This month, Wales has been deeply affected by the tragic death of Carl Sargeant AM, who was the Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children in the Welsh Government. He represented the constituency of Alyn and Deeside in the National Assembly for Wales from 2003. Following sexual harassment allegations, Sargeant was removed from his Cabinet position and suspended from Welsh Labour on 3 November 2017 . French media did not pick up on the news, until he died four days later, reportedly taking his own life. On November 7th, numerous outlets (including Le Monde, l'Express, Le Parisien, Le Figaro, BFM TV, 20 Minutes, Europe 1) reported the sad news, also shedding light on other (40!) UK politicians recently accused of sexual harassment.
Carl Sargeant
In this shaken political environment, the 2017 Autumn Budget was revealed on 22nd November. As Grey Britain pointed out, the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, announced plans to increase the Welsh Government’s budget by £1.2 billion and build an economy that is "fit for the future". This money is supposed to ensure the Welsh Government has the means to grow its economy, attract investment, maintain its public services and support hard-working people across Wales.
It seems that attracting investments and reinforcing trade links before Brexit is fully implemented, is pretty much the number one priority for Wales at the moment. This month, French financial newspaper La Tribune reported on Theresa May's decision to grant an additional £21m, over four years, to the "Tech City" programme. The programme was initially launched by David Cameron in 2010, to attract tech startups investors to London. The new funds should enable the programme to be duplicated in Belfast, Cardiff, Edimbourg, Glasgow, Newcastle and Birmingham.
Hammond holds the red case before heading to the House of Commons to deliver the budget.
Despite being investigated himself for the way he handled Carl Sargeant's case, Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones did not quit. On November 27th, he was at Cardiff Metropolitan University for the Forum's annual lecture, to give an optimistic speech on "Wales, the future after Brexit". The speech, in praise of flexibility and openness, corresponded with the announcement of five new overseas Welsh Government offices to open in 2018, including one... in France! The BBC were the first to break the news, and many UK outlets followed the lead. As WalesOnline pointed out, "France is Wales’ second biggest export destination, with £1.9bn of exports in 2016; there are around 80 French-owned companies in Wales employing over 8,100 people". But so far, I haven't found any coverage from France. Too soon?
In the meantime, a delegation of representatives from Normandy came to Wales to reflect on ways to strengthen regional Franco-British cooperation despite Brexit. As the Normandie region official website reported, a first meeting was organised in Cardiff, on November 15th, on the theme "Opportunities of cooperation in the Channel Area in a post-Brexit context". This new initiative comes less than a month after the Cardiff Declaration was approved by the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe (CPMR) General Assembly (available here).
VIEWS OF WALES
Ceredigion, in Mid Wales, is a land of myth and magic which offers stunning landscapes. No wonder they are a fantastic source of inspiration for talented French-Quebecker artist Valériane Leblond, featured this month in a BBC Cymru article (in Welsh). Valériane grew up in Angers, in western France, and studied in Rennes, Brittany, where she met her Welsh husband who was there for a year on Erasmus. Since 2007, both of them moved back to Aberystwyth. Valériane, who learned Welsh, beautifully illustrates children's books written in the language.
Alt-J, on their part, have been charmed by the powerful beauty of Valleys' landscapes. The British band enjoys good popularity across the Channel, and as French music news website Aficia reported, their latest music video, Pleader, was inspired from Richard Llewelyn's novel How Green Was My Valley, and shot in the Valleys:
QUIRKY GASTRONOMY
With Christmas approaching, food is becoming a bit of an obsession. And some strange things are happening.
This month, it was revealed that Perigord black truffles had been successfully grown in Monmouthshire, Wales, for the first time. The precious treat usually grows in the Mediterranean region, but with its natural habitat being affected by drought, yields are falling while global demand for the product is rising. The Welsh truffle, which was harvested in March as part of a research project, has been preserved, but future produce will be distributed to restaurants. In France, the surprising news was relayed by several outlets, including Sud Ouest and France Inter.
If you're more of a sweet-tooth-large-tummy type of person, you will be pleased to learn that the supermarket chain Asda is "selling a foot-long chocolate eclair for a bargain price". According to WalesOnline, Asda said "it was inspired by an emerging tend for oversized sharing desserts coming from Paris". I think I've been away from home a bit too long...
If you're not so much into fancy food, you might be more interested in the story of Ty Elise, a Welsh pub without fuss which opened in Plouyé, Brittany, nearly 40 years ago. Its owner, Byn, fell for Elise, a girl from the village, and for the region which he never left since. This month, France 3 Bretagne broadcasted a short documentary on Ty Elise, as part of their series on bistrots:
FRENCH HOLIDAYS
Seems like the recent cold temperatures have resurrected some warm French holidays memories at Media Wales. Sue Hall, on WalesOnline, wrote about her six-night Medieval cities and River Seine cruise experience. She went with company Cruise & Maritime Voyages, which sets sail from 11 different ports in the UK, including Cardiff. Martin Wells, for its part, wrote a whole page in the South Wales Echo in full of praise for France, which "simply has to be the world's greatest country". Well, at least the greatest holidays destination for a Brit.
FRIENDLY GAMES
November has seen a series of friendly football (France v. Wales) and rugby (Wales v. Georgia, Wales v. New Zealand, Wales v. South Africa) games take place in both France and Wales. Really, I am not a sports expert and the amount of articles written about these games is staggering, so I'm not going to try and review them all.
One thing I think I can say those games confirmed, is essentially that BREAKING NEWS, the French have a better football team, and the Welsh a better rugby team. And a piece published by Le Point Sports provides insightful information to put into context the Welsh football team's recent rollercoaster of performance.