Five years on. The same arguments. Different evidence. Welsh Independence Now!
In 2020, three of us sat down in Butetown for an interview that ended up in The Welsh Way (Parthian Books, 2022). Shutha was 18. Nirushan was 21. I was 24. We talked about Westminster’s indifference to Wales. About local legislation having massive effects on people’s lives. About Welsh independence.
I picked the book back up this month.
Five years on:
↳ Welsh Government budget worth £1.3 billion less in real terms than 2021
↳ Tata Steel’s blast furnaces at Port Talbot both closed in 2024, around 2,500 jobs gone.
↳ The Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales concluded in January 2024 that the status quo is unsustainable and Welsh independence is one of three viable options.
↳ Yes Cymru’s polling hit 41% support for independence in March 2025. 51% if Wales could rejoin the EU.
↳ Sewel Convention overridden 11 times since 2016.
↳ The Atlantic Wharf arena broke ground in July 2025, 30 acres of Butetown, with consultation closed before the Full Business Case was signed.
↳ South Wales Police lost the Bridges case at the Court of Appeal in 2020 and have since massively expanded facial recognition deployments.
These slides go through The Welsh Way. The book’s editors (Daniel Evans, Kieron Smith, Huw Williams) called Welsh Labour “a toxic mix of incompetence, bland passivity and corporate complicity.” That was 2021. They were not wrong.
Independence is no longer a fringe argument. It’s a viable option named by the Welsh Government’s own commission. The case isn’t romantic. It’s structural. Local consequences have central causes. Until Wales holds the levers, the consequences keep arriving.
📖 The Welsh Way (Parthian Books, 2022) eds. Daniel Evans, Kieron Smith, Huw Williams
Hope and Haven 🌺 where love stays close
I wrote this book for displaced Sudanese children living in Al Malik refugee camp in Eastern Chad as a small way to remind them that they are seen, they are loved and they are not forgotten.
What these children need more than anything, though, is real material support, which is why i've listed this book for sale (ko-fi link in bio) with 100% of proceeds going to the Children's Daily Meal Program in Al Malik camp.
The cost of the book (£7.50) will feed 1 child 1 hot meal every day for an entire month ❤️🩹 for every book sold, I will also send another copy directly to the children.
Together, we can make a difference
Love xo
01.05.26 // DW News // Sudan Geopolitics & Aid ||
How does the US-Israel war on Iran, and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, affect Sudan?
For Sudanese civilians, this is not distant foreign news. When shipping routes are disrupted, fertiliser becomes harder to access. Aid becomes more expensive to move. Supplies heading towards the Red Sea and Port Sudan are delayed. Farmers are hit before the planting season. Families already facing famine are pushed even closer to the edge.
Sudan’s war is already catastrophic. But global shocks are making it worse.
In this interview, I spoke about how external conflict, aid obstruction, starvation tactics, foreign interests and broken ceasefires are all feeding into Sudan’s destruction.
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
00:26 How the US-Israel-Iran war is pulling attention away from Sudan
01:11 Strait of Hormuz disruption, fertiliser, aid access, the Red Sea and Port Sudan
02:20 Sudan’s famine risk, blocked aid convoys, looting and delayed permits
02:26 How aid becomes politicised and used as an instrument of war
03:33 Starvation as one of the oldest and cheapest weapons in war
04:27 How accusations of smuggling are used to justify restricting aid
05:28 Why the RSF is not simply a “rebel militia”
06:41 Foreign backing, regional interests and Sudan’s war economy
07:08 Sudan’s land, gold, agriculture, livestock, minerals and strategic value
08:16 Why ceasefires keep failing on the ground
09:27 Decades of impunity and Sudan’s broken security architecture
Sudan should not only be remembered when the horror becomes unbearable.
Sudan needs accountability. Sudan needs real pressure on the actors feeding this war.
Its people should not be treated as collateral damage in someone else’s geopolitical game theory.
#KeepEyesOnSudan
(Note: 1 DW banner on the bottom said ‘Egypt supports both sides of the war’, this is false, for EGY supports SAF)
Sudan remains one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world after more than 3 years of war and bloodshed. Please check links in my bio to support different organizations that are helping and supporting the people of Sudan.
#KeepEyesOnSudan
Welsh lad.
Yesterday on the steps of the Senedd, something I will carry for the rest of my life.
Without prompt, without rehearsal, without cue, the crowd began to sing Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau. And in that single moment, a hundred years of patience and six hundred years of memory met the Welsh air at once.
Plaid Cymru has waited a century for this. Since 1925, generation after generation has held the line, through the long Westminster decades when Welsh language, land, and dignity were treated as something to be tolerated rather than honoured. A hundred years of doors knocked, of refusing to let the dream die quietly.
But Wales has waited longer. Six hundred years longer. Since Owain Glyndŵr called the first Welsh parliament at Machynlleth in 1404, and was driven into the hills by an empire that decided we would not govern ourselves again. Six hundred years between that hope and the song I heard yesterday.
History unfolding in front of my eyes. Unrehearsed & unprecedented.
The Senedd is a stone’s throw from my home in Butetown. Yet standing there, I felt connected to every valley, every coast, every village in this small and stubborn country that raised me. Cardiff to Caernarfon. One Wales, and for one moment, it sang as one.
The road here wasn’t only political for me. After the racist attack, what this country gave back, from neighbours, strangers, leaders who didn’t have to say a word but did, turned what was meant to break me into something I’ll carry for life. We turned that moment into unity, solidarity, hope, ambition.
Rhun ap Iorwerth showed me that endearment again yesterday. I won’t lie, there was a fanboy moment😅😂 Totally lost my cool and started sweating 🤣. A legendary dap. A hug I didn’t know I needed.
I stood up for Wales.
Wales stood up for me.
Rhun stood up for me.
And I will continue to stand up for Wales.
Huge congratulations to all my friends and comrades who took seats yesterday. Every one of you earned this. Proud of you, and proud of what you’ll build.
Llongyfarchiadau i Phlaid Cymru, i bawb a fu’n credu. 🏴
(I wish I took more photos and videos)
Nothing to see here 😅 Reform UK Chairman interrogated by LBC’s Lewis Goodall & Jon Sopel over racist dog-whistle tweet on Welsh identity against Plaid Cymru & well..Me.
Dim ond un diwrnod i fynd tan y gallwch bleidleisiwch dros arweinyddiaeth newydd i Gymru gyda Phlaid Cymru! ✊💚
Tomorrow is Thursday.
That means there's just 1⃣ day until you can vote for new leadership for Wales with Plaid Cymru - and stop Reform UK. 🏴
There are moments in the life of a country when history stops being something we read about and becomes something we are asked to take part in.
Wales has carried centuries of struggle, language, community, labour, migration, resistance and hope. This country has always been shaped by ordinary people choosing dignity over fear.
And if we truly believe in ourselves, then we must also learn to trust each other.
If we trust our own hopes, our own communities, our own instincts and our own future, then why are we afraid to build something new together?
Why are we afraid to imagine a Wales with the confidence to stand on its own feet?
A Wales where no community is left behind.
A Wales where young people can stay and build a life.
A Wales where racism and division do not decide who belongs.
A Wales with the courage to shape its own future.
Tomorrow is not just about voting. It is about whether we believe Wales is ready to become more than what others have allowed it to be.
I believe it is.
Vote for hope.
Vote for dignity.
Vote for a stronger Wales.
Vote Plaid Cymru tomorrow. 🏴
