"You can't judge a book by its cover." Wrong. I know a dictionary when I see one.

I am a bit annoyed today over the football.  It is bad enough that Arsenal have lost, but what is galling is that Chelski have managed to get away with being thugs again.  To be fair, last season when they beat us, most of the team spent the time kicking our players, but this time, it was just one, Diego Costa.  No one is going to argue with his prowess as a player, he is amazing.  What I do have an issue with is the way he attacks other players and tries to get them sent off.  And despite his fouls on Arsenal players as well as his attempted ones he stayed on.  In fact, he did not give away a foul. But as you can see from the pictures...

There were other incidents, but overall, Chelski tried to play football, which made a change.  Santi Cazorla was unfortunate to get his first yellow card, but deserved his second and I think it could have been argued that the second should have been a red anyway.  But while Gabriel Paulista deserved a yellow, Costa whould have been sent off for his fouls on Laurent Koscielny, several would deserve yellow cards, and that with his yellow against Gabriel would have resulted in Chelski being down to ten men, rather than us.  The way the referee, Mike Dean gave out the cards, it was nine against twelve men.

Anyway, I hope you like this song from a contestant who I think deserved to go further in the Voice from last year.

I am surprised Britain has not put a man on the Moon yet. It is hardly rocket science, is it?

We had a great Sunday yesterday.  I had been working on the Saturday night before, hence the picture of my fuel gauge when I almost ran out of petrol on the way home.  On the day, my daughter and I went for a walk into town for the Colchester Heritage weekend.  Our aim was to visit the castle which I thought had free entry for the day.  On the way, we found a caterpillar and when we arrived it was early, hence our visit to the water garden to look at the fish and admiring the dragon.  But on getting into the castle, we realised my mistake and found that free entry had only been for the day before!  Still, we got to look at the well!  After that, it was a trip to the park where we waited for my wife to bring our son and the kids had a great time.

After that it was a trip to Cuckoo Farm where we all had a great afternoon.  I did not realise that Cuckoo Farm Studios existed, let alone how much work was created there.  I, like the children took in the art and we loved it.  Rather than take the kids around the place, I asked them to take us places, and they loved having the control to take us from one place to another.  Not everything was to the taste of each of them, but as an experience for us, it was amazing,  I would recommend this to anyone for next year when they are open to the public again!

Last of all, Chess, and the end of another tournament where I did not win (sob).,.

It's funny to hear Jeremy Corbyn say that he hates capitalism. Especially since he has brought about the division of Labour

Politics will be interesting till 2025.  With the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Party leader many think that David Cameron will bring about a Conservative victory, probably for Boris in 2020.  While Corbyn hopes to bring about party unity, he himself is someone who has voted with his heart and conscience over the party line on many occasions and it will be interesting to see if he allows others to do the same.  The concern of many is that a divided party is one the electorate will not trust and that elections appear to be won in the centre ground.

But Labour lost the election due to a view of many that they were too left wing.  I disagree as Labour were slaughtered in Scotland as they were not left wing enough and I think, like Yvette Cooper, that the future is to be radical in some areas and more cautious in others.  Like Corbyn, I feel that austerity has gone too far and needs to be stopped due to the effect that it has on the socially disadvantaged, and that is before the latest cuts, however, I do not think that I can say I support all his other policies.  The bottom line is that Labour lost votes to the SNP in Scotland for not being left wing enough and in addition, lost votes to UKIP and the Conservatives for being too left wing.

This is not like when Labour voted in Michael Foot as leader, this is like when the Conservatives voted in William Hauge and Iain Duncan Smith as leaders.  Back then, the Conservative party voted in someone who stood for the views of the party rank and file, on more than one occasion, and this was a godsend to the Labour party who in effect, had no opposition to have to deal with.  When the Conservatives moved the party to the right, they ceded the centre ground to Labour and this made it easier for Labour to keep the support of papers who do influence the way people think.  Corbyn, has been an honourable man standing by his principals and being willing to admit when he has been wrong, but the press have loved to misinterpret his views and this has resulted in people falling for smears against him.

On a personal note, as some who had read this blog are aware, I work for the NHS.  I have a skill mix that can allow me to work in the private sector (and earn more money) or abroad.  I have not despite the way that the workload has increased as I have a sense of loyalty to the patients that I serve.  If I find that I can not continue to work in the NHS due to the way that the Conservatives are improving the NHS, I have options.  Other than the issues I have with the NHS, I will be better off under a Conservative government.  However, there are so many in the country who will not be and over all, I think that a Conservative government from 2020 till 2025 will be bad for our great nation, just as I think that the rule since the electoral win earlier this year has been bad as well.  

Anyway, onto the family.  My son has started to play football again.  He did play it in the past, but got fed up with it when it was cold but he has realised now just how important it is in school with the other boys.  My wife on picking him up this week after football was impressed at how hard he was trying, though he was not as good as the others (naturally considering that they have been playing for longer).  The only downside is that now he is taking more of an interest in football results.  When I watch Match of the Day, I do not like to know the scores as it is the closest I can get to watching the games live.  So last night, he took incredible pleasure in telling me the score for the Arsenal game!  I still enjoyed watching it.  Arsenal should have scored a lot more goals, but then that has been the case in many a game, but the difference was that Stoke were not able to do what so many other teams have done, which is to soak up the pressure and hit the Gunners on the break.  The weekend has been improved so far with Chelski loosing, but would have been made better if ManUre and the team that rhymes with City had lost, or drew.  Still, I can cope Sunderland get a result later today...

If Beauty and the Beast teaches us one thing, it's that looks don't matter. As long as you're a Billionaire Prince, who owns a Castle.

When I chose the title of this post, it was not because of the way a married lawyer sent an interesting message on LinkedIn but who knew what was to come!

What is interesting is the way people are judged on looks and how some seem to welcome it.  I know my children are aware of how attractive people are, though my daughter does her best to refuse to admit it.

Now to the story of the day, which is that a female lawyer accepted a connection on LinkedIn who then send an interesting e-mail, which lets face it is creepy and considering the issues with grammar, may have been sent when drunk, or high.  I think that her response was interesting, not one I would have sent, but then I am not the subject of a creepy e-mail, and posting the message and response on Twitter was interesting as well.  However, the response of the Daily Malicious was very interesting.  The paper that backed fascism before the second world war referred to feminists who backed her stance as Nazi's!  Pot, kettle and black comes to mind.  Not content with this, it decides to refer to her not as a human rights lawyer, but has a glam lawyer.  This stance towards women is not just limited to women over the age of 16, but in fact also takes place to children who happen to be female.

Considering its views on Charlotte Proudman and how she would like to be judged on her ability not her looks, I presume it backs Donald Trump when he slates the way Carly Fiorina, a female GOP Presidential hopeful, looks, a charge he does not seem to have made against a man, yet.  My daughter gets annoyed when people are judged on looks, she hates it when girls in her class sometimes try to charm their way out of things, and when watching Transformers three, practically boiled over at the way Carly Spencer played by Rosie Huntington-Whiteley used her looks to placate men.

Anyway sorry about my rant, onto chess.  Another tournament completed with me finishing joint last.  Still it is the taking part that counts!

Congratulations to England on qualifying to be knocked out of the group stages of Euro 2016.

Just a quick post on the weekend.  As I do often, I was working on Saturday, and I got home to meet the kids who had been away since Wednesday.  My mother-in-law kindly took them to her house to look after them for a few days, which meant that my wife and I had some quality time together.
We went out to GreyFriars restaurant in Colchester, a lovely place to eat and I have to say, while expensive, in my opinion, it was worth the money.  Great food (which may take time to come on occasion), terrific service and an amazing setting.  We both loved it and returned on Friday after work with two friends, though not for dinner, but a few drinks.
On getting home on Saturday, it was great to see the kids, and they appeared to have missed me (my wife had picked them up, and they certainly had missed her).  While my wife and I had to go out for a dance afterwards (and what a great night that was) today we spent some time in the garden playing catch and a few other games as well.  The only down sides of this weekend was not being able to watch the football and missing out on Strictly.
Chess appears to be more interesting for the two of them.  They are hoping to get my two brothers into it, one of whom has said he will start to play on-line with them.  As for me, two more on-line competitions lost, 3rd Green Wing and Speed King 054 but the games were fun.
I would love to post more, but I am tired and now in need of sleep!  Goodnight and I hope you like the videos of two songs my daughter likes (and one version she does not).

Why I want to stay in the EU

I am probably going to make several posts on this topic, but I thought I would make the first one, for now.

There is to be an EU referendum, which I think is good as it will put an end to the discussion about should we be in it or should we leave it.  I also think that we should be in the EU.  

Here are some of the reasons.

1; Bankers - Of the nations of Western Europe, there are two who are out of the EU and do well.  Norway and Switzerland.  Norway has oil, and lots of it.  Switzerland has its financial sector.  Yes, they make chocolates, drugs and watches but it is a major banking sector.  

2: Manufacturing - In the UK, we have falling supplies of oil and gas, our manufacturing sector is getting smaller and while Britain is great, our ability to export may not be enough to compete against China and other BRICS nations.  We are still making things, but we export a lot to Europe.  Cars for example are produced in the UK, but I can not see Honda, Nissan, Jaguar Land Rover and the many companies that make cars in the UK staying if we have to pay import duties into the EU.

3: America - Not only did the US vote in Bush the second, they did it twice.  And at the time of making this post, Trump is ahead in the polls to be the GOP candidate.  I would rather be closer to Europe than the USA (though I would prefer to be close to both) because of this.

When I get other ideas, I will post again.  Good night!

Mental Note: Actual notes work better.

I just thought that I would make a quick post about chess.  While I would like just to post about me, I only think that it is fair to comment on the kids.  My son has signed up for football lessons.  He did play before, but dropped out as he did not like it.  However, he has realised just how important it is to boys, especially those at school (he goes to a state school in case you are wondering).  He did play rugby, but did not like mud, or rain, or snow, which really means that he should play cricket.  Anyway, by the time he got to Chess club today, most the games had been played and they were packing up the games.  His sister though had managed to play and was annoyed with herself by accidentally drawing with someone that she was going to beat.  She did win later through the resignation of her opponent.  I have tried to teach them, but the teacher at the Chess Club inspires more confidence in them than I do.  Probably because he is not related to them, and because he is a better player than me!

Anyway, just a quick record of some of the tournaments that I have not won.
Short & Sweet.37
Hi!
Top of the Pops 2
blackcats tourney 216
Texas chess tournament 2
I will try to keep a record, only as Chess.com does not allow me to keep as much of a record as I would like.  And one day, I may be able to learn from my defeats.