1. It is to be hoped that the newly installed surveillance cameras in the town will reduce the high levels of criminal activity which we are told exist in our town. The recent"assault" upon local journalist John Adey not 50 yards from the Guildhall camera in the middle of the afternoon will certainly be on record. Or will it!

2. Conspiracy theorists might ponder why petrol prices at Tesco in Cardigan are among the highest in the U.K. Whatever happened to the healthy competition that Tesco was supposed to be bringing to the area?

3. The A.G.M. of Menter Aberteifi was the expected boring shambles we have come to expect and we wouldn't normally give a stuff except that there does seem to be lots of cash available which could be used to help the town. Menter's gutless attitude towards the castle is not acceptable, the County Council should be pressured to take the matter in hand.

4. Ceredigion Chief Haydn Lewis has made inciting remarks about "incomers" destroying local Welsh culture and letting their unruly kids undermine discipline in local schools.

Presumably the method of destroying the "culture" to which he refers is "incomers" unwillingness to accept as normal the nepotism which predominates in local government recruitment policy and their reluctance to give the traditional backhanders for planning permission etc.

It would be easy to dismiss these comments as the usual bumbling ravings we get from these councillors but perhaps there is more method in the madness than appears on the surface.

We have all seen in our area in recent times a significant fall in our incomes, whilst other parts of the country including the northern half of Ceredigion seem to have become richer. The blame for this must be placed squarely at the door of our local representatives who do little for the area they purport to represent whilst they and their cronies don't seem to be doing so badly for themselves.

Councillor Lewis may not be quite "Reichstag" in his motives though I would suggest you listen to Bob Dylan's "Only a pawn in their game" to see the true motive.

5. A fast way of passing information around the community has been advised by one of our readers.

Apparantly what you do is go to local solicitor Steve with a confidential problem, divorce settlement, property dispute etc. and your information which is accepted in "the strictest confidence" will within a few days become common knowledge. Our source advises that this system only seems to work when you are part of Steve's circle and there is money involved in the dispute. I am authorised to give further details to anyone who wants to e mail me.

6. Thanks for all the response. It would appear from your letters that Haydn Lewis is just a bumbling idiot after all and that there is no cunning agenda. Pity.

The response re Steve has been overwhelming. Such a popular chap. Quite a few scams have been suggested with backup evidence particularly with regard to Legal Aid and when this has been collated and checked I'll publish it. Keep up the letters and keep logging in.

7. It seems the local plods have been on fishing expeditions with our populace with a series of "routine checks" of the motoring public. Surprise, surprise they managed to find a few infractions and the "stop and search" operation was a "success". Many of us who have lived in countries where this type of thing is the norm have, in the past, been thankful to be able to come back to a place where democracy and fairness prevail. No longer it seems. Shame on the Chief Constable of Dyfed Powys for having such an aggresive policy in an area which has the lowest crime rate in the country and shame on our cowardice for not saying anything.

8. Today 15/9/98 I read on teletext that a North Ceredigion Councillor Mr. ap Gwynedd has been complaining about the nefarious goings on in our own beautiful village of Nevern. It seems the local naturist club is just a front for a Bangkok style prostitution racket. We view this statement as a shameless and blatant attempt by Cllr ap Gwnedd and his ilk to take the crown of "loony center of Wales" from South Ceredigion where it traditionally has always belonged. Come on then South Ceredigion Councillors, recently apart from Cllr. Haydn Lewis it seems you are all apathetic regarding this challenge. We know you have it in you as we have seen so much in the past so come on let's disengage those brains and get those mouths into action. Let's get talking..

9. It seems the local plods are also in the running for the loony challenge cup with a raid on said "brothel" and have secured additional loony credentials by seizing a few items (the mind boggles but shades of South Ronaldsay dawn raids spring to mind).

10. Latest in the above saga is that the brothel owner pleaded guilty and received a fine. He claims this was to protect his clients from the publicity of a trial. If true, he seems to have shown a lot more dignity than the rest of them. A sorry affair.

11. My link to Cardigan Jumpers has been removed. Who cares. I've taken off mine to them. I have registered with lots of other Welsh groups and all the search engines. The Tivyside Advertiser must be one of the most pathetic newspapers in the whole of Wales.

12. Looks like the plod, having been given reduced budgets, are now trying to create a drug problem in the Cardigan area to justify their existence. The policy is to bring in thug types from outside the area to stop and search at random those they suspect of using drugs. This means shaking down underaged and mentally disordered types who attend the Kinora centre who might have a spliff to calm themselves down. Nobody seems to care that this type of stop and search is totally illegal. Local bigwig Llwyd Edwards says the public want to see something done about the "drug problem". I would suggest that the public thinks that local authority sleaze is more important. Perhaps a crack down on the building trade would be an idea. Let's say that a building collapses, luckily without injury to anyone, just the day after it is given the all clear by local authority inspectors and the architect comes round in the small hours to remove his sign from the site, wouldn't you think this to be more worthy of investigation.