Completing our mini-series looking at the cases for and against the development of new nuclear power generation facilities in Wales, we are joined in this podcast by Mabon ap Gwynfor, Member of the Senedd for Dwyfor Meirionnydd and author of new book 'Going Nuclear'.

Mabon is a Plaid Cymru MS for a constituency that has a history of nuclear power, with the legendary Trawsfynydd site in its footprint, not a huge distance away from Wales's other legacy nuclear site in Wylfa, represented in the Senedd by Mabon's party leader Rhun ap Iorwerth.

In researching nuclear power at length after being extensively lobbied on the subject, Mabon has come firmly to the conclusion that on all levels new nuclear developments are unnecessary, unjust, and a huge pollution risk for current and future generations. In this podcast he argues passionately against the introduction of new nuclear power generators in Wales.

You can buy Mabon's book here: https://goingnuclear.net/en/home/

And find him on X/Twitter here: https://twitter.com/mabonapgwynfor

You can still find all the most up-to-date information from the Hiraeth team here: https://twitter.com/HiraethPod

We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks.

Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

The Hiraeth team gather for our regular round up of the most interesting stories in Wales and Welsh politics.

This month, the Welsh Labour leadership campaign continues to dominate discussions in Wales but we discuss whether there is much to learn from events so far. We touch on the distressing news from Port Talbot about the future of steelmaking in the town, the imperfections of the Welsh Government's new child poverty strategy, and the grand reopening of a Welsh railway line.

With the Six Nations upon us, we have a bit of fun discussing the state of rugby while Ospreys of a different kind have caused a headache (or a cynic might say, a greenwash) for Welsh Government's questionable investment decisions.

Your hosts:

Matthew Hexter: https://twitter.com/hexter101

Ceri Davies: https://twitter.com/ceritheviking

Richard Martin: https://twitter.com/mimosacymru

Matt's great Welsh Labour leadership contest explainer on WalesCast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0h8g8v3

As always, you can follow the latest from us here: https://twitter.com/HiraethPod

We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks.

Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

This is the first of a two-part series looking at the cases for and against the development of new nuclear power generators in Wales. We are joined to discuss this question by Monmouthshire County Councillor Rachel Garrick, who has worked in the nuclear and electrical distribution industries for 25 years.

In this first pod, we discuss the merits of new nuclear generation in Wales, the economic and enivronmental benefits, and the opportunities for workers, We also discuss options for different types of nuclear generation, the long-term problem of poor UK strategic planning, and the hindrance of Welsh powers over key infrastructure such as the electrical grid.

You can more from Rachel here: https://twitter.com/RC_Garrioch

Or contact her at Monmouthshire Council: https://democracy.monmouthshire.gov.uk/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=775

As always, you can follow the latest from us here: https://twitter.com/HiraethPod

We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks.

Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

At the Newport Rising Festival this year, we were inspired by the story of the Chartist march on Newport in 1839 and their six-point People's Charter to think about the reforms being made to our national democracy in 2024 via the Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill.

Steered by our own Matthew Hexter, our guests discuss the proposed reforms to parliament framed through the six points of the People's Charter and consider whether a modern day Chartist would approve of the recommendations. We recorded this podcast in front of a live audience at The Place, Newport as part of the 2023 Newport Rising Festival.

A video version of this podcast is available here: https://youtu.be/80v0CNnR1BA

Our guests

Chris Haines: https://twitter.com/talesforwales

ICNN Senedd Reporter based at Caerphilly Observer

Tom Hoyles: https://twitter.com/thoyles

Wales and South West England Political Officer, GMB Union

Matthew Hexter: https://twitter.com/hexter101

Newport Rising: https://www.newportrising.co.uk

Chartism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartism

The Place, Newport: https://www.theplacenewport.com

You can continue to find out all latest from us here at the pod via our Twitter/X profile: https://twitter.com/HiraethPod

We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks.

Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

It has been an eventful year in Wales, the UK, and further afield and we all rely on journalists, newsgathering teams, and publishers to create and share news with us. But how healthy is the industry? Are commercial and public service news teams serving up the news in the right way to reach audiences across the nation? Are the business models behind news desks sustainable in their current form? And are regulators and governments doing everything that they can to ensure the public interest is served?

To discuss this, and much more, we are joined by two experts in the field:

Gwenfair Griffith is a journalist, documentary maker, lecturer, and author of Fy Stori Fawr - A book discussing the challenges and triumphs of Wales' leading journalists when reporting on major stories: https://twitter.com/gwenfair_

Shirish Kulkarni is journalist, researcher, community organiser, News Innovation Research Fellow at Media Cymru and founder of Inclusive Journalism Cymru: https://shirishkulkarni.co.uk

Fy Stori Fawr is available to buy here: https://www.serenbooks.com/book/cymru-i/

Cymru and I is available to buy here: https://cantamil.com/products/fy-stori-fawr-profiadau-dirdynnol-12-o-newyddiadurwyr-gol-gwenfair-griffith

You can continue to find out all latest from us here at the pod via our Twitter/X profile: https://twitter.com/HiraethPod

We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks.

Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

Celebrating its tenth year of work in the field of Welsh policy development this year is the Welsh Centre for Public Policy, a Cardiff-based research centre set up to provide independent advice and high quality evidence to policy-makers and government at every level.

Primarily focussed on three key research strands (Tackling Inequalities, Environment and net zero, and Community Wellbeing), and is committed to maximising the benefit to Welsh public services by bringing robust evidence and strong evaluation criteria to the policy development process.

As the centre marks its tenth anniversary, we speak to:

Prof Steve Martin, Director WCfPP

Dan Bristow, Director of Policy and Practice: https://twitter.com/DWBristow

Amanda Hill-Dixon, Senior Research Fellow

you can find our more about WCfPP here: https://www.wcpp.org.uk

And about the Centre's 10th birthday here: https://www.wcpp.org.uk/news-and-media/news-article/wcpp-confirms-commitment-to-tackling-key-policy-challenges-facing-wales/

We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. You can always find the latest from us @hiraethpod on X/Twitter. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks.

Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

Despite ongoing and deepening issues in public services in Wales, there is only one big story in Welsh politics this week, that being the surprise (or not, discuss...) announcement of Prif Weinidog Mark Drakeford's intention to stand down as Welsh Labour leader and leader of the Welsh Government in March next year.

We bring together our top Welsh Labour whisperers to discuss Prof. Drakeford's political achievements and impact, as well as the broader discussion about past, present, and future of Welsh Labour.

Our guests:

Political Commentator Liz Silversmith: https://twitter.com/lizsilversmith

Our very own Matthew Hexter: https://twitter.com/hexter101

For fun, the memes:

Regular, Reliable, Rhythm: https://x.com/WelshGuv/status/1261350948078792704?s=20

Cheese: https://x.com/WelshGuv/status/1280789399513554945?s=20

Also, if you're still looking for Christmas gifts, Clear Red Water: https://www.walespolitics.com/hiraethshop/p/welsh-first-minister-rhodri-morgan-clear-red-water-wall-print

Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

*Mark Drakeford gun barrel image (C) Welsh Government 2019

The last month has been a very difficult one for politics and policy optimists, with an apparently unrelenting series of bad news stories at local, national, and union level. Your Hiraeth hosts try and navigate the news and pick out some of the most interesting stories from a Welsh perspective.

Among other things we cover:

Simmering tensions behind the scenes as Welsh Labour gear up for a union-wide General Election: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/politics/discontent-grows-towards-mark-drakeford-28157637

Ongoing pushback on Senedd reform: https://nation.cymru/opinion/is-there-any-point-in-having-more-senedd-members-if-were-lumbered-with-the-closed-list-voting-system

Autumn Statement: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-63662266

Daran Millar MS to stand for Westminster seat: https://nation.cymru/news/darren-millar-selected-as-tory-general-election-candidate-for-clwyd-north/

Further nudges in the area of devolving media regulation to Wales: https://nation.cymru/news/welsh-government-urged-to-set-up-shadow-broadcasting-authority/

And in an attempt to lighten the tone, we finish with another of our infamous wagers, please let us know who you think is right and who is wide of the mark!

Your hosts:

Matthew Hexter: https://twitter.com/hexter101

Ceri Davies: https://twitter.com/ceritheviking

Richard Martin: https://twitter.com/mimosacymru

At present, we're running an Advent calendar of our pods over on our Ex-Twitter page, there are some great ones popping up in the feed, check it out: https://twitter.com/HiraethPod

If you're enjoying the pod, please leave us a rating or review on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting us from just £3/month: http://www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

Barely a week has passed in 2023 without a bad news story about water. Whether it has been flooding, leakage, company debt, failing infrastructure, pollution at sea, or pollution in rivers, it's basically been bad news the whole way.

With all that in mind, a deep dive into Welsh water might not seem like the most appealing prospect but that's exactly what we are going to do with this podcast. Our expert panel discuss the news stories and the industrial reality of the trials and tribulations of operating in this challenging sector and how the balance of regulation, public opinion, and financing operations interact.

Our Panel:

Harriet Alvis: https://twitter.com/harrietalvis

Chief Executive Officer, West Wales Rivers Trust: https://twitter.com/WestWalesRT

Prof. Steve Ormerod: https://twitter.com/SteveOrmerod

Professor of Ecology at Cardiff University and Deputy Chairman of Natural Resources Wales

Lorna Davis: https://twitter.com/waterbore1

Co founder and Director of SUDSPlanter Ltd: https://twitter.com/SuDSPlanter

As always, follow us on our X-Twitter page for all the latest: https://twitter.com/HiraethPod

If you're enjoying the pod, please leave us a rating or review on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting us from just £3/month: http://www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

There is something different about this week's pod. We're delighted to hand over the reigns to a guest panel to mark the recent women's takeover of the Senedd, organised by the Women's Equality Network Wales.

So this week we discuss that women's takeover of the national parliament and many of the issues raised, including questions of access, representation, and the sad passing of Prof. Terry Rees, who did so much to advance the position of women in education and leadership.

We also cover some of the recent news from a Welsh perspective, including ongoing public finance difficulties, the UK COVID-19 Inquiry, Sir Keir Starmer's visit to a Cardiff Mosque, the ongoing tragedies in Israel & Gaza, and more.

You can find our panel on X/Twitter here:

Sarah Rees, Head of Oxfam Cymru: https://twitter.com/sarahrees500

Evelyn James of WEN (Women's Equality Network) Wales: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evelyn-james-legaladviser/

Liz Silversmith, political commentator: https://twitter.com/lizsilversmith

Obituary for Prof. Terry Rees: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/oct/25/dame-teresa-rees-obituary

WEN Wales: https://wenwales.org.uk

You can find us @HiraethPod on most social networks and find the latest on our X-Twitter page: https://twitter.com/HiraethPod

If you're enjoying the pod, please leave us a rating or review on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting us from just £3/month: http://www.patreon.com/hiraethpod