politics
The new eschatology

As 2016 comes to an end the heavens are full of what Flann O’Brien’s great scientist De Selby called ‘black air’. A long night, it appears, is about to fall on two continents. In the United States a plutocratic bully and egomaniac with the crudest social and political attitudes is about to take power, unrestrained […]
Cynulliad neu Senedd?

Yn ddiweddar iawn cyhoeddodd Elin Jones AC, Llywydd Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru, wahoddiad inni leisio ein barn am gynnig i newid enw’r Cynulliad. Ei dadl yw bod y Cynulliad, dros y bymtheg mlynedd a mwy ers ei sefydliad, yn haeddu enw sy’n fwy urddasol a chywir na’i enw presennol, wrth i’r pwerau sy ganddo gynyddu (bydd […]
Cadbury capitalism

All my life I’ve been a chocolate addict. The high point of a visit to my granny’s at Howden was when she would open a secret drawer and give me some. At home my mother used to hide bars in a high cupboard, well away from a small boy’s fingers. I repeated the trick when […]
Y £5 newydd: ymlaen i’r gorffennol

Yr wythnos ddiwethaf cyrhaeddodd fy mhapur pum punt newydd cyntaf. Ychydig ddyddiau cyn hynny derbyniais i trwy’r post The new Fiver, taflen (uniaith Saesneg – er bod fersiwn Cymraeg ar gael) gan Fanc Lloegr sy’n ceisio esbonio’r newid a rhoi cysur i’r cyhoedd. Rhaid imi gyfaddef, yn anaml iawn y byddwn i’n aros am eiliad […]
A curious traveller in north Wales

There’s an excellent collaborative research project in train at the moment, led by Bangor University, called European travellers to Wales. Its workers are busy unearthing accounts by tourists – writers and artists – from the Continent who visited Europe between 1750 and 2010. At the same time another project, Curious travellers: Thomas Pennant and the […]
A small room in south London

An early morning in late summer. Light from a cloudy sky falls evenly into the small room from the window on the left, under a partly closed roller blind. No particular object inside is highlighted, each is democratically equal. The floor is made of narrow, carefully fitted wooden boards. There’s no carpet, no rug. Opposite […]
The debate about Mytilene: a short footnote on Brexit

In 428 BC, three years into the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies, the city of Mytilene on the Aegean island of Lesbos decides to secede from the Athenian empire. The oligarchic rulers of Mytilene fear that what independence they still have – unlike other states they had retained their navy […]
The case of Sir Martin Sorrell

From time to time the world of big business suffers a flurry of concern about the remuneration of chief executives. Recently shareholders of the advertising company WPP worked themselves into a mini-lather about the pay of the company’s boss, Sir Martin Sorrell. Sorrell’s annual salary is £1,5000,000. In March this year he gained a share award […]