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Carmarthenshire Council scandals - Today's papers
Today's Carmarthen Journal covers last Thursday's Extraordinary council meeting which discussed the two Wales Audit office reports. The financial irregularities are currently being investigated by...
View ArticleThe Rogue States of west Wales
The reputations of Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire as rogue states was further confirmed yesterday as the Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer of Pembrokeshire survived votes of No Confidence. Both...
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March Meeting
Well yesterday's council meeting was a fairly brief and quiet affair, there were also quite a number of absentees, maybe they were all tuckered out after three meetings last month. By the way I'm not...
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Unison Carmarthenshire petition against Trade Union cuts
I have been asked , by Unison Carmarthenshire to link to a petition calling for the reinstatement of all Trade Union secondments at Carmarthenshire County Council, which I am happy to do. These cuts...
View ArticleMP calls for 'intervention' as Mark James confirmed as Returning Officer for...
Plaid Cymru MP Jonathan Edwards spoke at last week's Welsh Affairs debate at the House of Commons about recent events in Carmarthenshire.He also called for urgent ministerial intervention regarding...
View ArticleThe District Valuer's report sheds no light on the 'Allowable expenses'
Back in November I reported that the details of the deal between Scarlets Regional Ltd and the Council over the sale of a car park to Marston's Inns had finally spilled out from the Executive Board...
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Returning Officer suitability; MP tables Questions to Cabinet Office
Further to Monday's post; 'MP calls for 'intervention' as Mark James confirmed as Returning Officer for Euro Elections', Plaid Cymru MP Jonathan Edwards has tabled the following written Parliamentary...
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Minutes of the Extraordinary meeting....and a birthday
The Minutes of the Extraordinary meeting of Carmarthenshire Council on the 27th February have now been published and can be found here.I'm not going to comment further at the moment but as the votes...
View ArticleUnison Carmarthenshire - Anger at Labour council's double standards
Last Monday Unison Carmarthenshire launched a petition to reinstate council funded trade union secondments at Carmarthenshire Council, my post is here and includes a link to the petition. Unison...
View ArticleEmail snooping and misuse of the press office - sterilised and repackaged
Aside from recent scandals, this council has a proud history of kicking uncomfortable and embarrassing issues into the long grass. Two such issues were the email snooping episode and the misuse of the...
View ArticleMark James - 'Not to have contact with any member of staff'
As Gloucestershire police continue with their investigations, further information relating to the elusive details of the terms and conditions of Mark James''stand down' emerge.The front page of...
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Police Commissioner pulls funding from Council rag
There was a welcome move from Dyfed Powys Police Commissioner Christopher Salmon today as he announced that he was pulling the £5000 funding the force gives to the council rag, the Carmarthenshire...
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Hospitality
A couple of days ago I noticed, and tweeted, a Freedom of Information request to the Welsh Government asking for the cost, and the guest list, for their hospitality box in the Millenium Stadium. I'm...
View ArticleUnlawful payments - the 'review' of democracy
One recommendation from both Wales Audit Office reports was the urgent necessity for a review into the council's governance arrangements, in other words, making sure the decision making processes are...
View ArticleThe Returning Officer question...and another descent into farce
Local politicians raised the question yesterday of Mark James' suitability as Returning Officer for the European elections, given that he is 'not at his desk because of a criminal investigation'. Plaid...
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Golwg - Profile of Jacqui Thompson
This week's edition of Welsh news and current affairs magazine Golwg features a profile of myself on the fifth anniversary of this blog...if you're so inclined...and is available from all good...
View ArticleMark James should be suspended, say MP and AM
As I reported in yesterday's post, ('The Returning Officer question...and another descent into farce'), Plaid Cymru politicians Jonathan Edwards MP and Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM requested urgent...
View ArticleThe victory parade is over
The council's Audit Committee met today (28th) and learned that the bill from the Wales Audit Office for the two damning Audit reports and associated costs will be somewhere around £70,000. The council...
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Council; 'We have acted to minimise costs...'
The print version of the South Wales Guardian has given the '£70,000 audit costs bill' front page treatment. The print version of the Carmarthen Journal appears to have omitted it altogether. It does...
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Wales Blog Awards 2014 - Finalist
I'm really delighted to say that this blog has been shortlisted as a finalist for the 2014 Wales Blog Awards in the Best Political Blog category, alongside Oggy Bloggy Ogwr and Blog Menai.The final...
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