AND THEN THERE WERE NONE...

With an election coming, particularly in a rural constituency, everybody (well everyone chasing votes) will appear to be the farmers friend. Our farming communities, despite this are feeling increasingly isolated and marginalised, the contempt with which the farmers have been treated by the New Labour Government (and previous Conservative Governments) in Westminster and latterly in Cardiff Bay (at least until the arrival of Plaid's Elin Jones, the Plaid driven One Wales Government Minister for Rural Affairs), used to mirror the neglect of the important agricultural sector, which still makes a significant contribution to our rural economy.

Any economic failure across the farming sector could (and did) have a massive knock on effect for dependent small businesses and suppliers across the whole rural economy, in the small towns and across the Welsh countryside itself; which is as the living landscape is a result of generations of ongoing hard work by our farming community.

In the past both Labour and Conservative Governments in Westminster (and Cardiff Bay) treated the agricultural sector with indifference. It is vitally important that this attitude at all levels of Government become a thing of the past; much more effort has to be made to market first class Welsh produce within the UK, in Europe and beyond.

Let us not forget, that in the 1980's it was a Tory Secretary of State who literally sat by and quietly did nothing when the Welsh 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 with Elin Jones (AM), the Plaid One Wales Government Minister for Rural Affairs we have someone who hit the ground running, who is not afraid to meet with and stand up for our farmers and their interests - this makes an immensely refreshing change from what has gone before.

Our farmers, despite mutterings to the contrary, are not merely looking for an annual brown envelope from Brussels but for a real opportunity to make a contribution (and make a living) within the agricultural sector - to do this they need a fair deal. We in Wales need to take more 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.

A VERY GOOD DAY AT ABERGAVENNY FOOD FESTIVAL

The Abergavenny Food Festival last week was exceptionally good - blessed by good weather and a bumper attendance. Even now my fridge is overloaded with far to much excellent local cheese and other produce. The food festival is a superb working example of how to showcase our local produce, local services, local businesses and our local talent to a wider world, successfully putting the town (and local produce) on the map, and successfully attracts visitors from around the world - long may it continue!

http://www.abergavennyfoodfestival.com

SAME OLD TORIES

So much for David (‘Just call me Dave’) Cameron’s ‘New Politics’ – some investigative journalism by The Times has revealed that 28 prospective Conservative candidates who have reasonably good chances of becoming Tory MPs are actually working as lobbyists or public relations consultants on behalf of businesses and other interests.

The Times has revealed that over a quarter of them got their jobs after being selected to fight seats. A number have put their hands up to admit that they had set up meetings for clients with Conservative Shadow ministers, MPs and officials. Others said that they provided advice on the party’s direction and some admitted to lobbying Tory Frontbenchers on behalf of clients.

At least one fifth of his 150 parliamentary candidates who are likely to get freshly elected will have worked in the nicely lucrative field of public affairs or communications. Ironically, The Times notes, only 7 Labour and 3 Lib Dem parliamentary candidates (with a chance of being elected) will have had jobs in public relations or communications.

Concerns within the troubled depths of the Conservative Party may have prompted action from Francis Maude, the Shadow Cabinet Office Minister, who last week suggested that lobbyists may face statutory regulation if they did not volunteer more information on clients and consultants, he went on to say:’ “Greater openness and transparency is needed to help ensure high standards in public life” ‘, I think that the jury may still be out on that one…amongst the Tories, but perhaps not amongst the electorate.

CASE FOR (HIGH SPEED) RAIL

So Gordon Brown has finally come out to back a high speed rail vision for the UK, implying that New Labour in the dying days of its period of Goernance may actually back plans to build a high speed rail line to the Midlands from London. All very well and good, but, a little late, you might feel inclined to ask Gordon Brown where he has been and what he has been doing over the last few years?

Developing a High speed rail infrastructure is the norm in Germany, Spain, France, Japan and many other countries but extracting any commitment to state funding of railway development in the UK appears to almost be an impossibility, especially when Gordon is at the helm of the ship of state although at times you may wonder if there is anyone on the bridge at all?

With any commitment to significant investment facing the particularly grim prospect of a Conservative Government, hell bent on cutting the ‘public sector’ investment and spending, the real question will be, even if Gordon grasps the concept of high speed rail network and actually puts pen to paper, what will be the fate of any significant investment programme in a decent integrated (high speed) rail service be under a Conservative Government?

One really wonders, especially as that lot are some of the same clowns who broke up the chronically under invested state rail service in the first place? Its a pity that Gordon did not get around to it a little earlier...

ON THE BEAT OR NOT?

You would have to try hard to come across a more desperate tragic tale than that of the mother driven by bullies to kill herself and her daughter in a burning car? A tragic situation made far worse by what may well appear to be an absolute abject failure on the part of the police to protect a vulnerable family despite repeated regular pleas for help. The local constabulary were allegedly contacted more than 20 times over a seven-year period but allegedly failed to respond because due to a there being "not enough resources".

What has emerged is that little or nothing was done to protect the victim or her family from persistent bullying and persistent abuse. Local Police have said that the mother was concerned about reprisals and so did not want to pursue any prosecutions. At the ongoing inquest (in Loughborough), an officer allegedly said it was impossible to bring charges if the victim did not wish to proceed. Yet as the coroner noted, there are supposed to be a dozen laws to deal with this sort of behaviour.

So if the mother herself did not wish to give evidence, were the police capable of basic observation? Obviously not, as little allegedly seems to have been done save to ignore or dismiss the victims concerns? And there we are mistakenly thinking that it was one of the duties of the Police to protect the vulnerable – obviously not? At least, for all the good it did in this case, they actually allegedly turned up (some of the time) in too many of our communities I have heard people say that when they call them (The Police that is) they don’t even come?

How did we end up in this mess?

The biggest transformation is a relatively recent one; that of increased centralisation and a breakdown of the basic relationship between the local community and the Police Service. Since 1979, the Police have become a far more visible enforcement arm of the state (perhaps as a direct consequence of the Miner’s strike and Poll Tax Protests), with centrally set and centrally driven targets.

Additionally part of the fact that many of the police are no longer from the communities they allegedly serve. Not that long ago a percentage, but not all, of our Police lived within our communities, some in Police Houses (which were quietly sold off under Mrs. Thatcher) it’s more as likely now that our Police live somewhere else and commute to work, just like many of us.

Now, while the police have always clung to their operational autonomy and used to claim a nominal resistance to direct political interference, they have become ‘indirectly’ political in ways that people could never have conceived twenty five years ago, before John Major and Tony Blair made increasingly centrally driven ‘politically’ inspired crime campaigns and quick fix initiatives an everyday occurrence.

So much for an independent Police service - the police may periodically bleat on about having ‘operational autonomy’ but in truth those days are long gone. One thing is true; we all pay for our Policing (one way or another) and if the Police fail us then there are usually consequences, particularly tragic ones in this case.

At a very basic level our police need to reconnect with their local communities - the lack of actual open Police stations across Wales, does not help matters much. Gwent Constabulary does pursue a very successful programme of visible community based Policing in many parts of the former county, yet there is a real danger that as our Police Service becomes increasingly specialist it becomes more distant from our communities.

Factor in the not so faint whiff of ongoing Police reorganisation, especially a reorganisation that is potentially cost savings driven after the next Westminster election; and with some senior police officers favouring the creation of larger and larger more strategic Police forces, one question we should ask is what will happen to the Police Service in Wales?

And what will be the direct and indirect consequences on the streets of our communities?

Is it possible to reverse the trend of the of the past 30 years which has seen the development of a style of policing that suits not the public but the Police?

SEVERN TUNNEL

The hard won, hard negotiated multi-million pound upgrade and electrification of the rail line between Swansea and Severn Tunnel Junction (and to London); is to be warmly welcomed and is proof that Plaid can deliver in government. The aging Severn Tunnel may rank pretty low among Network Rails priorities, as it will require more maintenance as time passes; but it is a vital transport link for Wales.

Last November, the Office of Rail Regulation’s settlement for Network Rail allocated £26 billion pounds - 2.4 billion less than requested; forcing Network Rail to drop a number of projects. If you read the small print, one of the dropped projects would have restored of the 12 miles of single track to double from Kemble to Swindon.

When the Severn Tunnel is closed for maintenance rail traffic from South Wales is diverted via a 12-mile single-track section of line between Swindon and Kemble in Gloucestershire. This adds an hour to passenger journeys as trains to and from Wales wait for services to pass by – imagine how bad things will get if the tunnel is shut for any prolonged period of time.

We need some original thinking to solve this potential block on our rail links; the construction of a smaller barrage or tidal fence close to the Second Severn Crossing is under consideration as part of review of the energy potential of the Severn Estuary. This could carry the main rail link from South Wales, solving the problem of the Severn Tunnel and generate sustainable energy, which we will need in the near future.

If this is not a viable option then lets seriously consider a new railway bridge on the site of the old Severn railway bridge near Lydney, which could relatively easily conect the rail lines, the old approaches are still in place. We have to do something and it is time to think different - and fix our transport problems rather than merely talk around the issue.

NORMAN BORLAG

Norman Borlaug is dead - a man who may very well have quietly saved more human lives than any other individual in human history. Described as the grandfather of the "Green Revolution" which (between 1961 and 1980), wheat crop yields doubled, tripled and sometimes quadrupled around the world. Borlag's experiments with hybrid wheat strains and nitrogenous fertiliser (he was a man of his time) thus creating strains of the staple food that were impervious to pests, poor soils and bad weather, thus enabling the world to support a far greater human population than many thought possible after the Second World War.

I wonder where is the next Norman Borlag is?