if i wanted cuts i would have been a hairdresser

But i don't think my skills would have been best placed there!!

We are currently experiencing possibly the most tumultuous time in local government any of us has ever seen and the effects of this will be with us for the foreseable future.  The decisions that are being made for us by our peers will not only affect our lives but those of our children, I am not saying that our elected politicians are going to make the wrong ones but my concern is that decisions will be made from the heart and not from the fiscal reality that we have in place.  The other problem is that most people really don't realise quite how bad it is and just want to blame the local government when most of these problems are a knock on effect of bad banking(mostly our American financial wazkids!) and over spending in the past. 

There is a huge amount of savings that can be made in terms of processes that are paper pushing but those processes will also have a requirement for resources that are limited by the cuts, this is a rock and a hard place position. 

There is a great deal of public outcry over the pay for staff and the relation to the average pay in Cornwall at 24k per annum.  Its understandable that people who don't earn as much as that are upset at people earning more, but the flip side is shouldn't we be getting that average up in Cornwall? we have some of the most skilled people in the country living here and many live here when they could be earning big money in the city, they choose to stay because they love their heritage and want their children to grow up in the best place on earth.  I earn a good wage, I have earned much less than the average and believe me I have worked damn hard, given up a great deal of time to better myself so I can do more for my family.  Should I be punished for that?  if i earn less I spend less, so local businesses wont benefit and the knock on effect again means we keep salaries lower.

In terms of benefits, people need them, some people expect them and some demand them.  That's the areas we need to deal with.  If you cant find a job then community service and earn the Job Seekers until you do, it could be linked to skills learning so your training on the job.  If not, your at least doing something for society and the tax payers money, the pressure is lessened for councils to provide the services they cant afford to deliver.

I don't envy the people making the decisions, i don't envy the position of deciding on things that will effect peoples lives for a long time after in how they live and work in Cornwall.  Equally people need to understand its worse than they realise and these decisions are having to be made because they have been passed on to us by the people we had and have elected to make these decisions.  In many ways I applaud them for dealing with a deficit that could cripple a nation and is crippling others.  I don't have any answers but i question whether a Big Society will work when people are feeling very insular, I hope that we see Britain become Greater.

The cost of living

Luxulyan Valley

Had a great day out yesterday at Bedruthan Steps and Padstow.  As its not far from home its nice to get out for a walk with the camera and not have to drag a couple of surfboards around with me, only on occassion mind you normally i prefer the boards!! So it struck me yesterday that I never fully appreciated that my parents used to drag me to a beach every weekend and we would sit with our sandwiches (mine usually filled with sand!), melted chocolate roll and the Mr Kiplings apple pie that this all costed money.  Now I have my own kids, it certainly struck me that there doesnt appear to be anything that is cost free with the exception of a walk on the moors! I am interested in knowing what is available out there which is cost free.  Even a walk in the woods cost £3 these days.  Dont get me wrong I dont have an issue with paying for a decent meal(just like to promote Scott's National Trust cafe at Bedruthan Steps, the best of food every time!) its just a trip out is never less than £20 and we are only doing the trips for my family to get out and get some exercise, but to do that we have to do that within the confines of our village where parking doesnt cost and we can walk everywhere.  not really sure where I am going with this but just wanted to moan about why everything cost these days and would really like to know if there is anything that doesnt come with a raffle ticket attached to it.  In connection with this I am setting up a facebook page called Corwalls free stuff and a twitter stream #cornwallfreestuff good to get a discussion going about free stuff in Cornwall? what do you think?

Great summer

 Constantine Bay Reef (Mika 03/09/10 )

Well the summer is officially over for us in terms of school holidays. Its been a blast, whilst the surf could have been better, this past week has seen the best swell of the year with sun and a decent 4-6ft swell at Constantine. Although it was a tad of a paddle out for my dodgy shoulder!

Highlights of the summer for me have been the fact that I have spent so much time at the beach and the fact that my son has developed(finally) his fathers desire to grow gills and has simply learnt to surf instantly.  First wave and he was on his feet, the rest was easy.  I have now turned into a taxi for him with every evening a trip to Harlyn to get some surf he has been as keen as mustard to get in.  Mind you I dont think that I had two surfboards of my own for my 9th birthday or anyone to teach me to surf.  I certainly didnt have the talent to get up on my first wave. Been great all round and now just need to get through the winter to the next one. Got some great pics too!

Sams first wave

My boy

My girl

Sam

Rubbish aint it?

I surfed at Harlyn Bay last week, whilst not my favourite beach(like the shampoo I surf and go), I looked across the beach and was stunned by the amount of rubbish that people had left behind. We aren’t talking a couple of blown away crisp packets or the odd curly wurly wrapper, I am talking bin bags worth of refuse. What goes through peoples heads, maybe I was brought up in a different environment where my parents would have strung me up for dropping a wrapper and not picking it up.


There used to be a service that dragged the beach everyday with a tractor and picked up the rubbish. This damaged the sand so it stopped, understandably. There aren’t any beach cleaners these days or if there are I haven’t seen one and they would need a team to deal with it. The hedgerows are equally as bad! Our Council Tax pays to have this removed when the money could be better spent on many other things.

Whats the solution? Community groups cleaning the beaches, i would be up for it. On the spot fines, but who would deliver them. Its education at the end of the day, if we lead by example then we can get people to change their ways maybe. I know that what my parents installed in me at a very young age is still there and I have carried that on with mine. My son even picked up someone else’s rubbish recently and binned it. What I don’t want to see is my early morning surf ruined by tip toeing through the cans and plastic(and dog mess, although thats lots better). I am interested to hear what people think. @_jasonwilliams #cleanupcornwall

Is social media really anti social?

Are we becoming social inept with the increased usage of social networking sites?

I have to confess that i am a newshound and my home page is a awash with feeds from Reuters, BBC and other worthy news sites.  These sites provide up to the minute accurate news that satisfies my requirements, coupled with the other facet that many people have of the further quest for knowledge which is the hours spent on Wikipedia channel hopping links to more interesting areas and opening tabs for "things for later".  Social networking for me is another channel for up to the minute news, recently i noticed that the trend was Roy Hodgson only to realise that the announcement for Liverpools new manager was tweeted before the new sites had gotten it.  Is Twitter a news channel for normal people or is it a gossip column?

My thoughts are this we use social networking to contact and keep in touch with friends and family rather than picking up the phone or visiting.  Without it would really actually truly keep in contact with people, I wouldnt have the time to visit, but I am never far from an appliance to communicate. Hell I even had about 100 people wish me happy birthday, I didnt know that many people liked me!  so I believe we are a little less social with these sites but far more connected than we would ever be able to.  Good and Bad....... Good for me. 

Twitter: _jasonwilliams

What is it to be Cornish?

Cries of Cornwall for the Cornish ring out throughout Cornwall. Well in some areas anyway. I am Cornish, my ancestors are Cornish and I am proud to have some heritage to a County that is what I consider one of the best places in the world. We have a coastline that is both beautiful and impressive, which provides much of the reason why it attracts what is our only industry, tourism. Whilst the summer months are short lived these days, the time is maximised into 6 weeks of what can be considered troublesome for some areas. This is based on both a lack of understanding for tourists that cornwall has a different way of doing things than most, we dont deal well with traffic jams and equally drivers that fear going abov 20 miles an hour on a country lane may make them go back in time. That being said Cornwall relies on tourists to sustain many of its businesses in the summer, without them we are an even poorer county, the poorest already. So when I hear the cries of Cornwall for the Cornish it bothers me and makes me sad that we have grown so arrogant that whilst we complain about low wages and lack of opportunity we need someone to blame for this, the people that have moved to the area because they too love the area often become objects of distain. Granted in all walks of life there are people who dropped in a desert island could fall out with the only coconut on the island. Should the selfishness of the few be for the many? well not for me but in Cornwall where the celtic pride takes on many shapes and forms, it does. So my point is that if Cornwall should be for the Cornish then shouldnt we be creating industry that doesnt rely on tourism, when Cornish people invest in this trade does that not also create a loop that without investing in a sustainable alternative then we will never break the cycle? what concerns me is the lack of opportunity that our children will have in the future. We have some really very clever people and some very successful business in the County, why cant we find something that can make Cornwall something unique, hell everyone is a photographer, designer or artist. Is there an opportunity there? with the recession and government looking to make cuts then there is an opportunity to make this happen. I am not clever enough to know what but what we have to do is stop the absurd cries of "we are so hard done by" and come together and use what we have to build a future for Cornwall all of our children. Well I would like to think we can, rather than just talk about it.

Big society

Well i have partaken in the creation of a social media group on facebook which is designed to encorouge community spirit! its a group design for the homes on the estate that i live to see what the interest is for people coming together in a community. The ethos that we are seeing at the moment is central government want us to have a society where we take control and service our own environment. Is this possible and not just a utopian dream? we will see. I am interested to see if normal people really have the interest or passion to help themselves.
Having met Mr Cameroon at Constaintine in 2009 i have to say he seemed like a normal chap, his dismissive attitude to a lady who greeted him like an old friend in her prada water proofs in full make up did give me some distinct satifaction as i was stood in a pair of boardies in what can only described as a cloud burst, i was sheltering my children, his friends and his own kid in a flimsy summer tent. They were a little damp but he thanked me and made his way up the beach. Interesting not but hopefully it was an example of the community spirit that he is looking for. Me, I was selfishly waiting for the tide to turn so I could go for a surf and didnt have a clue who he was at the time.

Anyway, big society, is it a pipe dream, an experiment in real social networking or a get out of delivering services to local people. Who knows but time will tell.