Coronavirus – April 2020
The following article was first published in the North Wales Weekly News on 14 April 2020 What sad, strange times we are living through. Last weekend was what, in normal years, would have been the ideal of local hospitality businesses: a sunny Easter bank holiday. It would have heralded...
The attack on Westminster
For PC Keith Palmer, Wednesday 22 March, 2017, was expected to be a routine day on duty at the Palace of Westminster. Prime Minister’s Questions are held on Wednesdays, so PC Palmer would have expected to wave Theresa May’s Jaguar through Carriage Gates and ensure it entered New Palace...
European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill
The following article was originally published in the North Wales Weekly News newspaper on 22 February 2017. In my last Weekly News column, I lamented the collapse of the seaward end of Colwyn Bay’s Victoria Pier and urged the County Council to address the issue as a matter of...
Local bank closures
The following article was originally published in the North Wales Weekly News newspaper on 14 December 2016 December has brought bad news for customers of High Street banks, with a number of closures announced across North Wales, including two in Clwyd West: the HSBC branch in Abergele and the...
The Autumn Statement
The following article was originally published in the North Wales Weekly News newspaper on 30 November 2016. Last Wednesday saw one of the great Commons set-piece events: the Autumn Statement. It was, in fact, Chancellor Philip Hammond’s first Autumn Statement. It was also, he announced, to be his last....
Remembrance Sunday
The following article was originally published in the North Wales Weekly News newspaper on 14 November 2016. Last Sunday, the 13th November, dawned calm and bright in Colwyn Bay. So it is, I have noticed, most Remembrance Sundays – as if the routinely uncharitable November weather decides to stay...
Autumn, local churches, and the community
The following article was originally published in the North Wales Weekly News newspaper on 30 October 2016. The writer Albert Camus once observed that: “Autumn is a second spring, when every leaf is a flower.” That may be true of Provence, but it rarely is of North Wales. However,...
Returning to Parliament after Conference Recess
The following article was originally published in the North Wales Weekly News newspaper on 17 October 2016 2016 Parliament returned from the conference recess on Monday, 10 October. It quickly became apparent that interest in the process of Brexit had not abated over the previous three weeks. abated. On...
The change in the political landscape
The following article was originally published in the North Wales Weekly News newspaper on 27 July 2016. If a week, as Harold Wilson famously observed, is a long time in politics, six weeks is an absolute eternity. The past six weeks have seen a complete transformation of the British...
The Conservative Party's leadership contest
The following article was originally published on the Conservative Home website on 4 July 2016. At around 5 o’clock in the morning of Friday, 24 June, 2016, I sat in the rather less than prepossessing surroundings of a leisure centre in Deeside, North Wales, considering the events of the...