Planet Online 220

Planet 220

Shared Walls and Shared Lives

Archaeologist Pippa Pemberton celebrates the ubiquitous Welsh terrace, and argues this structure can be adapted into an energy-efficient model for contemporary communal living.

We Need a New Deal for Tenants

Adam Johannes on the Renting Homes (Wales) Bill and argues it fails to protect ‘Generation Rent’ from insecure and expensive housing. He calls for grassroots action 100yrs since the Glasgow Rent Strike…

Welsh Keywords: Cywilydd

In the sixteenth contribution to our Welsh Keywords series, Mair Rees reflects on how for her the word ‘cywilydd’ is more painful than its closest English equivalent – ‘shame’. She argues that in 21st century Wales, ‘cywilydd’ still marks women’s self-image, has seeped into the marrow of the Welsh language and continues to crush confidence in the nation’s political status.

'Salem' Revisited

A poem by John Barnie

No Birth Ever Goes to Plan

Jess Rose draws on her experience of childbirth to analyse the impact of downgrading maternity services, and invites mothers across Wales to contribute to a film project responding to these dangerous cuts.

Retracing Wales: Aberafan Beach to Briton Ferry

In the latest article in our ‘Retracing Wales’ series of creative responses to the Wales Coast Path, Lynne Rees sets off from Aberafan Beach in search of an elusive shipwreck of childhood memory, and reflects on Briton Ferry’s little-known pacifist history as she reaches the town…

The Island Surrounded by Land and Silence

Rogelio Vallejo gives an insight into Paraguay, his little-known homeland, whose repressive state so often escapes scrutiny, and whose writers have braved much in exposing brutality.

A Lost Leader

A short story set during the Miners’ Strike and its aftermath by Tony Bianchi

Fiddling While Venice Drowns?

Iwan Bala reflects on the theme of the 2015 Venice Biennale ‘All the World’s Futures’, asking whether the show really responds to emerging global urgencies, and the threat not just to the city but to humanity itself from climate change.

The Third of October

A poem by Adam Day

The Psyche of a Psychedelic Nation

Deian Timms looks at the persistence of the psychedelic aesthetic in Wales, from Gwenno’s Y Dydd Olaf to Gruff Rhys’s American Interior and beyond, and what this says about cultural loss and the desire for political freedom… Can the psychedelic still be subversive?

Corbyn for Cymru?

Huw L. Williams meets Jeremy Corbyn at the Bevan Stones in Tredegar and reflects on the implications of Corbyn’s success for the Welsh Left, and his choice of Shadow Secretary of State for Wales.

Cultural Freedom Through Ritual

Charmian Savill looks at recent and upcoming productions from Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru, including Nansi and Dawns Ysbrydion, as part of a wider phenomenon in contemporary theatre and performance in which the power of ritual is revived.