Spring 2011
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Editorial
We need some courage and a bit of flair
Opinion
Take your new partners for the dance of death
Dafydd Glyn Jones responds to Education Minister Leighton Andrews’ injunction to Welsh universities to ‘adapt or die’
Outlook: After the referendum
‘This is nothing to do with nationalism is it?’
Alun Davies
Welsh political game changer
Jonathan Edwards
Taking control of our own destiny
Jenny Randerson
A new voice for Wales
David Melding
Wales’ Rail Connectivity
Running our own railroad
Stuart Cole argues that Network Rail’s devolution of its Welsh operation should be good news for electrification
Wales’ rail future
John Rogers suggests the Welsh Government should re-nationalise Welsh railways
Swansea’s nine lines
Mike Smith puts the case for connecting the Amman Valley with Swansea and Mumbles to create a light rail transit system for Wales’ second city
The easiest, and fastest route
Mike Joseph advocates a revival for Wales’s first high speed line
Economy – with PricewaterhouseCoopers
Wales needs long-term investment in education and infrastructure
Gerald Holtham says the achieve it the Welsh Government will have to deploy joined-up thinking to set new cross-departmental priorities
Robust response to the recession from Welsh business
Rob Lewis provides a snapshot of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Welsh Economic Barometer unveiled at the IWA’s National Economy conference in March
Accelerated Development Zones could plug Welsh funding gap
Gronw Percy advocates a new model to finance capital projects
Despite the cuts some of us are doing well
James Foreman-Peck explores Welsh pay differentials between the public and private sectors
Politics
Nation takes another historic step
Richard Wyn Jones argues that the 2011 referendum has given an unforeseen impetus to constitutional change
End of the Imperial romance
Peter Stead examines an account of how the British constitution has clambered out of the footnotes and up the agenda
Reorganisation can damage front-line services and increase costs
Rhys Andrews wonders whether a reduction of Welsh local authorities will achieve the desired results
No silver bullet in service delivery
Jon House questions whether outsourcing can save money
Education
Targets must be accompanied with freedom in our schools
Stevie Upton reports on the IWA’s study of pupil attainment at Key Stage
Bro Teifi’s all-through school would raise standards
Cynog Dafis outlines the case for educating the entire 3 to 19 age range on single sites in rural Wales
Akan to Zulu
Lowri Angell-Jones describes a school in the Welsh capital which is home to 52 languages
Health
The serpent inside England’s health reform
Marcus Longley asks whether Wales learn from Andrew Lansley’s radical experiment with the NHS
Mapping world class health care
Ceri Phillips and Mansel Aylward summarise the work of the Bevan Commission
Social Policy
Social enterprise and the smart Welsh state
Kevin Morgan and Adam Price outline ways the next Welsh Government could revolutionise the delivery of key public services
Challenges facing foster carers
Judy Hutchings and Tracey Bywater report on a new initiative to help looked after children in Wales
Environment
Carbon dioxide is not the only major problem
Gareth Wyn Jones explains why we urgently need to reduce the greenhouse gases produced in our countryside
Cutting Back on Hypermobility
James Shorten and Roger Levett say we should pay more attention to the low carbon transition challenge facing rural Wales
Learning by design
Haf Roberts examines the design principles behind Rogiet’s new primary school in Monmouthshire
Culture
Fishlock’s File
Bringing Ryan and Ronnie back to life
Trevor Fishlock talks to Hywel Gwynfryn
The intimate circle of a writer’s life
Katie Gramich takes a look at the unknown, glamorous Kate Roberts
When he wore a cloth of gold
Rhian Davies chronicles the mid 19th Century adventures of Orlando Parry and Franz Liszt
Reviews
How to be a Welshman
Daniel G. Williams
A poet of loud desperation
Peter Read
L.G. as viewed through the prism of high Westminster politics
J. Graham Jones
A penchant for bad news
John Osmond
Last Word
A few strong men would help
Peter Stead