Cairngorm Capital – The Kiss Of Death

On By JacIn Corruption, Globalism17 Comments

This is a follow-up to my previous piece on the collapse of Consumer Energy Solutions Ltd (CES), owned by Cairngorm Capital. I suspect CES will be followed by linked companies that have also been taking advantage of the UK government’s ECO4 scheme, due to end in March.

Even before the scheme ends MPs are calling for an investigation into the shambles into which it degenerated. Demanding the Serious Fraud Office be involved.

Cairngorm is a private equity firm using leveraged buyouts. In other words, borrowing money to buy companies, loading the debt onto those companies, bumping up their value, then getting out as quickly as possible with as much loot as they can.

A business practice many regard as unethical, even a form of asset stripping.

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QUICK RECAP

Here’s the group of companies we’ve looked at in earlier posts.

Cairngorm’s arrival was soon followed by loans or Security Accession Deeds with Alter Domus Trustees (UK) Ltd. Which is in turn owned by Alter Domus DCM (UK) Ltd.

A Security Accession Deed is a legal document used to add new parties—such as borrowers, guarantors, or lenders—to an existing security trust deed or loan agreement.

Following the ownership trail brings us – according to latest accounts filed with Companies House – to the Eighth Cinven Fund. Cinven is another private equity firm.

This fund raised $14.5bn. Here’s the Cinven website. Most of the money came from pension funds and sovereign wealth funds. For example, $280m from New York State Common Retirement Fund. A further $167m from California State Teachers’ Retirement System.

It all links up when we see that Alter Domus is listed as one of Cinven’s ‘portfolio companies’. Cinven has offices across Europe, but prefers to be based in, and subject to the easy-going regulations of, Luxembourg and Guernsey.

BlackRock may even be involved.

Alter Domus, the leading global provider of tech-enabled fund services for the private equity, real assets and private debt sectors today appointed Mark Wiseman as Chairman. Mr. Wiseman is the former Head of Active Equities and Chairman of BlackRock’s Alternatives Business, as well as President & CEO of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

All that said, the latest accounts filed with Companies House by Alter Domus DCM (UK) Ltd tell us what you see below:

Cortland is based in Chicago. Which might explain Alter Domus US LLC. Also involved, and mentioned in this 2017 article, is Permira Funds. This latter entity is ultimately owned by Permira Holdings Ltd of Guernsey.

That’s enough links!

So . . . these Welsh companies pocket lots of money from the ECO4 scheme, get involved with Cairngorm Capital, and more money is pumped in from God knows where.

Which could mean that the pension fund to which Minnie Schwarz, retired teacher of Indian Falls, New York State, belongs, may have been used to do Mrs Jones’s cavity wall insulation in Llansamlet.

Cos it’s a small world.

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A LITANY OF ENGINEERED FAILURE

The first link in the chain after our local boys is obviously Cairngorm. And given that these Welsh companies are either already up Shit Creek or heading at full-speed in that direction, I decided to look at other companies with which Cairngorm has become involved.

Mindful of what I found on the Cairngorm Linkedin page.

Going through the Cairngorm website I turned up this list. So, naturally, I checked out these companies.

First, Bromborough Paints. And it’s quite an interesting tale.

Let’s start with this report from October 2022, telling us that Bromborough Paints had got involved with Cairngorm in March 2021. Then, after takeover, it rebranded to Paintwell.

And there were loans taken out. With Cairngorm acting as security agent.

Bromborough Paints had been in business for 60 years. The last accounts before the involvement of Cairngorm show a gross profit of £5.9m (Net profit £1.06m) on a turnover of £16.9m. And total equity of £12.4m.

Finally, Paintwell went into administration and was taken over by Brewers Decorator Centres. It’s alleged there is £30m in unsecured creditor claims.

‘Unsecured creditors’ are often redundant employees, local suppliers, the little people, not institutional lenders.

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Next it’s Building Supplies Online Ltd. If it’s this company, then it was dissolved in September 2023. Though this article from June 2025 mentions CMO Group Ltd, also in Plymouth. CMO began life in June 2021 with a share issue of £50,000.

Against CMO there are two outstanding charges with Clydesdale Bank.

Not sure what’s going on here but, rather like some women I’ve known, it don’t look good from any angle.

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Moving on to E-Zec Medical. (CH entry.) Where, by a long and tortuous ownership route (maybe a dozen companies!) we arrive at Emil W. Henry Jr of 717 Fifth Avenue, Suite 12a, New York, New York, United States. He took control in February 2025.

So who is he? Well, I found this:

Mr. Henry is the CEO and Founder of Tiger Infrastructure Partners, a private equity firm focused on infrastructure investment opportunities. Prior to founding Tiger Infrastructure Partners, he was Global Head of the Lehman Brothers Private Equity Infrastructure businesses, where he oversaw global infrastructure investments

Here’s the website for Tiger Infrastructure Partners.

Along the way, while chasing the ultimate owner, I noticed loans from Glas Trust. A name that’s cropped up on this blog more than once. Control of Glas Trust probably rests with yet another private equity firm, Levine Leichtman.

The most recently filed accounts for EZEC do not paint a healthy picture.

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No 4 on the list is Grant & Stone Group. Which Cairngorm took over in November 2019. And things looked good, expansion followed.

Grant & Stone is now owned by Cairngorm Capital Partners III LP. I got that from the most recent accounts filed with Companies House, up to 31.12.2023. Companies House is still waiting for the latest accounts.

There are, predictably, two outstanding charges with Alter Domus Trustees (UK) Ltd.

I suspect Grant & Stone is another one about to bite the dust.

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Next up is Independent Builders Merchants Group Ltd. Here’s what Cairngorm has to say. Though it needs updating. Again, two outstanding charges with Alter Domus Trustees (UK) Ltd.

At the time of writing, the accounts are overdue with Companies House.

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Now we move on to MRO+ Solutions Group Ltd. This began life in December 2017 as Cairngorm Acquisitions 5 Bidco Ltd. It’s now owned by two-year-old Zinc Group Topco Ltd. Though ownership ultimately rests with Martin Green.

MRO is now losing money, and there are of course outstanding loans.

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Millbrook Healthcare is the next stop. Bought by Cairngorm in 2019. At the top of the Millbrook ownership pile is Millbrook Healthcare Holdings Ltd, owned by Cairngorm Capital Partners LLP.

To my untrained eye, this is not a company in good financial health.

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Fasten your seatbelts as we look at National Timber Group. This report from just last November might explain where we’re going. However, it seems there was a very recent ‘rescue’ by a Welsh company.

But don’t get carried away, because top of the ownership pile here seems to be National Timber Group Topco Ltd. Owned by Cairngorm Capital Partners II LP. With accounts overdue with Companies House. The most recent accounts filed (y/e 31.12.2023) show turnover dropping and, after returning a small profit in 2022, a whopping loss of £22,738,3045 in 2023!

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On now to Sentry Doors. Sentry Doors Holdings Ltd was Dissolved in July last year. Though other companies in the group, such as Sentry Fire Safety Group Ltd, seem to retain the semblance of life. Though I’m not convinced.

Not clear which is the top company, but I am sure that everything is ultimately owned by Cairngorm Capital Partners II LP.

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The next entry is Verso Wealth Management. Things seem to be chugging along quite nicely. Though I’d watch for the two outstanding charges with Glas Trust.

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The penultimate case study is Whyte Bikes. Here’s the website.

This company was owned by Cairngorm until very recently, then sold to Irish company Causeway Capital. This entry below, listed under ‘Post Balance Sheet Events’ on the most recent accounts suggests the association with Cairngorm was not to Whyte’s advantage.

There are four outstanding charges, two with Cairngorm. So don’t build your hopes up.

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Finally, a comment to my blog directed me to this Linkedin post. It’s worth reading. As are some of the comments. Not least because it gives us yet another company with which Cairngorm Capital has been involved. So let’s check it out.

The company is Customade Group Ltd. Dissolved at the end of 2019. I suggest the name to focus on among the directors is Neil Andrew McGill. Here’s his Linkedin page. And here he is getting a special mention from Cairngorm in December 2018.

McGill is now Group CFO at Verso Wealth, which we looked at just now.

Note the four outstanding charges. Two with Cairngorm.

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So there you have it. The companies Cairngorm gets involved with are rarely unalloyed successes. In fact, there may not be one success among them.

There’s more chance of finding someone in the WRU hierarchy who understands rugby, and knows something about Wales, than there is of finding a Cairngorm success story.

But then, it all depends how you gauge ‘success’. Somebody, somewhere, is making a packet, but it won’t be the workers at the companies getting shafted by Cairngorm. Nor the small local suppliers left with unpaid bills.

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ASSET MANAGEMENT & PRIVATE EQUITY

The financial world in recent decades has seen the rise of those who make nothing, grow nowt, contribute little to the wealth of nations, but become extremely rich, and politically powerful.

I’m referring to asset managers, most of which are US based. The Big Three being BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street. There are many, many others, like Alter Domus and Emil W Henry Jr.

They invest pension funds, personal savings, sovereign wealth funds, and money from other sources, with only one intention – making money. Which may be good news for Minnie Schwarz in Upstate New York, but is often bad news for those at the other end of the chain.

Which always seems to be us.

And while Cairngorm may protest they don’t invest in “distressed companies“, the companies they invest in soon end up in that state.

As for Consumer Energy Solutions, I’m convinced that what happened there couldn’t have been done without the cooperation of some of the directors at CES and the wider group.

So while I support MPs’ call for the Serious Fraud Office to look into the abuse of the ECO4 scheme, I also believe we need our own investigation in Wakes into the collapse of Consumer Energy Solutions and the behaviour of the wider group.

Focusing in particular on certain prominent individuals.

♦ end ♦

© Royston Jones 2026

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Grab The Money And Run!

On By JacIn Corruption Bay, Public Funding, Welsh Business Community31 Comments

In this piece I’m going to look at the collapse of Consumer Energy Solutions (CES) earlier this month, ask what could have gone wrong, and consider what the future might hold.

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BACKGROUND

There is a group of companies in south Wales involved in ‘retrofitting’ homes with cavity wall insulation, solar panels, loft insulation, heat pumps, etc., capitalising on the UK government’s ECO4 and related schemes.

They’ve experienced rapid growth in recent years. Most seem to be still in business, but the largest among them, in terms of turnover and profit, is in administration.

These companies are all owned by Dragon 2023 Topco Ltd, which is in turn owned by Cairngorm Capital Partners LLP, part of the Cairngorm Capital group of Edinburgh.

I’ve written about these companies a couple of times. Most recently with, ‘Corruption Bay’ Living Up To Its Name? just last month. I urge you to read it so you understand better the background. Also, the histories of some of the principals involved.

It’s quite fascinating.

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CONSUMER ENERGY SOLUTIONS

Something I remarked on last month was the huge increase in turnover and profits being reported by CES in its returns to Companies House. Here’s a clip from the most recent accounts (to 31.01.2024) which will explain what I’m talking about.

By any criteria, in any sphere of business, these figures are remarkable. So where did all the money go? And why is CES in administration?

Go to the accounts and scroll down to Note 25, where you’ll see under ‘Related party transactions’ that £74,326,749 came as revenue from City Energy Network. You’ll also see mention of the companies we’ll be looking at in a minute.

The directors who must claim credit for these profits have all now left the company.

The three I wish to focus on are: Ahmud Saleem Furreed, Lewis Edward John, and Stephen Mark Williams. All joined CES 19.01.2016, when the company was formed. They left either in June or September last year.

What are these talents of the retrofitting business up to now?

Before proceeding, it might be worth throwing out there that Furreed is a Labour party donor. I can’t speak for the political affiliations of the other two.

Here’s the Companies House list of Furreed’s companies. I’ll ignore some of the older ones and start with Assure Connect Ltd, where we find the three I’ve just introduced.

This company was formed in September 2019, has filed no accounts, uses as its address the old Evening Post offices in Swansea, and is presumably facing strike-off.

Next up is Majasala Ltd. And now it gets interesting. Formed in March 2023 this company’s ‘investments’ jumped from zero in year ending 31.03.2024 to £4,443,982 in a year! Furreed is the only director and sole shareholder of this ‘management consultancy’.

Though thanks to ‘creditors’ Majasala returned a deficit of £447,961.

Now we turn to WRYL Ltd, also based in the SA1 Waterfront district. This outfit was born 10.03.2023 and buried unmourned 20.08.2024. During its brief existence Furreed, John and Williams were the directors. It filed no accounts.

But before its demise, WRYL was taken over, in March 2024, by View Investments Ltd. Where we find Nicholas Simon Pritchard! (More on Nick later.) View Investments was formed 19.10.2023, yet in is first accounts, 30.10.2024, Pritchard’s company could declare assets of £5,486,684.

Where could it have come from?

We now turn to Secret Squirrel Property Ltd. What a lovely name! Is it a reference to squirrels hiding their nuts? This company was launched 18.11.2024, so it hasn’t needed to file accounts yet.

But a confirmation statement tells us that each of the following owns 1,000 shares: Majasala Ltd (which we’ve already looked at), LEJ Holdings Ltd, and TWE Partnership Ltd. So let’s see what entertainment they can provide.

LEJ Holdings, launched 9 March 2023 is, as the initials suggest, the company of Lewis Edward John. The most recent accounts paint the following picture.

Total assets of over ten million pounds, all arriving between the end of March 2024 and the end of March 2025, but virtually all wiped out by creditors. With the  accounts saying only, “owed to related parties“.

TWE Partnership Ltd paints a similar picture. Some five million pounds in assets, most of it accounted for by ‘debtors’, with creditors leaving just £217,000 in the piggy-bank.

Back to Furreed, and his most recent venture, Claimwise (UK) Ltd. Launched three days before Christmas just past. Four directors; Furreed, a younger man of the same name, perhaps his son, plus his regular partners, John and Williams.

The younger Furreed has a real estate company, JFurreed Property Network Ltd, formed in August last year. And just before Christmas he started up JFurreed Holdings Ltd.

So . . . after the most recent accounts for Consumer Energy Solutions, and before it was announced that the company had gone belly-up, ∼£25,000,000 appeared in the accounts of companies run by the three individuals who’d been directors of CES, and another company that was transferred to Nick Pritchard.

Companies that had virtually, or even literally, nothing before these windfalls.

You can draw your own conclusions on these rags to riches stories.

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CAIRNGORM CAPITAL PARTHERS AND THE ‘LAST MAN STANDING’

Earlier I wrote, “These companies are all owned by Dragon 2023 Topco Ltd, which is in turn owned by Cairngorm Capital Partners LLP, part of the Cairngorm Capital group of Edinburgh“.

But as the website tells us:

Cairngorm Capital is a specialist private equity firm providing investment capital, strategic insight and sector-specific expertise to leading UK companies. We invest in private mid-market companies that have the potential for further substantial growth.

Which suggests that Cairngorm can act as a conduit between investors looking for “companies that have the potential for further substantial growth” and companies that fit the bill and need investment.

And that might be the case with Consumer Energy Solutions and the linked companies in the group. But if so, then where might the money be coming from to begin with?

After doing work like this for a few years I’ve noticed that ‘background’ companies will often have a representative serve as a director and/or a senior officer within the company invested in to keep an eye on things.

With the retrofitting group we’re looking at, we saw Cairngorm Capital LLP had its representatives in the forms of Matt Anstead, former managing director, and Andrew Steele, managing partner.

Steele succeeded Anstead on the board of holding company Dragon 2023 Topco Ltd just before Anstead left to join Benoil Services Ltd.

When we look at who’s left in the companies subordinate to the Topco, we see one name, the sole director, and that name is Robert Benjamin Nathaniel Brodie. So it’s worth asking if Brodie might be representing someone else. And if so, then who?

One possibility – and admittedly I’m flying a kite here – is the company he left in March 2024, Ensera UK Bidco Ltd. Which for some reason is not listed in his Linkedin page.

This company is owned by Stark UK Topco (Guernsey) Ltd, owner of Jewson, the builders supplier. Which is where it gets a bit messy. For Google AI tells us:

Stark UK Topco (Guernsey) Ltd is part of the larger Stark Group, a major building materials distributor, and is ultimately owned by CVC Capital Partners Fund VII, a global private equity firm that acquired the STARK Group in 2021. CVC manages investments for various global institutions, including pension plans, meaning it’s owned by many investors worldwide. 

And there seems to be little doubt about it. “Fund VII will have over €16 billion of equity capital available to invest. It is the largest European fundraising on record.”, says Simpson Thacher.

Though there has been the odd hiccup.

We are clearly dealing with major investors. And serious money.

But the point is that Brodie was tied up with this lot, then joined the retrofitting companies we’re looking at. So let’s look at when Brodie joined the companies that were out in the field, as it were, doing the work. Which excludes the ‘Dragon’ companies. (Click on date for details.)

In all these companies he is now the sole director. After leaving Ensera UK Bidco Ltd, ultimately owned by CVC Capital partners Fund VII, on March 22, 2024.

Diversity Network Holdings Ltd 28.05.2024.

Advance Energy Services Ltd 28.05.2024.

City Energy Facilities Management Ltd 28.05.2024.

Simply Electric Metering Ltd 28.05.2024.

City Training Group Ltd 28.05.2024.

Consumer Energy Solutions Ltd 31.05.2024.

City Energy Network Ltd 24.06.2024.

Heatforce (Wales) Ltd 01.07.2024.

Still clutching the string of my ever-so-pretty kite . . . Robert Benjamin Nathaniel Brodie could be representing those behind CVC Capital Partners Fund VII, who’ve been investing in these Welsh companies through Cairngorm Capital Partners LLP.

If I’m wrong, then why did Brodie get involved in the first place, and why is he the last man in the wheelhouse when everybody else has abandoned these sinking ships?

UPDATE 20.01.2026: A fresh comment to my earlier post on these companies suggests that getting involved with Cairngorm often results in going bust. So I checked. And it’s true. Here’s what I put out on X.

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WHAT ELSE IS NEW?

Earlier I mentioned Nicholas Pritchard, Bangor City ultra, businessman. To help you appreciate what a busy boy he’s been, I compiled a list of companies he’s been involved with for the piece I put out last month. Here it is.

There have been a few developments.

When writing last month’s piece I was particularly intrigued by Pritchard’s involvement with the company Quidos of Bath which, as you’ll see from the image below, provides both training and accreditation.

Some might think that a company wanting to take advantage of government schemes, and then send out untrained – but ‘accredited’ – operatives to do sub-standard work, would find a company like Quidos attractive.

There is now a long list of Quidos companies, some even giving Welsh addresses. Such as Quidos AI Ltd, Quidos Capital Ltd, Quidos Facilities Ltd, and Quidos Protect Ltd. These new companies or acquisitions were launched, or changed name, less than a year ago.

Control is often exercised through Quidos Holdings, or another Pritchard company giving an Essex address, where Quidos Group Ltd is based. Just look at who’s funding Quidos Group – Pritchard himself and View 2 Investments Ltd.

The latter, a company set up in October 2024, is due to be struck off by Companies House for not filing a confirmation statement.

Think about it . . . View 2 Investments, set up 29.10.2024, is lending money to another Pritchard company, Quidos Group, formed April 2024, and giving a Romford, Essex address, to buy substantial semi-detached properties in Holyhead!

Another Pritchard company giving an Essex address is Hathaway House Holdings Ltd.

In the address given for a number of Pritchard companies you will have seen the name ‘Bodlondeb’ a few times. This is the fine old council building in Conwy, now leased to Quidos Investments Ltd.

I wonder what Pritchard has planned for the old pile?

Enough! I’m going giddy.

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CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Let’s think again about the 25 million quid we looked at earlier; will Furreed, John, Williams and Pritchard really be keeping it, or is it going somewhere else? Maybe after they’re taken their cut?

And let’s not forget they have shares.

The three CES directors were paying themselves big salaries, and also paying CES money into their private companies. It was probably the same throughout the group. And “close family members” were recruited as “subcontractors“.

But beyond the financial, there are other considerations.

Not least, the customers left in the lurch. With shoddy work that needs fixing, or jobs that have simply been left unfinished. Disgruntled customers even have a website. Here’s how it reported ‘The Collapse of Consumer Energy Solutions‘.

One homeowner with whom we are in contact felt forced to sell their home after the devastating impact of a CES install. Another was moved into a care home pending restoration of their heating. And another family with an ill child claims to have been temporarily rehoused by their local authority

We’ve looked at the possible role of Quidos in training and accrediting those who worked for CES. But what about TrustMark, which seems to be funded and owned by the very companies it should be monitoring?

And local authorities that put companies like CES on their ‘Approved’ list? We know that Ahmud Saleem Furreed is a Labour party donor in the Merthyr Tydfil & Aberdare constituency, are there other political connections?

The reason for the collapse of CES and the other companies is almost certainly the impending end of the ECO4 scheme, scheduled for March 31. With so much public money having been allocated, there should be a forensic investigation of whether the money was well spent.

Seeing as we’ve been looking at Welsh companies that operate across the UK, and have gained a bad reputation, for themselves and for Wales, it should be a matter of concern for our politicians. And our media.

But our politicians are virtue-signalling clowns who spend most of their time trying to outdo each other in Wokery. While our media regurgitates their vapid utterances, trying to make us believe such laughable posturing will do anything to improve the real world we poor mortals inhabit.

There should now be a thorough investigation into what went wrong with CES and associated companies. But it won’t happen. There may be attempts to put right the botched work, the unfinished jobs – which will use up more public money.

But otherwise, there’ll be little more than hand-wringing and platitudes.

That’s due to the fact that too many of those who should have been monitoring the activities of these companies, protecting the public interest, were either negligent, or complicit.

Because that, gentle reader, is the state we’re in.

♦ end ♦

© Royston Jones 2026

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Here We Go Again!

On By JacIn Globalism26 Comments

For all sorts of bizarre and complicated reasons I thought I’d lost my blog. But after a few frustrating days over New Year I finally managed to salvage it. So here’s bit of a ramble to kick off 2026.

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TONY BLAIR, EDUCATOR

Some of you were a bit confused by the clip I used to accompany notice of this piece. I’m referring now to what I put up last Thursday on X. What you see below. Let me explain.

You may remember that about 30 years ago prime minister Tony Blair decided that 50% of young people should have the opportunity of higher education. What a wonderful idea! No, not really. Not when you think about.

To achieve this target A level grades and university entrance standards were lowered. Polytechnics became universities. And with the massive expansion of higher education people were taken on as tutors and lecturers who just weren’t up to the job.

Inevitably, academic standards fell. But that didn’t matter. Because the expansion of higher education was done for reasons that could never be said out loud.

So now half the 18+ population was rounded up and penned in to be ‘informed’, ‘influenced’ or, if we’re to be honest – brainwashed. To be brought around to a certain way of thinking and looking at the world.

That was the main reason for the expansion of higher education. And there’s nothing new in this. As this post on X from a few days ago reminded us.

The alternative was to have them leave school and get a job, where they’d work with people who’d experienced life, and held too many of the ‘wrong’ views. The real world, where they might settle down, have children . . .

But the UK economy can never provide jobs for a 50% graduate population. Maybe somewhere like Singapore can do it, or countries with expanding economies, even Gulf states where menial jobs and manual labour are for fixed-contract foreign workers.

But not the UK.

Which meant that at the end of their three years at university young people emerged having studied Racism and Patriarchy in The Simpsons, or Theoretical and Applied Marxism, expecting £70,000 a year (to start), a nice pad, and an endless round of Glasto and dinner parties with enlightened beings such as themselves.

So when they ended up stacking shelves at Tesco they was mighty pissed off.

Those who did find jobs paying reasonable salaries very often found those jobs with NGOs, ‘charities’, pressure groups, third sector bodies, or in politics. Making nothing, generating no wealth, creating no jobs, and adding nothing to society.

But associating with people sharing and reinforcing their ‘values’. And building bubbles insulated from the common herd and the real world this underclass inhabited.

All paid for with someone else’s money. Usually yours, through government funding. Cos decolonising them hateful Welsh cakes don’t come cheap.

Which resulted in the UK (and other Western countries) having a large segment of the younger population poorly educated, devoid of any practical skills, with nothing to offer an employer – but politically brainwashed.

Young people animated by feelings of moral and intellectual superiority, even narcissism, but feeling cheated and resentful because their talents are not properly rewarded by the world into which they’ve graduated.

For them, the reason for their lack of recognition in a declining economy and an increasingly fractured society had nothing to do with their own limitations – it was all the fault of the evils they’d been taught to watch out for and to combat.

Giving the Globalists and their Marxist allies the foot-soldiers needed to further the economic decline and the social divisions desired in order to bring about the demise of Western civilisation.

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MAKING WAVES

Something I put out on X last week got a lot of hits, about 35k at the time of writing, so, after some digging, I’m going to expand on it.

First, let me say I’m indebted to the source that sent me the information that set me to digging. I won’t mention names, but you know who you are, so thank you.

What my source picked up was that a company based in Cornwall had received over £2 million from our wonderful, and self-styled, ‘Welsh Government’. To be exact, two million and one pounds. Here’s the clip I was sent.

You’ll see that the name of the company is Inyanga Marine Energy Group Ltd. Naturally, I went to the Companies House (CH) website and looked into the filings for this outfit. Here’s the entry.

Despite the front page describing the company as ‘Active’, it does in fact file as dormant. Wi’ nowt in t’kitty. Though in fairness, the most recent filing is for 2024. Though it suggests that empty coffers is not a new thing.

Seeing as we’re looking into wave energy it seems appropriate to describe this company as a shell. An empty shell.

Here’s a list of Inyanga shareholders. No mention of ‘WG’, and no names I recognise.

Despite this state of inactivity there is a website. And the company has had coverage in the media. That report I linked to in the Falmouth Packet says:

Inyanga Marine Energy Group, based in Penryn, has tasked Hutchinson Engineering with constructing its HydroWing tidal energy device.

The 20 MW HydroWing tidal energy array will be deployed at Morlais, off Anglesey in Wales

Which directs us to another company, HydroWing Ltd, giving an address in Gaerwen, Ynys Môn. Again, there is no mention of a loan from the ‘Welsh Government’. So was the two million smackeroos a grant?

Anyway, I turned to the CH filings for HydroWing Ltd. And found a further two companies of that name! The three are, in chronological order of formation: HydroWing Ltd (30.03.2017); HydroWing Tidal Projects Ltd (10.10.2022); HydroWing Tidal Projects 2 Ltd (16.04.2024).

All give their correspondence address as ‘M S Parc, Parc Gwyddoniaeth Menai, Gaerwen, Ynys Môn, United Kingdom, LL60 6AG’. Also known as Menai Science Park.

Though HydroWing is not listed as a tenant, or even a ‘virtual tenant’, yet Inyanga is. But why list as a dormant company in Cornwall when there are three HydroWing companies giving Companies House the Gaerwen address?

It gets a little more confusing (sorry!) when we try to track the ownership. The oldest HydroWing company is owned by Inyanga. The middle one by Sangoma Energy Projects Ltd of the same address. The latest by Richard James Parkinson.

Sangoma Energy Projects Ltd was formed as recently as February last year. The two directors, and owners, are Richard James Parkinson and a woman I take to be his wife.

Confused? I am.

Let’s briefly turn to the financial situation of these companies. Inyanga, as we’ve seen, files as dormant and with no cash. Here’s the statement for the oldest HydroWing at 31 January 2024. Rather uninspiring.

Here are the shareholders. Some of the same names we saw with Inyanga, with the Parkinson family well represented. But the largest shareholder, with over 1,600,000 shares, is Inyanga itself, the dormant company we started out with. Owned by Mr and Mrs Parkinson.

Based at, Unit 3 Penstraze Business Centre, Penstraze, Chacewater, Truro. Another ‘virtual office’.

The ‘middle’ HydroWing files as dormant with just £100 in the kitty.

The ‘youngest’ is too new to have filed accounts.

All the companies we’ve looked at are Private Limited Companies (as opposed to Public Limited Companies). Which raises the issue of the accounts available with Companies House being so far behind.

For Public Limited Companies normally have six months to file their accounts after the end of their accounting period. Private Limited Companies (and Limited Liability Partnerships) usually have nine months.

But for some reason the Parkinson companies have twelve months, and seem to take every day of it. Accounts for the three HydroWing companies using the Gaerwen address are due with CH by the end of this month.

But even so, it’s difficult to see any Welsh benefit from this money. We seem to have a family-owned Cornish company that’s realised how much money is available in Wales by pushing the right planet-saving buttons.

For to refer back to the piece in the Falmouth Packet . . .

The foundation frame will be partly constructed at Hutchinson Engineering’s factory in Cheshire, with final construction taking place quayside in Wales.

That’s this company. Owned, via Modernuser Ltd, by Dean Drinkwater. A man mighty ‘close’ to Labour – and a fan of both Starmer and Miliband!

The more I dug into the two million quid gift (from us), and its recipients, the more of a rodenty sort of smell assailed the delicate nostrils of my fine – and oft remarked-upon – Roman nose.

There is summat not right here. Looking forward now to reading the next accounts.

◊

MEANWHILE, ACROSS THE POND

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, or relying on mainstream media for news, you’ll know that over in the USA the arrangement between the Globalists, their Democrat party puppets, and their corrupt immigrant allies, is being blown apart.

News coming out of Minnesota makes it clear that Democrat politicians at the highest levels encouraged Somali fraudsters to steal billions from federal funding with all manner of scams. With much of the money going back to Somalia to fund the Islamist terrorists of Al Shabab, even being flown out of Minneapolis-St. Paul airport in suitcases stuffed with cash!

At the rate of a million dollars a day!

The rest of the loot went on luxury homes, jewellery and Rolls Royces for the fraudsters; with millions more going into the campaigns of the Democrat politicians who’d encouraged and covered up the theft.

With some of the loot I’m sure going to ActBlue, the Democrats machine for funding the ‘spontaneous’ protests we see across the USA.

Minnesota is just the tip of the iceberg. The situation is even worse in California, New York City, Chicago, Michigan, and other places.

Where do the Globalists fit into this picture?

What we see with the widespread abuse of federal funding in the USA, linked with Net Zero deindustrialisation and open borders, is part of the wider agenda to wreck Western economies and societies. To impose decline and encourage despair. To the point of total collapse; when the Globalists will step in to ‘save’ us all with Digital ID, CBDC, censorship, curfews . . .

Fortunately, the Trump administration is taking action.

Of course, the left shouts ‘Racism!‘ and ‘Islamophobia!‘, because whether it’s women with penises or polar bear numbers, the left is averse to facts.

The mainstream media either ignores the story or else targets the messengers, such as twenty-two-year old Nick Shirley.

But this exposure has resonated across America, and is doing the Democrats great harm. Because if you’re a hard-working, tax-paying citizen; black, white or Hispanic, US born or an immigrant through the correct channels, you know you pay too much tax, and when you see that money being ripped off like this, you get angry.

The Democrats were tanking in the polls before these videos went viral, before the evidence emerged, before Minnesota Governor Tim Walz announced he was pulling out of the gubernatorial race; and so only ballot rigging in the states they still control can save the party from complete wipeout in this year’s mid-term elections.

That the Trump administration understands how the Globalists operate was evidenced by a measure introduced recently that’s had little coverage in the Mainstream media. What a surprise!

Family homes for hard-working, tax-paying, US citizens. How it used to be.

Take 15 minutes to hear in the video below what else Trump is doing to loosen the Globalist grip on the USA. For him it’s about sovereignty, freedom from international bodies that restrict nations’ ability to serve their national interests, and their peoples.

Who can disagree?

It’s done through international ‘agreements’, corruption, money-laundering, and support for, and from, some very unpleasant – but useful or compliant – ‘leaders’.

The Globalists want total control and ownership of everything you think you own, or might want to own. Which explains why BlackRock and other ‘asset managers’ are buying up private homes.

And who do you think will be getting those homes? Well, the future is already playing out in the Globalist colony of Ireland.

You remember what the World Economic Forum (WEF) promised us: “You’ll own nothing, and be happy“. Well, it’s a-comin’.

But only if we allow it.

By happy coincidence the head man at the WEF now is Larry Fink, who just happens to be the CEO of BlackRock. (What are the chances of that happening by accident!)

You must remember Larry, he was over in London not long after his creature Starmer was – for reasons that will ever elude me – elected to manage the UK on the Globalists’ behalf. What a welcome he had!

He came just after, or maybe it was just before, ‘Dr’ Bill Gates of Covid vaccine fame.

Having received his orders to run down and destabilise the UK, to remove freedoms, and to favour certain groups, Starmer has spent the last year or so obeying.

He may even subscribe to the Globalist agenda, but just in case . . . they’ve got the goods on him. And it’s much more than three Ukrainian rent boys, duckie.

Fundamental to the Globalist agenda of destabilising and undermining the West is anti-white racism. This will take many forms. A favourite is to demand ‘reparations’ by pretending that only white people ever practised slavery. Or that only white people were ever colonialists. To disprove both I suggest a cursory study of Islam.

But then, the Globalists are in league with Islam. And Marxism.

That insane ideology that has always failed in practice and is now reduced to an intellectual exercise in the avoidance of truth and reality for embittered losers in academia and elsewhere. But whose suicidally empathetic devotees can be relied on to march with placards and slogans (both ready-made) attacking the institutions of Western civilisation.

So thank God for Trump and the USA.

But as I keep telling you, the rolling back of Globalist plans in the USA means that the focus turns to Europe. And that includes Wales. You think I exaggerate? Just look at the muppets in the Senedd, and then image 36 more of them in May! Or look at the quality of our MPs.

Both virtue signalling SMs and posturing MPs are interested in anything but the real world concerns of 90% of Welsh people. Just feigning interest before elections.

◊

CONCLUSION

I’m coming around to the way of thinking that says the system we live under is too corrupt, too far gone, to be reformed. Too many institutions from the monarchy down have been captured.

We need a complete change. We need a revolution. From the bottom up. For the working class is the last redoubt of patriotism and common sense. (Which explains why it’s now reviled by Marxists.)

I’m not suggesting guillotines, firing squads, or violence of any kind. Just turning our backs on the existing system. Refusing to participate in the charade of electoral politics, rejecting corrupted authority, and creating alternative structures and systems.

As might be done by the population of an occupied country in which the elite had thrown in its lot with the occupier.

The alternative is to let Larry Fink and his mates win, and let their ‘progressive’ puppets introduce you to the joys of twenty-first century, hi tech serfdom.

♦ end ♦



© Royston Jones 2026

Nadolig 2025

On By JacIn Plaid Cymru, Senedd, Welsh Labour53 Comments

Happy Christmas to all those who’ve supported this blog through another year. And may next year be good for you. I suspect 2026 could be a big year, both in Wales and the world. So buckle up!

My priority for 2026 is to persuade those who are clearly deserting Labour that Plaid Cymru is the wrong option. To make people understand that if Labour is the frying pan, then Plaid Cymru is the fire.

Plaid is now so off the wall with its Wokeism that it makes the most indoctrinated student sound rational; while its anti-white racism outdoes BLM, and its anti-Western rhetoric would gain approval from the maddest of mad mullahs.

While the party’s attacks on ‘ethno-nationalism’ undermine its raison d’être.

Plaid is at the point where, compared to the lunacies uttered by Liz Saville-Roberts, Sioned Williams and others, the old-fashioned Marxist wittering we get from Leanne Wood sounds almost coherent.

The message: Anyone who thinks Plaid Cymru would be an improvement on Labour in any way needs to be introduced to reality. Starting January 2nd.

♦ end ♦

© Royston Jones 2025

Tidings Of Unease And Foreboding

On By JacIn Globalism, Russia25 Comments

This is the last posting of 2025. I just wish I could be more optimistic. But the lunatics have taken over the asylum and it looks like they might burn it to the ground.

◊

WAY BACK WHEN . . .

As he left office in January 1961 outgoing US President Dwight D Eisenhower (R) warned against what he called the “military-industrial complex” (MIC).

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes.

Eisenhower’s successor was Democrat John Fitzgerald Kennedy. For failing to use US troops for an invasion of Cuba, and for refusing to sanction the war the MIC wanted in Vietnam, JFK was assassinated.

Kennedy said many things. But let’s remember that he wanted to, ” . . . splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the winds”.

For by the early 1960s the Central Intelligence Agency had become a law unto itself, allied with the MIC; free of political oversight, forming its own foreign policy, and acting independently both at home and overseas.

Perhaps they got a taste for it in 1953, when they helped MI6 overthrow the democratically-elected nationalist prime minister in Persia, Mohammad Mosaddegh. Handing all power to the Western puppet whose excesses led to the 1979 revolution and the return of Ayatollah Khomeini.

Interestingly, that revolution saw socialists and Islamists combine to overthrow the Shah. The comrades were soon gobbled up by the tiger they were riding.

To explain . . . the military-industrial complex is an alliance of US corporations involved in the production of armaments and other military necessities aligned with with gung-ho generals (aka ‘The Pentagon’) and the agency that is supposed to monitor and counter overseas threats to the US homeland.

The collective term often used is the ‘Deep State’.

For these people, and as Tom Paxton sang in Daily News:

Ban the bombers are afraid of a fight
Peace hurts business and that ain’t right

At its simplest; war is good for corporate business, it wins gongs for generals and admirals, while sociopaths in Langley VA can bring about the next war through false flag operations, propaganda, or whatever. Or they can while away the hours organising regime change hither and yon.

We see them exposed in Kubrick’s 1964 masterpiece Dr Strangelove: Brig Gen Jack Ripper, good ole boy Maj ‘King’ Kong (who unforgettably rides the bomb), Col ‘Bat’ Guano, Gen ‘Buck’ Turgidson.

◊

THE WORLD TURNS UPSIDE DOWN

The military-industrial complex was largely a creature of the political right, as was the CIA. Democrats, and liberals more generally, opposed their machinations.

But as the USA suffered financial crises, moved factories overseas, the once-mighty auto industry struggled against foreign competition, with the advent of computers and the internet, the face of American capitalism changed. And with it, political influence.

We had a new generation of multi-billionnaires, many of whom can fairly be described as geeks, but with the power to influence the thinking of the masses. This was coupled with the rise of hedge funds and asset managers, who made nothing, they just invested other people’s money to enrich themselves and gain immense political power.

Without getting in over my head, or risk being called a conspiracy theorist, the Deep State soon realised the power of the new media and the new money. And began co-operating with both.

But there was a slight problem. The geeks and others tended be more liberal in their outlook than the CEO of arms manufacturer Kill All Commie Bastards Inc. They gravitated towards the Democrats rather than towards the Republicans.

I believe there was an uncomfortable accommodation with the new oligarchy that saw the Deep State become for a period bi-partisan, and now, bizarrely, closer to the Democrats than the Republicans.

In fact, those in Donald Trump’s administration talk openly of dismantling the Deep State, defunding it’s money-laundering NGOs and other agencies, and putting an end to the ‘forever wars’ on which the military-industrial complex thrived for decades.

Perhaps even doing away with ‘The Fed‘. Which was set up by bankers to serve bankers. Now Trump wants the US economy to serve the people by concentrating on the ‘real’ economy.

What a novelty!

Big Money is not happy. That includes the City of London. Explained in this video.

Then again, considering that the Deep State sought to imprison him, perhaps even assassinate him, you can understand why Trump’s not too well disposed towards it.

Because the internet is global, and so is money, the new elite often sees a world without borders. Through this mindset, plus their co-operation with supranational bodies like the UN, WEF, Club of Rome, they attracted the soubriquet ‘Globalists’.

The Deep State can go along with this because while Microsoft or BlackRock want to unite the human race like that old Coke advert, they remain US corporations, extending US influence.

◊

THE NEW ALLIANCE IN OPERATION

The Deep State-Globalist alliance now extends its malign influence across the Western world; done through converting/subverting elites, funding educational establishments, buying media, and thereby corrupting countries.

When BlackRock CEO Larry Fink visited London last year to give Starmer and his crew their orders he was presented as a successful businessman, and a ‘good guy’; as opposed to Trump and his associates who – thanks to a media largely controlled by Fink and his ilk – are the bad guys, the ‘far right’, even fascist.

For as we are reminded after every Islamist atrocity – by that same media – the biggest terror threat to the West comes from ‘far right extremism’.

The next element to join the Deep State-Globalist march to ultimate power was the left. Feeling low after the collapse of the Soviet bloc, and China abandoning the centralised economy model, socialists were at a bit of a loose end.

But the impulse to destroy the capitalist West, demolish churches, and unite the global proletariat remained.

Which chimed perfectly with the Globalist vision of a world controlled by them with no competing loyalties such as family, nation, or religion.

And so the most absurd ideas of the revamped left were encouraged. Women have penises, white people (particularly men) are dangerous, boys are girls and girls are boys, secure elections are racist, while religion is a pernicious evil from which mankind must be freed . . . but Islam’s just fine.

For in its assault on the West the Globalists also needed Islam, but there weren’t enough Muslims here to really pose a threat. So from 2016 or so Europe was told to open its doors to hundreds of thousands of ‘refugees’, people escaping war and persecution. (Wars often started by the Deep State.)

The same thing happened under Biden (or whoever was running the USA).

But the over-arching scam used to weaken and demoralise the West through deindustrialisation, and employed to control human behaviour, while also being used to grab land and other resources, was the ‘Climate Crisis’, and the carefully orchestrated hysteria over carbon levels in the atmosphere.

Both now exposed as utter bullshit.

◊

HOW THE EU FITS

From a Globalist perspective, the European Union represents the future model they’d like to impose on the world.

To begin with, at national level, voters are offered a ‘choice’ from establishment parties and politicians that answer to the Globalists. Parties and politicians that don’t toe the Globalist line are persecuted.

We saw this with Trump under the Biden administration, we see it Europe with Marine le Pen banned from standing for the French presidency, moves to ban AfD in Germany, the demonisation of Reform and Farage, elections and referendums being re-run from Romania to Ireland until the ‘right’ result is achieved.

Politicians from these Globalist-approved parties are elected to the European Parliament. Where they are ultimately impotent. The President of the EU Parliament since January 2022 is Roberta Metsola. You ever heard of her? Nor me.

That’s because the EU is run like the old Soviet Union. The Parliament is a talking shop. Decisions are made by the politburo, which in the EU is the Commission. Headed by the unelected Ursula von der Leyen. You’ve all heard of her.

Which means that some 450 million people are effectively ruled by one woman that nobody voted for – but she’s a loyal Globalist.

This explains why another Globalist puppet, PM Keir Starmer, who has done so much for Ukraine (especially its young ‘male models’), is taking the UK back into the EU, step by step.

Because those are his orders.

◊

BUT HOW DOES IT END?

Globalism is cornered, but far from defeated.

Having its grip on the USA loosened by President Trump, and with Latin America turning against them, it was inevitable that the Deep-State-Globalists would focus increasingly on Europe.

But this side of the Atlantic don’t look a whole lot better for them.

Their puppets are reviled, especially those leading the three major European economies. (With Italy less and less willing to obey EU diktats.) ‘Insurgent’ parties head the polls in France, Germany, and the UK. Countries in the east are in open revolt against the EU over immigration and funding for the war in Ukraine.

As the BBC reported it: “Hungary and Slovakia are known to be closer to the Kremlin.” Er, no, closer to sanity would be nearer the mark. But that’s how the media operates: join in the madness or be branded a “puppet of Putin“.

But a cornered animal is dangerous. And desperate.

For while BlackRock and others have major investments in Ukraine, the ultimate target, the whole point of this war, is to weaken and hopefully defeat, Russia. Then to seize as ‘reparations’ the vast resources of that huge country. But it’s not going to happen.

For no matter how much Western aid Ukraine has received, in funding, in armaments, military ‘advisers’, intelligence, it’s losing.

And that’s why we hear silly talk now of Russia threatening the West. To justify all-out war. But there’ll be little support from ordinary people in the West. They’ve been lied to too often; on Covid, Net Zero, DEI, open borders. They live with the results.

So the Globalists are staring at the loss of money and power.

While for Starmer, Merz, Macron, von der Leyen, and the other Globalist puppets, war has become their only hope of survival.

Their economies are collapsing, their peoples are in revolt, so war will allow them to declare martial law, impose complete censorship, cancel elections, bring in Digital ID, restrict movement, impose rationing, and make our lives even more miserable.

And by so doing usher in the age of full and untrammeled Globalist control.

But for the time being, masters and servants are so desperate that they might resort to anything to save their miserable skins. So be on your guard. Make your feelings known to the elite. And don’t believe anything the Globalist media tells you.

Russia has no intention of attacking the West. But she will respond if she’s attacked.

So don’t support a war to save Globalism and its beleaguered elites.

♦ end ♦

© Royston Jones 2025

Gilestone: It’s All About Water

On By JacIn Colonialism, Englandandwales47 Comments

Over three years ago, with ‘Gilestone: Thinking Outside The Box‘, I suggested that the ‘Welsh Government’s controversial £4.25m purchase of Gilestone farm is about the transfer of water.

Much of what follows may look, superficially, like a rehash of that earlier piece; if so, it’s because that’s unavoidable in bringing the story up to date.

But there is more evidence. Which convinces me I was right.

◊

THE BACKGROUND

We’ll start by looking at what I think are the major milestones in this saga, in the order they happened.

1/ The Thomas family, who owned Gilestone pre-2010, had problems with the (then) Brecon Beacons National Park. They felt hounded. It cost them a lot of money to fight officialdom, and resulted in them selling up in October 2010.

(A curious feature of the business was that the solicitor acting for the Park was a Julie James. Who, in May 2011, became the Labour Assembly Member for Swansea West.)

2/ Next, seemingly out of the blue, a buyer in the form of Charles Weston turned up. He bought Gilestone for £900,000 through his company Sharpness and Severn Transport Ltd, re-named CWW Farming Ltd in November 2019. (Though the title document I’ve linked to does not cover all the Gilestone land.)

(Sharpness, Bristol, Newport, and Cardiff, are the major ports on the upper Severn estuary.)

3/ In March 2018 Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water (DCWW) organised a trip to Wales for representatives of the Watershed Agricultural Council based in the Catskill Mountains of New York State. This is the body responsible for keeping the Big Apple’s water supply up to standard. This visit was reciprocated in October 2019, when a party from the Beacons visited the Catskills.

(Which meant DCWW was studying a model under which a rural catchment area supplied water to a metropolis some 100 miles away.)

4/ This link resulted in DCWW setting up the Brecon Beacons Mega Catchment (BBMC). Though apart from the change of name to Bannau Brycheiniog I can’t see much recent activity on the website. There’s been nothing on the Facebook page since July 2022 and the Twitter/X account has been closed.

Next, in May 2020, the Beacons Water Group CIC (BWG) was launched.

The Beacons Water Group was established under Welsh Water’s Bannau Brycheiniog Mega Catchment initiative (BBMC), our landscape-scale approach to safeguarding our drinking water sources now and for the future.

Among the founders we find Weston of Gilestone and his next-door neighbour across the River Usk. (Weston left BWG in October 2022.)

BWG definitely enjoys political support. As does DCWW, which seems to get a free pass from the ‘Welsh Government’ and ‘environmental’ groups when it comes to river pollution, with farmers copping all the blame. One director, Hugh Martineau, was an ‘advisor’ with Coleg Soros in Talgarth.

5/ In March 2022 the ‘Welsh Government’ bought Gilestone farm for £4.25m. The reason given was to allow the Green Man Festival to expand from its Glanusk Estate site.

OK, that’s enough background. Let’s try to put meat on the bones and get up to date with other developments and findings.

◊

FILLING IT OUT, RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

What I suggested back in October 2022 was that the key to understanding the purchase of Gilestone might lie in the proximity of, on the one side, the River Usk, and the other side, The Monmouthshire and Breconshire canal.

Even so, this in itself tells you little. For it to make sense we need to link this abundance of H2O in Wales to southern England running dry of the stuff.

And let’s remember that, in addition to the river and the canal, Gilestone is just a couple of kilometres from Llangorse Lake to the north east and the same distance from Talybont reservoir to the south west.

The reservoir already connects with the Usk very near to Gilestone. It would be relatively simple to connect the lake.

I explain this because taking water from Wales has long been a favoured option to meet the increasing shortages in southern England. Boris Johnson talked about it in 2011. Johnson’s name was invoked in August 2022 in renewed calls for a national water grid.

As Nation.Cymru put it, quoting the Daily Mail:

Senior Conservatives are floating the idea of a ‘Great Boris Canal’ named after the outgoing Prime Minister to transfer water from the north of Wales to the south of England.

Though this plan has water from Llyn Efyrnwy diverted into the river and then into the Severn just over the border. As this Guardian article from March 2023 explains.

The “Cotswold canals” mentioned must be the Thames and Severn Canal, currently being restored.

Alternatively, the water will be piped straight into the Severn. Then it will be abstracted lower down, either at Deerhurst, north east of Cheltenham, or near to Sharpness.

Which serves to remind us that Charles Weston bought Gilestone farm in the name of Sharpness and Severn Transport Ltd, based in Sharpness docks. Where the Gloucester and Sharpness canal begins, connecting with the Thames and Severn canal in Gloucester.

It seems like every which way we turn in the Gilestone saga we hit water.

Taking us further and further away from farming and music festivals.

While the plan to transfer water from Wales to southern England has been mooted for decades, one reason for increased urgency in recent years is the planned growth in the numbers of AI data centres.

But it’s not just London and the south of England affected, there are other areas that will need much more water. Such as Cambridge, where there are (somewhat vague) plans for a ‘Forest City‘ of one million people.

One of those behind the plan, while admitting that water from Wales is a serious option, fears we Welsh are a bit touchy about the subject. Us!

Maybe that’s why the talk is of using rivers and canals. Perhaps some people think we’ll be too stupid to notice.

Having mentioned AI data centres, it’s worth remembering we have them in Wales, too. Especially around Newport and Cardiff. With more planned. Let’s get back to Gilestone.

We’ve seen that the River Usk and the Monmouthshire and Breconshire canal flow over or close by the property. Both waterways then run in a southeasterly direction towards Newport and the Bristol Channel.

My original thinking was that water could be transferred in either direction, whichever best suited the purpose of the exercise at any given time. But the canal only runs to Cwmbran, and is now effectively banned from taking water from the river.

As this piece from the Brecon & Radnor Express last month explains:

Earlier this year, Natural Resources Wales imposed new restrictions on the canal’s long-standing abstraction licence from the River Usk. It means that during periods of low water, the canal is no longer permitted to draw water from the river – a supply it has relied on for more than a century.

This has affected those who rely on the canal for their livelihoods, largely in the tourism businesses. Which seems to have resulted in intervention by the ‘Welsh Government’ with what looks like compensation.

With £5m announced in July. And what appears to be further funding announced earlier this month.

It seems clear that the flow of water in the Usk is a priority, and must be safeguarded.

◊

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

Earlier I said that Charles Weston of Sharpness & Severn Transport had turned up at Gilestone out of blue. Perhaps I made him sound like a wraith appearing from nowhere. Which would be misleading.

Because before buying Gilestone Weston had, in 2004, bought 182 acres at Tan-y-fedw, south of Sennybridge. This sits on Afon Crai, which runs into the reservoir a few kilometres south.

And as AI Overview says of the reservoir: ” . . . much of its water is diverted to the Swansea Valley, while the remainder flows down to meet the Usk”.

Four years later he bought 76 acres at Allt-fechan, a couple of kilometres north west of Brecon. This holding stands on Ysgir Fechan, which runs into Afon Ysgir, which runs a few more kilometres into . . . the Usk.

Having received its orders from London the ‘Welsh Government’ plays its loyal part in this scheme. We see politicos, DCWW, and Natural Resources Wales, all working towards the objective . . . without being able to say what they’re really up to.

With the ‘environmental’ lobby chipping in. Remember Gail Davies-Walsh, former employee of DCWW, now of front organisation Afonydd Cymru, which shields the water company from criticism by blaming farmers for all river pollution?

Re-acquaint yourself with Gail by scrolling down in this piece from three years ago. Read her contribution to this article from March this year.

In the very same building in Talgarth where Afonydd Cymru is based we find the cross-border Wye and Usk Foundation, with its staff of 34 and its considerable income. Roughly half the grant money comes from that generous old soul, “Other“.

Ah! sweet Talgarth. Home of that noted and venerable seat of learning – Coleg Soros.

∼

Finally . . . We know there’s a plan to take water from Llyn Efyrnwy, into the Severn, and then, via pipe and canal, to the Thames. I believe there’s a wider plan that includes the Usk, Wye, and other sources. And this may be where Gilestone fits.

It would be relatively simple to connect Usk and Wye to the plan shown above. It would then be a multi-source option less likely to draw attention and criticism. For as Severn Trent is keen to stress (my emphasis):

This will be using water that is currently taken from Vyrnwy and occasionally redistributed elsewhere.  No additional water will be taken from Wales.

This, “some from here, some from there” approach, with no valleys drowned, will avoid another Tryweryn.

And seeing as Usk and Wye are within Dŵr Cymru’s territory, it explains the Catskills connection, Mega Catchment and Beacons Water Group. Why else would DCWW study how a hilly rural area supplies water to a metropolis 100 miles away?

Another factor worth considering is flooding. The existing wind farms on hills above the Severn and its tributaries cause greater run-off of rainwater, increasing the risk of flooding. With more windfarms planned, this risk will only increase.

So taking water from the Severn could also serve a flood prevention purpose. Though this is unlikely to be admitted, and never linked to wind turbines.

The wider plan I’m suggesting would also explain the quasi-sacred status given to the Wye by writers like George Monbiot, and bodies such as the Wye & Usk Foundation and Afonydd Cymru. For no other river in Wales gets this attention.

Whatever the details, it’s clear that Wales is to supply water to southern England. Much of it from resources in Wales owned by Severn Trent of Coventry.

But Wales won’t get paid a penny.

Ain’t devolution wonderful!

♦ end ♦

© Royston Jones 2025

‘Corruption Bay’ Living Up To Its Name?

On By JacIn Climate, Colonialism, Development Bank of Wales, Labour Party36 Comments

This is a big post, in two ways. First, because there’s a lot of money involved. And second, because an incredible claim I stumbled upon throws up a very disturbing possibility.

◊

HITTING THE BIG TIME (REVISITED)

In July I wrote about companies in south east Wales being bought out and having lots of money pumped into them. You’ll find it here; ‘Saving The Planet – The Globalist Way!’.

These companies are involved in, “energy efficiency“; which means ‘retrofitting’ homes with solar panels, cavity wall insulation, heat pumps, loft insulation, that kind of thing.

They’re all linked under the holding company Dragon 2023 Topco Ltd. From the most recent accounts submitted to Companies House here’s a list of the companies owned.

And here’s my table of the interlinked companies and individuals involved, in pdf format with working links. (And helpful notes!)

The majority shareholding in Dragon 2023 Topco lies with Cairngorm Capital Partners LLP of Edinburgh. Part of the Cairngorm group of companies. Dragon 2023 Topco’s directors are: Robert Brodie; Chris McLain; Andrew Steel, managing partner of Cairngorm Capital Partners LLP; and Jonathan Neale.

Steel is also named as the controlling interest.

Another key player is, or was, Matt Anstead, managing director of Cairngorm Capital Partners LLP. Below is a clip from Anstead’s Linkedin page.

You’ll see Anstead joined Cairngorm around the time they took over the Welsh companies. Was he brought in for that job? And was the takeover funded with three loans in 2024 from Metro Bank?

Funding to the companies themselves comes from Alter Domus, a company registered in Luxembourg, that seeks ‘alternative investments’, and was recently taken over itself by another private equity firm Cinven.

What’s really behind it is, as ever, money. Local companies expand thanks to the UK government ECO4 scheme, making them attractive to bigger fish; while also offering opportunities for others to profit from investing in these companies and then claiming to be saving the planet in some way.

There are obviously pay-offs for those who’ve been previously involved in the companies, and of course jobs are created; but as ever – this being socialist Wales – the real money leaves the country.

I make that point because, as you should know by now, I support the capitalist model, and I have no objections to profits being made. But as a Welshman, and a nationalist, it pisses me off to see the profits leave Wales.

Wasn’t devolution supposed to improve things?

Before pushing on maybe I should remind you that July’s post was in two parts. One dealt with the companies taken over by Cairngorm Capital; the other with companies in the same area, and the same line of business, that were taken over by Buckthorn Partners LLP of Jersey.

Maybe I’ll return to this second lot another day.

◊

NICK PRITCHARD

Now we’re going to look at another man with a role in (he certainly benefitted from) the takeovers we just looked at. Though it’s not always easy to figure it out.

If the name rings a bell, it might be because Pritchard appeared in a Nation.Cymru article a few weeks back written by Martin ‘Shippo’ Shipton. It recounted Pritchard’s conviction in 2010 for growing cannabis, or providing premises where it might be grown.

So why bring it up now? Because Pritchard is associated with Reform UK, and may wish to stand for the UK parliament. This interest in his past is another sign of the desperate establishment that recently sent down Nathan Gill for something he said in 2018, and is now hunting for people Nigel Farage might have thrown milk over in kindergarten.

All done because the Globalist elite, and the political and media establishments they control, are getting worried by the rise of the ‘far right’ across the Western world. And so, as a mouthpiece for the Corruption Bay Uniparty, Nation.Cymru must get stuck in . . . or risk losing its ‘Welsh Government’ funding.

That said, Nick Pritchard is an interesting character; he seems to be a bit of a Jack the Lad, always looking for ways to make money. Nothing wrong with that as long as you stay on the sunny side.

But things never seem to be simple with Pritchard. Take this piece from Ideas Fest promoting his appearance at some event next year (my highlighting):

In 2013, Nick founded City Energy Network, an innovative energy efficiency consultancy based in Cardiff. The company specialises in the full retrofit journey from initial consultation to the implementation of the renewable measures recommended, his group of companies plan, and installs energy efficiency and low carbon measures for both homes and businesses and also specialises in Local Authority large scale projects.

But it makes no sense.

For a start, City Energy Network Ltd (CEN) was formed in 2011, but Pritchard’s name never appeared as a director or a shareholder. Perhaps because, Pritchard, sent down in 2010 for three-and-a-half years, would have been in prison when CEN was formed.

And what’s included in “the group of companies“?

Seeing as 2013 is mentioned by Ideas Fest, Pritchard may have been represented by one or both of Nicola Vaughan and Michelle Roberts, who became CEN directors 31.01.2014.

But even after he was released from prison I’m fairly sure Pritchard would have been disqualified from acting as a director for a few years. If he was operating through Roberts and / or Vaughan at CEN then “proxy management” is a criminal offence.

Coinciding with the arrival of Roberts and Vaughan all 100 CEN shares were transferred to Diversity Network Holdings Ltd (DNH), which Roberts and Vaughan had joined 28.01.2014. Pritchard didn’t become a director until April 2020.

A declaration dated 28.01.2015 shows the 100 DNH shares now distributed thus:

Though Pritchard did join Diversity Network Ltd 14.05.2012, which might have been not long after he was out of prison. And surely disqualified? Also directors were Michelle Roberts and Shelley Roberts.

There are other anomalies I could point out. Check names, DoB, dates.

When he was sent to prison Pritchard was reported to be in the “lettings business” in Bangor and other parts of north west Wales. He’s from Bangor, passionate about the local football club, he serves on the city council, so how and why did he get involved with companies in a totally different line of business at the opposite end of the country?

Hoping to make sense of it on a wet night with no football on the telly, I compiled a list of the companies Pritchard’s been involved with. Here it is, with the company name serving as a hyperlink.

You’ll see three company names in yellow blocks. These are also found in the previous table I linked to, showing the companies taken over by Cairngorm Capital. His past involvement with these companies perhaps accounts for Pritchard’s sizeable share allocation in holding company Dragon 2023 Topco Ltd.

You’ll see other individuals there with sizeable shareholdings. All have been involved with the companies we’re looking at. And Ahmud Saleem Eamon Furreed is a Labour party donor. (There may be other donors.)

Obviously, companies doing the kind of work we’re looking at need a stamp of approval, some accreditation. From a company like Quidos of Bath. And as you can see if you scroll down on that link, you have to pay for it.

But Pritchard now seems to own Quidos through year-old Quidos Holdings Ltd!

It could make life easier when you’ve got big stakes in companies ‘retrofitting’ and you also own a company that’ll give them a certificate to put up on the office wall saying they know what they’re doing.

Though many would disagree. Such as those involved with this website. Or those who gave these reviews to a company that’s among the clutch bought up by Cairngorm.

And we’ve all heard tales of cavity wall insulation resulting in damp and other horrors. I could tell you my own story.

You might have noticed that in some of his most recent business ventures Pritchard has been joined by celeb economist Dylan Jones-Evans.

What the hell is that about?

◊

WHERE IT GETS WEIRD

While researching this article I stumbled upon a remarkable letter addressed to Paul Davies AS/SM, in his capacity as chair of the Senedd Economy, Trade and Rural Affairs Committee.

It gets included in this piece because I’m convinced there’s a connection to what you’ve just read. Anyway, here’s the (redacted) letter. I urge you to read it carefully and consider what it alleges.

After reading it I last Monday I e-mailed Paul Davies asking what had happened to the complaint. Here’s his response. (The links don’t work as there’s an issue with linking to pdf docs created from e-mails.)

So here’s the link to the report on the DBW he references (Section 9).

I asked if I could use his response and he agreed.

I would have tried to contact the complainant, but one problem was that I believe he’s moved from his original address. The other reason will be given later.

What the letter alleges is that the complainant (hereinafter referred to as ‘A’) came up with a good idea, and was doing quite well . . .

The company grew quickly and gained significant market traction with companies such as Sainsburys Supermarkets and BT Openreach.

But presumably needing to expand, ‘A’ in 2017 applied to Finance Wales (now Development Bank of Wales) for a loan. That’s when things started going wrong.

Not only does ‘A’ claim he had to take on “a bank-appointed expert”, and pay that ‘expert’ £150,000 pa, but . . .

Less than 1 year later, I was accused of taking “unauthorised funds” from the company’s bank account and sacked.

This happened to be just 1 month after my refusal to sell the business to BT Group.

I lost my job, my shares (approx £3.8m at that time), my patent (£13m-£17m valuation) and was forced to go bankrupt in September 2018.

Is the complainant suggesting a link between him refusing to sell up to the BT Group and the criminal charges that soon followed?

Things got even worse. ‘A’ was arrested, tried at Swansea Crown Court – but was acquitted by the jury. (Which might explain why the Labour government in Westminster wants trials without juries.)

To add insult to injury . . .

To note, after my dismissal the business was moved from Lampeter . . . where we employed up to 17 local people to Cardiff. Where they employed only 3.

After the business moved to Cardiff, both [name redacted] and [name redacted] set up new battery storage business, using my invention, and even got further funding from DBoW for these copy cat companies.

That is one hell of a story. And yet, if you think about it, the danger of such an outcome is always there. Just imagine . . .

Dai Schmuck out in the sticks comes up with a good idea, but he needs money to expand. So he goes to the Development Bank of Wales. They appoint ‘advisors’, who may move in the same circles as the bank officials who give them the gig.

The DBW admits to appointing the same favourites as ‘advisors’ again and again.

In a follow up letter to the Committee’s session with the Bank, the Chief Executive noted that it did re-appoint the same people
multiple times if it thought that person was a good match and had capacity.

Though an unscrupulous ‘advisor’ might say to himself: “Hang on, this bloke’s got a good idea – let’s nick it and make a fortune“. It’s a sweet system, but only if you’re well connected in Corruption Bay.

I could tell you more, but I’d be sticking my scrawny neck out. What I will say is that as I know the name of the company ‘A’ is referring to I can probably identify those he claims ripped him off.

From what I can see, ‘A’s allegations seem to have been kicked into the long grass. Maybe nobody in Corruption Bay wants to know the truth. Or perhaps they don’t want us to know the truth.

But the real twist is that ‘A’ is now teamed up with Nick Pritchard. And this happened soon after he started making waves with his letter to Andrew Davies.

What the hell is that about?

◊

CONCLUSION

We need an independent investigation into the Development Bank of Wales.

In particular, we need to know how it chooses ‘advisors’ for small companies needing help. We also need to know the conditions imposed on those companies. And the behaviour expected of the ‘advisors’.

But then, it’s unlikely anyone will get straight answers. Because Wales is corrupt.

All devolution has done is give Labour more chances to be corrupt, more money to squander, while also providing more opportunities for cronyism. Third sector outfits, pressure groups (closed to non-socialists), are funded to fight problems that don’t exist.

Sinecures and non-jobs for insiders proliferate.

In recent decades Labour’s joined forces with Plaid Cymru. Together, they’ve built a fortress they see as a bastion from where they combat racists, homophobes, climate deniers, Islamophobes, a white supremacist countryside, misinformation, and colonialist Welsh cakes!

In truth, it’s ‘Corruption Bay’, and its enemies are honesty and openness.

Because what they get up to must be kept secret. This explains why Corruption Bay is unique in the Western world in refusing to have a register of lobbyists. “Why do you need to know?”

But I’m forgetting Cairngorm Capital, Nick Pritchard and the rest . . . here we have a man with a ‘colourful’ past, dubious associates, now teamed up with Professor Dylan Jones-Evans, who’s often critical of the DBW. Pritchard also teamed up with ‘A’ soon after ‘A’s complaint against DBW was heard.

What the hell is that about?

Answers on a postcard please. (I will not accept diagrams or flowcharts.)

♦ end ♦

© Royston Jones 2025

Globalist Muppets Seek (Somebody Else’s) Land

On By JacIn Abergavennyshire, Climate, Colonialism, Environmentalism, Farming, Globalism, Greens, Ireland26 Comments

Over the years I’ve written about people and organisations in Wales dreaming up problems and pushing agendas with you and I expected to fund their activities through a captured political class.

In recent years, I’ve had to widen my horizons. Because it’s clear these shysters are now getting corporate funding from the USA and elsewhere. Which is often carefully ‘filtered’ to disguise the source. But always remember – He who pays the piper . . .

Which introduces the latest offering . . .

◊

THE OLD HOME TOWN LOOKS . . . WELL, DIFFERENT

Last Wednesday saw a conference in Swansea organised by an outfit claiming to be the Welsh branch of the global Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEALL). Basically, local faces hoping to fool us into thinking WEALL cares about Wales.

Much like the so-called ‘Welsh Government’. Or devolution itself.

It was held at the Swansea Building Society Arena on Oystermouth Road, which pedestrians can access over the ‘Crunchie Bar Bridge’.

To check out who was starring at this ‘Festival of Ideas’ just scroll down to ‘Speakers and Panellists’.

There was Derek Walker, the Future Generations Commissioner. A man with a first-class seat on the gravy train. And his successor at Cwmpas, Bethan Webber.

Cwmpas is the UK’s largest development agency for social enterprises and co-operatives. The organisation develops and delivers innovative programmes to support enterprise, increase employment, tackle poverty and promote inclusion.

Translated that means socialists interfering in things they know nothing about. Terrified of letting the economy be run by people who know what they’re doing because such people would be unlikely to take advice from the comrades.

They prefer socialism which, as history tells us, has always been a great success.

There was a couple at the conference from Oxfam. Assorted jobsworths from health boards and ‘Welsh Government’. A man of whom I know nowt except that he must have the whitest teeth in Gwynedd. Then there’s the ‘Welsh Government’s early warning siren for Islamophobia who runs the Kumbaya Caff in Cardiff.

Finally, Yvonne Murphy, of Omidaze Productions, which I mentioned in May last year in connection with that nest of bruvvers, the Tramshed. Though I don’t know why Omidaze needs a website, because Companies House tells us it files as dormant, with nary a penny in the kitty.

Omidaze was mentioned last year because of Murphy’s collaborator Leonora Thomson, who’d come down from London to take over the Welsh National Opera . . . and became a councillor in Cardiff. A good example of the link between the Labour party in Wales and public appointments.

But if Omidaze was Murphy’s ticket to this knees-up, then it don’t say much about the credibility of the others. Anyway, here’s the full run-down of the speakers.

I bet you’re sorry you missed it!

(‘Weall’ is someone’s play on weal, meaning well-being, as in ‘common weal’.)

◊

WHO’S WHO IN THE WELLBEING ECONOMY ALLIANCE?

Let’s first go to the Charity Commission entry for the parent body, and click on the Trustees tab, who do we see? Why, it’s Sophie Howe, Derek Walker’s predecessor as Future Generations Commissioner (and another Labour stalwart). Her entry reminds us she’s also a trustee of Coleg Soros in Talgarth.

Then trustee Professor Kate Pickett gets a mention on the Club of Rome website. (I was astonished to see such a connection.)

Pedro Tarak is an Argentine, which would normally put him in my good books, but he too has dodgy connections.

Jumping to the top of the list, as chair and co-founder of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance with Professor Pickett, we find George James Stewart Wallis. And this link explains:

Stewart Wallis served as Executive Director of the New Economics Foundation (NEF) from 2003 to 2016. Prior to coming to NEF, he worked as a development consultant at the World Bank, and the International Director of Oxfam GB. Currently he is leading a major new initiative to create a global “new economics movement” called WE All (Well-Being Economy Alliance).

Finally, Ashis Tajhya. Who is also connected with the New Economics Foundation.

Multiple organisations overlapping, interlinking, reinforcing and echoing each other’s nonsense. All soaking up money from corporations, taxpayers, or charities. But wherever it comes from it’s money that could be better spent alleviating real problems.

The real problems of the people they claim to be serving.

∼

Turning to Wales, here’s the website and the blog for what claims to be the local incarnation of this organisation. These seem to be the individuals involved.

WEALL Cymru/Wales Ltd is registered with Companies House from an address in the Swansea Uplands. One of the directors is Siân Jones, whose husband Rowland seems to be in the property business; to judge by the companies he’s involved with, and the loans from building societies and banks to buy property.

Though one company, Tirnod, is indebted to the ‘Welsh Ministers’ and also Tai Tarian (re-named NPT Homes Ltd). So is he buying property for a housing association, or for himself and then renting or leasing to the housing association?

Another of the WEALL Cymru directors is Dawn Lyle.

While the Joneses and Lyle live in Swansea, the fourth director, Stephen Priestnall, can be found in Abergavennyshire. His day job seems split between two companies he founded. One is Decision Juice, the other Oomph Ltd, both now owned by Person Centred Software Ltd.

And by following a long and tortuous trail we learn that Person Centred Software is ultimately owned by City ‘escapee’ Matthew Rourke, and Leona Campbell. Through Cow Corner Holdings Ltd, an investment company.

Cow Corner can be found in that bastion of the Greens, Brighton. For Priestnall is a former Green party candidate.

My guess is Priestnall brought WEALL to Wales through his connection with Person Centred Software and that company’s connection with NEF. But why did he recruit people in Swansea?

But forget the property dealing and the investments – it’s all about wellbeing.

◊

LAND REFORM 1

Another offering for those who’d gaily tripped over the Crunchie Bar Bridge was a meeting to discuss land reform. (I can’t believe I wrote that!)

But who, exactly, is demanding, or even debating, land reform? Are there wild-eyed yokels in your area, pitchforks raised, burning torches at the ready, demanding that you all march on the ‘Big House’.

What the hell are these people talking about?

For God’s sake, this is twenty-first century Wales, not late-nineteenth century Ireland, with the Land League defending tenants against absentee landlords.

Then again, seeing as Leanne Wood was part of this circus, maybe Russia in the 1920s would be a better analogy. I can see her now, stirring up the peasants against the kulaks. (Though I’m not sure what she knows about ‘land’.)

Just as there were those serving bigger agendas in both Ireland and Russia, so history repeats itself with ‘The Big Land Reform Debate‘ in Wales.

The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) was the organising force behind land reform in Ireland, as part of the bigger struggle for Home Rule. The Bolsheviks were behind the campaign against the kulaks, in order to facilitate collectivisation.

And so it is here in Wales. Because the objective is to grab land currently being farmed by Welsh families.

And while it was possible to sympathise with Irish tenant farmers, and Russian peasants, I find myself repulsed by faux ‘environmentalists’, vegans, rewilders, socialists, hippy farmers, and anyone calling themselves ‘progressive’.

Behind those discussing land reform in Wales, filling the role of the IRB, and the Communists, we see the Globalists. Who want that land so they can profit from wind turbines, greenwashing, tree planting or ‘natural capital‘.

And of course, with farming destroyed, they’ll also control the food supply.

And that is what ‘Land Reform’ is all about in this context. Though I worry that those attending the Swansea event may be too stupid to realise they’re being manipulated.

◊

LAND REFORM 2 (OR ‘GIMME ACCESS!’)

Also in attendance at the carnival of posturing and virtue signalling was the British Mountaineering Council (BMC). Represented by ‘Eben Myrddin Muse‘. A graduate of Cardiff University who did work placement with the ‘Welsh Government’.

Eben is also an academic researcher with Greener Edge Ltd. Another outfit run by a couple who moved from England (Kent) because the grass in Wales is greener . . . as are those running health boards, councils, and other bodies with public money to fritter away on ‘consultants’.

Anyway, here’s something of Eben’s I was sent. (From Facebook?)

I’d like to focus on a few points from the above contribution. For example, he says:

Improving Welsh communities’ access to land should be a top priority for any party seeking to lead Wales in 2026

Really! Who the hell is talking about improved access to land – is it those wild-eyed yokels again? The truth is, nobody gives a toss – apart from those who were in Swansea last week.

Just ask yourself, is it more important than the economy? The NHS? The education of our children?

Of course not. And to pretend otherwise is absolute bollocks!

What’s more, it has nothing to do with ‘Welsh communities’ being denied access to land. In order to understand what’s really behind this nonsense we must remember that young Eben was there representing the British Mountaineering Council.

And the BMC wants ‘wild camping’. Which means irresponsible buggers going onto someone else’s land, public or private, and doing what they damn well like.

Also, let me explain why the Scottish example quoted cannot work in Wales.

Wales in total is 20,779 km², but the area of Highland Council alone is 25,653 km². The Highlands has vast open spaces, grouse moors and shooting estates almost as big as a Welsh county, with much of the land owned by foreign billionaires and corporations. Wales, by comparison, a few areas excepted, is a patchwork of family-owned farms.

Another consideration is reachability. Tyne-Wear (pop 1.1 million) is the only major urban centre within three or four hours travelling time of the Highlands. Whereas Eryri and the Bannau are both within two hours or so of Merseyside (1.47 million), Greater Manchester (2.8 million), and the West Midlands (6.2 million).

With Bristol, Leeds, Sheffield, East Midlands, even London, not much further away. Altogether, that’s most of England’s population.

I’m sure you’re a tidy boy, Eben, and you mean well. So stop pushing silly agendas that work against your own people’s interests. I mean, how can you claim to care about the environment then push for wild camping with results like this?

Perhaps we can re-visit this topic after the ‘Welsh Government’ has decolonised our rural areas because, as everyone knows, the countryside is deeply racist.

◊

CONCLUSION

Socialism has always wanted to bring down the West, thanks to an absurd belief that it would raise something better from the smouldering ashes.

Countless examples proved that socialism fails. Everywhere. Every time. So it needed to rebrand itself.

Which explains why it re-emerged spouting the fresh idiocies of Wokery, and pushing the self-destructive lunacies of degrowth and Net Zero; while also preaching DEI, anti-white racism, and open borders.

All designed to achieve the old objective of bringing down the West.

As before, private property will be targeted. Whether it’s a family farm or a home you paid for 30 years to own. But it’ll be dressed up as “wellbeing” and “access“.

And this explains why Globalism allied itself with, and now directs, this revamped variant of socialism.

And that’s what last week’s conference in Swansea was really about.

♦ end ♦

© Royston Jones 2025

Riding Along On The Crest Of A Wave

On By JacIn Climate, Colonialism, Development Bank of Wales, Environmentalism, EU Funding, Welsh Government50 Comments

The title above is shared with a song I remember from my Sea Scout days. I can still smell those jumpers we had to wear. But by God, I looked good! And you should have seen my woggle!

This week’s contribution to help you understand Wales takes us down to Pembrokeshire. And a tip I received from the ever-alert Nicola Lund (@MrsLund1). It’s about a small company that seems to be doing remarkably well. Or maybe it’s folded.

Unless I get distracted and go down too many rabbit holes this should be a quickie.

◊

G’DAY, MATE

Yes, it’s an Australian company. By the name of Bombora Wave Power Europe Ltd, which has facilities in Pembroke. Here’s the website.

Consulting the Companies House entry we see it’s a one-man band, and that one man is Sam Russell Leighton. Turning to ‘significant control’ tells us ownership rests with Bombora Wave Power Pty Ltd in Australia. The company address given is a PO Box in the northern suburbs of Perth.

If we scroll down to the Certificate of Incorporation we see the UK company was originally named Bombora Europe Ltd, but the address given for Russell was an enterprise centre just south of the Swan River in Perth. The single share issued for the European entity is of course held by the Australian company.

To find out more about the holding company in Oz I went to the Australian equivalent of Companies House. Where I learnt the parent company was registered 04.07.2011.

Here’s the company document I downloaded. You’ll see there are two directors; Sam Leighton and Allyn Murray Wasley, who is still based in Perth. Directors who left the company last year include two Japanese, a Dutchman living in India, and Andrew Clive Buglas of Worcestershire.

Here’s the announcement from 2020 of Buglas becoming a Bombora director.

Confusingly, Buglas’ Linkedin page says he left Bombera in November 2022 but the company document from Australia says he left February 2024. Could be a typo, I suppose. The point is, he’s gone.

Why did so many directors leave Bombora last year?

Turning to the shares, 304,591,633 have been issued. Which is impressive. Though Leighton himself seems to be a minority shareholder. The biggest shareholders would appear to be the family of Glen Lee Ryan, who may have invented the wave power machine Leighton has been working on in Pembroke.

Here’s Ryan telling us about his invention.

Anyway, you can go through the shareholders yourself. You’ll see there’s a Welshpool in Western Australia, and the only shareholder from Wales I could see is Stepan Labounek, a Czech living in Bridgend.

The only other UK address among the shareholders is that for Enzen Ltd in Solihull. Now owned by NXZEN, with just over 73 million Bombora shares. The accounts for Enzen are almost a year overdue with Companies House. As are the accounts for NXZEN Global Ltd.

To cut a long story short, I believe NXZEN is owned, via the Glas Trust Corporation, by global equity firm Levine Leichtman Capital Partners of Beverly Hills. I find this interesting because in July Glas cropped up when I wrote about small companies in Cardiff suddenly hitting the big time in retrofitting homes with expensive equipment to save the planet.

It’s all here in Saving The Planet – The Globalist Way!

And now we see Levine Leichtman cropping up again in connection with a ‘green’ project in Wales. What a remarkable coincidence!

Apropos of nothing, Capital Law is a big firm in Cardiff that works for the self-styled ‘Welsh Government’. And as the website makes clear, Capital Law also works with the ‘Welsh Government’-owned Development Bank of Wales (DBW).

Google AI even tells us:

So I was not entirely surprised to read that Capital Law has also had some involvement with the boys from Beverly Hills.

◊

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY

Let’s go back to the (UK) Companies House documents for Bombora, and in particular, the finances, or rather, the loans. And Google AI Overview:

Bombora secured a £10.3 million European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) grant, administered through the Welsh Government, to support its Pembrokeshire Demonstration Project for the mWave wave energy converter. This funding is part of a total project investment of £17 million. 

So if that’s £10.3m from the ERDF, can we assume that the remainder of the project cost of £17m came from the ‘Welsh Government’ through the DBW? Which would be explained by the five outstanding charges, from 2019, with the DBW?

There was a further arrangement in 2022 with HSBC.

Also the £3.54 million from Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd of Japan. Which would account for the Japanese directors of the Australian parent company. But they left last year, so what does that tell us?

I checked addresses for Bombora, and found the correspondence address given is a residential property in Milford Haven. But the business premises is a rather strange-looking building in Pembroke Dock, which might be owned by the county council.

Clearly, a great deal of money has gone into Bombora. At least £20 million. Was it worth it? Are the wave energy machines Bombora produces viable? Is the company creating employment for locals?

I don’t want to sound overly negative, but I have many questions. And sometimes my doubts can be triggered in the strangest way. Let’s go back to the website to give you an example.

On the homepage, top right, we see the tab ‘News’. I always find this irresistible. So let’s click on it. There’s nothing after August 2022. Before that there were regular entries, but nothing for over three years. Why?

The whole website has a kind of ‘neglected’, not updated, look to it.

Then, in May this year, Companies House was notified that the man behind Bombora, Sam Russell Leighton, had either moved back to Australia, or perhaps had never left.

The most recent accounts show a company in debt to the tune of over £5 million.

It would be a hell of a lot more were it not for ‘Intangible assets’ of over £18.5 million. But ‘intangible’ could be anything, or nothing. I could value my ready wit and beguiling demeanour at £50 million. (And they’d be undervalued!)

It makes me fear these wave energy machines may already be at the bottom of Shit Creek rather than heralding a brave new dawn on the Cleddau.

◊

CONCLUSION

An Australian company turns up in Wales and gets the red carpet treatment.

This sort of thing happens all the time. Just give out some spiel about the environment, green energy, diversity, fascist farmers, misinformation, and some clown in Corruption Bay will respond with, “How much do you need?“.

But there’s no benefit to us from any of it. We’re just expected to feel morally uplifted while we watch out for the bailiffs.

So let’s finish with a mix of questions and observations.

If my fears are unfounded, and Bombora’s wave machines are a huge success, where will the profits go? Answer: back to the shareholders of the parent company in Australia. And of course, Levine Leichtman Capital Partners of Beverly Hills.

If the wave energy machines are a failure, who’s out of pocket? Answer: those who’ve put up money, including the Development Bank of Wales. In other words, you and me.

Which then prompts the question: how much exactly has DBW-‘Welsh Government’ given to Bombora? Similar question for Pembrokeshire County Council.

I’m not the first to wonder this. A Freedom of Information request was sent to the ‘Welsh Government’ about a year ago. Here’s the response. A similar request went to the county council. Here’s the very slippery reply.

I thought that the job of the Development Bank of Wales was to encourage the growth of Welsh businesses. So why did it fund an Australian company?

How odd that I should mention, twice in six months, Glas and owner Levine Leichtman.

How well known to each other are Levine Leichtman, DBW, and Capital Law? Mayhap they co-operated on the Bombora project? Other projects?

How many more foreign companies will be fawned over and funded before politicians, Development Bank of Wales, civil servants and others, realise the only way to achieve a healthy Welsh economy is to encourage indigenous businesses?

Of course, I’m assuming they want Wales to be an economic success. But after 26 years of the disaster that is devolution, I’m no longer sure.

♦ end ♦

© Royston Jones 2025

Don’t Go Down To The Woods Today

On By JacIn Climate, Colonialism, Corruption, Environmentalism28 Comments

Another unplanned piece, but you know what it’s like, somebody gets in touch . . . This one throws light on some major environmental scams – ‘natural capital’ and ‘carbon sequestration’ or ‘offsets’.

This means buying a few trees, or a patch of land, then, if you’re a big company, claiming you’re saving the planet by just owning it (and holding your hand out); or, if you’re a spiv, flogging off shares to the brainwashed and the stupid.

It’s difficult to think of any form of self-harm more damaging than reducing carbon levels in the atmosphere; for carbon is the gas of life, without which the planet dies, and of which more is better.

◊

WHERE WE AT?

This is about two parcels of woodland. One, Coed Rhyal (13.3 acres), near Porth Tywyn; the other, Gigrin Prysg (11.8 acres), is along the A470 just south of Rhaeadr Gwy.

Both circled in red in the maps below. (Click to enlarge.) There’s another asset in Nova Scotia, Canada. The three bought by a company called The Sacred Groves C.I.C. Here’s the Companies House entry. And the Linkedin page.

All three directors are Indian citizens living the United Arab Emirates. So obviously not local to either of these woodlands.

Before pushing on, let me stress that the company name has nothing to do with Druids. (I would know if me and the boys was involved.)

Though I must say that I don’t understand why this outfit was allowed to register with Companies House as a Community Interest Company, because I see neither community involvement nor community benefit.

Anyway, let’s delve.

◊

WHO’S WHO IN THE SACRED GROVES C.I.C.

The first director named is Monisha Krishna. The second, Vikram Krishna. I assume they’re husband and wife. Though we can’t rule out them being siblings.

As we see from Monisha Krishna’s Linkedin profile, she is also a member of the Greentech Alliance.

The Founder and CEO of this lot is Lubomila Jordanova. Linkedin tells us she’s also the founder and CEO of PlanA. Where the website advises us to:

Before setting up PlanA in 2017 Lubomila “worked in investment banking, venture capital and fintech in Asia and Europe“. She is also an Advisory Member of the European Investment Bank.

Here’s a little more about Fräulein Jordanova, from the website of a “connectivity event” to be held in Barcelona. I’ve highlighted a few bits that caught my eye. Such as:

Aligning sustainability with profitability.

Here’s Vikram Krishna’s Linkedin page, where we learn that immediately before starting up Sacred Groves he worked for the National Bank of Dubai.

Another banker! But then, banking and saving the planet are natural bed-fellows.

The third director is Achipra Sreedharan Sudhir. He works for FlyDubai, “owned by the Government of Dubai“.

Since Sacred Groves was launched, in February 2020, there have been no less than seven share issues. Here’s how the 1.25 million shares are currently distributed.

Does seven share issues in five years suggest business is brisk?

The latest accounts filed with Companies House are good for a laugh. Just look at this below. When did you last read such vacuous waffle?

Thankfully, and despite the company returning a loss of £321,458, the directors managed to pay themselves £250,000. Phew! I was so worried.

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‘SEQUESTRATION’ – OF SUCKERS’ MONEY

In fairness – and despite the heading – there are I believe two possibilities to explain what Sacred Groves is about. More on this in the next section.

Let’s return to the website, where we read:

We secure natural habitats through either direct acquisition or long-term contracts with landowners and governments, map them using geospatial imaging, and convert them using advanced analytics into virtual Sacred Groves Clusters (SGCs).

It also says, “a price of £40 for a 10-year term“, but seems to have left out, ‘per month’. And ‘minimum of’. (See below.)

So what is a “cluster“? Well, as we read on the website:

Each acre of land secured will be virtually divided into an average of 275 clusters

Which means that Coed Rhyal will produce roughly 3,658 ‘clusters’, and Gigrin Prysg some 3,245.

So how much would it cost you to invest in these ‘clusters’, or to give one as a birthday gift? And don’t forget – Christmas is coming! Well, here are the prices quoted on the website:

You could have 5 ‘clusters’ for £200 per month. Per bloody month! Assuming all ‘clusters’ are sold, Coed Rhyal will pull in for Sacred Groves £14,632 per month. Gigrin Prysg a measly £12,980.

Over a ten-year period Coed Rhyal would earn Sacred Groves £1,755,800 and Gigrin Prysg £1,557,600. A total of £3,313,400. And how much would be earned from the ‘sequestration’ and linked scams?

(Are my calculations correct? Cos maths was never my strong point.)

Though the pricing is rather strange. Normally, the cost per unit reduces if you buy more. (For example, Malbec in Aberystwyth Tesco.) I’d hate to think those running Sacred Groves are greedy!

To put it all in perspective, Sacred Groves paid £44,000 for Coed Rhyal. And £34,000 for Gigrin Prysg. (The latter bought from Forestry Resource Ltd.)

In addition to selling off ‘clusters’ Sacred Groves is asking for donations, and also flogging off tat jewellery.

◊

VARIATION ON A THEME, OR A SYNTHESIS OF TWO

Trees are being used to profit from the climate scam in a number ways.

We’ve had companies like the Foresight Group buy up good farmland in order to plant trees for corporate greenwashing. With Foresight acting for its clients or investors.

We’ve also seen big companies buy farmland or woodland directly.

But, unless Sacred Groves director Achipra Sreedharan Sudhir is representing his airline employer, there appears to be no corporate involvement.

So are we looking at a variation on a different theme? Something like the timeshare scams that operated in Spain a few years back.

While here in Wales we had Gavin Lee Woodhouse, buying hotels from Llandudno to Tenby, and leasing out rooms individually. Young Gavin got too greedy, and started selling leases for rooms in nursing homes . . . that never got built.

“Can’t lose, squire . . . every time somebody stays in your room you get paid. And at the end of it,  you’ve always got the lease. But if you’re not satisfied I’ll buy back the lease. What’s not to like“.

Nothing really, apart from the fact that Gavin was a crook, and the suckers never saw any money. Gavin launched the Afan Valley Adventure Resort. What a lad!

Or the Chisellers From Chislehurst, with a similar care home room-lease scam?

Maybe it’s like selling Irish-Americans a framed certificate to put up on their wall saying they’re part-owner of a square metre of bog in the fair County Galway.

With these scams, those behind them just keep on selling the timeshare, or the lease, or that bit of the ould sod. Over and over.

Maybe, as I suggest in the heading, Sacred Groves’ operations in Wales are a blend of two types of scam we’ve observed over the years.

Whatever the answer, scammers will always be with us, but what really pisses me off is the official support and funding they get.

◊

CONCLUSION

If we go to the Sacred Groves Facebook page we see videos informing us that both Sacred Groves’ Welsh woodlands have been accepted into the National Forest for Wales network. They’re marked with crosses on the map below.

Hear National Forest Liaison Officer Dafydd Lloyd wax lyrical over “detritus” in the stream at Gigrin Prysg; while colleague Owain Grant enthuses over Coed Rhyal.

This acceptance by the National Forest is being used as accreditation by Sacred Groves. Proof that they’re to be trusted. But are they?

And then there’s the funding linking with the National Forest project. Such as the Woodland Investment Grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. And this isn’t the only funding available.

The reasoning behind Sacred Groves is explained at the start of this video starring Vikram Krishna. With the analogy of the ‘worthless’ spring. Worthless until the water is bottled and sold.

Similarly, the trees at Coed Rhyal and Gigrin Prysg are ‘worthless’ until Sacred Groves capitalises on them. But this has sod all to do with the environment. It’s naked greed, the monetisation of the natural environment.

This seems to be the Sacred Groves scam in a nutshell:

1/ Buy woodland you’ve probably never seen, through an agent like Carter Jonas, the company used by Sacred Groves.

2/ Sit back, do nothing, call it ‘conservation’.

3/ Sell or lease the land in parcels or ‘clusters’ to silly buggers with more money than sense.

4/ With the added benefit of being paid for ‘sequestration’ and associated scams.

5/ Having bumped up the value of the woodland through all this scamming, you can sell it off at a big profit on the original price paid.

The real beauty of it is that it’s legal. Legitimised by the acceptance of the climate scam. And then, encouraged and funded by governments.

On the bright side . . . I’m sure the self-styled ‘Welsh Government’ would interpret Sacred Groves’ exploitation of Wales as inward investment.

So don’t get too angry or despondent – think of all the jobs!

♦ end ♦

© Royston Jones 2025

The Parasites Keep a-Coming

On By JacIn Climate, Colonialism, Globalism50 Comments

I hadn’t planned this but you’re reading it because it illustrates what’s happening over much of Wales. Though this case is a bit of an oddity in that it’s official but there’s no info beyond the bare bones.

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LLANTEG

Our story focuses on the hamlet of Llanteg, Pembrokeshire; pinned in the centre of the map below. The reason for going there is that certain companies are planning a ‘Green Energy Park’ and a ‘400kV substation’.

How do I know? Well, someone sent me various documents from which I’ve extracted the panel you see below. It comes from the latest update of the Transmission Entry Capacity (TEC) register produced by the National Systems Energy Operator (NESO).

If you scroll down to the second sheet of the register you’ll see what I’ve clipped for you below. Both entries link to the – non-existent – ‘Llanteg 400kV Substation’.

The person who sent me this information keeps abreast of these matters, but this was all new to him.

I tried an internet search for this project, but turned up nothing apart from a vague reference to Community Energy in Pembrokeshire (CEP). Here’s the website, and here the Companies House entry.

Here’s the Llanteg village website.

As Llanteg is outside the national park I went to the council website and checked through planning applications. But drew a blank.

Next, I wrote to the council planning department, and here’s part of their reply:

I am having trouble locating any information regarding the two highlighted in your screenshot. Please can you provide a site map for me to investigate further?

Mmm. Clearly, the council knows nothing.

As I say, the only references I found to renewable energy were all small-scale, ‘community’-type ventures. But I suspect what we’re looking at is very commercial. I say that due to the names linked with the projects in the panel above.

So who are the companies named on the NESO document?

◊

LLANTEG GREEN ENERGY PARK

The ‘Green Energy Park’ is in the name of NP SPV30 Ltd. And that outfit’s been registered with Companies House since July 2023. One of a string of numbered companies, now up to 50. (Maybe more by the time you read this.)

One of those companies that converted into a named project was NP SPV 31 Ltd, which is now Gwyddelwern Energy Ltd. This being the name of a village on the A494 between Corwen and Rhuthun. So let’s detour briefly and look into it.

Ultimate ownership of this project is with:

Heading back down to Pembrokeshire, ultimate ownership of NP SPV30 Ltd, the Llanteg Green Energy Park project, rests, via Natpower UK Ltd, with Mr Fabrizio Zago, an Italian living in Monaco.

Looking at the directors for the Llanteg Green Energy Park project, we see two names; a British subject with an Italian name (Sommadossi) who I’m satisfied is an associate of Zago, and an American.

This American, Benjamin Aaron Ben Tre, took up 40 directorships on May 1 this year. All linked with Natpower and all using the same Mayfair address.

More interestingly, perhaps, Ben Tre was involved with Stefano Danilo Massimo Sommadossi in other companies a few years back. I would guess the reason these companies are listed separately is because the name is spelled Ben Tré.

Let’s start with Coincident Energy Ltd (10.02.2016 – 17.09.2019). No money ever went through the books, but then again, this company was controlled from the British Virgin Islands.

Next up in chronological order is Influence Power Ltd (10.02.2016 – 17.09.2019). Another company with nothing in the pot, and controlled by Coincident Energy.

The third company used as its address a flat overlooking the Thames in Wandsworth, presumably leased by Sommadossi, who was then still an Italian citizen.

The company was called QMobility Ltd (03.01.2020 – 21.12.2021). It began life with directors Sommadossi, Ben Tré, another Italian named Stefano Madeddu, and a second American by the name of Jonas Lauren Norr.

This is interesting. Norr seems to be based at Miami Beach. And an internet search suggests he founded a company called Ethos Investments. Which is the company Ben Tré’s Linkedin page says he’s still working for. Here’s Norr’s info from Linkedin.

Anyway, at the end of its brief life, despite filing no accounts, and apparently doing nothing, Sommadossi and Ben Tré had over ten million QMobility shares.

To conclude where we started this section, with Natpower, and after seeing names like Zago, Sommadossi, Madeddu, you will not be surprised to learn that this outfit is, to all intents and purposes, an Italian company.

Building a ‘Green Energy Park’ in Pembrokeshire.

◊

E R PROJECT DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LTD

I couldn’t find a website for this company, the one named in connection with the 400kV substation, but here’s the Companies House entry. It was Incorporated October 14, 2022. Based in Marlborough, Wiltshire

The two named directors are: Harry Marcus George Lopes, who’s British; and American Giovanni Rossario Maruca. When you flip to ‘significant control’ you see the name Eden Devco (UK) LLP.

There are 23 companies registered at this luxury holiday accommodation site, but Eden Devco seems to be the only one with assets. Though nothing in the most recent accounts explains these assets.

This company has Lopes and Maruca as members, with these two now rubbing shoulders with a couple of English aristos and some other interesting names.

Including two US companies, one in Florida, the other in New Jersey. It’s the one in New Jersey I wish to focus on, because a company with that name has cropped up on this blog before.

The name is Belltown Eden Ventures Corp. This company controls the voting rights over Eden Devco (UK) Ltd, and ultimately the Llanteg substation. And although giving a New Jersey address it’s governed by the laws of the State of Delaware. I assume that’s because Delaware is ‘business friendly’.

Belltown is also an investor in land destined for renewable energy projects. We target property with strong fundamentals and proximity to power infrastructure in our core markets.

∼

The other Belltown – in the form of Belltown Power of Bristol – is one of the three companies (we know of) waiting to desecrate the Elenydd, the unspoilt country east of Lampeter, which I wrote about in November 2023, in The Road To Hell.

Where I explained that when you trace back ownership of Belltown Power you reach Blackmead Infrastructure c/o The Foresight Group.

Establishing the ultimate ownership of Blackmead Infrastructure is not straightforward. The first step is easy enough, it’s Averon Park Ltd. But the Companies House entry for Averon Park shows no one with significant control.

Though a hell of a lot of shares have been allotted lately. While the latest confirmation statement from Averon Park (30.06.2025) tells us Foresight Fund Managers is in control.

Is that 1.56 billion shares, am I reading it right?

Foresight has an office in Cardiff, and recently appointed Phil Sampson to manage its £130 million Investment Fund for Wales. Aren’t you grateful?

Anyway, the long and winding road eventually takes us to Guernsey. And once you’re on that island, who knows who owns what?

∼

This is frustrating, but it looks as if there are two companies using the Belltown name. One in Bristol, with a windfarm project in the Elenydd, that traces to the USA; the other in Wiltshire, planning a substation in east Pembrokeshire, linked to the Foresight Group and Guernsey. Both in the ‘renewables’ and ‘natural capital’ rackets.

But there’s no obvious connection. Unless you know different?

◊

CONCLUSION

Once again, I find myself reporting companies from God knows where planning lucrative projects in Wales. What makes Llanteg perhaps unique is that no one seems to know anything about it!

Yet the fact that these entries are on the TEC register tells us an agreement has been reached. But who are the parties to the agreement? Have these companies done a deal with a private landowner? Or with the ‘Welsh Government’?

Are there any more Llantegs in the pipeline?

Whatever the answer to those questions, the map below explains why Llanteg is attractive. The black lines you see are carrying power from Pembroke power station, first to the cities and towns of the south, and then to England.

Which serves to remind us that – if the capacity is there – then any number of new projects can link up to transmission lines.

And that applies to the new lines planned to run through the Tywi and Teifi valleys on their way to Llandyfaelog; also the line north, then north east, and over the border to Lower Frankton in Shropshire.

In fact, I predict these new pylon runs will act as magnets for every eco-shyster between Bristol and the British Virgin Islands, Luxembourg and Lower Manhattan.

To the point where rural Wales, outside of national parks, will resemble a post-apocalyptic wasteland of steel and fibreglass, erratically producing electricity Wales doesn’t need, and providing us with no benefits whatsoever.

Interspersed of course with areas being ‘rewilded’ by charities and environmental groups that took corporate funding as payment for destroying Welsh farming and a way of life.

And all the while, the clown show in Corruption Bay, its propagandists and apologists, promise us ‘local ownership’ and ‘community benefits’.

Those lying bastards that have been selling us down the river for 26 years.

♦ end ♦

© Royston Jones 2025

Caerffili By-election: Random Thoughts

On By JacIn Elections, English Nationalism, European Union, Far Left, Globalism, Gwlad, Labour Party, Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, Senedd, Welsh Government, World Economic Forum101 Comments

This piece is totally unplanned; but I want to get it out because I see so many misinterpreting the result and failing – or refusing to understand – what lies behind it.

◊

PLAID CYMRU AND LABOUR, LABOUR AND PLAID CYMRU

Let me begin by congratulating Plaid Cymru on a great victory. As I’ve mentioned more than once, I was a member of the party for many years and, back in the 1970s, a candidate for both Swansea council and the old West Glamorgan county council.

But it was a different party back then. Though the victor in Caerffili, Lindsay Whittle, seems in some ways closer to the party I belonged to than the modern party. We shall see.

The Plaid campaign was strange in that it seemed to be more about stopping Reform than offering any policies of its own. And so it was reduced to a two-horse race; portraying Reform as the agents of Putin, Trump, and English nationalism (get your head around that!), with Plaid as the standard bearer for Wales, decency, and ‘progress’.

Which was bollocks. The election was really about voters’ rejection of Labour. Everything else flowed from that.

The people of Caerffili were justifiably pissed off with Labour for two reasons.

First, 26 years of abject failure by the Labour party managing Wales from Corruption Bay. From which Plaid and Reform profited.

But let’s remember that Plaid was in coalition with Labour between 2007 and 2011, and the two are currently in some ill-defined ‘agreement’. Furthermore, and just like Labour, Plaid supports the Globalist-Woke agenda on climate, gender, race, etc., and would go further.

Second, there was Keir Starmer factor: cancelling winter fuel allowance, rocketing electricity bills thanks to ‘clean green energy’, rising taxes, rent boys, immigration, Chinese Communist Party influence, rape gangs, Digital ID. A tower of betrayals and lies that will soon topple and destroy Starmer.

So Plaid profited because they were seen by many as being a change from Labour. An improvement. And marginally preferable to Reform. With a strong local candidate, in Lindsay Whittle.

But in addition to the shared outlook I just listed, and since Plaid abandoned independence the difference between Labour and the Party of Wales is, well . . . anybody got a fag paper? Don’t bother – there’d be nowhere to fit it.

Here’s what they both really want: More political power for the Senedd and more funding from London; then they can make California Democrats look like Confederate flag-waving rednecks buck dancing by their likker stills.

And as someone has pointed out to me, the constituency itself needs to be understood.

His take is that the northern part of the constituency probably went to Reform.

But the southern part, which touches Cardiff’s northern suburbs, is home to many ‘progressives’ who realised Labour is cooked and switched to Plaid.

◊

ATTITUDES, REACTIONS, RESPONSES

One of the more puzzling outlooks came from those claiming to want independence but attacking Reform, and using choice language, for being “English nationalists“. Which exposed, yet again, that the modern nationalist movement is home to some very strange, and stupid, people.

I love to see the England flag. I want the English people to reclaim England. I want three independent countries on this island respectful of each other. The threat is not England or the English, the threat is a form of Unionism that has little respect for us and is subservient to supranational bodies and the Globalist agenda.

Yet most of those who attack Reform as English nationalists want independence in order to rejoin a bankrupt and increasingly authoritarian EU pushing for war with Russia to distract from its internal collapse. This is insane.

Reform may be Unionist – but looking at the bigger threat, to which independence under those now promoting it would sacrifice us – Reform appears to want the same things I want.

There was a post-election piece by Martin Shipton in Nation.Cymru today. Here’s one of the comments. Who’d have thought the president of Russia could be worked into a small comment on a Welsh by-election.

Though I’m at a loss as to why proximity to Cardiff should matter. Unless it links with my earlier reference to the nature of the Caerffili constituency, and the dread thought of hairy-arsed ‘flag-shaggers’ encroaching on those leafy northern suburbs.

Knowing the political sentiments of some of those commenting to this piece (even the writer), I was struck by how easy it’s been for them – and others I’ve read today – to switch from Labour to Plaid.

For them, it’s clearly the agenda that matters, not which party pushes it.

Yet we might still see Labour go for broke, and try to out-Woke Plaid before next May’s Senedd elections. That’s what Paul Embery might have suggested today in this tweet.

Did a Labour Senedd member really say that on the Home Service?

If so, how will Labour go about it? Just imagine . . . “We have set up a taskforce, with a budget of £20m, to tackle the problem of transphobia in Llanfair Caereinion“.

◊

LOSERS, WINNERS, CONCLUSION

The party I support, Gwlad made little impression; hardly surprising if you lack rich backers and the media ignores you.

But then, I remember it took Plaid Cymru 40 years before Gwynfor Evans won the Carmarthen by-election in 1966. So maybe it’s time to put Plaid’s victory in perspective.

First, Caerffili was a by-election; strange things can happen at by-elections. I recall the Orpington by-election of 1962. But it didn’t lead to a Liberal revival.

And Plaid has been here before, winning seats in the Valleys. In the first Assembly elections (of 1999) Plaid took Islwyn, and Rhondda, also Llanelli. Plus of course the usual seats further west and north.

More recently, Leanne Wood won, then lost, Rhondda.

I can even remember Plaid briefly taking control of Merthyr council.

So Plaid winning a seat in this area is not unprecedented, but they tend to be flashes in the pan. Will Caerffili prove to be any different?

The big difference now of course is that Labour is in real trouble. Is it terminal? Is Labour’s century of dominance in Wales over, just as the 1920s marked the end of Liberal hegemony?

It’s too early to say, because as I said earlier, Labour paid the price in Caerffili for both its own record in Wales, and the unpopularity of a Labour administration in London. A change of government in London would almost certainly help Labour here, but only so much.

Because I think Labour in Wales was on the skids before Starmer got elected. In the Senedd elections of 2021 Labour got 46% of the vote in Caerphilly. In last year’s UK general election, it was down to 38%.

And we may never see a majority Labour government in London again. Many younger voters, and middle class voters, will desert to the Liberal Democrats and the Greens.

And where are the Conservatives? Remember them!

Looking ahead to the Senedd elections next May, and unless something dramatic happens between now and then, we’ll see Reform with most seats, but Wales run by a Plaid-Labour coalition.

Which means that the big winner last night in Caerffili was, and the big winner next May will be, the Globalist agenda.

∼

The punters looked from Labour to Plaid, and from Plaid to Labour, and from Labour to Plaid again; but it was already impossible to say which was which.

Apologies to George Orwell, Animal Farm.

♦ end ♦

© Royston Jones 2025