THE HERALD FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3 2017


53 Comment Plaid Cymru Youth with Llyr Williams THIS week, the Welsh


but how to make a decent living shelling quiz machines in pubs in later life.


What is important in history is the


context in which events take place. So, when modern students are asked to consider how peasants lived in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, there is a real point to it. ‘A Golden Age’ is how the Elizabethan period was usually described in Badger’s school days. It was all Francis Drake, the Spanish Armada, and thwarting those naughty Catholics. That was, as Badger later discovered, bollocks. In the less than glorious reign of


Elizabeth, peasants died in their tens of thousands from starvation; the pay of the average paid worker shrank for the first time since the fag end of the fourteenth century; the fact is that she persecuted minorities, encouraged the systematic pillaging of foreigners’ property, and suppressed dissent. In many ways, the resemblance to


Margaret Thatcher is compelling. But Badger does not want to


pursue that point, save to note that at the end of her reign, Elizabeth I, too, was regarded as slightly deranged figure detached from reality. The point Badger wants to make


is this: those who write most about education in the popular press are usually those the furthest removed from the education of those whose education they opine about. These are people whose intellectual limitations mean they prefer the myth, rather than the reality. They peddle the myths of Britain


as a great industrial power until the Second World War, when British industry had been in decline for 60 years before its outbreak. They peddle the myths of war – glorious war and glorious sacrifice – rather than question the paths that led us there. They peddle the myths that Britain’s economy can thrive in the modern world alone. They are not wrong, readers;


they are wrong with knobs on. That is why, when Badger looks at his television and sees oafs like Liam Fox peddling the line that trade delegations are queuing around the block to do business


with a newly great ‘Great Britain’, he hears not the voice of reason but the dim-witted recitation of facts learned by rote without context. New Zealand has been mentioned


as a free trade partner. The prospect of a free trade agreement with New Zealand should be treated with caution. A huge influx of New Zealand


lamb will absolutely destroy the Welsh lamb industry. In relation to future of Welsh


agriculture, Badger has heard politicians peddle fine sentiments conveying little sense, but it should go without saying that free trade has a cost.


The cost of bad deals entered


into carelessly would end up with much of our county being denuded of farms and the businesses which rely on them. And as for the effect on our communities: look at the mining villages and towns once the mines closed.


That’s all the context you need. THIS week on Herald


Radio we’ve continued playing all your favorite songs whilst keeping you updated with the news. On the hour, every hour, we bring you the latest stories from around the world and the UK with our national and international bulletin. This is followed by West Wales news so you can find out what’s happening in Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire


and


Ceredigion. Some of the stories we’ve covered this week include that a report into Bronglais Hospital in Aberystwyth has shown that patients in the catchment area are waiting longer for cardiac and neurosurgery


services, and that nurse shortages mean that bank and agency nurses that are being used are having to travel long distances to work at the hospital. We also told you that work has started on the


Government’s Local Government Secretary announced his white paper setting out how councils will deliver services together, coupled with some new ideas on how councils are elected. The plans contained in the paper, out for consultation until April, have proposed that councils give 16-year-olds the vote and elect their members using a Single Transferable Vote instead of the current First Past the Post System. To start with the positives, as


someone who chairs a young politics group in the county, allowing 16-year-olds the vote at a local level is a big leap forward for our democracy. 16-year-olds can join the army, get married, consent to medical treatment and pay tax, yet are currently not allowed to vote. The last time they were allowed


to vote was during the Scottish Independence Referendum, which led to high levels of political engagement amongst young people.


I hope, should the recommendations be accepted, that giving 16-year- olds the vote will lead to increased political engagement with young people. It is vital to hear their views on local issues and to hear their voice. In addition to giving 16-year-


olds the vote, another proposal is to give councils the chance to ditch the old First Past the Post voting system and replace it with the Single Transferable vote. In Pembrokeshire, we have dozens of small single member wards who elect one councillor. That means our towns and communities are carved up into tiny little wards with only one representative. That representative could be elected on a small percentage of the vote; the system isn’t proportional. The Single Transferable Vote


would bring in a preference system, similar to the ones we use to elect Police and Crime Commissioners. It would ditch our old system of tiny


single member wards, meaning that six people, for example, could be your councillors for Milford Haven, instead of the current one for north, one for central, etc. People’s representatives will match their votes better too as the STV system is far more proportional. The negative is that the


Secretary for Local Government has suggested that councils could opt-in to these systems. I personally think it should be one rule for all councils. For example, why would Blaenau Gwent council, where 33 of the 42 seats are held by one party, swap to a system that could make that party lose power? The same could be said for a number of County Councils run by independents too. It’s great news that plans


have been put forward to increase cooperation between our councils and the way we elect them become fairer and more inclusive. But we need to be realistic with what should be law and what should be ‘opt-in’.


new retail park development at Cross Hands West in Carmarthenshire and how an eco pod could be built for visitors to the eco village near Glandwr in Pembrokeshire. If you have a news story you’d like us to cover, then email the Herald Radio news team at news@heraldradio.com. As well as playing you


the best variety of hit music from the 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s and today’s Top 40, we bring you some specialised programming on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights from 8pm until midnight. On Sunday night from 8pm, it’s the ‘70s hour’, followed by an hour of music from the


noughties with the ‘00s hour’. Then, from 10pm, it’s two hours of rock and guitar tunes from the biggest artists and groups from the 1980s until today. We are looking to create a


brand new website for Herald Radio and would love to know what you’d like to see on it. If you have any ideas then you can email them to us at studio@ heraldradio.com, Remember to follow us on


Twitter (@herald_radio) to get a heads up to what stories we are currently running on our West Wales news bulletins and to see images that accompany the stories.


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