A RECENT BBC television programme asked “How happy are you
with your life?” A loaded question, if ever there was one.
Not surprisingly, the Welsh Valleys fared particularly badly:
too many youngsters without jobs. That’s why Carwyn Jones
needs all the backing he can get to set up apprenticeships and
colleges of further education.
I thoroughly enjoyed my apprenticeship days and set out to make
the most of them. An academic? No, not I, but I worked
alongside some of the finest academics alive at the time and I
was respected for my practical abilities, especially those of a
precision engineer.
Wales once had a fine engineering reputation in numerous
disciplines, which ought to be able to be re-established, the
potential has to be there, but it needs promoting.
British waterways handing over the canals is a good start, so
is the electrification of its Cardiff and Swansea railways, but
the Assembly must make sure that Wales reaps some benefits and
it’s not just extra profit for the train operators.


Walt Jackson, Llantrisant, Usk