X

This was actually a good film. Better than the Scream films that I have watched, though I have yet to watch the ones with Jenna Ortega in them. For those who do not know, X is a horror film. I found it fun to watch, but not one I would watch again, or consider a classic. 

It has a decent plot, good characters with adequate acting and direction. I would consider this film to be average and worth watching. I would not go out of the way to watch it however, but if you are interested in the cast, then it is worth seeing.

Me not on a white horse

There is a scene at the end of Pretty Woman where Richard Gere rescues Julia Roberts on a white Limo rather than a white horse. We found out today I would screw that up. 

My wife went to a course today, she left yesterday and stayed over. I said that I should travel down to it today to get her, but she declined, but later today, when on a walk with Leia, she changed her mind.

My son was to go to his old school fete and my daughter was to go to see The Weekend in concert. So after doing my chores at home, I left. I got to the station by scooter, my first experience of using an electric one. I got the hang of it in the end. The journey down was quick on the train to Liverpool Street and I used the Elizabeth line to get to Heathrow. But I went to the wrong hotel. My wife picked me up and I still drove her back. It was just as well that I did with all the traffic, but I failed to rescue her. Oh well…

Wimbledon weather does not mean global warming is not taking place.

Global warming is a fact.  Some have claimed that every climate catastrophe warning in the past has been catastrophically wrong.  Some have told us Don't Look Up because it has rained now that Wimbledon has started.  

But average global temperature hit a new high on Monday, only to be beaten on Tuesday. Also, many are not aware that Exxon made ‘breathtakingly’ accurate climate predictions in 1970s and 80s only to publicly dismiss global heating. 

Basically, over millions of years, carbon dioxide has been removed from our atmosphere and has been stored in the crust in the form of fossil fuels.  The world was a lot hotter and more inhospitable then.  Putting that carbon dioxide back in the atmosphere is not a good thing.

NHS 75

It was the 75th birthday of the NHS.  Lots of those on the right have used the day to state that the NHS model is not working and reform is needed.

I agree, a reform of funding is needed.  During the years that Labour was in charge of the NHS, it improved with falling waiting lists, and that corresponded with increasing funding levels which have been, on average, greater than what the Conservative government have given the NHS.  During the time that the Conservatives were in charge, waiting lists rose.  

Remember that despite promising not to reform the NHS, David Cameron did once elected.  So when people on the right call for reform, it was reformed by the Conservatives and performance has fallen since.

"Social insurance would be better than the NHS"
"Why"
"Germany has more beds/doctors/nurses/capacity and they have social insurance"
"Why"
"Well their insurance system spends more"
"Have you considered it's literally just *more money* that's the solution then?" pic.twitter.com/FJ3Xx9PVVH

— Techpriest (@techpriest) December 31, 2022

Parliament yesterday

My daughter went to Parliament yesterday, taken by our MP Will Quince. She met the MP's for Harwich and Clacton as well, but did not get to meet Priti Patel.  If you watch this link, you will be able to see her depending on there the camera is as it focuses on the MP.  

While I am very jealous that she has been there, if I had to pick with a trip round CERN like my son had last year, or a trip to Parliament, I would have picked CERN. 

 

Should the choice to boycott be banned?

I do not buy Israeli produce.  I do not boycott films with Gal Gadot in them and if things improve in Israel and the Palestinian territories, I will go back to buying produce from Israel, so long as they are not from the West Bank.  I had typed consume earlier, but my wife buys most our shopping, and a lot of it is on-line, so I may be inadvertently consuming Israeli produce as this boycott is a personal one.

My family know that I also will not knowingly consume anything made by Nestlé, something the children do take advantage of because the know that any chocolate or ice-cream at home made by Nestlé is safe from me.  Likewise, I will not knowingly buy anything made in Burma, or Myanmar as it is now called. I have to say knowingly as I did have an amazing winter coat bought for me from there, but when it came to replacing it, I refused to get the same which was still available.  

When younger I also took part in the boycott of South Africa, my contribution to this being not using Barclays Bank as a student, but around this time, things were improving in South Africa with Nelson Mandela being freed.  I also took part in the protests at the South African Embassy before I went to university, but stopped doing so once the path to peace became more apparent. 

But back to Israel. Settlement expansion in the West Bank is continuing. Right now, violence is taking place with innocents on both sides being killed.  Extremists on both sides seem to want war over peace, a blind eye being turned towards attacks by extremists by Israel by the state itself.  Considering the history of murder that Jews have faced because of hatred towards them, I understand the desire for a nation state.  Watching A Small Light made my cry, and talking about it on the weekend, I felt teary again.  Put simply, I understand some of the fear that anyone Jewish must feel when they see hatred being directed towards them considering the millions that were murdered during the time of the Nazi's let alone what has happened before, including in the UK. 

But I should still have the right to boycott the goods of the state of Israel when it is allowing such unjust oppression of the Palestinian people.  If I had the option, I would also boycott goods made in Gaza over the human rights issues there, as well as goods made in the Palestinian parts of The West Bank due to the lack of democracy there.  I hope Parliament does not ban the boycott.     

Wimbledon is the cure for any heatwave

Wimbledon has started, and our heatwave has ended.  

And sadly, the children are still not talking to each other.  They had better be doing so by this weekend or I will have to be creative and they tend not to like that.