Labour did badly in the Caerphilly by-election because the change they promised hasn’t arrived. Even in April this year Keir Starmer asked people to, "vote for change in your community." They just offered change and, after 14 years of the Tories in charge, that’s what many voters wanted. But what change?

I find this clamour for change unsettling. Change for the sake of change is often a waste of time and resources. There are lots of changes I don’t like or find worrying. Take climate change which, due to a warmer planet, means devastating floods, droughts and storms. The weather has become very unpredictable, making life difficult for farmers who struggle to plan ahead. It’s also hard for energy industries and those involved in transportation. In the end, we’ll all pay the price one way or another.

I don’t like the change in the Aberaeron library location. It may be a welcoming and beautiful venue but being in the centre of town was much more convenient. I don’t want our stroke services to become ‘treat and transfer’ services. I’m sure readers can think of other changes they wish had never happened and yet were sold as something positive.

What about wider societal change? Pensioners like me often discuss what life was like when we were children. Prime Minister Harold Macmillan famously said in 1957 that, “most of our people have never had it so good.” But many households had no bath and lots only had an outdoor toilet. They desperately needed change. Yet, we walked to school by ourselves, we played in the streets, we had freedom.

Unemployment wasn’t a big issue but discrimination and inequality were massive. Many young people leave university now and struggle to get a decent job. They have huge student debts and I know lots who volunteer in order to improve their CVs, some of them doing this for years. Young people have little hope of anywhere to live that they can call their own; rents are high and buying is out of the question. Exactly what changes are they looking for?

I doubt they wish to still be living at home with their parents in their thirties. First Minister, Eluned Morgan, is promising half a billion pounds to help, “create jobs and grow productivity across Wales.” This money is supposed to replace funding that used to come from the EU. Oh yes, how many people regret Brexit! I haven’t figured out yet where this £500m is coming from but Baroness Morgan is sure where she wishes to spend it.

She wants it, “to support businesses and social enterprises to grow, export and innovate –particularly in high growth sectors such as AI, cybersecurity and digital transformation.”

I dread the growth in AI! If our lives weren’t so intertwined with digital technology, perhaps we wouldn’t need all that cybersecurity. When the systems fail, life is more miserable,complicated and expensive.

People love to believe promises even if they are clearly too good to be true. Our economy is built like a house of cards with astronomical debts and money based on nothing. Change, progress, going forward, economic growth! What do these concepts mean in reality? What kind of society is actually a better one? I’m sceptical that technology will provide all the answers. People argue that they want their children to be better off than themselves, but should that mean simply more stuff?

Good health, and I include mental health, starts with quality food, decent homes and fulfilling work. We need to be careful what changes we wish for and be realistic. We can’t create something out of nothing. There is only one planet.