Paul Flynn - Read My Day

Nuclear power - no sense

Nuclear Tax

The Government is still mysteriously bewitched by the lure of nuclear power in spite of its staggering cost. Yesterday I had two oral questions to test if the ministers have yet to see the errors of their ways. The answers were not promising. Hansard reports: -

Nuclear
Paul Flynn (Newport, West) (Lab):" Is the Secretary of State concerned that we learned this week that the already immense cost of £73 billion to clear up the current legacy of nuclear waste is probably an underestimate, and that taxpayers are likely to have a bill of at least £3,000 per family? The nuclear industry has never paid its way; it has always been an economic basket case. Why are we so committed to future nuclear power technology when we know that it will fix another financial albatross around taxpayers’ necks?"

Mr. Hutton: "We support a new generation of nuclear power generation in this country for all the reasons that we set out in the nuclear White Paper, about which I made a statement to the House a few weeks ago. The economics of nuclear power has changed dramatically because of the science of climate change and the introduction of carbon pricing. We cannot deny the United Kingdom and future generations of citizens in the UK the same access to reliable electricity that this generation and previous generations have enjoyed. Nuclear can play a role in future; we should be prepared to give it that opportunity."

My fear is that the Government is backing the Severn Barrage in the hope that they can plead environmental excuses to drop the project t. The pro-nuclear lobby is rich and active. There is no marine power lobby.

Marine
Paul Flynn (Newport, West) (Lab): When can we get a bit more oomph and conviction behind our policies for exploiting the one greatly neglected source of power that we are fortunate enough to have in this country, namely marine and tidal power? Although there is enthusiasm for the Severn barrage, it might be delayed by environmental objections. Should we not look into the many other ways of exploiting a source of power that is carbon-free, that does not leave a legacy of waste and that is eternal and British?

The Minister for Energy (Malcolm Wicks): We are a leading nation when it comes to such technology. We have put a great deal into the research and development phase and we have a programme of some £40 million to £50 million for the deployment of marine, which is waiting for successful applicants. The reform of the renewables obligation gives added incentive to both wave and tidal power. I think that my hon. Friend knows that the technology is in its infancy; however, for the reasons that he suggested, it has enormous potential, not least around our British Isles.

Cover - up

Search tomorrow's papers carefully - especially those that have been hounding Peter Hain and the Speaker in recent weeks. You may be disappointed that they will not find much mention this titbit:-

Tory leader David Cameron and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg are among 14 MPs facing a reprimand for declaring donations too late. The Electoral Commission notes a £7,285 helicopter flight donated to Mr Cameron in 2005 and six donations worth £14,490 to Mr Clegg, dating back to 2006.

Take that!
A thumping put-down for those who want to put the cruelty back into the hunting laws was an opinion poll of 2,000 people.

The survey found that when people were asked about their views on whether certain — currently illegal — hunting activities should be made legal again, that on fox hunting, nearly three quarters, 73%, said fox hunting should remain illegal, while nearly a quarter, 22%, felt it should be made legal. Comparable figures for deer hunting were 81% vs 12% and for hare hunting & coursing 82% vs 12%.

Hope you’re listening Countryside Alliance. Put that in your hunting horn and blow it.

Two Canutes

Devolution advances

A thumbs-up for Scottish powers for Wales in tonight’s BBC referendum.

All the majority answers gave a resounding vote of confidence in the Welsh Assembly Government.

Meanwhile the Canutes demanded that the tide halt. David Davies, on telly,  and Don Touhig, in parliament, made near identical speeches. Don to the delight of the Tories this afternoon repeated a few Tory anti WAG barbs. He is incapable of seeing anything good in the Assembly. Why he should choose to devote an entire speech into putting the boot into his own party is beyond me. There must be something else worth talking about

Ian Lucas was even more mysterious. His entire speech was about the NHS and education. Someone should tell him these are devolved matters on which parliament has no locus in Wales.

The previous Speaker Betty Boothroyd stopped Welsh MPs discussing devolved issues. It adds to the tedium of the St David’s Day debate when MPs get bogged down in futility.

Elfyn Llwyd and Roger Williams whinged about post offices. Peter Hain,  John Smith, Dai Davies and Nick Ainger made good speeches. There was a withering put-down of David Davies by Peter Hain. He refused to allow him to intervene on the grounds that he would give way only to those who treated him with decency in his recent troubles. Not an entirely wasted day.

Demo flop

The Telegraph have thundered, parliament is locked is a never-ending debate and little Englanders send MPs the odd letter, but do people care about the Lisbon treaty?

We were promised a mass demonstration at parliament. There were about two hundred at most. They were outdone by the Plane Stupid stunt on the roof on parliament.

The country is as bored with Euro-phobia as parliament is.

Dewi Sant
What does St David’s day mean?

Our own Government on the soil of our country has revitalised Welsh pride and confidence.  The flow of talented Welsh people to London is now reversed. Power and influence flow from London to Wales. Having the good luck to be taught Welsh at school, it's a pleasure to be greeted in Welsh at all Newport schools. Wales 2008 is Torchwood, Doctor Who, two Nobel Prize winners, Welsh sport, a vibrant economy, the Ryder Cup and the finest Eisteddfodau ever at Newport. Best of all are our children, of many cultures, celebrating St David’s Day in the two beautiful languages of Wales.

Duped

All the media swallowed the bait.

A futile impratical threat to withdraw benefits from addicts dominated the news of the Government’s new ten year drugs plan. No-one asked about the calamity of the last ‘evidence –free’ strategy.

All parties in parliament supported it -with one dissenting back bench voice. It promised cuts in all drugs use and drug crime plus a laughable education initiative named operation C.H.A.R.L.I.E. run by a drugs Czar distinguished only by his expensive haircut. Nothing worked.

Drugs policies serve the gratification of politicians. The canard is that ‘tough’ policies are popular and reap a full harvest of votes. Snatching benefits from addicts is ‘tough’. What is needed is ‘intelligient policies’. They require courage - a commodity in short supply in parliament. No party opposed the insane Drugs Act 2005 change which reclassified magic mushrooms into the same category as heroin. After all, a General Election was a few weeks away.

All United Nation countries are now signed up to another ten year strategy that seeks ‘the total elimination, or substantial reduction,’ of all illegal drug use and cultivation.  Not unexpectedly, no progress has been made. The ten years is up this year. Afghan heroin production is up 60% this year to the highest level ever. The price of heroin on British streets is the lowest ever. These changes cost the British taxpayers £250 million.

But there is hope. Powerful united voices are demanding fresh policies. The Rome Consensus has been signed by the Red Cross/Red Crescent movements in more than a hundred countries. The 47 countries of Council of Europe have unanimously backed a new Drugs Convention. Both documents call for practical, evidence-backed policies that build on the health solutions that work and the harsh punitive policies that do not work.

The greatest reduction in drug harm on the planet has been in Portugal. They de-penalised drugs in 2001 and have now halved the total of drug deaths – in addition to saving a fortune in court, prison and police costs. Pragmatic policies of drug-injection rooms have been successful in many European countries and Australia.

Using the criminal justice system of courts and prisons is expensive and counter productive. No prison in the UK is free of illegal drug use. Treatment, needle exchanges and building solidarity with addicts is good value and reduces harm.

The present UK policy is an improvement. For the first time since 1971 it does not put the emphasis on criminal justice remedies It’s like a duck on the water quaking loudly, ‘Tough, Tougher’. Under the surface there is furious paddling in the direction of harm reduction. The UK Government, and all UK political parties, backed the Council of Europe convention in September.

Don’t listen to what they say. Watch what they do.

This posting appears today on the Guardian 'Comment is Free' site with a shoal of interesting comments.

Drugs don’t work

Truth

The media did well today.

Before the PR shysters employed by the Pharmaceutical industry could muzzle them, the truth emerged – the anti-depressants don’t work for most patients.

Lots of less dangerous remedies do including exercise, talking to trusted friends and cognitive behaviour therapy. If anything today’s thunderous demolishing of the Phama’s chicanery was a little kind to them.

They have suppressed trials that showed their drugs had no effect or a negative effect when the results were worse than placebos. For twenty years there has been a campaign to medicalisng the inevitable sadness of life as an illness. Depression rates have increased by 300% and the tills of the Pharmas have been ringing happily as the $billions of profit roll in.

Of the 40 millions anti-depressants users, millions are dependent on them. Others have suffered from the increased suicidal tendencies that the drugs create. The 150 years of medical mis-prescribing continues.

It started with cocaine, prescribed by Freud for his patients and himself, then bromide in the First World War which created its own psychosis, Bromism. The 50s and 60s saw the mass use of benzos which were prescribed like smarties. Recently the new miracle tablets have been tricyclics and SSRIs. All are useless for the mass of patients. All create dependency. All have made fortunes for the Pharmas.

Let hope that today’s publicity will seriously dent the public’s mis-placed faith in mass unscientific medication.

Farm tax windfall

Pig –farmers are angry because their grain feed stocks have gone up in price. They seem to be demanding a handout from the taxpayers. They have a produced a record named ‘Stand by your Ham.’

Perhaps they should look elsewhere for justice. Grain farmers are enjoying a bonanza, with huge increases in their income. These are windfalls that were not anticipated when the levels of subsidies were agreed.

In the spirit of helpfulness I have tabled the following EDM

Virement of Farm Tax

That this House notes that cereal farms in England saw an increase of 70 per cent in average income in 2006-07 and a further increase of 45 per cent in 2007-08; regrets the consequent increase in price of grain to pig and other farmers; believes that virement of the windfall profits from grain farmers to farmers in difficulty would be a fair solution for all, including the average family that is forced to pay £540 a year in Farm Tax.

Police duty

It’s all gone quiet in the mini-riot that erupted in Glanaman at the end of January. A fox was pursued down

Llwyncelyn Road

by an estimated 30 hounds. There was a great row between local people and the hunters – even allegations of violence.

In the interest of apprehending alleged lawbreakers I have tabled the following EDM

That this House insists that appropriate action should be taken by Dyfed Powys police following the invasion of Llwyncelyn Road, Glanaman in January by a pack of 30 dogs in pursuit of a fox in a clear breach of the law; notes a comment of a resident that ‘The law is an ass if you ask me and these huntsmen are getting away with murder”; is concerned by reports of flagrant breeches of the Hunting Act and calls on the Police throughout the UK to do their duty.

Synthetic Anger.

The Lib-Dems staged a mini-stunt this afternoon and forced the Deputy Speaker to expel one of their MPs. It's a long time since anyone has been thrown out. It's almost always a calculated move to turn the spotlight onthe LibDems.The member involved sounded over excited and it was difficult to understand him. I believe he wanted a vote on a referendum, not on the Lisbon Treaty, but for or against staying inthe EU. Not much point in that.

Today's pantomine was powerfully reminiscent of a child who was missing out on parental attention.

Speaker safe

Future Probe

The Commons Speaker is secure for now.

The anger that the majority of MPs feel about unjust accusations is deep. No scalp is about to be offered to the tabloids for a hysterical witch hunt. Of course, there are grounds for criticism but nothing to justify the weekend’s persecution. The Speaker has become the victim and MPs are not prepared to join the hunt.

He is accused of breaking rules that do not exist. I have 26,000 air miles. I tried to give them to Oxfam but that is not possible. MPs have never been told that they should not be used for any purpose.

Repeatedly the accusation against the Speaker is that he claimed expenses on a house on which the mortgage has been paid. Again, that's entirely legitimate. No claim can be made for mortgage payments - only for interest. That is paid only on receipt of proof of the precise amount paid. What can be paid are additional expenses for running a second home. The implied smear that he is 'claiming when the mortgage has been paid' is a meaningless malign accusation based on ignorance of the system.

But the realisation that trust in MPs has collapsed is slowly dawning. The expenses system is indefensible and it invites abuse. There has undoubtedly been some. Probably more could have been expected. It is certain new checks must be installed, supervised by a body that is independent of parliament.

The Speaker has had an eight year stint – which is average for Speakers. This parliament will continue until well into 2010. A new Speaker may well be elected after a decent period has elapsed after the media assault that he has suffered.

Musical

One of our city’s splendid schools was welcome to a Commons’ visit today.

Caerleon Comprehensive has an incredible record for splendid musical achievement. Recently they were the only non-specialist music school to achieve a place in UK national performances.

Today’s lively group asked about teenage suicides, university grants, drug laws, developing world poverty, the gap between rich and poor and the future of our city. All the questions were courteous, intelligent and friendly.

    Once again, it’s a pleasure to meet with our much maligned younger generation. After leaving our meeting, they were liberated to indulge the joys of a sun bathed London for the rest of the day. I hope it went well.

Let down

The new local rugby stadium plans were a bit of a disappointment.

Jessica Morden and I saw the details today. Yes, it will be great to have a modern stadium and agreeable new student and public housing on this city centre site.

There will less parking places than now. Rugby supporters must get used to walking to the new stadium. It worked well in Cardiff on Sunday. The new main stands are not the popular sidestands but positioned at the extreme ends of the stadium. The most popular seats are always on the halfway line. There will be few of those. It’s inevitable because of the proximity of nearby houses. It will take the capacity of the ground from 10,000 (mostly standing) to 15,000 (all seating). There will also be many new facilities for community use.

It’s all building up to a very exciting new look for the city prior to 2012 Ryder Cup.

Apologise Beeb

Insult and injury
The BBC is 're-sensitising' its staff to restore trust, as I reported last Monday. An apology to Ian Lucas MP for Wrexham would be a start. The details are incredible.

I will not give more currency to the false accusations broadcast but their effects are likely to be extremely damaging to the MP. The two policemen whose wild comments were broadcast have apologised in full. The Beeb has not.

Their behaviour has been extraordinary. They did not warn Ian that the derogatory remarks were about to be broadcast. Nor did they invite him to refute them. But they did issue a press release before the broadcast in which the accusations were quoted. Ian Lucas rang BBC Wales and reasonably demanded that the programme should not be broadcast.

BBC Wales refused. They offered him an interview on the radio the following morning. Rightly he said ‘no’. The damage would have already been done. The radio audience is different to the televison one and Ian would have been placed on the defensive against totally fictitious claims.

Having had some bitter experience of how messy libel suits are, even when you are entirely in the right, I can understand Ian’s reluctance to sue. What I cannot understand is how the BBC lawyers allowed the broadcast to take place. Any defence of fair comment has gone now that the police have apologised.

Time to tweak up the sensitivity levels BBC Wales. Apologise now. You will have to do so eventually.

Happy confusion
Having a very common name has its ups and downs.

Vale of Glamorgan MP John Smith has been plagued with confusion – especially while Labour Party Leader of the same name was alive.

Flying back from Cyprus the Vale MP was given the red carpet treatment and invited to join the pilot in the cockpit for a high level chat. Yesterday, he told of another grand occasion.

‘I need no introduction to this man’ a visitor said on meeting him at a large gathering of V.I.P.s, 'I know who he is.’ John’s friends were impressed. The visitor was Nelson Mandela.

Drugging creativity
A posting on this blog in August still enjoys half a dozen hits a day. It said if Mozart had been on Ritalin and Beethoven and Leonardo da Vinci on anti-depressants, we would never have heard of them. These are exactly the drugs that doctors would recommend for them now.

A new book strongly confirms the creative stimulus of angst, depression, melancholy and despair. The reliable Jo Revill in the Observer writes today: -

"Depression may seem like unrelieved misery to its sufferers, but the author of a controversial new book insists the condition is highly beneficial to the human species and can ultimately lead to great achievements.

In a new appraisal of the disorder, an eminent consultant psychiatrist argues that, far from being a modern malaise, depression has been with us for thousands of years and survived because it can give people an increased resilience to cope with life's challenges.

One in four of us will suffer from depression at some point in our lives, and one in 20 of us is currently living with it. In Britain the economic cost of depression in terms of lost productivity is enormous, around £17bn a year. Doctors are divided over why it is so common.

Dr Paul Keedwell, an expert on mood disorders at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, has written How Sadness Survived in order to understand why something that causes so much pain and disability has withstood evolutionary changes and still occurs so commonly.”

For their own greedy ends, pharmaceutical companies have medicalised an inevitable life experience. The numbers guzzling anti-depressants and taking sick leave have trebled in recent years. Like grief, depression has to be endured. Drugs are no easy escape.

Rydym ni yma o hyd

Still here

What a week-and it gets better.

My cup was already full and overflowing with a bank nationalisation, the victory of Newport County over Cardiff City and the rebellion on behalf on the workers by 139 Labour MPs. Watching today’s 47 -8 Wales victory over Italy was sublimely satisfying.

The skills, dominance, odd failures and touches of genius by the Welsh players was a to joy to watch. The talent and spirit today matched the great years of the past.

Perhaps there was added inspiration by the singing by the Gwent Dragons Choir of a new song for International Rugby. It’s the favorite of Llanelli and was sung at the funeral of Ray Gravell.

It’s the rousing defiant message of Dafydd Iwan,‘Rydym ni yma o hyd, Er gwaethaf pawb a phopeth,’ We are still here, in spite of everybody and everything.’ The Welsh people should have been good chaps and become English centuries ago and buried their ancient language. But being awkward they refused assimilation. In spite of everything the nation lives on with renewed strength and purpose.

Tonight the Welsh will sleep happily, dreaming of what might be in Dublin and Cardiff again.

Nick's porkies
Nick Clegg is at it again with hyperbole that has reach the stratosphere.

His first PMPQ claimed that 25,000 people die of cold in the British winters. Not quite correct. It might be as high as 25.

Tonight he is reported to have said that Labour has archievd nothing in Wales in a 100 years. Nothing?  I can’t go back 100 years but I have vivid memories of thirties and the forties and the mean lives of the working classes then.

I must draw young Nick aside in the Commons next week and tell him about the changes. Many are thanks to radical politicians. As the LibDems have not been elected to Government since 1905, their share of the credit is pretty minute. Compare and contrast the contributions of Nye Bevan and Mike German.

Even more absurdly, Nick claimed LibDem credit for ‘the Chartists,the  Rebecca Riots and Cymru Fydd’. I doubt whether is had heard of the latter two until a few days ago.

What can Nick be up? Perhaps he is trying to make the utterances of Lembit Opik appear sane.

Flicker off!
Another innovation at the Millennium Stadium was not welcome.

I was sitting next to John Griffiths AM and we were both irritated by the distraction animated advertisement screens that surround half the stadium.

The messages and symbols are in lurid colours, they flicker, move slowly then rapidly, and switch on and off with hypnotic frequency.

I vowed never to buy any of the products that were being thrust into my face.

Whatever revenue you get from these ads, Millennium Stadium is not worth the annoyance to your customers.

Tone them down, slow them down or, best of all, get rid of them.

Socialism erupts

An eruption of pent-up socialism is shaking parliament. Last night the ‘Red Flag’ was sung in the Strangers’ bar. At dinner time today, 136 Labour MPs, including  Peter Hain, voted against the party’s whip.

It’s thrilling and invigorating. Labour MPs are the happiest they have been for a decade. This week, we  nationalised a bank and struck a blow for low paid exploited workers. These are the core Labour party policies the like of which we have rarely seen in recent years. Having been long deprived of traditional Labour policies, we have had two fixes in one week.

When I was about ten years old I avidly read the booklets produced by the Left Book Club. They cost about 7 pence each and were devoted to single issues. One of them was ‘Nationalising the Banks’ by, I think, John Strachey. Another was on "Nationalising the land.' The churches were against that. George Orwell said you know when a Labour Government is serious when they nationalise the banks.

While all the smiling classic Labour MPs know the motives were expediency not ideology, the decision still quickens the pulse. The revolt today of the 136 will be more significant in the long run. The last major rebellion on this scale was the 139 votes against the Iraq War.

It’s a giant warning to the government that MPs are no pushover. I hope they think hard before pressing on with the provocative, divisive '42 days' extension.

It’s an invitation to certain defeat.

Pensioner power
A Newport local historian and pensioner may have spurred a worthwhile Government move.

Hansard records on Thursday's Commons Debate:

“A constituent of mine, Mr. Cliff Knight, who is a doughty campaigner for pensioners and a local historian, is finding that the ageing process comes with
many unwelcome companions. He now needs many services that he never previously required. He was refused a grant to buy a stair lift. The means test for disabled facilities grants is based on the housing benefit rules. Although the weekly needs of a disabled pensioner are assessed at £186.55 for housing benefit purposes, increasing to £194 this April, the figure for calculating entitlement for a disabled facilities grant is £171.40, which was the housing benefit rate for 2005-06. Surprisingly, that makes a huge difference. The failure to increase the sum since 2005-06 makes a difference of up to £8,812 in the amount of grant payable.

That is staggering. It means that many people, who are entirely deserving of the grants, are floated off them by the failure to uprate the amount in line with inflation. We must examine that—a large cohort of pensioners has been badly dealt with because of this.”

Minister Mike O’Brien: - “ My hon. Friend the Member for Newport, West (Paul Flynn) raised several issues. He is right to say that the disability facilities grant has not been uprated since December 2005, when we implemented the proposal to exclude children’s cases from means-testing. We are expecting to update the regulations shortly and we will also consider a packet of changes. The Government regard the DFG programme as an important means of helping more than 35,000 older and disabled people each year to continue to live independently. We have substantially increased funding for the programme from £57 million in 1997 to £146 million in 2008-09. Further steps will be announced shortly.”

There seems to be a strong hint there of more money. If it happens, it will be thanks to Cliff Knight and my researcher Tony Lynes.

Genuine Stealth Tax

Squeeze the poor

If the surplus in the National Insurance Fund continues to grow at its present rate, there will enough to rescue a future Northern Rock in 2013.

This afternoon’s debate on benefits in the Commons was a chance to raise the unknown scandal of the amazing growing N.I. fund. There was un-needed surplus in 97 of 0.5 billion. By the end of next year the surplus will be £57 billion. Actuaries say that the surplus should be enough to protect two months spending. £57 billion is enough for 10 months. In 2013 it will be £115billion – enough for 16 months.

Why accumulate cash that could be used for its proper purpose to boost pensions? Previously the Government have told me in a letter ‘If the surplus was used to increase benefits, the Government would need to raise the equivalent through other means such as raising taxes.’

So that’s it, the N.I. fund is being used for the secret purpose of raising taxes. Very few know that. It’s the most unjust way to raise tax. The rich do not pay their fair share. Those earning over £670 a week pay only 1% in N.I. The standard employee’s contribution is 11%. Those of us who are fortunate enough to work after pension age pay 0%.

The Minister Mick O’Brien, who answered the debate, was helpful on other matters that I raised, but failed to recognise the damage of this wholly unjust tax by stealth. If he is not careful, more people might to get hear about it. They’ll be very angry.

No ‘Da-Marty Code’

The splendid brave MP Dick Marty was cruelly mocked when he accused the only world superpower of the  extraordinary rendition of prisoners into torture.

His fine report was compared to the Da Vinci Code and described as the ‘Da-Marty code.’ He did not buckle and persisted with his claims in spite of the repeated claims from many countries that he was mistaken.

A statement by Foreign Secretary Milliband this afternoon was a mea culpa for the dozens of past denials. It had happened and we appear to have been complicit. My friend Dick is entitled to feel proud of himself today. I greatly appreciate the great support he gave to me when I had a challenging drugs report to get through an international forum.

Heckler supreme

Chris Ruane is the Commons most persistent heckler. The flow of interjections, wise cracks and verbal hand grenades is relentless. Some put it down to a rare form of parliamentary Tourettes. Today he was acclaimed for a worthy injection when LibDem Roger Williams suggested setting a regulator for supermarkets.

‘OffTrolley’, Chris helpfully suggested

Hard Lord: Soft Lord

The select committee quizzed Lord McLennan and Lord Mayhew today. Mayhew said that MacClennan was ‘harder and more austere.’ They run the committee that gives permission for former ministers and civil servants to take jobs with outside bodies.

There is a worry that former office holders are hawking their experience and access to Government to win huge wages for their retirement jobs. That’s damaging enough. What is worse is that decision taken by ministers and civil servants may be influenced by the expectation of a future job offer.

One civil servant involved in choosing a company for a £2billion contact was working for the company two years later. Who know whether his judgement was influenced?

The present power of the Lords Committee is insufficient. It's little deterrent to ban some one working a particular company for a year or two. All Ministers and Civil Servants should be barred from future employment in their area of work for life. That would help to rebuild trust and strengthen the prized civil service ethic.

Barrage Bliss

Bore loss

If you live long enough all your dreams come true.

Yesterday, I voted to nationalise a bank. Last night Newport County beat Cardiff City. Today I attended a forum that is likely to realise the century old dream of the Severn Barrage.

It was a serious working meeting attended by MPs and AMs. There is boundless enthusiasm from Welsh MPs. Less from English MPs who are preoccupied with environmental fears.

Tory David Davies MP was the only Welsh MPs to express regret about the loss of the Severn bore and surfing opportunities at Porthcawl. He is a surfer. Alun Michael recalled the hell of the Cardiff Bay Barrage Bill. John Smith said the opposition to Cardiff Bay was irrational. None of their worse fears were realised. The only detrimental result is erosion from the unexpected tidal eddies.

Several of us stressed the need to look at all available options. Tidal lagoons, water mills and pump storage schemes should be part of the studies. It was recalled that the Bondi report in the early eighties was turned down on the grounds of cost.

At that time we were still building nuclear power plans. Many are closed and we face a nightmare bill of £75 bn to clear up the mess.

If the right decision had been taken to build the barrage in 1980, it would now be producing prodigious quantities of clean, carbon free energy from an eternal British fuel source. Let’s get on with it.

Perpetual crisis-mongering

The Shelter Cymru ‘sob-in’ was held last night. BBC Wales main story was based on the blog I did last month mocking the ‘Woes R Us’ invitation to the reception.

The Shelter spokesman has been listening and he did quote some of the figures that show the huge strides made to tackle homelessness – including a 48% drop in the numbers living in bed and breakfast.

I asked for three concrete points that Shelter would like us to pursue. The spokesman could not manage one. His speech and the handout were lamentable scraps of waffling non-speak. They promised that future policies will be ‘citizen-focused.’ Is this a republican tendency escape from ‘HM’s subjects’ focussed’ or what?

Shelter continues their 40 year Odyssey as a solution in search of problem. Their attempt last night to stir up an apprehension of ‘perpetual crisis’ fell flat.

Dunces

I have the answer to the education problems.

Give all children the top prizes. Let’s give everyone a degree without putting them through the stress of studying.

That's the implication of awarding GCSEs in languages without oral tests. The continuing calamity of the UK's hapless second language teaching is that it concentrates on teaching a child to read and write the new language rather than speak it. We all learnt our first language by hearing and speaking it.

Reading and writing comes later-or not.

Teaching a pupil the grammar of a language before speaking it is like teaching someone to drive a car by first dismantling and reassembling the engine.

Those who teach languages to fluency first throw the books away and encourage verbal communication. To drop the oral skills is crass and will intensify our humiliating role as the language dunces of Europe.