Wales (Cymru)

A Welsh drill artist has opened up about the complexities of modern relationships and the difficulty for men to open as part of a campaign aimed at ending violence against women and girls.

Talking to presenter Luke Davies, Eretoda Ogunbanwo – who goes by the stage name Sage Todz – discusses modern relationships and perceptions of masculinity in 21st century Wales, saying he wants to see conversations on these topics become the norm.

Sound is an award-winning campaign from the Welsh Government that was launched in 2023 as a community led platform encouraging young men to take personal and collective responsibility in ending violence against women and girls.

Plaid Cymru has called for the First Minister to make an urgent statement ‘on the floor of the Senedd’ after further revelations about the £200k donation he received to support his Welsh Labour leadership campaign.

Entries on the Electoral Commission’s register of political donations show that Dauson Environmental Group, based in Mr Gething’s constituency, donated £100k to his campaign on December 18 2023 and a further £100k on January 11 2024. Both donations were registered with the Commission on February 7 2024.

The sum donated by Dauson Environmental Group Ltd is thought to be far in excess of any previous donations to Welsh politicians.

My sister received the joyous news that her son has been accepted at a Welsh language primary school in Monmouthshire this week.

Since April of last year, he’s attended the nursery there and his progression in English and Welsh, not to mention his social skills and social life, has come on leaps and bounds in a way that simply wouldn’t have been the case had he waited until past his fourth birthday.

The deep joy in hearing him trot out “amser snack” or “pencampwriaeth” and “bore da” is immeasurable.

Tiny seeds taking root. A broken inheritance mended. Atonement.

Or so it should be.

Some roads in Wales will revert to 30mph following backlash at the Welsh government's £34m default 20mph policy.

Transport minister Ken Skates said the changes will address the concerns that "a lot of people" have raised "on a consistent basis".

"We've put our hands up to say the guidance has to be corrected," he said.

Swansea council leader Rob Stewart welcomed the change, but said the government must help foot the bill to swap signage.

Mr Skates highlighted the almost half a million signatures to a Senedd petition opposing the policy, brought in under former first minister Mark Drakeford and his transport minister Lee Waters.

"I have friends and family who have signed the petition," he said.

A target to reach a million Welsh speakers by 2050 is “almost impossible” to hit due to real-terms budget cuts, with demand for courses outstripping capacity, a committee heard.

Dona Lewis, chief executive of the National Centre for Learning Welsh, gave evidence to the Senedd’s culture committee as part of a one-day inquiry into post-16 Welsh provision.

Ms Lewis warned that the “massive” growth the National Centre for Learning Welsh had hoped to achieve this year will no longer be possible.

She told the committee there are waiting lists for people who want to learn Welsh, “so the demand is higher than what we can reach at the moment”.

Ms Lewis said: “Our work has grown since the centre was established back in 2016 and funding has grown with that. But, to reach more people, clearly, more funding is needed.”

The public needs to lose weight to help tackle growing NHS waiting lists, the Welsh health minister has said.

Eluned Morgan, the cabinet secretary for health and social services in Wales’ Labour-run devolved Government, has warned the health system could become “unsustainable” if people do not lead healthier lives and reduce the burden on the NHS.

Ms Morgan particularly highlighted the impact that obesity and diabetes can have on the service.

It comes as the latest NHS statistics for Wales show the number of individual patients waiting for treatment hit 591,600 in February, the highest on record and an increase of 5,100 from December.

However, Ms Morgan has insisted that some areas of the waiting lists are beginning to improve.

On Wednesday 17 April, a multidisciplinary team of healthcare and economics experts will discuss the seminal report The Rational Policy Maker’s Guide to the NHS with members of the Senedd, at an event sponsored by Jenny Rathbone MS. The award-winning Welsh actor Owen Teale (best known for playing Ser Alliser Thorne in Game of Thrones) will perform an excerpt from Nye Bevan’s In Place of Fear, reminding us what fearless, visionary policy-making looks like.

The NHS was a central part of the UK’s post-war social contract when it was founded. Now it’s struggling to perform and there are increasing calls from the right for so-called ‘reform’, which is often a euphemism for privatisation and introduction of insurance-based funding. This guide explains how there can be no healthy economy without a well-funded NHS: if the NHS is allowed to fail, so too will the economy. We hope to influence the Welsh government to prioritise NHS funding.

A few years ago, I proposed a local clean energy solution for Cathays Park in Cardiff and its fabulous civic buildings, including the National Museum of Wales. The premise being to invest in onsite energy generation to reduce carbon emissions and air pollution – and lower running costs. The core of the project would be a resilient fuel cell (see Welsh heritage twist later) that generated power and heat, or cooling in summer.

A building would, in effect, become a power station. It could supply itself throughout the year and sell excess electricity to other buildings nearby via a private wire. Yet now our National Museum faces the astonishing threat of closure, due in part to high energy costs. A fuel cell installation would not only slash those, but the Museum could sell electricity to the large Welsh Government offices across the Park.

Our Food 1200 and the Future Generations Commissioner are to cohost a Senedd discussion on Tuesday 16 April on the topic of food shocks. Is Wales prepared to face an unstable global food system? Because it will. It already is.

This is the first in a series of national conversations on food security, which will bring together two key issues of our time: food poverty and the future of our farming. Further conversations about food shocks and preparedness will involve local governments, farmers, food poverty campaigners, food partnerships, and others.

Vaughan Gething has been criticised for defending funding cuts that could lead to the closure of the National Museum in Cardiff and the loss of at least 90 jobs.

Mr Gething made the comments at his first press conference since becoming First Minister, which was held at Coleg Gwent’s campus in Ebbw Vale on Monday.

During questioning from journalists, Mr Gething was asked about comments by Jane Richardson, the chief executive of Museum Wales, who warned that the National Museum Cardiff could close and at least 90 jobs could be lost following cuts.

He replied: “I think this neatly highlights when we’re talking about priorities and the reality of our budgets after more than a decade of austerity.

“When we set out in our budget our priorities, that we’d prioritise health and social care, and local government, that meant there were much more difficult choices to make across the range of the government.”

The first minister has defended cuts to Wales' national museum.

At a press conference in Ebbw Vale on Monday, Vaughan Gething offered no immediate help for Museum Wales, which has warned it may shut its prestigious Cardiff site.

Mr Gething said it was a consequence of making the NHS a priority after a decade of austerity. He said the Welsh government faced "difficult choices".

The museum said at the weekend it is axing 90 jobs.

In a bid to prop up the NHS and Transport for Wales the Welsh government has made cuts to most other areas of its budget.

I guess, because I’ve been asked to pen this, I should now consider myself to be an actual, proper writer, but between you and me, I don’t.

Three reasons why I find embracing that label problematic:

I possess a hefty inferiority complex – so hefty in fact, it has its own bedroom.
I have not one scrap of confidence in my writing ability.
Using that word, when referring to myself, is just plain embarrassing.

However, since I have a book launching next week, I’m trying to grab that epithet and run with it. So, with that in mind, here’s my take on being a writer in Wales…

…which starts, and ends, with Wales itself – its landscape, culture, and people.

Without those elements, there would be no book, no features, no writing, no anything. In fact, though you might think I’m being a tad dramatic, I think it’s fair to say that Wales has saved me.

See, before I started my ridiculous ‘DIY Dangerous Living Regime’, I was stagnating. After spinal surgery in 2016 left me with a snarling spine, and what my surgeon calls a ‘grotesque gait’ (Rude!), I was retired on disability grounds from my teaching job in Gloucestershire and had to move back home to Swansea.

The Craig yr Hesg quarry, situated in the Taff Valley near Pontypridd, is touted by Heidelberg Materials as “a nationally important source of premium quality blue pennant sandstone for road surfacing”. However, this description reflects a narrow, cold, and detached viewpoint.

The company’s description reduces Craig yr Hesg to nothing more than a measurable asset for exploitation. It’s quantified in tonnes, tracked for its book value, and treated as a mere commodity to be extracted, packaged, and sold to the highest bidder. But it’s so much more than that for those who care to look.

The Danish physicist Niels Bohr is said to have observed that making predictions is difficult, especially about the future. What we can do is get started with scenario planning, based in systems thinking and grounded in reality.

Take some of today’s trends, extrapolate their outcomes for an independent Wales, then consider what strategic decisions are appropriate. This needs to be an interdisciplinary world-building exercise, creating a convincing narrative to be explored in depth.

The more things change, the more they stay the same – an old adage which has taken on a new salience in the wake of the recent Labour leadership election in Wales.

Vaughan Gething’s victory may herald a new era in the history of his party, but the shadow of the former Economy Minister and former Health Minister’s less than inspiring record looms large.

Next month marks twenty five years of devolved government in Wales. A quarter of a century dominated by Labour rule and defined by a failure to realise the full potential of the autonomy granted to us over health, education, the economy, transport, the environment and more.

Autonomy which is severely curtailed by Westminster’s stubborn objection to more devolution for Wales, but nonetheless, Labour’s half-hearted half-measures approach to addressing some of the unique challenges facing our nation certainly hasn’t helped.

The spirit of 1999 was one of ambition and expectation – a chance to devise Welsh solutions to Welsh problems. An ageing population, an antiquated transport network, lower wages and higher rates of child poverty than many other parts of the UK formed the backdrop to the inception of an institution which dared politicians in the then-Assembly to do things differently and to do them better.

A controversial energy group’s ambition to build networks of wind farms and pylons across mid Wales has received a major boost with the regulator Ofgem announcing that it is minded to grant it an electricity distribution licence.

Green GEN Cymru, a subsidiary of Bute Energy, wants to feed electricity from its yet-to-be-approved-or-built wind farms into the UK-wide distribution grid. If granted a licence by Ofgem, it would also allow other electricity generators to use its distribution network.

Bute Energy and Green GEN Cymru have both faced opposition to their plans from residents who say erecting wind turbines and pylons would ruin the beauty of rural Wales and damage the tourism industry.

The Welsh Government favours onshore wind but would prefer projects to be driven by local community groups. It also prefers the burying of cables rather than the erection of pylons in sensitive landscapes.

Concerns are mounting within the Welsh broadcasting industry about a delay in appointing a new Chair of S4C and the fact that Wales no longer has a representative on the main BBC board.

April 11 at 7pm was supposed to be the deadline for applications for the S4C post – but about an hour before the deadline was reached, it was extended by a fortnight until April 25.

Meanwhile, Dame Elan Closs Stephens ceased to be Wales’ member of the BBC Board when her term came to an end in March. So far, there has been no sign of an announcement about her successor.

A Welsh broadcasting industry insider said: “There is no explanation, but I think that it is fair to surmise that they haven’t got any applicants that they consider to be suitable.

“Incidentally, the interim Chair Guto Bebb, [the former Tory MP for Aberconwy] has told BBC Radio Cymru that he would not be applying for the full-time position.

Transport for Wales (TfW) says it has had to make “tough decisions” on future timetables following a change in rail travel demands post-covid.

Following a comprehensive review of current rail demand and predicted future growth, TfW has developed a new long-term strategy.

The rail provider says it will better align with the new travel habits and requirements of customers, whilst becoming a “truly multimodal operator”.

As a result of the review some rail routes will see more services and longer trains with more seats, particularly during seasonal peaks.

Other routes will see slightly different calling patterns better targeted to current needs.

A motion calling for the Welsh Government to reverse the 20mph default speed limit and adopt a “targeted approach” instead will be debated in the Senedd next week.

The motion, brought forward by the Welsh Conservatives will also call for a review of the current strict criteria for new road building in Wales.

Under new Welsh Government rules, road projects must not increase carbon emissions, increase the number of cars on the road, lead to higher speeds and higher emissions, and must not negatively impact the environment.

In February 2023, following a year long review, all major road building projects in Wales were scrapped including the planned third Menai bridge.

The “groundbreaking” policy has been described as “world-leading and brave” by environmental campaigners.

Steelworkers have voted to strike in protest at planned job losses at Tata.

Unite said around 1,500 of its members based in Port Talbot and Llanwern in South Wales backed industrial action “decisively”.

The union is fighting Tata’s plans to shut down blast furnaces and replace them with more environmentally friendly electric arc furnaces.

Unite said it will be the first time in more than 40 years that Port Talbot steelworkers go on strike.

Unite said Tata has other choices after the union secured a commitment from Labour that it will invest £3 billion in UK steel, compared with the £500 million pledged by the current Government.

Plans to build a 28-storey student accommodation building in Cardiff city centre have been given the go-ahead.

The new tower will be built where Friary House in Greyfriars Road, formerly occupied by the nightclub Tiger Tiger, currently stands.

Some objectors to the plans questioned whether there was a need for more student accommodation in the city but council officials pointed out that demand has increased since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Cardiff Council’s planning committee voted unanimously in favour of approving the building, which will include commercial floorspace on the ground floor and a roof terrace on the 11th floor.

A fresh scandal was hinted at in my previous column. Instead we’ve had two, as Vaughan Gething settles into the hot seat in Wales’ top job.

Our new First Minister is no stranger to scandals, having been mired in several throughout his election campaign. By now we’re all aware of the controversial £200,000 donation Gething’s campaign received, and Unite the Union’s apparent vote stitch-up.

UK Government support for Port Talbot steelworks is significantly less than other European states are investing in green steel production, new European Commission figures show.

The UK Government has provided £500 million in state aid to Port Talbot owners Tata Steel as part of a plan which will see production decarbonised but at the expense of around 2,800 jobs.

When the deal was announced last September, Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch called it a “historic package of support”.

But the State Aid Scoreboard published on Tuesday by the Commission shows Germany and France have both spent more on greening their steel industries.

A senior barrister will lead an independent review into Wales' public services watchdog.

It follows the resignation of a former Public Services Ombudsman for Wales investigator, who faced accusations of political bias.

Sinead Cook allegedly made comments on social media including one that used offensive language about Conservatives.

The review's remit will include an examination of cases where Ms Cook and her team decided not to investigate.

The ombudsman's office investigates complaints made by the public about public bodies and councillors accused of breaking their code of conduct.

Its guiding principles include impartiality and independence.

A measles outbreak has been declared after two new cases were recorded in south-east Wales.

Public Health Wales said there had been four confirmed cases in total, all of whom were children "in the Gwent area".

The cases were linked after one of the four was in the children's emergency assessment unit at The Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran, Torfaen, on 21 March, the agency said.

The children were receiving appropriate care and contacts had been identified.

"Measles is a highly infectious disease and cases have been rising across the UK and Europe in recent months, so this development is not unexpected," Beverley Griggs, consultant in health protection for PHW said.