02/06/2014 BBC Wales Today

Labour in the middle of a row over all women shortlists.

It is high time to have women representing Wales as well. That is

why we want all women short lists. The Gleision mine

where four men died, the jury hears the pit boss insist he carried out

proper safety checks. 13 Police Community Support Officers

sacked and one quits Making movies employs more people

than finance and insurance. Now a new ?30 million fund

for films. Joe Allen will captain Wales for

the first time in Wednesday night's Who's the best person to represent

us in Parliament, a man or a woman? That's the argument raging

in the Cynon Valley over who should follow Ann Clwyd as the next Labour

candidate, when she steps Labour Party leaders say

the shortlists are the best way to Local party members say

they've been ignored. Here's our political editor

Nick Servini. The Cynon valley has had a female MP

for thirty years. The question is should

there be another one? Labour Party leaders want

the make-up of MPs to reflect The veteran labour MP

Ann Clwyd is retiring. They say the party's candidate

at the general election should come They want the freedom to choose

what they believe will be the best What we are saying is that the fact

that Ann Clwyd was selected on an open short list, the fact we've had

a woman MP per 30 years and a woman SMB member of the 15 -- for 15 is

enough for the party to listen to us.

All-women shortlists can cause resentment.

In another Labour stronghold, Blaenau Gwent,

they resulted in a local Labour Assembly Member, Peter Law, standing

as an independent and beating the official Labour candidate

Trina Bodman has run a local clothes shop in Aberdare for almost as long

It is not there really, is it? I think it should be a choice of men

or women. It's not play on the mend. Why would they think that women

would do a better job than a man? Outside there were mixed views. I

still think women do a pretty good job in Parliament. They are in the

minority so let's have a few more women. I don't agree it should be an

all women short lists. If it wasn't all men short list, the theme would

be up in arms. Labour's defended its policy,

saying there have only been 13 women representing Wales

at parliament in nearly 100 years. There are seven out

of the current batch of 40 now. We have always fought as a party to

make sure that the elected bodies we have in Britain reflect what the

country looks like as a whole and it's important we have mechanisms in

place to make sure that happens. That is what social is all about.

The Labour MP for Llanelli Nia Griffith, who was

selected herself from an all-women shortlist, says they're needed

What is happening here is that we have seen the last of six

collections go to men so it's time now to have some women representing

Wales as well. That is why we are keen to have all women short lists

in these seats because we have not managed to get women through in any

other way. Ann Clwyd herself says it's up to

the party locally to make It's unclear exactly

which direction this will go. How angry our local party members?

They were due to start the selection process tonight for the new

candidate and that meeting has been cancelled. What we don't know is if

Labour come back and say sorry our policy is that there will be at all

women short list we don't really know how they will react. There is

no suggestion they will kind of go rogue and support an independent

candidate against the official Labour candidate like we saw in

Blaenau Gwent a few years ago to devastating effect. They are pretty

angry about it. It is an issue that people have strong feelings about. I

was in Aberdare today and most people I spoke to supported the

local Labour position which is that after 30 years with a female MP they

felt the decision should be taken they should choose whatever

candidate they wanted to. Labour throughout the day have reiterated

their record in supplying virtually every female MP from Wales in past

years. The manager

of a Swansea Valley coal mine where four men died has taken to the stand

to give evidence in his defence. The miners drowned when the Gleision

colliery flooded nearly three years Malcolm Fyfield,

who managed to escape the disaster, denies four counts of manslaughter

through gross negligence. This was the scene at the Gleision

mine after four colliers lost their lives and drown. Gary Jenkins,

Philip Hill, David Powell and Charles Breslin all drowned after

650,000 gallons of water filled the area where they were working.

Malcolm Fyfield was the manager that they and as the defence opened its

case this afternoon it was his turn to give evidence. Malcolm Fyfield

was himself underground when the disaster unfolded and before he

stepped into the witness box the jury heard he still suffers from

severe post traumatic stress disorder as a result of what

happened. His barrister said the condition may hamper his ability to

answer questions. It is the prosecution 's case that Malcolm

Fyfield failed to take adequate steps to check for the presence of

water before he and his colleagues preached disused workings releasing

a body of water that had gathered over 30 years. But giving evidence,

Malcolm Fyfield insisted he had inspected the proposed point of

contact on three separate occasions including on the day before the

inrush and there was no substantial body of water there. He was asked if

you short of that and his reply every time was yes, I am sure.

Malcolm Fyfield's barrister as to client are you lying? No, I'm not

lying he said. He was then asked whether he was mistaken about where

he was and he said no. Earlier, Malcolm Fyfield satin court

alongside his wife as he was reminded of his reputation as a

conscientious mine manager who did everything by the book. The jury was

told they must not be swayed by the emotion of the case. Malcolm Fyfield

will continue to give evidence tomorrow.

A former worker at a North Wales children's home has appeared

before magistrates charged with two offences of indecent assault against

62-year-old Richard Vevar from Wrexham, wearing the white

top, worked as an outdoor pursuits instructor at the Bryn Alyn home.

He was released on conditional bail and is due

13 Police Community Support Officers have been sacked and one has quit

after an allegation that they cheated in their final exam.

South Wales Police say they were dismissed

PCSOs aren't police officers, they can't arrest people,

but they help to tackle anti-social behaviour in communities.

Our reporter Nicola Smith is in the newsroom.

Jamie, almost 500 PCSOs work for South Wales Police.

There's an interview process, various tests

The 14 PCSOs in this case were between four and five months into

They took an exam in October last year, a general test

The allegation of cheating came to light after what

South Wales Police describes as "an unusual spike" in exam results.

After an investigation, 13 PCSOs were dismissed.

Any response from South Wales Police?

The force gave no interviews today, but in a statement

the force was keen to point out that trust is integral to what they do.

PCSOS are very much part of the public face of the police.

They patrol the streets and people report crime to them.

Director of Resources, Mark Milton, says the force "prides itself on its

A teaching centre in Gwynedd has been closed

while police investigate allegations of assaults by staff on boys.

The Brynffynon Centre at Y Felinheli near Bangor is a pupil referral unit

for children with emotional and behavioural special needs.

Two members of staff have been arrested

Police are appealing for witnesses as their investigation

into a road crash in Flintshire yesterday, in which two

Tonight, it's emerged one of them was a local man.

Five other people were taken to hospital following the pile-up

on a back road near Pontblyddyn between Mold and Wrexham.

A car and six motorcycles were involved.

A scorched tree trunk, the fuel tank on one of the motorcycles exploded

and local people said what they saw here yesterday was appalling. The

emergency services were on the scene in minutes. To air ambulances took

the injured to hospital. This afternoon one of those who died was

named as Nigel Davies. It happened no more than a mile from his home.

His family are devastated. At a nearby animal rescue centre

volunteers heard the fact and ran to the scene to try and help. It was a

horrific scene. Cars were stopped, six motorbikes, they were people

lying injured on the road. The Berlin shock. There was a fire and

an explosion. The police investigation into what happened is

ongoing but people live around here say this is a bad place for

accidents. The problem they say is this long straight. Motorists speed

up only then to be confronted by a series of sharp bends. This crash

happened just six weeks after North Wales Police launched its motorcycle

safety campaign. Giving this large numbers of bikers are attracted to

the region by challenging roads through dramatic scenery.

Campaigners say both bikers and car drivers have responsibilities.

Bikers at the start of the biking season should be very careful

because if you are just got your bike out and have not written up

over the winter, you are very vulnerable. Your skills on balance

is rusty. Even an experienced biker has to think and act defensively.

Carp drivers have to be aware of the you -- Road users. They have to give

them the necessary safe wide berth. An investigation is continuing into

yesterday 's crash and the police have made a fresh appeal for

witnesses. Our rivers are cleaner than they've

been for twenty years according to And the man who helped to save

some of our most historic buildings We need to do more to protect

our built heritage. The cameras have started rolling

in the Vale of Glamorgan on the set of 'Take Down',

the first film to receive a grant It reflects the growing influence

of the Creative Industries sector here, which employs more than

36,000 people. Our Economics Correspondent,

Sarah Dickins, The fantasy drama Atlantis. The

Saturday evening TV hit across the UK and made in Chepstow by BBC

Wales. Now the team is making its second series. The economy Minister

Edwina Hart has been a tour of the costume department where it is

filmed in a former supermarket warehouse. This is what you may

expect from the creative sector but what may surprise you is that it now

employs more people than finance and insurance industries and two out of

three have a degree. There is work for carpenters and electricians and

many others. And to entice companies to come here to Wales to make

films, there a number of financial packages. A tax break from the UK

government, European fund they can apply to and the Welsh Government

has also set up a scheme whereby it will give money according to how

much they spend on the local economy. Those idea of that is to

keep the companies here implying as many Welsh people as

keep the companies here implying as many Welsh people possible. Three

quarters of the team in the costume department at Atlantis are Welsh

party because the Company works closely with local colleges. They

don't come knowing everything but what is so amazing is how keen they

are. They are very dedicated to learn. Advertising is part of the

sector but perhaps even more surprisingly, so is the meat of the

price comparison site. The analysing of data. 200 people work in this

Welsh owned company across -- known across the UK. The creative part is

how we service our customers through the website and through the roles

that people play whether it be through creative designers, writers

or the web designers. And there are small firms making a big impact.

Mark Boulton design has worked for the international scientists at soon

and Al Jazeera TV all from Penarth. The company has now been bought by

an American firm but the jobs are staying in Wales. Back in the world

of Atlantis, is the Welsh Government right to make these industries are

priority? These are enormous skills and skills we require. These are

proper jobs. Is it going to be here for the long haul? Any multinational

can be here for the short-haul. And multinational could decide to have a

big plant in Wales, management changes five years later, and that

whole international grant has gone. So it's no different to any other

business. The challenge for Wales is to try and make the can -- creative

industry so woven into our economy that leaving isn't an option and new

Welsh businesses grow. For years, our rivers bore

the dirty scars of industrial A new study has found

our rivers are cleaner now than they've been for more than two

decades and the findings could have important implications for our

understanding of global warming. Caroline Evans is on the River Taff

for us this evening. I am on the outskirts of Merthyr

Tydfil. Just up there is the old Hoover factory. The River Taff has

suffered from industrial pollution in the past but not so now. The

water is clear right the way to the bottom. With Mears one of the

experts from Cardiff University who has been examining the water

quality. It is good news isn't it? Yes. We have looked back over a 20

year period focusing on the invertebrates, the boats living on

the riverbed and right across Wales and England, we have found a big

increase in the diversity. About 20% on average. We are looking three or

four fold increase in diversity. We want to take a closer look at what

you have court. We have got a range of things. The tree comes alive. The

big things here are flies, stone flies and mayflies. There is a lot

going on in here. These are species typical of good water quality. They

are quite important to our understanding of climate change.

Yes. We know they are sensitive to short-term variations in climate.

What we have found with this study is that they seem to be surviving in

a surprising place. We would expect the species typical of low oxygen

concentrations to be on the rise but we are seeing the complete opposite.

What we think is going on is that water quality has improved and it

offsets the impacts of climate change. So a second chance it seems.

Salmon have returned to the upper reaches of the River Taff.

Scientists say it is our chance to make sure no new pollutants come

back into the water. For more than 30 years he's been

in charge of the very thing that makes St Fagan's History museum in

Cardiff so special - its buildings. But now as he retires, Gerallt Nash

warns that we need to do more to It is a mammoth undertaking. Forget

artefact locked away in glass cabinets, here in Tyre buildings are

moved brick by brick from their original site and rebuilt at the

Museum of Welsh life in Cardiff. This is the man who for 34 years has

looked after those buildings. When dealt Nash started the emphasis was

on life in role Wales. -- Gerallt Nash. That over time the museum has

evolved. We have got the sort of buildings we would find in a village

but we do have buildings we would like to have like some farm

buildings we would like and we would like to have things like an Italian

cafe, period garage perhaps. Maybe even a bag. About once a fortnight

we are offered building so quite a lot during the year. He sometimes

have one chance. For some of the gaps remaining at the site he has

set in motion chart -- plans from building including a railway station

and a pub. But he has a warning. I feel very passionate about the

architecture we have in Wales. The architectural legacy we have

inherited. I certainly think we should make -- do more to preserve

what we have. We are allowing buildings to be altered in such a

way that they lose their essential character. There are around 70

buildings that have been saved. The school rants among his favourites.

For every building he acquires, there is a team trying to find the

right furniture and so on. We have a large collection of which we would

use in a building if the right building comes along. For instance,

were we to be offered a building that we have already started to lack

-- collecting items for the cafe. He is now looking forward to his first

Coffey in that Italian cafe, but as a visitor enjoying retirement.

Joe Allen will captain Wales for the first time on Wednesday night.

The Liverpool midfielder's been given the responsibility,

in the absence of Ashley Williams, Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey,

who will all miss the World Cup warm up match in Amsterdam.

Here's our sports reporter, Ashleigh Crowter.

They'd all rather be going to the World Cup,

but a pre-tournament friendly against one of the most fancied

sides is perhaps the next best thing, especially for Joe Allen.

The midfielder, who helped Liverpool to be runners-up in the Premier

League, will captain his country for the first time in Amsterdam

on Wednesday after manager Chris Coleman favoured him ahead of other

more experienced players who've done the job before. Of course, Allen

He is a fantastic player on the pitch and off the pitch he is a

great guide and everyone gets on with him. . He is playing for a

fantastic team and we're happy for him.

Bale withdrew from the Dutch game last weekend

Some fear this might be the start of a new pattern of attendance that

was favoured by Wales' last great left-footed player.

I can see what they are looking at with what happened with Ryan Giggs.

We never had him for friendly games. But I don't see us having a

problem. He may miss one or two friendlies but I don't think he will

miss all of them. With a depleted squad, Wales are

lowering expectations about getting a result, talking instead

about gaining valuable experience for the wider squad, just as they

did in 2008, when they lost 2-0 to Netherlands in a similar warm-up

match up, just before the He was hoping to represent Wales for

the fifth time at the Commonwealth Games but Christian Malcolm's

chances of competing in Glasgow look to be over after he failed to reach

the qualifying time. The Newport sprinter is hoping Welsh

selectors, who announce the athletics squad

next week, will consider his case The 34-year-old,

who won silver in 1998 and a bronze in Delhi four years ago, wanted to

end his career in Glasgow. Rain affected play on day two of

Glamorgan 's County championship match at Chelmsford. The Morgans

bowlers have consistently taken wickets during Essex reply to their

244. A short time ago the home side were bowled out for 280.

And finally, congratulations to Wales' netball

team who've qualified for the World Cup in Australia next year.

Wales won all three of their matches at the weekend to confirm

Captain Suzy Drane said it's perfect preparation for the Commonwealth

Let's get the weather now. How's Wales looking this week, Sue?

It is looking mixed. More springlike this week and we have the statistics

for Wales. It was the third warmest spring on record in Wales. It

continues a run of six months from December where temperatures were

higher than normal. Rainfall was about average. The changeable

weather continues this week, often cloudy with rain at times and some

sunny spells. This evening staying cloudy. Further out rates of rain

and some clearer spells so we could see fog patches forming on the

hills. A very mild night with temperatures are staying in double

figures. Tomorrow, next day. A lot of cloud around. Some bright spells

but some showers. More in the way of sunshine later on. It would be quite

as warm. Top temperatures around 14 Celsius. Tomorrow night into

Wednesday low pressure over the UK allowing these fronts to push on

from the south, keeping things unsettled. Still fairly cloudy on

Wednesday and some bright spells and outbreaks of rain. That locally as

Northwoods and a ridge of high pressure starts to build on

Thursday. Probably the best day of the week. Drier and brighter. Just a

small risk of an isolated shower. Temperatures in the mid-teens. But

the fine weather looks short lived. We could see more rain weaving

across Wales on Friday and then signs of something warm into next

weekend. Today's picture is from Eddie Evans. Thursday probably the

best day to catch another sunset like this.

An argument is raging in the: Valley as the veteran MP Ann Clwyd retires.

Labour Party leaders should -- save it should be in all women short

lists. Local party members say they have been ignored.

I'll have an update for you here at 8:00pm

and again after the BBC news at 10:00pm.

From all of us on the programme, good evening.