The first Laura Ashley store opened in Llanidloes, Powys in 1961 is set to close in January.

Lord Hooson, an ex-director of the firm said of Laura Ashley herself:

“She’d have been absolutely horrified. She was very much a mother figure in this area. She took not only an interest in the company, she took an enormous interest in everybody employed in it.”

Before the slow and painful slide into obscurity and debt that began in the 90’s I used to regularly drive passed the Carno factory and friends of my mothers thrived off cheap off-cuts from the Newtown factory. This world-wide cottage industry seemed to make sense at so many levels and generated a sense of pride that rippled out across Wales from its rural focus in Mid-Wales.

Now things are very different, any Welsh pride in the company is a whithered shell of its former self - I’m sure that the complete severing of any Welsh connection can only be a matter of time.

But thanks for the good times Mrs Ashley … let’s leave what’s left to the globalised corporate vultures.

The Manics will be given the ‘Godlike Genius’ award at NME’s 2008 awards to take place in February at London’s O2 arena.

The award…

“honours those music icons that have shaped the music landscape over the years”.

In response Nicky Wire said…

It feels like the best one because the NME is what I grew up with and for all its faults it still means a lot to me.

[I love the for all its faults bit]

In the footsteps of Calzaghe’s award, another well-deserved recognition of Welsh endeavours…

By the way, for all Manics fans, get over to the Manics website, where they are giving away their ‘old school Christmas … the anti x-factor … actual fun’ Christmas single Ghost of Christmas.

Looks like my moaning about the BBC Wales Sport Personality of the Year going to losers has paid off!

Calzaghe has only gone and won it - no thanks for my help is necessary (although an invite to a forthcoming Vegas based fight would be nice).

 Well done Joe, the BBC and the British public for seeing sense.

After becoming only the second recipient of the BBC Wales Sport Personality of the Year in successive years it really is time that Calzaghe is recognised nationally as the great sportsman that he is. (Ian Woosnam is the other person to have won it in successive years.)

Of course, I’m biased - For some it’s Ali, for others Tyson and maybe even a few would state Bruno as the boxer who got them into the sport, for me it’s Calzaghe. Style, grace and an elegance that makes more brutal pugilists looks like shabby thugs.

So I support Joe for the overall BBC Sport Personality of the Year - a sportsman who has actually won something meaningful (unlike contenders Hamilton, Wilkinson, Robinson and Murray).

Come-on Joe…

Now I don’t to be a moaner or seem small minded or parochial about this, BUT, I can’t help feeling a little bit disappointed that as a country the UK sees fit to invest so much in the redevelopment of a St Pancras and the infrastructure to connect such a wonderful renovated piece of Victoriana to Europe whilst domestic train services remain so woefully inadequate.

This is one of those stories where statistics can be so powerfully deployed, so placing my parochial hat firmly on my head; I can confidently state that …

…if takes less time to get to Brussels from St Pancras than to get to Cardiff…

…similarly, Marseilles takes less time to reach than Pwllheli…

…and Liege is ‘closer’ than Carmarthen…

Makes you think…

I happened across the dotSCO website, the campaign for a new .SCO top-level domain (TLD) for Scottish websites. Wondering in my ignorance if a similar thing existed for a Welsh related TLD I entrusted Google to answer my question…

The answer came in the form of the dotCYM website:

The Welsh language and culture is a community that we believe should be identified and enhanced by having its own sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) on the Internet. Under a .CYM sponsored TLD those organisations, companies and individuals, throughout the world, that express themselves in the Welsh language and/or wish to encourage Welsh culture will be able to be registered and will be clearly identifiable.

Personally, I’d love to see a distinct Welsh TLD, not only for Welsh language sites, but all Wales and Welsh related sites. The opportunity to carve out a small Welsh corner of the the internet in the form of the .CYM TLD is one that Welsh Directory supports.

dotCYM website

visit the dotCYM website (English version)

Once you start looking you keep seeing it…

I’ve driven past this every time I go to work for the last few years.

Concise and to the point…

I guess Banksy has got a lot to answer for.

This piece of graffiti, on a wall not far from the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, (I’ve seen similar images popping up in other places around the city) really appeals to me. The blending of a Welsh cultural icon with spray paint and stencils, placed in the ‘Europe’s youngest capital city’ demonstrates the struggle between traditional identity and ambition to stand shoulder to shoulder with the best in Europe that we experience in contemporary Wales…

(Or then again perhaps it’s just a picture of a rugby player…)

(And is this really street art, or did the council pay for it..?)

If you’ve ever been in any doubt about the real religion of modern day Wales, take a trip to Cardiff and experience at first hand the giant excavations and legions of builders of the Saint David’s 2 project.

The project is basically a £675,000,000 redevelopment ‘the heart of Cardiff’. A new library and ‘improvements to the public realm’ (whatever that is - nicer streets?) will be delivered but the key to this is undoubtedly the building of an enormous new shopping centre that would put medieval Cathedral builders to shame in its scope and structure.

Impressive - Yes!

Economically sound - I’m sure it is.

Soulless - without a doubt!

If only we could put our efforts and abilities into the development of something less economically and more spiritually rewarding.

…now we build shops.