Gavin Lewis' posterous

Cheryl Gillan and her HS2 "objections"
- 16 Jan 2012
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- Cheryl Gillan HS2
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It's all becoming clear now isn't it Mrs Gillan. You were only objecting to the high-speed rail link because you were trying to sell a house in the area, rather than any moral obligation to look out for your county.

Her spokesman said the house had been on the market since June 2010 and went for 20% under the original price.

It is about 500 yards from the route of the London to Birmingham section of HS2, which was given the green light last week by Transport Secretary Justine Greening.

Source

So you had us all excited about your impending departure for nothing? Thanks for that. I might have known there would be some self-interest in this story somewhere as looking out for others isn't typical Tory behaviour.

Oh, and in case you are wondering, the plans for HS2 were announced when the coalition formed in May 2010, so she put the house on the market a month later. Funny that.
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Cardiff Blues chief Richard Holland dismisses Arms Park return
- 12 Jan 2012
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- Cardiff Blues Rugby
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In May 2008 the Blues signed a deal to play all their home games at the stadium for the following 20 years as Cardiff City's tenants. (BBC)

It is hardly surprising that the Blues chief is adamant that the team will stay as lodgers at the Cardiff City stadium, but I can't help feel as though that is a mistake. Sadly I also feel as though the move would be futile as a means of encouraging fans to turn up to games in their droves.

The Blues have a couple of problems at the moment and they won't be fixed by simply moving house, although the Arms Park's proximity to the centre of town and the excellent footfall it offers would certainly help.
1. Cost - It costs around £20 per adult to go to a typical common-or-garden Blues game. On top of that you need get to the stadium. The nearby carpark is for retail customers and has clampers in force. On a busy (football) match day you will find people parked all the way down Hadfield road and sometimes on the sliproad to the motorway. The nearest train station is a fair ol' walk too, through a neighbourhood that can be a little daunting at night.
2. Timings - In the good old days a rugby match would usually kick off between 2pm and 4pm. These days they can start anywhere from 6pm to 8pm. If you have young children, an 8pm kickoff will likely take them well past their bedtime, especially once you've caught a train (which are iffy at best beyond 8pm) or found your car and made it home.
3. Pontypridd supporters - When the Celtic Warriors went belly-up and the players merged into the Blues, the Ponty faithful understandably felt a little aggrieved by the situation. Fans will turn out in their numbers to support Pontypridd RFC in the Principality Premiership, but they won't make the journey down to Leckwith to support the Blues. A full Sardis Road (around 7,000) would effectively double the turnout at a typical Blues game if they made the trip down.
4. Its a football stadium - The Blues should have a stadium of their own, somewhere between the two feeder clubs - north Cardiff perhaps. They shouldn't be lodging with a 2nd division football club. Bunking on a mate's sofa is not "home".
Given that the Arms Park is as old as the hills, it's all paid for, so there would be no reason to charge such high ticket prices. It would also be in the centre of town and much easier to get to. What it will not do is win over the Sardis Road regulars and get them supporting their half of the Cardiff Blues.
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Kitten by Gavin Lewis
- 1 Jan 2012
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Well, this is a fine start to 2012. My little Harley made it into the "up & coming" section on 500px.
Quite chuffed because this is the highest rating I've had on there so far.
Kitten by Gavin Lewis on 500px
http://500px.com/photo/4064582
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Business Cat
- 1 Jan 2012
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A "Return to Christian values"
- 17 Dec 2011
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Here's a tweet from Al Iguana that sums up my feelings on our stupid Prime Minister's comments about returning to what he considers "Christian" values.

Al Iguana (@aliguana)
12/17/11 12:03 PM
It's Tory "everyone for themselves" values that are the problem. And that is the antithesis of "Christian Values" #hypocrite

Of course, it all depends on what Christian values you are talking about. Do they mean the "love thy neighbour" part? If they do they should probably read the small print, as this seems to exclude anyone who isn't "like them" - homosexuals, "foreigners", the poor, the sick etc or even someone who had their first marriage break down.
There is no room for any religion in politics, simply because religion is probably the single most divisive and hypocritical element of our decaying society.
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A Stormy December
- 12 Dec 2011
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Thank You Shane Williams, enjoy your (international) retirement!
- 4 Dec 2011
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- Rugby Wales
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Such a fantastic servant to Welsh rugby. He had the ability to turn a game completely on its head and create magic from nothing. One of a kind.
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Wales at the World Cup
- 30 Oct 2011
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- RWC2011 Rugby Wales World Cup
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After 2011's rugby world cup, it is easy to become distracted and disheartened by the slightly disappointing outcome and the utterly misleading IRB rankings. In reality, Wales were outstanding for the vast majority of the tournament.

They had a very tough pool, consisting of not just the reigning world champions, but a number of "bogey teams" that have caused Wales problems in the past. In all of the games we lost, we were adrift by a point or two. Across all lost games, 5 points was all that stood between Wales and victory.

Now that the dust has settled, we are left with what is by and large a very young team, with only one or two likely to have retired by the next world cup. The standout players of the tournament, such as George North, Scott Williams, Leigh Halfpenny, Toby Faletau, Rhys Priestland and Jamie Roberts will all be in their early to mid 20's when the world cup rolls around again in four years time.

The only thing that really worries me is where Shaun Edwards will be in four years. Our defence is incredible and Shaun, being our defence coach is responsible for much of that. He's now "out of contract" and questionmarks remain over his future.

We've also found ourselves in a similar situation to New Zealand (without the big shiny trophy obviously) in that our performance seems to rely so heavily on the presence of Rhys Priestland, rather like New Zealand and Dan Carter. Admittedly, our 2nd & 3rd choice fly-halves would have been quite rusty for the games they played following Priestland's shoulder injury, but the spark was missing.

Still, enough waffling. I really only created this post so that I could show you this compilation of tries I found on Youtube.

Enjoy!
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Techbeast.net is now on Facebook
- 13 Sep 2011
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- Facebook News Social Networking
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You may be pleased to read that you can now follow Techbeast.net on Facebook thanks to our brand new page here.

It's something I've been dithering over for a while now but I finally gave in to temptation and created a new page. It pulls the RSS feed from here and shoves it into your Facebook updates feed, so you can now see exciting tech updates right alongside your friends and family.

I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but for now it'll provide a useful space for news updates and the odd whimsical comment here and there.

There's a Facebook "badge" on the right of the page and down a bit (if you are viewing this from Techbeast.net, if not you may be wearing a puzzled expression right about now...).
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RWC2011: Wales team to face South Africa

8 Sep 2011
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So, the team has been announced and it is as follows:

Jon Doel:

WALES: James Hook; George North, Jonathan Davies, Jamie Roberts, Shane Williams, Rhys Priestland, Mike Phillips; Paul James, Huw Bennett, Adam Jones, Luke Charteris, Alun Wyn Jones, Dan Lydiate, Sam Warburton (C), Toby Faletau

REPLACEMENTS: Lloyd Burns, Ryan Bevington, Bradley Davies, Andy Powell, Tavis Knoyle, Scott Williams, Leigh Halfpenny

Not quite sure about putting Hook at 15, never have been. He's wasted out there, but that's not to say Priestland isn't a good alternative at 10. Putting Faletau at 8 is also a bit of a risk.

Oh well, let's hope Gatland knows what he is doing.

Source: WalesOnline.

« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 33 34 Next »

Gavin Lewis' posterous

Cheryl Gillan and her HS2 "objections"

Cardiff Blues chief Richard Holland dismisses Arms Park return

Kitten by Gavin Lewis

Business Cat

A "Return to Christian values"

A Stormy December

Thank You Shane Williams, enjoy your (international) retirement!

Wales at the World Cup

Techbeast.net is now on Facebook

RWC2011: Wales team to face South Africa

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