Wales
Letters: AI isn’t the only threat to middle-class jobs
Heart of darkness Sir: It would be difficult to describe my disgust at the news that Australia has just received…
Inside the Welsh village where English speakers aren’t welcome
On a Saturday morning, no life stirs. The village café is closed and the ancient church of St Beuno’s is…
The Senedd, like Holyrood, has failed its people
There are disturbing parallels between the meltdown of the Labour administration in Wales and the recent chaos of the SNP…
Who decides which politicians are liars?
This week the Welsh parliament has been debating a law that would ban politicians from lying. Assuming it ends up…
Wales is facing a US-style opioid crisis
In Europe at the end of the Noughties, the problem drug was krokodil. The semi-synthetic, necrosis-causing alternative to heroin was…
She’s leaving home: Breakdown, by Cathy Sweeney, reviewed
One ordinary November day in Dublin, without forethought or planning, a woman walks out on her husband and two teenage children and never comes back
Dark days in Wales: Of Talons and Teeth, by Niall Griffiths, reviewed
At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution a mountain is being hollowed out for mining, and everyone is covered in mud or worse in this memorable and highly original novel
Escape into the wild: Run to the Western Shore, by Tim Pears, reviewed
A chieftain’s daughter flees an arranged marriage with the Roman governor of Britain, enlisting the help of slave and risking both their lives
Magic tricks
Five short stories with male narrators – including a seahorse and a vampire – revolve around masculinity’s contradictory demands and the wish to belong
How Rishi Sunak should react to the Ely riot
‘There’s a lot of societal issues in Ely,’ said an anonymous caller to BBC Radio Wales the morning after the…
Jan Morris’s ‘national treasure’ status is misleading
Almost two years after the death of Jan Morris, the jaunty travel writer and pioneer of modern gender transition, her…
Seize the moment: Undercurrent, by Barney Norris, reviewed
Barney Norris’s third novel opens with a wedding in April. The couple tying the knot don’t matter; it’s the occasion…
Muddled, tricksy and cheap: The Corn is Green at the Lyttelton Theatre reviewed
The Corn is Green by Emlyn Williams is a sociology essay written in 1938 about a prickly tyrant, Miss Moffat,…
Covid is rising again. Should we worry?
For some time now, Covid has been rising in Scotland – there are now more Scots in hospital with Covid…
Letters: How the UK should respond to Russia
Soft options Sir: In relation to strengthening the impact of the Russian sanctions package (‘Tsar Vladimir’, 26 February), please may…
I’m stuck in Surrey, get me outta here!
After most of Islington moved to Wales, it was foolish of me to think about following. But the need to…
Parallel lives: Violets, by Alex Hyde, reviewed
When Violet wakes up in Birmingham Women’s Hospital at the start of Alex Hyde’s debut novel her first thought is…
Jan Morris’s last book is a vade mecum to treasure
Jan Morris, in all her incarnations, was always able to evoke a place and a moment like no other. As…
Interview: Rowan Williams on Wales, independence and the King Lear of Westminster
Rowan Williams is no stranger to politics. As Archbishop of Canterbury he was as comfortable criticising Tony Blair over Iraq…
The small Welsh village taking on the tree planting industry
The village of Cwrt y Cadno sits in a particularly pretty and unspoiled valley in Carmarthenshire, south west Wales. The…
You need to be a millionaire to move to Wales
We began searching for the farm of our dreams in Wales as we planned our escape from Surrey. The problem…
Devolution doesn't work in a crisis
One of the worst features of devolution is the tendency of devocrats to insist on doing their own thing in…
The true cost of my week in Wales
Rather miraculously, my daughter managed to leave the country last week to go on holiday with a group of friends.…
It’s time to upgrade the office of the Welsh first minister
Some of the most revealing detail from newly released 1997 government files relate to Welsh constitutional affairs. The Home Office…
