Dewi – Page 7 – Slugger O'Toole

The Liberation of Stalingrad.

Dewi on March 27, 2011, 8:20 am

| Readers 22

I started looking at the British Pathe News site to see footage of Jackie Kyle, my late Dad’s favourite outside half. There’s very little of him to see but the site is wonderful. Here’s a fabulous 8 minute clip on the liberation of Stalingrad. “German generals never surrender…24 surrendered at Stalingrad”. At 5.15 you see Paulus with his nervous twitch… Copyright – British Pathe News. DewiWelsh Nationalist. Rugby Fan. Know a bit about History and Railways…

Some funny stuff before the elections…

Dewi on March 24, 2011, 7:42 pm

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To be fair The Daily Mash is always funny. But this takes the biscuit: The BBC hasn’t really nailed it since Ceefax. And the best blog in the whole wide world: No Good Boyo. The British abroad are a queasy seesaw of expat and diplomat. Expats, whether metro journalist or furrowed accountant, all decompose into a septic tank of drunken suburban prejudice and low-wattage adultery. British diplomats, whether baronets or bursary boys, rise into a Zen stratosphere of airless detachment …

Six Nations 2011 – Final Weekend

Dewi on March 18, 2011, 6:19 am

| Readers 7

OK – Wales are 42 points behind England on goal difference with one game to go. So we need you to win by 41 and beat France in Paris to win the Championship. Stranger things have happened. But. Not. Often. So…Trimble and Sexton back. Zulus? Rorke’s Drift? – what’s Liam Toland on about? Come on Ireland, fix bayonets . . . “At one hundred yards! Volley fire, present! Aim! Fire!” Gatland loves George North (in for Shane). On the video: …

Royal Wedding Update

Dewi on March 16, 2011, 12:27 am

| Readers 4

At least they will have a decent harpist. God help us… DewiWelsh Nationalist. Rugby Fan. Know a bit about History and Railways…

Six Nations 2011 – weekend 4….

Dewi on March 12, 2011, 4:16 am

| Readers 4

OK, it’s the big one and we have home advantage. Ireland, Just, Maybe.from the Irish Times. Gwyn thinks we’ll do it.From the Western Mail. Hooky pretty damn cool…from the BBC. At least Gatland isn’t making mischief – Nullify the ball carriers. Oh, and btw Bangladesh have beaten England. Laughed Out Loud! Update from the The Independent: Barry John could spot a gap the size of a mouse hole. So when he was sitting outside the Old Arcade pub in Cardiff’s …

I’m the leader of the Welsh Labour Party….no you ain’t!

Dewi on March 8, 2011, 10:46 pm

| Readers 25

As the euphoria of the referendum result pales so the pre-election rows commence. Your friend and ours, Peter Hain, plays the attack dog (from the BBC). Shadow Welsh Secretary Peter Hain has branded Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones, Deputy First Minister in the assembly government, “ineffective”. And…Carwyn Jones, first Minister replies: “Those are Peter’s comments. These are not comments that are issued by the government….. Ieuan and I know that over the next few weeks we will have to …

Home Rule for Wales

Dewi on March 5, 2011, 9:25 am

| Readers 8

I’m still a bit stunned at the referendum result: Yes: 517,132 No: 297,380. That’s 63.5% in favour of streamlining the Welsh lawmaking process. Some remarkable results, especially in the North East where both Wrexham and Flintshire voted resoundingly in favour with stunning swings from 1997. Here’s the results and the BBC’s analysis. And Carwyn says: “An old nation came of age” I’m very lucky to live in these times – the first real Home Rule for Wales since Glyndŵr.. Cool …

Give us the tools to do the job.

Dewi on March 2, 2011, 2:23 pm

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Tomorrow sees the referendum on a slicker law making process for Wales’s devolved powers. Two polls, one for the Western Mail and the second for Y Byd ar Bedwar (analysed on Syniadau), show 2:1 majorities for the Yes vote. In the Yes camp the spin is we’re winning but need a good turnout. In their annual obsevation on Wales the Guardian gives it’s support. It’s quite a good assessment to be fair. It is frustrating that it is necessary to …

Welsh language hits the big time…

Dewi on February 27, 2011, 5:31 pm

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It’s finally arrived – the Welsh language Email scam! As reported in the Western Mail: a message that will be familiar to many repeat recipients of messages from deposed African royals, a widow of a Kuwaiti ambassador for the Ivory Coast asks for help distributing a $2.5m trust fund for the needy if the willing party can just send through their bank details. DC John Cherry, e-Crime Wales business liaison officer, said that it was an “old-fashioned” scam that perhaps …

Six nations 2011 -weekend 3

Dewi on February 25, 2011, 7:06 pm

| Readers 1

So it’s: Italy v Wales and England v France tomorrow and Scotland v Ireland on Sunday. bbc has piles of stuff. Ireland hoping for space. Fragile France.Hmmm…we’ll see… Hooky at centre… For what it’s worth I can’t see France conceding 3 tries against England… DewiWelsh Nationalist. Rugby Fan. Know a bit about History and Railways…

Law making powers for Wales – it’s old hat..

Dewi on February 19, 2011, 9:50 am

| Readers 13

To coincide with our referendum the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth have been digitising their copies of the thousand year old Laws of Hywel Dda. To quote the preamble: “The Laws of Hywel Dda are one of the jewels of Welsh civilization which bare witness to a developed and literate society in early medieval Wales. Although the images from NLW Peniarth 28 manuscript of the Laws are better known, the newly digitised NLW 20143A manuscript also includes interesting drawings. …

Welsh Referendum – things hotting up.

Dewi on February 15, 2011, 9:54 pm

| Readers 5

Shane says Yes! With a little more than a fortnight to go before polling on March the 3rd the Yes campaign is continuing the strategy of big name endorsements. Whilst maybe not engrossing the nation it’s getting a little nasty. Here’s the Western Mail’s take on maverick No campaigner Len Gibb’s latest lies. More positively what AMs would do with new powers. A real positive input from Helen Mary Jones: Plaid deputy leader Helen Mary Jones suggested beefing up the …

Six Nations 2011 – Week 2.

Dewi on February 12, 2011, 11:03 am

| Readers 5

OK, we have: England v Italy and Scotland v Wales today. Tomorrow Ireland host France. Plenty on the BBC. The Guardian makes Scotland favourites. Murrayfield is not a nice place when confidence is low….some of us have nightmares about 1951 (from British Pathe – a nice site..). …7 joint leaders of our prediction contest btw. As to Ireland..it’s a moment of truth according to the Irish Times. Enjoy. DewiWelsh Nationalist. Rugby Fan. Know a bit about History and Railways…

Six Nations Preview

Dewi on February 1, 2011, 7:45 am

| Readers 4

Guscott (booh) and Jonathan pontificate on the BBC. Eddie’s watching Ireland and England in the Guardian. Me, i just read the 14 pages of rugby in the Western Mail every day..rugby nation indeed (it’s as hard to keep up with as slugger…) What’s the tele saying? Ireland not in decline.. hmmm we’ll see. Anyway more predictions please. If France hadn’t got stuffed by Australia then it would be all over by now……but Scotland beat Argentina away in the summer…Wales are …

Six Nations Prediction Contest 2011

Dewi on January 30, 2011, 10:30 am

| Readers 1

I’ll get on to a preview later but this seemed to work quite well last year so let’s have another go. 1 point for a correct home win, 3 points for a correct away win, 7 points for a correct draw. Tie break is the total points scored in championship. Fixtures are: 1. Wales v England 2. France v Scotland 3. Italy v Ireland 4. England v Italy 5. Scotland v Wales 6. Ireland v France 7. England v France …

6 weeks to go – No campaign launches.

Dewi on January 19, 2011, 11:58 am

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The BBC report on today’s launch of the True Wales “No” campaign in next month’s referendum. The launch takes place in Newbridge RFC (…my home village Rugby Club…hmm). Rachel Banner, True Wales spokesperson, is quoted: “We don’t want more laws. What we need is for AMs to focus on education and health and the economy and to build up these things so we can have a prosperous Wales. “We don’t believe new laws will achieve that.” I love that “We …

No “No” Campaign = No “Yes” Campaign

Dewi on January 13, 2011, 8:18 am

| Readers 6

In the run up to the March 3rd referendum things are getting a little strange here. Carwyn indicates the dangers. ….It is up to the Electoral Commission to designate an official Yes and No campaign, but both must pass a series of tests before they can reach that status and get access to £70,000 to organise their campaigns.. Under the rules, the commission has to designate an official campaign group from each side, or none at all. Speaking at first …

Short, Sharp Yes for Wales.

Dewi on January 4, 2011, 10:20 am

| Readers 7

The BBC reports on today’s official launch of the Yes for Wales campaign to secure legislative powers in devolved areas by winning a referendum on March 3rd. The national launch is followed by a series of regional events as the campaign’s website shows. First Minister Carwyn Jones states the case (wait a mo for video to kick in). There’s no doubt that Scotland and Northern Ireland are taken more seriously. Why? My argument would be it’s because they’ve got more …

Pat Sheehan

Dewi on January 3, 2011, 8:21 pm

| Readers 34

McKittrick in the Independent profiles Pat Sheehan, who is following Gerry Adams as MLA for West Belfast. A reflective piece: Then he came up with an unusual description of the Irish conflict: it was, he remarked, “probably quite civilised, if that’s a proper description to use”. Civilised? Was the IRA civilised, was it a civilised conflict? “If you look at it in the round,” he contended, “the type of mass killings and genocide in other conflicts didn’t happen here. The …

Christmas Quiz (3) – that was the year that was…

Dewi on December 23, 2010, 11:01 pm

| Readers 5

A few “who saids”. and a number of “who wons”. Pretty easy without help?

Welsh Nationalist. Rugby Fan. Know a bit about History and Railways…