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...
Dec 31, 2024•55 min
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...
Dec 28, 2024•55 min
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 refer...
Dec 22, 2024•50 min
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...
Dec 13, 2024•53 min
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 Fitzpatri...
Dec 08, 2024•49 min
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 l...
Dec 02, 2024•38 min
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 educ...
Nov 23, 2024•49 min
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 socia...
Nov 16, 2024•57 min
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. T...
Nov 10, 2024•52 min
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 histo...
Nov 03, 2024•47 min
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 whi...
Oct 28, 2024•1 hr 17 min
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 Wale...
Oct 12, 2024•49 min
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 ey...
Oct 04, 2024•51 min
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 a...
Sep 27, 2024•46 min
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 'Wal...
Sep 12, 2024•58 min
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 curre...
Sep 02, 2024•16 min
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 ...
Aug 15, 2024•40 min
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 ...
Aug 09, 2024•44 min
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...
Aug 01, 2024•48 min
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 th...
Jul 28, 2024•46 min
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' / 'regi...
Jul 20, 2024•58 min
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...
Jul 16, 2024•17 min
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 rel...
Jul 11, 2024•59 min
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 stronge...
Jul 07, 2024•1 hr 7 min
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 ...
Jul 03, 2024•51 min
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 cons...
Jun 30, 2024•25 min
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 cons...
Jun 29, 2024•15 min
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 cons...
Jun 28, 2024•21 min
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 cons...
Jun 28, 2024•23 min
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 cons...
Jun 26, 2024•18 min
