Dewi – Page 12 – Slugger O'Toole

Magners League Weekend 14

Dewi on March 27, 2010, 1:07 pm

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Last night saw Ulster slip out of serious play-off contention whilst the Scarlets defeat in Scotland puts them in desperate straits. Cardiff Blues 19-9 Ulster Edinburgh 24-20 Scarlets Munster 27-19 Glasgow Here’s the table. Two games today – Leinester will consolidate lead – I’m off to Newport to see if the Dragons can take over top Welsh spot. Leinster 17 – 14 Connacht Newport Gwent Dragons 28-20 Ospreys Wonderful Dragons performance in an excellent game. DewiWelsh Nationalist. Rugby Fan. Know …

Six nations final Weekend

Dewi on March 19, 2010, 3:05 pm

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Fixtures, all on Saturday: France 12-10 England, 19:45 Ireland 20-23 Scotland, 17:00 Wales 33-10 Italy, 14:30 Three home wins surely….. O’Driscoll on the new tackle law interpretation England an unpalatable mess Wales need to stop treating players like adults Gerald Davies on France Update from Western Mail: The Worse Six Nations in History? Strange old season with even France disappointing yesterday. Didn’t see Ireland but away Scottish win impressive? Prediction Result below : Well done Mrazik!Mrazik 21 FBFO,20 BryanS, Clanky, …

Northern Ireland split over Irish unity

Dewi on March 15, 2010, 7:03 pm

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From the Belfast Telegraph a new poll on identity gives the following response: 42% said they considered themselves Irish 39% British 18% Northern Irish And on unification: 36% in favour of United Ireland 55% to remain in UK (Can’t quite find out the missing 9%) Interestingly on expectations: Will NI still be part of the UK by 2021? Yes: 42% No: 42% Here’s the BBC report – Irish identity tops new Northern Ireland Poll. DewiWelsh Nationalist. Rugby Fan. Know a …

Six Nations Weekend 4 – Gatland a menopausal warthog!!

Dewi on March 11, 2010, 7:51 pm

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Here’s the fixtures: Saturday: Ireland 27-12 Wales Scotland 15-15 England Sunday: France 46-20 Italy Here’s Vincent Hogan in Monday’s Irish Independent: Sour Gatland can’t get over Irish allergy Nice: “Gatland has a problem with Irish rugby in the way Michael O’Leary has a problem with the Dublin Airport Authority. He feels that business between them has been soured by a toxic, personal agenda which, I’m afraid, makes him snappy as a menopausal warthog.” Funny – but this I found strange: …

BBC agree to meet Plaid and SNP on the election debates – very kind.

Dewi on March 11, 2010, 4:18 pm

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The Western Mail reports the latest on the election debates. From Ieuan Wyn: “Unless broadcasts are held in a fair, impartial and accurate way, the legitimacy and integrity of the general election results will be called into question. That cannot be an acceptable state of affairs for anyone. The action the BBC has taken in putting together these plans is nothing short of a betrayal of the principles upon which the editorial integrity of the BBC is built.” The Scotsman …

Nationalist Response to the “Prime Ministerial” Debates…

Dewi on March 5, 2010, 4:48 pm

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Here’s the Western Mail report on the joint Plaid / SNP response to the broadcasters debates plans. From Elfyn Llwyd: “It is unacceptable for the people of Wales and Scotland to be short-changed in this way and for the leaders of London parties to be given an additional 90 minutes of prime-time exposure. “Canada’s state broadcaster, CBC, manages to achieve balance across five parties and two languages. It is deeply disappointing the BBC currently lacks the ambition to even try.”…. …

Magners League Weekend 13

Dewi on March 5, 2010, 4:37 pm

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The second blank 6 nations weekend sees a full programme in the Magners League: Here’s the table. Bit of a gap emerging between Ulster and the play off places. Tonight a fairly desperate Scarlets, in severe danger of losing their European spot next season, will be a tough encounter. Fixtures: Friday, 05 March 2010 Connacht 19-19 Glasgow Scarlets 25-8 Ulster Saturday, 06 March 2010 Newport-Gwent Dragons 31-22 Munster, Sunday, 07 March 2010 Cardiff Blues 20-29 Leinster Edinburgh 33-17 Ospreys Went …

Six Nations Weekend 3

Dewi on February 26, 2010, 9:37 pm

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Fixtures for the weekend: Friday Wales 20-26 France Saturday England 16-20 Ireland Italy 16-12 Scotland Huge game for young Mr Sexton at Twickenham tomorrow. Tonight I’m expecting the normal boring kicking and forward dominated game at Cardiff…..(I hope – can’t put up with a game like Wales v Scotland) Anyway, here’s O’Driscoll on tomorrow’s centre battle. And the Times on Wales V France I’ll update the scores and prediction results over the weekend…….off to town to practice my French… Prediction …

Geoffrey Wheatcroft: Our differing approaches to terror

Dewi on February 20, 2010, 10:31 pm

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From today’s Independent. Worth reading the lot but here’s the end: “Compare and contrast, as exam papers say. The IRA and its front organisation Sinn Fein want to undo the partition of Ireland that was effected by the creation of a separate province of Northern Ireland in 1920. To that end the IRA deliberately murdered many people, including ordinary Protestants, and that end, if not the means, “is shared by many of our citizens”, Blair says, as well as by …

Magners League weekend 12

Dewi on February 19, 2010, 4:50 pm

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Is the term interregnum? Anyway between 6 Nations weekends we have another Magners cycle: Friday Glasgow 7-30 Cardiff Blues Munster 16-12 Edinburgh Ulster 22-22 Newport-Gwent Dragons Saturday Leinster 27-14 Scarlets Sunday Ospreys 19-17 Connacht Here’s the table. Top 4 (2 Scottish teams???) will meet in play offs at season end . Bottom Welsh team doesn’t qualify for Europe. A big game for relatively strong Dragons at Ulster tonight as they attempt to avoid that fate. Update – that was real …

Six Nations Weekend 2 – Championship decider in Paris.

Dewi on February 13, 2010, 4:52 pm

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Today it’s: France v Ireland, 16:30 Wales v Scotland, 14:00 Tomorrow: Italy v England, 14.30 Massive game in Paris (the French are claiming that the Irish cheat every weekend. Remember the last Irish win in France? Someone announced himself in style… 1, 2, 3. Update on Wales Scotland…Predictable and comfortable Welsh win..(Please God let’s have a boring Welsh game?). Here’s Gatland pondering the madness… Ireland – I know the score was bad but little things hurt – O’Driscoll Darcy could …

Plaid Cymru’s fearsome threesome pack quite a punch

Dewi on February 11, 2010, 2:01 am

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Whilst looking for any reference to yesterday’s vote in the London media – came across that. Cool or what? “Tiny Plaid Cymru are a great parliamentary asset. Blair and Mittal’s £2m, that was them. They kicked off Cash for Honours. The Blair Impeachment project, they did that too. Llwyd and Adam Price (they are two-thirds of their party) have probably had more effect on Parliament than the entire Liberal Democrats.” DewiWelsh Nationalist. Rugby Fan. Know a bit about History and …

53-0 in favour of referendum on legislative powers to the Welsh Assembly..

Dewi on February 10, 2010, 2:44 am

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OK it’s not my prediction for Wales Scotland on Saturday (but won’t be far off…) but today the National Assembly have voted 53-0 in favour of a referendum to transfer legislative powers to Cardiff. Here’s Betsan on the vote. Probably the most ridiculous referendum in UK history in terms of the constitution – but in terms of the Assembly’s power of delivery it’s critical. The process is that Secretary of State, Peter Hain, has 120 days in which to formulate …

European Soccer Draw

Dewi on February 7, 2010, 5:59 pm

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Pretty tough for both Irelands and Scotland. Best Welsh draw since 1958… Group I: Spain, Czech Republic, SCOTLAND Lithuania, Liechtenstein Group H: Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Cyprus, Iceland Group G: ENGLAND, Switzerland, Bulgaria, WALES, Montenegro Group F: Croatia, Greece, Israel, Latvia, Georgia, Malta Group E: Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Moldova, San Marino Group D: France, Romania, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Belarus, Albania, Luxembourg Group C: Italy, Serbia, NORTHERN IRELAND Slovenia, Estonia, Faroe Islands Group B: Russia, Slovakia, REPUBLIC OF IRELAND, FYR Macedonia, Armenia, Andorra …

Six Nations

Dewi on February 6, 2010, 3:20 pm

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It’s impeccable timing by the DUP et al to get all their nonsense finished in time for the 6 nations. We have a prediction contest here where I’m accepting entries till 14:30 – 2 2011 Wales Ireland tickets up for grabs !! Morgan Freeman launches the BBC coverage. Shane confident (in Welsh !) A nice piece on O’Driscoll in the Indie. Apart from Barry John the finest European post war Rugby player IMHO. The Guardian on Wales’s chances The Times …

6 Nations Predictions Contest

Dewi on February 3, 2010, 3:14 am

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Ok – here’s the rules: 1 point for a correct home win, 3 points for a correct away win, 7 points for a correct draw. Below the fold are the fixtures – please follow the instructions and I need a tie-break total points guess from all…1 England v Wales, 2 Ireland v Italy, 3 Scotland v France 4 France v Ireland 5 Wales v Scotland 6 Italy v England 7 Wales v France 8 England v Ireland 9 Italy v …

DUP Split

Dewi on February 2, 2010, 10:31 pm

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From the BBC “DUP members in quit threat. The soap opera gets stranger from day to day… “After Monday’s meeting, party sources said Mr Robinson was seeking unanimous support for a deal before moving ahead. It is believed the meeting was stormy, with a secret ballot ending in a 60/40 split in favour of the proposals. ” I wonder who leaked this and why? DewiWelsh Nationalist. Rugby Fan. Know a bit about History and Railways…

Some more on Lady Sylvia

Dewi on February 1, 2010, 12:32 pm

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Gonzo wrote on Lady Sylvia Hermon’s speech to the North Down SDLP last week. Here, the excellent Alan Trench of “Devolution matters” gives his take. He quotes Eamonn Mallie’s twitter thus: “It’s good to be among friends.” The words of Sylvia Hermon addressing an SDLP dinner in Bangor? I wonder what she meant ?” Trench continues: “If a moderate, social-democratically-inclined, Unionist is finding herself more comfortable in the company of her moderate, social-democratic nationalist counterparts, that may say something one …

February General Election?

Dewi on January 26, 2010, 5:30 am

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We’ve been here before I know but speculation is mounting that Brown (once he gets home of course) might be off to see the Queen.. Political Betting makes it 40-1. And Rentoul speculates – lovely quote: “But Gordon Brown must be planning a February snap election, because Cameron has slumped to an 11-point lead.” Probably nonsense except for one thing – I cannot see any positive outcome for Brown of testifying to Chilcot. An early election would defer that….. oh …

Things to read and watch around the world

Dewi on January 24, 2010, 5:15 pm

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As things have been so quiet recently I thought it would be a good idea to do an international roundup – belowI presume most of you have seen Avatar by know. The tale of the struggle of the Na’vi to devolve Policing and Justice from the wicked human planters (something like that anyway). Bit of strange film with so many cinematic metaphors – Thousands of jungle fighting Vietnam films, Burt Lancester swimming, countless Cowboys and Injuns from my childhood, Pullman’s …