Points to Ponder

[SteveH]

Fewer than 100 people who crossed the English Channel in small boats have been arrested for arriving illegally in the UK under a new power to deter them.

The figure represents 0.3% of those who have crossed since the law was changed.

Under the new law, anyone who arrives in the UK without proper permission or good reason commits a crime that can lead to up to four years in prison.

The BBC sought the figure under freedom of information laws after the Home Office declined to disclose it.

A spokesman for the department said there has been a further 180 arrests since the summer under different immigration laws.

cont https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-63938698

[Hugo]

What is the point of making laws if they do not enforce them, it's pointless and a complete waste of time.   The threat of sending them to Rwanda is another example.
They are not refugees no matter how the do gooders want to address it, they have left a safe place in France and at best are economic migrants.  The recent invasion of Albanians has highlighted the stupidity of our immigration system and those Albanians should be sent back to Albania on the next available flight

[Hugo]

Especially on a cold Winter's day  like today it made me wonder why car makers don't fit heated windscreens as standard.    It makes sense from the safety point of view and after all heated rear screens are standard in all cars now.
Seeing as drivers spend more time driving forward than reversing it makes sense to have heated windscreens

[Hugo]

I walked up St Andrew's Road today and the Mercedes car that was burnt out has now been removed.     It is still cordoned off but I noticed that the tarmac that was underneath the car has been damaged and will have to be repaired to make the road safe.
I was wondering who pays the bill for the repairs, is it the car's insurance firm or is it the Council?    If it's the Council, then it's the likes of me and other ratepayers in this area that indirectly pays for it and it doesn't seem fair

[SteveH]

Wales has first Christmas since scrapping of Covid rules - but somehow it seems little has changed
Covid restrictions disappeared this Christmas but are we any happier?

Shops were hectic before Christmas, the party season swung and families everywhere met up on the big day. Yet the NHS is still struggling, people are isolating and health bulletin boards are as busy as ever.

A year on from Christmas 2021, everything has changed and yet, somehow, little is different. The pandemic was declared over months ago but health experts are warning ill people not to mix with the vulnerable. It all sounds awfully familiar.

This at a time when Wales is battling a ?tripledemic?: not just Covid and winter flu but also Strep A (Scarlet Fever). In some ways, we seem to be going backwards: just as at the start of the Covid pandemic, what?s happening now in China is dominating the news.

cont https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/wales-first-christmas-scrapping-covid-25830580?IYA-reg=49560bcd-5a9c-47f0-8fc5-ba2e71710589

[SteveH]

I am not sure if Supermarket chains should be included, after the bonanza they have had over the last few years?, admittedly things are changing with the crisis. 

Tesco and Asda supermarkets in North Wales among those getting rates slashed
Large supermarkets are to benefit from the latest revaluation

Some supermarkets and other retailers will be among those who benefit from rates changes coming in this April.

More than half a million retail properties in England and Wales were revalued as part of a shake-up to the business rates system of property taxes.

New rateable values from the Valuation Office Agency, which will form the basis of business rates bills from April 1 2023 until March 31 2026, will now be based on data from 2021. It followed criticism from companies, including Tesco, that previous values were out of date.

North Wales Live looked at some of the changes planned for a number of retailers, restaurants and other businesses to get a snapshot of what is planned.

Tesco in Llandudno Junction will see its rateable value (RV) fall from ?1m a year now to ?930,000 from April while nearby Cineworld will see its RV slashed from ?418K to ?262K - reflecting the hammering the cinema sector has experienced in the pandemic.

cont https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/tesco-asda-supermarkets-north-wales-25896769

[Hugo]

We all make mistakes in our lives but the important thing  is that we learn from them.     In 2020 when Covid was on the increase in the UK the Government was completely clueless in dealing with the pandemic.     No restrictions were put on foreign travel to and from the infected countries until it was too late and the damage was done,
Now China is apparently rife with Covid yet the Government has admitted that travellers from China will not have to quarantine if they have Covid and tests on UK arrivals will be voluntary
It's a mad, mad world and the Tories are making the same mistakes again.     Roll on 2025 before the Tories completely destroy the NHS

[Helig]

I agree with this and it is of serious concern that we don't know exactly what the situation is in China. There is talk of a new strain of Covid but no one knows for sure. The Tories couldn't care less about the NHS as they don't use it (unless an emergency presumably) and some of them have vested interests in private health care companies. The rest of us can rot as they no longer maintain the safety of patients and protect life. I seem to remember manifesto promises to put more funding into the NHS, then there was the Brexit bribe of millions being transferred from the EU to UK NHS. They have engaged in a total deception all along.

[Hugo]

A lot of words have been said about the Tory Party recently and honesty and trustworthy were not  mentioned for obvious reasons.
It's too late now but I thought of something at the time when the boozy parties were all the rage in Downibg Street while the rest of the country was in lockdown.     I'm surprised that the journalists never questioned the fact but it was the first thing I thought of at the time.
Remember when the Tory Party's party was running out of booze they sent out a person to buy some more.    That person filled a suitcase full of spirits etc and that's a lot of alcohol even by Tory standards
The question I would liked to asked was who paid for it?       Did the party goers have a whip round or did we the taxpayers pay for it?        If I was a betting man I know where my bet would go

[norman08]

That booze would definitely be bought by Us,   Anytime your bored just lookup an Mp Google expenses   Wow,    Our local mp who was brought up in Bethesda & went to a welsh school claims ?100 s on expenses for welsh lessons. 😡.it?s a real eye opener.

[Hugo]

Hi Norman,  Happy New Year to you and the family.      I may be retired but I haven't got the time or inclination to read about the MP'S expenses and it wouldn't do my blood pressure any good either!
It would have been so easy to find out at the time who paid for the Tory booze but that's just a drop in the ocean.      The Tory Peer involved in the PPE scandal is just one of the "crimes" that the party has done and I'm getting paranoid about their corruption throughout society.
I'm even starting to wonder why the Tories haven't insisted on the Chinese having to have a Covid passport before being allowed to come to the UK.     Are they worried about upsetting some Tory donors here in the UK or China?

[SteveH]

'Unacceptable' ?4.25m for Green Man event while Royal Welsh festival for young farmers is scrapped
A leading farming commentator has condemned the relative support given by the Welsh Government to the two Mid Wales events

Lack of government support for a cancelled campsite and festival for young farmers has been labelled ?unacceptable?. Critics drew parallels with the Welsh Government?s backing for a privately-run festival whose future was boosted last year by a ?4.25m intervention.

This year's Young People?s Village (YPV) has been scrapped at the Royal Welsh Show near Builth Wells, Powys. The event is organised by the Wales Federation of Young Farmers? Clubs (Wales YFC), which blamed the cost-of-living crisis for forcing up running costs.

cont https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/unacceptable-425m-green-man-event-26053094?IYA-reg=49560bcd-5a9c-47f0-8fc5-ba2e71710589

[SteveH]

Why some think 'North Wales doesn't exist' and the debate around capitals and identity
'There's no North England, or North Scotland...as far as I can see we're the only country in the world that uses the noun form of north and south'

Part of this discussion relates to North Wales as a whole - if there is such a thing. It is not a delineated region on the Welsh map, but for many people: Anglesey, Gwynedd, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, and Wrexham broadly make up what we come to think of as North Wales the region.

That's North Wales with a capital 'N'. To cap or not to cap the 'N' in North Wales is a debate that runs deeper than what you might initially think - with strong opinions on either side. For North Wales Live and our print title the Daily Post it's a "capper" but many other organisations - including the BBC - go with the lower case option north Wales.

Read more https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/think-north-wales-doesnt-exist-26267650?IYA-reg=49560bcd-5a9c-47f0-8fc5-ba2e71710589

[Cambrian]

I wonder if anyone spells East Anglia as east Anglia!

I remember a few years back in the same newspaper, the late David Williams a bank regional manager and chairman of the North Wales Business club made a robust case for North Wales being spelt thus and the Daily Post actually agreed with him!

I suspect that some are twitchy of North Wales having too much of an identity could eventually lead to more calls for some form of separation from the remainder.  We have a North Wales Police Force, a North Wales Fire and Rescue Service etc.

[Hugo]

Well said Cambrian           We all know where the South East of England is and the South West of England too so is it that important about a capital N for North Wales?