Flood-y good idea

• Posted by Rob Irvine at 3:03 PM | add or read comments (0)

Just back from a wedding anniversary trip to Venice. What an amazing place! Heavy flooding appears to have turned every street into a canal - flushing away all the cars AND all the traffic wardens. Conwy Council, think on. Global warming's gonna get you.
Yes, I'm all bitter and chewed up because the new regime of ticketing tyranny in the walled town has already claimed me as a victim. I parked in the lashing rain at Bodlondeb to walk the dog a couple of week's back and returned minutes later to find the evil yellow sticker on my windscreen. Foolishly I hadn't noticed the regularly defunct ticket machine (which is the other side of the road from the car park at the cricket field) was working for a change.
A pity this authority isn't as zealous about emptying bins and cleaning streets (and I was very glad to see the chief constable is getting his teeth into this issue).
I'm off to the shiny new Quay Hotel at Deganwy tonight for an event to launch the BBC's Children in Need appeal. I have my moans about the Beeb but at least they do a great job helping many youngsters who are often overlooked by the other big charities. Hopefully we will soon have details of their appeal night concert at Colwyn Bay on November 17. We will run these as soon as they become available.
Another date for your diary - October 16, which sees the launch of our new Daily Post website. LOTS more details to follow!

A winning team

• Posted by Rob Irvine at 6:34 PM | add or read comments (0)

So another busy week draws to a close and it's time for me to mention some of the stars of the Daily Post.
Hats off first to reporter Roland Hughes who has been an absolute hero this week, coming in on a day off to help out when we were short staffed because of sickness, working a double shift and pulling in a hatful of fantastic stories, several of which were natural choices for page one.
Plaudits also for Gregg Fray, deputy editor, who has also taken on the role this week of news editor AND covered for me while I was off at various meetings planning our digital future.
And a big round of applause for John Williams, night editor, who has been instrumental in bringing in a completely new computer system that will allow us to publish on paper and on the internet.
Thanks to all - and to the rest of the team for their dedication. And it's a winning team. More than 230,000 people now read the Daily Post every week - tens of thousands more than five years ago. And last month an extra 30,000 people logged on to our website.
So don't go believing any nonsense about the future of newspapers. We're here to stay - to give you the facts about what is going on in North Wales, however uncomfortable people in authority might find it.
And we are reassured by the knowledge that people in North Wales really do value a press that is independent of officialdom or party politics.

What happened to the sausages?

• Posted by Rob Irvine at 10:57 AM | add or read comments (0)

Those nice people from Asda have delivered a big tray of goods to our offices to show how committed they are to supporting Welsh producers. It came from the store which opens soon in Anglesey.
Nice bit of PR - the Welsh cakes and rhubarb jam were much appreciated. Alas the boxes for Edwards of Conwy sausages were empty!
As a boss of mine used to say about PR masquerading as news: "It's all sizzle and no sausage".
We'll be keeping an eye on the new supermarkets to see what impact they have on shops in their areas - and to highlight any raw deals for North Wales farmers. But fair play to Asda for extending the olive branch, even if it wasn't from any Gog groves.

The issue of smoking in public places (see A Pugh AM's wise comments on my previous entry) has also been exercising us at the Daily Post. Smoking has long been banned here but many folks gather at the back door for a ciggie. But who is responsbile for all the butts that get scattered on the floor? As the worst kind of whinger (an ex-smoker) I for one will be absolutely delighted when the ban comes into force in pubs. I might even go inside the Liverpool Arms in Conwy again rather than freeze on the doorstep.
But I do hope that every pub doesn't end up with a pathway of fag ends outside its porch.

Last orders

• Posted by Rob Irvine at 1:01 PM | add or read comments (1)

Booze and fags feature prominently on tomorrow's Daily Post newslist. Today we brought you the views of the RCN nurses who have to deal with the miserable consequences of binge drinking at casualty units across Wales. Tomorrow we bring you a selection of powerful interviews with people whose lives - and the lives of those around them - have been turned upside down by their addiction to alcohol.
We've always been a boozy nation . The latest figures show nearly half of men - and nearly a third of women - drink to excess on occasions. Don't get me wrong, I count myself among this number, although I have managed to stay clear of brawls and A&E departments.
There's lots of reasons for what has happened - not least the official sanctioning of corporate greed. Bars hate to cut prices - they'd rather sell you two bottles for one. Supermarkets do discounts if you pay multiple bottles. The other day I went to an off licence to buy a bottle of wine.
"If you buy two of them you get another free".
"But I only want one."
"But if you buy them now you'll save money and you can keep the others for another time."
"But I won't, we'll have one bottle and then we'll say 'mmm, that's lovely, she shall we crack open another?' - and before you know we''ll be spouting jibberish and sticking on the old punk albums."
And fags? We'll bring you a report on Rhodri Morgan's announcement that the public smoking ban will come into force on April 2 - ahead of England's...and the Assembly elections. So that's thousands of voters, who will be heading to the polls twitching with rage that they have just been stopped from having a smoke with their pint.
Nice timing, Rhodri.

And the winner of stupid remark of the week is...

• Posted by Rob Irvine at 1:12 PM | add or read comments (1)

I don't share the fascination many newspapers have with reality TV shows - so we tend to play it cool about the likes of I'm a Celebrity and X Factor in the pages of the Daily Post.
We did get behind the Blaenau lad when he got through to the final of Big Brother but other than that I don't think there is enough readership interest to merit more than a few paragraphs.
Certainly the circulation struggles of the red top papers, who fill their pages with reality TV news, seems to support my theory.
But this doesn't mean I don't watch them - and if the comment Louis Walsh made on Saturday night's X Factor had been directed at a North Wales contender, I would have picked this story up and stuck it on the front page.
What happened? A woman from Glasgow came in to audition. She sang beautifully, she looked great. She fitted the bill perfectly. Louis also thought she sang well - but said he was "surprised". Why's that Louis? - why is it surprising that an attractive young woman can sing well? Surely his surprise had nothing to do with the fact that she was in a wheelchair? (she had broken her back falling from a tree as a child).
If you want another example of stupid or cruel prejudice look no further than today's Daily Post where brave teenager Kirsty Perkins tells how she is fronting up the bullies who used the internet to poke fun at an attempt she had made to take her own life ( a course of action which had itself been driven by bullies). Hats off to Kirsty for having the guts to go public - she's brave as her tormentors are cowardly.
And what the hell are the people who run the website Bebo playing at? Don't they care that it is being used as a new form of torture? There's no limit to the resourcefulness of cruel children. They quickly latched on to mobile phones to send hate texts. Then they used the video functions of their phones for "happy slapping" - filming acts of violence (S4C's Rownd a Rownd picked up on this just the other day). Given the chance the bullies were bound to exploit a community site like Bebo, used by thousands of British schoolkids. Its owners should be less greedy and start bringing in some staff so they moderate content before it goes online.
Let me know what you think - email me at letterswales@dailypost.co.uk

Who's been needling the chief?

• Posted by Rob Irvine at 11:42 AM | add or read comments (1)

Oh dear, we’ve gone and done it again…upsetting Mr Brunstrom.
Our splash today is about North Wales police’s plan for an automatic needle dispensing facility next to Colwyn Bay nick so that people who misuse drugs can safely dispose of needles and get clean new ones.
Apparently making such information public isn’t helpful. The chief constable’s says he did not publicise the planning application in order not to sensationalise the matter.
Planning applications do of course become matters of public record so we might we as well discuss this idea now – which is why it’s in today’s paper. You have a right to know about this plan.
Efforts to provide a traditional needle exchange service in Colwyn Bay have so far failed due to protests from local people (the chief is quick to point out that protests have led to violent demonstration… let’s be under no illusion, the vast majority of protesters have not acted violently. Being a Nimby doesn’t automatically make you a criminal).
How should we measure the success of a needle exchange service? It should be more than just keeping addicts safe from dirty equipment. It is about helping them towards a drug free life. An exchange service is just one way in which a point of contact can be provided to drug users who can be guided towards abstinence and rehab programmes to get them out of their drug world. The key is to get to the addicts and to offer them real help.
Machines just dispense needles, not advice. At least the police deserve praise for trying to do something – even if we believe this plan is misguided. The real solution lies with the Welsh Assembly properly funding programmes to provide supportive drug free environments to help addicts change their lives forever.

Two thieves a-stealing

• Posted by Rob Irvine at 1:46 PM | add or read comments (0)

Apologies for the lack of entries of late but I have been on holiday - a week in less than sunny North Wales. I doubted that you would want to read about my exciting trips to garden centres or the day I bought some new trousers in Bangor.

A few people have mentioned that they enjoyed my entry of August 15 about nonsense English only journalists use. Here are a few more favourites - with the emphasis on words that serve no useful purpose.

I heard one of the classics on the BBC the other day - "Two paintings have been stolen by thieves". Who'd have thought it - thieves stealing something?
Let's step the crimes up a a few notches - here you will find the "brutal rapist" (as opposed to the kind-hearted softie rapist) and the victim of a "savage knife attack". You may find that "police are hunting" the knifeman - you don't say.
I remember a newsdesk colleague on the Bristol Evening Post tell me a reporter had just sent him a news in brief item which reported that wheels had been stolen from a parked car. "I'd like to see them take the wheels off a moving car" he added.
Also from Bristol - a classic example of the journalist's fear of using the same word twice. We had a cracking tale about a man who held up a bank with a banana. By the second paragraph the reporter revealed that the robber had hidden the "popular yellow fruit" under his jacket, pretending it was a gun.
Just a few more daft newspaper phrases to leave you with - and, I know, you've probably seen some of these sneak their way into the Daily Post, for which I can only apologise...

"budding thespians" - some kids in a school play
"loveable pooch" - a cute dog
"blaze" a fire
"the ambulance rushed the victim to hospital" - rather than dawdling to the chemist's
"store wars" - a crap, out of date pun for when Asda chop tuppence off a litre of unleaded
"town hall chiefs" - not important native Americans in local government but senior paid council officials
"kicking up a stink" - used in any incidents involving complaints about sewerage treatment plants, rubbish tips or dustbins
"up in arms" - mildly upset... or an uprising involving guns or knives.
If you have any of your own favourites let me know.