I RECENTLY visited the sumptuous surroundings of Monmouth’s magnificent Savoy Theatre for a screening of “Interstellar”, the latest Hollywood blockbuster starring Matthew McConaughey about a group of astronauts who travel through a “wormhole” in search of a new home for humanity.

Environmental catastrophe has destroyed agriculture and made the Earth of the future uninhabitable. It may be science fiction but the film does convey an important warning about our dependency on farming in the same month that the crisis affecting Welsh dairy farmers has hit the news.

The price dairy farmers receive for their milk has fallen to an all-time low of 17 pence per litre, below the actual production cost. No business can survive at a loss, it really is that simple. Unless something is done more dairy farms will go to the wall and there will be big knock on effects for other areas of farming and Britain’s food production. I’m sure that’s not what the public would want. Supermarkets need to put their price wars to one side and pay the going rate for milk even if that does add a few pence to a pint. Our farming industry is too important to lose.

I sometimes feel I’ve gone through a wormhole when I hear some of the pronouncements coming out of the political bubble. The idea of increasing the number of Assembly Members has been knocking around for a while but has re-surfaced with a vengeance with the publication of a report outlining the costs of any potential increase. Whilst I agree there are certainly deficiencies with scrutiny in the Assembly I seriously doubt all of these would be resolved by 20 more AMs, though the cost would certainly further irritate a public already bewildered by politicians’ pay rises.

Many people may also be bewildered by the Welsh Government’s plans to end the “Right-to-buy”. Whilst it’s true that the numbers taking up the offer to buy their home from councils or housing associations have been declining in Wales (in no small part due to the huge cut in discounts available compared with England!), Right-to-buy has enabled a large number of families to get that all-important first foot on the housing ladder since the introduction of the scheme in the 1980s.

Whilst home ownership may not be for everyone, we should recognise the huge role it can play in empowering people and helping them fulfil their aspirations.