PROFESSOR DYLAN JONES-EVANS

The Oxford English Dictionary describes hypocrisy as “behaviour that does not meet the moral standards or match the opinions that somebody claims to have”.  Earlier this week, an excellent article by the Western Mail’s travel correspondent Rhodri Clark suggested that the Welsh Government’s recent behaviour in relation to its transport policy did not meet the moral standards or match its opinions on carbon emissions. Last June, the new Welsh Government announced that it would be freezing new road building projects as part of its plans to deal with the carbon emissions with an expert panel being appointed to review all road projects in Wales.  As a result, several road projects that had already been approved were cancelled, most notably the Llanbedr bypass in Snowdonia which was needed because of the serious congestion caused by tourists in the summer.  Yet, whilst smaller schemes have been scrapped because the Welsh Government wants to tackle climate change, it is continui...

In his latest budget last month, the Chancellor of the Exchequer confirmed that the UK Government would be scrapping the Severn bridge tolls by the end of next year. This follows considerable pressure from various business groups and a vote by all political parties in the National Assembly for Wales for backing the abolition of tolls on the crossings between the West of England and South Wales. This will finally bring an end what many businesspeople see as a tax not only on entering Wales but on future opportunities for greater investment and access to key markets by Welsh firms. When the first Severn Bridge was opened on September 8th 1966, the charge for crossing into Wales was set at two shillings and sixpence (or 12.5p in today’s money). Not surprisingly when Government gets a chance to tax the public (and despite the building of a second Severn crossing in 1992), this fee has gradually increased over the last fifty-one years and now stands at £6.70 for cars and £20 fo...

Last week, the UK Government made its long awaited announcement on the future of the railway infrastructure. Describing it as the biggest investment in the railways since Victorian Times, it committed £9billion to upgrade transport links across the country. For Wales, the main Great Western line between London Paddington and Swansea is to be electrified, cutting 20 minutes off the journey.  There is also going to be electrification of the South Wales Valleys lines, ensuring quicker access from some of the most economically deprived areas in the UK.  And, more importantly, both of these investments complement the Welsh Government’s decision to award city region status to Cardiff and Swansea as a catalyst for attracting investment.  Whilst this is great news for the Welsh economy as a whole, those living in North Wales must wonder what they need to do to attract similar attention from Westminster and Cardiff Bay. The good news is that the Secretary of State for ...

With the University of Wales concluding a significant research agreement with a number of US universities this week, I was invited over to Boston to discuss the next steps forward with partners from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). My previous visits to the USA have always been out of London Heathrow with Virgin Atlantic but this time, I decided to give Aer Lingus a go. Why the Irish airline you may ask? Well, the main reason is that, in conjunction with their regional partner Aer Arran, there is a service out of Cardiff that connects to the East Coast of the USA via Dublin. There are a number of advantages to the flight, not least avoiding the three hour train journey to Heathrow followed by the two hour check in period. But it also means I can roll up at a relatively quiet Cardiff Airport around three quarters of an hour before departure, go quickly through security and start the journey relatively stress-free. The Cardiff-Dublin fl...