Grant Anyone?

Where does the money go? You know the story by now. Local newspaper article states 'Grant Funding available For Communities' or you search online looking for help with your new business or community project and see that there is a grant available from the Welsh Assembly or your local council. You apply and get a form back, which states that you must match fund the amount you are looking for. There is a slight problem there already. You are applying because you do not have the funds. There is the first hurdle and you may just fall. If you happen to have those funds then you may progress. Now you have to fill in the forms, which are not that easy and they go before s a mystery person or persons who decide who to allocate the money to. Sometimes you might get a visit form this person because as with most grants, there is a whole business established behind the management paying a rather decent wage, more often than not. A heck of a lot of the money available has already ben spent on employing people to administer grants. You may just be lucky in that there is actually something left in the pot. Sometimes the grant is handed down to a local body such as the local council who now decide who is going to get the grant. This could be for work to be undertaken in the community, which has already been decided on by the council. Now comes the bit where the decision to appoint a contractor who gets paid the money from the grant. Perhaps you run a mall business in the town and as you cannot get any grants, your business is struggling and you really need that local work. Here again, you may fall at this hurdle. You see there are no hard and fast rules only guidelines, which are discretionary. That means in a nutshell that the money can be awarded to whoever they like and usually it is awarded to people they like rather than people in need. It would be interesting to look at the history of grants awarded in any given town in Carmarthenshire spanning the last decade just to see who received the grant payments. Whenever there is a pot of cash available you can bet that not only has that knowledge been available long before the announcement in the local press, but it has usually been spoken for in rooms with lovely checkered tiles.What of the small business? Well, the contracts usually go to family, friends and associates of said gatekeepers. Check out the payments made by your local council, you might be unpleasantly surprised.

A Traditional Butcher's Shop

To Be Or Not To Be

When is a councillor not a councillor? It seems that one can be a councillor but be of absolutely no use to the people you represent if you are a councillor who happens to take a seat on every organisation known to man.Don't get me wrong, belonging to and aiding any community organisation is admirable. In reality, how many can one realistically be on and offer high quality service. The Herald website reports on an extraordinary council meeting in Pembrokeshire whereby 6 councillors have had to refrain from voting on a very important issue. WHY? There appears to be a conflict of interests. some if not all may be serving as school governors. Of course we need school governors but surely by now we all know that most council business surrounds community provision like education, health and planning and therefore being heavily involved in any of these in any capacity is going to come around and bite your self interests at some point. The point is here that their votes could be absolutely critical in deciding a matter, which their electorate depends on. There was a call this week from one councillor in Llanelli who asks for al councillors to be DBS checked. I am afraid I have already petitioned the Welsh Assembly on this and the answer was a categoric (no, it is all fine as it is). I read somewhere else that someone was calling for all councillors to declare each and every community role they were involved with. I would go further and ask that no councillor should be able to sit on any other committee or community organisation and that they are charged solely with representing the electorate. That way, there should not be any conflicts of interest.

VOTE Mike Hunt

VOTE Mike Hunt MP Your alternative political party for Carmarthenshire East. If you don't see an option on your ballot paper just write it in I VOTE MIKE HUNT FOR MP. Here is my Facebook page Mike Hunt MP

What Would Sir Thomas Say?

Interesting full page letter in The Llanelli Herald this week from the governing bodies of Sir Thomas Picton and Tasker Milward schools. The upshot is that they do not want to be forced into an environment they do not want to be in. The open letter states that with a collective 200 years experience in the governing of schools in Pembrokeshire, that they know what is in the best interests of the parents, children and staff of Pembrokeshire's schools. It seems the people those same parents and governors elect as councillors (and many are actually governors) see it differently and choose to ignore the concerns. Here are some of the terms used in the letter; 'not in the best interests of the current and future pupils, their parents and indeed the wider community.' 'extremely concerned that the consultation proposal, if adopted will result in diminution of academic and personal development.' 'We believe that some of the performance data published in the public consultation document is selective, biased and consequentially misleading.' We believe that the proposal is discriminatory to the pupils of the area.' 'We are deeply suspicious.' 'the consultation document has an air of political gerrymandering with many councillors with apparent conflicts of interest.' I could go on but it is advisable to read the letter if you are a pupil or parent at any of these schools. One thing is certain. You have a choice. You have an opportunity to ensure that these people are held to account for their actions. Communities need to rid themselves of these dinosaurs who assume that they know best just because they have walked into a position of minor power as a councillor. Vote them off and start again. This time make sure that the community interviews these people and make sure that they can only serve as councillors rather than sitting on and acting as gatekeepers on every possible organisation or committee. There should be no conflicts of interest.

All Going To Plan

How are one's plans coming along Mr. C? One's plans are coming along quite well M'am. We have cleaned up in the Middle East and left such a mess that we will have to go back and rebuild the whole lot and resupply arms to the terrorists who are now our friends fighting some people who were our friends and who are now terrorists M'am. What of one's home affairs Mr. C? One's home affairs are very good M'am. We have forced the majority of working people into such destitution that many have turned to a life of crime thus boosting one's coffers M'am. We are also ensuring that one's land and anything below it is extracted and sold as quickly as possible before we see the pitchforks at dawn brigade return. One remembers the diggers does one not M'am? Quite Mr. C. How are one's plans progressing for the education and health service wot have been costing one so much for so long? Well M'am, we have almost run them into ruin and completely demoralised one's subjects wot work there. Nobody has the stomache to challenge us M'am coz they knows what one did to the miners. How is one's popularity Mr. C? Top notch M'am. We have thrust Kate and Wills into the spotlight along with George to win the 'AWE' factor. Very good Mr. C. Now let us hope you beat that commy bastard again so that we can put the final nail in the coffin for this nation and get back to how it used to be in the good old days of Royal rule.

Poodles and Power

Does anyone really believe that voting will make a difference to their lives? Let me rephrase that. Does anyone believe that voting will make a positive difference to their lives? Here is a simple questionnaire for you: Are you one of the elderly? Are you suffering a debilitating illness? Are you a single parent? Are you a carer? Are you a struggling small business owner? Are you a small child starting out in education? If you answered yes to any of the above then you are in big trouble whoever wins the election. I would go so far as to say that it doesn't make a blind bit of difference who you voted for, you are stuffed. No matter how much these liars, cheats and thieves want to engage you in politics. No matter how often they point the finger of shame at anyone falling into these somewhat ordinary categories of life. No matter what you think you believe in. IT IS A LIE! For the whole of my life I have seen nothing but the stripping away of our communities, our identities, our culture and our history. There is a phrase for this, which is much used by those who have really studied the politics of greed. It is called 'Subtractive Education." Why would anyone call it subtractive education when we are talking about politics? The reason is simple and clear. Politics and education have become inseparable. Why else would successive governments resist handing the running of education over to education experts, teachers, heads, parents? Politicians understand that we have short term memories and that all the bad news ends up as chip paper. They can weather any storm no matter how dirty or disgusting that is. They can literally get away with murder. Those who want to continue with this archaic system we call democracy would have you believe that not voting is just not cricket. They would brand people like Brandt as traitors, scaremongers, weak, anti capitalist and every other cliche, which suits. They are the masters of deflective rhetoric. Is there an answer? Are there any alternatives? Yes there are. We need to focus on the hyper local. We need to ensure those at the very bottom of this pyramid structure are the best human beings we can get to represent us. They in turn must ensure those they place above them are of the same quality. Slowly but surely this elite sect at the top of the pyramid would become answerable and exposed. We know they have absolutely no backbone and no appetite for the truth. What we would see is their speedy exit back to the excesses of filth, lies and easy money they have existed on outside of politics. I am not saying DON'T VOTE. I am saying that voting for any of these people at present is akin to signing the death warrant for you, your family and your community. Voting once every four or five years is sometimes seen as the heralding of a new dawn, a change, a time for hope in the belief that your own political party will honour its values and principles. Take a look around. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you really want to make a difference, find one or two good men and women from your community and put them forward. Ensure they are answerable, accountable and provide the best possible representation for you and your community. If they fall short, make sure you have a system in place whereby you can get rid of them. We need to start treating politicians like candidates for guarding the family jewels. Only then can we say that the people we are voting for are known to us, trusted by us and valued by us.

Je Suis Cadno

How long will it be before the hounds are let loose on Cadno? This week's contribution was as interesting, revealing and as under the skin as it could be. It is a pity that all journalists do not take a leaf out of Cadno's book and start to report on issues within their community, which have significant repercussions. The election is drawing near. Let us hope that the people of Carmarthenshire have good memories and throw out the liars, cheats and thieves within one particular party. It was good to have a visit from the Plaid Cymru people yesterday. The sign is up and will remain there until the Plaid MP is elected. I did get a leaflet from another candidate but I won't say what I did with that. The Llanelli Herald and Carmarthenshire Herald are fast becoming the newspaper of choice and that is testimony to their forward thinking and courage to take on the stories, which have been ignored for far too long. I am quite a way through my journalism course with Cardiff University and it is truly enlightening. There is a definite swerve within the media towards hyper local news backed up by multimedia content on social networks. It helps if you happen to have keen and able people who can produce films, radio and TV as well as great photographs. 2015 threatens to be a very good year for some.