#welsh-communities

#welsh-communities

The Irish government will give 2,000 artists unrestricted weekly stipends in a program officials described as a "recognition, at government level, of the important role of the arts in Irish society." After a successful three-year pilot, the Irish government made its basic income program for artists permanent. Similar pilots have been launched here in the United States, but they're supported primarily by the nonprofit sector.

It was a Saturday in February 2020 when the flood came. It had been a wet winter, so wet it seemed that before the month was out, the brown trout of the River Taff might be washed clean out into Cardiff Bay before the fishing season had even begun. But this is Wales. People are used to a spot of rain.

As time went on, I even started slowing down as I approached this junction to try to catch the offending ad. But even when I got a good look at it, I thought I must be mistaken. Eventually, at 6am one Saturday morning over Christmas, I parked, readied the camera on my phone, and waited. The roads were deathly quiet, neither car nor soul anywhere. Just me, my phone, and this wretched sign.

This time, the drama steps beyond the fluorescent glow of Pierpoint's trading floor and into a broader, more unsettling social landscape. Whilst capitalism is, of course, still the driving force behind each storyline, season 4 is more attuned to the power structures that orbit it. This time, Industry unfolds as a sharp, uncomfortable on-the-nose commentary of modern politics, media, technocrats and the seemingly-immovable aristocracy of British society. It's still sweaty-palm television, but with an even more sinister edge.

Wales boss Craig Bellamy's employers at the Football Association of Wales (FAW) are negotiating for their national team's training base to be in the city which hosts MLS side Real Salt Lake. Anthony Pulis - son of former Stoke and West Brom boss Tony Pulis and an ex-Wales Under-21s cap - is Real Salt Lake assistant manager and has advised the FAW on options in the United States.

Nigel Farage knows how to hold a room full of Reform supporters. I have watched him close-up at events in Newport, Port Talbot, Birmingham and Llandudno over the past 15 months and party members look like they hang on his every word. For many, whatever their reason for joining, Farage 'is' Reform. That makes the heavily-rumoured imminent appointment of a Welsh leader, just three months before Wales's Senedd election on 7 May, all the more intriguing.

In a little over 100 days three and a half months time voters in Wales will elect a new devolved government. Opinion polls suggest the prospect of a groundbreaking result: Labour being rejected for the first time ever. The valleys of South Wales are steeped in Labour's storied past. Hardie, Bevan, Kinnock and Foot -- the giants of this movement have walked these streets. But the mood within Welsh Labour as it contemplates elections across this nation is bleak, even black.

Wrexham started it, by defeating Premier League opposition for the first time in 26 years, then tiny Macclesfield created worldwide headlines by eliminating holders Crystal Palace for the biggest shock in FA Cup history, and then Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United reminded us that some things never change. And yes, there was not even any VAR to spoil, or delay, the fun and anguish that comes with watching your team score or concede a crucial goal.