Hiraeth - Welsh Politics

There are few people that have been at the centre of Welsh national politics for as long as Mark Drakeford. As a councillor, special advisor, Assembly Member, Cabinet Secretary, Minister, and First Minister - as well as leader of Welsh Labour - his experience is unrivalled. In this session recorded at Labour Party conference Mark is interviewed by friend of the pod Jess Blair (of the Electoral Reform Society) about his thoughts on Welsh democracy past, present, and future, the key debates around redesigning the electoral system for the Senedd in 2026 and beyond and some of the big challenges he faced bringing the legislation through both our national parliament and the Labour Party itself. Mark also takes questions from the floor about widening representation in the Senedd, republicanism, House of Lords reform, and expanding the franchise. You can follow our speakers here: - Mark Drakeford MS: https://x.com/MarkDrakeford - Jess Blair: https://x.com/JessBlair7 - ERS Cymru: https://x.com/ERScymru As always, you can find the latest from us on the socials @hiraethpod, including BlueSky here: https://bsky.app/profile/hiraethpod.bsky.social We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

We're closing out the year with a few pods that we couldn't quite find a way to squeeze in the feed earlier in the year, including this one which is an interview with Dr Rowan Williams and Prof Laura McAllister who co-chaired the Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales. Recorded in October 2024 at Cardiff Business School and chaired by Sarah Lethbridge of the Executive Education team, the pod invites both Laura and Rowan to reflect on the work that they did on the commission, the progress on the recommendations they made in their final report, and to answer questions from an in-person and virtual audience about their work. They also address the new context of recently-formed Labour Governments in Wales and the UK (a long way from the Mark Drakeford- and Liz Truss-led governments when the commission was announced!) and answer questions in relation to local government and the new Senedd electoral system. You can read the Commission's Final Report here: https://www.gov.wales/independent-commission-on-the-constitutional-future-of-wales-final-report Find out more about Rowan here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowan_Williams Find Laura here on X: https://x.com/LauraMcAllister And Sarah here: https://x.com/sarahlethbridge with the Cardiff Business Executive Education team here: https://x.com/CbsExec As always, you can find the latest from us on the socials @hiraethpod, including BlueSky here: https://bsky.app/profile/hiraethpod.bsky.social We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

We've touched on the subject of religion in politics before but we thought we would round out 2024 specifically looking at the role of Christianity in Welsh politics. In some ways it could be argued that Welsh politics only really exists thanks to Welsh nonconformist campaigning that led to the first Wales-only legislation since the 1500s with the Sunday Closing (Wales) Act 1881, followed by the disestablishment of the Church of England in 1920. In much more recent times we have the famous referendums on keeping Sundays wet/dry, we have the national and union parliament votes on assisted dying, and we have perpetual questions about how free political representatives and leaders should and can be to carry their faith into their political lives. To discuss, we are joined by:- Hannah Rich, Director of Christians on the Left and Senior Researcher at the Theos Think Tank: https://bsky.app/profile/hannahmerich.bsky.social- Ben Phillips, a researcher in music, religion and culture at the University at Durham: https://bsky.app/profile/liturgicalben.bsky.social The pod also features a special sign off from our own Matthew Hexter! Nadolig Llawen i chi gyd - Merry Christmas to all! As always, you can find the latest from us on the socials @hiraethpod, including BlueSky here: https://bsky.app/profile/hiraethpod.bsky.social We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

In recent years transport - and especially rail infrastructure - has been among the most hotly debated policy fields in Welsh politics. Following the disastrous franchise awarded to Arriva Trains Wales, the creation and subsequent nationalisation of the rail operator under Transport for Wales, longstanding under-investment in the network, and the infamous decision to decline full devolution of rail in the 2000s - one that has seen Wales miss out on hundreds of millions, if not billions of pounds from the UK Treasury in the years since - we are finally seeing some of the Welsh Government's investment paying off. So we're delighted to be joined by Professor Mark Barry to discuss his own contribution as the instigator and campaigner for the South Wales Metro and core valley lines electrification, as well as his recent book on the matter. We also discuss the 'missing billions' from the HS2 project, the ongoing injustice of the UK Government's refusal to devolve rail in Wales as it is in Scotland, the debate around building Cardiff Parkway station, and the Welsh Government's plans for reforming bus services in Wales. You can find Mark on BlueSky here: https://bsky.app/profile/swalesmetroprof.bsky.social And Mark's book is available here: https://cardiffmetro.wales/book-navigation/ As always, you can find the latest from us on the socials @hiraethpod, including BlueSky here: https://bsky.app/profile/hiraethpod.bsky.social We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

Although most Welsh eyes will only have been focussing on one result from Ireland over the last week - that of the Welsh Women's football side defeating Ireland in the play off for a place in the 2024 European Championships - there was a big result in the general election too! To discuss the results, campaigns, and political significance of the 2024 Irish election, we are joined by independent researcher and author Lila Haines and researcher at the Wales Governance Centre, Dr Alexander Fitzpatrick. You can find Lila here: https://x.com/LilaEilis And buy her excellent book on the political parties of Ireland here: https://welsh-academic-press.shopfactory.com/contents/en-uk/p128_Political-Parties-of-Ireland.html You can also find Alexander here: https://x.com/AlexanderFitz_ As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: https://twitter.com/HiraethPod and BlueSky here: https://bsky.app/profile/hiraethpod.bsky.social As always, you can find the latest from us on the socials @hiraethpod, including BlueSky here: https://bsky.app/profile/hiraethpod.bsky.social We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

In the devolution era, Wales has invested (or has had to invest) at a national and local level in new and better approaches to community development. Designed to ensure that communities are able to express their own interests in projects, campaigns, and democratic institutions, these initiatives are sometimes backed by institutions, or grow out of ground-up community activism. Community Development takes many varied forms and with the years of applied experience in Wales in this field, we have literally written the textbook on the subject - Community Development, Social Action and Social Planning: A Practical Guide, by Alan TwelveTrees and Russell Todd. And we're delighted to have tempted Russ away from the microphone at Podcast Pêl-Droed to speak with us about his experience in this field, along with Jan Huyton, programme director of MA Education at Cardiff Metropolitan University. You can find the book here: https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/community-development-social-action-and-social-planning-6e More about Russ here: https://russelltodd.cymru And Jan here: https://x.com/MinnieKeats As always, you can find the latest from us on the socials @hiraethpod, including BlueSky here: https://bsky.app/profile/hiraethpod.bsky.social We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

It's one of - if not the - most widely recognised histories of Wales. Irrespective of language, religion, or region, almost every child in Wales will have learnt about the infamous Welsh Not. How could a simple board on string, of which few actual examples persist, continue to be a touchstone subject for so many in modern Wales? Friend of the pod, and Professor at Swansea University, Martin Johnes has just published the definitive analysis of this disputed object. More than just cultural or educational history, the story is one dipped in politics and wrapped in religion and challenges common ideas of who the protagonists and the antagonists were in the ongoing story of keeping yr hen iaith alive. We're delighted to be joined by Martin to discuss the Welsh Not, and you can find out more from him here: https://x.com/martinjohnes The book is available to buy here: https://www.uwp.co.uk/book/welsh-not/ Or read for free in PDF form here: https://www.uwp.co.uk/app/uploads/9781837721818_WEB.pdf As always, you can find the latest from us on the socials @hiraethpod, including BlueSky here: https://bsky.app/profile/hiraethpod.bsky.social We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

As we come to the end of 2024, we thought it would be a great idea to catch up with friend of the pod and leading independent journalist in Wales, Will Hayward. We catch up with Will about his own latest developments in terms of addressing an under-served Welsh news space, his outlook on the public and political mood across the country and take a look at the state of the political parties as attention inevitably turns to the Senedd 2026 election. You can find Will pretty much everywhere on social media but try starting with the below: Will Hayward Newsletter: https://substack.com/@willhayward For Wales, See Wales Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/36K7BSmczcZywwqmGT8ALq Will's website: https://willhayward.co.uk/ As always, you can find the latest from us here: https://x.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

One of the less well known but perhaps more significant outcomes of the Welsh Labour - Plaid Cymru Cooperation Agreement following the 2021 national election in Wales, was a commitment to "Commission independent advice to examine potential pathways to net zero by 2035...". Shortly afterwards an expert group was assembled with former Pontypridd Senedd member Jane Davidson chairing, the Wales Centre for Public Policy (WCPP) providing the research supported by a secretariat from Welsh Government. Three years later, the work has been completed and the 'pathway' reports received by Deputy FM Huw Irranca-Davies. So, what next? What will happen with the reports and what were the key recommendations made? To discuss, we are joined by Jane Davidson and Dr Jack Price of the WCPP. To find out more about Net Zero 2035, head to: Net Zero 2035 Wales Challenge Group: https://netzero2035.wales/ and the Wales Centre for Public Policy: https://wcpp.org.uk/publications/?select-programme-type%5B%5D=economy-decarbonisation-and-skills As always, you can find the latest from us here: https://x.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

Many of our listeners will share our interest, concern, and confusion about the state of politics in the USA. After the extraordinary times of the pandemic, chaos, and ultimately violence of 2020 Presidential campaign, many hoped for a return to 'normality' if not 'stability' in 2024. However, it was not to be. We arrive in early November with one of the most extraordinary campaigns coming to an end. The return of Donald Trump as a likely winner, one of the most consequential TV debates in history, the Democratic candidate dropping out mid-race, assassination attempts, hurricanes, the return of Hulk Hogan... the list goes on. So what to make of it all? Thankfully we have some excellence expertise in the field of American politics here in Wales and our two guests - Dr Joseph Phillips of the Wales Governance Centre, Cardiff University, and Black Hawk Hancock for DePaul University in Chicago - help us to understand the political trends and polarisation beneath the headlines. Our guests: Dr Joseph Phillips: https://x.com/polpsychjoe Black Hawk Hancock: https://blackhawkhancock.com/ As always, you can find the latest from us here: https://x.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

As you may have seen on our socials recently, we just hosted our first live event with friends of the pod from the That's Devolved! team, and great Cardiff venue, Porters. Our guest is one of the few Members of the Senedd with high name recognition, with all the good and bad that comes with that - Lee Waters, Member for Llanelli. Widely considered one of the most intellectually curious and independently minded of the Labour group, he will be forever be linked with the events of the last year which saw him usher in one of the most contested pieces of Welsh Law in the shape of the 20mph default speed limit across the country. His public comments on the controversies surrounding Vaughan Gething's time as Labour leader also put Lee at odds with many inside the party and precipitated a government revolt forcing the then-FM to stand down. However, as you will hear in this interview chaired by our own Matthew Hexter, Lee has plenty of valuable insight to both the inner workings and outer dysfunctions of our parliament and government machines, and the surrounding political cultures. Enjoy! A video of this event is available here: https://youtu.be/VZbWZRaWIFY Our partners: That's Devolved: https://x.com/ThatsDevolved Porters Cardiff: https://x.com/Porterscardiff As always, you can find the latest from us here: twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

After what can only be described as a catastrophic UK General Election which left the Conservatives without a single MP in the country, it could be expected that the mood inside the Senedd group and wider party in Wales would be sombre. However, due to the new UK Labour Government's surprisingly troubled first 100 days and the drama and trauma surrounding the Welsh Labour Government so far this year, the Conservatives see plenty for potential to rebuild. To discuss the state of the party in Wales, reflect on the UK election result, the current leadership contest, the rise of Reform UK, and the prospects for the next Senedd election, we are joined by James Evans MS, Member of the Senedd for Brecon and Radnorshire. You can find James on X/Twitter here: https://x.com/JamesEvansMS As always, you can find the latest from us here: twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

It is the end of an era in Wales. Arguably the world's first industrial nation, we are now on the cusp of being largely de-industrialised as 300 years of melting iron comes to an end with the extinguished blast furnaces in Port Talbot. We discuss the politics of this extraordinary national moment as well as a round up of the political party conferences this Autumn, the Labour Party's expenses criticism, the Conservative Party's leadership election, and the rise of Reform UK as they turn their eyes to national elections in Wales and Scotland in 2026. We also make some bold predictions, some criticism of sitting MSs, and discuss the looming issues on the political horizon in Wales. You can find your hosts here: Matthew Hexter: https://x.com/hexter101 Ceri Davies: https://www.instagram.com/ceriscastles/ Richard Martin: https://bsky.app/profile/mimosacymru.bsky.social The ITV Wales education story: https://www.itv.com/news/2024-10-03/welsh-government-accepts-need-to-improve-guidance-on-teaching-reading As always, you can find the latest from us here: twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

18 months after his election as leader of Plaid Cymru, Rhun ap Iorwerth has seen the party through some difficult times (such as the revelations of poor conduct inside the party that led to the Prosiect Pawb report and recommendations) and some celebratory ones (such as the party's success in both Caerfyrddin and Ynys Môn in the UK-wide general election in 2024). As the party resets in the the Senedd following their early termination of the Cooperation Agreement with Welsh Labour and turns its attention towards the campaign for the next national election in 2026 and its new voting system and constituencies, what are the top priorities for 'the party of Wales'? We discuss all this and more with Rhun, who you can follow on Twitter/X and all the other socials: https://x.com/RhunapIorwerth As always, you can find the latest from us here: twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

The 'England and Wales' justice system has already been in the news for all the wrong reasons in 2024. Many years of underfunding and uneven and unsuccessful policy have left it creaking. Against a backdrop of underfunding, crumbling court estate, and widening legal deserts, the new UK Government's first major act in the sector has been to engage in widespread early release in prisons to manage capacity. It is a sector on the brink of crisis. Of course here at the Hiraeth Pod we call it the 'Wales and England' justice system and in the latest of our pods examining the reality in Wales, we're delighted to be joined by The Law Society to discuss their latest report 'From Caernarfon to Caerdydd: Re-imagining Justice in Wales 2030' that takes a Wales-centric view of these issues. We discuss the fundamental issues here, ongoing debates about devolution to bring Wales into line with Scotland and Northern Ireland, the total absence of separate data for Wales's justice sector, the legal aid crisis, and the barriers to entering the profession for poorer students. You can find a copy of the report on the Law Society's website: https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/about-us/law-society-wales/reimagining-justice-2030The Law Society Wales: https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/about-us/law-society-wales/And on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-law-society-wales-cymdeithas-y-cyfreithwyr/ Previous podcasts about the justice system in Wales:The Welsh Criminal Justice System, on the Jagged Edge: https://youtu.be/wNBjmkh8NFEJustice and Youth Justice for Wales: https://youtu.be/RyLbtSjclcM As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

We kick off September in the same way that political parties and campaigners all across Wales are doing, with eyes on the new proposals for Senedd 'super constituencies' that will be contested in the 2026 Welsh general election. The Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru's remit from the Senedd has been to find a robust way to pair off our 32 UK Parliament constituencies and create 16 'super constituencies', from which six Senedd Members will be elected on a PR list system, similar to our current regional list system. But this is not an easy task, and the timeline is extremely tight for this kind of work. So we're delighted to be joined by BDCC CEO Shereen Williams to introduce the proposals and discuss the details of the project. - Find the proposals here: https://www.dbcc.gov.wales/ - Follow the DBCC on socials: https://linktr.ee/democracycymru - And Shereen is here: https://x.com/ShereenWilliams As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

It will have escaped nobody's notice that the UK Government is 'under new management' and has indeed changed, following the UK General Election in July. One of the most Wales-facing roles is, of course, the Secretary of State for Wales. A role whose value has been questioned in recent times and was certainly used by the former administration to provide a vector for attack on the Welsh Government and the Welsh Labour Party. However, now that it is a Labour-led government in Westminster, it means that for the first time since 2010 the role is held by a politician looking for partnership with party colleagues in government in Cardiff. So it is time for a reset. Leading that reset and fronting much of the UK Government's operations in Wales is Cardiff East MP Jo Stevens and in this interview we discuss many of the pressing issues in Wales. We discuss the economic situation, the looming impact of the changes planned by Tata Steel for its Port Talbot plant, the return of structural funds to Welsh Government, and the ongoing intra- and extra- party debates about the future of devolution. You can find out more about Jo's work as Secretary of State here: https://x.com/WalesOffice And as Cardiff East MP here: https://x.com/JoStevensLabour As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

We are one month (or in Welsh units, two First Ministers) on from the 2024 General Election, and finishing our mini-series of analyses into the results in each of the constituent nations of the United Kingdom with a look to the North to try and understand more about the people and priorities of Scotland. For well over a decade the central debate has revolved around the country's constitution future inside or outside both the British and European Unions. However, the emergence of a successful UK Labour Party in England has been mirrored by a resurgence of the Scottish Party, while myriad forced and unforced errors have weakened the once all-powerful SNP. So how did Labour make such a comeback, where next for the SNP, how will the Scottish Tories build on their remaining support, and what future the Greens, Lib Dems, and Reform? And at the heart of it, what are the Scottish people looking for in their national and union leadership? To discuss we are joined by Dr Fraser McMillan of Edinburgh University and the Scottish Election Study. You can find out more from Fraser here: https://x.com/frasmcm As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

In the aftermath of the 2024 General Election, we are taking deep dives into the results in each of the constituent nations of the United Kingdom to try and understand more about the peoples and priorities of each part of the union. England, of course, barely featured in the campaigns, the manifestos, or indeed in the statements and portfolios from its new government. With Britain and England being largely synonymous for many political parties and campaigners, its presence is mostly implied with or inferred from euphemisms such as 'the country' even when specific policies being discussed are decided by the Westminster Parliament for England alone. The only real mention came thanks to a successful run to the Euro 2024 Final (Rishi Sunak take note!). So to take a look at the way England voted, how its new government plans to respond to its challenges, and to discuss the patchwork of regional devolution that now defines England differently to the other home nations is John Denham, Professorial Fellow on English Identity and Politics at Southampton University, Director of the English Labour Network, and former Minister in the last Labour UK Government. - John can be found here: https://twitter.com/JYDenham - The Centre for English Identity and Politics: https://www.southampton.ac.uk/research/institutes-centres/centre-for-english-identity-politics - His blog is here: https://www.theoptimisticpatriot.co.uk/ As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

Following the 2024 UK General Election, many Labour MPs are grappling for the first time with the challenge of becoming a government minister. Of the 111 appointments made by the new Prime Minister, only 18 have held ministerial roles before and only 4 are returning to the roles they previously held. Of course our own national government in Wales is currently poised to begin its third (and hopefully final) iteration of 2024 as the "Labour's first female head of state in the UK” will reshuffle the government once she is confirmed as new First Minister. With some new members of the government such as Sarah Murphy and Jack Sargeant barely months into their roles, they too will be trying to learn quickly. So what does it take to become a good minister, whether at national or union level? Well, thankfully Prof Leighton Andrews has just written a book on this very subject and we are delighted to be joined by him to discuss not only this subject but also the recent events in Cardiff Bay that ultimately led to the resignation of former First Minister Vaughan Gething. We recorded this in the period overlapping the embattled end to Mr Gething's tenure and ahead of the commencement of Eluned Morgan's so Leighton has kindly recorded an updated final segment to reflect this. Leighton can be found here: https://x.com/LeightonAndrews Leighton's Substack is here: https://t.co/AplBOByve3 And his book can be found here: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-50008-4 We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

The UK General Election results across Great Britain have been pored over by almost every media outlet on this island. However, there has been an air of the inevitable that the results for Northern Ireland have been largely ignored despite its recent cohorts of MPs having played a crucial role in the twists and turns of the UK's seperation from the European Union since 2016. Due to the enormous majority of the new UK Labour Parliamentary Group, the 18 seats from the 'nation' / 'province' / 'region' (delete as preferred) of the UK across the water, were never likely to be pivotal for the government of Britain. But for the people, parties, and governeance of Northern Ireland, these small number of individuals could be very influential. So here at the Hiraeth Pod, we take a deep look at the results and what we have learned from them. To guide us, we are joined by two great friends of the pod, who last joined us to discuss their book "A Troubled Constitutional Future: Northern Ireland After Brexit". Mary C Murphy in a Professor of Politics, formerly based at University College Cork and mid-transfer across the Atlantic to become Director of the Irish Institute at Boston College - https://x.com/MaryCMurphy Dr Jonathan Evershed completed his PhD Queens University Belfast and has since moved to Wales to become a policy and research advisor to the Plaid Cymru Senedd Group - https://x.com/jevershed01 Mary & Jonathan's book is available here: https://www.agendapub.com/page/detail/a-troubled-constitutional-future/?k=9781788214117 And our podcast about it is here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/15G4Zp0ihshXS5SNUCjC9g?si=FrXcmCHVRMmjaNopChrByA As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

Another momentous day in Welsh politics, and another bonus pod from us. After much speculation and division, Vaughan Gething has announced his intention to resign as First Minister and Welsh Labour Leader. Dogged by issues surrounding campaign donations, and the sacking of Hannah Blythyn from government, Vaughan has found the one way, and often brutal direction of political gravity too much as he has finally succumb to pressure from the Labour Senedd group to resign, following the resignation of four of his most senior cabinet colleagues this morning. So in this bonus pod, Hiraeth's own Matt Hexter talks us through the events that led us to this day, as well as details of the cabinet resignations that led to Vaughan's announcement this morning. He also focuses on the process to become the next leader for Welsh Labour as well as who is in the discussion for Wales's top job. The Welsh Government written statements about the now infamous iMessage group can be found here: https://www.gov.wales/written-statement-statement-first-minister-1 You can find out more from Matt here: https://twitter.com/hexter101 As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

2024 was a truly catastrophic election campaign in Wales for the Conservative (& Unionist) Party, where it lost all its MPs for the Westminster Parliament. To happen once would be a short term blip for the party, for it to happen three times inside 25 years is a sign of far deeper issues. Thankfully the historian and author Dr Sam Blaxland has recently published the most significant work on the history of the party in Wales (link below) and joins us on this pod to discuss the complicated relationship the party has had with Wales since the Second World War and into the era of national devolution to Wales. Sam can be found online here: https://twitter.com/SamBlaxland  Sam's excellent book can be found here: https://www.uwp.co.uk/book/the-conservative-party-in-wales-1945-1997/ And finally, Sam delivered a presentation on his book hosted by Cardiff University's Wales Governance Centre, which can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/-1_CsvIUyXc As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

Change has arrived in the UK in the shape of an incoming UK Labour UK Government. However, the picture in Wales is one of both change in terms of our relationship with the wider union but also continuity in that Welsh Labour have extended their run as the democratic world's most successful election-winning machine. However, this election has brought electoral firsts for Labour, another voter-imposed blanket ban on Conservative MPs in Wales, a strong showing for Plaid Cymru, an unrewarded stronger showing for Reform UK, an improved performance for the Greens, and a foothold once more for the Welsh Liberal Democrats. So to review the results and their impact on the Welsh political landscape, we're joined by: Matthew Hexter, Podcaster and Political Commentator: https://twitter.com/hexter101 Keira Marshall: Senior Research and Plaid Cymru Candidate for Cardiff West: https://twitter.com/Kiera_Plaid Alex Williams:  former Wales Office special advisor to Sir Robert Buckland and advisor at Edelman Global Advisory: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-w-b38604140/ Thanks for your support and engagement over the election period. We've tried to add an independent voice to the coverage in Wales. If you have feedback on our coverage, please be in touch! As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

This is it! Our final Hiraeth Pod before the UK General Election is here. As it would appear that taking a wager is the main theme of the election, we have gathered with some friends to chew over what uncertainties remain in Wales in terms of constituencies up for grabs and if and where a Welsh Portillo (pronounced with a double 'l' of course) may happen. We also discuss the campaigns, their strengths and weaknesses and evaluate who has performed well and conversely who has done poorly over the last six weeks. Matt and Rich are joined by:Shaun Bendle, keeper of the Thats Devolved flame: https://twitter.com/ThatsDevolvedand Stephanie Whitehead of Public Affairs Cymru: https://twitter.com/PACymru Our prediction maps are available to view here: https://x.com/HiraethPod/status/1808075992331587752 Thanks for your supoort and engagement over the election period. We've tried to add an independent voice to the coverage in Wales. If you have feedback on our coverage, please be in touch! As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

The UK general election is now in its final stages and while the union-wide result hardly seems in doubt, each constituency and candidate has a story to tell. Here at the Hiraeth Pod we are recording a series of short interviews with new candidates who are contesting constituencies across Wales. These are new faces on the national scene and will no doubt feature in the 2026 Senedd campaign even if unsuccessful this time around. We plan to speak to each of the main parties in Wales, which we consider to be the ones standing in every constituency at the start of the campaign (though since then some have fallen away, as you are no doubt aware). So we will be sharing interviews with Conservative, Plaid Cymru, Green, Reform, Liberal Democrat, and Labour candidates as we try to uphold the values of public service broadcasting in the digital age. In this pod we speak with former Senedd Member William (Bill) Powell, who is representing the Liberal Democrats in the Conservative-dominated seat of Monmouthshire. A long time councillor and respected parliamentarian in his own right, Bill is facing an uphill task to win the seat as Labour's Catherine Fookes is in pole position but, as ever, Bill is seeking to represent the best of big and small 'L' liberalism in this key border territory. You can find Bill on Twitter/X here: https://twitter.com/WmPowell2021 The candidates in Monmouthshire are: Conservative and Unionist Party: David TC Davies England and Wales Green Party: Ian Chandler Heritage Party: Emma Meredith Independent: Owen Lewis Liberal Democrats: Bill Powell Plaid Cymru: Ioan Bellin Reform UK: Max Windsor-Peplow True & Fair Party: June Davies UK Labour: Catherine Fookes As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

The UK general election is now in its final stages and while the union-wide result hardly seems in doubt, each constituency and candidate has a story to tell. Here at the Hiraeth Pod we are recording a series of short interviews with new candidates who are contesting constituencies across Wales. These are new faces on the national scene and will no doubt feature in the 2026 Senedd campaign even if unsuccessful this time around. We plan to speak to each of the main parties in Wales, which we consider to be the ones standing in every constituency at the start of the campaign (though since then some have fallen away, as you are no doubt aware). So we will be sharing interviews with Conservative, Plaid Cymru, Green, Reform, Liberal Democrat, and Labour candidates as we try to uphold the values of public service broadcasting in the digital age. In this pod we speak with Cllr Catherine Fookes, who is standing for the Labour Party and seeking to replace David TC Davies as MP in a seat that has a long track record of returning Conservatives. Unseating a Secretary of State would be a significant accomplishment for Labour and the polls indicate that this is a distinct possibility but it is clear that Catherine and the campaign team are taking nothing for granted. You can find Catherine on Twitter/X here: https://twitter.com/CatherineFookes The candidates in Monmouthshire are: Conservative and Unionist Party: David TC Davies England and Wales Green Party: Ian Chandler Heritage Party: Emma Meredith Independent: Owen Lewis Liberal Democrats: Bill Powell Plaid Cymru: Ioan Bellin Reform UK: Max Windsor-Peplow True & Fair Party: June Davies UK Labour: Catherine Fookes As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

The UK general election is now in its final stages and while the union-wide result hardly seems in doubt, each constituency and candidate has a story to tell. Here at the Hiraeth Pod we are recording a series of short interviews with new candidates who are contesting constituencies across Wales. These are new faces on the national scene and will no doubt feature in the 2026 Senedd campaign even if unsuccessful this time around. We plan to speak to each of the main parties in Wales, which we consider to be the ones standing in every constituency at the start of the campaign (though since then some have fallen away, as you are no doubt aware). So we will be sharing interviews with Conservative, Plaid Cymru, Green, Reform, Liberal Democrat, and Labour candidates as we try to uphold the values of public service broadcasting in the digital age. In this pod we speak with Oliver Lewis, spokesperson for Reform UK in Wales and candidate for the new Montgomeryshire & Glyndŵr Constituency. With the incumbent Conservative MP Craig Williams embroiled in a betting scandal mid-campaign, the sense is that this formerly safe Conservative seat might be ripe for change and Oliver is drawing on political history to position Reform as that change. You can find Oliver on X/Twitter here: https://twitter.com/policy_uk And Montgomeryshire Reform UK here: https://twitter.com/reformMaldwyn The candidates in Montgomeryshire & Glyndŵr are: England and Wales Green Party: Jeremy Brignell-Thorp  Reform UK:  Oliver Lewis Liberal Democrats: Glyn Preston Plaid Cymru: Elwyn Vaughan Conservative & Unionist Party: Craig Williams UK Labour: Steve Witherden As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

The UK general election is now in its final stages and while the union-wide result hardly seems in doubt, each constituency and candidate has a story to tell. Here at the Hiraeth Pod we are recording a series of short interviews with new candidates who are contesting constituencies across Wales. These are new faces on the national scene and will no doubt feature in the 2026 Senedd campaign even if unsuccessful this time around. We plan to speak to each of the main parties in Wales, which we consider to be the ones standing in every constituency at the start of the campaign (though since then some have fallen away, as you are no doubt aware). So we will be sharing interviews with Conservative, Plaid Cymru, Green, Reform, Liberal Democrat, and Labour candidates as we try to uphold the values of public service broadcasting in the digital age. In this pod we speak to Cllr Martyn Hogg, who is standing for the Greens in Clwyd North. A new constituency created out of the two Conservative strongholds of Clwyd West and Value of Clwyd that stretches toward the Clwydian Range to the north coast and includes the cathedral city of St Asaph, Denbigh, Rhyl and Colwyn. You can find the North West Greens on X/Twitter here: https://twitter.com/NWWGreenParty The candidates in Clwyd North are: Conservative and Unionist Party: Darren Millar MS England and Wales Green Party: Martyn James Hogg Liberal Democrats: David Wilkins Plaid Cymru: Paul Rowlinson Reform UK: Jamie Orange UK Labour: Gill German As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

The UK general election is now in its final stages and while the union-wide result hardly seems in doubt, each constituency and candidate has a story to tell. Here at the Hiraeth Pod we are recording a series of short interviews with new candidates who are contesting constituencies across Wales. These are new faces on the national scene and will no doubt feature in the 2026 Senedd campaign even if unsuccessful this time around. We plan to speak to each of the main parties in Wales, which we consider to be the ones standing in every constituency at the start of the campaign (though since then some have fallen away, as you are no doubt aware). So we will be sharing interviews with Conservative, Plaid Cymru, Green, Reform, Liberal Democrat, and Labour candidates as we try to uphold the values of public service broadcasting in the digital age. In this pod we speak with Cllr Llinos Medi who is standing for Plaid Cymru on Ynys Môn, the only constituency unchanged from the boundary review. As leader of Ynys Môn council, Llinos is fronting a local campaign in one of Wales's most independently-minded localities, along with the island's Senedd member, Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth. You can find Llinos here: https://twitter.com/llinos_medi The candidates in Ynys Môn are: Conservative and Unionist Party: Virginia Crosbie England and Wales Green Party: Martin Schwaller Liberal Democrats: Leena Sarah Farhat Plaid Cymru: Llinos Medi Reform UK: Emmett Jenner UK Labour: Ieuan Môn Williams The Official Monster Raving Loony Party: Sir Grumpus L Shorticus Libertarian Party: Sam Andrew Wood As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

The UK general election is now in its final stages and while the union-wide result hardly seems in doubt, each constituency and candidate has a story to tell. Here at the Hiraeth Pod we are recording a series of short interviews with new candidates who are contesting constituencies across Wales. These are new faces on the national scene and will no doubt feature in the 2026 Senedd campaign even if unsuccessful this time around. We plan to speak to each of the main parties in Wales, which we consider to be the ones standing in every constituency at the start of the campaign (though since then some have fallen away, as you are no doubt aware). So we will be sharing interviews with Conservative, Plaid Cymru, Green, Reform, Liberal Democrat, and Labour candidates as we try to uphold the values of public service broadcasting in the digital age. In this pod we speak with Cllr Aled Thomas who is standing for the Conservatives - specifically the Welsh Conservatives - in Ceredigion Preseli. Familiar to viewers/listeners of Welsh language current affairs coverage, Aled comes from an agricultural background and is bringing a distinctly Welsh flavour to his campaign. You can find Aled here: https://twitter.com/CllrAledT The candidates in Ceredigion Preseli are: Conservative and Unionist Party: Aled Thomas England and Wales Green Party: Tomos Barlow Liberal Democrats: Mark Williams Plaid Cymru: Ben Lake Reform UK: Karl Robert Pollard UK Labour: Jackie Jones Workers Party of Britain: Taghrid Al-Mawed As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

With all of the manifestos now published and it being written in black and white what the parties are pledging to deliver if elected to government in May, are electors excited about the prospects on offer? In short, not particularly. With Labour clearly on course for a massive victory in May, even their manifesto is surprisingly safe, with the emphasis on reducing electoral risk over inspiring the masses. So what should we think of the manifestos on offer? Is there any innovative thinking behind any of them? Should we expect them to address the cost of living difficulties facing citizens across the UK in 2024 or the local or global economic and environmental crises that risk wellbeing for us all? To discuss, we have a tremendous panel of guests: - Meg Thomas - Policy and Research Officer at Disability Wales - https://twitter.com/meganniathomas - Lowri Jackson - DeputyDirector for Communications for the Royal College of Physicians - https://twitter.com/LowriRhiannon - Libby Davies - Account Manager at Grayling, and former Senedd and Parliamentary Affairs Officer at the Farmers' Union of Wales - https://twitter.comLibbyDavies_ - Matthew Denney - is a barrister and Chartered tax advisor at Bevan Buckland LLP - https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-denney-aa074729/ As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

As listeners of the pod will know, during major events on Britain we like to fire up the Blanchsignal and invite New Hampshire's & Wales's very own Professor Danny Blanchflower to join us to chew over the latest news. And with the UK General Election now in full swing and the UK economy still largely swinging downwards, we have plenty to talk about. We discuss the party manifestos, the leadership of Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer, Wales Plc, steel-making in Port Talbot and The Former Guy who used to be the President of the United States. You can find Danny, once again, on Twitter/X here: https://twitter.com/D_Blanchflower And the tweet he mentions in the pod here: https://x.com/D_Blanchflower/status/1799934040142713199 As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

The UK General Election is full swing and promises are being made by politicians and parties right, left, and centre. However, what really matters in government is delivery, especially for those who need it most. So as we head into Carer's week, we take a look at the policy landscape and lived reality of carers in Wales with our special guests: Jo Phillips - https://twitter.com/SwanseaPCForgJo is a full time unpaid carer for her adult son. She is also the Vice Chair for the West Glamorgan carers partnership board and is one of the carers rep on the West Glamorgan Regional Partnership Board. She is also a volunteer trustee for Swansea parent carer forum.  Dr Catrin Mair Edwards - https://twitter.com/CarersTrustWalCatrin is Head of External Affairs at Carers Trust Wales, where she leads on policy, research, involvement and social impact, and is Chair of Mudiad Meithrin, the Welsh language early years and childcare provider. She's a ‘mam' to three and lives in Cardiff with her family.  Rob Simkins - https://twitter.com/CarersWalesRob is the Head of Policy and Public Affairs at Carers Wales, the national campaigning charity for unpaid carers. He is responsible for ensuring the voices of unpaid carers are heard at the highest level of policymaking in Wales and across the UK.

Another week, another bonus pod from us. All because this - to coin a phrase - is not normal. Welsh Labour, the democratic world's most successful election-winning machine, has relied on party discipline and a phenomenal campaign machine to win every general election for a century. Its ability to close ranks is legendary, especially during contested elections.So how does the Welsh Labour leader and First Minister of Wales end up losing a vote of no confidence in the Siambr, in the middle of a UK-wide general election? To explain this and the other highlights and lowlights of the first two weeks of the election period, the Hiraeth team are back behind the mics. The team:Matthew Hexter: https://twitter.com/hexter101Ceri Davies: https://twitter.com/cerithevikingRichard Martin: https://twitter.com/mimosacymru As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

In one of the most emotive podcasts we have recorded - its central subject has touched all our lives - we are taking a break from covering the politics and campaigning that is taking place all around us during the UK general election, to take time to listen to one of the of the most prominent health campaigns in Wales at the moment. Claire O'Shea is a familiar face for many in Welsh politics and third sector, having been an active campaigner for many causes, not least Welsh links with Africa in recent years. Since her late cancer diagnosis in 2022 she has turned her campaigning skills to the area of womens' health. Along with Tenovus Cancer Care she has launched Claire's Campaign to highlight some of the significant and systematic issues in the Welsh NHS, to push the Welsh Government into action, and - importantly - to make sure that womens' voices are heard in the process. We're lucky to be joined by Claire and Judi Rhys and Lowri Griffiths of Tenovus to explore the clinical and governance issues that are reducing the opportunities for positive outcomes for women with gynaecological cancer. Our guests: Claire O'Shea (Claire's Campaign): https://twitter.com/clairecampaign Judi Rhys: https://twitter.com/judirhys Lowri Griffith: https://twitter.com/lowriellisgriff And important links: The Senedd Inquiry into gynaecological cancers - https://business.senedd.wales/mgIssueHistoryHome.aspx?IId=40279 Tenovus launch of Claire's Campaign - https://www.tenovuscancercare.org.uk/news-and-views-listings/launching-claires-campaign Senedd Report: All things begin equal - https://braintumourresearch.org/en-us/blogs/latest-news/cross-party-group-publishes-cancer-inequalities-report Sue Vincent Jones: https://www.barryanddistrictnews.co.uk/news/24335430.former-b-d-editor-mrs-svj-blogger-tragically-dies/ As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: https://twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

50 years ago, the newly-formed Wales TUC under the stewardship of Dai Francis called for the creation of a Welsh Assembly with approximately 100 members based on multi-member constituencies. In a case of exquisite timing, this is exactly what our own parliament has recently resolved to create. What other issues has the TUC faced in this time, what areas of work is it currently looking at and what are the current challenges for working people that will be on the agenda as it gathers for its 50th anniversary conference this week? We speak with General Secretary Shavanah Taj and Policy Officer Nisreen Mansour to find out. We also took the opportunity to ask Shav and Nisreen about the recent controversy around the framing of Prif Weinidog Vaughan Gething's coverage in the media and whether it is indicative of racism, structural or individual. As two people with greater direct understanding of these than many in Wales, as well as the Labour Party itself, it was very illuminating to have their thoughts on what it quite a difficult subject to explore. Our guests: Shavanah Taj - https://x.com/shavtaj Nisreen Mansour - https://x.com/NisreenAnnaWales TUC Cymru - https://x.com/walestuc As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: https://twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

Now, it's not often that you can say that there has been too much news in Welsh politics, but this week there has been. Ongoing concerns about the financial donations to the First Minister's leadership campaign, leaks hinting at deletion of messages, his sudden sacking of a member of the Welsh Government, their replacement being appointed, the end of the Co-operation Agreement between Labour and Plaid Cymru and the extraordinary news that there is an active investigation into potential falsified expenses claims by a Senedd member. And most of that took place within 24 hours. So in this bonus episode, Hiraeth's own Matthew Hexter talks through the week's events and tries to put them into context, asking what they mean for Wales, our polity, our First Minister and the future of the Welsh Government. As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: https://twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

You will no doubt have heard that there was a nationwide election in Wales recently for us to elect our Police and Crime Commissioners for our four police forces. If you don't know who they are or what they do, you are not alone. Over 80% of registered voters declined to express a preference so, not for the first time, people are asking about the value, validity, and futures of these elected roles. We discuss the PCC elections, results, and future here as well as a round up of the English local elections, the latest about Senedd expansion and reform, and the travails of the Scottish Gov as John Swinney takes up the role of Scottish First Minister.To discuss, we are joined by:Lila Haines, independent researcher, author and Senedd Staffer in the first Assembly in 1999: https://twitter.com/LilaEilisCllr Joseph Carter, Welsh Liberal Democrat councillor for Pentwyn and Llanedeyrn in Cardiff: https://twitter.com/joseph_carterUK A reminder that you can buy Lila's excellent book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Radicals-Realists-Political-Parties-Ireland/dp/1860571514And listen to our conversation on the pod about it with her here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/62t9I2FursCq6gSzSXa5bz?si=MxzadEVKRYujOLdE3DttHw As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: https://twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

With opinion still divided about what the upsides of Brexit have been (if any), one thing is clearly the case, Wales and the other British countries are all having to review, rebuild, and re-imagine links with EU countries and the rest of the world. One EU network where Wales not only participated in greatly but also had a founding link to its creation - via Hywel Ceri Jones - was Erasmus+, the European Union's programme to support education, training, youth and sport in Europe. With the UK Government blocking Welsh and Scottish ongoing participation in Erasmus+, the Welsh Government decided it would create its own successor scheme, prioritising its own policy programme including the ongoing influence of the Future Generations Act. And so Taith ['journey'/'tour'] was created and we are delighted to be joined by former Welsh Government Education Minister, founder, and current chair of the programme Kirsty Williams, and Sharon Thomas and Lyndsey Thomas from GISDA (a charity supporting homeless and vulnerable young people in Gwynedd) and Reece, a Taith participant supported by GISDA, to discuss the scheme's merits, challenges, and future. Taith: https://www.taith.wales/ GISDA: https://twitter.com/Gisdacyf Kirsty Williams: https://twitter.com/Kirsty_Williams As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: https://twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

'Assembly' elections may well be a thing of the past in Wales, but they're front and centre of daily life in the UK's capital city this week. The London Assembly itself struggles to gain the same level of visibility as its Mayor so we're using the opportunity to shine a light on one of the biggest electoral events in the UK and find out more about the campaigns trying to oust Sadiq Khan. With its budget exceeding £20 billion, the mayoralty has powers over housing, transportation, public safety, and economic prosperity and the challenges in many of these areas will be familiar to Welsh listeners, not least the touch point of 20mph zones and other traffic management measures. Joining us in this episode are: Liberal Democrat Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon: https://twitter.com/CarolinePidgeonGreen Party of England & Wales Assembly Member Caroline Russell: https://twitter.com/CarolineRussellGareth Morgan, MD of Cavendish Consulting: https://twitter.com/MogsyMorg As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: https://twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

We clearly have issues in our construction industry in Wales. There are horror stories of all kinds across the country with regards to the quality, location, and design of new homes and other buildings. The regulatory landscape is mixed with enforcement regimes largely soft-touch and increasingly stretched local and national government budgets in Wales are rarely able to intervene - not to mention the powerful building lobby appear to have prevented any significant interventions by Welsh Government. Meanwhile, across the border, the UK Government (as the government of England) are grappling with the legacy of the Grenfell Tower disaster in relation to tower block safety and cladding in a way that campaigners in Wales wish the government here was matching. Compounding things, we have homeowners battling with the ongoing existence of leasehold - Wales and England being the only two countries in the Western world where it persists - and finding themselves exposed to unexpected liabilities in the context of rising, occasionally exploitatively so, ground rents. With Welsh Government still unable to act in relation to property law (unlike Scotland, NI, and indeed England), leaseholders are at the mercy once more of the Westminster parliament and its own exposure to hard lobbying by freeholders. And all of this is affecting a small country with some of the oldest and poorest-quality housing in Western Europe. So is the situation as bad as it seems and, if so, what can be done about it? We speak to two guests to find out: - Sam Rees is Head of Policy and Public Affairs for the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors in Wales: https://twitter.com/RICSWales - Mark Thomas is Chair of Celestia Housing Company Limited (Check) and spokesperson for the Welsh Cladiators campaign group: https://twitter.com/WelshCladiators Piece from friend of the pod Prof Calvin Jones ' Your Retrofit Alone is Not Enough': https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/retrofit-pointless-calvin-jones-vimhe As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: https://twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

In politics, as in all aspects of 21st century life in Wales, social media continues to play an ever-growing role, for good or ill. It has undeniable positive benefits such as tackling loneliness, allowing people and ideas to communicate and connect across the planet, and providing a platform for individuals and groups to platform issues or causes they are passionate or concerned about. However, it also comes with notable concerns about mental health, distribution of dis-and mis-information, and creation of avenues for toxicity and hate to reach right into people's homes. It has delivered many positives, transcending geographical boundaries, allowing people to communicate and connect with others worldwide. Empowering individuals by educating them, raising awareness, and providing a platform for voices and in many cases successful business developments.  With governments across the union currently trying to legislate to address some of the negative concerns about social media, we are joined by two experts to discuss the world of social media. Our guests:Jessica Davies is a TV and radio presenter and well-known campaigner and advocate for online safety: https://twitter.com/_JessicaDaviesProfessor Matthew Williams is Director of Cardiff University's HateLab, author of the Science of Hate, and a Professor of Criminology at the university: https://hatelab.net/Buy Matt's Book! : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Science-Hate-prejudice-becomes-hate/dp/0571357075 As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: https://twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

Wales has a rubbish problem - a big one. We have issues throughout the country with litter, fly-tipping, and pollution and social media is awash with stories of local environment being spoiled or ruined by wilful or careless decisions to make it worse for citizens and nature. So what can be done? Is legislation the answer, are voluntary groups the key resource to be harnessed? How can we maximise community wellbeing, physical and mental health, community wellbeing, and the aesthetics of our villages, towns, and cities? We speak to two experts in the field shortly after the national clean-up campaign Spring Clean Cymru and publication of the Keep Wales Tidy Street Clean Report for 2023-24. Jemma Bere is Keep Wales Tidy Policy Manager: https://twitter.com/KWT_Policy David King is co-founder of Cardiff Rivers Group and all around volunteer champion: https://twitter.com/DaveCRG As always, you can find the latest from us here: twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

With the Easter break coming to an end and a new parliamentary term about to start, it will be the first session for the new national government in Wales, with the new First Minister and his new cabinet beginning the daunting task of addressing a huge number of difficult policy and funding challenges, as well as ongoing expectation/threat (delete as appropriate!) of a union-wide general election being called at short notice. We recently hosted a live Twitter/X Space with a fantastic mix of policy and politics guests to discuss not only the election of Vaughan Gething as Welsh Labour leader, but also his new cabinet, and some of the big portfolio challenges ahead of them - specifically health, education, and agriculture. Here we present our event in edited form, with our guests: -Sarah Murphy MS (Welsh Labour, Bridgend): @Sarah4Bridgend - Tom Hoyles (Wales & West of England Policy Officer, GMB Union): @thoyles - Terry Mackie (Educator and Author): @TerryMac51 - Lowri Jackson (Health Policy and Communications): @LowriRhiannon - Geraint Davies (Farmer, NRW & FWAG Wales): @Fedwarian And your hosts: Matthew Hexter: @Hexter101 Ceri Davies: @CeriTheViking As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: https://twitter.com/HiraethPod

Happy Easter to you all / Pasg Hapus i chi gyd. We are marking a bit of a milestone this week as we approach the fourth birthday of the podcast - our 200th episode. We've taken the chance to look back at our work over the last few years and realised that we've never really introduced ourselves, what we do, or why we do it. So for this big number pod, we thought we would share our thoughts about the politics, policy, and media landscape in Wales, why we think Hiraeth and platforms like it are essential, and why we emblazon our motto on all our merch: "An informed public makes better decisions and can hold their representatives to account” We're delighted to be joined by copywriter, content producer, and former BBC Senior Reporter Kate Rimmington in the chair. You can find us all here:Matthew Hexter: https://twitter.com/hexter101Ceri Davies: https://twitter.com/cerithevikingRichard Martin: https://twitter.com/mimosacymru And guest host Kate: https://kate-content.com/ As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: https://twitter.com/HiraethPod

While the election of new Labour leader has dominated the headlines, this last week has been a significant week for both outgoing and incoming First Ministers and indeed for all citizens of Wales as the UK Government's Covid Inquiry concluded its first Wales evidence sessions. We are joined by Welsh Affairs Editor at WalesOnline, eponymous author of the Will Hayward Newsletter, and 'serious journalist' Will Hayward. Not only was Will one of the journalists who most closely covered the national & union governments' approach to the pandemic but he also iiterally wrote the book on it in the form of 'Lockdown Wales'.We talk about the key points covered by the inquiry, the points a union-wide inquiry will be unlikely to cover at all, and what the testimony reveals about how the government acted in face of an unprecedented crisis. We also pick up in brief - ahead of our live Twitter/X Space event on 25th March - the Labour leadership contest and result. Will on Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/WillHayCardiffWill's Newsletter: https://walesonline.substack.com/Lockdown Wales book: https://www.serenbooks.com/book/lockdown-wales-how-covid-19-tested-wales/A link to our live Twitter/X Space on Labour's new leadership on 25 March at 20.00: https://x.com/HiraethPod/status/1769297107909820495?s=20 As always, you can find the latest from us here: twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

All Welsh politics watchers will have seen and heard much from the Labour Party's two leadership candidates and their teams in the race to succeed Mark Drakeford as leader and First Minister. So here at Hiraeth this week, we're taking a look at the race through the eyes of other parties in Wales. Our all-female panel to comment on this all-male election features guest host Sarah Rees, leader of the Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds MS, and former Plaid Cymru MS Bethan Sayed. We discuss the race between Jeremy Miles and Vaughan Gething, their manifestos, the perception of the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates and the likely effect on future government in the Senedd. Our guests: Jane Dodds MS: https://twitter.com/DoddsJane Bethan Sayed: https://twitter.com/bethanmsayed As always, you can find the latest from us here: twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

This week we speak with Carmen Ria Smith - or should that be Baroness Smith of Llanfaes, the United Kingdom's youngest ever appointment to the House of Lords? Carmen is a former Chief of Staff for Plaid Cymru and was lead female nominee in the latest selection process for Plaid Cymru nominations, which has seen her nominated by the party to the union parliament's second chamber. We speak with Carmen about her political history and ambitions for representing Wales in an institution she, herself, opposes. You can find Carmen on Twitter/X here: https://twitter.com/CarmenRiaSmith And you can read more about her appointment here: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/feb/16/carmen-smith-house-of-lords-plaid-cymru-change-wales As always, you can find the latest from us here: twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

After the report of Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales restated the case for devolution of justice and policing to Wales, as in Scotland and Northern Ireland (indeed, arguably England, too), it has since become part of the discourse in the Welsh Labour leadership contest. It has also revealed tensions between the UK and Welsh Labour parties as both the Shadow Secretary of State for Wales Jo Stevens and even the Deputy Leader of Welsh Labour Carolyn Harris have publicly expressed opposition to further devolution of justice and policing, while both Welsh Labour leadership candidates Vaughan Gething and Jeremy Miles have restated their commitment to the full devolution of justice and policing, if elected and leading the future Welsh Government. Why have proponents been persuaded so convincingly to pursue the creation of a Welsh justice system and legal jurisdiction and why are opponents so unwilling to contemplate it? Why did former Prime Minister Gordon Brown recommend piecemeal devolution of youth justice and probation only? We go deep into the arguments with our guests: Professor Emyr Lewis - https://twitter.com/EmyrLewis4 Head of the Department of Law and Criminology, Aberystwyth University Dr Kathy Hampson - https://twitter.com/DrKathyHampson Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Aberystwyth University The Thomas Commission Report, 'Justice for Wales, for the People of Wales': https://www.gov.wales/commission-justice-wales-report?_ga=2.14919669.274951169.1708250131-1462820122.1708250131 Emyr's blog about the Rwanda Bill: https://blogs.cardiff.ac.uk/thinking-wales/location-of-aberystwyth-on-the-moon-bill/ Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales: https://www.useyourvoice.wales/final-report Gordon Brown's Report for UK Labour: https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Commission-on-the-UKs-Future.pdf As always, you can find the latest from us here: https://twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

Completing our mini-series looking at the cases for and against the development of new nuclear power generation facilities in Wales, we are joined in this podcast by Mabon ap Gwynfor, Member of the Senedd for Dwyfor Meirionnydd and author of new book 'Going Nuclear'. Mabon is a Plaid Cymru MS for a constituency that has a history of nuclear power, with the legendary Trawsfynydd site in its footprint, not a huge distance away from Wales's other legacy nuclear site in Wylfa, represented in the Senedd by Mabon's party leader Rhun ap Iorwerth. In researching nuclear power at length after being extensively lobbied on the subject, Mabon has come firmly to the conclusion that on all levels new nuclear developments are unnecessary, unjust, and a huge pollution risk for current and future generations. In this podcast he argues passionately against the introduction of new nuclear power generators in Wales. You can buy Mabon's book here: https://goingnuclear.net/en/home/ And find him on X/Twitter here: https://twitter.com/mabonapgwynfor You can still find all the most up-to-date information from the Hiraeth team here: https://twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/hiraethpod