Independence - Self-Determination - Autonomy

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​My musings on life, academia, Wales and all things in-between.

Roger Scully

This blog is devoted to the discussion and analysis of elections, voting and political representation in Wales. But then you probably guessed that from the title.

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Elections and voting are central to political life in any representative democracy. Yet they are often not well understood. In Wales, elections have long had a peculiar character, with sustained one-party dominance characterising the vast majority of elections in the democratic era. This blog tries to explore that and other phenomena, contributing towards greater knowledge and understanding of elections in Wales.

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This is not a Blog featuring daily up-dates. Posts are rather less frequent than that; the general aim is to offer some considered thoughts about elections and related matters, rather than reacting immediately to the events of the day. Most of the posts are by me, though I hope also to encourage more frequent guest posts by others. Notices of blog up-dates will be posted via my Twitter account (@roger_scully) and on Facebook.

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Elections in Wales is not concerned with trying to advance the interests or electoral popularity of any particular political party. There are plenty of other places you can go to for that. The blog sometimes takes positions on controversial issues. But it is fundamentally about trying to provide a forum for the understanding of elections and voting, and not about trying to bang the drum for one or other party. If you have a hard time grasping that, please go elsewhere.

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As this blog is written in Wales, and about Wales, mae’n bosibl bydd sawl o’r cyfraniadau yn Gymraeg. Where a post is written yn Gymraeg, an English translation will also be posted.

In Brief is the National Assembly for Wales Research Service blog, posting short, topical and accessible articles on issues of interest to Assembly Members and their staff.

Sandra Clubb

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We are an independent think tank working to make Wales better. We come up with practical ideas to improve the economy, education and health. Our vision is to help create a Wales where everyone can flourish.

​Interpreting Wales from a Right of Centre Nationalist Perspective

Professor at Wales Governance Centre, Cardiff University; Devolution specialist; ex-Wales international footballer, former Chair of Sport Wales.

Family, Wales, Coworking, Community, Business, Regeneration, Football, Politics

Meirion Morgan. Mathematician, developer, technologist. Entrepreneur, businessman, philanthropist, leader. Fixed-income quant, structured credit specialist.  Increasingly amateur baritone, pianist, flautist. Red wine and Guinness fan. Occasional iconoclast. Cardiff, Aberdare

Owen Donovan

Tell people more about this item. Give people the info they need to go ahead and take the action you want. To make this item your own, click here > Add & Manage Items.

Comisiynydd Heddlu a Throsedd Gogledd Cymru - Police and Crime Commissioner for North Wales

Leighton Andrews

​Leighton Andrews is Professor of Practice in Public Service Leadership and Innovation at Cardiff Business School. Formerly Assembly Member for the Rhondda from 2003-2016, and Minister for Education and Skills and Minister for Public Services in Carwyn Jones’s Welsh Labour Governments from 2009-16. He was the first person to be made Welsh Politician of the Year on two occasions.

Welcome to Thinking Wales, showcasing current research, comments and analysis on Welsh politics and policy from postgraduate researchers at the Wales Governance Centre.

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The centre and Cardiff University have a thriving community of postgraduate researchers who each have something unique to say on Welsh politics and policy. The range of research interests of the contributors are very varied meaning a wide array of topics being discussed. We want to give the opportunity to young academics and researchers to showcase their talent and give them a space to provide commentary and analysis on key issues concerning Welsh and sometimes British politics.

The Wales Audit Office is the public sector watchdog for Wales.

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Our aim is to ensure that the people of Wales know whether public money is being managed wisely and that public bodies in Wales understand how to improve outcomes.
We do this through:

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• Auditing the financial accounts of public bodies

• Reporting on how services are being delivered

• Assessing whether value for money is being achieved

• Checking how organisations are planning and delivering improvements

We are also committed to identifying and spreading good practice, to help public bodies deliver better services.

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Our work includes all devolved public sectors in Wales – including health and social care, local and central government, fire and rescue authorities, national parks, police, probation and community councils.

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We are responsible for the annual audit of £15 billion of public funds, most of the public money spent in Wales.

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Our blog is designed to provide you with a flavour of the kind of work we do and the activities we are involved in.

Blog posts are written by our staff, with occasional guest posts from other organisations we work with.

Gwynoro Jones

Gwynoro is a former Labour MP for Carmarthen, Member of the Council of Europe and PPS to Roy Jenkins. He was Chair of the SDP and Alliance in Wales during 1980s, Member of National Committee of the SDP 1982-87 and of the Lib Dems 1989-92. Also Vice Chair of Lib Dems Policy Committee.

Between 1993-2013 he headed a schools' inspections and conferencing company, occasionally engaging in political commentary on radio and television in Wales. He is currently a campaigner for PR, Home Rule and the Lib Dems, habitually appearing in the media.

Meirion Morgan

Open data coupled with a variety of tools offers scope for visualization that would have been unthinkable even a few years ago. Pivot tables in spreadsheets and static charts as means of looking at data can now easily be replaced with means far more colourful, interactive and dynamic.

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This website is an evolving concept rather than a finished product; more data and charts will be added as opportunity permits over the coming months. The data that’s been used to create the simple visualizations to date has been taken from a spreadsheet available on the Welsh Government website together with Boundary Line data from the Ordnance Survey, converted and reduced in resolution using QGIS/GDAL.

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A couple of interactive maps are available here giving some data on the Demographics and Economy of Wales. There are also pages that show summary data for a range of statistics which can be ordered by constituency, region or value.

Gwleidyddiaeth, llyfrau, bywyd, iaith a'r hyn a'r llall. Dim ond ishe gwneud sens o bethe dw i. Politics, books, life, language and this and that. Just trying to make sense of it all.