John Osmond

John Osmond (born 1946) is a Welsh writer, journalist, former political candidate for Plaid Cymru, and think tank director. He has contributed to numerous books on the subjects of Welsh politics, culture and devolution, and is also a former television producer. Osmond was the founder director of the independent Welsh think-tank, the Institute of Welsh Affairs in 1996 until May 2013.^[1] In 2018 he published the first of a trilogy of documentary novels, Ten Million Stars are Burning, which together record the history of Wales between the 1979 and 1997 devolution referendums. Between 2018 and 2022 he was Special Adviser to Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price. In that capacity, in the wake of the 20212 Senedd election he was involved in negotiating the Co-operation Agreement between Labour and Plaid. In 2024 he published an account of how this emerged and its impact, The Politics of Co-Opposition: The Inside Story of the 2021-24 Co-Operation Agreement between Plaid Cymru and Welsh Labour (Welsh Academic Press).

John Osmond was born in Abergavenny in 1946. He attended King Henry VIII Grammar School, before moving on to study for a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Philosophy and Politics at the University of Bristol. In 2004 he was awarded an honorary MA by the University of Wales. He has three children.^[2]

Upon leaving University, Osmond began working as a reporter for the Yorkshire Evening Post. He returned to Wales in the 1970s to work for the Western Mail newspaper as a reporter and Welsh Affairs Correspondent. During the 1980s he worked for HTV Wales, helping launch the current affairs programme Wales this Week and producing a number of documentary series, including The Divided Kingdom for Channel 4. He was Deputy Editor for Wales on Sunday between 1988 and 1990.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1990s Osmond formed his own television company, Agenda Productions, producing programmes for the BBC, HTV, Channel 4, S4C and STV.^{[citation needed]}

In 1996 Osmond became the founding director of the Welsh think-tank, the Institute of Welsh Affairs, retiring in 2013. In May 2007 he stood for election for the Preseli Pembrokeshire constituency in the National Assembly for Wales Election, representing Plaid Cymru and received 24.7% of the vote. However, Conservative candidate Paul Davies won the seat, defeating Tamsin Dunwoody, the Welsh Labour incumbent, he stood again, unsuccessfully, in 2016 finishing third and winning just 13.9% of the vote.^{[citation needed]}

Osmond was the editor of a radical magazine, Arcade: Wales Fortnightly, which was published between 1980 and 1982.^{[citation needed]}

He has held a number of notable positions:

• Special Adviser to Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price, 2018-2022
• Honorary Senior Research Fellow with the Constitution Unit, School of Public Policy, University College, London.
• Fellow of the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff.
• Member of Academi Literature Promotion Agency for Wales.
• Board Member of Pembrokeshire Darwin Centre for Biology and Medicine.
• Board Member of Cynnal Cymru: the Sustainable Development Forum for Wales.

Osmond has written a wide range of books on Welsh politics, culture and devolution; the titles of which are given below.

• The Politics of Co-Opposition: The Inside Story of the 2021-24 Co-Operation Agreement between Plaid Cymru and Welsh Labour (Welsh Academic Press, 2024).
• Real Preseli (Seren, 2019)
• Ten Million Stars Are Burning (Gomer, 2018)
• Crossing the Rubicon: Coalition Politics Welsh Style (IWA, 2007)
• Myths, Memories and Futures: The National Library and National Museum in the Story of Wales (Editor, IWA, 2007)
• Time to Deliver: The Third Term and Beyond (Editor, IWA, 2006)
• Welsh Politics Come of Ages (Editor, IWA, 2005)
• Birth of Welsh Democracy (Editor, IWA, 2003)
• Building a Civic Culture: Institutional Change, Policy Development and Political Dynamics in the National Assembly for Wales (co-Editor, 2002, IWA)
• The National Assembly Agenda (Editor, IWA, 1998)
• Welsh Europeans (Seren, 1995)
• The Reality of Dyslexia (Cassell, 1993)
• The Democratic Challenge (Gomer, 1992)
• The Divided Kingdom (Constable, 1988)
• The National Question Again - Welsh Political Identity in the 1980s (Editor, Gomer, 1985)
• Work in the Future (Thorsons, 1986)
• Police Conspiracy (Y Lolfa, 1984)
• Alternatives (Thorsons, 1983)
• Creative Conflict: The Politics of Welsh Devolution (Routledge, 1978)
• The Centralist Enemy (Christopher Davies, 1974)

• Institute of Welsh Affairs 'Staff' page, October 2007
• UWIC News Release at the Wayback Machine (archived 13 December 2004), June 2003
• Plaid Cymru Candidate Profile at the Wayback Machine (archived 4 May 2007), May 2007

• IWA Website