When the clattering helicopters, and the ominous motorcades with chunky black president-carriers much bigger than we used to have gone, the Wales of that very tempting Welsh Government video remains. President Obama is unlikely to return before the third week of January, 2017, when, under the constitution, he has to leave the Oval Office. (He… Continue reading
After the NATO circus, will this corner of Wales reap a tourism bonanza?
After the screaming motorcades, and clattering presidential helicopters it will be time for touristic payback to Newport and Monmouthshire. The international media spotlight moves on, but the world will certainly have heard of the Celtic Manor resort, base for the NATO Summit, and the beautiful countryside around. I was there in quieter times, before the… Continue reading →
How to turn bright ideas to address climate change into viable companies
We cannot possibly know to what extent good ideas and smart technology might help us mitigate the effects of climate change, and even slow it down. Just as in the 1980s we had no inkling of how developments in computer chips and electronics would enable vast numbers of us to communicate with one another instantly… Continue reading →
Swansea’s field of dreamers, poets and six sixes in an over
On August 31st, 1968, West Indies cricketer Garfield St Aubrun Sobers became the first player in the, roughly, 200 year history of the sport to hit every ball of an over for six, playing for Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan at the St Helens ground in Swansea. To date the feat has only been repeated once in conventional,… Continue reading →
New hope for bees as living walls start to climb
In the four years since I’ve been tweeting, by far the greatest interest in anything I have had to say came when I posted this photograph I took on Sloane Square in London in July 2014, with this message. “J.Crew’s Bee Wall on its new store on Sloane Square, with Buglife, See more at: http://www.buglife.org.uk/news-%26-events/news/jcrew-partners-buglife-save-bees#sthash.mwzggfC0.dpuf …… Continue reading →
The man of many scoops – Gareth Jones, fearless Welsh journalist
“So wise so young, they say do never live long.” Shakespeare – King Richard III. The small town of Barry on the South Wales coast, population 47,863, has produced a statistically unlikely number of famous names. They include the Victorian coal baron David Davies, Australian politician Julia Gillard, Welsh Nationalist leader Gwynfor Evans and… Continue reading →