A departure...and arrivals

• Posted by Rob Irvine at 4:47 PM | add or read comments (1)

We say farewell at the end of this week to our news editor Maria Breslin who is off to the Liverpool Echo. She will be greatly missed by the team - a very talented journalist and an inspiration to work with and for.
But we never let the seats go cold here, oh no. At the start of next week we are joined by Will Batchelor, one of the rising stars of the Press Association. He's a bloody good news-hound who has an uncanny knack of spotting the real story amid the bullshit...spin doctors beware!
Also next Monday we are joined by our new columnist Dylan Jones-Evans who will be writing on all matters Welsh. The Monday comment slot is a big one to fill after the loss of Ivor Wynne-Jones. Ivor was irreplaceable but I am sure that Professor Jones-Evans will rise to the challenge and make his own mark on the Daily Post.
We are just putting the finishing touches to the 2008 Daily Post calendar (I know, it's not even June, but we have to get it ready to go into shops in August). The theme is North Wales from the Air and we are also including a DVD, with aerial footage and lots more still photos, in the price.
We're also staring work on an overhaul of some of our specialist sections - notably business and farming...more details to follow in due course but the changes should be ready for September.

So farewell then...

• Posted by Rob Irvine at 3:50 PM | add or read comments (0)

I think I preferred the high drama of Maggie's departure. I was working on the news desk of the Coventry Evening Telegraph at the time. The writing had been on the wall for weeks but Mrs T had been hanging on limpet-like as the leadership battle unfolded.
Then that fateful morning the sub editor responsible for reading the Press Association files suddenly uttered: "She's gone".
There was about 15 seconds of silence in the newsroom then all hell broke loose as nine pages were junked and hastily redrafted for the next edition, announcing that the Iron Lady was finally, at last, on her way.
Can't for the life of me remember John Major's departure - we were all to busy watching Cherie Blair gurning up Downing Street.

As Mr Blair readies himself for a life of parting rich Americans from their dollars on the lecture circuit (tonight's subject, me and Dubya - the intimate inside story), we will be bringing you a two-page report tomorrow on the day's events at Downing Street and Sedgefield. We'll also have the latest from Portugal ...rumours flying about like crazy as I write, none of them optimistic but the police are promising a press conference tonight on the latest details of the hunt for Madeleine. And all the best North Wales stories, of course.

Don't make me mad

• Posted by Rob Irvine at 11:15 AM | add or read comments (0)

In the Daily Post today (Wednesday) we tell the story of Paula Maguire, an expectant mum of twins who popped into Mostyn Street in Llandudno yesterday morning to pay a bill. She's 33 weeks pregnant and is, I hope she doesn't mind me saying, visibly pregnant. In fact, she'll have to stop driving soon as her mummy tum is up to the steering wheel.
Parking is a bit of a struggle but she managed to make it into a space after a few goes. Well she nearly did...one of the wheels was just an inch over the white line.
But while she nipped into Lloyd's one of Conwy Borough Council's traffic wardens spotted his chance and slapped on a £30 ticket for this shocking misdemeanour. Despite pregnant Paula's protestations the jobsworth was having none of it and told her she could appeal.
When we approached Conwy Council, they did the same...and we quoted them saying this today.
On the way to work this morning I had what I thought was a bright idea which I put to my deputy Gregg Fray. We decided to approach Conwy Council, to say: Why not take the chance for a bit of positive PR. Let's say we approached you for some clemency, you tear up the ticket without Paula having to go through the appeal, we'll agree it's a one-off special case, you can carry on booking people left, right and centre - you look good, we look good, Paula's happy, job's a good 'un.
And their response.
An absolute no. We can't possibly make exceptions, the due process of appeal must be followed, blah, blah, blah, blah.

How pathetic.

You know, I'm getting sick and tired of local authorities using parking tickets as a cash cow, regardless of the consequences. Since Conwy Council crammed our streets with wardens last year, shopkeepers across the county have complained how they've lost customers who used to park up and nip in for a few bits and bobs.
No doubt the council will claim it's all to do with safety. What a load of bull, I don't recall endless processions of car crashes and ambulances being trapped on their way to hospital before these new rules came in.
So the Daiy Post is now going to have a thorough look at just how much money councils across North Wales are trousering through this relentless war on drivers - both locals and tourists - and to see just what damage it is doing to the region's economic health.
So thanks Conwy Borough Council for winding me up...it's given me the idea for a much better story.

Madeleine McCann

• Posted by Rob Irvine at 4:21 PM | add or read comments (0)

Every few years there comes along one of those stories that buries deep into people's hearts. They tend to involve young children and they tend to involve tragedy. And in the worst cases, even hard-bitten old hacks can't help but thinking and worrying about it.
We can only pray that this time there will be a happy ending and that Madeleine McCann will turn up safe and well in Portugal but every passing hour makes that seem more remote.
The British journalists who've flown out to Luz have had a rude awakening at the hands of Portugal's incomprehensible legal system, which clamps down on the release of information not from the moment a suspect is arrested or charged but from when the police inquiry is officially launched.
And we thought British police forces were mean with their information supply.! But one would certainly expect that if a little girl went missing in North Wales, Mr Brunstrom's press team would be bombarding us with any information that could lead to the child being found.
Madeleine's parents intervened to tell the world what their daughter was wearing when she vanished as the Portuguese police were not allowed to reveal this vital piece of information. Strange kind of legal system, that.

Election night

• Posted by Rob Irvine at 5:51 PM | add or read comments (0)

I'm a bit bleary-eyed today after working through the night on the Assembly election results. The bizarre counting system for the bizarre voting system meant there was no chance of getting results into the paper but we did have running coverage through the night at dailypost.co.uk and I'm pleased to report that we beat the BBC's website to nearly all the results.
So you'll know where to look come the next general election!
Tomorrow's edition of the paper carries five pages of analysis and reports on the vote as Labour and the Lib Dems start to make their plans for a coalition government, although it is too early to assume it will go smoothly, meaning alternatives such as a rainbow coalition of Tories, Lib Dems and Plaid could still oust Labour from power.
Our main in Cardiff - Tom Bodden - has the inside track on all the latest developments and he'll keep you posted.
One sombre note from the night was the near 10,000 regional votes gained in the North by the BNP. A couple of thousand more and they'd have secured a seat in the Senedd. If you did vote for the BNP please write and let me know why as I'm fascinated to understand why you don't like foreigners and people with different coloured skin. Does this mean you also don't like people who spend too long on the beach or in tanning salons? Or are the arguments more sophisticated than that? I've had a look on their website and there's just a lot of bollocks about 7,000-year-old indigenous cultures, dire warnings about men having sex with other men and pictures of kids wearing flags of St George T-shirts.