In his regular blog for Caerphilly Observer South Wales East AM Lindsay Whittle gives his take on recent news.
Blood Pressure
I went to the Stroke Association’s Sip for Stroke event in Caerphilly earlier this month.
It was great to see many people taking up the offer of free blood pressure tests. When I was leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council, a role which could be very stressful, I found I had high blood pressure, which is the single biggest risk factor for strokes.
I then went to see my GP and was given medication to control blood pressure.
Strokes can strike anyone – from the young to the old – and I would always recommend that people get themselves checked out.
Strokes can not only kill. Of course, many people recover well but others find a stroke changes their lives for ever.
I will continue trying to raise the profile of the Stroke Association whenever I can in the Assembly.
Free Finance Checks
I wanted to remind local residents that they can have a free financial health check from the Money Advice Service.
The service is free and independent and was established by government. It is funded by a levy on the financial services industry. ?
The check is available to everyone online at:
www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk and the 10 minutes it takes to complete could be very useful. At the end, there is an action plan for the longer term as well as dealing with the present.
Plaid Cymru
Labour won control of Caerphilly council on a theme of sending David Cameron a message.
Well, although a message was sent after the council elections, nothing has changed. He is not listening and will continue ploughing his austerity message which was rejected by voters in France and elsewhere.
I’m very disappointed that some truly excellent councillors and, indeed, candidates failed to win election. It had nothing to do with their work in the ward or the record of the council. Many failed to win election because of Labour’s negative message.
The Plaid group now has a new leader in Colin Mann, who is extremely experienced, and Colin and the rest of the Plaid councillors, including myself, will be holding Labour to account and ensuring that they deliver on their promises. It was a tough election for Plaid but we’ll be back, to paraphrase a famous actor.
Lindsay Whittle
Plaid Cymru AM for South Wales East