Taylor Swift

Yesterday, we watched Taylor Swift. My son is to watch her in concert in June if all goes well, but yesterday my son was watching The Eras Tour on Disney+. I joined him for her singing All Too Well, then my wife joined us and my daughter joined us at the end. My wife recorded my daughter and I dancing (my son does not dance with me). It has been too long since we watched something together, and while we did not watch the full concert as a family, it was nice that we watched so much as a unit once more. 

Nationalising our railways

Labour have talked about nationalisation of at least parts of our railway system. Many people have commented that nationalised railways are terrible, but several of the companies who run, or ran our railways are already owned by state railway companies from abroad. 

Rwanda (again)

The government have managed to get the Rwanda plan to be passed in the Houses of Parliament.

I am in favour of it. I suspect that Germany and Italy have no or few concerns about this as well.

But only if we have a decent way for refugees to come to our great nation.

With refugees from Ukraine, we welcomed them to our shores even though they were in safe countries.

We should do the same with asylum seekers from other nations. We have an insane system where people who helped us in Afghanistan cannot get to our nation. That should change. 

In addition to that, we should enter into discussions across the globe with how refugees should be managed.  Too many nations (not us) bear a burden of looking after refugees and they should be aided in this. In addition to this, not all refugees need to leave their nation, instead for some of the ones I have encountered, moving to another part of their own nation would be appropriate. But while I have met some refugees whom I would not grant asylum (based on what they told me), I have met far more whom I would grant asylum. 

Bukayo Saka and being proud of England

I identify as many things, European, British, and English.

Too many people have allowed racists and bigots to claim our flag. Our flag represents our nation. Like Bukayo Saka, I am proud to be English. 

Jews walking across a march

A video has been widely shared on the internet, this being of a Jewish man trying to walk across a march against the slaughter in Gaza. People who have used this to bash the police forget several things. 

The first thing to remember is that there are many Jews who want an end to the murder of civilians in Gaza and many take part in marches about this.

The second is that the police will act to keep separate groups of people apart. Anyone who has been to a football match will be aware that the police like to keep certain groups of supporters apart, an example of this being Millwall fans being kept away from everyone else when possible. Other examples would be preventing someone obviously Muslim walking across an EDL march.

I think that instead to bashing the police, or insinuating that the UK bias against Jews, we should accept that the police have a hard job to do, that on occasion, someone faced with making a decision on the spot will get it wrong, and that they work to ensure that demonstrations are peaceful. 

Fascism and the boy who cried wolf

I read recently, that a danger with calling things fascism, is that people start of become desensitised. 

I have to agree.  I do agree that there are worrying signs with what is happening to our great nation.  At the moment, Islamophobia is more acceptable on the internet, this being before the appalling attacks by Hamas on Israel.  

Yes, our rights are being taken away, and when people are conditioned to accept the removal of even more rights that would happen if our nation withdrew from the European Court of Human Rights. 

Do I see concerning arguments on social media?  Yes.  Do I think that our government is flirting with Far Right ideas?  Yes.  Do I think that our government and mainstream media support fascism? No. 

Liz Truss and how things were not her fault

It is unbelievable that the woman who was Prime Minister for 45 days has no insight of the way she crashed the economy. 

Apparently, things would have been better if civil servants had not acted as a break on how she had wanted to things. 

Yesterday, The Newsagents and The Rest is Politics covered this. Once again, parody and reality are hard to keep apart. 

Israel and Iran

I used to be in favour of Israel taking action against Hamas in Gaza, that was until the civilian death toll became so high (let alone the numbers of civilians murdered, sorry, killed accidentally, since).  If anyone doubts me, remember how the IDF shot unarmed Palestinian terrorists who were pretending to surrender, only to find out they were unarmed Israeli hostages, something I doubt we would have found out about if they had not been Israeli.

I have not been in favour of Israel in the way that it is stealing land in the West Bank either.  

When it comes to the way Israel attacked the Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria, I have concerns over this.  Quite rightly, the world has spoken out over the issues with how an embassy should be protected when it comes to Mexico and Ecuador.  Put simply, killing the targets Israel wanted eliminated outside the diplomatic compound would have been acceptable to me, in view of the way that Iran helps Hezbollah attack Israel.    

Yes, Iran retaliated, but in a way that was able to be stopped by the several nations.  I actually think that this was a paper retaliation, in a similar manner to that on US troops after Trump had an Iranian general assassinated. The question now is if Israel will let matters rest here, or continue to attack Iran. 

Last of all, for those who do not think of Iran as our enemy, look at how they have treated Kamal Foroughi, Anoosheh Ashoori and Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. I would be interested to hear any justification of this.

Dune: Part Two

First of all, I am sad that Arsenal lost. At least we are in second place, for now. But I doubt that the Team That Rhymes With City will drop more points than us, which means that the odds are, we will either stay in second or more likely, finish in third place.

The kids are continuing to revise, my daughter has two tests tomorrow, not her A Levels, but tests to get her stressed anyway.

And onto Dune: Part Two. I think that the first film was better. While I do not think that this was a masterpiece, it was a film which hit the right balance of amazing scenery, good effects, and retained decent writing, acting and directing. I guess my main issues come from the plot. Arrakis is a planet devoid of water, but can host a huge army. The suits that were worn in the film would not recycle the sweat that should have been on the faces of the characters (but also was absent). And the story had another hole in that a captured Fremen would break under torture and the bases would be found. 

But those issues relate to the original book.  If you liked the first film, the odds are you will like this, but I doubt anyone who is not interested in science fiction will like it.

Scoop

No, not the Netflix film, which I intend to watch, but rather a film from 2006. 

First of all, my kids are coming up to the end of their holidays and have been revising. I suspect one has been revising more than the other, but hopefully I am wrong. 

My daughter, is booking a holiday in Europe with one of her friends, and this is causing my wife some stress. At the moment it looks like she will be backpacking to France and Spain,

The film itself is interesting. It has loads of stars in it, but as the Twilight films show, having an all star cast means nothing. It has an unusual plot, almost that of a play rather than a film, but it improves after a dull start. I will say it is better than I thought it would be and was surprisingly enjoyable. I guess I would rate this slightly above average as a film. 

The Cass Report and drugs with children

The Cass Report has been widely reported in the media. I do agree that issues about gender identity should be explored, but I think that the report is wrong to say that puberty blockers are untested without pointing out that many drugs are untested in children. I also am concerned with the way the media are reporting that it is wrong for children who are Trans to be given these drugs. I think, that with the correct assessments, it will be found that there are some children who would benefit from treatment with these drugs. 

Sadly, waiting lists have increased across the NHS, not just when it comes to gender identity, but also with child mental health. Children, be they having issues with gender identity or not are being failed by our underfunded healthcare system. 

Tenfold rise in A&E patients waiting more than 24 hours for a bed

The headline is from the Guardian.  It is so sad considering how Labour managed to get the length of time people waited in A&E to low levels.  

Improving the NHS will take money, it will take time and like after 1997, it will involve having to use the private sector. 

Israel killing innocent people

This week, Israel has continued to kill innocent people, but the way they have done it has hit the international headlines more, because they killed Europeans.  An aid convoy was targeted and the aid workers killed, despite the vehicles being clearly marked, and even if they were not, the aid workers had been working with Israel so that the IDF knew where they were and where they were going.

Since then, other relief agencies have pulled out of Gaza to avoid being hit in similar attacks.  I am sorry to be cynical, but I do wonder if those on the right in Israel are glad that aid agencies have done so.

Israel have stated that this was a terrible mistake, but we have seen how cavalier the IDF are when they murdered some Israeli hostages who were trying to surrender to them just because they thought that they were Palestinian.

I was in favour of Israel taking action against Hamas last year.  I was wrong to be in favour of that.  Israel has shown some restraint in trying to avoid civilian casualties, but no where near enough.  When Russia kills Ukrainian civilians, we are rightly outraged. The UK only sells a small amount of weapons to Israel, while they are using them against the civilians of Gaza, we should stop this. What is needed, is a ceasefire months ago. The USA can force this on Israel by stopping aid to Israel, a country which should exist, but would not do so without aid from the west.

Hate, freedom of speech and JK Rowling (again)

Scotland have brought about an interesting law when it comes to hate crime.  JK Rowling has already been investigated because of this. There is no doubt in my view that there is too much hatred on Social Media, notably Twitter/X and this does include hatred towards women, the transgender community, Jews and Muslims amongst others.  

While I would welcome action being taken to address this, I have concerns that the law in Scotland may be something that has gone too far.  In some ways, the stand that JK Rowling has taken is an admirable one, in that she has put her head above the parapet to see where the line between free speech and illegality lies.  But she has also offended many due to this.  

Sadly, discussing this is hard as too many people are willing to rant and not to listen.  The Newsagents covered this matter earlier in the week and it will be interesting to read the comments that come about because of this.

I hope the fears that this will infringe free speech and regulate thought will not come about.  But while the law may be interpreted in one manner now, it remains to be seen if this continues in the future. 

April Fools

April Fools came and went. None of us played a trick on the other. I did get to watch the highlights of the Arsenal game. I would have preferred a win, but not losing was almost as important. Watching Match of the Day, I see that we have the harder end of season, which means that we are the least likely to take the title. But all the teams have to be played in the league which is why winning it is so hard. I did not think at the beginning of the season that we would be so close to taking the title which, for now, appears to be heading to Merseyside.

Earlier on the bank holiday weekend we had been to see my Mum, the parents of my wife and came 5th in the local pub quiz (we are getting worse). It has been relaxing and I hope that my batteries are sufficiently recharged now as Tuesday is going to be very busy. I also spoke to one of my brothers, have not spoken to him in a while. The other is in South Africa at the moment travelling the nation with his other half, who is from there. 

Poor Things

We watched this yesterday. It was intended to be a family film, but none of us had watched a trailer. Needless to say, not all of us appreciated the film and only two of us watched the whole film. Just for the record, it is not a family film. 

Normally I am not too fond of American art-house films, I prefer European ones.  While I have not watched one in a while, I got a taste of what I have missed when I watched Drops of God. This was an interesting story, well told in its manner. Do I think that it was amazing? No. Would I watch it again? No. And I not have wanted to pay to watch this in the cinema. It was great to watch it at home though and it was nice to watch a different type of film. 

Saltburn

I finally watched the film that many have been talking about. My daughter had watched it before and my son left after a scene in the bath. If you want to watch it, do not read any more.

I enjoyed it. The beginning more than the end though. Watching it means that I doubt that my children will ever watch The Talented Mr Ripley. The beginning brought back memories of how I felt I had imposter syndrome at university and also how I was lucky not to mix too much with people I was never going to gel with. However I also have great memories of my time at Uni. 

I doubt that I would watch this again, but I do want to watch The Talented Mr Ripley again now.  

Owen Jones & Keir Starmer

Last week, Owen Jones divorced Labour.  There was a lot of comment about it at the time, but I understand where he is coming from.  Labour have not been the best at communicating their message, not just with the way that Israel are committing war crimes in Gaza, but in other ways as well.

Today, I have listened to Ed Milliband being quizzed on Labour U-turns.  And it got me thinking.  I think that a better way for Labour to appeal to the electorate is to be honest about these policy shifts.  When asked about the reversal on the Green Energy Pledge, an honest answer would be to say that Labour would want to meet the pledge, but does not think that it can so are to make a promise it knows it can keep.  He could have been clearer on the pledge on tuition fees.  

And when it comes to Gaza, I think that Labour should be honest.  I supported Israeli military action until the scale of civilian lives lost became apparent.  Labour should have the courage to say the same. 

So while I do not like everything Labour is doing, I will probably still Vote Labour. Keir Starmer was not my first choice as leader for Labour as he had promised a lot to the left wing of the party.  My choice when it came to who should be party leader was Lisa Nandy, someone who is much better at communication that Starmer.  The alternative is more years of Conservative misrule.  Labour are going to have to improve how they communicate things as otherwise, they will be quickly voted out of power.         

Bristol and back

Am knackered.  Today my daughter went to an open day at Bristol University.  We drove down at five in the morning and got here early, but in time to get some good seats for the first lecture.  My wife and a friend had driven off to a spa while my daughter and I attended this.  My son was left behind in Colchester with Leia and spent his time walking her and meeting friends.

Bristol is a lovely city and if she makes a decision to study here, despite recent concerns about student welfare, it looks a lovely place to study.  One down side was the first lecture which was a tick-box on what not to do, notably talk to the laptop, or the board, make no eye contact with the audience and mumble.  However the rest of the day was much better.  The down side was that my daughter was too tired to make the last meeting which was one where she would have got to see potential lecturers and talk to them directly.  

What was a shock though was learning that my daughter no longer is a big fan of Taylor Swift!  Not sure if my son is responsible for that one though... 

Could Farage Returning Destroy the Tories?

It is hard to tell what Nigel Farage wants in the world.  Once upon a time, despite disagreeing with his political views, I liked and respected him, but back then, he used to tell the truth.  

Since then, he has decided to bending the truth and spreading alternative facts on matters.  I am not sure if he wants to return to Reform UK, the party he is sort of in charge of, despite Richard Tice being its leader and main funder.  Or he might want to join the Conservatives and become leader after the next General Election.  

In a way, I feel sorry for the Tories, who are trying to work out if they need to woo or shun him.  Either way, I feel that he has caused enough damage with Brexit and that more power to him would harm our great nation.

Workers rights

On Twitter the other day, I mentioned the importance of unions.  It is something that I have discussed before on here.  Basically, I am of the view that unions support workers and if you are against unions, you are in essence against workers rights.

I suspect that there will be those who disagree with my interpretation of this view, but the case of P&O sacking workers to rehire labour at a lower cost, in my view, proves the need for decent workers rights. 

I am in a union, and in my job, I have seen the difference in how those in a union are treated better than those not in a union.

Keir Starmer ate my hamster

I had a chat with my mother today who expressed concerns about Keir Starmer. Many on the left see him as just being a Tory and they agree with many Conservatives that he would be bad for Britain. My Mum votes Labour. There may have been a time when she did not, but she, like many on the left, are probably going to join with Conservatives and not vote Labour in the next election.

Similar views were echoed on Twitter where someone forgot what happened earlier in Parliament this week and accused Labour of being anti-Trans. The bottom line is that one reason that there are similarities, is because the Conservatives steal Labour polices, an example being the non-Dom tax but there are others as well.

Not sure our public services can survive more years of Conservative rule, but, to be fair, I did not think that services like the NHS would last this long anyway. If you can call what it is doing surviving. 

The Nuremberg Laws

Since Twitter has been bought by Elon Musk, my feed has been filled with the Far Right as opposed to those I actually want to follow. 

A common theme which is tweeted on far too frequent as basis is the desire to deport foreign criminals. This leads to what is a foreign criminal. Not that he is a criminal, Boris Johnson was born in New York, so is he foreign born? King Charles had a father who was known as Phil The Greek due to his place of birth and a lot of his mother’s side of the family have German blood.  Mo Farah, one of the greats of British Athletics, was not born in Britain and has no ‘blood link’ to our great nation. I consider him to be British and was proud to have him representing our nation.

I am not saying that foreign nationals should not be deported, I am just expressing concern about how people not accepting that this is already taking place may want this to end. After all, we have seen what can happen when people start calling for measures to encourage racial purity. 

We are top of the league

Well that was an interesting game. Brentford are probably right in their annoyance that the winning goal was scored by a player who should not have been on the pitch, but they forget that Arsenal should also have had a penalty when Brentford fouled Arsenal, a fact which a lot of the reports of the game have overlooked. 

Anyway, at least until later today, we are top of the league. 

I’m ill again

Am in bed and burning up. At least I am better than yesterday. After a nice long dog walk in the morning I started to feel unwell. I went to work, hoping it would pass, but felt worse there and had to be driven back home by my wife. She has been taking good care of me, and is on the way to London to take my kids to see my Mum for Mothers Day.

I cannot even enjoy time alone as I will probably fall asleep after typing this! On the bright side, the nausea I had yesterday has almost gone. 

J. K. Rowling and transphobia

As those who follow my blog know, I share many views on gender identity with JK Rowling. Up until recently, I would argue that she is not transphobic. Until she made her tweet about India Willoughby. 

I do not consider TransWomen to be women. I do not consider TransMen to be men. Women are women, men are men, TransMen are TransMen and TransWomen are TransWomen.

The distinction has been made when it comes to many sports as TransWomen are seen by many to have an unfair advantage over women. Not everyone agrees with this but the provision of an open category which non-binary individuals can compete in is a step forwards and should be more available. Many consider there to be over 100 gender identities, again an issue which not all agree with, but taking this into account, it is only fair to include them in sport while protecting biological sex. 

I know many hate pronouns, but it is polite to refer to someone by their preferred pronouns. I think it is wrong to ensure all make their preferred pronouns known, but I have no issue with someone letting us know how they would like to be referred to. If someone wants to be called Ms rather than Mrs or Miss, I respect that. I do not refer to Boris Johnson as Alexander (his given name) as he prefers Boris. There are many examples of other names. So when JK Rowling refers to a TransWoman as a man, that is rude and also inflammatory. 

DNA has to be respected, but within limits, so should identity. Rachel Dolezal, identified as black despite not being so. I do not respect the way she identifies as such. Genetically, it can be argued that our King is not English due to his father being born in Greece and the large amount of German DNA from his mother, but he is British. Bukayo Saka is English and British by birth, but I doubt he forgets that he is also Nigerian. 

Working to find the least unfair answer to the non-binary issues that gender identity brings up involves trying to be the better person and not giving into hate.

Islamophobia and Racism

There is an argument that Islamophobia is a type of racism.  There has been a rise in this before the October 7th attacks by Hamas, but this has increased much further since. In addition to this, there has also been a huge rise in antisemitic abuse in UK since that evil Hamas attack, probably because of the reaction by the current Israeli government and the civilians that they appear to be killing saying that they are terrorists. 

While being Jewish is to belong to a race, Hitler and the Nazi's showed that, Islam takes in people of any creed.  Due to this, being Islamophobic is not racism.  There was an argument that it was with the comments of Lee Anderson about Sadiq Khan being under the control of Islamists, but he also said that Starmer was.  In addition to this, a recent court case, while not based on Islamophobia, has shown that the Conservatives are more than willing to accuse anyone, white or not, of being led or in favour of extremists.

I do however think that there is a big overlap with racism and Islamophobia, but it should be mentioned that Islam faces unjust prejudice in the UK from various ethnic minorities. 

  

Our trip to Londonistan

We had a trip to London this weekend.  My son got to spend time in Spitalfields Market shopping for things and got things for his birthday which he wanted.  The dog was very tired by the end of it, though enjoyed spending time with us, though my daughter stayed in Colchester.  We also went to Brick Lane.  

While there, despite London being in the hands of Islamists, I ate pork and drank alcohol.  I saw loads doing the same.  Not sure how this was allowed considering the comments made by those on the right...

A European Union army

People in Europe are becoming increasingly wary of the outcome of the next American Presidential Election.  Conscription has been discussed in the UK, people forgetting that the reason we might need this is if the USA pulls out of NATO.  

If the USA does elect Trump, there will then be a risk of Russia being able to liberate Russian people in the Baltic states in the same way that Russia has done in Crimea, Transnistria (also know as Pridnestrovie), Abkhazia and South Ossetia as well as what Russia is trying to with parts of Ukraine.

A European defence force without having to rely on Trump would be a great idea.  Issues do arise about what to do with Hungary, the greatest ally of Russia within the block, and also, a replacement for a NATO where Trump cannot be trusted to help its members would probably exclude the UK. 

Palestine and Israel (again)

The world waits to find out if there is to be a ceasefire or not in Gaza.  What happened in October to Israeli civilians was inexcusable, but that does not justify the huge death toll of Palestinian civilians since. While the Israeli government claims to be safeguarding civilians, we know that they are not from the way that three escaped hostages were murdered by the IDF who thought they were just Palestinians. 

These videos are great however. The second one was shown to me by my daughter and sums up the issues there quite well. 

36 points

We did not do that well in the pub quiz last night.  

Yesterday, I did got for a dog walk with my son which I would say was the highlight of my day as it does not happen that often.  We had the son of some friends round and took him to our local pub quiz.  Our usual team, which won last week, was not intact as two were watching Jazz.  Our main rivals sat on the table next to us and got thirty eight points out of sixty, but the wining table romped home with a points score of fifty.

We did have a good night though.  Not sure if Ben will continue to join us, but he would be welcome if he chose to.  

Islamophobia

Apparently, the UK, London and/or Sadiq Khan, is in the hands of Islamists.

Just for the record, I am going to go out for a drink later today and am about to eat some pork sausages.  

In London, while protests against the massacre of civilians in Gaza have taken place, there also have been marches against anti-Semitism.  I have drunk alcohol in London and have eaten pork there as well.  So when people say that elected politicians are in the hands of Islamists, they need to look at nations like Afghanistan and the human rights records of nations like Saudi Arabia.

I know why this has been taking place.  It is to score political points.  I work with a Catholic and I live next door to some.  It would be wrong to blame them for the acts of Catholic terrorism that I grew up with (I actually treated the victims of such terrorism when younger).  My neighbours are from Ireland, they should not be judged on the vile actions of a minority.  

The same applies to Islam and Muslims.  Those on the right are fixating (mostly) on Muslims for now.  If they got their way, it would be other groups next.  

So to put it simply, I think that the comments of Suella Braverman and Lee Anderson are Islamophobic.  If someone made the same comments about how the UK or London are in the hands of Zionists, that would rightly be considered to be anti-Semitic.  But being Islamophobic, while not racism, is based on prejudice and is wrong.  Sadly, it appears to be acceptable in the Conservative party, rather it is unacceptable, but they are unable to accept that these statements are Islamophobic.     

Alabama, IVF and abortion

Until this week, I was convinced that Donald Trump would win the US Presidential election later this year.  But then Alabama made an interesting decision on when human life begins, or specifically that IVF embryo's are to be considered extrauterine children.  

There is no doubt in my mind that human life begins at conception.  But I do not think that we should consider the rights of the unborn until there is the possibility of the unborn child surviving outside the womb.  Loads of women miscarry and this is devastating to many, many of these miscarriages are of pregnancies that would not have had a child that survived after birth, or for very long afterwards.  The use of the coil in women is to ensure that a fertilised embryo does not implant in the womb of a woman.  

While Donald Trump has called for Alabama to protect IVF, as has Nikki Haley, the simple fact is that this decision was made by Republican judges.  This reminder that a Trump victory means the appointment of judges who will back his view for years to come may swing the election in favour of Sleepy Joe.  Assuming he lives long enough to feature in the election!

Kemi Badenoch and the truth

Listening to More or Less yesterday, I noted that the Conservatives have an interesting definition of the truth.  It appears that this has struck again, this time with Kemi Badenoch. Her tweet earlier this week was an interesting one. I did not expect her to be challenged so well on this. Though she may be able to dodge this challenge to her perception of the truth, the intervention of Canada on another claim that she has made has been quite interesting. I missed PMQs yesterday where this was brought up.  It will be interesting to see how this works out.

Alexei Navalny and strength

Listening to The News Agents yesterday, I heard a guest claiming that Putin killing Alexei Navalny was a sign of weakness. He was wrong. Putin learned from the fall of the USSR. The 1991 Soviet coup attempt would probably have succeeded if not for Boris Yeltsin. Putin, a fan of history (though with his own soin that distorts reality) is aware that if Yeltsin had been dealt with sooner, he would not have been present to help organise effective resistance against the coup. By killing potential rivals including the late Boris Nemtsov, he is ensuring that there is no figurehead to take advantage of any instability, should it happen. Remember that this almost came to pass when The Wagner Group marched on Moscow last year. 

At least his rivals are not dismembered while still alive, unlike what has happened with our friend and ally, Saudi Arabia. The ally we have continued to sell arms to despite their use in Yemen. 

Yesterday

Yesterday was fun. After having a lie in, I took my daughter for a drive to Brightlingsea, or rather, with her learning to drive, she took me. We had an interesting discussion about some household chores, but she relented. The drive was a good one, I only had a few concerns with her. She does not like the way I like to stalk other learner drivers, but I do it so that if it happens to her, she will not be too stressed.

The burger van where we normally eat was closed, so we ate at the Lido, where a Leia met a racist dog who did not like black dogs! It was not just Leia as another black dog came in later. But as they forgot our order, we were there for longer than we had hoped. The walk along the front was windy, something I did not consider when I saw rain in the distance. I thought we had about thirty minutes, instead it was on us while walking along the old rail tracks. By the time we got to the end of the walk, we were soaked, but the rain then passed and we were left with sunny skies. Leia had loads of fun running about with another dog on the walk, but needed a bath when we got home, something she does not enjoy.

My daughter had a friend over, so our Sunday dinner had an extra person. My son like the guest so he was happy. He spent the day recovering from his mock exams earlier in the week. After dinner, other than my son, we went to the pub quiz. Our main rivals were not there in force which meant, for the second time ever, we won! We did not expect it and were very happy to do so. But my wife may have volunteered herself to run one of the quizzes this year! 

Alastair Campbell will not be happy

What a result! We can only play who we play, but how we play is up to us. Arsenal needed a big win to overcome the goal difference that the team with City have, or had. However, with the draw they got against Chelski, once they win their game in hand, they will be a point ahead of us. I doubt we will win the league, but at least we are still in the title race. 

Alexei Navalny

I do not mourn the death of a far right politician in Russia. However, his death was wrong, and while I strongly disagree with many of his views, his imprisonment and previous attempts to kill him were wrong. I considered him to be insane to return to Russia when he could have lived in exile, but his decision while brave, has made him into a martyr. But to be fair, living abroad has not saved others.

There have been many who have defended Russia and Putin after his interview with Tucker Carlson. I do wonder if they are to defend yet another assassination in Russia. 

Voter ID laws will help the Conservatives

Recent elections in the UK have shown a huge swing to Labour, but this is not something Labour should be complacent about.  Too many people chose to stay at home, and in absolute terms, Labour did not gain many votes in the areas.

I think that Labour should work to get people to register for free voter ID.  Turnout is going to be a factor in the next election along with Voter ID. With job-centres being told to stop referring benefit claimants to food banks, Labour should be helping people get free ID outside job centres and also at foodbanks.  The danger is that too many people will be disenfranchised and that Labour will be the party that will lose out the most.

Senility in American politics

In the USA, both the candidates for the presidency are making gaffes.  Both have done so before, but Biden is looking more frail than Trump when he does so. 

Personally, I think that Trump is going to win the elections this year.  His attack adds work, and Biden is doing himself few favours.  If Nikki Haley was standing, the outcome would be even more certain, but when have Americans chosen the best person for the job of leading them?

Trump for some reason mixed up Obama with Biden.

For the record, the husband of Nikki Haley is serving in the military.

There are loads of others, but these are two of the more recent and memorable ones.

NATO expansion

It appears according to Putin that NATO expansion is the cause of Russia invading Ukraine.  

An agreement about NATO expansion apparently had been made in 1990, this being that NATO would not expand beyond the reunified Germany.

After this agreement, in 1992, Russia aided in the 'liberation' of Transnistria from Moldova as well as Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia.  Both areas had a substantial Russian population which some would argue was the reason for Russian intervention.  Since then, Russia has helped to 'liberate' Crimea from Ukraine, an area of Ukraine with a large Russian speaking population. Following this, other areas of Eastern Ukraine sought independence, which is when the frozen conflict started which resumed in 2022. 

Nations on the borders of Russia, watching how Russia had helped with the liberation of parts of Moldova and Georgia understandably became concerned that they would be next.  So when someone blames NATO for its expansion, ask them if those new nations should have trusted a nation which invaded, and still occupies, old parts of the USSR to create a Greater Russia.

And if people feel that Russia has a right to obtain its ancestral lands, does China have that right with territory that now belongs to Russia?

Poor Melania Trump is being compared to Taylor Swift

There are those on the right of US politics who are comparing Taylor Swift and Melania Trump.  I think it is unfair to compare a woman who has won a Grammy Award for album of the year four times (something no one else has done) to a woman who married rich (or not depending on who you believe).

There has been a degree of slut shaming, some pointing out or tweeting naked photos of the former First Lady, others referring to Taylor Swift’s record when it comes to romance, specifically, the number of men that she has dated.

I do know that I admire talent and hard work. Though to be fair to Melania, it takes a certain amount of hard work to keep a marriage going when your husband repeatedly cheats on you.