John Toshack

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Originally posted by Shaker Beads:

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Originally posted by Mezz:
As for crappy places, Cardiff has to rank numero uno on my list of shame. What an absolute hole. Even the locals get beaten up by the valley boys if they can't speak fluent Welsh. Boyo.

Notable mentions to Solihull, Middlesbrough and, of course, Glasgow.

Views on a place are subjective sure, but I've lived in Cardiff for a bit and I've never heard of anyone being beaten up for not speaking fluent Welsh at all. I've never heard anyone say boyo to be honest either. I have to say as well I really wouldn't be surprised if more people actually spoke Welsh in Cardiff than in the Valleys. Some of the most heavily subscribed schools in the city only teach in Welsh. Cardiff's a friendly place, certainly a lot less angry and violent than a lot of English cities and (well you'll have to take my word for this!) but loads of people I know agree. It's a bit insular though, but that's a bit like Wales in general IMHO, I don't think I've ever seen a foreign paper even in the central WH Smith or anywhere - even sort of standard ones like USA Today or something at the railway station

As far as I know the northern welsh(Llandudno etc) can't stand the southern welsh as they think they're too English. If you were a southern welsh person and happened to go to north Wales you'll find the locals would suddenly start talking Welsh to you . As for the valley boys, they hate everyone

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Originally posted by Juvefans:
John Toshack

I watched the first few minutes and Wales were dominating. I've just come back and seen the scoreline
What happened?

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Originally posted by Shevchenko:
I watched the first few minutes and Wales were dominating. I've just come back and seen the scoreline
What happened?

They remembered they were Welsh?

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Originally posted by Shevchenko:

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Originally posted by Juvefans:
John Toshack

I watched the first few minutes and Wales were dominating. I've just come back and seen the scoreline
What happened?

Paul Jones decided to become a crap keeper and Toshack decided to employ some messed up formations/tactics including taking off a striker and bringing on a midfielder when they were 3-1 down....

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Originally posted by Shaker Beads:

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Originally posted by Mezz:
As for crappy places, Cardiff has to rank numero uno on my list of shame. What an absolute hole. Even the locals get beaten up by the valley boys if they can't speak fluent Welsh. Boyo.

Notable mentions to Solihull, Middlesbrough and, of course, Glasgow.

Views on a place are subjective sure, but I've lived in Cardiff for a bit and I've never heard of anyone being beaten up for not speaking fluent Welsh at all. I've never heard anyone say boyo to be honest either. I have to say as well I really wouldn't be surprised if more people actually spoke Welsh in Cardiff than in the Valleys. Some of the most heavily subscribed schools in the city only teach in Welsh. Cardiff's a friendly place, certainly a lot less angry and violent than a lot of English cities and (well you'll have to take my word for this!) but loads of people I know agree. It's a bit insular though, but that's a bit like Wales in general IMHO, I don't think I've ever seen a foreign paper even in the central WH Smith or anywhere - even sort of standard ones like USA Today or something at the railway station

Blimey, it must be subjective! I lived in Cardiff for nearly a year and the best that can be said of my experience with the South (overwhelmingly non-Welsh speaking) Welsh is that the bitterness, unfriendliness, xenophobia is by no means limited to Cardiff. The apparently-Welsh language you thought they were talking was probably heavily-accented English that's incomprehensible. I've had some shocking experiences in Wales, north and south. They should be grateful to the English for allowing them to exist, instead of obliterating them and their nasty, pitiful little culture.

Ugliest town in Britain is, sadly, in Greater Manchester. Where? Oldham.

Oh, and bad North Korea by the way. They've only gone and tested a nuke apparently successfully! It'll cause instability in the region, South Korean stocks and currency will plunge. Thanks a fookin million!

On the plus side, though, any shares in Japanese and South Korean nuclear technology stocks will increase in value as the pair go nuclear. Every mushroom cloud has a silver iodide lining...

That presupposes that Kim Jong Il doesn't have a 'train accident' on the way to his next meeting of fratenal comrades in Bejing, leading to the Chinese 'helping' the North to end the crisis. The Chinese are already starting to find him a mite tiresome, it would appear, and doing something that might lead to a nuclearised Japan and South Korea isn't going to win Kim Brownie Points.

I think people seem to overestimate China's influence on North Korea, this Kim Jong fella appears to be somewhat of a renegade. He's very paranoid since the U.S would never invade N Korea and upset the massive economies in the region. The long-term interests of dollar-chasing China appear to be poles apart from what Kim seems to have in mind. The only viable way to topple Kim would be from within but that may well be impossible since N Korea is the most closed nation on earth.

You may have a point, zeds, but in the past we saw a pattern where Kim would threaten to go nuclear within weeks, the Americans would threaten sanctions and intervention, Kim would be invited to China for a chat, and then, upon his return, the North Koreans would start making conciliatory noises. It happened once too often for this to be entirely coincidental...

They don't have complete influence, but all the signs are that Kim is trying their patience rather more than he should; there are suggestions that the Chinese have a good deal of influence amongst certain cliques in the Korean leadership, and it'll be interesting to see if this is true and what comes of it (if anything).

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The long-term interests of dollar-chasing China appear to be poles apart from what Kim seems to have in mind.

Yes, correct. Testing a nuke is not a sign that they will attack. Seoul getting nuked seems unlikely, you feel. It's a tantrum that they hope will give them better bargaining power, to take the pi55 basically. In any kind of attack scenario the North loses big time, the regime crumbles, the US and China move in and establish something different. They know that. They have absolutely nothing to gain from attacking, but a lot to gain from threatening that they might attack.

Korea long term? God knows, but China have recently, directly claimed that virtually all of Korean history up to 1392 (north of Seoul particularly) is basically Chinese. They're a blue print for the future of the Korean peninsula according to China, IMHO. Koreans are very nationally/racially conscious and want eventual reunification, but, faced with the economy going crappy and millions of totally unskilled, uneducated North Koreans flooding Seoul.....hmm.

Thanks to good old Slick Willy and his Sec. of State Madeline Notbright for giving them the reactors and a billion cash for a "promise" to not develop nukes.

So much for appeasement again.....

When will we learn

Kim's ambassador said the UN should congratulate his country. Errmmm......

One has to applaud North Korea, using this as an exercise to amplify their might in a world where China/US aren't willing to fight/aren't in a position to fight.

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Originally posted by Duncan!:
Thanks to good old Slick Willy and his Sec. of State Madeline Notbright for giving them the reactors and a billion cash for a "promise" to not develop nukes.

So much for appeasement again.....

When will we learn

Yes. When will you learn Duncan? Bush's Axis of Evil nonsense has done a great deal of harm to the diplomatic process. And I'm afraid if I was Kim, having seen what happened to Iraq, I'd be arming myself to the teeth with every thermo-nuclear device I could lay my hands on.

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Originally posted by Giovanni L:

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Originally posted by Duncan!:
Thanks to good old Slick Willy and his Sec. of State Madeline Notbright for giving them the reactors and a billion cash for a "promise" to not develop nukes.

So much for appeasement again.....

When will we learn

Yes. When will you learn Duncan? Bush's Axis of Evil nonsense has done a great deal of harm to the diplomatic process. And I'm afraid if I was Kim, having seen what happened to Iraq, I'd be arming myself to the teeth with every thermo-nuclear device I could lay my hands on.

There has been an air of defiance and antagonism that long predates the Bush administration. The acceleration of nuclear activity is partly to do with China's decision to back UN-imposed sanctions on the country in July. North Korea has found herself friendless and thus seeks to retaliate in the most awkward way possible.

It does seem to be unusual that China has distanced herself from North Korea recently. No doubt it has something to do with the rapid economic progress that goes against everything preached in Kim's Stalinist regime (Hong Kong is one of the most open marketplaces in the world!!) and the fact that if China condoned any aspect of this internationally-recognised reprehensible act of behaviour, it would serve to jeopardise her improving image that will be manifested at the 2008 Olympic Games.

Fair play to the lad, Duncan's like an extra in a staging of 1984. Mezz, on the other hand, is eminently capable of playing the lead role in The Idiot.

Given that Welsh is spoken relatively very little in the Valleys, and as Shaker says, certainly less than in Cardiff itself, Mezz's view is something of a fantasy.

During the long periods of Craig Bellamy's absence from the city, Cardiff is indeed a relatively peaceful place.

Re insularity, I'm not sure I agree. It's ethnically very diverse and I never had trouble finding European newspapers for sale. It also used to have an excellent independent bookshop, Chapter and Verse and the best independent cinema I've been to. Having said all that, the City Centre (around Queen St and St Mary's St) was a bit of a tip when I went back about 5 years ago.

Does it bother anyone else that our government tells us what we can and cannot eat and that we're all too fat when certain cabinet members bring a whole new meaning to the term 'XL'?

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Originally posted by Bracey:
Does it bother anyone else that our government tells us what we can and cannot eat and that we're all too fat when certain cabinet members bring a whole new meaning to the term 'XL'?

I see where your coming from Bracey but to be honest I would say most of our nation's people ARE I'm sorry to say THAT stupid that they need government guidance on what they should and should not eat. Just look at those idiotic parents that repeatedly take their kids to fast food outlets to shut them up.

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Thanks to good old Slick Willy and his Sec. of State Madeline Notbright for giving them the reactors and a billion cash for a "promise" to not develop nukes.

Is that not the American way, big business before diplomacy?

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Originally posted by Juvefans:
John Toshack

Wales played well in all areas of the pitch except in defence - the forward passing, running and movement were excellent for all of the first half...unfortunately the defending was poor and the goalkeeping horrendous I didnt watch the second, but i didnt think of the goals in the first half could be attributed to Toschack's tactics.

Mind you, if Danny Gabbidon is the rock around which you build then there are always going to be problems...he is a reasonable defender but would be the weakest link in an international defence [you'd have thought]. I guess its just because Wales is so small and theres a tiny pool of players to pick from...

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Originally posted by zeds:

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Originally posted by Bracey:
Does it bother anyone else that our government tells us what we can and cannot eat and that we're all too fat when certain cabinet members bring a whole new meaning to the term 'XL'?

I see where your coming from Bracey but to be honest I would say most of our nation's people ARE I'm sorry to say THAT stupid that they need government guidance on what they should and should not eat. Just look at those idiotic parents that repeatedly take their kids to fast food outlets to shut them up.

Yep, very fair point. I just wish we had better role models on the front bench for this type of argument.

Yes Mikey, you hit the nail on the head when you said Wales have a small pool of players to choose from. Toshack's main crime is falling out with Savage. You can afford to be abrasive in club management in that you can sell players you don't get on with, and bring in players of equal financial value. In international management, the first rule is don't fall out with any key player. Sadly for Wales perhaps, Savage is just that.

Toshack's stated aim of "building for the future" is hot air as such aims always are. See also Englands' "building for 2006" for 6 years. And for Wales there is no future at all with the current shower of largely lower league players. Toshack was a shockingly bad appointment.