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I stayed in a nice hotel in Swansea last night, city centre, 4 star, amazing old building done up to a very high standard etc etc. But when  you get into the experience it’s not all that it might be.

Yes of course; it looked great. But it was the small things that were irritating: the nice bathroom that had a modern toilet that was so low that my arthritic hips made it very difficult to get up and down on it. Looked pretty though.

A modern shower unit that could not be turned on without me getting soaked with cold water first, because the controls were in the wrong place.

A luxury double bed, made of two singles joined together with a dip in the centre so that I slept rolling down a hill.

The heating system was probably the best that money could buy – but I couldn’t work out how to use the controls. So we were cold. And when we did turn it on it laucnhed some jet engines that could have woken the dead.

So on the surface and onf first impression, it was great – indeed good enough to get its tourism awards. But would I really want to stay there again? No. Sorry, but the focus on modern minimalism at the expense of true utility and comfort showed that the designers were more taken with form rather than function. That for me is the wrong focus.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I hate manufactured photo shoots for rugby, somehow they just don’t seem to work, and today’s 6 Nations Captains’ gathering did nothing to change my mind.

They were on the BBC news – so well done for the PR – but as the camera angle turned to show their backs I spotted something worrying – or am I paranoid?

The Scottish captain had a number 9 on his back, the English Captain had no number on his back – cos he’s might not be there – but Ryan Jones (the Welsh captain) had no number on his back either!

FFS: Ryan is the best No 8 in the UK! There almost needs to be a monopolies commission investigation into his Man of the Match performances for the Ospreys since he recovered from the North America and Lions tours.

But it just shows that when someone plays to his strengths he performs, no: out-performs and places himself above the competition.

So if your name is Warren Gatland and you are reading this blog: make sure that there’s a No 8 on Ryan’s back at Twickers next week. And if you’re not WG, tell him is you see him!

I really laughed when I saw this for the first, second and third time!

Have the lunatics taken over the Asylum Assembly? Well it certainly looks that way if Martin Shipton’s report in the Western Mail today is correct.

Civil Servants are going to be paid a one off grant of upto £2500 for moving to work in offices that could be closer to their home.

Just read that sentence again slowly and wonder if there really is an understanding in our bloated and out of touch public sector of a need to be a little bit tighter with the purse strings?

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I’m an ex Army man – so I’m probably a bit biased, but the message from the First Sea Lord this week about our future defence cannot go without comment.

And the comment is simple: where the bloody hell is the Royal Navy in support of the disaster in Haiti?

If we’ve a need to project power globally, and all our current fighting in Afghanistan is about as far as you can get from water, why isn’t the Royal Navy doing something to support the efforts in Haiti?

This is Ben

I think he’s the most beautiful Labrador in Cardiff, Wales, UK, the world!

When I heard about the disaster in Haiti I was saddened, but then I heard about the USA’s response of active and vigorous action and I felt proud that some people in the world were able to do something really useful. I wish we were with them.

Television footage of people suffering and cities destroyed, or is that people destroyed and cities suffering? Whatever way you looked at the early reports the news was almost beyond understanding. But eventually we understood, or at least I thought we did. This is a natural disaster in a country that has a history of dealing with man made and natural disasters.

But understanding meant nothing: people have been killed, so there’s not much one can do for them, but millions still live and it is the living that are suffering. Millions in need of help, millions without the basics of life: shelter, water, food and security. Beyond that they are now in a state that had no means of control, no communications and certainly no means of dealing with the challenges they face.

What can we do, what should I do, why should I do anything?

All questions that ran through my soul, deeply. If only I were younger I could “volunteer”. But I’m not young, so maybe they need my money: but will it get there? And anyway: why should it come to me to give or do something? We’ve a department of Government that deals with international aid, can’t they take care of it all for me, for us, for them?

The more I saw TV footage from Haiti, the worse I have felt.

The suffering is beyond understanding, and the sense of frustration about the slow progress of international aid is growing. And the talk is now about money.

To hear today that the First Minister of the Welsh Assembly Government has suggest that we, in Wales, should give money to the Disaster Emergency Committee has left me seriously disappointed. The cause is so obvious that is hard to imagine anyone in Wales objecting to Government action.

There are 3 million people in Haiti affected by this disaster, roughly the population of Wales. A well lead country would stump up a valuable and immediate donation at a rate of at least £1 per head.

Some years ago it was illegal to broadcast Gerry Adams speeches on the TV or radio, as he spouted his version of the truth of life in Northern Ireland. So voice over artists were used instead to speak his words. This generated an uplift in the number of people who heard his message as they were now interested in the way the broadcasters were getting around the ban. Read more »

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I’m a bit of a philistine when it comes to the arts, never quite “getting it” when it comes to telling a story through song. But last night I went to see Les Miserables in the Wales Millennium Centre and it was truly fantastic.

Story telling through song is a bit beyond me, but some of the well known numbers were beautifully delivered and quite moving. But I was blown away by the lighting and scenery. They were fantastic, the only word I can use for them, truly fantastic.

The overall effect was also pretty amazing as I spotted many people wiping away tears at the end of the performance, and I was one of them. I might be a philistine but I know when I’ve seen something good.

Exams are pretty big in the lives of our children and many will have worked hard and diligently to prepare for those due to start on Monday. But the disruption caused by the snow will now, most likely, knock those preparations into the long grass. The reason for this is that the Exam Boards cannot manage the challenge of exams schedules when not all candidates can attend due to poor weather conditions.

There are no doubt many options to deal with this challenge, but the option of ploughing on regardless and leaving those who cannot attend to take the exams in 5 months time is undoubtedly the wrong option. The reason it is wrong is because it is putting the system at the heart of the answer, not the customer who is called the candidate in this instance.

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If the business world can look at weather forecasts and make decisions ( salt, grit, even cat litter will be on surge supply, whilst demand for salads will probably be down so not much will be ordered), then it is hard to see why the exam boards cannot make the necessary changes especially when the forecast is so clear and the impact so wide ranging.

Surely it is not beyond their ability to make a radical change to the plan that reshapes the playing field in favour of the students. With forecasts of poorer weather still over the weekend, Monday promises to be a tough day to get to school. So why not close all schools for a week for the weather to clear, and delay the start of the holidays by one week, now or in the summer, to make up the “lost” time.

This could work, but it would probably be rejected by all those in education who place themselves ahead of those they are supposed to teach and prepare for the future.