Merthyr Housing Association started its ‘Can’t Cook, Slow Cook’ project to help its tenants turn low cost produce from the local food co-op into healthy meals.
Darren McGarvey, otherwise known as Loki, is a Scottish rapper, social commentator and author of Orwell prize winning Poverty Safari. We are thrilled to have Darren joining us as a speaker at our Annual Conference in November, where he will give insight into his own experience of poverty and social housing.
I wonder if our politicians feel the same back-to-school blues at the end of recess as I always did at the end of the summer holidays. Do they have crisp, new suits that just aren’t comfy yet? Clean new notebooks and pens stuffed into their bags that they will write the date neatly at the top of each page for a week or two? Do they vow to try a bit harder this year?
Rebecca Evans AM was first elected to the National Assembly for Wales in May 2011 to represent the Mid and West Wales region. In 2016 she became Assembly Member for Gower, and following this was appointed Minister for Housing and Regeneration in November 2017. One year on, we will have the pleasure of her company when she joins us to speak at our Annual Conference.
For over 10 years Trevor Williams was Chief Economist at Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking. In November he will be joining us at our Annual Conference to give his take on Brexit.
Whilst the AMs and MPs are on recess, forgive me for briefly straying from politics and housing to talk about something that has been in the news, chatted about and all over social media over these last two weeks – exam results. I know it isn’t directly related to the work we do in the housing sector, but something that undoubtedly interests a great number of people, be they students, parents or just curious citizens. Pretty much everyone has done exams of some sort at some stage in their life and many will remember their August spent waiting on results for GCSEs or A-Levels (or O-Levels, or Highers, or Standard Grades or anything else!). It is a funny month; schools and universities are on holiday, offices are half empty, flights and hotels are twice the price and politicians pose for holiday photos to try to demonstrate that they have hobbies and interests outside of politics. Then, as the middle weeks of August arrive, so does the onslaught of photographs of smiling teenagers jumping in the air clutching pieces of paper.