HOTEL CANCELS BOOKING
The Belle Vue Royal Hotel in Aberystwyth, where I had planned to hold the meeting on November 4th, has cancelled the booking. Here’s an account of what happened, or what might have happened, because I’m not entirely sure.
After an exchange of e-mails with the Belle Vue, confirming that the room was available, I telephoned on Sunday the 15th and paid for it. We agreed an all-in price of £300 for the room and refreshments. That was it, everything was arranged.
Then on Thursday I had a couple of strange e-mails from the hotel suggesting that the payment hadn’t been made, or hadn’t ‘gone through’, and asking for the last four digits of my credit card. This struck me as being rather odd so I checked my bank statement. There was the payment, clear as day.
At almost exactly the same time I began to get tweets from @thomasscarrot. I knew the name because we’d exchanged a few tweets earlier over the possibility of a tourist tax. But this time he was tweeting about the meeting, and making thinly-veiled threats to turn up with some ‘colleagues’. He gave the impression that he planned to disrupt the meeting.
In these tweets he also claimed to know the owner of the Belle Vue Royal Hotel. Inevitably, perhaps, I put two and two together. Read part of the exchange here. The use of a Union Jack emoji I took to be an indication of a certain political outlook.
I made it clear to him more than once that he was not invited and that he should stay away, and that if he did turn up he would be asked to leave.
I e-mailed the Belle Vue again, gave the requested digits from my credit card, and told them about the exchange I was having with Scarrott. The response I received on Thursday you can read for yourself.
I like the wording, “I am aware of Mr Scarrott”. Makes him sound disreputable. But anyway, he doesn’t know the owner of the hotel as he claimed. That’s his first lie.
Later on Thursday I received the e-mail below, together with my receipt.
Then on Friday afternoon came the bombshell. No reason given, no name appended. (I have removed the names from the e-mails above.)
I am in no doubt that the intervention of Thomas Scarrott, whether directly or indirectly, caused the booking to be cancelled. Though I can’t blame the Belle Vue Royal for taking precautions.
To assist in his undermining of our venture Scarrott used the lies peddled by Phil Parry on The Eye. Even finding an old tweet of Parry’s to pass on to a slavering public.
For anyone fortunate enough not to know Phil Parry, he regards himself as a hot-shot investigative journalist who “exposed” my support for the FWA . . . 50 years too late, and after I’d put up photos of Cayo Evans and others on this blog. It’s only a matter of time before he tells us who was on the grassy knoll.
(No, it wasn’t me.)
If you go back to Parry’s woeful piece about me you’ll see a few comments – rare on Parry’s blog unless he writes about me – two being from a Garry W Gibbs. I don’t know Gibbs but it seems I’ve blocked him from this blog, so we must have fallen out over something.
Even so, in his other comment he makes it clear that he regards me as honest. Which I am. In the comment I’ve used below he asks Parry a very important question. Parry claimed in his piece that “some of his (my) victims have been given around-the-clock police protection”. Victims! He can only mean people I’ve written about. Which I suppose would make me a ‘victim’ of his.
Of course he can’t prove it. When he’s not publishing outright lies they’re the fantasies of swivel-eyed bigots like Jacques Protic. If Protic tells Parry there’s a SWAT team stationed around his house 24/7 because of something I’ve written, Parry will write it up. He won’t believe it, but he’ll still write it up because he wants others to believe it.
But enough of that slanderous little scumbag Phil Parry, I’m sure you’re all wondering about Thomas Scarrott. Or to give him his full name, Thomas Harry Shady Scarrott. Apparently Shady really is his name, not an epithet.
◊
THOMAS H S SCARROTT
It looks as if he is now running the family business of Vale Holiday Parks Ltd, having taken over from his father, also Thomas Scarrott. Based at Clarach Bay near Aberystwyth the firm owns a number of sites down as far as Tenby, one in the north at Llanarmon yn Iâl, with another in Cornwall.
I say the firm ‘owns’ a number of sites, but of course they’re all being bought with mortgages. In fact, there is a total of fourteen outstanding mortgages against Vale Holiday Parks Ltd.
Eight of the mortgages cover the caravan sites listed on the company’s website.
There are also mortgages against two sites said to be in or near Llandysul which I can’t find on the internet, Penlon Caravan Park and Glynteg Caravan Park at Cross Inn. (Is there a Cross Inn nearer to Llandysul, or is it the one on the A486 to Cei Newydd?) If they don’t appear on the company website then it’s reasonable to assume that they don’t rent out caravans, so are the ‘vans privately owned, or are these sites used for other purposes?
There’s a mortgage on Red Roses filling station near Whitland, plus another on land near the filling station. Then there’s freehold land to the north of Pendre, Cross Inn, where we can no doubt expect to see yet another blot on the landscape in the very near future, and finally, there’s an all-encompassing debenture.
The company has expanded rapidly since being Incorporated as The Vale Holiday Parks Ltd 19 February 2003.
◊
PANTS ON FIRE!
As the Twitter exchange continued others got involved and it took a number of turns. For example, on first visiting the Companies House website, and checking the latest accounts, I noticed that the company’s auditors are in Coventry and the bankers in Wiltshire.
When I suggested to Scarrott that this was an example of money made in Wales leaving Wales he came up with the most remarkable story. It ran . . . ‘We used to bank in “North Wales” but our manager, from Caernarfon, moved to Wiltshire and so we followed him. The bank manager now is from Cardiff’.
So I went back to the earliest available accounts, those for 2004. And there I saw that the company’s registered office was in Birmingham, the accountants in the same city, and the bankers in Bath. So it would appear that the Scarrotts’ Cofi banker left Wales ere the company was even formed!
By now I was sure that Thomas Scarrott Junior has problems with the truth, or perhaps he just finds it easy to lie.
Soon afterwards our boy came over all shy and blocked everyone. When he re-emerged in the Twittersphere it was clear that he had deleted those tweets he must have realised laid him open to ridicule or worse.
◊
‘DEVASTATING’
The Scarrotts are yet another family that has moved into Wales to make money from tourism. For them, our homeland is just a tourist destination to be exploited. If we complain we get the traditional colonialists’ response: ‘Look at all the good we’re doing for your country!’
The good they’re doing themselves must never be mentioned, nor must the money leaving Wales, or the soaring property prices as tourists decide to settle, with the resultant Anglicisation . . .
You will not be surprised to learn that Thomas H S Scarrott wants his company to contribute as little as possible to the communities in which it operates.
Last year he railed against the heinous decision of Cyngor Ceredigion to raise the council tax on holiday homes. “Ceredigon’s tourism industry could be dealt a devastating blow” he insisted in what Caravan Times described as “a fiery tirade”. Now another dragon appears in the form of a possible tourist tax, and guess what – it too will have “devastating effects”.
I think somebody should tell him that if you over-use a word like devastating you run the risk of giving a number of impressions: 1/ That you have a limited vocabulary, 2/ That you are prone to exaggeration, even lying, 3/ That you’re a selfish bugger who doesn’t care that such taxes – if properly spent – could be of great benefit to the areas worst affected by tourism.
Possibly all three.
◊
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
As things stand, we don’t have a room. And to find one big enough for an open meeting on November 4th is going to be difficult at such short notice. Unless of course, someone knows of such a room in Aberystwyth?
Though Scarrott’s intervention and the resultant cancellation could be a blessing in disguise. I always had reservations about an unstructured public meeting. One worry was that we’d have a free-for-all with people talking across each other and everybody trying to promote their pet idea.
Another worry was that with people being able to walk in off the street some nutter would jump up and shout, ‘I knows where we can get guns’ . . . and there’d just happen to be a reporter in the room, or a microphone, or someone who would take the idiot’s message to the world.
Having had experience of agents provacateurs and police spies I know of what I speak, and I know how the bastards operate.
On top of which there are plenty who’d like to see the new party fail to take off, including the leadership of the party that held a conference in Caernarfon over the weekend. Which is why we must tread carefully and give no one the opportunity to damage the project.
The alternative I’m suggesting is a smaller meeting, of invited people, who just lay the foundations, maybe choose a working name, then we recruit members and leave the policy details to the first AGM which can be held early next year.
Doing it this way we’ll know who’s who at the first meeting, after which we advertise the launch, invite applications for membership, vet applications and issue memberships; then motions will be submitted for debate at the AGM, with no one attending the AGM unless they’re a member.
In other words, how other political parties operate.
That’s my thinking. If anyone has other thoughts, then let me know. I would also like to hear from anyone who definitely wants to be at the inaugural meeting, which may not now be in Aberystwyth, nor on November 4th.
But rest assured, the new party will be launched before the year is out.
♦ end ♦
YOUR NOT ALONE > https://www.ft.com/content/d231bc6c-9282-11e4-b213-00144feabdc0
This conversation seems to have changed as rapidly as the venue.
The original meeting was to be an open meeting about whether we needed a new party; this one a closed meeting about forming a new party.
What appears to be the reduced numbers of around 30 invited guests, presumably active contributors to this column, is not going to give you the range or depth of experience and vision required.
As an example of which you only have to look at the posts by some prominent contributors, who confidently predicted that Marine Le Pen would become President of France and destroy the EU in the process.
Despite the fact that anybody with the slightest grain of common sense knew that she wasn’t even going to win the Eurovision Song Contest.
In the event she came third (out of three), behind Macron and the people who refused to vote.
Wales needs a new party, with independence as its aim and, possibly, right of centre. But if you get it wrong at the launch then you’ll be pilloried as UKIP with a daffodil.
The Left will hate you and the Right won’t want the competition. So don’t expect a smooth ride.
One false step and it’ll all go mammaries vertical and you could end up killing off the idea for decades.
So best of luck with the launch, but please be careful. Don’t let the shouty obsessives guide your path.
Restrained and simple policies that can be refined at a later date would be good. Telling people you’re going to dig up Owain Glyndwr, burn down the toll-gates at the Severn bridge and destroy the European Union will just make you look sad.
Yes, the date, venue and format of the meeting has changed. Well done for keeping up. Though you’re wrong to suggest that there will be only 30 people attending. There will be many more than 30, all will be ‘invited’ (after they asked to attend), but not all are known to me, and many do not contribute to this blog. All of which tells us that you aren’t as clever as you think you are.
I don’t recall anyone predicting a Le Pen victory. A few people expressed respect or support, which is a different thing entirely. After that false memory episode you really let your hair down with . . .
“Wales needs a new party, with independence as its aim and, possibly, right of centre. But if you get it wrong at the launch then you’ll be pilloried as UKIP with a daffodil. The Left will hate you and the Right won’t want the competition. So don’t expect a smooth ride.
One false step and it’ll all go mammaries vertical and you could end up killing off the idea for decades.
So best of luck with the launch, but please be careful. Don’t let the shouty obsessives guide your path.
Restrained and simple policies that can be refined at a later date would be good. Telling people you’re going to dig up Owain Glyndwr, burn down the toll-gates at the Severn bridge and destroy the European Union will just make you look sad.”
The meeting on the 18th will lay the bare bones of a party, with the flesh being added after members are recruited, motions debated, and a leadership elected at a subsequent AGM. It will be that first AGM that really launches the party. So the chances of mammaries going vertical on the 18th is very slim.
Why the silly references to Owain Glyndŵr and toll-gates? Are these what you might suggest, because no one on the 18th will be spouting such nonsense?
One final thought: it seems you agree with what we’re doing, and you obviously have a lot to say for yourself, so why don’t you come on the 18th? You could play the role of “shouty obsessive”!
I was intending to go to the meeting in Aber this Saturday. Can you let me know if another meeting has been arranged.
An e-mail is on its way.
Plaid is so desperate not to offend anybody that it puts itself in all sorts of ludicrous positions.
Looking forward to the membership stage
Back in “The Eye” again, “The Royston Family Reunion”.
“Mr Jones appears to object to the fact that we have reported how he described the leader of the FWA, Cayo Evans, as a “comrade”, and how he published a picture on his blog of him pointing a gun at the camera as others look on laughing.”
Er, no, Mr Jones doesn’t object to that at all. I thought the world of Cayo, and I put that photo up on my blog because I was proud to have known him. Parry pinched the photo from my blog and has been using it for some time without permission. (Copyright infringement?)
Parry has a talent for repeating himself and making a little go a long way. When it comes to recycling he deserves a medal or something from Greenpeace.
The only thing new about today’s piece is a 50-year-old photo. Is he trying to tell someone what I might look like?
When you pick up shit on your shoes, you just clean it off and carry on Jac. Looking for the dog, to tell him off for shitting in public is not an option. As I’ve said before, “never argue with an idiot, he’ll drag you down to his level and beat you with experience”. When you encounter an idiot who has proved he’s also a “lying bastard” then that advice is doubly relevant.
The case in question involves someone who was trained and worked for the British Bullshit Corporation. As they are the propaganda mouthpiece of a corrupt establishment, then many of their “Mini Me” employees are also prone to the same lies and Brit Nat standards mentality as that of their former employers.
Wipe off the shit and walk on.
“Never engage in a battle of wits with someone who is unarmed”
Yes that saying as well Nigel – very appropriate! In both cases the bottom line is “ignore the twat”.
Makes me sad that I didn’t get to meet Cayo and Dennis.. if only they were here now ☹️
They’d have been a big improvement on the shallow and timid ‘leaders’ we have today.
Am I missing something here? To quote Parry’s introduction to his latest hatchet job on Jac (The Royston family reunion, 24 October):
“Our disclosure that a retired businessman behind a new Welsh independence party was a supporter of the 1960s paramilitary group Free Wales Army (FWA), prompted a huge reaction.”
Excited to see and read this phenomenal response, arising from Parry’s earlier piece on 12 October, I checked the replies he has published. There are just FOUR, comprising two individuals, plus a post by “the Eye” itself. FFS, this boy couldn’t lie straight in bed. And his second article is basically a reprint of much of the first. And the cheeky fucker is asking for contributions to keep his worthless site going. Must have skin like a rhino – I’m surprised he never became a Labour AM or MP!
Parry is the kind of ‘journalist’ that gets the profession a bad name.
He lies, he takes the word of the unhinged and the bigoted as gospel when it suits his purpose, he turns facts on their head, he repeats himself endlessly, he claims influence when he has none, he quotes un-named (i.e. non-existent) ‘sources’, and everything he publishes is claimed to be a ‘disclosure’, a ‘revelation’, or the result of an ‘investigation’ – when all he does is lift pieces from my blog and twist them to his own agenda.
Here’s another example to add to the one I gave earlier of how Parry twists things, turns them on their head.
He has repeated more than once me writing, “I was hoping to avoid this, but it has to be said – Protic is a Serb” The full passage, from my post of August 14, 2013, reads as follows:
“Finally, and I was hoping to avoid this, but it has to be said – Protic is a Serb. Now many of you will know that over the years I have defended the Serbs against their many detractors, but I was never blind to the atrocities committed – by all sides – in the Balkan wars. So, tell us, Jacques; would a Croat, or an Albanian, or a Bosnian Muslim, have the freedom, in Serb-controlled territory, to mouth hatred of Serbs in the way that you spew out your hatred for us Welsh?”
I don’t know what Parry is trying to suggest with the selective and out of context quote, but I can guarantee it’s not the message contained in what I actually wrote. Come to that, what is he trying to say? As it stands, what he’s used is no more than a statement of fact – Protic is a Serb.
But as I say, Parry is the worst and most dishonest kind of journalist. And he’s not even good at that. No wonder he’s reduced to writing a sad blog that nobody reads.
Exactly! Laughable isn’t it? In fact, by my calculations, most of his readership is generated by traffic from your blog.
Pathetic, and pitiful really. Still I suppose when you’re reduced to that level from the lofty heights that he professes he perched on in the past, you have to try and convince yourself that you still have a purpose in this life – even if it’s just to fool yourself into believing it!
Who can possibly forget Parry’s incursion into visual media with his role as one of The Three Muckrakers? Even on YouTube, their podcast that included the title “The End of the World” a year ago has only had 35 views, and I’m responsible for two of these buggers trying to link to the bloody thing! No doubt the number of views now it’s mentioned here on Jac o’the North will increase exponentially. See what Jac’s “knuckledraggers” will do to help those that have slagged them off, Phil?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV7ZQPJWlK0
But what intrigues me is why they should believe that anybody wants to know what they think. Or why anyone should want to know that they even exist.
Stop promoting it Stan. It’s had 38 views now – I was No. 38! I wonder how long they’ll have to wait for it to go viral?!!!
Sorry, Big Gee. I know you missed out on Mr Scarrott on You Tube and might have been disappointed. I trust that couple of minutes in the company of the Muckrakers will have made up for it, heh, heh.
http://jacothenorth.net/pics/HughPugh_reporter2.png
Another “DISCLOSURE” wow! Where does our very own ‘Hugh Pugh’ reporter get it from?
http://jacothenorth.net/pics/HughPugh_reporter.png
http://www.gardenerschat-shed.net/forum/Smileys/aaron/ROL1.gif
I think you’re being unfair, Gwilym; compared to Parry, Hugh Pugh is Woodward and Bernstein.
There will be a lot of Labourites in Aber on 4th
https://twitter.com/CGCeredigionPA/status/921889883555287040
The t**t obviously thinks Ceredigion is now a seat which Labour can win.
So Labour has turned Bodlondeb into a party political issue! What the hell does Owen Jones know about it?
Glad now that we won’t be there on the 4th.
Good comments on that Twitter account. It seems that the putting of feet in mouths is a trendy past time for Plaidies AND Labour these days!
Very good & very witty Jac – a lucky thing that Richard Nixon wasn’t based in Fishguard then!
Hi Gwilym,
There isn’t enough width to reply to your 23/10/2017 13:46 post so, it’s here instead.
I do not pay for a TV licence because I do not have a television and I do not use BBCTV iPlayer.
Gone are the days when the BBC had crews working all over the world. Nowadays, the BBC is reliant on agencies and ‘independents’ for a 24/7 news service.
‘Independent’ media analysts owned by Leave EU
http://zelo-street.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/leave-eu-tricks-press-and-bbc.html
Then there’s accusations, from Boris Johnson and Paul (unmentionable) Staines, about Labour MPs and Russia Today
https://politicalscrapbook.net/2017/10/scandal-tory-mps-have-made-more-appearances-on-russia-today-in-the-past-two-years-than-labour-mps/
Well I’m truly pleased that you don’t have a TV licence any more Daley – good for you. But it appears that the main reason is because the British Bullshit Corporation is not as empirically “British” as they used to be, quote:
In your eyes, they were once represented as the only glowing example of non bias, truthfull and fair reporting. (Bollocks of course). And now they depend on those terrible foreigners across the Empire feeding them news as independents. The ‘Bullshit Corporation’ has ALWAYS been the propaganda voice of the establishment since the days of John Reith in 1922.
As for the rest of your post, it is evident that you are still feeding that monstrous obsession of yours – the EU exit. I started to read your post and then turned to the links, only to be reminded that you still can’t kick the habit of frothing about the EU. You do that by bringing every comment on here around to your obsession.
At that point I switched off – I won’t bother to debate the subject further with you, so I won’t comment. Live with it, get a life and move on is my advice to you Daley.
Thank you for your view on what I posted. I note that you’ve put a lot of effort into replying and you’ve assumed quite a bit about my view of the BBC. The paragraph beginning “In your eyes …” is one worthy of a ‘Straw Man Technique’ Gold Medal.
As for your advice of “Live with it”, I have no intention of pretending that either a.) nothing is happening or b.) that it is something beyond the control of the people.
I see on FB that Neil MacEvoy’s speech in his fringe meeting is up for all to see.
https://www.facebook.com/neil.mcevoy.50/posts/10156010162672868
Interesting.
More especially this little bit:
Could be straight out of a Libertarian hand book!
Very heartening, more especially for me, when he makes the point that every child leaving school should be able to speak Cymraeg, but far more importantly, with a KNOWLEDGE OF THEIR OWN COUNTRY’S HISTORY.
That is what I’ve been campaigning for over the years – an education curriculum that is totally geared to our needs and a knowledge of our past, so that everyone knows how they got where they are and in which direction we are going in the future. Our destiny is wholly dependent on this. I’ve been preaching it until I’m hoarse, but at least some influential politicians are now increasingly picking up on it, and are becoming aware of of what is actually needed, and what has been poisoning us since The Elementary Education Act of 1870 came into force, and subsequent Acts thereafter.
Teaching Welsh to children parrot fashion in Welsh Medium Schools will not do it, whilst continuing to teach them the English curriculum in that language. Give them the truth about themselves, their nation and their country and they will do the rest quite naturally on their own.
“Give me the boy till he’s seven and I will show you the man” – tried and tested through the generations.
Ardderchog Neil!
Daley: The ‘people’ have spoken. End of . . .
The ‘people’ voted after the liars had spoken. Waiting, with their magic, are the Fakirs of Legatum.
Not interested Daley.
Brexit was just one subject dealt with on this blog in the past. Jac’s blog is not for perpetual and tedious discussions on the subject of Brexit.
Everyone else has moved on to what they consider to be more pressing matters that are current. You’ll notice that I’m just about the only one who now responds to your incessant comments on the subject.
This is my last reply to you on the subject of Brexit. You know my position, it will not change – there is no more to be said.
I’ll bite. So despite all the lies put out by ambitious Tories… could you support an EU that turns a blind eye to whats going on in Catalunya? Because people turned a blind eye before… one could say that what the Germans did to the Jews was an internal issue. More often is the case that later down the road that blind turns into something horrible.
One of the core reasons for the EU’s existence is peace in Europe. If it supports Spain in the Catalan issue… not sure its doing that.
Gwilym will get cross if I repeat myself so,
On this site: ‘The Silence Of The Lambs & The Greater Silence Of The Establishment Controlled Media’
My Post 05/10/2017 16:39
Yes yes. Hypocrisy there. But doesn’t mean there isn’t hypocrisy on both sides does it? The EU has made its position of support for Spain clear even in the face of the violence carried out by Spanish Guardia Civil. Not meddling would be not picking a side at all… but it has. It, and other European leaders like Macron have voiced support of Rojoy – even after his shit handling of the situation. He’s pushing it to conflict and with EU support. He has surely been warned of what will happen but refuses talks and the EU refuses to mediate and bring both sides to the table.
You’ll be hard pressed to convince anyone whether the EU is totally in the right or totally in the wrong here.
What you appear to want is for the EU to take action when it has no legal right to do so.
Not sure I follow your logic as if my opinion is that the EU has picked a side then surely any intervention I “appear to want” would not be in favour of Catalonia.
I’ve not suggested the EU intervene I merely pointed out they chose a side even though that side utilised physical violence against their own people. Surely the best course of action would have been to keep their mouth shut?
HOWEVER there was nothing stopping the EU suggest there should be talks – even though they then refused to mediate. Thats just a bit bizarre. But they already knew Spain wouldn’t talk…
The EU has a responsibility to its member states and is bound by what was agreed in Lisbon 2007.
http://www.catalannews.com/politics/item/eu-repeats-call-for-talks-between-catalonia-and-spain
…yes, when this is all over I’m sure the apologists will look back and say “Well the EU was only following the Law”. We both know however in supporting Spain after its police acted violently towards civilians its going to throw popular opinion against Spain and those who supported it. Sometimes the right thing is not the legal thing.
The law is only there to keep us peasants in line, and for cowards to hide behind when the nastiness is over. We both know this is about them stemming separatism to keep the EU together. If the EU is not about people then whats the fucking point?
The EU can only do what the EU is legally entitled to do. If those involved in forming the Lisbon Treaty added clauses granting the EU supreme rights over sovereign states, none of the country’s leaders would have agreed to it.
The EU is legally not prevented to mediate (as the article you said pointed out in regards to MEP’s suggesting the EU SHOULD mediate) and remind Spain that it will be suspended if violence flares up. First in private, then in public and then finally if violence does occur that law you’re hiding behind invoked.
Thats within the EU constitution. That is what they should have done instead of publicly supporting them. But it doesn’t matter… its too late now and you’ll see history will not be on your side.
Though ultimately it looks like you’re using this as an arena to push other points over the EU and Brexit… I’m a Remainer so you’re wasting your time there.
Please explain how the EU can threaten Spain with suspension. Where does the EU have the power to suspend a member state? I highlighted the relevant parts of the Lisbon Treaty in my post on the ‘Silence of the lambs …’ thread.
If… was it 2/3rds? of member states decide that Spain has breached (or does breach) Article 2. You could be assuming they would not vote that way which takes us back to my point about turning a blind eye. Lets face it they’ve probably already been warned behind the scenes that they could end up being pulled up on it if they carry on with their present course.
I think you’re assuming that no matter what happens the EU will not invoke Article 2, and even if they do other members will not produce the required votes. But if public opinion goes contrary to that… well it makes the Lisbon Treaty and the EU Constitution less law and more just a piece of paper no one believes in.
Yes, it’s damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
Completely off this topic but relating to another area of concern. Check out this little item that turned up yet again today:
Wellness village plans to go before public
Plans for the proposed Delta Lakes wellness and life science village in Llanelli are to go before the public for consultation.
https://www.insidermedia.com/insider/wales/wellness-village-plans-to-go-before-public
The killer quote comes from local Plaid Commissar Emlyn Dole who says – “We are very excited to share our plans to create a wellness and life science village at Delta Lakes which will see more than £200m being invested in the area. It really is a ‘once-in-a-generation’ opportunity to integrate a range of services which will deliver transformational social and economic benefits for local communities.”
“Alongside the job creation, the site will provide facilities for education, training and skills. The village will build on the success of the Institute of Life Science (ILS) at Swansea University attracting private sector investment which will create good quality, well-paid jobs across a range of professions and boosting the economy.”
If he managed to trot that load of bollocks out without springing a rib I’ll eat a hat and a cap for afters. Does anybody believe this gross fibbing about “transformational benefits”, job creation, well paid jobs etc etc.? No reference to a cosy clique filling their boots and waltzing away into the sunset leaving the council and possibly Welsh government to pick up the pieces.
This project was originally being sneaked through by Mark and Meryl as a private health centre through some deal cooked up with a company in the south east of England. When it became public it had to be expanded to offer something for everybody, which is why it now includes the local leisure centre!
I suspect that £200m is a very conservative estimate. But since the departure of Terry Matthews it looks as if the Cardiff Bay property tycoon, Mark Vincent James, is now running the Swansea City deal, and trying to divert rather too much of the loot to his patch. This explains the rumblings in NPT, Swansea and Pembrokeshire.
Though things must be really bad if Vinny is throwing the Wellness Centre project open to public consultation! Whatever next?
I’m in Llanelli and was reading the Herald about this one and the cloud of uncertainty around how much public money is having to go into the scheme now that the estimated cost for the whole scheme has increased from original forecasts.
I like the way the article has been put out on the very day of the public consultation.
I’m sorry to hear of your difficulty Jac, as anyone who has been involved in politics for a while will know this sort of behavior is sadly all too common, and the emergence of “social media” has made it easier for people like this to make a nuisance of themselves.
I’m not a big fan of closed political meetings, it offends my strongly held views on freedom of speech, but under the circumstances suspect this may be the only real option. Being an exile (or perhaps an economic migrant) in London means I could never have attended anyway, but once things are up a running assuming I will no doubt sign up.
Picking up on the tourist tax, and some of the related comment on this point I am concerned by what seems like a rather insular view from some people. I cannot see there is anything wrong (per say) with non Welsh investment in the Welsh economy, including the tourist industry, OK so such individuals or corporations may well invest some of their profits outside Wales, but that is the nature of any business, and there are plenty of examples of Welsh businesses or business people investing their money outside Wales, or moving overseas to avoid a UK tax charge.
Non local investment is not a bad thing, please let’s not get ourselves confused with the anti-globalization mob. We live and prosper in a global environment, I grant you its not perfect (see the limitations of the international corporate tax system), but the movement of capital, is a key driver for economic development.
The problem is that historically Wales has tended to attract business who are looking for a pool of relatively cheap labour and cheap land, rather than quality investments, and not only that these relatively low skilled, low wage jobs have been “paid for” in very generous grants etc from the taxpayer. When I was working in Cardiff back in the 90’s I recall being appalled at the sight of the WDA throwing money around like confetti, including giving a wedge of cash to a company based in the South East of England who were looking to relocate to a cheaper part of the country and make a killing by selling their existing factory for housing development.
If and when Wales ever get’s its own taxing powers the environment needs to be business friendly and investment friendly, this does not mean low taxes, but it does mean taxes set to encourage high value high return investments,look at our friends across The Irish Sea, and their success with the likes of Google etc.
Turning to the tourist tax issue for a moment, by and large tourist spend is the subject to a non elastic demand curve, i.e the demand for holidays is not particularity driven by incremental price increases. Yes people will (and do) decide broadly how much they can spend on holidays, and choose a destination accordingly, but within some fairly broad boundaries price is not generally the deciding factor in the choice of destination A vs destination B. For example post breaxit the pound lost considerable value against both the Euro and the US Dollar, but the planes to Spain and Florida are still full. The UK as a whole, is by and large an expensive place to go on holiday, and our climate means that many people (myself included) would never choose to holiday in the UK at any price.
Adding say £2 a night in tax to the cost of a caravan in Aber, will not result in a wholesale decline in the tourist trade (see my previous comment re Nevada) if the offering is right. Nor will it result in the punters who currently use these vans deciding that they really want to do this year is spend two weeks in the Algarve. In the same way that dropping the price by 20% or indeed 90% would ever convince me that two weeks in caravan in Aber was a suitable location for my annual holiday. To suggest it would is ridiculous.
The problem with the Welsh tourism industry is attracting the right sort of high spending tourist, endless zip lines, mountain bike trails and caravan parks are fine, but the punters who use them are generally speaking not big spenders, the vast majority of overseas visitors still spend most of their time and money in London, and while Scotland seems to have done a reasonable job in selling itself abroad, Wales still lacks visibility.
I travel a great deal in the US (by far the largest market of UK visitors), and it never ceases to amaze me how many Americans, even those in the travel industry no nothing of Wales.
I too support foreign investment, of the right kind. I too also admire what the Irish have done.
But tourism in Wales is a special case in that it presents a number of problems that could probably only arise in the kind of unequal relationship that exists between Wales and England. As I see them, these are:
1/ England’s greater wealth and size means that there is an endless queue of people from over the border looking to buy property in Wales. To the point where the percentage of locals owning tourism businesses is probably declining year on year.
2/ Since the advent of the railways tourism in Wales has been developed to serve England rather than Wales. The north coast being the perfect example.
3/ a) Those running the tourist industry in Wales, and this includes politicians, seem to take a perverse pride in providing holidays on the cheap. That anyone should crow about day visits is unbelievable. It’s possible to come from Manchester or Liverpool, with a packed lunch, walk up ‘Mount Snowdon’, and go home without spending a penny in Wales.
b) If it’s not day trips, then it’s self-catering holidays. Now this may make economic sense if your visitors are coming from some distance away and will buy what they need in local stores, but in Wales it means English visitors stocking up before leaving home.
4/ The jobs provided by tourism tend to be low pay, low skill, and often seasonal (due to the weather you referred to).
5/ As is the case with British tourists to Spain, many of those who visit Wales want to settle here. With no language barrier, and everything being so familiar, and near to home, the move is relatively painless.
6/ Made even more attractive by the cheaper property prices. ‘Cheap’ if you’re from southern England but not if you’re a local scraping by on the minimum wage, or relying on tourism for employment. In this situation, locals cannot afford to buy a property.
7/ This inevitably results in communities losing their Welsh identity. Combine those communities and they give us most of rural Wales, including the Fro Gymraeg.
Weighing it all up, the problems caused by tourism in Wales outweigh the benefits, for Welsh people and for Wales as a nation.
Reverting to Ireland for a minute. I’ve been travelling there off and on for fifty years and one thing I’ve noticed is that as Ireland has become more prosperous the importance of tourism to the economy has declined. Because let’s be honest, there are just two types of countries that rely on tourism: poor countries, and countries with golden sands, blue seas and year-round sunshine that need no other economy (other than serving as a tax haven). Which is Wales?
You also mention overseas visitors, which we both know is how to make money out of tourism (it could even open up uncharted areas of tourism such as car hire and tourist guides). Next month I hope to make my annual visit to Edinburgh and I guarantee that even in November the Royal Mile and Princes Street will be bustling with visitors from all over the world.
I think we’re on the same wavelength. We both believe in a healthy economy, but to achieve that we need to follow the Irish example, so that we can offer companies like Google an educated workforce that will demand damn good salaries while also encouraging native entrepreneurs. Then politicians will be spared having to lie about tourism being ‘the economic salvation’ of rural Wales.
As you say I think we are both on the same page.
To be frank I’m not sure that tourism has ever been the economic salvation of anywhere. There is always a price to pay in terms of the impact on local people and local economies. There are plenty of small towns in Southern Spain, or France who see the flood of northern European immigrants (mainly older people) as a threat to local communities, and to the ability of locals to buy property etc. But at the same time, many of the same towns have seen long stagnant economies re-invigorated by an influx of new money. While it may come at a price, for some its a price worth paying.
Your comments about people moving to Wales, impact on house prices etc, are well made, but the unequal UK economy means that absent the language these concerns apply equally to say The Lake District, Devon or even parts of Yorkshire.
As to the “strategy” of attracting day visitors, and other low spend groups, that is something I have never understood. To make money out of tourism you need the visitors to a) stay a while and b) spend money while they are here. Yes miles of golden sands and year round sunshine make that easier, but unless we get a hand from global warming, while we have the sand the sunshine is sadly in short supply, so we need to be thinking quality not quantity when it comes to tourists. Or else, and here’s the revolutionary part, start to understand that basing our economic model on becoming a theme park and or quaint historic reminder of 19th Century industrial power is not really the best plan for a sound economy.
Except that in the Lake District and other parts of England measures are being taken to limit the spread of holiday homes and the influx of outside buyers that, if tried in Wales, would be decried as ‘racist’.
Downloaded from Gov Wales FAQs on the Housing (Wales) Act 2014
‘How will the new council tax part of the Act affect owners of second homes?’
‘Second homes are defined as those that are not a sole or main home and that are substantially furnished. The Act gives Local Authorities discretionary powers to charge a council tax premium of up to 100% of the standard rate of council tax on second homes in their area. It is proposed that Local Authorities who decide to charge a premium will be able to do so from 1 April 2017. From this date those responsible for council tax for second homes will begin to receive their council tax bills.’
Link: http://gov.wales/topics/housing-and-regeneration/legislation/housing-act/faqs/?lang=en
Golwg 360 have details of the story. I was at a PC quiz in Caernarfon on Thursday night and you could sense the tension when Mcevoy and his entourage made a dramatic entrance when the quiz was well under way. I’m not surprised by the fisticuffs in Y Bar Bach to be honest. It’s been building up a while.
PC have some outstanding individuals and stout patriots in the ranks such as Adam Price, Jonny Edwards and Dr Dai Lloyd but unfortunately they belong to a party which is completely divided and going absolutely nowhere under LW’s leadership.
Everyone can see that Leanne’s time is up but the socialist sisterhood which has such a hold over the party will not countenance any change. Time will tell if a leadership challenge will eventually occur in the Spring but it’s all a case of treading water until that I’m afraid.
As i have said previously- I wasn’t too sure about the need for a new national party at first in view of the emergence of Yes Cymru. But, maybe it really a case of ‘let a thousand flowers bloom’ now and events in Catalunya have also moved things along quicker than I originally anticipated.
I think there is space for a new national party which is not tainted by misjudging the national mood in Wales as PC did on Brexit, and which can better accomodate itself with the new political reality i.e that we are leaving the EU.
I would argue that the new party should be putting the case for An Independent Wales in Britain. To argue for a Scandinavian type model (where Denmark, Norway and Sweden all share a peninsula but are independent countries)- so that Wales, Scotland and England can also have the same freedom to develop as individusl nations on the island of Britain.
You can read more at http://www.Cymro2020.co.uk
Jac- I was booked to undertake translation duties at the original meeting. I’m still happy to offer my services at whatever other meeting is now arranged. I’d also like the opportunity to talk about the argument outlined in the blog post above
An interesting interpretation. In less enlightened times your “socialist sisterhood” was referred to as the ‘lesbian left’. (I certainly used the term.) It’s sad that a nation’s future could be determined by sexual orientation.
Though I’m not sure about the Scandinavian model, the beauty of which is that even though Sweden is the largest in terms of wealth and population, the others combined are bigger. Here on our island England is so overwhelmingly big and rich that she would dominate any attempt to imitate the Scandinavian model.
My view is, independence, and then take it from there.
Thanks again for the offer to do the translation, Aled.
Jac – I remember well the mockery of the lesbian left by you and your ilk! Private Eye had their notorious column ‘wimmin’, featuring highlights…
Very sadly, you were right to mock them – not because they were socialists or lesbians, but because they were the most monstrous group of hypocrites. Their power base was in the inner London Councils of the 70s and 80s and in the (allegedly) radical lawyers – Helena Kennedy, Patricia Scotland, Cherie Booth the wife of one Tony Blair, etc. Those Councils were running children’s homes which had been infiltrated by paedophiles who had links to organised crime – the most terrible abuse of kids was happening. The Councils KNEW this was happening – and they had links to the people who abused the kids in the children’s homes in north Wales.
None of them said a word or took any cases involving the abuse of those kids or the collusion of the mental health services with the abuse. They knew – I told one of them myself in the early 90s.
In London, the most serious abuse occurred in Islington and Lambeth. Margaret Hodge, friend of one Tony Blair, was leader of Islington at the time – Jack Straw was her right hand man. In Lambeth, there was Peter Mandelson, Diane Abbott, Linda Bellos and many others. An accessory in Camden was Tessa Jowell. Margaret Hodge was married to Henry Hodge, a judge. Believe me, these people knew that what they were concealing was serious stuff.
Michael Mansfield and Helena Kennedy were bigwigs at the ‘radical chambers’ Tooks Court and a whole load of hypocrites learnt at their knee. Helena Kennedy worked closely with Professor Nigel Eastman, a corrupt ‘expert witness’ at St George’s Medical School’s Academic Dept of Psychiatry. St Georges were concealing serious criminal activity in the welfare state, both in London and in north Wales.
I loathe them Jac, I really do – they have ended up in the House of Lords or running ‘consultancies’ and charities and picking up gongs on the basis of their work for ‘women’ – but not women who were abused in children’s homes or in the mental health services. A lot of them also had involvement with secure hospitals like Broadmoor. The male patients at Broadmoor WERE serious offenders, but the women were nearly all there because they had been raped/sexually abused and couldn’t cope anymore. And Jimmy Savile was in there abusing them further – two women patients at Broadmoor are thought to have killed themselves after assaults by Savile. Huge swathes of the sisterhood knew about all this. They didn’t say a word.
The biggest irony is that some of the public figures abusing those kids were associated with Thatcher’s Gov’t, such as Sir Peter Morrison. The socialist sisterhood would dearly have loved to have brought down Thatcher and if they’d blown the whistle about this barrel of shit they would have finished her for good. But because they were running the Council children’s homes where the paedophile gangs who supplied Morrison et al with under-aged boys were in operation, none of them could say a word. They just waited for their friend Blair to get elected and then they joined his Gov’t.
Shocking Jac, absolutely disgusting. I don’t have a problem with socialists or lesbians but I have a very big problem with leeches and hypocrites who collude with serious crime because they want a job as a Minister or a seat in the Lords.
As for Leanne here in Wales – I remember Leanne best for trying to derail Operation Pallial when it re-opened the investigation into the North Wales Child Abuse Scandal. But Leanne isn’t alone in being a Strong Woman who’s turned a blind eye to this nasty stuff – there’s Jane Hutt, Julie Morgan, Lesley Griffiths, Lynn Neagle and many many more. Of course they’re all committed to empowering women. Well they’re not doing it in my fucking name, I wouldn’t vote for any of them.
I have blogged the full details of this merry bunch and their pals on my own site…
I have never quite understood what or whose agenda the ‘sisterhood’ serves. It certainly does nothing for Wales. Take the case of Sophie Howe.
Now Ms Howe was born into a Labour Party family, her father had been office manager for Julie Morgan MP, wife of Rhodri Morgan. Sophie Howe herself had been advisor to both Rhodri Morgan and Carwyn Jones, but she couldn’t find a safe seat at Westminster or Assembly level – something had to be done. And it was.
After being elected South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Alun Michael – former Labour MP for Cardiff South and Penarth – recruited Ms Howe as his deputy. I wrote about it here. Then another post was created specially for her, that of Future Generations Commissioner for Wales.
On being appointed to this contrived post Ms Howe was congratulated on Twitter by Plaid Cymru AM Jocelyn Davies!
You want to know what’s wrong with Wales? Try Labour cronyism for a start. And then, rather than attacking this blatant cronyism, a Plaid Cymru AM actually congratulates a beneficiary of this corrupt system cos she’s “a strong woman”.
I don’t care what Leanne Wood may say about ending compacts and giving the impression of putting distance between her party and Labour, there are still too many in Plaid who view Labour as natural allies, they are probably a majority, especially amongst the younger element enthused by Corbyn, and fighting Trump and Brexit.
Which is why there’s no hope for Plaid Cymru, and no hope for Wales until there is a new national party.
Very interesting pieces of info Jac – I presumed that Sophie would be networked into that lot, but I hadn’t had time to do the research. You’ve provided me with a few new leads.
This branch of state-sponsored corruption has been a real bonanza for unscrupulous women, as it promotes a naïve view of women being essentially ‘caring’ and incorruptible. If anyone male digs up the dirt on them they are denounced as misogynist ‘bullies’. Of course these caring, incorruptible – and these days ‘strong’ – women are networked into the biggest bunch of appalling males who are ruthlessly using their female puppets to advance their own agendas. In the way that Blair’s babes were so useful to Blair, Alistair Campbell and Peter Mandelson – three sociopaths of the highest order.
It is an offensive con and women need to wake up to what is going on.
By the way Jac, the folk that we’re talking about are also doing the rounds in Wales ‘encouraging’ other women to enter politics. I was at such an event a couple of yours ago – I wasn’t very impressed. It was Lesley Griffiths the paedophiles’ friend who appeared at the event that I attended… Dunno if she knew that I was in the audience though!
For some reason, you forgot to name Jeremy Corbyn amongst those who turned a blind eye to child rape in Islington. Margaret Hodge was indeed leader of the council at the time (and was responsible for a whole host of terribly sad consequences for so many of those abused children) but Corbyn was Islington MP & turned an entirely blind eye to the rapes going on within his constituency. That he now turns up pretending to be fhe saviour of the underdog turns my stomach.
Yes, I was told that Corbyn knew about the child abuse. A reader of my own blog sent me a copy of a letter that had been sent to him telling him what had gone on, but I note that the letter had only been sent to Jeremy Corbyn in the last few years. I actually suspect that Corbyn might well be the sort of person who was told at the time but was too naïve to believe what he had been told. I came across the same problem when I spent years trying to tell people what was happening to mental health patients in the NHS – ‘this can’t be true, doctors and nurses would never do this’.
I do not actually know whether Corbyn did know but ignored it because he’s a total git; or whether he was told and didn’t believe it; but I do know that the other people I named above definitely knew and definitely ignored it.
I do absolutely accept that many of the people with whom Corbyn is closely associated did know. He was also friends with union leaders fighting for the ‘rights’ of some of the abusers.
There’s a newspaper article from 1995 doing the rounds. States quite clearly that Corbyn was informed at the time but did nothing. Unfortunately, facts like these have been drowned by likes of Momentum who pretend it’s a right wing witch hunt and as we know, those with the loudest drums are always heard.
My understanding is that he naively (ignorantly) conflated man on boy rape with homosexuality and as a right on kind of a dude, didn’t want to appear homophobic. It’s terribly sad
Yes, I can believe that – the Campaign for Homosexual Equality at the time was infiltrated by the Paedophile Information Exchange, which caused the sharper gay activists to walk away. The naïve Councillors/politicians didn’t understand what was happening and the ruthless ones didn’t care.
Corbyn was told numerous times about the child abuse that was happening on an “industrial scale”, over the decades in Islington. Liz Davies, who was a Social worker in Islington, told Corbyn and Margaret Hodge numerous times, that there were effectively child brothels in Islington and that all the Children’s homes were infiltrated by child abusers. Geoffrey Dickens campaigned about the problems in Islington, but Corbyn told him not to interfere on his patch. Liz Davies is amazing, she has fought with great tenacity over the years to bring the horror of what was going on in Islington to light, when the borough has consistently tried to cover it up.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3181783/Did-Jeremy-Corbyn-try-protect-fellow-Left-wingers-implicated-paedophile-scandal.html
http://aanirfan.blogspot.dk/2015/08/corbyn-and-child-abuse.html
http://www.mann4bassetlaw.com/an_open_letter_to_jeremy_corbyn_on_child_abuse
https://lizdavies.net/campaigns-and-topics/islington-child-abuse-scandal/
Vaz is another slippery character who appears to be made of Teflon, no doubt, because he probably knows where all the dirt is, having spent years as a solicitor for the Labour Councils and as a prospective Labour MP in the boroughs of Islington and Richmond, when child abuse there was rife.
https://spotlightonabuse.wordpress.com/2013/02/15/keith-vaz-and-the-mystery-of-barnes-common/
Regarding http://www.Cymro2020.co.uk , spot on, although I would add that your characterisation of the EU could be equally applied to the UK establishment and it’s puppet masters, the City of London.
Y Cwps is closing? Siop yr Hen Bont in closing down too here in Bridgend, after 50 odd years. A Welsh national revival is not coming a day too soon!
Royston, add me to your list for the meeting, wherever it is held. Also would you be so kind as to allow me 5 to 10 minutes to address the meeting on how a new Welsh political party can come out of nowhere to form the Welsh government in 2021 and establish an independent Wales by 2022. It’s a formula. It will work. It hit me like an epiphany a few months ago. (And I’ve been doing my circles in Welsh national hopes and dreams for many, many years.) It doesn’t primarily focus on Welsh identity, history and pride. All that will come in its wake. The technique (but not content) relies partly on the principle expressed in that ancient nugget – Of the best leaders, the people will say, we did it ourselves.
I will look forward to seeing you ‘glasiad’. A bit like old times!
As the date appears to have been moved forward to the 11th I will also be able to attend now – pending anything serious that requires hospitalization!
A well written, balanced and good article in my opinion. Very topical, as ‘the natives are restless again’.
I’ve reproduced it as a PDF file and uploaded it to the server. It can be downloaded HERE, so that if it can’t be found elsewhere in the future then we have a permanent copy of it on our server.
I’m sorry you interpreted Plasmawr branch arriving slightly at the quiz as you did Aled. There weren’t any fisticuffs on Friday. Don’t believe the hype.
Does the first meeting have to be in Aberystwyth??
Why not go for a much more central location for all parts of Wales, e.g Llandrindod?
The most contented place in Wales according to a recent survey.
The Metropole Hotel would be an excellent location.
It would also be a statement of intent. I’ve always thought the welsh national movement should do more to shore up the situation of “Powys Paradwys Cymru”.
I think that one thing the new party could do to garner immediate support from different parts of wales would be to commit to re-locate the Welsh capital from Cardiff to mid-Wales, eg Llandrindod/Llanelwedd.
That would also be a strategic way to stop the England-creep into mid-wales.
it really seems a huge shame to have to dampen down the high level of interest in the new party with this change of plan.
I managed to make a reference to the new party in the fringe meeting led by neilmcevoy at caernarfon on friday- mcevoy’s very unconvincing response was to say that if he was at the first meeting, he would tell everyone to forget the idea and stick with plaid cymru.
The fight which took place in Y Bar Bach, Caernarfon on Friday night between Mcevoy’s supporters and Plaid Ifanc would suggest that this proclamation of unity is a bit of a charade……..
I would have no objection to Llandrindod or Rhaeadr or some other central location because I take your point about the danger of what I referred to many years ago as the ‘L-shaped country’. On a more mundane level, let’s forget Scarrott and remember that Plaid Cymru is very influential in Aberystwyth.
A fight in Caernarfon? Do tell.
As I said on golwg this little skirmish between 2 sets of childish, immature groups reflects badly on Plaid. Shame they can’t focus all this aggressive energy into a sustained critical commentary on the piss poor performance in government by Labour. There again one side of this feud probably spends a lot of its time defending Labour’s record !
“Ee lad – trouble at’t mill” then? Sounds intriguing! I’m not totally surprised at Neil McEvoy’s reaction at this time, especially given that he was at a Plaid conference when spoken to.
No disrespect intended, but whilst I can follow the logic (geographically), regarding Llandrindod or Llanelwedd. The reality is that in the psyche of many in the urban south they are (unfairly in my view) out of the way hinterland places. Aberystwyth is a stretch for our southern friends. Powys is viewed as beyond the horizon – I’m sorry to say. Abertawe would be fine for the AGM, but again that tends to isolate our northern friends for the initial meeting. Aberystwyth is about right either from the north or the south for the invited delegates to the first meeting.
As for Aber being a Plaid hotbed, and that they have influence there – even better to have it in the ‘lion’s lair’. It sends out a good message at the start. We are coming for you! Because if you can’t do the job, we will.
Probably keeping all options open – including becoming leader of Plaid. Though Plaid just has to much baggage to ever be the effective party either side dreams it could be. Let them fight.
As for meeting place its a shame we don’t really have a place of meaning like Tara or Naas in Ireland.
Yes the Hill of Tara. I suppose the nearest things we have are Glyndŵr’s parliament building in Machynlleth or Cilmeri.
Sorry to disappoint. There was no fight, no punches, just 1 drunken idiot, who was ejected and then everyone carried on as normal. No fight, no headline; just 1 person trying to cause a scene, with a cowardly and quite pathetic assault. The victim shrugged him off and behaved with complete dignity. There were no “supporters”, just people stood around chatting.
Cross Inn on the road to New Quay from Llandysul
https://www.bigreddirectory.com/cardigan-bay-camping-and-caravanning-club-site-cross-inn-llandysul
Hmm. The Basil Fawlty of the caravan holiday business.
Nigel Fartage had no problems booking a conference room at the Liberty Stadium, Swansea.
But he’s got charm!
And he’s a darling of the British Bullshit Corporation, judging by the number of times he’s appeared on Question Time. Can you imagine one of us getting such an invite?
This is worth a watch to remind you of what we are up against. Remember the Bullshit Corporation’s hand in the Scottish referendum? CLICK HERE
And if you want more proof – assuming you’re a cynic, and think ‘Aunty BEEB’ has the sun shining out of it’s arse and would NEVER tell a lie – totally trustworthy across the world then CLICK HERE for more evidence.
Hard hats on after the launch boys & girls! To be fore warned is to be fore armed.
The editors of the Sun, Daily Mail and Daily Express wish to take whine with you.
Come again? I might be dim, but I don’t follow – not being a subscriber to Murdock’s crap rags. As I think I’ve said before, I wouldn’t put the Sun down on my dog’s kennel floor for him to shit on, it’s so bad.
I’m just pointing out, by way of a pun*, that your attack on the BBC meets with the approval of Murdoch’s minions, Dacre, and all the other owners/editors of professional lie machines.
* At formal dinners, the Master of Ceremonies makes announcements such as: “The Directors of Spack-Handy Chop Tubes would like to take wine with those who …”
btw: The btl comments on the YouTube BBC clip ??? Almost as off the perch as posts about One Direction and Nicki Minaj: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7kz4uMXFlE
Just keep paying your TV licence fee and smile – you live in a perfect world, as portrayed by those who feed you THEIR news!
Yes, yes I understood the little pun (wine/ whine)it was the implication that it was a choice between Murdock or the Bullshit Corp. that confused me. I assumed, that as usual, you were taking big assumptive leaps again. I.e. “if you’re not for someone or something then you must be against them” – no in between grey areas.
The reason for why I thought that, was your thought process, like “if you supported leave the EU then you must be a UKIP supporter or a Tory” etc.
Fact is with Murdock and the British Bullshit Corp. it’s a question of six of one and half a dozen of the other. I can’t stand and don’t trust either. They are both establishment puppets – it’s just that they have squabbles over the cake. They are both actually in the same camp. It’s a bit like the Trump/ Clinton choice fiasco. Both are the puppets of the deep state. The illusion that the people had a choice is an obvious ploy to keep the stupid ‘sheeple’ thinking they are taking part in a democratic process that doesn’t actually exist.
There is a Cross Inn not far from Llandysul on the road to Ffostrasol just before Horeb.
Can you be a bit more exact?
I apologize Jac, it’s actually Croes-lan which is near Horeb, Llandysul. Looks like Cross Inn is near to Cei Newydd.
Yes, I saw it and wondered if that’s what you meant.
A487 Synod Inn between Aberaeron and Cardigan-Turn on to A486 towards New Quay-First Village is Cross Inn, 2 Large Caravan complexes on the left as you enter village , Pencnwc Holiday Village and The Village Holiday Park
I assume a license {with conditions} has been issued by Ceredigion County Council. All licences issued are available to view on Ceredigion website. This link should take you there. Second tab {Premises Licenses}.
http://www.ceredigion.gov.uk/English/Business/Licences-Permits/Licensing-Act-2003/Pages/default.aspx
Very useful, Wynne.
Count me in for the membership stage Jac.
Good man. Will keep you informed.
as said before, unable to attend. However it crossed my mind that the Uni might have space to let, especially on a SATURDAY when little if any work gets done.
The implication being that work gets done on other days?
Not necessarily, but there will be people “in attendance” on Mondays to Fridays, for a few hours each day. There again that does not guarantee that much will get done, but volume, efficiency and quality of output are alien concepts in such places. Attendance on weekends is used to cover up a hobble or some other off the record activity that can’t be delivered discreetly during the course of Mon – Fri. And the length of the academic year is quite onerous, you must know.
I’ve already suggested the Uni. to Jac Dafis. They used to rent out a room in the Agri College in Llanbadarn on a monthly basis for Plaid’s monthly Executive Committee meetings – when I was a member of that committee. I don’t know if they still meet there for their current monthly natters on a Saturday.
I’ve also had e-mails suggesting other venues in Aber, even an offer of a place somewhere in the north. I shall start checking them out tomorrow. A few people have also been in touch asking to be included on the invitation-only list.
The last thing we need now is an invitation-only meeting with people complaining after the event that they weren’t invited. So if anybody wants to be invited, get in touch and let me know.
Time for a mail-out Jac. Use the ‘newsletter’ service in the back office.
I’d like to be invited..Aberystwyth would be fine with me coming from Pembrokeshire.
Your welcome Lisa.
On the plus side when I visited the belle vue earlier in the year they were “displaying” a 0 hygiene rating. I didn’t stop. I’m sure they will have upped their game by now.
Y Cwps is holding a closing down party next Saturday according to their Facebook page. Sad. How about yr Hen Llew Du?
A tourism tax seems such an obvious proposal. Even the industry should agree with it.
Keep up the good work and the good fight.
Good luck. I laughed out loud re the hypothetical nutter “I know where we can get guns!”! Still laughing!
I’m happy as long as the nutter remains hypothetical.
Here’s a better picture of Thomas Scarrot…
http://www.caravantimes.co.uk/photo/thomas-scarrott-elin-ceredigion-$14120396$326.jpg
© Caravan Times.
Excellent! Of course Plaid Cymru is opposed to a tourism tax. Betraying its supporters again.
The native farmer of rural Wales who has a couple of chalets or caravans in a redundant paddock as a ‘diversification’ is not actually in competition with a similar farmer in Norfolk. No more than the corner shop in Tywyn is in competition with a corner shop in Norwich. No. That native farmer who’s decided to diversify as a bit of ancillary income is actually in competition with the mega-corporate caravan sites like Vale Holidays, run by the likes of Mr Scarrot. In the same way as the corner shop in Tywyn is in competition with corporate Asda in Aberystwyth. It’s important to identify what part of the ‘industry’ is contibutive and what part of the industry is parasitic.
Adam Price appears to have grasped this concept, yet Steffan Lewis hasn’t a clue.
There’s an interesting campaign happening in St Davids, in Pembrokeshire.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-39963603
It’s also the case that the para-sites like those run by Scarrot try to maximise their asset utilisation by having on-site shops, food, and entertainment facilities, taking revenue away from other local businesses. Not the case with the diversified farmer boutique operation which encourages diversification of the product and brings spend into the community. It is this subtle difference that the new ‘tourist tax’ should be addressing and Plaid Cymru should have a more nuanced approach to how it should apply.
Locally, I have a good example. The Carmarthenshire Holiday Park, massive caravan site, contributes nothing to the local economy, ties to keep it’s internees on-site by serving up chicken nuggets with chips, on-site Jacuzzi, and book useless ‘acts’ from Birmingham on entertainment nights. The alternatives, businesses like Cydweli B&B, Parc y Bocs, and local hostelries serve up local food from local farms. These indigenous businesses encourage spend in the town, and provide a ‘Welsh’ offering, which can command a premium spend. I’m sure the ‘Gravells’ will understand this.
Many good points, Brychan.
Allowing and assisting diversification to help Welsh family farms is fine, within reason. Because we can’t allow mega-sites simply because they’re owned by Welsh family farms. That would go beyond diversification.
Feedback I’ve had suggests that Ocean Heights at Cei Newydd is the family’s jewel in the crown, and it fits your description perfectly by doing everything it can to ensure that ‘internees’ spend as little as possible beyond the perimeter fence and guard towers.
Also, bear in mind that these are ‘self-catering’ holidays. So the ‘guests’ will bring a load of foodstuffs and other things they’ll need with them.
How much will people staying at Ocean Heights and similar sites really put into the local economy? We need a genuinely independent survey to get at the truth.
But this is another argument in favour of a tourism tax. Because sites like Ocean Heights (lovely, evocative Welsh name with strong local connections) bring traffic, put pressure on local infrastructure and services, yet put little into the wider economy.
And as we know, the company running Ocean Heights, Vale Holiday Parks Ltd, likes to take as much as possible of its money back home to England.
https://jacothenorth.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Ocean-Heights.png
I belive this person was interviewed a week or so ago by either BBC or ITV Cardiff in relation to the suggested tourism tax. I seem to recall he was against it as it could affect his trade.
Is this a better picture of the confrontational idiot?
No doubt if those holiday parks go tits up, Mr Scarrott will soon find an alternative vocation, possibly as a goon on You Tube. Catch it now before it’s taken down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEp-8ZdZwpA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m7GNE3aAOo
He’s not shy when it comes to promoting himself, is he! But chutzpah coupled with contempt for others invariably results in unpopularity. Though a thick skin tends to insulate the culprit from reality.
Too late – I missed it, it’s now removed.
http://jacothenorth.net/pics/YT_video_removed.png
The owner must be stalking our comments – good – I hope the penny drops!
Look on the bright side, Big Gee. I had to lose valuable minutes of my life watching it. You at least have been spared the pain.
Thanks Stan, that’s made me feel a lot better!! LOL.
What was that about?
They were renditions of the popular sing-along songs “Gangnam Style” and “Is this the way to (Amarillo) Aberystwyth”, starring Mr Scarrott. Sadly, these virtuoso performances have now been denied to a wider, appreciative audience.
Thanks. I’m gutted to have been denied a viewing.
Is that our home grown by Cynog “genius“? Posing with our grown in England exploiter of our natural resources? Says it all really doesn’t it?
Keep on rubbing up against the leg of the colonisers ‘petal’. It’ll do wonders for us as a nation. And do you think he’ll vote ‘Plaid’ in the next election? Dream on . . . .
This is the sharp minded AM that said to me “what about the dolphins Gwilym?” when I opposed wind turbines on our mountains on technical grounds during a Plaid Cymru Ceredigion meeting some years ago. It was when I suggested tidal generation as a better alternative to ineffective wind turbines, that are a money making scam. However, “where it ain’t you can’t put it” can you?
In view of these developments Jac I totally agree with your suggestion, smaller meeting, invited people. Best to count me in at the “recruiting member stage” rather than the initial meeting. I am pleased to note that you have undertaken some research into the activities of Thomas H S Scarrott. Perhaps a bit more digging would reveal some interesting facts. On the plus side, if a new date is agreed for the initial meeting perhaps Big Gee would be in a position to attend. I’m sure he would welcome the opportunity to contribute. Best wishes as you move forward.
Thanks for your support, Wynne, I shall pop down to Aber and find a smaller room – unless someone can suggest one?
I certainly will, and thank you for the vote of confidence Wynne!
Having read those Twitter exchanges (Scarrott/Jac) I think Jac is right about the current state of play being a possible blessing in disguise. I don’t sign up to the old chestnut that there’s no such thing as bad publicity. Those that would love to see this initiative fall flat on its face are legion. The signs were there that if the meeting was held, then attempts would be made to cause trouble. That’s how I interpret these messages. I believe efforts would have been made to disrupt, and they would have been filmed as well. This isn’t a sign of weakness or backtracking to me. It’s managing circumstances which you’d rather not have happened, but that’s life.
Personally, I quite like the idea of Llandrindod as a venue as set out in another post. But it wouldn’t particularly worry me which central Wales location was picked. As bums on seats will likely be more limited now, I’d be grateful if Jac considered me a keen supporter, but happy to miss the initial gathering, and play catch up later.
But thanks for all your hard work in this, Jac.
Back in the IWP/Cymru Rydd days (2002 -2005) we used to meet at Y Cwps pub (Cooper’s Arms) in Aberystwyth. They have a meeting room upstairs and were always welcoming to Welsh nationalists. From my recollection the room could probably accommodate 30 odd people but not many more. They never charged us a penny. Might work in a pinch.
Cyfamodwyr also used Y Cwps, but I’m not sure who runs it now. Will check.
Good thinking Glasiad. You’re absolutely right. The Cŵps (previously known as the Coopers Arms – only about twenty yards from my Dadcu & Mamgu’s house, I spent many a summer holiday there looking up at the sign and wondering – as a little boy – what the hell ‘Coopers’ meant!). The Cŵps has always been a friend in the past. They were incredibly supportive in days gone by, and Cymuned was always made welcome there. At that time it was run by a lady and her husband who was a patriotic Irishman. It was always full of healthy nationalistic patriots and deep thinkers from amongst the college’s Welsh lecturers. The atmosphere was brilliant.
I don’t know who runs it now, but it’s certainly worth a try. The room upstairs would be perfect for a smaller meeting (of invited guests only) to lay the foundations – then the building proper can start!