Category: Renewables

Paying For The Air We Breathe

On By JacIn Business and Commerce, Colonialism, Globalism, Net Zero, Renewables, Senedd, Wind Turbines21 Comments

Last week the UK government issued a report on natural capital and ecosystem services. It was produced jointly by the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade and the Office for Investment. (Though the report was described as ‘Independent’.)

I’m going to explain what I think this means, paying particular attention to Wales. In fact, we get quite a mention. I’ll also look at things happening here. And then make a few connections.

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INTRODUCTION

In a nutshell, what’s proposed is to monetise everything; land, trees, water. And as the title of the report (after the colon), says, what’s planned is: “a pathway to at-scale investment capital flows“.

“At-scale” makes clear it’s designed to benefit big players who’ll pump money into major ‘renewables’ projects, and big, even national, rewilding or environmental schemes. For which they’ll expect handsome profits for carbon capture or some other scam.

The money will be described as ‘investment’, with the money-making projects dressed up as being good for the planet and nature. What’s proposed will see asset managers like BlackRock working even more closely with ‘environmentalists’ than we’ve seen thus far. For as the report tells us:

Nature underpins the UK’s food security, water systems, infrastructure resilience and long‑term productivity, yet has been systematically underinvested for decades.

Don’t tell the pine martens – but the little buggers are doomed without investment!

But this is what ‘natural capital’ is all about. Dream up ‘problems’, come up with the ‘solutions’ – and make lots and lots of money!

In fact, it could serve as a definition of Globalism itself.

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BIOSPHERES

These figure big in the overall plan. And we have one in Wales, the Dyfi Biosphere. Clearly a successor to the colonialist land grab known as Summit to Sea, which threatened roughly the same area. Remember it? I covered it on this blog. (Just type Summit to Sea in the Search box on the right.)

In its revamped form it promises to consult locals, even listen. Though how many farmers still feel their unions represent them may be a question for another day.

Our Partnership includes local authorities, wildlife organisations, the Welsh Government and Natural Resources Wales, the farming unions, business and voluntary groups.

The Dyfi is one of seven UNESCO Biospheres in the UK. It was designated a biosphere in 1977 (though it didn’t receive UNESCO status until 2007). Does the original date connect with the launch of the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) in November 1973?

For CAT, in Corris, is certainly within the Dyfi Biosphere. And now, for reasons I can’t quite figure out, the area covered juts south to take in the town of Aberystwyth.

But there’s also a Smart Biosphere, in north Devon. And it’s there we meet Dr Robin Charles Daniels as a trustee. Most of its funding comes from the UK government.

(Daniels is often a Welsh name, and something I read somewhere suggested Dr Daniels may live in or near Haverfordwest.)

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‘DARWIN VANTAGE AND REDPILL GROUP’

This section of the report may take us to the core of the matter, but it’s complex; or rather, layered. The one consistent feature is Dr Robin Charles Daniels, who seems to be involved in lots of things, on both sides of the Atlantic.

Here’s what the relevant section in the report linked to at the start says:

Let’s begin with Redpill. Companies House tells us it’s a very small operation, based in Plymouth, with most of the shares held by Dr Daniels. The only other shareholder is Jill Monica Sinclair. I can’t tell you anything about her.

Redpill links with Darwin Vantage. Here’s what Google AI told me:

  • The Darwin Fund. Redpill Group co-founded the Darwin Fund, a blended-finance platform that uses Darwin Vantage to identify and structure nature-positive investments across global forests, mangroves, and river systems

  • UK Natural Capital & Clean Infrastructure. In the UK, the framework has been utilized by entities like North Devon Biosphere Enterprises and initiatives in Wales to transition fragmented environmental projects into scalable, investable clean infrastructure portfolios

On the Darwin Vantage site you’ll see that Wales gets a mention, sandwiched between California and Nepal. No surprise then that the Darwin Fund takes us to California, where Dr Daniels is listed as co-founder and CEO. The website says of the Darwin Fund’s purpose (my underlining):

Darwin was established as a blended-finance platform and an on-ramp for institutional investment in nature.

I suspect the key here may be the Darwin Fund, because this could be the conduit for the investment money.

Going back to the three running the Darwin Fund we see, flanking Dr Daniels, Terry Tamminen and Kristina Haddad. Tamminen and Haddad also run 7th Generation Advisors. And something else I turned up told me Terry Tamminen is an “operating advisor” to Pegasus Capital Advisors.

Redpill’s links in Wales are with Net Zero Industry Wales, and NatureFinance.

The first is a crew of people almost all of whom are unknown to me (scroll down). Net Zero Industry’s raison d’être is stated as providing “guidance and support to Welsh industries on their transition to delivering net zero“.

The CEO, Ben Burggraaf, is Dutch. He spent a few years working for Corus, perhaps in Newport (Llanwern). Followed by time with Tata Steel. So I suppose Ben’s presence in Wales is explained by this:

The British Steel Corporation was privatised in 1988, became Corus in 1999 (after a merger with Dutch firm Hoogovens), and was bought by Tata Steel in 2007

Closing the steelworks at Llanwern and Port Talbot may have lost thousands of jobs, but it helped the suicidal drive to net zero.

NatureFinance is in the business of “Aligning finance with nature, climate, and people“. And it’s based in Geneva. But again, finance. Though I can’t find NatureFinance involved in Wales, despite AI telling me:

The Redpill Group works in Wales on environmental and climate finance initiatives, notably partnering with Net Zero Industry Wales (NZIW) and NatureFinance

Is it in fact a reference to the self-styled ‘Welsh Government’ currently ‘consulting’ on its own Nature Finance Strategy Wales? This consultation is online, and you’ll need to email Nature.Finance@gov.wales to be allowed to participate.

    • Friday 6 November 2026, 11:30am to 12:30pm
    • Thursday 26 November 2026, 3:00pm to 4:00pm
    • Thursday 17 December 2026, 2:00pm to 3:00pm
    • Tuesday 5 January 2027, 10:00am to 11:00am
    • Monday 25 January 2027, 1:30pm to 2:30pm

Did any readers know about this? It looks to me like a closed loop. The only people the politicians want to ‘consult’ are those who’ll tell them what they want to hear.

This is the system that for 27 years has seen Wales run by pressure groups, third sector covens, PR companies, wildlife trusts, and bodies like the National Trust. Politicians listening to anybody and everybody – except the Welsh people.

Standing back for a minute (and calming down) there are clearly links here.

Dr Daniels published his seven-page paper on Wales in April. Check out the links at the bottom of this post. Wales Pension Partnership is included!

The ‘Welsh Government’ launched its Nature Finance Strategy consultation process on October 26.

The UK government put out its report (an updated version of this) on Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services on November 6. It mentions Redpill, Darwin Vantage, North Devon Biosphere (all Dr Daniels), with Redpill also mentioned in the section on Wales. No surprise then that Dr Daniels was at the Bristol launch of that report last week.

And now it all makes sense!

The UK government report was written by Daniels and his mate Rob Jordan of North Devon Biosphere. Which explains why it was described as ‘independent’. But obviously in line with government thinking.

And he has big plans for Wales.

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‘MINI CASE STUDY, WALES: NATURE WITH CLEAN INFRASTRUCTURE’

This section is small enough to be reproduced in full.

Note the reference to “utility-scale onshore wind“. This means large-scale energy generation, storage, or infrastructure projects producing power or services directly for the electrical grid.

So no change from what’s happening now – big, foreign-owned projects.

Which rules out small landowners and farmers and, presumably, community-owned projects. Yet I thought the ‘Welsh Government’ was pushing smaller projects providing tangible local benefits. Also, moving from onshore wind to offshore.

But is ‘Welsh Government’ serious about local projects? This publication from just this week tells us the total budget for community energy projects is a paltry £1.3m, with a maximum grant of £99,000. This is less than was spent on trees in Africa.

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RANDOM THOUGHTS AND VARIOUS DEVELOPMENTS

What we’ve looked at is the monetisation of the natural environment: land, water, trees and, ultimately, the air we breathe. This will be achieved by banks, corporations and others persuading (or bribing) politicians to introduce the necessary legislation.

Legislation that preaches big is beautiful. The clues are found throughout the UK government’s natural capital report, authored by Dr Daniels, with terms like “at-scale“, “scalable use” and “utility-scale“. Small landowners, such as farmers, will only benefit if they allow their land to be part of a big project . . . or if they sell up.

(You may feel I lay too much stress on farming, but some 80% of Wales is farmland, and the people I’m writing about want that land. So they’ll get their politicians and activists to make life as difficult as possible for farmers.)

The same applies to other infrastructure and linked businesses. Between Abercynon and Ystrad Mynach sits the Cilfynydd substation. This encourages considerable activity nearby. Being built now is . . .

A synchronous condenser that provides inertia to the grid. They are being built to stabilise the grid as wind and solar provide no inertia

Cilfynydd Grid Services was a company owned by employees of Welsh Power Group in Cardiff. But it was taken over by Net Zero Grid Services of Savile Row in London, a company formed for the purpose; while Welsh Power Group itself is now owned by Carron Energy. The new condenser is being built by Quinbrook. Which owns Net Zero Grid Services.

AI provides more information:

Rhondda Cynon Taf Council’s planning committee recently approved a new 200MW battery energy storage facility by Pegasus Energy Group near National Road, which will connect underground to the Cilfynydd Substation

We saw the name Pegasus in connection with Terry Tamminen, co-founder of the Darwin Fund with Dr Robin Daniels. Just a coincidence, no doubt.

Around the time of the changes at Cilfynydd the ‘Welsh Government’ gave planning consent for Bute Energy’s Twyn Hywel Energy Park, which will connect to the substation. Twyn Hywel is the only Bute project with planning permission.

Was the timing just coincidence?

After being upgraded, and despite local opposition, the substation will stabilise supply between Scotland and England. Linking with Walham, north of Gloucester. Alongside will be an ‘Energy Centre’, run by Innova, another company from outside of Wales.

Innova is also big in data centres, with one planned for Swansea. And not far away, is Carn Nicholas Solar Parc, and Lletyscilp Farm Energy System. All taking advantage of the Swansea North substation.

Wales is being used as a route for power generated in Scotland to reach consumers in England! (Mustn’t spoil the English countryside with ugly pylons.)

Politicians in Wales have co-operated all the way. First, there was the Future Generations legislation (2015); and then being the first country to declare a climate emergency (2019). Virtue signalling self-harm.

Why not just put up a big sign?

And now, just this year, starting work on the Climate and Nature Action Plan. The title serves to remind us that a big change in the past decade or so is that, as Greta was exposed as the rather sad and dangerous little creature she is, and climate hysteria lost its bogeyman appeal, ‘nature’ was added to the mix.

Which saw increasing influence for wildlife trusts and ‘environmental’ campaigners. (The natural habitat for both is close to the public funding trough.)

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CONCLUSION

Dr Robin Charles Daniels is clearly well thought of by the UK government, and he’s got the right connections in Wales. Dr Daniels, and those he might represent, in the USA and elsewhere, now want to invest in “at-scale” projects in Wales.

The timing of the Climate and Nature Action Plan in Wales fits with Dr Daniels’ work with the UK government and his linking up with Net Zero Industry Wales. (To be more honest, it should be ‘Zero Industry Wales’.)

Wales is just the right size to be used as a testbed. The UK government makes the decisions, the civil service passes the orders to its people here who then get politicians to make the right noises and push through the desired legislation.

This faux devolution can only work by having politicians cocooned in a make-believe world where slogans and childish insults replace rational argument; and if that fails, then feigned outrage, or walking off in a huff, is the nuclear option.

So stupid, or so brainwashed, that they believe they’re doing the right thing. These fools enact the dictated legislation and then soak up praise from the Guardian, assorted Bluehairs and – the very ones who are ripping us off!

So they get a pat on the head for allowing Wales to be ripped off. Again and again.

♦ end ♦

© Royston Jones 2026

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It’s Always Who You Know

On By JacIn Arts Council of Wales, Climate, Environmentalism, Labour Party, Public Funding, Renewables, Third Sector22 Comments

The old adage says: ‘It’s not what you know, it’s who you know’. Referring to family connections, the old school tie, Freemasonry or some other means of getting preferential treatment, especially when it comes to landing a contract, getting a job, or gaining promotion.

It’s just as true today, but the mechanism for preferential treatment has changed. Certainly in Wales. For what’s been added is believing in, or at least going along with, Woke thinking and Globalist dogma.

The sad, twisted mindset that pervades Welsh public life, and would see some people campaigning on behalf of cancer cells if Elon Musk discovered a cure for cancer.

For we are dealing here with zealots. Some of them truly fanatical.

In this piece I’m going to look at a specific funding pot run by the so-called ‘Welsh Government’ in order to explain what I mean.

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YNNI CYMRU GRANTS

Ynni Cymru (Welsh Energy) was set up by the previous Labour administration. It gives out grants of up to £999,999 for Smart Local Energy Systems (SLES) through Local Partnerships.

Bureaucracy, eh! Layer upon layer; where would we be without it?

It’s pretty obvious that Ynni Cymru was set up by the Corruption Bay establishment to counter criticism that all the money from ‘renewables’ leaves Wales with no benefits whatsoever for us.

Ynni Cymru was the start. Soon followed by Trydan Gwyrdd Cymru (owned by WG), and last month, a call for a state-owned energy investment company.

Too little, too late. And anything run by Labour or Plaid Cymru is doomed to fail.

There doesn’t seem to be a website for Ynni Cymru. Which might make it difficult for those out of the loop to know about the money on offer.

Ynni Cymru should not be confused with Ynni Cymunedol Cymru, where former Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood is secretary (cos she got lots of pencils).

There’s not a great deal of money involved with Ynni Cymru grants, £8.27m in total for 2026/27. But it’s the recipients I want to look at. Asking who they are, why they got their funding, and wondering whether it was justified.

Here’s a list of the grant recipients (scroll up for 26/27), with the amounts received. Let’s look at some of the big awards.

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RENEWABLE POWER PEMBROKESHIRE LTD £997,556

The first thing to say is that this lot used to be known as Gower Power Energy Co-operative Ltd. One of a nest of companies set up by eco-grifters who’ve settled on the western outskirts of Swansea. Gower Power always filed as dormant.

Obviously, it’s easier to take over an existing entity than to start a new one; but here it might suggest a connection, even a continuation under a different name.

Whatever, the directors of the new or renamed company are Peter Roger Davies, Jane Nerys O’Brien, Felix Merry, Brian Mark, and Ena Lloyd.

Davies and O’Brien are also directors of Community Energy in Pembrokeshire CIC. In fact, Davies is involved with many other outfits. A few of which have hit the wall. Hard.

Though I also see some old favourites Davies links with: Size of Wales (which plants trees in Africa), WCVA (a conduit for WG funding), Community Foundation Wales, Social Investment (Cymru) Ltd (run by the WCVA), and The Institute of Welsh Affairs. For nine years Peter Davies worked for Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water.

We can safely assume that Davies is well connected in Corruption Bay.

Felix Merry is a project manager for RES Energy Services Ltd. For eight years before that he worked for Natural Resources Wales, run by the ‘Welsh Government’.

Brian Mark “lives off-grid in Llandudoch“, and is involved with Grannell Community Energy Ltd, as is Jane O’Brien. Grannell has a wind turbine near Lampeter.

The only Ena Lloyd I can find works for Cynon Taf Community Housing Group.

Renewable Power Pembrokeshire is not an organic community group made up of local people coming together. It is led by those who ‘know people’.

Which will always help when it comes to getting funding.

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LLANIDLOES DISTRICT ENERGY LOCAL CLUB LTD £941,280

It was formed just over two years ago. And before this Ynni Cymru grant it seemed to have assets of just £6. (Click on link and scroll down to blue sheets.)

So who’s running this show? Well, the names given on the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) filings are: Neil Statham, Lisa Stead, Tim Ware, and Duncan Burwood.

The only Neil Statham I can find was a director with the Association for Environment Conscious Building in Huddersfield. The year of birth tallies, so I guess it’s him. He might have lived in Wales for a couple of years.

Lisa Stead seems to run a holiday business, and busies herself with the local Scouts.

Google AI says Tim Ware is “ . . . a self-described handyman, gardener, and wood and metal craftsman“.

As for Duncan Burwood; he is Dr Duncan Frederick Strathdee Burwood, who was until earlier this month a director and trustee of Llanidloes Energy Solutions Ltd. Which after 20 years in existence doesn’t seem to have done much. If anything.

I’m not sure I see any genuine locals there, nor do I see much experience in ‘renewables’. Why were they given just shy of a million smackeroos?

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YNNI BRO RHIAN CYFYNGEDIG £881,654

When I saw ‘Rhian’, I guessed we were going to Llanrhian, in north Pembrokeshire, where Meibion Glyndŵr made their debut in December 1979. This is another new company or, to be exact, a Community Benefit Society. With three directors: Huw Morris, Robert Laddle, and Neil Prior.

In the FCA entry we read:

The Society is a community renewable energy company, with aspirations to become a generator of green energy and leading on other renewable energy projects.

Ah! aspirations.

Huw Morris is Welsh, but I don’t think he’s local. I say that because his Linkedin page tells us he was educated at Aberdare Boy’s Grammar School. And I think he lives in Swansea, where he runs his ‘Higher Education Consultancy’.

Robert Laddle has been involved with many other companies, quite a few with Welsh names. (Though I think ‘Penberth’ is in Cornwall.) And I’m certain he lives in England. Maybe he has a holiday home in north Pembs?

Now we come to the star of the Llanrhian show in Neil Prior who, as chair of the community council, and a county councillor to boot, must surely be local. A busy boy, our Neil, and obviously well connected.

His Linkedin profile reads:

Your mush has to fit to be appointed to a health board, while Codi is the biggest housing association in Wales following the merger of Linc Cymru with Pobl. Telling me that Neil Prior is another who’d know his way around the Bay.

Which means that in Ynni Bro Rhian we have another new entity with no track record, just “aspirations” – and £883k to play with!

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RHONDDA CYNON TAF COUNTY BOROUGH COUNCIL £695,888

RCT council is of course controlled by Labour, and these grants were presumably awarded before the May elections, when Labour lost power in the Bay. It seems five projects across RCT and Merthyr received £1.37m.

  • Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council, Rhondda Cynon Taf – local authority project at Ysgol Nantgwyn supporting education and community energy. £695,588.
  • A Strings Limited, Treforest – specialist retail business. £40,065.
  • Cambrian Village Trust Ltd, Clydach Vale – community organisation supporting local people and activities. £169,020.
  • The Merthyr Tydfil Institute For The Blind, – charity and employer supporting disabled and visually impaired people. £388,840.
  • Business in Focus Limited, Dowlais – social enterprise supporting local businesses and entrepreneurs. £81,344.

I can’t find details for the first project beyond the vague: “project at Ysgol Nantgwyn supporting education and community energy“.

The last-named is yet another ‘social enterprise’. And looking none too healthy according to the accounts. With the Confirmation Statement overdue with Companies House.

Wales is weighed down with ‘social enterprises’. But social enterprises running on bank loans or public funding, and ‘advising’ other social enterprises and third sector outfits, are no substitute for a real economy; just a system kept afloat by the block grant from Westminster.

Independence with this as the model would reduce us to cannibalism in about five years, maybe less. On the plus side, if it ever came to that, then there are specimens in the Senedd that could feed the average village for a week.

Is the Ynni Cymru grant to Business in Focus really about green energy, and reducing bills, or a disguised hand-out to keep them afloat?

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AFANTI MEDIA LTD £668,558

This is owned by power duo Emyr and Mair Afan Davies, and they have a number of other companies. Here are those listed with Companies House for Emyr. And those for Mair. There is of course a big overlap. And many are no longer with us.

One that caught my eye, Cynhyrchiadau J Ltd, (Productions J Ltd), was Dissolved in June 2018. But with an outstanding charge held by Finance Wales, since renamed the Development Bank of Wales (DBW), run by the ‘Welsh Government’.

Then there’s the Avanti Media Media Group Ltd, with two outstanding charges with DBW. Though one seems to have been carried over from Cynhyrchiadau J.

Avanti Media itself, the recipient of the Ynni Cymru funding, shares the other charge with a third company, Avanti Media Group.

The ‘Welsh Government Media Service’ tells us us what the Afanti grant is for:

Afanti Media is set to receive £668,558 to help bring cleaner power centre stage at festivals, cultural events and broadcasts across Wales. The company has already used its battery technology at events including the Eisteddfod yr Urdd, Cân i Gymru and S4C’s Super Rygbi Cymru coverage.

The investment will help expand the use of battery-powered systems at events across Wales, reducing reliance on traditional diesel-powered generators while creating quieter event spaces and reducing emissions.

So it’s to phase out diesel-powered generators. Very worthy, perhaps. But shouldn’t a private company be funding this itself? And where are the community benefits?

When I saw the name ‘Afanti’ I was reminded of Avanti!, the newspaper old Benito edited between 1912 and 1914. Though it was during his socialist period, so I wasn’t a subscriber.

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SMALLER FRY

Just to be fair, and so they wouldn’t feel ignored, I also had a peek at a few of those who got smaller grants. Here’s one that caught my eye.

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G39 £113,400

That’s this lot. As you can see, they only got £113,400, but in these uncertain times, with Russian paratroopers ready to drop on us, blackouts forecast, and climate change about to engulf us, every penny counts.

The money is for solar panels – on a building g39 doesn’t own, and looks somewhat temporary! (Image here.)

So who or what is g39? It’s something to do with the Arts, I think. Here’s how it describes itself. Note the Palestinian flag, and the admission that the bulk of the funding comes from the Arts Council of Wales (ACW). Even though most of those involved have only a tenuous connection to Wales.

(The ACW is totally captured, and was the body that funded the decolonisation of the hated Welsh cake. For which we shall be eternally grateful.)

To judge by its Strategic Equality Action Plan, and the emphasis on “dismantling systemic inequality“, it’s another far-left gang that believes white people are evil.

The latest accounts (click here) confirm the ACW funding on page 7, and on page 5 you’ll read, in ‘Future plans’: ‘The Communist Party South Wales Archive Project’. Hang on – are we paying for this?

Looking at the Charity Commission entry for g39, and the financial history, we see that income has dropped steadily over the previous three years, and it’s been outstripped by expenditure in the past two years.

Making me wonder if the Ynni Cymru grant for ‘solar panels’ is a ruse to keep g39 afloat, because the figures you’ve just read head in only one direction.

Those involved with g39 can hold any views they like, but no organisation so partisan and exclusive – bordering perhaps on extremist – should receive any form of public funding.

The problem is that those giving the funding belong to the same far-left bubble, divorced from mainstream thinking, as the recipients. And that applies across the board, not just to g39.

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CONCLUSION

There are worthy causes getting grants from Ynni Cymru, but those I’ve highlighted seem questionable, often because I struggle to see the community benefits. And if we’re talking about cheaper energy, then the best way to deliver that is to dump net zero.

But that would mean having to admit the ‘climate crisis’ is one big scam, created to make the rich richer and the rest of us poorer. But too many have been fooled.

And then there’s the issue of the money going to the well connected. No surprise in Wales, for Labour spent a century building the crony state, in which funding, jobs and sinecures, go to those who support or submit to Labour.

Plaid Cymru running the Senedd will be no improvement because in the era of the Globalist Uniparty only those standing outside that system can make a difference.

Ynni Cymru is a just another way of servicing that crony state while indulging in what can only be described as virtue funding: ‘Look at us . . . worthy causes . . . saving the planet . . . blahdeblah’.

Wasting money to get a good write-up in the Guardian from Will Hayward is truly despicable. Explain it to the family of the 93-year-old who lay for 10 hours on a cold floor waiting for an ambulance.

♦ end ♦

© Royston Jones 2026

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Wind Power: New Players, Same Old Scam

On By JacIn Climate, Colonialism, Renewables, Wind Turbines30 Comments

Yes, I know, I talk a lot of wind. But it’s difficult to escape it. We’re expected to believe the world is going to burn to a frazzle, El Niño is going to turn us all to ashes (or drown us? Both?) – if we don’t cover every square yard of Wales in wind turbines and solar panels.

That’s what politicians tell us. And the people who ‘advise’ them. And those wanting to give us these planet-saving necessities. They wouldn’t all be lying to us, would they?

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MAFIA IN THE MOUNTAINS?

The first part of this posting concerns a communication that dropped into my inbox. I’m unsure of the source. It reads:

We have been made aware that Mynydd Tryfan wind farm proposal will now be pushed back some time, possibly 1 to 2 years and that it will not met the criteria of a SIP but instead go to parish and then Conwy Council. 

What has come to light, is that the head of Alerion, Josef Gostner, was allegedly involved in a few misdemeanors. The news articles were online up to at least the 30th of August – but I emailed the journalist for an up date and the articles have been taken down.. 

Mr Gostner has in denied all wrongdoings but it is related to planning issues in Italy. I have asked Grasshopper to clarify all this.

I should explain that the ‘Grasshopper’ referred to is not a cute insect out of a children’s book but bright young things collectively known as “a strategic communications agency“. And if that don’t impress you, then how about:

Climate change is the biggest challenge we face, so it’s really important that we do our bit and help the push towards net zero.

Yes, brainwashed kids wanting to destroy the economies of the West. But of course, there’ll be beneficiaries. And you’ll find them among Grasshopper’s clients.

In addition to the self-styled ‘Welsh Government’ we see: Taylor Wimpey. Pennant Walters. Island Green Power. Statkraft. Landsec.

But I don’t want to get bogged down with Grasshopper. Let’s focus on the company mentioned in the first quoted passage above, Alerion. Here’s the Companies House entry, and here’s the website.

This Italian outfit seems to have two projects in Wales. Obviously, there’s Mynydd Tryfan, mentioned above, which is between Denbigh and Llansannan, and is being vigorously opposed. Then there’s Foel Trawsnant, west of Maesteg.

A director of the company, and of the UK arm, is Josef Gostner, who you just read about. A German-looking name but an Italian citizen. Explained by the fact that he’s from the Alto Adige/Südtirol, a largely German-speaking area of Italy up on the Austrian border.

In recent years, Gostner has been making waves back in northern Italy with a few deals he’s been involved with.

He appears in this piece from Kronen Zeitung in which the public prosecutor uses the phrase, ” . . . a mafia-like criminal organization“. He’s also mentioned in this article from the same publication, which mentions “billion dollar bankruptcy“. Wow!

There are other pieces available in German and Italian. Also, articles I can’t access in Aviation.Direct. (These may be the ones referred to as having been “taken down” in the original quoted section.)

In fairness, it’s “mafia-like“, rather than the real thing; so we’re probably not dealing with men of honour from Sicily and other areas down south.

The main man seems to have been René Benko, an Austrian entrepreneur and founder of the Signa group. With allegations of donations made to the South Tyrolean People’s Party, the ruling party in the autonomous region, and representing the interests of German speakers.

According to the investigators, the entrepreneurs involved allegedly obtained public contracts by granting favors, gifts and cash payments to civil servants and administrative staff.

Thankfully, such things don’t happen in Wales!

Back to Gostner’s company, Alerion. Which is a part of the bigger FRI-EL Group, formed by Josef Gostner and his brothers, Ernst and Thomas.

As mentioned, Foel Trawsnant is west of Maesteg. Which explains why we find Gostner in Pennant Walters (FoelT) Ltd. Where he’s listed with another Italian, and a Spaniard, as the three current directors. They’re also the three directors of Alerion UK Ltd.

You’ll recall that Pennant Walters is a client of Grasshopper.

Now I want to turn to the charge shown against Pennant Walters (FoelT) Ltd. It refers to 145 Commercial Street, Maesteg. The corner building shown below.

I’m told it’s been bought to be demolished (if it doesn’t collapse or catch a-fire), so that turbine parts can make that corner, and go up Neath Road (B4282), to the windfarm site. To finally reach the site they’ll have to use forestry roads.

As you may have noticed, the loan to buy this obstacle to making lots of loot saving the planet was made by EGMP Ltd. A real estate company based in Mold.

At which point we move onto the next part of this article.

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CONNECTIONS, CONNECTIONS

There’s no website for EGMP, but here’s the Companies House entry. When we look at the directors we find Geraint Keith Jewson and his wife Paula. Search Geraint’s name on the CH website and you’ll come up with no less than 150 companies.

Though he’s no longer an active director with all of them. And some have folded. I should also add there’s no connection with the Jewson builder’s supplies company.

Many of Jewson’s companies give their address as ‘Linden House, Wrexham Road, Mold Business Park’. Unfortunately, the most recent image available with Google Earth is from 2018, but I don’t think the occupants of the building have changed.

The main Jewsons’ companies based there are Wind 2 Ltd, and Tesni Properties Ltd, with a number of ‘Tesni’ companies listed Dissolved. But there are many, many more companies using that address.

Before moving to Linden House I believe Geraint Jewson could have been found not far away at Mynydd Awel, on the same estate. Where we find Engie, a company controlled by the French government, that “identifies and develops renewable energy projects“.

In fact, Jewson was a director of Engie Renewables Ltd for 18 years (1996 – 2014). Another name associated with Engie – along with the obligatory French director – is Suresh Pullat Bhaskar, an Indian living in the UAE. So is there Gulf oil money involved?

Many, maybe most, of the companies of which Jewson is or has been a director seem to link to Scotland (for wind projects), quite a few in England (often solar), but there are also a few in Wales.

Here are the Welsh projects Jewson’s been involved with.

Parc Ynni Calon y Gwynt Cyf. Launched 12.11.2021, “Parc Ynni Calon y Gwynt is part of a joint venture between Wind2 and companies managed by Octopus Energy Generation“. Here’s the website. There are quite a few Wind2 companies.

Parc Ynni Banc y Celyn Cyf. Launched 22.10.2021. Controlled from the outset by ORI JV Holdings 2 Ltd. An Octopus Energy company.

Bwlch Gwyn Wind Farm Ltd. Launched 24.06.2021. Controlled from the outset by ORI JV Holdings 2 Ltd. Again, Octopus Energy.

Tyn yr Ynn Farm Ltd. Launched 02.04.2015. “Support services to forestry“. Controlled by Geraint and Paula Jewson. Latest accounts show deficit of over one million pounds.

Man Coed Ltd. Launched 05.07.2002. Jewsons as directors. Dissolved (by creditors) 17.05.2020. Amounts owed to unsecured creditors alone totalled almost two million pounds.

Awel Newydd Cyf. Launched 11.05.2005 by Jewsons. Taken over in April 2016 by Petersham Holdco (since dissolved). Then taken over in March 2024 by Elm Wind Holdings Ltd, part of the ELM forestry and renewables group. Ultimately owned by AlphaReal.

Radnorshire Wind Energy Ltd. Launched 13.06.2011 by Jewsons. All shares once held by West Coast Energy Ltd, believed to be the original Jewson company.

WCE launched 23.08.95. Became Engie Renewables 27.01.2016. (The French company mentioned above.) Engie London address is Broadgate Tower, 20 Primrose Street, London. The building where Bute Energy was based before moving to Hodge House, Cardiff. Coincidence, no doubt.

Most recent accounts show Engie UK’s equity increasing from £3,108,684 (31.12.2023) to £24,084,030 (31.12.2024).

Ystalyfera Wind Energy Ltd. Launched 19.01.2007 by the Jewsons. The other director at the start was Robert Paul Tate, who might work for Engie Renewables, which owned this company. Another Tate-Engie company was Rhos-Gwawr Wind Energy Ltd. The Ystalyfera project was wound up 26.02.2019, Rhos-Gwawr 26.03.2019.

Ynys Mon Wind Energy Ltd. Another company launched by the Jewsons and Tate, 13.06.2011. The 100 shares originally held by West Coast Energy. Engie Renewables Ltd took over 06.04.2016. Ynys Mon (sic) Wind Energy never seemed to be active and was Dissolved 26.03.2019.

I think the pattern has been established, so I won’t go through the other Welsh companies; but here they are if you’re interested: Ynni Gwynt Maldwyn Cyf. Nant y Ffrith Wind Energy Ltd. Flintshire Wind Energy Ltd. Wrexham Wind Energy Ltd.

Though perhaps Cambrian Wind Energy Ltd is worth a mention, if only because it’s still in business. It was launched 02.04.1997 by Geraint Jewson and Eugene Buuck of Nevada, USA. The current ownership is explained here.

Buuck and compatriot Michael Haas were also involved in RDC Developments Ltd with the Jewsons. This folded a year ago with the Americans in control at the death.

And now, through his company Wind2, we see that Geraint Jewson has new partners.

“We have collaborative partnerships with EDP Renewables and Octopus Energy Generation“. That’s EDP Renewables, of Oviedo, Spain. With the wherewithal (or security) coming from Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale of Hanover.

∼

The other company on the sign out front of Jewson’s Linden House base in Mold is Atmos Consulting Ltd, a company that appears to have its head office in Edinburgh. (How often has this city been mentioned on this blog!) But it’s not that simple.

The ownership trail is long and tortuous. Eventually it takes us to Cheshire Holdco Ltd, of Harrogate, North Yorkshire. Incorporated as recently as April 2024. And when we flick down through this company’s accounts we read:

Yes, it’s that old family firm in Ystradgynlais – Goldman Sachs!

The address in Harrogate, which is linked to many of the companies in this report, is where we find Adler & Allan. Run by Dane Henrik Vorgod Pedersen, who has an impressive portfolio of directorships himself.

◊

CONCLUSION

“Mafia-like criminal organisation” (alleged) . . . Cayman Islands . . . Arizona . . . Milan . . . Oviedo . . . Hanover . . . Goldman Sachs . . . my old head is spinning with all these Welsh success stories in ‘renewables’.

I won’t say too much about the alleged Mafia-like behaviour – don’t wanna get whacked! – but you’ll recall the mention of Grasshopper, a PR/lobbying group, in connection with that story.

Working for Grasshopper at the relevant time was Iwan Irranca-Davies. Who lived in Maesteg before taking himself off for a year of travel.

He’s a son of Huw Irranca-Davies who, in the previous Labour administration, was Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs. There was a bit of a kerfuffle over this.

As for Geraint Jewson, to me, he seems to be a facilitator, a man who can open doors for foreign investors. But of course, to fulfil that role he’d need political contacts. So does a man based in Mold, who owns an island in the Menai Straits, have these contacts down Corruption Bay? Well, it seems he has.

Google AI says he has, “historically provided written and oral evidence regarding public attitudes toward wind farms and the operational dynamics of the planning system in Wales to bodies like the House of Commons Welsh Affairs Committee“.

And he’s also sat on the ‘Welsh Government’s Energy and Environmental Sector Panel. The same source says:

Jewson has served as an external policy commentator and stakeholder assisting the implementation of the Welsh Government’s publicly owned renewable energy developer (known as DevCo or Ynni Cymru). He has specifically advised and written on how the Welsh Government can structure this entity to ensure the economic and social value of expanded onshore wind remains within local Welsh communities.

A man with his record, his foreign business associates, now wants to “ensure the economic and social value of expanded onshore wind remains within local Welsh communities“.

With his record! Has he had a conversion? Or is it all bullshit?

I can’t help thinking this attempt to keep the benefits in Wales is all a bit late. Partly because the climate scam is running out of legs. Even the Germans are waking up to the fact that net-zero equals deindustrialisation and economic decline.

And they aren’t the only ones.

‘Renewables’, carbon capture, and the rest, is a road Wales should never have started down because our contribution to the ‘climate crisis’ is negligible; and so it follows that any contribution we could make would also be negligible.

But politicians devoid of practical ideas to improve our lives, and with an inferiority complex that makes them desperate to impress others, must resort to ‘Oi, look at us!‘ gestures.

Which might be laughable if the gestures weren’t a form of self-harm.

The truth is net zero is damaging our economy and our communities; while ‘renewables’ require the felling of thousands of trees, the destruction of peat deposits, and the covering and poisoning of vast areas of good farmland.

Can’t they do joined-up thinking? I mean, can’t they even join up the different elements and consequences of their own thinking?

And what hope is there when these same politicians are preyed on daily by pressure groups – to back (and fund) their pet projects; and lobbyists – to favour their clients?

The net zero madness will pass, but Wales might be the last country to admit the mistake. Because climate hysteria’s been used by mediocrities and clowns to explain and justify almost every decision someone else has forced on them.

Without this fig leaf to cover their incompetence they’d be naked and exposed.

♦ end ♦

© Royston Jones 2026

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‘Environmentalism’ In Wales, A New Colonialism

On By JacIn Climate, Colonialism, Environmentalism, Globalism, Renewables, World Economic Forum, WWF37 Comments

This starts with a very local story that’s been bubbling away for some time. But sometimes a local story can serve to illustrate a much wider issue. And that, I believe, is the case here.

◊

BACKGROUND

In essence, a local family wants a hydroelectric scheme on their land. The plan submitted to Eryri planners July 17, 2024, and approved (with conditions) July 15, 2026.

Warning: there may have been some modifications since the original plan shown here

It’s fairly close to the B4391. The road that runs off the (Bala – Trawsfynydd) A4212 to Llan Ffestiniog. The OS map below will give a better idea of the area, and shows clearly ‘Rhaeadr y Cwm’, where Afon Cynfal runs down the gorge.

The picture below, from Google Maps – but 8 years old, I’m afraid – shows the gorge and the waterfall from the B4391.

The reason I’m writing about it now is because it’s still in the news, and protesters are still protesting. As I was reminded by an article in last week’s issue of the Cambrian News. Reproduced for you below.

The article reports that those who’ve been given planning permission are three brothers from a local farming family: Dafydd Elis, Elis Dafydd and Moi Dafydd. With roots in the area. The objectors? Well . . .

The first objector mentioned is ‘Pat Thynne’, who I assume is Patricia Thynne. And I’m guessing she hasn’t lived long at Cwm farm, which was on the market 13 years ago for £650,000.

I believe that until about 10 years ago she was living in Cumbria, in a property sold for £475,000. As might be expected, Ms Thynne is involved with Cymdeithas Eryri (the Snowdonia Society); a well intentioned outfit that unfortunately attracts too many who’ve moved to the area and want to dictate to those who’ve always lived there.

I’ll return to Cymdeithas Eryri later.

Another protester mentioned is “Joe Hope, farmer and ecologist from Machynlleth“. Which means that Joe is certainly not local. And when I think, ‘Welsh farmers’, I’m more likely to think of the three brothers than I am to think of Joe Hope.

But Joe’s objection takes it all to a new level, invoking the Mabinogion, no less.

I came to understand how it was part of a mythic landscape; the Cynfal and Llyn Morwynion are settings for the Mabinogion, where magical hero Llew Llaw Gyffes is married to and betrayed by Blodeuwedd, a bride conjured up from flowers.

Go for it, Joe!

Truth is, most objections were from outside the area through an e-action webpage set up by the Snowdonia Society, Save Our Rivers, the North Wales Wildlife Trust and Buglife.

Ffestiniog Town Council also objected – after previously supporting the project. The council chair is Rory Francis who, until March this year, was Director of Cymdeithas Eryri. It’s all here on his Linkedin profile.

Curiously, perhaps, on a council that should have 16 members, there are 7 vacancies.

What locals everywhere do object to is 800ft-tall wind turbines, and mile after mile of big, ugly pylons. And yet, this is where so many ‘environmentalists’ seem to fall silent. Or are openly supportive.

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GLOBALISM AND ‘ENVIRONMENTALISM’

We’ve been living with the climate scam for a long time now. It’s used to influence our behaviour; to deindustrialise the West through net zero, carbon capture and other nonsense; increase our bills; and make lots of money for big corporations.

Those driving this agenda need plausible allies, people and organisations that might get away with pretending they have altruistic motives. And this is where ‘environmentalists’ enter the picture.

Calls to make sacrifices to ‘save the planet’ will be more persuasive when they come from a sincere but brainwashed youngster like the Swedish doom goblin than if they came direct from Larry Fink of BlackRock and the World Economic Forum.

Though I’m not sure how many are still listening to Greta Thunberg since she finally went off the rails. Here’s a recent photo taken, it’s claimed, at a performance by rappers Kneecap in West Belfast. There she is with balaclava and keffiyeh.

She’s beginning to look as unwell as many have always thought she was. But not so long ago she was addressing the United Nations, and dictating to heads of state. Everybody wanted to be photographed with her.

Now she’s  a raging anti-Semite, supporting a corrupted form of Irish Republicanism that still wants the Brits out – but the rest of the world allowed in.

A carnival of grotesques. Just look at those eyes!

I don’t want you to think I’m picking on Greta, but no one better exemplifies the deception I’m describing. Converted or compromised politicians can pretend they’ve been moved by a sweet little Swedish girl rather than admit to having been browbeaten by the aforementioned Mr Fink and his cadre.

Here in Wales, ‘environmental concerns’ too often work against the interests of the native Welsh. For example, to listen to many environmentalists, all the pollution in our waterways is the fault of farmers, and cow farts will be the end of us all.

These lies of course tie in with the Globalists’ war on farming. Not because they want to improve our diet, or have better water quality, but because they want to control the food supply, and through that, control us.

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LOCAL PARTNERSHIPS AND INITIATIVES

Having realised that Welsh people aren’t happy with wind farms and solar arrays proliferating, and knowing where the profits go, the Welsh political class is finally talking about ‘local benefits’.

In October 2023 the self-styled ‘Welsh Government’ launched Trydan Gwyrdd Cymru (Green Electricity Wales).

Trydan Gwyrdd Cymru’s remit from Welsh Government, is to develop and deliver renewable energy projects, starting on the Welsh public estate, with the best possible long-term economic and social benefits for the people of Wales.

In addition, we have Ynni Cymunedol Cymru (Community Energy Wales), where we find that doyenne of all things loony and left, former leader of Plaid Cymru Leanne Wood, acting as secretary. Possibly commissar.

Wolfie Smith would be so proud –“Power to the people!”

There seem to be plenty of similarly-minded individuals among the directors, but I’m not sure what they actually do. I think they just offer advice. (There’s a lot of that goes on in Wales.)

But the real benefit from employing this lot is their political influence in Corruption Bay. Which in turn means funding . . . for the favoured ones. And all too often these seem to be new to Wales. When we turn to ‘local partnerships’, and ‘community involvement’ we find them.

Imagine calling a badly-publicised public meeting, at an awkward time for most people, but making sure your people are there and dominate the meeting. Then you go away and pretend that your people represent the views and wishes of the whole community.

(Just like Communist Party takeovers of union branches I recall from my youth.)

Or maybe you don’t even bother with the charade of a meeting. Groups just emerge.

An example might be Awel Aman Tawe. Which was quick off the mark in 2000, just a year after the first sitting of our then Assembly. Started by people with tenuous links to the valleys north and west of Swansea, but who’d seen an opening.

After 26 years is Awel Aman Tawe commercially viable? Perhaps not. The company has seven outstanding charges shown on its Companies House entry, going back to 2006.

These loans, etc came from: Neath Port Talbot council (3). The Wales Council for Voluntary Action, a conduit for ‘Welsh Government’ funding (2). The National Lottery, which only seems to fund projects approved of by the lanyard-wearing classes (1). With one from the Co-operative Bank.

But Awel Aman Tawe certainly has political connections.

For example, a Member of the linked Awel Coop is Jenny Rathbone, Labour MS for Cardiff Central until May. But more importantly, she sat on the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee.

And I shouldn’t have to remind you that her husband John Uden sits on Bute Energy’s Welsh Advisory Board.

Most ‘community projects’ rely on public funding. Justified by high energy costs. The consequence of the climate scam demanding highly subsidised but unreliable ‘renewables’. Supported by the politicians doling out the public funding.

What a system! With an obvious solution.

◊

WATER

Earlier I promised a return to the Snowdonia Society, and here it is.

Last week I was sent a curious document – an invitation, I suppose – to an event planned for Cardiff in October: ‘How Designated Landscapes Can Help Solve the Water Crisis’. Here it is.

There are a few things I’m struggling to make sense of.

First, the invite was sent out by Graeme Cotterill, Vice Chair, Alliance for Welsh Designated Landscapes. (Heard of it?) Second, it was relayed by the Snowdonia Society. Third, it specifically mentions the “Cambrian Mountains“, or Yr Elenydd.

I can answer the first two questions by telling you Cotterill’s day job is Director of the Snowdonia Society – he took over from Rory Francis! Before that, for over 13 years, he was at North Wales Wildlife Trust – which also objected to the hydro project!

Such coincidences!

As for why Yr Elenydd got a mention, that remains a mystery. For Designated Landscapes are National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. As you can see from the map below, Yr Elenydd, marked with a cross, is neither.

But as I’ve explained many times, this beautiful wilderness is now under attack; coveted by wind farm bandits and ‘environmentalists’ of the rewilder genus.

But how do we explain the alleged “water crisis” which seems to be the justification for this gathering? Certainly, Yr Elenydd is the source of the Teifi, which runs to the sea at Cardigan. And the Tywi, which meets the sea south of Carmarthen. Also, Llyn Brianne reservoir supplying Swansea; and the Elan reservoirs serving Birmingham.

But why would these interest the Alliance for Welsh Designated Landscapes and the Snowdonia Society? Maybe looking at the speakers might give a clue.

Gail Davies-Walsh is described by the ‘Welsh Government’ as “a transformative leader in Welsh environmental protection“. She’s CEO of Afonydd Cymru (Wales’ Rivers).

She worked for some years for Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water. Some believe that since leaving DCWW her role has been to deflect criticism from its woeful performance and pollution record.

Next up is Tom Johnstone founder of We Are Nature Based CIC. I’d never heard of this lot. But then, it’s almost impossible to keep up with ‘environmental’ groups. How many are there?

This outfit was formed just over two years ago and is based in Rhos-on-Sea. Which is a long way from Yr Elenydd, and from the Wye, which is mentioned on the website, and even in the accounts.

Another director of We Are Nature Based is Thomas Rickard, who lives in Devon. The third director is Bethany Ward. A director of Drosi Bikes CIC of Llangollen.

The third billed speaker is Adam Taylor. “Protected Areas Committee chair, Flood Risk Management Committee member, NRW / board member, Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority.” A busy boy!

He began his career with the Essex Wildlife Trust. Then it was the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust. Before crossing the border in November 2019 to become CEO of the Gwent Wildlife Trust. All listed here.

None of them know anything about Yr Elenydd.

But they belong to an ever-expanding network of overlapping and interlinked ‘environmental’ groups. There might soon be 500 of these groups – but perhaps no more than 200 people actually involved.

But with more influence over the political system and economic priorities of Wales than its three million people. Democracy, innit!

◊

HERE’S HOW IT OPERATES

Here I’ll address the ‘circular’ relationship the ‘environmental’ lobby has with the ‘Welsh Government and various bodies. A lobby publicly funded to find that Wales is “nature depleted“, etc, which then allows Corruption Bay to claim it has been “advised“, or “after consultations“, to double down on the anti-farming and other agendas.

From the WWF website

Commissioning reports was an essential part of how Labour ran Wales for 27 years. But it was never confined to the environment, or to farming. And it caused chaos.

A report into a fire service found “toxic masculinity“, “misogyny“, “racism“, even “banter” – to the horror of the pearl-clutchers who made the finding. This was used to impose a diversity agenda.

The South Wales Fire and Rescue Service was even condemned for not taking the knee for George Floyd! The clip below is in the report produced by Judge Fenella Morris.

The current shambles at the Welsh Rugby Union can be traced back to the WRU deciding that ‘trans women’ (i.e. biological males) should not play in women’s rugby. This outraged certain Labour politicians.

And so, in January 2023, the ‘Welsh Government’ announced that Sport Wales – which it sponsors and funds – had stepped in to “advise” the WRU. Then political appointees – who know little about Wales or rugby – were put in charge of the WRU to push a ‘diversity’ agenda.

And that’s why Welsh rugby is going down the tubes. With Jiffy calling on them all to go. He’s not the only one.

◊

AND FINALLY

In Wales, there’s a colonialist aspect to renewables and ‘saving the planet’. Foreign investors and corporations own all the projects. Most of the activists, lobbyists, and spokespersons in the supporting ‘environmental’ movement come from outside of Wales. Some don’t even live in Wales.

They all want to dictate to us. Ride roughshod over us. And exploit our homeland.

And some of the attitudes are quite horrifying. After ‘moving to the country’ Tarquin and Helena are appalled that some hairy-arsed hill farmer, who might struggle with the English language – owns hundreds of acres!

Land that they could be ‘saving’. (With someone else’s money, of course.) Land that’ll give them a platform from which to gesture away to their heart’s content.

The hydro scheme we began with should be supported. And while we obviously don’t have the hydro resources of Norway or Switzerland, even Scotland, there’s nowhere in Wales that’s far from a fast-flowing stream. And we get the rain to keep them flowing.

As for the October event in Cardiff, I’m still not sure what it’s about. But given who’s involved, I predict with certainty that something is being hatched that will see our country exploited for the benefit and profit of others.

Because the bottom line is that ‘environmentalism’ is just a smaller scam serving the bigger climate scam. ‘Environmentalism’ exists to advance the interests of banks, asset managers, and corporations.

Which is why we find ‘environmentalists’ opposing a genuinely local renewable energy project like Nant Cynfal. That this initiative comes from farmers sitting on land that could be making money for somebody else is perhaps another factor.

‘Environmentalists’ are hypocrites. Damaging Wales and Welsh interests to serve some spiv on Wall Street, others in the City of London, or shy buggers hiding behind addresses on distant, sun-blest isles.

♦ end ♦

© Royston Jones 2026

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Net Zero, Pressure Groups, DEI, Cultural Marxism

On By JacIn Climate, DEI, Environmentalism, Far Left, Globalism, Greens, Public Funding, Renewables, Rugby, Sport, Wind Turbines21 Comments

I’m thinking of taking a summer break, but whether I do or not, I want to put this out; based on things I’ve understood for a while, but prompted by cases that have come to light over the past week.

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FUTURE GENERATIONS COMMISSIONER

This job was created by the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015. All Welsh legislation now must adhere to the guidelines laid down by this Act. I covered it recently in the second part of Things Are Never So Bad That They Can’t Get Worse.

A wee digression to explain how we got here.

The driving force behind Well-being, and the woman who claims to have authored its bible, is former Labour Assembly Member (for Pontypridd) Jane Davidson. Before taking up the post she’d created for herself, in 2007, Davidson had already damaged Welsh education with climate scam brainwashing and other nonsense.

Davidson was at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, organised by the UN, where the guidelines for ‘sustainable development’ were laid down. They placed the blame for “Climate Change, Desertification and Biodiversity Loss” at the door of Western nations.

This global crisis had to be tackled. When it was pointed out that developing nations were increasingly contributing to the problem it was argued that they must be allowed to catch up. As Google AI puts it:

. . . climate frameworks, like the UN Paris Agreement, operate on the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities”. This acknowledges that wealthier nations historically produced the majority of greenhouse gases and must take the lead in cutting them, while giving developing economies more time and leeway to transition out of poverty.

Developed nations paying for this ‘differentiation’ exposes that ‘saving the planet’ is just another form of occidentophobia, or “anti-Western sentiment, prejudice, or hostility toward Western culture, values, and institutions“.

But I’ve never understood why Davidson was in Rio. The Times Higher Education supplement says: “She entered politics in 1994 as a researcher for Labour MP Rhodri Morgan, later the assembly’s second secretary.”

She’s described that Rio trip as her Road to Damascus moment, when she was converted to the Green gospel, thereupon becoming an apostle. But if she was not already a convert in 1992, and not involved in politics, why was she in Rio at all?

Was she on holiday, and just popped in out of curiosity?

I believe Davidson was already involved in the climate scam; and came back from Rio with the blueprint for turning Wales into the wind turbine, solar panel, anti-farming, DEI, brainwashing kids, 20mph hell it’s become.

The first Future Generations Commissioner (FGC) was Labour insider, and at the time, deputy PCC for South Wales, Sophie Howe. Before that she’d been a Cardiff councillor and a special advisor to cabinets led by Labour first ministers Rhodri Morgan and Carwyn Jones.

She was succeeded in 2023 by Derek Walker, another Labour insider. He had a background in the TUC, trans lobbyists Stonewall, and in the 12 years before becoming FGC he’d been CEO of Cwmpas (formerly Wales Co-operative Development & Training Centre Limited), a “development agency for social enterprises and co-operatives”.

Latest accounts show income of almost £7 million, almost all of which came from the self-styled ‘Welsh Government’, and most of which went on salaries. Basically, another publicly-funded job creation scheme for Labour insiders and keffiyeh wearers.

Most people will never have heard of Cwmpas. Or the many similar outfits.

The reason I mention FGC Derek Walker is due to a report in BusinessNewsWales last week that began: “The Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, Derek Walker, is announcing a review into energy policy and decision-making in Wales.”

I read it, and a few questions came into my head. Let me list them.

“Project Ynni is a new initiative“. OK. And how many other ‘initiatives’ are out there? How many ‘initiatives’ have come and gone? How much public money have they swallowed? What have they achieved?

Where does this man’s legitimacy come from? Who voted for him?

What business qualifications does he have, or what expertise in energy or climate studies?

We all know the answers. He’s a Labour time-server, given a job created solely to promote climate hysteria and control our behaviour.

◊

THE EVILS OF PRIVATE TRANSPORT (OTHER THAN BIKES)

Another piece that caught my eye last week was a report about increased parking charges in Cardiff, a move that many believe will damage the city’s economy.

Quoted in the piece was Ruth Billingham of Living Streets, an anti-car pressure group that has a pass to all departments in Corruption Bay. I remembered Living Streets from its role in the imposition of 20mph speed limits.

Here she is again, in November 2024, with other pressure groups telling the ‘Welsh Government’ to push “active travel“. But the more people are forced to cycle, or walk, the fewer people there’ll be travelling anywhere.

Is there a lobby group for a nation-wide, cheap and reliable, public transport system?

Doing a little digging soon found that Ruth Billingham had for seven years, until May this year, been involved with Cynnal Cymru-Sustain Wales, which describes itself as “the leading sustainability charity for Wales“.

In reality, it’s just one of hundreds. And all costing us money.

Until March, Cynnal Cymru had been part of the group structure of Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA), though its status now is unclear. The WCVA is a body used by the ‘Welsh Government’ to disburse public funding.

Cynnal Cymru is based at Sbarc/Spark, part of a big Cardiff University complex on Maindy Road. Where we also find Cwmpas, which we just looked at, formerly headed by Derek Walker, now Future Generations Commissioner.

Sbarc claims to be . . .

Bringing academics and entrepreneurs together in a spirit of innovation, enterprise, and collaboration

We can see that it’s home to publicly-funded organisations, so I wonder how many genuine entrepreneurs can be found there?

I’ve always said that Cardiff University is almost an extension of the ‘Welsh Government’ and the Bay establishment; so we shouldn’t be surprised to see it provide a home to lobbyists and leftist groups reliant on the the public purse.

◊

‘I JUST HEARD SOME BANTER – PASS THE SMELLING SALTS!’

Here’s how DEI is often implemented in Wales. The ‘Welsh Government’ will claim to have received reports or complaints about a certain organisation that warrant investigation. The ‘investigation’ will always conclude that changes are needed that can only be achieved by imposing a far-left Woke agenda.

One example would the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service (SWFRS). A ‘Culture Review’ was held into the Service, headed by “human rights” lawyer Fenella Morris KC.

The Report unearthed countless horrifying examples of cannibalism, human sacrifice, and officers wearing odd socks. I jest, of course. What was found was racism, misogyny, and “banter“. Yes, honestly, banter.

The pearl clutching continued by condemning legitimate opinions on immigration. Even “inappropriate behaviour outside of work”! But who gets to decide what’s legitimate and what’s inappropriate?

The report also criticised the Service for not ‘taking the knee’ for George Floyd. When I first saw that on social media I thought it was the kind of ‘misinformation’ against which I am ever alert.

So I found and downloaded the report, and there it is, on pages 121 and 122.

Think about that for a minute. Firemen in Merthyr Tudful were expected to take time off their duties to kneel for a career criminal who’d died from the drugs in his system, while being lawfully arrested, five thousand miles away.

Also, to show support for the fraud associated with Black Lives Matter (even in the UK!), sympathise with calls to Defund the Police (with whom the SWFRS work on a daily basis), and turn a blind eye to the murder, arson, and looting – always looting – that followed Floyd’s death.

Following publication of the Report Chief Fire Officer Huw Jakeway resigned and ‘Commissioners’ were installed by the ‘Welsh Government’. These included Kirsty Williams former Liberal Democrat Assembly Member for Brecon and Radnorshire.

Here’s Williams demanding “anti-racism” in schools. (She was Minister for Education 2016 – 2021.) It’s less than two minutes long. Go on, have a chortle! (But don’t let Fenella Morris catch you!)

It’s a word salad of highfalutin bollocks designed to undermine the self-worth of Welsh kids by making them feel guilty about evils dreamed up by their enemies.

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WELSH RUGBY UNION

Another example of ‘Welsh Government’ enforcing the Woke agenda is the Welsh Rugby Union. Most people realise the WRU is now a shambles, but few understand how it came about.

Let me see if I can explain it with a timeline.

October 2021: In a BBC report from April 2025 it’s stated that:

In October 2021, a BBC investigation found that the Welsh government had adopted Stonewall’s interpretation of equality law in some of its policies, offering protections not provided for in law.

Hardly surprising seeing as the ‘Welsh Government’ was a major Stonewall funder.

“Early 2022”: Labour MP, and former Wales women’s rugby international, Tonia Antoniazzi, raised concerns with Dawn Bowden, ‘Welsh Government’ Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, about misogyny and sexism within the WRU.

September 7, 2022: It’s reported the WRU bans biological men from playing rugby against women and girls. For obvious reasons of safety and “in line with World Rugby guidance“.

September 23, 2022: The Sun reports Tonia Antoniazzi criticising the Scottish Rugby Union for allowing biological men to play against women and girls.

October 2022: Dawn Bowden, and Hannah Blythyn, Deputy Minister for Social Partnership (what that?), wrote to the WRU expressing “concern” about its ban on transgender women competing in female-only games. (Reported here March 2023.)

January 23, 2023: BBC Wales Investigates put out a 30-minute programme supporting allegations of “sexism, bullying and sexual harassment at the Welsh Rugby Union“.

January 28, 2023: It’s announced that Sport Wales – sponsored and largely funded by the ‘Welsh Government’ – has stepped in to “advise” the WRU.

January 29, 2023: Steve Phillips resigns as WRU chief executive.

February 2023: The WRU – under new management – set up a panel, chaired by Dame Anne Rafferty, to look into the allegations. This panel’s report is dated November 13, 2023.

Before the report is delivered the ‘Welsh Government’ takes advantage of the chaos it has created to appoint a new chair and CEO to the WRU. Around the same time ‘Welsh Government’ appointees also took over the Football Association of Wales (FAW). Both cases covered in this blog post.

January 3, 2024: It’s reported that Bowden has been ‘liking’ posts on X hostile to Antoniazzi.

April 16, 2025: UK Supreme Court rules that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex.

April 24, 2025: Back to the report I touched on earlier when, in the House of Commons, “Tonia Antoniazzi claimed that the Welsh government and some other institutions had previously been “captured” by LGBT charities promoting the idea that sex can be changed.” (Still held prisoner, Tonia.)

September 12, 2025: Sport Wales signs up to the Brighton plus Helsinki Declaration, which we’re told “supports the development of more fair and equal systems of sport and physical activity for women and girls“.

In Principle 1 of the Declaration we read a reference to “sexual orientation or identity“. Orientation I take to mean heterosexual or homosexual, but identity is almost certainly a reference to self-identification and trans ‘women’.

July 20, 2026: Nation.Cymru runs a piece headed ‘WRU signs international declaration on gender equality in sport‘. The piece quotes the Brighton plus Helsinki Declaration.

So what really happened?

My interpretation is that Tonia Antoniazzi and others raised legitimate concerns with the ‘Welsh Government’ about sexism, homophobia, and misogyny in Welsh rugby.

The Wokists in the Corruption Bay bubble seized on the opportunity to extend these complaints about the treatment of women to include trans ‘women’. Because, as we all know – “Trans women are women!“.

Sport Wales, the WRU, and perhaps other sporting bodies signing up to the Brighton plus Helsinki Declaration is an attempt to circumvent the Supreme Court decision of April last year.

All done in the name of promoting women’s sport. It’ll only take one woman to be injured by a 19-stone psycho calling himself Daisy to put women’s sport back decades.

The new Plaid Cymru administration needs to get a handle on this. Pronto!

◊

CONCLUSION

What we’ve looked at here; net zero, the power of shadowy pressure groups, and the imposition of the Woke agenda, are part and parcel of something bigger designed to weaken and undermine the West.

We could add open borders, calls to empty the prisons, and other lunacies. Not because Marxists care about immigrants and criminals but because they appreciate the potential of such groups to damage societies, countries, and Western civilisation.

And we must confront the reality that those promoting Cultural Marxism have reached positions of power in countless organisations. With anyone trying to curb the spread of this poison paying the price.

And yet, it’s almost funny. Here’s an exchange in a House Oversight subcommittee hearing this week, in which Republican Congressman Brandon Gill of Texas questions the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History director Anthea Hartig.

He asks why her organisation lists politeness as a “defining characteristic of white supremacy culture“. The question is almost absurd. But nowhere nearly as absurd as promoting the idea that politeness is a form of racism – to be condemned.

You can see where this leads. If people stop being polite to each other, then arguments result, leading to conflict and violence, fractured societies. Which obviously serves the bigger agenda.

Treat yourself to another chortle with the marks by which ye shall know the beast that is white culture: the nuclear family, objectivity, planning ahead, etc. Basically, everything that has progressed humanity to where it is today.

It doesn’t matter whether you trace it back to the Frankfurt School or Antonio Gramsci, the Cultural Marxism threatening us believes that to bring down the evil capitalist West it must go for the foundations. To attack the beliefs, structures and realities that underpin the West.

These might be Christianity, the nuclear family, patriotism, freedom of speech, rejection of state over-reach, or believing that only women can have babies.

But what’s really funny is that those promoting Wokeness, those who indoctrinate our kids in school and university, may be stupid enough to genuinely believe they’re creating a better world in which they’ll have some leadership role.

When in reality they’ve become someone else’s useful idiots. For Cultural Marxism has for some time been funded and manipulated by individuals and corporate interests that want to own everything and control everybody.

If the Globalists succeed then those you’ve read about here might be dealt with in the same way Hitler dealt with the Brownshirts when they’d served their purpose.

Now that’ll definitely be worth a chortle or two!

♦ end ♦

© Royston Jones 2026

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Bute Energy, Connections & Partners

On By JacIn Bute Energy, Climate, Colonialism, Ireland, Renewables, Wind Turbines59 Comments

This piece is in two parts. The first takes us to Ireland, the second . . . well, I’m not quite sure, maybe into a war zone.

For anyone new to the blog, or this topic, Bute Energy is a Scottish company with a Cardiff address planning a dozen or more windfarms in Wales, plus the pylon runs needed to connect them with the main grid. Also solar arrays and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS).

The head man is Oliver James Millican who, along with the other Bute principals, Stuart Allan George and Lawson Douglas Steele, left Millican’s father’s Parabola property company towards the end of 2017. They may still be working for Parabola.

◊

‘IF YOU EVER GO ACROSS THE SEA TO IRELAND, THEN MAYBE . . . ‘

To begin with, I recently learnt that Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), Bute’s main funder up to this point, is now operating in Ireland. Taking advantage of Ireland’s Strategic Investment Fund.

The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) has committed €200m to specialist greenfield renewable energy infrastructure investor, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (“CIP”) latest flagship strategy, Copenhagen Infrastructure V (the “CI V”)

When I saw ‘CI V’ it rang a bell, because this is (or was?) the CIP fund behind Bute Energy. Mentioned more than once on this blog. Specifically, CI V Dragon Lender Ltd (launched 23.12.2021). Other companies with the CI V Dragon name are; CI V Dragon Topco Ltd (16.03.2023), and CI C Dragon Holdco 2 Ltd (07.12.2023).

All three are still in business, with directors I believe to be working for CIP.

There was a fourth company, CI V Dragon Holdco Ltd, formed 23.12.2021, with CIP directors. Two of whom left in November 2023, but two hung on until June 2025, when they were replaced by Oliver Millican. A liquidator was appointed in January this year. This outfit was clearly replaced by Holdco 2.

A lot of money went into the now-departed company, over £60,000,000. Which seems to have been used in payouts to Bute directors. This has been widely covered in the media; including Nation.Cymru. There are suggestions of, dare I say it – can I even spell it! – jiggery-pokery.

Here’s what Google AI says. Nation.Cymru is quoted, but the info came from this site.

Though a reporter for a London newspaper, who’s been in contact recently over Bute’s activities, tells me his ‘paper’s bean counters are not convinced Bute’s done anything illegal. Devious, maybe, but not, strictly speaking, illegal.

Whatever the answer, it seems that the money was doled out thus: Millican £47.56m, with George and Steele each getting £4.64m, and a few million going to minor players, one said to be Millican’s brother-in-law.

Much of Millican’s money was used to buy real estate in Scotland, often warehouses, and dealt with in this blog in March. Here’s a quote I used then from a Bute insider:

The real estate arm of the Windward portfolio . . . is working with multiple overseas businesses and at least one national government to house interests and commodity items relating to renewables infrastructure. There are warehouses in Wales and Scotland filled to the rafters with BESS and pylon materials – rented and landed for resale exclusively to the UK market to artificially appear to restrict overseas procurement and brand it as available when supply chains pinch in the late 2027 to early 2029 drive.

Windward is another name used by Bute companies, Windward Enterprises Ltd being the ultimate holding company for the Bute empire. Sole director and shareholder Oliver Millican.

A new director of Windward Enterprises, since June 1, is given as ‘Thomas Anthony Watson’. (Companies House was notified June 25.) A name common enough to be ignored. He is in fact, Labour peer, Baron Watson of Wyre Forest.

Last month Windward Enterprises took out a loan with private bank Brown Shipley & Co Ltd, ultimately owned by the Al Thani family, which owns and runs Qatar. This family also owns some £40bn of real estate in London, including Selfridges, Harrods, The Savoy, Claridge’s, Heathrow Airport . . .

◊

BUT WHY THE INTEREST IN IRELAND?

With Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners investing in ‘renewables’ in Ireland I naturally got to wondering if Bute Energy is similarly involved.

In an idle moment I typed ‘Bute Energy Ireland’ into Google, and it suggested a “corporate address” down by Anna Liffey. Here to be exact: 2nd Floor, Riverview House, 21-23 City Quay, Dublin, D02 AY91.

Which turns out to be the Dublin address of SYSTRA Ireland, part of a big French company, with projects around the world.

Next, I searched for ‘Bute Energy Systra’, and turned this up:

Bute Energy is a Welsh developer spearheading over £3 billion of onshore wind projects. They collaborate with global infrastructure and consulting firm SYSTRA. SYSTRA provides lifecycle services, electrical grid/infrastructure planning, and engineering for Bute’s energy parks to speed up the transition to a low-carbon grid.

“Welsh developer“! So there is a link. But why had I never heard of SYSTRA before? Next, my trembling digits tapped in ‘Welsh Government Systra’, and this came up:

SYSTRA is a prominent transport and engineering consultancy that frequently partners with the Welsh Government and Transport for Wales (TfW) to modernize public transport, boost regional connectivity, and achieve net-zero climate targets.

Then I found this on the SYSTRA website. Nice to see another Welsh company getting contracts from the transition to the wonderful Green economy.

On the Systra website I also unearthed these specific projects. A franchised bus service for Wales and an energy from waste facility on Deeside. Are there others?

Despite these contracts in Wales SYSTRA doesn’t even bother with the Bute ploy of having an office here. It seems Wales is handled from Bristol or Birmingham. Though there is of course an office in Edinburgh, which will be handy for the Bute boys. (In fact, SYSTRA’s Edinburgh address looks somehow familiar.)

AI coming up with SYSTRA’s Dublin address for Bute Energy is no real surprise. It’s pretty obvious this French company has its feet under the table with the so-called ‘Welsh Government’.

So, Bute is already linked with SYSTRA and CIP, both are now operating in Ireland, with Systra also well in with the ‘Welsh Government’. It’s therefore reasonable to assume that Bute may also be active in Ireland.

Which brings me to another reason for looking at Irish connections. I’m referring to the pylon runs from windfarms planned in central Wales (many by Bute) to Llandyfaelog, south of Carmarthen, where they connect with the main grid running from RWE’s Pembroke power station to England.

This has been covered extensively, both my blog and on the CPRW website.

While England was always the presumed destination for the electricity generated, it could just as easily go west to Ireland, thanks to the new Greenlink Interconnector at Freshwater West in Pembrokeshire.

This short (2:12 mins) news clip from RTÉ explains it.

The demand for electricity in Ireland is soaring, with some 80 AI data centers already, and more in the pipeline. Understandably, the state electricity board, EirGrid, is getting nervous.

No surprise then, that in addition to the connection from Pembrokeshire there’s another from Bodelwyddan to somewhere near Dublin, with MaresConnect. This is owned jointly by Etchea Energy, with offices in London and Dublin, and our old friends in the Foresight Group.

UPDATE: Bodelwyddan is mentioned in this announcement of an offshore development “entirely in Welsh waters“, between BP and Japanese company Jera, with a “proposed connection to the Bodelwyddan National Grid substation“.

As for Foresight, you may remember this lot attracting bad publicity in recent years for buying up Welsh farms on which to make money from planting trees to offset ’emissions’, or some such corporate bollocks.

And then there are the governmental contacts. Here’s a joint statement issued a year ago after first minister Eluned Morgan visited Dublin to meet Tánaiste Simon Harris.

Forums have enabled us to hear directly from Irish companies including ESB, Simply Blue and DP Energy, who are investing in energy projects in Wales. During the 2023 forum, ministers also visited the Morlais tidal stream energy project on Anglesey in North Wales

Last month, the new Plaid first minister, Rhun ap Iorwerth, was in Dublin.

And the links don’t end with politicos doing photo-ops. Here’s one between French giant EDF and Irish state-owned ESB. This offshore wind project’s called Gwynt Glas. The only thing Welsh about it is the name. (But that’ll be enough to please some.)

So Irish companies, with others from Scotland, England, and further afield, invest in renewable energy projects in Wales. A country that already produces more electricity than it could consume if we all drove electric Humvees and left our lights on 24/7.

But it doesn’t end there, because there’s also electricity being shipped down from Scotland. This was supposed to be taken by a lengthy pylon run from Pentir near Bangor to Swansea North, on the line from Pembroke to England.

Then again, it might not run down to Swansea at all; perhaps it – or some of it – could be sent to Ireland via the Bodelwyddan link. However you look at it, Wales is being covered in windfarms and other installations we don’t need, and criss-crossed with transmission routes going elsewhere.

Something noted by CPRW, which last month put out a press release warning that ‘Wales Must Not Become England’s Energy Corridor‘. Agreed. But I repeat, the way things are shaping up Wales is just as likely to become an energy corridor serving Ireland as well.

All the while those treacherous clowns in Corruption Bay mince around looking smug, and preparing their spare rooms for ‘refugees’ (or maybe not) – cos we is saving the planet, innit.

And anybody who objects is a climate-denying fascist. Well, I guess that’s me.

◊

JUDGED BY THE COMPANY YOU KEEP

Another development concerning Bute worth reporting is the funding from Dutch outfit Rabobank. Here’s the Rabobank website.

There are maybe two points to make about Rabobank. First, it’s big in agriculture and food . . . and buying farmland. Second, it has a rather worrying record.

When it comes to buying farms and land Rabobank operates through the subsidiary Rabo Farm and local intermediaries. These are often corrupt local officials. Worth asking if these officials were always corrupt, or was it the prospect of Rabobank money that corrupted them?

Come to that, how did Rabobank make contact with local officials in remote parts of Poland and Roumania? Did they have intermediaries with good contacts? I mention that Latin outpost because of a scandal just over a decade ago that saw local farmers learning they no longer owned their land. Read about it by clicking on the image below.

Rabobank has strong links with top-tier Globalists the Rothschilds. Maybe the latter rely on Rabobank’s expertise in food supply and pricing to help them towards the Globalists’ wet-dream goal of controlling the food supply. And with it, us.

Rabobank is also believed to be active in that most corrupt of eastern European countries, Ukraine. But the law there states that only Ukrainian citizens and entities can own land. Up to 10,000 hectares.

What this means in practice is that those close to the Cokehead Clown of Kiev often act as intermediaries for foreign investors. This goes some way to explaining the Bugattis, Lamborghinis and Bentleys with Ukrainian plates in Monte Carlo.

Rather cruelly they’re known as the “Monaco Battalion“. Which must be a great consolation to Ukrainians dying at the front to defend their corruption.

But then, dying on the front line nowadays is reserved for little people.

But the question is, why is Bute Energy involved with Rabobank at all? The new funder may now be branching out into ‘renewables’, but the primary interest remains land, farming, and foodstuffs. Are the two connected?

By which I mean, is Rabobank’s link-up with Bute connected to Bute owning ‘Welsh’ Labour, also now buying influence in Plaid Cymru; and Rabobank realising that both these parties want to end livestock farming. Which will bring many farms onto the market.

A Powys farmer confided recently, regarding Rabobank:

From my perspective, the concern is that this extremely powerful financial institution with deep expertise in agricultural land are now also financing infrastructure that competes for that land.

Whatever the answer, Bute Energy linking up with a company with Rabobank’s record should set alarm bells ringing.

◊

CONCLUSION

As I’ve said a few times in recent posts on the subject, I (and others) may have focused too much on Bute’s activities in Wales at the expense of the bigger picture. Which now seems to be emerging.

A picture that, first, confirms the electricity generated in Wales is for consumption somewhere else. I’d assumed that ‘somewhere else’ to be England. But that’s only part of the picture.

Electricity generated in Wales, and off our coasts, is also likely to be going to Ireland. This accounts for the interconnectors from Bodelwyddan and Freshwater West, and it might also explain the Irish companies investing here.

Will electricity generated by Irish companies in Wales be reserved for Irish consumers? I ask because while I appreciate there are interconnectors everywhere, and electricity can flow both ways, consumption in Ireland seems to be outpacing generating capacity.

Then there’s the power coming down from Scotland. It’s not for Welsh consumption. So why can’t it go directly to England and / or Ireland?

Do you remember Alexander Cordell’s book, Rape of the Fair Country, about the 19th century exploitation of Wales by Victorian industrialists? What we see today is the Globalist-Green rape of Wales . . . but without the jobs or any other tangible benefits.

It’s clear beyond doubt that Mam Cymru is being used, and abused. How much longer do we just stand by and let it happen?

♦ end ♦

© Royston Jones 2026

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Things Are Never So Bad That They Can’t Get Worse

On By JacIn Climate, Corruption Bay, Environmentalism, Far Left, Globalism, Plaid Cymru, Renewables, Senedd220 Comments

First, a brief look at the new Plaid Cymru administration. Then an analysis of ‘Well-being’. Before looking at the looming threat of AI data centers.

This piece is bigger than usual, some 2,700 words. But you know it’ll be worth it!

◊

PLAID CYMRU IN POWER

Plaid Cymru emerged from the May 7 Senedd elections as the largest party, winning 43 out of the 96 seats contested. So we have a minority government that will almost certainly need support from Labour (which won 9 seats) to run things.

And even though the Guardian might view Plaid as “centre-left“, I see a far-left party. Which might not be too bad, if it was an old-fashioned left wing party intent on improving the condition of the working class and governing in the interests of a majority of the population.

But the working class, normal people, level-headed people, are now the enemy for the Antifa Irregulars and the Hamas Support Brigade so influential in Plaid.

Let’s start by looking at the cabinet selected by new first minister Rhun ap Iorwerth.

OMG! Where’s the diversity?

Perhaps the only one in whom I might have confidence is Llŷr Gruffydd who, if nothing else, seems to understand rural issues. But then I curb my enthusiasm by remembering that before May 7 he was the SM for the largely rural North Wales region; whereas he now represents the smaller Clwyd constituency, dominated by the urban fleshpots of Rhyl, Prestatyn, and Colwyn Bay.

And then we must consider the description of his ministerial role: Cabinet Minister for Rural Resilience and Sustainability.

‘Sustainability’ for Plaid Cymru, Labour, Greens and the Globalist left generally means: net zero, Agenda 2030, wind turbines and solar panels everywhere; while promoting veganism and using various deceits to get farmers off the land for the benefit of corporate investors.

But what the hell is ‘Rural Resilience‘? Does anybody know?

Even just skimming over the rest of the bunch is really depressing.

For example, in newly-elected Mark Hooper, Deputy Minister for Transport, we have a man on record as saying that “private car travel is a massive problem“. His colleague, also new, Dr Dafydd Trystan Davies, Cabinet Minister for Government Effectiveness(?) and the Constitution, is equally if not more hostile to the freedom bestowed on us peasants by private transport.

For Davies is a sanctimonious planet saver; determined to punish those going to work, dropping the kids off at school, or running granny to her chiropodist appointment.

If these sinners paused for a moment in their attempts to make ends meet, or hold the family together, and instead gaze up to the moral high ground (just above the sunlit uplands), they’d see Dr Daf, wagging his finger admonishingly.

This saintly individual has for some time been a big wheel (spoked, and fully pumped) in the 20mph Sustrans outfit, now renamed Walk Wheel Cycle Trust.

And don’t get me started on Sioned Williams and some of the wimmin. If former Plaid leader Leanne Wood was Medusa they’d be the snakes. One of the new intake, Sarah Rees, admits to being “a campaigner at heart“, perhaps to explain why she’s never done a real job. Perfect for the Senedd!

Despite the widespread ‘optimism’, Plaid Cymru seems as much in thrall to pressure groups and ishoo pedlars as Labour. The useful idiots of Globalism, a form of capitalism so ruthless, so anti-human and authoritarian, that it would repulse the most heartless 19th century ironmaster or coal owner.

◊

BEING TOLD TO FEEL GOOD ABOUT BEING POORER. AND THE ENDGAME

Now I’m going to focus on something I’ve mentioned in connection with other topics. It’s the vast superstructure built on the Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015.

Everything done in Wales since then must follow the stipulations of the Act. It’s used to influence everything. I’ve seen planning applications contain phrases like, ‘This development accords with Future Generations legislation’.

So let’s give Well-being itself more attention. With this section inspired by Nicola Lund, and this piece she wrote back in October 2023.

Nicola’s work is impressive, and extensively researched. So I won’t go over the ground she’s covered; but it’s worth noting her references to the usual suspects: Club of Rome, WEF, EU, WHO, and others.

The way I see it . . . national and individual wealth has traditionally been gauged by metrics such as GDP, disposable income, home ownership, number of private cars per head of population and other determinants.

But by following the Globalist agenda we in the West are becoming poorer by those traditional ways of assessing wealth. Consequently, something was needed to hide the reality and change the focus. This is where Well-being enters the frame.

Let’s go through the ‘Welsh Government’ graphic you see above.

Starting with, at the top, ‘A Prosperous Wales’. So vague as to be meaningless. And how does a country de-industrialising while simultaneously being trampled on by the new robber-barons of the ‘renewables’ racket and the digital age become prosperous?

‘A Resilient Wales’. That word again. But what does it mean? Taking all the crap forced on us without complaining?

‘A Healthier Wales’. Yeah – with the NHS on its knees.

‘A More Equal Wales’. Which means what, DEI and anti-white discrimination?

‘A Wales of Cohesive Communities’. Impossible when you destroy the economic foundations that made communities cohesive. And how does welcoming illegal immigrants to the Nation of Sanctuary aid community cohesion? This is delusional.

‘A Wales of Vibrant Culture and Thriving Welsh Language’. I suspect ‘vibrant’ here means diversity. Again. As for the language, no one who’s destroying farming, a bastion of the language and the economy in so many areas, should be taken seriously.

‘A Globally Responsible Wales’. Probably means student politics and virtue signalling. More bollocks. The sole responsibility of any ‘Welsh Government is Wales.

“Forget about the kids going hungry, Mrs Evans – improve your well-being by thinking about the non-binary lynx we’ve released in the area. Look, there’s one now, making off with little Carys’s rabbit!”.

Once you accept the fundamental lie of the ‘climate crisis’, and agree to the sacrifices demanded, then you’ll accept the resultant decline. But it’ll be you making the sacrifices, not those asking you to make them.

And because the threat is global it must be tackled globally. Which inevitably means trans-national bodies taking control. The next step will be a kind of world government. But you’ll have no say in electing this world government. For elections will be things of the past.

We’re already on our way to an unelected world government with what masquerades as electoral politics in the West today. At a stage where it matters little who you vote for; as most politicians – the Uniparty – sing from the Globalist hymn sheet.

Another feature of such systems is the ‘Chosen One’. Often a graduate of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders programme.

Back in 2024, in Canada, when it became clear that Justin Trudeau had been rumbled by the electorate, Mark Carney, former Governor of the Bank of England and arch Globalist, appeared from nowhere. Carney wasn’t even a sitting MP, but it had been decided, somewhere, by someone, that he would be the next prime minister of Canada.

First, he was made leader of the ruling Liberal Party, then a seat was found for him and he was elected for Nepean, Ontario, in the general election of April 2025.

Over here, Starmer’s a dead man walking. And so a suitable replacement had to be found. The one chosen is mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham. But like Carney, he’s not even an MP. So a Labour MP has stood down and now there’s a by-election in Makerfield on June 18.

If Burnham is elected he’ll become party leader and therefore prime minister. He might be worse than Starmer, but he’ll be a fresh face to fool the plebs for a bit longer.

What I’m describing is not old-fashioned party intrigue, or political jockeying. Because Carney and Burnham were not chosen by their respective parties. (Let alone the members of those parties.) They were chosen by people you’re not supposed to know about; and the role and power of these oligarchs will never be discussed in the media they control and want you to rely on.

To implement their agenda of wealth and asset transfer, Digital ID, Central Bank Digital Currency, and Universal Basic Income, you must be brainwashed into believing that not only are the sacrifices you’re making unavoidable, but also that you should feel good about making them.

Which is all you need to know about the Well-being scam.

◊

AI DATA CENTERS

This part puts me in debt to David Powell. Specifically, this piece he put out last November. Scroll down to the part dealing with AI data centers planned for Wales. Mainly in the south, which is a designated AI Growth Zone.

Here’s a section:

One facility matches a city of 50,000’s water consumption, straining drought-hit valleys and jacking up Dŵr Cymru rates for everyone else.

What’s clear, and what no one denies, is that data centres consume vast amounts of water and electricity. So let’s consider water first. For as David Powell tells us, “One facility matches a city of 50,000’s water consumption“?

Though Google AI suggests the demand will be even higher:

A typical large data centre consumes between 11 million and 19 million litres of water per day—roughly equivalent to the daily usage of a town of 30,000 to 50,000 people. Facilities dedicated to Artificial Intelligence (AI) demand even higher volumes.

Do we have that much water to spare? The answer is obviously no, so it’ll be existing consumers, in the urban south, that’ll find themselves going without. And paying Dŵr Cymru more for less.

In Ireland, there’s even talk of transferring water from the River Shannon, in the west, to the AI data centers in Dublin, on the east coast. Here’s a follow-up article from Gript. (Paywall, I’m afraid.)

But what’s the purpose of these date centers? Listen to Sam Altman, founder of OpenAI, speaking at the BlackRock US Infrastructure Summit.

But we see a future where intelligence is a utility, like electricity or water, and people buy it from us on a meter.

Clearly, AI data centers will need vast amounts of water that the current system will struggle to supply. But electricity will perhaps be even more of an issue.

Parts of England ran dry last week

Those who support ‘renewables’ argue wind and solar will make a huge contribution to supplying AI data centers. That’s wishful thinking; an intermittent supply from wind farms and solar installations, even with their unreliability mitigated by Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), isn’t going to cut it.

UPDATE: It’s estimated that AI data centers use 22% of Ireland’s electricity.

Though there are many BESS planned for southern Wales. One by RWE at Pembroke, alongside the power station. Another on the site of the old Uskmouth power station in Newport. A second Newport site is at Quinn Radiators. One is in Cardiff. Finally, one at the old Ford engine plant in Bridgend.

There are many other projects, including those planned by ‘Welsh’ Labour’s favourite company, Bute Energy. Additional to the BESS installations incorporated into the various ‘Energy Parks’ (windfarms & solar soil destroyers) Bute’s formed BESS companies that specifically name; Cilfynydd, Rhigos, Carmarthen.

But BESS are springing up everywhere. One I’m just hearing about is Castell Llwyd, just west of Ystrad Mynach. The company behind it, Qair, is French owned.

No doubt there are others in the pipeline. For as Google AI tells us:

Wales is rapidly developing into a major UK hub for AI and cloud computing, driven by billions in inward investment, massive hyperscale data center construction, and official AI Growth Zone designations by the UK and Welsh governments

Yes, of course there’s a National Grid. But AI data centers are springing up in England, too, increasing the demand on a system that, like the water supply, will struggle to cope. And will struggle even worse the more it relies on ‘renewables’, the price of which is set to double by 2030.

Then there’s the impact on health. Data centers emit a continuous noise. Here’s David Powell again:

Vantage’s Cardiff operations clock 46-48 decibels at the doors – officially “minor adverse” per standards, but stack multiple facilities in clusters and it becomes a symphony of sleepless nights and shattered quality of life.

Google AI suggests it’s even worse:

AI data centers are notoriously loud. Driven by the need to cool thousands of dense servers, they produce constant, 24/7 noise pollution that can reach 55 to 85 decibels—and sometimes up to 100dB right next to the facility.

A problem exacerbated by the back-up generators:

On-site diesel generators or natural gas turbines used during power grid shortages sound like low-flying planes

All this can affect property values close to the centers.

But do AI data centers have a purpose over and above that outlined by Sam Altman?

Fundamentally, AI data centers are being built so someone, somewhere, can collect as much information as possible on as many people as possible: So as to know what they do. And what they buy. Their reading and viewing preferences. What they think. And what they say.

Information is power.

And this power, in a world where oligarchs are trying to take control through making a sham of democratic politics, will not only know your views and your preferences; for when combined with Digital ID, CBDC, and UBI it will be able to control you.

You’ll find that expressing certain views not only loses you your internet connection, it will also mean you’re unable to access your money. (Cash will already be outlawed.)

You’ll become a non-person except to those you can interact with on a physical level. But you’ll find that few will want to be seen talking to you due to the ubiquitous cameras.

◊

CONCLUSION

‘Well-being’ is obviously a deceit. A form of manipulation that expects people to put up with less or worse for a noble objective that, when analysed, itself turns out to be a lie.

Now let’s have a few final thoughts on AI data centers. Because powerful voices are coming out against them, and even those behind them are getting nervous.

First, the Pope has spoken out. In fact, His Holiness issued an encyclical. And Pope Leo didn’t mince words.

Some of the Pope’s strongest imagery in the document related to slavery, warning parallels between the historical tragedy of traditional slavery and the emerging threats of “new digital slaveries”.

It should be noted that Leo XIV is the first Pope from the USA. I mention that because another American is worth quoting in this context – Larry Fink, BlackRock CEO and Interim Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum.

As you might guess, Larry and his multitudinous investment arms have put a whole lot of money into AI data centers. But Larry fears the peasants will rise up, and attack the data centres with cheap drones! (An update to pitchforks and blazing torches?)

Here’s Neil Oliver’s take on it. It’s worth watching.

Neil also reminds us that the power and reach of “Caesar” Fink’s empire is built on the savings and pensions of millions of little people. Which means that Joe Schmuck in Ohio and Dai Williams in Ponty pay for their own “digital slavery“.

Will the new Plaid Cymru administration stand up for Wales, and humanity, and against the proliferation of AI data centres and the misery they’ll inflict?

And what about the inconsistency – many might say hypocrisy – of allowing AI data centers to drain the electricity grid and monopolise water supplies while constantly hectoring us mere mortals into consuming less of everything?

Thankfully, more and more people see the nature of Globalism, and the threat it poses. While Wokism is increasingly rejected as a load of dangerous tosh. Now the UN has pulled back on its more hysterical climate claims. While NASA shows CO2 greening large areas of the planet, thereby making attempts to reduce or ‘capture’ it insane.

Wales can’t continue in a cartoon world created by brainwashed or unhinged useful idiots where cows are a threat to the planet and Welsh cakes must be decolonised.

Wales has more than enough real problems. Plaid Cymru must tackle them.

♦ end ♦

© Royston Jones 2026

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Any, Any, Any Old Iron?

On By JacIn Business and Commerce, Bute Energy, Colonialism, Renewables, Wind Turbines163 Comments

A bit of a departure, this one. And certainly not what I advertised last Saturday. Though that element does figure in this bigger picture.

Rather than focus exclusively on Bute’s windfarm plans in Wales, the infiltration of the Welsh political class (especially, but not exclusively, the Labour party), or alleged links to those who sent the tanks into Tianmen Square, I’m going to look into a possibility suggested to me by someone with a keen interest in Bute and associated companies.

In this piece, after the first section, I’m going to look into the companies named as being involved with a new venture at Port Talbot in this press release from Catapult Offshore Renewable Energy. Which seems to tie in with the ‘Celtic Freeport‘, split between Port Talbot and the Haven Waterway.

From one angle, the plan we’re going to look at seems to be, make wind turbine body parts in the electric arc furnaces promised for Port Talbot, from scrap metal, then put them together in Pembrokeshire before mooring them offshore.

That might be the assumption to make, but the press release from Catapult Offshore Renewable Energy clearly states “onshore wind turbines“.

Which might suggest confusion.

Whatever, the companies named in the Catapult press release are Tata Steel UK, RWE, Bute Energy, Hutchinson Engineering, and Ledwood. So I’ll deal with them in the order they’re mentioned.

But let’s start with Catapult itself.

◊

OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY (ORE) CATAPULT

This outfit, the one apparently pulling it all together, looks to be an extension of Innovate UK, a government-funded body. Google AI says this:

Innovate UK provides substantial funding to ORE Catapult to drive offshore renewable energy innovation, including a recent £85.6 million capital investment for testing facilities.

Note, again: “offshore renewable energy“, yet as we’ve seen, the statement from Catapult clearly says “onshore wind turbines“.

That said, Catapult claims a presence in Pembroke Dock. In a building otherwise known as the Bridge Innovation Centre.

There’s not much more to tell about ORE Catapult, so we’ll move on.

◊

TATA STEEL UK

Indian company Tata Steel is the owner of Port Talbot steelworks. The coal-based blast furnaces have closed and it’s promised they’ll be replaced with a £1.25 billion electric arc furnace. Due to be fully operational by the end of next year.

The project has already received £500 million in UK government funding.

Which means that Tata’s role seems fairly clear. It will produce the steel needed for the onshore and offshore wind turbines, from scrap, much of which will be sourced abroad, as will be explained in the section about Ledwood.

UPDATE 20.04.2026: This article on the feasibility of scrap metal electric arc furnaces appeared in the Western Mail, taken from The Conversation. The authors seems to argue that the supply chain for scrap steel doesn’t exist, and UK electricity prices might make the whole project unviable.

◊

RWE

As many of you will know, RWE is a huge German company involved in ‘renewable’ energy. Let’s also remember that RWE is a big player in Wales.

RWE is the largest power producer and renewable energy generator in Wales, with more than 3GW of energy across 12 sites. Brechfa Forest West Wind Farm comprises of 28 turbines – enough to power 40,000 homes. The site has produced over 1.05TWh of energy since it was commissioned in 2018.

RWE’s Head of Onshore Development: Wales & England is Eleri Davies. She also sits on the UK government’s Onshore Wind Industry Taskforce. As we are reminded in this press release from her company:

As a member of the Government’s newly created Onshore Wind Industry Taskforce, it was incredibly valuable to show the Prime Minister and First Minister how RWE works with and for local communities, harnessing homegrown talent and supporting local communities.

UK Operational Manager for RWE is Nia Griffiths. So there’s a definite Welsh flavour to RWE. At least in senior staff. Of course the money goes back to Germany.

And it seems RWE already has a presence in Port Talbot at the Baglan Innovation Centre. While in 2022 it struck a deal with Associated British Ports, owners of Port Talbot docks, an agreement that also covers Milford Haven.

◊

BUTE ENERGY

Bute Energy appears for obvious reasons. First, wanting to plaster rural Wales with wind turbines and pylons. Second, because this company has bought up ‘Welsh’ Labour and is not without influence within the party at UK level.

But for the purposes of this piece, I think we should concentrate on warehouses.

I touched on this subject briefly with a post back in August 2024 after receiving information from Scotland. It’s here in Parabola Bute Energy, Scottish Echoes. The Bute Boys, using the company Windward Titan Ltd, bought a huge warehouse (below) near Glasgow, then sold it three years later, for double the price paid, to the Lothian Pension Fund; essentially, Labour-run Edinburgh City Council.

Does Bute getting money from Labour-controlled pension funds sound familiar?

Further information received last month, from a different source, suggested Bute companies – often under the ‘Windward’ label – have quite a few warehouses ” . . . in Wales and Scotland filled to the rafters with BESS and pylon materials“.

These have been bought with the help of private bank Brown Shipley & Co Ltd, ultimately owned by the Al Thani family, which also owns Qatar.

I dealt with this a few weeks back in The Windward-Bute Empire, Fresh Insights.

So the question is, why would Bute need all this space, and why are some of these warehouses chock full of pylon components and other equipment for onshore wind turbine installations?

Also note, the insider who contacted me last month made no mention of the actual turbines. Neither towers nor blades. For which I might have an explanation.

◊

HUTCHINSON ENGINEERING

This company has also appeared on this blog quite recently. In a piece I put out in January. (Skip the first section.)

I started out back then by wondering, in a post on X, why a company in Cornwall called Inyanga Marine Energy Group had received £2,000,000 from our wonderful, and now thankfully departed, ‘Welsh Government’.

The man behind Inyanga, Richard James Parkinson, has other companies named HydroWing and Sangoma. All hoping to generate power from wave energy. Explained in the earlier blog piece I’ve linked to. But there seems to be no money, apart from public funding, and little sign of activity.

Though I did find this piece in the Falmouth Packet, which introduces Hutchinson.

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.

Naturally, my attention then turned to Hutchinson Engineering of Cheshire. Here’s the Companies House entry. You’ll see that ownership rests with Modernuser Ltd. In turn owned by Dean Clark Drinkwater.

And here’s Dean, a fan of both Starmer and Miliband!

What’s more, Drinkwater has also been appointed to the UK Government’s Onshore Wind Industry Taskforce, chaired by ‘Mad Ed’ Miliband.

It would appear that Dean is another who’s well in with the Labour party.

◊

LEDWOOD

Ledwood Mechanical Engineering Ltd, based in Pembroke Dock, is owned by Ledwood Protective Coatings Ltd, which is in turn owned by Nicholas David Revell, and may rely to a great extent on a loan from the ‘Welsh Government’-controlled Development Bank of Wales.

Another Revell company is Ledwood Holdings Ltd. Revell has a further company, LSM Holdings Ltd. (‘Ledwood Scrap Metals’?)

I suggest that name due to this reference in the LSM accounts, and where it leads.

Nick Revell, also gets a mention in this press release from January 2025 from the Wales Office, not ‘Welsh Government’. Again, the “Celtic Freeport” is mentioned.

Bluecap Resources Ltd, highlighted in the clip above, is based in Newport. But with its R&D in Penryn, Cornwall where, you’ve just read, we also find Inyanga, builder of wave energy machines, and beneficiary of ‘Welsh Government’ largesse.

The company is owned by:

 . . . a consortium of European shareholders from the natural resources industry, both corporate and individual, including two publicly-quoted companies . . .

(Here are the Bluecap Resources shareholders.)

Yet the website tells us very little. But if we turn to the filings with Companies House we see big share issues in recent years – all in US dollars.

Bluecap is in the business of “extraction and recovery“. That it uses US dollars suggests to me it conducts much of its business outside of the UK. A belief reinforced by the company Bluecap Poland Ltd, formerly known as Bluecap Turkey Ltd.

◊

THE THEORY

Someone who’s given the consortium some thought has suggested to me a theory. Which, after doing some research of my own, I find both elegant and plausible.

It all hinges on the electric arc furnace at Port Talbot. On it being built, and then on that furnace using scrap material. This explains Tata Steel’s presence in the consortium.

The scrap will be provided by Ledwood-Bluecap. And will almost certainly come from outside of the UK. That’s why they’re involved.

That scrap material will be smelted at Port Talbot, a magical process to transform it into the “UK Steel” promised in the headline of the Energy-pedia article.

Next, it will be knocked into the shapes and sections desired for 250 metre tall wind turbines by Hutchinson Engineering of Cheshire, who might set up an operation in Wales, or co-operate with a locally-based company.

If my Bute source is correct about the warehouses being “filled to the rafters with BESS and pylon materials”, then Windward-Bute can supply pylons and the Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). This is one reason why Bute is involved.

RWE might provide the motors and other mechanisms required by the wind turbines. Then again, as a major player, RWE may be thinking ahead to replacing its clapped-out turbines, even erecting new ones.

Alternatively, the blades might come from somewhere else.

For the largest manufacturer of turbine blades in Europe is Danish company Vestas. A director of Vestas is former Danish PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt. Her alter ego is Mrs Kinnock, for she’s married to Stephen Kinnock MP, in whose Aberafan Maesteg constituency we find Port Talbot steelworks.

Furthermore, Vestas has a 25% stake in Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), which seems to be Bute Energy’s main financial backer.

◊

CONCLUSION

Let’s start by remembering that in the Ore Catapult press release we read that the consortium involved is “largely based in Wales“.

Yet Tata Steel is an Indian company. RWE German. Bute Energy is Scottish. Hutchinson Engineering is an English company. Ledwood and Bluecap have addresses in Newport, but source their scrap metal from God knows where.

Pushing this lot as Welsh is like describing the German army in September 1939 as Polish because it was “largely based in Poland“.

And as if that idiocy wasn’t enough, remember that almost all the electricity that’ll be generated will go to England!

If the theory is correct, or only partly correct, we can clearly see who’s going to benefit from turning scrap metal into wind turbine parts, and who’ll make money from supplying whatever else is needed.

It’ll be the same faces that have been ripping Wales off for too long.

There might be a few hundred jobs at Port Talbot, small compensation for the thousands lost. A few hauliers might get contracts. The turbines and pylons will be erected by specialist crews brought in from outside.

But let’s not forget – it might keep Kinnock Jnr in a job.

Yet we’ll have to put up with the ugly bloody turbines and pylons, and you can bet your sweet life that whatever the colour of the ‘Welsh Government’ after May 7 – we’ll be paying out plenty in public money.

All done so that demented individuals in Plaid Cymru, for whom politics is all gestures, who prefer ‘positions’ over policies that would benefit the long-suffering Welsh people, can claim that Wales is a “world leader” – in being exploited.

For God’s sake, don’t vote for these clowns!

♦ end ♦

© Royston Jones 2026

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The Windward-Bute Empire, Fresh Insights

On By JacIn Bute Energy, Corruption Bay, Renewables, Welsh Labour90 Comments

I had something else planned to go out on Monday, but I’ve held it back in light of fresh information I’ve received about the activities of Bute Energy. Information that raises wider considerations.

◊

INTRODUCTION

Let me start with an apology. I’ve been writing about Bute’s activities in Wales for seven or eight years. This meant ignoring projects elsewhere, and overlooking Bute and Windward companies that had no obvious Welsh connection.

That may have been a mistake. And in view of recent events suggesting dubious links with China, no longer tenable. Dealt with on this blog.

Apology made, one company I have mentioned, one I could never make sense of, was Storagefolk Ltd. Presumably involved in . . . warehousing?

Launched 23.09.2017 Storagefolk appears to be the oldest surviving Windward-Bute company apart from Windward Enterprises Ltd (until very recently Windward Global), the ultimate holding company, where Oliver James Millican, capo di tutti capi in the W-B world, is in sole charge.

But what’s its purpose, and how does it fit into the wider empire? Information received offers some answers. And opens up a new line of inquiry.

As you can see from the Companies House entry for Storagefolk the address is in Mayfair, that upmarket district of London. The sole director is Millican. But he gives his address as Hodge House in Cardiff, where we find virtually all the companies relevant to Wales. Or at least, those we know about.

Listed as ‘person with significant control‘ (PSC) is Windward Global Ltd.

Though if we go through the main CH listing for Millican’s companies we see Storagefolk using the Hodge House address. (More Millican companies are listed here, here, here, and here.)

At the address in Curzon Street, hosting Storagefolk, we find Turcan Connell Company Secretaries Ltd. Scottish legal eagles with their HQ in Edinburgh. A company regularly used by Millican and his mates.

◊

MY! WHAT A BIG WAREHOUSE YOU’VE GOT. AND SO MANY OF THEM!

Of the companies registered at that address, we’re interested in the ones shown in the panel below. Particularly those to which I’ve been directed. (Storagefolk appears on the previous page.)

Beginning with Windward Eurocentral MD Ltd. Sole director Oliver Millican. PSC is Windward RE Holdco Ltd (more on this company later). PSC for Windward RE Holdco Ltd is Windward Enterprises Ltd, the ultimate holding company mentioned earlier.

Turn to the charges and you’ll see one taken out in July 2023 and satisfied in April 2025. The lender was private bank Brown Shipley & Co Ltd. Brown Shipley is owned by Quintet Private Bank (Europe) SA of Luxembourg, which is in turn owned by Precision Capital:

Precision Capital is a Luxembourg-based holding company that represents the private interests of members of the Al-Thani family of Qatar.

The charge was against a building just to the east of Glasgow, close to the M8 that runs to Edinburgh. A property offering 127,000 square foot of space.

The next company is Windward Badentoy Ltd. Directors are Millican and TC Directors Ltd with an Edinburgh address. ‘TC’ of course is Turcan Connell again. The PSC is Windward RE Holdco 2 Ltd.

The charges, again with Brown Shipley, refer to industrial storage units such as this one, all near Aberdeen. Plus a floating charge.

The third is Windward RE Project Co 1 Ltd. Here are the players. It’s the Mayfair address with PSC again being Windward RE Holdco 2 Ltd. There are/were two outstanding charges with Brown Shipley. One a fixed and floating charge, the other refers to three properties in Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

Another company worth looking at is Windward Z3B Ltd, with the same pattern. Funding from Brown Shipley for two more storage facilities on industrial or technology parks around Aberdeen.

And there was another company, one that I wrote about in August 2024. And other warehouse not far from the M8.

It was reported on October 2, 2018 that the Titan warehouse had been bought for £6.5M by Grayling Capital. This is Grayling Capital LLP, formed just over a year earlier.

David Taylor, one of those recently questioned by police in relation to China ‘spying’, was made a partner in Grayling Capital LLP in September 2019.

I could go on, but you should get the picture. Companies in the W-B empire have, for perhaps a decade, been buying up big warehouses, often borrowing from a ’boutique’ bank owned by an oil-rich family in Qatar.

A name mentioned in connection with W-B’s activity in the Aberdeen area is IKM. Said to be a tenant of properties owned by Windward-Bute. Here’s a piece from December last year and the Aberdeen Press & Journal.

In another major milestone, IKM Testing UK today opens its third facility as it pushes ahead with plans to expand into international markets, the renewables sector and increase its UK decommissioning work.

But IKM only accounts for some of W-B’s real estate, so the question remains: Why does it need all this storage space?

◊

PLANNING AHEAD?

First, let me clear up the purpose of Storagefolk before telling you how Windward-Bute buying up vast areas of storage space was explained to me:

(Storagefolk) is purely a negotiating shell for projects in Scotland and NE England; it is used in proposals to financiers, a distinct legal entity is then formed post-investment decision to ring fence properties and interests – and distance from the risk of course.

As for the warehouses, it seems that W-B has been importing parts and components for turbines, solar installations, and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) for quite a few years.

This stockpiling is in anticipation of a crackdown on imported parts for ‘renewable’ energy projects. This seems plausible as the opposition mounts to increasing energy prices resulting from ‘Mad’ Ed Miliband’s Net Zero death-wish.

The real estate arm of the Windward portfolio . . . is working with multiple overseas businesses and at least one national government to house interests and commodity items relating to renewables infrastructure. There are warehouses in Wales and Scotland filled to the rafters with BESS and pylon materials – rented and landed for resale exclusively to the UK market to artificially appear to restrict overseas procurement and brand it as available when supply chains pinch in the late 2027 to early 2029 drive.

Is it just forward planning, or is there more to it?

As an example of ‘more to it’, can we assume these imports come from China? I’d put a few quid on it. And if I’ve picked the right nag, then this explains a few other things.

For as we’ve recently learnt, it’s impossible to escape the China connection when dealing with Windward-Bute. So I was not surprised to be told that two of the Big Three (Oliver James Millican, Stuart Allan George, and Lawson Douglas Steel) have even stated they’d sell to “interested parties from China at the right price“.

But none of these machinations would be possible without political influence, and that influence is not confined to Labour in Wales.

Let’s remember that Tom Watson, former deputy leader of the UK Labour party, now Baron Watson of Wyre Forest, is a non-executive director of Windward Energy Ltd, where he’s listed as plain old Thomas Anthony Watson.

It’s suggested this provides a good connection through Great British Energy to ‘Mad’ Ed Miliband himself, the apostle of Net Zero, de-industrialisation, and electricity consumer impoverishment.

To sum up: there is a concerted effort not only to increase expenditure and reliance on ‘renewables’, but also to remove cheaper and more reliable alternatives. This explains why the UK is closing down North Sea oil and gas . . . only to buy from Norway, which extracts from the same North Sea source.

Proving it has sod all to do with saving the planet.

This is the ugly world inhabited by Windward-Bute. It’s not limited to wind turbines despoiling landscapes, it’s about using political influence to remove competition providing more reliable and cheaper alternatives.

In Wales, this has resulted in the infiltration of the Labour party to the point where it’s hopelessly compromised. Election posters for May’s Senedd elections should read: ‘Vote for Dai Jones – your Bute Welsh Labour candidate‘.

We know W-B is also making inroads into Plaid Cymru. The Greens were always on side. But does it end there?

Maybe not.

◊

TITBITS, THOUGHTS

In this section I’ll look at a few other items that have come my way and how they perhaps fit with what we already knew.

First, I’m told that Nigel Farage had a closed-door meeting in January with Windward Energy Ltd Chairman Steve Scrimshaw. So let’s have a statement from Reform on where it stands on ‘renewable energy’ and rising electricity prices.

More closed door negotiations preceded the decision by the Wales Pension Partnership to invest £68m (for starters?) in Windward-Bute. A source says that very influential in the ultimate decision was Cardiff Lib Dem councillor Rhys Taylor.

Taylor of course sits on the council’s Pensions Committee, but I bet you can’t guess where his day job is. Let me help . . .

So we see that Windward-Bute also has its claws into the Lib Dems.

Leaving Gwlad the only honest party left.

I’m told the investigations into Taylor and Aplin might result in a number of Senedd Members, MSPs and MPs being invited to ‘help police with their inquiries’.

Understandably, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), the main funders for W-B’s renewable energy projects, is said to be pissed off by the recent news and allegations of spying for China.

Which provides yet another link to ‘Welsh’ Labour. Through Helle Thorning-Schmidt, former Danish PM, her directorship of Vestas since 2019, and that company’s 25% stake in CIP.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt is the wife of Stephen Kinnock, MP for Aberavon Maesteg. He is of course the son of former Labour party leader now Baron Kinnock of Bedwellty in the County of Gwent, and the late Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead, long-time Member of the European Parliament.

Her seat on the Brussels gravy-train was taken by Derek Vaughan who, following Brexit, was given a non-job by Windward-Bute on its Welsh Advisory Board.

Kinnock the Younger’s constituency is home to Port Talbot steelworks, so recently and shamelessly allowed to die. Welcomed in certain circles because it reduces Wales’ output of some evil dreamed up by Greenhairs.

∼

I’m going to throw out an idea that might sound outrageous, yet it’s plausible. Just think about it.

Millican, Steele and George all worked for real estate outfit Parabola, where Millican’s father Peter is head man. They all left Parabola towards the end of 2017. (Or that’s what we’re encouraged to believe.)

They had no experience in ‘renewables’; and to my knowledge they’ve still not erected a single turbine. Certainly not in Wales. But is this missing the point?

They now have sites designated, landowners signed up, planning applications submitted, politicians and others bought, financial backing for the projects arranged, and warehouses stacked to the gunwales with the wherewithal to complete the projects.

So if Windward-Bute only gets half or less of the planning consents applied for – even no planning approval at all – they could still sell up and make a massive profit. Especially if the anticipated crackdown on (recently) imported parts comes into play and the components they bought years ago rocket in price.

Maybe that was always the business model. Not actually building anything.

If nothing else, it’ll be a very lucrative fall-back position.

◊

CONCLUSION

Windward-Bute has corrupted Welsh political and public life. And it was so predictable.

With a form of devolved government designed to fail. And with ‘progressive’ politicians too stupid and gullible to have made even a good model work.

Made worse by those same politicians seriously believing Wales alone could save a planet being destroyed by humans – and their farting cows!

Politicians believing that lobbyists and pressure groups should determine policies, and that they should be able to do so free from regulation or restraint.

Resulting in overlapping and incestuous circles in one relatively small city, circles of perhaps no more than two or three thousand people in total, damaging the lives of over three million people.

This shit-show was bound to attract the kinds of ‘developers’ we’ve seen over the past 27 years. With Windward-Bute perhaps the worst, the most pernicious example.

Windward-Bute already has the shadow of ‘China spying’ hanging over it, and the stain of buying political influence, but it doesn’t end there.

The West’s lemming-like rush over the cliff of ‘renewables’ isn’t just good news for China, on which we depend for everything from rare earth minerals to completed solar panels; it’s also welcomed in the oil-rich Gulf states because ‘renewables’ are also unreliables, and need back-up.

Some might think that a UK-based company or individuals enriching themselves from helping de-industrialise and impoverish the West is tantamount to treason.

And I would agree. For ‘renewables’ are a response to nothing but avarice.

♦ end ♦

© Royston Jones 2026

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