Wales – Page 13 – Slugger O'Toole

“The Olympic Flame will shine a light right across every Nation and Region of the UK…”

Pete Baker on May 18, 2011, 2:27 pm

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The BBC reports the announcement of the first 74 locations on the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay Route across the UK – starting at Land’s End, Cornwall, on the morning of 19 May 2012. They have an interactive map too. The torch will arrive in Northern Ireland on 3 June and will travel to Portrush, Londonderry, Newry and Belfast. As the short version of the LOCOG press release notes The cities and towns, in every nation and region of the UK, will …

The Economist – finger on the pulse.

Dewi on May 14, 2011, 7:55 am

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I’ve subscribed to the Economist for twenty years. It’s wonderful on the Kurds in Turkey, the latest PNV election results in the Basque Country and anything happening in Quebec. Yesterday it gave us the honour of an article: The double act continues. You get: “In elections for the Northern Ireland Assembly on May 5th, the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein consolidated their positions as the biggest unionist and nationalist party respectively. The DUP’s Peter Robinson (left) and Sinn Fein’s …

Ieuan Wyn to quit as Plaid leader…

Dewi on May 13, 2011, 3:25 pm

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The BBC reports on Plaid leader Ieuan Wyn Jones’ decision to quit as leader (for the second time) sometime in the next two and a half years. From Ieuan: “I have also witnessed many historic and momentous events during that period, not least leading the party into government for the first time in its 86-year history and the referendum on law-making powers,” Also: “The party obviously needs time to reflect on the results, look long and hard at our message, …

Some comfort for everyone in Wales…

Dewi on May 7, 2011, 9:54 am

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The results from the BBC are here. along with the usual colourful map. Complicated little country are we not? So it’s: Labour 30 (+4) Conservative 14 (+2) Plaid Cymru 11 (-4) Liberal Democrat 5 (-1) I’ve refrained from posting on Wales for the last few weeks as I had a growing feeling of impending doom from a Plaid perspective. A few reasons. 1) The top up list system is theoretically proportional but in practice (as with your 6th seats in …

AV Referendum: Don’t vote – it only encourages them! #meh2av

Paul Evans on May 5, 2011, 10:54 am

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I hope you don’t vote in the AV referendum today. A while ago, I posted a general criticism on the use of referendums. As I put it then, using a referendum to choose an electoral system is like using trial-by-combat to pick the winner of a peace prize. The conduct of the AV campaign has vindicated the strongest of these criticisms – and then some. We will be told over the next few days that a No verdict (a certainty, …

Tories can be nice people…?

Dewi on April 16, 2011, 10:08 am

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Hasn’t the world changed recently. According to my Mam this lot used to eat Miners’ babies for breakfast…. Welsh Tory manifesto. Wales is blessed with a vibrant heritage, two national languages and an outstanding sporting tradition. Our national community was among the first to emerge in Europe. We have a literary tradition that dates back to the sixth century. Yet while devolution has brought renewed self-confidence to Wales, successive Labour-led WAGs have failed to take enough pride in Welsh cultural …

Plaid (of all people) mix up our poets…

Dewi on April 13, 2011, 6:50 am

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Plaid launch our manifesto (of which more later)…. Plaid’s vision for what it describes as the next decade of delivery is reflected in the title of the document “Ambition is Critical”. As Wales prepares in 2014 to mark a centenary since the birth of Dylan Thomas, his words have been adopted by Plaid as their guiding principle for both the manifesto and the next Welsh government. Except..wrong poet…introducing David Hughes… Oh well, the slogan is good and all publicity….. DewiWelsh …

Strange Tale from Wales…

Dewi on April 6, 2011, 1:11 am

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Chris Bryant, MP for the Rhondda, raised this strange business at Westminster. Here’s the BBC report.: (it’s worth watching the video for a Bercow put-down…) Labour and Plaid Cymru are locked in a row about dirty tricks over an assembly election campaign leaflet. The leaflet, which attacks shadow Welsh Secretary Peter Hain, has been posted on the internet. It calls on voters to deny Labour a majority and accuses Mr Hain of plotting behind the back of Welsh Labour leader …

Celtic Cousins…

Dewi on April 1, 2011, 2:15 pm

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The Western Mail has really caught the history bug. We are in the middle of their Welsh History Month. Today Dr Paul O’Leary of Aber discusses Irish Migration to Wales. Well worth a read – some highlights: …These newcomers sometimes received a hostile reception from the Welsh and were refused hospitality at inns. This was not an isolated episode. From the 1820s Irish migrants began to appear in the new and growing industrial settlements of the country. They encountered a …

Duffy – a promising Nefyn folk singer…

Dewi on March 31, 2011, 3:54 am

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Here we go: Duffy singing “Ar lan y môr” from the soundtrack of new Welsh film “Patagonia”. (Coming to the flix soon…) Not bad but Cerys is better – the Bob Dylan treatment…..Cool… Katherine is, like all Clannad… But I still reckon Mine’s the best… Not really – Siân knows how it goes.. For those interested it’s great that everyone sings different words! DewiWelsh Nationalist. Rugby Fan. Know a bit about History and Railways…

Salmond – the comeback kid…Scottish Lib Dems becoming a relic?

Dewi on March 29, 2011, 11:18 am

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In contrast to Wales, where a pretty healthy Labour lead is being confirmed regularly, things are tightening in Scotland. UK Polling Report gives the latest from TNS-BMRB. Holyrood Constituency: CON 15% LAB 38% LDEM 7% SNP 37% Holyrood Regional: CON 14% LAB 35% LDEM 8% SNP 35% Green 5% Two things stand out: 1) It’s tight at the top. 2) The LibDems. 1) To put the Poll in context there’s been a fairly consistent 10 point odd lead for Labour …

The corporation tax debate is finely balanced. Business needs to shape up

Brian Walker on March 25, 2011, 9:57 am

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Claire McNeilly presents a pretty good pull-together of the local debate on lower corporation tax in the Belfast Telegraph. In the FT John Murray Brown does the elementary sums. Assuming corporation tax is cut to the Irish Republic’s rate of 12.5 per cent, the Treasury paper estimates the block grant would have to be cut by £105m in the first year of the adjustment, rising to £270m, or 2.6 per cent of the block grant, after five years The onus …

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 …

Ireland win by 3 wickets with 5 balls to spare

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on March 2, 2011, 5:07 pm

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Kevin O'Brien - Getty images screenshot from BBC Sport

Following on from Pete’s excited live blogging in his earlier post (which I’d missed) … I don’t do sport. But colleagues tell me that Ireland have beaten England in the Cricket World Cup and that doesn’t happen every day. If you leprechauns can’t get over the line now, I don’t know… My mum could win it from here; you’ve done the hard work. (Geoffery Boycott) Should I expect cricketing images to adorn gable walls in West and East Belfast in …

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 …