rhifyn 1139 issue 1139
gair rhydd
7 hydref 2019 7 october 2019
Check out Gair Rhydd online
Cardiff University’s student paper | Established 1972
Mark Drakeford on Labour, language and leaving the EU A
Successful Freshers’ Week for Students’ Union
s Freshers’ Week comes to an end, our News desk reflects upon the festivities. Not only was 2019 Freshers’ Week a successful one for the Students’ Union regarding club nights, thousands of students took part in the Union’s Freshers’ Fairs, too! We spoke to the Students’ Union and Cardiff ’s newest nightclub, Story, to find out how well Freshers’ Week went in the university and beyond. 3
Lowri Pitcher Head of Politics
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n Thursday October 3, First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford came to Cardiff University to hold a talk about devolution in Wales. He was a vocal campaigner supporting the establishment of the Welsh Assembly in the 1997 Welsh devolution referendum. He became the Assembly Member for Cardiff West during the 2011 Assembly election. He later succeeded Carwyn Jones as First Minister of Wales in December 2018. Before the talk, Gair Rhydd met with Mark to discuss his views on devolution, the most recent Brexit developments, the rhetoric used in politics, and to find out what he’d consider to be his favourite pub meal! Read a snapshot of our interview below, a full version can be found on our website. Why it is important that we have devolution in Wales? Because it gives us control over our domestic affairs so that things that apply only to people in Wales are decided upon only by people who live in Wales. It’s that basic self-determination principle. Why is Welsh Labour advocating for us to remain in the EU, when it seeks to have more powers devolved from Westminster to have control? Are Wales’ interests better represented in the EU than in Westminster? We believe Wales’ future is better off inside the United Kingdom and the European Union. I don’t think that we think of the two things in conflict. Wales is better off inside the EU because there is a common rulebook which everybody has to agree to and where that allows trade with our nearest and most important market to happen freely in a way that is advantageous to Welsh businesses and rural communities. But remaining in the EU is more than an economic argument, it is about identity. Wales is a European nation, we speak the oldest language in the whole of Europe. We should see ourselves as a welcoming and outgoing nation that engages with the rest of the world and our membership of the European union allows that. On the subject of Brexit, what is your opinion on Boris Johnson’s new Brexit proposals?
Cymru’n profi buddugoliaeth arall
First Minister: Mark Drakeford became the First Minister of Wales in December 2018 succeeding Carwyn Jones. Source: Steve Davidson. I’m afraid I’m more fearful of them than Mrs May’s. We gave a cautious welcome to the Chequers proposals that caused Boris Johnson to leave the cabinet, an agreement which he now describes in hyperbolic ways, despite some members of his cabinet having voted for them three times. The reason why we were prepared to give a modest welcome to Mrs May’s proposals was that they allowed for dynamic alignment of the rights which the people of this country enjoy as a result of our membership of the EU, into the future. Employment rights, human rights, consumer rights, environmental rights are examples of those rights that we enjoy here at a more advanced level that we would have had otherwise. Mrs May signed up to the idea of dynamic alignment, workers in Wales would have gained when their European counterparts gained. Mr Johnson is not in that position at all, he’s very keen to make a bonfire of all those protections. Part of his rowing back of the Northern Ireland backstop is to give him more freedom to pursue his idea of a deregulated UK in which the rights of ordinary people can be sacrificed in order to create a Singapore-on-stilts situation. For all those reasons, I think his proposals are worrying.
A lot of attention recently has been paid to the use of language used by MPs and the general public towards their politicians. What can be done about this? We talk about the need for a kinder politics in the Assembly. I do think people should make the effort to play their own small part in that. For the most part, most people in politics are there because they’d like to make things better. They may have different views of how to do that but most people, there is a small number of exceptions, but vast majority of people I have met and know in all parties do the job they do because they are well motivated. Remembering that every now and then will be a good idea. It’s also possible to disagree without being disagreeable. It is possible to have a clear disagreement with someone without that descending into the type of language that has become much more prevalent. Also, social media encourages people to use that language so a step back would be a very good thing all round. It can only be done by individuals taking responsibility to try to do that. In the heat of the moment you end up being provoked, then you think if you’d had a couple of moments to think about it, you would have said it differently, but people should make the effort to con-
duct themselves politely. Going back to party politics, how realistic are your chances of retaining power in the next assembly election? Politics is very very volatile at the moment and it’s almost impossible to predict what politics will be like in 18 months’ time. Brexit provides such a dominant context and one way or another Brexit will be different 12 months from now; how we go into the next assembly election and what people will think about the next election will be shaped in that context. No snapshot poll shows very much. What is true is that we must earn every vote that we get. I say to my colleagues all the time that not a single vote should be taken for granted. Even in those areas where Labour has been returned for years, I say that everytime we go back and ask for people to vote for us again we have to persuade people that there is a good reason for doing it. People no longer think ‘I’ve always voted this way so I’m just going to carry on’ modern politics doesn’t work that way. And finally...what would you say is your favourite pub meal? Ohhh how interesting, well if I eat out it’s a treat and if I’m having a treat I’d probably have a burger.
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r ôl cofnodi buddugoliaeth hanesyddol yn erbyn Awstralia o 29-25, Owain Ap Myrddin sy’n ymateb i berfformiad Cymru ac yn asesu gobeithion tîm Warren Gatland o ennill Cwpan y Byd. 9
Cardiff climate centre gains Thunberg backing
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ardiff ’s Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations officially opened last week and to mark it’s opening Greta Thunberg sent them a video promoting what the centre is doing. She praised them for their focuses on diet, energy consumption and travel methods. Turn to page 20 to find out more. 22
The future of England Cricket
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ith the new domestic 100-ball format quickly approaching, the current state of cricket in England is very much one of uncertainty. Check out the full article on page 29. 29