Columnists, comment on Welsh news, sport & lifestyle

Water melons are the new Viagra

IF you see hordes of men furtively emerging from the local supermarket this week trying to hide a big green orb under each arm, then I know the reason why. Read

DEE FOR DUMB

OOPS! Amy Winehouse may have committed another PR boo-boo by elbowing a fan at Glastonbury who dared to touch her rat’s nest, sorry, I mean hair. Read

DID you see the interview with legendary (and by ‘legendary’ I mean that me and my tiny circle of musical anorak friends have heard of him) soul singer Solomon Burke in one of last weekend’s papers? Read

It’s a punny old business!

THERE’S a knack to making people smile as they hand over their cash. Read

WHAT ABOUT US, SLIMY SEB?

If you type “slimy Sebastian Coe” into Google, you will find 146 different articles agreeing with this opinion. Read

The Insider: Peter Finch

I’M in the north, reading for the Beaumaris Festival. Been running annually for decades. It’s a good event. One poet, two actors, 28 classical musicians. Audience mainly retired and highly civilised. Brainchild of Anthony Hose. Didn’t show up at my gig. Sent apologies. Rehearsing his orchestra elsewhere. Read

Mind matters: Tryst Williams

On reflection, the wonder of the NHS should be apparent every time I see one of my children’s gleaming, pearly smiles Read

Women's Own: Lynne Barrett-Lee

TODAY, I bring you depressing but inevitable news; the female body is once more up for scrutiny and – surprise, surprise – has been found lacking. Just as we’ve assimilated the idea that every woman over a certain age and girth must – by law – corral herself into a veritable Forth Bridge of engineering (ie the magic knicker), we must now address our top halves, as they too are Letting The Side Down. Read

My inner fuddy-duddy can have me harumping: “No, this simply won’t do”

WHEN you get to your mid-to-late 30s, life is accompanied by the constant nagging fear that you are getting a bit middle aged. Read

Vulnerable people must be given the help they deserve

IT WAS her first call of the day, but for once she was crying with joy rather than misery. Read

Why telly is a turn-on ...and a big turn-off

LISTENING to the coverage of the Wimbledon tennis championships on the radio, it dawned on me that I don't spend enough time watching television. Read

Wales must take note of the murky anti-Scottishness in political circles

THE Westminster air has been thick with talk of “second class MPs” this week – and not just because they’ve defied logic and voted to keep their generous second homes allowance. Read

The dangerous fallacy of choice in the NHS

DOES the Government ever tire of “reforming” the NHS? Apparently not. Read

Spin doctors have turned politics into farcical science

“From troubles of the world I turn to ducks.” That’s the first line of a poem we learned in Form 2A, and it came back to me last week when the news was full of gloom. Read

Have faith in the greatest stories

BOARDED-UP cinemas and churches are found in towns across the country, and there is a generation which has never set foot in either. Read

Pets explore meaning of life

I PREDICTED it would happen and it has. Read

B&Bs? The Windsors learnt it all from me

HERE it is, folks. EXCLUSIVE! The real reason why Charles is turning his plush new Welsh pad into an upmarket B&B. It had to be done. Mama’s on her uppers. The Family’s skint. It must be true – I read it in the Daily Mail. Read

Hannah Jones: Diary of a Diet

COLD toast, limp chips and anaemic green beans are doing little to help Hannah’s recovery. Read

Here’s to continuing good health of the NHS

IN JULY, 1948, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of illness were brought together under one umbrella organisation – the NHS – to create one of the most comprehensive health services in the world, but it’s most important feature was that treatment would be free to all. Read