Practical Magic

When my wife suggested watching this last night, I did not expect to enjoy the film as much as I did. It turns out neither of us have watched it. 

Films now are different to what they were back in 1998. While new ground was being broken in the mainstream with Buffy The Vampire Slayer, I expected this to be more vanilla in nature, it is described as a RomCom after all. I was wrong and this reminds me that assumptions can make an arse out of me. (Yes, I know it is meant to be ass, but I am British.) I now want to watch the sequel when it comes out, but I fear that it will be hard for it to be as good as the original. 

We were top of the table

After Saturday, I was looking forwards to work today. Arsenal won on Friday. Come Saturday, I accidentally clicked on social media and saw the football scores. For those who are unaware, I prefer not to know the scores as then I watch Match of the Day with a lot more excitement. But I did, and then spent the time laughing. 

At the end of last season, with a terrible home form but the fifth best away form, I thought that Spurs would be able to do something, especially after spending so much building up this squad. They did heir best to prove me wrong. They lost and Saturday ended with the unofficial table having Arsenal top and Spurs bottom. ManUre losing was icing on the cake. 

But then Villa lost by four goals which meant that Brighton were top of the table.  I still got to laugh at work at the Spurs fans. Saying that, this is just the first weekend. Teams have yet to gel and it is unlikely that Spurs will stay so shit. But I can dream…

The Trump Deception

Donald Trump has famously switched planes leaving most to face risks while he was taken away securely.

I am going to be controversial and say it was the right thing to do. Apparently when risks were present in the past, the media were taken to safety. When I first heard about this, I thought that the reason this did not happen was due to there being a possible leak amongst them. But, moving them AND Donald Trump would have posed a risk that the deception would be discovered. 

One issue that has been raised relates to his relationship with his aide, Natalie Harp. The Democratic senator for Georgia, Jon Ossoff, in a speech told a crowd that Trump “doesn’t want to do the job” and instead “wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenceless flying palace gifted by the emir of Qatar.” To be honest, if the insinuation is true, I do not really care who he has sex with. We know that he is a serial adulterer and what he does in private, be that with an aide or not is up to him. My issue comes from those who claim he is backed by God for being so virtuous. Or like Bill Clinton, lies. 

Racism and the media

Double standards to people who are not white in the media appears to have had fatal consequences. 

Specifically, the tragic situation with Jason Arday. Plagiarism is wrong, and should be addressed. The Newsagents have discussed this case twice and I think that they have covered it well, including discussing how white academics have been treated when they have faced the same allegations. The media have not been overtly racist with the coverage, but the question comes up of why plagiarism allegations have not been covered in the same why when white academics have been accused of plagiarism. 

However, as good as the coverage by The Newsagents has been, they ended the second of these episodes discussing the return of Harry and Meghan to the UK without addressing the double standards that they face in the media. When I say they, most of it is directed at Meghan. 

GreyFriars, Colchester

We had a lovely family meal yesterday. My son got his A level results and has decided to take a year off before heading to university.  This meal was a celebration of this, The weather was lovely we ate on the terrace. It has been a while since we have been here as a family. I walked in and also back home with our dog while the rest of the family took an Uber in. The dog liked it, until a cat came in and then I had to walk her around the area a few times until she settled.

I loved the food. The standard is back to what it was when it first opened. And we all had a good time. 

The Dublin Agreement, Brexit and possible media bias

Earlier this week, Nigel Farage was given media time without being challenged properly. In an interview about how Reform UK Ltd would deal with prison overcrowding, the topic of asylum seekers crossing the channel came up. Not one journalist asked him if he regretted the rise in crossings after Brexit due to the ending of The Dublin Agreement.

Events like this are an opportunity to hold politicians accountable for their plans and challenge them on statements which they make. It is a shame our media appear to not do so with Nigel Farage.

G Neko

I am not sure if I have posted about this restaurant before.  My wife has been here more times than I have. As a family we love it. We came here for a meal out, also to distract my son from his examination results and we were not disappointed.

It does not look as good as it is from the outside, but this place is a hidden gem in Colchester. If anyone wants to try good food from The Orient, this is a place to visit.