- China crisis - 15th July 2026
- Burned out again - 14th July 2026
- Broken - 13th July 2026
During 23 years with the BBC, and a 42 year journalistic career (when he was trained to use clear and simple language, avoiding jargon), for our Editor, Welshman Phil Parry, political analysis has always loomed large, and now the biggest political story of recent times needs analysis – Labour have lost Wales for the first time in 100 years.
For once the former First Minister of Wales Eluned Morgan (Baroness Morgan of Ely) has put it very well.
She called the election result in Wales “a catastrophe” for Labour.
Lady Morgan and her party fell victim to a tidal wave (which is NOT a mixed metaphor) of support for the Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru (Plaid), and for the right-wing populist party Reform UK.
Plaid will now be the largest party in the Welsh Parliamant/Senedd Cymru (WP/SC), and their leader Rhun ap Iorwerth the likely new FMW.
He has proclaimed: “We will now take the next steps to form a Government”, to interpret that for Mrs Jones in Rhyl, it means dividing up highly-paid jobs to work out who they can jump into bed with.
Their nuclear power policy is fudged – they are apparently in favour of building sites where they have existed before, but not elsewhere.
In other words Wylfa on Anglesey (which just happens to be in Mr ap Iorwerth’s constituency), and Trawsfynydd (still in the north) CAN I think be used for nuclear power plants, yet not other sites.
Again to interpret this for Mrs Jones – the policy APPEARS to be in favour of it in the North, but not in the South.
Please don’t hold me to this, though, because I am as confused as she must be!
However it’s not just Plaid, Labour are in trouble as well – Lady Morgan has lost her seat, and has lost Wales for her party.
She is right to describe this as “a catastrophe”, but has been quick in the past, too, to blame her hapless leader in Number 10 Sir Keir Starmer, rather than her own administration’s DISASTROUS handling of the health service in Wales.
But it is pretty clear how bad the NHS is in Wales, and anyone who has tried to get a hospital appointment can testify to that (I am not talking about the ordinary staff here, who are brilliant).
I have myself been put on a waiting list, and given a date for June NEXT YEAR!
One pressure group (Llais) found that there were: “…challenges like understaffing, long, uncomfortable, undignified waits, and poor communication (which) too often overshadowed positive experiences”.
Professor Medwin Hughes, the chair, declared: “Emergency care in Wales is at breaking point. What we heard from patients and staff across the country exposes a system under extreme and unsustainable pressure where the wellbeing of both patients and healthcare professionals is at significant risk. People across Wales are asking for timely, dignified care, and they deserve nothing less.
“People need urgent answers: what will make things better, and who will make sure real change happens? The Welsh Government and NHS Wales have set out strong principles but principles alone will not fix a system in crisis.
“Now is the time for action. Strong leadership and collaboration are essential to deliver real change for people and communities. A national conversation, involving both patients and professionals, must take place to rebuild trust and confidence in the NHS. The situation demands nothing less”.
Meanwhile in the recent past ambulances have been waiting nearly two hours on average to hand over patients outside Welsh hospitals, and in one month there were more than 6,500 ambulances which spent at least an hour outside A&E departments – the second highest figure on record.
Perhaps that is the real ‘catastrophe’.
As the person who used it in another context has lost her seat, and Labour has lost power, there can be no denying this is a genuinely historic result.
One website has described it in these terms: “Given that was something that has been predicted as a distinct possibility for months, it’s easy to miss the seismic nature of this moment”.
I couldn’t have put it better myself!
The memories of Phil’s decades-long award-winning career in journalism (including his time covering politics), as he was gripped by the rare disabling condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major book ‘A GOOD STORY’. Order it now!
Next week – cyber crime has been put centre stage by the Iranian war, as all parties try to destabilise the foundations of institutions, and this highlights once more how The Eye too have been targeted by hackers.
