Six weeks into my retirement from the Bevan Foundation, I am pleased to be launching my website.
I am doing it because I see a real lack of informed analysis, comment and challenge about Wales today, and I want to help to fill that gap.
There are of course plenty of knee-jerk reactions online, whether on the comments section of news websites or on social media. But more informed comment is thin on the ground, not withstanding the efforts of organisations like the Bevan Foundation or Institute of Welsh Affairs and journalists like Will Hayward. With the challenges facing Wales, there need to be more and diverse voices, so I am adding mine into the mix.
The need for constructive debate is never clearer. In a discussion about the UK’s sense of division on Radio 4’s Today programme on 12 November, it was striking how right-leaning politicians were re-positioning their political thinking and promoting their arguments. Meanwhile, an earlier interview with Wes Streeting MP reminded us about how the Labour Party seems more intent on infighting over the leadership.
So in my small way, I want to contribute some of the learning from my 50 year-old career to help to build a new and better Wales. I am doing so with a commitment to social, economic and environmental justice – but am very firmly non-political.
Coming up, I am planning to write about a whole range of things, from comment on current news topics such as UK and Welsh governments’ budgets or recent reports, to analysis of recent stats, to musings from the bus or train.
Thank you for reading this far and look out for more!
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