One of Cardiff’s abiding characteristics, ever since the 1888 Local Government Act enabled the creation of the first elected borough council, is the reliably deplorable quality of its governance. Appalling …
The death of Newport West MP Paul Flynn in February has left a gaping vacuum in the Labour Party in Wales. With his departure the Party’s last example of a …
Frank Vickery, who died in June, was that rarity in contemporary Welsh life: an authentic national figure who never compromised his Welsh concerns and interests to garner English/British approval. As …
I only have to glance at my bookshelves to grasp the scale of the loss following the death of Meic Stephens in July. As anthologist, compiler, literary editor, translator and …
Everybody knew him as Rhodri. You couldn’t help but like him. For me it was his quick mind, suffering fools gladly with amused exasperation; his silver-tongued articulacy, galloping ahead regardless, …
Deke is dead. I am inconsolable. Press play, turn the volume to maximum, spark up and read on: Deke Leonard was a great Welshman. If only a lot more Welsh people …
What a life! Now that Howard Marks has ambled off to Hemp Heaven, one can only marvel at the sheer breadth, depth and weight of the incredible experiences he crammed into …
There is no more heavily-thumbed, dog-eared, battered book on my shelves than A History of Wales by John Davies. Whenever I need to further my knowledge or understanding of Welsh history, Davies’s …
The death of Dannie Abse last month, even at the grand old age of 91, is a terrible loss for poetry, for prose, for Cardiff and for Wales. No life can be …