Kenneth MacArthur 🇺🇦

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With membership surging and polls pointing to success in the coming Senedd elections, Wales Greens are planning an amicable declaration of independence, which would leave @ZackPolanski leading the first major specifically English party: open.substack.com/pub/abolishwes…

@Yorkshireguidon @AdamRamsay @ZackPolanski What is the connection? Wales is a nation. England is a nation. Yorkshire isn’t a nation.

@AdamRamsay @ZackPolanski This is good but where does it be leave the English regions? Needs some thought

@Stephen_Cushion @ThatsDevolved As a final observation on the BBC specifically, I note that the BBC News ‘network’ political team (eg, Chris Mason) are much better at this than their counterparts covering home affairs, health, education, etc. They should all be at least as good as the political team though.

@Stephen_Cushion @ThatsDevolved I would also require them to always refer to the UK govt as “the UK government” (rather than simply “the government”). If people in England don’t like their only government having to always be called the UK government, they can campaign for Scottish and Welsh independence. :)

Glad this is getting some real research behind it. Anecdotally I've noticed that outlets are a little better at adding 'in England' in print but remain awful in formats where it's harder to call them out.

@RichardsChris81 @ThatsDevolved I actually find The Guardian is better than most. I often use its articles as evidence to other broadcasters that it is perfectly possible to do it right.

@ThatsDevolved @kennethmac2000 And quite ironic that this stems from an article in the Guardian when it is often one of the worst (the number of corrections under the article always makes me chuckle).

@RichardsChris81 @ThatsDevolved Or under “Health” or “Education”.

@ThatsDevolved @kennethmac2000 Even the BBC don’t help when they put eg Welsh and Scottish health/education stories under the ‘Wales’ or ‘Scotland’ categories, but when it is say the doctors strike they put it under ‘UK’ rather than ‘England’.

1/5 🗳️ Why reporting of devolved politics matters ahead of elections in 🇬🇧 Our new Cardiff University research (featured in Guardian) shows many voters in Wales are still unsure who is responsible for key policy decisions such as UK or Welsh governments: theguardian.com/media/2026/apr…

@ThatsDevolved Which do you think is the biggest factor behind UK journalists not wanting to add "in England"? Because they forget? Because they don't like acknowledging an English polity? Or because they dislike the idea of an emasculated UK government whose writ doesn't extend to whole UK?

I've always been reluctant to jump on a headline which is incorrect if the article is ultimately correct (or corrected). But given how people consume news via social media, it's probably even more important that the headline/social media post is accurate.

YouGov's first MRP of the 2026 Senedd election shows Plaid Cymru on course to be the largest party PC: 43 (+19 from 2021*) Ref: 30 (+30) Lab: 12 (-32) Grn: 10 (+10) Con: 1 (-25) LD: 0 (-2) *notional results had the last election been conducted on the new system based on data from Dr Jac Larner

@PonsonbyMassie @alexmassie @theSNP @AlbaParty @ScottishLabour @ScotTories @scotlibdems @scottishgreens @IanMurrayMP @10DowningStreet @JohnSwinney A great listen as always. But it’s the Senedd, not the Welsh assembly - it hasn’t been called the latter since 2020!

🚨NEW EPISODE🚨 Reform UK Scotland Manifesto. Is it all populist absurdity? 🔊PODCAST - podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the… 📺YOUTUBE - youtu.be/2XazjUGpfHE @alexmassie @theSNP @AlbaParty @ScottishLabour @ScotTories @scotlibdems @scottishgreens @IanMurrayMP @10DowningStreet @JohnSwinney @AnasSarwar @RussellFindlay1 @Ross_Greer @agcolehamilton @reformparty_uk @ReformUKScot @Nigel_Farage

@maurice_a_lange Mayors of the kind you are referring to are an English phenomenon, not a British one. There is no singular British planning system either - there are four, controlled by four different governments. What’s wrong with using the words England and English?

So how do we make this happen in more places? Any local authority in a high cost, land-constrained area should implement SDG-style policies as a priority. But to make this kind of planning normal, Mayors will need to require that local authorities do so. See all recs:

NEW REPORT out today. In short, rules-based planning works and we should introduce it in British cities. A small thread on Croydon’s 3-year planning ‘experiment’ and what it means for urban planning…

I have today written to the Chair of Labour’s National Executive Committee seeking permission to enter the selection process for a candidate for the forthcoming Gorton and Denton by-election. Read my letter here.👇🏻

Yum. theguardian.com/world/2025/dec…

@WillHayCardiff So so good!

We had the First Minister of Scotland John Swinney on the pod this week. Was a fascinating chat including the question of why Scotland gets a much better deal out of the union than Wales. youtube.com/watch?v=_tWhMK…

@Joe___Allen @WillHayCardiff In fairness, if Westminster offered Scotland Basque-style fiscal autonomy, an SNP Scottish government would take it, and Scotland’s influence on the Barnett formula would then be zero.

Clarifying exchange here. Q: If Plaid are in power in Wales will you be open to reforming the Barnett Formula. Swinney: Basically, no.

@ProducerOllie A question for you... Why do you never read out listener WhatsApp messages or e-mails? You invite them on every episode, but I can't remember ever hearing you read any out. @HolyroodSources do! PS Not saying you need to read my messages out, would just be nice to hear some. ;)

EXC: Plaid Cymru have sat down for formal budget talks on the Senedd’s finances. That, what the UK budget means for Wales, the fallout from Nathan Gill’s sentencing, and the latest on the Reform UK Welsh campaign all in this week’s Senedd Sources: seneddsources.com