gwallter

  • As the Russian government continues its murderous and destructive war on Ukraine, it seems a good time to turn to a voice for peace.  Here’s a poem from the time of what is still called, mistakenly, the English Civil War,…

  • Five minutes’ walk away, where Summerland Lane reduces to a narrow neck of tarmac to meet Newton Road, is Paraclete Chapel.  In every respect it’s unremarkable, except for one thing, its highly unusual name.  Till recently I’ve not thought much…

  • Hanging on a wall in the public library in Stromness, where you can sit in an easy chair and enjoy a view of the waterfront through the picture window, is an oil painting called The bookseller of Stromness. It was…

  • It’s made out of a single piece of oak and sits upright on the window sill, though its planed rear and central hole suggest it was originally intended to hang on a wall.  The head of an adult man or…

  • Beth yw tlodi?  Am flynyddoedd bellach fe’i diffinnir yn y wlad hon fel ‘tlodi cymharol’.  Hynny yw, dych chi’n dlawd os ydych chi’n derbyn incwm sy’n 60% yn is nag incwm cyfartal pobl eich cymuned.  Dyw hi ddim yn syndod…

  • Of the many analogies used to make sense of Boris Johnson’s inglorious reign, the circus is probably the commonest.  No ordinary circus, of course, but one where witless acrobats fall headlong from their tightropes, lions run amok and maul defenceless…

  • Not many people these days have heard of Ambrose Bebb.  Maybe some Welsh speakers, especially following Robin Chapman’s 1997 biography, but very few others.  His son Dewi Bebb, the rugby player, and his grandson Guto Bebb, the former MP, are…

  • Evening runs aren’t really my thing these days.  Almost always I go out early in the morning.  But today’s different.  For one thing, this is my first run for several weeks, since aggravating an old Achilles tendon injury.  So my…

  • Yn gynnar yn Afal drwg Adda, hunangofiant Caradog Prichard, daw brawddeg sy’n codi ael y darllenydd: Hyd yma [canfod ei fam yn mynd yn ffwndrus] yr oeddwn yn eofn a hunan hyderus, yn ymladdwr ffyrnig ac wedi ennill enw fel…

  • We’re back to four of us today.  We’ve arranged to meet Ch on the Wye bridge: he’s been staying in Clochfaen, a large house completed in 1915 by the Verney family, who invested large amounts of money into the economy…

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