The Ramblers' "Dead End for Walking?" campaign was launched recently, to warn of the risks to public paths from threatened cuts in local authority spending. The campaign web-site highlights areas in England where footpaths are under threat, but the same considerations apply in Wales. St Illtyd's Walk was already being starved of support before the current round of cuts, and there are threats to rights-of-way on Sarn Helen and connected footpaths. It is thanks to Cllr Steve Hunt in Seven Sisters that these concerns are kept on the agenda. Having faintly damned our council, it is only fair to praise ...

This morning's Western Mail reports that laptop computers and mobile devices worth £21,000 have been lost or stolen from the Assembly Government in the past two years, a Freedom of Information request has revealed. A total of 24 laptops which cost £800 each and 30 mobile devices, mainly phones, went missing: Defending the Assembly Government's record, the spokesman said: "Of the 5,250 laptops and mobile phones in use across the Assembly Government, less than 1% have been stolen or misplaced over the past two years despite our highly mobile workforce. We take information security very seriously. "Equipment is password protected ...

Anybody reading the lead article in this morning's Western Mail, reporting that Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt has signalled his intention to allow ITV to ditch its commitment to regional news, could be forgiven for thinking that there has been a major government announcement. However, the second sentence in the article gives the game away. It reads: Mr Hunt confirmed he is to persevere with a policy of introducing a network of smaller, city-based local broadcasters, freeing ITV up from its obligation to provide a Wales-wide service. In other words the Culture Secretary is following precisely the same policy, unchanged from ...

Nick Clegg warned that flood-hit Pakistan will need aid for years to come as he saw the devastation for himself. The Deputy Prime Minister said the disaster would have a "long tail", with threats from water-borne disease and opportunistic extremists. Speaking after being shown aid camps near the southern town of Sukkur - one of the worst affected regions - Mr Clegg said: "I think the sheer scale of this is really quite difficult to comprehend. The terrible thing is that it has got a long tail. It has got a lot of aftershocks that are going to last for ...

So after Cheryl Gillan and the Wales Office released their favoured question for the upcoming referendum on further powers to the Welsh Assembly, the Electoral Commission has released it's own version - one that Ms Gillan has said she has "a mind to accept". If she does, I will be very pleased. The new question explains the current system a lot better than the last one, and explains exactly what people will be voting for. One of my major concerns of the referendum was that it would be lost because the "No" campaign would scaremonger on the lines of Welsh ...

The Tennant Navigation last week.

On Lap 16 of the Belgian Grand Prix my limited respect for Red Bull hot shot Sebastian Vettel took a further slide as a rookie's error took my favourite driver Jenson Button out of the race, and after Sebastian also failed to score points after he got going again, practically ruined both their chances of winning the World Championship. But we've been here before. Back in Turkey, he crashed into Mark Webber in a move I didn't even think he should have attempted (see previous blog), and going even further back he caused an avoidable collision in the 2009 season ...

According to the BBC the Electoral Commission will give its verdict later today on the proposed question for the referendum on whether the Welsh Assembly will be able to pass laws in the 20 areas of policy it is allowed to administer. The Commission has spent the past 10 weeks trying out the question with members of the public. It will reveal if it believes the wording is suitable, or if it needs rewriting. Only when the question has been formally agreed can legal moves begin to call the referendum vote. The BBC say that it is understood that the ...

The publication of Tony Blair's memoirs and the quite disgraceful pursuit of stories about William Hague's private life have somehow managed to push a far more important story off the front pages. From what I can see only the New York Times and The Guardian are reporting on allegations that the prime minister's media adviser, Andy Coulson, freely discussed the use of unlawful news-gathering techniques while editor of the News of the World and "actively encouraged" a named reporter to engage in the illegal interception of voicemail messages. Coulson has always insisted that he had no knowledge of illegal activity ...