United Kingdom
Writer and editor. Honorary Fellow, Institute of Welsh Affairs, Cardiff. Author of numerous articles and reports on regional economic issues, with particular reference to Wales. Council Member Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion (since may 2018), chair Nova Cambria, secretary Cardiff and SE Wales branch, Friends of Welsh National Opera. Formerly staff journalist with Financial Times covering at various times fibres, textiles, clothing, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and aluminium industries. Northern Ireland correspondent 1973-4, and North of England correspondent 1977-1981. Also editor of FT surveys section 1991-2001. Other posts have included associate director of policy forum, Institute of Welsh Affairs, 2001-2007, publisher and managing director Business Magazine, a joint subsidiary of Financial Times and Conde Nast. 1988-1991; and chief leader writer, industrial editor and Welsh Affairs editor, Western Mail, Cardiff. Author, Tell Mum Not to Worry: A Welsh Soldier's World War One in the Near East. (Deffro, 2014) [email protected]
A regular visitor to France, Rhys David finds much to admire and possibly lessons to learn in the efforts rural areas are making to revive Peter Mayle should probably take some of the blame. Charmed by his 1989 book A Year in Provence , a generation of comfortably-off Britons set out to find their dream rural retreat in La France Profonde.
Rhys David finds solitude and interesting signs of a new vitality on a trek through the middle of Wales "Of all the beautiful sights in the world, I am not sure if there is anything more lovely than the Welsh hills.
As another crisis threatens to destroy hard-won progress, Rhys David looks back to the resignation of Chief Minister Brian Faulkner in May 1974. Here we go again, or so it would seem. Not for the first time a painfully-constructed power-sharing government in Belfast ends, bringing back memories of the occasion the province had to be returned to direct rule more than 40 years ago.
As Teresa May delivers her industrial strategy for post Brexit, Britain Rhys David looks at some of the issues arising
Medium-sized businesses need nurturing not just the small company
Brexit could be a turning-point in more ways than one but much will depend on implementation and what follows, Rhys David suggests. Peak oil, when the maximum rate of extraction, followed by decline, is reached, keeps getting pushed back but does the Brexit vote suggest peak globalisation – the progressive breaking down of barriers to global free trade – has been reached or perhaps faces a significant pause? Economists have been worrying about a slowing down in the process for some...
It could be several years before the lasting impact of this long-serving Welsh Cabinet Minister becomes clear
Rhys David assesses the Greece deal, and ponders whether Wales can draw anything from it. It is good that conifers grow so quickly in the damp climate of Finland, given whole forests must have been cut down over these last six months for newspaper reporters, columnists and leader-writers to opine on the Greek debt crisis.
The Senedd in Cardiff Bay where the 60 members of the Welsh Assembly meet.
Rhys David says over-indebtedness is more about the way finance is provided than about the behaviour of borrowers
Mention Nantgarw to Weng Jiabao, the Chinese premier, and his eyes will light up. The second most powerful man in the world’s most populous nation is one of a stream of dignitaries who have visited the giant GE aero-engine maintenance plant near the former mining village close to Cardiff and come away highly impressed. Indeed, on a visit to London several years later he made sure the former Welsh Development Agency chairman, Lord Rowe-Beddoe, received an invitation to one of the occasion's...
The Swansea-educated director of the Large Hadron Collider project in Geneva has become one of the most identifiable Welsh scientists of his day, writes Rhys David Wales has produced a number of outstanding scientists over recent years, many going on to achieve the prestige of a Fellowship of the Royal Society, but one above all...
Rhys David looks at the issues surrounding the promotion of a Welsh brand. Journal of the Regional Studies Association. Winter Issue 2007
Rhys David looks at Welsh branding
Rhys David reports on an alternative to the classroom for excluded children that is proving a success in Caerphilly.
Brains, one of relatively few successful Welsh consumer brands with a footprint across Wales and beyond.
Rivalries in south east Wales are holding back change and need to be buried, Rhys David argues The nature and the scope of the relationship that should prevail between Cardiff and its hinterland is one of the great unresolved issues within the Welsh polity. It involves at one level the physical boundaries of the various...
Rhys David makes a plea for more radical thinking on how best to fit the language for the modern era There will be a significant number of individuals with a knowledge of Welsh at the start of the next century.
Rhys David asks whether south-east Wales will follow Manchester in developing a brand that has world-wide resonance In the north west of England ten local authorities, including Bolton, Bury and Stockport - important centres in their own right - are working together to promote the concept of a Manchester city region.
Rhys David reports on a recent seminar that examined how we are faring within the European Union "London should leave the EU - and quit Britain, too". So said Simon Jenkins ex-Times and Economist editor, National Trust chairman, Guardian and Evening Standard columnist, Aberdyfi resident and former IWA lunchtime speaker.
Rhys David explains how the Wales Coalfield Bond launched five years ago has helped talented young people into creative careers Not everyone will have heard of them but Aberdare all-girl band are big in Germany.
Merthyr Tydfil, the railway viaduct. Wales's biggest town at the start of the Industrial Revolution, it is now one of the poorest.
Rhys David looks at the work to date of the Welsh Government's sector panels "Welsh bio-technology company sold to world's biggest pharmaceuticals giant in multimillion pound deal"; "Material sciences breakthrough from Swansea University labs"; "Anglesey welcomes 50th cruise ship of the year". These are the sort of headlines we might be hoping for from...
Rhys David reports on a recent seminar that examined how we are faring within the European Union
Rhys David finds the work of the sector panels set up by the Welsh Government to advise on new economic directions disappointing. We would not say it ourselves and we would not have liked our near neighbours to say it but when the New York Times recently described Wales as the Greece of...
While Government reports and academic research still point to some reluctance on the part of Welsh people to start their own enterprises, the voice of those who are running important Welsh businesses is rarely heard. Nor, perhaps, is sufficient recognition given that throughout the length and breadth of Wales there are businesses, some going back a hundred years or more, and some of much more recent origin, which are as fast-moving, innovative and enterprising as their rivals in other parts...
Rhys David measures the gap between vision and reality in the contemporary development of the first town of the industrial revolution Is Merthyr Tydfil getting there? For those who only know the Welsh borough from its usual ranking at the foot of a range of prosperity and health league tables, the question might hardly seem...
Rhys David argues we should focus on promoting medium-sized companies to build our economic base
Rhys David says a national memorial to those killed in industrial accidents could help draw a line under an iconic era in Welsh history
Keith James and Rhys David look back at the life of Henry Kroch, the IWA’s founding chairman and a giant of the post-war industrial scene in Wales
Rhys David discovers that where Wales stands in economic terms is much more complicated than would first appear
Rhys David looks back on how the country met the challenges he set for it in 2011 0
Rhys David explains how the Wales Coalfield Bond launched five years ago has helped talented young people into creative careers
World War One
Toby Thacker on a new book by Rhys David recounting the experiences of Welsh soldiers in the Near East in World War One.
Above: Passengers on this liner threw supplies overboard for troops to swim out to collect in the Suez Canal By Rhys David (Worcester, 1962) Nowadays we are barely aware that we are often eating food grown in Egypt - oranges and lemons, onions and potatoes - air-freighted to Britain and on supermarket shelves within days of being picked.
Suvla Bay where Welsh soldiers landed in August 1915. Four months later Entente forces were obliged to retreat in the face of appalling winter weather and stern Ottoman resistance.
Rhys David tells of the Welsh Division who played a role in world war one in the Near East. The World War One exploits of the 38 th (Welsh) Division in France - and especially their heroism in the battle at Mametz Wood are well-known and deservedly commemorated.
The first anniversary of the landings by troops of the 53rd (Welsh) Division at Suvla Bay on Gallipoli in August 1915 was commemorated a year later with a race organised by officers across the Suez Canal.
One hundred years ago this month Welsh troops were being evacuated from Gallipoli after the failure of the ill-fated campaign to open up the a passage to Russia through the Black Sea. Rhys David reports