A new report from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) details a chronic culture of neglect at nuclear decommissioning sites across the UK. This includes the Wylfa A station on the north coast of Ynys Môn (Anglesey). This culture of neglect does not inspire confidence in the new push for nuclear power.
As I write, the government’s e-auction, for the sale of land on which nuclear new-build is planned, is already under way. Included in this land grab is the site for a new Wylfa B…
Early Christmas presents from Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, the Welsh Language Society, greeted Bangor shoppers when campaigners gave away free Boots “Advantage” cards in the town on 14 November. Turning Boots’ slogan on its head, the Welsh Language Society’s alternative loyalty cards read: “There are no points whatsoever for using Welsh.”
Boots was also surprised by new Welsh speaking employees, provided by Cymdeithas, who offered a bilingual service.
Chair of the…
Over 1500 signatures have been collected calling for the National Assembly of Wales to create a Peace Institute comparable with those in Flanders, Catalonia, Finland, Norway and elsewhere. The petition won all-party support and received a favourable first hearing on 10 November.
The idea of a Peace Institute for Wales was fostered by Jill Evans, chair of CND Cymru. It has gained support from the Welsh Centre for International Affairs (WCIA), Cymdeithas y Cymod (the Fellowship of…
Plaid Cymru MEP Jill Evans hosted a visit of climate campaigners from Wales to Brussels in mid-October. Campaigners urged European politicians to act decisively ahead of the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen later this year.
The Welsh group visiting Brussels, many of whom participated in Climate Camp Cymru, included Vicky Moller, an Ecotour operator; Sue Hutchinson, a town councillor; Siobhan Ashe from Newport, Pembrokeshire; James Cass from the Centre for Alternative…
Saturday 17 October. 1.03pm. The first tweet comes in on my mobile phone: “The fences are breached. There’s people on top of the coal pile. The Swoop is go!”
Having driven from the west coast of Wales, we’re still half a mile down the road from Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station, but we can see the helicopter circling. Moments later and the Bike Bloc stream past, bells ringing, clown faces grinning, beat-box booming – this is magic.
Passing the main gate, a throng of…
Okay, so there were two of them rather than one, but with just a little cargo netting and rope borrowed from friends, campaigners closed Ffos-y-Frân, Wales’ largest opencast coal mine on 23 September.
“Coal is the biggest cause of climate change, which according to the UN is already killing four hundred thousand people a year,” said David Jones, when he came down from his day-long vigil suspended above the mine’s only access road.
“And the real crime is that all this is…
At the Drax Camp for Climate Action in 2006 a few Wales participants formed a neighbourhood with the West Country and West Midlands, the legendary - out West anyway – ‘Westside Hood’. By 2008 at Kingsnorth, Wales got together our own neighbourhood. This year Wales hosted Climate Camp Cymru (CCC) in Merthyr Tydfil, very near the notorious Ffos-y-Frân opencast coalmine. In tribute to the movement we are building, CCC was actively supported by the Westside Hood. In turn, CCC supported the hard…
In Aberystwyth, on 14 June, activist choir Côr Gobaith joined Billy Bragg on stage in the protest singer’s own version of The Internationale. Bragg’s tour of Wales is to mark the 25th anniversary of the miners’ strike.
The Thatcher government of the 1980s enforced colliery closures that decimated mining communities throughout Britain, not least in Wales. At the time, songs sung by Bragg such as “Which Side Are You On?” and “There is Power in a Union” were rallying calls for…
Bethan Jenkins AM (Plaid Cymru) will meet with Assembly environment minister Jane Davidson to raise concerns on behalf of constituents and campaigners who fear new regulations on opencast mining may not be enough to protect the health and wellbeing of communities in Wales.
On 20 January, the Minister issued the Minerals Technical Advice Notes: Coal (Coal MTAN), which included the implementation of a 500-metre buffer zone for future opencast developments.
Campaigners and…
Plaid Cymru assembly member Bethan Jenkins has tabled a statement of opinion at the National Assembly to honour the memory of conscientious objectors in Wales: “I call upon all Assembly members to sign this statement of opinion. We rightly remember our war dead annually and recognise the huge sacrifice that many people have made, and Wales also has a strong tradition of supporting the right not to kill and I look forward to events to mark this important element of our national life.”…
On 25 April, Ceredigion Council conferred the freedom of the county on the Royal Welsh Regiment. With much pomp and circumstance, cadres of the regiment, their band and mascot goat marched into Aberystwyth. The ceremony was attended by, among others, councillor JTO Davies, chairman of Ceredigion Council, Mark Williams (Liberal Democrat MP), Elin Jones (Plaid Cymru AM), and mayor of Aberystwyth Sue Jones Davies (Plaid Cymru).
One invitee who declined to participate, though, was Cen…
The second People’s Peace Convoy to Gaza looks set to leave London on Sunday 4 October. The Convoy is organised by Viva Palestina, a network of volunteers. (The documentary Lifeline to Gaza about the first Viva Palestina convoy will be shown in two parts on Press TV on 13 and 14 May.)
In Wales, the Local Economic Action Forum (LEAF) is campaigning for support for the convoy. Help is needed with many things, from the financial to the musical. LEAF was founded in 1990 and is…
Midday, 1 April. Our group from Wales joined a mass swoop on Bishopsgate in the financial district of London. We were there to highlight our concerns about the financial system and carbon trading on the eve of the G20 summit. Despite the disastrous effects of free-market economics on people, our beloved leaders seem set on applying the same system to the planet. At Bishopsgate there was a moment of suspense before someone shouted: “Put up your tents!”
In what felt like no time at…
I’m at a loss finding the right idiom for this story: Throwing good money after bad? A fool and his money are easily parted? A leopard can’t change his spots…? You decide.
A joint report by the National Audit Office and the Wales Audit Office concluded that the Red Dragon project to build a super-hangar at RAF St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan cost the public £113m and created only 45 jobs instead of a forecast 4,500. It now stands virtually empty.
The problem arose…
Part of a delegation from the European Parliament sent to report on the humanitarian situation in Gaza following 22 days of Israeli bombing, I prepared myself for the worst but the reality still shocked me. In parts of Gaza City whole streets had been reduced to rubble and survivors lived in tents on the sites of their former homes.
In the Al Hajaj house in Zeitoun, a young man told how his father and baby sister had been killed before his eyes when a bomb came through the roof. He…
