The definition of politics is the practice of exercising power. That’s certainly very true when one considers the new political map of Wales drawn up by the Boundary Commission, the details of which are included in our print and online editions.

‘Radical’ is the word that springs to mind. And ‘radical’ and ‘politics’ are words that rarely sit together in the same sentence.

For starters, the new electoral map will see our 32 current Westminster constituencies forced together into 16 separate Senedd districts, each returning six members to Cardiff Bay.

For the people of west Wales, the map is an abomination, speaking to the low regard in which this rural area is held by the powers that be in the Senedd. For too long, this publication has railed against the poor services and Third World treatment handed to us by Cardiff Bay, and the new map only underscores that contempt.

Gwynedd, for example, becomes part of a vast area stretching from the Irish Sea to the English border. It is an unnatural fit, one that is at odds with the people who live between Eryri and the western coasts.

Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire are amalgamated into a looping area that does little to recognise the cultural disparities that exist.

Gone too will be the first-past-the-post system, replaced with multi-seat constituencies where voters are asked to select parties, and they will then choose on the basis of a list. That simply gives parties too much power, and it strips away a fundamental right of voters to make very real selections on candidates.

Labour might think it right to offer up on a list an MS who accepted a very large donation from a convicted environmental criminal; voters in a smaller constituency would have a very real say in whether that person was worthy of representing them in Cardiff Bay. Not any more.

Plaid Cymru might include a wife beater on their list for a wider constituency, but in smaller areas, voters too could look that nominee in the eye and make a decision at the ballot box. Not any more.

Besides, look at the mess 60 Senedd members have made of the country. Think of what 96 will do...