single for your mobile phone,
simply by texting GARDEN to 81088
(it makes a great ringtone!)

The CD is available from Tesco stores throughout Wales.

Please help spread the word
AMONGST your friends!


Regards,

Music Wales


*************************************************


A WEBSITE has been launched
to encourage tourists to Rhondda Cynon Taf.

The site offers visitors advice on the county’s attractions,
places to stay, outdoor and sporting activities,
cultural life, history and heritage.

Tourism hotspots highlighted include:
Dare Valley Country Park, Rhondda Heritage Park,
Ynysangharad War Memorial Park and Cynon Valley Museum.

RCT council’s cabinet member for tourism,
Councillor Graham Thomas, says:
“We are working hard to establish RCT as a tourist destination
and a place where people will choose to take their holidays.

You can access the website at;

www.destination rct.co.uk

If you'd like to know more about what's on:

http://www.whatsonrct.co.uk/


***********************************

COUNCILLOR MARK ADAMS IS A MAN WITH A PASSION

Society, Mark believes, needs skilful plumbers
and bricklayers, firemen and nurses, business
people and entrepreneurs, as much - if not more -
than it needs high-flying academics.

These skills are not developed in universities.
We can attend a technical institute or even a
night class to learn any one or more of them.

The day we understand that a person is not only
a brain, and that a brain is not only a container
filled with knowledge gathered from books,
is the day we will open more courses for our youth
to learn the skills needed in leather, shoe and
clothing industries, or in hydraulics or
refrigeration, car or computer repair, therapy,
make up, hairdressing or massage, or in bakery,
or in growing food, supplying restaurants run by
highly skilled staff, and in farming with its
associated sciences; not least, veterinary medicine;

plus, music, drama, singing and acting.

What perhaps needs to change, is people's mentality.
NO-ONE is a nobody, just because he or she
doesn't go to a university. People can use
their intelligence in manual work as well.

What is the worth of a society where you can't
find a good mechanic who repairs your car efficiently,
a clever bus driver who understands what you are
asking him, a newspaper vendor who knows the
content of the papers and magazines he sells,
or a police constable always ready to help
and capable of taking the initiative?
These qualities come from good training
- sometimes on the job -
and mostly because these people
use their practical intelligence.

Let's stop looking down on those who don't have diplomas,
because they have skills that books don't offer.
A person's experience is worth MUCH more than
a thick pile of books learned by heart.


************************************************


Working Man 2009


Now Available From Tesco

£2.49

The 'Working Man 2009' EP
marks the 25th Anniversary of The Miners' Strike.

Available from Tesco stores - look out for
the special CD stands like the one below.

Also available from iTunes!

As we reflect on what an eventful year it has been
for Shirley Bassey fans everywhere,
I'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone
a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,
and also on behalf of The Bassey Blog team.

With my very best seasonal wishes,

Ed

*************************************************

TWO NEW RELEASES!

I'm sure no reminder is required
of Shirley Bassey's new album, The Performance.

http://shirleybassey.wordpress.com/
2009/09/13/pre-order-new-album/

You may not have heard that Lock Stock and Barrel Records
have also released a new special deluxe bundle
of Get The Party Started,

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/
get-party-started-deluxe-version/id338282548

including bonus tracks and videos.

My thanks to Catherine and Nikki
for giving us something new to dance to
by including the incredible Soundscape Mix
(my personal favourite) which is previously unreleased
and exclusive to this new iTunes bundle.

GO TO HERE:

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/
get-party-started-deluxe-version/id338282548

for more information and to download. Very limited introductory price of £4.49!

As you can probably imagine I am currently
receiving lots of emails. My apologies
for delays responding. Many of you have been
asking me for information about album signings
and other promotional appearances;

other than the Children In Need concert
(details on the Bassey Blog) I have no
further information and would request
at this particularly busy time that
extra vigilance be paid to the Bassey Blog,

http://shirleybassey.wordpress.com/

where I know the team are eagerly poised
to bring you all the news as soon as we get it!

If you use a news feed service such as Google Reader

https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?
hl=en&nui=1&service=reader&continue=http%3A%2F%
2Fwww.google.com%2Freader%2F

(which I highly recommend), why not
add the Bassey Blog feed to it -

http://shirleybassey.wordpress.com/feed/

to be sure you keep up to date.

I hope you are all enjoying Bassey!


With my very best wishes,

Ed


Amazon.co.uk, HMV.com and Play.com.


!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Janice Long played ‘The Girl From Tiger Bay’
and to listen to it, please go to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00mtqh2

(It’s played around the 33.30 min mark.
All I can say is WOW!!!!!!!)

Susan Rosenthal's pamphlet is filled with expressions,
such as "working-class" and "solidarity",
but try not to let this put you off !

Our professionals in Wales, including those
kindly helping the Boilerhouse Project, and
who enjoy working in Wales' more socially minded
communities, or who simply wish to be more self aware,
or more socially aware, can learn a great deal
from this apparently savage attack on
"the professional", and their role in society.

For example, Susan says that this is the usual
working-class response to problems:

1. If even one person has a problem, there is a problem.
2. If anyone has a problem, then everyone has a problem.
3. People’s needs come first. Find the money.
4. Do whatever it takes to solve the problem.

Whereas, she argues, professionals respond
to problems at work, or anywhere else,
in one of the following ways:

1. There is no problem.
2. It’s your problem. Stop whining. You’re lucky to have a job.
3. There’s no money to solve the problem.
4. If there is a problem, you must go through “proper channels.”

Controversial?

Follow this link to "read and enjoy"!

http://susanrosenthal.com/





EXPERTS SAY "END ALL OAPs' FREE BUS PASSES"

"Expert advisers" are urging ministers to
consider ending free bus travel for every
pensioner in Wales, to save £25m a year.

Agile Nation – supporting women in the workplace

Are you interested in developing your career?

Would you like to undertake a free 6 day
Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM)
accredited training course?

Would you like to become
a qualified team leader/line manager?
____________________________________________

If you answered yes to any of the above, you may
be interested in participating in Chwarae Teg's
Agile Nation project. If you would like to find
out more and have the opportunity for an
informal chat, please contact Cathy Kennedy
of Chwarae Teg at:

cathy.kennedy@chwaraeteg.com
01443 824418/07974 746944
www.chwaraeteg.com

You will have the opportunity for an informal
discussion around the project’s objectives
and individual benefits.

Agile Nation is a European Social Funded project
which helps women to achieve their full potential
by promoting gender equality in employment
and supporting career advancement.

Over the next 5 years the Project will assist
2,800 women in West Wales and the Valleys
through training and mentoring. In addition, a
training allowance scheme will be available for
women wishing to improve their range of skills
as well as help with identifying quality part-time work.

Women will have the opportunity to undertake FREE
6 day ILM accredited courses up to Level 4 in
order for them to progress within the workplace.

A training needs analysis will be carried out
for each individual woman in order for them to
decide which course is the right one for them.

THIS IS WHAT OUR CHILDREN THINK

In a survey of Europe's children, the Netherlands
is top and Scandinavian countries dominate.

The UK's rank of 24th (!) is well below the
position which might be expected given its
affluence, the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) report says.

The UK's best score, 15th, is in children's relationships.

On material resources, the UK is 24th out of the
26 countries for which data is available.

"The UK position is particularly influenced
by the high number of children
living in families where no parent works.
Only Lithuania & Poland do worse," says the report.

CAPG says the current recession means many
families are threatened with rapid income falls.

"There is nothing inevitable about the UK
doing badly on child wellbeing," it says.

"The challenge should be to reverse this situation
and put children front and centre of policy making."

Beyond 2010, the charity has a series of recommendations:

Protect jobs, remove barriers to work
such as unsuitable and expensive childcare.

Mend the "safety net" which it says leaves
many families well below the official poverty line.

Drop means tests in favour of universal benefits
such as child benefit.

Stop in-work poverty from low wages.

End the "classroom divide" in which
children growing up in poverty
have lower attainment.

Provide fair public services for those who need them most.

End "poverty premiums" which mean poor families
pay more for basic goods, utilities and services
and more of their income in taxes.

Ensure a decent home for every family.


HERE's THE OFFICIAL TABLE:-

1 Netherlands
2 Sweden
3 Norway
4 Iceland
5 Finland
6 Denmark
7 Slovenia
8 Germany
9 Ireland
10 Luxembourg
11 Austria
12 Cyprus
13 Spain
14 Belgium
15 France
16 Czech Republic
17 Slovakia
18 Estonia
19 Italy
20 Poland
21 Portugal
22 Hungary
23 Greece
24 United Kingdom
25 Romania
26 Bulgaria
27 Latvia
28 Lithuania
29 Malta

Source: Child Poverty Action Group

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WALES "FIFTY YEARS BEHIND ENGLAND" !

Schools in Wales are lagging 40 to 50 years
behind those in England, in terms of physical
upkeep, a council chief executive claims.

Dr Mohammed Mehmet, who moved to Denbighshire
Council from England 18 months ago, says there
is "obvious disparity" in the money available.

"I came to Wales a year and a half ago and when I
visited schools I was struck by that difference.
I would say 40, 50 years in terms of what is visible
- the quality, the fabric of the buildings.
It's almost beyond doubt.

"There is a certain disparity between what is
happening in England, even now under these
economic circumstances, and what we are able to
do in Wales. And I think that's a big issue for us."

Dr Mehmet's views are echoed by Brian Lightman,
president of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL).

"England is most definitely out-spending us,"
says Mr Lightman, head of St Cyres School, Penarth.

"I went to quite a number of schools around England,
and indeed Scotland as well, and I didn't go near any schools
that had the sort of funding issues that we have here
in this school and in other schools in Wales."

Mr Lightman describes claims that English schools
are receiving £500 per pupil per year more than
Welsh schools as "an absolute minimum":

"I meet a lot of other head teachers from schools
all round the UK and I have yet to meet anybody
who has anything remotely approaching our levels
of funding, and they don't actually understand
how we can run a school with the budget we receive."

An academic, Professor Reynolds, says that
spending on each child in Wales is around
£500 a year less than across the border.

He also maintains standards are being affected.
Professor Reynolds says Wales is currently spending
10% less than the government in England.

At the same time, he warns, standards are dropping
from being on a par with England, to 7% behind,
in key areas such as GCSE passes.

************************************************

WELSH CHILDREN MARK TIME

Primary school pupils in Wales are not making enough progress
in reading and writing, the inspection body Esytn says.

It finds that the proportion of five to seven-year-olds
with good levels of reading and writing
has stopped rising over the past five years.

Estyn says more schools need to adopt best practice
to improve young pupils' skills in both English and Welsh.

The assembly government says it can "not afford to be complacent".

The report finds that the overall quality of teaching
in English and Welsh of most five to seven-year-olds is good.

Estyn inspectors look at the teaching of four "strands" of language:
listening, speaking, reading and writing;
on the basis that the strands are interrelated and develop together.

Education experts say a pupil's difficulty with listening and speaking,
known as oracy, limits progress in learning to read and write.

Estyn say at seven, the gap between boys' and girls' performance
is almost three times wider than in maths and science.

The slow rate at which boys develop reading and writing skills
is one of the contributory factors that lead to
an even wider gender gap later on in learning.

Inspectors find that this gap can be greatly reduced
if teachers understand the characteristics and behaviours
of individual boys very well, and adapt their teaching.

The report finds that the percentage of seven-year-old pupils
achieving at least level 2 (the second lowest attainment level)
in English and Welsh is at the same level as in 2000.

************************************************

IT'S THE SAME THE WHOLE WORLD OVER...

Men see reading as less "manly", so their sons
start falling behind in school and college.
This is as true in other countries, as well as in Wales!

So rugby captain Ryan Jones and Cardiff City star Joe Ledley
are helping with a new campaign to get more boys reading.

Read A Million Words Together urges boys to read
in different ways, using the internet and comics,
and focusses on using "macho" men as role-models.

A £500,000 assembly government grant is allowing
schools to buy more books for boys.

By the age of 15, 18% less boys than girls
reach an acceptable reading standard.

So this campaign targets nine to 14-year-old boys
and aims to encourage them to read with other boys
and male members of their family.

John Griffiths AM, Deputy Minister for Skills,
says the fact that some boys' struggle to read
has "an impact on their overall levels of literacy and attainment".

He is launching the scheme, developed by the
assembly government's Basic Skills Cymru team,
at the Improving Boys' Literacy conference in Cardiff.

"A lack of positive role models and the assumption
that reading isn't 'cool' can have a damaging effect
on boys' willingness to pick up a book," he says.

"I want to make sure that boys across Wales know
that men read, and through this campaign
-supported by stars such as Cardiff City's Joe Ledley
and Wales' Ryan Jones - I want to see boys
pick up books, comics, sports programmes and much else,
embracing all forms of reading.

"And family is key. An essential part of the campaign
is ensuring that male family members read with their sons,
nephews, brothers and cousins," he adds.


***************************************


CATCH UP WITH 'RITHMETIC

The launch of a maths initiative for Wales
(and the rest of the UK) is being held at a
special conference hosted by Cardiff University.

One-on-one teaching boosts maths skills and confidence.

The lessons involve individual teaching with a
pupil for just half an hour a week, focusing
on core components like counting, tens and units,
and ordinal numbers.

Catch Up, which is also the name of the charity
that devised and supports the training, says feedback
suggests there are significant and positive changes
in attitude with those children taking part.

Catch Up's director, Julie Lawes:
"The launch ...is targeted at the small percentage
of children who struggle with their maths and can be
so greatly aided by a structured and cost effective
one-to-one intervention programme.
It builds upon the successful experience of its
sister programme, which after ten years of operation
in Wales has improved the reading of up to 27,000 children."

Both reading and maths programmes can be taught
in Welsh, under the name Dyfal Donc.

"The programmes make reading and mathematics more
interesting, more enjoyable and more 'do-able'
for children who currently struggle," says the charity's director.



**********************************


THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR
WHICH DETERMINES YOUR CHILD'S FUTURE

Here's a thought - it's not how bright your child is,
or where they live, or how much help you give...
which decides how well your child does in school.

The single most important factor in your child's future is
the PUPIL-TEACHER RATIO in the classes your child attends.

The IDEAL ratio is 1 teacher to every 12 children;
EXACTLY the ratio which exists at Eton,
where parents have to pay a fortune.

So what happens in Wales when teacher-pupil ratios drop?
They close down the school !

Can't be right !

( Just a thought... )



********************
********************

WALES WAKES UP TO SMALLER CLASS SIZES !!!

A working group created to look at
the future of primary schools in Gwynedd
says the council should aim to ensure
all classes have fewer than 25 pupils.

The group, which consists of six people
from each of Gwynedd's political parties,
also wants to improve the use of Welsh
as an educational language.

The proposals are the first stage in
re-organising Gwynedd's school system.

Plans to close 27 schools there
were abandoned in 2008 after protests.

*********
*********

Scotland's Government policy of cutting class sizes,
is reaching an exciting new phase...

The Association of Directors of Education in Scotland's survey
says councils are now working out how to achieve
class sizes of 18 pupils in the first 3 years of primary school.

The Scottish Government says its concordat with councils
will deliver year-on-year reductions in class sizes.


***************
***************


Primary school children in England
are subjected to a system uniquely
"preoccupied" with conformity.

By comparing England's curriculum and assessment policy
with those in 22 other countries,
including France, Norway, New Zealand and Japan,
the authors find a "unique" system
dominated by tests and league tables.

Kathy Hall and Kamil Ozerk:
"No other country appears to be so
preoccupied with national standards."

National Union of Teachers general secretary Steve Sinnott:
"Uniquely, England is a country where
testing is used to police schools
and control what is taught.

I call on the government to initiate
a full and independent review of the impact
of the current testing system on schools
and on children's learning and to be prepared
to dismantle a system which is long past its sell-by date."



***************
***************



England and Scotland fall...
and where is Wales ? Bottom !

The reading performance of children in England
has fallen from third to 19th in the world
in a major assessment.

NOW - WE LEARN that:
UK secondary school students have also
slipped down the international league table in maths.
Based on test results in 2006,
the UK has dropped right out of the top ten.


The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (Pirls),
undertaken every five years, involved children
aged about 10 in 40 countries.

Scotland also fell, from 14th to 26th.
Russia, which matched it last time,
was top of the overall achievement table.

Analysis of the England results said
children were spending more time on
computers and reading less for fun.

Wales? We didn't participate in all the studies -
but, where we did, Welsh students came
bottom of the "home" nations. !



***************
***************



Britain tops the league table of
teenage mothers in western Europe,
despite its record number of school-age abortions.

A performance report on the Department of Health website
confirmed that progress towards their target
has been hit by "slippage".

The overall number of teenage pregnancies
has gone up to more than 47,000 a year.

Britain now has the highest teenage birth rate
- six times that of Holland, four times that of Italy
and three times higher than in France, said the report.



**************


A study on social mobility, by the UK education
charity the Sutton Trust, is released.
The launch is attended by leading UK education
figures and politicians, including Ed Miliband,
minister for the Cabinet Office. The report
states that the single most important influence on
a child's life - before school - is the mother's
ability (or not!) to engage the child in creative
home activities. The report also finds that the
effect of being from a low-income home is more
pronounced in the UK compared with the US !

Jane Waldfogel, professor of education, Columbia University:
"There is a stronger income difference in the UK
than in the US, meaning there are more behaviour
problems among low-income children in the UK.
They included hitting, grabbing toys, trouble
concentrating, fighting and general misbehaviour.

"The problem is, where parents aren't providing
sensitive care or home learning activities.
Maternal sensitivity and responsiveness to
children is particularly influential."



TO ACCESS FREE BOOKS - PRESS THE LINK BELOW !

The Universal Digital Library

THE POST OFFICE AND THE LIB DEM TORIES

The CWU said postal strikes were called off,
after the CWU and Royal Mail reached an interim agreement
unanimously agreed by the union's Postal Executive.

The interim agreement gave "a period of calm"
for the CWU and Royal Mail to reach a full
and final agreement. The interim agreement
guaranteed that modernisation will be introduced
with agreed job security and improved terms and
conditions for postal workers. It also addressed
all the issues included in the long running local disputes.

The strike ballot remains in place.

Dave Ward, CWU deputy general secretary:
"There needs to be exceptional efforts to
improve trust and relationships between CWU
and Royal Mail. As a result both TUC and ACAS
will have a continuing role to keep the
discussions and agreement on track."

***********************************************

THE POST OFFICE IS BEING BLED


Workers are demanding a stop to "panic-driven"
cuts being made at Royal Mail, slashing pay,
jobs and services, the union says.

Royal Mail management condemn ANY workers' action,
which, it says, will "undermine the entire UK postal industry",
while mail volumes are falling by 9% year-on-year.

Dave Ward, CWU deputy general secretary, accuses
Royal Mail of imposing changes on staff and says
management cuts are hitting postal services.

Dave Ward: "Postal workers are sick and tired of
an incompetent management running their business
into the ground. Workers are busier than ever
& being treated badly. The current round of cuts
in jobs and services is unacceptable.

"Royal Mail agreed in 2007 to work with the union
on implementing modernisation. Despite explicit
commitments to negotiate, they are reneging on
that agreement and imposing panic-driven cuts
to jobs and services. This is downsizing, not modernisation."

Paul Tolhurst, Royal Mail's operations director:
"The CWU is again saying one thing and doing another;
publicly they say they want modernisation
yet they write regularly to members saying
union policy is to oppose change on the ground."

A CWU spokesperson insists that at the meetings,
Royal Mail is refusing to negotiate.
"We wouldn't call it talks – it's
more like a lecture," she says.


*************************************************

MANDY BOTTLES IT

Government plans to part-privatise the Royal Mail
are to be put on hold until "after the election"!

The sell off plan for the Royal Mail faces a
much bigger "problem"... PEOPLE DON'T WANT IT.

The latest poll shows that 75% are opposed,
and many say it affected how they voted.

75% say the sale is bad for taxpayers, and the
same proportion believe it is leading to higher prices.

More than one in four said they were less likely
to vote for their current MP if they backed the proposal,
and this rises to 36% of Labour party supporters.

CWU general secretary Billy Hayes:
"Royal Mail needs to be modernised not privatised.
"The public have got it right, the business
needs to be reformed within the public sector
giving it the freedom to invest but keeping it
as a public service. It makes organisational,
financial and now clearly political sense.

"The CWU will work with Government, management
and the public to ensure that Royal Mail is
modernised as a public organisation to serve the nation's interest."

Around 180 MPs signed a Commons motion
opposing privatisation of the Royal Mail,
including 148 from Labour.


************************************************

BROWN & MANDY THREATENED TO LOSE ELECTIONS IF PUSHED !!!

Both Brown and Mandy warned opponents of "part" privatising
the Post Office, that effective opposition would
destroy post workers' pensions.
In any other mode of life, that's black-mail,
and a crime that only the arrogant, who feel above reach,
could indulge in. In politics, it seems habitual.
I remember the Labour government before Thatcher,
saying EXACTLY the same to confuse working men and women.

Will working people THIS time, understand...?
That Labour or Tory Governments, once in power,
feel that they CANNOT act in our interests.
They feel FORCED to make policy to please bankers, etc.
If we want anything, we have to push, with dignity
and calm, until OUR pressure makes them change.

Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB, says:
"All parts of the Labour Party - from Tony Blair,
the Parliamentary Labour Party, constituents and unions -
agreed in 2004 that the Royal Mail would continue
to belong to the people, and this pledge was included
in the election manifesto put before the public in 2005.

At least seven ministerial aides put their names
to the Commons motion opposing the controversial policy -
and several indicated that they might quit over the issue.

Most Welsh MPs, including the Prime Ministeer's
special envoy to Iraq, Ann Clwyd, also signed.

*************************************************

KEEP UP THE PRESSURE !!!

We argue in favour of the people's Bank,
yet oppose ANY privatisation leading to cuts
and the loss of post office services, such as
six-day-a-week deliveries.

Billy Hayes, general secretary of the
Communication Workers' Union (CWU),
which is opposed to part-privatisation, says:

"The people's bank is an idea whose time has come,"
and Ministers now need to ensure that ALL
of our Royal Mail remains in public ownership.

Lindsay Mackie, of the New Economics Foundation,
which is helping to drive forward the plans with the CWU,
the Federation of Small Business and the centre-left
pressure group Compass, says:

"It would be even better if ministers could now say
that they are completely committed to an expanding,
innovative Post Office network, with no more closures."


The Royal Mail's future - THATCHER's vision -
or one we can call OURS ?

Labour MPs with HONOUR, agree on an alternative vision
for the future of the Royal Mail.

Genuine MPs, who really do care about what they
entered politics for, and helpful former ministers
are now working with the left-wing Compass group
and the independent New Economics Foundation
on a detailed alternative plan for a modern,
wholly publicly owned Royal Mail linked to a
"people's bank" that will properly serve all local communities.

Other MPs are working on a scheme developed by
the New Economics Foundation and Jon Cruddas,
for the 12,000 post offices to become outlets
for a new people's bank.

The bank would fund modernisation of the Royal Mail,
allowing it to expand and develop as a core service
at the heart of community life. The report says:

"The bank would offer the full services of a retail bank,
including current accounts, loans at fair rates,
children's accounts as well as services for local businesses."

"The Post Bank should be established as a social enterprise
geared towards the public interest in local communities
rather than maximising returns for shareholders."

Neal Lawson, director of Compass:
"At some point, the centre-left has to find a service
it can successfully modernise, while it remains wholly public.
The Royal Mail is it. No one rules out private-sector innovation,
but it should be for the benefit of people, not profit.

"There is no more potent symbol of the nation than the Royal Mail.
Why go and sell it to the highest foreign bidder?
We don't privatise the police because they cost us money
- so why the Royal Mail?"

The Hooper report says the Post Office should
remain publicly owned, and that the postal service
needs investment and better management, if it is
to continue a "universal" service.

***********************************************

At present, 2,500 post offices are due to close,
and some have already shut...

YET YOUR COUNCIL COULD DO SO MUCH MORE !!!

Essex county council has recently reopened 15 post offices
by guaranteeing £1.5m for them to operate until 2011.

All this comes after lobbies and demonstrations
across the political spectrum, open revolt by
ministers and top Civil Servants, and a huge wave
of discontent and anger from the public.

Why don't governments fight for OUR plans?

They would - if we told them to !!!

*************************************


As the Welsh Assembly Government announces its intention
to reinstate a post office development fund,
anger simmers in North and mid Wales over closures...

The Post Office "announces" that 48 branches across north Wales
are to close, following a "consultation" period.

This is just four fewer than the 52 earmarked for closure
when the initial list was unveiled in July.

Only one branch is saved outright -
Cerrigydrudion post office at Corwen, Denbighshire.
Another three will have a change to either their opening hours
or the services they have available.

There is a disgusted, "very angry" response from campaigners.

The company says it has "decided" to keep 271
branches across the north Wales area, but is
to go ahead with 48 closures, and 13 replacement "outreach services".

The outreach services could mean communities are
serviced with either mobile post offices, or a
post office is set up in a "premises" for
a few hours each week.

A further "review" is taking place into the future
of branches at Church Terrace, Llandudno Junction,
Llanfrothen and Llanfwrog.

Post Office Ltd's network development manager for Wales
Steve Geraty says the decisions had been
"difficult" and "not taken lightly".

"We have considered very carefully all the comments made
during the public consultation and we believe
the amended plan announced today offers our customers
the best prospect for a sustainable network
in the future. We need to look at the future
and the long term viability of all the remaining
branches in this area, especially in Cerrigydrudion.
I would like to appeal to all customers and businesses
across north Wales to support their local branch."

On Ynys Mon, news that Talwrn will lose its post office
is met with disgust by Ann Jones, who campaigned to keep it open.

"I feel incredibly angry, everyone here is in shock,"
she says. "I'm angry too at the way we have been
treated by the Post Office.
We have worked very hard to keep the post office open
and they have not listened.
This will be a huge loss to the village."

At Trawsfynydd opening hours will be cut.

Local Gwynedd councillor Tom Ellis: "I am glad it
is not closing but the hours will be halved.
I'm afraid that people will go elsewhere
and over time the service will deteriorate."

Clwyd West MP David Jones says he is also disappointed
that seven post offices in his constituency will close.

Wrexham MP Ian Lucas is "deeply saddened"
by the closure of four local post offices.

"The issue now is ensuring that as much business
as possible is transacted through Wrexham's
remaining post offices."

North Wales AM Janet Ryder: "Management has shown
no mercy, despite the vigorous community campaigns
to save these services. Villages across the north
will lose out."

Branches to close are:

Aberangell, Machynlleth; Abergele Road, Colwyn Bay:
Acton Park, Wrexham; Alexandra Road, Llandudno;
Bradley, Wrexham; Brynford, Holywell; Brynhedydd, Rhyl;
Bwlchtocyn, Pwllheli; Caergeiliog, Holyhead;
Carwel, Holywell; Carneddi, Bethesda;
Church Drive, Rhos-on-Sea; Clocaenog, Ruthin;
Cwm-y-Glo, Caernarfon; Cymau, Wrexham.

Deiniolen, Caernarfon; Four Mile Bridge, Holyhead;
Gerlan, Bethesda; Golftyn, Deeside; Grange Road, Rhyl;
Gronant, Prestatyn; Gwernmynydd, Mold;
Holyway Londis Stores, Holywell; Lixwm, Holywell;
Llaingoch Community Centre, Holyhead;
Llanbedrgoch; Llanbedrog, Pwllheli; Llandegfan;
Llandudno Road, Colwyn Bay; Llangian, Pwllheli;
Llanwnda, Caernarfon.

Marchwiel, Wrexham; Morfa, Morfa Conwy;
New Brighton, Mold; New Broughton, Wrexham;
Penmorfa, Porthmadog; Ponciau, Wrexham;
Pontybodkin Reflections Hairdressers, Mold;
Rhos y Medre, Wrexham; Sumerhill, Wrexham.

Talwrn Siop Isa, Llangefni; Talybont, Barmouth;
Tanyfron Llwyn Ifor Stores, Wrexham;
Tanygrisiau, Blaenau Ffestiniog;
Trefor, Llangollen; West End, Pwllheli.

AND THAT's JUST NORTH WALES !!!

This government has withdrawn so much funding
and business, it is bleeding the Post Office dry.

After being stripped of £168,000,000 worth
of government business,
post offices now make a £111,000,000 loss !
So they're closing the "uneconomic" ones. Heard THAT before?
If you'd like to join in campaigning to halt
this attack on our communities . . .

The closure programme is already facing fierce opposition.

North Wales Liberal Democrat regional assembly
member Eleanor Burnham says she is "appalled"
by the proposals, which, she argues, will
affect the elderly and vulnerable hardest.

One part of the proposals means communities
might have a mobile post office, or possibly
a post office being set up in a premises for
a few hours each week.


Ms Burnham: "Many rural villages will now lose
an integral part of the community structure
and it is the elderly and vulnerable who will be hardest hit.
The closure of post offices means that people
often have to travel quite a distance to get to
the post office, causing great inconvenience.
Losing a local post office will leave the elderly
and those with limited mobility feeling isolated."

Darren Millar, Conservative AM for Clwyd West:
"It is clear many communities in Conwy and Denbighshire
will now have a battle on their hands if they are
to keep the services which so many of them depend upon."

Plaid Cymru Caernarfon MP Hywel Williams MP:
"Our job is to make sure the people's voice is heard
as clearly as is possible..."

A series of meetings are held in his constituency.

NOW THERE ARE PLANS TO LET THE POST OFFICE CRASH -
BY REFUSING TO BAIL OUT THE PENSION FUND
- SIX BILLION POUNDS IN DEFICIT BECAUSE OF THE
STOCK MARKET AND BANKING CRASH - WHY? WHY? WHY?

Post Office Ltd's website is the main source
for information on the closure programme.

For further information or to respond to the public consultation,
you can write to Post Office Ltd at:

National Consultation Team,
Post Office Ltd,
FREEPOST CONSULTATION TEAM

Or Telephone:
08457 22 33 44

Or Email
consultation@postoffice.co.uk
(This email address is being protected from spam,
you need Javascript enabled to view it)

You can also contact Postwatch
(a tame consumer organization)
on 08456 013265

Or write to them at
FREEPOST POSTWATCH

or e-mail
info@postwatch.co.uk


TO CAMPAIGN EFFECTIVELY :-
Contact your MP... councillor...
the Assembly Government... the UK Government...

join with thousands and make your voice heard.
Save the POST OFFICE - don't let your postal workers
pay for the governments "free market" madness !!!

SCOTLAND'S IMMIGRANTS ENCOURAGED...

Instead of fearing migrants, and falling back on
old tribal associations to feel "safer" in times
of trial, Scotland is ENCOURAGING migrants, so
Scotland can benefit from their resultant hope & skills.

************************************************

SCOTLAND DEVELOPS NEW CARBON CAPTURE CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE

To read the full story - go to:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/
2009-05/30/content_11456264.htm


**********************************************

SCOTLAND ENCOURAGES CHINESE STUDENTS
WITH "SALTIRE SCHOLARSHIPS".

The Scottish government is offering new scholarships to young people.
The announcement is made in Beijing!

Scotland is offering incentives to encourage
the "brightest and best" Chinese students
to come and study in Scotland.

Under Scotland's Saltire Scholarships scheme, 50 awards
are now available to postgraduate students from China.
The awards assist overseas students to undertake
12-month postgraduate Masters level courses in Scotland.

Fiona Hyslop, Scotland's Cabinet secretary for education,
says the scholarships, each worth £2,000, are funded
by the Scottish government and matched by contributions
from Scottish universities and higher education institutions.

"We want to create a self-confident outward-looking nation
and as part of that we want to encourage the brightest
and the best students to come and study here.

"This will help improve the cultural experience
of students from home and abroad and play an
important part in growing our economy and
helping it recover from the current economic downturn."

According to the latest independent and
globally-regarded Research Assessment Exercise,
86% of academic research in Scottish institutions
has been judged to be internationally excellent.
Scotland has also increased its share of the UK's world-class research.

Ms Hyslop praises the proud traditions of learning
in both Scotland and China. The two sides should
learn from each other and work together to develop
education programs that will enable Scotland and
China to meet future challenges.

"This partnership formally recognises our joint desire
to work together for the sake of our young peoples' education
and the benefits that this will bring to the economy
and to wider society in both countries."

"In an increasingly globalized world, our students
will benefit not only from our co-operation in education development,
which will recognize the needs of the global economy,
but also from an internationally-focussed education."

There are almost 5,000 Chinese students studying
at Scottish universities and Ms Hyslop is keen to
see more Scottish students coming to China,
to build lasting links between the two sides.

The secretary also signs a groundbreaking partnership
between Shanghai University's College of Digital Arts
- the first such dedicated facility in China -
and the University of Abertay in Dundee,
Scotland's centre of excellence in computer games education.

Further, another Scotland-China Higher Education
Research Partnership for PhD studies is launched in 2009.

These partnerships will create and maintain
lasting relationships between Chinese and
Scottish education institutions and research consortia.

"These investments underline our commitment to
attracting students from China and building
relationships with that country in the longer term.
It will also help us achieve our overall vision
of a Smarter Scotland - with even better
connections to the rest of the world."

"Scotland and China are looking to the future of education,
and to the future benefits this will bring to all our people."

And in Wales? WE are inviting a major foreign industry too.
The death and armaments industry - to St Athans.

Why do we in Wales bow to the military-industrial complex,
as our cousins in Scotland move into a more intelligent future?

Treats from NotJustNuts

Fairtrade Produce

Not Just Nuts - We do whole foods too!!

All make perfect gifts for family, friends & loved ones.

*** !!! *** !!! ***

Not Just Nuts is
Gofal Cymru's first social enterprise -

They are very proud to announce it is up and running -

http://www.notjustnuts.co.uk/

offering an exciting range of quality organic,
fairtrade, wholefood and ethical gift products.

Creating employment...

They are really proud that they have provided job opportunities
for people who have experienced mental health problems.

They aim to give all their staff a supportive
and professional environment in which to work
and they are also aiming to help to reduce stigma
and bust some of the myths surrounding mental ill-health.

Research has shown that eating food groups such as nuts
can have a positive impact on your mental health
as they provide essential nutrients
that help to keep the brain healthy
so their main product range is based around
nuts, seeds and dried fruit.

http://www.notjustnuts.co.uk/

TO SEE MORE MOUTH WATERING TREATS, GO TO:

http://www.notjustnuts.co.uk/index.php?cPath=
178&osCsid=71dd7629dbd65f46569d6a17819c6384

TO KNOW MORE ABOUT GOFAL's WONDERFUL WORK, GO TO:

http://www.gofalcymru.org.uk/


***********************************************
***********************************************

Social Firms UK
Mailing Address:
PO Box 85,
Porthcawl,
CF36 9BP

Social Firms Wales is committed to the creation
of employment opportunities for disabled people
and others disadvantaged in the labour market,
through the development and support of Social Firms in Wales.

Social Firms Wales Limited - Company Limited by Guarantee
Registered in Wales No: 5569450

**************************************************
**************************************************

Social Change

Partnership Coordinator

BRIDGEND

30 hours per week (£25,500 pro-rata)


Contract until March 31st 2011


Social Firms Wales is seeking to appoint a
Partnership Coordinator to bring together
professionals from all sectors to support the
development of Social Firms in the Bridgend Borough.

To broaden opportunities for employment, training
and participation in civil society for people
who are often furthest from the labour market.

If a passion for making a difference for people
motivates you, this role will give you every
opportunity to do just that!

Please go to the following link
for more detailed information:

http://www.socialfirmswales.co.uk/news.html

**************************************************
**************************************************
**************************************************

IF YOU JUST MISSED...

Supporting Parents with Learning Disabilities:

A one day course, aimed at all those
who work with parents who have learning disabilities;
helping them to understand the issues they face
and how best to support them, & you'd like to
know more about similar courses in the future:


...THEN CONTACT LUCY KENYON AT:

029 2068 1160

lucy.kenyon@learningdisabilitywales.org.uk

www.learningdisabilitywales.org.uk

*************************************************
*************************************************
*************************************************

We would like to say a massive thank you to Ian Stewart
who ran the London Marathon on behalf of Social
Firms UK. Ian is manager of emerging Social Firm
Benchmark Furniture Design & Build.
www.benchmarkhospitalfurniture.org.uk;
email: ask@benchmarkfdab.co.uk,

He showed as much grit for his running as his fundraising,
raising a marvellous £5,700 for our charity.

Ian came in at 4hrs 16 mins 7 seconds,
despite having to lie down at 17.5 miles
with cramp in both knees.
Says Ian: I would definitely recommend
running the marathon to anyone, both as a
one-off life experience, and as a wonderful
opportunity to raise money for good causes.
The money I’ve raised will be well used to
continue to grow and support the Social Firm sector.”

It's still possible to donate via
Ian’s fundraising page at:

www.justgiving.com/ianstewart

www.justgiving.com/ianstewarts-2poundpage

Thank you! Ian’s pre-race blog can be read at:

www.runsocialfirmsuk.wordpress.com

Clare Neville
Communications Officer
Social Firms UK:

www.socialfirms.co.uk


*************************************************

PROMO - FOR THE YOUNGSTERS !

PROMO help the young with issues like drugs, bullying,
dating, creating their own lives, etc., etc.,
and cover our RCT area now...

If you fancy seeing how you can benefit through
what's on offer in their latest newsletter...
please paste the link below into your browser.


http://www.promo-cymru.org/newsletters/
2009_04_newsletter.html

Photography by Steven Powderhill, Pontypridd
Hair & make up by Trish Lennon
(Charlotte Church's hair stylist)



Introducing...

Ferrari

The next big thing in the music business
to come out of Wales.

Simon Cowell, in Ferrari's X-Factor audition said:
"You're like a mini with a Ferrari engine"

And unwittingly helped to name the next big singing star
to come out of Wales...

4ft 10" tall but with a huge powerful voice,
and the proven ability to perform live on stage,
Ferrari has a unique vocal talent, backed up
with her own in house writing team as well as
her own creative ideas, & loads of original songs,
one of which you can hear now playing on her website called:

"Superlove"


Ferrari is ready & equipped to take the Global Music Stage.

For news of her latest video and how YOU
can appear in it ! .... Go to:


www.ferrari-x.com

DEC Launches Appeal for Gaza

Leading UK aid agencies are appealing to the public
for urgently needed funds to help ease the desperate plight
of people affected by the conflict in Gaza.

After an 18 month blockade of Gaza and three weeks
of heavy shelling, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza
is now completely overwhelming. Thousands of people
are struggling to survive with many having lost their homes
and most down to their last supplies of food
and only limited amounts of fresh drinking water.

Find out more at:

http://www.dec.org.uk/donate_now/

BOOK HOWARD ZINN FOR YOUR CAUSE !

For nearly four years we have been touring Howard Zinn's,
one man show, MARX IN SOHO. Howard Zinn is most known
for his book, A People's History, offering an alternative
and enlightening perspective of American history
as well as a great model for examining history in general.
The play, "Marx in Soho," focuses on Karl Marx,
giving the audience an intimate encounter with Marx the man
and his theories. In addition to being both entertaining
and enlightening, it urges people to get involved,
which is why we are more than willing to collaborate;
using the performance as a benefit for a cause!

Jerry Levy, who plays Karl Marx in the play,
comes to the stage with years of experience
as an actor and director in addition to being
a professor of sociology at Marlboro College in Vermont

www.marlboro.edu.

Since his first performance of “Marx In Soho”
he has performed Zinn's play in Cafés, Theatres,
and classrooms across the United States, Canada, and Europe!
(check out our website to see our previous performances)
The show has been a huge success.

In the play, Howard Zinn, humanizes Marx
but also sets the stage for stimulating dialogue
about the relevance of his theories today,
making it a rewarding and entertaining experience.
Often times the audience finds the discussions
after the performance as rewarding as the actual play itself.
As Jerry Levy is also a professor, he is often asked to
lead a discussion after the performance
helping connect the themes in the play,
to address those of the organization involved.

How large is this production? What kind of space will we need?
Check out the booking section of our website
and you will see that this one-man show
is extremely flexible and lends itself to venues
both big and small.

If you're interested at all in holding a benefit performance
for your organization, or have some ideas of
who we might want to contact, please let me know.

While right now we are looking to book the performance
as a benefit for socially conscious causes,
we welcome any other ideas you might have.
We are empowered to do benefits by our
other “paying” venues. So, if you have a lead
on an arts centre or theatre who we should contact
about booking us outright, please let us know.
If you are not the right person, but know someone
or an organization that might be interested,
please let me know or just send this message to them.

Thank you and hope to hear from you soon.

David
Howard Zinn's "Marx in Soho."
to contact us go to:

www.levyarts.com

Inspiring Creativity Launch

A new Youth Arts Plan for Rhondda Cynon Taf –
focusing on how to create more opportunities
for children and young people to take part in
the arts - is launched...

The Youth Arts Plan: Inspiring Creativity
is funded by the Arts Council of Wales
and developed by the RCT Youth Arts Strategic Partnership (YASP).
The Council's Youth Arts programme within Cultural Services
- commissioned by Fframwaith -
is developing youth arts opportunities.

Councillor Robert Bevan, Cabinet Member for Culture and Recreation:
“All children and young people in Rhondda Cynon Taf
should be able to take part in arts and cultural opportunities,
as it is a great way for them to express themselves,
gain confidence, learn new skills and make new friends."

For further information and to request a copy of the Youth Arts Plan,
please contact: Caroline O’Neill,
Arts Development Officer for Learning and Inclusion on

01443 490258

or email

caroline.a.oneill@Rhondda-Cynon-Taff.gov.uk

Wales for Africa Health Links Group
"making a real difference"

The Wales for Africa Health Links Group, which
was formed last year, now has more than 50
members and provides a forum for various health
partnerships between Welsh and African health
organisations, many of which are working towards
achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

Biku Ghosh, chair of the Wales for Africa Health
Links Group and Steve Brooks, head of Oxfam Cymru say:
"Welsh NHS trusts, midwives, obstetricians,
paediatricians, surgeons, medical students,
GPs and school nurses from various health
institutions in Wales are actively training
and supporting health workers in, and sending
vital drugs and equipment to, hospitals, health
care centres and communities in Africa, and
making a real difference.

The number of people suffering from hunger
reached 963 million in 2008, which means that
every sixth person on the planet is hungry.
And they're not all in Africa, neither !

Read more about Wales' contribution to Africa,
by pressing the Link below...

FULL Wales On Line Article

THE WEST's PROTECTION RACKET

"Good Governance", as Obama patronisingly lectured
Africa, will never lead to African prosperity,
until the EU and the US do something about their
own agricultural subsidies, which they lavish
on their own pampered and corrupted farmers.

These subsidies smash up Africa's agriculture.

Martin Khor, exec. director of the South Centre,
says 57% of US rice farms would not even cover
their costs, if they didn't receive subsidies.

Khor says 2002-2003's rice export prices were 34%
below the cost of producing and milling the rice.
It's no surprise that even Ghana's farmers can't
compete with imported US rice which is being
artificially cheapened through subsidies!

These subsidies all lead to the repeated collapse
of the Doha trade round, and have done so for 8 years.

And will the US and EU open their doors to African
agricultural produce, even if the West stopped
their criminal and arrogant attitude to subsidies?
The answer is a stubborn, cruel, paralising 'No'.

William Rhodes, senior vice-chair of Citigroup:
"This new initiative will fail unless the
leading industrial countries open their own
markets to a considerably greater degree
to food imports from the developing world.
Right now there is scant indication that
the G8 powers are willing to do this."

And how did Africa become dependent
on food handouts in the first place?
International Monetary Fund and World Bank
policies, deliberately put in place by The West.

IMF policies dismantled marketing boards,
abolished guaranteed prices for farmers,
removed subsidies on fertilisers and machines
and reduced food tariffs to such a low level
that US & EU farmers could flood the African market,
with their own highly subsidised produce.

IoD Institute of Directors Company

Direction Programme for Directors,

2009 Course Programme from the University of Glamorgan

“Any senior manager, existing director, or
somebody wanting to become a director, would
benefit extensively from attending this course”.

Shaun Gwilliam, Software Solutions Director,
Innovation Group plc.

This programme consists of a series of short
business orientated courses and enables you to
benchmark your own knowledge and skills against
clearly established standards of good practice.

Directors can also opt to attend courses individually,
without enrolling onto the programme.
E-learning elements of the programme are not only
available post-course, but also to aid revision
in the lead up to the examinations.

The courses take place at the Glamorgan Business Centre (GBC)
a purpose built conference centre on the campus
of the University of Glamorgan, Treforest, Pontypridd.

www.glam.ac.uk/gbc

To register on the above programme or on individual modules
please complete a booking form
and faxback on 01443 485916
or post to the address below.

Go to.........

www.ugcs.co.uk/iod

for further information,
or contact Dave Austin on

01443 482482 / dmaustin@glam.ac.uk.



************************************************


IT'S FREE - IF YOU WANT !!!

UK Minister for Employment Relations Pat McFadden:
"In a downturn every penny counts and we don't want
small businesses spending money on advice and information
that the Government provides free of charge.
The Government is committed to showing
small businesses where savings can be made.

"Some small business owners may feel that they need
a professional qualification to manage simple tasks
and that free advice will not provide them
with the answers they need.

"But, there are a range of sources of information available
and I would urge all small business owners to
familiarise themselves with the Business Link online resources.

"By using Business Link as their first port of call,
businesses could save thousands of pounds that could
in turn be invested back in to the business.

"If just half of employers switch to
the free online tools we have developed,
it could save UK businesses around £50 million a year."

The website can be accessed at:

www.businesslink.gov.uk/employingpeople

************************************************

Car owners may find this Website

www.petrolprices.com

VERY useful, because it tells you where
you can get the CHEAPEST PETROL in any area.

CHINA FIRST

The launch of the world's first commercial
plug-in hybrid electric car at the Detroit
auto show, again puts in the limelight
China's unremitting efforts to develop
a sustainable and environmentally-friendly economy.

***********************************************

In January 2009, China sold 735,500 units of vehicles,
the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) states.

In the US, sales plummeted 37% from last January,
to 656,693 vehicles, the worst since 1963.

*************************************************

CHINA UNBURDENED BY PRIVATE "TOXIC" ASSETS

China’s economic stimulus package is working,
so China will recover first from the financial crisis.

Unlike the West's banks, Chinese banks heeded their
government’s call to extend more credit, issuing
$237 billion (1.62 trillion yuan) in new loans in January -
up 101% - the People’s Bank of China says.

This massive jump in lending is equal to about
one-third of the loans issued in all of 2008.

Glenn Maguire, chief economist for Societe Generale in Hong Kong:
"The bank lending figures are just a stunningly good piece of news for China."

14 economists in a survey released by Bloomberg News,
say China's economy will expand 6.6% in the second quarter
after slowing to 6.3% in the first quarter.

That growth will accelerate to 7.2% for the full year,
according to Wang Qian, an economist with JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Stimulus spending will account for 3% of the total, she estimates.

"China looks set to be the first major economy
to recover from the current global meltdown,"
says Lu Ting, an economist with Merrill Lynch & Co.
"China is the only economy in the world to see
significant growth in credit to corporate and
household sectors after September 2008, when
the financial crisis worsened to a near collapse."

Though the central government will bear one-third of the cost,
state-owned banks will play a critical role in
financing the construction of bridges, railways and highways.

The lending multiplies the effect of the government’s spending
in ways that wouldn’t be possible in the United States and Europe,
where banks are burdened by toxic assets, Dwyfor Evans,
a strategist with State Street Global Markets in Hong Kong, says.

TORTURE IS THE HARDEST WORD TO SAY

A campaign is bringing together groups such as
Massive Attack and musicians including Tom Morello.

Chloe Davies of Reprieve, says it features
minutes of silence during concerts and festivals.
Reprieve represents many Guantanamo Bay detainees
and is organizing the campaign.

Interrogations by U.S. forces are, for many Afghans,
their first chance to hear Western music.
They are often tortured into insanity by having
to listen to it being played at full volume.

Men at the CIA's "Dark Prison" in Afghanistan
wind up screaming and smashing their heads
against walls, unable to endure more.

Rear Adm. David Thomas, commander of Guantanamo,
says the music "treatment" is not currently used
there, but adds that he cannot rule out its use in the future.

The spokesperson for Guantanamo, Navy Cmdr. Pauline Storum,
refuses to give details of when and how music
has been used at the prison.

FBI agents stationed there report numerous instances
in which music is blasted at detainees, saying
they are "told such tactics were common there."

According to an FBI memo, one interrogator boasts
he needs only four days to "break" someone by
alternating 16 hours of music and lights
with four hours of silence and darkness.

Ruhal Ahmed, a Briton who was captured in Afghanistan,
says his hands were shackled to his feet,
which were shackled to the floor, forcing
him into a painful squat for periods of up to two days.

"You're in agony," Ahmed, released without charge
in 2004, tells Reprieve. He says the agony is compounded
when music is introduced, because "before, you
could actually concentrate on something else,
try to make yourself focus on some other things
in your life that you did before and take that pain away.

"It makes you feel like you are going mad."

Christopher Cerf, who wrote music for "Sesame Street,"
says he is horrified to learn that songs from the
children's TV show were used in interrogations.
"I wouldn't want my music to be a party to that."

Bob Singleton, who wrote "I Love You" says that
any music can become unbearable if played loudly for long enough.

"It's absolutely ludicrous," he writes....
"A song that was designed to make little children
feel safe and loved was somehow going to threaten
the mental state of adults and drive them to the
emotional breaking point?"

Morello, of Rage Against the Machine, proposes
taking revenge on President George W. Bush.

"I suggest that they level Guantanamo Bay,
but they keep one small cell and they put Bush
in there ... and they blast some Rage Against the Machine."

The following petition is available
on the National Assembly Website.

If you have the time, and feel inclined
to sign it, please do – and pass it on
to like minded people.

Follow the link;

https://www.assemblywales.org/
gethome/e-petitions/eform-sign-petition.htm

It is the 3rd petition down.


Petition to increase the number of people with a
learning disability employed by the public sector in Wales.

"We call upon the National Assembly for Wales
to urge the Assembly Commission and the Welsh
Assembly Government to take a lead in employing
more people with a learning disability, and to
encourage other public sector employers, such as
the NHS and Local Authorities, to employ more
people with a learning disability.

Only 1 in 10 people with a learning disability
who want to work are in any form of paid
employment. This is unfair."


* * *

SOUTH AMERICANS BEAT THE SCOURGE OF ILLITERCACY

Nicaragua is now free of illiteracy, says a report
which reveals a 19% reduction to just 4.7% of
the population unable to read and write.

Juan Arrién, sec of the Literacy Verification Commission,
confirms the figures during a press conference.

UNESCO considers a country to be illiteracy-free
if it reduces the figure to a minimum of 5%.

Arrién, who is also UNESCO’s permanent secretary,
says that the commission visited 3,740 homes in
22 municipalities throughout the country and
interviewed 12,538 people aged between 15 and 65
to verify that they knew how to read and write.
The study has a 97% reliability rate.

According to the authorities, the reduction is
achieved thanks to a national literacy campaign
using the Cuban "I Can Do It!" method,
undertaken by the Ministry of Education.

*************************************************

BOLIVIA "3RD SOUTH AMERICAN COUNTRY TO STOP SCOURGE"

Bolivian President Evo Morales calls on his compatriots
to prioritize education as a way of promoting national development.

"I urge you to study and establish reading habits,"
he says during a ceremony in Tarija university colliseum,
declaring this department now free of illiteracy.

Flags, placards and traditional dress characterize the event
saluting the 35,000-plus inhabitants of Tarija
who have left ignorance behind.

On behalf of the new graduates, Estefania Gutiérrez
thanks Morales for his efforts in helping more than
820,000 Bolivians learn how to read and write.

Tarija is now the eighth of nine departments in Bolivia
to have reached freedom from illiteracy.

On December 20th, Bolivia is declared the third
Latin American country to have rid itself
of the "scourge of ignorance", after Cuba (1961) and Venezuela (2005).



Social Enterprise magazine is offering a free
3-months trial of their publication.
To subscribe please paste the link below into your browser:

http://www.socialenterprisemag.co.uk/index.asp?page=102

CADW ... 25 YEARS OF STEWARDSHIP.

Celebrate the 25th anniversary of Cadw,
the body which helps protect Welsh historic sites.

Cadw is a Welsh word which means 'to keep'.
It marks its silver anniversary in October.

CADW HELPS PENSIONERS AND CHILDREN.

Children and pensioners now have free access
to historic sites run by Cadw.

Our Heritage minister says the move will help
the local economy of communities and help to revitalise them.

The scheme applies only to those living in Wales.

A huge pumpkin growing in an intelligent greenhouse
in Xiqing District in Tianjin, north China.
The greenhouse is built to show new agricultural technologies,
such as soilless culture and drip irrigation etc.,
as a model of modern sightseeing agriculture.

**************************

AND IN WALES?

£850,000 is being invested in growing daffodils.
A company harvesting a substance from daffodils
used to fight Alzheimer's disease gained
£850,000 worth of investment to go into full production.

Now, Alzeim, from near Brecon, Powys, is about to
harvest their first crop of daffodils, which contain
a compound called galantamine, which slows
the progress of the disease.

They are grown on the hillsides of the Black Mountains.

The money has come from Welsh Assembly Government
investment company Finance Wales and private investors.

Alzeim Limited say the drug is free on the NHS in Scotland,
but is only prescribed privately in Wales
and England because of cost.

Now the company says it believes it has developed
ways of producing galantamine at a low enough cost
to persuade the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE)
to put it on the standard prescription list.

Kevin Stephens, chief executive of Alzei:
"The company has achieved much with very little
cash so far, relying on the support of a few
dedicated people, especially Professor Trevor Walker.

"The fundraising proves their vision and allows
us to move forward on a sound commercial basis."

Alzeim, which is based in the village of Talgarth,
first held trials in 2006 about whether daffodils
could be farmed in the Black Mountains,
and found that the substance used to treat Alzheimer's
is richer in daffodils grown on the mountains
than in those grown in lowland areas.

Previously the substance was only found in
wild snowdrops in Bulgaria and China.

The plan now is to sell galantamine to drug companies.

Nearly £850,000 has come from Finance Wales,
Cardiff-based Gambit Corporate Finance and
a number of individual investors.

Rhian Pugh of Finance Wales:
"committed research" has led Alzeim to succeed.

****************************

BIG Changes in Rhondda Records -

Rhondda Records calls for a new way forward
- for the old ex-mining valleys....
with Penrhys Boilerhouse Project;

and is changing itself - with a new team,
a new web service, and a fresh membership !
........... watch this space !!!


************************************
FOR PART OF OUR VISION, PLEASE SEE THE
"POET SPEAKS" PAGE, THE EVENTS PAGE, AND
THE NEW BOILERHOUSE PAGE. THANK YOU.
************************************

SPEAKING OF CHANGE - YOUR CHOICE - DIGITAL, OR A BLANK SCREEN.

ALL S.East Wales is now digital!

The new service began on the 12th of August, 2009.

The Digital UK helpline is 08456 50 50 50
(08458 484848 for Welsh speakers).

Welsh green technology

Wales' has FIVE leading alternative transport companies,
and is becoming a leading centre for the development
of alternative fuel technologies - with the support
of the Welsh Assembly Government.

The five Welsh companies are:
Atraverda Ltd - which has developed a ceramic material
to replace the lead components in lead acid batteries
- making them lighter and greener.

Connaught Engineering - which has developed the world's
only retrofit braking system which can save up to
25% on fuel and CO2 emissions.

The Hydrogen Bus - The world's first Tribrid minibus
developed by Glamorgan University.

The Narrow Car Company - The Abercynon firm's
metre-wide, tandem, two-seater NARO car,
which is "a bid to change urban transport".

Stevens Vehicles - Their zero carbon emission
electric powered cars and vans can travel
50 miles for less than £1.

Atraverda's chief technical officer, Andrew Loyns:
"What we're trying to do is to change the perception
of lead acid chemistry which isn't easy because
people have the impression that it's really dirty and old.
But old lead acid batteries are almost 100% recyclable..."

The Welsh Assembly Government is also promoting
the recently opened Hydrogen Research Centre
at Baglan Energy Park along with Welsh universities
working on collaborative projects within the auto industry.

Economy and Transport Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones:
"Ground-breaking work is under way in Wales
in the drive towards a lower carbon economy.
"We are making an important contribution towards
the creation of a green automotive industry and
have a number of highly innovative products
either on the market or under development,
including low or zero carbon emission vehicles.

"The development of new and innovative technologies
and products will play an increasingly important role
in the current economic climate. "

REAL SPECIAL - REAL NEEDS


A social networking site for disabled people and carers
could become THE main online tool for those with learning difficulties.

Martin Harris, based in the Vale of Glamorgan,
is the creator of Special Friends.

An on-site facility converts images into sentences
which can then be translated into other languages.

Mr Harris says the site will be strictly policed
at all times to protect its users;

"For many years it has been evident that many
mainstream forms of communication have not considered
the requirements of users with special needs,
and as a result they are very often left behind."

"With the introduction of Special Friends, I hope
that young people and their carers from across
the world can begin to build on the friendships
and social networks that many of them already
have, but now with much greater ease, security
and peace of mind."

The idea came after Mr Harris saw close friendships
made between athletes from different countries
at the Special Olympics in 2007.

Initially translated into three languages,
Smiley Talk will soon be available to translate
users' conversations in 14 different languages.

An advertising campaign will see more than 10,000
leaflets distributed to UK-based athletes
involved in the Special Olympics as well as a drive
to encourage special schools to use the site.

Annual membership to Special Friends is £7.99.
10% is donated to a Special Friends affiliated charity.


www.specialfriendsonline.com/

*******************************************

FIFTY PERCENT TO BE TAUGHT BY COMPUTER !!!

From online courses to child-friendly laptops
and virtual teachers, technology is spreading
in America's classrooms, reducing the need for
textbooks, note pads, paper and in some cases
even the schools themselves.

Just ask 11-year-old Jemella Chambers. She is one
of 650 students who receive an Apple Inc laptop
each day at a state-funded school in Boston.
From the second row of her classroom, she taps
out maths assignments on animated education software
that she likens to a video game.

"It's comfortable," she says of Scholastic Corp's
FASTT Math software in which she and other students
compete for high scores by completing mathematical
equations. "This makes me learn better. It's
like playing a game," she says.

Education experts say her school, the Lilla G.
Frederick Pilot Middle School in Boston, Mass.,
offers a glimpse into the future.

It has no textbooks. Students receive laptops at
the start of each day, returning them at the end.
Teachers and students maintain blogs. Staff and
parents chat on instant messaging software.
Assignments are submitted through electronic
"drop boxes" on the school's Website.

The experiment at Frederick began two years ago
at a cost of about $2 million. Class work is done
in Google Inc's free applications like Google Docs,
or Apple's iMovie and educational software like FASTT Math.

"Why would we ever buy a book when we can buy a computer?
Textbooks are often obsolete before they are even printed,"
says Debra Socia, principal of the school in Dorchester,
a tough district prone to crime.

There is one concession to the past:
a library stocked with novels.

"It's a powerful, powerful experience," adds Socia.
Average attendance rose to 94% from 92%;
discipline referrals fell 30 percent.
And parents are more engaged, she says.
"Any family can chat online with teacher and say,
'Hey, we're having this problem.'"

Unlike traditional schools, Frederick's students work
at vastly different levels in the same classroom.

The Internet is also a catalyst for change.
US enrolment in online classes reached 1 million
last year, 22 times the level seen in 2000, according
to the North American Council for Online Learning.

That's only the beginning, says Michael Horn,
executive director of education at Innosight Institute,
a nonprofit think tank in Massachusetts.

"Our projections show that 50% of high school courses
will be taught online by 2013. It's about 1%right now."

K12 Inc, which provides online educational services
in 17 US states, has seen enrolment rise 57%
from last year to 41,000 full-time students,
says its chief executive Ron Packard.

"We're getting the kids who the local school is
not working for. And the spectrum goes from extreme
special education to extremely gifted kids."

"You deliver education at lower cost, but you
will actually improve the amount of time that
a teacher can spend with each student because
they are no longer delivering one-size-fits-all
lesson plans," he says.

WALES AND ENGLAND "WORST IN WESTERN WORLD" TO THEIR CHILDREN.
(and it costs more than sending them to Eton !)

Children aged between 10 and 14 are being locked
up in England and Wales - increasingly for more
minor offences - MORE than in any other western
European country, the charity Barnardo's warns today.

A fivefold rise in child and youth custody sentences
over the past ten years has created an
"expensive and ineffective" criminal justice system.

This rise is happening even though there is no
increase in crime by children over the period,
and is causing youngsters to "be written off"
by the age of 12, Barnardo's says.

"We are almost alone in western society in routinely
incarcerating large numbers of children aged 10 to 14
who commit crime," says a report on child custody
by the charity, published today.

"The last decade has seen an unwarranted rise in
custody for children aged 10 to 14, most of whom
have not committed serious offences and who have
been failed by state agencies from an early age."

The annual cost of keeping a young person in a
secure children's home is £185,000. "The same
money could provide a child with an education
at Eton for six years," the report notes.

"If 10 to 14 year olds were sentenced to custody
only for committing grave crimes or violent offences,
the number placed in custody in 2006 would have
been cut from 572 to 104."

The study, "Locking up or giving up -
is custody for children always the right answer?"
points out that, before 1994, children in England
and Wales under 15 could be sentenced to custody
only if they had committed serious or violent offences
such as rape, assault or burglary. Successive legal
changes have made it easier for children to receive
custodial punishments for even summary offences.

Martin Narey, chief executive of Barnardo's:
"We should drastically reduce the use of custody.
Barnardo's is not naive: we recognise that children
committing grave crimes need to be incarcerated.
But the explosion in the use of custody for very
young children when youth offending has not been
growing is inexplicable, unjustifiable and unnecessary.

"It is often the most vulnerable young people in society
who end up in the criminal justice system.
Despite this, only 5% of the £445m spent by the
Youth Justice Board was invested in preventative work.
What sort of society are we which deems it appropriate,
last year alone, to imprison 572 children aged 14 or under,
none of whom had committed a serious crime?"

Barnardo's maintains that custodial sentences are
ineffective because 78% of 10 to 14 year olds
reoffend within 12 months of release. The charity
is calling for sentencing thresholds to be changed.



************************************



UK RE-OFFENDING RATES AMONG "HIGHEST IN THE WORLD"

A government briefing document, drawn up by
the Ministry of Justice and the Department for
Children, Schools and Families, says that around
25% of UK under-18s have committed an offence,
while reoffending rates are 'very high and have
not significantly changed' since 1997.

Harry Fletcher, of the probation union Napo;
"Labour policies on youth justice over the past decade
have resulted in a huge rise in children jailed.
It's to be welcomed that this policy is being revisited
so that more emphasis can be put on support and
education of the poorest children."

Frances Crook, director of the Howard League for Penal Reform;
"Youth justice in the past 10 years is a tale of
the ineffectiveness of custodial crackdowns
that ignore the broader welfare context which is
absolutely necessary to tackle reoffending."

In Wales, the Afan Valley Project, in the '70s,
reduced recidivism by 94%, in an ex mining area.
This study - the most successful in the world -
has NEVER been replicated, and lies buried "on file."


***********************************************


VOTE FOR FREEDOM

The Joint Committee on Human Rights says that
UK prisoners must be given the right to vote
or the next general election is illegal in European law.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2005
that inmates should have the vote, but the Government
has dragged its feet for three years.

"A legislative solution can and should be introduced
during the next parliamentary session," the report states.
"If the government fails to meet this timetable,
there is a significant risk that the next general election
will take place in a way that fails to comply with the convention
and at least part of the prison population will be unlawfully disenfranchised."

The government originally said it would consider
the issue of prisoners' voting rights in a two-stage consultation
that was supposed to have been completed in January 2008.
Ministers said a new law would follow after May 2008.

Following the recent Hirst ruling, when courts ruled that
states cannot just give the vote to "special" prisoners,
most states have passed laws giving prisoners the right to vote.
Ireland passed legislation in 2006, allowing all prisoners
to vote by post in the constituency where they
would live if they were not in prison.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice:
"Prisoner voting rights is a sensitive and complex issue,
and we need to look very carefully at what the
right approach to prisoner enfranchisement in
the UK is and at how it would be implemented."

DO YOU CARE? ARE YOU INTERESTED?

As food and fuel prices continue to rise, growing
fruit and vegetables is an excellent opportunity
to not only save money, but reduce food miles
and enjoy fresh, nutritious food. Whether you are
a complete beginner and interested in ‘growing
your own’, a community growing project or interested
in growing on a commercial scale, there is training
available that can help you to develop your skills.

The Welsh College of Horticulture offers a wide
range of courses in the production of horticulture
including ‘Start Gardening’ at Level 1
and ‘Organic Horticulture’ at Level 4/5.

The Federation of City Farms & Community Gardens
in Wales is promoting sustainable growing systems
within communities throughout Wales.
Katie Jones is the Development Officer for the Federation.
Robert Mackey, is a Lecturer in Horticulture.

A new method of studying offers flexibility
to attend at weekends and for occasional weeks
instead of needing to be at college every day.

This flexible route allows access to learning
for a wide range of people - especially those in work.
The reduced amount of attendances saves on
travel, costs, time, and your carbon footprint!

Currently provision is only on offer in North Wales.
Our purpose is to provide information and gauge
the level of interest in courses to - hopefully -
run "flexible route" courses in South Wales.

For further information please contact;
Katie Jones Development Worker FCFCG22
Ninian Park Road,
Cardiff
CF11 6JA
Tel: 02920 225942 / 07793669721
wales@farmgarden.org.uk
www.farmgarden.org.uk/

Robert MackeyLecturer in Horticulture,
WCOHNorthop,
Mold,
Flintshire.
CH7 6AA

01352 841000
Robert.mackey@wcoh.ac.uk
www.wcoh.ac.uk



*****************************



HUGE WAITING LISTS FOR ALLOTMENTS - "WE COULD SUE" !

Andrea Evans, secretary of the Wrexham Allotment Association:
"About seven years ago you couldn't give allotments away.
Now people want to know where their food is coming from
and a lot of people garden organically.

"Also the price of food is going up daily.
So to grow your potatoes, your carrots and so on,
helps the family. We're now seeing many more
families taking on allotments".

Wrexham Council has cut its waiting lists
by offering novice gardeners a quarter-size plot.
In some areas of Wales the numbers waiting are over 1,000.

Councils are bound by law to provide plots where there is a demand.

Allan Rees, chair, National Society of Allotments and Leisure Gardeners;
"At some stage our members are going to want us to
take on an authority for not carrying out their duties
and responsibilities within the legislation.
We don't want to do that, obviously.
We have the finance to do it, but we don't want to do that.
We believe in talking first and hopefully resolving any issues.
"But I remind local authorities of Section 23 of the 1908 Allotments Act.
You need to provide allotments.
A thousand on a waiting list is no excuse."

That threat of legal action against councils
may have to be realised:

In Caia Park, Wrexham, a community-based organisation
has been founded to plan for 80 new allotments.
Fifteen hundred pounds of The Caia Community
Gardens Association's set up costs have been
paid by Wrexham Council.

Plaid Cymru Councillor Marc Jones:
"It's important that we do actually provide
something in terms of healthy living, healthy
eating, and also food has become very expensive.
I think we need to offer all these things.

But these are bright spots in an otherwise gloomy
picture of buck-passing and inaction.
The Chair of the UK Organisation for Allotments
is disappointed by the Assembly Government's
failure to get tough with those councils who
are not meeting their statutory obligations.

Allan Rees: "Surely it's for the government -
central government or the Welsh Government -
to say 'Look, you're breaking the law.
If you don't do something about it
then we will have to do something about it!'
And nothing seems to be coming from that area."

It is not only council run sites,
but privately owned allotments which are under threat.
The allotments at Rhiwderin near Newport are
over a century old, but are slated for closure.

In July this year Environment Minister Jane Davidson
made clear that where private landlords wish to close allotments,
the Assembly Government has the power to make a Compulsory Purchase Order
to buy the land and retain its existing use.

Allan Rees: "If the Welsh Assembly can compulsorily
purchase or compulsorily hire, my question to them is,
'Why aren't you doing it?'

"Because I know of at least three private sites
already that have gone. They've disappeared.
And once they've gone you'll never ever see them again.
Its time to stand up and be counted please!"

A spokesperson says the Assembly Government
"strongly supports allotments" but that their
provision is a matter for local authorities.

Legal action is now being prepared against a
council in England for not providing allotments
- and similar action could follow in Wales.


******************************


ENGLAND IS RUNNING OUT OF WATER...

English water companies have been asked to cut
the amount of water they take from rivers and
aquifers and find "alternative supplies".

The Environment Agency says widespread damage and
threats to wildlife, including precious chalk rivers
and wetlands, mean the present rate of extraction
is NOT sustainable, and warns of cut-offs.

The move raises the prospect of controversial schemes
including pumping water from Wales to English
energy-hungry desalination plants, and new reservoirs.

The Consumer Council for Water says customers face
price rises of up to £30 a year in the worst affected areas.
Deryck Hall, the council's policy manager, says
in the worst cases customers face the threat of
more hosepipe bans, more drought orders on businesses
like car washes and sports grounds, and water
supplies to homes running out.

"The threat to public supply is a big one," says Hall.
"We know there needs to be a balance between
the environment and public supply... but it
needs to be done in a very sensitive and pragmatic
way, and in some cases, unless the agency and companies
come together and work out what needs to be done, we
end up with some difficulties facing public water supply."

Rivers and groundwater are already tapped "to the limit".

The Environment Agency reviews of abstraction licences
owned by water companies, farmers and other businesses
the "habitats directive" review, looked at abstraction
points near protected sites, and found one in 10
are causing damage to habitats and wildlife.

A review of all 20,000 abstraction licences on rivers
and groundwater, finds that 15% are over-abstracted,
18% are over-licenced and pose a threat if quotas
are fully used, and a third are "on the limit".

Customers of the worst affected water companies
are expected to have to pay more. Problem areas
include those covered by Anglian Water, Southern
Water, Thames Water and South West Water.
Northumbria and Yorkshire have few or no cases of over-abstraction.

The most extreme problem is on the Lower Itchen river,
which supplies 740,000 Southern Water customers.
The company has been asked to reduce water withdrawal
by half this Summer, and says it will cost £70m-
£100m to replace the supply from this one site alone.
A company spokesperson says they are proposing
compulsory metering to reduce demand, but will need "other measures".

If "alternative supplies" are not found,
consumers face reductions in supplies to homes,
says Deryck Hall, Consumer Council for Water.

"They would see a reduction in pressure and possibly
a trickle of water coming through rather than
the full flow they are used to getting."

Ofwat will rule next year on how much companies
can increase bills. Any new charges will be from April 2010.
Some increases will be "U.K. wide" !

One Wales;- Welsh apprenticeships for the Valleys

A new apprenticeship scheme is being introduced
in some of Wales' poorest areas, with 14,000 training places.

£70m will be spent on improving the skills of the workforce.

The three-year project will target parts of Wales
which already receive money from the European social fund.

Deputy Minister for Skills, John Griffiths says
the scheme will "equip many thousands of people
with the skills they need to progress in employment,
meet the skills needs of employers and drive forward Wales' economy."

He adds: "One Wales makes a strong commitment to
increasing the number of apprenticeships in Wales.
This new Modern Apprenticeship project will help to
achieve our goals of ensuring 70% of working age
adults in Wales have qualifications equivalent to
level two or above and 80% have basic literacy skills by 2010."

In total, £40m of European cash will be targeted,
with the assembly government matching most of that.

The scheme, called Modern Apprenticeship World Class Skills,
will help raise skill levels for 22,500 people,
and provide 14,000 training places.

A further £3.5m will be spent on developing a Modern
Skills diploma offering more than a 1,000 people
the chance to improve vocational and managerial talents.

The Education Minister, Jane Hutt says:
"This is wonderful news for Wales -
investment in skills is investment in our future.
As a government we are committed to improving skill levels
and our 'Skills that Work for Wales' strategy sets out
our vision for raising the skill levels of Wales' workforce."

The Royal Welsh Show had its worst year for decades recently -
Welsh agriculture (especially in the valleys)
has been underperforming for over a hundred years.
Yet orchards are flourishing in North East Wales !
Time for new thinking for a brighter future ?

If you'd like to know more about apprenticeships in AGRICULTURE;- please paste this in your browser:

http://www.apprenticeships.org.uk/list/apprenticeshipsdirectory
/agriculture/agriculturecropsandlivestock.htm

Contrary to what you think, gas is NOT clean,
is dangerous because odorless, and not detectable
when it (inevitably) leaks. That's why youngsters
were arrested, trying to stop it. Yes, in Wales !

What would YOU do,
to demonstrate love of life ?

THE STORY of STUFF

An excellent video - The Story Of Stuff -
explores with humour, our planet and "our" "culture"... will you laugh?
To find out....
WATCH "THE STORY OF STUFF" ...
PRESS THE LINK ABOVE

**************************************

Pontypridd & District Friends of the Earth
are a locally based voluntary group
who work on local and national environmental issues...
They meet at:

Clwb y Bont,
85a Taff Street,
Pontypridd

time: 7.30pm
Free entry

**********************************************

CATAMARAN OF 12,500 PLASTIC BOTTLES IN SYDNEY

A catamaran made of 12,500 plastic bottles is in
Sydney, after a 4-month trip from San Francisco.
The crew is drawing attention to the pollution
of the world’s oceans and seas.

The Plastiki is skippered by the environmentalist
David de Rothschild, a descendent of the well-
known UK banking family, euronews reports.

The Plastiki, a 60 feet catamaran, weathered
fierce storms during its 8,000 nautical miles
at sea, leaving San Francisco on March 20, 2010.

Plastiki stopped along the way at South Pacific
island nations, including Kiribati Samoa.

"It's been an extraordinary adventure," says Rothschild.

The 31-year-old says the idea for the journey
came after he read a UN report in 2006, which
said that pollution - especially plastic waste -
is seriously threatening the world's oceans.

He decided that one way to prove that rubbish
can be effectively recycled, was to use some
of it to build a boat capable of this journey.

*************************************************

FAIRER SYSTEM NEEDED TO PROVIDE "BRAIN GAIN"

A more liberal & fairer ecosystem that stimulates
creativity and rewards hard work is needed to
reverse the brain drain away from cities, &
provide the countryside with a brain gain.

This entails establishing a flexible ecosystem
that supports the different development stages
in intellectual growth of young people,
Malaysian Deputy PM Muhyiddin Yassin says.

Speaking at the opening of the businesswomen and
young leaders forum, held in conjunction with
the Sixth World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF),
Muhyiddin says that new infrastructures will
allow women & the young to excel in their fields.

The WIEF is an annual event bringing together
world leaders and business leaders from the
Muslim and non-Muslim world, to meet and
network in the name of business.

Organized by the World Islamic Economic Forum
Foundation, the Sixth WIEF is being held from
May the 18th to the 20th, in Kuala Lumpur,
capital of Malaysia.

*************************************************

IT'S THE LAND, STUPID!

Greenpeace has purchased a plot of land slap bang
in the middle of the proposed 3rd runway site at
Heathrow. They are inviting anyone who opposes
the construction of the third runway to join up
as a 'Beneficial Owner'. So far 80,195 people
have done so & they hoped to reach 100,000 by
May 1st. Find out more or join - It costs nothing
and it is extremely easy to do. See:

www.airplot.org

*************************************************

LISTEN TO ONE WHO KNOWS

Bolivian President Evo Morales, South America's
first native leader for many years, says the
capitalist system is principally responsible
for the destruction of the planet, PL reports.

At the inauguration of the First People's World
Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of
Mother Earth, he states that the consumerist
system is the principal enemy of Mother Earth,
as it seeks profits to the detriment of nature.

President Morales shows the audience a plastic plate,
a product he considers to be a pollutant of the environment.

"Capitalism is the source of the asymmetries
and inequalities in this world," he emphasizes.

Addressing 15,000-plus representatives from
five continents gathered in the Esteban Ramírez
ecological stadium in the town of Tuquipaya,
Morales reads out a letter to future generations
to alert them that the planet is sick due to capitalism,
which attempts to turn everything into merchandise.

He states that a wounded Mother Earth is giving
us warning signals with earthquakes, seaquakes,
tsunamis, hurricanes, and droughts; hence the
need to protect the environment.

He also calls our attention to climate migrants,
some 50 million people, a figure that could
reach 200 million victims in 2050.

He criticizes the UN Climate Change Conference
in Copenhagen and the so-called "understanding"
of its member nations, because the demands of
social organizations and indigenous peoples
were never listened to there.

At this inaugural event for the Earth's First People,
people speaking on behalf of five continents
and 130 countries participate in the Mother
Earth Summit, & back Bolivia’s initiative to
organize a world referendum on the environment
on October 12 and to constitute
an International Climate Justice Tribunal
to try governments & businesses that put
life on earth at risk.

*****************************

COLORFUL CEREMONY

A colorful religious ceremony and Bolivian music
conclude the opening of the Mother Earth Summit.

The Bolivian Amuata Commission leads a wajata,
in which Andean priests and representatives
of the indigenous communities from all five
continents on this planet, take part.

To the sound of pututus, quenas and zampoñas,
creating a music of beauty and harmony,
they request permission from "Father Cosmos"
and "Mother Earth" to advance a truly united
consensus in defense of nature and humanity.

***********************************************

WORLD KARMA BY CHINA

When China's ships take the crap they sell the US,
they return with more precious ballast - rubbish.

The demand of China's factory bosses for scrap —
which they recycle to make all the crap the US
buys from China — might help save the planet.

Consumers create scrap when they use goods;
factories consume it to create new goods.

Stan Lancey, chief economist at the US Forest
& Paper Association says, US exports of scrap
paper to China —where it was invented - rose from
348,000 metric tons in 1994 to 9.1 mn in 2006.

This year, China is taking 58% of US scrap-paper exports.

Exports of ferrous scrap rose from 166,000 metric
tons in 1998 to 2 million metric tons last year.

China's factories took 42% of US scrap exports in 2006.

*************************************************

KILLING OUR BEST

Anti-whaling ship collides with Japanese vessel
in Australia's Antarctic waters

A Japanese whaling vessel and the protest ship
the Ady Gill collided in Australia's Antarctic
waters on Wednesday afternoon.

All six crew members have been rescued.

The protesters say they were trying to get out
of the way of the Japanese vessel, while the
Japanese accuse the protesters of causing the collision.

Jeff Hansen, Australian director of the Sea
Shepherd organization which is involved in the
anti-whaling protest, says the Ady Gill had come
to a stop in front of the Shonan Maru 2 vessel.

Hansen says the Ady Gill, a small vessel built
for speed, was trying to get out of the way.

"The Shonan Maru 2 had it in its direct line of
sight, coming straight for it," Hansen told
the Australian Associated Press.

"It came through and took a section off the
fuselage. It's put a big hole in it."

Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research, which
supports the whaling program, released footage
of the Ady Gill chasing the Japanese vessel
and passing in front of it.

Anti-whaling protesters unfurled a rope from the
back of the Ady Gill and appeared to drag it in
front of the Japanese, as the whalers responded
with a water cannon and loudspeaker warnings.

However, it is not clear from the footage
who caused the collision.

The current Labor government of Australia should
instigate international court action against the
whale-hunting nation of Japan by the end of January,
federal opposition environment spokesperson Greg Hunt says.

In an open letter addressed to Environment
Minister Peter Garrett, Hunt is pushing for
the government to set a date to commence legal
action, or risk losing faith with a
disillusioned Australian public

*************************************************

OF COURSE THE WEST BLAMES CHINA

.........for the failure at Copenhagen.
Read what the Cuban minister believes at:

http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2010/enero/lun4/
reflexiones-fidel-the-world-half-ing%20.html


*************************************************

PROTESTERS STOP DIRTY MINING

At the end of 2009, a protest by climate activists
stopped work at a controversial opencast mine
in south Wales. Two men suspended themselves
from a net under a new bridge near the Ffos-y-
Fran site close to Merthyr Tydfil.

Miller Argent, the company which runs the site,
confirmed that 242 workers were unable to work.

The men said they were stopping lorries carrying
materials from going in and out of the site.
South Wales Police were at the scene.

The protest took place at a bridge
constructed by the company near the site.

Argent Miller says the 2 protesters were discovered at 6.30am,
& the company couldn't start work from then.

They call it "aggravated trespass. These people"
were "preventing other people from getting on
with their lawful occupation".

One of the protesters, Paul Jones, says
they were suspended from 4am, & police & Argent
Miller management kept talking to them
to try & persuade them to come down.

Asst chief constable Dave Morris, S Wales Police:

"The police have a responsibility to safeguard
the rights of people to go about their lawful
business, whilst at the same time,
to facilitate peaceful protest.

"Any policing response will be proportionate."


**********************************************

THAT STRANGE DIRTY COUNTRY CALLED "ENGLAND&WALES"

Only five of the 6,114 rivers in England&Wales
are in a "good" condition, & over 75% will fail
EU quality standards, says the UK government's
assessment of water quality in our rivers.

The report, by the Environment Agency, shows that
117 English and Welsh rivers are "on a par" with
the dirtiest rivers in Europe; 742 are "poor"
& 3,654 (60%), are "moderate".

UK rivers, wetlands, lakes, estuaries & sea waters
have improved, but are still not in a "good"
condition & the government is legally required
to ensure that 95% of UK rivers are in "good"
ecological condition before 2015.

At the moment, 26% are "good" and only 5% more
are even remotely likely to meet this target.

That leaves the UK to face "unlimited fines"
and England&Wales to be confirmed by the world
as the "dirty old man of Europe".

An alliance of the UK's environmental groups
says the government is failing to meet
legally binding improvement targets:

Mark Avery, director of conservation at the RSPB:

"It's terribly disappointing.
Millions of pounds have been invested by
the water industry, but this shows just how far
we have to go to tackle the problems."

Wales only "good" river? The Caletwr in the north.

The worst are polluted by sewage & farm chemicals.
Their pollution is causing a decline in wildlife.
Many animals & 30+ species of fish rely on rivers.

Lakes? One out of 762 English&Welsh lakes are
"good" and 70% of lakes will miss the targets.

Tom Le Quesne, WWF freshwater policy adviser:

"Unless we take action now to stop the decline
in the health of our rivers then we are storing
up a raft of problems for the future.

We are heavily reliant on this precious resource
and our legislation and actions must deliver
a positive improvement in its state."

The Environment Agency insists that 7 out of 10
English rivers and 9 out of 10 Welsh rivers
are "very good" or "good".

************************************************

GUILTY AS CHARGED, M'LUD

Environmental protesters who hijacked a freight
train carrying coal to one of Europe's largest
power stations are given community service and
have to pay costs & compensation to Network Rail.

Campaigners hoped to repeat the Kingsnorth Six
judgment a year ago, when activists who defaced
a power station chimney were acquitted by a jury
in Kent, after arguing that their act was necessary
to prevent the greater crime of carbon pollution.
But in the Drax case, the trial judge refuses
to admit similar arguments.

Beth Stratford, given a conditional discharge,
says about the judgment: "If the same standards
were applied to the Drax board members then they
would have to serve several life term's worth of
community service penalties to repay their debt
to society. We have a duty to respect the law
but we have an even great duty
to protect human life from misery."

Among those ordered to complete unpaid work are
Rev Carroll, Robin Gillett, Paul Morozzo, Paul
Mellett and Christopher Ward. Kristina Jones,
Jasmine Karalis, Bryan Farrelly, Ellen Potts,
Melanie Evans, Jonathan Stevenson, Sam Martingell,
Amy Clancy, Paul Chatterton, Bertie Russell,
Felix Wight, Elizabeth Whelan, Thomas Spencer,
Matthew Fawcett, Thomas Johnstone, Graine Gannon
and Clemmie James are given conditional discharges.
So are Theo Bard, Theo Brown, Beth Stratford & Bryn Hoskins.

Chatterton, Farrelly & Stevenson, are each
to pay £1,000 in court costs and compensation.

Two protesters are being sentenced in October
and a woman too ill to attend court is also
being sentenced on October 2nd.

*************************************************

China's limits on the use of plastic bags
is cutting crude oil consumption by
3 million tonnes per year, according to NDRC.

**********************************************

FIGHT TO STOP UK DESTROYING THE WORLD

Native Americans join the Climate Camp protests
in the City of London to demand that the UK's
"criminal" involvement in Canadian tar sands -
is stopped immediately.

Five representatives from the Cree First Nations
are co-ordinating their campaign against BP,
Shell and the (recently part-nationalised!)
Royal Bank of Scotland, in solidarity with UK environmentalists.

Eriel Tchekwie Deranger, from Fort Chipewyan,
a centre of Alberta's tar sands schemes:

"British companies such as BP and Royal Bank of Scotland
in partnership with dozens of other companies
are driving this project, which is having such
devastating effects on our environment and communities.

"It is destroying the ancient boreal forest,
spreading open-pit mining across our territories,
contaminating our food and water with toxins,
disrupting local wildlife and threatening our way of life."

UK companies, she says, are complicit in
"the biggest environmental crime on the planet"
and yet few people in the UK even know it is
happening, Deranger says. She speaks before the
annual Climate Camp held for 1 week in Greater
London. The exact site of the camp is concealed.

The Canadian tar sands project, scientists say,
is releasing enough carbon to tip the world
into "unstoppable climate change".
The oil is removed from sands using huge amounts
of water and power, producing massive CO2 emissions.

Both Shell & BP dispute the scientists warnings,
and insist they are going ahead anyway,
to "stop the world running out of oil".

George Poitras, former chief of the Mikisew Cree First Nation,
says the schemes are violating treaty rights
and putting the lives of locals at risk:

"We are seeing a terrifyingly high rate of
cancer in Fort Chipewyan, where I live.
We are convinced these cancers are linked to
the tar sands development on our doorstep."

***********************************************

THE FUTURE GROWS ON TREES...

Experts say: "place trees at the centre
of the world's development agenda".

Over 1,000 experts from across the world
meet in Nairobi from Monday for a meeting to
discuss the importance of trees on farms
for humanity's survival, organizers say.

As food security and forest destruction top the
global agenda, the 2nd World Congress of Agro-
forestry is featuring new research on sustainable
approaches to farming that can help slow climate
change and meet the food demand of an extra
three billion people by 2050.

The World Congress of Agro-forestry, begining
from August the 23rd to the 28th, will highlight
the need for a greater commitment to research
on growing trees in farming systems to address
the urgent global challenges of climate change,
deforestation, and food security," the statement
from the World Agro-forestry Centre says.

The meeting's theme of Agro-forestry - the future
of global land use, will assess opportunities
to explore scientific agro-forestry in promoting
sustainable land use worldwide.

Tree geneticists will explain processes for
domesticating tree species & indigenous fruits.

Economists will present findings on value-adding
and improving access to markets. Soil scientists
will debate the best tree-based systems
for reversing land degradation.

The World Agro-forestry Centre and the UN
Environment Programme (UNEP) both call for
"green" agricultural practices that will deliver
multiple benefits to rapidly growing populations
- from combating climate change and poverty,
to boosting food production & sustainable sources of timber.

Agriculture, deforestation and other forms of land use
account for nearly one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions.

"The choice is straight forward: continuing to
mine and degrade productive land & the planet's
multi-trillion dollar ecosystems.........
or widely adopting creative and climate-friendly
management systems of which agro-forestry is
fast emerging as a key shining example," says Steiner.

According to a UNEP report, the agricultural sector
could be largely carbon neutral by 2030
and produce enough food for a nine billion
population by 2050, if proven methods to reduce
emissions from agriculture are widely adopted today.

A study by World Agro-forestry Centre scientists,
features "fertilizer trees" that capture
nitrogen from the air and transfer it to the soil.
Their use could reduce the need for commercial
nitrogen fertilizers by up to 75%, while
doubling or tripling crop yields.

Researchers say integrating agro-forestry in farming systems
could create a vital "carbon bank".

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
estimates that a billion hectares of farmland
are suitable for conversion to carbon agro-forestry projects.

*************************************************

Quote of the Month:

"The UK has already used the levels of resources
it should consume in an entire year if
it were to be ecologically self-sufficient.
In 1961 it was 9th July, but this year it fell on Easter Sunday."

Andrew Simms, policy director, New Economics Foundation.

*************************************************

WHAT D'YOU THINK OF IT SO FAR?

No one in the world knows what should be done
with the tens of thousands of tons of garbage,
which appear every day. If mankind does not
find a method to process its own garbage,
disaster will follow over the next few years.

60 million tons of household garbage have been dumped
on Bordo Poniente, Mexico, in 13 years !
It's the biggest lump of rubbish in the world -
second only to the Plastic Soup in the Pacific
– the floating dump of up to 100 million tons of rubbish
which covers one million square kilometers.

Ecologists say that the Mexican landfill's
decomposing products leach into subterranean
waters, making them absolutely unusable.

The international community does not have a clue
about how to solve the recycling problem.
An average person produces 350 kilos a year.
10% of this is burnt, 80% is buried, and the
remaining 10% is left on the ground surface.
Humans throw out up to 2.1 trillion tons of
garbage a year. And this figure grows every year.

Specialists say that the rubbish problem
is as serious as the problem of global
warming or nuclear weapons.

* * *

IT ROTS AND WILL POLLUTE US ALL !

People are being conned into believing that oil
is simply necessary for fuel... and that the
West is driven to kill, torture and maim others
to keep our cars moving... yet plastic is made
from oil too, and that's killing the world!

Plastic, most of us believe, is a long-lasting
hard-to-break-down pollutant, and doesn't
easily decompose in the oceans. WRONG !!!

Katsuhiko Saido, a chemist at Nihon University,
Chiba, Japan, says research shows that plastic
in the ocean decomposes as it is exposed to the
rain and sun and other environmental conditions,
and is yet another source of global contamination
that will continue haunting us in the future.

Saido reports that decomposing plastics release
potentially toxic chemicals such as bisphenol A
and PS oligomer, which disrupt the functioning
of hormones in animals & of course, humans.

Thousands of tons of plastic debris are swirled
by currents into the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
between California & Hawaii - larger than Texas.


*************************************

SECOND HAND RISING

China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) is urging
local governments to promote the development of
second-hand commodity markets to stimulate
economic growth and increase employment.

The ministry says local governments should strive
to build a batch of big second-hand commodity markets.

It says the development of second-hand markets
builds a resource-saving and eco-friendly society,
helps reinvigorate company inventories,
meets consumers' demand, increases job opportunities
and raises the incomes of laid-off workers.

The circular REQUIRES local commerce administrators
to take effective measures to promote the construction
of a second-hand goods circulation network,
in a bid to improve the country's consumption structure.

It requires local governments to standardize
management of big second-hand markets and
make them competitive. It also encourages
home appliance companies and large retailers
to engage in the second-hand commodity trade.

It suggests people engaged in the second-hand goods trade
should have professional training and notes that
all second-hand goods being sold must bear a "kite mark"
devised by the country's second-hand industry association.

*************************************************

GREAT NEWS FOR CARDIFF !!!

Cardiff has been selected to become Wales' first
"sustainable travel town" by the assembly government.

The £28.5m scheme aims to provide free cycle hire,
free bus travel around the city centre,
and improved bike and walking routes.

READ MORE IN BBC ARTICLE AT:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7936127.stm


**********************************************

UK A "CLIMATE CRIMINAL" SAY DEVELOPING NATIONS

Campaigners from more than 40 developing countries
today accuse the UK government of being a "climate criminal".

They write an open letter to energy and climate change secretary Ed Miliband
that decisions to approve new coal power plants
and to expand Heathrow airport, are damaging
the UK's position in international negotiations.

All 27 groups say they are "alarmed" because
emissions from rich countries are responsible
for causing global warming with its "increased
floods, droughts, sea-levels and disease",
and say this threatens "hundreds of millions of people".

"Coal power is the most climate-polluting way to generate electricity.
New coal power stations in the UK will exacerbate the impact
of climate change on impoverished communities in the south.
A decision to support new coal power stations will confirm the UK
as a climate criminal in the international climate-change negotiations."

The UK's current plans to build coal plants
with no equipment for carbon capture and storage,
and proposals for a "demonstration" of the technology,
are not acceptable, says the World Development Movement.

The letter criticises UK proposals to "offset"
the carbon dioxide from UK coal plants
by building "clean" projects in the developing world,
which they say are already having "continuously
had negative impacts on communities in the global south,
while failing to cut emissions".


FIND OUT MORE AT:

http://www.wdm.org.uk/

************************************************

WHY NOT IN WALES?

When I hear London is harvesting kinetic energy
through speed bumps
and how other parts of Britain are introducing
new plant biometrics, and "green" innovations...
it makes me happy. For them.
And begs the question - WHY ISN'T WALES LEADING?
WHAT WAS OUR F***ING ASSEMBLY FOR?

There. I feel MUCH better now.

************************************************

INDUSTRIAL NIGHTMARE WILL TURN SEAS TO "ROTTING SWAMP"

Gary Schaffer of Denmark’s Niels Bohr Institute
and his Chilean colleagues predict the extinction
of many ocean life-forms, and that the disruption
of the Earth's biological balance, will trigger
a global catastrophe. Millions of dead sea animals
will float on the oceans' surface, and only minute
creatures will survive, low in the ocean depths.

The scientists based their forecasts on an analysis
of changes of the atmosphere, the oceans, the
earth’s crust and the biosphere since 1756.
Two and a half centuries of industrialization,
with global warming and higher carbon dioxide
in the atmosphere are killing life in the oceans.

Ocean oxygen depletion will first kill fish and sea mammals,
then octopuses, crabs and shellfish, with sponges
and corals losing their skeletons. Finally,
the biomass of plankton will grow massively,
turning the ocean into a huge rotten swamp.

This imminent disaster can be seen now, in coastal
waters contaminated by agricultural fertilizers.
These areas are dead already, for crabs and shellfish,
and the "dead zones" will grow, they say,
if humanity does not take measures
to control the organo-phosphates industry.

*************************************************

GIVING UP ON AUNTIE BBC? - TRY AUNTIE CO-OP !

By using recycled plastic across its own-brand
drinks, the Co-operative Group is set to save
around 808 tonnes of plastic each year.
The Group becomes the first British retailer to
use recycled plastic (rPET), which will reduce
CO2 emissions by 1,212 tonnes per annum.
As well as being made from recycled plastic, the
bottles are fully recyclable and can be collected
and recycled alongside regular PET bottles.

The Group ultimately hopes to roll out rPET
bottles across its entire own-brand beverage
range where PET plastic bottles are used.

Debbie Robinson, Director of Food Retail Marketing:
"Our members and customers have told us
they want to see action on packaging,
so we are delighted to be the first major retailer
to roll out 100 per cent rPET bottles across our
carbonated drinks and mixers range.

"This follows similar initiatives by The Co-operative,
such as the launch of the world’s lightest whisky bottle
and the introduction of "naked" cucumbers last year,
when our whole cucumbers were stripped of their plastic wrapping."

The switch to rPET follows the launch of the
society’s Food Ethical Policy earlier this year,
based on the world’s largest consumer poll on ethics.
Over 100,000 members and customers said action to
safeguard the environment was one of their top priorities
and 97% endorsed the Group’s aim to reduce waste.

The Group is also rolling out a new lightweight glass
for its own-brand ales range, which will save
131.5 tonnes of glass and 90 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.

*************************************************

CHINA OUTLAWS FREE PLASTIC BAGS.
Several other countries now ban them.

The Chinese government bans the production and free
distribution of plastic bags to stem a growing tide of waste.

Since June 1st, all supermarkets, department stores and shops
are prohibited from handing out free plastic bags to customers.

The regulations call for;
"a return to cloth bags and shopping baskets
to reduce the use of plastic bags".

The ruling also bans production of easily breakable
ultra-thin bags, which many people throw away
after one use, and prohibits supermarkets and shops
from handing them out freely.

The State Council, China's cabinet, says people
are using too many plastic bags and are not
disposing of them properly, wasting valuable oil
and littering the country.

Tax adjustments will discourage the production
and sale of plastic bags, and encourage the
recycling industry. Rubbish collectors are urged
to separate plastic for reprocessing.

The new regulation comes 15 years after shopkeepers
started handing out cheap, flimsy plastic bags.

Some governments, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Zanzibar,
have decided to ban them: Plastic bags are surcharged
in Germany, South Africa, Ireland and Israel.

WHAT ARE WE DOING?

The government says it might legislate - if, if, if.


*************************

FIRST CANADA, NOW U.S., BANS BABY BOTTLES

Canada is the first nation in the world
to ban plastic polycarbonate baby bottles.

Health Minister Tony Clement says the ban
only applies to bottles used by newborns and infants,
as evidence is strong that developing infants are the most at risk.

Canada's shops have removed bottles and containers containing bisphenol A.

"We have concluded it is better to be safe than sorry," Clement says.
He also urges parents never to pour boiling water
into baby bottles containing bisphenol A.

Now, U.S. companies have stopped. But only for their home market.
The U.S. government says bisphenol A
could be tied to early puberty, and to
prostate and breast cancer.

Environmental groups say it is a dangerous chemical,
while the industry says its use in plastic is safe.

UK "Lawmakers" seem happy that it's still OK
for UK babies to be at risk.

*********

NEW LABOUR'S "DAMNING INDICTMENT"

Europe is prosecuting the UK for consistently
breaking air pollution laws and endangering
people's health in urban areas.

Legal proceedings against the government are started today
by the EU environment commissioner, Stavros Dimas,
and could result in unlimited daily fines.

Britain has taken too long to reduce its levels
of "particulate matter" known as PM10s,
which are mainly emitted by industry and traffic.

More than 20 UK city areas have
"dangerous levels" of particulate matter.

The commission says they have
"started infringement proceedings against the United Kingdom
for failing to comply with the EU's air quality standard
for dangerous airborne particles known as PM10s.
These particles can cause asthma, cardiovascular
problems, lung cancer and premature death."

The UK has two months to respond before "further action".

Air pollution near many roads in British cities
averages well over TWICE the UN's World Health
Organisation maximum recommended level.

Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green party and MEP,
says the move is a "damning indictment of
Labour's aspirations to position itself as
having any credibility on the environment at all".

Simon Birkett, director of Clean Air for London:
"Legal action is long overdue.
This should be a real wake up call to Britain
to take air pollution seriously."

***********************************************

Ffos-y-Fran opencast coal mine is exempt
from the Assembly's new ruling that ALL
new coal mining MUST be 500 metres away from homes.
Shame, shame, shame !!!

*****************************************

POZAN CONFERENCE NEWS

Rajendra Pachauri, head, UN intergovernmental
panel on climate change, says the number of people
living in river valleys with water stress could rise
from over 1.1 billion in 1995 to more than 4.3 billion in 2050,
or "almost the majority of humanity".

Good news?
Obama wins praise for his committment to change.

******************************************

ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL NEWS !!!

The best news from this New Labour movement since DEVOLUTION !
The government is introducing a "Feed in Tariff !

Climate change minister Ed Miliband: "This decision
means that installing equipment like wind turbines,
solar panels or biomass heaters will be much more financially attractive.
It will make a real difference to families, communities
and businesses that want to generate their own energy."

Friends of the Earth campaigner Ed Matthew:
"This is not the feed-in tariff we were promised;
it's a giant legal loophole. The legislation put
forward by the government is vaguely worded and gives
no certainty to business that a feed will be introduced."

The government also announces financial support
for renewable heat. The Renewable Heat Incentive
- described as the first such initiative in Europe -
provides financial help for people who install
renewable heat generators or heat pumps.

IT MEANS... that the Boilerhouse on Penrhys will
be able to sell it's surplus energy generation for
THOUSANDS OF POUNDS... once we place solar and
wind/water energy at the building, in the NEXT YEAR !!! YIPPEE !!!

*******************************************

In Penrhys, we have a sacred healing spring,
and water just falls out of thin air ! ....
yet - until we've worked out a way to harvest it -
a firm of inventors from Canada have made a machine
which draws and purifies water - from the air.

Their company is Element Four, and their creation,
the WaterMill, uses the power of about three light bulbs
to condense air moisture and purify it.

Why switch from bottled water?
According to the Earth Policy Institute, about
1.5m barrels of oil - enough to power 100,000
cars for a year - is used just to make the plastic.
Making the bottles uses twice as much water as
fits inside the container, and 30m bottles go
into landfills every day in the US.

Cost? £600. At $0.3 per litre, that's cheaper than
bottled water, and pays for itself within two years.

*******************************************

The TTX01 - the world's fastest all-electric motorbike -
with a top speed of 125mph, is unveiled at
Birmingham's International Bike show.

The TTX01, designed and built by British engineers,
is commissioned by organisers of the world's
first emissions-free grand prix for motorbikes,
which is held on the Isle of Man's TT circuit next June.

It is road-legal in the UK and achieves 0-60mph
in 3.5 seconds. A limited number go on sale in '09, for £20,000.

******************************************

GEORGINA DOWNS DEFRA

An environmental campaigner is victorious
in her legal battle over the use of pesticides.
The high court rules that Georgina Downs,
who runs the UK Pesticides Campaign,
has produced "solid evidence" that people exposed to
chemicals used to spray crops suffer harm.

The court says the government is not complying with
a European directive designed to protect rural communities
from exposure to toxins. It says the environment department,
Defra, must reassess its policy and investigate the risks
to people who are exposed. Defra argued that
its approach to the regulation and control of
pesticides is "reasonable, logical and lawful".

Georgina, who lives on the edge of farmland near Chichester,
first launched her campaign in 2001.
The judge describes how she was first exposed to
pesticide spraying at the age of 11 "and began
to suffer from ill health, in particular flu-like
symptoms, a sore throat, blistering and other problems".

She says the government is failing to address the concerns
of people living in the countryside "who are repeatedly exposed
to mixtures of pesticides and other chemicals throughout
every year, and in many cases, like mine, for decades".
People are not being notified about what is about
to be sprayed near their homes and gardens, she says.

Mr Justice Collins rules that the 1986 Control of
Pesticides Regulations states that beekeepers
must be given 48 hours notice if pesticides
harmful to bees are to be used.
"It is difficult to see why residents should be in a worse position."

Downs says her seven-year battle is over "one of
the biggest public health scandals of our time".
She calls on Gordon Brown to block any Defra appeal.
"The government should now just admit that it got it wrong,
apologise and actually get on with protecting
the health and citizens of this country".

The case centres on the way the government
assesses the risk posed by pesticides.
The current method is based on occasional,
short-term exposure to a "bystander" and
assumes that individuals will be exposed to
an individual pesticide during a single pass.

Downs: "The judge has agreed with my long-standing charge
that this bystander model does not and cannot address
residents who are repeatedly exposed."
The model does not account for rural residents
exposed to mixtures of pesticides and other chemicals
"throughout every year and, in many cases
like my own, for decades".

"The fact that there has never been any assessment
of the risk to health for the long-term exposure
for those who live, work or go to school near
pesticide-sprayed fields is an absolute scandal,
considering that crop-spraying has been a
predominant feature of agriculture for over 50 years."

Downs' campaign collected evidence from residents
who report health problems including cancer,
Parkinson's disease, ME and asthma, which they
claim can be linked to crop-spraying.

The judge says defects in Defra's approach to
pesticide safety contravene a 1991 EC directive.
He says Hilary Benn, the environment secretary,
"must think again and consider what needs to be done".

A Defra spokesperson: "We will look at this
judgment in detail to see whether there are
ways in which we can strengthen our system
further and also to consider whether it could
put us out of step with the rest of Europe
and have implications for other member states."

The European parliament's environment committee
last week approved new ways of assessing the risk
of potentially hazardous sprays to protect crops and plants.
This is part of an attempt to halve the use of
toxic products in European farming by 2013.
A final vote is due next month or in January.

Georgina Downs was first exposed to pesticide
spray in 1984 when she was 11.
She suffered years of ill health, and after
study into possible causes, founded the UK
Pesticide Campaign in 2001.
A video of a picnic in her garden, regularly
drenched in pesticide spray, helps make her case.
She is joint winner of the Andrew Lees Memorial Award
at the 2006 British Environment and Media Awards.

****************************************

FUNGUS FUEL FOREVER !!!

A fungus, called Gliocladium roseum, discovered
growing inside the ulmo tree (Eucryphia cordifolia)
in northern Patagonia, produces a range of long-
chain hydrocarbon molecules virtually identical
to the fuel-grade compounds in existing fossil fuels.
Details are published in the November issue of
"Microbiology".
Strobel: "The results were totally unexpected
and very exciting and almost every hair on my
arms stood on end."

Strobel says the chemical mixture produced by this fungus
could be used in a modern diesel engine without any modification.

Strobel says his discovery also raises questions
about how fossil fuels were made in the first place.
"The accepted theory is that crude oil, which is
used to make diesel, is formed from the remains
of dead plants and animals that have been exposed
to heat and pressure for millions of years.
[But] if fungi like this are producing mycodiesel
all over the rainforest, they may have contributed
to the formation of fossil fuels."

*********************************************

UK RUINING EEC GREEN PLANS BY EXCLUDING AVIATION:
BIG BUSINESS "WRECKERS" ACCUSED OF CONTROLLING GOVT.

Claude Turmes, the MEP leading negotiations on
renewable energy laws for the European parliament,
says that if the latest UK government moves to
have aviation exempted succeed..... it will hugely
reduce the overall renewables contribution in Europe.
"I find it outrageous. PM Brown came here
and said he would stick to the 20%.
Now his civil servants in Brussels are not following that.
They are trying to dilute the target in the directive
- they are attacking it.
On climate change we need to act quickly - I get
a bit desperate about what will be the image of
politicians in 20-30 years if we fail to act."

Mr Turmes says the UK is the major opponent.
He says the government is heavily influenced by big business.

John Sauven, the executive director of Greenpeace,
says he believes BERR cannot be trusted.

"Every time Europe comes close to finalising this
vital renewable energy deal to save the climate,
John Hutton (the Secretary of State who heads BERR)
is there with his wrecking ball.
Stripping out aviation would unravel the whole agreement...
Gordon Brown should step in and save Britain's
reputation on climate change."

Over the past 18 months BERR has:

Lobbied against the 20% renewables target.
Negotiated a reduction to 15% for the UK.
Tried to get nuclear and carbon capture coal
categorised as renewable energy. ( ! )
Argued that funding for renewable energy projects abroad
should be able to count toward UK targets. ( !*! )
Mr Turmes says he believes the UK is under pressure
from firms trying to promote nuclear and coal-
fired power stations. The government says "no, it's not".

***********************************

ONE meat-free meal... PER WEEK

The world's leading authority on global warming
says, if you want to make a really effective difference
to tackle climate change, have one meat-free day a week.
Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chair, UN Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change, says people might then go on
to reduce their meat consumption further.

Pachauri says diet change is critically important
because of the emissions and habitat destruction
associated with rearing cattle and other animals.
It is easier to change eating habits compared to
changing means of transport, he says.

The UN estimates that meat production causes one
fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions, and
warns that meat consumption is set to double
by the middle of this century.

"In terms of immediacy of action and the feasibility
of bringing about reductions in a short period of time,
it clearly is the most attractive opportunity.
Give up meat for one day initially, and
decrease it from there."
The average UK person eats 50g of protein from meat a day,
25-50% more than World Heath Organisation guidelines.

Professor Robert Watson, chief scientific adviser
for the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs;
"Eating less meat would help, there's no question about that..."

*************************************

SCIENTISTS PANIC - POLITICIANS FLUFF !

Political inaction on global warming has become
so dangerous that nations must now consider
extreme solutions - such as blocking out the sun -
to reverse catastrophic temperature rises,
scientists from around the world warn this week.

Dr Alice Bows of the Tyndall Centre for Climate
Change Research at the University of Manchester:
"I'm not a huge fan of messing with the atmosphere
in an geo-engineering sense because there could
be unpredictable consequences. But there are
also a lot of unpredictable consequences of
temperature increase. It does appear that we're
failing to act. And if we are failing to act,
then we have to consider some of the other options."

Scientists have suggested creating areas of oceanic algae
to absorb carbon dioxide, or creating "artificial clouds".
In today's edition of the society's journal,
Bows says politicians have significantly underestimated
the scale of the climate challenge.

Mike Childs of Friends of the Earth:
"We can't afford to wait for magical geo-engineering
solutions to get us out of the hole we have dug ourselves into.
The solutions that exist now, such as a large-scale energy
efficiency programme and investment in wind, wave and solar power,
can do the job if we deploy them at the scale and urgency that is needed."

**********************************************

REPORT ARGUES FOR REFORESTATION AND PEATLAND.

The report published by Policy Exchange and entitled,
The Root of the Matter: Carbon Sequestration in Forests and Peatlands,
argues that preventing deforestation and stopping
peatland destruction are some of the cheapest and
most effective ways of reducing global greenhouse
gas emissions. These methods of reducing emissions
are dramatically cheaper than all other options
currently available – as low as US$0.1 per tonne of CO2.

************************

Prince Charles warns in a major Daily Telegraph interview,
that "industrial" farming is moving the world towards
"the biggest disaster, environmentally, of all time".

Courageously, the prince accuses "gigantic corporations"
of "conducting a gigantic experiment with nature,
and the whole of humanity, which has gone seriously wrong".

"We end up with millions of small farmers all over the world
being driven off their land into unsustainable,
unmanageable, degraded and dysfunctional conurbations
of unmentionable awfulness."

"What we should be talking about is food security,
not food production - that is what matters,
and that is what people will not understand.

"And if they think it's somehow going to work
because they are going to have one form of clever
genetic engineering after another, then count me out
because that will be guaranteed to cause
the biggest disaster environmentally of all time."

"Look at Western Australia; Huge salinisation problems.
I have been there, seen it;- some of the
excessive approaches to modern agriculture."

************************************

GREEDY BRITAIN DESTROYING THE WORLD.

Not only do we export guns to corrupt governments,
deliberately starting illegal wars and smashing
"third world" countries agriculture by "dumping"..
but also, a report published today by the WWF
shows that the U.K. is stealing the world's water,
up to the point that "we" are exporting drought.

UK Water Footprint calculates for the first time
how much water British consumers use, not just
directly, but also indirectly due to the large
volumes required to produce the globally-sourced,
all year round foods and textile fibres we buy.

According to WWF, each UK resident uses 4,645
litres of the world's water every day, compared
to people in poor countries who subsist on 1,000
litres of "virtual water" a day.

We take 62% of our water needs from other countries,
importing most from Brazil, France, Ireland,
Ghana, and India thanks to our consumption of
meat, soya, oil seed, rice, coffee, tea and cocoa.

Most of the countries from which we import,
now have acute water shortages.

Stuart Orr, WWF's water footprint expert and
joint author of the report, predicts water will
"emerge as a profound issue for our generation in Britain".
"There are so many local water crises globally
and when that comes together with climate change
and population growth, we are setting ourselves
up for a real fall."

Just one example;- the UK imports out-of-season
fruits and vegetables from Morocco, but it takes
13 litres of water to grow one tomato in that country.
Overpumping of Morocco's aquifers in the main
agricultural region has resulted in the water
table dropping 20 metres in 35 years. By 2020,
at current rates, groundwater will be exhausted.

***************************************

G.M. POPLAR TREES "NOT POPULAR"

As the coal-fired power plant demo runs down,
we learn that U.K. "scientists" are applying to
plant a group of genetically modified trees on
land owned by the Forestry Commission.

A group of "researchers" from the University of Southampton
want to establish a settlement of GM poplar trees
to "carry out research into biofuels".

A spokesperson for the Forestry Commission:
"I'm aware that researchers from the University of Southampton
have applied to plant some GM poplar on our land.
We're still considering their request, but
haven't given a definitive answer."

The plantation could be the first attempt to insert GM trees
into the UK since 1999, when activists uprooted 115 plants in Berkshire.

*****************************

THE ENVIRONMENTAL AGENCY IN U.S.
TELLS ITS OWN STAFF TO "SHUT UP"

The Senate environment committee chair, Barbara Boxer,
accuses the EPA chief, Stephen Johnson, of kowtowing
to industry opponents of carbon regulations.

"Stephen Johnson is turning the EPA into a secretive,
dangerous ally of polluters instead of a leader
in the effort to protect the health and safety
of the American people," Boxer, from California, says.

************************

BRITAIN CAUGHT RED-HANDED !

Gordon Brown publicly pledged last month
a "green revolution" based on clean technology.
Yet - behind the scenes - Britain is trying to
water down tough new European legislation to
boost the uptake of renewable energy.

The UK wants to block giving renewable electricity sources
such as wind farms, priority access to the national grid.
Britain now stands accused of "obstructing" the EU's future
just because it wants to protect traditional energy suppliers'
such as coal, gas and nuclear power stations.

Claude Turmes, MEP and writer of the EU directive, says:
"This would take us backwards and would weaken
the possibilities of connecting renewable energy
to the grid. A government that says it wants to
promote renewables cannot go for other policies
behind the scenes."

The draft directive says: "Member states SHALL
also provide for priority access to the grid system
of electricity produced from renewable energy sources".
Britain wants to change "shall" to "may", which experts
say would seriously undermine the directive.

A lack of connections to the national grid, is
stalling the uptake of alternative energy in Britain
and means completed wind farms across Scotland are idle.
A recent report from the Select Committee on Innovation,
Universities, Science and Skills says 9.3GW of wind power
projects were currently waiting to be connected -
the power of a whole new generation of nuclear power stations.
Gordon Brown said he would remove "without delay
the barriers that currently prevent renewable
generators connecting to the national grid".

British officials are tabling "several" amendments
to the draft directive, all weakening it,
on the grounds that renewables are "intermittent"!

Turmes says other countries are experiencing no problems
giving priority to clean energy, and large scale
renewables such as offshore wind are no more
"intermittent" than existing energy sources.

Turmes: "This is not a technical problem.
Britain just does not want to make the choice
to promote renewables, and that means it is lining up
with the worst countries in Europe on this issue."

Turmes claims the UK is influenced by energy companies.
"The incumbent operators want to make life difficult for newcomers."

John Sauven, of Greenpeace: "We've always said
there was a danger that going for nuclear power
would squeeze out renewables. The government has
been caught red handed undermining clean energy,
and all because of Brown's ideological obsession with atomic power."

****************************

SMART AS DYE !!!

Windows could be used as solar panels
with a new technology that concentrates the sun's rays.

The technique uses transparent dyes to capture,
concentrate and redirect light along the surface
of glass to photovoltaic cells in the frame.

The breakthrough means a tenfold increase in power output.

"The team", from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),
claims this slashes the cost of electricity from sunlight,
making it highly competitive with standard grid power.

The expensive PV cells only need to be installed at the sides
of panels, rather than across the whole surface.

Marc Baldo, an electrical engineer at MIT;
"The concentrator collects light over its whole front surface,
but the solar cells need only cover the area of the edges."

Solar panels, therefore, would need 100 times
fewer PV cells to collect the same energy.

"So we can save money. Since industry can't
produce enough solar cells to satisfy demand,
this might also be a good way to stretch production."

As well as windows, the technique can be applied
to standard solar panels on roofs and walls to
improve their efficiency.

"We think the technology should cost less than $1 per watt," says Baldo.

The researchers claim it can be commercially
available within three years.

Baldo says any transparent material could be used.
"In the window application you'd probably design
the window for 10% transmission. The remaining 90%
is captured and used to generate electricity."

An immediate use of the concentrator technology
could be to coat conventional solar panels on
building roofs, to boost their light collecting ability.

Baldo; "We think that ultimately this approach
will allow us to nearly double the performance
of existing solar cells for minimal added cost."

Greenpeace's Doug Parr: "Innovations like this
show renewable technologies can take a quantum
leap forward if given proper financial support
from governments. Rather than betting the farm
on outdated nuclear technology and hoping that
coal will one day be 'clean', Gordon Brown
should be creating green jobs and pushing at the
real technological frontier of the 21st century - renewables."

************************

CONFIDENCE IN BIOFUELS? OOPS !

A "confidential" World Bank report flatly contradicts
the USUK claim that plant-derived fuels contribute
less than 3% to food-price rises, and puts huge
pressure on to stop using biofuels in any
attempts to reduce dependence on imported oil.

Sources believe the report is not being published
because "It would put the World Bank in a
political hot-spot with the White House."

This puts the onus on the UK government, which
has commissioned its own "Gallagher" Report.
The British study states that plant fuels are
"significant" in pushing up food prices to record levels.
The report was due out last week, but has not been released.

Robert Bailey, policy adviser at Oxfam:
"Political leaders seem intent on suppressing and
ignoring the strong evidence that biofuels are a
major factor in recent food price rises.
It is imperative that we have the full picture.
While politicians concentrate on keeping industrial
lobbies happy, people in poor countries cannot afford to eat."

Bush says higher food prices are due to higher demand
from India and China, but the World Bank study states:
"Rapid income growth in developing countries has not
led to large increases in global grain consumption and
was not a major factor responsible for the large price increases."
Biofuels, it says, have "by far" the biggest impact.

Since April, all petrol and diesel in Britain
must include 2.5% from biofuels, and the EU
was considering raising that target to 10% by 2020,
but both face mounting evidence that that will
only push food prices higher.

"Without the increase in biofuels, global wheat
and maize stocks would not have declined appreciably
and price increases due to other factors would
have been moderate," says the report.
The basket of food prices examined in the study
rose by 140% between 2002 and this February.

The report estimates that higher energy and
fertiliser prices account for an increase of 15%,
while biofuels have been responsible for 75%.

It argues that production of biofuels distorts
food markets in three main ways:

First, it diverts grain away from food for fuel,
with a third of US corn now producing ethanol,
and half the vegetable oils in the EU producing biodiesel.

Second, farmers are being encouraged to set land
aside for biofuel production.

Third, it's causing financial speculation in grains.

The report's author, Don Mitchell, a senior economist
at the World Bank, has completed a detailed,
month-by-month analysis, which exposes the true
link between biofuels and food supply.

The report says biofuels derived from sugarcane,
which Brazil specializes in, don't impact as much on food.
G8 leaders meet NOW in Japan, where they are
discussing the food crisis and coming under
intense pressure from campaigners.

******************************

GOING UP !!!

The planet's temperature has climbed to levels
not seen in thousands of years, and warming
has begun to affect plants and animals, researchers
report in the journal, "Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences".

The Earth has been warming at a rate of 0.36 degrees
Fahrenheit per decade for the last 30 years,
according to the research team led by James Hansen.

Temperatures are now the warmest in the current
interglacial period, which began about 12,000 years ago,
says James Hansen, the research team leader.

He insists; "If further global warming reaches
2 or 3 degrees Celsius, we will likely see changes
that make Earth a different planet than the one we know.
The last time it was that warm was in the middle Pliocene,
about 3 million years ago, when sea level was estimated
to have been about 25 meters (80 feet) higher than today."

1,700 plant and animal species have moved toward
the poles at about 4 miles per decade in the last 50 years.

Hanson says this migration rate is not fast enough
to keep up with the current rate of movement of
a given temperature zone, which has reached about
25 miles per decade in the period 1975 to 2005.

*********************

"ALLIGATOR SHOES" STOP DEMOCRACY


James Hansen, one of the world's leading climate scientists,
calls for the chief executives of large fossil fuel companies
to be put on trial for high crimes against humanity and nature,
accusing them of actively spreading doubt about global warming
in the same way that tobacco companies blurred the links
between smoking and cancer.

Hansen - the first to sound the alarm over global warming -
says radical steps need to be taken immediately
if the "perfect storm" of irreversible climate change
is not to become inevitable.

Speaking before Congress, he accuses the chief executive officers
of companies of being fully aware of the disinformation
about climate change they are spreading.

He will campaign against members of Congress
to have several of them unseated.

He says he is now 99% certain that CO2 in the atmosphere
has already risen beyond the safe level.

He wants a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants,
with the creation of a huge grid of low-loss electric power lines
buried under ground and spread across America,
in order to give wind and solar power a chance of competing.
"The new US president would have to take the initiative
analogous to Kennedy's decision to go to the moon."

"The problem is not political will, it's the alligator shoes
- the lobbyists. It's the fact that money talks in Washington,
and that democracy is not working the way it's intended to work."

***********************

SOLAR PANELS TO BE COMPULSARY ON NEW BUILDINGS


In Marburg, Germany, owners of all new or renovated buildings
MUST include solar panels now.

The coalition of Social Democrats and Greens
passes the law to fight climate change and
high energy costs. Anyone failing to comply
will pay a €1,000 (£790) fine.

The law says a 1 sq metre panel must be built
for every 20 sq metres of surface area.
It applies to new homes or existing buildings
undergoing renovations to heating systems or roofs.
*********************

PUBLIC CYNICAL . . . ESPECIALLY WORKING CLASS !

A majority of the British public is not convinced
that climate change is caused by humans - and
many believe scientists are exaggerating the problem,
according to an exclusive poll for The Observer.

The results shock campaigners - who probably
believe everything they read in The Observer -
and come just before the release of the
government's renewable energy strategy,
which aims to cut UK greenhouse gas emissions
by 20% over the next 12 years.

The poll, by Ipsos MORI, finds contradictions -
some people saying politicians are not doing enough
even as they express cynicism about government.
And many people saying they don't want to restrict
their lifestyles with only a minority believing
they need to make "significant and radical" changes.

Jonathon Porritt, chair of the government's
Sustainable Development Commission;
"It's disappointing and the government will be really worried.
They need the context in which they're developing new policies
to be a lot stronger and more positive.
Otherwise the potential for backlash and unpopularity is considerable."

Those least concerned are most likely to not have a degree,
be in social classes C, D or E, (or even lower,
such as Sun readers) and have a very low income.

"People are broadly concerned, but not entirely convinced," says Downing.
"Despite many attempts to broaden the environment movement,
it doesn't seem to have become fully embedded
as a mainstream concern."

Over half of those polled do not have confidence
in political leaders to tackle climate change,
and just over a quarter think it's too late to stop it.
Two thirds want the government to do more but
nearly as many say they are cynical about government policies,
like "green" taxes, which are seen as "stealth" taxes.

*************************


CHEAP SOLAR ENERGY COLLECTOR MELTS STEEL, CREATES STEAM.

A new type of solar energy collector made from
inexpensive aluminum tubing and mirror strips
can concentrate sunlight by a factor of 1,000
and melt steel or produce steam.

Doug Wood, an inventor based in Washington state
who has patented key parts of the dish's design
— and signed over the rights to students at MIT -
says;
"This is actually the most efficient solar collector in existence.
They really have simplified this and made it user-friendly,
so anybody can build it."

A company set up by the team, RawSolar, will
now mass produce the dishes. They can be set up
in huge arrays to provide steam for industrial
processing, or for heating or cooling buildings,
as well as hooking up to steam turbines and generating electricity.
Once in mass production, the students estimate
the arrays should pay for themselves within two years.

David Pelly, MIT Sloan School of Management lecturer;
"I've looked for years at a variety of solar approaches,
and this is the cheapest I've seen. And the key thing
in scaling it globally is that all of the materials
are inexpensive and accessible anywhere in the world."
***********************************

CHINA AND GERMANY POWER AHEAD -
UK's SOLAR PANEL MARKET "NON-EXISTENT"

At the solar industry trade fair in Munich
there is growing confidence that "grid parity",
when electricity from the sun can be produced
as cheaply as from the grid, is just "a few years away".

Solar photovoltaics (PV) have long been dismissed
as too expensive to make a meaningful contribution:
but costs are falling as PV production booms,
and with electricity prices rising, demand for
solar panels is quickly increasing.

Germany installed 1.1 gigawatts of capacity last year.
It has nearly half a million houses with PV panels.
Its "feed-in tariff" pays people with solar panels
above-market rates for selling power to the grid.

Carsten Körnig, of the German solar industry association,
says his previous forecast that grid parity
would be reached in 5 - 7 years, now looks very
conservative since it assumed a 3% rise in
electricity prices each year. In many countries
increases of 20% a year are now "normal".

China-based Suntech, the world's biggest maker of PV panels,
plans to double production to 1GW in 2009.

Jerry Stokes, head of Suntech Europe, thinks grid parity
in Germany can be reached within five years.
In California and Italy, grid parity for PV
systems is already a fact.

PV costs are falling rapidly and this will continue
as panel efficiency improves and installation costs drop.

Nitol, a Russian company, is building a new
silicon production plant in Siberia that will
boost its output from 300 tonnes this year to
3,700 by 2009. Dmitry Kotenko, chief executive,
says: "We expect to build five times that
capacity in the coming years."

The Norwegian company REC, which produces silicon cells
and solar panels, plans a 10-fold rise in production.

Demand is particularly high in Spain, Germany and Greece
but Britain's PV market remains non-existent
in the absence of a feed-in tariff.

******************************

A Japanese company has invented an electric-
powered, and environmentally friendly, car that
it says runs solely on water.

Genepax unveiled the car, saying that a litre (2.1 pints)
of any kind of water - rain, river or sea - is
all you need to get the engine going for about an
hour at a speed of 80km (50mph).

*****************************

HONG KONG BANS "HIGHLY PATHOGENIC" UK POULTRY

Hong Kong's Centre for Food Safety announces
the suspension of poultry imports from the UK
following an outbreak of bird flu on a British farm.

The decision to immediately suspend applications
for importing poultry and poultry products from the UK
"was taken following confirmation of an outbreak of
highly pathogenic avian influenza H7 on a farm in Oxfordshire,"
the HKSAR government says in a news bulletin.

*************************************

WORLD FOOD SUMMIT ENDS

The Cuban delegation notes a lack of political will
on the part of the countries of the North to promote
a just and lasting solution to the world food crisis.

The U S, the only country opposed to the right to food,
is chiefly responsible for the frustration
of expectations, the Cuban statement says.

It notes that the Summit declaration lacks a
moderately objective analysis of the essential
causes of hunger in the world. There is no
reference in it, to issues such as the impact
of agricultural subsidies and the monopolistic
control of food distribution, in terms of the
ruination of many farmers in the South; the
sinister strategy of converting grains and
cereals into fuel; the effect of unsustainable
patterns of production and consumption in the
North in relation to climate change; and the
consequences of financial speculation, in relation
to the increase in food prices.

**************************************

A major UN conference on biodiversity in Bonn
brings new measures to protect diverse species on Earth.

Indonesia, Malaysia, the Democratic Republic of Congo,
Bosnia and Brazil earmark tens of millions of hectares as nature preserves.
Norway announces plans to spend 600 million euros
on forest conservation annually for the next three years.
Germany also pledges more financial support -
500 million euro over the next four years for forest protection -
with another 500 million euro each year after that.

The 191 participating countries also agree to ban
"seeding" the ocean with nutrients to encourage growth of algae.

*******************

SAVE WALES' PLAYING FIELDS

People in Wales are called on to join in the fight
to save their local playing fields from disappearing.

At least 19 open areas across the country
are currently under threat from development
say Plaid Cymru AM Dai Lloyd and MEP colleague Jill Evans.

Mr Lloyd is trying to introduce a law placing a duty
on local authorities to consult people in local communities
before selling any playing fields for development.

His proposal is now open for public consultation.


Threatened playing fields
Aberystwyth - Llety Parc
Cardiff - Llanishen RFC training area,
LPA Llanishen Reservoir,
SCW Rumney Recreation Ground,
Snowden Road Playing Field
and Western Leisure Centre
Cwmbran - Brookfield Primary School
and Land near Burtons Factory
Dinas Powys - St Cyres Lower School
Flintshire - Willow Park
Merthyr Tydfil - County Field
Monmouthshire - Caldicot Comp School
Newtown - Newtown High School
and Town Hall Park
Swansea - Swansea Recreation Ground
Talbot Green - Lanelay Hall Playing Field
Penarth - St Cyres School
Pontypool - Trevethin Comprehensive School
Wrexham - Groves School

Dai Lloyd;
"Plaid recognises that playing fields
are a valuable community resource.
In an age when we are being encouraged to do
more sport and physical exercise, playing fields
offer a free and easy access to physical activity.
I have been overwhelmed by the passion and determination
shown by the people and communities
fighting to save their local playing fields."

Ms Evans, Plaid's deputy president, says
while national parks are of great importance,
we should never ignore the positive impact
local green play areas can have on people's lives.

"As a nation, we have to fight to keep these playing fields
which are becoming more and more rare.
One of the greatest threats to these areas is from development
and often, we realise how valuable they are only once they're gone.
I would urge everyone to take part in the consultation
that is being held regarding Dai Lloyd's measure
as it's something that we have to act upon now
before it's too late."

********************


TO BEE - OR NOT

The food and farming minister, Lord Rooker,
says that without emergency measures
the honeybee is likely to disappear from Britain.

The government says investigation of bee colony losses
will have a higher priority, and keepers
should contact their local inspector.
In Wales, where a breed native to the area is
stronger, workers are hoping to save bees worldwide...

******************************

FRENCH AGRICULTURE MINISTER
TELLS TRUTH ABOUT FOOD !

"We must not leave the feeding of the people,
a vital issue, to the mercy of the whims of
market forces and international speculation alone."

Indian Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram
urges ACTION to counter the food crisis;
"Unless we act fast for a global consensus on the price spiral,
the social unrest induced by food prices in several countries
will conflagrate into a global contagion,
leaving no country - developed or otherwise - unscathed."


Premier Wen of China assures the people of the world
that China has enough grain reserves and that
it can feed its own population.
Wen says that countries can make the biggest contribution to the world
by feeding their own populations by their own efforts.

Against a backdrop of soaring food prices worldwide
and warnings by the UN and World Bank of a looming food crisis,
the need to keep farmland from being eroded by
construction projects and urban expansion cannot be overestimated.

Stricter penalties are needed for those officials
who dare to convert farmland without approval.
"We should not sacrifice self-sufficiency in food supply
for urbanization and business growth".

*******************

IF YOU WISH TO PRESERVE THE PLANET . . .

James Hansen, head of Nasa Goddard Inst. for Space Studies,
and one of the world's leading climate experts,
warns that the world must rethink targets
for cutting carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
because the problem IS underestimated.

Hansen says the EU target of 550 parts per million of C02
should be slashed to 350ppm, if "humanity wishes to
preserve a planet similar to that on which civilisation developed."

"What we have found is that the target we have
all been aiming for is a disaster - a guaranteed disaster.
If we follow business as usual.....
we are talking about a sea-level rise of
at least a couple of metres this century."

The good news, he says, is that fossil fuel reserves
have been exaggerated, so alternative energy sources
wil HAVE to be rapidly put in place.
A moratorium on coal power stations,
he suggests, could achieve the safer CO2 levels.

Hansen's report puts further pressure on Britain
to NOT build a new generation of coal power stations.
********************

WALES DESERVES "BETTER TREATMENT".

Merthyr Tydfil people call for a 500m (1,640ft) buffer zone
between their homes and the Ffos-y-fran open-cast site.
People are angered the site has been allowed to go ahead
with a buffer of only 40m (130ft) to the nearest homes.

Members of Residents Against Ffos-y-fran (RAFF)
are so angry about the development being that close to homes
they marched to the town centre ahead of a rally and concert.
The march started at Twyn y Rodyn nursery school,
which is less than 400m from the mine.

Alyson Austin of RAAF says approximately 100 people
joined the march and describes support as
"absolutely fabulous."

Explaining residents objections, she says;
"This opencast mine will come within 36m of houses.
In England and Scotland, mines have to be
at least 500m from the nearest residents.
Wales deserves the same treatment.

This event will show we are still determined to fight the scheme
which will be with us six days a week, 16 hours a day
for at least the next 17 years if it is allowed to continue."

Last month AMs debated plans for a 500m buffer zone
between houses and new opencast mining developments.

Now opponents of the scheme are chaining
themselves to excavation machinery.

*****************

Climate change protesters chain themselves together
and block roads into Aberthaw power station.

It is part of a campaign of protests
to highlight the environmental impact of fossil fuel.

Gordon James, director of Friends of the Earth Cymru,
describes the power station as a "dirty dinosaur"
which should not be allowed to stay open in its present form.

South Wales Police say they spoke to the protesters
and resolved the issue "quickly and peacefully".
Thirteen people are arrested for aggravated trespass.
* * *

PROTEST STOPS OPENCAST MINE NEAR MERTHYR

Demonstrators chained to excavation machinery
at an opencast coal mine near Merthyr Tydfil
say they are highlighting the "hypocrisy"
of government claims it is tackling climate change.

Residents protest because the Ffos-y-Fran site is very near homes.

Protestors say coal has the biggest impact
on climate change of any fuel
and the government is "supporting an outdated
and dangerous technology that has no future".

Residents claim there will not be enough protection
from noise, dust and pollution from the site.
There are two arrests.

************

U.K. CHEATS AND TRIES TO CHANGE THE RULES.


U.K. Ministers agreed to increase renewable energy fivefold;
but at a closed session of EU energy ministers,
the business minister, "Lady" Vadera, proposes
that British investments in renewable energy
ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD should count as a UK effort.
She also argues for allowing EU countries
to count electricity generated by "clean coal".

Dale Vince, chief of Ecotricity;
"This would kill renewable energy in Britain.
It makes a mockery of any attempts to address climate change.
The idea that we can build wind farms or
other renewable energy projects abroad
and then offset them against the UK target is outrageous.
If it were possible to build projects anywhere in the world
where planning is lax, nothing would be done in the UK."

John Sauven, director of Greenpeace:
"This would allow a UK minister to lay the foundation stone
of a power station in China and say it counts
as our contribution to European renewable energy targets."

Spokesperson for the environment group WWF;
"Yet again Britain is found trying to evade
its environmental responsibilities."

The energy secretary, John Hutton, argues this week
that Britain should not just replace existing nuclear plants
but greatly expand the nuclear and coal industries.

French nuclear industry will be encouraged
to develop at least four but possibly more
nuclear power stations in Britain.

Carlo de Riva, chief of French nuclear company EDF,
says if the British back renewable energy sources,
this will "undermine" nuclear power.

"If you provide incentives for renewables ...
you depress the returns (profits)
for all other low-carbon technologies."

****************

LIES, DAMN LIES... AND UK STATISTICS !

According to a National Audit Office investigation
there have been "no reductions in UK Carbon emissions".

"There are two different government reports;
the one required for the UN,
and one for the Office of National Statistics"
- which includes aviation and shipping emissions.

The report says there are "no reductions in UK emissions"
if measured by the national accounts method.

The figures expose as untrue government claims
that it is reducing emissions.

Environment minister, Phil Woolas;-
"UK greenhouse gas emissions have fallen by 16.4% since 1990.
We remain on course to nearly double our
Kyoto Protocol target over the 2008-12 period."

The government stands accused of misleading the public
as the UK claims to be leading the world in achieving reductions.

"Labour's claim that Britain's carbon footprint is shrinking is a scam.
The figures on aviation are being fiddled,
meaning the government can give the green light
to airport expansion without most of the
subsequent rise in emissions being counted",
says Robin Oakley, of Greenpeace.

The 40-page NAO report finds that government departments
interpret data in different contexts and for different purposes,
"in one case within the same document on successive pages".

******************

GLACIERS FEEDING RIVERS SHRINKING FASTER

They're shrinking at record rates and could disappear,
the U.N. Environment Program reports.

Scientists find that ice loss is reaching record levels,
and warn further loss could have dramatic consequences
in India, whose rivers are fed by Himalayan glaciers,
and the west coast of North America.

"There are many canaries emerging in the climate change coal mine,"
UNEP's executive director Achim Steiner, states;
"The glaciers are perhaps among those making the most noise
and it is absolutely essential that everyone
sits up and takes notice."

Steiner urges governments to agree on
stricter targets for emissions reductions
at their meeting next year in Copenhagen.

Wilfried Haeberli, director, World Glacier Monitoring Service;
"The latest figures are part of what appears to be
an accelerating trend with no apparent end in sight."

***********************

UK SEA MOST POLLUTED AREA IN THE WORLD

"Dead zones" where marine life cannot survive
have been steadily increasing over the past five decades
and now cover 400 coastal areas of the world,
a US-Swedish study shows.

The number of areas in which aquatic ecosystems
disappear due to lack of oxygen in the water,
have "approximately doubled each decade since the 1960s,"
says the study in the journal "Science".

Dead zones now comprise around 245,000 square kilometers.

"The formation of dead zones has been exacerbated
by the increase in pollution, and fueled by river runoff
of fertilizers and the burning of fossil fuels."

Oceans "react" by growing algae and vegetation in coastal areas.
When the algae dies and sinks to the bottom,
it decreases the amount of oxygen available,
eventually wiping out fish and crustaceans,
as well as the foods they eat.

Seasonal dead zones affect the Gulf of Mexico,
Chesapeake Bay and Scandinavian waters.

"...the former Soviet Union reduced nutrient
loading by a factor of two to four, with the
result that by 1995 the hypoxic zone had gone."

"An appropriate management goal would be to
reduce nutrient inputs to levels that occurred
in the middle of the past century, before eutrophication
began to spread dead zones globally."

* * *

Human impact on the seas is mapped for the first time.
Scientists find that almost no area is left unpolluted
and half of the world's oceans are heavily affected.

Halpern;
"Our results show that ... the big picture
looks much worse than I imagine most people expected.
It was certainly a surprise to me."

Scientists now collect global data
on the impact of 17 human activities
including fishing, coastal development,
fertiliser runoff and pollution from shipping traffic.

Human impact is most severe
around Britain, in the North Sea.

The map is a WAKE-UP call !

* * *

RAISING PUBLIC AWARENESS OF
THE BENEFITS OF WETLANDS.

Most deep sea fish stocks
are born or nurtured in wetlands.
Wetlands also clean and recycle the world's water.

One major wetland in Wales - is the Gwent levels.
These are about to be destroyed by a motorway bypass.
... unless we WAKE UP !

For more information about World Wetlands
visit www.ramsar.org

Over half the world's wetlands
have now been destroyed.

************!**************!**********

TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT WALES' ONLY REMAINING WETLANDS, VISIT:

WEBSITE:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/newportwetlands

Email:
newport-wetlands@rspb.org.uk

*******************************************

GREENING WALES

Environment Minister Jane Davidson commits Wales
to becoming a "one planet nation", using
its fair share of the world's resources.

The targets include 80 to 90% cuts in carbon-based energy
and a move towards recycling or re-using all waste.

A consultation document, 'One Wales: One Planet'
says the aim is to achieve the targets
"within the lifetime of a generation".

The assembly government report says there is a need to
"organise the way we live and work so we can travel less by car,
wherever possible, and can live and work in ways which have
a much stronger connection with our local economies and communities".

Using more locally grown food is strongly supported.

Jane Davidson, Environment Minister:
"For the first time, we have committed ourselves
to becoming a one planet nation - to only use
our fair share of resources to sustain our lifestyles."

"Wales' ecological footprint is currently 5.16
global hectares per person, compared to a global
availability of 1.88 global hectares.

"It tells us that within our small nation we are
using 2.7 planets worth of resources to sustain our lifestyles.

"Unchecked, this could rise by 20% by 2020, the
equivalent of 3.3 planets worth of resources.

"We cannot go on like this."

The plan calls for us in Wales to:
Support more sustainable development schemes in education.
Use more local produce and in season.
Reduce the gap between rich and poor.
Tackle child and fuel poverty.

Friends of the Earth Cymru say a 90% reduction
in use of carbon-based energy is ambitious,
but "absolutely necessary", given the evidence.


******************!!!!!!!!!!!!!****************


WALES: FAIR TRADE FIRST

Wales is declared the world's first fair trade nation!

A campaign was launched two years ago together with Scotland,
and targets were set by the Wales Fair Trade Forum (WFTF)
for countries to reach the fair trade nation goal.

A vibrant campaign in Wales has seen the WFTF, with
funding from the assembly government, help
and encourage schools, businesses and other organisations
to trade in or promote fair trade products.

Over 1,000 volunteers helped (and help!) to persuade Wales
to commit to fair trade and use fair trade products.

A panel of fair trade experts from Britain and Europe
congratulated Wales after reviewing all our progress.

First Minister Rhodri Morgan says
the declaration is a "great honour".

Fair trade guarantees a fair price to farmers
with a price which covers the cost of sustainable production
AND a profit for economic or social investment.
Fair trade products include not just food, but
products as diverse as rugby balls or clothing.

The WFTF now plans to implement a second phase
which focuses on increasing use of fair trade products.

Andy Wilson of WFTF says there is great hope that
the model pioneered by Wales will be adopted by other countries.

"Wales as far as the UK is concerned, is pioneering.
But there is still a long way to go before we can say
everyone in Wales is committed to fair trade.
We hope the work that has been done in Wales
will benefit producers in the third world and
in turn we will benefit from the stronger relationships
we build with the developing world."

Mr Morgan says Wales' progress in adopting fair trade shows
"how a small country like ours can make a difference".



VISIT THE FAIRTRADE WEBSITE TO SEE COMING EVENTS.

fair trade wales website

ORCHARDS IN ENGLAND "VANISHING"

Small traditional orchards could vanish from the "British" landscape
by the end of the century unless action is taken to save them,
environmental experts and campaigners warn.

Natural England and the National Trust say 60% of England's orchards
have disappeared since the 1950s!
The crisis, they stress, has been even worse in some areas,
such as Devon, which has lost almost 90% of its orchards.

In Wales, there has been a MASSIVE GROWTH in orchards,
with orchard co-operatives expanding in the North-East,
but no growth at all in the south Wales' valleys.
Come on the Rhondda - WE CAN do it !

***********************************************

Fewer people are moving away from the south Wales valleys
and more are setting up home in the area.

Hooray !

The Institute of Welsh Affairs think-tank
suggests a way of encouraging this, is to
build more "new housing developments."
to encourage people to move in and
"enjoy the closeness to Brecon National Park".

Rhondda Records suggests work creation in agriculture
with emphasis on using our natural resources
- land, water ( ! ) and people -
to take a new look at the relationship
between town and country.

If we get it right, the valleys will lead Wales.
If we get it wrong, the valleys will lose their
character and culture and turn into "commuterland".

The Institute of Welsh affairs calls itself
a "think tank".
We say;- "THINK AGAIN !"

( TO be fair, their latest report
is progressive, and calls for a massive expansion
of Social Enterprises - like Rhondda Records ! )
FAIR PLAY to them...

********************************************




FACING THE FUTURE - GWLAD !!!

In an address to the UN International Fund for
Agricultural Development, Ban warns the world
has come to an "alarming juncture".
He blames the huge rise in food prices on a
lack of incentives to invest in agriculture.

"For years, falling food prices and rising production
lulled the world into complacency." Ban says,
"Governments put off hard decisions and
overlooked the need to invest in agriculture."

Ban is expected to call on developed countries
to open markets from developing countries
and eliminate "unfair" subsidies.

Developing countries have long complained about
heavily subsidized food from Europe and the US
being dumped on their markets, damaging their own farmers.

Diouf says that record prices are providing
the fundamental economic and political incentives
to stimulate investment in the agricultural sector.

So what could this mean for Wales ?

The FAO calls for measures to boost local food production,
including the distribution to small farmers of seeds,
fertilizers, feed and other inputs through smart subsidies.

As a twin-track approach, the FAO says in the long term,
investment could be made in long neglected areas
such as agricultural research, extension and infrastructure.

Catherine McMahon and David Morgan of BANDOG MEDIA,
and Kathy Williams of COMPLETELY ORGANISED
are category winners at the RCT Business Club Awards.

A very proud moment for GTi
to have 2 of its businesses win awards!
And so well deserved.


BANDOG MEDIA - Best Business Start-up
www.bandogmedia.co.uk


COMPLETELY ORGANISED - Best use of E-Commerce
www.completelyorganised.co.uk


I'm sure you want to join with us
in congratulating them and wishing them
continued success in the future.

Lynne, Pam and Rona
The GTi+ team

Glamlife website

A new band have a song which samples the voice of Mr Benn
called 'No Escape', it won't be everyone's cup of tea
but I LOVE IT and you can listen to it here.
If you do like it then do let Jon know -
he's the editor of The Bennites web site,
(and the singer)!!

TO LISTEN TO THE SONG
PRESS THE LINK BELOW

Renegade; TARGET.

www.bennites.com

These activists from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
were protesting against EU tax payers money
being used to organize Bullfights in Spain.

CATALONIA BANS BULLFIGHTING - HURRAH !!!

Animal rights activists are now celebrating the
Catalonian parliament's decision to ban bullfights
in the Spanish region made on July the 28th, 2010.

Lawmakers dealt the death blow to bullfighting,
outlawing the centuries-old blood sport for the
first time ever in a mainland region of Spain.

Under the ban, which comes into effect in 2012,
the bullring La Monumental Barcelona will shut,
as will the few others elsewhere in the region.

************************************************
************************************************

TEN YEAR-OLDS ENCOURAGED TO KILL

Illinois citizens can take their young children
to shoot tame pheasants at Illinois state parks.

Office of Management and Budget spokesperson
Kelley Quinn says it's ludicrous, in a time of
great fiscal uncertainty, that the State is:
"raising pheasants at a financial loss,
just so they can be killed..."

Illinois Department of Natural Resources pheasant
propagation centres have bred 78,000 pheasants,
just so US children can shoot them - for "fun".

Illinois DNR Acting Director Sam Flood says
fourteen state sites will offer the family "fun"
- including four sites for children aged 10 to 15.
Illinoisans pay for three breeding facilities,
including the Helfrich Wildlife Propagation Centre
where 150,000 pheasants are hatched and raised every year.
Site superintendent Ron Willmore says it is
"very similar to a chicken or turkey farm,
except for what happens to them."

The pheasants wear plastic muzzles on their beaks,
like debeaked battery hens, to stop them injuring
each other, in stressed, crowded conditions.
Pheasants not shot are killed by other animals,
vehicles, or cold winters, say DNR officials.

Jerry Rodeen of Pheasants Forever:
"Put-and-take hunts are also important for children.
They are the only places these young men and women
can hunt and be assured of a good shot."
He says the whole sport needs to be subsidised,
or people will stop shooting and the industry -
the US's biggest and most profitable - will stop.
"When hunters lose access to places to hunt, they
become discouraged and quit the sport," Rodeen states simply.
Families Afield initiatives have lowered age limits
in 27 states - to keep hunting available for the young.


*********************************************

EU SHOWS WHAT IT THINKS OF CANADA's "SEAL-HUNT"

EU proposes total ban on products
derived from seal "hunting" in Canada

The European Union, in a protest against Canada's seal "hunt",
has proposed a total import ban on products
derived from seals that are inhumanely killed.

EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas says
seal products coming from countries that
"practice cruel hunting methods" cannot be allowed.

The EU has been under increasing pressure from
animal rights groups and lawmakers at the European
Parliament to take action over the seal "hunt",
which they claim is cruel and should be stopped.

"Hunting" baby seals, who just lie there and
wait in amazement to be clubbed or hooked,
is practiced at its worst by Canada, where most
of the world's seal hunting takes place.

Greenland, Namibia, Norway, and Russia, also
allow seal culling and native quotas.
For some countries, the killing is NOT cruel,
and seals can be an important source of income
and food in small coastal communities where
other opportunities are limited.

But the difference between small indigenous
communities hunting for need, has been overshadowed
by contractors killing cruelly for profit.

Hunting is now controlled by quotas based on
recommendations from the International Council
for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), and in
2007, the Canadian Department of Fisheries and
Oceans (DFO) set the "total allowable catch"
(TAC) of harp seals at 270,000 per year.

You might consider this to be mass slaughter,
yet this figure is smaller than the average number of animals
killed for pelts on European fur farms EVERY WEEK.

*******************************************


WE WELSH ALL LOVE PENNSYLVANIA - BUT THE PIGEONS DON'T !

Welsh people helped found Pennsylvania, and we
valleys Welsh love our racing pigeons, don't we?

Yet Pennsylvania is the LAST state to still hold
pigeon "shoots". What happens at a typical shoot?
Pigeons are first catapaulted into the air,
approximately five to ten feet from their cage.
Many are shot on the ground or while standing on
top of the cages, stunned by noise, unable to fly,
underfed, dehydrated, and kept in tiny boxes, often for days.

Only about one-fifth of the pigeons are killed outright.
About two-thirds are shot, and wounded.
"Trappers" then use garden shears to sever the bird’s heads.

But trappers can’t get all the wounded. Hundreds
at a shoot will fly off and remain untreated,
often taking several days to die a painful death.
Pigeon shoot organisers keep observers away, and
won’t allow volunteers to pick up and treat wounded birds.
Pigeon shoots, claims the National Rifle Association’s
Institute for Legislative Action, "are a traditional
and international shooting sport."
The International Olympic Committee banned pigeon
shooting after its only appearance in the 1900
Olympics, the IOC says, because of "it’s cruelty."

Sensitive to public outrage, almost every shooter
and the organisers of the gun clubs that sponsor
these events, refuse to talk to the public or the press.
The shooters claim that not only are they sportsmen,
but that they have a high moral code.
The NRA claims the participants;-
"are law-abiding, ethical shooting enthusiasts,
hunters, and sportsmen." Yet participants and
spectators make money through "hidden" gambling.
Profit also comes through the illegal capture,
interstate transportation, and sale of the birds.

Pennsylvania is now the ONLY state where people
openly kill live pigeons in organized contests.
Several bills have failed to gain majority support
in either house of the state legislature.

The current bill bans not only shooting captive birds
at traps or shoots, but also the practice of
tying turkeys to hay bales and then shooting them,
often with arrows. The bill has slept in committee
since November 2007. The committee was supposed to vote
in March, this year, but the bill hasn't appeared.

In 1994, the state House of Representatives voted
99–93 to ban all pigeon shoots, failing by 3 votes,
to pass their bill. Subsequent bills are blocked
by the Republican leadership, helped by rural Democrats.

Although the Pennsylvania Supreme Court terms
these shoots "cruel and moronic" this ruling
has not stopped the live pigeon shoots.

Did thousands of dollars in political contributions
from the NRA Political Victory Fund, stop
attempts to ban it? Campaigners say "yes."

There are about two dozen shoots each year at the
Pikeville Gun Club, Strausstown Gun Club and
Wing Pointe in Berks County. At each shoot, more
than 1,000 pigeons are killed, then thrown away.


*********************


Chinese singer and actress Faye Wong is named
Asia's sexiest vegetarian woman in a poll
run by animal rights group PETA.

Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachan wins the title of Asia's
Sexiest Vegetarian Man in the month-long poll.

****************************

"After six weeks in the incredibly crowded cages of this facility,
you could not recognize the poor creatures as chickens,"
writes an internet commentator of a summer he worked on a egg farm.
"Missing most of their feathers, eyes, bloody,
broken and unable to walk, our job was to
grab these birds, by any means necessary,
and throw them into a truck.
Where did the truck go? To a chicken soup plant a few towns over.
Unable to sell these bruised and battered chickens as whole chickens,
the egg plant owners would sell them to be made into soup base.
As if their lives were not hellish enough to that point,
these birds would be flung, often after being
battered against the pillars of the plant
and kicked a few times for fun by the sadistic workers,
who were mainly teenagers and weird illiterate country bumpkins.
The chickens, nearly dead, would be transported
in unheated trucks to the soup plant to be battered
and likely boiled alive to make soup . . ."


****************

The National School Lunch Program in the USA
needs to be investigated because of
the doubtful quality of meat used in it, lawmakers say.
Concerns appeared after alleged abuse of animals
in a Californian slaughterhouse.

Operations at Westland/Hallmark Meat Co.,
which is a major supplier to school lunch programs
have been suspended by the U.S. Agriculture Department.

The scandal originally appeared
after the release of a controversial video
showing slaughterhouse employees kicking disabled cows
and torturing them with electric shocks.

Two employees shown in the footage have already been fired,
but the company is not allowed to resume its activities
until it develops a corrective plan, USDA officials say.


* * *

ConAgra's Slim Jim meat and cheese sticks,
Pemmican beef jerky, Hunt's spaghetti sauce with meat flavor,
Banquet Mac & Cheese and Manwich with beef refrigerated tubs
join the Do Not Eat Hallmark/Westland recalled meat list.

Products from General Mills and Nestle are also indicted.

The California Department of Public Health web site
gives the names, addresses and even phone numbers
of restaurants and food services that bought Hallmark/Westland meat.

Senator Herb Kohl (D-Wisconsin) wants to know why,
with five inspectors assigned to the Hallmark slaughterhouse,
the videotaped abuse had to be uncovered by a charity.
"Why don't you have a system that uncovers
this inhumane treatment of animals?"
Senator Kohl asked Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer.

In 2005 the USDA cited Hallmark for;
"Too much electric prodding causing animals to
get more excited while being driven towards the kill box."
Complaints from humane officials were filed in 1996
charging cows that couldn't walk were being
prodded "repeatedly in the face" and
other cows were allowed to trample over them.

The subcommittee hearings were attended by Wayne Pacelle,
President & CEO of The Humane Society of the US
whose undercover video led to the recall.
Representatives from the dairy industry were absent
even though the infirm cows in the video -
"spent and barely able to stand due to calcium
depletion from being milked intensively" are a dairy phenomenon.


* * *

MARS PROTEST

PETA members ask the public to boycott Mars products
because of their claims that the company is
conducting and funding animal experiments
for its confectionary products.

YOU CAN FIND PETA at;

http://www.peta.org/

* * *


Beautiful actress Natalie Portman is designing clothing for vegans
in cooperation with women’s footwear manufacturer Te Casan.

Natalie's first collection is in boutiques NOW.



* * *

A TREE FOR EVERY CHILD !


Every new child born or adopted in Wales
is having a tree planted for them this Year.
The idea of Cardiff schoolgirl, Natalie Vaughan,
is creating 30 hectares of broad-leaved woods every year.

Each new-born baby or newly-adopted child
is receiving a certificate stating that
a tree is growing for them.

Plant! is run by Coed Cadw (Woodland Trust)
and Forestry Commission Wales.

Mr Morgan: "This scheme is a win-win for us all,
as it not only contributes to regenerate our native woodlands
but also links children with the natural environment.

"As they grow older, they will be able to follow
the progress of the site of their very own tree
and appreciate the importance of protecting and
supporting our native species of plant and wildlife."



TO FIND OUT MORE
PRESS THE LINK BELOW

WOODLAND TRUST website

PRICE WAR AS TICKET SALES START
FOR WORLD's FASTEST TRAIN JOURNEY

China's railway stations Friday began selling
passenger tickets for the Wuhan-Guangzhou high-
speed railway, which boasts the world's fastest
train journey with a 350-km-per-hour average speed.

Now journeys of 1,000 kilometers will take three hours,
compared with the previous 10 and a half hours,
says an official with the Wuhan railway bureau.

Tickets from Wuhan to Guangzhou range from 490 yuan
(72 US dollars) to 780 yuan, almost the same as airline tickets.

The China-made bullet trains reach a maximum speed
of 394.2 km per hour in trial operations, says
Sun Bangcheng, general engineer of the Tangshan
Railway Vehicle Co., Ltd of ChinaCNR Corporation Ltd,
the manufacturer of the trains.

China's government has launched a major upgrading
of the nation's overstretched railway system.
It is building 42 high-speed passenger rail lines
covering over 13,000 kmtrs, in the next 3 years.

With the expanding network of highways,
bullet trains could further open up travel
to millions of Chinese, while pressuring airlines.

"We can only survive the competition by reducing
costs and improving services," says Si Xianmin,
general manager of CSA.

"Most freight is transported on highways in China
while only about 15 percent by trains," says Guo
Hui, deputy director of Hubei Provincial Highway.

"In the traffic peak periods such as the Spring
Festival when the Chinese go home for family get-
togethers, the railway bureaus have to suspend
freight transportation to guarantee smooth passenger flow."

"But things will change in the future. As high-
speed passenger trains are easing the traffic
pressure, the railways will focus more
on freight transportation," he says.

"We must study how highways and railways can
complement each other to share the market."


COLD SNAP TRAPS 4 TRAINS IN CHANNEL TUNNEL

More than 2,000 people were trapped for hours
inside the Channel Tunnel after four Eurostar
trains broke down due to cold weather,
according to local news reports today.

The trains failed as they left the cold air in
northern France and entered the warmer tunnel.

The trains were coming from Brussels and Paris,
and Eurostar says the change in the atmospheric
conditions caused "electrical problems".

Eurostar says the four trains have been moved
from the tunnel and passengers are being
"transferred" to England.

"Four Eurostars broken down at one time - it's
absolutely unprecedented," says a spokesperson
from Eurotunnel, the operator of the Channel Tunnel.

Eurostar services are now cancelled until noon
Saturday & is "severely disrupted" this weekend.

Heavy snowfall is causing travel chaos, forcing
schools to close and cutting off power supplies
in parts of the UK since Friday. Meanwhile,
more snow and freezing temperatures are expected
for parts of Scotland, southeastern & eastern England.

************************************************

WALES TO BE ELECTRIFIED !

The UK government announces a £1bn plan to
electrify the main rail route between London and Swansea.

Electric trains are lighter and more energy efficient,
cut running costs and the environmental impact of train services.

The project is to take eight years to complete,
with the installation of overhead power lines
and the demolition of many tunnels and bridges.

Transport Secretary Lord Adonis:

"With electric you get quieter, cleaner,
more reliable and much cheaper train.
We've taken the decision that the right thing for the country
is to have an electrified railway across the principal main lines
and that's why we're going ahead with electrifying the Great Western Main Line."

He says the investment will pay for itself over a 40-year period
and that there will be no impact on fares.

PM Gordon Brown:

"This is the future. It's greener, it's cleaner,
it's faster, it's more reliable. It's making the
railways fit for the 21st Century and
encouraging more passengers to use the railways."


Electric trains are more than 35% cheaper to operate
than diesel trains, according to the Department for Transport.

Electric engines require less maintenance
and the trains are around 20% cheaper to buy.

There are also major environmental benefits
as the production of electricity for trains
creates up to 35% less carbon than
burning the equivalent amount of diesel.

Network Rail will carry out the work.
The company says it is buying specialist electrification trains
capable of automating the installation job.

**********************************************

IT WAS ALWAYS A LIE !

Most people think we're not allowed to subsidise
our public services any more, because of the EEC. LIES !!!

ALL EEC countries subsidise their railways MASSIVELY...
EXCEPT Britain. The rail user watchdog says now,
that the government MUST provide a better subsidy
for our railways - at least £500m more per year.

Passenger Focus says the scope for any fare increase
has "reached its limit" and urges ministers
to lower the cost of THE MOST EXPENSIVE
commuter rail network in Europe.
Anthony Smith, Passenger Focus chief executive,
says rail travel is now so expensive in Britain,
that it is the SECOND most expensive item of
expenditure in many commuter households.

Analysts warn that funding for the rail network
is under pressure from the recession because
passenger numbers might decline this year and next.
In Wales, numbers are expected to grow, but policy
is decided for Britain on a "one size fits all".

************************************************

MUST - A WORD TO SEND US INTO TRANSPORTS?

Walking, cycling and public transport MUST play
a bigger role in the future of local travel,
a new report states.

Cars are ruining our health, and the building of
more and more roads is simply unsustainable, they say.

Transport alliance Sewta makes its recommendations
in its plan for a sustainable regional transport
network in south east Wales.

************************************************

Police officers on the south Wales rail network
are being equipped with lightweight body cameras
to stop anti-social behaviour.

************************************************

BETTER FASTER LINKS WITHIN WALES

Wales gets a new faster train service
between north and south Wales.

The new Arriva Trains Wales North South Premier Service
now runs between Holyhead and Cardiff.

It reduces the five-hour journey by around 30 minutes
arriving in Cardiff by 10am and leaving at 4.20pm.

The Welsh Assembly Government also announces a new
half-hourly Cardiff to Merthyr Tydfil service for May 2009.

Deputy First Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones says the
new north-south service enables passengers
to travel between Bangor and Cardiff in under four hours.

"This service will make train travel between the
north and south of our country a practical and
attractive alternative to taking the car -
expanding choice, uniting the nation and
encouraging sustainable transport options.
I have decided to start the new service as soon
as possible, with the service going via Crewe,
rather than wait for a train path through Wrexham
which may not be available for some time.
I emphasise that this service is the first of
its kind - not the last."

He adds that the assembly government will seek to
develop the route at the earliest opportunity,
including routing via Wrexham and examining the
case for an early south-north return service.

Mr Jones says the route is great news for the valleys
and underlines the assembly government's commitment
to making the whole region an attractive location
for people to live and work in.

********************************************

PEACE TRAIN TO BRING "ENORMOUS SYNERGIES"

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak proposes
a new North South railroad, dubbing it the "New Silk Road".

Lee envisions a link between the trans-Korean railway
(TKR) and Russia's trans-Siberian railway (TSR)
for an eventual connection to Europe.

"At present, it takes about 40 days to transport
freight from Busan to Europe by sea. But the
transport period can be halved if TKR and TSR are connected."

"The railway link between the two Koreas and
Europe via Russia would help boost global peace
and ease tensions in Northeast Asia, as well as
on the Korean Peninsula. Subsequent infrastructure
construction projects surrounding the Korean
Peninsula-Europe railways will also be mutually beneficial."

Lee also says he desires cooperation to exploit
Russia's oil and gas resources, along with
plantation businesses and Russia's Far Eastern forests.

Lee says the new project will upgrade economic
cooperation and create enormous synergies for both nations.

*****************************************

Wi-fi ON TRAINS ?

Travel agencies from Chattanooga, Tennessee,
to Cincinnati to Oakland, California, have
introduced Wi-Fi on buses, particularly those
on longer commuter routes. Metro plans to make
Wi-Fi available at elaborate new bus shelters
in Arlington, which will also feature heated seats
and electronic signs with arrival and departure information.

**************************

SHOPPING BY TRAIN....

A newly-opened home furnishing mall in Shanghai
features an in-house metro train that can take
shoppers to any store inside the 6-story building.
The 14-meter-long train runs on a spiral rail
and is the first of its kind in the world.

*****************************

"GLOBAL WARMING CLOSES LINE"

Network Rail blames climate change for an £8m
reinforcement for a railway embankment which
threatens the Rhymney Valley line.

Increased rainfall because of the changing climate
causes the slope to move over 150mm per year, they say.

Steel beams are being used to hold the slope at Sebastapol.
Network Rail say the project will provide a
permanent solution to the slope for 100 years.

The current speed restriction of 10mph is being lifted.
Mark Langman from Network Rail;
"Ultimately, we do not want to compromise on
passengers safety or risk suspending the line permanently.
This project is carefully planned to bring minimal
disruption to current passenger services.
We are grateful for the support from Arriva Train Wales,
allowing us to close the line for a short period of time,
so that the most critical part of the engineering
work can be carried out effectively."

Engineering work on the valley line will continue
with no disruption to passenger service after six weeks, say Network Rail.

The project is due to be completed by early 2009.


********************************


TOP 10 'HOTSPOTS' WHERE CHILDREN RISK THEIR LIVES

Gowerton
Pyle
Llanelli
Pontypridd
Ton Pentre
Cogan
Penrhiwceiber
East Usk Junction
Pengam
Porth


******************


TELL THEM WHAT YOU THINK !

A brand new Great Western main line to Cardiff
and Penzance may be built for high-speed rail travel,
Network Rail says, as a review of the rail network begins.

The review will examine the need for high speed trains.
In the last decade, passenger numbers have risen by 40%.
More people travel by rail now, than at any time since 1946.
Numbers are expected to rise by a further 30%
over the next 10 years.
The study looks at the service after 2014.

Richard Dyer, transport campaigner, Friends of the Earth;
"There is a huge case to be made for an expansion
of the rail network. All options are on the table
looking at how we address capacity issues.
Expanding Britain's railways by building new high
speed lines is potentially very exciting - and
could play an important role in weaning Britain
off fossil fuels and developing a low carbon economy.
But the overall impact that this would have on
local people and the environment must be carefully considered.
The UK needs a modern, comprehensive and affordable
rail network to provide a real alternative to cars,
lorries and short haul flights, and help cut
Britain's contribution to global climate change.
Our creaking railway system desperately requires
huge investment to bring it into the 21st century."

Ashwin Kumar, of independent watchdog Passenger Focus:
"We welcome the study. It is extremely important
the rail industry anticipates future growth."



*****************************



The new TEN YEAR plan for railways in Wales
is out now....
NEW station improvements at Barry, Caerphilly
and Pontypridd,
plus a new "valleys" platform at Cardiff Central.

You can read the whole document at;

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/rus%20documents/route%20utilisation%20strategies/wales/wales%20rus%20.pdf


To respond email or write to;

WalesRUS@networkrail.co.uk

Wales RUS Consultation Response
National RUS Programme Manager
Network Rail
Eighth Floor,
40 Melton Street,
London
NW1 2EE



************



WELSH RAILWAYS SAFER THIS YEAR


Crime has fallen on railways in Wales, by 8.6%.
There is reduced crime in almost all categories,
including violent crime and criminal damage.

Area commander Chief Supt Peter McHugh;
"More offenders are being brought to justice.
We are pleased with the achievements, which
further demonstrates the railways are safer for passengers."

"We are really pleased with the impact the
Neighbourhood Police Teams (NPTs) have made
over the last 12 months, which has provided
us with a platform to strengthen our NPTs
in the near future."

"The key aim of NPT is listening to members of the local community
and working with them to develop tailor-made solutions
for their local policing needs.

"High on our agenda continues to be reassuring passengers
and rail staff by tackling anti-social behaviour
and low level disorder that contribute to the fear of crime."

**************************************

PROBLEMS ? LOOK TO YOUR SOCIETY !!!

Simon Pickering, of rail consumer watchdog
Passenger Focus, says problems on the railway
are often an extension of wider social issues.

"The whole community must respond to social
problems that are spilling onto the railway
and putting passengers' safety at risk.
Passenger Focus continues to work with Arriva
Trains Wales, Network Rail and others to address
safety problems on the valley lines but passengers
continue to rate station safety poorly with only
55% of passengers satisfied with their personal security.
In comparison, 74% of passengers are happy with
personal security on board the train."

Anyone with information about evil incidents
can contact British Transport Police anonymously
on 0800 405040 or call Crimestoppers anonymously
on 0800 555111.


**********************


An extension of free rail travel for pensioners
is announced by the Welsh Assembly Government.

It increases the availability of free travel
on trains to more bus pass holders.

The scheme will now include the Cambrian Coast line
and the Welsh section of the Wrexham to Bidston line.


**********


WALES "FIGHTING BACK"

A direct train service linking Wrexham with London
starts running after a 41-year gap.

Services will operate five times a day in both directions.

Mr Jones: "This expansion of services will play
a key role in building a more effective rail
network for Wales - one of the ambitions set out
in our 'One Wales' programme for government."

"After decades of cuts dating back to
the bad old days of the Beeching axe,
our country is using its growing
devolved powers to fight back."

The new trains will offer charging points
for laptops and mobiles as well as free Wi-fi access.



***********************


GET YOUR ANARAKS ON !

Think the rate of cancellations on Rhondda rail-lines
is too high and growing?
Follow the example of rail users
on the Great Western line -
who exposed company figures as lies,
by keeping an accurate record of train cancellations;-
Now Great Western faces losing it's licence -
or shaping up..... !!!


* * *


Ebbw Vale/Cardiff train link now open.

45 years since a passenger train
last ran on the tracks.

The Ebbw Vale rail link scheme
restores a link with Cardiff severed in 1962.



* * *



Llanharan station reopens.

Llanharan, in Rhondda Cynon Taf, was closed in 1964.
Now, there's a new station built on the same site.

Eudine Hanagan, R C T's cabinet member for transport;
".......we wanted to enable local passengers
to use their new rail service at the earliest opportunity."

Hourly services between Cardiff, Bridgend and Maesteg
will operate from Monday to Saturday
and there will be 3 return services to Cardiff on Sundays.

The station was built under the Sewta
(the South East Wales Transport Alliance) initiative by Rhondda Cynon Taf Council,
Arriva Trains Wales and Network Rail.


* * *


More investment needed as rail use jumps


The number of passengers using rail services across Wales
is forecast to increase by more than a third.

The Welsh assembly's enterprise and learning committee says
ministers need to start planning for the rise in train passengers now.

It says demand for passenger places could rise
by up to 35% by 2016 on some services,
leading to a need for extra investment in new train carriages.

The committee finds that the number of people using services
is likely to outstrip UK government estimates,
especially in the Cardiff area.

"The committee recommends that the Welsh Assembly Government
should be planning to fund the necessary infrastructure
to accommodate this additional growth."

Professor Stuart Cole:
"There's clearly a thought that many people have
about the environment and therefore they should
travel by more environmentally friendly forms of
transport, particularly into Cardiff.
We have also seen people switch from the A470
and driving into Cardiff to the train into Cardiff.
There's a doubling in passenger numbers
every seven years on the Valley Lines."

The committee finds that;
".. Wales has one of the oldest fleets in Great Britain,
with many of the trains falling well short of passengers' expectation."

It recommends that the assembly government
produce its own plan for Wales setting out
how new or refurbished rolling stock will be used
to serve the anticipated extra passenger numbers.

The committee also wants better car parking facilities,
and calls on the assembly government and transport operators
to promote the integration of rail and bus services.




* * *

Demand for rail travel in Britain is booming!


When will the Rhondda have a FULL train service again ?

If you're worried about train times...

ACCESS ARRIVA'S WEBSITE;
PRESS THE LINK BELOW.

ARRIVA TRAINS WEBSITE.

THIS YEAR, YOU CAN STILL FIND YOUR PARTNER...


WHAT IS COMPATIBILITY, ANYWAY !!!

*************************************************

And if you ever GET married - a CD of Welsh music
for use within wedding ceremonies is now released
by the Organist of St Paul’s Cathedral, Huw Williams
and distinguished Welsh folk harpist, Carys Owen.

Wedding CD’s have become increasingly popular,
with the modern fashion for civil ceremonies and
the desire to ‘personalise’ every aspect of the day.

“This is the first CD of its kind to offer Welsh couples
the opportunity to express their identity through music”
says Emyr Rhys of Aran Records.
“Items include Romantic Welsh folk melodies for harp
in arrangements by Nansi Richards;
as well as original compositions for organ
by Karl Jenkins and William Mathias.”

http://www.traciaucymraeg.com/

Bridgend Council says it wants Porthcawl to
be the top seaside resort in the area.

It plans to regenerate an area
stretching from Cosy Corner and
the harbour in the south,
to Trecco Bay in the east.

The plan suggests new promenades at Sandy Bay
and Eastern Promenade, a revamp of the harbour
with a new indoor leisure and tourist attraction,
and an improved Sandy Bay beach.
The harbour would have a moveable gate to
ensure water is kept in the harbour.
The project also includes new sea defences for
approximately 440 existing properties as well
as new housing and community and youth facilities.


YOU CAN ACCESS THE PLANS NOW
- AND ADD YOUR VIEWS -
BY PRESSING THE LINK BELOW.

CONSULTATION : BRIDGEND C.C.

LATEST GOOD HEALTH NEWS !!!

WALES NEW AIR AMBULANCES TAKE TO THE SKIES

Wales Air Ambulance says its new purpose-built helicopter
has technology that will help save lives.

The service - which has three airbases in south, mid and north Wales
- costs around £5m a year and is dependent on public donations.

The upgraded helicopter, unveiled in Cardiff,
is designed with the help of air crew paramedics.

On-board technology will allow faster take-off times
and help pilots to locate incidents more quickly.

The helicopter, being located in Swansea, has a bigger interior
and is also faster than the current model.

South airbase paramedic supervisor Aneurin Heath:
"Careful consideration has been given to the
interior design of the new generation aircraft,
and the location of each piece of medical
equipment used to treat patients onboard."

Angela Hughes, Wales Air Ambulance chief executive:
"Casualties will be loaded onto the aircraft from the side
as opposed to the rear, making them feel less claustrophobic
and giving the paramedics more room to work."

Wales Air Ambulance, which has carried out more than 10,000 missions,
launched an appeal to raise money for three new air ambulances
across Wales to comply with civil aviation legislation.

Chief executive Angela Hughes says the people of Wales
are "wholeheartedly" supporting the charity.

"The new aircraft will make a big difference to
the work that the paramedics carry out, and we
are delighted that we have been able to rise to
the challenge of reaching our target of £5m for the year."

Features of the new EC-135 air ambulance include
extra space inside to help paramedics treat patients
and an extra seat that can accommodate a doctor
or the parent of an injured child.

Pre-flight checks on the current Bolkow-105 model,
a standard helicopter converted into an air ambulance,
are carried out manually, but the new helicopter
has a computerised system which allows quicker take-offs.

************************************************

CARDIFF ROYAL INFIRMARY TO GROW !

The future of Cardiff Royal Infirmary (CRI)
has been uncertain since it closed as a
district general hospital ten years ago.

But now Mrs Hart says she wants to develop health care facilities
at the site including the possibility of in-patient services.

Local Lib Dem AM Jenny Randerson says it is a "great day".

Mrs Hart is responding to the recommendations of a review
she commissioned last year to look at the provision
of health services in the south and east of Cardiff.

Dr Stephen Hunter's report concluded the CRI
"can and should be developed as a beacon local hospital
for the people of south and east Cardiff and arguably beyond".

The CRI, built in 1884, and Grade II listed,
closed as a district general hospital in 1999.

Campaigners fought plans to close the remaining facilities in 2002.

The current site houses out-patient facilities
including physiotherapy and genito-urinary medicine
and the report recommends a "significantly bolder" approach.

It calls for the establishment of a well-being centre,
an unscheduled care centre and an occupational health facility.

It also calls to transfer "a substantial proportion
of medical outpatient activity to the Cardiff Royal Infirmary site"
including respiratory medicine, diabetes and
endocrinology and community paediatrics.

Development of the CRI could ease congestion
at the University Hospital of Wales
and improve access and waiting times, the report says.

Mrs Hart: "I have approved plans for the acquisition
of the full site at Cardiff Royal Infirmary
which will allow the trust and the LHB (local health board)
to take forward the recommendations of the review
undertaken by Dr Stephen Hunter.

"Dr Hunter recommends a phased development of services
which will include primary care, unscheduled care,
community mental health, substance misuse, outpatients and diagnostics."

*************************************************

999 RESPONSE TIMES GIVEN 10.5 MILLION POUNDS !

An extra £10.5m is being handed to the Welsh ambulance service
by the Welsh Assembly Government, to cut the
time it takes to reach patients in emergencies.

The money buys satellite navigation, location systems
and mobile data terminals for all emergency ambulances.

Health Minister Edwina Hart says she is
"determined" to improve performance of the service.

**********************************************

GYMNASTS FOR HEALTHY SLIM WELSH CHILDREN !

Two top young gymnasts now launch a scheme
encouraging teeny tots to enjoy exercise.

A Fun and Fitness project giving equipment to pre-school groups
is launched at the Welsh Institute of Sport in Cardiff.

Francesca Jones, the Welsh gymnast of the year:
"We hope this could be the start of some
budding gymnastic and sports careers."

The assembly government says one in five
Welsh 13-year-olds is overweight or obese.

Ms Jones says she is proud to be involved in the campaign.

"At this level it's all about having fun
and the equipment supplied will really benefit
the children and help them with hand and eye
co-ordination, balance and confidence."

She is joined by British junior Champion Keziah Gore
in giving gymnastic demonstrations to children.

Equipment given includes £150 worth of soft foam gymnastic equipment,
balls, bean bags, cones, and a floor parachute. These are being given to pre school groups.

Naomi Woodstock, from holiday company Haven
which is providing the equipment, says interest
in the Beijing and London Olympics means this
is the perfect time to encourage young children.

"The best way ... is to make sure
they have the right equipment available."

In January, the Welsh Assembly Government launched
a £1.4m programme to give overweight children
a 10-week diet and exercise course.

*************************************************

FREE ACCOMODATION FOR JUNIOR DOCTORS IN WALES

The BMA says the decision makes Wales training
"destination of choice".
All junior doctors training in Wales are told
they can stay free in hospital accommodation until July 2010.

The decision follows medical student protests
and discussions between BMA Cymru and university officials.

The BMA says the move helps make Wales
a top destination for training.

Medical students protested outside the UHW in Cardiff
after a requirement for pre-registration doctors
to be resident at a hospital is removed from the Medical Act.

This would have cost newly-qualified junior doctors
about £4,800 a year, with average student debts at £20,000.

Richard Lewis, Welsh secretary of the BMA:
"(It will) ensure Wales becomes the destination
of choice for medical training.
It is a victory for collaborative working
between the profession and government
as NHS Wales returns to the core principles
on which the health service was founded.

"We have shortfalls in posts in Wales and this
will go some way towards creating the culture
which is necessary to attract the best medical
talent for the future."

*************************************

FREE HEART TEST FOR VALLEYS YOUNG PEOPLE

A clinic is offering tests to pick up undetected
heart conditions in young people who appear healthy.

The free screening session is offered by the charity
Cardiac Risk in Young People (CRY) to those aged
14 to 35 at the University of Glamorgan.

Every week, "around 12 young people" die of
undiagnosed heart complaints.

Donations to fund the clinic have been made on
behalf of three young men who died suddenly from
heart failure in the area over the past few years.

Young people who exercise are more at risk of
sudden death - if they have an undiagnosed problem
which is not being managed.

The session at the clinical suite in the university,
in Treforest, south Wales, is offering an electrocardiogram
(ECG), which records the electrical impulses
produced by the heart's rhythm.

If anomalies are recorded, a further, more detailed
ultrasound scan of the heart, is carried out.

Donations were made in memory of Mark Young, 34,
who died while playing in a five-a-side football competition;
Gareth McDonald, 27, who was a former student at the university;
and Christian Thomas, 15, who died of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Peter Lewis, a senior lecturer in cardiology
at the University of Glamorgan, says it is a
"sad situation" for apparently fit and healthy
young people to suddenly die.

"There are lots of sad stories on the CRY website
that tell of people who have suffered a sudden death,
but there ARE warning signs in some situations.

What we'd like to see is patients coming to our clinics
who suffer, maybe when they are exercising, some
dizziness or chest pains or palpitations.

They are some of the warning signs, but they are not always there.

What we're trying to do at CRY is screen as many
people as possible to understand how many people
may have this condition, because right now,
the 12 deaths a week is more of an estimate
than an actual figure."

There are plans now to set up clinics
in north and mid Wales.

********************************************

WHERE WALES LEADS... OTHERS FOLLOW !

Plans to abolish prescription charges in Northern
Ireland are announced by NI Health Minister Michael McGimpsey.

The cost of a prescription in NI is being reduced
to £3 per prescription in January 2009 and
free of charge by April 2010.

The charges were abolished in Wales on 1 April 2007
and are due to be abolished in Scotland.

England is the only country in the UK to retain charges.

***************************************

A FAMILY NURSE IN EVERY SCHOOL

Efforts are under way to recruit nurses into
EVERY secondary school in Wales to tackle health
issues, and the role of the nurses will extend to
engaging with children's families

The plan is to achieve this by the end of 2011.
It's part of a commitment by the Welsh Assembly Government
to improve the health of children and young people.

*********************************************

GPs LOOK TO A BRIGHT VALLEYS FUTURE.

As long as we attract young enthusiastic doctors
into the valleys, G.P's practices will prosper.

That's the message to children in the south Wales valleys,
from the Welsh Assembly Government, which says
plans are starting already to ensure improvements continue.

A spokesperson says there are now more people
training to be GPs and applying for jobs in Wales,
and that the chief medical officer has already
recommended that local health boards plan to
deal with future retirements, and all evidence shows
that those recommendations are being followed.

********************

AT LAST ! - A PSYCHIATRIST
SPEAKS OUT !

Britain's leading psychiatrist launches a critique
of the state of Britain's acute psychiatric care system.
"I would not use them, and neither would I let
any of my relatives do so."

Professor Dinesh Bhugra, is the new president
of the Royal College of Psychiatrists;

"Some acute psychiatric inpatient ward conditions
are absolutely unacceptable. They are uninhabitable.
The system often leaves patients feeling lost and abandoned.
I predict the situation will become worse in coming years."

YOU CAN READ THE REST OF HIS ELECTRIFYING CALL
- IF YOU GO TO OUR HEALTH PAGE !

****************************

All-Wales mental health course launched.

Charity Mind Cymru says it is recruiting to train
75 people across the country to become instructors,
who will then deliver the course in their areas.

Participants will learn how to recognise
common mental health problems,
including drugs, depression and self-harm.

*********************

HEALTHY SOUNDS - HEALTHY BODIES !

Healthy Sounds is launched by health minister Edwina Hart
and heritage minister Rhodri Glyn Thomas
at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant.

Edwina Hart:
"Research shows that many long-term patients,
especially those with dementia, respond well
to live music and it can substantially improve
their quality of life."

Organised by Ty Cerdd on behalf of the assembly government,
the scheme will see a number of live performances
by music groups in hospitals & healthcare facilities.

Rhodri Glyn Thomas:
"Everyone has been touched at sometime in their life
by the therapeutic effects of music."

The Welsh Assembly Government says it is
inviting local music groups into hospitals,
& over 130 music societies are keen to take part.

The "Healthy Sounds" scheme is given
£25,000 for the first year of the project,
then £50,000 each year it runs.

Keith Griffin, director of Ty Cerdd,
says hospitals are giving the scheme
a "very enthusiastic response" all over Wales.
He says Healthy Sounds "will complement and develop
the already valuable work that some hospitals
have done with their artists-in-residence."

Jim English, Cwm Taf NHS Trust;
"To see the relatives bring down the patients
in their wheelchairs & they sing along or sit there
with their eyes closed - to me it's a benefit."

*****************

Free car parking has started at about 120
of Wales' 130 NHS hospitals and units.
The remainder, where parking is run by private companies,
will now reduce costs from June until contracts expire.
The commitment to free hospital parking is part of
the Welsh assembly government coalition agreement
made by Labour and Plaid Cymru.

University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff,
Glan Clwyd in Denbighshire, Neath Port Talbot
and the West Wales General at Carmarthen
is having charges reduced gradually from June,
as they are run by private contractors.


More good news?!! Two "super" trusts in south Wales
are formed by merging North Glamorgan NHS Trust
with Pontypridd and Rhondda NHS Trust
to create the new Cwm Taf NHS Trust.

Cwm Taf NHS Trust will provide services to around 333,000 people,
primarily in Merthyr Tydfil and Rhondda Cynon Taff.

The new merged trust will oversee two general hospitals -
Prince Charles in Merthyr & the Royal Glamorgan in Llantrisant -
along with 7 community hospitals & other services.

Swansea & Bro Morgannwg are also merged,
The new Trust is called Bro Morgannwg NHS Trust.

Paul Williams, chief executive;
"It will strengthen hospital services in the region
and enhance teaching and research opportunities."

Also, children in Wales are now given
free toothpaste and brushes as part of
a campaign to improve their teeth.

*******************

SIXTY MINUTES, FIVE TIMES A WEEK, BUTT !!!

Josh Fowler, 6ft 10in, has been coaching basketball
at schools in the Rhondda, as part of the 5x60 project
run by the Sports Council for Wales
and funded by the Welsh Assembly Government.

The projects aims to encourage secondary school pupils
to do 60 minutes of exercise, five times a week.

Josh, 24, came to Wales to play for the Glamorgan Gladiators
and has been coaching children in his spare time.

"The kids seem to love it and every session I've done
they seem to be having a blast."

The children say they enjoy learning skills from Josh
and, with around one in five 13-year-olds overweight,
they are aware of the importance of exercise.

James Messenger, 13, of Ferndale Community School:
"It's good to do exercise.
At our age it's quite easy to get obese with takeaways
& when you go out, it's easy to pick up fast food
instead of healthy stuff like fruit."

Ryan Howells, 12:
"Josh is really tall and really good!
He's taught us new stuff & sometimes comes
to the tournaments with us & encourages us."

One of the main aims of the 5x60 project
is to encourage children to find exercise that suits them.

Julie Rotchell, of the Sports Council for Wales:
"We're looking to encourage those children
that aren't currently participating in
sporting activity to become involved.
We're encouraging them to become much more active
in their lifestyles and become active adults."
5x60 organisers wish all secondary schools
in Wales to take part by 2009.

Josh;
"The Rhondda is great and the people are very friendly.
It's been a great experience, probably the
most valuable experience of my life."

****************

Crisps, chocolate & sugary drinks are to be removed
from vending machines in NHS hospitals in Wales.

Health Minister Edwina Hart says Wales is
the first part of the UK to commit to such a move
to tackle obesity and diet-related disease.

It's part of the Labour-Plaid assembly coalition deal
to improve hospital food and nutrition.

Most junk food will be removed from machines
in the next six months.



FOR MORE HEALTH ARTICLES -
PRESS THE LINK BELOW

Health News Page

VIOLENCE ON TV;
"EDUCATION EDUCATION EDUCATION".


The Institute of Welsh Affairs (IWA) audit,
finds that media deficiencies in Wales are
"significantly worse" than in Scotland or N Ireland.

It says Wales is the only country where none of
its commercial radio stations is owned locally
and is the only one of the three countries whose
ITV franchise-holder is not independent.

The report also says the BBC is far more dominant
in both radio and television in Wales compared
to Scotland and N Ireland.

The research was carried out by Geraint Talfan Davies
and IWA research officer Nick Morris.

They say: "Perhaps the most startling fact of all
to emerge from our researches is that each day
only 100,000 readers in Scotland read newspapers
with almost no Scottish content, whereas in Wales
1,760,000 are reading papers with virtually no Welsh content.

"It seems to us impossible to argue that those figures
do not have serious consequences for informed democracy in Wales."

The report says English-language television
is a key issue for coming years.

It says the autonomy and guaranteed funding of S4C
are "the visible parameters of the Welsh language settlement"
while English language programming by both BBC Wales and ITV Wales
is "decided by internal processes within wider organisations".

The report's authors suggest the creation of a
Welsh public broadcasting agency as an
alternative to making ITV Wales autonomous.


*******************


The Audience Council for Wales' review
points out how BBC Radio Wales and Radio Cymru
are not available on DAB to half the population
and an estimated 70% of Welsh-speakers can't get Radio Cymru.
A Plaid MP threatens to withhold his BBC licence fee
because there is "not enough BBC coverage of Wales".
Plaid AM Bethan Jenkins calls for the Welsh assembly
to be put in charge of broadcasting in Wales.
and prize-winning author Lionel Shriver
condemns British TV for patronising its audience.


* * *

Now, a new study shows that young boys (2-5)
watching violent television - even cartoons -
are more likely to be anti-social later in life.

"This new study provides further evidence of
how important and powerful television and media
are as young children develop," study author
Dr. Dimitri Christakis of Seattle Children's
Hospital Research Institute says.

The study finds that each hour of violent shows
viewed per day by boys ages 2 to 5
increases their anti-social behavior THREEFOLD
as reported by their parents five years later.

Behaviors that the study names as anti-social
include cheating, being mean to others,
no feelings of regret, disobedience at school,
and having trouble with teachers.

The TV programs that the study defines as aggressive
include football, and cartoons such as "The Power Rangers,"
"Star Wars," "Space Jam," and "Spiderman."
These programs are considered to be aggressive
due to the characters who fight one another,
flee from violent situations, and who cheer
when violence occurs.

Educational or nonviolent entertainment does not
significantly raise aggression levels.

"TV isn't inherently good or bad," Christakis says.
"Content matters."

************************************************
************************************************

AND THE INTERNET CAN BE MUCH WORSE !!!

Three out of four children see images on the internet
that disturbS them, an NSPCC poll states.
The charity is renewing its call for computer manufacturers
and retailers to install security to stop children
finding violent or sexual content.

The NSPCC, polling visitors to its children's website
There4me.com, says it is alarmed by the accessibility
of potentially disturbing material.

One child says: "I've seen violent images
I didn't search for. I was freaked out."

The NSPCC wants social networking and video hosting sites
to remove offensive material within hours of finding it.
Policy adviser Zoe Hilton: "Children are just
a few clicks away from innocently stumbling across
upsetting or even dangerous pictures and films
such as adult sex scenes, violent dog fights,
people self-harming and children being assaulted."
Hilton says EVERY child should be using a computer
with child protection software.

"High-security parental controls installed in
their computers would help shield them.
but................
"Currently computer manufacturers and retailers
leave it to parents to find and install software
that filters out material unsuitable for children.
This can be a complicated process for customers."
The charity wants retailers to ensure the software
is installed before selling computers, and also
for manufacturers to start building controls into their products.

She adds: "Social networking sites must also put
more effort and resources into patrolling their sites
for harmful and offensive material and ensure their
public complaints systems are clearly marked,
easy-to-use and child-friendly.

"We would also recommend they give information on
their sites about sources of help and advice,
such as Childline, for children who have been
affected by what they have seen."

************************************************
************************************************

ARE WE BUILDING A MEDIA......
OWNED BY THE COMMUNITY,
AND RUN FOR THE GOOD OF OUR CHILDREN ? ? ! ! !

If you know of any old videos of Richard Burton,
or male voice choirs, etc., which have been made
available on DVD... please email Ron in Utah, at;

welshmormon@yahoo.com


*********!*********!*********!*********

Welsh Medieval Battlefields Campaign.

Objectives are to seek official recognition
and registration of Welsh Medieval Battlefields.
Aims then are to work for the Preservation,
Protection and Promotion of Welsh Battlefields
..... this could - and SHOULD - involve PENRHYS !!!

TO CONTACT - visit;

http://brwydr.blogspot.com/

You may know that annual events are held at Cilmeri
in order to remember Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, last Prince of Wales,
killed by the forces of Edward Ist on December 11th 1282.
This year the events take place over the weekend
of the 13th and 14th December.

For more information please see this website:

http://www.gurfal.com/Cilmeri/index.htm

Come, remember our Last Prince.

Geraintgerrobs@hotmail.com


WHO INVENTED THE LONGBOW?

"...The longbow was first recorded as being used
by the Welsh in 633 C.E., when Offrid, the son
of Edwin, king of Northumbria, was killed by an
arrow shot from a Welsh longbow during a battle
between the Welsh and the Mercians - more than
five centuries before any record of its military
use in England...” (per TheMiddleAges.net)

”Henry (V of England) dealt a crippling blow
to that nation (France) at the battle of Agincourt
England with her fierce Welsh bowman, seemed an unstoppable force..”
(per The Highlander Magazine, May-Jun 09)


************************************************

Promote Glyndwr battlefield call

Between 1400 & 1404, soldiers fighting with Owain Glyndwr
defeated English forces in many battles
in their blood riven struggle for independence.

The Welsh Assembly Government says it is now
looking into creating a register
of nationally important battlefield sites.

Penrhys could/should be there !!!

OUR CHILDREN'S HEALTH: WHAT ARE WE DOING?

Excessive drinking is forcing a sharp rise in
alcohol-related disease, with cases of cirrhosis
up by 42% since 2004, to 5,000 cases a year.

Since 2004 there is a 17.2% increase in alcohol-
related liver disease, to 14,500 cases last year.
There is a 41% increase in hepatic failure – to
1,200 cases this year. A quarter of people aged
16 & over, are now classed as hazardous drinkers.

Cancer Research UK says oral cancer rates for men
in their 40s is up by 28% since the mid-1990s,
and rates for women in their 40s are up by 24%
over the same period. The rise is attributed to
the increase in heavy drinking.

Lib Dem shadow health secretary, Norman Lamb:
"After a decade of government inaction, we are
seeing the horrendous long-term health problems
that alcohol misuse can cause. Ministers claim
to be making progress on alcohol misuse, but
with millions of adults still drinking hazardous
amounts, these figures are only set to get worse.
We need a radical new approach to alcohol-related problems."

************************************************

"THE WHOLE OF OUR CULTURE DEPENDS ON DRINKING"

More young people in Wales have been drunk at least twice
by the age of 13 than anywhere else in the
western world, a WHO survey finds.

The World Health Organisation survey of Europe
and North America puts Wales at "the top of the list".

Children's Commissioner for Wales Keith Towler
says the survey is a wake-up call for adults.

The survey, conducted in 40 countries, looks at
all aspects of health, including drinking,
weight, smoking, school pressures and bullying.

The survey finds that children in England and Wales
are under more pressure to drink than almost
every other country which took part.

Researchers say children in the UK rate their own health
"poorly" compared to other countries, and find it
harder to talk to their parents.

A spokesperson for chief medical officer for Wales, Tony Jewell:
"Reducing the underage consumption of alcohol
is a key priority in Wales.
The increasing culture of binge drinking in Wales' youngsters
leads to greater risk of injury, unsafe sex, and
serious health issues in later life...
As adults we have got to think of our responsibilities
to children and what example we are setting."

Keith Towler, Children's Commissioner for Wales;
"By 2010-11, £27m a year will be funded to...
place a significant focus on the inappropriate
and risky use of alcohol, instances of which
are higher in Wales than most other countries..."

"I was at the United Nations committee last week
on the rights of the child and we talked about
how good some of the policies and strategies are
that we have in place particularly in Wales and
through the Welsh Assembly Government, but we
really still are not seeing implementation of
these strategies on the ground."

Mr Towler is critical about the way alcohol is marketed
and calls on adults to set a better example.
"The whole of our culture is based on drinking.
As adults we have got to think of our responsibilities
to children and what example we are setting."

Kathryn Allen from Promo Cymru, says that having a drink
is often cheaper for young people and children
than going to the cinema in the evening.

"There are pubs on every corner, there are shops
everywhere selling cheap alcohol and we have the
issues with binge drinking. This is a society issue," she says.


IF WALES IS TOP - AND IT'S WORSE IN THE VALLEYS -
HOW BAD DOES IT HAVE TO BE..... BEFORE YOU CHANGE ?!?


*******************************


A study of sexually transmitted diseases in US teenagers
shows staggering results: it turns out that
at least one in four U.S. teenage girls has venereal disease.
That's about 3 million teenagers.

According to the study, the most common type of
sexually transmitted infection is a virus that
causes cervical cancer. The most vulnerable
groups are blacks (nearly half of them are infected).
The rate among white and Mexican-American teens is 20%.

18% of girls have cervical cancer;
4% percent have chlamydia;
2.5% have trichomoniasis
and 2% have herpes simplex virus.

The single most effective measure is screening;
but this is under-used, because most teens

don't think they're at risk.


************************


The harm caused by alcohol abuse is central to
a new 10-year substance misuse strategy in Wales.

It pinpoints those who drink to excess and don't
believe they have a problem, and targets young
and binge drinkers in particular.

Ministers are pushing for stricter rules on alcohol promotion,
an increase in tax on drink
and a reduction in the drink-drive limit.

The assembly government believes alcohol misuse
is far more widespread than that of illicit drugs
and can be particularly damaging - leading to
anti-social behaviour, domestic violence, poor
health and family break-up.
"...we should place a greater emphasis on alcohol
and reducing the harm it causes".

Wales' Chief Medical Officer Tony Jewell
says the new strategy targets younger drinkers.

"There is growing evidence that young people in Wales
are starting to drink at an early age and regularly
binge-drink - with consequent risk of injury,
road traffic crashes, unsafe sex and anti-social behaviour."

Support is also being given to other substance misusers;
more investment in youth work, and an expansion
of services, such as helplines.


**********


Tony Jewell, who provides independent advice to
the assembly government, says the population is
living longer, and that the overall health of
people living in Wales is "favourable".

But great concern remains for the health of children in Wales,
who drink more alcohol at an earlier age,
exercise less and have higher body mass index results
than the majority of countries in the western world.

Figures published earlier this week show that
more mothers in Wales (37%) smoke during their
pregnancy than in any other UK country.

Doctor Jewell:
"I am particularly concerned about the health of children in Wales,
notably the rising epidemic of obesity,
high smoking rates, and the growing culture of binge drinking."

Figures show the number of adult smokers falling,
yet there are still 6,000 premature deaths each year,
and children as young as 12 are taking up the habit.

Dr Jewell;
"The smoking ban is a major step forward,
but now we have to try and prevent young people
starting to smoke and build the campaign for
smoke-free homes - especially where there are
children exposed to second-hand smoke."

Reducing binge drinking is also a priority,
according to the report, which recommends
smoke-free home