On January 12th, I went along to the open evening organised by Tongwynlais Temperance Band at Llandaff North Rugby Club to hear about their plans for a building in Llandaff North.

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I went to offer my support for the bid to use part of the old Hawthorn Primary School Building in Llandaff North for a community facility. It was good to get some publicity for the bid in the Echo.





 

On Monday, January 10th, there was an article in the Western Mail about the contest for the Cardiff North Assembly seat. You can read it here:
Can Labour Snatch This Seat?
I hope that the result in Oldham this week bodes well for Labour.

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On my blog, I posted a piece about running for the Assembly. You can read it here:
Why I Am Standing for the Assembly



You can subscribe to the blog and read it here.
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You can read an article about the bid for Hawthorn Primary School in Llandaff North here. It was in the South Wales Echo, January 13th 2011. I support the bid to use part of the old school for community events/activities.

More campaigning on the increase in VAT at the weekend.

See my leaflet on VAT here:

ORGAN DONATION

The plans in Wales for an opt-out organ donation system have been discussed for a long time and are very sound. It was therefore disappointing to see the poor handling of the issue by the Secretary of State for Wales, Cheryl Gillan, and the Attorney General, Dominic Grieve, this week:

BBC Report

It’s very odd that Cheryl Gillan forgot that she had actually presented a Bill on organ donation in the House of Commons in 2002 – a Bill with the same intention as the opt-out system. Things in Westminster can get hectic, but this seems a little surprising.

I'm for the opt-out organ donation system. You've only got to think about the many many people who are waiting for a transplant to realise that it just makes sense – Kidney Foundation Wales say that someone dies every 11 days waiting for a transplant.

I hope that Wales will be able to lead the way on this.

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LLANISHEN RESERVOIR

Disturbing news this week about Western Power Distribution’s plans to turn the site of Llanishen Reservoir into a landfill. Will they stop at nothing? Or is this just a cynical move to present the worst possible alternative so that residents will be scared into accepting a housing development on the site?

For some of the work I have done in the past on Llanishen Reservoir, click here.

I obtained information this week about how much the fight to stop development on land at Llanishen Reservoir is costing the residents of Cardiff.

For years, the US-owned Western Power Distribution has ignored local opposition to its plans to build homes on land at Llanishen Reservoir.

It has persisted with its plans, despite a succession of rejected planning applications and appeals to Cardiff Council, the Welsh Assembly Government, and the Welsh Assembly.

WAG has now revealed that the Planning Division has so far been left with a bill of £56,000 for the High Court proceedings. And this figure doesn’t even cover staff costs.

The fact that taxpayers must foot such a huge bill because of WPD is outrageous. WPD must stop its High Court challenge and start putting its responsibilities to Welsh communities first – the company must respect the wishes of local people.

See the article about Llanishen Reservoir in the South Wales Echo, January 21st 2011: WPD demands legal fees over reservoir.

I went out campaigning again for Yes for Wales on Saturday, January 22nd. I am in favour of more powers for the Welsh Assembly.



You can hear about my reasons why here:
















Visit the Yes for Wales website here.


See my leaflet here:

I have been inundated with complaints about potholes in Cardiff North left by the snowy weather.

This is hard to understand in view of the extra £677,000  that the Lib-Dem controlled Cardiff Council has been given to cope with road problems caused by the bad weather.

The money was given by the Labour-led Welsh Assembly Government and was in addition to the council’s regular grant.

In all, WAG has allocated £7 million throughout Wales for local authorities to spend on mending potholes and buying road salt for gritting.

The lack of leadership from the Lib-Dem-led Cardiff Council has meant that people have suffered in the bad weather more than was necessary.

On Tuesday, I gave out the prizes at a Touch Trust event. I’m proud to be a patron of the charity:



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On Wednesday, I took part in the News, Views, and Interviews show on Radio Cardiff, 98.7FM:



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Here I am out door-knocking in Cardiff North this week:

On January 6th, I went out onto Whitchurch high street for the Yes for Wales campaign – I am in favour of more powers for the Welsh Assembly.

See my leaflet about why I say Yes for Wales here.

This week, I had an essay published in the Western Mail. It’s about the coalition’s plans for legal aid.

Read it here.

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I also started a blog on Word Press.



You can subscribe to the blog and read it here. To start things off, I’ve posted the legal aid article here too.
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At the weekend, I campaigned against the coalition government’s increase in VAT to 20%.

This is the wrong tax at the wrong time and will hit the poorest hardest.

See my leaflet on VAT here:

See the VAT calculator – what it means for you – here:

My website was revamped this week – as you can see!

There are several new features on here – I hope you’ll have fun exploring it and taking up the opportunities for interaction.

I went to the Llandaff North Farmers’ Market on the afternoon of January 28th. There is a morning market in Rhiwbina and both take place every fortnight. It’s great to support the independent traders and feel the connection with the local community.

See my video here:












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On January 24th, I attended the launch of Cardiff Says Yes – it’s part of the Yes for Wales campaign. There was a good crowd – about 150 – and it was an all-party event. Good to be working cross-party in a common cause. Here I am at the launch:

I went on both BBC Radio Wales and Dragon’s Eye on January 27th to talk about the concern that there will be fewer women in the Welsh Assembly after the elections in May.

Labour has always led the way on the representation of women in politics, but we must stay vigilant. We need truly representative bodies.

(We could improve the numbers with a victory in Cardiff North in May!)

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My blog post this week focused on Why I’ll Be Voting Yes on March 3rd – you can read it here.

I put out these press releases this week:

January 27th 2011:
Ditch Police Commissioner Elections
Click here.

January 26th 2011:
Cardiff Bus Station Consultation Not Wide Enough
Click here.

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The South Wales Echo (28/1/2011) wrote about First Minister Carwyn Jones’ visit to Cardiff North on January 27th – see page 12.

On January 27th, the First Minister, Carwyn Jones, visited Cardiff North to meet residents and to campaign for Yes for Wales. It was good to go out with him and meet people and discuss the referendum. There’s still much to do, but I am hopeful that we can secure a Yes vote on March 3rd.

Before we went out on the streets, we paid a visit to Gabalfa Primary School:



We also met with residents of Llandaff North in Lew’s Coffee Shop:

On January 26th, I was very pleased to attend the unveiling of Rhodri’s portrait in the Senedd. He told the story of a portrait of Churchill that his wife hated so much that she burned it. I certainly won’t be doing that! It’s very good and Tel the dog is a real star of the show!






Read the Western Mail report here.