AmeriCymru: Hi Paul and many thanks for agreeing to this interview. How would you describe your blog 'Hiraeth'? How often can we expect new posts?

Paul: Hiraeth is a collection of articles about Welsh history and politics. To be honest, the politics tend to be rather left-wing, but that reflects Wales’s proud history of socialism marked by   events such as the Merthyr and Newport Risings and the proud history of the Labour movement and its connection with Wales. I am aiming for a weekly post but I may not succeed! There will also be a number of pages about the area in which I live and I am currently writing pages on the castles of North Wales, walks on Snowdon and the Llanberis area and on the narrow gauge railways of North Wales.

I am passionate about Wales and when I moved to Snowdonia early in 2007, I felt I had come home for the first time. Although I had lived in various places in England all my life, my mother’s side of the family were all from either in the Welsh valleys or the Llŷn peninsula and I loved my childhood visits to Wales. Moving here, I understood the meaning of hiraeth for the first time. As I say on my blog, it’s “the longing for, and bond with Wales; its timeless past, its language, its call to the spirit and its deep connection with the land: the rocks, the earth, the lakes, the rivers, the mountains, the valleys, the trees, the cliffs and the waves.” I’m sure that many Americymru members will identify with that.

AmeriCymru: I know you have covered this in a recent post but where do you stand on the 'St David's Day' agreement?

Paul: Like many Welsh people, I am angry and disappointed about the proposals of the St David’s Day agreement. Fundamentally, Westminster and Whitehall are firmly England-centric and do not understand that Wales (and of course Scotland and Northern Ireland) have distinct cultures and identities. No value is placed by the politicians and mandarins on that heritage and culture and they totally under-estimate how important they are to people of Wales. I look with envy at your federal system in the United States will which I would like to be the blueprint for the United Kingdom. Unlike the Scots people, Welsh people are generally happy to be in the Union but we would like to have day-to-day control of our own affairs.

AmeriCymru: You have covered many topics on your blog in the past. One such is the 'Cwm y Glo' explosion of 1869. What can you tell our readers about this incident?

Paul: I won’t reprise the content of the Cwm y Glo explosion as readers can click on the link and read about the biggest man-made explosion in Europe up to that point. It’s a good example of an incident in Welsh history that I believe needs to be remembered. I often write on the anniversary of an event taking place, sometimes the anniversary of the birth or death of somebody significant in Welsh history. Look for articles coming shortly on the greatest Prime Minister that Wales never had (NOT Neil Kinnock!) and on the contribution made by the South Wales miners to the Spanish Civil War.

AmeriCymru: In your post 'Why I Am a Welshman' you state that "Being Welsh isn’t a simple matter of your parents’ nationality." Care to expand on this theme a little?

Paul: As part of my Welsh history degree studies we looked at things that made Welsh people Welsh. I was very surprised to find that many of the iconic symbols were relatively recent (the daffodil as a symbol introduced by David Lloyd George in 1911 and the Welsh flag recognised only in 1959, for example) and although, like every other Welsh inhabitant, I am 100% Welsh for 80 minutes during each Six Nations game, rugby is far less part of Welsh culture than people would think.

No, I’m Welsh because I’m Welsh. Hiraeth called me to Wales in 2007 and despite living a life time in England, I knew I had come home. From my many happy holidays as a child spent in South Wales and later when I became the Wales liaison manager for the British Tourist Authority when I really got to know North Wales well and knew I would live here one day. As I said in the original post, “It’s all summed up in a line from our National Anthem (also found on the edge of Welsh £1 coins) - Pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad - True am I to my country. Dwi'n Gymro balch.”

AmeriCymru: You were active with the Occupy movement in Cardiff. Care to tell us a little about your experiences? Would you describe yourself as a left wing nationalist?

Paul: I really smiled at that question. I was delighted to go down to Cardiff and march with the “99%” who were making a stand against greedy capitalism and standing for social justice. I am a proud socialist, so left-wing certainly. However, I’m not a nationalist. As I said earlier whilst I believe passionately in Wales and Welsh identity, I am very happy also to be part of the United Kingdom. In many ways I really like Plaid Cymru as it is the most left-wing of all the political parties serving Wales. The problem is latent racism that I have detected in meeting with Plaid members who are often very anti-English and disparaging of non-Welsh speakers. I am a Welsh learner and can converse in Welsh as long as it doesn’t get too difficult but I’m not accepted in those circles because I’m not first language Welsh.

AmeriCymru: Any final message for the members and readers of AmeriCymru?

Paul: Those of you with Welsh roots, take every opportunity to sell our wonderful country as a place to visit. Tell them about the bara brith, the Welsh cakes, the lamb, the black beef. Tell them about the mountains, the legends, the language, the music and most of all, the hiraeth.