Monday, April 06, 2026
The reality of Reform in power
The paper has spoken to residents, charities and local politicians to understand what impact the party had made a year after they took control of the council:
Reform ended a nearly 30-year Tory reign at Kent County Council (KCC) at last May’s local elections. Party figures promised it would be a “shop window” for how a Reform government could govern in Westminster and Mr Farage promised a "new dawn" in British politics.
But when The Mirror last week spoke to half a dozen people on the high street in Maidstone, Kent, not a single person could say how life had improved in the area. Eileen, 88, said: “Since Reform took over Kent County Council, it’s not been so good. Nothing gets done properly. The roads don't get swept, all things like that.”
Frank, 60, who lives in the area, said: “Nothing has changed. Nothing's got worse. Nothing's got better.” Paul, 70, added: “I can’t say I’ve seen a great deal of difference between the previous council - the Conservatives - to what it is now.”
Those working in local politics in Kent said the Reform administration has been combative, unconstructive and chaotic. More than half a dozen Reform councillors have either quit or left the party since last year’s election.
One of the most notable scandals involved a damaging video leak which showed Reform’s leader in Kent Linden Kemkaran swearing and telling her colleagues to "suck it up" in relation to her decisions on local government reorganisation.
Tory councillor Dan Watkins, who was unseated by Reform at a county level but remains a councillor at Canterbury city council, said Reform's management is the “worst approach” he has seen in seven years in local politics. He said: “Debate is being shut down. Individuals are being personally criticised in the chamber and the whole thing seems just performative for national politics and I think that's a real loss to local democracy.”
He accused local party leaders of engaging in “gesture politics” on issues like immigration - which is controlled by the national government. “What we have at County Hall in Maidstone is Reform just engaging in gesture politics and fomenting an aggressive atmosphere where the whole thing is set up to be about doing down your opponents and scoring some national political points rather than any constructive debate,” he said.
“This is how they run local government. Imagine the horror story that will materialise if they run national government. If it’s a shop window, it’s a shop window to a horror show, isn't it? I really wouldn't wish residents in any other part of the country to have to experience what we are.”
Alister Brady, a Labour councillor at KCC, echoed Mr Watkins’s comments on the culture at Kent, saying: “The leader of Reform would have an argument in an empty room - very combative and doesn't know how to bring people together.” He told The Mirror: “Since Reform took over at Kent County Council, there's just been chaos. It shouldn't be KCC, it's Kent Chaos Council.”
Mr Brady was highly critical of the council’s Department of Local Government Efficiency (Dolge) project, inspired by Elon Musk’s so-called DOGE unit in the US. The scheme - which seeks to cut wasteful spending - has faced a mountain of criticism over the last year.
Reform councillor Matthew Fraser Moat, who was in charge of it, resigned in February after he said the council "had not actually made any cuts" since his party took control. Referring to last June’s launch of the Dolge initiative in Kent - which was attended by national party frontman Zia Yusuf - Mr Brady said: “When Reform - the ‘Dolge’ people from Reform - rolled into Kent County Council, it was like a circus.
“They posed on the stairs. They said, they'll find all this waste, all this corruption…It was nonsense. What Reform do is they do things to get headlines and then you look at their actions and nothing really happens.”
Mr Brady similarly accused Reform of peddling “lies” throughout the election campaign in Kent, during which the party handed out leaflets saying it would cut taxes - before this year approving a 3.99% council tax rise. “They misled residents and I'm hearing on the doorstep that they see that lie,” he added. He also raised concerns that Reform is “overspending” at the council, which he claimed had led to a “very risky” Budget.
Broken promises when it comes to cutting people’s bills can have a real world impact. Rob Foley, charity manager Making a Difference to Maidstone, said pressure on his foodbank services has not eased since Reform came in. “Since Reform have been in, the strain on our services has been the same,” he said.
“I would say that they need to be given a chance. I know they've come in and they've started to look at savings and maybe that one year of looking for savings has been the priority. All I know is pressure keeps building. People keep needing it and we just keep trying to provide that restoration in their lives.”
Asked about Kent being a “shop window” for Reform in Westminster, he added: “If he's saying that Kent is going to be a shop window, then he really needs to sort that display out. Because at the moment, Kent hasn't changed.”
Those thnking of voting Reform on 7th May need to be aware of the party's chaotic record and the damage their can do to the bodies that they are seeling election to.
Sunday, April 05, 2026
The North Sea myth
The paper says that the Jackdaw field, one of the largest unexploited gasfields in the North Sea, would displace only 2% of the UK’s current imports of gas, which would leave the UK still almost entirely dependent on supplies from Norway and a few other sources. They add that the Rosebank field, also in Scottish waters but mainly containing oil, would displace only about 1% of the UK’s gas imports:
Tessa Khan, executive director of Uplift, the campaign group, which compiled the data from public sources, said: “New fields like Jackdaw and Rosebank would do vanishingly little to boost UK gas production. Even in the most optimistic scenario, and assuming none of its gas is exported, Jackdaw would provide just 2% of UK demand over its nine- to 12-year lifetime.”
It has already been shown, by authorities including the UK Energy Research Centre, that new drilling would not reduce oil and gas prices, or improve the UK’s energy security. It is also unlikely to produce durable jobs or major new tax revenues, as 90% of the UK’s North Sea oil and gas has already been burned, putting the industry in steep and irrecoverable decline. Companies are also demanding tax breaks to tap the new fields, which are harder to access than existing supplies.
But Ed Miliband, the secretary of state for energy security and net zero, is under pressure from the fossil fuel industry, Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, some trade unions and the Conservatives to give a green light to Jackdaw and Rosebank, which are not covered by the ban on new licences for North Sea drilling because their applications were already in the system when Labour took office.
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor of the exchequer, has previously spoken in favour of drilling, though at the recent G7 energy meeting she emphasised renewable power as the solution to recurrent oil crises.
Miliband has not yet made a decision on either field, the Guardian understands, and is still mulling the potential impacts. The UK is likely to be among about 50 countries represented at a major climate conference later this month in Colombia, at which governments will make a start on plans to phase out fossil fuels.
The owner of the Jackdaw field, Adura Energy, has been asked by the North Sea regulator to respond to new questions related to the licence application, including on greenhouse gas emissions. That process could take weeks, if not longer, meaning no imminent decision is likely.
Any decision on the Rosebank field could be taken separately from that on Jackdaw. Khan said: “Rosebank is oil for profit, not our security. Its reserves – which, if burned, would see the UK breach its climate commitments – are predominantly oil for export. It has the potential to reduce the UK’s annual gas import dependency by just 1% on average.”
Philip Evans, a senior climate campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said: “Our fossil fuels are provided by a volatile global market which we cannot control, and is regularly upturned by reckless wars and blockades. The only path to real security is to leave fossil fuels behind as quickly as possible.”
Farage and Badenoch are pushing this agenda pretty hard as the solution to the energy crisis, however all the research shows that this is a myth. We need to build energy capacity so we are self efficient but this is not the way.
Saturday, April 04, 2026
The Kardomah Gang
Regular members of the Gang included poets Charles Fisher, Dylan Thomas, Bert Trick, John Prichard and Vernon Watkins, composer and linguist Daniel Jones, artists Alfred Janes and Mervyn Levy, the broadcaster Wynford Vaughan-Thomas, Mabley Owen and Tom Warner.
As Wikipedia says the café was located opposite the offices of the South Wales Evening Post newspaper where Thomas and Fisher worked. This was where the group drank coffee:
In a letter, dated 26 May 1934 to Pamela Hansford Johnson, Dylan Thomas writes about their first meeting in the Kardomah Café:
"I'm in a dreadful mess now. I can hardly hold the pencil or hold the paper. This has been coming for weeks. And the last four days have completed it. I'm absolutely at the point of breaking now. You remember how I was when I said goodbye to you for the first time. In the Kardomah when I loved you so much and was too shy to tell you."
In February 1941, Swansea was heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe, in a 'Three Nights Blitz' Castle Street was just one of the many streets in Swansea that suffered badly; the rows of shops, including the 'Kardomah Café', were destroyed. After the bombing, Dylan Thomas came back to visit Swansea. He later wrote about the devastation in his radio play entitled Return Journey: “The Kardomah cafe was razed to the snow, the voices of the coffee drinkers - poets, painters, and musicians in their beginnings - all lost”.
The Kardomah Café reopened after the war in a new location in Portland Street, a short walk from where the original stood. The café's Castle Street site was originally the site of the Congregational church where Dylan Thomas's parents married in 1903.
Recollections of the cafe and people who met there were recorded by Fisher and are available at kardomahgroup.net
"My recollections of the place date from the year I started working for the Post (1934?) Dylan, briefly a reporter at the same time as myself, was in the process of leaving the paper and preparing his assault on literary London. (But he and I were in the habit of meeting there even before then, in Grammar School days (see: Bishop Gore School) when editing the school magazine was used as a pretext for cutting classes)" etc...
Labels: lochist
Friday, April 03, 2026
Ex -Welsh Reform candidate issues warning about his former party
The news site says that following the publication of an image of lead candidate and former Conservative aide Corey Edwards performing a Nazi salute, Pen-y-bont Bro Morgannwg candidate Owain Clatworthy announced on Tuesday (March 31) he was leaving Reform UK, citing concerns about the selection process used to choose the party’s top candidates for the May 7 election:
Clatworthy told the BBC the image, “really did it for me. I can’t support a party that would be happy to back something like that”.
Five of Reform’s Senedd election hopefuls have so far stepped down since the party unveiled its full slate of candidates a week ago.
On Wednesday (April 1) Clatworthy took aim at one of Reform’s top media performers in Wales – Torfaen councillor Jason O’Connell.
He has faced accusations in recent days from his own party members of being “parachuted” into the Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr constituency from outside the area.
In a post to X, O’Connell said Reform was gaining “momentum” in Wales adding that his party’s manifesto would put Welsh people first.
Clatworthy responded warning that O’Connell was not motivated by Valleys families – but by a Senedd salary and other “perks”.
He continued:
“Jason, like far too many others in Reform, is not motivated by the Valleys or your families.
“They’re motivated by the Senedd salary, the perks, the pension, the title, and protecting their own. Power. Money. Self-interest.”
A senior Reform UK source said the party was in the midst of a “civil war” and warned that further resignations by candidates were expected ahead of the May 7 election.
The source said: “At this stage it’s civil war. Welsh leader Dan Thomas hasn’t seemed to have intervened or done any leading at all, as chaos descends over the farcical candidate selection that was used by Torfaen’s David Thomas and HQ to place friends into winnable rankings.
“Owain Clatworthy is right – the whole party has become a careerist vehicle.”
Let's hope that the voters take notice when they come to choose who represents them.
Thursday, April 02, 2026
How Labour government policies are hitting the hospitality sector
The paper says that many pubs, restaurants and hotel companies will see their costs increase significantly from today after Rachel Reeves’s changes to business rates and an increase in minimum wage thresholds announced in the November budget:
An industry-wide survey of 20,000 hospitality businesses has found that as a direct result of the cost increases, 64% of firms plan to cut jobs, 42% intend to reduce trading hours and one in seven will be forced to close.
“Hospitality businesses enter April facing billions of pounds in additional costs, which will force many to make heartbreaking decisions,” said bodies including UKHospitality and the British Beer and Pub Association, in a joint statement. “Hospitality’s tax burden – the highest in the economy – is suffocating the sector. The impact is clear: more lost jobs, less investment and business closures.”
While there is no estimate of the overall cost of changes to business rates, a spokesperson said he expected that most members would pay more, with the average hotel in England facing an increase of £28,900 more this year (up 30%), while the average restaurant can expect a 15% increase worth £1,800.
This is despite the government announcing a support package worth more than £80m a year for pubs and live music venues, after a fierce backlash against the impact of the overhaul of business rates.
The trade bodies, which also include the British Institute of Innkeeping and Hospitality Ulster, also warned that the conflict in the Middle East will accelerate the impact of rising wage and tax costs with energy bills expected to rise steeply.
Separate figures published by the Institute for Public Policy on Wednesday showed that the UK has the second-lowest level of business investment by private companies among the G7 group of countries.
The thinktank estimates that UK companies invest the equivalent of 11.1% of GDP, well behind countries such as Japan at 18.2%, and European nations including France, at 12.7%, and Germany, at 12%.
The economic shock wave caused by the war in the Middle East has pushed economic confidence to an all-time low, according to new figures from the Institute of Directors (IoD).
The IoD’s Economic Confidence Index, which measures how optimistic business leaders feel about the prospects for the UK economy, fell to its lowest ever score of -76 in March. The IoD’s reading in February was -63.
Among business directors, the biggest drivers of cost increases over the next 12 months were listed as labour bills, supply chain inflation and energy.
Many of these changes, which are also going to affect the charity sector, could have been avoided. While many of us accept that the government needed to balance the books, a much fairer way to do it would have been to increase taxes. Instead Labour are taxing jobs.
Wednesday, April 01, 2026
UK faces existential energy shock from Iran war
They have compared the impact of rising prices to a “large sudden tax on income” for a family, warning that the “de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz and damage to regional infrastructure have produced the largest disruption to the global oil market in its history”:
Writing in a blog post on Monday, it explained that the war’s impact is “both global and highly uneven”, with some countries likely to face a renewed cost of living squeeze.
Large energy importers in Asia and Europe are bearing the brunt of higher fuel prices and input costs due to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping lane, which has caused shipments of oil and gas to grind to a halt.
Countries such as the UK and Italy have been particularly exposed, while France and Spain were relatively protected by their greater use of nuclear and renewable energy sources, according to the IMF.
The organisation also warned of mounting concerns about food prices shooting up because of the disruption to shipments of fertiliser from the Middle East.
“The interruption of crop-nutrient supplies from the Gulf comes just as planting season begins in the Northern Hemisphere, threatening yields and harvests through the year and pushing food prices higher,” it said.
The most vulnerable countries will “bear the heaviest burden”, with people in low-income countries spending a bigger proportion of their incomes on food.
“Although the war could shape the global economy in different ways, all roads lead to higher prices and slower growth,” the IMF warned.
The ultimate impact depends on how long the war lasts and how much damage it does to infrastructure and supply chains, but the world may “settle somewhere in between – tensions linger, energy stays costly, and inflation proves hard to tame”, it wrote.
Things do not look good for the economy, we will have to see what the government can do to mitigate the impact of this war.
Tuesday, March 31, 2026
Reform's disastrous vetting process
The news site says that the key member, who does not wish to be named, said they took part in Reform’s “full candidate assessment and training process” for the upcoming Welsh election, and has accused the party of a “lack of transparency” and criticised the “calibre of some of the people now being placed in winnable positions”:
The insider told us: “What I witnessed was not a merit-based system designed to find the best local representatives – but a centrally controlled process that favours insiders, parachuted candidates and personal connections over local knowledge and competence.
“Several high-placed candidates have been moved into top spots despite having no real connection to the areas they are supposed to represent.
This description in mirrored by Will Hayward's special report on Reform's Senedd candidates on his Substack.
Hayward points out that there are a lot of former Tories amongst the 96 candidates being put forward by Nigel Farage. He says that of the 16 seats, 11 have a former Conservative in at least first or second place on the list, adding that if former Tories are standing, they are almost always high up the list.
The party's vetting process had a number of flaws, including a failure to take account of historic social media posts by candidates.
Hayward refers to the Facebook page of Caerdydd Penarth candidate Paul Campbell, which features pictures showing a man posting a letter into the eyes of a Muslim woman wearing a burka (likely in reference to Boris Johnson saying that Muslim women look like letter boxes) and obscene fake/edited images showing Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbot.
In addition, he says that Senedd candidate for Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr, Martin Roberts, who is an organiser for the party, had pictures of himself alongside known members of Welsh Far Right organisations proudly displayed on his public Facebook page.
Finally, he publishes a whistlestop tour of some of Reform's other candidates:
* Mark Reckless. (2nd Caerdydd Penarth). Mr Reckless spent five years as an MS between 2016 and 2021. During that time he represented four different parties and was also an independent. Throughout that time he employed his wife as a senior advisor on up to £41k a year at the taxpayers expense.
* Dan Thomas. (1st Casnewydd Islwyn). Reform’s leader in Wales led Barnet Council and embarked on a huge outsourcing of public services. We published a special report on that here. He also said that the media was “weaponising my housing portfolio against me”.
* Laura Anne Jones. (1st Sir Fynwy Torfaen). Was suspended from the Senedd for using a racist slur. She has failed to turn up for key votes but did vote against stopping politicians from lying. Ms Jones has previously agreed to interviews with this newsletter but has then repeatedly ignored requests.
* James Evans (1st Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd). One of Reform’s two MSs previously called Reform “dangerous” for their rhetoric against minorities and that they “didn’t have a plan for Wales” and were “total hypocrites”. After his defection he attacked the media for apparently twisting his words.
Cristiana Emsley. (1st, Fflint Wrecsam). She was head of Cleveland Police’s standards and ethics department and was suspended for over two years following an investigation into allegations of misconduct. When we approached Reform UK they indicated that the suspension was as a result of her activities as a whistleblower within the organisation and that she had been awarded a six-figure out of court settlement following her suspension.
Llyr Powell. (1st Blaenau Gwent Caerffili Rhymni). Known as “Welsh Dave” by Nigel Farage, he was Reform’s unsuccessful candidate in the Caerphilly by-election. He previously worked for Reform’s former Welsh leader Nathan Gill who is currently in jail for taking Russian bribes (there is no suggestion Mr Powell did anything wrong).
History can be pretty damning.
In addition, he says that Senedd candidate for Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr, Martin Roberts, who is an organiser for the party, had pictures of himself alongside known members of Welsh Far Right organisations proudly displayed on his public Facebook page.
Finally, he publishes a whistlestop tour of some of Reform's other candidates:
* Mark Reckless. (2nd Caerdydd Penarth). Mr Reckless spent five years as an MS between 2016 and 2021. During that time he represented four different parties and was also an independent. Throughout that time he employed his wife as a senior advisor on up to £41k a year at the taxpayers expense.
* Dan Thomas. (1st Casnewydd Islwyn). Reform’s leader in Wales led Barnet Council and embarked on a huge outsourcing of public services. We published a special report on that here. He also said that the media was “weaponising my housing portfolio against me”.
* Laura Anne Jones. (1st Sir Fynwy Torfaen). Was suspended from the Senedd for using a racist slur. She has failed to turn up for key votes but did vote against stopping politicians from lying. Ms Jones has previously agreed to interviews with this newsletter but has then repeatedly ignored requests.
* James Evans (1st Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd). One of Reform’s two MSs previously called Reform “dangerous” for their rhetoric against minorities and that they “didn’t have a plan for Wales” and were “total hypocrites”. After his defection he attacked the media for apparently twisting his words.
Cristiana Emsley. (1st, Fflint Wrecsam). She was head of Cleveland Police’s standards and ethics department and was suspended for over two years following an investigation into allegations of misconduct. When we approached Reform UK they indicated that the suspension was as a result of her activities as a whistleblower within the organisation and that she had been awarded a six-figure out of court settlement following her suspension.
Llyr Powell. (1st Blaenau Gwent Caerffili Rhymni). Known as “Welsh Dave” by Nigel Farage, he was Reform’s unsuccessful candidate in the Caerphilly by-election. He previously worked for Reform’s former Welsh leader Nathan Gill who is currently in jail for taking Russian bribes (there is no suggestion Mr Powell did anything wrong).
History can be pretty damning.
Monday, March 30, 2026
Are the Tories seeking to undermine the UK's energy security?
The paper says that the Tory leader was ridiculed ahead of launching a “Get Britain Drilling” campaign calling for the UK to maximise the use of its oil and gas reserves:
It follows a spike in energy prices caused by the war in the Middle East, something Ms Badenoch had supported joining only to U-turn a week later. Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has led to a drastic rise in oil prices across the globe.
On Sunday Ms Badenoch will launch a three-point plan to “get Britain drilling” which includes an end to the moratorium on new oil and gas licences, ditching the windfall tax on energy profits, and more financial support for the fossil fuels industry. However, the plans were roundly mocked, with Michael Shanks MP, Labour ’s Energy Minister, branding the North West Essex “unfit for high office”.
He said: “Kemi Badenoch wanted to plunge Britain head first into war without a seconds thought about the consequences. She has proven herself completely unfit for high office throughout this crisis. Badenoch's Conservative Party left families with rocketing energy bills - and they completely failed to deliver energy security across 14 years in power. Her own shadow energy secretary admitted that new licenses in the North Sea would not take a penny off bills.
"The Conservatives and Reform want to outsource Britain's energy security to fossil fuel markets over which we have no control. Meanwhile Labour is bringing down bills next week and investing in clean, homegrown power to bring bills down for good."
There was also criticism from Tessa Khan, executive director of campaign group Uplift, who warned the Conservatives’ plan would do nothing to lower bills. Pointing to research suggesting hundreds of North Sea licences granted under the previous government had produced just 36 days’ worth of gas, Ms Khan said Mrs Badenoch was “peddling a dangerous fantasy”.
She said: “Politicians who refuse to acknowledge the reality of the declining North Sea are endangering our security and economy. Not only that, they are betraying workers who need long-term, secure jobs – which will only now come from renewables, not some pipedream. This is vapid, political game playing at the expense of ordinary people.”
If the Iran war has shown us anything, it is that we cannot be dependent on other countries for our energy supply, nor can we hitch ourselves to a declining source of fossil fuel in contravention of our climate change obligations.
The Tories are living in the past and if they get their way then it will undermine our energy security.
Sunday, March 29, 2026
Our version of Trump's ICE under fire
Earlier this week, the Guardian carried a detailed feature on how the Home Office enforces its policies. They said that officers have searched thousand of businesses in search of illegal workers, reporting on one raid at Mandira's Kitchen in Guildford last year:
The raid is one of more than 17,400 on businesses carried out since Labour came to power in July 2024 – a 77% increase on the year before and almost as many as in the entire previous parliament. The government says the drive has led to the highest number of arrests for illegal working since records began, but critics say the crackdown goes far beyond the party’s manifesto pledge of a “fair and properly managed immigration system”.
While the UK’s Ice teams were set up in 2013 as part of Theresa May’s “hostile environment” policy, Labour has been using the increased number of raids to front much of the Home Office’s media output. In January, the Home Office set up a TikTok account, @SecureBordersUK, to show Ice officers raiding a market, a car wash and a nail bar. One video, which appears to show people struggling in open water during small-boat crossings, contains a stark message: “To the migrants who come to the UK illegally: you will face deportation or removal.”
Most businesses raided by Ice don’t know why they were targeted. Anonymous tipoffs, which can be made online, appear to be behind many of the raids (including the one on Mandira’s Kitchen). Kevin Barker, a former Ice officer and the director of the paralegal firm Immigration Compliance Ltd, says that while raids are always “intelligence-led”, a tipoff can be enough to trigger one.
There are steps between a tipoff being filed and a raid being carried out, Barker says. Surveillance is sometimes used, including “discreet drive-by surveillance”. Barker says Ice will also “see if there’s any other allegations or previous immigration raids to the business” and investigate if a name is given. But more often than not, he says, “there are no names mentioned – they just have a suspicion of illegal workers”. The nature of anonymity means a tipoff can relate to a personal or commercial grievance. Often, it’s “competitors within the local area” filling out the forms, he says.
Moitra Sarkar holds a sponsor licence, which allows her to employ students or workers who might not normally have the right to work in the UK. “It was all very intimidating. Oh, you’re brown and you’re running a food business? Of course you’ve got illegal immigrants. It’s guilty until proven innocent,” she says.
Racial profiling is a factor, says Seema Syeda, the advocacy and communications director at the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, which provides legal advice for those targeted by raids. She says the high number of arrests doesn’t paint the full picture. In 2025, Ice officers carried out 12,791 illegal-working raids and made 8,971 arrests. However, the Home Office’s figures show that only a quarter of those arrested (2,251) were detained and 12% (1,087) left the UK, either by force or voluntarily. Syeda says she has seen “many cases where people are raided, arrested and then released”. It is, she says, “very clear to us that this is a performative act”.
The article includes claims that the UK ICE often exceed their powers but also that the force has far fewer powers than ICE in the US, but that this may not remain the case:
Reform UK and the Conservatives have announced plans to create agencies modelled on ICE, should they win power. However, the increase in raids hasn’t come without opposition on the ground. Anti-raid groups are “springing up”, says Syeda. In January, a group in Lewisham, south London, alerted people to a car wash raid. When protesters told those being approached by Ice officers of their rights, no one was arrested.
Whereas the work carried out by this agency is ncessary, I do think that there needs to be greater public scrutiny of their work to ensure that things don't get out of hand.
Saturday, March 28, 2026
Swansea's Albert Hall
The website Save Britain's Heritage featured the Albert Hall as their building of the month in January 2021. They point out that the building opened in in 1864 as a music hall which hosted speeches by some of the big names in Victorian society including Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde and David Lloyd George.
They say that after it ceased use as a music hall in 1922, it served as a cinema and a bingo hall, before finally closing in 2007. It even hosted a showing of Jaws in 1975. At that time, having stood standing empty and deteriorating since 2007, they argued that the hall (pictured below as it was) was in desperate need of restoration and new use.
A good example of repurposing a listed building for modern life.
Labels: lochist
