James Cleverly and jokes

I am in a strange situation where I am backing James Cleverly. There has been outrage over a joke he made, this being a Date Rape one about his wife. 

According to reports first published by the Sunday Mirror newspaper, Mr Cleverly told some guests there that “a little bit of Rohypnol in her drink every night” was “not really illegal if it's only a little bit.” It also says he laughed that the secret to a long marriage was ensuring your spouse was “someone who is always mildly sedated so she can never realise there are better men out there.”

I understand that some people will be offended by the joke, especially when it is reported out of context, but like many jokes, such as that which Jimmy Carr got into trouble before, it needs to be viewed in context

Shakespeare in Drag

When I met up with my family on Saturday, one of my brothers stated that JK Rowling was a thoroughly unpleasant person.  I did not challenge him on this, though my two children knew that I wanted to.  It was a family meal and while I do feel strongly about her views, I agree with a lot of them.

However she is often given a lot of stick for increasing transphobia which does exist.  I am not sure if this is due to the increased visibility of non-binary people, or the way that people are trying to discriminate against them (in ways that JK Rowling and I would disagree with). 

What was interesting was this video on how gender boundaries have been blurred for a long time. 

Also, just in case those who are more transphobic than me try to say that trans issues have not been present for a while, this video is of interest.

Family meet up

We met up with my family today. One of my brothers traveled down from Manchester for it (he also went to see an old friend of his afterwards). My other brother came alone, his partner staying at home after having a stressful Christmas. He has booked the pub meal near my mother’s place. My Mum loved seeing us all together, Leia liked seeing my two brothers, especially my youngest one who had house sat before and trained her to fetch a ball which was thrown to her.

Anyway, now we are relaxing. My wife and I are to continue watching Slow Horses, but might get an early night as my daughter was out late. Both kids are awake and active still, which is surprising, considering how late they were up last night. 

Yesterday involved a return to The Westleton Crown

Yesterday I forgot that I had taken the day off work. I went in to be asked why I was in! So I returned home, took my daughter out for a driving lesson, dropped her at my work for her job, returned home and my wife, Leia and I went out to Snape while my son got ready for a date. My daughter had been out to one earlier in the week, but both reported back that it was not a date and did not speak about it at all otherwise.

Leia loved being at Snape Maltings. My wife drove, as helping my daughter learn to drive can be a bit draining. She loves it there as well, which is why we visit it at least once a year. Leia found the drive there a bit stressful as my daughter fed our lactose intolerant Cockapoo some cheese before the trip, which meant that we had to keep pulling over for her. The only part of Snape Maltings that she did not like was a wooden walkway.

I had refused to book lunch in advance, and for a while, it appeared that we were not going to find anywhere, but The Westleton Crown was not too far away so we returned there. Great food once again, and for the person not driving, a fantastic bottle of wine (the remainder of which was shared once we got home). 

Overall, it was a good day and we bought a birthday present for my mother as well! The only blip was Arsenal getting beaten at home by West Ham. 

A Haunting in Venice

Watched this last night with my wife. I am not a big fan of Agatha Christie, but I enjoyed this more than Death On The Nile. While that film started better, this was more of a slow burn. I worked out who it was, almost for the right reason. I doubt that I would watch it again, but apparently others have enjoyed it much more than I.

There has been outrage though about the BBC adaptation of another Agatha Christie novel because the work of fiction was altered slightly to be more inclusive of the population demographics of today. Due to this, I may take the time needed to watch Murder Is Easy, which I doubt I would have watched otherwise. 

Havoc

I did not mind this film. I doubt I would watch it again however. With children around the ages featured in the film, it had more relevance to me, especially as they have told me about the availability of drugs in school.  It has been argued that this is slum tourism, something I engaged in when on a trip to New Orleans over twenty years ago. I do remember taking my daughter to Jaywick so that she could see the poverty some in her school were talking about in an ignorant manner. I have not had to do that with my son who chose to go to school in a very deprived area. My daughter at her sixth form also now meets people who are not fed properly thanks to poverty in the UK, but the impression I get of the Boys Grammar school from her, is that this film may be like that. 

What was the most interesting was the way attitudes to rape appear to have changed. No means no but the scene in the film appeared to have areas which were more grey than they are now. This video is great when it comes to consent. I have used it to show one victim of sexual assault that she should feel no guilt, and I have another patient who realised what happened to her was wrong after watching it at school.

Boxing Day 2023

Even though I went to work for a few hours, today has been quite relaxing over the last few days, we have played a few games. One was about music from 2000-2010+, the kids were great sports, playing even though it was set a bit too early for them. Another one was a quiz but that resulted in my wife and son deciding that they did not want to be on the same team as my daughter.

Apparently, her competitive zeal has been noted at her sixth form. In a politics quiz she was very assertive with her teammate, but in her psychology class, she was quite vocal. 

My wife made a great Christmas meal and even included the dog in her cooking, making Leia a meal that the dog absolutely loved.  My present for my son had not arrived in time so he had to make do with a vinyl album. My daughter got one of my hoodies, this being the hoodie I wore when she was born. She had tried to steal it from me before, but I had managed to get it back, and for the last few months, hid it. She was very happy to have it as a gift.