No apology from Tony Blair: What a surprise!

I suppose it was too much to hope that we would have contrition from former Prime Minister Tony Blair over the invasion of Iraq.
Blair stuck to his story at the Chilcot inquiry yesterday - that he had not a regret about what turned out to be the disastrous invasion of Iraq and the toppling of Saddam Hussein. There were no weapons of mass destruction.
Blair is undoubtedly an excellent performer in front of the cameras despite obvious nervousness at the start of his evidence.
What is clear though was that he was determined to send British ground troops into action - even rejecting a last-minute offer of a way out from the Americans.
His appearance was never going to lead to an apology from Blair for getting the UK into such a mess. He's not that type of politician - he's someone who always believes he's right despite the clear evidence to the contrary on Iraq.
But what was disgusting was that he did not talk to the families who lost loved one's in action - even through his evidence.
He should have showed compassion. He didn't and his premiership will always be tainted by Iraq - and many positive policies brought in by Labour such as the introduction of the minimum wage will be over-shadowed by his disastrous foreign policy failings.

Engage your brain first - David Davies

David Davies may be quite a likeable guy but the views he expresses are often on the barmy end of politics.
The Conservative MP for Monmouth is at it again suggesting a possible link between so-called "imported backward, medieval and barbaric" views of woman and rape. He argues that the upbringing of a 14-year-old who raped and robbed a woman should be investigated.
David Davies later claimed his comments were not related to Islamic or racial issues but I and many others won't believe him. He knows he stepped in the brown stuff and is trying to dig himself out.
Also there are certainly plenty of cases in the UK where teenagers of whatever colour or background do awful things to women.
David Davies really needs to engage his brain before speaking and avoid dropping himself in it big time.

Peter Ridsdale betrays City fans - and should go now!

Betrayed, stitched up, conned - that's how Bluebirds fans will feel after the announcement by Cardiff City Football Club that it will not now use funds raised from season ticket sales to bring in new players.
Supporters were persuaded to cough up hard-earned cash early to help Dave Jones in his bid to bring the Bluebirds promotion to the top division after nearly 50 years. But, he like the fans, has been let down by Peter Ridsdale and his board of directors.
The club suggests that expected investment did not come through. Well, they should not promised fans funds would be spent on players until that funding was secure and one still appears a fair way away.
All fans have got from Peter Ridsdale and the rest of his board are false promises and certainly not the transparency they deserve.
Peter Ridsdale, the club says, has the full backing of both the Board and majority of shareholders and will continue to lead the club.
But if he was working for a major company and misled shareholders he would have been sacked and quite rightly so.
The fans have been misled, he has lost any goodwill and should now do the decent thing and resign - although I doubt he will.
Certainly those that want their money back should be given it, and perhaps staff working in the trading standards department at Cardiff council should examine whether the club has breached the Trades Descriptions Act by misleading customers - the fans!

WRU chairman tackled over Labour £1,000-a-plate event

Welsh Rugby Union chairman David Pickering is entitled to support whatever political party he likes.
But what he must not do is using the facilities at the WRU to organise a lavish fundraising pre-election event on behalf of a political party, Welsh Labour in this case. Most employees spending their working hours on private work would quickly find themselves reprimanded by their employees or even dismissed.
How much time has he spent on this private work? Is he going to compensate the WRU, which is a non-political organisation?
We know the Welsh rugby team play in red but the WRU should certainly not be aligning itself, through its chairman, to the political party whose colours are red.
The event also highlights the divide between Labour's expensive backers, who have done well under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and its core working-class vote in Wales. Many voters will be staggered that £1,000 per person is being spent on one event while they struggle to put food on their table for their family in these very tough economic times.

Mohammad Asghar Has No Shame

Has Mohammad Asghar no shame? Apparently not.
He's the so-called politician who defected from Plaid Cymru to the Tories claiming he disagreed with Plaid's independence stance and was unhappy about its views on the Royal Family.
But anyone in the know at the Welsh Assembly was aware it was much more about his daughter Natasha being refused a job alongside his wife in his Newport office.
Now her name has appeared on an address list of staff who work in the Assembly. Asghar claims she is not being paid but just how long will that stand for?
And what about the Tories? Are they just going to let their new recruit make his office a family concern. If they do, how long will it be before another relative gets a job on the public purse?
Have the Conservatives really learnt nothing from the MP's fiasco and what has David Cameron got to say about the new Tory policy of jobs for the boys or girls in this case?
The Welsh Conservatives will rue the day they decided to take on Mohammed Asghar whose setting up his own job creation unit - for his family. Shameful. He should resign because he's become an embarrassment to the Welsh Assembly - and make it quick.

How not to run a company: BA lead the way

What sort of a company imposes new contracts on fresh recruits
paying them significantly less than current staff?
Well, not some tiny tin-pot organisation but British Airways, and it also imposes a whole range of changes without proper consultation with staff.
Don't they get it that to turn things around they need the backing of those that work for the company - and not treat them like dirt.
This type of macho management intent on crushing its workforce must be challenged at all times.
There was a 9-1 vote for a strike until action was blocked by the High Court last year, setting a very dangerous precedent. Given nothing has changed for workers, another vote in favour of industrial action can be expected.
The union Unite made a tactical blunder by proposing 12 straight days of action over the Christmas period. They can still force management into meaningful discussions without such prolonged strike action that alienates the public.
It's good that the union has made it clear it will not strike over Easter. Let us hope that once the vote is announced BA get back to some serious discussions with staff - and stop trying to crush them.

Brown bows to pressure over Iraq inquiry

Gordon Brown will give evidence to the Iraq Inquiry before the general election - and so he should.
It had looked like an attempt by Labour to bury bad news until after voters go to the poll.
But the Prime Minister, who held the purse-strings when the Iraq war was launched, is clearly calculating that it is better to get it over as soon as possible rather than have the issue raised in the general election campaign by political opponents.
More important than Gordon Brown's appearance is that the people of the UK get some answers. Let us hope the inquiry members will get stuck in with some tough questions - not just about the war but the preparedness of British troops in terms of equipment. As disgraced US President Richard Nixon declared: "There can be no whitewash at the White House". Substitute 10 Downing Street.
Meanwhile, before the current PM appears Tony Blair, the man who sent British troops to war, will appear. Roll on Friday, January 29.

Workers must not lose out on pensions

Former workers at the Visteon plant in Swansea were at the National Assembly today as part of their campaign to win back they pensions.
The car parts firm went into administration last year leaving workers short of the pensions they were entitled.
They are not the first, and certainly not the last, to have their retirement threatened through no fault of their own. Ford, which transferred the plant to Visteon 10 years ago, have a moral duty - if not a legal one - to ensure their former workers do not lose out.
Former ASW steelworkers in Cardiff have been involved in a courageous campaign to win 100 per cent of the pensions. These decent working class people were also demonstrating at the Assembly earlier this month to highlight their plight.
They should not have to do this to try and get the pensions they are entitled to. The UK Government must stop ducking this issue and ensure these brave fighters do not lose a penny. They've bailed out the bankers, so it's the least the ex-ASW workers deserve.

Out of touch David Melding Continues with Statue Campaign

Well,David Melding the Conservative AM for South Wales Central, doesn't give up on a daft idea easily does he?
This time he took his off-the-wall suggestion that the statue of Liberal Victorian campaigner John Batchelor should be moved and replaced by one of David Lloyd George or Saint David to the Senedd
He spent Assembly time raising the issue in a question to Culture Minister Alun Ffred Jones.
Hasn't he got something better to raise with the Minister on culture, the Welsh language or sport? Apparently not.
I suggest he buries his idea and concentrates on something a little more important.

Cameron scores own goal over teaching training plans

David Cameron has been scoring some own goals recently, notably his recent uncertainty over whether the Tories were going to give help to families.
Now he's decreed that he won't allow graduates with a third-class degree to become teachers.
Academic excellence doesn't mean you will be a good teacher and, conversely, a third-class degree doesn't mean you can't be a good teacher. There's much more to teaching than qualifications. Similarly, the best nurses are not necessarily those with the best qualifications and that applies to many jobs.
And you certainly don't need top academic qualifications to make it in business - ask Sir Richard Branson who hasn't done badly for himself
And remember Carol Vorderman, Mr Cameron's maths tsar, got a third from Cambridge. So don't judge a book or a teacher by its cover but by what's inside.

Tory AM's daft plan to move landmark statue

David Melding, the Conservative AM for South Wales Central, clearly knows nothing about the history of Cardiff with his off-the-wall suggestion that the statue of Liberal Victorian campaigner John Batchelor should be moved.
John Batchelor is very much part of Cardiff's proud history and spoke out strongly for the people against the Tory-supporting Bute family.
He's always had a place in The Hayes as long as I can remember and I'm sure there would be uproar in the city if the statue. So he's not of Welsh national significance but he is to Cardiff and should remain where he is.
David Melding, who is not from Cardiff, has suggested more prominent people should be placed in that key location.
As has been pointed out prominent Welsh figures such as Hywel Dda have pride of place in the City Hall.
Cardiff must remember its history while also looking forward to the future.
Too many landmarks have been pulled down like the Capitol Theatre for a non-descript shopping centre. Look at the modern buildings in Cathedral Road which should have never been allowed by planners.
We mustn't lose our heritage and John Batchelor should stay firmly where he is.

Ex-Chief Constable Out of Touch and Insulting

South Wales Police have a questionable record of getting things right - miscarriages of justice, wrongful arrests are examples.
Former Chief Constable Barbara Wilding has put her foot in her mouth in a big way with a deeply insulting jibe at people who live in the Valleys.
Her comment in an interview that all Valleys girls want to do is get pregnant was ill-judged and ill-informed.
She clearly lived in a leafy area of South Wales while Chief Constable and has no empathy with Valley people, who I've always found to be hugely welcoming and positive people, despite the lasting impact of the Thatcher years.
Many young people in the Valleys have huge aspirations and to condemn all with such an ill-thought comment is a disgrace. No wonder many people - and not just in the Valleys - have no time for the police.
Let us hope that the new Chief Constable Peter Vaughan who was born in the Valleys is more in touch with the community his force serves than Barbara Wilding. He has got some community rebuilding to do.

Affordable houses not pickings for speculators

So the Vale of Glamorgan council is pressing ahead with plans to transform the derelict Penarth Heights development.That area is an eyesore.
But what Penarth needs, and indeed Wales needs, is more affordable houses. The Right to Buy legislation has created a desperate shortage of affordable properties, particularly for families.
The last thing Penarth needs is another development where homes will be snapped up by speculators, with no intention of living there, hoping to make a quick buck.
Twelve years after a decision was first taken to redevelop the former Billybanks estate action is needed - but high quality affordable homes not properties just for the speculators.

South Wales hit by Bosch jobs blow

The announcement that Bosch is to shut its Miskin plant with the loss of 900 jobs is not unexpected - but still terrible news for its workforce and the Welsh economy.
Welsh manufacturing has been really hard hit in the recession with Hoover and nearby Sunjuice among other high profile victims.
It appears closure will happen next year with work transferred to the cheaper wage economy of Hungary.
What is particularly devastating is that Bosch paid good wages to a highly skilled workforce and it will be extremely difficult to replace those jobs.
Many of its workers also came from the South Wales Valleys where jobs are few and far between.
Let us pray that the economy is very much on the up by the time Bosch closes its doors for the last time after just over 20 years but where do we go on manufacturing now? Down the pan it appears.

Exam chiefs fail our children

Exam bodies like the Welsh Joint Education Committee (WJEC) should be hanging their heads in shame.
They refused, despite pleas from teachers, to postpone key exams for pupils because of the terrible winter weather.
The result was that some, already stressed youngsters, will probably have to wait until the summer to take exams which are likely to be key to their futures. This will add further pressure on them.
What was wrong about postponing exams for a week or two? Clearly, the intransigence of the WJEC has done pupils a great disservice.
We must learn from this lesson - and perhaps the Welsh Education Minister should be prepared to intervene in the future and knock a few heads together

Why can't we cope with snow?

Why are we so useless when it comes to dealing with snow? OK, this winter has been the worst for many a decade but we seem to fall apart at the first slurry.

I’ve got a particular beef about school closures in bad weather. I can understand the difficult of opening some secondary schools where pupils come from a wide catchment area and buses might find difficulty making it up and down the hills of the Valleys.

But why were primary schools in Cardiff, many of them along busy main roads, shut not just on the day of the snowfall last week but also last Thursday and Friday.

Sure, there is an issue about health and safety but that can be solved by keeping the pupils in school during break times. It just seems the easy option is taken every time to shut a school. If I, or indeed thousands of others, can manage to get from one end of Cardiff to another why can’t a teacher?

I noticed in the South Wales Echo that Maesteg Comprehensive was able to open so why not primaries in a relatively flat city like Cardiff?

These closures cause huge problems for parents who are forced to make emergency childcare arrangements, lose pay or a day off their annual holiday entitlement.

Wales, and in the UK, is not used to coping with this type of weather but perhaps the time is right to find out how our Scandinavian cousins manage to keep their schools open in far worse conditions. Or local authorities need to look at providing alternatives for pupils if schools are shut.

We really have to get much better at coping with a few falls of snow.