About State of Wales

A magazine-style blog dedicated to looking in-depth at “big picture” issues, including major challenges facing Wales at present and Welsh independence.

It was originally set up as an unashamedly nationalist platform – including the popular Independence Index which has been gradually developed over the last few years. From 2021, it’ll cover a wider range of topics, taking over from Senedd Home.

As it’s often been a struggle to be considered part of the Welsh media, I’m happy for it to be called a blog.

The primary goal of the site is to support the Welsh independence movement by providing long-form articles going into detail on the ifs, whats, whys and hows of independence – listed at the Independence Index.

Several new recurring features will be gradually introduced during summer and autumn 2021. State of Wales will also include in-depth pieces on the big talking points and challenges facing Wales now and trying to add a bit of meat to political discussion. So you could say the site covers the state of Wales as well as the future (Nation) State of Wales.

There’s no fixed schedule and the site will be updated as and when I want, but the aim will be to post at least three times a month from September 2021. This compares to maybe up to 15-18 articles a week on the former Senedd Home.

If you want to see what’s being worked on at the moment, there’s a drop-down menu on the home page entitled “Coming Up”.

Follow Oggy Bloggy Ogwr on social media (more details here), or sign up by email for updates – on the right hand sidebar of the homepage on desktops and tablets; towards the bottom on mobiles.

You’ll be sent an e-mail every time a new article is posted.

The in-depth series of posts for the Independence Index takes months of work.

Individual articles can range from under an hour if I’m particularly inspired to maybe the best part of a week if it requires detailed research or custom graphics/videos etc.

My background is in science (mainly anatomy and embryology).

I went to English-medium schools and I’m not a fluent Welsh-speaker but can usually follow bits and pieces of a conversation.

Although I’m on friendly terms with a few current and former MSs, I don’t have any serious political or journalistic connections.

I’m more interested in systems and the practical side of policy than ideology. I’m not radical for the sake of it. The main question I ask when it comes to politics is, “Does this/Will this work?”

I don’t like party politics. I don’t like student politics. I don’t like committees. I don’t like press releases. I don’t like the schmoozing and arse-kissing you need to do to get anywhere in politics.

Rest assured, I have no intentions of joining a political party or campaign group (and few would have me).

I don’t make a lot of money.

I receive significantly less financial (and other) support when compared to similar sites. That said, I receive enough in donations to ensure I’m not directly out of pocket, but per hour worked it’s been as low as £1-per-hour.

I’ve never received a single penny of public funding – even for Senedd Home.

If you like what’s on the site and want to consider donating, head over to the support and donation page.

The most powerful thing you can do is often the simplest: just share the posts – whether you agree, disagree or don’t care.

Likes are nice, but they don’t get eyeballs.

I’ve considered it, but I’ve decided not to.

There are plenty of sites out there that regularly publish opinion pieces, advertorials and commentary, while social media is full of hot takes. You don’t need this platform to do any of that.