George Groves - James Degale

Well done St George! Most experts and fans all seemed to be in agreement that Degale would simply be too sublime for the Commonwealth champion. How wrong were we! I expected Groves to work the body, get inside and pressure Degale but the opposite was the case. Groves used the ring well, had (mostly) better footwork and kept his opponent off the boil by superb lateral movement.

Equal credit has to go to Adam Booth, who is fastly ensuring his reputation as one of the best boxing brains in the world. He took a heart on sleeve fighter and managed to grow his potential to include skills we would have never thought we would see from Groves. Well done Adam.

Degale has a long road back from here, of course he is going to recover and is still a massive talent and draw but the manner of his defeat will change his boxing outlook. According to Twitter and boxing blogs even the most die hard 'Chunky' fan only had him nicking it. Hardly the 4-round blow out we were promised! Degale appeared to not have a plan B and totally forgot about working off his jab. A large part of this must fall on Jim McDonnell – why would a trainer of this calibre send his charge out without a plan? As we know Jim McDonnell is a quality trainer it must have been down to arrogance – thinking Degale would just walk through Groves?

If I was incharge of Degale I would move him from the UK to start again, like Khan did. In the UK 'Chunky' is a celebrity, he may have been a victim of believing his own hype. A move would change this, he could start again as a novice with little distraction. If he can get back in the ring relatively quickly and with good sparring inbetween he will challenge for honours again soon, hopefully without all the nasty build up that in my opinion soured his reputation. I predict that we will see a rematch but I hope it is not for a few years, hopefully when both are international names.

Well done both, it was a great fight and well worth the £15.

James Bond - Random Blog topic!

Thanks to ITV I have managed to catch a couple of Bond films within the last month and I am pleased to say they were a great couple of hours of pure escapism. This raised the age old question in my head; 'Who is the best Bond?' Now there are few issues as divisive in the world. Indeed the Connery Vs Moore debate is up there with Ali-Frasier, North-South and Leg-Breast (Chicken you dirty sod) in terms of fanboyism.

In my humble opinion, ALL the bonds offer something unique that may be a product of their times. Connery, the trend setter was (and still is) the epitome of cool. No Bond since has carried off the calm, yet ruthless demeanour in such a powerful way. The Aston Martin DB5 seemed to personify the 'cool' that was the swinging sixties (or so im told, I wasnt there!). Roger Moore added a sense of campness and tongue in cheek wit that was a world away from Connery. However it seemed to work? Whilst this Bond wasnt the calm, collected killer that the previous one was, he was more defined by the era of the 70s. It was almost as if the studios or directors couldnt decide what to make of the franchise? Live and Let Die was only a caucasian lead from being a 'blaxplotation' film like Shaft. Moonraker was trying desperately to cash in on the Star Wars fever by putting Bond in space! Characters like JW Pepper didnt seem to fit the Bond set. HOWEVER for all this, they all seemed to work.

Moving on to Dalton, he seemed to recapture some of the ruthlessness of Connery. However this was at the expense of the humour that Moore brought. I really enjoyed both of the films but again they were a product of what was popular at the time. With heroes like Arnie and Stallone to compete with Bond became a clone of the action film. The Living Daylights and License to Kill had some tremendous action sequences that previous Bonds hadnt primarily focused on. Was this because Dalton was more two dimensional that Moore and Connery or was it because that is just the way the films were made? Maybe a little of both? Either/or, both are really good films and I think it was a loss to the franchise that Dalton didnt make more!

Considering the format of this musing appears to be chronological I must follow with Pierce Brosnan. This Bond is the one that I held out the greatest hope for, yet was the most disappointed with. This is not to say that I didnt enjoy his films, I really did (mostly) – I just thought that there was so much more potential with Brosnan to reboot the franchise. Whether or not this is the fault of him or the studios isnt the point of this article. Brosnan appeared to merge all of the aforementioned traits seamlessly. He was funny, ruthless, cool and a really good actor! Goldeneye was such a good film, it hinted at a new direction in the series with a well thought out plot, a bit of backstory and some action sequences Roland Emmerich would be proud of. Subsequent films left a lot to be desired. Tomorrow Never Dies took an interesting plot idea and took it too far, World is Not Enough took an interesting plot idea and didnt do enough with it and Die Another Day needs to be consigned to the dustbin of history alongside Dansani and the N-Gage.

Finally I will come to the end of my Bondathon by mentioning Daniel Craig. He started with a stumble with his unveiling on the Thames surrounded by health and safety equipment in case he fell off the boat – I imagine Fleming spinning in his grave! However he really turned it around! Both Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace are superb, gritty, dark, engaging and full of cool stuff. Also seems to fit with the theory that Bond films reflect the time as Craig's Bond starts at the beginning, almost like a Prequel! It would appear that Star Wars, Star Trek, Batman and X-Men are all jumping on this bandwagon too. Maybe this is a deeper psychological issue that modern society has with looking at where it came from? Or maybe its another way to squeeze money out of cinema goers! Whichever way it is – its cool in my opinion, especially with Bond!

Therefore in summary, I love all the Bonds. I think they all have attributes I like, they all have traits I dont but overall they all entertain me! I know I didnt mention Lazenby (sorry) but I will round off with the best Bond tribute ever:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czWLEbNwjCI

Pete

David Haye vs Wladimir Klitschko

On July 2^nd we are looking at the best heavyweight fight since Lewis-Tyson. In fact, bar Pacquiao-Mayweather it is the hottest fight on the planet! Boxing is in dire need of a saviour event, we keep getting promised them but they always seem to disappoint. The last 'pick-em' I can think of would probably have been De La Hoya-Mayweather and that was years ago. Furthermore it consisted of 2 playboys fighting as opposed to fighters! This, in my humble opinion is why UFC is growing in popularity as boxers are too concerned with protecting their '0' or playing the celebrity lifestyle (DWTS anyone?)

Now this heavyweight title unification hopefully will be different. Wladimir Klitschko and David Haye are both heavy handed, vunerable to counters and always in supreme condition. On paper this breeds an exciting contest. I am hoping that Wladimir Klitschko can play with Haye for 6-7 rounds then land his Sunday punch right on the button. Obviously as a proud Brit this seems like a betrayal but I love the sport more than my boxing patriotism. Should Haye win it will not unify the sport as he has said he will be retiring in October. This is bad as AGAIN we will be in a situation where we will have a string of B level fighters tussling for several years until a decent young one comes thru (Perez?). However the main reason I think it will be a bad thing is because Haye is not the poster boy Boxing needs. His accomplishments, they are impressive, he travelled to Paris to knock out Mormeck, he unified against Maccarenelli when a lot of people (myself included) thought he could lose and he won on points in Germany against Valuev. However its his persona I take issue with, he wore the infamous decapitaion Tshirts to annoy the brothers K, he equated his predicted annihilation of Audley Harrison with a gang rape and to top it all off he has managed to moan so much about his pay that he is getting 50% of the split to fight Klitschko. Dont get me wrong, the last one shows shrewd negiotating skills but it isnt half cheeky! WK has dominated the division for years and will be a hall of famer. What makes Haye think he deserves an equal share? Is it his knock out of Harrison? Is it his beating up of a shot Ruiz? No, its his mouth!

The Heavyweight Champion of the World should be a role model. Children should look up to them as a paragon of athleticism and entertainment. Haye is neither of these. He is a badly behaved, has talked himself into a reputation he doesnt deserve and wont do anything to promote the sport he claims to love after October. If Klitschko can keep his cool, use his jab and throw the right early on to throw Haye out of rhythm I think we will see an end to the Hayemaker express. However it is worth noting that I am officially the worst predictor in the world as the last big fight I got right was the aforementioned Lewis-Tyson. Therefore put it all on Haye KO rd 1.

Pete

Election Round Up.

Well the roller-coaster is over. It was a baptism of fire to say the least and I am pleased to say that not only did we survive we did relatively well! Across the UK the Lib Dems received a battering on all levels. Many people will question as to why but the prevailing opinion is that the national UK scene affected us however c'est la vie. We are in coalition to do what we think is right for the people of the UK, at the moment we are not popular but making tough decisions rarely leads to popularity. The deficit we are dealing with is a more pressing issues than appreciated! We will recover and do better next time, in Alyn and Deeside we are blessed with a hard working party base, superb county councillors and a sense of calm that means we wont panic next time!

I am pleased to say that the majority of the people I have dealt with in the campaign from other parties are now counted as friends. I would especially like to mention Shane Brennan from Plaid, John Bell from the Tories and Steve Tattum from Labour. Whilst we have been political enemies for the last 3 months they have acted with nothing but chivalry, kindness and support for the other campaigns (mine included). Its nice to see that whilst our ideology divides us we are still all committed to improving the lives for people in Wales. Well done to the Labour, Plaid and Tory campaigns and I look forward to locking horns with you again!

The only sour notes from the campaign came on count day. The first from the BNP. It was a shame to see a relatively calm campaign spoiled by an argument with a PC activist. It would appear that manners are not part of the BNP ethos and I was glad to see the returning officer take the situation in hand! The final poor show was the heckling of the BNP candidate from the floor during the declaration speeches. I abhor the BNP and what they stand for however in the (misquoted) words of Voltaire: 'I defend to the death your right to say it!'. I am sure there were people who disagreed with me however they were polite enough to let me verbally 'bang my drum'!

Across North Wales, the Liberal Democrats did (almost) buck the trend of the predicted collapse. When you compare all the constituencies with the last WAG elections vote share the top 4 were all in North Wales! We 'protected' our share of the vote better than EVERYWHERE in Wales and for this we are all eternally grateful to not only the individual local parties but also Rachael who came up from Cardiff to coordinate our campaigns. Special mentions go to Mike, Brian and Bruce who all INCREASED their share of the vote from the last WAG election. In such trying times this is a testament to their abilities and when they do get elected in the future, Wales will be all the better for it.

Wrexham and Alyn & Deeside both finished 3^rd, which again is worth celebrating considering that 29 constituencies finished 4^th or lower. Whilst it may seem oddly self serving to congratulate my own campaign it is worth pointing out that it was literally fought on a shoe string with a limited number of helpers. To get the thousands of leaflets out, be in the paper most weeks, and to move from 4^th to 3^rd is all down to Secret Agent Bex, my parents, Little Wifey and my very own master Yoda, Paul Brighton. I am so grateful to everyone who assisted in whatever way they did. I love you all!

Final big ups go to Michele in Delyn and Rhys in Arfon. Both of these superb candidates were really up against it and considering the aforementioned national situation they shone. Michele considering her limited resources managed to juggle supporting her daughter through her exams, starting a new job and fighting an election campaign. Well done Michele, you are a star! Rhys had a similar situation but also had to contend with fighting a seat far from home whilst being a student. Watch out for Rhys, the official Pete prediction is that he will go far in Liberal politics and we are all the stronger for having him!

We will dust ourselves down and live to fight again, next time we will put into practice the lessons that we learned over the previous campaign. With our new elected AM Aled Roberts heading the fight in North Wales we are certainly on the up. By the next elections, people will have returned to our fold, of this I am certain. We are the only party that balances being socially responsible whilst also being fiscally astute. Well done to all the thousands of Lib Dems across the UK who fought for their constituents and unfortunately didn't win. We will come back stronger and rest assured I will be there again standing shoulder to shoulder with you!

Pete Williams

Flintshire Liberal Democrat Spokesperson