After the disaster of the Copeland by-election, Labour have been looking at the causes for the defeat. From looking at Twitter, some blame the leader, others blame Tony Blair and those who support him. But, it is because of this, that Labour have to continue to back Corbyn. And that is even though the last time that a party in power gained a seat in a by-election was in 1982, this before the Conservative landslide of 1983. The May local elections are to come. They will provide an indication of how Labour will do in the next General Election, which may come sooner than 2020. And, those who fear Corbyn will bring about a Conservative victory in that election (me included) need to back him, so that those who back him can not blame any defeat in the local elections on them. And if the argument that a party united behind Corbn can win is right, then the party must unite behind him. Either way, Labour have to sink, or swim with Corbyn. Even if it means replicating the results of the elections in 1983.
I spent a few hours in work today before coming home. During the week, someone was talking about Il Padrino a restaurant in Colchester, so today, I booked it for lunch. My wife was not too keen on leaving to walk into town for lunch as we needed to do a lot at home, but agreed. It was nice walking into town today, no arguments, and overall, a great time for all the family. And when in the restaurant, both kids fell in love with the menu. The service was great, and the food matched. I even had two glasses of wine! Walking back was nice as well. While my wife went into a shop, I took my son on a walk to run up some miles for his Pokémon account. Once back at home, it was some time to relax before getting back to the work at home and then watching The Voice. My son had to go to sleep before then end, but hopefully he will get to watch some of the acts tomorrow morning. Some of the acts were truly amazing. I like this much more than the X factor, though I do miss it being on the BBC as they had no adverts.
On Thursday my son goes to Cubs. I leave work to collect him at the end of my day which can be rushed at times, but today he came home with some pancakes for us.
Really it was bits of pancakes, and on collecting him I was too tired to appreciate it. My wife and daughter loved eating it, and I did not get to eat it until after I had massaged his eczema with cream before he went to bed. But I really liked it. I am now looking forwards to him cooking more on Tuesday...
While today has been exhausting for me, it has only been because I have not been feeling well. My job on a Wednesday involves me having to cycle around five miles. I am getting better at it, and while others would laugh that I struggle to make this distance, I do. But as I was not feeling well, I knew that I would not be able to make it if I tried to cycle to work. So sadly, instead, this meant that I walked the kids to school and returned home to rest, and then passed out. I did wake before my wife rang to see how I was, and then I rested so that I would get the energy to walk to school to collect them. When I got back, I was able to do a few things around the house, before I crashed again. But my amazing wife went and got food on the way back from work, which considering some of my symptoms, was a better idea compared to me cooking and assuming that I had the energy levels not to make a disaster of it, stopping me from spreading my illness as well.
But once at home, my son had to prepare his homework. He had done work on this before, and this had involved research on the internet, but now he had to work out what the words meant. To his credit, while he had been too slow at first, he sped up and asked about the words he did not know. His sister meanwhile got out of learning more maths from me by learning about chess instead. And likewise, she did well and was rewarded with being allowed to watch one of her favourite television shows, the House of Anubis. I had been told by her earlier today that I am not meant to talk to, or talk around her friends as this causes her embarrassment. But they are back at school and enjoying it. And both are brushing their teeth, something my daughter did not do during the whole of half term! I have promised them both, that if they have issues of concern with their dentist when they next see them, I will be brushing their teeth!
It is the end of the holidays! Thanks to my mother coming up, the kids have been okay as childcare would have been an issue otherwise. But this weekend was cursed with, once again, illness. Nothing too major, but aches and lethargy for my wife and me. Which meant that I did not go cycling to work like I normally do, or take the kids out for a bike ride or a long walk. I did get to go for a little walk with my daughter after lunch in Brightlingsea. We also practised throwing and catching later in the day, something my son did not appreciate, but he did improve. He had got better over the summer holidays, but not doing this meant that he had slipped back to his old habits. If we ever do decide to get him to play cricket, this is something that will need to improve. And later, we all watched The Voice. Today was mostly a quiet day, the kids doing things for school. My son was preparing homework, my daughter making a design for a t-shirt for book day later in the year.
Anyway, they are in bed now, so here are some sons and artists from yesterday.
Well, this week has shown me a press conference that reminds me of Comical Ali in the days when we had our man in Baghdad, before the worm turned. What will be interesting is how shows like Saturday Night Live cover it as it was in essence a parody. What consoles me after watching it and his comments about attacking Russian assets which are just outside American territory, is that if nuclear armageddon does occur, by living in what many call a garrison town, we will be annihilated in the first strike and will not have to die slowly in a post-apocalyptic nuclear wasteland.
As the conference showed, we live in a world where alternative truths are presented as facts. It has taken a while before the facts about the Electoral College win were actually presented to Trump, and he had to answer them, under the glare of the worlds media. But I do have some sympathy with him. Not much but a bit. Unsubstantiated leaks are being reported in a manner to suggest that they are facts. As interesting as they are, leaks are the actions of people who are disloyal. Yes, they do make it easier for the government to be challenged but in the USA, it allows Trump to claim that the media is biased. While many are concerned about antisemitism in the White House, alone with racism, Trump has Jared Kushner, an observant Jew as both a senior adviser to him as well as a son-in-law with his daughter becoming Jewish to marry him. And while there have been many allegations of racism directed at him, Ben Carson is the secretary of Housing and Urban Development and Alexander Acosta has been picked to join the Trump cabinet as well. Yes many will argue that minorities are under-represented in power now, but that is a matter of opinion and deflects us from real issues such as how Trump accused Hillary Clinton of being in the pocket of Goldman Sachs and then, after taking power, invited representatives into power. And amongst the many provable issues in the Trump Cabinet is the way that a man who was given the Order of Friendship by Putin himself, is now Secretary Of State. If those Americans who support Trump are to see the truth about him, we need to focus on verifiable facts, not leaks, no matter how funny they may be.
Trump is a salesman. His being a salesman is part of the way he presents himself when he starts by talking about himself first. He has developed the business he inherited, and while he has had setbacks, he has done it well. The way he talks about things has brought him success in business and sadly in the US elections last year (along with the help from Putin). His sales patter is intended to distract us from issues with his goods and it has worked to get us to ignore the many elephants in the room.
I have had some terrible Valentines days in the past. My most memorable one involved my wife (or girl friend then) getting eleven roses and a stalk. And the message I left her in the paper did not have her name on it (though she got a card later with the message on it which got me out of jail).
But this year, I had delivered flowers to her at work. Along with some presents. I did not get a chance to wrap them so put them all on one box. To be fair, she knew what one of them was as she had asked me for it. And this is a good thing, as I am terrible at ordering presents. As this year proved again. The candles I bought her were appreciated, and she says that she likes the key ring, though she has yet to use it. However, I once again was reminded not to buy her jewellery. To be fair, it looked good on the website (as you can see by the picture), but when I opened it, I knew it was not something that she would like. And when she took it home, our daughter agreed as well. The downside of last night was that I was not able to get back to have a romantic meal with her, but we made up for that today. We went to a local restaurant that serves Vietnamese food, and it was almost as good as it has been on the other occasions that we have been there in the past. My mother is up at present to look after the children when were are away over the holidays. And that allowed us the chance to have a romantic get away for a few hours.
We appreciated it, and on getting back home, we decided to watch Santa Clara Diet. I have to say, that I am a bit concerned at how much my wife likes it!
It has not even been a month since Donald Trump took over as President of the most powerful nation on the planet. And so much has happened since then. What I do not understand is how people have been focusing on allegations when so much that can be proven has happened.
Okay, I do understand this. But by focusing on allegations, it allows Trump and his supporters to deflect from real issues.
Issues like dealing with a missile launch by North Korea in full view of others eating in the restaurant he was in at the time. (@ 2 minutes)
Or the way he has contradicted himself on his relationship with Putin. (@0.44 minutes)
Or the way the crowd watching the inauguration was the biggest ever, despite no numbers being collected... (@2.10 minutes)
And last of all, the way the Federal hiring freeze has hurt veterans.
No doubt there will be other times that real facts are present to indicate just how much of a nightmare Trump is. And I am sure that they will be seen soon. Sadly.
On Twitter recently I had a recent discussion about what Labour stood for.
Now one of the things of the leadership challenge by Owen Smith last year was that it allowed the message of Jeremy Corbyn to be shared properly. In order to win the election he had to share his vision on how Great Britain can be even greater and he won it by a bigger margin than before. So I thought it would be easy to find what Labour stands for under Corbyn. But it was not and I had to see his campaign page to see his vision. So for those who want to know what Labour stands for, continue reading.
There is of course the question of how these things will be paid for, which sounds bad, but you have to remember that debt has increased due to austerity.
My Mum has kindly come up for half term which has meant that my wife and I were able to go out to a birthday party last night. And we danced and danced and did I mention that we danced last night? On the way to get my mother, while I was at work, my son, when playing Pokémon, dropped the iPhone of my wife, into a puddle. Luckily he survived, as did the iPhone. My Mum had brought up the kids a magnetic dart board which they were eager to play on, but I did not have the time to look at it. I have to admit, when I heard that she had brought a dart board, I thought it was one with proper darts, and the images of darts in the head of my kids came to mind, but I should have had more faith in my mother. After all, she brought up me and my two brothers, essentially by herself and we are intact still!
So this morning, we got things ready for lunch, and before lunch my mother and the kids went for a walk to the shops. I keep trying to get them to exercise and while normally we would ride our bikes, I felt it was important to spend time with my mother. Later today, we got to play darts, and though there was a slight argument doing so, things improved. And we got to watch The Voice again.
A blonde stormed up to the front desk of the library and said, "I have a complaint!"
"Yes, ma'am?"
"I borrowed a book last week and it was horrible!"
"What was wrong with it?" asked the librarian.
"It had way too many characters and there was no plot whatsoever!"
The librarian nodded and said, "Ahh. You must be the person who took our phone book."
It has been interesting since my last week. On Wednesday, on the way to school I had arguments with both kids but my son had the more interesting one. This resulted in me being in a very bad mood and I had decided to ensure he learned his lesson when he got home. But on picking him up, later in the day, he showed that he had learned so much on the way home, that I told him I would suspend his punishment until the next day depending on his behaviour. And I have to say, he was brilliant for the rest of the day until he had to go to bed, and even then he was not that bad.
