Jonathan Bishop

A councillor is making his website even more accessible to his constituents – by launching it on mobile phones.
Jonathan Bishop, who represents Treforest on Pontypridd Town Council, hopes the move will increase his accountability to the public.
Glamorgan University lecturer Dr John Morton was Coun Bishop’s election agent in the 2008 election. He said: “There seems to be at present a cynical view of politicians and the whole political process and this website hopes to be able to go some way towards refuting this.”
The state-of-the-art website can now be access on most mobile phones at jonathanbishop.mobi

A multi-million pound investment will complete a new cycling and walking network in the South Wales Valleys.

The new £7.6m investment will complete the £16m funding of the 100 miles of new routes as part of the Valleys Cycle Network.

This will enhance more than 250 miles of existing routes and brings the national cycle network to within two miles of a further 636,000 people.

The network of routes will follow the former tramways, towpaths and railways in the South Wales Valleys.

With improved walking and cycling opportunities available to people across Pontypridd, Llantrisant, Pontypool and Merthyr Tydfil it is hoped the scheme will provide an attractive alternative to car journeys, cutting congestion, reducing carbon emissions and helping people to travel in ways that benefit their health.

The new network will also link existing routes in Swansea, Llynfi, Taff, Ely and Ebbw Valleys. An arts programme will also see the development of public artworks along the new routes.

Led by the sustainable transport charity Sustrans, the three year project will receive £3.5m from the Convergence European Regional Development Fund, £3m from the Welsh Assembly Government as well as support from the Big Lottery Fund.

Together with the previously allocated £3.2m from the Assembly Government’s Heads of the Valleys Project and £5m from the Valleys Partnership VRP project, a total of £16m will be invested in the cycle network.

Deputy First Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones said: “We are committed to providing more cycling and walking routes throughout Wales, helping people to reduce car journeys and provide them with healthy and cost effective access to employment and training opportunities.

“This project will bring immense benefits to the health and well-being of people in the South Wales Valleys, and to the environment of the area by reducing emissions caused by car use. It will form part of a wider scheme which will encourage more route users across the whole of Wales.”

Rhondda AM Leighton Andrews, deputy minister for regeneration, added: “The emphasis is on promoting the natural environment and cultural heritage and concentrates on outdoor activities such as walking and cycling.

“The development of an extensive off road network of footpaths, trail and cycleways is a key element of this project which makes this latest investment development such good news.”

Lee Waters, Sustrans Cymru Director, said: “These new routes will make it easier for the people of the valleys to get around their communities and to work on foot or by bike, and will also form part of a larger network that will attract tourists from across the country.”

Treforest town councillor Jonathan Bishop is also delighted with the investment and the impact it will have on his ward.

He said: “I am delighted the cycling route through Treforest is going ahead.

“This scheme will go some way towards the green future that young people aspire to for the village, which they recently reflected in another successful regeneration initiative in the area.”

Treforest residents have joined forces to transform their community.

Work has already started to improve park facilities for children, while teenagers are using their art skills to enhance a subway in Treforest.

Town councillor Jonathan Bishop was delighted to mark the start of the landscaping work at the St Dyfrig’s underpass.

He said: “This is one of many projects the Treforest Regeneration Partnership has supported and will go some way to transforming the village into a thriving community where all residents live together with tolerance and respect for one another’s differences.”

Artistic youngsters are regenerating Treforest thanks to funding from the Co-Operative Group.

Glamorgan Blended Learning, which gives young people in South Wales the opportunity to use their academic knowledge to good use in their communities, has received a £500 grant to a create mural in St Dyfrig’s pedestrian subway.

Director Jonathan Bishop said: “We aim to contribute to developing the community economically, socially and culturally.

“By involving young people, we give them the chance to consider what needs to change for the better in their own community – and the chance to make these changes.

“This is an exciting project and will bring art into the public eye as well as brighten up a shabby subway. We would like to thank the Co-operative for its support.”

The donation has come from the Co-Operative Group’s Community Fund, which allows members to donate all or part of their twice-yearly pay-outs to worthy causes.

Chairman of the Co-operative’s South Wales Area Committee Gareth Lewis said: “The Community Fund can make a real and lasting contribution to local communities and we are delighted to have made this award to Glamorgan Blended Learning. Many community groups share our co-operative values and could benefit from an award, and we would certainly welcome their applications.”

Since Plaid Cymru took over control of Treforest the number of vehicles in the area has increased by nearly 5% to 1103 according to the Office for National Statistics, but Plaid’s Geraint Day has done nothing to improve the parking situation in Treforest.
Jonathan Bishop has welcomed the campaign by local residents groups to review the parking provision in Treforest. Jonathan said, “It is important that we address the parking crisis now, by reducing the number of traffic restrictions that are not needed”

An innovative Pontypridd academic has contributed a chapter to a new book published by his peers.

Jonathan Bishop, aged 27, of Fothergill Street Treforest, a director of Abercynon’s IT-focussed social enterprise Glamorgan Blended Learning Ltd (GBL), has written about the subject for a book on psychology.

Entitled ‘The Mind, the Body, and the World’ and published by Imprint Academic, it has been hailed as a publication that challenges the dominant cognitivist approach to psychology.

William Clancy of the Florida Institute of Human and Machine Cognition speaking about the book’s authors said: “With uncompromising integrity, these scientists and philosophers portray the complex landscape of mental life that will guide 21st century cognitive science.”

Mr Bishop now plans to use his social enterprise to regenerate the subway in Treforest and continue his doctorate in Business Administration and Kingston University in London.

He said: “This book chapter fits into the theoretical basis I will use to conduct my research into how public organisations can bring about social change through e-learning.

“My research will find out whether co-operatives like GBL can improve the social cohesion between communities and discover the best practice for businesses seeking to bring about social change.”

Not content to let office debates on the role of the EU in producing mountains of legislation for his company, one Ogmore employee has risen to the challenged by completing a Masters in European Union Law to assist his managers.

Jonathan Bishop, 27, who has worked at Llanharry-based Four-Sure Construction Ltd since 2004 says his LLM course has been an eye-opener into how the EU functions as a legislative and enforcement body, “I went into this course knowing that the EU contributes much of the UK’s law, but I didn’t realise how much the UK Government has to take account of EU treaties when making law until I had studied the key primary and secondary legislation as part of the course and my dissertation into EU e-learning law.”

Local MP for Ogmore Huw Irranca-Davies congratulated Jonathan on achieving his second Masters and believes like Jonathan the Wales and Britain are best served by being in the EU, “Britain is clearly better off in Europe, and that is not only because of our ability to access to the world’s largest single market, with a population that is now more than 450 million, but because we benefit from receiving the lion’s share of foreign investment.”
“It is time to move on and discover the new vision – the dream that will engage the youth and others in the European project.”

Jonathan says he will now look at his options from further progression in his workplace to becoming an elected representative, “For a long time I have wanted to represent my community at the highest level and thanks to Four-Sure I now have the knowledge base for a position in European Affairs in the UK or on the continent”

Robin Hood was autistic, a member of the World Wide Robin Hood Society is to claim at an international conference on England’s most renowned legendary outlaw

A Treforest-based social entrepreneur is set to take community football to new levels as he gains the Football Association of Wales’ Football Leaders Award.

Jonathan Bishop, 27, of Fothergill Street recently competed an accredited FAW training programme for delivering football coaching programmes in the community.

Mr Bishop, who is a director of the social enterprise Glamorgan Blended Learning, says that he now plans to develop learning programmes for young people.
“The Emotivate Project will introduce young people to sports and the arts through blending e-learning with practical activities” he said, “We aim to work with local football clubs to provide students on sports related courses at university the opportunity to gain practical experience in coaching youth football”

People interested in becoming part of the Emotivate Project can visit the website at http://www.emotivate.org.uk using any Internet Browser.

If you feel depressed when you can’t Google yourself or check e-mail, you just might have an addiction to the Internet, according to cyber-psychologist Kimberly Young, director of the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery and author of “Caught in the Net” (John Wiley & Sons, $34.95), the first book to address Internet addiction.
Young likens excessive Internet use to pathological gambling.
Fortunately, treatment centers have opened up across the world including Korea, China and the Netherlands. The Priory Clinic in London is now treating texting addicts, or those who might spend up to seven hours a day writing and receiving text messages on their cell phones.
One of eight Americans exhibited at least one possible sign of problematic Internet use, a Stanford study showed. Psychological symptoms include an inability to stop using it, craving more time on line, neglect of family and friends and feeling depressed and irritable when not at the computer. Physical signs can be carpal tunnel, sleep deprivation, backaches, eye strain and increased agitation.
“Job loss, financial loss and marital loss can all be associated with the disorder,” said Young, founder of the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery who has seen everything from young children who withdrew from life for online gaming to couples who divorced because of online affairs.
But others say spending large amounts of time behind the computer doesnt constitute an addiction. People who go without food or sleep because theyre so engrossed with the Internet have chosen to do so, said Jonathan Bishop, an independent Internet researcher in Wales.
“The Internet is an environment, so we cant be addicted to it,” he said in an e-mail. “We dont say that people who play card games in pubs for hours on end have pub addiction. I would argue that the medical model of disability is the wrong approach, and that the social model should be adopted.”
To find out whether you have an addiction, take the test found on The Center for Internet Addiction Web site. Here are ten sample questions. The more “often” or “always” answers, the greater the chance you have a problem.
How often do you:
1. Stay online longer than you intended? (a. rarely b. occasionally c. frequently d. often e. always.)
2. Neglect household chores to spend more time online?
3. Prefer the excitement of the Internet to intimacy with your partner?
4. Form new relationships with fellow online users?
5. Check your e-mail before something else that you need to do?
6. See your grades or school work suffer because of the amount of time you spend online?
7. Hear others in your life complain about the amount of time you spend online?
8. Let your job performance or productivity suffer because of the Internet?
9. Become defensive or secretive when anyone asks you what you do online?
10. Lose sleep due to late-night log-ins?