By Mariam Kamish, Secretary Caerphilly Trades Council Caerphilly Council, forced onto the defensive in the High Court on Thursday, showedcontempt for our small Valleys communities, fighting to hold onto libraries you can walk to.‘If you choose to live 12 miles down a farm track’, their barrister told the court, ‘that’s yourchoice!’ Such is the council’s scorn for the working class ...

By Mariam Kamish, Secretary Caerphilly Trades Council  In scenes of pandemonium, the chair of Caerphilly Council’s Joint Scrutiny Committee shouted me down, demanded I leave the podium, and threatened to have me thrown out of the council’s 2026 budget meeting. I had called on councillors to break ranks and table a motion to overturn last year’s decision to close ten ...

By Mariam Kamish, Caerphilly Trades Union Council secretary ‘Rebel councillor’ Brenda Miles has joined campaigners marching to save the ten local libraries that Caerphilly Labour council wants to close or offload. Councillor Miles says this would put the council in breach of its statutory duty to provide library services. Our march set off led by local children dressed as story ...

Mariam Kamish, Secretary Caerphilly Trades Council Caerphilly Council voted on 14 May to close ten libraries and one of three threatened leisure centres, two to stay open with reduced facilities and shorter hours. Caerphilly Trades Union Council and local campaigners are working to link up the local areas for a fight to save them all. For the second time in ...

By Mariam Kamish, Caerphilly Trades Council Secretary Public Debate! We had a hard time persuading a Plaid Cymru councillor to take part. Would Labour send someone to represent the council? In the end, they didn’t. But the room filled with people determined to save Abertridwr library. In the front row sat two young boys who’d come on their own. Posters shone ...

By Mariam Kamish “They don’t understand our lives – the people who make these decisions. Without the library, my granddaughter would be trying to concentrate on her homework, sat in front of the telly.” Caerphilly Labour council is closing ten libraries and three leisure centres. People are fighting to save Abertridwr library. ‘Use the hub library in Caerphilly’, the Labour ...

By Mariam Kamish Mariam Kamish, Caerphilly Trades Union Council secretary “Blackwood Miners’ Institute is staying open”, I told the meeting, “because people fought for it. Why not Aber Library? If we fight, we can win.” Eagerness wiped frustration off the faces around the room. “Put down your details”, I said, writing my own and passing on the sheet. “You can’t ...

By Mariam Kamish (RCT Socialist Party) Like most councils in Britain, RCT Council faces a funding gap, after years of austerity under Tory and Labour governments. And councillors are proposing devastating cuts. The Labour council is trying to divide us. The consultation process asks you to explain how a cut or closure would affect you – and where you think ...

By Mariam Kamish, Secretary Caerphilly Trades Council (in a personal capacity) Caerphilly Council’s cabinet is proposing to close two South Wales Valleys cultural icons and end an essential service to the community. Not out of financial necessity – but on the advice of a consultancy firm. The plans – out for public consultation until 10 September – include the closure ...

By Mariam Kamish ‘No exclusions for students who can’t pay’; ‘Extend payment to the end of courses’; ‘Allow students to pay at the old naira rate of N584’. Those were demands on our placards, as our delegation of students and supporters made its way through the campus of the University of South Wales (USW) on 3 May. We were carrying ...