Abandoning new road should be applauded

I CONGRATULATE and applaud the decision made by both the Senedd and the Vale of Glamorgan council to abandon building a new road linking the M4 with the A48 as reported in the Echo on March 24 (“Road scheme scrapped after funding decision”) and what Councillor Vincent Bailey, leader of the Conservatives Group on the Vale Council, said.

“The Welsh Government has finally listened to campaigners, and acknowledged the strength of local opposition to this harmful scheme. The Vale Council should now confirm that the plans are being permanently scrapped, so that the local community can finally put this horror show behind them and move on.

“Anyone who knows the local area knows that these plans would have decimated Pendoylan and neighbouring villages, causing irreversible harm to the local countryside”.

It is said in the report that ancient woodlands would have been chopped down.

In stark contrast, we have the leader of the Conservatives in Wales, Andrew RT Davies, launching his party’s Senedd election manifesto, calling for the abandoned M4 relief road to be re-launched and the question has to be asked: What is the difference in either road?

Both projects would have been very expensive to achieve and the amount of damage to the natural world would have been enormous, none more so than the Gwent Levels where five Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), a number of farms and communities stand on the route of the defunct M4 relief road, and not forgetting the amount of carbon that would have been released into the air and carbon dioxide generated through the extra vehicle emissions adding to already perilous climate change and warming danger.

Quite rightly, the Vale of Glamorgan Council “is now looking more broadly at how to reduce carbon emissions across the Vale”.

It is clear that the mindset of certain politicians is clouded and that their vision is blurred when it comes to the way we look after Planet Earth. We all have a duty of care towards our only home and I would suggest that those politicians who think otherwise should think again. Brian Thomas

Merthyr Tydfil global

A Teasy-Weasy bit more than a stylist

LOVELY memories brought back by your story (March 26) about famous hairdresser Raymond, the popular Mr Teasy-Weasy of early television who transformed attitudes to hairdressing in the 1950s and established a national network of Raymond salons.

You called him a “showman-hairstylist” and that he certainly was. And there was plenty of it about when he opened his smart salon in Cardiff. But there was another side to him, too. Behind the fashionable “artiste” persona was an astute businessman and a real professional craftsman with hair.

On one of his visits to Cardiff, there was the usual trendy performance that served him so well. But – as women’s editor of the South Wales Echo at the time – I was also present at a private session he held for his staff – all, themselves, accomplished hairstylists.

He was a very different man then. Gone was the fuss and flourish of Mr Teasy-Weasy, a name gained from his catchword in television demonstrations of “just a teasy, weasy” bit / curl here or there. Instead, he gave a serious masterclass in hairdressing to his engrossed staff.

It was usual in the salon then for lead hairdressers to pin-curl the front and sides of clients’ hair – then leave a junior to attend to the back and putting on a net. But not for the master. And he made clear it should not be for them, either.

As he dexterously demonstrated his enormous talent, he told the staff in no uncertain terms – “I do my own back curls! I put on my own net!”

It was more than a masterclass in styling hair. It said something about life and work, too. And I have never forgotten it.

Jean Silvan Evans Peterston-super-Ely

Why can’t Wales lead way on litter?

THOSE of us who battle against litter in Cardiff know that a huge proportion of the litter we collect is drinks bottles of various sorts.

So it’s disappointing to read that the Conservative government in London has decided to postpone its scheme for charging a small deposit on drinks bottles. (Older readers will remember taking back empty bottles to the nearest corner shop. It’s not exactly difficult.) Such a scheme would significantly reduce littering.

Can our own Welsh Government act independently on this matter?

When we introduced the carrier bag charge in 2011 it was ridiculed as “nanny state socialism”. But it massively reduced that form of littering. By 2015 the policy had been copied by Westminster.

In line with Cardiff’s civic motto, another chance for the red dragon to lead the way?

Ian Hughes Morganstown, Cardiff

We all have a duty of care towards our only home and...politicians who think otherwise should think again

Military precision was so impressive

I WAS impressed as to how well the vaccination centre in Splott was administered. Every step from the time you entered the building was