We went to the new-ish branch of Dylan’s, a very successful chain of Welsh restaurants, which has opened in a prime spot on Conway High Street, nearly opposite Plas Mawr.  Was it my imagination that Conway felt more lively and prosperous, presumably helped by a vast amount of tourism to a UNESCO World Heritage site ?

On the way, we listened to Andy Burnham give his speech outside 10, Downing Street – highly articulate, full of hope and optimism, but also infected by a view that Britain took a wrong turn in the 1980s with the closure of the mines and shutting down of heavy industry.

So, is there a way it can be revived ?  I look forward to the policies that might make it possible, but feel that he might be on safer ground to talk about the potential benefits of the post-industrial economy: small-scale manufacturing, education, tourism, craft and design which can potentially regenerate the smaller urban communities which have been so damaged and left behind.