Walescast

James talks to former Conservative MP, chief whip and secretary of state for Wales Simon Hart about his new book, Ungovernable. Hart said he wrote the book to ask the question "what went wrong?" between December 2019 and July 2024, when the Conservatives went from an 81-seat majority to a general election "drubbing". On his time as chief whip, Hart's book contains anonymised and shocking stories of MPs in various compromising positions. He also discusses the pandemic and his relationship with the Welsh Government as secretary of state.

James and guest presenter Gemma Dunstan discuss International Women's Day. Johanna Robinson, the Welsh Government's National Adviser on Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence; Monumental Welsh Women's co-founder, Helen Molyneux; and, activist and former MP for Swansea East Sian James, come together to look at what things were like at the beginning of their careers, where we are now and how far we need to go.

James and Fliss digest the UK Government's independent climate advisers report on how the 2050 Net Zero target can be met. They are joined by the Chief Economist for the Climate Change Committee, Dr James Richardson, to dig into the detail of some of the changes they are suggesting. They then speak to Dr Sarah Louisa Birchley in Tokyo about Global Welsh's 'Brain Drain to Brain Gain' report. With around the same number of residents in Wales as the number of Welsh people living outside of Wales, the report hopes to find ways to understand and engage with this global community.

James and guest presenter Bethan Rhys Roberts look into a Senedd report on politicians who deliberately deceive. Members of the Senedd who lie could lose their seats under the Committee's recommendations. Mick Antoniw MS, a member of the Standards of Conduct Committee and formerly the Welsh Government's Counsel General, talks through their proposals. Baroness Fox of Buckley joins the podcast to discuss the issues she has with their ideas of policing lying. Bethan and James are then joined by the Welsh Language Commissioner to discuss a recent YouGov poll which looks at how the public feel about the language.

A Welsh Labour budget deal has been struck. James sits down with BBC Wales' Political Editor and our Education, Health and Business Correspondents to digest the details on today's bonus episode. With a little help from the Liberal Democrats the Budget is set to pass when its voted on by the Senedd in March. The deal, which was worth more than £100m, makes the Welsh Government's Budget possible as they are unable to get anything over the line without at least one opposition politician on side.

Felicity Evans and guest presenter Elliw Gwawr discuss faith and it's role in politics with Canon Aled Edwards, Senedd Member and Patron of Humanists UK Julie Morgan MS and the FT's Whitehall Editor Lucy Fisher. Our Political Editor Gareth Lewis also joins the pod to discuss the quarter of Welsh Labour MS' who have announced they will stand down at the 2026 Senedd elections. That busy schedule is rounded off with a final farewell to Walescast's Producer Andy Fry who is leaving BBC Wales after three decades.

Fliss and James are joined by Meleri Williams, BBC's Swansea Reporter to discuss the Ammanford school stabbings. She was one of the first reporters on location that day and has followed the events through to trial. They are also joined by Owen Evans, Chief Inspector at Estyn, who discusses what can be done to tackle behaviour issues in school and how to stop the most extreme incidents becoming more frequent.

James Williams explores the implications of potentially 400 academic job losses at Cardiff University for both the wider Welsh higher education sector and economy with BBC Wales education correspondent Bethan Lewis, Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute and Professor Dylan Jones-Evans of the University of South Wales

Felicity Evans and James Williams hear from the chair of the Senedd's standards committee Hannah Blythyn MS about its recommendations for a recall system that would allow voters to evict politicians who have misbehaved from the Welsh Parliament. Fliss and James also quiz her about the circumstances of her sacking from the Welsh Government last year - when the then-First Minister Vaughan Gething said that media leaks of a ministerial group chat during the pandemic came from her mobile phone.

Felicity Evans and James Williams discuss immigration and what the situation is in Wales. They are joined by Professor Sergei Shubin from Swansea University, Ben Brindle from the Centre for Migration and IPSOS' Gideon Skinner to dig into the numbers and details. Timothy Hornyak, a Journalist in Japan, also joins them to discuss how an ageing and declining Japanese population might tackle their growing problem.

Felicity Evans and James Williams discuss NHS winter pressures with BBC Wales health correspondent Owain Clarke. And former transport minister Lee Waters MS reflects on the lessons he learnt from his time in government - experiences that inform his own podcast, "Y Pumed Llawr - The Fifth Floor". Billed as an "insider guide to politics and government in Wales" the pod draws on a series of in-depth interviews with other politicians, special advisers and civil servants - interviews that have just been published in full by Cardiff University as "Cathays Conversations"

Felicity Evans and James Williams break out the Christmas jumpers to look back at the blockbuster political year that was 2024 with the help of the Labour MP for Cardiff West, Alex Barros-Curtis, the Plaid Cymru MP for Caerfyrddin, Ann Davies and the Conservative's shadow Welsh Secretary, Mims Davies MP. What are their takeaways from a year that has seen three First Ministers and two Prime Ministers? And how will they fare in the traditional Walescast Christmas Quiz?

Felicity Evans and James Williams crunch the numbers and dig into the politics of the Welsh Government's draft budget for the next financial year. First they hear from the finance cabinet secretary Mark Drakeford MS before getting the reaction of the new Senedd leader of the Welsh Conservatives Darren Millar MS, Plaid Cymru's leader Rhun ap Iorweth MS and Dr Ed Poole of Cardiff University's Wales Governance Centre

Felicity Evans, James Williams and guests digest the resignation of the leader of the Conservatives in the Senedd, Andrew RT Davies. BBC Wales political editor Gareth Lewis explains how events unfolded following a vote of no confidence - that Mr Davies narrowly won - and what happens next. Cardiff University's Dr Jac Larner expands on the findings of the latest Welsh opinion poll - which shows the Conservatives trailing in fourth place behind Labour, Plaid Cymru and Reform - and the challenges that presents to Mr Davies' eventual successor

On 1 December 2021 Labour and Plaid Cymru signed a Co-operation Agreement committing the parties to working together on 46 different policies in the Senedd - ranging from Senedd reform to free school meals for all primary school children. Three years on, James Williams looks back at how the agreement came together and what it achieved with two guests who were at the heart of the negotiations that sealed the deal. David Davies was a special advisor to the then First Minister Mark Drakeford. John Osmond was his Plaid counterpart for Adam Price and has turned his experience of being in the room into a new book, "The Politics of Co-Opposition"

Felicity Evans and Elliw Gwawr are joined by Helen Miller of the Institute of Fiscal Studies to dig deep into the changes to inheritance tax for farmers announced in the Budget and attempt to get a number for how many Welsh farms could be affected. And BBC Wales political correspondent Rhodri Lewis looks back at the Welsh Labour party conference in Llandudno - which saw farmers protesting outside and the FM Eluned Morgan DJing inside

In a bonus episode, James Williams and Felicity Evans conduct an exit interview with Ian Price, the recently retired director of the business organisation CBI Wales, to get his views on the state of the Welsh economy and the Welsh Government's policies to drive growth and job creation

Former special adviser Jack Sellers has had a front row seat for the dramas that have engulfed the Conservative Party at Westminster in recent years. In conversation with James Williams and Felicity Evans he relives his time working for Boris Johnson's Welsh Secretary, Simon Hart and also looks back at his time in Number 10 Downing Street working for Rishi Sunak - including the General Election campaign that saw the party swept from power after 14 years

James Williams explores the potential impact on Wales of a second Trump presidency with economic advisor Eurfyl ap Gwilym and the Electoral Reform Society's campaign to convince local authorities to adopt proportional representation ahead of the next council elections with Jess Blair of ERS Cymru

Felicity Evans and James Williams are joined by BBC Wales political editor Gareth Lewis and Dr Ed Poole of Cardiff University's Wales Governance Centre to unpick what Rachel Reeves' first Budget - with its tax rises and extra spending on public services and capital projects - means for Wales and the Welsh Government budget in December