SIR,
I have to say that I was never a fan of the Welsh Assembly.
It seems to me that the extra layer of government was a device dreamt up to placate the nationalists, more jobs for the girls and boys.
In the end a majority voted for it; there it is in all its grandeur in Cardiff Bay and it costs £40 million a year.
That's sixty practiced debaters, backed up by over 5,000 civil servants, working really hard to convince you that the Assembly is a good idea.
I don't really blame them – it's the survival instinct.
Under devolution, the ambulance service in Wales delivers significantly worse response times than in England.
Readers of the Beacon waiting for hours, in pain, for an emergency ambulance to arrive, will no doubt be pleased to know that when they finally arrive in hospital their relatives can park for free when they visit.
The standard excuse blames the difficult topography of Wales for the problem.
It's pathetic; we have known that Wales is hilly for a few million years now.
It is presumably now forbidden to consider cross border co-operation.
In the case of Monmouth, I bet that the Herefordshire and Gloucestershire ambulance services could help out in an emergency.
Unfortunately it is probably beyond the talents of the Welsh Assembly to negotiate sensible cross-border cooperation.
After all, we are still waiting for someone to reach an agreement for bus passes to be used freely across England and Wales.
Not much chance for matters of life and death then.
In my opinion devolution hasn't worked for Wales; the girls and boys in Cardiff Bay are not up to the job.
Now these 'politicians' want to make new laws without scrutiny from a second chamber.
If you think that's sensible please go ahead and vote for the increased powers.
As for me, you will have guessed already, no chance.
Roger Farmer
(Monmouth)