I don’t want to go down the route of politicising Covid but given the unnecessary and inappropriate comments First Minister Mark Drakeford made last week, I feel I need to respond. The policies of his Labour administration in Cardiff Bay throughout the pandemic have hardly been a success. He has presided over the highest date rate of all home nations and imposed the harshest restrictions in the UK, shutting down the Welsh economy unnecessarily. The Labour Government’s choice to follow such a different path to England is further proof that it has always been about the politics, and not the science. The latest example of this is the decision on facemasks in classrooms. While mask-wearing is no longer mandatory for pupils in English schools, children in Wales must continue to wear them in classrooms all day until at least February half-term. It’s a hammer blow to parents, teachers and experts alike. UK Government evidence and even the Welsh Government’s own scientific advisor has said facemasks make a minimal difference to stopping the transmission of Covid, yet they can have an extremely negative effect on learners and learning in the classroom. The First Minister says he always follows the science. So why is he choosing not to here? It is time we learn to live with Covid and that includes dropping facemasks. The fundamentally key point also remains. If the Welsh Labour Government is so confident in its actions and has nothing to hide, then ministers should openly commit to the Wales-specific Covid inquiry that Mark Drakeford is currently blocking.
Nestled in a spot of paradise in the Llanthony Valley is a fantastic new broadleaf tree nursery. I had the pleasure of meeting Jane and John-Paul Cookson on Friday to learn more about the nursery they are developing on their land near Cwmyoy. Partnered with ‘Growing Space’, a large charity providing horticultural therapy, they plan to have around one million trees raised from local seed each year. All trees are grown by hand employing regenerative agricultural methods, including "no dig", and following organic principles. A local business supplies compost using Monmouthshire’s green garden waste and the nursery also produces biodynamic vegetables, which have improved nutrient content and flavour. Jane and John-Paul are looking for further investment in their community enterprise but have already planted more than 250,000 seeds. If you want a sapling to plant out on farmland or elsewhere, it’s a great place to go. I wish them the very best.
*Published in the Monmouthshire Beacon on 26 January 2022 and the Abergavenny Chronicle on 27 January 2022*