Welsh poets’ use of the language of love and intimacy to describe their relationships with powerful patrons is being explored as part of a university's research

On the eve of the Eurovision Song Contest Final, here's something I wrote/curated for the '100 Voices of the BBC' project (scroll down for the bit on the Song Contest which includes some great material from the BBC Oral History Archive): www.bbc.co.uk/historyofthe...

Plaid and Reform represent two new, competing nationalist identities. Welsh Labour never grasped these shifts, nor its own failures, writes Dan Evans

Good to see @andrewmale.bsky.social being on-point about the handling of old BBC material online and reflecting the Written Archives access campaign in his latest column for @sightsoundmag.bsky.social . The BBC gives with one hand, and takes with the other...

Diwrnod ardderchog yn Leeds ddoe - gweithdy Lloegr i drafod polisi darlledu yn y DU datganoledig. Yr Alban nesa, ym mis Medi! A great day for the 'Broadcasting Policy in a Devolved UK' team at the England workshop in Leeds yesterday. A great deal to mull over. Next stop Glasgow in September!

Delighted to be giving an online talk about British television in the 1920s and 1930s for the Art Deco Society on the evening of 17 March; tickets £5 for non-members. artdecosociety.uk/events-2/

A month on from publication my book 'Magic Rays of Light: The Early Years of Television in Britain' remains available from publishers Bloomsbury with discounts on the hardback, paperback and e-book versions. www.bloomsbury.com/uk/magic-ray...

Today's post is largely a link to my polemic on The Conversation about the paucity of the arts on BBC television... www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/the-arts-on-...

Our BFI Southbank screenings linked to the publication of Magic Rays of Light continues on Sunday, 25 January. This is a rare large-screen outing for the 1934 satire Radio Parade of 1935, with Will Hay as John Reith. Programme note reporduced here: www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/magic-rays-a...

Wake up, Westminster:after May, the Scottish and Welsh parliaments will likely be for independence | Will Hayward www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Excellent interview with Michael Sheen by daughter (mine, not his) Kate Wyver www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/j...

A Welsh language campaign group has repeated calls to devolve broadcasting powers to Wales amid concerns about the impact of a new agreement between S4C and BBC iPlayer

The successful series of screenings at BFI Southbank continues on Sunday, 18 January, with the first of three programmes of British feature films that offer imagined versions of television at its start. First up is the silent version of High Treason... www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/magic-rays-a...

The Government finally published its Green Paper on the BBC today. So here’s a very timely piece from Tom Chivers on the future of the BBC as we go into the Charter Review. 'The choice is a democratic BBC or no BBC at all.' fabians.org.uk/whose-bbc/

Delighted to be presenting alongside international colleagues in the MeCCSA Policy Network "Future of Public Service Media" series. The event is apparently sold out.

"For a century, the BBC has been our classroom, our concert hall, our stage, our storyteller and our window on the world. Politicians need reminding: its much more than a news channel."

TG4, BBC Northern Ireland and S4C have announced a milestone co-commission of the first ever animated Christmas movie, created through a tri-nation co-production

Word of the day is ‘quockerwodger’ (19th century): a puppet politician whose strings are pulled entirely by someone else.

Today marks World #Television Day! 📺 Discover more about the struggles and successes of #Welsh broadcasting in 'A History of Independent Television in #Wales' by @jimbomed.bsky.social and 'Broadcasting for Wales' by Elain Price. 📚 www.uwp.co.uk/book/history... 📚 www.uwp.co.uk/book/broadca...

Was thrilled to help consult for this fantastic John Oliver segment on the tragic plight of U.S. public media and why, if we hope to be a democracy, we still need public media for so many things that commercial media will never provide. Deserves a wide viewership. www.youtube.com/watch?v=yknM...

No one should have to face such threats. It would’ve been nice if Greene had realized this before she amplified and endorsed calls for executing Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama.

SUPERB and angrily unvarnished response, by former BBC chairman, Lord Patten. "I don't think that we should allow ourselves to be bullied into thinking that the BBC is only any good, if it reflects the prejudice of the last person who shouted at it." ~AA

@naomialderman.bsky.social's new book: "A friend - who’s read the book - texted me yesterday to say “I see they’ve decided to burn Tim Davie at the stake today”. And so I thought it was probably the right time to put this extract on Substack." naomialderman.substack.com/p/the-bbc-an...

Welsh-language broadcaster S4C now supports more than 2,500 jobs across Wales, according to new independent research that highlights the channel’s growing economic impact

Concerns have been expressed that Reform UK could have an in-built advantage in terms of broadcast coverage in the run-up to next May’s Senedd election ✍️Martin Shipton

A reminder. Only 6.9% of people in Wales were born overseas. Just 2.9% of people in Caerphilly were born overseas. Whereas 38% of medical consultants in Wales were born overseas. Immigrants are not holding our NHS back, they are propping it up.

And this is part of the populist right wing playbook, lie about stuff, repeatedly.

BBC Director General Tim Davie urged the industry to “fight for public service broadcasting” but admitted the “jeopardy is high” as he closed the Wales Screen Summit 2025

Writing for @uk.theconversation.com, @mattwalshjourno.bsky.social, @maxwellmodell.bsky.social and @perkinskeighley.bsky.social outline what viewers complain to Ofcom and the BBC about most 👇 theconversation.com/bob-vylan-gl...

S4C’s chief executive called for increased visibility for Welsh content on online platforms in his opening address at the Wales Screen Summit 2025

Reform UK are pushing immigration hard as an issue in the Caerphilly by-election. Just for context, Caerphilly has the THE LOWEST, immigration rate of all Wales' 22 councils. 97.1% of people there were born in the UK. Only Cardiff and Newport have move that 10% born overseas.

A new exhibition has opened at the National Library of Wales to mark sixty years since the flooding of the Tryweryn valley to create a reservoir for Liverpool

Yn falch iawn o gael f'apwyntio i Is-Banel 34 FfRhY 2029 - edrych 'mlaen! Very pleased to have been appointed to REF Sub-Panel 34 (Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Library and Information Management) and look forward to working with colleagues.

A little reminder for everyone, particularly our friends in the Labour government:

I wrote this yesterday, seems even more important today... talkingwales.co.uk?p=1095&amp=1

Diolch i'r Cymmrodorion am y cyfle i draethu at un o'm hoff bynciau fis Ionawr nesaf (68 mlynedd ar ôl i TWW ddarlledu am y tro cyntaf). Thank you to the Cymmrodorion for the opportunity to speak about one of my favourite topics next January (68 years after TWW went on air for the first time).

Letter of the day (in the Times)

Reposting this from LinkedIn news.sky.com/story/if-the...