Another Tehran trade unionist arrested

Saeed Torabian, a spokesperson for the Tehran bus drivers’ union (the Vahed Syndicate), was arrested yesterday by Iranian security forces and is being held incommunicado, whereabouts unknown.

This statement is from the Bus Drivers Union:

“Saeed Torabian, board member the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburb Vahed Bus Company was arrested on Wednesday June 9 2010 at 9 a.m. by security forces at his home and has been transferred to an unknown location. It is worth noting after ransacking his home his computer and cell phone were confiscated by security forces. After the board of directors was informed, they, along with Torabian's family members, despite their search, were not able to locate his whereabouts.

Previously Mr. Saeed Torabian had been arrested twice during the 2005 strikes of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company and spent more than one month in detention. He was also suspended from work for four years and was denied wages and all benefits. After continuous inquiries with the court of public administrative justice he was reinstated in his job and was returned to work. At this time two other members of the Syndicate's board of directors, Mansoor Osanloo and Ebrahim Madadi, are imprisoned in Rajayee Shahr prison in City of Karaj and Evin Prison in Tehran.

The syndicate of Vahed Company workers condemns the arrest of Saeed Torabian and other syndicate members and demand the unconditional freedom of its members and all justice seeking prisoners.”

Check out the International Transport Workers' Federation website for more details.

FOR WALES SEE ENGLAND

When it comes to standing up for Wales all three of the London based parties had a pretty poor record in the old Parliament. Things have not got off to a good start in the new one either - especially when it comes to rail they have refused to provide a timetable to develop a high speed rail link to Swansea, this effectively puts us out of sight and out of mind as far as High Speed rail.

Plaid’s Ieuan Wyn Jones successfully negotiated the multi-million pound the extension of the proposed upgrade and electrification of the rail line between Swansea and London. When the electrification scheme was originally proposed by New Labour it was to go only as far as Bristol, and only after the intervention of the Plaid driven One Wales Government did they agreed to electrify the line as far as Swansea.

The ConDem Government in Westminster, if one was being kind could be described as evasive when it comes to committing to the extending the electrification programme into Wales - so much for Wales being a ConDem priority. It's not just Swansea - London that needs electrification, there are plenty of other lines including the North Wales Coast line, the Valleys lines and the Severn Tunnel diversionary line.

I mention this because, the proposed multi-million pound upgrade and electrification of the rail line between London and Swansea, which if it goes ahead should be completed by 2017 and which should cut 20 minutes off the existing journey times, would only fix only part of the problem. So why is the Severn Tunnel diversion route important you may well ask?

It's pretty simple really, when the Severn Tunnel is closed for maintenance rail traffic from South Wales is diverted via a single-track 12-mile section of line between Swindon and Kemble (in Gloucestershire) any plans to upgrade this section to double track as it is the only diversionary route between Wales and London were conspicuous by their absence from Network Rail’s plans in 2008/2009.

Talk to anyone who works the rails (or anyone who has relatives who work on the rails) in the south and they will tell you that the aging Severn Tunnel is going to require more maintenance as time passes, yet it remains a vital transport link, but it ranks pretty low on Network Rails list of priorities. In November 2008, the Office of Rail Regulation's settlement for Network Rail allocated some £26 billion pounds some 2.4 billion less than requested; this has forced Network Rail to drop a number of projects (if you think this was bad just wait until the ConDem cuts kick in!).

Anyway, you may have guessed that, one of the project that was dropped was a plan to restore the 12 miles of single track to double from Kemble to Swindon, at the moment the reduced capacity of this line adds an hour to passenger journeys as trains to and from Wales have to wait for services coming in the opposite direction, and lets not forget any impact on rail freight movements.

This is a vital link between Wales and London (and Europe) and the only alternative to using the Severn Tunnel. In the event of a major accident or incident in the tunnel, perhaps a crash, a fire or even flooding, then we need a fully operational alternative so that passenger and freight services to London are not affected.

It is pretty essential that re-doubling work on the line, which would allow at least an hourly service, is carried out as quickly as possible. While the upgrade is under way, its only common sense to electrify the line all the way from Severn Tunnel Junction through to Swindon as well.

So there we are at the moment Wales, is one of the few counties in Europe, save for Albania and Moldova to have no electrified rail-lines, this is one exclusive club we could well do without being a member of. As has been pointed out elsewhere within the blog sphere, there is more to this than the electrification of the railway lines, though - Wales needs a public and concrete commitment to a timetable for High Speed Rail in Wales, otherwise what we are really talking about when it comes to high speed rail is for Wales see England - and that is not acceptable!

PERHAPS - AN INSPIRED CHOICE?

The choice of David TC Davies (MP for Monmouth) as the new Chair of the Welsh Affairs Select Committee may on the surface seem at first seem a tad odd. Certainly in the past he found the higher status of the Home Affairs Select Committee far more appealing than the Welsh Affairs Select Committee, where his poor attendance had been noted previously, with a bare 5 out of 44 appearances - so much for that strong voice for Monmouth / Wales in Westminster. 

However, once you finish mopping up the tea you spilt on your keyboard one you found out the news, then the appointment may begin to make more sense. Think about it, if you want to give someone a position to marshal the anti-devolution attack dogs / 'devo negatistas', derail legislative Competence Orders,  and generally treat Wales (and all things Welsh) with typical Tory contempt, then perhaps they (the ConDems) have made a wise choice after all - I mean Wales is just so not on Cameron and Clegg's radar and never will be. 

I'll bet that this has not gone down particularly well in Tory circles in Cardiff Bay...

AN INTERESTING IDEA?

Now there is an interesting idea, Local Councils in England are to be encouraged to publish details of their spending - on items over £500 as part of the new Conservative / Liberal Democrat Government's "revolution" in transparency. However, they won't be compelled by law to open their books, which is odd, especially as the Condem coalition agreement stated that councils would be "required" to do so.

According to the BBC, Government sources have said that "measures would be taken" against councils that did not co-operate. Not a bad idea, personally I think it might be something that the National Assembly might consider as a potential runner in Wales, if it was extended to all the Government Quangos in Wales, and the myriad of European funded schemes that run from one end of Wales to the other, full transparency in relation to the way public money is spent might prove to be interesting...

IT'S ALL GONE QUIET OVER THERE?

During the last Westminster campaign - prior to polling day - especially in a rural constituency, every candidate who was out chasing votes tried to appear to be the farmer's best mate. The same was probably true across rural constituencies the length and breadth of Wales and the rest of the UK - yet, our farming communities, despite this welcome warmth have been pretty isolated and marginalized by the politicians, the contempt with which the farmers used to be treated by the old New Labour Government (and previous Conservative governments) in Westminster - this was something that was mirrored until relatively recently in Cardiff Bay certainly until the arrival of Plaid in government and Elin Jones, the Plaid driven One Wales Government Rural Affairs Minister.

Now that the dust has settled and the deals have been done, we have a Conservative / Liberal Government and the question should be what are they going to do for the farming sector? The Conservatives have spent years appearing (with less and less effort on their part admittedly) to be the party of the farmers, certainly some farmers continue to believe it. Yet, it is worth remembering that not that long ago in the 1980's it was a Tory Secretary of State who literally sat by and quietly did nothing when many of our Dairy farmers got hammered into the ground by cuts in the milk quota.

Never again must any Welsh Minister fail to stand up and be counted and to fail to argue their corner on behalf of Welsh farmers - now at least that has changed for the better - with Elin Jones (AM), the Plaid One Wales Government Minister for Rural Affairs we have a minster who is not afraid to actually meet with and to stand up for our farmers and their interests - this is a refreshing change from what has gone before. During the NFU farmers hustings in the final weeks of the election campaign, when I mentioned the things that Elin Jones and the One Wales Government have (and are) doing to make things easier for our farmers, the comments, the nods and the smiles confirmed that the farmers are more than aware of what's being done on their behalf.

Any catastrophic economic failure across the farming sector will have a significant knock on effects for dependent small businesses and local suppliers across the whole rural economy, in the small towns and across the Welsh countryside itself. The Plaid driven one Wales Government has unlike relatively recent governments in Westminster and Cardiff Bay, stopped treating the agricultural sector with indifference. Most people agree that much more effort has to be made to market first class Welsh produce within Wales, within the UK and in Europe and beyond.

Now, our farmers, despite some mutterings to the contrary by some local Labour MPs who should know better, are not just in the businesses of merely waiting for that one annual brown envelope and cheque from Brussels but for a real opportunity to make a decent living within the agricultural sector - to do this they need a fair deal. We need to take practical steps to give Welsh farmers a fighting chance of making a real living; securing 80% of publicly procured food locally by 2015 is a realistic and practical aim.

This is something that could provide the first practical step towards helping Welsh farmers and other producers make the most of the new opportunities that will arise from higher public purchasing of local products. Yet we need more, a much more co-ordinated effort to create that elusive level playing field for our farmers and a real effort from National and Local government to secure 80% of publicly procured food locally by 2015 – this could provide the first practical step towards helping Welsh farmers and other producers make the most of the new opportunities that will arise from higher public purchasing of local products.

The question remains, as yet, unanswered though, what is the new Conservative / Liberal Government actually going to do for our farmers?

THE THIN BLUE LINE...

A measure of understanding on the attitude from the new Government towards our Police forces may be gleaned from the proposed cuts that have been announced by Nick Herbert (Policing and Criminal Justice Minister ) as part of a UK-wide cut of £125m in funding for forces. South Wales Police faces cuts of £2.8m, North Wales Police faces cuts of £1.4m, while Gwent Police faces cuts of £1.3m and Dyfed-Powys Police cuts of around £900,000. The cuts in funding for 2010/2011 have been announced as part of efforts to help reduce the UK's budget deficit

During the final stages of the last Westminster Election Campaign, everyone (and every political party) was heard calling ever loudly for more Police Officers on the beat which happened to be something which most people wanted to see. Now if you are lucky and get a quiet moment and you use it to ask any senior Police officer about beat policing, then especially in a guarded quiet moment and you may get told that it's probably one of the most inefficient form of Policing going, with officers walking for (on average) something like 49 miles before they come across a crime in progress.

Now while this may be true, it obviously ignores the deterrence and reassurance that is generated on our streets and in our communities and may well be influenced by pressures from the Ministry of Justice, a lack of Police officers and the need to generate reams and reams of arrest related statistics. Maybe this is driven by a desire for local bobbies on the beat that goes back to an earlier simpler era, maybe it’s TV inspired nostalgia driven desire for that mythical Dixon of Dock Green / Heartbeat figure which has now almost become a real historical memory – until killed off by successive police reorganisations, force mergers, budget cuts and top down largely then Home Office driven changes in the way our communities are policed i.e. panda cars, the loss of local Police stations, reduced opening hours, etc.

Now nostalgia and Policing are a particularly heady and dangerous mix, I can personally recall Conservative politicians in the 1990's who argued against the use of body armour, stab vests and side handled batons, pepper sprays, etc – saying that it would change the nature of Policing, create unbreakable barriers of hostility between the public and the Police, end tradition, etc. All that aside, one thing all of those things did was significantly reduce the number of Police Officers stabbed and killed in line of their duty – so enough with the nostalgia.

When it comes dealing with crime and effects of crime on our communities we really have to get past the usual meaningless platitudes about being tough on crime, etc. Certainly in the final weeks of the Westminster campaign the voters heard plenty of them what with the various London based parties making much out of how they were going to get serious about cutting crime, reducing anti social behaviour, and making our communities safer. Now that the dust had settled, then we shall all get a measure of the new government and see how they act as the empty rhetoric fades away.

Cuts, are not the answer, for unless we will actually seriously invest in the Welsh Police Services and make more creative use of existing financial and manpower resources. We could begin to make our communities safer by making more use of Community Support Officers, but without full powers of arrest, and lacking in proper training this can be nothing more than a temporary short term solution, what we need are more Police Officers.

Policing, just like everything else is driven by funding - this is the reality of modern (and old time) policing, our hard pressed Police Service (whether in Gwent, South Wales, Dyfed-Powys or North Wales) all need additional funding and an increase in the number of serving officers. On top of that our Police Officers actively need the active support of our communities, especially if we are seriously going to deal with crime and anti-social behaviour and to ensure proper Policing within our communities.

We need a more flexible approach to shift patterns to tackle those periods of the day when higher levels of criminal offences take place and need to actually respond to local communities real concerns rather than the Ministry of Justice's (formerly the Home Office) perceived priorities and targets. We need to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past when it comes to basing Policing strategies on core or periphery because the end result is that some of our our communities will lose out when it comes to access to Police services and resources.

The fact that the Ministry of Justice (and lets be honest changing the name has not fixed the basic problem) has long lost the plot and has become bogged down in a morass of spin, number crunching, paperwork, bureaucracy and red tape; add to the fact that it largely exists in an unreal world far removed from the realities of day-to-day policing on streets of Abergavenny, Caldicot, Cwmbran, Newport, Underwood or Tredegar, let alone Llanbedr Pont Steffan (especially on a Saturday night at chucking out time).

If we are really serious about reforming and reorganising Policing then we need to develop a coherent national community safety strategy for Wales with a clear approach to tackling crime and the fear of crime in our communities. And ask and answer the hard questions: do we want two tier Policing? Should Policing target be generated by local Police officers and local communities, where are we going to find the money, because Policing is not cheap?

If we want to solve or curb crime in Wales, then it makes sense for the control of Policing as well as Justice and Prisons within Wales to be fully devolved to the National Assembly, much of this already happens in Scotland, are we less capable than the Scots or less of a nation than Scotland? - I think not!

A TIDY LITTLE EARNER

The news (Western Mail 1st June 2010) that the private company that operates the Severn Toll Bridges has raised almost £226m over the past three years – yet has spent barely £15m on essential maintenance on the original crossings damaged cables - should not come as much of a surprise to many people. The Severn Crossings Tolls have been a valuable cash cow for many years, aside from being a tax on jobs, a tax on commuters, a tax on growth and tax on business in the south of Wales.

Plaid Cymru's South Wales Central AM Chris Franks obtained the figures under the Freedom of Information Act, which show a significant difference between the large amounts of money raised by Severn River Crossing plc from the toll, and the relatively small amount spent on treating the damage to the cables on the old crossing (M48). 

Since 2006, some £15m has been spent on main cable work on the first Severn Crossing. The Highways Agency suggests that another £5.8m will take place over the next five years. Some £225,733,000 has been collected in bridge toll revenue since 2006. people may well wonder if they are going to get saddled with major work to maintain the bridges after the toll profits have been siphoned off by the concessionary company when the bridges are finally returned to public ownership in 2016.