Modern Persuasion

It is not often that my wife and I will chose to stop watching a film, but we did.  Apparently based on Persuasion by Jane Austen, my wife thought that this would be a good film to watch because Alicia Witt was in it.  We all pick bad films and it may be that this film would have got better after we decided to stop watching it, but I doubt it.

Aston Villa 0-1 Arsenal

We got a good result yesterday which was needed after our defeat to Liverpool. I was dreading this game as it was so close to our defeat to Liverpool as well as this being an away game involving travel to the opposition. But we did well and our destiny in finishing in the top four is in our own hands. I am hoping that we get to finish in the top four, it will be nice to be playing in the European Cup again.

Blackmail

Today was date night again. My wife and I went to watch Blackmail at the Mercury Theatre. It is great having a theatre so close to us, but like with the Arts Centre, we have not made as much use of it as we could like. Hopefully, this is to change and watching this reminded us of the ease that we can do this.  It is strange seeing so many people not wearing masks indoors, the staff there, my wife and I and a few others were wearing them, not most were not.  And that applied to some friends that we saw, one of whom I was surprised as her job is working for a healthcare provider. 

 

It was an interesting plot with an interesting question to answer at the end. I was reminded of a quote by Dr Claire Maitland about I would worry how little things affect me rather than how much, as I felt that the ending of the play involved the least worst option.  The views of my wife on the play were in essence the same as one of the reviews.  I am sure that we will be returning to watch other things here.

My daughter has spent the day revising and I watched the first episode of Friends with my son.  I miss watching Buffy with him, which I much prefer to this.  I have suggested he watches Episodes with me, but he has declined for now.  It is interesting watching the first episode, as I had never watched it before.  Now I am older, I have realised just how much I hate the character of Rachel Green.  And how I prefer Frasier.  And Cougar Town.  I do feel sorry for Monica Gellar who has been loved and left by an arsehole in this episode.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer vs Twilight

So, I decided to watch the Twilight film series.  And I hated it.  Years ago, my wife and I had watched the second film and she hated it then.  I did not hate it then, and if you take Bella Swan out of the first two films, they are bearable, but as the series goes on, the films get worse.  So bad in fact that I think that they are worse than what I remember of the sequels to Blade.  

Twilight has to be compared to Buffy The Vampire Slayer, which was so much better, and portrays a better message with Buffy Summers being a woman with many admirable qualities and Bella Swan being one of the most if not the most pathetic main character I have seen for a long time. I understand that there is a female attraction to the films, just as there is with 50 shades, but I do just do not understand the need to be dominated, or from a male perspective, to dominate.

Blade, as a film, is possibly the best Vampire film I have ever watched, Twilight does not even come close to it.

Testing

Again, another meal out for my wife and I last night. She had been working hard, and I had been working as well, but had spent time trying to avoid one particular bit of work which is past its deadline. We took Leia with us, which was just as well as we were not too sure the children would look after her. 

 

They had done well themselves, both having had tests yesterday and both doing well with them. So I cannot be too mean considering how proud I am of them both. My daughter was being a counsellor for a friend and my son escaped me going through his room with a bin bag while he was at school as he had left his room in an almost acceptable state.  Well, at least the floor!  I also owed my son an apology and sent one this morning.  Yesterday I came out of the house to find that my car was covered in a dried red liquid.  My son said it was mud rain, I told him he must be mad.  Well he was right and I was wrong and I sent him a message saying so this morning. I doubt that he will read it as he appears to ignore my text messages!

 

Of course, I wish Arsenal had done as well as they did last night as they lost. I did not really get to find out until I got to work this morning. Apparently we played well. But as much as I would like Arsenal to win, I preferred the time spent with my wife.

What first attracted the Prime Minister to the billionaire Russian oligarchs?

An interesting PMQs today, or rather, a Deputy Prime Ministers Questions. Dominic Raab consistently blamed the last Labour government (elected out of office in 2010) or would mention Jeremy Corbyn when asked questions. The best question however was asked by Matt Western. It started off slow, but delivered a killer line. One for which there is no answer as the Conservatives are flush with money from those of Russian heritage. As before, the Conservatives mentioned employment, but MP's appear to have forgotten that In Work Poverty was at record levels last year, that before the rise in the cost of living. Also, ample opportunities to ask for a full version of the Russia Report to be published were missed.

The Cash-for-Honours scandal with a Soviet tint

 

During the last few years of the leadership of Tony Blair, there was an issue over Cash-for-Honours. It tainted politics and rightly raised the question over the need for an elected second house to replace the current system of the House of Lords. If membership to the house of Lords was being given for loans to the Labour Party, that was wrong and can never be excused. But, none of those lords were felt to be a security risk. Unlike the allegations with Baron Lebedev, of Hampton in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and of Siberia in the Russian Federation. It may be that he is innocent of the allegations made against him, which I suspect relate to his father, a former Soviet agent but also owner of the independent. What Labour did was wrong, but pales into nothing compared to these allegations!  While our Prime Minister has said he has done nothing wrong, this is a man who did not recognise that he was hosting a party or had been in one on several occasions.  

Not sure why I have posted the videos about oligarchs taking out court cases to suppress media freedom here though.