Tuesday 14 February 2012

Dafydd Elis-Thomas, Pylons, and the perils of Google Street View.

A very interesting 'Yr Byd ar Bedwar' on S4C this evening dealing with various aspects of the protests against wind turbines on Ynys Môn. At the end of the programme, Plaid Cymru leadership contender Dafydd Elis-Thomas was interviewed and dismissed concerns that giant wind turbines would destroy the landscape by saying that where he lived in Dyffryn Conwy he was surrounded by pylons.

Well, as Elis-Thomas's address is published on the Assembly election nomination papers, we can take a look at the actual view over his house:

Dafydd Elis-Thomas's house, nestled somewhere in the trees in the centre of this image

Bechod! Must be awful to be surrounded by so many pylons...

64 comments:

Anonymous said...

What lying cretin.
Plaid deserve him.

Anonymous said...

So where's the Pylons Mt Thomas?

kp said...

I am surrounded by idiots.

But I doubt any of them are visible from the 'actual view' over my house.

Ex Plaid Voter. said...

So there you have it, Plaid's official interest in giant wind turbines. Build there right across Anglesey, I'm surrounded by pylons?
Political suicide, wouldn't you say Ma Lord,

Anonymous said...

The fact that IACC does not yet have adopted SPG to deal with wind turbine applications, does not mean they can refuse to deal with applications....the so-called moratorium.
A planning authority must deal with an application, policy or no policy, otherwise the applicant can appeal to Cardiff and an Inspector will hear the matter on the basis of whatever out-of-date policy applies, and any other material considerations.
So if I were a wind turbine applicant, I'd look to Cardiff ?

228FPA said...

Are we certain this Google image hasn't been "photoshopped" to protect the innocent?

Anonymous said...

228FPA - click on the text highlighted as 'actual view' and the google street view page opens up.

Anonymous said...

Electricity pylon routes are also generally shown on OS maps, so even if this particular image had been photoshopped, there'd be other supporting evidence to (dis)prove the silly claim.

Not to mention the fact that we're in a tourist area and people can if they wish actually go and use their own eyes/cameras in the relevant area.

He may be surrounded by pylons but they're so far awat that they're invisible.
Oh dear.

228FPA said...

Sorry people - mine was a "tongue in cheek" comment obviously lost on some!

Paul Williams said...

There's definitely been no photoshopping of the above image.

No need to take my word for it though. Look for yourself here: http://goo.gl/sQT6c

Anonymous said...

And there was I thinking he lived in Dinas Powis!

Another Ex Plaid Voter. said...

The bare faced liar should hand his Lordship back and having brought Plaid in to serious disrepute, clear off. That goes for GWR as well sticking his turbines where the sun don't shine.

Anonymous said...

Druid army's are a massing along the Meni.
Giant Turbinetes approaching on all sides.
Lord of the Pylons leads the invasion with GWR in reserve pontificating the back.
Wait, there's a wind, everything stops, the lights have gone, never mind there's always tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

How bent have you got to be at Anglesey County Council to get the boot?
When are the People going to say no more? Or is it all to late.

Prometheuswrites said...

"Are we certain this Google image hasn't been "photoshopped" to protect the innocent? "

I looked up LlanfairPG on google maps and the overhead power lines and pylons are clearly visible as they march across the Island.

I looked for similar lines down the Conwy valley and couldn't see any, not even from the Dolgarrog Hydro station - maybe they are underground there? (the lines, not the pylons)

Andrew said...

Paul, get the vehicle ready because I am going to carry out the auditing equivalent of the "Valentines Day Massacre" in cyber space right here on the Druid Blog.

Andrew said...

Unfortunately, lack of transparency and accountability doesn't stop at the Bridge, it goes far beyond and reaches in to the corridors of power.

I want some of that stuff that Lord Daffyd Ellis-Thomas is on. Must be good shit if he's having hallucinations of turbines surrounding his house.

No Thanks said...

I watched last nights program and what came over mostly to me was how rude Dafydd Elis-Thomas was.

Does anyone know if he has any vested Interests the Wind Turbine Industry?

Maes Llwyn said...

Some Councillors, the shady Teflon types, care little about conflicts of interest in public life, they care only for their own interests,(turbines) at the expense of us, the long-suffering gullible electorate.........we know who they are, some were blatant on TV last night, we await them with deserved contempt when they dirty our thresholds in April 2013 !!

Anonymous said...

Dafydd Elis-Thomas Plaid's Pylon Pillock!

Anonymous said...

Good luck to you all, if your politicians can lie to you, and you still do nothing, then you are all entitled to be walked over and treated like dirt.

Anonymous said...

Keep it up !! Dafydd you are at last making people of Wales really know who you stand for !!! Plaid Cymru is definitely not the "Party for Wales" ????

Anonymous said...

Dafydd Ellis shot him self in his foot, time the people of Wales realised what he and his party stands for !!!

Anonymous said...

The natural beauty of our natural countryside is at peril in the hands of Plaid Cymru !!!

Gob Smacked. Is this what I've been voting for all these years? said...

Lord of the fly's,Dafydd Elis-Thomas, on telly again, what a twat.

True Welsh Man. said...

NO TURBINES HERE.
NO TURBINES HERE.
NO TURBINES HERE.
NO PLAID HERE.
NO PLAID HERE.
NO PLAID HERE.

Anonymous said...

Mae yn amser i pobl Cymru ddefro i'r drwg mae Plaid Cymru yn gwnwud in gwlad !!!
It's time for the people of Wales to wake up to the harm that Plaid Cymru is doing to our country !!!

Anonymous said...

Druid.
It appears from the Media that the whole of Wales is up in arms about the proliferation of Wind Turbines.

Perhaps they should all get together as one and march on the assembly.

mairede thomas said...

The problem for the residents of Anglesey is that the Welsh Government has disenfranchised them at the very moment when the issue of wind turbines is making them extremely angry. The disconnect between politicians and the electorate is growing here on Anglesey. Elsewhere in the world when the democratic process has broken down people have become more and more frustrated and this has led to violence as for example in Greece. No-one wants to see that on this island, and so it is important that the democratic process is restored in time for people to feel their voices can be heard and taken notice of before irrevocable decisions that profoundly affect their lives are made.

Anonymous said...

Mairede Thomas, your quite right, but democracy on Anglesey is dead and the Council have been inflicting mental violence on the people for years, but it will all come to an end long before the next elections.

Anonymous said...

If this Council wants to move forward, it must confess and apologise properly for the abuses it has caused for years.
People first.

Anonymous said...

These covers up that have been allowed in the name of Democracy must be published, the People have had enough of listening to a Council that ignores them, and the clown from Plaid Cymru who stands and makes us out to be stupid by protesting against these eyesores must need his head examining.

Anonymous said...

To be green some years ago you would have been casted as being a looney !! so therefore are all our present politicians loonies ? Don't they realise that you can not fight nature. The world will evolve naturally what ever we try and do to change it.
Its far important to look after its natural beauty!!!!

Robert said...

Local Politicians are suppose to support the interest of local peolpe, and not their own intrest. I can not believe that Dafydd Elis told 'Byd ar Bedwar' that wind turbines would not effect any area.
It common sense it will definalty affect any area. I cant believe that i have to remind anyone of this.
Turbines will endanger our tourist industry. Wind Turbines and Tourist defiantly do not mix!!!

If the Welsh Assembly is seriously considering renewable energy they should consider other methods of generating green energy. Being surronded by many miles of coast, the ocean would seem an obvious source of power, in my opinion! We could use wave or tide power. And not ruin our beautiful landscape.

Why put wind turbines on the land, when there's miles and miles of ocean.

Langefni said...

"Local Politicians are suppose to support the interest of local people"

From the "Byd ar Bedwar" program there was one, be it a lone voice Councillor, who's got his finger on the button

If ever there was a need for the Mayoral system it's now, and he'd win hands down.

Anonymous said...

I am the naive person who was educated in Anglesey, and was taught to believe that when a Person was elected to represent the people, then that person would obey the wishes of the people, in these past few days, nothing could be further from the truth.
Democracy does not exist here, only a greedy demand of the elected to gain more at our expense. They take everything but give nothing back, no wonder their tongues are hanging out at the idea of the cash they can make and take from these windturbines.

Anonymous said...

Plaid Cymru think they own the land, the people live on the land, therefore Plaid Cymru think they own the people as well, best you start thinking about it, because that's how it is on Anglesey.

The only people who get anything on Anglesey are those select few that control the land for development, and they say who get's what, when and where.

Anonymous said...

I wonder where Ieuan stands on this mess, on the side as usual, I wonder where hot headed Leanne the new Plaid leader in waiting stands on this mess, unavailable for comment, remember, Plaid Cymru thinks in it's own little way that it "OWNS" the land and the people, get rid of Plaid Cymru, wash the country of Labour, then maybe we can make a new start.
Where are the Comissioners today? doing what they normally do, when the people moan, nothing.

Anonymous said...

Don't worry about Plaid, There finished on Anglesey.

An Eye On... said...

Don't worry about Plaid, There finished on Anglesey.

Plaid were finished on the island the minute they prevaricated over their position on things nuclear and couldn't give a straight answer on something s black and white as that.

They will take a while to die - and if they elect a new leader who sticks to their principles may actually recover, but as it presently stands they have no credibility. They just wait to see which way the wind is blowing and jump that way and the public have sussed that. In Holyhead Penrhos is a classic example - it's ripe for exploitation by a political party at street level. None of them say that much about it really. The odd non-commital couple of lines in the HAM, but no party willing to stick it's banner firmly in one court or the other, showing a bit of passion, going round the streets banging on doors - which just reinforces people's beliefs that really the political class are pointless. When did you last see Our-Albert or Grey-Man taking a 100% stance over a locally contreversial issue and personally knocking on doors in the pouring rain over it?

But what of the options? Labour? a party of hypocracy regarding Wales if ever there was one.

Tory? Too many low/no paid. Too many low income pensioners. Too many people needing social housing for rent. Too many people who have learnt to their pain that business locally is not ever to be trusted.

LibDem? LMFAO. They are history. They climbed into bed with Cameron and immediately alienated 50% of their own core.

UKIP? Perrrlease.

BNP? Don't take the piss.

Little will change other than fewer and fewer people will bother voting because they will not see any point in wasting 5 minutes to achieve nothing.

Perhapos now is the time of true independent candidates.

Shaun said...

I think he is confused between a pole (the wooden things standing 6m tall carrying 400v) and a pylon (metal standing 30m tall and carrying 400,000v). Makes you wonder if you can't tell the difference between the 2 how can you possibly hope to convince people about anything

There are no Pylons said...

Lord Elis- Thomas.
Totally out of touch with the people and a bear faced LIAR.

An Eye On... said...

Lord Elis- Thomas. Totally out of touch with the people and a bear faced LIAR.

I belief the formal terminology is Career Politician.

Anonymous said...

People go on about the inadequacies of the Anglesey Council Politicians but how many of them were returned unopposed or the same ones voted back in last time? - a very high percentage. Ifyou want to do something positive, stand against them rather than slag them off constantly. All the ones people keep slagging off have all been voted in by the electorate, most of them time and time again - those who voted them in have only themselves to blame.

228FPA said...

There are lies, there are damned lies and then there is what politician utter.

Wouldn't touch them with a wind turbine myself!

mairede thomas said...

Anon on 19th @ 01.45.

Some of us, myself included, have said openly that we wish to stand for either County or Community Councils.

Unfortunately the County election has been put on hold so we are deprived of that option. And that is where the most important decisions are being made that will affect the island for years to come. However it is also important to know which Councillors are not working in the interests of their electorate.

Sometimes this has little to do with party politics and more to do with individuals.

Some individuals cynically hide behind the Code of Conduct and say they must not have a predetermined view. Ask yourself how ridiculous that is because it is the perfect excuse for not having a manifesto.

But I feel confident that people who care about the island will come forward as soon as they are given the opportunity, they just want to know who are the bad Councillors so they can be sure to challenge them.

An Eye On... said...

Mairede, the elections have been postponed basically because voting habits in parts of the island are so entrenched that even if certain councillors suddenly announced that they would make slaughtering the first born compulsory, euthanasia at 65 mandatory and ban anyone from earning less than 30K from living anywhere other than in a tent they would still win their seats. Comfortably.

Because of that, the island cannot have an election until such time as the wards and system are altered to make getting rid of these people more probable.

If you think that standing against the established party and councillor in some of the fiefdoms will achieve anything other than you losing your deposit and they retaining their seat then you are mad. You have no chance in those seats until after the set-up has been changed.

For instance, if we went to the polls tomorrow Chorlton will still be a councillor in Kingsland. Everett will still be a councillor in Holyhead Town. And both will win easily and their local party will not stop them from standing and it's like that in several other areas around the island involving not just Labour but other parties and independents as well.

The ability to smash that grip has got to be in place before there is a vote. If you read between the lines of what Sarjent says, if the bickering over new ward boundaries and vote set-up continues then you won't be getting a vote in 2013 either.

We will get a vote once the new system is accepted. The reason you haven't got one in 2012 is because of resistance from parts of the council. 2013 will only happen provided the resistance ceases. No skin of Sarjent's nose - he'll wait until they are all dead if he has to.

Anonymous said...

It;s such a secret culture that we have with this Council, we have those elected that are only interested in their own gain, i.e want a slice of the Anglesey Cake and then we have those that want a slice of the Cake and anything else that they can get their hands on.
They have a sad culture of thinking that once they are elected they seem to be given special powers, to do what they want. And it gets better, when money making schemes are created to offset carbon emissions, woo! hoo! the windturbine fiasco, they are in there like a shot, all they want is money, and the last thing they want is to do anything for the people.

Is there any wonder that inward investment on this Isaland has withered away? Is there any wonder that our young are leaving as soon as they are old enough, because they have seen how the past generations have been treated and do not want to be treated the same way. Seeing their parents on the scrapheap, unemployable, and living in an area where the only scammer is the local Councillor who can afford to stay here, watching while the voters just get further and further into a recession.
The whole island is an embarrassement, there is no excuse for collective failure, the blame is ours, we allowed this to happen, no one cared, no one listened, no wonder we are a joke.

Anonymous said...

Plaid Cymru, for years have drip fed the people of Wales a diet of Independence and our language. What a joke!

"Independence is great!" is Plaid Cynru's dream, but that is all these Plaid Poisoners are, empty headed dreamers who think that we will live in our own little Country, where we the Plaid Cymru followers can have a little bit of Babylon, the whole idea stinks. We had an AM, who is retiring as leader of Plaid Cymru, and where has it got us? Can anyone please tell me what advantage did we have having Plaid Cymru representing us in Cardiff? The answer is our local Authority, being placed in special measures and wrapped in a security blanket by the Comissioners.
We have a real crisis on our hands, we have Plaid Cymru who have shown their real colours as not giving a shit if our Island is covered from head to toe in Pylons, and then w ehave Plaid Cymru who are playing on our language and culture, the problem that we have is that NONE of them are creating jobs for our people, but the money is still being swept down and into the coffers of Plaid Cymru,
Voter beware!

Anonymous said...

Has anyone heard about a secret public consultation that has taken place in Anglesey for the approval of these Windturbines and all of the respondents were Plaid Cymru voters?

Anonymous said...

Not much different to Labour then.

An Eye On... said...

Sadly it's not much different to a lot of them of all banners and none.

The lure of an even deeper and longer lasting trough is turning their heads.

Beagle said...

On the topic of onshore wind turbines being approved by PP, damn the consequences, readers of this Blog may not be aware of the legal concept of actionable private nuisance ?
It is to do with foreseeability of nuisance, amplitude modulation of aerodynamic noise causing private nuisance, reasonable user of land, unreasonable conduct, etc.
Look at the recent case of Davis -v- Tinsley....settled out of court, on monetary terms !!!

An Eye On... said...

That's a pretty laughably cheap and shallow argument.

If you take it to Court it should be to have the thing demolished not to have your palm greased. Makes you an even cheaper and more worthless piece than the person who built it. ed

Beagle said...

It was not an argument, it was a statement of legal fact. It was to do with a possible option in law when the planning system fails people....certain people on this Blog are so self-opinionated, often without much knowledge ?

An Eye On... said...

It would be a hypocritical thing to do - to oppose these things then be bought off.

If you are opposed to their constructionthen you must remain so - and if one ios then constructed campaign for it's demolition. There is absolutely no mileage in a position of opposition until I get 13 pieces of silver. Plenty of mockery, but no mileage.

Anonymous said...

If you want to build windturbines? Then PAY good money to the local community..........

An Eye On... said...

And how would you define local community? Everyone that can see the relevant turbine from their front room window? Occupants of the relevant council ward?

And would it be a payment to the individual or the houshold? In the case of tenants would it be the tenant or the houseowner? If it's individual would it be everyone over 18? Everyone over 18 and on the electoral register? Everyone fullstop? British passport holders? EU citizens?

Rather knocks holes in 'opposition' if 'opposition' consists of 'how much will you give me to shut up'. The people wanting to build these things will be pi$$ing themselves laughing knowing that the opposition is entirely related to five pound notes.

Anonymous said...

Hi Red Flag, when I referred to paying money to the Community I mean of course anything to improve the lives of our children and our elderly residents, be it better books and schooling, they do it in Scotland why not here? It's a charge against these companies if they want to come here, generate electricity out of wind for the next 20 or so years then they must contribute to the impact they are making.

An Eye On... said...

Still not real opposition though. It's grumbling until an acceptable wedge is handed over.

You can either be against these things or for them. There's no mileage in being slightly against until bought-off. If you can be bought-off then you are in favour.

Anonymous said...

It;s not being bought off, it's stopping these monsters coming here and taking over everything then sticking two fingers up at the community and laughing all the way to the bank. If they had to pay serious money to the community before they built them then they would hopefully go somewhere else xx

mairede thomas said...

Lots of landowners do not want to see industrial wind turbines built on land they have looked after, they are far from convinced that they are the answer to pollution and climate change for the many reasons that have been mentioned, (i.e. need to keep other power stations as back-up; not reliable source of power and intermittent even when the wind is blowing; destroy other important aspects of biodiversity because they consume so much land and air space; recent evidence from the Netherlands that deploying wind turbines on windy days increases CO2 emmissions etc etc). They also don't want to inflict potential health problems on their neighbours. I withdrew from a sale of my farm because the buyer would not accept a covenant preventing development of wind turbines. There are many other people who would do the same. Not everyone is motivated by money alone.

An Eye On... said...

Is it a good thing or a bad thing to be on the same side as Donald Trump?

http://tinyurl.com/6uccq75

mairede thomas said...

what Donald Trump clearly demonstates is that investors will not invest in areas of the countryside if they think turbines will be appearing on the horizon. You may not like Trump but he is not stupid and he thinks these "monsters" (wind turbines) will put his customers off. I think he is absolutely right about that its just common sense.