Bodlondeb – Jac o' the North

Caveat Emptor!

Jac — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 09:00:06 +0000

Over the past year I’ve written a few times about companies in Wales profiting from the UK government’s ECO4 scheme, through cavity wall insulation, solar panels, heat pumps, etc. Most recently, I’ve had to write about one of these companies going belly-up leaving dissatisfied customers; either suffering from poor workmanship that needed remedial work, or …

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Grab The Money And Run!

Jac — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 08:15:18 +0000

In this piece I’m going to look at the collapse of Consumer Energy Solutions (CES) earlier this month, ask what could have gone wrong, and consider what the future might hold. ◊ BACKGROUND There is a group of companies in south Wales involved in ‘retrofitting’ homes with cavity wall insulation, solar panels, loft insulation, heat …

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Housing Associations, a broken model

Jac — Mon, 16 Mar 2020 09:00:11 +0000

PLEASE APPRECIATE THAT I GET SENT MORE INFORMATION AND LEADS THAN I CAN USE. I TRY TO RESPOND TO EVERYONE WHO CONTACTS ME BUT I CANNOT POSSIBLY USE EVERY BIT OF INFORMATION I’M SENT. DIOLCH YN FAWR ♦ In an earlier post I dealt with Wales & West Housing, a housing association that has branched …

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Snippets and Updates 19.04.2018

Jac — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 00:45:54 +0000

I’ve neglected you in recent weeks, relying on two excellent guest posts from Brychan Davies and Aled Gwyn Jôb. But now I’m back. With a vengeance! Though this offering is long, over 3,000 words, it’s made up of six different items, so you can take them one at a time if you like. Enjoy! ◊ …

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Wales and West Housing, the scandal continues

Jac — Wed, 28 Feb 2018 18:20:10 +0000

INTRODUCTION In the previous post ‘Sister Sledge’ and I tried, in our different ways, to explain the Labour Party’s links with various other bodies, from Spartist rent-a-mob-with-whistles outfits to superficially respectable social housing bodies. Ultimately, such linkages combine to create a system not unlike those we see in one-party states, where the reach of the …

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Who Needs Democracy?

Jac — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 17:20:40 +0000

A GUEST POST FROM ‘SISTER SLEDGE’ AUX BARRICADES! While the brothers in Cardiff Bay were fighting over the ashes of Carl Sargeant and positioning to succeed Carwyn the Untrustworthy, no one noticed that another struggle was bubbling away in deepest Ceredigion. It started around the time of the last County Council election in May 2017, …

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Anti-Welsh Housing Associations

Jac — Tue, 07 Nov 2017 12:10:30 +0000

TO RECAP . . . I have written many times about social housing in Wales, and of the many problems created by the more irresponsible housing associations. Here are just a few of the problems: Unlike in Scotland, social housing providers in Wales are tied into an Englandandwales system. This results in our housing associations …

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