The leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have staged a common front in Cardiff, the Welsh capital, to intensify pressure on London for independence. "Westminster's time is running out," says a joint statement signed by the First Minister of Scotland, John Swinney, of the Scottish National Party (SNP); the First Minister of Wales, Rhun ap Iorwerth, of Plaid Cymru, and the First Minister of Northern Ireland, Michelle O'Neill, of Sinn Féin.

In 1999, coinciding with the total solar eclipse visible in a small strip of the United Kingdom – the first in over seventy years – the Morgan family gathered in St. Davids, in the Welsh county of Pembrokeshire. Among those present were some elderly relatives who remembered the 1927 eclipse. "But, as often happens in the United Kingdom, the clouds prevented us from seeing the spectacle. Nevertheless, the most vivid memory is not of the missed eclipse, but of the family reunion".

Welsh First Minister Eluned Morgan (Cardiff, 1967) speaks to ARA during her visit to Catalonia this week to finalize a cooperation agreement. A member of the Labour Party, she is the first woman to be elected Prime Minister of this historic nation and faces elections in May.