Latest news with #StDavid'sDay
Belfast Telegraph
28-05-2025
- Politics
- Belfast Telegraph
Councillors take control over decisions on flying of flags at war memorials
A decision on the flying of flags at Mid and East Antrim's war memorials is to be made by councillors, rather than an official, in the future. Members have approved a recommendation that the borough council's Neighbourhoods and Communities Committee will approve requests, instead of the council's interim chief executive Valerie Watts. DUP councillor Gregg McKeen proposed accepting the recommendation, seconded by party colleague Reuben Glover. The flying of flags at war memorials is in addition to statutory days for flags to be flown at public buildings. Flags flown at war memorials in the borough are the Union flag (Larne and Ballymena) and the Union and Northern Ireland flags (Carrickfergus). If a Royal British Legion commemoration is held, for example, the armed forces charity's standard can be flown for the duration of the service. Other occasions when a flag may be flown at war memorials in the borough include the North Irish Horse Battle for the Hitler Line commemoration in Carrickfergus, for example. Permission has to be sought in all instances. A report presented to councillors at a meeting in The Braid, Ballymena, last week said district councils have the right to decide whether or not to fly the Union flag on the King and Queen's wedding anniversary (April 9); Coronation Day (May 6); Queen's birthday (July 17); anniversary of the King's accession (September 8); King's birthday (November 14) and other days including St Patrick's Day (March 17), St David's Day (March 1) and St George's Day (April 23).
Pembrokeshire Herald
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Pembrokeshire Herald
‘No-show' First Minister ‘undermined' Senedd scrutiny
WALES' First Minister Eluned Morgan undermined a Senedd inquiry on international relations by declining to give evidence in person, a committee warned. Delyth Jewell, who chairs the culture and international relations committee, expressed concern about a continued lack of detailed evidence from the Welsh Government. She said: 'It is regrettable that the First Minister's decision not to attend our committee in person to give oral evidence, coupled with this lack of essential detail in written evidence, has undermined our ability to carry out meaningful scrutiny. 'That is something I hope very much will change in the future.' Baroness Morgan, whose responsibilities include international relations, instead provided the inquiry with written evidence 'which fell below the standard we expect'. Leading a debate on an annual report about international relations, Ms Jewell said the First Minister reneged on commitments made to the committee by her predecessors. Baroness Morgan signalled a shift last year, publishing a 'delivery plan' with 15 aims rather than following through on a refresh of the international strategy, which contains 270 actions. 'Important commitments made to our committee in terms of involvement have been rolled back,' said Ms Jewell, who criticised a mismatch between the delivery plan and strategy. South Wales East MS Delyth Jewell Warning of a lack of openness, the Plaid Cymru politician said: 'This lack of coherence undermines, again, accountability and makes effective scrutiny all the more difficult.' The Welsh Government accepted six of the committee's eight recommendations. Ms Jewell pointed out that while ministers accepted the first recommendation – which called for regular progress updates – 'the accompanying narrative contradicts that'. Gareth Davies argued that international relations are reserved to Westminster. The Conservative questioned the return Welsh taxpayers receive for the Welsh Government's 20 overseas offices which cost £4.6m in 2024. Conservative MS Gareth Davies Mr Davies told the Senedd: 'I fear that that answer would be, 'very little'. And that is why the Welsh Conservatives support shutting down overseas offices and redirecting the money back to frontline services, where it is needed most. 'This network is expensive and, in far too many cases, it appears to be duplicating work already being done by UK embassies and trade commissioners.' But he backed the committee's calls for St David's Day to become a bank holiday – with discussions between Welsh and UK Labour ministers said to be ongoing. Heledd Fychan was disappointed that Baroness Morgan was not in the chamber to respond to the debate on May 21: 'Not having the First Minister here today, given that we knew that this debate was happening, is very frustrating.' Labour's Alun Davies accused the Conservatives of a lack of understanding about the importance of the Welsh Government's 'essential' overseas office network. Labour MS Alun Davies He said: 'They're seeking out new opportunities to bring work and jobs to this country, to increase the profile of Wales in these places. It's the work that we need done if Wales is to be taken seriously as a global nation.' His colleague Mick Antoniw, the Welsh Government's former chief legal adviser, similarly criticised 'contradictions and confusion' from the Conservative benches. 'International relations are not reserved,' he said. 'International relations are about supporting Welsh interests in devolved areas.' 'Crucial' Jane Hutt, secretary for social justice, trefnydd and chief whip Responding for the Welsh Government, Jane Hutt told the chamber that the First Minister will meet the committee in June as part of a new inquiry into international relations. The minister said: 'Scrutiny is crucially important, and it will happen not just at that committee meeting but here today as we receive your report. 'But it will be an opportunity for the First Minister to discuss the work we are doing to enhance our global relationships and how we seek to achieve our goals.' Ms Hutt described the international strategy, which was first published five years ago, as a bold statement of intent to raise Wales' profile and grow the economy. She agreed with Mr Antoniw: 'We need a wider international debate and I am sure the First Minister will be reflecting on that.'
Wales Online
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Wales Online
The woman who was called DJ Love Spoon and now has one of Wales' toughest tasks
The woman who was called DJ Love Spoon and now has one of Wales' toughest tasks Mims Davies is a former DJ at a renowned nightclub. Now her job is to rebuild the Conservative Party in Wales Mims Davies MP, shadow secretary of state for Wales, pictured in the Senedd (Image: Mims Davies ) She's the Conservative Party's Welsh representative in Westminster but Suffolk-born Mims Davies' constituency is some 200 miles from Wales' capital city. Yet Byron Davies, the party's chairman, called her an "honorary Welsh girl". Far from the micro-managed answers politicians are accustomed to giving it was in the St David's Day debate in the Commons a few months ago she staked her claim to Wales. She dished out titbits about her nights out in Wind Street in Swansea, how she only left Wales because of her ex-husband's job ("they do say they are exes for a reason"), how a visit to Newport for her passport ended with a tattoo (a butterfly on her foot, one of two she has), and that she had a nickname of DJ Love Spoon. But Mims Davies has a huge and overriding task – to restore faith in a party the electorate in Wales has shown quite clearly it has lost faith in. As the party gets set for its Welsh conference this weekend in Llangollen there is plenty to do. In the 2024 general election all its MPs lost their seats. Some of its senior figures are preparing for a court case about allegedly betting on the date of that election and, to add insult to injury, polls are projecting that their role as the official opposition in the Senedd could be under serious threat. The latest ITV Cymru Wales/Barn/YouGov poll projected that in the new-look 96-seat Senedd they will get just nine seats, placing them fourth in the rankings . You can see that here. She is refreshingly honest as she speaks about her party's prospects, admitting they have lost trust and are at a low base facing multiple threats. She admits that if she does her job well she will have talked herself out of a job because Wales will once again have Welsh Conservative MPs and the pool of people able to be shadow Welsh secretary will vastly increase. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here. Mims Davies' self-confessed love affair with Wales started when she attended the then University of Swansea. Escaping a tough time as a teenager in Sussex she planned to study in Norwich but arriving in Swansea for her interview she was wooed. She met, and later married, a Welshman and describes her children as half-Welsh. Article continues below Mims Davies has been an MP since 2015 (Image: Mims Davies ) While studying here she worked at events at Brangwyn Hall, did work experience at Morriston Hospital's radio station (followed by a job at The Wave), and made money as a DJ at Barons where she got the DJ Love Spoon nickname. Despite being in Wales in the early 1990s she wasn't involved in the devolution campaign – either way – and her journey into politics was when, as a first-time mum, she was angered by the state of the local playground and she went to "nag her local council and then got co-opted onto a parish council". "Coming out as a Tory in Swansea? God no – I wanted friends," she laughed. "I was due to go to Norwich and I ended up at Swansea. I drove up the M4 for the first time – it was the old bridge then but it was the start of a really exciting life for me. It was the city by the sea, the beautiful Mumbles and all of what Gower has to offer, and an amazing nightlife. You would have two buses a week, if you could get anywhere, where I was from and it was so exciting. "There was so much opportunity in and around the city as well as the beautiful landscape in the city and the sea – it was a whole world that opened up. Where I've got in life wouldn't have happened without the opportunities that opened up for me in Swansea," she said. Now her challenge is being Wales' voice in the shadow cabinet. "People know me as someone with a love of Wales and an understanding of it over the last 30 years but there isn't masses of people to choose from and guess what? It was me. If I was doing health I would be travelling around the country getting to know different hospitals or what's going on. I'm doing exactly the same in Wales – whether it is knocking on doors and learning from my colleagues or going to a Conservative Club. "You get to know your subject and I know a lot about this subject," she said. "My main job is to speak up for Wales in Westminster, for my party in the official opposition, and hold [Welsh secretary] Jo Stevens and the Welsh Office to account. In terms of voices in Westminster I don't feel it's me that's not found my voice. I'm waiting to see, frankly, where the Labour government is. I think they're struggling to be heard. "I hope that people see that there is a credibility. I don't try and pretend to be Welsh but I understand Wales and I'm standing up for Wales and if I do a good job I'm out of a job, I'm very happy with that. I have to balance my own constituency as well but much of these are one and the same issues. Whether sky-high business rates or the tourism tax or the impacts on farming, what the government is doing is affecting Wales, it's affecting my constituency," she said. Mims Davies MP at the despatch box in the Commons Asked about the mood of the party, months after an election wipeout, she said: "I would say in some ways we're a tighter team than ever because, you rightly say, we've got a really big mountain to climb to come back but equally Labour are making such a mess of things, whether it's in Cardiff Bay or imploding and getting things so badly wrong here in Westminster, that actually it's drawing us closer. And we've got a big fight to get heard because of course there's still anger and trust issues with our party. "Let's be honest – we had a massive whack on the nose hence we've got no MPs left [in Wales] but for us to get together and have a plan to fix Wales to really stand out for an inherently Conservative offer, a vision for Wales, we're all really aligned on this," she said. The latest poll Wales put the Conservatives in the Senedd in fourth. "Labour have imploded so badly, so quickly, it's a plague on all of our houses and those other people look like fresh and new. Plaid, who have been propping up Labour for the last 25 years, are apparently the new kids on the block. "Voting Reform may be a great way of getting back at us but that will prop up Labour where people once again are really unhappy and they have no credible plan for Wales. We do. In Darren [Millar] and our team in the Senedd we are unashamedly focussed on holding Labour to account and making sure that where those opportunities to deliver for people actually happen. There has been a tendency to devolve and forget. "You can already say that the First Minister is trying to draw a bridge away from Labour in Westminster because things are going so badly wrong. We have to make sure that we are seen as a credible and the real alternative while people are angry." Mims Davies MP in her DJ Love Spoon era (Image: Mims Davies ) There is just shy of a year to go until the Senedd election. "I think we need to remind people who are looking to Plaid or others – they are the separatists, they're hiding the fact they want another referendum, and they're looking to pull us away. And they're anti-nuclear and many jobs rely on the nuclear sector and the defence sector. So they they need scrutiny as much as we need scrutiny. "We are in uncharted territory with what's happening with the Senedd with the additional politicians," she said, a change her party opposes. "We actually care about Wales. We need to make sure that people understand that we are pro-choice, pro-business, pro-family, pro-Welsh culture and that the way to fix Wales and get rid of that frustration is to vote Conservative. "We've got a year to go. We've got to build trust and we've got to highlight that the NHS has been run in Wales badly. "They've been running the NHS in Wales since Tony Blair was in power and many people have thought it's the Conservatives and are only now waking up to the fact that it's not us. Article continues below "We've got an opportunity here. Yes, it's an incredibly low base and people are cross, but whether it's us standing up for those who've been affected by the grooming gangs or standing up for farmers or the people who have the winter fuel allowance ripped away from them we need to remind people that we are the credible alternative and that we should be given a chance," she said.
Wales Online
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Wales Online
This man started a 'Welsh' news website. He isn't who he says he is
This man started a 'Welsh' news website. He isn't who he says he is 'A new chapter for Welsh journalism' was promised. The reality was rather different The profile picture of National Wales 2.0 'editor' Harry Jazz At first glance the National Wales 2.0 looked like a typical news website. It branded itself as a "relaunch" of the short-lived National — a Wales-wide news service that closed in 2022 — with the same logo and web address. The profile picture of its editor, Harry Jazz, showed a seemingly unremarkable, bespectacled middle-aged man with an amiable smile. On closer inspection, however, the image seemed to defy the laws of both biology and physics. The left ear of "Harry" was stretched beyond credulity and the horizon angled off from his head in two wildly different directions. Much like that picture, the website itself was a sham. So too was its tagline: "Independent. Trusted. Unapologetically Welsh." The person calling themselves Harry had been stealing local news stories and using AI (artificial intelligence) to regurgitate them for ad money. After a bizarre conversation with WalesOnline in which it became clear 'he' had no real connection to Wales, Harry shut down the site. But the episode was part of a phenomenon which should concern us all. The real National In its original form, the National was launched on St David's Day 2021 by a large publisher of local papers, Newsquest, which dubbed the project "a quality national news platform" for Wales. Its stories were published behind an online paywall and in a weekly newspaper with columnists such as the former Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood. Within a few weeks it had 430 paying subscribers. By the end of 2021 the weekly print run had ended and by the next autumn the website had closed with two journalists losing their jobs. Newsquest blamed the "challenging economic climate" and "competition from free news outlets." It then allowed the web domain to lapse. Article continues below Towards the end of 2023 the domain was briefly taken over by an unknown entity which published a series of Wales-related "explainers", each with an uncanny valley quality typical of what is often called AI slop. A comment from one perplexed reader questioned why the site had described the Vale of Glamorgan's Cadoxton river as having "secured a place in global consciousness." Weeks later, the site became inactive again — and this is where Harry Jazz came in. Last month he relaunched the domain as The National Wales 2.0, vowing to "rebuild it as a truly independent, Welsh-led, and community-focused news platform." Writing on the website, he distanced himself from the "low-quality" work of the "bloggers" who previously took over the domain. He claimed he had assembled a "passionate editorial team" of eight who would tell the stories of "every valley." These "homegrown" staff, who remained nameless, would usher in "a new chapter for Welsh journalism" which would be "proudly rooted in the land we serve." 'We're back' A stolen story on the National Wales 2.0 The new National first came to my attention on April 17. I had just left the sentencing of Joshua Pearce, a drug-driver who had crashed in Cwmbran and ran away as his best friend died in the wreckage. I had been the only reporter in the courtroom, but within minutes of my story being published the National had its own version online, which was ranking as a "top story" on Google searches. (A benefit of taking over a legitimate news outlet's domain is that it already has an established search ranking.) The piece was a garbled rewrite of our court report. Its author was named as Harry Jazz, and despite his claims of a well-resourced team, his was the only byline we saw on the dozens of National stories we reviewed. All were uncredited imitations of stories from WalesOnline or other Welsh media, often busting copyright by stealing our photographers' pictures without payment. Some stories were such wholesale rip-offs that they included invitations to join the WalesOnline WhatsApp group. The site had started a page on the social media platform X, where it announced itself with an AI-generated video of a TV screen flickering the words "We're back!" soundtracked by a sinister science fiction-ish synth. A screenshot from the video on X announcing the 'relaunch' of the National Harry's website profile listed several topics he "specialized" in, one of which was supposedly "coronavirus updates." This seemed a strange thing to mention so prominently in 2025. It turned out the bio had been lifted word for word from an old one belonging to Kieran Doody, an actual journalist on Newsquest websites. I emailed Harry to ask for an interview and within a few hours he accepted, though he insisted on "handling the interview via email." The email chain appeared to show he was replying from the Pacific time zone that covers parts of North America. Harry was evasive. When we asked where he was from, he was no more specific than "a background outside the UK." Where was he living? "I am currently based internationally", he replied, adding that he had been inspired to "revive" the National because of his "admiration for Wales' culture." He claimed he had used "a significant portion of [his] personal savings" to buy the domain. When we brought up his fake profile picture, Harry shrugged this off as a "temporary placeholder." Was Harry Jazz his real name? No, it was a "pen name used for editorial purposes" which he dubiously claimed was "common for new digital projects." Pressed on his home country, he told us he was from Pakistan but still refused to say where he currently lived. He was unable to tell us of a single connection between Wales and his "unapologetically Welsh" website. The site was registered in Iceland — a country known for its strong privacy protections — via a service called Namecheap. Last year the New York Times reported on the Nordic island's "booming and largely unregulated industry" which had seen Namecheap and other services shield the identities of people behind "tens of thousands of sketchy internet sites." These reportedly included Russia-linked organisations that had published fake news accusing the USA's then-Vice President Kamala Harris of a hit-and-run. Harry was coy on why he registered with Namecheap, though he admitted he felt "entitled" to privacy. He initially told us he could "provide identity verification privately if necessary." When we asked him to do so, he withdrew the offer. He apologised for his "immature" conduct and took the website offline. 'Grimly funny' In 2022, Rebecca Wilks, a reporter who was part of the original National team, wrote a story about Wales' last coal mine. Like all of the team's stories, it disappeared before the zombie website sprang up. But a screenshot of her mining article was recently used on social media to promote the National's "relaunch." Rebecca had been spammed by a series of emails from the website operator, who told her his name was M. Nadir K and described himself as a "blog investor from Pakistan." He asked whether she would be interested in "rejoining" and "republishing [her] old work on the new site." She did not give permission but her story was used to promote it anyway. (When we asked Harry if his real name was M. Nadir K, he said it was "possibly" the name of a "freelancer" he had once used.) "Obviously I'm really unhappy that my work is being used to front what is clearly a scam," Rebecca told us, though she found something "grimly funny" in the spectacle of "people halfway across the world with no connection to Wales trying to generate traffic using the idea of a national Welsh news service." In recent years, web-scraping AI slop has unfurled into an alarmingly big portion of the internet. One entrepreneur, a Serbian DJ named Nebojša Vujinović Vujo, recently told Wired magazine he owned more than 2,000 websites and was frank enough to admit "using AI to create s****y content on the internet" for ad money. AI content mills sometimes make mistakes which are relatively trivial, like the nonsense about Cadoxton river. At other times they cause real-world confusion. Last year, a Pakistan-based website posted an AI-generated listing for a Halloween parade in Dublin, prompting thousands of people to line the streets for the event — which didn't exist. Another recent case saw a Hong Kong-based slop site run a story about an Irish broadcaster facing accusations of sexual misconduct. Accompanying the piece was a photo of a different Irish TV host who had nothing to do with the case. Mistakes of that sort could lead to a costly defamation payout. It's no wonder AI chop shops often register in Iceland and use re-routes to hide their origin, cutting off recourse against errors or stolen stories. After a news website is taken over by an AI content mill, the inherited Google ranking tends to drop over time, meaning operators scramble to keep buying new domains and dump even more drivel onto the web. Grifters ripping off articles, eating into readership and eroding trust in journalism are a problem for the already struggling news media. But the problem of internet "pollution" is wider. Recent research from Oxford University warned how AI slop sites could muddy shared records like Wikipedia and cause "a feedback loop leading to a gradual erosion of quality and value." Some slop sites have a goal other than ad revenue. They present themselves as neutral local news outlets but are in fact tied to partisan groups or foreign states. Disinformation watchdog NewsGuard recently found 1,265 such sites in the US — more than the number of daily newspapers in the country. Some of the sites pushed pro-Russia disinformation, camouflaged with innocuous names like the Boston Times and Miami Chronicle. 'Easy scam' The National Wales 2.0 website We asked disinformation expert Alistair Coleman his thoughts on the National Wales 2.0. "One thing is certain," he said. "They are most certainly not engaged in disinformation. The motive here is financial, using web-scraped copy on an ad-supported website. It's a relatively easy scam — clone the content of a website, pass it off as genuine, wait for the ad revenue. To that end, they're taking clicks away from your platform, and in that way denying you of income. Now 'Harry's' been found out, he will undoubtedly shelve this project, move on to another." He described such operations as "legion." Newsquest — which as of last month employed 36 'AI-assisted' reporters across its titles — said it had no connection to the new National. Reach, the news group that owns WalesOnline, uses AI to speed up the rewriting of stories from different titles in the network. Its policy is that all these articles are carefully reviewed by staff before publication. What about Harry's next move on the new frontier of journalism? Remaining cordial throughout our email exchange, he asked if I would like to take over the National's domain (I declined). He then said he might turn it into "a tourism-focused blog — assuming that's not seen as inappropriate or problematic." We asked Google what actions it is taking to identify unscrupulous website operators who target a high search ranking and whether it has a strategy to disincentivise this. It did not respond. Article continues below If you would like to talk to WalesOnline about an issue that should be investigated, you can contact our investigations editor at
Leader Live
09-05-2025
- General
- Leader Live
Bagillt holds beacon lighting event to mark VE Day 80
The event took place at the Bettisfield beacon near Bagillt on Thursday evening (May 8) to commemorate 80 years since Victory in Europe was secured in the Second World War. It included live music, military vehicles, and peformances from a bag piper, as well as a cornet player from Holywell Town Band playing The Last Post. The Bettisfield dragon beacon was then lit as dusk fell to mark the anniversary. MORE NEWS: Among those in attendance was North Wales Police and Crime Commisioner, Andy Dunbobbin. He said: "A heartfelt thank you to the organisers, entertainment and all involved in making the VE Day event such a memorable occasion. "The brilliant musical performance, the impressive display of wartime vehicles, and the overall attention to detail created a powerful and respectful tribute to those who served. Your efforts brought history to life and united the community in remembrance and gratitude.' (Image: Beth Baker) Bagillt community councillor, Bryn Gittins, said on behalf of the Bagillt Action Group: "It was an amazing night bringing the community together to mark this special occasion. "It was a very memorable evening enjoyed by all. It is great to be in partnership with Flintshire Ranger Team who manage this amazing site on our doorstep, we are very lucky to have it. "Thank you Peter Carlyle for your ongoing support at our beacon lighting events." The dragon was designed and made by local artist Peter Carlyle from sheets of steel plate, hand shaped and welded together. The plinth was built by local stone mason Paul Evans. The beacon was first lit on June 4, 2012 to celebrate the diamond jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II and is lit each year on St David's Day. It is one of a series of beacons along the Flintshire coast.
