Trump is someone who loves being the centre of attention. I try not to post about him too much (now) as there is so much to post, and while he is getting our attention, his government is taking advantage of the distraction to cause chaos elsewhere. But, this image has to be commented on. Many are saying it is the image of a woman. It is not. It is the image of a teenager, and a young one at that. The allegation is that Trump sent it to Epstein. This means that if true, Trump knew that Epstein had an interest in underage girls because that is what he drew for his friend.
The released documents do not just affect him, others, including our ambassador to the US have been named in it, though our ambassador admits it is him and regrets his association.
It is surprising that Your Party has yet to launch. There are those who have commented at the chaos around its launch. There have been two interviews, one with Jeremy Corbyn, the other with Zarah Sultana. What surprises me more than the delay is the statement that they are "not creating a party that was just about winning elections. "
The quote may be taken out of context, but the power to change things comes about by winning elections. Being pure to the core did not work in 2017, it did not work in 2019. All it did was give the Conservatives more time to make things worse for our nation. Saying that, it is unlikely that Labour are to win the next election, and if that is the case, at least the members can campaign for the country they want, even if that country rejects them, again.
There has been some debate about vaccinations thanks to Reform UK. There are many who argue that they are spreading fake news (they are) and that this is a bad thing. My view is that I respect the right of people not to be vaccinated, and that I am more than happy for Reform UK supporters to decline vaccines.
During the heat of the COVID pandemic, vaccines were developed and given. Not all decided to take vaccines or engage in social distancing. As a result, more Republicans died of COVID than Democrats. If Reform UK wish to repeat that in Great Britain with COVID and possibly other conditions, that is up to them.
Yesterday my wife and I went to a wedding reception in London. The day was a bit tense at the beginning, her hair appointment ran over and I had not used to time to iron. We had decided to stay over in London and I had to hunt for our parking which my wife pre-paid for. I took a guess about which car park it was, today finding out that it was the right one. The hotel was great, my wife noting that outside each room it had a clock, the time indicating which room was which.
The reception was amazing, the bride looked beautiful, and there was an open bar. No cocktails, but free flowing alcohol. It was great to meet up with those I had not seen in a while, and it we had time to let our hair down and relax. The best man did a speech but sadly it was lacking as he was very nervous, spoke too quickly and mumbled. The sister of the bride did the best speech, the groom following close behind.
A memorable night and a relaxing day with my wife. Cannot really ask for more. Though the video of me drunk dancing being sent to my kids could not have been recorded…
Sadly, Angela Rayner has had to resign. I have a lot of respect and admiration for her with what she has overcome to become deputy PM. One of the many things that won me over was her scum comment, and while I can understand the offence it caused, I still love her for it. Comparisons have been made with Nadhim Zahawi’s tax issues but she did not issue a legal threat to The Independent to try to stop her tax revelations from being discussed. My wife said that she should have known that she was going to be a target and should have taken even more precautions than other MP’s, an example of this being when she was accused of being a temptress to Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister with numerous children from numerous affairs.
This will not be the last we have heard from her. I wait with interest to see what she will say in the future.
Nigel Farage has been over to the USA to complain about free speech in the UK. I thought he was charming and composed himself well, but he lied and distorted the truth when there.
Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, which has banned Nottinghamshire Live from speaking to them, has complained about free speech in Britain.
This last part is important as Graham Linehan has been arrested over a tweet made in April and this may have been because of incitement to violence. The difference between him and Lucy Connolly is the length of time that passed before the tweet and the arrest, and also, one called for arson during a time of civil disobedience when arson was taking place. Needless to say, he had mentioned both as infringement of free speech, but remember, Lucy Connolly admitted her guilt even though she had planned an excuse to get away with her incitement to arson.
Today, my wife told me about an act of true patriotism. A centre for Muslims has decided to display the flag to remind people that you do not have to be white to be British.
Our flag is one that has values which inspire people to risk death to reach. I would never deny that our history, like all nations, has a toxic element, but overall, I would argue that our nation has atoned for some of its sins.
I am glad to live in a nation that is diverse. I wish more would appreciate that diversity and inclusiveness is a good things.
A different film compared to the others I have watched recently. Sadly, I do not think it is as good as the classics of its genre, notably the original Naked Gun, or even Airplane. Saying that, I love the homage to the original.
As a family, we were discussing watching a film, but could not agree on one. I noted that this was an option that dogs could be taken to, so my daughter and I walked into town to watch it. When there, I met a friend and his dog who had decided to do the same, the two dogs loving the treats given to them at the cinema. During the film, someone else’s dog decided to bark at the celluloid dog on screen, but that added to the experience.
Going back to the film itself, it was enjoyable, but the main reason it was not as good as the original was the lack of things going on in the background, something noticeable in Airplane and the original Naked Gun. I do think it is worth watching, but unlike the films it aspires to be like, there is no reason to watch it again.
My wife and I watched this on Netflix, she had been looking forwards to watching it having enjoyed the book. She certainly enjoyed it more than I did, but this is more of her kind of film. I am glad I did not pay to watch this in the cinema but saying that, it was an average film, one that I doubt I would watch again. The all star cast brought the characters to life and will hopefully stay together do so in the sequels to come. In summary, worth watching, but there are better films out there. Especially as I do not know why the first cold case was being investigated.
Sadly, there was another mass shooting in the USA, two children were murdered in Minneapolis in the USA. Some have felt the gender identity of the murderer is important, others have focused on the mental health issues. The obvious cause is simple, that is the availability of guns in the USA, an issue which I have posted about before. Basically, many people in the USA value lax gun controls over the lives of children. Also, it appears that being transgender makes it less likely that an individual will be the perpetrator of a mass shooting. It is my view that transwomen are more likely to be the victim of crime than the perpetrator.
However, it is also important to note the figures about transwomen in UK prisons. That is that they do pose a greater risk to women than men do. I mention this as it has been claimed that this is not the case.
It is a shame that these awful murders are being used to demonise those with mental health issues. It is also wrong to blame the transgender community for the murders, facts and statistics show what risk they do not pose when it comes to mass shootings.
This film was both better and worse than I expected. I watched it with my daughter, both of us having not watched it in the cinema and both of us wanting to see it. We would agree that at times, it is a male film, but considering the characters, it would be. Watching it at home, we missed out on the audio experience a cinema would give, and in that, this was not as good as I thought it would be.
But otherwise, it was amazing. Yes, its special effects were good (okay, amazing), but the film was produced and directed so well. Having an all star cast means nothing, we saw that with the disaster which was the Twilight film franchise, but here the quality showed. It dealt with so many issues at the same time and I can see why it was nominated for so many awards. I do not want to say too much as I think that if you are to watch it, it is best not to know too much, but it is a film worth watching, and I may watch it again. That is if my wife decides to watch it, but I am not sure she knows it is three hours long!
Listening to The Rest Is Politics they raised a very good point about the recent protests to protect our women and girls. Basically a large number of those engaging in protests have been felt to be a danger to women themselves.
The Newsagents had addressed the matter of how the protests seem to be happy to ignore threats to women and children from white people, and it is right that this issue is raised properly.
One of the many things said about Starmer and gender issues is that he is the enemy of transgender people. Those who say that forget his spat in PMQ’s with Rishi Sunak from 2024. In addition to his comments on bathrooms, they cite restrictions on care for transgender children (or those aged under 18 who consider themselves to be transgender). However, thanks to Starmer and the Labour government, The Pathways Horizon Project is to take place to look into this to see if this is safe or not. In the UK at least, concerns have been raised over the care provided to those under eighteen by those working in the services.
Despite the Cass review calling for more research into this, there are those who feel no more research is needed into this topic on both sides of the debate, one stating that it is safe, the other stating that it is unsafe and should be banned. Which means that Starmer has united both sides of the debate again!
This is a film that we watched as a family yesterday. I really liked it.
First of all, my daughter and I went for a walk earlier in the day with our dog, the dog loves it the more people walk her. After that, I rested before taking the two children to Freeport to get some shoes and trainers. The kids did spend money, but we returned without either.
Now for the film. It was enjoyable and I think it was worth three out of five, as opposed to the two stars given by The Guardian. Watching it as a family, we could talk to my daughter who has spent parts of this year travelling. Yes, the ending is predictable, but it is a sweet tale which I will compare fondly to my memory of a similar film which I watched many years ago. I doubt I will watch it again, but it is worth watching, despite what those with a stone heart may say. But unlike the review on the image, it is not a good enough to be unforgettable.
This was meant to be a date with my wife, and then a family film out as both children wanted to watch it. In the end my son did not come as he felt ill. We started experiencing the film when eating our dinner in the foyer. A couple met, the man bringing in roses, the woman not being pleased with this. After drinks, he was trying to be nice, she left, for a bit, taking her coat and leaving the flowers. She did return stating “I don’t know why I came back.”
The film, allegedly a rom-com was one that I liked. For an American film, it was shot really well. For a man, I thought that it dealt with dating really well. This is a film I would certainly watch again, and like we all did, this includes watching until the last credits have finished. The reviews are interesting but while they rate this three out of five, I am tempted to give this four. It was funny in bits, but I would not call it a romantic comedy.
Everyone appears to hate Starmer. This report is from The Guardian and was published on the 8th of August, describing how In Altrincham, Greater Manchester, protesters and counter-protesters were separated by a busy road outside the Cresta Court hotel. In a rare moment of unity, the far right began singing “fuck Keir Starmer” to the tune of Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes and the anti-fascists joined in.
The title is disingenuous as at this time, I consider Labour under Starmer to be the best of all the other options. I wish they had done more in some areas and less in others. One example of this is with communication as few know the UK is the fastest growing economy in the G7, meeting the campaign pledge made in 2023.
I watched the highlights of the game, we were lucky in that I do not think that our goal should have been allowed to stand. Saying that, we have had our share of decisions go against us, and we were playing Manure, so I will take the result!
My Mum has been in hospital. She went in on Thursday, but my youngest brother went in to keep her company. I popped down on Friday morning and waited for her to be discharged, but there was a delay in this so we went down on Saturday. When in the area, we visited my in-laws. I offered to collect my mother from the hospital, but she insisted that she would wait for hospital transport. It was only when she realised that there could be a huge delay that she let me collect her. Which was the right thing to do. That transport now can be used for someone without family who can take her home.
When there, we got to chat with her lodger. Hopefully she will recover well at home.
Every now and then, the issue of how the USA allowed funds for terrorism to be collected comes up. After the September the 11th attacks, they finally clamped down on this, and this could have been a factor in bringing about peace in Northern Ireland.
I suspect that if the USA cut funding to Israel, then Israel would agree to obey the Oslo accords. But that is a different story.
Palestine Action is a topic I have posted about before. It is a group that have been banned under terrorism laws, a ban I agree with. I will first address how Ukraine has noted that a lot of its sabotage appears to be targeting them, before moving onto its other actions.
Palestine action have attacked firms that they claim are aiding Israel, but are in fact aiding Ukraine. The Leonardo site in Edinburgh has donated equipment to Ukraine and that site was targeted by Palestine Action. Another company that they have targeted is aiding Ukraine, though the site they attacked may not be doing so. Also they have attacked RAF Brize Norton, which trains Ukrainian pilots to defend their country, damaging planes not involved in the aid our nation (sadly) offers Israel. and also had plans to target other airfields training Ukrainian pilots.
But Palestine action have attacked Jewish businesses. While they say that this has been linked to supporting Israel, and many consider such action acceptable, most will condemn similar action by the far right to attack hotels where asylum seekers are being held.
I think that Israel is in the wrong with how it treats Palestinians. I think our government should not be aiding Israel as much as it is. I think it is right to protest against the ethnic cleansing of Gaza and The West Bank. I do not think it is right to stand with Palestine Action, especially when there are loads of other groups protesting in support of the people of Palestine.
The Online Safety Act 2023 is something I have mentioned before. In our household, it may have caused a dispute. My daughter had complained to her younger brother had not liked some of her pictures on Instagram. It turned out that he was not able to see them, and while we do not know, it may be that it is because he is under the age of 18 and some of her mages have been screened by AI as being adult. Just for the record, none of her pictures are adult in nature.
I have discussed this with my daughter on a dog walk earlier today. We both agreed that action should be taken to protect minors from harm on the internet, but we disagree on the method. She brought up issues of people not being able to access information on periods or sexual health, and we agree that teenagers do need to be able to get that information. But while she thinks it should be perfected before rolling it out, I am off the opposite view. Roll it out and make the necessary modifications to allow teenagers to get health advice after it is put into place. The previous method of asking the user to confirm their age just did not work.
As I have discussed before, I think that sex work and drugs should be legalised and regulated. Doing so would benefit the economy.
As a teenager in a rough inner city comprehensive in the 1980’s, drugs were not available at school. My children grew up knowing where to get drugs. Basically, we are losing the war on drugs. I feel that drugs cause a lot of harm, but legalisation and regulation would allow the trade to be taxed, may reduce drug related crime and also may help get people into treatment to come off drugs. It has not caused major issues in Portugal. Lastly, drugs are in effect legal for the wealthy, not for the poor. This double standard is unfair and is reflected in the help the wealthy can get for drugs which most people cannot access as easily.
The next matter is sex work. I mention this (again) due to Bonnie Blue being in the media for her work in this field. As mentioned by JK Rowling, sex work is an industry plagued by trafficking, abuse and this is an issue that has been raised by those who have worked in it. But, people like Bonnie Blue are in effect working legally as a sex worker, while those who are not as famous are not as protected. Already, thanks to women like her working in the industry, more and more women are looking at such work as a way of supplementing income. Regulation of sex work can protect the women who are in what is the oldest profession. The line between what is sex work and what is not can be argued to be blurred with men finding love with women from other countries. What I want is that women (it is mainly women) who make a choice to work in this area, are offered the help not to do so, and also the help and protection to do so in a safe manner. I have seen how this can help women, working outside Ipswich. When the murders happened in 2006, sex work in the area was in effect decriminalised to protect the women working in it.
The second to last video is of a woman who regrets her work in the industry, one who since leaving it has found happiness. I believe abortion should be safe, legal, and rare and I think that the same should happen to be an issue for sex work, though I accept that it is not going to be rare.
Jeremy Hunt (I have a huge desire to call him something else) has been on The Rest is Politics. I liked listening to him for the first part of his interview, but had to stop when he talked about the NHS. Specifically productivity. Rory Stewart has mentioned NHS productivity before, but they forget, or ignore an important issue. NHS waiting lists. When I stopped listening to it, Hunt was rambling on about performance targets, but they were out in place because when Labour were in power after electing Tony Blair, it was used as a political football by the Conservatives and their supporters in the media.
When it comes to targets, while they are annoying, many benefit patient care, and this has been seen in primary care. A target on ambulance waiting times is important for those who need an ambulance, waiting times being higher under the time that Jeremy Hunt was. There are numerous other areas where performance faltered under the Conservatives and many put that down to a lack of decent funding. This chart was shown to my then MP, Will Quince, when he defended how the Conservatives funded the NHS. He appeared to be surprised when the graph was shown and while other versions of it existed before then, this is my favourite.
I am to listen to the rest of the interview with Jeremy Hunt, but I am going to have to ensure I am in a place where I can swear and rant when I do so. My children have memories of me shouting at the radio when he was on it, and other than football, this would be the few times that they would hear me swear. I suspect no one will get his name wrong on it.
Later, I will edit this to include the video of his interview.
There are always going to be two sides to a story, but the facts are that under Reform UK, censorship has taken place, this being reported as a Reform lead council saying it has removed all transgender-related books from the children's sections of its libraries.
For the record, I am in favour of the new online checks, but I do want to know if this does limit freedom of speech as its implementation may need to be modified, or it may need to be withdrawn.
Corbyn has been interviewed. An important question, which I am glad was asked, was about The Green Party. Corbyn did answer it, but I am not sure I agree with his answer. In the interview, Jeremy Corbyn states that The Green Party are not a socialist organisation. It is a shame that there was no follow up question on that, notably, what he disagreed with when it came to their election manifesto from last year. Many who were dissatisfied with Labour before the last election complained about being politically homeless, but none answered me when I asked why they did not vote green.
I now think that unless an electoral pact is made with The Green Party, a split in the left wing anti-Labour vote may actually benefit Labour in seats which they lost such as Bristol. But, it is a few years until the next election. Corbyn is a decent human being. What you see is what you get with him. He is open and transparent with his views. But, Labour under Corbyn was riven by infighting and toxicity, something that The Greens have largely avoided, and that may mean that the Greens may be able to overtake the initial apparent lead that the new party has over them.
It will be an interesting few years, or rather, an even more interesting few years till the next election.
Two wrongs do not make a right. The atrocious attacks of Hamas do not justify the collective punishment of the population of Gaza through starvation.
Many people, myself included, want our government to do more to solve the crisis in Gaza. Like it or not, our ability to speak out on this is limited by our need for trade with the USA, but, by not taking a harder line on what is happening, has meant that Trump appears to have listened to Starmer, at least until he got back to the USA and was told something else.
Personally, I would rather the UK fed the people in Gaza rather than just said strong words like Ireland and Spain. Saying that, I would also rather that no strong words were needed and that Israel is sanctioned by the rest of the world until the Christians and Muslims in Gaza and the West Bank are treated properly.
It is a shame however that among the voices calling for restraint by Israel, one of them has referred to space lasers, and no doubt, this will be used by those saying that Israel should have a free hand to deal with the Palestinian problem.
There is a new kid on the block when it comes to left wing politics. But it does not have a name. Yet. Despite this, many have signed up to it. I still do not know why it is being formed when there is The Green Party. My daughter says it is because too many people see them as a one issue party, but there is a lot of overlap when it comes to the two parties.
The left can be prone to infighting. Will the new party be as toxic as Labour was under Corbyn? Only time will tell if they follow the vision of Corbyn for kinder politics, or resort to the bile and hatred that cursed Labour before.
My daughter has returned to France, she is back where she was this time last week. My wife and I dropped her off after the morning dog walk. We first drove to Langham to pick up a friend of hers who is also going, and then it was to Stansted. Our dog came, though our son stayed at home in bed.
After it was a drive to East Bergholt for lunch and then we returned home to recharge. Right now, we are watching The Summer I Turned Pretty with my son, he was only able to watch some of it on Sunday.
Our diverse football team won Euro 2025 defending their title. When it comes to patriotism, we should remember how our nation has been multicultural for a long time. It is through diversity that we gain strength, and those who cannot accept diversity want to make our nation weaker.
The demonstrations in Epping have been taken over by too many members of The Far Right. While I do think stronger action is needed to prevent people crossing the channel, I do think that this should involve international cooperation on how refugees should be dealt with along with who should qualify for asylum. Most importantly, we need safe ways for people to come here.
British values are why people risk death to get here. British values reflect our multicultural history. And British values are diverse and due to this, will be contradictory. When I think of British values, I think of democracy, tolerance, resilience and how our nation has welcomed refugees throughout our past. Talking about this is important as it should be left to those who wish to make our nation weaker to own the area on patriotism. There are so many images that reflect how patriotism is not a bad issue, as well as images of how there is diversity when it comes to what people consider to be British Values.
The family are together and the dog loves it! I collected my son on Saturday from his grandparents and later took him to see my mother. Before then, I had collected our dog who was very happy to see me and ecstatic to see my son, however, she was a bit delicate, which is understandable considering it has been two weeks without us. So she spent Saturday night in our room (my wife and I) keeping me company. She did whimper and woke me up when she trotted downstairs, I presume to check no foxes were trying to break in and kill me, and then woke me up again when she got back.
My wife drove back from France and when she and my daughter arrived, we were all happy that we were back together. As a family, after the two travellers had time to rest, we watched The Summer I Turned Pretty, the third series. I had watched the two before with my son, while my daughter had watched it with my wife.
Needless to say, I ranted a bit. All in the house know I am not a fan of Belly (Jeremiah can do better), but to be fair, as my daughter pointed out, she has been a lot better in this series. Anyway, it is great that we are all back together. The house seems whole again.
Do you know which nation has low immigration? North Korea.
Yesterday I was talking to someone who will have to leave the UK soon as his visa will run out and I said this to him. He works in a skilled occupation and more people like him are needed for the economic growth that will enrich our nation. With the USA becoming increasingly hostile to immigration, we have the opportunity to capitalise on skilled workers coming here.
Starmer made his infamous speech on immigration, but has since said how he ‘deeply regrets’ his island of strangers speech. It is importance to acknowledge that illegal migration is wrong, this including economic migrants who are exploiting the asylum system to come here. We need international cooperation to ensure that genuine refugees get help, but action to ensure that the system is not abused. We need international cooperation to ensure that refugees can be returned to their home nation in the event that serious crimes are committed. But we also need to make genuine refugees welcome and offer them a safe way of crossing the channel.
Most importantly, we need to stress the advantages of immigration. Brexit has harmed our nation, it has led to a brain drain, an example of this is in medicine. We should be limiting immigration, but we should limit some aspects of it and we should INCREASE it in other areas.
The water companies are back in the news again. A while ago, I discussed this matter on Twitter where nationalisation was discussed. My view is that we should let the companies go bust, and then take them over, rather than pay shareholders for taking them over.
Changes are to be made, not appreciated by all. What I do not like about the record of Labour with water companies is how they started to saddle themselves with debt while paying out dividends before 2010. Fingers crossed, there will be less sewage in our oceans and rivers in the near future.
My question to the supporters of Palestine Action relates to The Far Right. I would argue that people engaged in lawful protests do not throw smoke bombs and fire pyrotechnics around innocent members of the public. If it is acceptable for Palestine Action to do so, is it acceptable for the same to happen with the anti-refugee protests in Epping? If it is acceptable for protesters to damage our military hardware, would it be acceptable to damage places where asylum seekers are housed? Should those in Epping who have damaged police vehicles have their right to civil disobedience allow them to escape prosecution? My view is that the same standards should apply to all.
