Taking aim at Labour's Programme of Government

The document outlining how Wales will be run by Labour for the next five years was released yesterday. It's basically a reaffirmation of the bulk of Labour's manifesto promises in May. The manifesto then was fairly weak and unambitious, so as you might expect, the programme of government is fairly weak and unambitious too. Carwyn Jones has said himself that he wants delivery to be at the heart of the new government. All very laudable. To a certain...

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Should a second language be compulsory at GCSE?

The Western Mail is reporting that CILT Cymru - the body for language teaching in Wales - believes that Welsh schoolchildren are falling behind their mainland European peers when it comes to learning a foreign language. They cite the number of pupils taking a full foreign language GCSE have fallen from 55% in 1995 to 29.6% in 2008. As you might expect, some of the mouthbreathers that skulk around the Walesonline comments sections are pointing...

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Fast Growth 50 & The Economic Renewal Plan

Professor Dylan Jones-Evans' Fast Growth 50 list was unveiled on Wednesday in association with the Western Mail. As the name suggests it's a list of the 50 fastest growing companies in Wales that's been produced annually for several years. My personal opinion is that lists like the FG50, Hot 100 and Top 300 are absolutely...

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Edwina blinks - Five enterprise zones announced

It was half expected - Mark Drakeford AM (Lab, Cardiff West) let the cat out of the bag a few days ago - and yesterday, the Minister for Business and Enterprise announced five new enterprise zones for Wales. This comes hot on the heels of the decision by TATA to locate a Jaguar engine plant in a Wolverhampton enterprise zone, when south Wales was (apparently) shortlisted. This announcement was going to be made regardless, I doubt the Jaguar decision...

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What is Wales? - The Higgitt Question revisited

This is in part a response to a response by Adam Higgitt to my original post a few weeks ago and a further expansion of the wider underlying issues. Is Wales a nation, a region or an imagined community? There's a hierarchy of human organisation that's naturally fallen into place for whatever reason. From the bottom-up, we have : individuals, families, communities, towns/cities, local authorities, regions/federal states, nations, "extended national/cultural...

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Breast cancer "breakthrough" at Cardiff University

First things first, this isn't a "cure". Science doesn't work like that. This is one step out of hundreds but it's a significant one. One of the major theories regarding the origins of cancer is that it is metastasised (spread throughout the body) by stem cells - cells with unlimited potential at cell division, a mutated form of which is cancer itself. The Tenovus research team at Cardiff University, led by Dr Richard Clarkson and including...

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Ieuan's swan song and Plaid's paradox

Ieuan Wyn Jones's legacy to Wales and Plaid Cymru runs far deeper than high-profile air links and "WAG" managerialism. (Pic : BBC) He's still got another few months as Plaid leader, but Ieuan Wyn Jones's speech at the Plaid conference last week was the start of a goodbye process. Who will replace him? We don't know. Judging...

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A sunny September morning that cast a shadow over a decade

There's no question that the September 11th attack was the most significant and shocking event to have occurred in my lifetime. I was too young to remember the collapse of communism in eastern Europe - and the associated national rebirths - while Princess Diana's death and the public reaction - although memorable - just seemed "weird". The first decade of the 21st century has been one disaster after another - both natural and man made. The optimism...

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Rugby World Cup 2011 Predictions

Dere 'mlaen Cymru!.............. ........until the quarter finals at least (Pic : Guardian) The Rugby World Cup kicks off tomorrow, with all the home nations involved of course. I'm not much of a rugby fan to be frank - I'm more into football - but I believe I know just enough about the sport to make a prediction on...

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"The Higgitt Question" - A response from the man himself

Last month, I blogged about a discussion in a Wales Home comments section that stemmed from an article about the Welsh language by Blog Banw's Adam Jones. Imagine my surprise when Adam Higgitt himself took the time and effort to respond to my blog yesterday. This was very much appreciated and a class act. Due to Blogger's comments section limitations, I've decided to post Adam's response in full here because it deserves to be read. As you would...

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Evolving the Welsh Baccalaureate

Curriculum 2000 & "Key Skills" - My Experience The Welsh Baccalaureate - in itself - is a Welsh evolution of the Blair government's Curriculum 2000. My year were the first cohort to be taught under this new curriculum - which introduced A/S and A2 Levels. The Welsh Assembly - which was barely a year old at the time - was still in the administrative devolution stage, and merely enacted policy with a bit of tweaking here and there. The relevant...

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