Nick Bourne AM

Earlier in the year I visited the Royal British Legion in London and received assurances from those that were dealing with the future of Crosfield that all looked well for the future of this home in Rhayader.  The Care Standards Act 2004 meant that a new build would be needed but it was hoped that this could be in Rhayader.  An issue remained about the revenue funding for the home because of the rurality of the home in Rhayader.  There are local authority residents, and quite a few of them, in the home so Powys County Council’s funding is of extreme importance.  It seems that funding from Powys County Council was ever more crucial for the future of the home and an agreement would have to be reached on a reasonable level of funding into the future, but all looked promising.

 
Later in the year the issue blew up again and no progress had been made.  Powys were blaming the Royal British Legion, the Royal British Legion were blaming Powys.  Meetings later, frantic phone calls and correspondence and the position looked pretty dire but I am pleased to say that this week a meeting was held in London between Powys County Council and the Legion, which looked much more promising.  Now things seem set fair again and I do hope that the future of the home is secure.

 
Not only is this the largest employer by some distance in Rhayader but there are many people living in the home who are extremely happy there, and would be distraught at a move, as would their friends and relatives. 

 
A positive week on this one.

An early morning meeting on Wednesday with our Welsh Conservative Council Group in Llandrindod Wells.  Since May we now have 9 Welsh Conservative Councillors in Powys.  It is making a difference in the way I operate in Powys now, mostly for the good I hope, in that I now have 9 Councillors to liaise with and discuss issues with.  Previously I didn’t have this luxury or benefit, in fact no Councillors at all!  They are a very, very good Group – Simon Baynes (Leader), Aled Davies, Russell George, Peter Harris, Mike Hodges, Peter Lewis, Sarah Millington, Gareth Ratcliffe and  Frank Torrens.

At this meeting we discussed various issues of concern that faced Powys at the moment – the Royal British Legion home in Rhayader, the closure of Post Offices and schools, the Severn Flood Management Plan which will certainly have implications for Montgomeryshire, and many other issues.
I raised the issue of the Severn Flood Management Plan in the Chamber later that day and asked the Leader of the House if we could have a debate on government time on this issue as it has implications for Wales and this could be debated so that hopefully a united view could be put forward in the consultation.  He promised to discuss the matter with the Minister, Jane Davidson and report back. 

I dash from the meeting with the Councillors to head back to Cardiff to try to get back in time for our press conference at 11.00 a.m.  This would not generally be a problem but as we approach the Abercynon roundabout on the A470 there is a 2-3 mile tailback.  We fear that there is a serious accident and are both relieved and amazed when we get close to find that they have closed a lane off to do grass cutting at such a busy time - madness.  In the event I get to Cardiff at 11.10 a.m. to be able to get to the press conference just as it is starting. 

Understandable angst and concern about the massive hikes in fuel prices shouldn’t obscure the need to continue to take green measures.

 
It is quite compatible to ensure that the tax on fuel is postponed for example, and some of the VAT is abated, whilst still concentrating on green efforts, for example, encourage homes to insulate and to adopt small scale devices like small turbines on houses or indeed solar panels (an area that has been much neglected in this country as compared to say Germany).  I think there is a great danger in people seeing there being one or other camp and I don’t think that is the case at all.  I think it is quite feasible, indeed desirable, to do something on the price of fuel but at the same time press ahead with a green agenda.

 
The Chancellor will have a £600m fuel windfall from extra VAT from domestic fuel alone, quite apart from the VAT windfall on petrol and diesel.

 
It is quite possible to abate some of this tax but at the same time to press ahead with green energy measures.  Indeed there are huge economic, social and environmental gains to be achieved by doing just this.  The government response of simply seeking to produce more North Sea oil is really a woefully inadequate response. 

Steve Hilton, who is one of the central architects of the Conservative Party’s modernisation and revival, is leaving Britain for the States for at least six months.  The good news is that Steve will still be working for David Cameron and the Conservative Party. 

 
He has been responsible for significant moves in ensuring the Party occupies the centre ground of politics and for our consequent success, and the news of his remaining fully involved in advising the Party and David Cameron is a great relief.

 
Second only perhaps to David himself and, together with a few other key people, including Francis Maude, he has been responsible for ensuring the Party occupies the centre ground of politics.  He deserves the Party’s massive thanks.

This week the Commons Business and Enterprise Select Committee is expected to vent its anger against Royal Mail and its refusal to guarantee that it will end the closure programme after the current round of closures going through. 

 
Royal Mail has shut 4,600 branches of the Post Office in recent years, and has recently announced 2,500 more closures which have been met, predictably and understandably, with massive anger and anxiety.

 
The Royal Mail has refused to guarantee the future of the 11,500 remaining Post Offices and, indeed, has indicated that the criteria which it is looking at for keeping open branches are only met in about 7,500 of the outlets.

 
It seems that the Royal Mail and its political masters, the Labour Party, will only be happy when communities throughout Wales are deprived of this very valuable economic and social service.

 
Labour doesn’t seem to care and Plaid Cymru seem powerless to do anything about it.

I appreciate that often matters are oversimplified in the media but that said some news items do beggar belief.

 
 I hear for example that a monkey puzzle tree in West Cross, Swansea where it has grown unimpeded and unchallenged for the best part of two centuries is threatened with the axe because its prickly leaves present a risk to children. At the risk of exciting some tree risk assessment officers into action (even as I type the name I fear such officers may really exist) would the same not be true of Cedars, Douglas Firs, Horse Chestnuts and indeed Oaks?

 
Then Anglia- Ruskin University has forbidden students from throwing their mortar boards into the air on graduation because of the fear of injury. No champagne popping there then! Careful with flash photography it could startle passing horses into bolting. and please ensure that there is no rejoicing or celebrations at the graduation lunch in case other diners are overcome emotionally in the mass hysteria brought on by offering congratulations to the graduates.

 
No litany of the wild and absurd  would be complete without an example from Europe and I offer this up as one who is broadly sympathetic to Europe whilst being very well aware of its eccentricities and absurdities.

 
Lo! a Directive that requires every fortune teller to display a notice presumably alongside the crystal ball warning that accuracy is not scientifically proven! Then on the other hand they should have seen that one coming!

 
Now I suspect having great faith in my fellow countryman and woman that the average child is aware of the danger of needle like leaves and will only be mildly discomforted if they pick some up and will have learned a valuable lesson too.

 
The average student will be very well aware post Issac Newton of what happens to mortar boards that are thrown in the air.
The average punter in a fortune teller’s tent knows that Madame Rosa is really Mrs Jones from the chippy raising money for the church spire restoration fund but it will destroy a little of the magic and the suspension of disbelief to be reminded of the fact by al large placard as he goes into her marquee to have his tarot cards read.

 
A dose of good old British common sense please.

Like one of those toy theatres where a sudden change of backdrop transforms the interior of a manor house or castle to a lakeside or hilltop the vista of the political scene a year on from the accession of Gordon to the Prime ministership bears little resemblance to the bright dawn that briefly greeted him.

Recess week is always a good opportunity to catch up on some reading – at least in the evenings.  As this recess week also coincides with the Hay Festival there has been opportunity, just as when I hold surgeries in Hay, to browse in the book shops and buy ever more books for my bulging and sagging bookshelves in Cardiff and Aberystwyth.
Inspired by Jimmy Carter’s visit and his speech, I delved into my dog eared copy of ‘The Man From Plains’ which I had actually bought at a bookshop in Cambridge, Massachusetts when I was in the States when he was President.  What comes across is the deep Christian belief and the serenity of Jimmy Carter, just as it did in meeting with him and hearing his speech at the Hay Festival.
A very different political figure was Barbara Castle, and I have just finished reading the authorised biography of her by Ann Perkins ‘The Red Queen’.  Barbara Castle is in many ways, and perhaps surprisingly, a mirror image of Margaret Thatcher – passionate, a committed conviction politician who did not crave popularity but certainly courted controversy.
On the fiction side I have read the latest Alexander McCall-Smith in the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency series set in Botswana – The Miracle at Speedy Motors.  McCall-Smith can really conjure up the beauty of sub-Saharan Africa with its massive skies and endless plains, and the kindness of the people of Botswana. 
I am now reading Douglas Hurd’s ‘Image in the Water’.  Douglas Hurd is actually a very good wordsmith and has written some good fictional, political books and this  appears to be no exception.
I have also bought the latest James Bond ‘Devil May Care’ by Sebastian  Faulks.  This promises to be the best post-Fleming offering of James Bond with the possible exception of Kingsley Amis’ ‘Colonel Sun’. 

A sure sign of success and coming of age is when imitation sets in. So with the Hay Festival’s 21st birthday and the launching of the Alternative Hay Festival. This alternative trying to feed off the main event doesn’t have anything as bourgeois as named organisers. Their events just happen. It reminds me of the Gwent Anarchists who regularly sent me invitations to their meetings.

 
 The Hay Festival really does go from strength to strength and all credit to Peter Florence for his superb organisational and inter-personal skills.

 
 Over the years I have been privileged to hear Jane Fonda, Helena Kennedy, Colin Jackson, PD James, Bill Bryson, Bill Clinton, David Starkey, Ronnie Corbett and President Carter to name but some of the highlights.

 
It is a great economic boost to the area as well as a cultural one and even if the weather this year has been more Glastonbury than Timbuktu (Hay’s twin town) spirits were not dampened.

 
The alternative festival is an amusing diversion, to demonstrate that they even got Arthur Scargill along but there is only one genuine article!
 

When Andrew RT Davies and I met the protesting hauliers on Tuesday at Cardiff West services we were surprised at the considerable police presence. I was also surprised that there was no representative from either of the governing parties to receive the petition… 

The hauliers were from all over South Wales and many from my own constituency. They are suffering from the fuel price increases even more than the rest of us and are suffering from intense competition from the continent where prices are considerably lower than ours. 

The government does not seem to be on the side of the man or woman in the street witness the no- show of government AMs. 

Is the government listening? — I don’t think so.