I have had an exhausting day at work today. I spent it vaccinating loads against COVID-19 and influenza. I worked with a fellow Arsenal fan and in the few moments that we had a break, we had a chat about Arsenal.
I did not know that the goal celebration of Saka last weekend was the result of banter with his international teammate, James Maddison. But considering what I had been doing all day today, I thought it was an appropriate picture to post! I had discussed the game and I predicted an Arsenal win, but I thought that Eddie Nketiah would score a hat trick, he being a good squad player to use in games like this. But it was not to be, however we did win anyway and I will hopefully watch the match tomorrow. My wife and I are to travel to Bury St Edmunds tonight to watch Eddi Reader.
I have had the odd discussion about COVID on Twitter (or rather X) where I was wrong about someone who compared COVID to influenza. COVID19 can be compared to the Spanish Flu outbreak after The Great War. We saw lessons there about how social distancing and restrictions on movement saved lives and flattened the curve. Back then there was no immunisation campaign. Hopefully this will flatten the curve of hospital admissions this winter.
Yesterday, at work, there was an urgent message left for me. I opened the envelope it was in to find a brochure. What had been done, with a jewellery brochure that had been sent to me in the post (probably because I have presents for my wife delivered there), is that some of the ladies I work with, had gone through it, put post-it notes on the pages they liked something and wrote what they wanted! I was not surprised at one of those who did it, but one of the others involved is normally very quiet and would never do anything like that! Of course I reported this to the manager who just laughed at me!
There is a lot of pressure on men to be toxic. We see those like Andrew Tate venerated by other men, but we also see people like Russell Brand being defended by women. When it comes to toxic behaviour in men being tolerated, it is the 'right type' of man who is able to get away with this. While it is not with every woman, there are enough women who are attracted to bad boys which makes men see such behaviour as the right thing to do.
There are so many things that we can do to help society become better, but that includes addressing the issues that men face, not just to their own health, but how they affect others. Examples of this include teaching men who to act in relationships to reduce rates of domestic violence, ensuring that women do not have to fear being killed by men (or boys) due to an actual or perceived slight. And of course, reducing the numbers carrying knives full stop.
Too many times, men have not challenged other men who have been misogynistic. We had it when Donald Trump talked in 2005, about how he would sexually assault women (the recording was released in 2016 a month before the election). We have had another blast of misogyny this week. Dan Wootton and Laurence Fox engaged in a bit of misogynistic banter, live on TV. Fox discussed the views of a female journalist, and his way of dismissing her was to say that no one, other than an incel, would shag her. Wootton, when he had the chance to say Maaate, and challenge this outburst of misogyny, laughed.
Later, when suspended, he admitted what he did was wrong. However Fox threw him under the bus by tweeting the conversation that they had on X (the App formerly known as Twitter).
What Wootton should have done, is to follow the advice of Sadiq Khan. He should have said Maaate, and then challenged his friend and given him the chance to apologise for what he said.
As a man, if I see sexism like that, I should speak out, if I was in the situation Wootton was in. Banter is one thing, misogyny is another. Boys are taught Toxic Masculinity as teenagers. Such teaching can be unlearned, and that requires it to be challenged.
Sadly, the police, at times, have to kill. A decision has to be made in a split second as to if someone poses a threat to life, or if they do not. This post is made over the death of Chris Kaba and the decision to charge the police officer who killed him with murder. I am making it based on information which is in the public arena and this may change after any investigation and/or trial.
I do not like the way people have defended the killing of an unarmed man based on his past. The police officer who made the decision to shoot to kill was probably not aware of his past. What the police officer was asked to do was to make a decision to act in a situation when other police officers were at risk. Unarmed men have been shot before by the police. Examples include Mark Duggan, Jermaine Baker, Jean Charles de Menezes and Usman Khan. Some of these are considered my many to be justified, others may disagree.
Mark Duggan was transporting a firearm that had been used in crime. He was unarmed when he was stopped, and from what I understand of the events, was shot when he was probably trying to get rid of the gun. The police officer who made the decision to kill him, had to make it before any other officers were taken down. If he had not been stopped, that gun would probably have been used in other crimes.
Jermaine Baker had an imitation firearm. The police officer who shot him had not been told that it was not a real gun and when the decision was made to kill him, it was based on the threat that he was felt to pose. Failures here rest with not telling the officer that there was no threat, not with the officer who killed him.
Jean Charles de Menezes is a much more complicated case. London was braced for another terror attack after the July 7th attacks which murdered so many. The police had to cover lots of suspects and he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some attempted to justify his killing, saying that he should not have run but the officer who shot him was under the assumption that he was a terrorist and was to repeat the attacks earlier that month. The fault is not with the officer who killed an innocent man, but with the whole system leading up to his death.
Last of all, Usman Khan. When he was killed, he was unarmed. He had murdered by then and was wearing a fake suicide vest. The police officer who killed him again did what was felt to be appropriate at the time, though in hindsight, with full knowledge of the facts which were not known at the time, he could have been captured instead.
Many have spoken out against the deaths of unarmed black men. I think that the deaths of the men I have included here were justified in the moment of the decision to kill them, though in hindsight, with knowledge of the facts which where not known to the officer at the time, the wrong decision had been made. It is ironic, though also appalling, that a woman who spoke out against the deaths of unarmed black men is herself the victim of gun crime.
I am not going to defend the deaths of people like Joy Gardener because that was not a split second decision. That was a stupid and fatal decision which should not have happened, and once made, could have been reversed before the horrific consequences occurred.
I am not going to defend the way that Black people are disproportionally searched when white people, who are eight times less likely to be searched, are more likely to be carrying drugs.
What we need to do is accept that individuals are entrusted by us to make literal life and death decisions to protect us. Too many police officers have been killed. I do not want more to die.
Yesterday was the Arsenal game. I was concerned before it, Spurs have won lots of games and even if they had not, it is the North London Derby. It looked close at first, though I would say we had the upper hand until the second equaliser, which I know sounds strange, but we were the better team, but only just. Once Spurs got their second goal, we did not play as well. Passes were overhit and we did not take advantage of the number of Spurs players who were on yellow cards. Ultimately, I would say that overall, Spurs were the better team after our drop in performance.
They played with discipline and I have to be honest, I do not think that we will be celebrating St Totteringhams day this year. At least with a draw, I do not have to hide from the Spurs fans at work!
This film bombed at the box office. I liked it. I think that I would not have minded paying to watch it at the cinema as well. I have not watched much horror, but I need inspiration for my role playing adventures and this is a plot that I might use.
I watched it when my wife and daughter were out for a meal. My son has gone to a sleepover, his second in both a month and since he has been at his secondary school. My wife had not been feeling that well in the day and had rested in bed. While I had a big lunch, my daughter and her were understandably hungry so went out for a meal together, which is when I watched it (my wife is not a fan of horror).
I thought that the film was put together well, that the plot was sound and it had decent acting, direction and characters. I would recommend it to others, and I might even watch it again in the future. I am surprised that it did not do better when it was released, but if you have Netflix in the UK, it is worth watching. Just not before you eat dinner.
If you have watched it, these deleted scenes will make sense. Do not watch them. That is assuming that this video is still available when you read this post.
My wife and I went out to watch live comedy in Colchester. It has been a while since we have done so, the Mercury Theatre hosting it in their Studio. Last time, we sat right at the front. The same happened again as my wife, when asked what seats she wanted, picked them. Being at the front was not too bad, we were only asked a few questions. What freaked me out was saying my age when asked (though I later changed it to 35 as another man my age said that when asked) but also that the couple behind us were both aged 25, this also being the number of years my wife and I have been married! The picture is from the comedian who hosted it, though if you click on the links, you will see that he took two photos that night.
We both enjoyed it, though we disagreed about which act we preferred, and if this was a better night or not than the previous night we had been out. But it was good to do something different and I need to make more of an effort to ensure that our life has a bit more variety in it. I do hope that the last lady enjoys her caravan stay in Clacton. She will find out why we laughed when she said she was off there after the show!
Action to insulate homes where possible is needed. We need new houses to have solar panels and heat pumps installed instead of boilers. While many say that heat pumps do not work, Scandinavian countries are using them more and more.
The government have sold this move by making up things that we were never to do. Even if they were to happen, they have been in power since 2010 so only one party would be responsible for this. When it comes to taxes on meat, we have seen how food prices shot up in the last year. I can understand why the government do not want more taxes on flying considering how they fly short distances or use what are in essence private jets for other journeys. It would open them up to charges of hypocrisy. We recycle in our house, we do not have seven different bins to do so. Car sharing should be encouraged, not made compulsory (and I see people do this at my work to pay less on fuel), and the expensive insulation upgrades should be subsidised to help reduce fuel costs.
The government have made immigration an issue by not acting to process asylum applications quickly. They have made issues like gender identity a greater issue than it need be. And now climate is to be the next battle. They have placed a lot of clear green water between them and Labour, and this is a battle they will lose so long as Labour does not fight them on their terms.
Making a film out of a book is a challenge. There ar enuances that you can put in a book, that is hard to put up on screen. An example of films which were not as good as the books are, surpisingly to many, the Harry Potter books. Do not get me wrong, the films were amazing, but the books just had so much in them which the films had to leave out.
Goats appears to have been such a film. Apparently, the book was quite good. The film, I would say, is average. It is intersting, but overall, thi sis a film I was glad to watch at home. There is no real hook into it, and despite some good actors in it, the film is quite bland. I enjoyed parts, I would not recommend this to others to watch. Not unless there was nothing else to watch instead.
I guess it is a compliment to Rishi Sunak that politics has become normal and that parody and reality are now distinguishable. At least until the issue of her resignation honours comes up again.
Rory Stewart is an interesting chap. One of my friends told me ages ago to listen to the podcast The Rest is Politics with Alastair Campbell. Now I am walking the dog, I have started to do so (though I also listen to The Newsagents). Recently, he has been more active, probably because of his book. But I do like listening to his perspective on things. I disagree with him, as does Alastair Campbell, on so many issues, but it is great to hear a right wing view on matters which is not distorted by political spin and lies.
I was shocked when listening to an episode of The Rest is Politics to hear that he used the words sneaker and elevator rather than trainers and lift.
Today, I have listened to him being interviewed by Ash Sarkar on Novara Media. I think that both were great on the interview. I especially like they disagreed agreeably. If you have time, it is worth listening to. I am not too sure about how Novara Media have commented on the feedback about the interview, but their interpretation of this is also worth listening to, though obviously, very biased.
We went to London today. I did not realise that we were going to where Millwall play their home games. If I had, I would not have worn my classic Arsenal top, my Arsenal hoodie and my Arsenal backpack.
But before I discuss that, the kids. My son went to his first party in years. He was meant to come back for ten, but he rang us asking if he could stay for a sleepover. We agreed and come the morning he was very grateful, for again, this was something which has not happened in years either. My daughter also went to a party, which was a memorable one for her.
Anyway, back to today. For those who are not aware, Millwall are a team whose fans are hated throughout the league. They have a deserved reputation for violence and racism and being around their ground in the colours of a rival was not the best thing. But the day was enjoyable. I stayed out of sight of the fans as they left their ground in the wet after losing to Leeds. We had travelled to London with friends who drove us, for good food, and we had this as well as their excellent company. It was a great day and we are trying to work out when our next day is to be.
I got to watch the first half of the Arsenal game, but missed the goal. I will be watching highlights later tonight. It was great to win, especially as we have not done too well before against Everton in recent games.
My second Russell post this week. Everyone deserves to be considered innocent until proven guilty. Russell Brand deserves the same. Accusations are being made and normally, I would not post about this. However, one of the accusations is that Brand, aged 31, had a sexual relationship with a 16 year old schoolgirl. As seen with Prince Andrew, in the UK, this is completely legal, the issues in Dispatches and The Times relate to the accusations she has made. But having such a relationship, with such an age gap does being about concerns. It is not just the age gap, it is the power dynamic.
People are complaining that he has not been given a chance to clear his name, but he has that chance. In 2018, Dan Wooten wrote story about Johnny Depp calling him a wife beater which was published by The Sun. Depp sued Wootton and NGN for libel, stating that he wanted to clear his name and alleging that Heard had not only lied about the abuse but had in fact abused him. In their defence, NGN and Wootton alleged fourteen incidents of domestic abuse committed by Depp. During the highly publicised trial, both Heard and Depp testified in person. He lost.
Russell Brand can try to clear his name in court by taking Dispatches and The Times to court to do the same. An issue overlooked by many. I actually hope that he does, if he is innocent.
We went to a beautiful funeral today. It was of the father of a dear friend of ours. My wife has a lot more memories of him than I do, but they are fond memories.
It brought back memories of the funeral of my father, but I have been to funerals since then. Though it was not just me, it also brought back such memories to my wife as well.
During it, we sat next to a friend of my wife, who many years ago told me what she would do to me if I was not nice to my wife. My wife was not aware of what she had said to me over twenty years ago, but she herself can!
After, we went to the pub for recollections and a chance to chat and catch up with others. It was a great place to be, wonderful weather, and because he always bought his round, a free bar.
Anyway, Russell, here are my musical memories of your last eventful day.
I am transphobic. I do not consider a transgender person to be anything other transgender. This means that I consider a transgender man to be a transgender man, not a woman, not a man. I also consider one who is before transitioning to be different to one who has undergone gender reassignment surgery. The same applies to transgender women. I do not consider them to be men or women, but I view each as a transgender woman, one with or without a penis.
I think that pronouns should be respected, but I think that it is silly to advertise your own if you do not wish to do so. I consider it rude to refer to India Willoughby as a man, she does not consider herself to be one anymore. Likewise, if someone prefers to be referred to as Ms, as opposed to Miss or Mrs, then that should be respected.
I think that in areas, such as toilets and changing rooms, where segregation has occurred by biological sex, it should be replaced by genitalia. I have no issues with gender neutral or unisex spaces existing, especially as we live in a world with multiple gender identities, but ideally, people should have the choice to go to places there they can be segregated. There are many devout followers of many religions who believe in segregation based on biological sex, and a compromise based on genitalia is, in my view, the best way forwards.
However, when it comes to degrees of transphobia, it appears that I am not as bad as others. Here are a selection of videos which I find to be horrific. I think comparing someone who is transgender to a paedo is wrong. While I have concerns about children de-transitioning later in life, I think that refusing to accept that some children are going to continue to be transgender as they get older is silly and a total ban on treatments including surgery for those under 18 is wrong. I also think that not accepting that people can realise that they are non-binary later in life is also barbaric. I have seen too many people living a lie because society feels that they have to conform. Let me know what you think of them (and my views) in the comments. I am of course happy to discuss this on Twitter, or X as it is now called. Normally though, civil discourse tends not to happen there, but it would be great to have some.
I guess the best bit of PMQ's today was a comment made by Starmer to Sunak calling him Inaction Man. My daughter was not impressed, but she is of a generation that never had Action Man.
To be fair to Sunak, he has tried to do a lot while Prime Minister. He has brought forward legislation to increase the amount of sewage in our rivers. He has tried to stop the boats, he has tried to deport those seeking asylum to Rwanda. But like a poor marksman, he just keeps missing the target!
There was annoyance from the right about The Last Night of the Proms. It appears that they wanted the BBC to censor those waving EU flags. Those flags apparently had been given out free of charge by an organisation, but if a person wanted a Union Flag, they would have had to buy it from vendors outside.
I have to agree with Femi in that patriotism is wanting our great nation to be even better, and it was better in the EU than out of it.
Just got home after a day in London. My younger brother is going out with a lovely South African woman, Lauren. Sadly, her sister died recently leaving behind her seven year old niece. Today, we met the two of them, her parents, her uncle, my other brother and my Mum. I was dreading it as it was over a two hour drive there (and the same coming back) so was expecting us all to be tired afterwards. We did get there early, but went shopping (I wanted to go to Richmond but was overruled) and ended up arriving last!
My children came along with Leia and they talked to my brothers, well mostly (my son resorted to grunts apparently with my youngest brother). They did not get to spend much time with my mother who spent time talking to the other parents. Lauren’s uncle ended going on a walk with Leia and me, he having had a dog in the past, but is not able to have one now due to him travelling a lot.
The last time my bothers and I got together like this was on New Years when we met up for my mothers birthday (which she decided not to attend) and I am going to have to badger them to make this a regular thing. Anyway, the kids are in bed along with my wife, Time to join them.
I was called a terrible parent yesterday. Both children have gone back to school, and the house is a bit stressful as a result. My son has not been too forthcoming about how things have been for him, but that is the stereotype of a teenage boy of his age.
My daughter on Wednesday, when collected from her Sixth Form College stated that she felt lazy and stupid. She is not and she was feeling sorry for herself, so I agreed with her.
Yesterday, when asked at work, about how she did on her first day, by two of the people she works with, I told them what happened and what I said. They were not impressed.
I think my children agree with Trump about climate change. We are in a heatwave this week in the UK and yesterday my daughter decided to put on the tumble dryer rather than put the clothes out to dry in the heat.
They are continuing to leave appliances on, notably the PlayStation, which we use to watch streaming channels. And they continue to put plastics that cannot be recycled (usually film plastic) in the plastic recycling pile.
I am sure that they will say that climate change is an issue they agree needs action to address, I just have the view that they do not care enough to make any meaningful changes.
I am sure his words will stick with some, but put simply, the Conservatives have been in power since David Cameron became Prime Minister in 2010 and they have had thirteen years to sort this out, or as appears to have happened , ignored it and hoped that this would only become an issue after he next election.
My wife and I spent yesterday out of the home for a lot of the day. We had lunch with friends and I watched the Arsenal game there. Afterwards my wife rested while I went to the pub quiz where I relaxed and had a few drinks.
When it came to the Arsenal game, the score does not reflect the game. It was a tight thing and we could have easily lost. In fact, Tony, whom I was watching the game with, said that he thought a point was a good result before ManUre scored what turned out of be an offside goal (only just). I felt that with the way ManUre organised themselves, it was either going to take a break, luck or Jesus running through the crowd of players to unlock the game. Normally Saka would do that, but I think that our draw last week where he gave away possession may have affected his confidence. ManUre marked Martin Ødegaard for much of the game and he showed what happens when he is allowed space near the opposing goal.
Anyway, considering that I did not think that we would get a result, three points is much appreciated!
I have not posted recently as I have not been too well. I had to take a lot of Wednesday off work (which was easier as I work from home on that day) and while unwell, I went into work on Thursday against the objections of my wife and needed to nap during the day.
I was better, but not back to normal on Friday and yesterday felt well enough to travel with my wife to get the laptop my son needs for his school. She had ordered this online.
My wife and son had travelled to Lakeside yesterday to be told that the laptop was not there and when they got back she got a message that the laptop had arrived! So yesterday, she drove down and I went with her. While there, we fixed her apple watch that she has not used in a while. On the way there, we saw a lot of traffic on the A12 as one interchange was closed, so we drove back via Maldon.
On the way to Maldon, we stopped for some rest and fluids at a lovely family run Italian restaurant and ended up staying there for a few hours. Days like this, were my wife and I just do something in a spontaneous manner are not as common as I would like, but we both loved it!
The only downside to the day was listening to a remix of a track that I am sure was different to how it had been when it was originally released. Turns out, on streaming, the remix is the only version you can access!
