Graduation Day

My wife had her official graduation day today.  Her first one involved the children presenting her with her certificate after passing her masters.  This one involved official photos, a video, the presentation of her degree by the dean and an amazing meal afterwards with the family.

COVID is placing unbearable pressures on the NHS

Have finished another day at work.  I have to say, I am shocked at how bad things are for the ambulance service.  As people know, restrictions have been relaxed when it comes to COVID and the numbers have shot up.  Last week, I dealt with a person who had central chest pain waking them up at night.  They did the right thing and called 999.  The ambulance did not arrive.  No fault of the ambulance staff or the control centre, but they did not have enough ambulances to deal with the need.  So she came to see me the morning afterwards.  Her ECG indicated that she may have had a heart attack that night and she had to be sent into hospital.  Today, I saw someone who had suspected sepsis, this ambulance taking hours to arrive, again, just because they are overwhelmed with demand.  Another patient has marked immunosuppression and when they suspected that they had COVID, they did the right thing and rang the number given to them to obtain the PCR test that is needed so that they can get a diagnosis of COVID if they have it, so that they can get the antiviral medications that may save their life.  The line was so busy that she was cut off after hanging on it for an hour.  And this happened to her more than once.  There was nothing I could do for her other than tell her to keep trying.  And on top of that, thanks to the way the government are treating NHS staff, more are leaving again.

The government can try to lie about the effects of COVID on the NHS, just as they lied about obeying COVID restrictions when they had their numerous parties.  Parties that took place when the Queen obeyed restrictions and sat alone in the funeral of her husband.  But patients are suffering and learning to live with COVID means that people are going to die because the government have decided not to flatten the curve and other parts of the NHS are now overwhelmed.

I mean, how hard is it to wear a mask?

Mothers Day 2022

think that my wife enjoyed Mothers Day today.  She got a locket from the children which named her as the favourite parent (I still am adamant that I am their favourite parent).  Later, we went out to a meal, back at The Three Horseshoes.  Sadly it was not as good as it had been before, but it was still a pleasant day out.

Mothers day(before) 2022

Today, we went to see our mothers.  By this, I mean my mother and my mother-in-law.  My mother had been to a book event, which reminds me, I need to read her book.  My daughter has set herself a target to do so in the upcoming holidays.  So we went to the parents of my wife first.  Leia as soon as she got in ran in and jumped up onto the sofa and my father-in-law which made the children laugh.  

After spending some time there and having lunch, we went to see my mother herself once she had got back.  I got to see my youngest brother as well, but there are times I think that he prefers to see Leia more than the rest of us!

Modern Persuasion

It is not often that my wife and I will chose to stop watching a film, but we did.  Apparently based on Persuasion by Jane Austen, my wife thought that this would be a good film to watch because Alicia Witt was in it.  We all pick bad films and it may be that this film would have got better after we decided to stop watching it, but I doubt it.

Aston Villa 0-1 Arsenal

We got a good result yesterday which was needed after our defeat to Liverpool. I was dreading this game as it was so close to our defeat to Liverpool as well as this being an away game involving travel to the opposition. But we did well and our destiny in finishing in the top four is in our own hands. I am hoping that we get to finish in the top four, it will be nice to be playing in the European Cup again.

Blackmail

Today was date night again. My wife and I went to watch Blackmail at the Mercury Theatre. It is great having a theatre so close to us, but like with the Arts Centre, we have not made as much use of it as we could like. Hopefully, this is to change and watching this reminded us of the ease that we can do this.  It is strange seeing so many people not wearing masks indoors, the staff there, my wife and I and a few others were wearing them, not most were not.  And that applied to some friends that we saw, one of whom I was surprised as her job is working for a healthcare provider. 

 

It was an interesting plot with an interesting question to answer at the end. I was reminded of a quote by Dr Claire Maitland about I would worry how little things affect me rather than how much, as I felt that the ending of the play involved the least worst option.  The views of my wife on the play were in essence the same as one of the reviews.  I am sure that we will be returning to watch other things here.

My daughter has spent the day revising and I watched the first episode of Friends with my son.  I miss watching Buffy with him, which I much prefer to this.  I have suggested he watches Episodes with me, but he has declined for now.  It is interesting watching the first episode, as I had never watched it before.  Now I am older, I have realised just how much I hate the character of Rachel Green.  And how I prefer Frasier.  And Cougar Town.  I do feel sorry for Monica Gellar who has been loved and left by an arsehole in this episode.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer vs Twilight

So, I decided to watch the Twilight film series.  And I hated it.  Years ago, my wife and I had watched the second film and she hated it then.  I did not hate it then, and if you take Bella Swan out of the first two films, they are bearable, but as the series goes on, the films get worse.  So bad in fact that I think that they are worse than what I remember of the sequels to Blade.  

Twilight has to be compared to Buffy The Vampire Slayer, which was so much better, and portrays a better message with Buffy Summers being a woman with many admirable qualities and Bella Swan being one of the most if not the most pathetic main character I have seen for a long time. I understand that there is a female attraction to the films, just as there is with 50 shades, but I do just do not understand the need to be dominated, or from a male perspective, to dominate.

Blade, as a film, is possibly the best Vampire film I have ever watched, Twilight does not even come close to it.

Testing

Again, another meal out for my wife and I last night. She had been working hard, and I had been working as well, but had spent time trying to avoid one particular bit of work which is past its deadline. We took Leia with us, which was just as well as we were not too sure the children would look after her. 

 

They had done well themselves, both having had tests yesterday and both doing well with them. So I cannot be too mean considering how proud I am of them both. My daughter was being a counsellor for a friend and my son escaped me going through his room with a bin bag while he was at school as he had left his room in an almost acceptable state.  Well, at least the floor!  I also owed my son an apology and sent one this morning.  Yesterday I came out of the house to find that my car was covered in a dried red liquid.  My son said it was mud rain, I told him he must be mad.  Well he was right and I was wrong and I sent him a message saying so this morning. I doubt that he will read it as he appears to ignore my text messages!

 

Of course, I wish Arsenal had done as well as they did last night as they lost. I did not really get to find out until I got to work this morning. Apparently we played well. But as much as I would like Arsenal to win, I preferred the time spent with my wife.

What first attracted the Prime Minister to the billionaire Russian oligarchs?

An interesting PMQs today, or rather, a Deputy Prime Ministers Questions. Dominic Raab consistently blamed the last Labour government (elected out of office in 2010) or would mention Jeremy Corbyn when asked questions. The best question however was asked by Matt Western. It started off slow, but delivered a killer line. One for which there is no answer as the Conservatives are flush with money from those of Russian heritage. As before, the Conservatives mentioned employment, but MP's appear to have forgotten that In Work Poverty was at record levels last year, that before the rise in the cost of living. Also, ample opportunities to ask for a full version of the Russia Report to be published were missed.

The Cash-for-Honours scandal with a Soviet tint

 

During the last few years of the leadership of Tony Blair, there was an issue over Cash-for-Honours. It tainted politics and rightly raised the question over the need for an elected second house to replace the current system of the House of Lords. If membership to the house of Lords was being given for loans to the Labour Party, that was wrong and can never be excused. But, none of those lords were felt to be a security risk. Unlike the allegations with Baron Lebedev, of Hampton in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and of Siberia in the Russian Federation. It may be that he is innocent of the allegations made against him, which I suspect relate to his father, a former Soviet agent but also owner of the independent. What Labour did was wrong, but pales into nothing compared to these allegations!  While our Prime Minister has said he has done nothing wrong, this is a man who did not recognise that he was hosting a party or had been in one on several occasions.  

Not sure why I have posted the videos about oligarchs taking out court cases to suppress media freedom here though.

 

We beat Leicester!

What a game and what a result. It was good to see us play against a team that finished three places above us last season and play well. Yes we had home advantage, but our players appear to be better now that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has left. Do not get me wrong I am grateful for what Aubameyang did for us, but it was time for him to leave. Hopefully, this will mean that we will finish in the top four, but it is too soon to say.

I remember the beginning of the season where I would have been happy to finish in the top half of the table.  Having the chance to finish in the top four is not something I would have thought possible in December!

The Adam Project

I liked the film. Any film with Ryan Reynolds is statistially more likely to be a good one (though saying that, I have refused to watch The Green Lantern). His character had many great lines, as did the younger version of himself. As an action film, it was loads of fun, and my wife and I both enjoyed it. However, when it came to science and how some items were affected by a magnetic field and others were not, it was poo as there was no consistency with this. Would I watch it again? Yes, but probably not more than once. The best bit of the film was watching it with my wife.

Is Richard Wilkins III a GOP politician?

Before I share my view on this, an update on today. 

This morning I took Leia for a walk, this not being our usual one, but one in Highwoods park, an area she loves.  We have not been back here in a while but her love of the park is in diminished.  After about two hours, we went back home.

Once back, I washed her and my wife came downstairs to dry her. A trip for brunch then took place with my daughter and I foraging for supplies and during this, she got a bit stressed that she was not able to listen to her music due to a telephone call, and me, being the supportive father that I am just laughed.

Later, my wife, daughter and Michelle (a family friend) went to the Red Dog for dinner. My son decided that he wanted to be alone so we left him.  It was nice to be out and on getting back, my daughter who had been revising went to bed while my son and I watched Graduation, the end of this series of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.  It was while watching that, that I started to wonder if the Mayor is a member of the GOP. He certainly is committed to family values! 

PMQs yesterday and making refugees welcome

Yesterday, PMQ's was another episode where the truth appeared to be a rare commodity on the Conservative benches. Keir Starmer raised the issue of rising energy bills, a very important matter considering our record levels of in work poverty. Boris Johnson decided to bring up the matter of Labour not investing in nuclear power, forgetting that Labour have been out of office since 2010 and the nation has had ample opportunity to invest in green energy more than it has so far. Keir Starmer has called upon the government to U-turn on the matter of the energy bill loan that consumers will have to pay. The issue of the record profits for companies taking fossil fuels out of the ground was brought up, but Boris Johnson refused to commit to a windfall tax.  

Later in PMQ's, the issue of refugees was discussed.  Our Prime Minister answered a question about the appalling way we have acted and stated that we have done more to resettle people since 2015.  Which does not appear to be true.

I am hoping that the UK will do more to help those fleeing Putin's War.  Hopefully action will match rhetoric. 

  

Curry Leaves

Today was date night, again.  My wife and I have decided that we do need to take more time together, and now the kids are older, we can do this.  Today, we looked at a replacement car for her, as she would like to change to one that makes it easier to travel to Devon on holiday, or elsewhere.  

So after looking at a car and us both having a go driving it, we got home and then went out again. We have been to Curry Leaves before, and on a Wednesday it is a lot more quiet to how it is on the weekend, but we do love the food here.  And I am sure that we will come back again.  I will, so long as I get to return with her.

It Was The 90s!

Last night, my wife and I went out to see some live comedy.  She had booked this a while ago and it certainly was worth it.  We both love live comedy and we are lucky to live in Colchester where we can access this.  Watching it during the time of the pandemic makes me nervous, and we were one of the few to be wearing masks most of the time, a fact mentioned in the show, but it was great.  When we booked, we did not know that Esther Manito was on as well.  I thought that I had seen her before and while she has been on television, I do not think that I have.  Which is a shame as she was brilliant and she is one to follow in the future.  The video will add unneeded context to one part of her show, but it was nice afterwards to understand the context, and even better to watch the excerpt!

As for the main event, she was great as well.  To paraphrase her, the show had material that I had not seen on YouTube.  I have watched her on television and listened to her on the radio, but watching her live was even better!  We were very glad that they came to Colchester and hopefully will get to watch them again if they return in the future. 

The King's Man

Two things, first the film, second lunch with my wife. We watched this last night, a Twitter friend had posted his review describing it as "a lumpy, clunky and over long action flick - heavy on the exposition, light on humour and character. Ifans brings some joy as the dastardly, balletic villain and Fiennes gets another shot at being John Steed."

He is right, though it is an okay film to watch.  I am glad that I did not pay to watch it in the cinema though it had an interesting take on some historical events.  Overall, like many films this was predictable, mostly.  The humour was predictable, though it was well done.  I am glad I watched it, but this is not a film that I would watch again.

The next thing is that we went to another meal at the Three Horseshoes.  We had intended to travel there with the children, but they were not keen on going, so my wife, Leia (our dog) and I went instead.  It was great!  The food was good but it was so relaxing to just be with my wife (and dog) and not have to worry about how the kids were.  I am so glad that they bailed on us!  

Russia is at fault for Venezuela seeking closer ties with it.

First of all, the title of this post is wrong. The US is at fault for Venezuela seeking closer ties with Russia. There are many in Russia and on the left in the UK who are blaming NATO expansion for the war in Ukraine, or at least stating that this provoked Russia and made the situation unstable. They ignore the right of nations to seek to join NATO and also ignore why these nations feel that they need to join it to protect them from Russia.

The USSR broke up in the early 1990’s with the Warsaw Pact becoming democratic before hand. After Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Armenia had declared independence, the August coup was attempted.  Since then, other nations became independent. 

However, since then some nations that have declared independence have had issues with Russian speaking  areas of their countries. Moldova has had issues with Transnistria, Ukraine with Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk, Azerbaijan has issues with Artsakh and Georgia with both Abkhazia and South Ossetia.  Not all the areas have a Russian majority population, but the support Russia has given to these areas has made nation’s that have a Russian minority in them nervous.

The issues in some of these areas are complicated but some are simple. Personally I feel that areas have the right to seek independence and should be allowed to do so in a democratic manner, this being a truly democratic manner, not held after a two week referendum process with Russian troops ensuring the outcome.  I also think that violently suppressing independence requests is wrong.

Recently, the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko held a meeting which appeared to show plans for the invasion of Transnistria, or it’s involvement in the special military operation of Russia in Ukraine. 

Considering what has happened, it is understandable that Finland and Sweden are considering joining NATO.  

I think that it is fair to debate matters and while there have been those in the Stop The War group who have backed Putin over Crimea, Blair did as well, though with him, it was to focus on a common enemy.

Cyrano

My wife and I went out for a date last night. I had wanted to watch Cyrano because I loved the Gérard Depardieu version of Cyrano de Bergerac. We were surprised to find out that this is a muscial, but despite that, I think that it was a good film. Sadly though, it did not match up to my memories of what to me is the original version (I have not watched the other versions though). I am glad that I watched it, I loved the adaptation, but I do not think that I would watch it again. It has made me hunger to watch the version that I had watched second (I had watched Roxanne before).

Watching it while Ukraine is being invaded was made more poignant in a scene before a battle.  Watching fiction when in reality people are dying and thinking the same thoughts before heading into battle was surreal.  Also there is the link to it with Gérard Depardieu now being a Russian citizen.  

I do need to try and improve by vocabulary, I am not as eloquent as my wife and watching it with her reminded me how lucky I am to have her in my life.

Well that was an interesting PMQ's. Keir Starmer asked questions about Roman Abramovich which Boris Johnson did not answer and the same happened when Starmer queried why a new register of property ownership would not apply to existing owners for eighteen months. I know that there are many within and outside Labour who do not like Keir Starmer, but one party leader acted like the statesman our nation needs, and it was not Boris Johnson.