The Welsh Way: Essays on Neoliberalism and Devolution

Neoliberalism has firmly taken hold in Wales. The 'clear red

water' is darkening. The wounds of poverty, inequality, and

disengagement, far from being healed, have worsened. Child

poverty has reached epidemic levels: the worst in the UK.

Educational attainment remains stubbornly low, particularly in

deprived communities. Prison population rates are among the

highest in Europe. Unemployment remains stubbornly high.

House prices are rising, with the private rented sector lining

the pockets of an ever-increasing number of private landlords.

Minority groups are consistently marginalised. All this is not

to mention the devastatingly disproportionate impact of the

coronavirus pandemic on working class communities.

The Welsh Way interrogates neoliberalism's grasp on Welsh life.

It challenges the lazy claims about the 'successes' of devolution,

fabricated by Welsh politicians and regurgitated within a tepid,

attenuated public sphere. These wide-ranging essays examine the

manifold ways in which neoliberalism now permeates all areas

of Welsh culture, politics and society. They also look to a wider

world, to the global trends and tendencies that have given shape

to Welsh life today. Together, they encourage us to imagine, and

demand, another Welsh future.