North by Northeast

Winter 2017 #59

Issue costs

£6.95 for a digital copy (pdf via email)

Contents

A report card: Wales – will do better

Kevin Gardiner offers a candid assessment of where Wales is at, and advice on how the nation might go forward

Fiction

Passing (It) On: Dai Smith

Zig-Ah Zig-Ah Rachel Trezise

The Difference between a Terrorist and a Hero Rhian Elizabeth

Ken Skates: people, place and politics

Rhea Stevens meets Ken Skates, Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure and finds a man rooted in formative experiences in his native north east Wales

Are we building a successful future?

Dr Philip Dixon provides a detailed assessment of progress on schools’ curriculum reform

How can change happen?

Gill Morgan argues that barriers to change in public services are bound up in the failure of policy makers to involve the front line staff charged with delivery

North east Wales Connections

North east Wales: Unfamiliar Complexities

Grahame Davies is proud to claim an overlooked, misunderstood identity

Future of the North

Llyr Gruffydd argues that investment in north-east Wales is vital; Darren Millar emphasises the importance of infrastructure, and calls for greater devolution to the region

Laying down the drawbridge

Hannah Blythyn welcomes the opportunities of cross- border collaboration and innovation provided by a Mersey Dee Alliance

The Hussey Report: Solving Wales’ most urgent and intractable policy conundrum

Prof Marcus Longley meets Dr Ruth Hussey between her team’s interim and final reports on Health and Social Care in Wales

Brexit and agriculture: What next for Welsh farming?

Dr Nicholas Fenwick argues that agricultural economic modelling highlights the need for a sensible Brexit timescale

Faith in Focus: A glimpse of the future?

Jim Stewart considers the rich tapestry of stories that have brought Christians from more than one hundred countries to now largely secular Wales

The robots are coming…

Professor Julie Lydon considers how Wales can seize the opportunity to increase productivity and sustain our communities

Earning Potential: What Welsh graduates can expect

Dafydd Trystan and Hugh Jones provide an analysis of new data linking university courses to median graduate salaries

R17 Special

‘We don’t have to catastrophise’

Ahead of the opening of P.A.R.A.D.E., a reimagining of the 1917 ballet that birthed a cultural revolution, Dylan Moore meets Marc Rees and Caroline Finn

How Red Was My Valley?

Dr Ben Curtis gives an assessment of the historical significance of the Communist Party within the south Wales coalfield

Who cares for young carers?

Vanessa Webb calls for a joined up approach

Reviews

Why Wales Never Was: the Failure of Welsh Nationalism
Simon Brooks

Rebel Sun
Sophie McKeand

Women who blow on knots
Ece Temelkuran

Quest and Odyssey: Stories of journeys from around Europe from the Aarhus 39 Ed
Daniel Hahn

Hinterland: Ceredigion Landscapes
David Wilson, Ed Talfan and Ed Thomas

Into the wind: the life of Carwyn James
Alun Gibbard

Last Word

Mike Jenkins