Yeah but no but yeah. Not Vicki Pollard, but our Prime Minister, Boris Johnson

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— realmattlucas (@RealMattLucas) May 10, 2020

We in the UK are lucky.  No matter how much our Prime Minister screws things up, we can always look to Brazil and the USA for leaders who are more incompetent.  And while the government has got some things right (such as sourcing ventilators and building the Nightingale hospitals), and may be right in the long term when it comes to the policy of herd immunity, it has got many things wrong, an example of this being PPE.

In hindsight, we could say that the government should not have built the Nightingale hospitals but at the time, this of making the decision, based on the information available, this was the right thing to do.  Also, while letting the public know how measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 were to be put in place in advance, we can now say that the 'leak' about how lock-down measures were to be loosened before this bank holiday weekend was a bad idea.  Let alone how alcohol appears to have resulted in worsening social distancing measures on VE day.

But last night, the television address by the Prime Minister was a shambles.  Letting employers know that people are to return to work literally the night before the change comes into effect was insane.  It would have been far better to let employers know about this before the bank holiday weekend so that they would have had more notice along with employees.  Saying that, while we were told that the changes are to take effect today, it now appears that they are not.  And the advice on who we can or cannot meet now, or is it in the future, is also unclear.

A good thing about the performance of the Prime Minister is that it has taken our attention away from the message to Stay Alert.  The message to stay at home to protect the NHS was been a simple one and due to this it is to be kept by Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.  The change in message indicated that lock-down measures are to be relaxed, but due to the incompetence at which the message was changed to this unclear form, we should have been warned that the message would be shared in as incompetent a manner. 

There are ways to present a message to the nation.  This is one of them.  Boris should learn from this message how to present himself as a Prime Minister.  It is a shame we have a buffoon in charge when the man who should be Prime Minister is not.

I think I hate squirrels

Today was spent relaxing mostly.  After my post last night, my wife and I watched Kinky Boots. But it as late we went to bed and on waking this morning, finished it.  I loved it, and while the film was a predictable feel good film. I liked it for the quality of acting and the background in which the film was set.  It is not often that the topic of drag queens is in film, and while this does not match up to films like The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert and The Birdcage, it still was an enjoyable film.

I also after watched Clone Wars with my son, relaxed with my wife in the garden went for a bike ride, and started to watch Attack of the Clones with the kids.  My son decided that he did not want to watch it as he had watched it recently but watched the first part before heading for bed.  My daughter is now in bed so we may finish it tomorrow.

And I fed the birds, my wife had made some lovely sandwiches for lunch and we still had some left over from yesterday.  So the bread from yesterday’s sandwiches and the crusts from lunch went to the birds. I have some big balls as well so took them out to feed them.  Only to find that the squirrels had somehow managed to get into a caged feeder.  My wife and I had seen one running across the lawn with what appeared to be a bird ball.  I discounted it because there was no way into the feeder, or so I thought.  But they had managed to get into it, and take out the ball of food.  I hate the little gits, but I am impressed that they were able to do this.  Very impressed.

VE day

Today was VE Day.  I got to see the fly past by the Red Arrows, my son missed it completely but my wife and daughter got to hear it.  My wife was amazing and prepared an amazing lunch, and afternoon tea, which our street had in driveways and front gardens, most of us socially distancing while doing so.

We listened to music from the war, my son having had downloaded some music which we listened to before the music from one of our neighbours drowned it out.  As you can see, some dressed up much more than us, but it was lovely to see the street our like this.  Most of us do get outside for the 2000 Key Worker clap, which still touches me, but this lasted longer than a minute.

Afterwards my daughter and I went out for a walk which was almost an hour and while my wife attended her book club using Zoom, the kids and I watched The Phantom Menace.  I have not watched it in a while, and once I felt that it was not up to the standards of the original three films. I still think that, but it is much better than episodes seven to nine in terms of writing, just not in the direction.

You remember that PPE the UK has been exporting because it doesn’t meet UK standards?

A few weeks ago there was an interesting situation where the UK was trying to import PPE from Turkey while manufacturers in the UK were exporting it to the EU.

The government was asked why we were doing this, and rather than admitting that the issue was cost (production costs are lower in Turkey) they said that the PPE produced in the UK for the EU would not meet UK standards.

Well, that PPE that we had to wait ages for, cannot be used as it does not meet UK standards...

Nerf Star Wars

Two things.

The first is that my son thinks that Rogue One is the worst film in the Star Wars franchise.  To me that is obviously episode eight.  I love all the Star Wars films and while I felt the prequels were lacking, ultimately they were films designed to get kids to love Star Wars.  And they worked with my children.  My wife watched and liked episodes 7-9 as well as Solo and Rogue One.  Obviously, as she is not as obsessive about Star Wars as I am, she did not love them as much as I do.  But episodes 7-9 have large plot holes.  Which is a shame when both Rogue One and Solo did so much to fix the issues raised in the original Star Wars film.

Anyway the second is the battle we had today.  My son spent a lot of his money from presents on a very special Nerf Gun.  He has not watched Terminator 2, but he might enjoy it more than he would have now.  My daughter who had a quite lethal weapon has found that it is out of batteries and when she joined, it was with a less intimidating weapon, but one which they did not know.  The problem with the gun of my son is that it takes time before it can fire.  Which means that I, with my normal guns will mostly get the first shot or two in first.  But I do not have the volume of firepower that he has.  I can shoot once, prepare the gun again and shoot, until my six bullets are out. If he and his sister work it out I will be no match for them!

Patriotism. I love my country, but this is not unconditional.

First of all the family.  My children have been good and bad, but to my wife, as I have been at work.  Tomorrow, I might get to spend time with them, if they are willing.  My son has been playing PokémonGO with me and with the help of a family friend we undertook a difficult raid to attempt to capture a Pokémon called Darkrai. I have been doing quite a few, but an elusive shiny one has been beyond me.  My son though has one, despite this being his second attempt. To say I am jealous is an understatement. To describe him as pleased is the same.

But to the point of this post.  My love for my nation.

This has been an issue, here and abroad when it has come to supporting the state in its response to dealing with COVID.  The tweet that made me post this was one by a US politician in which she said “Republicans love America.  Democrats hate America.  It's simple.” Now I love the good things about my nation.  But I do not love everything about it.  I think that Britain is great, but that it can and should be so much better.  I am proud of many of the things it has done and does, just like I am ashamed of things our nation does and has done.  And when it comes to the USA, I am sure that for most people they would say the same.  Unconditional love for my nation is stupid.  It means I ignore the bad things it has done in the past and the ways it can be better now.  I respect the right of others to love the nation they are from unconditionally, but forgive me if I question this if someone they do not support is elected.

21 Bridges

Sunday was quiet.  I woke up early and relaxed watching Brooklyn Nine Nine.  After my wife woke up, I took her to the shops where she visited one store and bought some cards and a cake for friends of ours.  When dropping it off, I had a socially distant chat with them and later, an old work colleague.  Sadly, he had contracted COVID but has got over the worst of it.  He is still affected by shortness of breath but also mentioned GI symptoms which he did not go into in detail as we were on the street!

I did try taking my son out for a bike ride, but as it started to drizzle, he stayed at home after cycling up and down the road.  My daughter had gone for a walk by herself so I continued my exercise alone.  I am missing out on my Wednesday bike rides, but I need to keep up exercising as my stomach has been getting bigger.  My main challenge though is to get my daughter on her bike over this time.

I did get to watch Clone Wars with my son, but it has been annoying that the episodes appear to be out of order.  We watched one episode that may have been a prequel to the first episode in the first series.  And we are on the third series now!

But the highlight of my day was watching 21 Bridges with my wife.  (Though eating the jam tarts her and my daughter made cake second.). The film was predictable in places but was quite enjoyable, despite the high body count.  When it comes to police films, I would rate it better than average, and much better than the comedy we had tried to watch beforehand (we stopped after ten minutes of that).  With predictable films, what I am interested in is how he film is directed.  Are there major plot holes, and I do not think that this had any major ones.  And while predictable, it was in places once the story had evolved.  The strength of the film is the evolution and this is a film I would recommend as a lockdown film to watch.

Anyway, time for work!