Family meet up

We met up with my family today. One of my brothers traveled down from Manchester for it (he also went to see an old friend of his afterwards). My other brother came alone, his partner staying at home after having a stressful Christmas. He has booked the pub meal near my mother’s place. My Mum loved seeing us all together, Leia liked seeing my two brothers, especially my youngest one who had house sat before and trained her to fetch a ball which was thrown to her.

Anyway, now we are relaxing. My wife and I are to continue watching Slow Horses, but might get an early night as my daughter was out late. Both kids are awake and active still, which is surprising, considering how late they were up last night. 

Yesterday involved a return to The Westleton Crown

Yesterday I forgot that I had taken the day off work. I went in to be asked why I was in! So I returned home, took my daughter out for a driving lesson, dropped her at my work for her job, returned home and my wife, Leia and I went out to Snape while my son got ready for a date. My daughter had been out to one earlier in the week, but both reported back that it was not a date and did not speak about it at all otherwise.

Leia loved being at Snape Maltings. My wife drove, as helping my daughter learn to drive can be a bit draining. She loves it there as well, which is why we visit it at least once a year. Leia found the drive there a bit stressful as my daughter fed our lactose intolerant Cockapoo some cheese before the trip, which meant that we had to keep pulling over for her. The only part of Snape Maltings that she did not like was a wooden walkway.

I had refused to book lunch in advance, and for a while, it appeared that we were not going to find anywhere, but The Westleton Crown was not too far away so we returned there. Great food once again, and for the person not driving, a fantastic bottle of wine (the remainder of which was shared once we got home). 

Overall, it was a good day and we bought a birthday present for my mother as well! The only blip was Arsenal getting beaten at home by West Ham. 

A Haunting in Venice

Watched this last night with my wife. I am not a big fan of Agatha Christie, but I enjoyed this more than Death On The Nile. While that film started better, this was more of a slow burn. I worked out who it was, almost for the right reason. I doubt that I would watch it again, but apparently others have enjoyed it much more than I.

There has been outrage though about the BBC adaptation of another Agatha Christie novel because the work of fiction was altered slightly to be more inclusive of the population demographics of today. Due to this, I may take the time needed to watch Murder Is Easy, which I doubt I would have watched otherwise. 

Havoc

I did not mind this film. I doubt I would watch it again however. With children around the ages featured in the film, it had more relevance to me, especially as they have told me about the availability of drugs in school.  It has been argued that this is slum tourism, something I engaged in when on a trip to New Orleans over twenty years ago. I do remember taking my daughter to Jaywick so that she could see the poverty some in her school were talking about in an ignorant manner. I have not had to do that with my son who chose to go to school in a very deprived area. My daughter at her sixth form also now meets people who are not fed properly thanks to poverty in the UK, but the impression I get of the Boys Grammar school from her, is that this film may be like that. 

What was the most interesting was the way attitudes to rape appear to have changed. No means no but the scene in the film appeared to have areas which were more grey than they are now. This video is great when it comes to consent. I have used it to show one victim of sexual assault that she should feel no guilt, and I have another patient who realised what happened to her was wrong after watching it at school.

Boxing Day 2023

Even though I went to work for a few hours, today has been quite relaxing over the last few days, we have played a few games. One was about music from 2000-2010+, the kids were great sports, playing even though it was set a bit too early for them. Another one was a quiz but that resulted in my wife and son deciding that they did not want to be on the same team as my daughter.

Apparently, her competitive zeal has been noted at her sixth form. In a politics quiz she was very assertive with her teammate, but in her psychology class, she was quite vocal. 

My wife made a great Christmas meal and even included the dog in her cooking, making Leia a meal that the dog absolutely loved.  My present for my son had not arrived in time so he had to make do with a vinyl album. My daughter got one of my hoodies, this being the hoodie I wore when she was born. She had tried to steal it from me before, but I had managed to get it back, and for the last few months, hid it. She was very happy to have it as a gift. 

The Kings Speech

It was the first Kings Speech that we watched today. One which would be viewed by many as being political. I felt his speech referred to the cost of living crisis and also could be viewed as taking care of refugees. The last point is especially important considering how today is celebrated by many as the birth of the most famous refugee of all. 

The Westleton Crown

We traveled to see my mother yesterday morning and have taken a break for the day in Suffolk now. My brother and I had discussed who was to spend time with her this Christmas, we had her last year when she took offence with us, but my brother spent two lockdown Christmas’s with her in 2020 and 2021. However, she decided that she is going to spend Christmas alone this year. But, she loved seeing the children face to face.

After that, we drove to stay overnight, in a dog friendly place, where I explored with her for her dog walks. The food and service was fabulous and it was a much needed break after another hard year.

Transgender rules in schools

Again I agree and disagree with the government about its rules on transgender matters for schools. 

I think that single sex toilets based on biological sex should be present, but despite the risks, schools should have the right to also provide gender neutral toilets for pupils. I do agree with segregation of changing and showering areas based on biological sex, this also being the rule for sports in situations where segregation takes place. 

I do think that children should have the right to socially transition in schools, within these limits, without parents being involved. As happens with conditions like abortions for underage children, efforts should be made to involve parents, but if the child says no, I do think that wish should be respected. 

There are over 100 gender identities and we should allow people to learn about them if they think that they may be non-binary when it comes to this. I have seen too many people live unhappy lives living a lie.

Baroness Mone being fed to the sharks

It has been an interesting few days for Baroness Mone.  There has been a lot of pressure for her to face the consequences of supplying substandard PPE as part of the chumocracy.  To be fair to her, it was not just her, others linked to the Conservatives had supplied substandard PPE while our nation exported PPE supplies to Italy even though there was a shortage. 

What is different here is that she threatened legal action against those who wanted to publish facts, facts that she now admits were true.  And in addition to that, she has been thrown to the wolves by the Tories.  But one of them made public a WhatsApp message that they had told the COVID inquiry they had no access to.  I do hope the inquiry calls Lord Bethell back.

That’s not the way the Israel Defense Forces operates

The IDF have claimed that they do not kill civilians when it comes to the deaths of women in a church compound in Gaza. This is the same IDF that killed three Israeli hostages when they were trying to flee to safety with a white flag. After the attacks by Hamas on Israel, I was in favour of retaliatory action, but this went too far ages ago and I know agree with calls for a permanent ceasefire. 

I still pray for a just peace in the Holy Land.  I did not think it was possible in Northern Ireland.  It happened and I think that the Oslo Accords can be opened again.

Driving in my car

Yesterday was relaxing, until I let me daughter drive my car.  She is learning to drive, and while she has opted to learn how to drive a manual car, she is practicing in my electric one, which is in essence an automatic one.  We drove around Colchester.  She found it strange that I kept telling her to drive faster, but we were on a main road and it is important when on one, not to slow other traffic down, so long as they are sticking to the speed limit and driving in an appropriate manner for the conditions.  She is much better than I was when I was at that stage of learning, though it has cost a lot to add her to my insurance!  

I did get to relax with my son as well during the day and my wife and I took part in our local pub quiz, ending the year by coming second from last!  And our dog loved our morning walk!

How Do You Know

My wife and I watched this last night.  The best way I can describe this is a rom-com without the com.  It was not terrible, it appeared to be directed and produced well, it just was not well written.  I would argue, that thanks to the acting it was an average film, one worth not watching.  Normally I do not recommend watching a trailer, but watching it means that you do not need to waste time watching the film.

Not voting is still making a choice, but it is a bad one

I have made my views on voting known on many an occasion on this blog.  The lady featured on this video from Novara Media shocked me. Someone who is politically aware should realised that you vote for the party you disagree with the least.  Yes, ideally, a person should be inspired by a leader and vote for them based on a positive perception of them, but few are going to agree with everything any party leader is going to advocate, well few with a critical mind anyway.  To put matters simply, each time you do not vote, you have no voice, but those who vote against the position you have do.  To say that the Conservatives and Labour are the same ignores how they are different on matters such as the NHS or asylum.     

The government have taken away the right to vote from too many people. Something that Jacob Rees-Mogg admitted to.  

Yes, people have the right not to vote, but for someone who is aware of politics, to refuse to vote when the Conservatives are making it harder to vote is silly.  And very sad.

One-nation conservatism

This week I was taught what a one-nation Conservative is by my daughter. She was quite patient with me considering it started me on a rant. Apparently, David Cameron is part of this view, the Prime Minister who brought about austerity to our nation as is Jeremy Hunt, the man who has overseen the decline of our NHS. 

I have to thank my daughter on teaching me about this despite my interrupting her with my views on the two. I am going to learn more as time goes on from both my children. 

A vote to Stop the Boats and ignore those we should be helping

I am proud that our nation took in refugees from Ukraine, many of whom were in safe nations such as Moldova and Poland when they needed sanctuary.  There was a need and the applications for asylum were processed quickly.

I do not understand why the same is not being done for people from Afghanistan, notably, those who are linked to the UK when we had a presence there.  We have Afghan soldiers who face execution if returned to Afghanistan waiting in Pakistan among many others we have a duty to help.  I suspect that the reason that they are being left to rot is because they are Muslim.  

We have shown that asylum applications can be processed quickly.  Instead, the government have allowed loads of asylum seekers to be held up in hotels while more cross The English Channel. A cynic would argue that the reason that they have done this is to make this into an election issue...

The NHS on YouTube

There is an interesting article on the NHS on YouTube. 

I disagree with bits of it. The use of the private sector resulted in improvements in NHS performance during the Labour years, not seen in Wales, where private sector involvement did not occur.

It also mentions PFI in brief, without looking at the reasons that loans had to be taken out to rebuild the NHS.

Also it does not mention how the Conservatives cut the numbers of doctors in training, removed the NHS bursaries and have watched as UK trained staff leave for better pay and conditions abroad.

But it was very good overall.

A Dog's Purpose

It was the Christmas Party for my work last night. I decided to drive which was good for two people at my work who live nearby. We returned to the place we had our party last year, the food was a lot better. But after we ate our main course, there was a power cut. We did get served dessert and ate by the light of our mobile phones. However, mobile reception there was very poor but some did find out that the power was not expected to come on till the early hours of the morning. This meant that we left early, and being the nominated driver, it also meant that if was easy to get home. Others had to wait for pre-booked taxis.

I had rested in the day before and even got a nap. Before I did so, my daughter and I watched A Dog’s Purpose.  My daughter was right in that I would never have watched it before we had a dog, and while predictable, it did tug at my heart strings. If you love dogs, it is worth considering this as a film to watch, but there is no point in doing so if you are not a fan of dogs.

COVID and lockdowns

On BBC Any Question last night, the matter of lockdowns during COVID came up. Some idiots on the panel doubt that they were needed.

They ignore what happened in Italy, or Iran. While Sweden avoided a lockdown, they put Social Distancing guidance into place before we did. A few days before the UK went into lockdown, the Cheltenham Festival took place, 60,000 people in close proximity spreading COVID. 

Also they forgot to mention how unprepared the NHS was to face a pandemic, this despite Exercise Alice and Exercise Cygnus showing the problems being faced. 

The Tories are finally ending Mail Order Brides and Forced Marriage, unless you are rich

At long last, action is being taken on forced marriage which will essentially end this.  Until April 2024, couples will need the UK based spouse to earn £18,600. From then it will be £38,700.  This will also end the practice of mail-order-brides which I consider a morally grey area.  

Of course, this is going to affect many people in our country who do fall in love when abroad and could result in a brain drain due to love.

I think that the policy has promise, but it will harm loads and will also affect the attractiveness of the UK when it comes to encouraging people from abroad to work in the UK.