Wikipedia

Search results

Saturday, 21 March 2026

Trump, the cowards of NATO and Iran

Trump is not pleased.  He considers NATO members to be cowards for not joining in his special military operation.  


While Iran would have us quake in our boots, the reason for not joining has nothing to do with the nightmare that "liberating" the The Strait of Hormuz would be.  Or even that this is a very illegal war, or not war. 


The reason for not joining this, is because Trump started this war to distract from allegations involving him and a thirteen year old girl.  It has met its objectives in that few are talking about Trump and an underage girl.  It is a shame to many have had to die for this.

Friday, 20 March 2026

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

I rewatched this again.  For those who know me, and have read my earlier post on a similar issue, some may be aware I like fantasy Role Playing.  I run an online campaign on a play-by post basis on Discord.  Well, I run three.  One of them has a nautical part to it, hence me watching it.  

I still love the film.  I will be watching the sequels, but from what I remember, none match the original, though some will have ideas that I will copy.

I love the characters, some better than others.  It is a great kids film that adults love. And I am glad I watched it again. 


Tuesday, 17 March 2026

Trump may outflank the left with NATO

There are many on the left who are against the UK being part of NATO. It may be a redundant argument soon. Having started the war (or special military operation) against Iran (in my view because of allegations about a thirteen year old girl), Trump has realised that things are not as simple as he thought. The UK is not alone in being reluctant to aid Trump and Israel in this illegal war. 


But Trump holds grudges.  I have posted about my concerns with Trump and NATO before. I had doubts that the USA, under Trump, would aid Europe if Russia attacks it. Those doubts are even stronger now.

The winners so far in this war are:

Israel as no other US president would allow them to attack Iran in this way. They will not get another chance again.

Russia, as oil sanctions have been suspended, and if the war continues, will remain so.

Trump, as no one is asking him about the allegations involving a (then) thirteen year old girl.




Monday, 16 March 2026

Mother’s Day 2026

Yesterday we took my wife to Suffolk. One of the places she wanted to go to was The Westleton Crown. We have been here a few times before and loved it. But it appears to have changed hands. The food there is good, but the reason we returned was because the food used to be exceptional.  It was a lovely day out for her, my son the dog and me, but it is one I doubt we will repeat. 




Sunday, 15 March 2026

The Last Voyage of the Demeter

For my research into role playing, I watched this film.  I run three campaigns and this offered me the chance to learn for two of them, one being The Curse Of Strahd, featuring one of the most famous vampires in roleplaying, the other being a journey to the Isle of Dread.

Was it an enjoyable film?  Yes.  Would I watch it again?  No.  While the Guardian rated it below average, I would disagree, it is an average film.  It could have been better, but it could have been worse and it was not.  


Saturday, 14 March 2026

An early Mothers Day and my views on Iran

First of all, family.

We went down to London to see my mother for Mother’s Day.  We were to meet my brother, but due to a mixup with times, that was not possible. We were almost late due to issues on the A12, but got there in good time. While my daughter was not there, my Mum was very happy to see my son.  My wife had bought her a selection of gifts which my Mum loved. The food was good, parking was available around the corner and the dog loved it as well. 


I don’t know if the traffic would have been worse if The Epstein War was not taking place. It was something my Mum did want to discuss, even mentioning that a group of young men, who came into it, might be sent to fight in it.

Which brings me to the next topic, The Epstein War. While prices go up, it will cause harm to our economy. Living in Colchester, we heard some helicopter activity from the nearby base and my wife and I hope that this does not mean we are to help. Trump is an unreliable ally. While the first casualty of war is the truth, Trump is notorious for being ignorant about facts, and lying about them if the facts are inconvenient. An example of this is Trump blaming Iran for the murder of schoolgirls and their rescuers early in this one sided war. 

In addition to this, Trump has stated that NATO allies would not come to defend the USA, even though the only nation that was invoked Article Five, is the USA, and allies heeded the call. 

Once made aware of this, he lied, stating that NATO forces did not engage on the front, a comment he has since been forced to backtrack on. 

Trump has since stated that the UK only joins wars once the US has won them.  After that, he has called for the UK (and other nations) to send warships to help get oil out of The Gulf. 

Ignoring the ethics of joining in a hugely illegal war, Iran may be able to overcome or bypass any naval escorts with huge waves which overwhelm the defenders.  I don’t like the regime in Iran, not just for the way it exports terror, but also for the way it murders its own people. But in this conflict, Israel and the USA are in the wrong, and if anything, I back Iran in its call for compensation as a condition to end the war. 


Tuesday, 10 March 2026

The oldest profession should have more safeguards

Yesterday, I watched this video.  It is about prostitution, a subject I have discussed many times before.  

My view remains the same, sex work, ideally, should be safe legal and rare.  I suspect it will never be rare, but it should be safe and legal.  It should not involve human trafficking, coercion should not be present, and support to help anyone involved in it leave it, if they wish to do so, should be available.  And that also includes brothels run by women for women

I am under no illusions about the darker side of the profession, but this video is worth watching.       

Monday, 9 March 2026

The right to protest vs intimidation


I have just seen atrocious behaviour by protestors intimidating an MP.  I have posted before about the right to protest, then about how freedom of expression should not be inhibited by protest.  But this is a different matter. 

As many of you know, I am considered a transphobe by many as I do not consider a transman to be a man, or a transwoman to be a woman. But I would never support the action in the video.  Such toxicity and intimidation should face punishment by the law just as it has in the past.  

Sunday, 8 March 2026

Trump and the Epstein files


The documents of allegations of Trump and an underage teenager have been published. But Trump will probably get away with it thanks to people focusing on him bombing Iran.

Just remember the timeline.

In a June 2024 interview with Fox News, Trump talked about releasing the Epstein files, but did talk about “the phony stuff” it might contain. 

In June 2025, Elon Musk tweeted that Trump featured in The Epstein files. The tweet has since been deleted

In November 2025, Trump was forced to release the files in an increasingly rare show of support by both parties. 

Just before the latest attacks on Iran, reports of missile files of allegations linking Trump to improper conduct with an underage teenager were released. 

Then the not-a-war started, which has worked to divert the attention of most of the world.

And now the files are visible to all, in a redacted manner. But I doubt many will talk about this as the bombing of Iran will get more attention, which means that the objective of the conflict has been met. 





Saturday, 7 March 2026

Skrufts


Our dog was cheated out of third place! She took part in Skrufts at the Prettyfields vineyard. There were several categories and she entered Waggiest Tail and Prettiest dog (for girl dogs). With her beard, I wanted to enter her into the most handsome dog, but was banned from doing so.  She did not deserve to win any, but should have got bronze for wagging her tail. As for the prettiest dog, a small girl was judge and picked the Pomeranian in a sparkling coat.  I did try to influence her by getting her to stroke Leia, but she declined the offer to give her a treat, but others cottoned on to my ploy and copied me afterwards! 

Friday, 6 March 2026

Welfare reform


This week, listening to podcasts, I heard Rory Stewart on The Rest is Politics, and The Newsagents talk about welfare reform.

I agree it needs to be reformed. Most people on it need it, but there are a minority who abuse the system.

But there are several issues to bear in mind when it comes to improving the system.

Rates of poverty for those who are working is too high. 

Too many people are forced to have to use foodbanks

The development of AI is going to make it harder to get jobs


Any change, which is needed, with the benefits system should not make it harder for people in the UK considering how bad things are now.

Monday, 2 March 2026

Operation Epic Fury and why the UK is acting differently this time

In 2025, Iran was attacked by Israel, the USA joining in afterwards. At the time I commented about how UK bases were not being used in the attacks, notably how bombers had to fly from the USA to bomb Iran

This time, thanks to Iran retaliating against other nations, the UK is to allow UK bases to be used by US forces to strike the missiles being used to attack nations other than Israel.  Not allowing full use of UK bases has annoyed Trump and also there are many in the UK who think we should be backing the USA fully. Needless to say, many think that we have gone too far in supporting the USA

What both sides do not mention is that Starmer did not allow UK bases to be used to attack Iranian missile sites and launchers when Iran were only retaliating against Israel in 2025. 

To be fair, it should be up to the media to point this out, but either they have not noticed, or do not care.  My views on the media bias against Labour have been posted before and I suspect the media will be happy to let Labour get castigated by both sides again. 

Anyway, if the wag-the-dog theory is true, it has worked. While all the Epstein documents were meant to be released, it is reported that some are missing, notably documents relating to an unsubstantiated claim involving Trump and a 13 year old. 




Sunday, 1 March 2026

Can You Keep a Secret?


The secret for this film is that it is probably not worth watching the film. It started poorly but did improve. It may be that the film is aimed at a much younger audience than me and it may be that my children would appreciate it more. The Guardian gave it two out of five, and I would agree that is a fair score. 

And on the topic of scores, Arsenal won today, which I am grateful for, but the holding in the penalty area confuses me. My understanding is that defenders should not hold onto attackers, but it may be that Arsenal got lucky again.