Plaid Cymru is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom. It campaigns on a platform of social democracy and civic nationalism. The party is a strong supporter of the European Union and is a member of the European Free Alliance (EFA). The party holds 4 of 32 Welsh seats in the UK Parliament, 12 of 60 seats in the Senedd, and 202 of 1,231 principal local authority councillors. Plaid was formed in 1925 under the name Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru and Gwynfor Evans won the first Westminster seat for the party at the 1966 Carmarthen by-election.
The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. Prior to 2002, the league was known as the League of Wales (LoW), but changed its name as part of a sponsorship deal to the Welsh Premier League. The league was rebranded as the Cymru Premier for the 2019–20 season.
The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club, commonly known as The New Saints or TNS FC, are a Welsh professional football club that play in the Cymru Premier, but are based completely within England, in Oswestry, Shropshire. They are the most successful club in the Welsh league structure, with 16 league titles to their name. Since the 2001–02 season, they have finished as champions or runners-up in every season, apart from 2008–09, where they finished third in the league. They became the first side playing in the Welsh league system to qualify for the group or league stage of any European competition after reaching the league phase of the UEFA Conference League for the first time in the 2024–25 season.
Mair Eluned Morgan, Baroness Morgan of Ely,, is a Welsh Labour politician who has served as First Minister of Wales and Leader of Welsh Labour since 2024. She previously served as Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care in the Welsh Government from 2021 to 2024.
David Ian Jones is a British politician and former solicitor who briefly served as the Assembly Member for North Wales between 2002 and 2003 and then as Member of Parliament (MP) for Clwyd West from 2005 to 2024. He sat in the cabinet as Secretary of State for Wales from 2012 to 2014 making him the first Secretary of State for Wales to have served as an Assembly Member.
The National Eisteddfod of Wales is the largest of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales. Its eight days of competitions and performances are considered the largest music and poetry festival in Europe. Competitors typically number 6,000 or more, and overall attendance generally exceeds 100,000 visitors, the highest recently being 186,000 attending the 2024 festival in Pontypridd. The 2018 Eisteddfod was held in Cardiff Bay with a fence-free 'Maes'. In 2020, the event was held virtually under the name AmGen; events were held over a one-week period.
International Mr. Leather(IML) is a multi-day conference and competition celebrating the leather, kink, fetish, and BDSM communities. Established in 1979, IML is held annually in Chicago over Memorial Day weekend, drawing thousands of contestants and spectators from around the world. As of 2024, over 2,100 contestants from 27 countries have competed.
Miss United Kingdom is a title held by the highest-ranked contestant from the UK in the Miss World pageant. The winner sometimes competes at Miss International and Miss Supranational the following year under the Britain, England or United Kingdom banner. From 1958 to 1999, Miss United Kingdom was a national beauty pageant held to choose a representative for the Miss World Pageant. In 1999, Scotland and Wales had their own contestants at Miss World, and in 2000, England and Northern Ireland sent their own representatives. The existing organization now runs the Miss England competition.
Mr Gay Europe is a male competition for gay Europeans about important LGBTQIA+ themes. Every year a new Mr. Gay Europe will be crowned, who will be an ambassador for the LGBTQIA+ community. It was founded by its former President, Morten Rudå and its current President, Tore Aasheim; and was hosted for the first time in 2005.
Miss Gay America is a national pageant for female impersonators. Established in 1972, the pageant is based on the Miss America contest and follows a similar format.
Miss England is a national beauty pageant in England.
Alun Hugh Cairns is a Welsh Conservative politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Vale of Glamorgan from 2010 to 2024. He served as Secretary of State for Wales from 2016 to 2019.
Nigel Owens, is a Welsh former international rugby union referee, who retired in December 2020 after a 17-year career. He previously held the world record for the most test matches refereed and is one of five international referees listed as professional within the Welsh Rugby Union, alongside Craig Evans, Adam Jones, Dan Jones and Ben Whitehouse. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest rugby referees of all time.
Mr Gay UK was a British annual beauty contest for gay men, with regional heats held in gay nightclubs with a grand final usually at a gay venue. It began in 1982 as "Mr Hardware" designed to promote a gay mail order company. The event, held in the Heaven nightclub, was filmed by the BBC as part of a documentary entitled Something For the Ladies.
Mr Gay Ireland is an annual contest for gay men, with regional heats held in gay venues around Ireland, with a grand final held in late October. In previous years the final has been held in The George, Dublin. The 2010 title holder was Max Krzyzanowski. Krzyzanowski won the title of Mr. Gay Ireland 2010 and went on to win the title of Mr Gay World 2010.
The Pan Celtic Festival is a Celtic-language festival held annually in the week following Easter, in Ireland, since its inauguration in 1971. The first Pan Celtic Festival took place in Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland. Its aim is to promote the modern Celtic languages and cultures and artists from six Celtic nations: Brittany, Cornwall, Ireland, Isle of Man, Scotland and Wales.
Mr. Gay World is a registered, trademarked annual international competition for gay men, established in 2009.
Jeremy Miles is a Welsh Labour Co-op politician serving as Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care since September 2024.
Mister Gay Chile is the national integral beauty title for Chilean gay men. The choice of candidates is based not only on physical attributes. Communication skills are measured from applicants, their form of expression and, above all, the level of commitment of each participant with causes and values of the gay community. The last Grand Finale of this competition was in February 2019.
Wales debuted in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018 held in Minsk, Belarus on 25 November 2018. The Welsh broadcaster S4C was responsible for organising their debut entry for the contest. Manw was selected through Chwilio am Seren to represent Wales, winning the televised national final on 9 October at the Venue Cymru in Llandudno. The winning song, "Hi yw y Berta", was chosen internally and written by Ywain Gwynedd.
