Reinvention of Welsh canals

Winter 2012

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Editorial

An Assembly fit for purpose

 

Essay

Symbol of the Welsh dream

Mererid Hopwood unpacks what we can learn about ourselves from our national anthem

 

Outlook

S4C at 30

  • T. James Jones
  • Euryn Ogwen Williams
  • Chris Grace
  • Mari Beynon Owen
  • Ian Jones

 

Changing Union

Radical tax varying powers recommended for Wales

John Osmond examines the Silk Commission’s first report advocating more financial autonomy for the Welsh Government

Challenge facing unionist parties in Scotland

Jeremy Purvis outlines the argument for Devo Plus

Why we need devolution in reverse

Adam Price detects a stirring of the tectonic plates that underpin Europe’s political map

 

Economy

New Severn Barrage design would exploit two-way tides

Peter Hain makes the case for the biggest Welsh investment project in more that a generation

Wales beyond the wires

Mike Joseph argues that Switzerland offers a template to follow in the provision of public transport across the whole country

A new catalyst for the Valleys

Sebastian Barrett believes the Circuit of Wales will be a game changer

Renewables versus nuclear

Carl Clowes considers the implications for north Wales of Hitachi acquiring Wylfa

Wind power’s economic impact

Mark Fleming assesses the community spin-offs that can accompany wind farm developments

 

Politics & Policy

False prospectus underpins Natural Resources Wales

Jon Owen Jones identifies groupthink policy making behind the creation of Wales’s biggest quango

Rise of the Twitter generation

Kevin Brennan examines the political impact of the internet revolution

Public intellectual of world history 

Dai Smith looks back at the life of Eric Hobsbawm, consumate myth-buster and uncomfortable truth-teller

Education trumps coal in 21st Century Wales

Dave Egan distils the lessons we can still learn from the authors of The Miner’s Next Step

Tesco’s law

Sarah Wyburn asks whether new entrants on the high street will give a distinctive edge to the Welsh legal system

 

Education

Welsh Schools should focus on skills rather than knowledge

Dave Reynolds examines the challenges facing an education system trapped in a time warp of a world free from competition

We need to make new Welsh-speaking communities

Steve Morris reports on research into creating new spaces for the language in anglicised areas of Wales

 

Science

The statins scandal

Stephanie Matthews says we are at risk of using mass medication to solve a lifestyle issue

Iodine deficiency should be on Welsh Government’s radar

John Lazarus warns of a hidden dietary threat to the development of our children

 

Health

Transparency and scrutiny vital for future of NHS

Marcus Longley asks whether financial pressures will drive down quality of care in our hospitals

Plugging the gap between health and social care 

Helen Birtwhistle says NHS and local authorities must work together to provide a seamless service

 

Social Policy

Still lost in care

Alison Taylor describes her long struggle to bring the north Wales child abuse scandal to public attention

Level playing field needed for the disadvantaged

Nick Morris says that most of all deafblind people need early intervention support

 

Environment

The Arctic sea ice collapse

Gareth Wyn Jones explains why the loss of cover across the North Pole is doing much more than merely bringing us bad summer weather

 

Heritage

Beyond the towpath

Mark Lang celebrates the contribution canals are making to 21st Century Wales

 

Culture

Fishlock’s File: We’re more Kyber than the Kyber

Trevor Fishlock observes how Wales shares the magic of the movies with the stars

Swans fly high

Peter Stead examines a 100-year sporting story of tragedy mixed with farce that has ended in triumph for Swansea City

 

Reviews

Welsh questions that inform global understanding

Owen Dudley Edwards

Epicentre capital for the stag and hen

Peter Finch

Last of the analogue alternative poets

Ifor Thomas

When everything has a price, less has value

Rhys David

 

Last Word

Wales turns corner into zero growth politics

Peter Stead