text:
Family silver
On 30/07/2019 02/08/2019 By JacIn Environmentalism, Tourism, Welsh Government, Wind Turbines64 Comments
PLEASE APPRECIATE THAT I GET SENT MORE INFORMATION AND LEADS THAN I CAN USE. I TRY TO RESPOND TO EVERYONE WHO CONTACTS ME BUT I CANNOT POSSIBLY USE EVERY BIT OF INFORMATION I'M SENT. DIOLCH YN FAWR
In this post I want to pull together a number of threads without, I hope, complicating the story too much.
TOWER COLLIERY
Let's start by going back to this post I wrote last December and scroll down to the section headed 'The left betrays Wales, again'. What I tried to explain was the recent history of the Tower Colliery site since deep mining finished in January 2008.
I wrote that the closure was followed by a short period of opencast mining, to extract some six million tons of anthracite coal. This began in May 2012 and ended in March 2017, when new environment regulations meant that Aberthaw power station could no longer take Tower's coal.
From what I can make out, this opencast operation was a partnership between the original Tower Colliery Ltd (Incorporated 28.11.1994), Tower Regeneration Ltd (Inc 20.08.2009), and a company from north east England called Hargreaves Services Plc As explained here.
The open cast site seems to be owned by Tower Regeneration with a loan from Forward Sound Ltd, a company linked to Hargreaves.
Tower Colliery Ltd is ultimately owned by Goitre Tower Anthracite Ltd. The 488 Goitre shareholders are I assume former miners and the relatives of former miners. With the maximum individual holding apparently limited to 8,260 of the 2,164,075 shares.
With open cast mining finished, what is to become of this high and windy, but scenically attractive, area?
The answer would appear to be . . . zip wires!
'TOP O' THE WORLD, MAM'
The title of this section is taken from that great film noir, White Heat, and the line spoken by Cody Jarrett, played by James Cagney, before the gas tank on which he's standing explodes. (Obviously, in the movie, Jarrett says 'Ma', not 'Mam'.)
I use it because Rhigos can give that top of the world feeling. And that's where we are, on the A4061 that makes its way from the A465 Heads of the Valleys road down into the Rhondda. On the map below you'll see, marked with a red cross, the Rhigos Viewpoint, a large lay-by giving superb views over the surrounding country.
Image courtesy of Google Earth. Click to enlarge.
Not only that, but in bad weather the Rhigos Viewpoint serves as a temporary depot for Rhondda Cynon Taf gritting lorries, allowing them to travel in both directions and avoid the climb up from their regular depots in the valley below.
Why then was the Viewpoint recently put up for sale?
We see that the online sale document is dated 27 June and Lesley Griffiths' letter to Lee Waters AM is dated 16 July. Between these dates concerned locals noticed the sale, someone living in Llanelli contacted his AM, Lee Waters, who wrote to Ken 'Flint Ring' Skates; the civil servants in Cardiff or wherever realised they'd been rumbled, pulled the advert, and Lesley Griffiths replied to Lee Waters denying any sale.
A little episode that does not reflect well on those who manage Wales for their bosses in London. Lesley Griffiths in particular is getting a bit of a reputation for being averse to the truth.
Returning to Rhigos . . . If we look at this image of the viewpoint and lay-by we see, centre right, Craig y Llyn, the jumping-off point for one of the three planned zip wires.
Image Courtesy of Google. Click to enlarge.
Maybe the real question is, if the Rhigos Viewpoint is to be included in the Zip World project, why was it advertised for sale clearly hoping nobody would notice? Was the plan for it to be bought by some intermediary who would then profit from selling it on to Zip World?
But that suggestion hints at corruption – naughty boy, Jac! – and this is Wales, where corruption is unknown.
There is no question in my mind that the sale of the Rhigos Viewpoint links with the promised arrival of Zip World.
And while the plans shown in the WalesOnline report for the car park, toilets and office accommodation clearly refer to the property owned by Tower Colliery (scroll down to the plan), I believe the Zip World project goes way beyond what is owned by the former miners and their families.
UPDATE 02.08.2019: A message reaches me saying that the advertisement was no 'mistake' but was in fact the 'Welsh Government' covering its arse by meeting its legal requirements. The land can now be handed over – to Zip World? – and the WG can say, 'We advertised it, but no one was interested'.
ZIP WORLD
As we know, this is the company that runs zip wires at Penrhyn near Bethesda, and Betws-y-Coed, with underground trampolines at Blaenau Ffestiniog.
There were big changes in Zip World companies towards the end of last year affecting Zip World Ltd, Zip World Fforest Ltd, and Zip World Group Holdings Ltd. What is termed "a management buy-out" took place which means that the parent company is now ZWPV Ltd (Inc 24.10.2018).
But it's not that straightforward, for at the foot of the final page of the most recent accounts we read that, "Due to the shareholdings in place at ZWPV Limited, the directors consider Sean Taylor to be the ultimate controlling partner". That is, Sean Wallace Taylor.
So, if not a one-man band, then the Zip World companies would certainly appear to be under the control of a single individual. And it gets a little more complicated when we look at this new parent company, ZWPV Ltd.
There are six other directors, who all give as their address, 'Zip World Base Camp, Denbigh Street, Llanrwst, Wales, LL26 0LL'. But for head honcho Taylor, the address given is, '8th Floor, One Central Square, Cardiff, United Kingdom, CF10 1FS'.
And among the directors giving the Llanrwst address is Giles Alexander Thorley, who joined the company 21 February 2019. This is odd, because Thorley is CEO of the Development Bank of Wales. So either he's moonlighting or else he's there in an official capacity. I hope it's the latter, which probably means Thorley's there representing the 'Welsh Government'.
But let's return to Taylor's Cardiff address. Seeing as parent company ZWPV has its address in Llanrwst like everything else and everybody else, why would Taylor's individual address be in Cardiff?
Or to put it another way, who else might we find on the 8th Floor at One Central Square to explain Taylor using it as his address? Well, the whole floor is the domain of solicitors Blake Morgan, a company that of course has many clients, including the 'Welsh Government' and its various agencies.
Which makes a certain sense, and other pieces are falling into place as I write this to support that presumption.
Before moving on to consider what might really be happening up at Rhigos I want to go back to ZWPV. (What does the 'PV' stand for?) It was Incorporated 24 October 2018 with Sean Taylor holding the only share. On St David's Day there was an allotment of over 14 million shares, including 92,500 preference shares.
While under 'Filing history', for 12 March, you'll see 'Resolutions', an arrangement entered into with LDC Parallel (Nominees) Ltd, designed to raise money through selling those 92,500 preference shares.
Companies using the term 'Nominees' have, or find, investors who remain anonymous.
So if I'm following this thread properly: the main Zip World companies are now huddled under the umbrella of ZWPV Ltd controlled by Sean Wallace Taylor who, through an agreement with LDC Parallel (Nominees) Ltd, is looking to sell shares to investors who will remain anonymous.
There are a number of other companies bearing the 'LDC Parallel' name, numbered I to VIII, with all but the last of them based in Aberdeen.
Finally, we learnt earlier this month of another interesting figure who has joined the Zip World board. This being Greg Evans, who, as this blurb tells us, is . . .
"A former US Navy Petty Officer and Centrica Energy Director of Nuclear and Renewables, he is recognised as a thorough leader in safety leadership in both nuclear and renewable power generation.
His work in renewables saw him leading major infrastructure project (sic), including the design, development and commissioning phases of the £1.2 billion Lincs Wind Farm."
Intriguing. Though like me, I'm sure you're wondering why a man with a background in nuclear and renewable energy has joined a tourist operation like Zip World.
I think the answer lies in: " . . . to strengthen the management team and take the business to the next level". With the emphasis on 'next level'. Which might be another way of saying diversification.
One disturbing possibility pulls together Evans' background in the nuclear industry and the fact that Zip World uses quarries and mines. Could this be about the storage of nuclear waste?
HOW MIGHT IT ALL FIT TOGETHER?
OK, so what's the big picture?
A company that has been well favoured by the 'Welsh Government' in its northern ventures has decided to move south. Details were announced in February this year and probably accounts for the reorganisation in the Zip World group.
Also, in October last year, both Zip World Ltd and Zip World Fforest Ltd cleared charges with Finance Wales Investments (10) Ltd. Seeing as Giles Alexander Thorley, CEO of the Development Bank of Wales, is also a director of FWI (10) Ltd, maybe these charges had to be cleared before he could join the revamped set-up in February this year.
Though note also the involvement of Blake Morgan.
Let's take another look at the layout of the land at Rhigos. It will help explain what I believe is planned.
The picture below is taken from the Viewpoint looking looking west. It shows the ridge of Craig y Llyn, from where one of the zip wires will start, and below it lies the lake to which the name refers, Llyn Fawr. (There's a Llyn Fach further over.)
You'll notice that one side of the lake is straight, and that's because it's a reservoir, as is Llyn Fach, they both supplied Tower Colliery.
It's time now to introduce someone you're probably familiar with. Someone else who can be found on the eighth floor with Blake Morgan.
I'm referring to Shire Oak International Ltd (SHI). And whaddya know – one of the two directors of SHI is Mark Shorrock, who was of course the mastermind behind the proposed Swansea tidal lagoon, rejected by the UK government last June.
So is he involved at Rhigos, has Sharrock's gaze been distracted from Mumbles? Of course, sharing the Cardiff address with Sean Taylor of Zip World could be pure coincidence, but I think not.
For while we all associate Mark Shorrock with tidal lagoons, he is a man with fingers in many pies. There's quarries, for a start, such as Dean Quarry in Cornwall, from where he hoped to get the stone for the Swansea lagoon wall.
Another 'pie' is renewable energy; solar, wind and pumped storage. And companies such as Shire Oak Pumped Storage (Llanddulas) Ltd, which was struck off in April. This is a fate that befalls many of Shorrock's companies. The boy's had some bad luck.
Which may be why the 'Welsh Government', in the form of Carwyn Jones (remember him?), promised to chip in with £200m when the UK government shafted his plans for Swansea Bay.
Not only that, but he got quite comfy down in the City of my Dreams, and was well regarded by Swansea University. Where the Uni had the third floor of the Civic Centre on Oystermouth Road all to themselves, for their Centre for Regional Innovation, under recently departed Marc Clement.
A local source tells me that at one time there were no fewer than seven Shorrock companies on the third floor. Though getting information on them from either the council or the university proved futile, they always had an excuse.
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR RHIGOS?
Whether Shorrock has teamed up with Zip World or not at Rhigos I'm certain that the 'Welsh Government' is involved because, through Natural Resources Wales, it owns so much of the land up there; including the two lakes, the escarpment and the forests.
But even if Shorrock is not involved, if his being at the same Cardiff address as Sean Wallace Taylor is pure coincidence, then whatever is planned for Rhigos still goes way beyond zip wires.
The clues are there:
There's the reorganisation of the Zip World group towards the end of last year.
Then the new company linked up with LDC Parallel (Nominees) Ltd to find secret investors.
We have the CEO of the Development Bank of Wales becoming a director of the new Zip World parent company. (To look after 'Welsh Government' interests, in the form of land and assets to be handed over?)
Then there's the curious aborted sale of a prime piece of property in the form of the Rhigos Viewpoint that saw a 'Welsh Government' Minister misleading us.
Finally, a new director joins Zip World very recently who has no experience in tourism, but whose field of expertise is nuclear and renewable energy.
To understand what I think is happening at Rhigos you have to remember that the 'Welsh Government' has massive assets in publicly-owned land, much of it held by Natural Resources Wales, which of course took over Forestry Commission land. Forestry managed by NRW accounts for 6% of the total area of Wales.
There is pressure from various quarters to 'monetise' these assets, and if that can be done behind a green smokescreen then so much the better. We see it all over Wales in forests where thousands of trees have been felled to make way for wind turbines and the roads serving them. More damage is done in building, transporting and erecting wind turbines than they ever recoup in their short working lives.
From Natural Resources Wales website. Click to enlarge
The high ground at Rhigos provides the perfect opportunity to 'monetise' some NRW assets. There may indeed be zip wires, but they won't come alone. There will be cabins, maybe a hotel and other facilities, perhaps wind turbines and some scheme involving Llyn Fawr and Llyn Fach. Perhaps even the storage of nuclear waste.
With the package dressed up as an 'adventure resort' such as Gavin Woodhouse promised for the nearby Afan Valley. For, remember, with the M4 and the Heads of the Valleys road providing access, plus almost two million people within 40 miles of Rhigos, there is a much bigger customer potential than for any venture in the north.
Whatever is planned for Rhigos, the 'Welsh Government' should pause and ask itself what it's getting involved in, and with whom. For example, is there any concern over ZWPV's anonymous backers?
If Shorrock's involved, then is he being thrown a bone for losing out on the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon? And if so, do we owe him anything?
And if we're going to give honesty a romp in the summer sunshine, then maybe we can also have explained to us the relationship between the 'Welsh Government' and its assorted agencies on the one hand, and certain favoured Cardiff legal firms and people like Sean Wallace Taylor and Mark Christopher Shorrock on the other?
How do it all fit together, innit?
To conclude; my reading of the Rhigos situation is that deals are being struck in the background, with our assets; and this will result in some people making a lot of money, yet once again, we, the Welsh people, will lose out.
But this is unavoidable in a colonialist environment when the local political class can be dictated to by their colonial masters and also wound around the fingers of the money men.
An independent Wales run by such people – or those hoping to replace them – would see us receiving food parcels from Venezuela. And they'd probably celebrate such shows of 'solidarity'.
♦ end ♦
Why I won't be in Caernarfon
On 26/07/2019 26/07/2019 By JacIn Brexit, Plaid Cymru, Welsh Independence, Welsh Labour50 Comments
For some weeks I had been planning on going to Caernarfon tomorrow, for the Independence rally organised by All Under One Banner Cymru (AUOB Cymru). I have now decided to give it a miss.
I'll give you my reasons in a minute.
AUOB Cymru takes the name of its Scottish inspiration but does not emulate that body by welcoming all those who support the cause of independence. Instead, AUOB Cymru has been captured by Plaid Cymru and is now used to serve the interests of that party.
It does this by attracting people who believe in independence but are not supporters of Plaid Cymru, which gives an inflated impression of Plaid Cymru's level of support. While by refusing to work with other pro-independence parties Plaid Cymru can present itself as the sole voice of Welsh independence.
As I say, despite knowing this, I was still intending to go to Caernarfon, but a few things have changed my mind.
UPDATE: I was under the impression that All Under One Banner in Scotland was run by dedicated people committed to the national cause. But it is alleged that AUOB was run by gangsters. Read Jason Michael McCann.
In the past few weeks The National has carried a number of reports of upheaval as the alleged 'gangsters' have either left or been removed. All Under One Banner crunch talks as Manny Singh is suspended and All Under One Banner founder Neil Mackay resigns.
Is All Under One Banner an example worth following in Wales? Come to that, does YesCymru need All Under One Banner Cymru to organise these marches?
First, was this amazing article by Plaid leader Adam Price on the Nation.Cymru website, entitled The key to our success is unity. Despite calling for unity Price is in fact asking Plaid Cymru members to submit to the yoke of the woke. And although he's not mentioned by name, the piece is directed at Neil McEvoy.
There are some incredible passages in this article. Here's one that struck me, Price makes it sound like a full-blown conspiracy.
Tell us, Adam, who compiled this 'report'? Because I suggest the authorship is critical to its credibility. And who are these shadowy figures trying to take over Plaid Cymru?
(And Plaidistas accuse me of being a 'conspiracy theorist'!)
Elsewhere he complains, "The regrettable reality is that we live in a time where vitriol and bile are the backdrop to politics globally." Indeed we do, Adam; so why not have a word with former Plaid Cymru chairman and election candidate Marc Phillips, who earlier this year called me "a neanderthal prick"?
Yes, the tweet is addressed to me and not Leanne Wood. Click to enlarge
This tweet dates to the exchange I had with your predecessor, Ms Wood, in which she called me "an arsehole". More recently, I've had to put up with slanders I dealt with in this post earlier in the week.
Insults like these will be cheered and retweeted by others in your party, yet you have the gall to write a piece bemoaning vitriol and bile in politics! Clearly, vitriol and bile are just fine – as long as it's Plaid Cymru dishing it out!
Sheer fucking hypocrisy!
But then, if anyone criticises a female Plaid Cymru politician the party tries to close down debate by shouting 'misogynist!' Any criticism of a gay politician is homophobic, etc., etc.
Listen, Adam: Your party is now dominated by back-stabbing, intolerant hypocrites whipped up into a frenzy of self-righteousness; but they are so morally corrupt and intellectually dishonest that it could be only a matter of time before Plaid Cymru self-destructs.
Any doubts that Adam Price was referring to Neil McEvoy were dispelled when, within hours of Price's piece appearing, Nation.Cymru's editor, Ifan Morgan Jones, put out 'Why Plaid Cymru's leadership fear a Neil McEvoy takeover bid'.
It looks increasingly like IMJ is now a mouthpiece for Plaid Cymru. In fact, the two articles look linked, as if they were planned to appear one after the other, with IMJ saying what Adam Price would rather not say.
If Ifan Morgan Jones has become Plaid's mouthpiece then it probably explains his accusing me of anti-Semitism when I wrote about George Soros in a recent post. The fact that I never mentioned Soros's Jewishness (because it's irrelevant), and the fact that I am a lifelong supporter of the state of Israel, troubled him not at all.
(If you've a mind to, you can catch up with it here.)
Although disingenuously prefacing the list with, "It is not my place to judge what foundation there is to the accusations against him, and Neil McEvoy has publicly disputed their validity", Ifan Morgan Jones nevertheless listed the 'charges'.
To follow the links you'll need to go to the article itself. Click to enlarge.
It looks damning . . . until you remember that every single one is either politically motivated or else driven by personal animus. There is nothing there that would stand up in a court of law.
But the message seems clear – Neil McEvoy will never be re-admitted to Plaid Cymru. The timing, just two days before the Caernarfon rally was no coincidence. It might even have been a warning to the eleven Plaid Cymru councillors in Gwynedd who signed a letter in support of McEvoy, and might be planning a welcome for him on Saturday.
Perhaps it's also confirmation that former leader Leanne Wood's supporters are still calling the shots inside the party despite her humiliation in last year's leadership contest.
And of course, Plaid Cymru will always do the bidding of the Labour Party. So when the First Minister's seat is threatened by Neil McEvoy Plaid Cymru is quite happy to inflict further damage on Wales by protecting Mark Drakeford.
Another reason that the Caernarfon rally comes at a useful time for Plaid Cymru is that the party is not standing a candidate in next week's Brecon and Radnor by-election, having stood aside as part of an anti-Brexit alliance to give one Unionist party a clear run at another Unionist party, but the plan may backfire because a third Unionist party is standing.
(God! this is worthy of Metternich.)
This noble sacrifice has not been universally welcomed in Plaid ranks. And the obsession with Brexit is testing the patience of many who voted Remain. There is a perception that independence is now low on Plaid Cymru's 'to do' list.
But things could get worse. For former party leader, Lord Wigley, hints at further pacts in the event of an autumn general election.
So marching around Caernarfon tomorrow with the YesCymru banners fluttering will be a great PR coup for a party pissing off supporters for a variety of reasons.
Because in addition to doing deals with the party that was in coalition with David Cameron and now keeps Labour in power down Corruption Bay, Plaid has become a socialist party. But this is not the socialism Welsh people are familiar with, for it owes more to Islington and US campuses than to the Fed or Gwyn Alf.
By which I mean, Plaid Cymru is obsessed with the 'ishoos' of the woke; it has little or nothing to offer the working class, or struggling Welsh communities.
Others ask why Plaid Cymru is silent on the colonisation of Wales, and the destruction of Welsh communities. For it seems to many that Plaid Cymru is fighting everybody's battles but our own. While many wonder why Plaid has become a 'Cardiff' party, prepared to see the rest of the country lose out in so many ways.
And why is Plaid Cymru so close to Deryn Consulting, the scheming whisperers that helped Plaid's Labour mentors hound Carl Sargeant? Is it because that's what best suits Labour?
And then there's Neil McEvoy . . .
Don't get me wrong, I'm not asking for apologies from Plaid Cymru, I'm a big boy, after all. I'm just asking for an end to the 'vitriol and the bile' Adam Price condemns. If you don't agree with what I write then argue your point, or ignore me, but anything more of what we see below and I will take action.
I suggest this qualifies as 'vitriol and bile', also slander. Click to enlarge
I would still like to attend future independence rallies because I believe in independence today as much as I did back in the 1960s. But for that to happen All Under One Banner must become more broadly based, and it can only do that by ceasing to be Plaid Cymru by another name.
Because as things stand, I'd hate to be mistaken for a Plaid Cymru supporter.
Brexit, Boris, Nigel . . . and independence!
On 22/07/2019 22/07/2019 By JacIn Brexit, British Nationalism, Corruption, Devolution, Englandandwales, English Nationalism, Labour Party, Plaid Cymru, Third Sector, Welsh Government, Welsh Independence, Welsh Labour, Welsh Nationalism73 Comments
Regular readers will know that I voted for Brexit back in June 2016. I did so for the reasons I set out in EU Referendum: Why I Want OUT! which was followed in celebratory mood with Brexit, Wexit: Things Can Only Get Better!
The clue to my motivation lies in my use of the word 'Wexit', for I believed then, and I believe even more strongly today, that Brexit, especially a disastrous and damaging Brexit, can lead to Welsh independence. And Welsh independence is my priority; more important by far than membership of the EU.
In addition to voting for Brexit I confirmed my trip to Tartarus by supporting Trump, and more recently, by voting for the Brexit Party in the recent EU elections. Then there's my backing for Neil McEvoy, and the regular criticism of Plaid Cymru.
Oh, yes, and of course I attack the Labour Party on a regular, almost daily, basis.
So, all in all, I suppose I've made a few enemies.
My rap sheet is enough to reduce certain people to bouts of carpet-chewing rage. These, it should be said, tend to be Plaid Cymru members and supporters; more especially what some call the 'Leannistas', the woke left, currently nursing their wounds after so many recent defeats and now lashing out blindly at people like me.
Which is ironic in a way, for I am only following Lenin's dictum, "The worse, the better". By which he meant that the population at large will be more receptive to revolutionary change when the system they're familiar with starts disintegrating.
It may be cruel, it may be cynical, but old Vlad was spot on. For the Bolsheviks would never have come to power if Russia had stayed out of World War One and the Czar had introduced adequate reforms.
BY THE LEFT
There are no half measures with these people who attack me.
If you don't support Extinction Rebellion bringing cities to a standstill then you're a climate change denier. Vote for Brexit and you're a fascist/racist/white supremacist. Refuse to accept that 'chicks with dicks' are 100% women and you're a transphobe. The list of crimes people like me can commit – without even knowing it! – is endless. And these 'crimes' increase by the month.
Though many of my critics are happy to engage in rational debate, and there's even banter. But then there's the darker side, those who just want to screech at me.
Here's a recent example from Twitter of what I'm talking about.
I don't know who Aled Gwyn Williams is (is he the one in the cap?), and I've no idea what motivated him to put such ugly slanders on social media for my grandchildren to be teased about.
I shall deal with the first paragraph in a minute.
As for the second paragraph, I am none of the things he lists. Though perhaps he's trying to say the same thing with "fascist", "racist", and "authoritarian & white-supremacist". (I can almost hear the spluttering as he repeats himself.)
As for being "homophobic", well, just ask my gay friends.
The final smear is that I am a "defender of violence against women", but I have no idea what the hell he's trying to say. Does he think I stand outside windows listening to domestic arguments and shouting, "Go on, pal, punch her!"
Displayed here we see the absolute self-belief of the true fanatic (political or religious); convinced that he/she is right and anyone he/she disagrees with is not only wrong, but evil.
Which makes them no different to those they claim to oppose. For the right, we're told, is intolerant, that it 'others' people, who can then be vilified and humiliated. Precisely what Aled Gwyn Williams tried to do to me in that tweet.
Support for the old axiom that says there's no real difference between the extremes of left and right. They operate in almost exactly the same way.
But yes, I did vote for Brexit; and yes, I did support Trump; and yes, I did vote for the Brexit Party in last month's EU elections; and yes, I certainly want Boris Johnson to become prime minister: and yes, I did help form Ein Gwlad – because I want Welsh independence!
An increasing number of people across the political spectrum now agree that Brexit delivered by Boris Johnson with his head up Trump's arse will threaten the Union.
'Welsh' Labour leader Mark Drakeford has said it. His predecessor Carwyn Jones conceded that the "shambles" in Westminster was making more people in Wales think about independence. Former Liberal Democrat leader and deputy PM Nick Clegg knows the Union is under threat. Former PM Gordon Brown agrees with him. I could go on, but you get my drift.
The exclusive English nationalism preached by Boris Johnson makes many more Scots, Irish, and Welsh question the English connection.
This is a good thing. As this Irish tweet I picked up over the weekend understands. (Though I'm not sure about Wales as a fifth province!)
When Johnson is announced as new Tory Party leader and prime minister tomorrow he will face a choice. Either to soldier on with a rebellious minority in his party capable of derailing his plans, or to call a general election in the hope of removing his critics and increasing his majority.
Despite the obvious discord in the Labour Party there's no guarantee that Johnson could increase his majority, that's because any election will be fought on the issue of Brexit, which will see certain parties standing aside to give a single anti-Brexit candidate a clear run at the Tory opponent.
His best option then might be an electoral pact with the Brexit Party. The Tories could concentrate on the suburbs and the shires, while Farage's crew could focus on those 'left behind' areas that voted for Brexit in 2016.
Such a pact will confirm the split in the Conservative Party.
For as I've said somewhere before, in recent decades 'Europe' has been to the Tories what Irish Home Rule was to the 19th century Liberal Party. The Liberals split in 1886 with the breakaway Liberal Unionist Party eventually merging with the Conservative and Unionist Party.
A victory for the pact would give Boris Johnson – and his thirsty deputy, Nigel Farage – the majority needed to turn the UK into an offshore tax haven where everybody whistles The Dam Busters tune before settling down to yet another meal of chlorinated chicken.
A LITTLE BIRD
While it's difficult to understand the unprovoked attack from Aled Gwyn Williams, he is not alone. Not so long ago a very similar assault was mounted by someone called Huw Marshall who, again, is a complete stranger to me.
Ifan Morgan Jones also came out swinging with a ludicrous charge of Antisemitism over something I'd written that included George Soros. But in my piece I never mentioned that Soros was Jewish. To which I might add that, as a good conservative, I support the state of Israel because it's an ally of the West.
But why would complete strangers want to attack me, and do so by telling lies? I mean, if you don't like me, or you don't agree with me, then don't read this blog, don't follow me on Twitter, etc. Am I that influential?
Which makes me wonder whether we are really dealing with a few individuals who've taken an intense dislike to me/my views or if there's more to it.
Let's think about it for a minute. I criticise Plaid Cymru. I helped form Ein Gwlad. I continually attack the Labour Party. I am an outspoken supporter Neil McEvoy. I regularly refer to Cardiff Bay as 'Corruption Bay' (or "a cess-pit"). For years I have exposed the corruption, cronyism and waste of public funding in the third sector . . .
Thinks . . . who might share my interest in those things, but from a perspective opposite to mine, and might be able to influence, directly or indirectly, people who don't know me?
One obvious suspect is Deryn Consulting, the lobbying firm that acts as a link between Labour, Plaid Cymru, the third sector, and others that together make our country a corrupt and impoverished laughing-stock and a magnet for crooks and chancers.
At this point I should add that I've also attacked Deryn more than once.
To understand how Deryn operates – they are lobbyists and 'influencers' after all – just think of Welsh public life focused on Cardiff Bay as a web, with Deryn as a fat, hairy-legged spider at the centre.
Deryn was instrumental in the sacking of Carl Sargeant and must bear considerable responsibility for his suicide. Deryn also co-ordinates the unremitting campaign against Neil McEvoy.
If you doubt how influential Deryn is in Welsh political life then read this piece by the lawyer representing the Sargeant family at the resumed inquest the week before last into Carl Sargeant's death. There are passages there that almost jump off the screen.
Particularly the section below.
Extract from Dr Neil Hudgell's account of the Sargeant inquest. Some might argue that Deryn set itself up as accuser, judge and jury. Click to enlarge.
Why would Carwyn Jones make TWO phone calls to Deryn almost immediately after hearing of Carl Sargeant's death? Was it, 'Oh, dear, ladies . . . tell me what to do now.'
Maybe I should explain that the Cathy Owens mentioned by Dr Hudgell is the leading director of Deryn, while the other woman also figured in Guido Fawkes' coverage of December 2018, where we read: "Jo Kiernan: Deryn employee and named at last week's Inquest as co-ordinating a bullying campaign against Sargeant when she worked as Carwyn Jones' chief SpAd."
Carl Sargeant complained about this bullying at the time it was happening, in 2014, other AMs also complained on his behalf, but of course Carwyn Jones later denied that any complaints had been made. But then, Kiernan was a powerful woman, she was even allowed to deal with complaints made against her.
One of those who stood by Carl Sargeant was his friend and former AM Leighton Andrews. For standing up for his dead friend, and pointing the finger of guilt in the right direction, Andrews himself became a target for the extended Deryn network.
I'm not saying that Aled Gwyn Williams, Huw Marshall, Ifan Morgan Jones, and the rest of my critics are taking orders from the nest (or maybe it's the bunker nowadays) but they seem to share the Deryn mindset that will not tolerate critics or divergent views.
And never forget that Deryn is a creation of devolution, prospering thanks to weak and malleable politicians in a devolved system still controlled from London. Deryn would not survive independence.
'HIS NAME IS ROYSTON JONES AND HE'S NOT ON OUR SIDE'
Is what Aled Gwyn Williams wrote in the first paragraph of his tweet.
His tweet is addressed to "Welsh Self-determinationists", which I assume to mean those who want Wales to be independent. But I have been a nationalist all my life, check with anyone who's been around since the 1960s.
It follows, then, that when he says I'm not on 'their' side, he must mean some grouping other than those wanting independence. As Williams is a hard-line socialist he can only be alluding to the comrades.
I am a lifelong opponent of socialism.
So my real 'crime', in Williams' eyes, is being hostile to socialism.
Williams seems to be active in YesCymru and supports All Under One Banner Cymru. Two groups some fear have become too close to Plaid Cymru.
All of which fits together, because despite the humiliating defeat suffered by Leanne Wood in the party leadership contest last year those who share her views still control the party.
The small increase in membership in the wake of Adam 'Soundbite' Price's victory may already have been offset by resignations over the party's treatment of Neil McEvoy, which will of course only strengthen the influence of the 'Leannistas'.
I'm not the only one who sees this drift to the left. Here's a tweet put out a week or so ago by writer Siôn Jobbins, asking if he'll be welcome at Plaid's Summer School, seeing as he's not a socialist.
Though it could be that not all the leftists trying to capitalise on the increase in support for independence belong to Plaid Cymru, there may be even more exotic elements trying to muscle in.
Below we see a picture from a recent AUOB Cymru tweet showing some kind of street furniture or utility box in Cardiff presenting an interesting display. In the centre we see nationalist hero, John Jenkins, leader of Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru, who was sent down for 10 years in 1970 for his role in a 1960s bombing campaign.
John, now 85, has lived in Wrecsam for many years.
We also see a couple of YesCymru stickers, a football fans for independence sticker and Wrexham fans against the Sun (newspaper). But it's the other three that intrigue me.
On the top left we see the Starry Plough of the Irish Citizen Army, led by James Connolly in the Easter Rising of 1916. This was a socialist organisation that fought alongside the larger, and nationalist, Irish Volunteers led by Padraig Pearse.
The one at the bottom right carries letters printed backwards to look Russian, a communist red star, and the slogan 'Free Wales'.
Finally, the black one on the left reads 'Wxm (Wrexham) Antifa No Pasaran!' Antifa are left wing thugs who first took to the streets of the USA following Donald Trump's victory, ostensibly 'fighting fascism and racism'.
Now they resort to bombing and attacking anyone who doesn't agree with them. A recent victim was journalist Andy Ngo, who wrote: "Antifa operates by a very broad definition of 'fascists.' By antifa's telling, fascists include mainstream conservatives and even centrist journalists who dare criticize them."
I know exactly how he feels.
You have to wonder what's going on when the self-appointed promoters of inclusivity beat up the gay son of Vietnamese boat people. I hope to God we don't have any nutters in Wales preparing to emulate Antifa.
And I'm disappointed to see AUOB Cymru apparently endorse Antifa.
So on a Cardiff street we see a collection of stickers linking independence with socialism, with some pretty hairy and intolerant expressions of socialism at that.
THE CRUCIAL EIGHTEEN MONTHS
Partly due to events beyond our control Wales will soon be closer to independence than at any time in the past five hundred years. But the mood is also being influenced by what is happening here in Wales.
Our homeland is deprived and exploited because devolution has been a miserable failure. For what has devolution given us – Deryn! This realisation has resulted in the Labour Party losing credibility by the day; but I fear Plaid Cymru will be reluctant to take advantage of the opportunity presented by Johnson in No 10 and Drakeford in the Bay.
Instead, Plaid Cymru will chase rainbows and form Englandandwales anti-Tory or anti-Brexit alliances. This loss of focus is due to the party's leftward drift coupled with the ephemeral appeal of being 'taken seriously' by appearing on TV with Caroline Lucas.
And when Johnson makes his move, Plaid Cymru will rush to support the Labour Party in defending 'the devolution settlement'.
I say, fuck the devolution settlement. It wasn't worth having in 1999 and it's been seriously devalued over the past two decades. All our efforts now must concentrate on independence. And to achieve that goal we must reach out to as many as possible of our people.
This cannot be done by demanding a socialist feminist republic (as was heard at AUOB's first rally on May 11). And if balaclava'd Antifa thugs start beating up people they disagree with, then any hope of independence will be lost. Wales may have a radical past but most of us today are socially conservative.
It should go without saying, therefore, that Wales needs a broad-based movement for independence that must either be ideology-free or else it must accept all ideological standpoints.
And so I'm asking All Under One Banner Cymru if there'll be a welcome in Caernarfon on Saturday for people who don't support Plaid Cymru, and people who are not socialist; for those who would have fought alongside Pearse rather than Connolly, who don't obsess over a second referendum and who regard Antifa thugs no differently to the thugs who follow Tommy Robinson.
I ask because there are clearly some who feel that the drive for independence should be controlled by the left; and maybe they'll only accept independence on their terms. Either way, it's insulting and offensive to those holding different views who have worked for independence for over 50 years.
Gavin Lee Woodhouse, the picture darkens
On 14/07/2019 16/07/2019 By JacIn Cardiff Bay, Colonialism, Corruption, Englandandwales, Public Funding, Welsh Government, Welsh Labour65 Comments
Yes, I know I've promised Weep for Wales 13, and I'm working on it (there's just so much to process), but fresh information on Gavin Lee Woodhouse justifies another post on the wonder boy of the Afan Valley Adventure Resort. (The AVAR website is 'currently under maintenance'.)
WHERE WE LEFT OFF . . .
At the end of last month I published Gavin Lee Woodhouse, the 'Wolf of Wharf Street' – you were warned!, with this piece following earlier postings of mine going back to April 2017, and more recent interest from the Guardian and ITV News.
There have been a number of follow-ups by both media outlets, with these being the most recent I can find: Serious Fraud Office assesses Gavin Woodhouse businesses in Thursday's Guardian; with the same headline used by ITV News.
It is understood by all that Woodhouse operates by selling. or more usually leasing, rooms at hotels he owns. Had he been able to proceed with the Afan Valley Adventure Resort then he would have been selling/leasing more hotel rooms there, plus lodges or cabins. In fact, they were already being advertised, even though nothing's been built. So have any been sold?
In my earlier piece I also said that I was unable to find the title document for the Fishguard Bay Hotel on the Land Registry website. I kept getting a 'too many titles' message which I attributed to rooms having been sold.
A recent comment to this blog assured me that the title document could be found, and eventually – by a counter-intuitive method I won't bore you with by explaining – I did find it.
Fishguard Bay Hotel. Image courtesy of County Echo. Click to enlarge.
It tells us that the Fishguard Bay Hotel (actually in Goodwick) was bought 13 July 2017 for £966,720 by Wyncliffe House Hotel Ltd (formerly Fishguard Bay Hotel Ltd) a company formed 1 May 2016. We see that the company was formed over a year before Woodhouse actually bought the hotel, so presumably he was in negotiations. Or even on site prior to purchase?
If you scroll down on the title document you'll see that leases for 45 rooms were sold in 2017. All of them 125-year leases, and irrespective of the date of sale all leases started on New Year's Day.
Now obviously I couldn't buy the title documents for all the rooms, so I limited myself to five. Which was enough to pique my curiosity. For the titles I bought, the prices range from £45,000 to £70,000.
All bar one were sold between 13 July 2017 and 28 September 2017; with the outrider sold 13 March 2018. Which could suggest impressive sales techniques, or even buyers already lined up.
Of the five, just one hints that it belongs to a genuine, small-time, private investor. This was the title document for an SSAS, which stands for Small Self-administered (pension) Scheme. The other four – certainly, three – looked iffy.
Judge for yourselves with the panel below made up of the relevant details from four of the five room title documents supplied by the Land Registry.
The top two, one in Slovakia and the other in Poland, are impossible to check. They could be genuine buyers or they could be names plucked out of thin air, or from some database.
The two on the bottom supply UK addresses, but even so, something's not right. The one on the left gives a Dubai address and '24 Cheapside, Wakefield'. The one on the right gives a Welsh address, but also uses the Wakefield address. So what do we find at 24 Cheapside?
It's a commercial building, with a number of tenants, among them the 'Williams & Co' mentioned in the document for the Dubai buyer. This is a firm of solicitors and everything seems to be kosher. My one concern being that the website does not give a Companies House number.
And then I stumbled on Williams & Co (Cleckheaton) Ltd, a company formed in January 2018. It's registered at the address given on the Williams & Co website, with two directors and a further two shareholders.
Also found at 24 Cheapside, Wakefield is Immigration Advice Service (IAS), whose website, some might think, tries to give the impression that IAS is a UK government department, but it is in fact a private company.
Though, curiously, under 'Nature of business (SIC)', for IAS Companies House has: "69109 – Activities of patent and copyright agents; other legal activities not elsewhere classified". What the the hell do patents and copyright have to do with immigration advice?
Immigration Advice Service was also registered as a charity, number 1033192. In fact, the company may be a 'phoenix' that grew out the defunct charity.
The cynic in me thinks that a company like IAS would be a great source of names and addresses for potential overseas buyers for hotel room leases . . . or even just names and addresses.
Others may argue that I'm clutching at straws here, but Woodhouse once had a company called MBI Immigration Services Ltd. So at the very least, he would appear to have shown interest in this line of business.
Let us head north now, to the Caer Rhun hotel in the Conwy valley.
CAER RHUN
Let's go straight to the title document, where we see that this hotel was bought for £1,500,000 with a loan from North West Asset Finance Ltd, which has a registered address in Todmorden, Lancashire, hard up to the frontier. I have stood there myself more than once and gazed into Yorkshire.
North West Asset Finance is hardly a rival to the big boys, for it's a one-man band and the solitary director is Robert Ashley Hall. All the shares are owned by Shays Assets Ltd, another Hall company that takes its name from what I assume to be his home address, Shays Farm, near Skipton.
Caer Rhun. Image courtesy of Hitched. Click to enlarge.
Both companies were formed 11 February 2014, around the time Woodhouse embarked on his hotel-buying spree. While the accounts suggest that the only real asset may be the money loaned to Gavin Woodhouse to buy Caer Rhun.
Which made me wonder whether Hall and Woodhouse are known to each other. Sure enough, they are in business together. In a company called Gramra Ltd, formed by Hall 2 January 2018, which Woodhouse joined 13 June 2018.
When we look at who owns the shares in Gramra we find that at least half are owned by Woodhouse through the company Woodhouse Family Ltd, which has the controlling interest.
Woodhouse Family Ltd, where we find Gavin Woodhouse as sole director since his wife resigned last month when the shit hit the fan. For this company is alleged to have been the ultimate depository of some investors' money, rather than the companies to which the money was ostensibly paid.
Shareholders in Gramra Ltd. Click to enlarge.
Returning to Caer Rhun, we find that 125-year leases have been sold on 57 rooms. Again, I downloaded the title documents for just five, and in price these range from £75,000 to £170,000. All were sold between July 2016 and August 2017.
The buyers we find in Bristol, Birmingham, and rather more exotic locations. Here are the three beyond these shores. Even if we accept that the one on the left refers to a UK couple living in Spain, that still leaves buyers in Italy and Taiwan.
To have so many overseas buyers is not in itself cause for alarm, but I can't believe that someone in Taiwan or Dubai or Slovakia woke up one bright morning and said to himself or herself, 'I know! – I'll buy a hotel room in Wales!'
We all know about Arab sheikhs and Russian oligarchs paying millions for London mansions, so is a room from which you can watch the Rosslare ferry the fag-end of the market?
Joking aside, maybe the real questions are:
Do these overseas buyers really exist?
If they do, did they really pay any money or are their names being used?
And if they did pay money, where did that money come from?
And where did it go?
BELMONT HOTEL
As far as I can make out, Gavin Lee Woodhouse, through his various companies, owns six hotels in Wales. It's reasonable to assume that the same business model of selling the leases on individual rooms is found in all of them. That is certainly the case at the Fourcroft Hotel in Tenby (aka Carmarthen Bay Hotel) and the Belmont Hotel in Llandudno.
I want to focus on the Belmont.
From the title document, we see that it was bought in 2015 by MBI Heritage Hotel Ltd (now Belmont Hotel Ltd) for £381,250. Though in the latest accounts it's valued at £2.62m and shows a profit of £1.55m. Though as the Guardian told us, the increased valuations on other hotels are even more dramatic.
At the Belmont, leases for 26 rooms were sold, all of them in an impressively short time in 2015, so another gold star for the sales team. I haven't bought any title documents for these sales because I've already splashed out £36 on Woodhouse, and I'm sure the picture will be little different to what we found at Fishguard and Caer Rhun.
But what appears to be different at the Belmont is, first, that Woodhouse does not own the Belmont (I think it's owned by Mostyn Estates), he only leases it. Which means he's selling leases in a property he himself leases.
Which raises the question of whether Mostyn Estates Ltd is aware of this interesting development. Or whether it's even legal.
What also struck me about the Belmont was that there are three charges outstanding. The first, from 2015, is for Mysing Properties Ltd, which changed its name to Mysing Capital Ltd before two further loans in December 2018.
But why would Woodhouse need to take out loans on the Belmont, a property he's leasing, and for which he's more than covered his outlay with the sale of the rooms?
Whatever the answer, Mysing is based in Wakefield, on Woodhouse's patch; where we earlier saw hotel room buyers linked to the Wakefield solicitors, Williams & Co. The latest unaudited abridged accounts for Mysing paint a very healthy picture, with net current assets of £16,501,830 and total net assets of £1,475,344. The difference accounted for by creditors owing £14,977,000. Creditors, presumably, like Gavin Lee Woodhouse.
But from where does Mysing Capital – a company only formed in July 2014 – get that kind of money? 'Unaudited abridged accounts' tell us very little. And it's perfectly legal.
There's no question in my mind that the directors of Mysing Capital are known to Woodhouse, and that these 'loans' may not be the kind of loans you or I are familiar with.
UPDATE 15.07.2019: Mysing Capital links with a string of Mysing companies, many of which are in the care home business (as of course was Woodhouse). But these other companies seem to have been formed after Mysing Capital.
Which still leaves the question of where the original Mysing Capital money came from.
In addition to the loans and mortgages taken out with Mysing towards the end of last year Woodhouse took out other loans around the same time, these with the equally mysterious Fiduciam Nominees Ltd. Why do I call this lot 'mysterious'?
Well, after reading this at the foot of their website, how would you describe them?
"The content of this website has not been approved by an authorised person within the meaning of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Fiduciam does not enter into regulated credit agreements within the meaning of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001."
Fiduciam is a lender of last resort. If your bank turns you down you go to a company like Fiduciam. Which, as the Companies House entry tells us is in the business of 'financial intermediation'.
This means that it finds borrowers for people who have money to lend. We can see who the borrowers are, but who are the lenders? Well, if we go to the latest available accounts, we read at the bottom of page 10:
"The directors (of Fiduciam) deem BWCI Pension Trustees to be the ultimate controlling party". 'Deem'? Aren't they sure? Anyway, here's the website for BWCI Pension Trustees Ltd.
Now don't get me wrong, what Fiduciam and BWCI do may be perfectly legal (in an offshore kind of way), but – as with Mysing – where does the money originally come from that they loan to people like Woodhouse?
In the case of Fiduciam we're asked to believe it's pension funds, but in practice there'll be few questions asked if a drugs baron, oligarch or member of a third world kleptocracy washes up in the Channel Islands looking for a good investment for his 'pension pot'.
What we can say for certain is that in December last year, the nearest vehicles Woodhouse has to parent companies, Northern Powerhouse Developments Ltd and Giant Hospitality Ltd got themselves heavily indebted to a company that finds desperate borrowers for offshore lenders whose money could come from anywhere.
Why did he need the money? Was it for the Afan Valley venture? If so, then Woodhouse is now well and truly up that narrow waterway known colloquially as Shit, with his business model exposed in the mass media, creditors beating on his door, and the Afan Valley Adventure Resort a fast receding dream.
Though the local council leader in Neath Port Talbot is wailing about the loss as though it's somebody else's fault! But then, that's 'Welsh' Labour for you – always somebody else's fault.
My response was summed up in a tweet I put out on Saturday to accompany the article: "Listen, Rob, if you and your @WelshLabour mates down Corruption Bay had done the basic checks into Gavin Woodhouse and @Afan_ValleyAR you would have laughed him away and wouldn't be 'disappointed' now. You've got no one to blame but your council and @WelshGovernment."
When I first encountered Gavin Lee Woodhouse I thought he was a bit of a lad who'd over-reached himself. (As opposed to an out-and-out bastard like Paul Williams who 'succeeded' him at Plas Glynllifon.) Now I worry that there may be darker elements to his business ventures.
The foreign buyers for so many of his hotel rooms certainly start the alarm bells a-trembling. As does the lack of information about his financial backers.
But then, as I've said before, this is business, this is finance – English style. Where the City of London sits at the centre of a web of offshore tax havens and money-laundering centres that welcome anybody's money. Once it's in the system, with the origin disguised, that money can be used anywhere.
The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands are the oldest, and nearest of these centres.
But this does not excuse the 'Welsh Government', which obviously did no due diligence into Woodhouse before giving him £500,000 for Caer Rhun and then welcoming him with open arms when he ventured to the Afan valley.
Unless of course they were over-ruled from London. (It happens regularly.) Which would make them complaisant rather than gullible. Is that an improvement?
So it's good-bye Gavin Lee Woodhouse, and hello, . . ?
For you can guarantee that the next Gavin Lee Woodhouse is already here spinning his lies and courting the politicians. And he's not alone.
In Return Journey Dylan Thomas goes home to a blitzed Swansea searching for the places and people he knew. Eventually he reaches Cwmdonkin Park, where the park keeper responds to his questions about a boy from long ago with, 'I've known him by the thousands'.
I'm beginning to feel like that parkie, due to all the crooks infesting our country. They keep coming because we have thick-as-shit politicians more concerned with shagging and back-stabbing than with making Wales honest, healthy and prosperous.
And a media unworthy of the name.
Wales, social dumping and much more besides
On 07/07/2019 11/07/2019 By JacIn British Nationalism, Civil Service, Colonialism, Colonisation of Wales, Corruption, Media, Planning, Public Funding, Social Cleansing, Third Sector, Welsh Government, Welsh Labour, Welsh Media55 Comments
Maybe I should start by explaining what is meant by 'social dumping'. The term links with 'social cleansing', used by the Guardian and other publications to explain the practice of taking certain 'vulnerable' groups out of major cities – and locating them somewhere else.
If social cleansing is the term used to describe the removal of these groups from one area, then it's entirely reasonable to use the term social dumping to describe the other end of the process. Especially when the dumping is often done without the approval, or even the knowledge, of the new host community.
For 'Harlow', read Swansea, Penygraig, Blaenau Ffestiniog; and for 'London' read Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool. Click to enlarge.
This is what is happening in Wales. It's happening in our cities and larger towns, it's happening in run-down coastal resorts, it's happening in small rural towns, and it's happening in the communities of the former southern coalfield. That's why it's a national problem, and must be tackled on a national level.
There are a number of reasons why this is happening, and I'm going to explore some of them in this article. I shall also use specific, and recent, examples.
Let me apologise for this post being a long one; but as usual it's broken down into discrete segments for you to consume at your leisure.
THE THIRD SECTOR AND THE LABOUR PARTY
I have written once or twice about the third sector, so regular readers will know of what I speak. For any newcomers, it's that burgeoning sector of Welsh life that likes to present its component parts as charities, when they are in effect publicly-funded companies.
The third sector takes hundreds of millions of pounds from the Welsh public purse in order to care for those who are homeless, those with substance abuse issues, those released from prison, those with other needs (real or imagined), and of course there are organisations dedicated to combating all manner of alleged prejudices against women, the BME community, and assorted gender identifications.
It is a world with its own values and vocabulary, where duplication and competition are rife, and with most third sector businesses run by middle class Englishwomen with names like Harriet or Henrietta.
Did I mention competition? As this FoI response from the 'Welsh Government' told me, Wales has no fewer than 48 outfits 'tackling homelessness'. Though seeing as the letter is dated December 2017 we can confidently predict that the number is now over 50. In fact, I shall soon introduce you to a new diner at the feast.
This situation has obtained for 20 years. The trickle of third sector grant-grabbers began almost once the devolution referendum result was announced in September 1997 and very quickly became a torrent. 'But wait!', you exclaim, 'if we have so many well-funded organisations why is the problem getting worse? It must surely mean that thousands of Welsh are being made homeless every year'.
Er, no.
What we see at work here is human nature, and the realisation that if solving a problem puts you out of a job, well, you'll make damn sure you don't solve it. Which then links with the second part of your question, for Wales cannot provide enough homeless people to sustain this industry, so homeless people are imported into or attracted to Wales. In other words, the social dumping referred to in the title.
'But why doesn't the Welsh Government tell these people to stop wasting Welsh public funding by bringing in homeless people from outside of Wales?' And drug addicts, and ex-cons, and victims of domestic abuse, and . . .
Because . . . it suits the 'Welsh Labour Government' to present a picture of poverty and deprivation in order to blame somebody else and keep mug punters voting for the party.
PODS AND PASTURES GREEN
You may have noticed a story that made the news last week about 'pods' for homeless people in Newport. Though it had the whiff of a rehash about it seeing as the story was also covered on 24 May, and before that 16 May, also in February, and before that October 2018 . . .
In fact, these pods seem to be something of a staple on the Argus.
The pods themselves are the work of Amazing Grace Spaces (AGS), an outfit that was launched as a charity 30 June 2017 by Caroline and Stuart Johnson. You'll see on the website that, in addition to the emergency pods, AGS also converts shipping containers into low cost housing.
According to the website, these converted shipping containers are already in use with Wrexham Council and Merthyr Merthyr Valleys Homes.
Other trustees recruited by AGS include John Andrew Forward, who is also a trustee of Bedwas Pentecostal Church and Bethesda Pentecostal Church.
It would appear that those involved with Amazing Grace Spaces are of the happy-clappy persuasion, those given to 'outreach' work among the vulnerable in our midst. And, indeed beyond Wales.
Bethesda Pentecostal Church (Charity Number 1050629) seems to have been in business for a while, whereas the Bedwas establishment (1050629) has only just been registered with the Charity Commission. Which would suggest an expanding network.
Turning to Bethesda, we see that the lead there appears to be Rev. Stephen Davies, who is also a trustee of the Ebenezer Pentecostal Church in Fellowship with Assemblies of God (1050644), and Hills Community Church Aberbargoed (1050499). (Ebenezer is to be found in Rogerstone, Newport.)
There is very little money involved with these churches, and I'm sure that they do a lot of good work, but I mention them because they clearly form a network, and others in this network cause me concern.
This tweet by Amazing Grace Spaces mentions my worry – Green Pastures.
Those with good memories will recall that I wrote about Green Pastures back in July 2013 with, YMCA 'Wales', Another Trojan Horse At The Trough and YMCA 'Wales' And The Green, Green Pastures. It's an English outfit, also of a religious bent, that 'reaches out' to the homeless, substance abusers and those recently released from prison.
Green Pastures (GP) operates with or through 'partners', and the business model is explained in this panel from the Green Pastures website. In essence, if you fancy going into the hostel business then you find a property that GP will buy and then you lease it from GP using your tenants' housing benefit to pay the lease.
Scrolling down to the 'Partners' map, we see five locations in Wales. Two are in the north, on Deeside and in Colwyn Bay, to serve north west England and those who have been dumped in Wales from that region.
Predictably, Amazing Grace Spaces of Newport is also there, but what of the other two locations?
The first is in Llanfyllin, a nice little town in the gentle hills of Montgomeryshire, where we find a 'community hub'. So there's nothing to detain us here.
Of more interest is the final Green Pastures 'partner', Blaenycwm Chapel in Treorci. Where "Ralph Upton is the minister, 22 years experience in full time ministry a lot of this among the homeless, those affected by the criminal justice system and substance misusers." When he's not in the Rhondda, "Ralph also ministers in Ethiopia."
Ralph Upton is also connected with Valleys of Hope (which unfortunately couldn't find a Welsh flag). Under the 'About us' tab you will read that Ralph was a prison chaplain.
Which makes sense when we turn to the Valleys of Hope 'Wales' tab, where we read, "With the opening of H.M.P. Berwyn helping the churches to get ready to welcome ex offenders in North Wales has become very important".
The back-story: A massive prison was forced on north Wales, far bigger than needed, in which most of the inmates are from England. One fear always was that once released, these English prisoners would becomes Wales' responsibility. Here it is spelled out. We must "get ready to welcome ex offenders in North Wales".
I think it's the use of the word 'welcome' that really pisses me off.
Locking up your criminals in a neighbouring country and then expecting that country to look after them when they're released strikes me as a very good example of social dumping.
From Western Mail 10.07.2019
UPDATE 10.07.2019: A prison inspector's report just released tells us that, in March this year, 75% of the prisoners at HMP Berwyn were from England. In a Radio Cymru programme this morning it was also said that of these English prisoners 50% stay in Wales after they are released.
That means that hundreds of English criminals are endangering Welsh people and Welsh communities – and we are paying for it.
Last week Gwynedd's Planning Committee discussed an application to convert the old Market Hall in Blaenau Ffestiniog into 14 flats. No decision was taken but the planning officers recommended approval, and now objectors have three weeks to put together their case.
The application was submitted by Paul McCready of Mossley Hill Investments Gwynedd Ltd of Cheltenham, and the agent was Evolve Designs (NW) Ltd of Merseyside.
Evolve Designs is a company formed as recently as April 2017 with the only accounts so far filed showing total net assets (liabilities) of (£1,991). A one-man band with the solo instrumentalist being a James Robert O'Rourke.
Though as the Land Registry title document tells us, the owner of the Blaenau building is Microface Ltd of Wigan. Who bought the property in 2010 for £82,500. It was put up for auction in February 2018 with an asking price of £150,000, but obviously failed to sell. (Or if it did sell, then the Land Registry has not been informed.)
Market Hall, Blaenau Ffestiniog. Image courtesy of Pugh Auctions. Click to enlarge.
The applicant for planning permission, Mossley Hill Investments Gwynedd Ltd, belongs to a veritable stable of companies . . . none of them thoroughbreds. In fact, some of them, just yearlings, are already on their way to the knacker's yard.
Here's a list I've drawn up of all the Mossley Hill companies I can find (there may be others!). And here it is in pdf format, where you can click on the company name to be taken to the Companies House entry for that company.
You'll see that the original company was formed in December 2016, with Gavin Davis Barry and his missus as directors. Then there was rush of new companies in April and May last year with Barry joined by Paul McCready and Shaun Mills as directors. With two more companies formed in May and June this year with just Barry as director.
There are documents filed for the original Mossley company, Mossley Hill Investments Ltd, and these show net assets of -£53,965. (Yes, that is a minus sign.) Equally worrying is that the directors want to strike off four of the companies formed only just over a year ago!
In addition, Barry has another string of companies going under the 'Prosperity' handle, listed here. The nags in this stable seem to be a year or two older than those in the Mossley Hill stable with none destined for dog food. The other directors, too, are different.
What are we to make of it all?
Gavin Davis Barry specialises in cheap property. A racket comparable, perhaps, with the Green Pastures 'partnership' model, except that GP own the building whereas Barry may sell it on.
What could have happened with the old Market Hall in Blaenau was that, after it failed to sell at auction, the owners were approached with a deal. Barry will apply for planning permission and then, if it's granted, either he will buy the building off Microface, or else supply tenants, an arrangement from which he'll get a good cut.
The fact that the auction was in February 2018 and Mossley Hill Gwynedd Ltd was formed in April lends credence to this theory. For there are business people – many of whom you've met on this blog – who trawl property auction websites.
The outfit supplying the tenants for the flats at the Market Hall will be My Space Housing Solutions, based in Bolton and operating in northern England. The clip below and the page it's taken from explain that My Space is in the business of 'supported housing'.
We read that My Space "source properties based on need" and that these properties are "in the best possible community settings for each resident".
Which rather blows this planning application out of the water, because I doubt if there is a local need for such a facility in Blaenau Ffestiniog, which means that the clients will be brought in from northern England; and will therefore be a long way from "the best possible community setting".
Let's be brutally frank; the only reason this application is being submitted is because a large building became available very cheaply in a run-down town where the applicant thought that lies about local benefits might get them planning permission.
Thanks to twenty years of devolution under 'Welsh' Labour, Wales has an abundance of cheap buildings, and countless run-down towns.
What's the bottom line here? Well, if you were to ask me: 'Jac would you do business with any of the companies you've mentioned here?' I'd look you in the eye and answer: 'I would indeed – immediately after joining the Soul Crew'.
If allowed, Blaenau Market Hall will be yet another example of social dumping.
To conclude this section, it's worth pointing out how much money there is to be made from the 'vulnerable adults' business, by looking at the phenomenal growth of My Space Housing Solutions Ltd.
My Space was Incorporated as a company 17 October 2012 and registered as a charity 28 November 2012.
The phenomenal growth of the My Space 'vulnerable adults' relocation company. It now wants 14 flats in the old Market Hall, Blaenau Ffestiniog. Gwynedd planners support the application!
In the first accounts, for year ending 31 October 2013 the turnover was £91,117 with an operating deficit of (£29,138). The most recent available accounts, for year ending 31 October 2018, show a turnover of £11,647,551 and an operating surplus of £2,874,161.
That's 'Care in the community' for you . . . preferably somebody else's community.
As I mentioned in the previous section, Gwynedd's planning officers have recommended approval of the social dumping in Blaenau Ffestiniog. The latest in a string of cases where planning officers have made 'strange' decisions.
Let's start by reminding ourselves of events at Plas Pistyll, and the neighbouring Pistyll farm, on Llŷn. I wrote about this case in Wilmslow-sur-Mer back in September 2018.
To cut a long story short, there were a number of changes to the original planning application of 2007, to the point where what was eventually arrived at in 2018 bore little or no relation to the project that had received the original planning approval.
I even drew up a list of the various changes.
As with Blaenau, there was a plethora of companies under the same 'umbrella', this one called Natural Retreats. Towards the end we even saw US intervention in the form of a new company using the name of another company in the group that had earlier demised.
And if that wasn't reason enough to be concerned, the England-based principals were also busy in the Highlands and cocking up the Cairn Gorm funicular railway.
But according to Gwynedd's planners there was nothing to worry about. Natural Retreats (or whatever it's called) is run by splendid, trustworthy chaps (whoever they are) that can be relied upon to play by the rules.
The fact that the seasonal-only (caravan replacement) chalets for which they gave planning permission have miraculously transmogrified into luxury, year-round dwellings is by the bye.
I'm not for one minute suggesting that those involved at Pistyll are crooks, they're just unscrupulous businessmen who think rules are for other people. (And Gwynedd planners obviously agree.) But this next lot we're going to look at are most definitely crooks.
For we move on now to Bryn Llys, at Nebo, just off the A487, and not far from Llanllyfni. I wrote about it in a compendium offering in January, one that included Gavin Lee Woodhouse (on whom the sky has recently fallen), Jimbo Lynch in Aberteifi (still thriving, for now), and the Bryn Llys crew.
I suggest you catch up by reading 'Friends old & new: Gavin 'Wynnborn' Woodhouse; James 'Fforest' Lynch; Shane Baker, 'the bargain basement Baldrick of Nebo' and Jonathan Duggan'.
Bryn Llys was a traditional Welsh dwelling. Then it was acquired by the crook Jonathan James Duggan (aka Ripley), the son of John/Jonathan Joseph Duggan. Duggan père was sent down in 2005 for six years, and described in this report as a "professional fraudster".
Duggan's father made the news again last year when he was arrested in Benllech, taken back to Yorkshire and banged up again.
Shane Baker, the rocking English supremacist, seems to act as Duggan's dogsbody.
Anyway, Duggan applied to Cyngor Gwynedd for permission to build an extension to Bryn Llys. This was granted . . . but what was built was much bigger than planning permission allowed, so retrospective planning approval was applied for, and granted – for an extension that now dwarfed the original structure.
Though what was actually built exceeded even the retrospective planning approval. Made clear in the picture on the right, above.
And if you think that's bad enough, well it gets worse, for below you can see what's up for sale now with Rightmove. The original Bryn Llys is gone completely.
This of course has not happened overnight, it's taken years. And throughout this period neighbours demanded enforcement action from the council, but nothing was done. Protection was also sought from North Wales Police against the intimidation locals experience from the criminal gang centred on Bryn Llys, but no protection was offered.
On the left, Bryn Llys, as it was just a few years ago. On the right is what began life as an extension. The original structure – which would have been to the rear of what we see – has been demolished entirely. Click to enlarge.
Bryn Llys is the most incredible planning issue that anyone has ever brought to my attention. The more I think about it, the more difficult it is to believe. But it happened. It happened in Wales. And these bastards have got away with it. Which will only encourage them and others do something similar.
The word is obviously out – 'Come to Wales, you can get away with anything'.
And yet, it's not too late. Cyngor Gwynedd could still send out a message that would be heard loud and clear by insisting on the demolition of 'Bryn Llys'. But they will never do that.
And then, while they bend over backwards to accommodate all manner of people we shouldn't have to put up with in our country, they dream up idiotic objections to stop locals building houses in Abersoch!
Are Gwynedd's planners afraid that Welsh people living in Abersoch might lower property values on the Cheshire Riviera?
I'm not saying that brown envelopes are involved, but if they're not, then Gwynedd's planners must be among the most incompetent public officials imaginable.
Wales suffers social dumping for reasons that can be summarised thus: A colonial relationship with England is encouraged by a bloated third sector and further facilitated by an abundance of suitable properties in deprived and declining communities. For reasons that perhaps only they can explain, social dumping is welcomed by too many politicians on the left who think that allowing Wales to be exploited in this manner is somehow virtuous.
Another worry, especially in rural areas, is the number of crooks involved in asset stripping, mortgage fraud, money laundering and other activities. Though maybe the bigger concern is that not only are these criminals able to get what they want from our local authorities, but they even receive grants from the self-styled 'Welsh Government', and they seem to be above the law.
Just a couple of weeks ago ITV News and the Guardian revealed what a crook Gavin 'Wynnborn' Woodhouse is – but he's been operating with impunity in Wales for years! In fact, the 'Welsh Government' has been falling over itself to help him with his ultimate con – the Afan Valley Adventure Resort.
And let's not forget the £500,000 grant for Woodhouse's Caer Rhun in the Conwy valley.
There's no doubt about it; if you're in the social cleansing business, or mortgage fraud, asset stripping, money laundering, then Wales is the place to come.
The cops don't seem to be to interested, you can run rings round or walk all over council officials, there's no media worth speaking of to expose you, and the 'Welsh Government' will even fund you! What's not to like!
PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG WITH A SMALL DONATION (Type with the cursor on the right and the donation amount will move left replacing '0.00'.)
OR A REGULAR PAYMENT, TO COVER RUNNING COSTS
Option 1 : £2.00 monthly Option 2 : £5.00 monthly Option 3 : £10.00 monthly Option 4 : £20.00 monthly Option 5 : £30.00 monthly Option 6 : £50.00 monthly
CONTACT ME DIRECTLY
Tweets by @JacotheNorth
Gwgl
WHAT'S HAPPENING IN SCOTLAND?
BBC Scotlandshire
THE BLOGS I FOLLOW
Carmarthenshire Planning
Borthlas
The Sovreigner
STaN at Neath Ferret
Yes Cymru
'Welsh' Labour Party (28) Aberystwyth (7) Adam Price (5) Afan Valley Adventure Resort (9) Alex Salmond (7) All Under One Banner Cymru (4) Alun Cairns (9) Alun Davies AM (13) Alun Michael (10) Anne Hinchey (6) Associated British Ports (5) Awema (10) Bawso (7) BBC (5) BBC Wales (11) Bear Grylls (9) BiLingo (4) Blaenau Gwent (6) Bob Clay (13) Bodelwyddan (6) Boris Johnson (6) Brexit (17) Bryn Llys (6) Building and Estate Solutions Today Ltd (4) Cadw (10) Cambrian News (12) Canoe Wales (7) Cantref (12) Cardiff (4) Cardiff Bay (6) Cardigan Castle (12) Carl Sargeant (23) Carmarthenshire (6) Carmarthenshire County Council (21) Carolyn Harris (5) Carolyn Harris MP (8) Cartrefi Cymunedol Gwynedd (9) Carwyn Jones (43) Cathy Owens (6) Cayo Evans (6) Ceredigion (12) Circuit of Wales (7) Claire Deacon (5) Cneifiwr (5) Coastal Housing Group (6) Community Housing Cymru (7) Crickhowell House (5) Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (6) Cyngor Gwynedd (10) Cynog Dafis (6) Dafydd Elis Thomas (9) Dafydd Wigley (6) Daily Post (5) David Il Duce Phillips (8) David Phillips (12) Denbighshire (8) Dennis Rogers (4) Department for Communities and Local Government (7) Deryn Consulting (13) Devolution (5) Duke of Beaufort (6) DUP (7) Dyfed Powys Police (7) Ebbw Vale (7) Edwina Hart (8) Ein Gwlad (7) Elin Jones AM (5) Faerdre Fach (5) Free Wales Army (5) Fronoleu (5) Future Generations Commissioner (4) Gareth Gregory (6) Gary Robert Jones (5) Gavin Lee Woodhouse (12) George Monbiot (11) Gill Wright (5) Glen Johnson (6) Graham Hinchey (5) Green Party (6) Green Party of Englandandwales (14) Grwp Gwalia (7) Grwp Llandrillo-Menai (5) Gwalia (4) Happy Donkey Hill (7) Heads of the Valleys (4) Hedydd Jones (5) Helen Mary Jones (10) Helle Thorning-Schmidt (5) Help to Buy - Wales (5) Hendy wind farm (5) Heritage Lottery Fund (13) Housing (Wales) Bill (8) Housing Directorate (7) Ifan Morgan Jones (6) Ioan Richard (5) Jacques Protic (20) Jane Davidson (8) Jann Tucker (12) Jenny Lee Clarke (8) Jeremy Corbyn (5) Jill Tatman (5) Joff Timms (5) John Bayliss (6) John Charles Bayliss (8) John Duggan (7) John Jenkins (4) Jonathan James Duggan (5) Jonathan Timms (8) Julian Ruck (4) Kate Clamp (5) Keith Harvey Partdridge (4) Keith Harvey Partridge (8) Ken Skates (8) Kidwelly (7) Knighton Hotel (9) Knowledge and Analytical Services (10) Labour Party (15) Lambert Smith Hampton (10) Lammas (5) Lawrence Bailey (5) Leanne Wood (23) Lee Waters (4) Leighton Andrews (6) Leisure & Development Ltd (6) Leisure and Development Ltd (5) Liberal Democrats (7) Link Holdings (Gibraltar) Ltd (6) Llais y Sais (16) Llamau (6) Llandovery YMCA (9) Llanelli (8) Llangennech (9) Lord Crickhowell (6) Louise Hughes (6) Lovell (5) Mark James (21) Mark Vincent James (6) Martin Shipton (22) Media Wales (5) Meryl Gravell (10) Mike Parker (4) Mill Bay Homes (22) Mitchell Theaker (10) Mo Sykes (6) Mutale Merrill (4) Myles Andrew Cunliffe (7) Mynydd y Gwair (9) Natalie Buttriss (5) Nathan Gill (8) Nathan Gill MEP (10) Nation.Cymru (6) National Trust (6) Natural Resources Wales (17) Naz Malik (9) Neath Ferret (6) Neil Hamilton (4) Neil Kinnock (7) Neil McEvoy (24) Nick Bennett (9) Nick Bradley (5) Nick Griffin (4) Nicola Sturgeon (6) Nigel Farage (11) North Wales Police (13) One Planet Developments (5) Ospreys (5) Paul Steven Williams (8) Paul Williams (15) Pearleen Sangha (9) Pembroke Dock (5) Pembrokeshire County Council (6) Pembrokeshire Housing (17) Peter Hain (8) Peter Moore (4) Phil Parry (18) Pippa Bartolotti (8) Plaid Cymru (66) Planning INspectorate (24) Planning Inspectorate (Wales) (9) Plas Brereton (6) Plas Glynllifon (23) Plas Glynllifon Ltd (9) Plas Ty Coch (5) Pobl (4) Polvellan Manor Ltd (6) Prince of Wales Bridge (6) Radnorshire Arms Hotel (10) Rewilding Britain (7) Rhodri Morgan (8) Rhyl (13) Rikki Reynolds (8) Rob Stewart (5) Ron Davies (4) Rowena Claire Williams (8) Rowena Williams (10) Rural Retreats & Development Ltd (5) Rural Retreats & Leisure UK Ltd (6) Russell Goodway (4) S4C (5) Sandra Davies (6) Scotland (5) Seiont Manor Hotel (10) Seiont Manor Hotel Ltd (5) Shane Baker (6) Sinn Fein (5) Sion Barry (6) SNP (21) Social Housing Grant (8) Sophie Howe (10) South Wales Evening Post (6) South Wales Police (11) StatsWales (6) Stephen Kinnock (7) Stuart Paul Cooper (5) Sub-Sahara Advisory Panel (4) Sue Lewis (9) Summit to Sea (11) Swansea (10) Swansea City (5) Swansea Council (12) Swansea Labour Party (16) Swansea University (8) Tai Cantref (12) Tai Ceredigion (7) TAN 6 (5) The Eye (5) The Wallich (6) Third Sector (17) Tivy-Side Advertiser (6) Together Commercial Finance Ltd (11) Trinity Mirror (9) Tywyn (5) Ukip (21) Uta Clay (11) Visit Wales (5) Wales and West Housing (9) Wales Eye (9) Wales Green Party (5) Wales Rural Observatory (7) WalesOnline (12) Wasting Mule (12) WEFO (8) Welsh Government (30) Welsh Labour (48) Welsh Third Sector (10) Welsh Tourism (9) Western Mail (33) Wynnborn (9) YesCymru (8) YMCA Wales (6)
© Jac o the North 2019 - all rights reserved & Hosted and maintained by S. C. Cambria.


Bin EndsBin Ends is Specialty's closeout section.
© 2019 Specialty Foods Boston. All Rights Reserved.
We're currently building an online ordering system built specifically for our customers. You'll be able to easily place orders from your desktop or phone, create lists, view past orders, and browse our entire catalog. Interested in helping us test it out? Let us know.


text:
HomeBookingsDJs
Cristi Tudorache is a Romanian producer who goes by the name of Melodie. He has a close relationship with, and greatly influences, his local scene and has done since an early age when he first got the electronic music bug. Around 2005 he began making waves as a DJ, picking up gigs around the local clubs in Bucharest. He then secured a local residency in a cosy space that saw him play every Thursday, Friday and Saturday, often all night long, thereby allowing him to really stretch his legs.
Over the years Cristi has worked hard on his production and continues to play out around Romania. It all paid off with a release on Raresh's label Metereze. Entitled Echo Rhythm, it came out in spring 2015 and was a sure-fire hit that got supported far and wide by DJs in the know. Not long after, Swiss label Rora came calling and Melodie put out a second EP, and then another on sub label Bleu Ciel. The likes of taste making press such as Resident Advisor and XLR8R have both featured this contemporary star and his 'Acid Sunday' cut also made it into their 2015 year end lists as one of the best. With more releases planned, and further gigs in Germany, London, Copenhagen at Culture Box, Moscow and more beside, he is still very much on the rise.
Booked by
Book Melodie
Download info pack

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
SQL Injection - Database Vulnerability
What Is SQL Injection?
An SQL injection is an extremely damaging attack in which hackers will attempt to access information stored in your database, such as customer data or user IDs and passwords. SQL is the language used by the majority of databases. Most SQL Injection (SQLi) attacks occur on MySQL databases frequently used by applications like Joomla and WordPress. Attackers exploit SQLi vulnerabilities by inserting malicious SQL commands into your website through open fields like insecure contact forms. These commands can be used to gain unauthorized access to your database in order to steal credit card information, customer data, or delete and modify content.
What Is the Impact?
This type of attack can be devastating for a website. SQLi attacks can result in data theft, vandalized websites, or the insertion of unauthorized administrators -- allowing cybercriminals to launch prolonged attacks on the victimized site.
How Does SiteLock Protect Me?
The SiteLock SQLi scan analyzes your website for possible SQL Injection vulnerabilities or places on your site where attackers could inject malicious commands. If any vulnerabilities are detected, you will be notified via email. The SiteLock Expert Services team is available to assist with remediating these vulnerabilities.
What Can I Do about It?
Taking a proactive approach to website security by keeping website applications and their themes and plugins updated is an important first step to preventing SQL Injection attacks. It is also essential to carefully consider all third-party plugins on your site to ensure they are necessary to the features and functionality of the site. Additionally, it is recommended to use a website scanning service that includes SQL injection scans, such as SiteLock Essentials, Prevent, or Prevent Plus plans.
Please read our related article on:
Methods to Prevent SQL Injection