Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed

On Wednesday last week, my son and daughter were watching Scooby Doo. My wife and I joined them offering to watch the film from the beginning, the sequel or another film. They decided on Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. I have to admit that I watched it with low expectations, but my wife and I enjoyed it. I think that it was true to the cartoons, my wife did, and the children were both surprised that we liked it.  It is not a clever film, but it is true to Scooby-Doo. If you like the cartoon, you should like the film.

As for family, our daughter returned to Bristol on Friday. The kids got on well, it was nice to have her back at home, but the house appears quieter without her in it. If my son goes to university next year, I don’t know how we will adapt. 

Last of all, Arsenal, we are top of the league still. I went to work for a few hours yesterday and found this message on my desk. Someone was using the room for the flu clinic earlier in the day and must have loved the Arsenal clock and picture in the room! 

Farage, making excuses for Russia and how he admires Putin

Anyone who follows my blog will have worked out that I am not a fan of Nigel Farage. I think that Brexit has harmed our nation, so much so, that most political parties in Europe who wanted to leave the EU, seeing the damage it has caused the UK, have dropped this idea. Sadly, it looks like the man who sold us Brexit will be our next Prime Minister.

But, it looks as if Russia will be pleased if that happens. James O’Brien on LBC has spoken really well on this issue about his former colleague and there is a great video detailing how Nigel Farage appears to have made excuses for Russia and Putin.  To be fair, many on the left have said similar things, but those on the left who did so, do not have a colleague has pleaded guilty to bribery charges relating to statements in favour of Russia in the European parliament.   

Will Your Party be able to fight Labour after it stops fighting itself?

Zarah Sultana is reported as saying that she hopes Your Party will ultimately replace Labour and that the party is a vision for bringing about change in the long term.  That is just as well considering that it has been attacking itself again.  It may be that this is the last bit of drama, and I honestly hope it will be, but I suspect that there will be more issues to come.  

It is sad that they have fallen into infighting, an issue that plagued Labour under Jeremy Corbyn.  Though this time, people cannot blame Starmer for disloyalty and they need to think if there is a common denominator. I feel mean making that point as I honestly view Jeremy Corbyn as an honourable and decent man, but he is one who is just misguided on many issues. 

Update - after making this post, this video came out which I feel should be added to this blog post.  

Getting rid of Starmer and Rachel Reeves

As predicted, Labour lost the election in Wales, coming third.  Reform UK did very well, coming in second, though some argue that tactical voting meant that many loaned their vote to Plaid Cymru.  Labour are going to keep losing elections until it has managed to show that it can make the nation better.  I understand that many want the party to be more radical, but Labour was left a flaming turd of an economy by the Tories. Things are also going to be terrible in the local elections next year. 

No Labour MP wants to cut benefits for the elderly, no Labour MP wants to bring about benefit changes that will mean even more people use foodbanks.  But hard decisions have to be made.  Labour have missed out over a year of blaming the Tories for the state of the economy and the public sector, something the Tories did really well after they were elected in 2010.  

Labour have been terrible and stating what they have done for the nation, but few will believe them now.  Few politicians would be able to get the Trump Tariff rate that Starmer has without giving up a lot more. The only way I can see Labour remaining in power in the next General Election is to stick with Starmer and Rachel Reeves and deliver on change to improve our nation.  

A change of leader would indicate a change in the economic path that the UK is following.  Doing so would scare the markets, and that would mean even larger debt repayments.  I would rather that the money I pay in taxes went to helping our nation as opposed to going to bank shareholders. Due to this, no matter how bleak things will look, Labour needs to Stay on Target and complete the mission with the team they have. 

Making racism great again

Reform UK MP Sarah Pochin said seeing adverts of black or Asian people ‘drives me mad’ in a comment that has been seen (rightly) as being racist.  I have listened to people argue that no offence should be taken as she did not mean to be racist.  In fact, I have listened to too many people trying to minimise the racism in her comments.  

I think that it would be wrong to have lots of people of colour in historical drama’s but shows like Bridgerton and My Lady Jane are fiction. I do not understand how people can be annoyed with a series which has a black King but are okay with it having a lot of the population being able to turn into animals! I think that the TV adaptation of The Witcher missed out on having a more realistic take as they could have had different nations having people of different colours.

I do think that it is okay to say or have the view that there are too many darkies on the television, in that someone who states that is allowed to be racist.  But rather than deny their racism, they should be proud of it, not ashamed. 

Protesting for Gaza in Colchester

Today, our dog and I joined the weekly protest in favour of Gaza in Colchester. When there, different people spoke about matters. I have to disagree with how they view certain events, an example being how they said JD Vance was in favour of the Israeli Knesset voting in favour of the annexation of The West Bank, when he actually spoke out against it. Other issues of contention include Trump having a plan. The the mercurial Trump is best viewed as a pigeon playing chess. He struts around, knocks pieces over, and thanks to the economic and military might of the US, wins. While he has some ideas about the world that he sticks to, this including his insane views on tariffs, immigration, people have tried, and succeeded about changing his view that Gaza should be ethnically cleansed.  The last bit was that Israel just does the will of the USA. There is no doubt the two aid each other a lot, but that forgets how Netanyahu attacked Qatar and we can see that about how he was forced to apologise for it.  But there was a lot to learn from it.  One lady in a wheelchair pointed out how that many of the population in Gaza will be disabled now, something I have to admit, I had forgotten.

I am amazed that the US has forced Israel to slow down the murder of those in Gaza and allow aid in after the release of the living hostages. We saw what happened to the ceasefire deal earlier this year when Israel got what they wanted. I am tempted to attend the demonstration while the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in The West Bank is continuing. 

As for family, our daughter has returned for a few days. She had been to Cheltenham yesterday and this week is meant to be spent reading, so like many at university, she has decided to return to Colchester. It was nice to have the family together around the dinner table. We will be sad when she returns to Bristol on Friday.

Kill Bill Vol 1

My son had wanted to watch this, so we did. My wife hated it when she wanted it over twenty years ago and still did not like it, so left. There was a lot violence which is me of the things she had against it, more so than previous ones. She also pointed out that it lacks the humour and the dialogue seen n Pulp Fiction and True Romance. My son liked it more than Pulp Fiction, which is in contrast to my view of the film.

I do like it, but have to agree that while it is still funny, it is not as funny as True Romance and Pulp Fiction. But this is not meant to be the usual sort of Tarantino film, it is his homage to Japanese martial arts films/comics. And I do miss the dialogue of the previous films of Tarantino, but he has some very memorable characters!

If you don’t want to watch it, or don’t mind spoilers, this review from The Guardian may be of interest. I am looking forward to it being released again.