Robert Lloyd - a Sir Gar Blog of random news . . . and some Clecs!

Was the result of the 2011 National Assembly election a vote in favour of the Labour party, or one against the UK government? This question will be answered in two Breakfast Seminars held this week - in Cardiff on Tuesday morning 11th October, and in Aberystwyth on Wednesday morning 12th October. In these seminars, Professor Roger Scully from Aberystwyth University’s Institute of Welsh Politics (IWP) and Professor Richard Wyn Jones of Cardiff University’s Wales Governance Centre (WGC) will give the first public presentations of data collected by the 2011 Welsh Election Study (WES). The seminars will be held in Cardiff at the Norwegian Church in Cardiff Bay, and in Aberystwyth at the Welsh Government Buildings, Rhodfa Padarn, and are organised by the IWP and the WGC. The 2011 Welsh Election Study was conducted by the IWP and WGC in collaboration with the leading polling company YouGov; financial support for the study was provided by the Economic and Social Research Council of the United...

Why did Wales vote Yes so clearly in the referendum in March? This question will be answered in two Breakfast Seminars held this week - in Cardiff on Wednesday morning 22nd June, and in Aberystwyth on Friday morning 24th June. In these seminars, Professor Roger Scully from Aberystwyth University’s Institute of Welsh Politics (IWP) and Professor Richard Wyn Jones of Cardiff University’s Wales Governance Centre (WGC) will give the first public presentations of data collected by the 2011 Welsh Referendum Study (WRS). The seminars will be held in Cardiff at the Norwegian Church in Cardiff Bay, and in Aberystwyth at the Welsh Assembly Buildings, Rhodfa Padarn, and are organised by the IWP and the WGC. The 2011 Welsh Referendum Study was conducted by the IWP and WGC in collaboration with the leading polling company YouGov, and with financial support from the Economic and Social Research Council of the United Kingdom. A representative sample of the Welsh electorate, comprising over 3000 respo...

Are the Welsh as politically radical as they like to consider themselves? This will be one of the questions addressed by one of Wales’ leading political analysts on Thursday night. In his Professorial Inaugural Lecture, Democracy in Contemporary Wales, to be delivered in the home of Aberystwyth University’s world-leading Department of International Politics, Prof Roger Scully will argue the need for the more serious, systematic study of politics in Wales. He will contend that “political life here is arguably in greater need of sustained, critical attention than in most places. In the absence of a body of serious scholarly analysis, characterisations of politics in Wales have long tended to draw heavily on myths and clichés that have rarely, if ever, been properly investigated.” Among these myths, Prof Scully will argue, is that of the Welsh ‘radical tradition’. But although the idea that the Welsh are, and have long been, more politically radical than the English is ‘ubiquitous’ in pol...

Aberystwyth University has compiled a directory of academics who can contribute to the political debate in Wales in the run up to the forthcoming Welsh Assembly Elections on the 5th of May 2011. The Institute of Welsh Politics (IWP), situated in the Department of International Politics, has a long tradition of engaging with the Welsh political landscape and has, over the years, conducted several major studies of the National Assembly Elections. Also included in this directory are experts in the devolved areas of business and economy, children and young people, culture and sports, education and skills, social justice, sustainable development and the Welsh language. The 32 academics listed in the directory represent seven different academic departments within the University. The relevant fields of expertise of each member of staff have been identified and they have confirmed their availability to be contacted for comment during the coverage of this election. The directory will be a big h...

Wales’ top civil servant will be visiting Aberystwyth University on Thursday. Dame Gill Morgan, Permanent Secretary to the Welsh Assembly Government, will be giving a public lecture on ‘Government in Wales: the Next Ten Years’. Dame Gill is a former general practitioner and hospital consultant, who went on to become Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation from 2002 to 2008. She succeeded Sir Jon Shortridge in the Assembly Government in May 2008. She is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and of the Faculty of Public Health, a member of the Royal College of General Practitioners, and a past President of the International Hospital Federation. Dame Gill’s lecture is being jointly organised by the Institute of Welsh Politics and the Centre for Welsh Legal Affairs at Aberystwyth University. Looking forward to the lecture, Dr Catrin Fflur Huws, Director of the Centre for Welsh Legal Affairs, said “From a legal perspective, the next ten years will be a very exciting time for Wal...

In the run-up to the March 3rd Referendum, the Institute of Welsh Politics and WCVA’s Voices for Change Cymru project are running two seminars, in Aberystwyth and Cardiff. These aim to provide information about the referendum and offer people the chance to discuss and debate the potential implications of the referendum for people’s daily lives in key policy areas. The Aberystwyth Seminar will be held at the Department of International Politics on 19th January, from 1730 – 1900. (Light refreshments will be available from 1700). This seminar will feature a short introduction to the Referendum by Voices for Change Cymru, and then discussion of the potential implications for Rural Affairs, the Environment and the Economy. The event will be chaired by Dr Elin Royles; the main speakers will be Huw Thomas (NFU Cymru), Morgan Parry (Chair, Countryside Council for Wales) and Russell Lawson (Federation of Small Businesses). The Cardiff seminar will be held at the Pierhead Building, Cardiff Bay o...

On Thursday (November 18), the Institute of Welsh Politics is very pleased to welcome the Rt. Hon. Cheryl Gillan MP to deliver its 12th Annual Lecture. Cheryl Gillan was elected Member of Parliament for Chesham and Amersham in April, 1992. She was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Wales by David Cameron in December 2005 and following the General Election of May 2010 she was appointed Secretary of State for Wales. Her lecture at the Department of International Politics, Aberystwyth University, is entitled ‘Respect: The New Politics’. The lecture will look at the changing relationship between the UK Government and the Welsh Assembly Government, and between Westminster and the National Assembly following May’s General Election. Born in Llandaff, Cardiff and educated at Cheltenham Ladies College and the College of Law, her previous occupations include working on the International Management Group, Director of British Film Year, Senior Marketing Consultant, Ernst and Young, and Market...

What happened in the 2010 Election? Why? These are two questions which will be answered in two breakfast seminars held this week - in Cardiff on Wednesday morning 26th May 2010, and in Aberystwyth on Friday morning 28th May 2010. In these seminars, Dr Richard Wyn Jones of Cardiff University’s Wales Governance Centre (WGC), and Professor Roger Scully from Aberystwyth University’s Institute of Welsh Politics (IWP) will disseminate some of the data collected from the 2010 Welsh Election Survey. The seminars will be held in Cardiff at the Norwegian Church in Cardiff Bay, and in Aberystwyth at the Welsh Assembly Buildings, Rhodfa Padarn, and are organised by the WGC and the IWP. The 2010 Welsh Election Survey was conducted by the IWP and WGC with the leading polling company YouGov. A representative sample of the Welsh electorate, comprising 1475 respondents, were surveyed immediately after the UK general election on 6th May. As well as providing valuable insights into the 2010 election, fin...