The valleys and tunnels

Great article in the Western Mail today about the abandoned tunnels that scatter the south Wales valleys. The legacy of heavy industry, these feats of engineering were used to transport coal and materials between areas that would have otherwise been separated by thousands of tonnes of rugged landscape.

Now Plaid's prospective General Election candidate for Cynon Valley, Dafydd Trystan, has proposed opening up these tunnels to link up communities that are very close geographically but miles away from each other due to the road network.
Speaking as a board member of the sustainable travel charity Sustrans about the tunnels between Abernant and Merthyr Tydfil and between Penrhiwceiber and Quakers Yard, Dafydd said:

“Both these tunnels could provide a fascinating walk or cycle ride, especially for anyone interested in our transport history, as well as a convenient inter-valley route. I very much hope studies can go ahead which could eventually lead to their reopening.”

I think this is a fantastic idea and should be seriously explored. There's a blocked up tunnel between Treherbert and Blaengwynfi in the Afan valley. If the tunnels in question are in a good state of repair it should cost a relatively small amount of money to reopen them and the benefits to all communities concerned would be felt instantly.

Travel time between the major town of Aberdare and Merthyr Tydfil could be slashed, which would not only be beneficial to commuters and the economy, but also to the environment. We need to be doing all we can to reduce our green-house gas emissions, and car-travel, which is almost essential for travelling between valleys, is one of our greatest emitters. Cutting time spend on the road would reduce emissions from cars, but re-opening the railtrack, if it still runs under the mountains, would help to reduce car usage much more.

Many communities would, I'm sure, feel and be a lot less isolated if some of the old tunnels could be reopened. It is very difficult to place a value on the benefits it could deliver as I've never experienced life living in a community where the road runs out. The idea deserves wider consideration as it could provide good opportunities to people who would otherwise struggle to access employment.

9 out of 10 rapes go unreported

Earlier this week a wide-ranging review was published into the way rape investigations are conducted and complainants are treated by police.

It made for shocking reading as Baroness Stern, the review’s author, found as many as nine out of ten rapes and attempted rapes go unreported.

One of the main reasons for this, the review found, was reluctance on the part of victims to reveal intimate details of their personal lives before going to court.

Having to re-live such a traumatic experience through various police interviews, and then again in court is something many people feel unable to do. If the detective handling the case is insensitive or unsympathetic, or judges a woman because of her clothes, or intoxicants she may take, or appears not to believe her, that ordeal is made even worse. Such insensitivity or judgementalism can be dangerous, as it means many perpetrators of sex crimes are getting away scot-free and rapists are being allowed to go on and rape again.

Baroness Stern argues that there is too much emphasis on achieving a conviction. After speaking to victims, she concluded what was really important: "...was really important was not in the end if they could get a conviction; what they said was, we still feel we want to be believed."

Stern wants the expansion of Sexual Abuse Referral Centres (SARCs) to every police force in England and Wales, forensic evidence to be gathered by the NHS rather than the police and a network of professional, independent advisors to support a victim through each stage of the criminal process.

If the recommendations of Baroness Stern are to be implemented, there is a chance that some of the embarrassment and emotional trauma of reporting a rape or sexual offence will be taken away. This can only be a good thing; not only for the well-being of complainants, but for justice and the safety of our communities too.

However, I would like to see reform go further. When I worked as probation officer, I worked with far too many people who had been raped or sexually abused, often as children, but who had never had any counselling or support often, but not always, because it had gone unreported. In such circumstances, some people find it impossible to come to terms with what has happened and can seek ways of blocking traumatic memories out with drink or drugs, which can then lead to falling foul of the law. There should be some sort of system to provide suppport for such people, should they need that support straight away or years after the abuse has taken place.

Dr Nicole Westmarland, a lecturer in criminology at Durham University and former chair of Rape Crisis (England and Wales), has identified a number of other improvements that could be made. A key element of Dr Westmarland’s recommendations is an improvement in evidence gathering to reduce the risk of rape cases being dismissed as one person’s word against another. Dr Westmarland's views deserve serious consideration - they could enhance the recommendations of Baroness Stern.

Such fundamental changes won’t happen overnight, but the authorities must ensure they are implemented as quickly as possible in the name of justice and decency.

Wales, 2010.

If you were asked to guess when food banks were operating in Wales to distribute three days worth of emergency groceries to those who can’t afford the basics, you would be forgiven for thinking of another century.

Emergency food packages evokes memories of the depression of the 1930s or perhaps even the bitter year-long miners’ strike of 1984. That it exists right now, in 2010, is nothing short of an outrage. Plans to establish another ten food banks across Wales in response to growing demand, indicates the problem is not going to disappear soon. In the South Wales Central region, there is a food bank in Pontyclun and another in Tylorstown which recently ran an appeal for canned food to be donated.

Thanks to Thatcher, many parts of Wales have failed to recover from previous bad economic times. The Tory Governments of the 1980s and 90s presided over huge wealth disparities in the UK which was illustrated by the decimation of the coal industry at a time when yuppies were popping up all over London. And New Labour have also failed to address the burgeoning gap between rich and poor in 13 years’ of Government. Recent reports have shown inequalities to have increased under Blair and Brown.

In plenary at the Senedd this week, I asked for funding to be supplied to the Trussell Trust who operate the food bank network. They provide emergency food to people in crisis on a voluntary basis, thanks to people's good will in donating non-perishable food.

If, as expected, David Cameron becomes the next Prime Minister, we have cause for even more concern. The Tories' raison d’etre has been, and will always be, to protect the wealth of the privileged few. If they get elected and carry out their planned slash and burn of public services, the food bank network would no doubt expand, particularly in those parts of Wales where a high proportion of the working population is employed within that particular sector.

If things are bad now, we ain't seen nothing yet!

Strike ends

The 48-hour stoppage by members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union has now drawn to a close. An estimated 200,000 PCS union members withdrew their labour during the strike and widespread disruption was caused to public services everywhere. Plenary at the Welsh Assembly was postponed and Plaid Cymru and Labour AMs refused to cross the picket line. The Tories showed their true colours by criticising the halting of Assembly business. Should we expect any different from a party that always has and always will represent the interests of the ruling elite? As chair of the all-party PCS group, I was more than happy to show my solidarity with members of the union and their quest to defend their redundancy rights during the two-day strike by joining picket lines and speaking at a rally in Cardiff.

PCS Members have not taken the decision to strike lightly. Losing two days of pay is not an easy sacrifice to make, but they have certainly demonstrated that they are serious about protecting their contractual rights. More industrial action is planned for next week and an overtime ban is also in place. This of course will all be called off if the powers-that-be in Westminster do the sensible thing and get round the negotiating table with ACAS and the union.

It does not take Sherlock Holmes to deduce where the UK Labour Government is going with this downgrading of the civil service compensation scheme. They seem hell bent on doing the Tories’ dirty work for them by making it cheap to sack civil servants ahead of the anticipated post-General Election cull of public services. As an example of a party losing touch with its core support, this is up there with the abolition of the lower rate of income tax.

I fear this dispute is just the start of brutal cuts to our public services. Apart from the misery huge job losses will bring to thousands of loyal civil servants, it also has some incredibly bright economists scratching their heads at the logic of reducing public spending in a recession. Making low-paid workers and users of public services pay the price for the mistakes of the banking elite in causing the UK’s huge spending deficit, is simply wrong. The PCSU are right to stand against that principle.

I hope that union members stay strong and stick together for the duration of this dispute. That's the only way they'll stop their contracts being ripped up by their employer, and the best way to stop the planned vicious cuts to our public services.

PCS strike

Next week thousands of members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union are due to strike in defence of their redundancy terms. The UK Government is looking to make up to £500 million of savings by imposing new terms on public and civil servants that would see them lose a third of their redundancy entitlement. This means workers could lose up to £12,000 or a thrid of the value of their redundancy package if they are forced out of a job.

I recently shared a platform with the PCS union’s General Secretary, Mark Serwotka, and Jonathan Edwards, Plaid’s prospective parliamentary candidate for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, during the Undeb fringe event at Plaid Cymru’s spring conference. Mark inspired delegates by speaking about the need to protect frontline services and resist the cuts agenda being pushed by the three UK political parties.

The main reason that our public finances are in such a mess is due to the tax-payer funded bank-bailouts that took place to avoid a complete collapse of the financial system. Casino capitalism and greed has led us to this position, yet it will be those who use public services who will be made to pay for the mistakes of the bankers yet again. The poor are being robbed to pay the rich - a reversal of the Robin Hood principle.

The PCS dispute is merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to a sustained all-out attack on the public sector and the thousands of loyal workers that keep our services running smoothly and efficiently, often for little more that the minimum wage. As chair of the all party PCS group in the Assembly, I'm urging as many people as possible to support the PCS strike next week. Without civil and public servants, there can be no public services. The stakes are high.