Education
Wales has an extremely rich heritage, and a great deal of effort has been made to provide a comprehensive and high standard of education for schoolchildren and students. Education is compulsory in Wales between the ages of 5 and 16. For the last ten years or so, many state schools have been teaching only in Welsh, and students can choose whether they wish to take their final examinations (A-levels, equivalent to the baccalaureate) in Welsh or English. Approximately 127,000 young people study in higher education in the country.
There are eight universities in Wales, with around 100 courses offered at different centres throughout the country: Cardiff University, Swansea University, Bangor University, Aberystwyth University, etc. There is also a number of universities in the UK. You will notice that many of the university specialisations are in archaeology, Celtic history or the study of Celtic languages.Typical Welsh first names and surnames
Traditional first names are coming back into fashion, such as Cai or Llyr (inspired by the Mabinogion), Llywelyn and Owain as the great Welsh princes, major heroes in the collective imagination. Welsh surnames such as Jones, Davies, Williams, Thomas are very widespread. The final "s" indicates that they are descendants of servants (in the English language, the "s" stands for belonging).
LGTB Rights
It was not until 1967 that Wales decriminalized sexual acts between men over 21. Then in 2001, the sexual majority for a homosexual relationship will be lowered to 16 years as for heterosexual relationships.
Alan Turing, born in 1912 in London, was a famous mathematician and computer pioneer. But openly homosexual, he was convicted in 1952 for "manifest indecency and sexual perversion". His trial sentenced him to chemical castration. Destroyed by the side effects, he committed suicide two years later. To learn more about his work, Morten Tyldum's film The Imitation Game was inspired by his life.
In 2011, homosexuals were granted the right to donate blood. In 2014, same-sex marriage came into effect.
Good news and great progress, in 2013, Alan Turing received a posthumous pardon. Then in 2016, Turing's law granted a posthumous pardon to deceased men who had been convicted of same-sex relationships.
In June 2019, it was voted that Alan Turing would be the new face of £50 banknotes from 2021, becoming the first LGBT person to appear on a banknote.Drug problems
Unfortunately, overdoses are on the rise: 208 people died from overdoses in 2018 compared to 185 in 2017. It is estimated that fatal overdoses have increased by 84% over the last decade. And in 2017, Swansea had the highest number of fatal opioid overdoses in 2017.
Mr. Jones, a former police officer, is calling for the opening of shooting galleries. Among other things, he calls for "a new pragmatic and common sense approach that treats problem drug use as a medical problem, not a criminal problem. »Gender equality
Since 2015, an annual report "Sex and power" is published, which details the percentage of men/women in different fields: parliament, politics, local representatives, legal, health, education, arts, sport, history... In 2018, out of 47 fields, women have a percentage of more than 45% in (only!) 3 fields: in politics, the "Shadow cabinet", public appointments in the civil service and in the media as magazine publishers.
Living together & renewing social ties
While Wales still has work to do in some areas, the Welsh people are also full of good ideas and initiatives and it is - without doubt - a great country to live in! Here are a few examples of how the Welfare Act is being supported by local initiatives.
Coaltown Coffee is a coffee company that roasts its own beverage, based in Ammanford. This former mining town has been experiencing since 2003, when the last mine closed, a kind of abandonment on the part of the industries, and for the young people, it is a "forced exile". The aim of Scott James, the owner of the café is to "restore the town's image", to train the locals and to develop job prospects. Today, he is considered one of the best coffee roasters in the UK!
Projects have been set up to help the elderly, who are alone or isolated, and to create social links. The 'My Friend' project, 'Ffrind i Mi' in Welsh, in the Gwent region, helps people to break the isolation in which they find themselves. In the Brecon region, local schools and care homes are working together to bring generations together and bring them together around gardening activities
On the artistic side, in order to encourage new foreign talent to come to the Cardiff Conservatory, several actions have been put in place. And this includes, in particular, by putting students in contact with other students, a sort of "Find a friend" project, in order to develop solidarity and avoid isolation. And it works, the conservatory is radiating and out of 850 students, about 180 come from abroad, representing about fifty nations
In Cardiff, for example, the restaurant The Clink employs inmates from Cardiff Prison. It is now considered one of the best restaurants in the city. The aim: to give a second chance, an opportunity to learn and reintegrate by bringing new skills and knowledge in horticulture to look after the garden and in catering for the cooking part. There are approximately 84,000 prisoners in Britain: 80,000 men and 4,000 women. Unfortunately, the re-offending rate is about 66% if the sentence is less than 12 months. In total, the various The Clink restaurants in Britain have trained more than 300 prisoners. In April 2018, a study showed that the rate of recidivism among prisoners trained at The Clink had decreased by about 50 per cent.
Sport & advertising
In terms of the Welsh people's social habits, it's hard to overlook their love of sport! In fact, according to a survey by Sport Wales, while in 2011, 27% of children played sport at least three times a week, by 2015, this figure had risen to 48%! And 80% of Welsh children are enrolled in a sports club.
As for adults, many have the ritual of supporting their favourite team in their favourite pub. And in rugby, during international tournaments, when Wales plays, the pubs are often full and in a very festive atmosphere. Not to be missed!
