SWANSEA: Digital skills boost for residents in Bonymaen, Clase and Portmead

Faith in Families, which supports children and families facing poverty and crisis, has secured £15,750 from BT to run the new programme.

The funding comes as part of a social value commitment linked to the Swansea Bay City Deal’s ongoing digital infrastructure project.

The money will directly benefit 30 residents in Bonymaen, Clase and Portmead through an eight-week course designed to build practical digital skills and open up pathways into volunteering and employment.

The hands-on training will help participants learn to confidently use laptops, email and online forms, and access essential services like healthcare and benefits.

Laptops will be purchased for participants to use during the programme, with internet support also provided to ensure no one is excluded.

Crucially, the laptops will remain within the community after the programme ends, creating a long-term local resource for families to use for homework, job searching and staying connected.

Natasha Cardone from Faith in Families said the funding would help build confidence in communities facing real barriers to getting online.

“This funding allows us to strengthen digital confidence within communities that face real barriers to access,” she said.

“By combining digital skills with confidence-building and communication, we can support families not only to get online, but to thrive.”

Swansea Council’s Deputy Leader, Cllr Andrea Williams, said the project was a powerful example of investment being directed into the heart of communities.

“By giving people in Bonymaen, Clase and Portmead the confidence, skills and tools to get online, we’re helping to remove long‑standing barriers and opening up new opportunities for learning, connection and support,” she said.

“What makes this initiative so special is that it doesn’t just provide equipment – it builds lasting digital confidence within trusted local spaces, ensuring that families can continue to benefit long after the programme ends.”

Mi subconsciente me jugó una mala pasada, y en el video recomiendo usar permisos "777" para el directorio ~/.ssh/ completo.

Tuve que agregar una nota en edición para corregirlo.

Sepan disculpar mis ganas de romper todo 😅

#ssh #youtube #juncotic #clase #video #gnu #linux #hardening #ciberseguridad

Mañana empiezan las clases, alguien más comienza semestre?

#estudio #nuevosemestre #clase #ioc

17 de febrero

Empezar a descifrar y a entender una lengua ajena, como cuatro o cinco años antes un niño valenciano habría descifrado el castellano, la lengua que se supone que te integraba en lo que tenías que ser tú un escalón más arriba, mientras que ahora, con el francés, empezabas a aprender la que iba a sacarte de ti. […] El castellano era la lengua que hablaban los funcionarios, los maestros, algunos ricos: la clase que no éramos nosotros; en general, eran los de arriba quienes hablaban esa lengua, pero también algunos que venían de fuera (emigrantes, gitanos, hojalateros, afiladores…) o vivían en lugares indefinidos que reflejaban la pantalla de cine, o el sonido de la radio. […] El valenciano era lengua de estar, no de llegar.

Diarios: A ratos perdidos 5 y 6, Rafael Chirbes

Morriston man jailed for life after murdering his brother in brutal attack at Clase home

41‑year‑old Darren Steel was told he will serve a minimum of 20 years for killing 48‑year‑old Martin Steel at the victim’s home on Hill View Crescent, Clase, in May 2023. He was also sentenced for two separate assaults committed in the days before the murder.

A jury at Swansea Crown Court found Steel guilty of murder on Tuesday after rejecting his claim that he acted in self‑defence. Today, Judge Geraint Walters said Steel had launched a “frenzied” and “out‑of‑all‑proportion” attack driven by “uncontrolled rage” fuelled by drink and drugs.

Judge: ‘You intended to silence him. To kill him.’

Sentencing Steel, Judge Walters said he was sure the defendant intended to kill his brother during the assault in the early hours of 20 May.

He said Steel had “tailored” his account to fit the evidence and had done “absolutely nothing” to save his brother’s life after inflicting the fatal injuries.

The judge told him:

“Your intention at that moment in time was to silence him. To kill him. That was born from uncontrolled rage which was a consequence of the cocktail of drink and drugs you had voluntarily consumed.”

He said Martin had been subjected to a “horrific beating” in his own home and was left to die in an armchair, where he was later found by his mother.

Mother: ‘Every night I see him slumped in his chair, beaten to a pulp’

In a deeply emotional victim impact statement, Martin’s mother, Diane Steel, described the moment she found her son’s body as “the day my life changed forever”.

She said:

“Every night when I close my eyes to go to sleep I see Martin slumped in his chair, beaten to a pulp and covered in blood. Completely unrecognisable. Murdered at the hands of his little brother.”

She told the court she had “lost both my children in this tragedy — to death and to prison”, adding that she would now face her final years “without either of my boys by my side”.

Daughters describe trauma of losing their father

Martin’s daughters, Natasha and Surrie, also read statements describing the lasting impact of their father’s death.

Natasha said her father’s murder had left a trauma that “has never left me”, adding that he was not there to walk her down the aisle — something she had imagined all her life.

Surrie described her father as “funny, kind and charming”, saying her children had lost a grandfather and her baby daughter would only know him through photographs.

She said Steel’s conduct during the trial “sickened” the family and that he had shown “not an ounce of remorse”.

A pattern of violence in the days before the murder

The court heard that Steel’s violence escalated in the days leading up to the killing.

On 18 May, he tied a man — Julien Samuel — to a chair with parcel tape, repeatedly punched him, forced his thumbs into the man’s eyes and held a hunting knife to his throat. The following day, he assaulted him again with the help of his brother.

Steel was convicted of grievous bodily harm against Mr Samuel and assault occasioning actual bodily harm against his then‑partner, Dawn Begley, at an earlier trial. He received concurrent sentences of three years and one year for those offences.

Judge Walters described Steel as a “career criminal” with a long history of violence, saying he was “punch‑happy” and had a “very real propensity to use violence which is indiscriminate”.

Police: ‘The ultimate betrayal’

South Wales Police said the case had caused “significant” distress to the family and the communities of Clase and Morriston.

Detective Inspector Stuart Prendiville said Steel had committed “the ultimate betrayal” against his brother and caused further anguish by forcing the family through two trials.

He said:

“Darren Steel is a violent and dangerous individual and the life sentence and minimum tariff of 20 years is wholly justified in this case.”

Police also released footage of the moment Steel was arrested:

A community shaken by a killing inside the family home

The murder shocked neighbours in Hill View Crescent, who raised the alarm after seeing Martin’s dog running loose outside on the morning of 20 May. When knocks on the door went unanswered, they contacted his mother.

She arrived to find her son slumped in a chair, either dead or close to death. Steel, heavily intoxicated, had given police a false name when arrested and later lied repeatedly about what happened.

Judge Walters said the grief caused to Martin’s loved ones was “irreparable”.

Steel will serve at least 20 years before he can apply for parole. The judge said it may be that he is never released.

Swansea’s road repair blitz ramps up as new resurfacing crews hit the streets

The council says an additional £300,000 has been pumped into the programme, allowing teams to tackle more potholes, worn‑out stretches and weather‑damaged routes after weeks of cold, wet conditions.

Fresh resurfacing lined up across the city

A series of busy roads are now earmarked for work in the coming weeks, including key routes in Clydach, Morriston, Fforestfach, Llansamlet, Clase, Bishopston and Uplands.

Locations scheduled for repairs include:

• Ynyspenllwch Road, Clydach (Ffordd Cwmtawe to Clydach)
• Lone Road, Clydach
• Llanllienwen Road, Morriston
• A48, Morriston (J46 to Bryntywod entrance)
• Carmarthen Road, Fforestfach (Ffordd Cynore to Swansea Road)
• Nantong Way, Llansamlet (outside Royal Mail)
• Rheidol Avenue, Clase
• Bishopston Road, Bishopston
• Maes y Gwernen Road and Drive, Cwmrhydyceirw
• Uplands Crescent

The council says full resurfacing has already been completed at a number of high‑traffic spots, including the Peniel Green Road motorway junction.

‘We’re using every resource we’ve got’

Cllr Andrew Stevens, Cabinet Member for Environment and Infrastructure, said crews were working flat out to keep up with demand.

“We are using all of our resources to tackle as many of the highway repair requests as possible,” he said.

“Full resurfacing work is being completed at key traffic spots including the motorway junction at Peniel Green Road. Our small resurfacing teams are also out tackling large areas of road that have been impacted by the recent cold and wet weather.”

Part of a wider £300k pothole and resurfacing blitz

The council says the latest work forms part of the £300,000 pothole and resurfacing blitz announced earlier this winter. According to the authority’s early‑February update, teams filled around 960 potholes in January, with repairs running at “around 100 a day” during the coldest weeks. The same update confirmed that full resurfacing had recently been completed on Peniel Green Road at the M4 junction, along with sections of Frampton Road, Carmarthen Road and Ffynone Road in Uplands.

The council said an extra team had been brought in to “speed up and increase the number of repairs”, with more resurfacing schemes scheduled across the city in the coming weeks as the winter programme continues.

£37m proposed for highways and transport

The council’s proposed budget for 20206/27 is due to be discussed by the council’s cabinet on 19 February. This includes a new Economic Growth Fund which according to the council would include an extra £3m for resurfacing and potholes, taking next year’s roads budget to more than £12m within a wider £37m allocation for highways and transport.

Swansea man found guilty of murdering his own brother after brutal flat attack

A jury at Swansea Crown Court today convicted 41‑year‑old Darren Steel, from Morriston, of murdering his brother 48‑year‑old Martin Steel, whose body was discovered in his flat on Hill View Crescent on the morning of 20 May 2023.

Emergency services were called shortly after 10.30am, but Martin — described in court as a “proud father of two” — could not be saved. He was pronounced dead later that morning.

South Wales Police said the case has “shocked” the communities of Clase and Morriston.

Detective Inspector Stuart Prendiville, South Wales Police, said:

“This has been a long and complex investigation into an incident which has shocked the communities of Clase, Morriston and the wider community of Swansea. Darren Steel committed the ultimate betrayal against his older brother and caused further distress by pleading not guilty and putting the family through the ordeal of not one, but two trials.”

He added that the impact on the family had been “significant”.

‘Horrific beating’

During the trial, jurors heard harrowing evidence about the moments leading up to the discovery of Martin’s body.

Neighbours noticed Martin’s dog whining alone in the garden at around 8.30am. When repeated knocks went unanswered, they contacted Martin’s mother, Dianne Steel, who lived nearby and had planned to go shopping with her son that morning.

She entered the flat and was confronted with what prosecutors called a “horrific sight” — her son slumped in a chair, covered in blood.

Prosecutor Andrew Jones KC told the court Martin had suffered “severe blunt force injuries” to his face and neck, including a fractured voice box. “He had been subjected to a horrific beating in his own home and left to die there,” he said.

The court heard that Darren Steel fled the property, leaving his mother to find her dying son.

‘I may have gone too far’

Witnesses told the jury that Steel later admitted he “may have gone too far” during the attack. He initially gave police a false name when officers located him.

During interviews, Steel claimed he acted in self‑defence and alleged that the brothers had taken heroin the night before. Prosecutors argued the violence went far beyond anything that could be considered reasonable force.

Jurors were shown forensic evidence, photographs from the scene and post‑mortem images. They also heard about two earlier assaults carried out by Steel in the days before his brother’s death — incidents the prosecution said showed “escalating violence”.

Second trial, same verdict

This was the second time a jury had been asked to decide the case. The first trial, held last year, collapsed before jurors were able to reach a verdict, meaning every piece of evidence — from the forensic detail to the moment Martin’s mother found her son — had to be heard all over again in a fresh trial.

After weeks of evidence at the retrial, the new jury today found Steel guilty of murder.

He will be sentenced on Friday, February 13, according to South Wales Police.

The force said they were “relieved” the case had finally concluded. “Our thoughts are with the family,” DI Prendiville said.

Ayer estuve grabando nuevas clases para JuncoTIC... y estuve jugando con #ssh y los #proxyjump's, y grabé un videito práctico explicando estas cositas... parece que se viene nuevo contenido en el canal de #youtube 😜

Sí, y en los cursos de SSH y de Hardening Linux (próximamente) [*]

Todavía no nos están siguiendo por ahí? 🔔

https://www.youtube.com/juncotic?sub_confirmation=1

[*] Nuestros cursos:

🎓 https://juncotic.com/cursos/

#gnu #linux #video #clase #curso #juncotic #hardening