The news where you are hits the headlines

Remember the "democratic deficit"?

That was the alliteratively attractive phrase used by those who bemoan the paucity of coverage of Welsh politics in the media consumed by their constituents or clients.

Perhaps things are changing. Earlier this month, the Daily Mail made the demise of a wind turbine in Aberystwyth a page lead. Admittedly, it devoted rather less attention to the demise of the Welsh farming minister but Welsh reshuffles do lack the visual impact of the Downing Street catwalk.

Fleet Street has noticed the arrival of a new secretary of state for Wales too, even if the Observer's Andrew Rawnsley wrote: "The Welsh secretary is pretty much a non-job".

Yesterday's Mail on Sunday and Sunday Times gave the Welsh grand committee a rare prominence with coverage of the "beard wars" between Paul Flynn and Stephen Crabb. But then you probably read it first here.

The Mail on Sunday also confirmed that "No Jags Crabb" has, as expected, scrapped the ministerial limo used by his predecessor, although it will be interesting to see the fine detail of the contract the Wales Office has decided to tear up.

As if that were not enough to fill the gap in terms of Welsh coverage, BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour featured a discussion between Welsh Tory leader Andrew RT Davies and Welsh deputy Minister for Tackling Poverty Vaughan Gething (the Welsh government's choice to go head-to-head with Mr Davies on Radio 4).

Within seconds, the conversation turned to the prime minister's observation that Offa's Dyke had become "a line between life and death", a comment that has not prevented David Cameron from bravely venturing west of the dyke today. "That was a bit over the top, wasn't it?" suggested presenter Carolyn Quinn.

"No, I don't agree," said Mr Davies. "I don't think it's unreasonable to compare and contrast the higher mortality rates in Welsh hospitals. Only three hospitals in Wales have below average mortality rates, one in seven people are on a waiting list here in Wales, cancer wait times haven't been met since 2008 and above all the Welsh government chose not to protect health spending."

It is a fine line between scrutiny of Welsh government politics and being accused of a "war on Wales" but I don't think you will hear Stephen Crabb defending the prime minister's choice of phrase.

Vaughan Gething told the programme that the Welsh government had decided to protect local government spending rather than the NHS and that that decision had been supported by two of the three opposition parties: "People in Wales are broadly satisfied with the public services that they get. That is the real lived experience."

Carolyn challenged him on another example of "the real lived experience", as highlighted by former Labour minister Alan Milburn's social mobility report (which is possibly the most shocking comparison between Wales and England I've ever read).

Carolyn Quinn: "The poorest children in Wales were 50 per cent less likely to get good results than children from the same background in England. That is a shocking indictment, isn't it?"

Vaughan Gething: "It is a huge challenge for the current position of our country and the future of our country." He argued that lower income families were having a really rough time at the moment - "and welfare reform is at the heart of that".

That may or may not be true but welfare reform is happening across the UK so his answer still doesn't explain why Welsh pupils from the same background perform worse than those from the same background in England.