Family update

Just a quick update on my daughter, who right now is on her trip to France with a friend of hers.  She has her place at Bristol University but is trying to find out if she can postpone her place for a year. 

Waiting

The house has been more stressful of late. My daughter finds out her A-Level results today. My son gets his GCSE results next week. Yesterday we tried to distract both, mostly my daughter. That included taking them out for dinner.  My wife booked a pub called The White Hart. I thought it was a brave decision, but she has has fun in the sun there before having drinks with friends.however, their menu was not that appealing and my daughter had forgotten her ID when it came to having a drink.

So, after necking a non-alcoholic pint, we nipped home, got my daughter’s ID and went to a pizza place in Colchester. That was amazing. Probably the best pizza’s in the town. The dog was welcome and they made us and the dog feel very welcome. We will be returning.

Anyway, fingers crossed for later today. Many at my work want to know the results as my daughter works there and has charmed many who are there. I have been told that I might not be told the results if they are bad…   

Will the European Court of Human Rights protect Far Right rioters?

Twitter has been a nightmare recently. There has been a lot of far right hatred on it, much spread by its owner. What is interesting are the “concerns” of those on the Far Right that Starmer will crack down on our civil rights.

From what I understand, that is not possible, unless we withdraw from the European Court of Human Rights. 

As for the powers being used. They were taken up by the government by the darling of the right of British politics, Suella Braverman. 

The Instigators

I would refer to this as an average film, this being three out of five. It appears to have got bad ratings which I do not think it deserves. Many films which I consider to have worse issues with continuity (there were a few issues here) have been rated better. I only noted a few plot holes and I think that this was an enjoyable comedy. 

Yes, it is slower than others and I would not consider this to be a typical American film, by which I mean that as a compliment. While not a classic, it is certainly worth watching and I am glad I did so, 

Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting are women

There has been controversy about Imane Khelif taking part in women's boxing.  This video explains what has happened.

Basically, she failed a gender test after beating a Russian, the test was requested by an organisation that many consider to be run by a Russian, and after she was disqualified, the Russian was officially unbeaten. 

While Lin Yu-ting did not have the same issue, it may have been that her crime was that she represented Taiwan. 

Sadly, it appears that these two women are casualties in the increasingly polarised binary stance on gender and gender identity, as well as being the victims of fake news, deliberately spread by what many consider to be a corrupt organisation. 

As with all my posts, I am genuinely interested in what views are held on this matter and feel free to let me know what you think.

Two Tier Policing

It is strange to see those who support the riots, arson and looting which have occurred agreeing with the Black Lives Matter movement that says that Two Tier policing is an issue that our nation needs to solve. 

A big difference is that the fast track sentencing which is taking place now, also happened after the riots in 2011.  And guess who was in charge of prosecutions then? 

The Handmaid's Tale

This was a good film. Produced in the 1990’s it has to be watched with that in mind. It compares both well and poorly to the series which I am watching with my daughter. Some parts, notably ‘The Ceremony’ is more horrific in the film when compared to the series. That with the drive towards racial purity which was very absent in the series. 

When it was produced, according to Wikipedia, Owen Gleiberman, writing for Entertainment Weekly, gave the film a "C−" grade and commented that "visually, it's quite striking", but that it is "paranoid poppycock — just like the book". John Simon of the National Review called The Handmaid's Tale “inept and annoying.”

While many now compare this to the loss of women’s rights in America, it is more accurate to compare it to how women are being treated in Afghanistan. Which means that sadly, this film is not paranoid poppycock. 

I suspect that if I only had to watch one, I would watch the series, but this is certainly worth watching as well.