ACROSS THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

The ongoing rolling programme of bank closures affects all of us, but, certainly not equally - Age Cymru, have raised concerns about the impact of bank closures on older people (across our Wales). Some people find themselves the wrong side of the digital divide, older people may struggle to access their money as they are unable to access branches and some are unable to use or access on-line banking. 

Age Cymru research has noted that over half of over 75’s still do not have access to the internet and fewer access internet banking. Older people also may find themselves living on a limited budget, and some prefer to use cash, as it’s easier to budget their finances week by week, to pay for services. 

Our few remaining High street banks actually enable older people to access and manage their accounts through the post office network, but, the number of post offices has been reduced in recent years. This is a consequence of the pre privatisation re-education post office closure programme that was carried out by New Labour and the Conservative - Liberal Democrat coalition government. 

The closure of high street banks also makes it difficult for small businesses and shops  to operate on local high streets, which are also places which some older people find easier to visit, rather than out of town shopping centres. Access to cash on the high street plays an important part in ensuring that older people have much more financial inclusion, security and social interaction. 

Bank numbers have fallen over recent years, down nine percent up until March 2020, from 405 to 370 - a trend the Age Cymru and others believe is only going to continue. The ability to make deposits and withdrawals for basic, current and business accounts that are held with high street banks and building societies is important and should be retained. 

We need a risk free Post Office Savings type  bank – it is a pity that it was recklessly sold off by a previous Conservative government on the cheap - separate from the big four commercial banks. Now this is not about living in the past, we are where we are because of the demise of the regional banks, which was as part of  the relentless rise of the big 4 banks which also led to the growth of the reckless casino banking and cheap credit that brought about the financial crash. 

We cannot turn the clock back, nor should we try, but, we do need to think and act differently.  We need to be honest with ourselves sorting the mess out is not going to be easy, but, it can be done, and there is no reason why it can be community beneficial  –  as has been said before we need some sort of community owned community beneficial  Wales savings bank or perhaps even a Bank Cambria.

MARKS AND SPARKS TO THE RESCUE?

The loss of Debenhams in Friars Walk was a bitter blow - which while covid did not help  - in reality the Debenham’s retail model had been failing for some years. That said, Marks and Spencer quit the city centre stating amongst other things the lack of parking and the difficulties of modernising their building. Perhaps they might consider making use of the former Debenhams building - which is effectively brand new and has plenty of parking. The Friar’s walk development itself was too small, too limited in scope and failed to create the retail space for local businesses to set up from the start. While there have been some tentative steps towards that recently, at a fundamental level that has to change from now on - there has to be a blend of local businesses and the usual suspects - there is room enough to make this work. One basic economic fact is that if you spend ten pounds in local business it will circulate three times longer locally in the local economy that ten pounds spent in a chain outlet. Newport has suffered because of the unhealthy obsession with directly competing with Cardiff and Cribs Causeway. We seriously need to focus on growing small local businesses that supply our needs as well as hosting the usual suspects to bring economic life back to our city centre. If we can do this then we can bring sustainable economic growth and some life back to our city centre.  

NOT GIVING A SCOOBY

Bank closures, remain, and are likely to remain at least for the foreseeable future a simple sad fact of life for many communities across much of rural and not so rural Wales. The closures for all intent and purposes appear relentless and unstoppable, despite the fact that high street banks could and should have a roll to play within the economic life of our communities. We have been here before and will no doubt be back. It should now be obvious by now that the big 4 banks don’t care about public opinion or the consequences of the closures on local communities. 

There is a recognisable pattern to the process - local political and community leaders rightly kick off and are justifiably angry along with local residents who are often interviewed by local media. As part of this cycle we have the usual weasel words from the bank themselves, but, once the initial fuss settles the closure will roll on – as the large London based banks are pretty much answerable to no one save themselves – certainly not anyone here in Cymru / Wales.

Dropping the spin (about the growth in on-line banking and it’s use – if you have no choice what else are people going to do) this is about little more than cutting costs, most of the banks have little (or no concern) for their relatively unprofitable personal customers or the concerns of their local business customers or our larger or smaller communities. As has been noted elsewhere, by no less than the US Senate, some banks have other more pressing interests than those of their domestic customers like helping to launder money for drug dealers, dictators and terrorists, so much for being a local bank. 

Over  200 banks have shut in Wales since 2008, leaving towns such as Newcastle Emlyn,  Hay-on-Wye and Llandovery (since 9th June), too name but a few towns, without any banks. The loss of small town banks is not confined to rural areas - it has been paralleled by the loss of suburban banks which have also quietly disappeared from local shopping centres in our cities and smaller valley towns.  

Now it’s not much better in our larger towns and cities - Newport East has 2 bank branches, and Newport West 9. Since January 2015 some 67% of the bank network in Newport East has gone, and 18% in Newport West. It is worth noting that there were only 370 banks in all of Wales as of March 2020 down from 715 in 2010. 

Local banks remain useful for the high street and local communities, they help to promote vitality and vibrancy and make it easier for local businesses to operate. Local businesses to a degree benefit from the existence of local high street branches by picking up passing trade from bank customers. Once local bank branches close, the impact will be felt locally especially by older residents and local business owners who have to trek further and further to pay in their taking and the subsequent drop in passing trade. 

Even where banks survive there is a visible trend to replace person centred banking with machine centred banking. In my bank - even if there is no cue customers are regularly referred to machines to pay in cash or cheques or withdraw cash before you get a chance to talk to cashiers. This trend which is also being mirrored in some of the larger supermarkets is not about giving customers a choice or and easier service it's about reducing staffing costs to a minimum - something that will cut jobs and the wage bill. 

This situation has been further aggravated by the demise of many building societies, most by no means all of which were largely hoovered by the banks within a few years of them being floated. It is perhaps a pity that we don’t have some sort of risk free Post Office Savings bank – save for the fact that it was recklessly sold off by a previous Conservative government on the cheap. That said, it is of course important to remember that one result of the demise of the regional banks was the relentless rise of the big 4 banks which led to the growth of the reckless casino banking and cheap credit that brought about the financial crash.

Once you factor in the ruthless Post Office closure programme that was pushed through by the then Labour Government, and continued by the former Con - Lib Dem coalition government prior to it’s privatisation of the Post Office - you could see where this process was heading. Which in turn was preceded by the rapid floatation and rapid demise of most of our building societies you can clearly see how we got here - sorting the mess out is not going to be easy – perhaps as has been said before we need some sort of publically owned community owned Wales savings bank or perhaps even a Bank Cambria.

TIANANMEN SQUARE 32 YEARS ON

Police arrested an organiser of Hong Kong’s annual candlelight vigil remembering the deadly Tiananmen Square crackdown and warned people not to attend the banned event Friday as authorities mute China’s last pro-democracy voices. In recent years some tens of thousands of people have gathered in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park to honor the victims who died when China’s military put down student-led pro-democracy protests on June 4, 1989, killing thousands.

The PRC’s ruling Communist Party has never allowed any public events marking the military’s attack on protesters and citizens, and security was increased in the Beijing square Friday morning, with police checking pedestrians’ IDs and tour buses shuttling Chinese tourists as on any other day.

The PRC Authorities have actively prevented all discussion of the events on the Chinese mainland, where the few remaining activists and victims’ advocates are put under increased police monitoring and taken away on involuntary “vacations” around the anniversary. Responding to a question about the crackdown, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on Thursday reiterated China’s stance that its response to the “political turmoil” of 1989 had been correct.

The PRC’s efforts to suppress public memory of the Tiananmen events have in recent years focused on Hong Kong, where the June 4 Museum was closed this week and police again Friday warned residents not to attend the vigil. A nighttime commemorative event in Victoria Park has been banned for a second year under coronavirus pandemic restrictions, although the city has had no local cases for over six weeks. 

This latest action comes amid sweeping moves to quell dissent in the city, including a new national security law, election changes and arrests of many activists who participated in pro-democracy protests that swept Hong Kong in 2019. Hong Kong police said Friday that they would be cordoning off parts of Victoria Park, including football fields and basketball pitches, to prevent any gatherings to commemorate the crackdown. 

Local media including the South China Morning Post newspaper reported this week that the police were planning to deploy about 7,000 officers on Friday to enforce the ban on unauthorised protests. Taking part in an illegal gathering has a maximum penalty of 5 years imprisonment.

Chow Hang Tung, vice chair of the group, was arrested Friday morning, according to the alliance, which organised the vigil and ran the June 4 Museum dedicated to the memory of Tiananmen. After the ban was issued, Chow urged people to commemorate the event privately by lighting a candle wherever they are. Last year, thousands went to Victoria Park to light candles and sing songs. 

More than 20 activists including Chow were charged for their participation in an unauthorised assembly. Two other key members of the Hong Kong Alliance — Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho — are behind bars for taking part in unauthorised assemblies in 2019.

An appeal from Tiananmen Mothers, published on the Human Rights in China website, urged the party to release official records about the crackdown, provide compensation for those killed and injured, and hold those responsible to account. Tiananmen Mothers said 62 of its members have died since the group representing victims’ relatives was founded in the late 1990s. It said many young Chinese have “grown up in a false sense of prosperous jubilance and enforced glorification of the government (and) have no idea of or refuse to believe what happened on June 4, 1989, in the nation’s capital.”

The suppression of commemorations of the Tiananmen victims has been accompanied in recent years by harsh repression (if not genocide) against religious and ethnic minorities in Tibet, the northwestern region of Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, along with the sharp curtailing of political rights in Hong Kong. Apologists  for the PRC abound, from the hard left activists, too  the hard right new liberal free marketeers - turning a blind eye to brutal repression (anywhere) is simply unacceptable in the twenty first century.