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Lindsay Whittle is the Plaid Cymru Senedd Member for the Caerphilly constituency.
It was an honour to represent Plaid Cymru at a service at the Temple of Peace in Cardiff to remember the six million victims of the Holocaust during World War Two.
At the service we heard from two young ambassadors who had visited Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland and were able to speak about the horrors and futility of war.
We also heard of a harrowing and moving account from a survivor of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. He lost all his family there. As a small child, he was repatriated to Britain and looked after here.
The Holocaust survivor later went on to become one of Britain’s very top brain surgeons until his retirement. Who knows how many lives that man saved in this country? He explained he felt he owed Britain a debt. I think he repaid that many times over during his career. It was really one of the most moving accounts I have personally ever heard.
Also, I’ve enjoyed a couple of excellent local visits with a great day out at a special event organised by Rob Butcher, the new president of Bargoed Rugby Football Club. It was arranged to raise funds for the Welsh Rugby Union’s Charitable Trust to support severely injured players. It was packed out and hopefully a pretty penny was raised for a very worthwhile cause.
I was really impressed with my visit to Transcend Packaging in Ystrad Mynach, who are world leaders in biodegradable cups and paper straws. They’ve even designed new plastic-free cups and lids with Starbucks – the American coffee chain giant – and also sell them across Europe. Very impressive to see the worldwide success of a local company.
At the Senedd, I raised the failure of the Welsh Government to meet its key health targets on issues like A&E waiting times and cancer treatment pathways. The target for cancer referrals is 62 days, which I find appalling. Worst is that the NHS in Wales is not even hitting those targets.
And when it comes to breast cancer screening – timely action can be the difference between life and death – the target is again not being met. Surgeons themselves have warned about a lack of theatre capacity and that staff burnout is actively undermining process. This is just not good enough.
And neither is the continuing short-changing of Wales on rail projects, which is totally unacceptable. The UK Government is treating Wales as second class on funding for rail projects compared to our neighbours in England. This needs to end, and quickly.
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