As someone who worked in Welsh Labour politics for most of my adult life, and has been a Liverpool supporter for a lot longer than that, this year has been mightily instructive. Winning is one thing. Staying on top is a lot a harder. That’s even more true in politics…

If you’re going to talk about hope then you could do worse than choose a bright spring morning which happens to be your daughter’s birthday. Perhaps that put me in too positive a frame of mind, as I delivered today’s webinar “how to handle hope” for the Civil Service College…

Dear Ella & Rosa, It is important that you see this picture. The police are arresting this woman because they don’t think she should be there. It is still true that if you are ever in really big trouble the police are there to help you. But sometimes they get…

At this year’s (virtual) Christmas party for the European Speechwriter’s Network, a few of us were asked about writing for laughs on zoom. Is it advisable? Is it even possible, especially this year of all years. Writing a talk to give to professional speechwriters is *always* a tough gig, but…

“Joe knows the anguish of sitting at a table with an empty chair.” So said Michelle Obama in her closer to the Democrats’ first night of their virtual convention. This line, about the tragedies experienced by Joe Biden in his life, was one of many beautifully crafted images in a…

I was already back in the family home in Anglesey when the great Covid-19 lockdown became a matter of when, and not if. My dad had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and it was clear that he did not have long to live. We’d taken him in, and brought him…

Often people who are experts in their field — used to having all the answers to all the questions in their world — Marcus Rashford would have made an unlikely case study the last time I ran the Civil Service College’s Executive Presence training course. However, his campaign to persuade England to maintain free school meal vouchers over the summer period was definitely worth discussing. How did this young, quietly spoken footballer manage…

Keir Starmer is good news for the Labour Party. And right now, more than ever, that means he’s good news for the country as well. It is no time for democracy to take a holiday. The slow, sclerotic decision-making of the UK Government in recent days has been matched only…

Western Mail comment piece, June 4th, 2019 Voice cracking with emotion outside 10 Downing Street, Theresa May announced her resignation date as Prime Minister almost five years to the day that she gave one of the most electrifying speeches in recent British political history. And yet that 2014 address to…