Thanks for the latest print run that dropped through my letterbox this morning.
As I sipped my afternoon coffee this afternoon and flicked the pages I came across the David Quantick reminisce about the Manic Street Preachers homecoming gig at the Blackwood Miners Institute.
Obviously David has spent too much time on Brendon's 'Coach Trip' because his geographical bearings are all wrong.
Blackwood is a TOWN in its own right. Caerphilly is another town about 8 miles down the road. The reorganization of the Welsh counties created Blackwood into the administrative control of Caerphilly Borough Council. At the time of the Miner's Strike it was in Gwent.
Blackwood was the main town for the surrounding mining villages such as Oakdale,Abercarn, Newbridge, Cwmcarn and Pontllanfraith.Today the main high street of the Town has seen some rejuvenation and bears none of the scars of that ill fated time in British political history.
The sentiments of Ken Loach on 'Newsnight' certainly fit the era in politics under the Thatcher administration. An era where there was a lack of investment in the people of this country and a fortification of the financial services sector. Subsequently this resulted in the mis-selling of private pensions over Company schemes, Endowment Mortgages and the privatisation of industries that once put their profits back into the State economy. Combine that with the sale of Council Houses,which further enhanced the financial sector and made the working classes committed to monthly payments, especially during industrial action.
Here in Wales approximately 65% of the population did not bother to vote in last week's Referendum, that gave more law making powers to the Welsh Assembly. What now transpires in the Principality is a definite 'sticky bum' time - given that our esteemed Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg gleefully announced at the weekend that this would enable tax raising possibilities.
We already have a tax to come into the country called the Severn Bridge Toll. If the politicians in Cardiff Bay want to do something constructive after the elections in May it would be to rid Welsh residents of this odorous tax for living here. The Bridges by the way are owned by a French concern, so lets leave this discussion for another day when we look at how much of Britain is no longer in our control.