Podcasts

  • news, Podcasts

    From Townhill to the London School of Ecomonics: Who is Kiera Marshall?​

    From Townhill to the London School of Economics: Who is Kiera Marshall?

    “I grew up on a council estate – and I don’t want politics to forget people like us”

    By Joseph Gough

    A Plaid Cymru candidate has said her motivation for entering politics comes from growing up on a Swansea council estate and wanting to ensure her daughter – and children across Wales – have better opportunities than previous generations.

    Kiera Marshall, who grew up in Townhill, Swansea, said her experiences of inequality, poverty and under-investment shaped her political outlook from a young age.

    “I saw the difference between where I lived and where some of my friends lived,” she said. “That sticks with you. You notice it as a teenager – and you don’t forget it.”

    Marshall credits her mother, a former policy officer for children’s charity Barnardo’s who later set up a co-operative researching the experiences of marginalised groups, as her first introduction to politics.

    “She wasn’t party-political at first,” Marshall said. “But she cared deeply about justice – disabled people, care leavers, people coming out of prison. That absolutely shaped me.”

    After studying politics at college, Marshall went on to attend the London School of Economics, where she says the contrast between London and Wales further reinforced her views.

    “It was a real awakening,” she said. “You’re suddenly surrounded by very affluent people from all over the world, and it makes you think about how uneven opportunity really is.”

    Now based in Cardiff, Marshall says becoming a mother has sharpened her political focus – particularly around child poverty and inequality.

    “I worry about what kind of Wales my daughter will grow up in,” she said. “I don’t want her world to shrink. I want her to have choices – real choices.”

    She added: “One in three children in Wales live in poverty. That’s heartbreaking. If we don’t reduce child poverty, then we’ve failed.”

    Marshall has been vocal about policies she believes could make an immediate difference, including universal free childcare, improved access to apprenticeships and vocational education, and better literacy support in schools.

    She said Plaid Cymru’s next manifesto has been written with delivery in mind.

    “We’ve costed everything,” she said. “People have lost trust in politics. We want to be able to say: we promised this – and we delivered it.”

    On public spending, Marshall pushed back against claims of “waste” in Welsh politics, arguing the issue is not how much is spent, but where.

    “I don’t think public spending is bad,” she said. “I think spending money on the wrong priorities is bad.”

    She also said she would donate part of her salary if elected, setting up a local trust to fund community projects in deprived areas.

    “There are things communities need that just never get funded,” she said. “Sometimes it’s small things – a boxing ring, youth facilities – but they make a real difference.”

    Marshall has also spoken openly about being stalked in the past and how the experience exposed serious failures in how victims are treated by the justice system.

    “I was completely in the dark,” she said. “I didn’t know what evidence was used, when court dates were, or what my rights were. That shouldn’t happen to anyone.”

    She believes devolving justice powers to Wales would allow better protections for women and girls, alongside reforms to policing and education.

    “Almost every woman I know has a story,” she said. “We need to stop scapegoating and actually fix the systems that fail victims.”

    Despite her growing profile, Marshall insists she is not driven by personal ambition.

    “I don’t want to lead a party,” she said. “I just want to make my community better – especially places like Ely, Riverside, and other areas that are written off as ‘rough’ when really they’re just under-invested.”

    “They’re not rough,” she added. “They’re poor – and that’s a political choice.”

  • Podcasts, Politics

    Talking Wales: Why Welsh Voices Still Struggle to Be Heard

    Talking Wales: Why Welsh Voices Still Struggle to Be Heard

    By Kaiesha Page

    Visibility, power, and the quiet marginalisation of a devolved nation

    Wales is talked about often, but rarely on its own terms.

    In UK political debate, Welsh issues tend to surface only at moments of crisis — when waiting times spike, floods hit, or an election threatens to disrupt expectations. Outside of those moments, Wales is frequently treated as background noise: referenced briefly, summarised loosely, then folded back into a broader “British” conversation that rarely fits.

    This is not a problem of absence. Welsh voices exist, speak clearly, and engage deeply. The issue is that they are still struggling to be heard — or taken seriously — within national political, media, and cultural spaces.

    The Media Filter

    Much of the difficulty lies in how Welsh stories are filtered.

    UK-wide media remains heavily London-centric, both in outlook and infrastructure. Editorial priorities are shaped by Westminster rhythms, English policy debates, and assumptions about what constitutes national relevance. Welsh politics, operating on a different timetable and within a different constitutional framework, often fails to cut through unless it mirrors those concerns.

    As a result, Welsh stories are frequently flattened — stripped of context, framed as regional curiosities, or reduced to comparisons that obscure more than they explain.

    Devolution Without Visibility

    Devolution was meant to bring decision-making closer to the people. In many ways, it has. But visibility has not followed power in equal measure.

    Welsh policy decisions often receive limited scrutiny outside Wales itself. When they do attract attention, they are frequently misunderstood or misattributed, feeding confusion about responsibility and accountability. This lack of clarity weakens public understanding and reinforces the perception that Welsh politics is either peripheral or derivative.

    A system that operates out of sight struggles to command confidence — even when it is functioning as intended.

    Who Gets to Speak for Wales?

    Another persistent problem is representation.

    Welsh voices that do break through are often those that fit pre-existing expectations — familiar accents, predictable positions, or narratives that align neatly with wider UK debates. More complex, critical, or locally grounded perspectives are less likely to be amplified.

    This creates a narrow public image of Welsh political thought, one that underrepresents dissent, diversity, and internal debate. Wales becomes a place that reacts rather than initiates, responds rather than leads.

    The Confidence Gap

    There is also an internal dimension to this struggle.

    Years of being overlooked can erode confidence — not just institutionally, but culturally. Welsh politicians, commentators, and institutions are often more cautious in asserting authority, conscious of operating within a UK framework that still centres power elsewhere.

    This caution can read as modesty. But it can also limit influence. Voices that hesitate to claim space are easier to ignore.

    Why It Matters

    The marginalisation of Welsh voices is not simply a question of pride or recognition. It has practical consequences.

    When Welsh perspectives are absent from national debates, policies are shaped without full understanding of how they land across the UK. When Welsh governance is poorly understood, accountability weakens. When Welsh experiences are treated as secondary, inequality is quietly reinforced.

    Being heard is not about volume — it is about legitimacy.

    Beyond Being Spoken For

    Wales does not need to shout louder. But it does need to be listened to more carefully.

    That requires change on multiple levels: media institutions that take devolved politics seriously; political leaders willing to assert autonomy without apology; and a cultural shift that recognises Wales not as an afterthought, but as a nation with its own political logic and voice.

    Until then, Welsh voices will continue to speak — but too often into a space that still isn’t fully prepared to listen.