This is another of those pieces I wish I didn’t have to write. Another sorry tale of political bias and incompetence, and the wasting of large amounts of public money.
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WHISPER AND LABOUR
Our tale begins with two announcements.
The first came from the self-styled ‘Welsh Government’ last Friday. Informing us a “Wales-based” company, that televised the Paris Paralympics for Channel 4, had been awarded £800,000.
We were further informed,, “Whisper began its operations in Wales in 2018” and was then, “Named Business of the Year at the Cardiff Business Awards in 2022“.
Which is odd. For Whisper Films Cymru Ltd wasn’t launched until September 2. Just over a week ago! So how could it cover the Paris Paralympics, which began a week before it was formed, and how could it have been so busy in Wales since 2018?
The answer is of course that it’s been operating under a different name. For if we turn to the Companies House website entry for Whisper Films Cymru, and the Certificate of Incorporation, we see that it’s owned by the parent company.
Whisper Films Cymru Ltd is just the local label for a company of the same name based in Kingston-upon-Thames (down the lane).
Then on Monday I read Cardiff Capital Region was investing a further £1.5m. Making it £2.3m over one weekend. (Since the fall of Monmouthshire, all the councils in that region are now controlled by Labour.)
So let’s see who’s running this “Wales-based” company, Whisper Films Cymru Ltd.
The three directors are: Allan Handley, of the parent company, Whisper. Sunil Ramanbhai Patel, CEO and co-founder. And, to give a little Welsh flavour, Carys Owens.
Carys Owens is the wife of recently-retired captain of the national rugby team, Ken Owens. Which probably explains why Ken has been seen in dodgy company of late.
Gething’s already gone and Starmer’s the most unpopular prime minister since Pitt the Positively Infantile. Keep it up, Ken.
On a more serious note . . . Ken Owens’ involvement might be linked to the ‘Welsh Government’ taking over the Welsh Rugby Union last year. I explained this in ‘Taking Control, Of Everything‘.
Is Ken being lined up for a WRU job?
So what more can I tell you about Whisper Films?
We know it’s been operating in Wales for some years without feeling the need to adopt a Welsh persona, but now that it’s gone legit there are 23 Whisper Cymru staff listed on its website.
Among them, and listed as another co-founder, is Jake Humphrey, formerly of BT Sport. He seems to be a fan of Keir Starmer.
Whisper Films Cymru Ltd is owned by Whisper Films Ltd, but we can follow the trail back to Sony Pictures Television Production UK Ltd, owned by Columbia Pictures Corporation Ltd, with everything ultimately owned by the Sony Group Corporation.
Should you be minded to write, here’s the head office address, 1-7-1 Konan, Minato-Ku, Tokyo 108-0075, Japan.
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WHISPER IN THE TRAMSHED
You may not be surprised to learn that the newly-minted Whisper Cymru is based in The Tramshed, so generously funded and in other ways favoured by the Labour party.
I gave the low-down at the end of May with, ‘The Tramshed, The Loans, The Leases, The Lord’; and a few days later, ‘The Tramshed, The Loans, The Leases, The Lord 2‘.
What I established in those pieces was that, like the shop in League of Gentlemen, The Tramshed is, ‘A Labour shop for Labour people’. Outsiders are not welcome.
But why is Whisper officially taking on a Welsh identity at this moment? One answer is obviously to get its hands on the £2.3m funding you’ve just read about. And I’m sure there’ll be more.
For I can almost smell a loan from the Development Bank of Wales. Which would have been difficult if not impossible to arrange if Whisper had remained a company registered solely in England.
I also believe it links to the July 4 election. Because if you go back to Monday’s press release about the Capital Region investment you’ll see Dame Nia Griffith MP, of the Wales Office, mentioned.
But why is she involved? Isn’t this a Welsh company getting Welsh funding?
Maybe the explanation is that Whisper Films is favoured by those who recently came to power in London. Which might mean that this deal couldn’t have been done before Comrade Starmer got his feet under the No 10 desk.
Was Labour’s Cardiff branch instructed to help Whisper?
Handley and Patel have another company at the Tramshed, CBC Broadcast Centre Ltd, launched in March. Though until last month it was known as Furnace Broadcast Centre Ltd. (Is that Furnace, Llanelli, or the one just north of Aberystwyth?)
Control again rests with Whisper in Richmond. Understandable, for both directors live in England. It’s worth dwelling on CBC for a minute because when you see who’s involved with this outfit other things start to make sense.
Which is a cue to look at recent developments at the Tramshed, including the opening of this facility last month.
No matter how it’s dressed up, and despite being funded from within Wales, this looks like a facility for Whisper, Channel 4, CBC, and other English companies. Such as Timeline Television of London:
Timeline TV . . . will operate the space following the conclusion of The Paralympics.
I’m not disputing that Wales will get a few jobs, some training, and Cardiff will get a lot of plugs, but looking at the bigger picture, Wales loses out. Certainly if you believe that Wales extends beyond Cardiff.
It’s all very well dressing up Whisper Cymru as ‘ground-breaking’, and the new facilities at the Tramshed as ‘exciting’, but in truth, there’s nothing new here at all.
It’s just more companies from outside Wales being gifted expensive facilities and showered with public money. All done to create a few jobs and give the impression of an indigenous media sector.
Little more than the branch factory / inward investment strategy updated for the digital age. Which, by a curious twist, brings us back to Sony!
Something else that brings us up to date is Labour-controlled councils investing pension funds and similar money in companies where Labour insiders are well looked after. The Bute Energy model repeating itself.
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THE SLOW DEATH OF YR EGIN
In answer to the constant claims that devolution was resulting in everything being located in Cardiff, S4C decided to build a new HQ in Carmarthen, known as Yr Egin.
Though the obvious location was Aberystwyth. Partly for its centrality, and partly because it was the most popular choice among S4C employees. It was even reported that many staff were refusing to leave Cardiff for Carmarthen.
But for reasons that were never quite clear, Carmarthen was chosen. Though good road and rail links to Cardiff and London were mentioned.
This is important because if we look at the Whisper Facebook page, we see that at the start of 2019 it tells the world that Whisper’s new home is Yr Egin. Suggesting it might have been this facility that drew Whisper to Wales in the first place.
Is Whisper still at Yr Egin? It may have a presence, but my guess would be that Whisper is firmly ensconced at The Tramshed. That’s certainly the address used for both Whisper and CBC.
The point of Yr Egin was to take direct and spin-off jobs to places away from Cardiff. To spread the jam. Which is why Yr Egin is a failure. Yes, it’s being used, but not for its intended role.
But we’ve been here before. When S4C was established we were told the Caernarfon area would see a cluster of independent TV companies, providing hundreds of well-paid posts. Those jobs the Cofis were promised went to Cardiff.
It was the same with devolution. The people of Cardiff voted against, the movers and shakers were even more firmly opposed, but once it happened, then the Assembly had to go to Cardiff.
More than that, it had to go to the Bay, to benefit Nick Edwards and his pals in Associated British Ports. To boost their Cardiff Bay Development Corporation. In need of a boost after failing to land either an opera house or the new rugby stadium.
It was this episode that saw me coin the term Corruption Bay.
Finally, and on the political level, the new development in the Tramshed sees a socialist regime in Wales help Channel 4, whose news programmes are often compared to Romanian state television under Ceausescu.
A perfect fit!
As I’ve said, there was always resistance from within Cardiff to Yr Egin. And it went beyond staff being reluctant to move.
To begin with, the city stood to lose hundreds of skilled, 21st century jobs. Jobs that brought Cardiff a lot of money and considerable prestige.
Then, working on the assumption that Yr Egin would be full of ‘Nashies’, the Cardiff comrades could have justified The Tramshed, if only to themselves, on political grounds.
So Cardiff council set about developing The Tramshed. Using both its own money and ‘Welsh Government’ money.
Of course, WG was also supporting Yr Egin. Backing both horses in a two-horse race really is a mug’s bet.
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CONCLUSION
We are now told we need 36 more Senedd Members in Corruption Bay to make Wales a better place. Bollocks! Here’s my suggestion.
Keep to 60 SMs, but move the Senedd to Aberystwyth, or Machynlleth, Llandrindod or even Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant. No fancy new building, put the buggers in a barn or a village hall. Any member of a pressure group or third sector body sighted within three miles is to be shot, and fed to the hogs. Then provide the SMs with electric bikes and oilskins to get back and forth to their constituencies.
I guarantee that a few years of such an arrangement will do more good, for more parts of Wales, than having 36 more Senedd Members living it up at our expense in the corrupt capital of a corrupt country, heading down the tubes at a rate of knots.
♦ end ♦
© Royston Jones 2024
Thank-you for yet another enjoyable insightful article.
Do not know if you have seen this in the Daily Post?
Yet another example of a parachuted into Wales climate loony tune & backed by the Development Bank of Wales £500,000 equity investment.
Betws-y-Coed guest house becomes 38 bed hostel after major investment – North Wales Live (dailypost.co.uk)
This is from his linkedin..
Rowern Wong
Real estate investing
Greater London, England, United Kingdom
Real estate investor / developer with side interests in mountaineering, sustainability, geopolitics, macroeconomics and history.
He has some interesting work experience including Rothschild.
Keep up the superb work of exposing them..
I’ll look into this. Many thanks.
Pleasure.
On a mountaineering & outdoorsy theme is the guy Jason Rawles Aspire Adventures who left the 30 mountain climbers stranded in Africa who were meant to climb Kilimanjaro back in business it shows him as still active?
According to companies house he is still active but changed his correspondence address to
Suite G04, 1 Quality Court, Chancery Lane, London, England, WC2A 1HR
And is he the same guy who is/was involved in The Rawles group Ltd also with companies house?
I remember you writing about him..
Definitely a story here. Digging into who owns his other companies it seems he’s fronting for property investors. Who shouldn’t need £500,000 from the DBW. There are also loans for property from ‘alternative lenders’ inn Manchester, the kinds of companies I’ve written about too often.
The kind of companies that may be at the end of a chain laundering income from very dubious sources… proceeds of crime in cash rich sectors like drugs, prostitution, people trafficking….etc etc.
So many names that are – how can I put this? – ‘non-British’ in origin.
Oh boy, the various sectors of modern global criminality are hailed as “best practice” by those who seek diversity, cultural enrichment, innovation, and all those other dubious traits that old cynics like me ( and you on a bad day)regard with contempt.
I prefer full-blown Talkies to Whisper Films myself, but there we are.
Just think, in one of those comparatively well-run countries on the Continent, a tramshed would not be in use as a rat’s nest for spivs, but serve an actual purpose as part of a reliable, cheap and comprehensive urban public transport network. Actual tangible functionality in any effort to reduce emissions, which is an obviously sane idea whether one believes in AGW or not.
I cannot disagree with your conclusion Jac. I believe it is becoming clear that the globalists have been slowly progressing their various agendas for decades. Legislation to enable them to do so is now in place, as listed below.
Climate Change Act 2008
Wellbeing of Future Generations [Wales] Act 2015
Environment Wales Act 2016
Infrastructure [Wales] Act 2024
I would suggest that the turkeys – or is it muppets – at Cardiff are voting for Christmas!
To be honest, I have such a low opinion of them, that I wonder if they really know what they’re doing, and whose interests they’re serving.
Remote television coverage is the future of broadcasting.High Wycombe is a Welsh enclave on weekends as skills are exported to a HQ in England.
Previous Welsh governments have handed grants and assistance to film & movie production companies on and off over the last decade for one off productions.This is investment in the industries future, something we are rather good at.
‘Skills are exported to a HQ in England’, about sums up the problem.
No country can have a healthy economy without indigenous companies. That create jobs, pay taxes, invest profits. This then funds infrastructure, a decent education system, a health and care service we can all be proud of.
Instead, what we’ve seen in Wales for 25 years is the ‘Welsh Government’, local authorities, pension funds, Development Bank of Wales, shower money on any shyster who comes over the border with a ‘business plan’ scribbled on the back of a fag packet.
That’s because Wales is ‘socialist’. Which in practice means regarding profit as a sin, and poverty as a virtue.
Devolution is a disaster because it guarantees a bunch of professional politicians, most of whom have never done a ‘real’ job, a guaranteed income every year. Which is then wasted on virtue signalling, pandering to pressure groups, and obeying the diktats of the Globalist-Woke agenda on Climate and other nonsense.
I’ve always wanted independence, but when I look around Wales and I see leftist wankers marching for independence, I think to myself, ‘Jones, you don’t want your grandchildren starving or emigrating’. So I’ve reined in my lifelong enthusiasm for independence.
I will need evidence of a serious change in the political culture before my support for independence is re-kindled.
Beg to differ mate. Got to keep pressing the case for secession even if by stages, like the deal the Free Staters got in 1921/22. I think Jonathan Edwards calls it “Dominion status”. Current main stream powder puff “nat” thinking revolves around a begging bowl mind set which is “dependency” rather than “dominion”. It evolved because likes of Ieuan Wyn, DET, Leanne and Adam P were far too concerned about real and imaginary issues and distanced themselves from anything that smacked of separation. They even believed the dependency interpretation of fake financial analysis which Unionists economists and other propagandists were shit hot at churning out.
So we are where we are today with a huge preponderance of noisy wet powder puff nats among those who feature in public discourse. However the vast majority of people are almost silent and hold the puffs in disdain even contempt. They can’t even be bothered to heed any of the crap that comes from those people. There is a huge opportunity to motivate this passive majority and activate its interest, get it off its arse to back ideas that take our country forward rather than stay sat in its soiled nappy. Big challenge but if we don’t keep calling out the degrading experience of rule from Westminster and the big lie of the puppet regime in Cardiff we will wither away into nothing by 2050.
I suppose the consolation might be that those promising a socialist Utopia after independence are a small but very vocal minority.
The worry is that this minority is already influential in the UK, EU, US, and elsewhere. And they’ve done it without ever putting their ideas to an electorate. They wait for governments to be elected, then they get to work on them. Which is not difficult, seeing as the left now is controlled by the same Globalists running our Uniparty systems.
Another hope might be mobilising at least some of the 50% or so who don’t vote. But unless things change, I see Reform getting most of that 50% who can be persuaded to vote.
One consolation might be that Labour could be in for a bit of a walloping in the 2026 Senedd election. But Plaid as beneficiary won’t be a big improvement.
I still want independence, but I have reservations that weren’t there a couple of decades ago.
Reservations ? I think we all have plenty of those. I tire of watching people of very faint ability emerging into leadership positions and just allowing their strings to be pulled by loquacious wordsmiths from all sorts of special interest groups. That leads to “policy” made of a hotchpotch of 6th form “ishoo” debating crap rather than a well thought out response to real needs of our people.
I have spent time recently responding to people who attack Reform just cos Farage “looks and sounds like a Fascist” ( their words not mine). My response is simply that the critics should look more deeply at “why” Reform. The warning signs crystallised in the Brexit vote yet the critics spent time denigrating the intelligence of the disaffected rather than addressing the causes of their disaffection.
This trait translates into “do nothing, or very little” at the formal representative level of politics. Well paid M.P’s and A.S’s spend time spouting rhetoric, slagging each other off, denouncing anything that slightly deviates from their orthodoxy of the day. Few if any of our 60 and London’s 650 ever bother getting to the heart of any matter which is why Sly Starmer and Ruthless Rachel are moving forward with their sequence of attacks on the public with impunity.
So reservations galore. I don’t want a great leader to emerge. We need a community of radical activists who don’t necessarily see eye to eye on everything but share a consensus that our lot could be much better by having our own nation state built on the needs and wishes of the majority. They could lead the thrust towards freedom, leaving the debates about “ishoos” to those who fear the challenges of the real world.
Put it this way – we could vote out a globalist-lapdog party in an independent Welsh state. There’s no chance in hell of doing so at Westmister.
We couldn’t do it until the political culture changes. Plaid Cymru looked at Labour and said’ They’ve got the socialism bit right, it just needs to be a bit more Welsh’. Rubbish! Socialism is the problem, not the solution. Socialism and the English connection.
Its the prospect of an independent socialist state that attracts many to the cause. I know people whose kids think Wales should be independent to get away from ”far right” English tory voters.
I’m a typical UK reform/tory voter but were rolls reversed so England was guaranteed permanent leftism but Wales was inclined to vote for right leaning policies I might find myself supporting secession.
Secession can be made to work but will require a spell of hard nosed weeding out to make it work. I have socialist leanings but NOT of the modern pseudo kind where all sorts of weird fringe issues have been placed at the centre of priorities and the real needs of our communities are ignored because these crazy infantile parasites haven’t got a clue how to even think clearly about tackling the grim realities. This moronic mess suits the ruling elites in Cardiff, London and further afield. Really just a variation on the ageless divide and conquer approach.
Sorry Jac but this all seems a bit vague. Too much coffee ( as per your website) instead of beer perhaps ????
My understanding of ‘Yr Egin’ was that it went to Carmarthen to be an adjunct to the University of Wales Trinity Saint David campus.
The concept that it was intended to …’ take direct and spin-off jobs to places away from Cardiff ‘ seems largely irrelevant, as much the same can be said of any company based outside the capital.
Whatever the reason for its location it seems to employ about 180 people, so labelling it as a ‘failure’, because it has evolved over the years, seems to only apply if based on your misconception of its original purpose.
Neither do I see the logic in comparing it to The Tramshed in Cardiff, which is basically an events venue – with a few rooms for ‘start-up’ companies attached.
The events are apparently run by a promotion and venue development company based in Bristol. The office space etc ( Tramshed Tech ) is intended for entrepeneurs, and is probably often used as a convenient, temporary address for companies relocating or expanding into Wales.
Ken Owens is very well regarded across the sporting community. and has a wide range of sporting interests, for example he recently joined the board of a Netball Super League side ( Cardiff Dragons ) as a non-executive director. His appearance at various events is probably more related to this than any speculative rugby related job.
I refer you to the photograph I used of Yr Egin, which clearly shows the big sign reading ‘S4C’. Also, the link I provided to the article saying that staff were reluctant to move from Cardiff. Seeing as that was the original intent, Yr Egin is a failure.
Tramshed may be the venue for concerts and various performances. But Tramshed Tech is a lot more than the ‘temporary addresses’ you suggest. I refer you to the articles I wrote earlier this year, and the link in today’s article to the recent and very expensive developments.
As for Ken Owens, I don’t dispute that he was a great player and he is well respected. But he seems to have thrown in his lot with the Labour party and the ‘Welsh Government’, who are doing so much damage to Wales. His appearances with Gething and Starmer were at election campaign gatherings. Politics, nothing more.
And as for the netball team . . . does Ken Owens know anything about the game? And isn’t Cardiff a bit far from his turf?
Isn’t the “community energy company” that hopes to spend, sorry, administer, the community benefit fund from Y Bryn Wind Farm based at the Tramshed? They have had large grants from WG to renovate it
It would make perfect sense. Will check when I get home from my trip to Tywyn.
Mr Patel on the companies house website for Whisper Films Cymru is listed as only being active in one company. If you look on company house…You will see he is also listed as a director of this company but he has his middle name added…PATEL, Sunil Ramanbhai
WHISPER (SVP) LIMITEDCompany number 15278258 Correspondence address
Unit B South Avenue Studios,, 7 South Avenue, Richmond, Surrey, England, TW9 3EL
Role Active
Director
Date of birth
November 1977
Appointed on
13 November 2023
Nationality
British
Country of residence
England
Occupation
Ceo
Companies House website can be very misleading. It gives different results to different enquiries. If you put in the director’s name it might bring up 2 companies. Go to one of them, click on ‘Directors’ and the same name might bring up 6 companies. I often find it’s worthwhile double-checking by going to another site, such as Endole, or CompanyCheck, which is almost always better than CH for the list of companies associated with an individual. Then, once you have the list of companies, go back to the CH website for the details and the paperwork.
Awel Aman Tawe, unless my memory is playing tricks with me in my dotage, certainly mention the Tramshed in their financial reports
AAT is mentioned on the Future Generations website under the ‘Cymru Can’ programme. And of course . . .
Office of the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales,
Tramshed Tech,
Pendyris Street,
Cardiff CF11 6BH
Why should it be based at Tramshed or anywhere in Cardiff when the blight will be at Port Talbot, Bryn and other communities within that area ? I guess there will be plenty of vacant properties available soon in Port Talbot and plenty of people well able to spend/administer community benefit funds. Or are those funds already spoken for? or not likely to be paid out by the energy/myth peddlers?
It’s an established practice to have these community benefit funds run by Labour party loyalists. For two reasons.
1/ They won’t rock the wind farm boat.
2/ They’ll ensure that outfits loyal to the party get more than their fair share.
Any chance of Bruvver Kinnock, well known fan of Aberavon RFC, Ospreys and anything else that might harvest a few votes ( although very patchy supporter of Steel works survival initiatives) pipe up and demand that the Bay regime redirects this CBF into his own constituency ? Or is he too busy elsewhere looking for another greasy pole to climb ?
Keep hoping. After being re-elected last month Kinnock is a free man, free to go wherever he wants. He might be seen in Port Talbot if there’s an important photo op, otherwise, don’t expect to see him until the next election campaign.
Boy Kinnock, now 54(time flies by),is now busy as a junior minister in the new Labour regime. May still get an elevation of status as some senior ministers will inevitably fall off the career ladder as Labour carry on with their programme of attacks on those least able to defend themselves.
He’s quite familiar with this type of political climate as his wife Helle, a.k.a “Gucci-Helle”, had a stormy few years as P.M in Denmark. Her regime was commended by financial institutions and other economic blood suckers for some sharp cuts and changes to the social benefits regime, tax reforms, spending cuts to balance budgets but the people were far from happy and condemned her party to defeat at the next election.
Given that background he should have warned Shifty Starmer and Ruthless Reeves that they ought to be careful who they pick on. There again he may be waiting for them to fuck things up so that he and others may then get a chance to move up the old career ladder. Funny old game innit.
I note from Helle Thorning-Schmidt’s CV that she is a member of “The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship”. That is the sister organization of the World Economic Forum [WEF].
https://www.vestas.com/content/dam/vestas-com/global/en/investor/corporate-governance/management/board-profile/thorning-schmidt%20-cv.pdf.coredownload.inline.pdf
Why am I not surprised? Probably on Soros’ Xmas cards and brown envelop lists too.
With the Celtic Sea wind farms coming ashore at Baglan Bay (and other places) it will soon start to fill up with HVDC converter stations
https://www.nationalgrideso.com/document/324006/download