Two rivers drain into Swansea Bay, the Tawe and the Nedd, and for several years there have been dreams to build a tidal lagoon between them  on Dylan Thomas’ ‘long and splendid curving shore.’

The original plan envisaged a huge nine kilometre wall build with sand-filled, synthetic bags, faced with stone and a series of turbines to generate power embedded into it.  Oyster beds and yacht clubs were planned within its span and it would have served as a prototype that could be replicated on many sites around the British coast. 

Seventy-five years ago the British Isles were an armed encampment lying off the shores of Hitler’s conquered Europe. There were millions of troops crammed into every conceivable space between the native inhabitants. They came from all the countries of the British Empire. There were fighters from Europe too who’d fled here to carry on the fight and of course there were the massed ranks of our American allies.

It’s not often I bury my head in my hands with exasperation but earlier this year I just had too after reading an opinion piece penned by a self-styled ‘street poet and Buddhist philosopher’ named Rashaad Thomas for The Arizona Republic newspaper based in Phoenix.