One of our favourite guests return for this podcast where we review the gloomy economic news about inflation and interest rate rises in the UK.

Professor Danny Blanchflower is a familiar name to many in economics and to many in Wales in particular, with his longstanding connections to Cardiff. As well as his role at Dartmouth College, he is also known for his time on the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), a body within which he was frequently known as a dissenting voice that challenged much of the groupthink on the committee.

These days he continues to be a loud and critical voice that challenges conventional thinking and that's exactly why we were keen to speak to him about the latest gloomy news about the UK economy, as well as the performance of the current MPC, the inglorious reign of Liz Truss as Prime Minister and the performance of the current UK Government.

As we mention in the pod, Danny is no longer available on Twitter but his blog can be found here:

https://sites.dartmouth.edu/blanchflower/2023/06/25/its-brexit-wot-dunnit-and-they-still-want-to-blame-ordinary-people-for-their-failings/

Or drop us a line at the pod account: https://twitter.com/HiraethPod

We can be found @HiraethPod on most social platforms and would love to hear from you.

If you're enjoying the pod, please leave us a rating or review in your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider joining our Patreon from just £3/month.

After a short break, we are back to catch up on the latest political news from Wales and the UK. There has been a lot!

We cover the Plaid Cymru leadership non-election, the fallout of the Westminster chaos of the last few weeks, the suggestions of a 'purge of the left' in UK Labour and the Welsh Liberal Democrat prospects in the borderlands of Powys.

We also touch on some of the cultural news of the last few weeks including the debate about bilingualism on the Eisteddfod maes and finish with a post-mortem of a bleak weekend for Welsh sport, excepting darts of course.

We are also beginning our 4th year (!) of the Hiraeth Pod and will be taking the opportunity to review all aspects of our podcast, our Patreon, and other activities such as live events and newsletters. If you have any thoughts or feedback for us, please let us know.

As always you can find the team on Twitter here:

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

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

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

Or drop us a line at the pod account: https://twitter.com/HiraethPod

We can be found @HiraethPod on most social platforms and would love to hear from you.

If you're enjoying the pod, please leave us a rating or review in your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider joining our Patreon from just £3/month.

Elected as Plaid Cymru’s youngest ever MP, Ben Lake has represented the seat of Ceredigion in the Westminster parliament since 2017. Despite his relatively short career, he has quickly established himself as a respected spokesperson on a number of key issues such as rural affairs, education, and the constitution against the background of the ‘Brexit Wars’ and the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this interview we catch up with Ben to discuss the difficult recent period in Plaid Cymru’s history, the upcoming leadership election, the challenges of representing the issues of rural Wales in the union parliament, Brexit, electoral reform in Wales, and the effects of the upcoming new electoral constituencies for representatives and citizens.

You can find Ben on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/BenMLake

This pod brings to an end the third year of Hiraeth, we hope you have enjoyed the podcast and the live events, if you have attended any of them. We’re going to be taking a couple of weeks off now while we plan for the year to come. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, please be in touch with us.

You can find Hiraeth on most social platforms @HiraethPod, including Twitter: https://twitter.com/HiraethPod

If you are enjoying the pod, please leave us a rating or review in 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

On the pod, we’ve often lamented the lack of coverage of the politics and peoples of the North-East or the border communities in our national media and public discourse. Thankfully the same thing can’t be said for the literary community, where poets and authors are drawn to, and from, these places on the edge, in between, and overlapping the places where Wales and England meet.

As perhaps our most famous border event kicks off in Hay, home of Hiraeth member Ceri, we are joined to talk about our borderlands  by:

- Mike Parker: https://twitter.com/mikeparkerwales

Former Plaid Cymru candidate and author of ‘The Greasy Pole’, “On the Red Hill” and “All the Wide Border”

- Dr Sara Louise Wheeler: https://twitter.com/SerenSiwenna

Poet, littérateur, and artist from the borderlands of North East Wales; she writes the column ‘O’r Gororau’ for Barddas Welsh poetry magazine.and co-host of ‘Doctoriaid Cymraeg’ podcast

Buy All the Wide Border: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/all-the-wide-border-wales-england-and-the-places-in-between-mike-parker/7011781?ean=9780008499181

Buy Trawiad-Seizure: https://www.siopcwlwm.co.uk/cy/products/trawiad-seizure-pamffled-o-gerddi-a-poetry-pamphlet

Doctoriaid Cymraeg: https://doctorcymraeg.wales/podlediaid-doctoriaid-cymraeg/

As always you can find the latest from Hiraeth on most social platforms @HiraethPod, including Twitter: https://twitter.com/HiraethPod

You can find our shop and Welsh Politics 101 here: http://www.walespolitics.com

And if you are enjoying the pod, please subscribe and leave a rating on your podcast app of choice or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider suppporting us from just £3/month: http://www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

Town Centre regeneration has been a major part of the Welsh Government remit throughout devolution, a seemingly never ending cycle of policies, action plans and strategies. While there have been some successes and some highlights, the overall picture continues to be one of ongoing gradual decline.

Wales is not alone in this challenge but with our long history of regeneration projects, do we have the answers we need or are we still not asking the right questions? We discuss this tricky subject and the Welsh Government's latest report on the subject to find out.

Our guests:

Owen Davies - @itsowendavies

Regeneration Consultant, Founder of Owen Davies Consulting and Abergavenny Co-working site Gwagle

Victoria Mann - @Mann_About

CEO at NearMeNow, and a Business Council Member at Cardiff Capital Region.

You can find us @HiraethPod on the socials, including Twitter: https://twitter.com/HiraethPod

Please leave us a rating or review in your podcast app of choice and, if you are able to do so, consider supporting us from just £3/month: http://www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

A simple introduction on Plaid Cymru's website reads: "In December 2022, Plaid Cymru’s National Executive Committee asked Nerys Evans to chair a working group whose remit it was to understand the culture within the party and issue recommendations on how to lead change."

The Prosiect Pawb report, as it has since been named, has been completed and a full summary published. Its conclusions were were described as "damning" by WalesOnline's Will Hayward and contained no fewer than 82 recommendations to address deficiencies in the party's culture and governance. Some of these issues had existed for many years but it also included complaints of sexual harassment and bullying of staff in the period since 2018 and has ultimately led to the party's leader, Adam Price, stepping down.

We discuss the context and timeline of these events and how the party might respond and attempt to rebuild trust with its staff and supporters.

The Prosiect Pawb Report: https://www.partyof.wales/prosiect_pawb

Support is available if you need it: https://www.acas.org.uk/discrimination-bullying-and-harassment

The 2023 Plaid Cymru Leadership Election: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Plaid_Cymru_leadership_election

Your hosts:

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

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

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

You can find us @HiraethPod on the socials, including Twitter:

Please leave us a rating or review in your podcast app of choice and, if you are able to do so, consider supporting us from just £3/month: http://www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

Although the social security system is not formally devolved to Wales as it is in Northern Ireland, or even partially devolved as it is in Scotland, the Welsh Government and Welsh local authorities are responsible for a huge range of benefits that are delivered locally or where policy is decided nationally in the Senedd.

Can the systems and benefits be improved in Wales? Can the complexity of applying to the same authority for multiple benefits be streamlined? Should the Welsh Government be able to do more in this area to support individuals and families in greatest need? All great questions addressed in a recent report co-authored by the Bevan Foundation and Policy in Practice, who join us to discuss the Welsh Benefits System.

Our guests:

Dr Steffan Evans: https://twitter.com/SteffHEvans

Head of Policy (Poverty) at the Bevan Foundation

Zoe Charlesworth: https://twitter.com/ZoeCharleswort1

Benefits Research & Policy Consultant at Policy in Practice

Jack Rowlands: https://twitter.com/jackrowh

Analyst, Policy in Practice

Bevan Foundation: https://twitter.com/BevanFoundation

Policy in Practice: https://twitter.com/policy_practice

A Common Approach to the Welsh benefits system report: https://www.bevanfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Final-A-data-view-of-a-common-approach-to-Welsh-benefits-Bevan.pdf

If you're enjoying the podcast, please leave us a rating or review in 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

With the party conference beginning this weekend at the ICC in Newport, discussions about the party's Welsh wing and the relationship between the Senedd group and the UK Parliamentary group are bound to be top of the agenda, an agenda which is pretty full of other big items like the looming UK general election, local elections in England and Northern Ireland, and ongoing turbulence in the UK Government after another high-profile ministerial departure.

In Wales recent polling has suggested that the Welsh Conservatives are still struggling to come close to competing with Labour in the Senedd, despite a new tone of campaigning from Andrew RT Davies and popular policy shifts such as aligning themselves with other Welsh parties with regards HS2.

Our two guests grapple with some of these issues and much more:

Ant Pickles: https://twitter.com/antpickles

former Chief of Staff of the Welsh Conservatives

&

Abigail Mainon: https://twitter.com/AbigailMainon

Chair of the Conservative Women’s Organisation Wales and a former Senedd Candidate in Alyn and Deeside

As always, you can follow us @hiraethpod on the socials for all the latest from the pod, including on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HiraethPod

And if you are enjoying the pod, please rate and review us in your podcast app of choice and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting us on Patreon from £3/month: http://www.patreon.com/hiraethpod

Sarah Dickins and Mark Hutchings are well known faces and voices in households in Wales and across the union after their decades of reporting on economics and Welsh affairs for the BBC. Both have recently put their BBC staff cards away for one last time and are pursuing both old and new interests in the fields of journalism, economics, and sustainability.

We speak to Sarah and Mark about the changing face of Wales and the Welsh economy during their careers and the ways the business of news is evolving both inside and outside of the BBC

You can find our guests on Twitter:

Sarah: https://twitter.com/Sarah_Dickins

Mark: https://twitter.com/markhutchings1

And follow us on Twitter for all the latest from the team: https://twitter.com/HiraethPod

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

Wales's transport infrastructure and services are rarely (if ever) renowned for their world-leading design or operation but even by historical standards, the last few years have been notably challenging.

However, with a new and energetic deputy minister holding the brief and the pandemic receding into history, is the Welsh Government starting to turn the corner or are the people of Wales condemned to spend another decade in the slow lane?

Our panel of experts discuss the recent announcement and criticism of the Welsh Government's roads review, the huge jump in South Wales Metro costs, bus service funding and franchising, and the ongoing travails of publicly-owned Cardiff Airport.

We also discuss the UK Government's increasingly bizarre classification of multi-billion-pound English rail projects (HS2, TransPennine Route Upgrades) as 'England and Wales' projects and consider what Wales could do if it received the same Barnett Formula consequentials as Scotland or Northern Ireland from the projects.

Our guests:

Ed Evans, Director, Civil Engineering Contractors Association Wales: https://twitter.com/ceca_wales

Aaron Hill, Wales Director for the Confederation of Passenger Transport: https://twitter.com/TweetsByAHill

Paula Renzel, Transport Action Network Cymru: https://twitter.com/TANCymru

And for all the latest from the Hiraeth team you can find us @hiraethpod on most social networks, including Twitter: https://twitter.com/HiraethPod

If you're enjoying the podcast, please consider leaving a review or rating in your podcast app of choice and, if you are able to do so, support us from just £3/month: http://www.patreon.com/hiraethpod