If I called Stockton a shit-hole, I would admit it

I have no idea what Stockton is like.  I do know that I have negative views of a local town, that being Clacton.  I view it as being nice, until a certain demographic of the population wake up.

If James Cleverly described it using a term which is not a flattering one, he should admit it.  Instead, he has stated that he described the MP as being one.  

Should the British Museum only have items from the UK?

Yesterday, Rishi Sunak declined to see the Greek Prime Minister because he answered a question about The Elgin Marbles.

I understand the desire of Greece to have them back, but as has been pointed out, many nations want items in The British Museum to be returned to them.  I guess it can be argued that no nation should have items in a museum that do not belong to that country.  I am of the opinion that this is not of any use in teaching people about history of other nations.  I do think that there could be more sharing of the more mobile items across borders but when it comes to the treasures looted by The British Empire, they should stay.  

However, it is silly for Sunak to act in the manner that he did.  I would expect our politicians to speak to nations like China and Saudi Arabia about human rights.  I think it is right for the Greek Prime Minister to bring up an issue of importance to Greece.   

Leading and The Holy Land

I have listened to two amazing podcast episodes (47 & 48 if you wish to listen to them) on the current issues with Israel and Palestine.  

My views on them have been tempered by a good friend of mine, who while he agrees what is happening in Gaza is terrible, appears to have fallen for Israeli propaganda.  This is probably because of friends of his who live in Israel, who have to live in the shadow of rocket attacks from Gaza.  What was interesting was his claim, told to him by his friends, that such attacks have been launched from the West Bank.  Those who have read my other posts on this are aware that Labib Dumaidi was murdered when settlers attacked the Palestinian town of Huwara before Hamas went and murdered over 1000 Israeli civilians.  When I mentioned this to him, he said that it was wrong, but so were the rocket attacks on settlements.  He said it was not reported on due to the media in the UK being biased.  While no rocket attacks from the West Bank have taken place, attacks on settlements have occurred.

The podcast episodes do not look at how America and the Palestinian Authority tried to overthrow the (then) democratically elected government in Gaza, but they do look at how the chance of peace that was won in 1991.  I like how they did comment that while there are extremists on the Palestinian side, there are also too many in Israel.  What was interesting was a solution of a return to the Oslo Peace Accords but with the settlements remaining, but being under control of the Palestinians with Jews being allowed to live there. 

If you do get a chance, have a listen to them and let me know what you think in the comments below.       

Mafia Mamma

 

The best thing about this film was watching it with my wife, the scenery and the fact that she liked it. I honestly did not think that Toni Collette could be in a bad film. I was wrong. One review states the film is “Riddled with stereotypes, fatally unfunny, and a total tonal mishmash, Mafia Mamma is a criminal waste of Toni Collette." Rotten Tomatoes is right about this. It has made me want to visit it again, maybe next year… 

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

First of all, Arsenal are top of the league again. I am going to enjoy saying this at work tomorrow. I had said that I thought that David Raya (on loan from Brentford) is the better goalkeeper but that Aaron Ramsdale was the more reliable. Yesterday he tried to prove me wrong on this matter. But we still won. It took a late goal, but it is the three points that count.

As for the film, we all watched it as a family. My son had wanted to watch it last weekend, but we said no due to his mock exams which he is going through. We all liked the film. I had a few issues with so much land not being used for farming in a world riven by hunger, but it was enjoyable. When it is out on streaming, I may watch the entire series again.

Ode to Joy

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said that Ode to Joy sums up Labour. If this is a political move, it is genius. It will not bother most voters, but it will enrage those Brexiteers who despise him and may endear him to those who voted remain.

International men's day

It was International Men's Day on the 19th of November.  When I first learned about this, I thought it was a stupid idea to have one, but over the years, my view on this has changed. 

I think that such a day is important to promote health changing behaviour, and also to challenge toxic masculinity, including what is and is not consent. 

We saw the need for change in the media in September when the failure of Dan Wootton to say Maaate to Laurence Fox resulted in both making the news for the wrong reasons. Since the original comments, Dan Wootton has been sacked by the MailOnline, and Laurence Fox has (finally) apologised for his comments.

I have posted before about the 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 some 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 most 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 how 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.

The Creator

Visually and emotionally, this is a great film. However as a science fiction nerd, it is crap. Do not read this post if you wish to watch the film.

I watched it with three normal people, and by this I mean that they do not love sci-fi as much as I do. My wife, who was one of them, liked it.

The sci-fan in me dislikes how the base did not defend itself properly. How when the village above it was discovered, that alarms were not set off. When it came to taking out the base, a missile would have done. Alternative/Artificial intelligence will be able to manage computers better than we can and we will not be able to hack them, it would be the other way round. Why do people shoot weapons in the future which are less effective than the ones we have now

Why robots would take up human religion is beyond me as well. But the three normal people loved that touch.  In summary, if you love science fiction, do not watch it.

The Marvels

This was not the best of the Marvel films, but I still liked it. I watched it with my son.

It has a predictable plot but in general, it was done with comedic style.  I do think that there are better films, but this was worth watching, unlike films like Blade 2 & 3. 

Stephen K Amos: Oxymoron

What a night! First of all, I got to watch Arsenal with Tony, or rather the second half of the game. We were 1-0 up and after he jinxed thing’s by saying we were to win, Burnley equalised. However we then scored two goals but had a man sent off for a dangerous tackle.

My wife was not too keen on going last night, especially as we had a great night the weekend before watching Jo Caulfield: Here Comes Trouble. I think it is hard to say which night was better as both were great nights. We laughed and laughed and laughed. I would like to say that Colchester is not as much of a small town as it appears to both, but the crowd at both nights was not very cosmopolitan (a bit more last night) and we did have fun poked at the city on both nights. If you have a chance to see either, take it.

The Shard

My wife used up our Expedia points so that she could take us to an amazing night at The Shard. It was a late anniversary present, and also my Christmas and birthday present.

We drove there and we were met with a great view when we entered. The picture does no do it justice. The view was actually better today (the picture is from yesterday) as the sun was shining this morning. I am sad to admit, that in addition to looking at the Thames and the various buildings, I also spent time watching the trains. My wife dragged me away from watching the real life train set and we went upstairs to the cocktail bar. We watched the reflection of the sunset in the buildings as we savoured our cocktails. 

After getting ready in our room, it was dinner and watching night fall across London. Dinner involved interesting flavours at the start and later a fabulous fish dish and astounding stake. Sadly my wife was not to finish hers, so I got to eat that!

Breakfast the following morning was great, the sun shining made the view even better. Our drive back home to reality did involve some traffic as well as watching the police rush into deal with the right wing protest against people marching for an armistice on Armistice Day. We did not get back for the minute’s silence, something which I hoped would have more relevance to my son who has just got back from Ypres, in Belgium, being taken through the remnants of the trenches and seeing the war graves as part of a school trip.

Marching on Armistice Day for an Armistice

A lot of debate has been taking place about if a march on November the 11th is appropriate or not.  The title of this post is the best answer so far.  I do not agree with everything that has been said by the Barnaby Raine in his interview with Rees-Mogg, but his line about this is undisputable.

Starmer and leadership

Not sure that this is the best advert for Labour when Starmer may need to back down over his stance on Gaza.  I have to admit, I am not sure what the least worst action is with Gaza and I do have sympathy for Starmer over the resignations that he has faced.

I do want to know what the proposed solution that those who want a ceasefire is when it comes to Hamas and the way they have attacked and have continued to attack Israel.   

Electoral reform and Proportional Representation in the UK

My daughter and I had a disagreement over this today.  My daughter is in favour of proportional representation.  I am not. 

Rather, in an ideal world, I would be, but considering how our nation has voted in the European Elections, the elections closest to it, I would rather keep the current system.  

In summary, other than the last European Elections, the right have won over 50% of the vote in the last few elections.  

In 2014, a combination of UKIP, the Conservatives got over 50.% of the vote, Nigel Farage getting the most votes as part of UKIP (he got most of the notes in the 2019 elections with the Brexit Party).  

In 2009, the Conservatives got the highest vote margin with 27.4% of the vote, UKIP coming second with 16.5%.  With the 6.2% of the vote that the BNP got, that meant that those on the right would have got over 50% of the total vote.  In that election, we sent two far right BNP politicians to represent us in the European Parliament.

And of course, there was the Brexit vote, with over 50% voting to impose economic sanctions on the UK.

In addition to this, if you look at polling, it can be argued that the people want the death penalty to be brought back. Also there is the support that Suella Braverman has over Asylum Seekers crossing The English Channel.

My daughter feels that we should look to Scotland which has PR and has not voted for right wing extremists, but Scotland is more left wing than England.  

Tomorrow is the anniversary of Kristallnacht. My daughter would vote for a system that I fear could bring that to the UK.  While many may think that I am being over dramatic, Italy have a far-right leader, and the same system has put similar politicians into high office in Israel.  And now we have GBeebies and TalkTV to sell us the lies that those on the right love to feed us.   

A peace dividend

When I went to Sri Lanka and travelled to Jaffna, I was amazed at the quality of the roads there.  What happened to the Tamil people at the end of the war was barbaric, just like Black July was.  Hopefully, with the economic development that has taken place in the North and the East of the Island, civil war will not return.  Just like I hope this is the case in Northern Ireland.  Basically, people have gained through peace and have too much to lose.

Sadly, this has not been the case for Palestinians.  Since the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993, Palestinians have lost land in the West Bank and Settlers attack them with no consequences.  Negotiations have failed them.  Put simply, the attacks of October the 7th were evil and cannot be defended. But Christians and Muslims living in the West Bank see that settlers can carry out attacks on a smaller scale, and the Settlers who carry out the attacks face no consequences for this. 

If Israel wants peace, it either has to engage in ethnic cleansing (again) or it has to make it that Palestinians do not lose out by choosing peace. 

VAR, Arsenal and Newcastle

We were robbed.  When Newcastle scored their goal, they had kept the ball in play (even though some images imply otherwise) and they were onside, but Joelinton had committed a foul while challenging Gabriel in the penalty box.  A draw would not have been enough but it would have been one point rather than none.  Tomorrow we are going to fall even further behind The Scum when they beat Chelski.