Post Archives for Dewi
The Western Mail reverts to an old old type…
The Western Mail, Wales’s National Newspaper, has lost the plot. A front page editorial states: AN EXTRAORDINARY recommendation has been made by eight AMs that would see up to £400,000-a-year spent on translating the written record of every meeting held at the National Assembly into Welsh. We say that at a time when budgets are [...] more »
Fisk reminisces.
From the Independent: You can check in any time you want – but you can never leave.: On the Europa Hotel’s message pads, my handwriting records “2 sold VSI RVH” (two soldiers very seriously ill Royal Victoria Hospital), “bomb in SR and VS St” (Sandy Row and Great Victoria Street railway station), “son of judge [...] more »
Scotland – choose your narrative.
Gerry Hassan just gets better: Rupert Murdoch, the Referendum and Rangers FC: Self-government has to be a democratising process and project, or it will produce a change in name only which won’t affect the lives and experiences of Scottish people. That entails nourishing a culture which is both honest and humble, respecting different viewpoints and challenging [...] more »
The red tide returns – Labour win big in Wales.
Labour won 10 of the 21 councils contested in Wales (there are a few issues on Anglesey delaying elections there until next year). Here’s the detail from the BBC. Labour gained 231 seats to get to 576. All other major parties lost. Plaid lost 41 to fall to 158 seats, Tories fell 61 to 105 [...] more »
“Pa bryd y cawn fyned i Seion” – the forgotten history of Welsh Mormonism
It’s a fairly remarkable fact that the place outside these islands with the largest percentage population of Welsh descent isn’t Scranton (from the Western Mail), Gaiman (From the Argentina Independent), or the Welsh Tract of Pennsylvania (from Wiki). The winner is Malad City in Idaho. The link is to this year’s Malad Valley Welsh Festival. Here’s Malad City’s Wiki with an [...] more »
Six Nations – yet another boring Welsh Grand Slam?
Ok - I have people staying over for the weekend so forgive me for a post on Thursday. Sam’s back for Wales.. (from the Independent) Whatever. - that’s from Le Monde with the Google Translate here. I don’t think Rougerie is a centre. How many points are Ireland going to beat these idiots by? Foden want’s [...] more »
Plaid’s new leader – a Rhondda woman.
This is a big deal. Leanne Wood is the new Plaid Cymru leader. (From the BBC). A pretty convincing victory: First preferences: Leanne 2,879 Elin Jones 1,884 Dafydd El 1,278 Leanne almost won on the first vote and after transfers won a convincing victory. A few things: 1) The first non first Welsh language leader [...] more »
Six Nations – Another boring weekend.
OK – in the prediction contest we have two joint leaders, Johnny Boy and Reader. Neither have gone for Tommy Bowe as top try scorer so it’s still very open. Today it’s Wales v Italy and Ireland v Scotland. Tomorrow England travel to Paris. In the Western Mail Michael Owen hails the best Welsh team [...] more »
Elliott off – what next for the UUP?
Tom Elliott has obviously had enough. (from UTV) Mr Elliott has said he will not seek re-election to the position at the annual general meeting, in just over three weeks time. In a statement outlining his decision and the reasons behind it, he said some “obstruction and hostility” began immediately following his election as leader [...] more »
SIx Nations – Let’s try this again…
A miracle or a massacre? – From the Irish Independent: Le massacre du printemps, incidentally, was a headline from L’Equipe on the morning of the 1992 fixture in the old Parc des Princes, where Ireland managed never to win — against France or Argentina. Philippe Saint-Andre was on the wing that day when the home [...] more »
Romney,,,,yet another comeback.
It hasn’t been an entirely convincing process but Mitt Romney’s wins in home state Michigan and in Arizona have certainly dented the momentum of the the latest upstart, Rick Santorum. The New York Times has the numbers and observes: His victory over Mr. Santorum here in Michigan was far from commanding, but it was most [...] more »
Scotland – Ascherson still not decided on independence…
Always liked the bloke – but at 79 years old I thought he might have made his mind up….. From the New York Times. Even larger questions would loom. Would there still be a place called “Britain”? Would Scottish independence finally force the English to rediscover their own national voice, instead of hiding their problems [...] more »
Six Nations – Weekend 3
It’s time to start building a fortress. From the Irish Times: WHEN IRELAND first returned to Lansdowne Road in the autumn of 2010, Brian O’Driscoll spoke for all when declaring Ireland’s need to make the Aviva a fortress. Alas, not helped by the IRFU’s ticketing fiasco, as fortresses go it’s been more akin to the [...] more »
Six Nations: Paris in the Spring – A day for heroes…or a cold night in hell?
Well, late winter really but that ain’t quite got it..from the Irish Times – it’s minus nine degrees: At least les bleus won’t be playing with the sun on their backs in springtime. Otherwise, this one doesn’t look too promising. Not only do France have a hex on Ireland like no one else, nowhere does [...] more »
GOP Primaries – the plot thickens with a clean sweep for Santorum.
Romney isn’t closing this out. Yesterday saw a primary in Missouri (well a non binding beauty contest really) and two caucuses in Colorado and Minnesota. From RealClearPolitics: Santorum has taken Minnesota and Missouri comfortably. Romney was banking on Colorado. Here Nate compares his 2008 and 2012 performances. Broadly he’s at 60% of his 2008 level and [...] more »
Six Nations – wide open.
This weekend sees the start of the most unpredictable Six Nations for a while. (There’s still time to make your predictions here). Are those Polish freezers still working for Wales? (BBC) Keith Earls has some pretty big boots to fill….(Belfast Telegraph) If you were Mr Lancaster would you like to start things anew at a freezing [...] more »
Florida – All Over?
It looks that way. From Fox News - looks like a landslide for Romney. But can Romney beat Obama? Piles of stuff to read on RealClearPolitics…make up your own mind. more »
Six Nations 2012 Prediction Contest
Ok – it’s that time of the year. Same rules as usual which are: 1 point for a correct home win, 3 points for a correct away win, 7 points for a correct draw. This year we need the top try scorer. 3 points if it’s one bloke, 2 if it’s joint, 1 if it’s [...] more »
Paxman: the gowk goes over the top.
Playing the man I know but needs saying: Not Newsnight’s finest hour. After a twee introduction from a whisky sampling reporter then came Paxman’s interview with the Times’s Briton of the year. You can see some of it here. Zimbabwe, Mugabe, One party State?? Opting out of the BBC? the cheek of it all. Some [...] more »
Romney newtered in South Carolina…
A comfortable win for Gingrich in South Carolina as the BBC reports. The scale of the win (40-28) must be of particular concern to Romney. RealClearPolitics is particularly damning with it’s three takeaways from SC. 1) There is no good news buried in here for Mitt Romney …2) This is worse than George W. Bush’s loss [...] more »
Advertise
-
Books
-
Round up of Tuesday’s Political Studies Association conference
If you want to get a flavour of the proceedings at the Political Studies Association conference on its opening day, then the Storify collation below will bring you some of the images, tweets and sounds of the day. Particular highlights included: the Opening Plenary with David Blunkett, Peter Riddell and Matthew Flinders; and the late [...] read our review »
-
“Unionism Decayed 1997-2007″ by David Vance: book review
I initially wrote this when the book was first published three years ago; whilst certain elements of it now sound dated, its basic premise that the period of 1997-2007 was a period of irreversible decay for Northern Irish Unionism can still be argued as a valid opinion. My own feeling is that it did indeed [...] read our review » -
Eamon Nancarrow’s misadventures in Rock…
It’s the quiet ones you have to watch, they say. When I last saw Eamonn Namcarrow, back in the mid 1980s he was a congenial, good-natured and highly sociable young lad. The next time was 26 years later, in Lavery’s Gin Palace in Bradbury Place. He’d just brought out his first book, Holywood Star about [...] read our review »
-
