Un-asked questions

Undetected Con

It's August, news is scarce - exactly the right time to get away with a propaganda stunt.

I flit between Radio Cymru, Radio Four and Radio Wales but I did not hear any  interviewer ask the obvious killer questions this morning. The story is part of a softening up process by the farmers' union to condition us for higher food prices.

They have already vastly exaggerated the effects of the floods. 20% increase in prices threatens, when less than 1% of farming land was flooded. Today's con is that the price of cattle feed will increase the price of meat.

All interviewers swallowed the bait and presented the stunt as   sympathetic to farmers. Not one asked who was getting the extra money from increased grain prices. The answer, of course, is farmers. British farmers.

Nobody told you but last year,  the average increase in farming incomes was 24.6 per cent., with larger increases of 33 per cent. in mixed farming, 88 per cent. in lowland grazing livestock, 119 per cent. in general cropping and 120 per cent. in cereals. This year there has been an even bigger bonanza. No commentator asked who commissioned the report on which the news was based.

No wonder farmers can afford to pay for a PR campaign to spread the poverty myth and prepare the country for unjustified price hikes.

Melting Pot
Doctor Ibrahim Hyat has been elected as one of the Labour Candidates for the Council Elections in Pillgwenlly next year.

Yesterday he helped with judging the floats in the Pill carnival. It was a chance for a photograph with long term Councillor Ron Jones, Rosemary Butler AM and me. Already the city has one Asian councillor who is also a  Regional Assembly member.  The Muslim population are not well represented in Wales.

The previous Newport Asian councillor Ravi Soni served in the seventies. Doctor Hyat is one the sons of the greatly respected Mohammed Hyat who died two years ago. The family are from Pill and are greatly respected in the city. I have no knowledge of other announced candidates which I will be happy to report. It's likely that there will be other Asians standing.

It's healthy that the successful councillors are now more likely to fully represent the ethnic mix of the communities that they serve.