Winter 2013
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Editorial
How sustainable is Bevan’s NHS?
Essay
Clouds of witnesses
Peter Lord takes issue with the National Library’s new policy of restricting access to its collection
News
News from the IWA
OUTLOOK: Dreaming fiction in the Valleys
– Peter Stead
– Jane Aaron
– Daniel G. Williams
– Angela Graham
Health
Sustaining spending on the NHS will hit rest of the budget
David Phillips analyses the Welsh Government’s change of priorities in health funding
Demand and budget cuts will force health change
Marcus Longley argues that we need to organise NHS Wales in a radically different way
The dilemmas of Welsh health decision-makers
John Osmond interviews Health Minister Mark Drakeford and Cardiff and Vale Health Board Chief Executive Adam Cairns about the stark choices they face in sustaining the NHS in Wales
Changing Union
Tax powers would enhance the Assembly’s engagement with the electorate
Eurfyl ap Gwilym unravels what the UK government is saying in response to the Silk Commission
Irish referendum vote shows way for Wales
Rosemary Butler welcomes a new report advocating an increase in the number of AMs in the National Assembly
Instability beckons beyond the Scottish vote
Peter Riddell warns that the real threat to the union could be posed by the 2017 referendum on EU membership
Loose ends of asymmetrical constitution building
James Mitchell asks how the Scottish referendum will affect Wales
Economy
Newport’s blue route
Stuart Cole examines options for by-passing the Brynglas tunnels on the M4 north of Newport
Age of the City Region
Kevin Morgan explains why Wales is finally coming to terms with connecting the Valleys with the coast
How housing can boost rural economy
David Goodwin advocates a scheme to provide an answer to the need for affordable homes in the Welsh countryside
Politics
Carwyn’s ‘One Wales’ philosophy spikes Plaid’s guns
Michael Sullivan argues we are witnessing the rebirth of social democracy as a result of Labour’s co-option of Welsh nationalism
‘This article is a condensation of a much longer conference paper which acknowledges and quotes extensively from an article by David S. Moon: ‘Welsh Labour in power: ‘One Wales’ vs. ‘One Nation”, in the journal Renewal No 27: pages 77-86.’
Welsh Water can provide a model for Royal Mail
Peter Hain says a Labour government should adopt a Welsh ‘not-for-dividend’ model for our postal servic
Why Labour could lose half its income
Mark Lang examines the implications of a fundamental shift in the relations between the trade unions and the party they created
Education
PISA challenge to Welsh education
Philip Dixon says seeing Welsh GCSE-drilled youngsters performing in Pisa is like watching a rugby league side playing rugby union
Power play in growth of Welsh medium education
Aled Eirug finds a major challenge for the language is that it continues to be used outside the school gates
Environment
Sustainable development slips down Welsh priorities
Gareth Wyn Jones reflects on a paradox that while evidence for climate changes gets ever more stark politicians side with the sceptics
Wales hit by quotas extended to under ten metre fleet
Jeremy Percy explores the dilemmas facing our fragile inshore fishing industry
International
Small-scale beekeeping in the developing world
Martin Jones describes how a Welsh-based charity is making a big impact in Uganda
Quilting for Africa
Maggie Cullinane explains how she became involved in a project to support mothers at risk from dying of complications in childbirth
Heritage
Wales remembers the trenches
Deian Hopkin outlines the activities being planned to commemorate the centenary of the Great War
Ghostly imprints of an epicentre of the maritime age
Peter Finch looks back at a time when Cardiff was the coal capital of the world
Communications
Magazines forced to grasp funding nettle
Malcolm Ballinn reports on radical changes to the future support for Welsh writing in English
‘Don’t hate the media, be the media’
Simon Roberts asks whether the internet can plug the democratic deficit in mainstream Welsh press and broadcasting
Culture
Fishlock’s File
How a corkscrew and honey saved a royal line
Trevor Fishlock describes how a former Prince of Wales survived an arrow through his head
Live wire act
Alice Entwistle profiles a poet who says the Welsh want to suck the marrow out of life
Reviews
An oblique glance at a cloud of artists
Osi Rhys Osmond
A problematic Zionist role model
Naomi Jones
Portrait of an elusive bohemian
Huw Osborne
Wells we should know
Barry Morgan
Last Word
Random supernumeraries in a Commons of lost souls
Peter Stead