the welsh £6.95 agenda Spring/Summer 2020 Issue 64 Michael Sheen talks to Dylan Moore Susie Ventris-Field on thinking globally Darren Hughes on the future of NHS Mymuna Soleman on the Privilege Cafe #RethinkingWales Rebecca Nelson on Banc Cambria | Leighton Andrews on devolution | Poppy Stowell-Evans on GCSEs Organisational members The Institute of Welsh Affairs gratefully acknowledges funding support Editorial from the Books Council of Wales, the Carnegie UK Trust, CREW, the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Friends Provident Foundation, the Jane Rethinking Wales Hodge Foundation, the Legal Education Foundation and the Waterloo Foundation. The following organisations are organisational members: Auriol Miller Aberystwyth University Cynon Taf Community MS Society Cymru RSPB Cymru Library Housing Group National Dance RWE Innogy UK ince the last edition of the welsh agenda was reach out and grasp it, a practical plan to make it real, and Acorn Group Deloitte LLP Company Wales S4C published in autumn 2019, COVID-19 has changed – being pragmatic – a credible idea of where the money Acuity Legal Limited Deryn Consulting National Theatre Wales Samaritans Cymru our world and our way of life in ways we could not might come from to pay for it. Amgueddfa Cymru Disability Wales National Trust Wales S Sero Homes have imagined. I wrote then that it would be foolhardy Our #RethinkingWales sessions may have highlighted National Museum Wales Doopoll Natural Resources Wales Shelter Cymru to make any prediction as to what would happen in the Wales’ economic dependence on the Treasury, but they Arup Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water National Union of Students Smart Energy GB coming months. That was about Brexit. have also highlighted that we have considerable assets Association of Chartered Eisteddfod (NUS) Wales Snowdonia National The total of deaths in the UK, thus far, stuns us too, not least our people: the many thousands of ‘key Certified Accountants (ACCA) Genedlaethol Cymru Newport City Homes Park Authority because of the size of the numbers involved. In Wales, at workers’ for whom the economy has not been ‘paused’ Awel Aman Tawe Estyn Newsdirect Wales Sustrans Cymru Bangor University Eversheds Sutherland North Wales Fire & Tenovus Cancer Care the time of writing, over 1,200 people who tested positive at all. We are an old, proud nation with a young and BBC Cymru Wales (International) LLP Rescue Service The Cathedral School Llandaff for the virus have died in hospital or in a care home. It is increasingly confident democracy. We have strong and Blake Morgan LLP EYST Wales OFGEM The Learned Society of Wales such a great number that we cannot easily put names and diverse communities, abundant natural resources, and BMA Cymru Wales Family Housing Association Orchard Media The Means faces to them all yet, or know their stories. And yet we a willingness to try new ways of doing things. We now Brewin Dolphin (Wales) Ltd Oxfam Cymru The Open University in Wales should. So we start this edition of the welsh agenda with need to get even better at quantifying and valuing what British Council - Wales Federation of Small Parker Plant Hire Ltd Tidal Power plc a sombre reflection, we mourn the lives lost, the families we have, and measuring the progress we want to make. In Businesses Wales British Heart Pembrokeshire Coast United Purpose decimated, and the hopes of a brighter future dashed for this edition, we’ve asked all sorts of people to share their Foundation Cymru Ffilm Cymru National Park Authority Universities Wales so many who loved them. thoughts too. Bron Afon Friends of the Earth Cymru People and Work University Of South Wales The impact of COVID-19 on different parts of society In a twist of fate, COVID-19 has also cut through the Community Housing Geldards LLP Perago University of Wales BT Cymru Wales is throwing long standing economic, gender, race and glazed curtain that falls across most people’s faces when Grayling Wales PLANED Trinity Saint David Business in the class divisions into even starker relief. We know our the word ‘devolution’ is mentioned. Media reporting of Harvard College Library Platfform Wales & West Utilities Ltd Community Cymru essential sectors are staffed disproportionately by women the availability or otherwise of PPE, ditto coronavirus Hendre Housing Pobl Group Wales Co-operative Centre Cadwyn Housing Association Association Limited and people from black, Asian and minority ethnic testing facilities, and how best to come out of lockdown Principality Wales Council for Voluntary Capital Law Limited backgrounds. Far from being a ‘great leveller’ the virus have enraged and confused even the most politics-shy of Historix Editions Prospect Wales Cymru Action (WCVA) Cardiff County Council has instead further deepened long standing inequalities. our citizens. Why? Because these things matter to each Hugh James Public Services Wales TUC Cymru Cardiff Metropolitan Institute Of Chartered Ombudsman for Wales Waterloo Foundation How we describe what’s happening needs to and every one of us and the people we care about. University Accountants Of England PwC Watts Gregory recognise that each and every one of us is experiencing Where and how decisions are made, and by whom, Cardiff University And Wales Qualifications Wales Welsh Centre for International this crisis in very different ways, so that everyone’s voices must be better understood if we are going to safeguard Carnegie UK Trust ITV Cymru Wales Ramblers Cymru Affairs (WCIA) and experiences can shape what comes next. We need a all our future generations. Our new study of inter- Cartrefi Cymru Jardine Norton RenewableUK Cymru Welsh Local Government clear direction of travel, yet there is no single or uniform parliamentary relations and their impact on citizens’ day CECA Wales Ltd Julian Hodge Bank Ltd Rondo Media Association (WLGA) narrative. Far less is this a battle with an enemy that can to day lives is proving well-timed. When governments Chwarae Teg Learning and Work Institute Royal College of Nursing Welsh National Opera be planned for in a militaristic campaign. This is a global show they can’t or won’t work together in the common Citizens Advice Cymru Living Streets Cymru in Wales Women’s Equality Network health crisis, not a terrorist attack or a war. interest – whether on Brexit or coronavirus – our Coastal Housing Group Ltd Llamau (WEN) Wales Royal Society of Architects Wales’ response must be intensely local, involving and parliaments should be willing and able to scrutinise and Colleges Wales/Colegau Cymru Macmillan Cancer Support in Wales Wrexham Glyndŵr University including our communities, because we know they are so hold them to account across nations and party lines. Of Community Housing Cymru Merthyr Valleys Homes Royal Town Planning WWF Cymru different from each other. Above all, we must communicate course we wish it hadn’t happened like this, but it has. Community - the Union for Life Meyrick Estate Institute Cymru Cymorth Cymru Management Ltd Royal Welsh College of clearly, to cut through the noise and uncertainty. Shaping the next stage of our governance is already here. Cynnal Cymru Morgan LaRoche Music & Drama There is a clear opportunity to shift to a new way of Whatever your politics, shaping the next stage of doing things – a greener, fairer, more equal future. The Wales’ future includes you too. Will you join us and help question is whether there is enough of an appetite to us to rethink Wales? To become an organisational member of the IWA, please call 029 2048 4387. AM Meet the Team Inside ARTICLES Lockdown: an essay in photographs Glenn Edwards documents isolation in Roath 06 this issue How to lose a million pounds Peter Elwood says weight loss is the key to a healthier Wales 36 Closing the gender gap Emma Henwood reports on the ways heart attack affects women 40 The idea of Britain Simon Brooks on the importance of ‘the island’ in Welsh-language thought 44 Editor Editorial Manager Culture Editor Helen Antoniazzi Shazia Awan-Scully meets Leanne Wood’s former special advisor Dylan Moore Andy Regan Merlin Gable 48 @_DylanMoore @AndyReganCDF @merlingable The forward march of devolution halted? Leighton Andrews assesses COVID-19’s threat 52 Curriculum for Wales Martin Johnes says inequality is a bigger deal than rows about content 60 Banc Cambria Rebecca Nelson says the pandemic makes a cooperative bank even more vital EDITORIAL GROUP Anwen Elias 64 @anwen_elias HIGHLIGHTS A Balancing Act: infrastructure and environment Kate Attwood on careful considerations 68 Rhys ap Gwilym Reader in Politics, Senior Lecturer in Economics, 10 Mountains to Climb Geraint Talfan Davies assesses Welsh Government’s international strategy Aberystwyth University Radical Help 76 Bangor Business School Michael Sheen talks to Gareth Evans Collaboration, communities and number crunching Elinor Shepley on Understanding Dylan Moore 82 Shazia Awan-Scully @garethdjevans Welsh Places @Shazia Awan Director of Education, Yr Athrofa 16 Turnaround Towns Hannah Ormston on how Cardigan has made the most of its assets Global Head of PR #Rethinking Wales 86 The CreditSafe Group Gerald Holtham 27 contributors suggest Managing Partner, Cadwyn national priorities Noreen Blanuet Capital LLP & IWA Trustee @noreenblanuet 26 CULTURE Director, Co-Production Auriol Miller Act local, act global Meltem Arikan at Elan Valley Filiz Celik meets the Turkish writer in exile at a remote cottage Network Wales @auriol_miller Susie Ventris-Field encourages 90 Director, IWA global concern Time and Tide Angela V. John