The Future of Wales

A funny, punchy manifesto for a better Welsh experience in decades to come, told with local insight and winning passion - part of Melville House UK's new FUTURES series. Wales is a nation of contradictions. It boasts incredible natural resources and crushing poverty; fierce patriotism and a stark north/south divide; an energy surplus, and some of the highest bills in the UK. It also has a famously rugby-mad culture - but its revitalised football team is lighting up international tournaments. So what's going on? Rhys Thomas hails from Laugharne - the village on which, it is rumoured, Dylan Thomas based Under Milk Wood's 'Llareggub' (read it backwards). In this affectionate investigation into his home country, via Welsh geography, food, culture and sport, he aims for the heart of its contrasts. In doing so, he builds a mosaic-like image of Wales today - and how it might look in the future.

Rhys Thomas is a freelance journalist and strategist from Laugharne, Wales. He writes columns and features for magazines, online and print, on a range of subjects including masculinity, cryptocurrencies and blockchain, digital technology, profiles of athletes and musicians, experiential features, digital culture and subcultures, and Welsh culture. His work has appeared in Vice, Time Out, The Face, The Guardian, GQ, Mr Porter, Huck, The Times, Dazed, Mundial and The Independent, among others. The Future of Wales is his first book.