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 o…

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 o…

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 surr…

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 conferen…

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 ele…

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 i…

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 P…

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 prov…

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…

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 …

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 i…

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…

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 bru…

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 recen…

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 brough…

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 h…

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

With all of the manifestos now published and it being written in black and white what the parties are pledging to deliver if elected to government in May, are electors excited about the prospects on offer? In short, not particularly. With Labour clearly on course for a massive victory in May, even their manifesto is surprisingly safe, with the emph…

As listeners of the pod will know, during major events on Britain we like to fire up the Blanchsignal and invite New Hampshire's & Wales's very own Professor Danny Blanchflower to join us to chew over the latest news.And with the UK General Election now in full swing and the UK economy still largely swinging downwards, we have plenty to talk about.…

The UK General Election is full swing and promises are being made by politicians and parties right, left, and centre. However, what really matters in government is delivery, especially for those who need it most. So as we head into Carer's week, we take a look at the policy landscape and lived reality of carers in Wales with our special guests:Jo P…

Another week, another bonus pod from us. All because this - to coin a phrase - is not normal. Welsh Labour, the democratic world's most successful election-winning machine, has relied on party discipline and a phenomenal campaign machine to win every general election for a century. Its ability to close ranks is legendary, especially during conteste…

In one of the most emotive podcasts we have recorded - its central subject has touched all our lives - we are taking a break from covering the politics and campaigning that is taking place all around us during the UK general election, to take time to listen to one of the of the most prominent health campaigns in Wales at the moment.Claire O'Shea is…

50 years ago, the newly-formed Wales TUC under the stewardship of Dai Francis called for the creation of a Welsh Assembly with approximately 100 members based on multi-member constituencies. In a case of exquisite timing, this is exactly what our own parliament has recently resolved to create. What other issues has the TUC faced in this time, what …

Now, it's not often that you can say that there has been too much news in Welsh politics, but this week there has been.Ongoing concerns about the financial donations to the First Minister's leadership campaign, leaks hinting at deletion of messages, his sudden sacking of a member of the Welsh Government, their replacement being appointed, the end o…

You will no doubt have heard that there was a nationwide election in Wales recently for us to elect our Police and Crime Commissioners for our four police forces. If you don't know who they are or what they do, you are not alone. Over 80% of registered voters declined to express a preference so, not for the first time, people are asking about the v…

With opinion still divided about what the upsides of Brexit have been (if any), one thing is clearly the case, Wales and the other British countries are all having to review, rebuild, and re-imagine links with EU countries and the rest of the world.One EU network where Wales not only participated in greatly but also had a founding link to its creat…

'Assembly' elections may well be a thing of the past in Wales, but they're front and centre of daily life in the UK's capital city this week. The London Assembly itself struggles to gain the same level of visibility as its Mayor so we're using the opportunity to shine a light on one of the biggest electoral events in the UK and find out more about …

We clearly have issues in our construction industry in Wales. There are horror stories of all kinds across the country with regards to the quality, location, and design of new homes and other buildings. The regulatory landscape is mixed with enforcement regimes largely soft-touch and increasingly stretched local and national government budgets in W…

In politics, as in all aspects of 21st century life in Wales, social media continues to play an ever-growing role, for good or ill.It has undeniable positive benefits such as tackling loneliness, allowing people and ideas to communicate and connect across the planet, and providing a platform for individuals and groups to platform issues or causes t…

Wales has a rubbish problem - a big one. We have issues throughout the country with litter, fly-tipping, and pollution and social media is awash with stories of local environment being spoiled or ruined by wilful or careless decisions to make it worse for citizens and nature.So what can be done? Is legislation the answer, are voluntary groups the k…

With the Easter break coming to an end and a new parliamentary term about to start, it will be the first session for the new national government in Wales, with the new First Minister and his new cabinet beginning the daunting task of addressing a huge number of difficult policy and funding challenges, as well as ongoing expectation/threat (delete a…

Happy Easter to you all / Pasg Hapus i chi gyd. We are marking a bit of a milestone this week as we approach the fourth birthday of the podcast - our 200th episode.We've taken the chance to look back at our work over the last few years and realised that we've never really introduced ourselves, what we do, or why we do it. So for this big number pod…

While the election of new Labour leader has dominated the headlines, this last week has been a significant week for both outgoing and incoming First Ministers and indeed for all citizens of Wales as the UK Government's Covid Inquiry concluded its first Wales evidence sessions. We are joined by Welsh Affairs Editor at WalesOnline, eponymous author o…

All Welsh politics watchers will have seen and heard much from the Labour Party's two leadership candidates and their teams in the race to succeed Mark Drakeford as leader and First Minister. So here at Hiraeth this week, we're taking a look at the race through the eyes of other parties in Wales.Our all-female panel to comment on this all-male elec…

This week we speak with Carmen Ria Smith - or should that be Baroness Smith of Llanfaes, the United Kingdom's youngest ever appointment to the House of Lords?Carmen is a former Chief of Staff for Plaid Cymru and was lead female nominee in the latest selection process for Plaid Cymru nominations, which has seen her nominated by the party to the unio…

After the report of Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales restated the case for devolution of justice and policing to Wales, as in Scotland and Northern Ireland (indeed, arguably England, too), it has since become part of the discourse in the Welsh Labour leadership contest. It has also revealed tensions between the UK and We…

Completing our mini-series looking at the cases for and against the development of new nuclear power generation facilities in Wales, we are joined in this podcast by Mabon ap Gwynfor, Member of the Senedd for Dwyfor Meirionnydd and author of new book 'Going Nuclear'.Mabon is a Plaid Cymru MS for a constituency that has a history of nuclear power, w…

The Hiraeth team gather for our regular round up of the most interesting stories in Wales and Welsh politics.This month, the Welsh Labour leadership campaign continues to dominate discussions in Wales but we discuss whether there is much to learn from events so far. We touch on the distressing news from Port Talbot about the future of steelmaking i…

This is the first of a two-part series looking at the cases for and against the development of new nuclear power generators in Wales. We are joined to discuss this question by Monmouthshire County Councillor Rachel Garrick, who has worked in the nuclear and electrical distribution industries for 25 years. In this first pod, we discuss the merits of…

At the Newport Rising Festival this year, we were inspired by the story of the Chartist march on Newport in 1839 and their six-point People's Charter to think about the reforms being made to our national democracy in 2024 via the Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill. Steered by our own Matthew Hexter, our guests discuss the proposed reforms to…

It has been an eventful year in Wales, the UK, and further afield and we all rely on journalists, newsgathering teams, and publishers to create and share news with us. But how healthy is the industry? Are commercial and public service news teams serving up the news in the right way to reach audiences across the nation? Are the business models behin…

Celebrating its tenth year of work in the field of Welsh policy development this year is the Welsh Centre for Public Policy, a Cardiff-based research centre set up to provide independent advice and high quality evidence to policy-makers and government at every level.Primarily focussed on three key research strands (Tackling Inequalities, Environmen…

Despite ongoing and deepening issues in public services in Wales, there is only one big story in Welsh politics this week, that being the surprise (or not, discuss...) announcement of Prif Weinidog Mark Drakeford's intention to stand down as Welsh Labour leader and leader of the Welsh Government in March next year.We bring together our top Welsh La…

The last month has been a very difficult one for politics and policy optimists, with an apparently unrelenting series of bad news stories at local, national, and union level. Your Hiraeth hosts try and navigate the news and pick out some of the most interesting stories from a Welsh perspective. Among other things we cover:Simmering tensions behind …

Barely a week has passed in 2023 without a bad news story about water. Whether it has been flooding, leakage, company debt, failing infrastructure, pollution at sea, or pollution in rivers, it's basically been bad news the whole way.With all that in mind, a deep dive into Welsh water might not seem like the most appealing prospect but that's exactl…