Implausible deniability

Rodders denies all prior knowledge of the very dodgy Labour video dissing Plaid and Tories - now removed from the campaign website - which is pretty much what Nick Bourne had to say the last time that clowns were mentioned.

Oops.

Unreported crime

When you read a headline like, “Police break up fight in House of Commons”, the immediate vision that springs to mind is one of MPs throwing punches at each other as emotions rise during debate. But on this occasion, the combatants were journalists attending a private soiree at Westminster organised by the chairman of the Conservative party.

Apparently, an argument between the two journos spilled out onto the pavement and police used CS gas on one of them who had become “aggressive” and was later arrested after a police officer received minor injuries in the fracas.

We have to ask if this acceptable behaviour way from the people who keep us in touch with what those nasty politicians are getting up to? Can we as a nation allow this sort of thing to go on unpunished and let the perpetrators get away with being un-named? What if these people went out and did exactly the same thing again?

It's time for those in charge at Grub Street to be not just tough on crime but equally tough on the reporters of crime.

Vodafone 2, Council 0

The recriminations continue at Calamity Hall after Vodafone managed to put another one (phone mast) past Swansea Council.

An appeal by the company to the Assembly blew the whistle on a repeat infringement by planners who were deemed offside in their procedures. Displays of dissent on the day didn’t help much either.
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Councillors are said to be furious at the result and are threatening the use of yellow cards or free transfers for staff at least. Planners are meanwhile insisting that a replay would produce a very different result, given a level play field.

As it happens, we understand that both sides are down for at least one more fixture in the near future.

Headlines

Psychic couple's £4.5k boost from government

A couple have received £4,500 of taxpayers' money from a government-backed scheme to help set up a business as psychic mediums.

That Helsinki feeling

The Western Mail reports that "the surviving members of Wales’ most successful football squad have spoken out against plans to field a British team in the London Olympics". We have no strong views either way - just a slight regret that Mel Charles, Mel Hopkins and Terry Medwin were not available to play against Finland.

They couldn't have been any worse based on Saturday's 'performance'.

Sid Speaks

Big Sid in a reflective mood. Give him a few days and he'll be back to his normal intolerant self.

Changed Expectations

It should come as no surprise that the view among school closure protestors is that Messers Holley and Day had a generally soft time of it when they appeared on the local radio phone-in. For some, the show had a Dickensian quality to it as Mr Bumble and Ebenezer Scrooge were gently put through their paces by Uriah Heep in an official broadcast. But regardless of any alleged deference in the studio questioning, the points put by parents, grand-parents and pupils pulled no punches and often left the two councillors fumbling for an answer.

The pair were repeatedly asked by callers how a reorganisation could possibly claim to be about improving quality in education when the result was bigger class sizes and children being taught in school halls. There was no meaningful response from either councillor other than a blanket denial that the proposed school closures were anything to do with money. Clearly annoyed at the repeated suggestions, Holley almost spat into the microphone when claiming that he didn’t have a clue where “all this talk of a £14 million black-hole in council funding is coming from” – which pretty well summaries his general grasp of the subject (and a few others).

There were also evasions to points raised about the excellent performance of some schools targeted for closure but which didn’t seem to be a factor in the recommendations. The glib response – which didn’t get questioned in the studio – was that all the 'good' points could be assimilated into the proposed merged schools.

However, this view runs contrary to an earlier one which states, “Schools are not just about bricks and mortar. They are often the focal point of a community and this is not something restricted to rural areas. Much more goes on in a school than education and local authorities need to recognise this fact”.

In case you’re wondering, these are the words of a certain Lib Dem parliamentary hopeful and were published in the not too distant past.

Giving crime the boot

As news breaks of a forthcoming absence of police cover for Swansea and Port Talbot (see the previous post), local auto dealers are already marketing new innovations in vehicle security ....

The force ain't with us

Not a great week for South Wales Police – but when is it ever?

First was the eventual apology to 63 year old Victor Frederick for wrongly arresting him at gunpoint in front of his family – it is still not entirely clear if was mistaken identity or deduction based on materials found on other premises.

Then was the need to express regrets to a grieving widow after officers from the same force returned the rope that her husband had used to kill himself.

You have to wonder who is going to say sorry to the victims of crime in Swansea and Port Talbot after the news that up to 19 police officers are to be transferred to Cardiff?

Road safety quiz

As posted earlier this month, Plaid AM Bethan Jenkins found herself involved in a car accident which had some far-fetched consequences. She has since decided that the incident merits a Twitter entry and volunteered the startling information that, “I’ve had three car crashes now in the last three years. I don’t know whether someone is trying to tell me something.”

Well, let’s see. Could the answer be:

1. You’re uninsurable?
2. God wants you for a statistic?
3. You need to get a second home closer to the Bay damn quick? (Oh, you've already got one)

No comparison

Lib Dem AM Peter Black castigates Plaid for the expulsion of a member who disagreed fundamentally with her leader’s variable stance on top-up fees and went on to tell him so.

Such heavy handed intolerance clearly has no place in the pluralist and fair-minded approach practised by Black’s own party in Swansea …. although there was that incident where council leader Chris Holley decided to report 32 Labour and Conservative councillors to the Ombudsman for the heinous crime of actually voting to have a report debated in public which dealt with a high-spending project that had been repeatedly mishandled

But the principle involved in the two instances is, of course, clearly different.

Headlines

Our aim is to build a network of progressive people who are interested in politics, but are not obsessed with it.

Peter Hain MP

(unless there’s a chance of me getting back into the cabinet)

The writing on the wall

Having recently won a silver medal for cleanest streets in the UK, a less welcome and less heralded accolade for Swansea is that it is next to top in the Welsh graffiti league with 24% of streets affected – beaten only by Newport with 39.3% or so says the Keep Wales Tidy Campaign.

No doubt we will soon be reading official council statements that it is all down to the anti-social types for ruining the built environment – and they would be right. But it's those same official mouthpieces who arrange photo-opportunities of smiling NEAT teams and the like, armed with another bit of space-age kit that is claimed will enable the council to clean up graffiti once and for all.

You need only take a look at the cleansing budgets with successive staff cutbacks and then walk Swansea’s streets to get the true picture - and while you’re at it, take a look at how much the council spends on PR by comparison.

Electric dreams

Them lot up in Westminster were talking about us the other day.

Seems that the Welsh Affairs Select Committee were told this week that all these rumours that only the rail tracks between London and Cardiff would get upgraded are just not true. In fact, that nice Mr Ieuan Wyn Jones said the Department of Transport was insisting that no decision had been reached and that he and his Assembly posse were continuing their calls to see the entire stretch electrified all the way to Swansea.

He told MPs, "We are very strongly of that view", adding, "the case for us to be pushing for Swansea is still there".

It seems to us that if the Lib Dems, and other political groups, are serious about a public transport renaissance for the Swansea Bay region then this is where it all begins - and should end. Now is the time for cross-party resolutions in the council chamber combined with direct lobbying of MPs within Labour, Conservative, Plaid and Lib Dem party structures.

It will not be possible to later blame the government or parliament for not listening if our representatives do not speak out loudly and with one voice now.

On the street

As the arguments continue over Google Earth and the possible privacy intrusions, this article from US-based MSNBC website provides an insight on future surveillance possibilities that has a familiar feel, to say the least.

But the prospect of living with smart video networks that can detect & report 'unusual movement patterns' is not nearly as chilling as the tone of the article itself which implies that it's a pretty cool thing to be doing, dude.

Swan song from a dead duck

Rodders was in town earlier in the week, sharing his thoughts at a lunchtime seminar in the Waterfront museum. A polite audience only shuffled in their seats a bit while listening to the First Minister’s labyrinthine accounts of why we are where we are today and his role in it all – plus the ubiquitous mention of an auntie in Glais.

It was a relaxed performance and undeniably entertaining but also irrelevant in many ways since his views are soon to carry the same weight as Rene Kinzett’s cat in terms of future policy. And for one uncomfortable moment, his demeanour at the podium resembled that of young [old] Mr Grace congratulating his staff without having a clue as to who they are or what they have done. Perhaps he’s always been like that and we’ve only just noticed.

But the future is bright for Rodders for, if nothing else, he is now guaranteed a place on the after-dinner speaking circuit – right up there alongside Roy Noble and Cyril the Swan.

Headlines

Minister announces west Wales badger cull

Intervention

The Welsh Assembly Government has confirmed its view that Swansea Council is deficient in its provision of children’s social services and is to set up an outside team to bring the council back on track.

In a statement issued today, social services minister Gwenda Thomas said she had decided to “make the Order under Section 84 of the Children Act 1989, declaring the authority in default of certain of its functions in relation to the provision of children’s social services and directing it to take all necessary action to secure without further delay that all the statutory duties imposed by or under the Act are consistently performed to an adequate standard”.

BBC Wales reports that a new independent board, which has yet to be appointed, will monitor the department's daily work and will report to assembly ministers regularly on progress.

The statement makes it clear that cross-party action is needed to make improvements and says that "it remains with every one of the members of the authority who are elected to ensure that Swansea can provide social services capable of safeguarding and responding to the needs of the children and young people of Swansea and of supporting their families".

The minister added that she will ask the Care and Social Services Inspectorate for Wales (CSSIW) to inspect children’s social services in Swansea again in January 2010 - or earlier “if this becomes necessary”, she warned.

Leading by example

The hugely ambitious plans announced to regenerate Port Talbot town centre and its docks over the next 20 years might sound daunting but the local authority has a track record of achievement that it's neighbours further along Swansea Bay could do worse than to emulate.

One example of this go-ahead approach is seen in their ability to attract Amazon to the locality, build a new road junction and push through the necessary planning permission within 3 weeks.

By comparison, Swansea can’t even build a new bus station despite six years in the attempt.

They shall not pass

The gentry and assorted tree huggers have been pressing for some time to get the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) which presently covers Gower extended eastwards. An innocuous idea at first sight but one that is quickly exposed, once you scratch the surface, as a genteel form of ethnic cleansing along with an attempt to scupper windfarms chucked in for good measure.

As it stands, Swansea’s cabinet is being told by its planning officers to kick the suggestion way out into the long grass, presumably because of the heavy duty procedures involved in redrawing the boundaries - and which could easily distract staff away from more important jobs such as plotting out tram routes.

However, we can’t help suspecting another reason is because the map contained in the report could confirm a long held suspicion that policies in Swansea really are sketched out on the back of an envelope.

Rye humour backfires

In commenting on one of the Welsh Assembly's more bizarre decisions, Peter Black has the audacity to ask if there is such a thing as the British Sandwich Association - an unforgivable sin - and a surefire way of making certain that he (and several civil servants & health officials) do not receive an invite to this year's Sammies Award.

Such is the fate of all unbelievers!

Rules of disengagement

Former social services cabinet member Wendy Fitzgerald writes in today’s Beans on Toast (no link available in these financially stringent times) that assigning departmental failings at Swansea Council to her personal abilities, or lack thereof, is “a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of cabinet member”.

Whilst it might be tempting to say that most readers probably feel the ‘misunderstanding’ of what the job entailed was predominantly on her part, she nevertheless makes a valid point about the motive involved, i.e. extracting maximum political advantage when the opportunity arises.

The role of opposition is to very loudly demand political accountability from the ruling administration for things that go wrong on their watch - even if those in office have no day-to-day involvement, or no advance warning of a problem or are only made aware of situations when there is little left to be done other than take the rap. Ignorance and innocence are no defence.

It sounds unfair but it has always been thus. What’s more, it is the kind of situation that Fitzgerald, along with other Independents, Liberal Democrats and Conservatives, fully exploited as opposition candidates – and with little sign of restraint when dissing the cabinet of the day.

We’ve said enough about Fitzgerald’s shortcomings and have no intention of repeating them – but it’s encouraging to see her letter finishes by ascribing the vigour of the attacks on her as related to the next round of elections. At least she managed to learn something from the otherwise unhappy experience.

Headlines

Policeman sacked for BNP membership

Bridge of Sighs

The sorry saga of the Slip Bridge – a piece of Swansea’s heritage which had the misfortune to be midway through refurbishment when political control shifted in the city – continues without resolution, much to the frustration of campaigners and the disbelief of onlookers.

Erected at the beginning of the last century, the Slip Bridge was a key waterfront project of its day. It was designed to span the railway tracks that once traversed Swansea Bay and provide pedestrian access to the beach and its amusements. It became a familiar landmark that generations of residents & visitors came to associate with excursions and summer treats.

The bridge had seen several refurbishments in its lifetime and the work often caused traffic chaos to the busy Oystermouth Road, a main arterial route into the city from western suburbs. So when maintenance was scheduled in 2003/4 the innovative idea put forward was to lift the structure from its supports, perform the restoration work and then put it back in place; thus saving time and removing the risk of traffic having to dodge traffic cones and bits of falling bridge.

The story goes that Chris Holley, then Lib Dem opposition leader and his eager little team, on reading the cabinet reports smelt blood and scuttled off to the local press portraying what was planned maintenance as yet another example of how the city’s heritage was falling apart under Labour’s watch. They didn’t have to work too hard to persuade a Beans on Toast eager for a follow-up to the leisure centre closure and another front page headline was born proclaiming disaster.

Five years ago to the day, the move went ahead as scheduled and just a few months later, the revolving doors of local democracy produced new feet under the cabinet table at County Hall.

Then came a none-too-subtle change in emphasis at the top with the official line from spin-central modified to suggest that the bridge had been removed for safety reasons with a cabinet report claiming it would cost almost £1m to return the bridge to its original setting and maintain the structure for another 10 to 15 years. This was considerably more than the £350K which the same technical officers had told the previous crowd was needed for restoration and reinstatement. Most people, however, missed the little bit of irony that the Lib Dems were now suddenly worried about paying out the cost of maintaining the bridge.

Anyway, these nagging little inconsistencies were swept aside with the news that there would be a major public consultation exercise costing £35K which would allow people to state their preferences in favour of reinstatement, replacement, removal etc. The idea was to show people that they finally had a listening council - but there was nothing in the small print about actually doing what people wanted. Despite what was claimed to be a clear majority of respondents saying they wanted the bridge put back in place, the upshot was that a 90 year-old part of Swansea’s heritage was destined to become a seafront gazebo.

Conspiracy theorists insist the primary reasons for the ignoring the public response was effective lobbying by developers constructing a nearby apartment block who wanted unimpeded views of the bay. It was a claim largely dismissed at the time but subsequent revelations of ‘favours’ traded between business and the council leadership have tended to give the possibility a little more substance.

The novel reasoning later presented by Holley for giving public opinion two fingers was that the consultation result had been unduly influenced by responses from people with an active interest in keeping the bridge and was therefore flawed. Honest – that’s what he said. Understandably, this implausible outcome only fuelled the efforts of people like the Slip Bridge Support Group who have their own ideas – which is more than can be said for the Council who don’t even include the bridge site in their bay regeneration strategy.

The latest twist in this shambolic process is a successful legal challenge by campaigners proving that a right of way still exists on the site. The council have conceded the point and intend making arrangements to get it sorted, i.e. extinguished - a prospect that will cause disproportionate headaches given the local authority’s phenomenally poor record in resolving such matters in anything less than 18 months.

It is all too easy to look for symbolism in this story of political opportunism turned into public laughing stock. And it is just as easy to find it in the old stone abutments which still stand against the coastal skyline. For now they act as one of the many reminders of how poorly many feel that Swansea Council is run these days both by those in charge and those supposedly advising them. What purpose they will serve in the future is anyone’s guess.

Leaks and muddy pools

There’s going to be a split in Plaid Cymru one way or another – and that’s the end of it. Thus spake the Western Mail over and over again in the last few weeks.

The latest wedge to be driven into the One Wales Agreement is a leaked discussion group document written by ‘party members in South West Wales” that reveals the turmoil (why is it always turmoil?) within Plaid following the decision to back the introduction of student top-up fees. The paper adds, “Before publishing the text of the document today, we have satisfied ourselves that it was produced by genuine Plaid members. We have also spoken to the person who sent it to us, who wishes to remain anonymous.”

Perhaps it’s our natural cynicism, or just a smattering of experience, but this kind of unexpected bona fides tends to give one the feeling that the author just might not have the Party of Wales overall best interests at heart. Anyway, the startling revelation in the document is – wait for it - “Plaid candidates and activists are lobbying AMs to vote against the Labour motion”.

Plaid has responded by saying that no-one has seen the document and observed from what they were told of the contents by the newspaper that it had “clearly been written by someone who has little or no knowledge of internal processes”.

Apparently quite happy to be contacted yet again, the leaker responded by saying, “This is the product of a genuine discussion group within the party. Just because headquarters does not know about it does not mean it doesn’t exist.”

Perhaps the Mail should go back to Bourne-bashing – at least some of the coverage was half-way credible.

Rise again, Sir Humphrey

Interestingly, the same cabinet agenda mentioned below also has a report tacked on at the end dealing with the continuing fiasco of the Payroll Implementation Project. The report is not in the public domain and will be discussed behind closed doors. The official reason is as follows:

Exclusion of the Public
Cabinet will be requested to exclude the public from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of a category of exempt information as set out in Paragraphs 14 & 16 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) (Wales) Order 2007.

The Proper Officer (the Monitoring Officer) has determined that in respect of Item 8(A)(1) that paragraph 16 should apply (it contains information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained). This is not subject to the Public Interest Test.

Paragraph 14 is also applicable (in that it contains information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person). If paragraph 16 applies, paragraph 14 does not have to be considered further.

It is recommended that the public be excluded.

If only everything else in local government was that simple.

School's Out

Next week’s cabinet agenda contains a brave report entitled Quality in Education (Qed) - Summary of emerging proposals and options. It is accompanied by 63 pages of explanation as to why the local authority will ‘cease to maintain’ a list of Swansea's primary schools and implement a policy of mergers. There are also plans to close a comprehensive school.
This move combined with the other proposed rationalisations will no doubt see protests & placards from the affected communities converging on Calamity Hall in coming weeks.

The report is well presented and pulls no punches. In fairness, it also spreads the pain right across the county - except perhaps in the ward represented by council leader Lib Dem Chris Holley and AM Peter Black, where the proposals for Manselton and Cwmbwrla now seem a lot more positive was the case in earlier drafts. Funny how things change, innit?

A matter of code

Wales shouldn't fear the number 13 - unless they're playing Rugby League.

Headlines

Old bill appeal for curry house
BBC Wales News - 20 March 2009

Closing down

There is precious little to celebrate in Swansea’s city centre these days – just a walk around the empty and boarded up shops is enough to bring on a serious depression.

Events like the Mas carnival bring a welcome splash of colour to our lives. They also celebrate the diversity and the vibrancy within the many communities which make up the City and County of Swansea. Just as importantly, they are opportunity to showcase the city to the world at a time when the ability to attract visitors is more important than ever.

It is such a shame that budget ‘savings’ introduced by a short-sighted Lib Dem-led cabinet has ensured that the carnival is off and caused many other events to be either curtailed or cancelled from the city’s cultural programme – especially when political ‘pet projects’ seem to regularly escape the axe.

It does not bode well for the future and unless there is a bigger outcry from the local business and commercial community – and the voluntary sector which invests so heavily in people and their aspirations – Swansea is in danger of ending up with a cityscape as drab, unimaginative and closed to ambition as its political administration.

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Something to look forward to

Whilst exponents of Trams 4 Swansea point to the success of transport systems in the UK, one scheme they don’t mention is the £512 million Transport Initiative Edinburgh (Tie) - which is hardly a surprise.

The project is currently on hold with the city virtually gridlocked since mid-February as a stalemate drags on between the network company and contractors who are accused of demanding £50-80 millions in additional payments. The company chief executive quit late last year after senior councillors had demanded his resignation when tram works brought the centre of the city to a standstill and the Auditor General has also been asked to intervene.

Sounds like fun. Bring it on!

Taking the piste?

We asked the question recently - which is more than the local press managed - as to why Swansea Council leader Chris Holley thought it was more important to fly off to Prague for a conference instead of attending a meeting with Assembly minister Gwenda Thomas to hear her reasons for sending in an intervention team to deal with the authority’s failing children’s social services.

It transpires that we should also have been asking why two chief officers who would otherwise naturally be assumed to have a direct involvement during the last two weeks in putting together an action plan for the department opted instead to go skiing.

Headlines

Sausage was 35 days out of date
South Wales Evening Post

Role model

A man from Swansea gets a 12-month community service order after admitting falsely claiming benefits amounting to £11,000 between 2005 and 2007.

Ex-tory MP Derek Conway, who was paying his son a £20,833 pro rata salary out of public funds from July 2001 until October 2004 only has to apologise in a private letter to the Commons standards and privileges committee.

As the man said, Britain isn’t broken, it’s just bent.

Headlines (almost)

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GoogleEarth aids discovery of another formerly hidden ancient landmark

The price of freebies

As the ‘debate’ about spending millions on a whim continues, the word is that internal investigations into a possible tram-scam at Swansea Council are not getting the best of co-operation – although another source says that a report vindicating those involved has already been drafted (damn fast work, fellas!)

As the Beans on Toast observed on the circumstances of how a freebie feasibility study landed on the Leader's lap, ‘Councillor Holley is quick to point out that the free estimate was for him, not the council. But as a private citizen, he would not be looking into building a £521 million tram system’. More to the point, he would probably have a very dim view of the actions of any employee who decided to circumvent the council's very specific procurement rules.

Consequently, it should come as no surprise that at least one comment on the newspaper’s website poses the question as to whether a certain construction company is in the running to get the contract for re-building the Quadrant bus station.

Headlines

£20 million cash injection for town sewers

Llanelli Star

Departure

Rumours circulate around Calamity Hall that a senior council officer is about to leave the authority to spend more time with his/her pension fund and that the departure is not entirely voluntary. As ever seems the case these days, a critical external report is being touted as the cause for this ‘creative redundancy’.

However, our past experience is that such stories have proved to be a combination of misheard comments and wishful-thinking so we will lay off the details for the time being - except to say that interesting times lay ahead. (Is that cryptic or what?)

Headlines - more or less

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"Someone at RBS took the decision to treat him [Sir Fred] more favourably than required," said Lord Myners.

BBC News - 17 March 2009

Follow the money

Swansea Council is announcing £6.4 million in Assembly transport grant for the city and leads with the news that this will allow work to start on the new bus station. But what it doesn't reveal is the actual split between the station, which everyone agrees is priority, and the cash going towards the next phase of road-works needed to help the bendy-bus navigate Swansea's streets.

It's enough to make a journalist reach for an Freedom of Information request form.

Along the same lines

The depleted Beans on Toast website today offers up the chance of an on-line debate on Trams in Swansea. Heaven’s knows why they're bothering given the feature and editorial in last Friday's hard-copy edition which made it abundantly clear that they consider the idea about as welcome as a fart in a spacesuit.

Perhaps they're worried that the projected £500 million price tag has not properly registered with readers who have a habit of not even blinking when mega-sums are reported but still scream bloody blue murder whenever someone mentions councillors' expenses.

Abandon hope ...

Poisoned chalice recipient Nick Tregoning, christened somewhat unkindly a while ago by a few of his Uplands-based council colleagues as the ‘nurk with the smirk’, has clearly started as he means to go on in preparing for his new role as social services scapegoat.

His comment to the BBC that “all political parties on Swansea council have been criticised” by deputy minister Gwenda Thomas not only typifies a lack of contrition that is the hallmark of the Lib Dem-led administration, it also suggests that he has not actually seen the CSSIW report but is nonetheless content to continue in the role of mouthpiece for his boss.

"This is a time to be serious and purposeful so as to continue and accelerate the improvement process that was started by my predecessor,” he tells the Beeb. During this ‘serious and purposeful’ process, Nick and his predecessor should spend some time reflecting on how things managed to go downhill so badly on their watch in the first place - especially when you consider the well-performing service they inherited.

Insidious

Sid's back - but with little sign that the medication has had any effect.

Insidious

Unlikely scenarios

Our sources, having signally failed to correctly predict Wendy Fitzgerald’s resignation, are now attempting to salvage their credibility by claiming that the former cabinet member will take on the role of her successor Nick Tregoning and become presiding officer. Eh? Wassat?

It has to be said that this view has been greeted with scepticism in some circles for whilst cabinet posts are within the Leader’s gift, the position of presiding officer needs a majority vote in the council chamber – and that outcome is by no means a sure thing. The scenario of the opposition backing a role-swap becomes even more unlikely if the talk that Lib Dem spinners are back to their old tricks turns out to be true.

Having failed to shift David Phillips and Rene Kinzett off their moral high-ground with unsuccessful inferences that opposition councillors have been unco-operative towards corporate efforts at sorting out children’s services, a certain councillor has been suggesting to the press that opposition members have been slacking in their scrutiny roles. The premise put forward is that if the Health, Social Care & Well Being Scrutiny Board, chaired by a Labour councillor, had paid more attention to in-house matters, instead of vote-grubbing over external irrelevances such as a minor casualty unit at Singleton, then perhaps we wouldn’t all be in this mess.

It’s a charge which applies equally to a handful of local Lib Dems, of course, but it’s a lot more subtle than the bizarre claims made on-air over the weekend by an embittered Lib Dem ex-councillor for Clydach and which only really served to demonstrate the reasons why she lost her seat.

Update: We've been told told by the Big R to point out that (technically) the ruling administration have enough votes to put Fitzgerald into the PO spot. The question is whether they have the face.

Headlines

Republicans accuse Obama of attempting "socialism by stealth"

16 March 2009

The old ones are often the best

With all the doom and gloom at Calamity Hall in recent months, it's sometimes good to look back on the promises of the past - and have a laugh. The bit about creating a "new era of openness and trust with the people of Swansea by conducting our affairs openly and honestly" is an absolute hoot.

Headlines

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Crossword cult hits Wales
Western Mail - 14 March 2009

After you've gone ... they take your name off the door

The resignation of social services cabinet member Wendy’s Fitzgerald, on almost-the-Ides-of-March, saw a strangely ambivalent reaction from within the authority. There was no sign of stunned staff wandering the corridors in disbelief but nor were there any outward signs of celebration. The unofficial departmental take on the circumstances of her exit is that it was largely foreseeable given her inexperience, insularity and a consistent resistance to becoming moulded in the image of the ‘caring’ professionals.

Seen by the majority of staff as a remote and somewhat snooty figure who often talked in the abstract, Fitzgerald was regarded by many senior managers as either too weak or too unwilling to effectively fight the case for social services during budget rounds. Others saw a genuine attempt on her part to introduce corporate thinking into a department that had consistently regarded itself as apart from the rest of the authority – an admirable aim that deserved far better support from her coalition colleagues and a feeble council leadership.

It was always a risk putting a newly elected councillor into a senior position to oversee the second highest departmental budget in the council and critics see the drop in standards as an all too predictable consequence. An understanding of casework as a community councillor is hardly preparation for the ‘corporate leadership’ that inspectors want to see and her academic background only seemed to entrench the adage of teachers not being able to do much other than teach.

Yet there are plenty of other precedents for newcomers successfully making their mark in senior political positions – and at government level at that – and it is arguable that Fitzgerald could have made the grade and spanned the substantial gaps in her experience if she had been able to overcome a suspicion of what she regarded as Labour-leaning officials – an attitude that is said to have prompted the early departure of the former director.

But it is as a politician that she made her biggest mistake in squandering the huge amounts of cross-party goodwill that social services had previously enjoyed by being too willing to align herself with the Administration view that Labour had screwed up everything in preceding years. It was unforgiveable to many and she was marked from then onwards. Anything constructive she might have brought to the chamber was often unfairly dismissed by the opposition as no more than delusions of competency from a lightweight dilettante. The truth is that she was in firmly in the cross-hairs long before the brown stuff started its was towards the fan.

Politicians like to think that they leave behind a legacy on their departure. A department in special measures is probably not what Fitzgerald had in mind and she can argue that she is as much a victim of circumstances as the architect of her ‘reassignment’ – but there are probably quite a few Labour councillors who can make the same claim about the leisure centre.

Something for the weekend

.... undeniably sexist but absolutely hilarious.

Scams@Swansea

News that Swansea is home for a mobile phone insurance scam is hardly a welcome accolade for the city. Customers are receiving calls offering cheap insurance only to later find that they have been ripped off once payment is made.

The BBC Wales website reveals that Trading Standards say “there has been a problem for the past 18 months, and that many of the companies [involved in the scam] are based in Swansea”.

Swansea council was issuing warnings on how to recognise a scam but sources tell us that the campaign was short-lived and budget cuts have prevented trading officers from cracking down.

Word is that the Beeb’s Watchdog programme will shortly be covering the story so expect some senior people holding the purse strings at the civic bunker to become suddenly unavailable for comment.

Headlines

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Veto powers would make Welsh law-making meaningless

14 March 2009

All over bar the shouting

The dumping of Swansea’s embattled social services cabinet member Wendy Fitzgerald merits a relatively low-profile reception in the media. The Beeb don’t actually carry the story at the moment; presumably regarding her overdue return journey to obscurity as given following their effective hatchet job earlier in the week.

The Beans on Toast gives her resignation only a page seven lead, whilst printing an expose on the leaked report on page four that also recounts the belief held by council leader Chris Holley that things can only get better if he throws enough money at the scrutiny process; an approach which should concern most people who know that you don’t put meat on a pig by weighing it every day. Oddly, the Post's editorial assumes an uncharacteristic onlooker's role for the paper in achieving the cabinet member's demise, implying that it was solely opposition parties who took her scalp. Yeah, right.

Fitzgerald’s resignation letter reads a bit like her short but eventful term in office, i.e. directionless & full of gaps, serving only to highlight an inability to grasp a hard political reality that you are only ever as good as your last failure. This must have been foremost in Lib Dem Peter May’s thinking when turning down the chance to become her replacement. A strong exponent of active disassociation when it comes to unpopular schools mergers and the like, May clearly felt that could not weather the slings and arrows of social services intervention and hope to see his parliamentary ambitions survive intact.

It falls to the Western Mail to focus on Fitzgerald's successor, former presiding officer Nick Tregoning, who quickly demonstrates the superficial impact he has had to date on consensual politics in Swansea Council by stating that now is “not the time for petty political point-scoring” and follows up with an allusion to “inaccuracies that have been peddled and attacks on the administration since this story broke”. As a result, there are very few giving favourable odds of cross-party driven progress under his watch - not that reports of administration members refusing to give up one of their chairmanships to the opposition will help much either.

But an intriguing aspect which no-one seems to have picked up on as yet, is that besides his council role, Tregoning is also a long-time paid constituency factotum of Lib Dem AM Peter Black – who is his party’s shadow spokesman for health and social care as well as a Swansea councillor himself. This should lead to some fascinating discussions among the keepers of conduct & standards in Cardiff Bay and Calamity Hall.

Headlines

Council criticised for agreements that are "not worth the paper"

13 March 2009

Update: local technical problems have prevented posts for most of the day but we can confirm that Wendy Fitzgerald, social services cabinet member at Swansea Council has taken the long walk as was being widely predicted last night. She handed in her resignation earlier today.

Roadside assistance

Like ourselves, you may have read that Plaid AM Bethan Jenkins was involved in a multiple-vehicle road accident last week. Thankfully, she escaped injury and having only needed to be taken home from the scene, she is now getting back in action – as witnessed by her appearance on the Beeb last night.

A reported bit of irony during the incident, according to a press release put out Bethan’s office, is that the paramedics who attended to her on the scene lobbied her for better pay & conditions once they discovered she was an AM. But we have since heard that the ambulance crew involved strongly deny any such unprofessional behaviour and have contacted their union to lodge a complaint.

Whatever the circumstances, observers are inevitably left asking two questions; the first, working on the assumption that AMs don’t have their blood group tattooed on their forearms, is how did the paramedics identify Bethan’s political ‘calling’. The second is why anyone thought it was a good idea to issue a press release on the subject.

Comic Relief

Sometimes, there's just no hiding natural talent.


RED NOSE DAY 2009

Dragon's Eye

The Beeb have managed to get hold of a copy of the critical Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW) report into Swansea Council which it claims condemns the authority for "naive" informal agreements to protect children from abuse.

Tonight’s edition of Dragon’s Eye will reveal that a section of the report states: "Of particular concern to inspectors was the continuing, inappropriate use within the authority of 'child protection' or 'safe care' agreements."

It is understood that the council has been unable to persuade the Assembly that it can improve matters without external support and that an intervention team is expected to be given overall strategic and operational control of social services - a move unprecedented in Wales.

The word is that the report’s contents and those interviewed also make it very clear who should be made accountable for the service failings and that a single cabinet beheading may not be enough to stave off what is likely to be mounting political pressure for significant changes at the top.

Cleaning up

One of those Swansea-beats-the-world news items so beloved of cut and paste journalists is that Swansea has come out among the top of 63 towns and cities who put in entries for the Clean Britain Awards.

All good stuff – until you read about the muck in the Castle Square fountain. Then you have to ask how much it actually costs to enter this 'competition' where everyone seems to get some sort of accolade; the answer usually being whatever is needed for the organisers to show a profit.

Surely it’s about time that Swansea Council followed the example of anti-litter campaigning that can be seen in action in Prague (see photo). Now lets see … who do we know that’s been there recently?

Role reversals

After years of pinching chunks of newspaper copy for his blog, Peter Black today finds his recent rationalisation reproduced as one of several features on failing child protection services at Swansea in today’s Evening Post – but not on their emaciated-looking website, unfortunately.

Despite his protestations that the Assembly’s inspection and threatened intervention is not in any way linked to the tragic death of a child in 2005, the newspaper stubbornly sees a correlation and its readers will no doubt do the same. Both regard the disciplinary action against a social worker and other staffing changes as evidence, no matter how much Black describes them as irrelevant, and so do many councillors.

Interestingly, our own semi-speculative piece on the fate of cabinet member Wendy Fitzgerald also gets a spin in the Post's recycling machine although the earlier suggestion that she might due for a change of address to Housing has been modified to one of ‘no fixed abode’. Our sources disagree but hedge their bets by adding that she could land a posting to some overview & scrutiny position if push comes to resignation.

However, the really bizarre rumour at the moment is that a deal is being discussed that could put a former Labour cabinet member back in the social services big seat. It’s a proposition that would certainly meet Black’s urgent criterion that “all parties should work together” to fix things – but somehow we doubt that this is what he actually had in mind.

On yer bike!

Swansea Council's leader, Lib Dem Chris Holley, is reported as being a bit miffed that his Cardfif counterparts are getting a £14 million transport investment, courtesy of the Welsh Assembly Government. Cardiff council is putting in £14 million in matched funding.

In a rather characteristic memory lapse, a furious Holley claims to have “been waiting seven or eight years for money to construct the bus station” – which is a bit odd since he has only been in office for just under five and blamed the previous Labour administration for earlier delays.

Anyway, the rest of his diatribe is all about how Swansea has to work twice as hard than the capital to get a fraction of the money .. yada yada .. as if stamping his feet is going to change anything.

But given the bagatelle traffic system in the city at the moment and the impending arrival of the bendy-buses, most Swansea residents probably think that missing out on millions of pounds to further screw up the roads represents a lucky escape.

Bad company

Liberal Democrats yesterday revealed that thirty five serving police officers in South Wales have a criminal record. The figures gained by a Freedom of Information request shows that the officers have been convicted of a crime but have not been dismissed from the force.

Convictions include assault, burglary, theft, criminal damage, drink driving, using violence against a person and using threatening behaviour.

Today, we can reveal that a UK-based and publicly funded organisation with 646 people on the books also has some very worrying employee statistics. It is claimed that:

3 have done time for assault
7 have been arrested for fraud
8 have been arrested for shoplifting
9 have been accused of writing bad cheques
14 have been arrested on drug-related charges
17 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses
21 are currently defendants in lawsuits
29 have been accused of spouse abuse
71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit
84 have been arrested for drink driving

The organisation is the House of Commons.
(allegedly)

It's deja vu all over again

A common refrain heard from electors on the doorstep or holding up the bar is one of “Labour, Tory – both the same, ‘unnay?” Well, the similarities are confusing, if only for the role-reversals, but every so often a bit of clear-ish blue or red water emerges. Take, for example, the old and enduring favourite of how to achieve value for money when delivering public services.

More-or-less-local tory leader Rene Kinzett was recently extolling the virtues of Essex County Council who are putting out £5.4 billion of services to external contract over the next eight years. And the member for Mayals feels that out-sourcing on this scale is a natural progression in a public sector where he says that “too many dinosaurs are making the decisions”.

His argument that similar efficiencies in Swansea could mean the local authority emulating others who have frozen council-tax increases this year is an enticing one. But anyone tempted to think that rolling back the tide of socialism, to coin a phrase, is an evolutionary no-brainer in Wales should first take a look at Neath Port Talbot hospital where 250 cleaning staff are back on the NHS books.

Health minister Edwina Hart, who has a clear-cut opinion on the role of government – and can do a passable impression of a Velociraptor should the need arise – is making good on Assembly commitments to end competitive tendering in the NHS for cleaning contracts.

For many, there is a growing correlation between the scruffy state of wards & corridors cleaned by low-price, low-paid private contractors and rising infection rates in hospitals. The experience of local authorities in the 1980's when competitive tendering was compulsory was a similar story of short-term cost reductions coupled with a long-term drop in standards.

Kinzett is quoted as saying that “the world has moved on” but there’s an indication that, in doing so, it just might have left him and the pro-privatisation lobby far behind. Maybe he'll catch up as it comes round the next time.

Tempus fugit, non autem memoria

Reinstated

Porthcawl councillor Sean Aspey who recently made the headlines for an unfortunate choice of fancy dress has been reinstated by his party.

According to the Beeb, a Lib Dem spokesperson said Mr Aspey was a hard working councillor and had apologised for any offence caused by donning a German officer's uniform as part of a private party themed on the popular sit-com 'Allo Allo'.

She added, that the whole incident had been taken out of context in a combination of "political mischief making" and inaccuracies in some press reports, making the matter "appear sinister when it fact it was not".

As if!

Paying the piper

What’s the connection between the somewhat ironical £14,000 rise for Labour MP Don Touhig to chair a committee looking into MP’s expenses and Nick Bourne’s iPod?

The answer might escape most people but the Western Mail sees a clear link in terms of accountability – although since both bits of remuneration came from published sources that did not require a Freedom of Information request or much in the way of investigative journalism, then the point is a bit blurred.

In talking about a “consensual change to bring MPs’ salaries and expenses into the 21st century”, it might be serve the WM to look at Touhig’s £63,291 salary compared with the amounts paid to middle ranking civil servants, head teachers, local government heads of service and NHS managers.

If we place MPs and AMs as less relevant to our social needs as a community then the accountability rests with us to say as much – and to suggest something other than democracy when it comes to government.

Mayor is deemed suitable for secure accommodation

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Council spend £34,000 on security at Lord Mayor's city home

South Wales Evening Post - 11 March 2009

Sleight of hand

Further to an earlier post about ‘changes’ at Swansea Council, the tattle from the top is that Holley’s planned reshuffle will be a two card trick in which Peter May takes over as social services cabinet member whilst existing holder Wendy Fitzgerald gets his old housing role.

There is a teensy bit of confusion as to what the swap is supposed to achieve – especially in light of earlier claims by Lib Dem AM Peter Black that the Assembly’s unpublished inspection report is supposed to single out Fitzgerald for praise – but the hope is that the outside world will see it as some kind of progress.

There is no indication as yet from the housing department as to whether they see the move in the same positive light.

Another tough job

Position: Council Leader, Swansea

Salary: More than you would get in the outside world, pal.

Qualifications: Whatever you've got or can make up.

Key Tasks: Display a less that adequate understanding of recession economics by hiking up car parking charges. Allow children's social services to fail to the extent that the Assembly has to intervene. Cut 500 council jobs to dig your way out of a £14 million shortfall that you helped create. Drive a bendy-bus.

Challenges: Explain how you got hold of a free feasibility study on trams that was slipped onto a committee agenda.

Opportunities: Do you need any more?

Tough job

The police have been on the receiving end of some stick of late. Whether it is deserved depends, as with most things, on your own views & experiences. But threats by the local chief constable to withdraw services on the basis of cost have hardly helped to build a positive relationship with the community.

Neither will the news that two officers, arrested on drugs charges in Pontardulais back in 2007, have been allowed to resign after being suspended on full pay. They will not be charged.

Of course, we don't know the circumstances of their arrest or their identity or if it was simply a lack of viable evidence that prompted the CPS to state they would not be taking the matter further. But this dearth of official information contrasts with the ready availability of details whenever a sportsperson, celeb or someone just a little less well-connected finds themselves under arrest.

Some might recall a senior detective recently admitting that the battle against drugs was all but lost. This instance might be a case in point but it is just as likely to be perceived as an example of the police looking after their own.

There is no denying that serving in the police force is a tough job that not many people would wish to take it on themselves. Of course, the same used to be said at one time about working down the pit - but not anymore.

Read all about ... er... some of it!

So what’s going on with the Beans on Toast website, then?

All you get are short intros which tell you next to nothing and a suggestion that you go out and buy the paper (what?) and the letters page hasn’t been updated for nearly a week either. Grumps and Meldrew-type noises off.

Perhaps the guy who normally does it is off sick or maybe it’s a protest at the pay freeze just announced for Northcliffe owned newspapers. Whatever the reason, it’s not helping exiles like ourselves (oops, we meant temporarily relocated individuals) from knowing what’s going on.

Then again, maybe all this on-line news and opinion stuff is overrated at that.

Best place for it

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New Zealander who died for 15 minutes comes to Briton Ferry to talk about his amazing experience
Western Mail – 9 March 2009

A change is as good as a resignation

We hear that a minor bombshell was dropped during a local radio phone-in show this morning when council leader Chris Holley responded to a question by stating that he “expected” changes to the cabinet following a critical report by the Welsh Assembly into social services at Swansea (covered elsewhere on this blog).

This is a fairly significant admission as he is the only one who can make changes. But there is considerable scepticism both inside and outside the ruling administration that Holley has either the bottle or the backing to remove cabinet colleague Wendy Fitzgerald from her role - even if this is the price demanded by opposition parties to join in on moving forward much needed improvements.

The member for Penllergaer and her other half hold influential roles within a group of independent councillors who bolster the Lib Dems’ slender grasp on power. Most observers feel that the threat of a potential split and possible collapse of the coalition makes even a re-shuffle look very unlikely, let alone an outright sacking.

Then again, money definitely talks at Calamity Hall and if enough people do the maths to work out what makes a majority, the added lure of retaining special responsibility payments could prompt Fitzgerald’s group to conclude that putting a colleague out on a limb is eminently more preferable to letting Labour back in by default.

A man not to be trifled with

We read that a week-end poll on a national newspaper website has voted Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg the “biggest waste of custard” in UK politics today. Is that good or bad?

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Labour’s new press man will entertain us
Wales On Sunday - 8 March 2009

Slower and slower

Government plans to restrict speed limits on about two-thirds of the UK’s single carriageway roads from 60mph to 50mph is, depending upon your point of view, either an enlightened approach that will save lives on another example of a nanny-state imposing itself on personal mobility with a bit of stealth taxation thrown in for good measure.

Whatever your feelings, it is something to ponder on the 50mph stretch of the M4 as it winds its way through Port Talbot and witnesses otherwise free-flowing traffic slowing to a virtual standstill every day of the week.

Questions over fast-tracked tram report

Following on from last night’s post, details have now emerged about an official internal inquiry into how a technical study reportedly conducted as a ‘personal favour’ by an international firm for council leader Chris Holley was subsequently engineered onto a committee agenda for discussion and approval – a question we ourselves posed only last month.

Insiders reckon that the investigation, besides checking the propriety of soliciting and/or accepting freebie feasibility studies, will need to look at how procurement regulations, which are spelled out at length in the council’s constitution, were by-passed and who signed off a fast-track route through the labyrinthine system of report clearances that are usually employed at Swansea.

Tory nemesis Rene Kinzett pops up in the Beans on Toast account to loudly question Holley’s judgement, demonstrating in the process why the ruling administration are so keen to see him permanently posted to his day-job in the smoke or Antarctica if possible.

Interestingly, the local press deliver more or less the same verdict about the Lib Dem leader, whilst at the same time shaking their heads over how he failed to see the obvious outcome of a favour under such ill-advised circumstances being perceived as a gift - for the media, that is.

We also hear that individuals outside the authority, who anticipate an official whitewash in the making, are keen to get the Public Services Ombudsman and the Welsh Assembly Government involved. One of the points they intend raising is how this cosy arrangement with a construction firm at a personal level – along with a seemingly creative approach to committee reports - might well deter other potential contractors from even bothering to put in a competitive bid in the unlikely event of a scheme ever going ahead.

All in all, Holley has got some explaining to do and it needs to be good. He has now been in the job long enough to know that the rules apply to everyone, including him, and that ignorance - just like arrogance – is no defence.

As a footnote, it seems we can also expect some retrospective enquires soon into how bids for various stages of the LC contract were awarded and the circumstances surrounding a few cost overrun reports that were given only a limited circulation at the time.

Derailed?

The recently truncated Beans on Toast website reports that Swansea Council's chief legal officer is to investigate the circumstances that allowed a freebie feasibility study conducted as a 'favour' by an international firm of consultants for leader Chris Holley to fund its way onto a committee agenda.

The inference is that the report managed to somehow by-pass the usual statutory clearance procedures but we will have to wait until tomorrow's edition to know more.

Ever wondered what really goes on in cabinet meetings?

Evasions

A sizeable post appears today by Peter Black, who has clearly been stung by our comments.

Black is an immensely capable politician (there, we’ve said it) but his adopted role as the informal media spokesman for the Lib Dem run administration in times of trouble and his calls for cross-party unity are both wearing thin.

It is to be expected that he and the council leadership would wish to highlight the encouraging aspects of the inspector’s report but it would be unwise for anyone to even slightly infer that the minister and her CSSIW advisers have over-reacted.

Similarly, claiming that anyone other than the administration is responsible for “bringing this judgement down upon the Council” displays a unique ability to transform an olive branch into a stick for beating opponents and only serves to reinforce the divisions.

This unwillingness to accept responsibility for failings that happen on their watch and other evasions is typified by the deafening silence from Swansea’s leader and cabinet compared with the recent upfront apology swiftly provided by the leader of the Vale of Glamorgan for departmental shortcomings.

And when it comes to being unable to learn lessons, whilst Black continues to display a dogmatic Lib Dem inability to accept that opposition could ever be anything other than party political then he is looking for us in the wrong place.

Squirming

True to form, Peter Black and James Sheriden could not resist a little dig at social services minister Gwenda Thomas on the EP website for not releasing a critical report into failings at Swansea's children's social services until next month.

We understand that the council's ruling cabinet has two weeks to provide an account of how they plan to get out of the current mess - having failed to make any significant progress in 18 months – and this will be included in the final report to be published in April. Black would have known this himself had he taken the trouble to remain in the plenary session and ask questions of the minister.

You can’t blame them for trying to shift the agenda from the huge indictment of their performance in office that a threatened and unprecedented Assembly intervention represents but the spectacle of Swansea’s Lib Dems criticising anyone over a lack of transparency really is laughable.

Still no comment from Chris Holley - despite now being back in the country.

Spend, spend, spend

Pardon the huge disrespect to their eminences, but the howls of indignation from AMs snug in their £70 million Senedd building over plans to spend £41.8 million on modernising government buildings in Cathays Park have a hollow ring reminiscent of pots and kettles.

As Betsan Powys observes, Nick Bourne's accusation that the government is spending our money on "feathering its own nest" will bring back echoes of those couple of noughts on that iPod..

Couldn’t have put it better ourselves.

Dreamland

There may be rumours of rifts and rebellions within Plaid at national level, but the Party of Wales seems to have entered an extended period of dormancy in the Swansea area.

Time was when you couldn’t open a copy of the local paper without reading about some campaign headed up by the likes of Dai Lloyd, Darren Price or Ian Titherington. Letters pages were incomplete if there was no comment from Harri Roberts or streams of invective by Gary from Brynmill.

Admittedly, Plaid experienced a serious stuffing last May. Denied the ability to do some effective Labour-bashing in the preceding four years, their absence of meaningful policies saw them lose all but one of their Swansea council seats - which prompted sole survivor, ‘Low-Price’, to scuttle off to accept a role with the ruling Lib Dem-led coalition more akin to poodle than partner.

It’s hard for observers to decide if the locally preferred approach is about keeping your nose clean and not doing anything to upset the majority partners in Cardiff Bay and County Hall or if they are pacing themselves for European elections only a few months away and parliamentary battles expected sooner than later. What is slightly disconcerting is that Plaid seem to be equally in the dark.

Ah well, there is always the dream until things get a bit clearer.

Dogged by conspiracy

Family believe dog was stolen to sell on
South Wales Evening Post – 3 March 2009
The owners of a missing dog are convinced their pet pooch Buddy the beagle was stolen to order.

Beagle’s Nasa link-up
Western Mail – 5 March 2009

A question of accountability

The local paper makes its feelings known about special measures in Swansea's social services with a front page banner headline of Council failing city’s young and an editorial entitled Can’t hide from the awful truth and all this spleen is despite them missing a key point that government inspectors have actually been installed at County Hall for some time - albeit to little apparent avail.

Hence the section in the statement which says: “I have concluded that the scale of improvement in Swansea has been insufficient, given the considerable investment of time and assistance the Inspectorate has provided since invoking the Protocol. Moreover, that level of intervention cannot be sustained indefinitely. Take that help away, and the risk is too great that the current position – highly unsatisfactory as it still is – will deteriorate further”.

As predicted, a contributor to the paper’s website named Peter (no surname, but it’s a fairly safe bet as to the identity) attempts to put things in 'perspective' by making informed but facile comments about personnel changes and the dangers of political point scoring rather than putting the interests of children first. But, as another contributor points out, events at Haringey show that Lib Dems are capable of taking a very different stance on child protection and holding the people at the top very much to account when it suits them.

Few with memories of the howls for blood from press and political parties alike over the closure of a certain leisure centre hold much hope of a mature approach to tackling systemic problems emerging within the next few weeks, although the reasoned pleas for inter-party co-operation might have a superficial effect on behaviour.

But it could be a very different story altogether if rumours are confirmed that Chris Holley decided to go on a quick “official” jaunt to the Czech Republic instead of attending a vital briefing meeting yesterday with social services minister Gwenda Thomas and her officials to discuss the failings happening under his watch.