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This is the edited text of a public talk given in Bangor University on Wednesday 19 November 2025 about the eleven oil paintings by Kyffin Williams housed in the University. The talk was followed by a guided tour of the…
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Things from Carmarthenshire
We’ll call him Dai Stoneface. He stares out at us with dark, gouged eyes. Someone has flattened his nose in an ancient fight, the same with the ears. Could he have been a professional boxer? Even the mouth is belligerent,…
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Bob Dylan in Swansea, in 17 tracks
1 It’s my first time in the Swansea Arena auditorium. The building opened more than three years ago, but its usual diet of lesser comedians and tribute bands has never held much appeal. But tonight’s different: the first of three…
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Aber, prifddinas llên
Ar 31 Hydref cyhoeddodd UNESCO bod Aberystwyth/Ceredigion wedi ennill statws ‘dinas llenyddiaeth’, gan ymuno â rhai cannoedd o leoliadau eraill ledled y byd a gydnabyddir am eu ‘ymrwymiad i ddiwydiannau creadigol a bywyd diwylliannol’. (Does dim ‘dinas’ gonfensiynol yn yr…
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Monarch or president? Out of the cave and into the light
It might strike you as perverse, that anyone should make the case that what we need in the UK is to establish a post of President. Across the Atlantic, Donald Trump, with every day that passes, disgraces his office and…
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Two (or three) naughty boys in Jesus
On a visit to Cambridge last week, the first for over fifteen years, we stayed in one of the guest rooms in Jesus College. We were free to roam the courts, and to eat breakfast with the students in the…
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Heaven in Trieste
It’s unlikely, for a number of good reasons, that after my death I shall end up in heaven. But if it happens, and if – an even more remote possibility – St Peter offers me a choice of where exactly…
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In praise of the dash
A few weeks ago the Observer columnist and internet technology expert John Naughton – one of the few columnists left who’s still worth reading after the Guardian carelessly disowned its Sunday sister – wrote a fascinating article – fascinating to…
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Haf 1975: adeilad newydd, gyrfa newydd
Ym mis Medi bûm ym Mhrifysgol Caerdydd ar gyfer dathliad pen-blwydd – hanner can mlynedd ers agor Llyfrgell y Celfyddydau ac Astudiaethau Cymdeithasol (ASSL). Dathliad arbennig i mi, achos dyna le dechreuais i ar fy swydd broffesiynol gyntaf – yn…
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Snowdonia Slate Walk, day 4: Beddgelert to Tanygrisiau
I’ve not slept well in Beddgelert. The reason, I think, is that our B&B is beside Afon Glaslyn, and I’m not used to sleeping with the constant noise of running water. Today we’re going to be following the river downstream…