Judgement call

No let up from Shipton over this week’s Bourne Sanction. But for everyone else, there is no doubt who is running the Conservative Party in Wales – and it ain’t the Western Mail.

Face off

If the public comments posted on the Beans on Toast website are to be believed, Peter Hain has turned out to be as much in tune with public thinking on police precepts as Barbara Wilding, i.e. not at all.

And the timing could be a bit better – an impending 25th anniversary of the miners strike is probably not the best moment to think about generating empathy with the rozzers.

However, the main point made by the Neath MP that the increase is a result of actions by a stingy central government has clearly been missed by his eager critics. The same can be said of the irony involved in that Assembly spending limits prevent the ‘shortfall’ being raised locally - or so the story goes in some quarters, although the sanctions available to WAG ministers are a bit vague.

It’s an interesting devolutionary dilemma which potentially raises huge constitutional questions about autonomy and accountabilities in Wales – especially if it all ends up in the courts as Ms Wilding seems to suggest.

It’s also a lot more entertaining than the same old Welsh Language LCO machinations.

Social networks, political minefields

The Beeb report that poor old Lib Dem councillor Sean Aspey has been suspended by his party following his earlier spot of bother. This time the hyped media description of his outfit is that of a ‘Nazi storm-trooper’, for heaven's sake.

A party spokesman is quoted as saying "We have taken the action of temporarily suspending Mr Aspey from the party pending an internal inquiry.

"We take any allegations of impropriety very seriously and the local party will be looking in greater detail at the situation and coming to a decision on Mr Aspey's future within the Welsh Liberal Democrats.

"Of course, we have to act in as fair a manner as possible and within the terms of our own constitution."

These so-called social networks can prove to be a banana skin for politicians & candidates who think it's necessary to be seen as grounded only to find that a different definition of the word can later apply to their careers.

Take, for example, the Facebook pages for Swansea Forum – a university based website. A selection of the self-posted membership photos it contains, if taken at random, could give entirely the wrong impression to the media.

The trousers press flattens opposition

Anyone passing the Western Mail’s Park Street offices late yesterday afternoon must have been wondering what the swearing was all about.

News was coming through that Assembly tory whip William Graham had resigned in protest at Nick Bourne’s selective re-shuffle of his cabinet which saw health spokesman Jonathan Morgan dumped from the front benches. South Wales West AM Alun Cairns was then given Graham’s position.

Having ensured that Bourne’s actions, speeches and what-not received such regular prominence in the past, the story is pretty much buried on the Western Mail’s website as no more than a speculative piece whilst its stable-mate, the Daily Post, claims that Bourne faces a backlash for his actions but is short on actual detail of what this might be.

Update: WM website has been updated with details of the re-shuffle. Deposed Jonathan Morgan is described as “one of Cardiff Bay’s most prominent AMs”. Moot point from now on.

Further update: Different takes on the same issue from Martin Shipton and Welsh Lib Dem site Freedom Central.

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Shock changes in Tory reshuffle

BBC Wales

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Two leading Welsh Conservative assembly members have left the shadow cabinet in a surprise reshuffle.

Go figure

The ex-boss of billion pound loss-making RBS gets a £650,000 annual pension for patently not doing his job whilst Swansea neurosurgeon Tim Buxton gets just over two-thirds of that figure for nearly four years in back-pay after it is confirmed that he should never have been stopped from doing his job.

'Allo and goodbye

Self-proclaimed “extreme right wing Liberal Democrat” councillor Sean Aspey from Porthcawl - a place desperately in need of controversy - is fingered in today’s Western Mail for turning up to a fancy-dress party in “Nazi uniform”.

It should be said that the WWII anoraks among us make the point that Councillor Aspey is in fact wearing a Wehrmacht (armed forces) uniform and not that of the Waffen SS - who evolved from the fascist Blackshirts and SD, etc, etc.

The Lib Dem councillor, who organised an "Allo, Allo" themed party for his 40th birthday, is quoted in the article as hoping that people would think of him as a “a tidy bloke” – although he should brace himself for bad news after his constituents get to read that he is also allegedly a member of two online groups 'celebrating' serial killers Fred West and Harold Shipman.

Even so, in light of Aspey's description of the event as a “private party”, it will be interesting to see if the Lib Dem decides to seek the same redress as F1 chief Max Mosely who gained record privacy damages against the News of the World. He could well find himself with enough time on his hands in the near future.

Rhodri Morgan discusses efficiency savings with Gordon Brown
Western Mail - 26 Feb 2009

Points west - or not?

There is increasing twitchiness in some circles that the rail investment package recently announced may not extend beyond Cardiff. Longer coaches designed to be more cost-effective could cause overhanging problems at curves in the tracks between the capital and the west.

One scenario is that passengers travelling from Paddington to Swansea would have to change to smaller, slower trains at Cardiff before continuing their journey. It already takes nearly an hour to make the same journey now (45 minutes by car).

Chief Constable threatens Ryder Cup policing
Wales Online - 25 Feb 2009

Risk management

Swansea is the UK's car insurance hotspot, according to some obscure outfit.

Virgin Money spokesman Grant Bather said: “You have been warned. If you see signs for Swansea (SA4) you should take extra care because our data suggests you are more likely to have to make a car insurance claim following an incident there than in any other place in the country.

“That could mean being involved in an accident, having your car stolen or vandalised or being a victim of theft from within the vehicle. Of course it doesn’t mean drivers in Swansea are dangerous or the town is the car crime capital of the UK."

Well thanks for the tip, Grant - now 'eff off before we does your effin' car for ewe, mush.

Bedridden benefit cheat went scuba diving
Western Mail – 24 February 2009

Blood and Beer

A story in the local Swansea paper breathlessly relates a BNP claim that their party membership extends into the Dyfed-Powys police force – a not-unlikely notion according to some motorists who would probably add that the force harbours a fascist tendency which significantly pre-dates anything political.

But if there is media ‘outrage’ at this reported infiltration then the average journo would probably choke on his or her panini if they realised the extent to which their local pub or club is likely to be one of a network providing support for BNP organisers. As their recently leaked membership list revealed, several premises in Swansea and south west Wales are either owned or managed by BNP activists.

Policeman held in steroids racket probe
Wales Online 23 Feb 2009

Sometimes, saying sorry just isn't enough

We hear that something approaching a back-bench rebellion over the weekend saw Swansea council leader Chris Holley being told by his group to announce that plans to charge up to £100 for an emergency callout system have been scrapped and to issue an apology.

Sources also say that Social Services cabinet member Wendy Fitzgerald gained little credibility among her angry colleagues when she claimed that she knew nothing about the charge or the ham-fisted consultation which saw vulnerable pensioners receiving leaflets that asked “Is your life worth £100?”

Opposition groups had already let it be known that they were preparing to vote down the charge at tonight's budget meeting but it was Holley’s own sweaty group that forced his hand and it appears that a number of the dissenters are still not entirely placated.

As a result, an internal investigation into who did and authorised what is likely to be held behind the scenes during the next few days.

Hard times for hard copy

No doubt there are those pundits who would say that it was probably inevitable that a publication that seemed to overly trade on a local ‘feel-good’ factor would be a casualty of recession. But can we be sure that the demise of Swansea Life, as reported in the local press, is not indicative of a greater underlying malaise for the print media previously masked by market buoyancy?

The internet-assisted mobile medium continues to grow as the preferred news source for a texting generation. Indeed, the Dot.com industry which has already seen its own rapid growth, shake-out and resurgence looks in much better shape than most newspaper and independently owned broadcast competitors.

What effect all this has on the local scene is anyone’s guess. However, the word is that the Beans on Toast are looking to downsize by relocating from their draughty Adelaide Street premises to a smaller site.

Although they recently got gazumped by Admiral Insurance for some prime waterfront office space at SA1 there is talk that they could still end up as joint tenants with Swansea Sound in the upgraded Visteon site on Fabian Way.

Serving the public

The media reports that Swansea's A&E services were swamped last week by celebratory sports-followers whose post-match revelry had gone over the top - and onto the pavements.

Despite a record 40-something ambulances turning up to disgorge bleeding and bruised occupants, doctors, nurses and support workers reportedly managed to eventually cope with the additional chanting, vomit and aggression that they associate with most week-ends.

All in all, something of a lesson in delivering a vital public service that a certain chief constable might wish to take on board when next issuing threats to withdraw policing cover at sporting events.

Only funny the first time around

.... after that, it starts to sound like the real thing.

Drips

A scheme which Swansea Council have recently stopped describing as a “flagship” retail development has managed to run aground again with news that potential tenants will not be setting up shop until someone fixes a leaking roof.

Hopes for a pre-Christmas opening of the £30 million shopping centre on the site of the former David Evans store had previously been dampened when an Easter date was announced after claims that rain had delayed building work.

One observer in the local business community has already unkindly commented that the developers should also make sure that they did not use the same glazing firm who did the work for Elsie.

Only a matter of time

Welsh Secretary Paul Murphy was in Swansea the other day to confidently predict that the recession had only a few months left to run. As it happens, there's quite a few observers hold the same view about his prime minister.

Turning circles

A sign that Swansea’s Lib Dems are getting really sick of the regular slagging off given by the public over the infamous bendy-bus is the emerging suggestion from party stooges that it was actually all a Labour scheme in the first place (sound familiar?)

It's a ploy that could possibly work – if you can ignore that the clowns offering up this particular brand of bollocks are the same people who have consistently denied there was a problem and that First Cymru and the Welsh Assembly are coughing up the squillions of pounds involved and what is everyone so upset about anyway?

But the real killer is the total lack of evidence to back up their desperate claims of continuity.

There is nothing in the budget signed off by the previous administration which shows that funds were ever put aside for bendy buses. Nor is there any reference in cabinet or council minutes – and you can bet that if they existed then Holley & Co would have been waving the paperwork in the air long ago.

In fact, the first public announcement about the StreetCar concept comes in July 2005 – nearly a year after the Lib Dems took office – and states that, a detailed bid will now be put together to apply for transport grant money from the Welsh Assembly. The money will help to purchase ten of the futuristic vehicles which can carry around 120 passengers each. (Check out the future tense in this statement).

As much as the Lib Dems would understandably wish to re-write this bit of history, the truth bears the same hallmarks as the Shambles@Swansea.

For all their claimed technical expertise, the cabinet and their cronies simply did not have the competency to make a distinction between buying a fleet of vehicles and the disastrous action of signing up to an spate of official vandalism (aka the Metro scheme) which was allegedly needed to allow the articulated monstrosities to navigate around the city centre and elsewhere – even though other towns and cities with far more convoluted road systems seemed to have avoided such costly work.

And, once again, the individual who persuaded them that it was a cracking idea and sure vote winner managed to leg it to another local authority before it all turned out nasty.

As we said, it all has a familiar ring, don’t it?

Freebies

Although we cannot claim more than a sketchy appreciation of the do’s and don’ts of local government conduct – quite a common failing in Swansea these days - the idea of a major construction firm providing a free feasibility study to a local authority leader as a 'personal favour' raises a few questions of propriety.

For example, does a councillor have to declare this sort of thing? Does the actual monetary value of this freebie also need to be disclosed? What if the councillor is motivated by the prospect of political gain either through instigation or acceptance of such uncommon largesse?

All relevant questions from our uninformed perspective and ones that the council’s expert legal officers should easily be able to advise upon as and when they can take a break from writing letters to the Ombudsman about Labour and Tory councillors voting to have matters of public interest debated in public.

Own goal

If ever South Wales Police were to seek advice on how best to quickly alienate a large section of a normally law-abiding population, then the response would be that this could be achieved by deliberately putting sporting events at risk.

The fact the chief constable seems unable to grasp this simple truth after many years in post is probably sufficient enough comment on her operational and management abilities.

Between the lines

Whenever an idea earns itself the description of "controversial" in the local press then you can be sure that a lot more is likely to be written on the subject in coming editions - and most of it critical.

Based on today's editorial comment from the Beans on Toast, which initially gave the proposal for new tram system for Swansea a less than supportive reception and now talks about a "half-baked scheme", it doesn't look as if the Speht Train is going to get an easy ride. Nor should its proponents realistically expect one.

As it happens, the overview board which discussed the idea today lacks the power to authorise anything, which is just as well since there really ain't no such thing as a free feasibility study and anyone who thinks otherwise clearly didn't learn any lessons from the costly Shambles@Swansea fiasco.

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So before anyone votes to waste any serious money on another pet-project, how about testing the extent of this local support that campaigners claim through an independently organised public consultation exercise with Swansea's council tax-payers?

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Just one small requirement: people should also be presented with a list of alternative priorities for the estimated £50 million that the scheme will cost the Council, e.g. new schools, better roads, improved social services, etc.

Putting a price on care

Bosses running Swansea Council’s social services, who according to some have a reputation approaching that of King Herod when it comes to child protection, now find themselves in trouble over frightening the infirm and elderly in the city.

Fresh on the heels of plans to quietly close a care facility for the elderly at Earlsmoor come revelations that pensioners have been getting letters from their local authority asking them, “Is your life worth £100”?

The correspondence is supposed to be a consultation on a proposed fee to be charged for the electronic lifeline system which provides an instant connection to carers if users should fall or become ill. The system is presently a free service.

The understandable public reaction to this official demand for money with menaces has been a stream of complaints to the press and local radio station.

But what is puzzling some observers is why it is left to the media to expose this questionable approach of attempting to make “savings” by causing worry and distress to the vulnerable.

Whatever happened to opposition parties who would normally be quoted as being vociferously against such actions – or do they approve of what is happening?

Going off the rails

A comment overheard recently in a hostelry within falling-down distance of Beans on Toast HQ was, “If trams are the answer then it’s a bleepin’ stupid question”.

And it’s hard to disagree with such sentiments at a time of pervasive financial gloom. Then again, maybe a new tram system would fit nicely with current Whitehall thinking that a programme of public investment is just what is needed to move the ailing economy forward.

It would definitely be a hit with the highways crowd. Just think of all the damage that could be done in ripping up Swansea’s roads to lay new tracks not to mention the new traffic-light signalling and painted lines that would be needed.

The big problem however is that the tram idea is not a serious item on anyone else’s strategic agenda – local, regional or national – nor is it likely to be in the foreseeable future. And therein lies the problem for Swansea under the current regime.

It was all reasonably simple for the Lib Dem leadership to slip into position around the cabinet table while everything was rosy. Liberty Stadium was under construction, the Waterfront Museum was about to open and SA1 was seen to be steaming ahead. Yes, there were a few internal issues but nothing that selling off some civic silver wouldn’t put right. If anyone asked difficult questions about spending then all they had to do was proclaim that Labour never did nuffin’ and point to the leisure centre.

Now it’s suddenly a different kind of game and the rules have changed to the extent that promises of jam tomorrow in the city centre sound hollow in light of news that the council’s regeneration partners are facing serious financial troubles.

It is at times like these that the press talk about the need for leadership. But it could be argued that what is primarily needed is a leader with decent ideas of his own rather than one who indulges the fantasies of his colleagues in order to maintain a fragile majority.

For an administration that has made a mantra out of a desire for strategies and frameworks in almost everything else, Lib Dem politicians in Swansea and their running mates no longer seem to possess either a decent map or a compass.

Pretty soon they'll find that they don't have a paddle either.

Happy happy, joy joy

We hear that something is needed to cheer up those stressed-out staff at Swansea's tax office who are being asked to put up with some strange motivational thinking.



Smiley Link

Costly jargon

Perhaps we imagined it, but wasn’t there a definite promise made by the Lib Dem leadership on Swansea Council to consult widely with the public on the priorities for next years budget? Ah well, another time perhaps (or maybe in another galaxy, far, far away).

No surprise then what we actually get is a 169 page anorak-friendly financial report full of references to WAG, MTFP, SNAs, HRA and what-not, predictably supplemented by selective official press statements.

The local press has already spotted the main downside issues about extra charges for less services - although they did not pick up on the paragraph stating that “There is no scope for further unsupported borrowing at this time” and the plan to sell off another £20 million in assets over the next six years.

Then again, it is probably understandable that journos might not find it a worthwhile or rewarding exercise to trawl extensively through a jargon-laden report that seems written by accountants so that only other accountants will get the entire gist.

But the worrying question for those outside Calamity Hall is how many of the 10 member cabinet will actually understand the contents themselves; not to mention the implications that its recommendations hold for Swansea’s communities?

And finally ...

Something that didn't get mentioned in our earlier post about the retail capacity study commissioned by Lib Dem controlled Swansea Council back in 2005 was the recommendation about convenience (supermarket) floorspace.

The study states “findings demonstrate that there is currently no basis of support for any significant additional floorspace across the city as a whole in the period up to 2016”.

In other words, there is no present justification for an ASDA scheme in Gorseinon based on need.
Presumably, this is another bit of advice that Holley & Co decided to ignore.

Oh yes he did!

Tory Assembly health spokesman Jonathan Morgan claims in a rather bizarre letter to the Beans on Toast that he has never suggested a move to "centralise neurosurgery services in Cardiff at the expense of Swansea".

It's an admirable effort in semantics on his part but in a recorded interview on the Beeb website you can just about hear Morgan informing a near-apoplectic Lib Dem Peter Black that the official report - which he quotes - recommends a single site in Cardiff. Morgan then goes on to slag off Edwina Hart for ignoring this official advice.

Having tried to confuse process with content, the Cardiff AM then comments in his letter that "All Welsh Conservatives want the best treatment for neurosurgery patients and are united in our belief that Edwina Hart has politicised the NHS to unprecedented levels".

We're sure that Nye Bevan would have something to say about that particular claim - on both counts.

Size matters

Following on from an earlier post, Swansea’s small-time approach to regeneration goes back to 2004 when council leader Chris Holley, who carried a bit more credibility in those days, told the press that the 350,000 sq ft Castle Quays retail project was dead meat.

The ambitious scheme, he stated, was unachievable and should be replaced by a smaller more deliverable development. Of course, that was five years ago and a number of High Street names including Gap got fed up of waiting for action and uprooted themselves from the city centre – which means that, even when the new scheme is opened, there will still be a net loss trading floorspace.

But something that the Council is less than upfront about is that a leading firm of consultants brought in by the Lib Dem-run administration just a few months later recommended that the city actually needed a retail scheme nearly twice the size of the original Castle Quays if it was to survive as a regional shopping centre.

A retail capacity study produced by Roger Tym & Partners – who later drafted the city’s centre regeneration plans – recommended “a new development of approximately 55,800 m2 (600, 400 sq ft) gross, including service uses” which would be “larger than the previously proposed Castle Quays scheme … designed to regenerate Swansea and strengthen its regional role”.

Sadly, and in the same way that the ruling cabinet ignored expert advice over the costly Service@Swansea fiasco, this recommendation was rejected in favour of a somewhat sketchy re-vamp of the Quadrant and St David’s shopping malls which has the private development world shaking their heads in disbelief.

Meanwhile, Cardiff steams ahead with its own £675 million St David’s 2 shopping precinct which will house more than 100 new stores and, when joined with the current St David's, will cover a third of the city centre.

The bad news for Swansea shoppers is that while the capital has been forging ahead, Holley & Co have been content to play their £1 billion game of fantasy frameworks made up of boulevards and bendy buses and which represent yet another civic triumph of town and country planning over commercial reality.

Ah well - it will probably all end up being the Assembly’s fault.

No questions, no interest

A remarkable omission in the belated and low-key official confirmation of a pending closure of a social services unit at Earlsmoor, mentioned here a few weeks earlier is the lack of political comment from any quarter.

Whatever happened to the feisty Swansea Council scrutiny types who usually want to know the demographics of a cat’s backside when it comes to services? Or doesn’t it matter that no-one seems to know what effect the decision to close a rehab unit is going to have on delayed discharges (bed-blocking) as a result.

According to recent press reports, the local hospitals are jammed up with elderly patients affected by the cold weather either through illness or injury.What happens to them?

Seems to us that the Lib Dem health spokesman at the Assembly should be paying attention to events a bit closer to home.

A matter of perspective

Despite their plans to give the redevelopment of the former David Evans store the same flannel as they applied to the £4 million invisible make-over for the city centre, Swansea Council’s spin-corps should avoid disappearing up their own endeavours in heralding the imminent arrival of a “three story shopping complex covering 70,000 sq ft”

For when you realise that the existing Marks & Spencer store across the road can make pretty much the same claims over number of floors and sales space, then this bit of “tangible progress” is put into its correct perspective.

That was then, this is now

So who was it that once said about cabinet-style of government in Swansea that it has "destroyed much of what was good about local government" and then added "It has meant that less information is getting to opposition and backbench councillors as well as to the public. Cabinet meetings are fully orchestrated affairs in which there is no real discussion or disagreement on key policies."

Well, as it happens - and thanks to the Beans on Toast for exposing the fact- it turns out that the individual with such a critical outlook was none other than Lib Dem council leader Chris Holley, who uttered these words just a month before finding himself running things at Calamity Hall.

He must have modified his views since then as nothing has actually changed in how the cabinet system operates in nearly five years (other than it meets more often and has seen an increase in the number of reports where the public are excluded).

Update: There has rarely been a local headline with which so many people can identify at so many levels. But when the local press expresses an opinion that the Cabinet is no good for anyone then things are taking a significant turn even if the editorial is about the system rather than the calibre of the ruling executive - or so we must presume.

A little bit more research on their part would reveal that the local populace can actually bring about a change to the existing system by means of a referendum which could later see a decision that an elected mayor was a better option. And whilst there would be no shortage of candidates, the early betting would surely be a walk-over for neurosurgery champion Edwina Hart - unless, that is, Roberto Martinez also fancied the job.

Swansea sees staff as cannon fodder

The Lib Dem hierarchy at Swansea Council must be pretty desperate to think that headlines about 500 jobs are at risk will have the effect they hope.

Experienced trade union reps will see this as a cynical tactic of hyping the numbers to panic staff into leaving the authority and then later presenting a lesser figure as somehow more acceptable when the cuts finally come.

It’s a standard management approach and one that the leader feels he can spin to a gullible press and public. Yet whilst the letter penned on his behalf talks about a “labour intensive” business it unsurprisingly fails to mention some rather key points about financial mismanagement underpinned by political ineptitude.

When the Lib Dems first snuck their way into office, they portentously stated that they wouldn’t be starting any grandiose schemes until they taken a good look at the books.

A commendable promise but one that turned out to be as insincere as their prattle about openness and transparency - as witnessed by the growth of ‘working groups’ which keep the big issues well out of the public eye and enable spokesmen to issue mushroom fertiliser afterwards.

Despite the talk of prudency, it took them just two years to take council borrowing to the absolute limit so that public land and assets needed to be sold off. Even then, they pressed ahead with expensive follies such as Shambles@Swansea which has failed to provide a single saving but carries a massive and continuing cost burden. They also found resources to furnish cabinet members with brand new office suites and which are strangely empty on most working days.

Holley manages to produce another of his silly sound-bites in claiming that it is all down to the worst settlement that he has seen in 25 years. But the conclusion to be drawn from this statement is that the big bluffer must have had his eyes shut from 1984-1997 when a succession of tory Welsh secretaries effectively dismantled local government spending powers.

But none of that changes the present day fact that the council is in deep financial trouble or that the ruling regime think it is staff that should pay the price for political bloody-mindedness that has produced a string of cock-ups and allowed the senior managers who duped them to exit with pensions and pay-offs.

The unions have talked a good fight in the past – despite some inferences that they seemed willing to give the Lib Dem administration the benefit of the doubt. Now they will have to make good on their promises to the membership and fight for every job – or else see their own credibility left as damaged as the political administration who may be in office but have patently never been in control.

Shopping trip to Damascus?

The Swansea Lib Dem activist who claimed on a local newspaper website that the closure of a discount shoe-shop in the city was an act of God for poor service is back on-line.

However, the former supermarket manager is far more concilliatory and states:

The recent chaos caused by the snow, just goes to show that we must support local shops in our areas, so they can survive all year round. Their importance within the Retail Sector and to our Communities, should be acknowledged by us, as they can provide us with some of the necesary provisions we need at times such as we are currently experiencing. Jim Sheridan
James Sheridan, Swansea
commented on 04-Feb-2009 15:36

Has someone had a word - or did he just get a kicking?

Paying guests?

Interesting and highly recommended edition of the Week In, Week Out programme broacast last night all about the potentially internecine goings-on between the Welsh Rugby Union and the four regional clubs - BBC iPlayer link.

Even more interesting were the opening clips which show Swansea council leader Chris Holley and Cabinet member Graham Thomas in the best seats at the Millennium stadium sitting alongside the embattled WRU chief executive and having a very nice time, thank you.

Wonder who paid for the tickets - and all the hospitality?

Falling down on the basics

Less than a year gone and Swansea's Lib Dem led administration has already fallen down on one of it's modest little list of election promises from last May.

Assurances that Holley & Co would "clean up Swansea" show very little sign of being kept, according to a Keep Wales Tidy survey, who state that general standards of litter and cleanliness in the city fall below the national average. And with a budget "readjustment" on the cards for street cleansing, refuse collection and other environmental services, the aim of making Swansea a city of distinction could well be achieved before schedule - for all the wrong reasons.

Let's hope it snows again soon.

Getting the publicity wrong

As an accomplished PR expert, Swansea Council’s tory group leader knows how to generate publicity from a distance and is well aware that whilst the cats & councillors controversy might involve questions about his attendance record or his poor regard for colleagues, far fewer people are likely to ask the most damaging question of all for a politician, i.e. “who’s Rene Kinzett”.

Kinzett’s arm’s length approach to representation seems to have particularly enraged Lib Dem activist James Sheridan who tends to contribute comments to the Beans on Toast news website on just about anything - suggesting in itself a possible problem of OCD proportions - and who among a range of invective suggested that the Mayals councillor was about to become history (having landed a job in archives).

Then again, Sheridan, who was Lib Dem candidate for Townhill ward last year has had his own issues and might be forgiven the odd outburst.

But a different kind of tirade made by the former discount retail manager last week is likely to produce its own less than positive publicity if tories have their way. This comes after the announcement that local shoe-shop employees were facing redundancy and which saw Sheridan write:

Having almost had my head chopped of by having to limbo under a (early closing) PriceLess store shutter before Xmas by a member of staff who couldn't wait to get home, such 'customer devotion' is now rewarded in possible store closure, it proves there is a 'God' after all! Priceless shoes were cheap but they looked cheap! … (EP Link)

An assortment of tories, trade unions, public and and other political parties now understandably feel that it is down to Lib Dems bosses in Swansea to reveal what they think of this insenstive bit of gloating expressed in particularly offensive comments that job losses are an act of God.

They also need to be clear if they are happy for Sheridan to be allowed to stand as one of their candidates in the future.