Sally Bercow shows everyone should be careful .

Only this week whilst web searching  foe this Blog I almost included a piece that was potentially libellous because it seems there were two Conservatives in Wales with the same name.  So It ocurred to me that the recent  libel verdict against  Sally Bercow  after the high court ruled that she defamed the Tory peer Lord McAlpine by falsely suggesting on Twitter that he was a paedophile is a lesson for us al

The Commons Speaker's wife had always defended her tweet – "Why is Lord McAlpine trending? *innocent face*" – about the former Tory treasurer in November last year, following allegations on BBC 2's Newsnight about an unnamed high-profile politician and immediate speculation on the Social Media  ended with  Mr Justice Tugendhat, ruled that the tweet was seriously defamatory of McAlpine and had falsely tarred him as a paedophile.

He said in his judgment:

 "I find that the tweet meant, in its natural and ordinary defamatory meaning, that the claimant was a paedophile who was guilty of sexually abusing boys living in care. If I were wrong about that, I would find that the tweet bore an innuendo meaning to the same effect."

Its  a lesson for us all . There may have been many worse accusations and even clearer liable by other Social media users but it seems  unless McAlbine ,seeks to pursue them she was singled out for her  media prominence.

So unless McAlpine ,solicitors are now firing of letters to be firing of letters to other social media users demanding some kind of settlement  this unfortunate affair which resulted in a innocent man accused  of a crime which carries a huge social stigma may end.

It shows the difference between Libel and Slander. Worst may be said in the workplace or pub but when it is in print it is not only easier to prove but open to far larger numbers.

However what this case shows is that everyone should be  careful of making speculations  or repeating it,

However it also shows that  the likes of McAlpine  has the wealth to to seek redress in the courts or simply the use of aggressive lawyers who can force apologies and redress with a single letter.

Saly Bercow  may have innocently thought it was  McAlpine who was the unnamed politician  following allegations on BBC 2's Newsnight but she got it wrong and should have apologised immediately .

Meanwhile the doors of the High Cpirt remain open for the rich or who are backed by their employers .Whilst closed to the rest of us unless we are defendants.

Meanwhile the rest of us will have to put up with even more implicit accusation that came from Sally Bercow ,and be very careful of what we say about those with money even in cases where our accusations are accurate .

Trucking Justice.

Imagine for some reason you need to go to court and also need Legal Aid  and found that you couldn't turn to a Solicitor who you knew and trusted but found that one was appointed for you.

Imagine your reaction if that Solicitor came from the same Company as Eddie Stobart trucking According to the Guardian

Apparently what may be on this what  when new rules on Legal Aid come into force

"The subsidiary of the haulage firm Eddie Stobart has emerged as a leading contender in bidding for a new generation of criminal legal aid contracts that would deprive defendants of the right to choose their own solicitor.
Lawyers are planning protests outside parliament in opposition to the Ministry of Justice's proposals, which aim to cut fees, reduce funding of judicial reviews and save a further £220m out of the legal aid budget.
The row within the legal profession over the plans is intensifying. The head of Stobart Barristers has described traditional law firms who rely on legal aid as "'wounded animals waiting to die" 

Guardian 8th May 2013  

Trevor Howarth, its legal director, said the firm would be bidding for the new criminal defence contracts. "We can deliver the service at a cost that's palatable for the taxpayer," he said. 

"Our business model was developed with this in mind.
"We at Stobart are well known for taking out the waste and the waste here is the duplication of solicitors going to the courtroom. At the moment there are 1,600 legal aid firms; in future there will be 400. At Stobart, we wouldn't use 10 trucks to deliver one product."

Howarth said he had received emails from solicitors with the heading "Truck Off". He added

: "I have already taken calls from barristers [on our panels] who say they have been contacted by solicitors telling them they won't use them again if they take instructions from us."
On removing a defendant's right to choose their solicitor, Howarth said: "I don't think the lack of choice is damaging. [People are not] entitled to access justice with an open cheque. No one is stopping them paying for their own choice of solicitor."

Soliciters in Wales have warned that  UK Government changes to legal aid will result in miscarriages of justice and the closure of high street


Members of the legal profession lobbied the Wales Office about the impact they claim cost-saving proposals from the Ministry of Justice will have on people throughout the nation.

Mark Davies of Swansea-based Goldstones Solicitors, said:

“This is going to have a devastating impact on high street firms.”

The Wasting Mule tells is that.


It is planned that 21 contracts will be awarded to provide legal aid criminal services in Wales – nine in South Wales and four each in Dyfed-Powys, Gwent and North Wales.

Describing the challenges of serving Dyfed-Powys, he said:

“It’s 4,700 square miles. It’s a huge area.
“To put that into context, if you get arrested in Newtown and the lawyer that has the contract is based in Haverfordwest, it’s going to take over two and a half hours just to get that lawyer over there and back; it’s a 130 mile round-trip.”
“What we are going to have is effectively the death of the high street firm.”

Western Mail 21st May 2013

Lynda Roberts of Porthmadog-based Breese Gwyndaf Solicitors feared that today’s standards of Welsh language provision would disappear if services are provided by a few large companies.

Ms Roberts is also alarmed that in most criminal cases clients will lose the ability to change their representation.

Describing the importance of ensuring that people in Welsh speaking areas could access advice in their first language, she said

: “Client choice is paramount... The provision of advice is essential in the Welsh language in those areas.

Speaking in the Commons, Conservative Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said:

 “ I have absolutely no intention of ending up with a legal aid market dominated by a small number of very large firms.
"A central part of the tendering process will involve a quality threshold that ensures that we have the quality of advocacy and litigation support in this country that we need and expect.”
He added: “We must ensure that every defendant, innocent or guilty, has access to a proper defence. We also need a system that is affordable at a time of great financial stringency.”

The Fear is that (though some will say the definite result) is that the changes will be on Legal aid will be defended by young inexperienced  solicitor  and there will be increased miscarriages of justice  through inept defence or the firm with an eye on the costs will persuade defendants  to plead guilty

How many MPs and Lords who support this measure have or (ever will) needed Legal Aid ?

This is truly frighting move that could see a further difference between those who can afford a decent defence and a difference between acquittal rates   based on ability to pay.

Royal Glamorgan Hospital is this leading to downgrading?

The Royal Glamorgan hospital in Llantrisant   sometimes called The Camilla  because it comes between  the Prince Wales in Merthyr and the Princess of Wales hospital in Bridgend  could stop treating the most serious accident and emergency cases as part of a major NHS shake-up in south Wales.

Health officials say the "best fit" is to locate specialist services in Cardiff, Swansea, Merthyr, Bridgend and in a new hospital near Cwmbran.

The Royal Glamorgan also stands to lose consultant-led maternity care and specialist baby care as part of the proposals for the future of hospitals in South Wales.

The plans involve:

• Consultant-led maternity care (obstetrics)
• Specialist baby care (neonatal)
• Specialist children's care (paediatrics)
• Emergency medicine (A&E)Continue reading the main story

“Start QuoteDr Grant Robinson Aneurin Bevan Health Board medical director announced:

 "We cannot continue to provide all these services in every location across south Wales.
"We need to concentrate these services to ensure all patients receive safe and sustainable care.
"Our clinicians believe that the best way to do this, while improving safety and the standard of care patients receive, is to concentrate these clinical services in fewer hospitals - either four or five.""We need to concentrate these services to ensure all patients receive safe and sustainable care."Our clinicians believe that the best way to do this, while improving safety and the standard of care patients receive, is to concentrate these clinical services in fewer hospitals - either four or five.""We need to concentrate these services to ensure all patients receive safe and sustainable care."Our clinicians believe that the best way to do this, while improving safety and the standard of care patients receive, is to concentrate these clinical services in fewer hospitals - either four or five."

At the moment eight hospitals in the region provide one or more of these services.

The centres would include the University Hospital of Wales (UHW) in Cardiff, Morriston Hospital near Swansea and a new hospital at Llanfrechfa Grange near Cwmbran.

We need to concentrate these services to ensure all patients receive safe and sustainable care.”

Aneurin Bevan Health Board (ABMU) medical director Dr Grant Robinson said:

Would he be saying this if it was a Hospital in his health board that  that was affected by the proposed changes in the same way as "The Camilla?

Like Dr Robinson, I may have a bias here because "The Camilla"is my nearest Hospital.

But I believe that we need to examine the implication of changes.

At the moment we do not need  know If  the most serious accident and emergency cases are to be taken from the Royal Glamorgan, What difference in time will it make in the time it takes an inured person to hospital and will result in serious injured people taking longer to be taken to A and E.

Assuming that those attending Maternity Units may not have access to their own transport  was  taken into consideration  by those drawing up the proposals  and are reliant on public transport. What difference in the most extreme case will it make in those affected. Could it mean that pregnant women  could end up making more than two journeys by public transport?

Is this going to be the end of the the removal of services from The Royal Glamorgan or is it just the start and the Hospital will end up being downgraded?

The suspicion is that  after a few cuts the public will come to be used to them and slowly but surely "The Camilla "will be downgrade.

I believe this just the start and we cant trust assurances from Politicians and NHS managers who seem to only look at figures and a map and don't take into account the disadvantage some of the people they represent will be placed in

Porthcawl a Ukip stronghold? Maybe not.

News from the Wasting Mule that Two former Welsh Conservative candidates have defected to UKIP, is interesting.

Both are however from the same area and therefore the Mules claims that this is signs of a surge of support for the 

Caroline Jones, who last October stood as Tory candidate in the election of a Police and Crime Commissioner, said she had resisted an attempt by Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies to get her to stay with his party.

Ms Jones, a café owner from Porthcawl who joined the Conservatives in 2009, stood for the party in Aberavon at the general election in 2010 and in Gower at the National Assembly election in 2011.

Another former Welsh Conservative candidate from Porthcawl, Chris Smart, has also joined UKIP. A right wing Tory, he was second on the party’s South Wales West regional list at the Assembly election in 2007.

If Alun Cairns had resigned his Assembly seat after being elected MP for Vale of Glamorgan in 2010, Mr Smart would automatically have become an AM. the Conservative home page states that he was a former Leader of Porthcawl Town Council.

In 2008 held his Newton seat in May’s elections by just 14 votes, was declared bankrupt on June 6 by the High Court of Justice” here

Small wonder that the Tories made every effort to make sure that wasn't drafted into the Assembly by making sure Alun Cairns clung on to his regional

Seat

The two defection probably point out the state of membership of the Tory party in Wales rather than a sign of surge of support for Ukip here.

 Caroline Jones who only joined the Conservative party in 2009, and yet stood for the party in Aberavon at the general election  a year later  and in Gower at the National Assembly election in 2011. Before standing  as Tory candidate in the election of a Police and Crime Commissioner

And Chris Smart who had his political ambition thwarted by his own Party because they perceived him as an embarrassment.

If this news tells us anything its the quality of the candidates of both the Tories and Ukip.

Finding Myself Agreeing With A Tory.

The news that Parents of children who are regular school truants are to be fined up to £120, seems at first glance a reasonable idea.

The new measures to tackle school absence rates  instigated by the Welsh Assembly come into force in September.

Parents who fail to stop their child missing lessons will be issued a fixed penalty notice of £60, which will double if they fail to pay within 28 days.

Those who ignore the new regulations could end up in court.

Education Minister Leighton Andrews said there was a "general agreement" with his proposals following a public consultation.

His "general agreement" however  doesn't hold water as all three opposition parties  have voiced disquiet over this measure.


Conservative education spokesperson Angela Burns AM said she feared fines would stack up while behaviour remained largely unchanged.

"This is a lazy Labour government piling all its eggs into a basket of punishment at the expense of support and liaison," she said.
"There is a real danger that these fines will hit the most vulnerable hardest and ignore the real reasons behind truancy."

Welsh Liberal Democrat education spokesman Aled Roberts described the Welsh government's decision as counter-productive.

"Evidence shows that children from poorer backgrounds are more likely to play truant and achieve poorer educational outcomes.
"I am concerned that fining parents of truant pupils will cause them even more economic hardship and will do nothing to address the problems of their child missing vital school hours."

Simon Thomas for Plaid Cymru said he backed policies to support pupils and families to tackle truancy, rather than introduce fines.

"Introducing fixed penalty notices are a retrograde step," .
"They have not worked when they were introduced in England. The education minister needs to state where any money raised will go."

It comes to something when all three opposition parties take a sensible approach ' 



The problem is that even if the parents frogmarch their children to school  there is no guarantee they stay there.

As one parent  Suzanne Lewis has a suspended prison sentence over daughter Shauna's school attendance record.said back in March on the BBC Week in Week out programe which dealt with the problem said.

 "They want to see me getting her to the school gates. That's what we've done.
"We've got up in the morning, taken her to the school and then we've had phone calls [to] pick her back up, perhaps an hour after.
"She won't go into class with the other children and she will not do any work. I'll most probably end up in prison because of it."
Shauna said: "Mam shouldn't be going through that really because it's not her fault why all this has happened.
"I do feel guilty sometimes. I was scared in case they put her in prison because I don't know what I'd do without my mam."

If a parent has done every thing possible to get their children to school how can fining them especially if they are on very low income help matters?.

What about the parents of children who are truant because of persistent bullying? Should they be fined?

Couldn't it lead to child abuse as the parents physically take it out on the errant child?

This another example of Leighton Andrews way of doing things . He believes that it is more important to appear dynamic and decisive rather than do the right thing which may nor grab the headlines.

Once again we have a policy that will not solve the problem but is aimed at convincing the public that the Assembly government are doing something.

What we need is to carry on talking to parents and children to find the reason for their truancy and address it 

As the NUT Cymru policy officer Owen Hatchway pointed out:

 "We know that persistent truancy is a problem for schools.Continue reading the main story
"However, this is an issue where substantial progress is being made. The latest figures show record levels of attendance in the primary sector and significant improvements in attendance in secondary schools.
"Whilst no one should rest on their laurels, the union is concerned that the introduction of truancy fines could have a counterproductive impact and undermine the good work being undertaken."

When you find yourself agreeing with the words "This is a lazy Labour government piling all its eggs into a basket of punishment at the expense of support and liaison,"  and realising that came from a Tory . There's something seriously wrong with Labours proposals.

Update 3:00PM

Not only am I agreeing with a Tory  I find  Liberal Aled  Roberts has shown that Leighton Andrews claim there was a "general agreement" with his proposals following a public consultation was totally misleading.

There were just 53 responses to this consultation, including only 12 of the 22 Welsh local authorities, along with 16 schools/headteachers and 12 parents/carers. Of those 53, only just over half – 55% – agreed with the penalty notice option.

It is appalling that a senior minister can attempt to claim major support for his measures when he clearly hasn't.

So what about Blaenau Gwent Leighton?

News from the Mule that "Plaid Cymru has called on education minister Leighton Andrews to “front up” and take responsibility for the failure of council school services" reflects  what I commented on yesterday that "Wales need the News to cover Leighton Andrews not Michael Gove".

This news  follows the publication of a damning report into standards at Blaenau Gwent council, which remains “unsatisfactory” despite 18 months of external support and monitoring.

Education watchdog Estyn said officers and school leaders had not been held to account effectively and a “lack of competence” at all levels hampers progress.

Blaenau Gwent is one of six councils in Wales to have required “special measures” and a wide-ranging review of education delivery has considered removing school services from local government control.

Plaid Cymru’s education spokesman Simon Thomas said the “catastrophic failure” to raise standards in Blaenau Gwent called for urgent action.

He called on Mr Andrews to tell parents and teachers how he proposes to turn the situation around.

Mr Thomas said:

 “The failure of the education minister to get to grips with our education system is a cause for national concern. The catastrophic failure to raise standards in Blaenau Gwent proves that major changes need to be made.
“The minister is adept at ordering numerous reviews, but what we need now is real action. He needs to tell us what exactly he is going to do to turn education services around. He needs to tell worried parents and teachers how he intends to raise standards.
“The minister has told us that he intends to set up new regional bodies, and this needs to happen sooner rather than later. We need to see the minister actually taking responsibility for what has gone wrong in our education system.”
Mr Thomas said Welsh Labour had been in charge of education in Wales since devolution – and the minister could no longer point the finger of blame.
“The failures in Blaenau Gwent happened on his watch, and under his control. He now needs to front up and tell us how he will right this failure,” 

“The fact that educational standards have declined in Blaenau Gwent since the minister intervened shows that for all his bluster he still hasn’t got a grip on the system.”

Western Mail 20 May 2013 

We must be fair to Labour controlled Balenau Gwent  they  have only been back in control of the council after  four years pg Independent/People's Voice/Liberal Democrat Coalition  and that is hardly time to see results of any changes they have made.

Having said that the decline there has come after many years under their watch.

1991 - Labour hold
1995 - Labour hold
1999 - Labour hold
2004 - Labour hold
2008 - Independent/People's Voice/Liberal Democrat Coalition
2012 - Labour  from Independent Coalition

It must be said  however that it does look like Leighton Andrews may be reluctant to take action on a Labour Council which will probably remain in power for decades .

Former headteacher  Bethan  Guilfoyle ,was drafted into the authority in 2011 alongside a broader Welsh Government taskforce that has since been scaled back.

Was this because improvements were appearing or that it would be embarrassing for commissioners  to be sent in to a Labour controlled authority by a Welsh Labour Government.



Mr Andrews has taken steps to merge the education departments of  Rhondda Cynon Taf council with tho now Labour controlled ailing Merthyr Tydfil, however the latter could well slip back to control.of other parties and Independents.

What we need is a thorough investigation into how education practises are conducted by councils  throughout Wales but any investigation must take into account social deprivation and parental involvement  in the education of their system.

A school may have the best teachers but if the children's parents had a negative education  experience they are often likely not to take an interest and contribute to their children interest.

Perhaps we should look beyond  the schools to the wider environmental. 

Wales need the News to cover Leighton Andrews not Michael Gove.

On the part that of today's the Sunday Politics which the BBC graciously  "cuts to news from where you are" and provide us with some news of Wales, Assembly presiding Officer  Rosemary Butler  will  she was worried that people in Wales were not hearing or reading enough about matters in their own country.

She said:

We are sleepwalking into this area in 10 years' time where people are not going to be able to access news about what's happening in Wales”

"My concern is that the majority of people in Wales don't get their news from Wales, they get their news from across the English border and therefore it tends to be English-centric,"

Ms Butler said she believed that this was damaging for democracy.

"Very few people relatively watch BBC Wales or ITV Wales compared with UK news and Sky television. Therefore they are not getting a full flavour of what's happening here in the National Assembly.
"It's the same with newspapers here in Wales, we don't have a major national newspaper and the number of people reading Welsh newspapers is actually reducing.
"It's very important that the people of Wales have plurality of where they can get information about what's happening at the assembly.

"My concern is that we are sleepwalking into this area in 10 years' time where people are not going to be able to access news about what's happening in Wales."

One way would be that help.  Would be for  BBC Wales  to run its own  main news  at six combining Wales Today with UK and International News.

S4C already do this and BBC can use the same clips as the London Broadcast but choosing to comment on areas devolved to Wales eg: Health and Education.

This Week much time has been given to Michael Gove the Westminster Education Secretary clashing with the National Association of Head Teachers. But Gove  is only responsible with Education in England 

For Instance 


At a Rally for Education was the third of a series of gatherings held across England and Wales jointly by the Nasuwt and NUT unions in the hope of “defending” the education of children and young people. and Two leading teachers' unions called on the Welsh Government to tackle the problems facing the education sector in Wales. and called "Welsh solutions for Welsh schools”.




 Nasuwt General Secretary Chris Keate said more than 50% of teachers in Wales have considered leaving the profession all together, 81% feel professionally disempowered and 99% have no confidence in the government’s educational policy.

“You’ve got a profession in crisis and the [education] minister has got to start to listen and he has got to look for Welsh solutions for Welsh schools,” Mrs Keates said.
“We want change so that teachers can get on with the job of teaching.”

Speaking to an audience in Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena, Mrs Keates  said that during a time when “savage” austerity measures were taking their toll on the education system, Wales should be “celebrating the positive difference” that comes from having devolved powers.

But instead, she said, the country remains subservient to Westminster and while policies in Wales “may have different names on the tin, there is a frightening degree of commonality behind the manner of their introduction and their impact on the workforce and children and young people”.


Westminster’s coalition government was also heavily criticised as Mrs Keates claimed nothing good had come from there since May 2010, the month it came into power.

But she also criticised home grown Welsh policies, blasting the new school banding system, a shift toward the Pisa assessment system and the national pay framework that she said was being “hacked to pieces”.

“Pay has been frozen, pensions raided, jobs lost,” she said.
“Teacher morale is at an all-time low. The profession is in crisis. What the Westminster coalition chooses to ignore is that teachers’ pay and conditions are inextricably linked to the entitlement of children and young people to be taught by those who are recognised and rewarded as highly skilled professionals and who have working conditions which enable them to work effectively and focus on teaching and learning.”

In a message to Wales’ education minister, Mrs Keates said: 

“If Leighton Andrews fails to seize the political opportunity we are offering him and the rolling programme of strike action spreads in the Autumn term to Wales, then he will have to take responsibility alongside Michael Gove.
“It will be the failure of Leighton Andrews and Michael Gove – not the failure of the teachers.”

We need this to have been the major focus on Education in Wales not Gove being hecked by the NAHT.

We need Welsh Solutions to Welsh problems but we need a media to report  and analyse it. 

Having a report on the BBC on education which simply sees thinks can add "in England" makes it clears this does not apply to Wales, Northern Ireland, or Scotland that this does not affect them it is snmal wonder that our Assembly is not held up to the scrutiny and criticism that it needs.

When people vote in Assembly elections voters need to consider amongst  other factors how Schools  have fared under Leighton Andrews in Cardiff, not how English Schools have fared under Michael Gove at Westminster