Catastrophe is looming for Cardiff.

WHILE the politicians, the venture capitalists and the developers with an eye for the main chance pick over the dying body of ASW, spare a thought for the human cost of the steel giant's collapse.

By tea-time today, more than 1,000 workers - the core of Cardiff's manufacturing sector, the people who actually generate the wealth of the region - could be facing the prospect of longterm unemployment.

That means 1,000 families without a principal breadwinner, 1,000 families looking to tighten their belts, abandon their holiday plans, reduce their shopping bills, giving up on a second car. The knock-on effect of all this is catastrophic - a mini-recession looms on the horizon unless a buyer can be found who wants to create employment on the site, instead of just another block of executive apartments with a view of the Bristol Channel.

If that's what will become of the factory site, where men once made products that were sold around the world, it's a tragedy. One wonders if these homes are built, who on earth will be earning enough money to pay for them?