@johnrwilliams.bsky.social
England suffers its worst harvest on record and means that 4 of the 5 worst harvests have occurred since 2020. "Climate change is now undermining the very fundamentals of our food security, a fact that should create more urgency to reduce emissions to net zero..." eciu.net/media/press-...
England suffers worst harvest on record: comment
ECIU has produced a ranking of harvests in England since 1984, when detailed records begin.
eciu.net
Every. Single. Word. Of. This. By @iandunt.bsky.social. Read it all. iandunt.substack.com/p/dont-fall-...
I'm so bored with the USA
People will now start to believe again. Don't fall for it. The country is basically mad and we should distance ourselves from it as quickly as possible.
iandunt.substack.com
Good political journalism in Wales is as rare as hen’s teeth; @willhaycardiff.bsky.social is a light in the darkness This piece is about Reform in the Senedd; he’s not partisan and has written critically of the other parties too Diolch, Will willhaywardwales.substack.com/p/inside-ref...
Inside Reform’s first 6 months in the Senedd
How have Wales’ official opposition performed?
willhaywardwales.substack.com
The way Britain's Higher Ed systems work, unis must *necessarily, inevitably and permanently* lose staff until most are a shadow of their former selves or close. Without structural policy change the vast majority will have redundancies every year. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Durham University offers third staff exit scheme in three years
Durham University says the move is to ensure it builds up a "sustained financial capacity".
bbc.co.uk
Let me tell you about Russell Brand, as someone who helped the journalists who eventually exposed him. In 2013/4, Brand started to become interested in progressive politics. He said progressive things publicly, went on Newsnight etc. At the time I was involved in progressive grassroots work myself.
Thing is, many universities have endured mismanagement AND awful government policies www.timeshighereducation.com/news/powell-...
Powell: university leaders should accept blame for financial woes
Vice-chancellors should take responsibility for mismanagement rather than always blaming government policies, says education secretary
timeshighereducation.com
As concise as it is devastating: FT editorial sets out the recent policy pressures on university finances. Still striking how little understood all of this is outside the sector www.ft.com/content/ec63...
"The Palace of Westminster will be at risk of a Notre Dame-style fire or a similar catastrophic event if MPs do not tackle the issue of funding refurbishments" - we all know they won't, they'll just kick the problem yet again into the very flammable long grass... www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
Houses of Parliament at risk of ‘Notre Dame-style fire’ as renovation costs rise
Report says cost of maintenance could soon reach £2m a week, including 24-hour patrols to avert fire risk
theguardian.com
The UK Government seems to have double standards when it comes to Wales. They seem to be arguing that more powers for Wales is predicated on them being devolved to a more local level. There are some clear inconsistencies here. Welsh devo is being viewed completely through an English lens.
First Minister meets Prime Minister
And a UK Gov minister deletes his tweet…
willhaywardwales.substack.com
Despite all the wailing and gnashing of teeth, the 20mph default speed limit in residential & built up areas of Wales has been a huge success road.cc/news/serious...
Serious cyclist injuries down 50% and overall road casualties continue to fall since 20mph limit introduced in Wales
The number of serious collisions involving cyclists and pedestrians continues to fall in Wales, three years on from the introduction of a ‘default’ 20mph speed limit on most roads.In September 2023, a...
road.cc
@willhaycardiff.bsky.social analysis of this week's UK Government budget can simply be summarised as Welsh Government being deprived of the oxygen necessary 2 govern Cymru effectively PM may have used nice words when meeting our FM-the reality no change willhaywardwales.substack.com/p/first-mini...
First Minister meets Prime Minister
And a UK Gov minister deletes his tweet…
willhaywardwales.substack.com
There's a huge amount of noise about the welfare budget "spiralling out of control." This helpful chart shows it's projected to rise by a whole 0.2 points of GDP over the next five years. A myth that will not die...
Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · 2w agoNew post: The budget wasn't very interesting, but the OBR forecast was. Full of data + clues on the difficult decisions to come next year and beyond. I look at seven key things we learnt - from the cuts departments are facing to the costs of immigration falling. samf.substack.com/p/the-iceber...
A repeating pattern of coal and marine mudstone offers clues to climate change more than 300 million years ago | Paul Bright
When earth’s orbit shaped the South Wales Coalfield
A repeating pattern of coal and marine mudstone offers clues to climate change more than 300 million years ago
bylines.cymru
"if they can’t manage a statutory revaluation of the council tax... they’ll struggle to convince the people of Wales they can manage the introduction of an entirely new fiscal system [in an indepent Wales] with national debt, a central bank & a whole new suite of taxes" nation.cymru/opinion/is-p...
Is Plaid heading towards the quagmire?
Desmond Clifford “Rhun, here – take the binoculars. Climb that hill. You see that dark patch over there? There, beyond the trees and the sunlit fields…? That’s the Quagmire – it’s where Welsh Governme...
nation.cymru
Right now, we have less borrowing powers than a council and a worse deal that Scotland. Full breakdown in newsletter: willhaywardwales.substack.com/p/are-plaid-...
Are Plaid about to break their promise?
A self-confident nation should not be afraid to meaningfully assess what it got wrong
willhaywardwales.substack.com
Obvious, but needs to be said & repeated often to drive the message home www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Cutting ‘red tape’ is nothing but a red herring – and arguably counterproductive | Heather Stewart
Blaming a moribund economy on too many rules is a hackneyed neoliberal trope – UK plc needs smarter regulation, not less regulation
theguardian.com
"Pilots working for airlines based in Ireland... reported the highest levels of microsleeps. More than a third said they were not getting enough rest to prevent fatigue from building up" Ryanair? Perish the thought! Or, maybe, perish the passengers? www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Almost a quarter of European airline pilots fly when too fatigued to work
Pilots report pressure to extend working hours and fears of penalties for declaring themselves unfit to fly
theguardian.com
Plaid are finding governing hard; and Labour is finding opposition hard too. My piece for @walesgovernance.bsky.social blogs.cardiff.ac.uk/thinking-wal...
Duw, it’s hard
Showcasing current research, comments and analysis on the law, politics, history, culture, government and political economy of Wales from the Wales Governance Centre.
blogs.cardiff.ac.uk
"The one remaining argument for sticking with Brexit is that any attempt to reverse the referendum would be fundamentally undemocratic. The people spoke; their verdict stands. That is true only if the votes of the dead still count." #ThatsWhatICallPuttingItBluntly
Britain’s pro-Brexit majority has literally died out
The numbers that cast doubt on the Brexiters’ claim to be the true democrats
kellnerp.substack.com
These courageous testimonies are very much worth knowing about, and also worth keeping in mind (as the author pointed out to me) as we consider what it means to take Russia’s side. "Rape as a weapon of war: The voices of Ukrainians" by Sara Cincurova snyder.substack.com/p/rape-as-a-...
Rape as a weapon of war
The voices of Ukrainians
snyder.substack.com
"the UK has no agreed rules for when a sustained democratic demand obliges the UK government to respond... Until the UK finds its own answer, the question of whether the union is voluntary will keep being asked at the ballot box & refused in Whitehall" - i.e. it's a mess nation.cymru/feature/coul...
Could the UK actually split? Experts explain the legal route for pro‑independence leaders
Richard Brant, Senior Lecturer in Law, The University of Law, Nikos Skoutaris, Professor of European Constitutional law, University of East Anglia As the Scottish National Party gathered in Aberdeen ...
nation.cymru
The Senedd has barred the National Poet of Wales from reading a poem at the opening of the Welsh Parliament in front of the King because it was “too political”. willhaywardwales.substack.com/p/wales-watc...
Wales watching - The midweek briefing (Oct 14)
Exclusive: Senedd bars national poet’s work from ceremonial opening...
willhaywardwales.substack.com
"The question now is not whether Erasmus+ should return. It is whether Wales is prepared to lose a programme that has successfully reached those who have long been excluded from international exchange"
Bylines Cymru@bylines.cymru · 4w agoA distinctly Welsh programme reaches those most often excluded from international exchange, and must not be lost | Kirsty Williams
Norway’s former Chief of Defence, General Sverre Diesen: “Under the current Trump administration, we cannot consider the United States our ally. Trump’s America is a hostile actor that, in the event of a conflict in Europe, would side with Russia rather than with us and other European countries.”
If Canada can do it why is the UK government, almost uniquely among nations, so afraid of repatriating those young women from Britain who did the same as Kimberley Polman? They and their children have been left in increasingly insecure camps in Syrian. 1/2 www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Woman who married ISIS fighter pleads guilty to terror-related charge in B.C. | CBC News
Kimberly Polman pleaded guilty on Thursday to leaving Canada to participate in activities of a terrorist group, namely the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
cbc.ca
The first Russian diesel cargo heading for the US left St Petersburg on September 22, two weeks *before* Trump announced the deal with Putin, Windward reports. The Greek-flagged tanker Minerva Zen carrying 275,000 barrels of diesel/gasoil is due at the US East Coast around 11–12 October.
