culture watch
Faithfulness and treachery: Why ‘The Traitors’ grabs us
Gwilym Tudur
The first day of 2025 saw the launch of a new season of the hit BBC television show The Traitors. In this psychological game show hosted by Claudia Winkelman, 22 contestants are sent to a Scottish castle to compete against each other for a prize of £120,000.
It is, however, a game show with a twist: some contestants are ‘Faithfuls’ while others are ‘Traitors’. Each night, the Traitors figuratively ‘murder’ a contestant, while the Faithfuls seek to ‘banish’ a Traitor. With its unexpected twists and colourful characters, the third season of The Traitors promises to be gripping.
Mission among Welsh speakers: an urgent need
Gwilym Tudur
In mid-October, Wales held its annual Shwmae Su’mae Day. Translated roughly as ‘hi there’, both shwmae (pronounced shoe-mai) in south Wales and su’mae (pronounced see-mai) in north Wales are colloquial greetings used to start a conversation.
Held since 2013, the purpose of Shwmae Su’mae Day is to encourage people to begin conversations in Welsh and promote its use in everyday discussions. Now in its 11th year, Shwmae Su’mae Day has become a national occasion as businesses, workplaces, and universities host events to motivate employees and students to practice the language.
Can the new First Minister bring stability to Wales?
Can the new First Minister bring stability to Welsh politics? This question was asked in August when members of the Senedd were summoned from holiday to confirm Eluned Morgan as the sixth First Minister of Wales.
Following Vaughan Gething’s resignation in July, only Morgan – or Baroness Morgan of Ely – sought to replace him. After making headlines as the youngest member of the European Parliament in 1994, Morgan makes history again as the first female First Minister of Wales.