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During 23 years with BBC Cymru Wales (BBC CW), as well as 42 years in journalism our Editor, Welshman Phil Parry, has seen enormous social change, but now watches incredulously as official bodies in Wales tie themselves in knots about them, and unreachable targets are set by others.
Good things happen, so why can’t official organisations just accept them years down the line?!
I also question others setting unreachable targets that undermine what has taken place!
These issues are particularly the case in two areas which hugely affect our daily lives: smoking and gay marriage.
Let’s take the first one first.
In the old days any newsroom (or office) would be thick with smoke so you could barely see your hand in front of your face.
THEN there would be a special ‘smoking room’, THEN an outside ‘smoking area’, THEN it would be banned altogether inside, and designated areas beyond the building where you could smoke would be frowned on.
When I started in journalism the reporter opposite me on the paper smoked small cigars, and another always had extremely long cigarettes so he could linger on doorsteps while he smoked them!
The initial question you were asked on my Thomson Regional Newspapers (TRN) training course in Newcastle where I was sent as a cub reporter in 1983, was “who here smokes?” and an ash tray was placed with great gravitas on his or her desk.
This has all changed now thankfully, but plans to have a ‘smoke-free Wales’ by 2030 (while entirely laudable) could undermine this good work, and devalue it in the minds of ordinary people because it is, probably, UNREACHABLE.
In announcing this absurd scheme on the Welsh Government (WG) website, Lynne Neagle the Cabinet Secretary for Education proclaims fatuously: “The negative impacts of smoking on our health and wellbeing are well known. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable ill health and premature death in Wales.
“(So) I am proud to introduce (a) bold and ambitious strategy for tobacco control in Wales, with a vision to create a smoke-free Wales by 2030″.
She adds pompously and vacuously: “We are committed to preventing ill health and supporting people to make healthier choices for their health and wellbeing – I therefore want us to be ambitious and to take all the actions we can to address the harms caused by tobacco. A smoke-free Wales is possible, but we must work together for the benefits of both current and future generations”.
Motherhood and apple pie anyone?
Let’s turn then to the issue of gay marriage, where, it seems, the Church in Wales (CiW) has tied itself in liturgical knots, and I am reminded of the pointless medieval religious debate where Church authorities argued about the number of angels that could dance on a pinhead.
This was raised by the moral philosopher Thomas Aquinas, but it’s come to be a description of useless semantic discussion.
Perhaps the new Archbishop of Wales (AoW) will do something about this ridiculous situation, because as the 15th AoW Cherry Vann is the first woman and LGBTQ cleric.
Legislation to allow same-sex marriage in England and Wales was passed by the UK Parliament in July 2013 taking effect on 13 March 2014 and the first same-sex marriages happened the same month.
It has certainly proved popular as 7,800 same-sex weddings were held in England and Wales in 2022, which was a record. In that year one in every 31 weddings was between people of the same sex.
Kate Hamilton of the Gay Wedding Guide, which lists gay-friendly venues and suppliers, says that many wedding outfits now depict same-sex couples in their marketing materials and train staff to deal with gay and lesbian clients.
They would be foolish to do otherwise, especially considering that heterosexual couples are not exactly rushing down the aisles.
For the CiW, however, it remains a problem. Years after the law was passed, they declare on their website: “As the law stands, same-sex marriages may not be solemnised by the Church in Wales. However, following approval at the Governing Body of the Church in Wales in September 2021, a Liturgy for the Blessing of a Same-sex Civil Marriage or Civil Partnership has been authorised by the bishops for use in each of the dioceses from 1 October 2021″.
It seems that while some parts of the CiW are in favour of change (to bring the institution in line with a law that was PASSED IN 2013 remember!), others are NOT.
According to the Church’s own rules, all three of its sections – clergy, bishops and lay members – must approve such a change, each by a two-thirds majority.
But while senior figures are confident that the clergy and bishops would approve the change, they are not so sure of the lay section, a significant number of whom maintain the conservative view that marriage can only be between a man and a woman.
So it seems that society has moved on, but a major institution has not. Society has also moved on with smoking in public, yet the politicians are in danger of undermining what has happened.
The rule though is the same: PEOPLE NOT THOSE IN CHARGE KNOW BEST!
The memories of Phil’s astonishing career in journalism (when ordinary people led the way with huge societal changes), as he was gripped by the rare neurological condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major book ‘A GOOD STORY’. Order it now!
Tomorrow – how during that career, for Phil seeking accurate information has always been paramount, but today comes a radically new way of doing it – through Artificial Intelligence (AI).
