Wales (Cymru)

This week, thousands of people have descended on the National Eisteddfod, a festival celebrating the Welsh language - but not all of them spoke Welsh.

People in Rhondda Cynon Taf, which is not a Welsh language heartland, currently have Europe's largest cultural festival on their doorsteps.

But what is it like to go along, to take in the activities and entertainment, when you do not speak the language?

One Pontypridd resident said she had never heard so much Welsh being spoken in the area and it made her wish she knew more, but others felt the festival could do more to cater to learners.

Rhun ap Iorwerth, has urged the UK Government to take “a much tougher stance” in holding social media companies to account for the spread of “racial and religious intolerance” on their sites.

The Plaid Cymru leader also warned that social media giants, together with traditional media and politicians bear responsibility for a ‘rise in racial and religious intolerance’.

False information spread on social media about the identity of the alleged Southport knife attacker has been seen as playing a role in sparking the recent violence across parts of the UK, leading to calls for tougher regulation.

Even if you don’t speak Welsh, you’ll at least partly understand perthyn – belonging – and hiraeth – longing for what’s lost. They’re deep, deep links to the land

Many of us have enjoyed accessing different spaces around our town of Pontypridd over the years. Spaces that provide us with a strong sense of perthyn, of feeling related to and belonging with these places.

People make spaces, places, and in the act of doing so, name them. In their turn these places may also leave us with a strong sense of hiraeth, a longing for spaces that hold a special place in our hearts, long after we have left them, or they us. We carry our memories and our names for them in our hearts, wherever we may go.

People visiting the National Eisteddfod are being encouraged to use public transport as the annual event visits the south Wales valleys.

Based in the town centre of Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, this year's eisteddfod will be "different and urban", according to the local council.

Ynysangharad Park is providing the focus for most of the activities, with 150,000 visitors expected over the course of the week.

With no event parking near the festival, those attending are being urged to walk, cycle or take the train or bus.

Eluned Morgan has admitted that some Welsh Government services will have to be “de-prioritised” following her election as First Minister.

Baroness Morgan was appointed to the top job after a vote in the Senedd on Tuesday (August 6).

The former health minister replaces Vaughan Gething who was forced to resign after four members of his cabinet quit in protest against his leadership last month.

Welsh Labour spent the 118 days of his short tenure in turmoil with rows about donations to his leadership campaign from a convicted criminal and the sacking of a junior minister.

Baroness Morgan will embark on her new journey leading the Welsh Government alongside deputy First Minister Huw Irranca-Davies – a former member of Mr Gething’s cabinet.

Baroness of Ely Eluned Morgan has been confirmed as the First Minister of Wales after a vote in the Senedd.

The former health minister who grew up on a council estate in Ely will succeed Vaughan Gething who bowed out in July after only four months in the role.

Baroness Morgan received applause from the Chamber after saying it was the greatest honour of her life to become the first woman to become the First Minister of Wales.

Figures published by the Welsh Government show casualty reductions as follows for the period January to March 2024, in comparison with January to March 2023:

All severities at all speeds: 811 (2024); 4348 (2023);

20mph. All severities: 300 (2024); 662 (2023)

Killed or seriously injured: 63 (2024); 144 (2023)

Slightly injured: 237 (2024); 518 (2023)

30mph. All severities: 77 (2024); 1522 (2023)

Killed or seriously injured: 15 (2024); 343 (2023)

Slightly injured: 62 (2024); 1179 (2023)

40mph. All severities: 74 (2024); 397 (2023)

Killed or seriously injured: 20 (2024); 98 (2023)

Slightly injured: 54 (2024); 299 (2023)

50mph. All severities: 94 (2024); 273 (2023)

Killed or seriously injured: 23 (2024); 67 (2023)

Slightly injured: 71(2024); 206 (2023)

60mph. All severities: 214 (2024); 1235 (2023)

Killed or seriously injured: 71 (2024); 401 (2023)

Slightly injured: 143 (2024); 834 (2023)

70mph. All severities: 52 (2024); 259 (2023)

Killed or seriously injured: 12 (2024); 73 (2023)

Slightly injured: 40 (2024); 186 (2023)

Ken Skates, the Welsh Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Transport, and North Wales, has released a long-term strategy for Cardiff Airport. This commits the government to making a maximum £206mn investment in the airport over the next decade. As always, with any government spending on Cardiff Airport, this has provoked a mixed reaction.

In Skates’s written statement, the strategy is set out with two main objectives. First, to attract and grow the aviation and aerospace business linked to the airport. And second, to have a programme of route development that focuses on connectivity to global air hubs and destinations of economic importance to Wales.

In June I went to the land of castles and spoke the tongue of the dragon. By which, of course, I mean Wales and Welsh, Cymru and Cymraeg. For my first proper holiday in over 20 years, I planned the trip and went by myself. As a single person, I had two choices: travel alone, or don’t travel. I chose to travel.

Many people have mentioned that it can be hard to find Cymraeg speakers with whom to practise. While in Cymru, I think I figured out some of the reasons why. They may be simpler than one might think, and they’re certainly not personal only to me.

Health Secretary Eluned Morgan has ignored the advice of Britain’s top expert on failing maternity units and refused again to order a public inquiry into the Singleton Hospital maternity unit in Swansea.

Senior midwife Donna Ockenden said this week that an independent review into failings at the Singleton unit, commissioned by the Swansea Bay University Health Board, was “not fit for purpose” and should be “closed” immediately.

Cenedl heb iaith, cenedl heb galon – A nation without language is a nation without a heart, and over the coming months there will be a real opportunity to ensure that the next generation will receive the gift of education in our national language.

During the final week of the Senedd term, amid countless resignations by Cabinet Secretaries and the First Minister of the Welsh Labour Government, the Government’s Welsh Language and Education Bill was brought before the Senedd.

We have a likely new First Minister. Eluned Morgan, the Baroness of Ely, has replaced Vaughan Gething as the Labour Party’s leader in Wales. Gething, of course, having belatedly fallen on his political sword, following months of scandal and the resignation of a substantial chunk of his cabinet.

Let’s take a moment to acknowledge and celebrate that, for the first time in our country’s history, we have a female leader. This is a truly historic moment and one to be cherished, as it shows clear steps forward for our society. I understand and share concerns around the Baroness’s ministerial record, but that’s a topic for another day. It will no doubt feature heavily as Morgan establishes herself in the role.

Transport for Wales has defended its latest annual report after the Welsh Conservatives condemned it as “grim reading”.

The Welsh Government owned not for profit rail operator published its 2023 / 2024 report on Wednesday (July 31).

It revealed details of its latest achievements and successes as well as its expenditure figures including staffing costs and new trains.

Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens has cast further doubts over the £1bn plan to electrify the north Wales rail mainline, stating she “suspects the money isn’t there".

The new Labour UK government is reviewing all infrastructure plans, including rail projects, amid a major spending review prompted by a £22bn gap in public finances.

The north Wales electrification plan was a key part of the previous Conservative government’s transport proposals.

Dozens of residents are opposed to plans to knock down some garages as part of a scheme to develop 20 new flats.

Cardiff Council’s planning committee will make a decision on the plans for the small parade along Fishguard Road, Llanishen at a meeting on Thursday, August 1.

The main concerns that residents have about the development, which will consist of mainly of one and two-bedroom flats if approved, is that it could increase the strain on local services and lead to an increase in criminal activity.

New polling on voting intentions at a Senedd election suggests that Plaid Cymru is running just 1% behind Labour – a sensational finding that raises the possibility of Plaid leader Rhun ap Iorwerth becoming First Minister in less than two years’ time.

The figures suggest that the scandals involving outgoing First Minister Vaughan Gething, coupled with increasing disillusionment about the quality of public service delivery, have seriously damaged Labour and threaten to dislodge it from the leading role it’s had in Wales politics for more than a century.

New polling on voting intentions at a Senedd election suggests that Plaid Cymru is running just 1% behind Labour – a sensational finding that raises the possibility of Plaid leader Rhun ap Iorwerth becoming First Minister in less than two years’ time.

The figures suggest that the scandals involving outgoing First Minister Vaughan Gething, coupled with increasing disillusionment about the quality of public service delivery, have seriously damaged Labour and threaten to dislodge it from the leading role it’s had in Wales politics for more than a century.

New polling on voting intentions at a Senedd election suggests that Plaid Cymru is running just 1% behind Labour – a sensational finding that raises the possibility of Plaid leader Rhun ap Iorwerth becoming First Minister in less than two years’ time.

The figures suggest that the scandals involving outgoing First Minister Vaughan Gething, coupled with increasing disillusionment about the quality of public service delivery, have seriously damaged Labour and threaten to dislodge it from the leading role it’s had in Wales politics for more than a century.

If the 2024 General Election results in Wales tell us anything, it’s that the Welsh Conservatives are in a lot of trouble.

In Wales, the Conservatives not only lost all the seats they held, they were beaten handsomely in nearly all of them. In only four seats were they within 5% of the winning party, while the party saw large majorities overturned in areas like Monmouthshire, and Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr; the latter of which had never returned a Labour MP in its long history as the constituency of Montgomeryshire.

MS Society Cymru is thrilled to announce that a group of Year 8 students from Bryntirion Comprehensive School in Bridgend has won the First Give competition, securing a £1,000 prize for our charity. This victory brings their total donation to an impressive £1,305, marking a significant achievement in youth-led fundraising and awareness efforts for multiple sclerosis (MS).

The First Give School Final saw 13-year-old students Pranay, Ben, Iestyn, Ollie, Kathleen, and Daniel from class 8T deliver a powerful presentation about MS and the work of MS Society Cymru. Their dedication, creativity, and passion for the cause set them apart from seven other presentations, earning them the top prize.

During an interview with Ciaran Jenkins for Channel 4 during the general election, Rhun ap Iorweth was asked about NATO membership for an independent Wales. The Plaid Cymru leader said a relationship with NATO would be important to Wales, but that he’d prefer some form of associate membership, akin to Ireland’s relationship with NATO.

So, for the time being, NATO membership for an independent Wales is off the cards in Plaid Cymru’s vision for the country. What other options for defence policy could the party consider?

Plaid Cymru has renewed calls for the devolution of the Crown Estate to Wales following the announcement of record £1.1bn profits earlier today (24 July).

The Crown Estate said earnings surged by more than £658 million during the year ending March 31, from £443 million the previous year.

The spike in profits was mainly down to option fees, payments made by companies to reserve a patch of the seabed to eventually build their wind turbines on.

Child poverty expert turned Welsh Labour MP Torsten Bell has defended his decision to vote against scrapping the two child benefit cap, despite arguing in favour of doing so for years.

Until being elected to Parliament as the MP for Swansea West at the general election, Mr Bell was chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, a think tank that specialises in the study of poverty and how to relieve it.

Three different groups of health campaigners have expressed anger at the prospect of Health Secretary Eluned Morgan becoming First Minister.

With Jeremy Miles’ decision not to stand in the Welsh Labour leadership election called following Vaughan Gething’s resignation, it is considered highly likely that she will be the only candidate for the post when nominations close at noon on Wednesday July 24.

If that happens, the Senedd will almost certainly be recalled to elect Baroness Morgan as First Minister. If, however, there is more than one nomination, Mr Gething will stay on as Acting First Minister until after the result of the election is known on September 14.

Health Minister Eluned Morgan seems likely to become the new First Minister after former contender Jeremy Miles announced he would not be standing to replace Vaughan Gething.

Mr Gething resigned last Tuesday, July 16, following months of controversy over donations totalling £200,000 that he took from a convicted criminal and the revelation that he had deleted messages during the Covid crisis because he feared they could be disclosed under freedom of information legislation. He subsequently lied to the UK Covid Inquiry.