Wales
Why I fell in love with Welsh nationalism
Being a mildly Celtophobic Tory from Metro-Land, I’m an unlikely Welsh nationalist. Aside from once sharing a Christmas dinner with…
Does The Spectator hate the Welsh?
This St David’s Day weekend, I devote this column to a celebration of the world’s most under-appreciated ethnic group. Under-appreciated,…
‘He never drew a peaceful breath’: the tormented life of Henry VII
The challenges faced by the minor Welsh earl with tenuous claims to the English throne shattered his health, weakened his grip on affairs and eventually lost him the trust of his subjects
Portrait of the week: Hurricane hits Jamaica, Plaid reigns in Caerphilly and sex offender gets £500 to leave Britain
Home An Iranian man who arrived on a small boat and was deported to France on 19 September under the…
Sir Tony’s doomed crusade in the Holy Land
It amuses me that the two main parties most averse to the idea of honours, monarchy, chivalry etc are led…
R.S. Thomas – terrific poet, terrible husband
Love’s Moment is one of those quiet radio programmes you’re unlikely to have read about. It aired without fanfare at…
The nostalgic joy of Frinton-on-Sea
For the recent heatwave, it was my mission to escape our little Wiltshire cottage, where it hit 35°C. It has…
Will the Irish ever forgive the English?
Leaving home is the best way to find out who you are. In my case, it’s a muddle. Welsh dad.…
The punishing life of a chief whip
Simon Hart describes his frustrations as he grapples with the rivalries and petty jealousies of colleagues lobbying for peerages and knighthoods as the Tory party implodes
A year to forget: good riddance to 2024
January. When the assisted dying bill comes in, I’ll be first in the queue. Non-stop nosebleeds, Covid-esque symptoms, leg cramps,…
Why Reform has Wales in its sights
A spectre is haunting Wales. Fresh from Reform’s election victories in Westminster, Nigel Farage is turning his attention westwards, to…
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
The Ely agenda
‘There’s a lot of societal issues in Ely,’ said an anonymous caller to BBC Radio Wales the morning after the…
‘A really complicated person’
Almost two years after the death of Jan Morris, the jaunty travel writer and pioneer of modern gender transition, her…
Seize the moment
Barney Norris’s third novel opens with a wedding in April. The couple tying the knot don’t matter; it’s the occasion…
Bad education
The Corn is Green by Emlyn Williams is a sociology essay written in 1938 about a prickly tyrant, Miss Moffat,…
