Newcastle

My wife and I had a few days in Newcastle last week.  We went up on Tuesday night.  I got into a bit of trouble as I was late from work.  We actually went to Durham first, but the hotel she had booked was locked up!  There was a note on the front telling us to ring a number, but there was no answer.  It was just before midnight when we arrived and we ended up booking another much nicer place to stay (my wife got her money back about the stay).  

Come the morning, we saw some of the sights of Durham as we went to Newcastle for her conference.  I had to do a little bit of work and we checked into the amazing room she had booked.  It was a club room, which meant that we had access to the Club Lounge.  We appreciated that on Thursday morning as breakfast was packed and the lounge served breakfast as well.  Not as good as that in the main restaurant, but a good one and one where there were no queues. I spent Thursday exploring Newcastle and I was going to explore the Keep when my wife called me and I walked back to the hotel to have lunch with her instead.

On Friday, I did get to explore the Keep.  While it was a bit pricey to explore it, it is in essence a historical charity and I thought the experience was worth it, and much better than seeing the Black Gate, which was also included in the ticket price.  I was concerned that I would not understand people there as I have had some bad experiences with the accent, but once people listened to me talking, they dropped out of Geordie.  And they were so nice there.  If it was not so cold and wet, it might be a nice place to live!  I say that as we are spoiled living in Colchester which is much dryer than most of the country.

The kids were glad to see us, as was Leia who has been a lot more clingy as she was left at the dog sitters over this time.  

Never Forget

On this day last year, Hamas launched an attack on Israeli civilians designed to elicit a response from Israel. I was shocked and appalled at the attack, and as more details came out, even more so.

Israel is wrong to steal Palestinian land in The West Bank. Israel was wrong to impose the blockade on Gaza (just as Hamas was wrong to fire missiles into Israel). But the barbarity of the attack, designed to murder civilians was inexcusable. Worse, the way that the murders were live-streamed, or recorded and uploaded on Social Media was designed to rekindle the collective memory of The Holocaust and bring about a response from Israel, and also the world afterwards.

There is no longer any reasonable justification for Israel to continue its war in Gaza, other than a desire to bring about Ethnic Cleansing. While Hamas went out of its way to kill civilians, Israel is not targeting civilians, but cares little for civilian casualties. We saw that when they killed Israeli hostages who had escaped, deaths of civilians which would have never been reported if they were not Israeli, as the excuse of them being terrorists would have been accepted by the west. 

Some will think it is silly for me to post these images, but Jews know what happened to them under the Nazi’s when they were subjected to genocide. Hamas wanted to remind the Jewish people of this when they carried out their appalling atrocities last year. 

Penny Mordaunt knew how bad the state of government finances were when she debated Angela Rayner

In June last year, a debate took place which included Penny Mordaunt making a claim about how much Labour would have to raise taxes. Angela Rayner disputed the figures, but there was a difference between the two.  The party who was in government at the time knew the state of the economy, even though they hid it from Labour.  The Conservatives claim ignorance now, but the debate shows that they knew the truth before the election.

The video above is an interesting take on how the Tories have ruined things over the 14 years in government, but as you can see from some of the photos that they have used, they have included a bit too much creative licence and have got a few things wrong as well. 

In summary, I think that the Conservatives broke the economy and I also think that they hid what Labour would have to face once in power.

Not in Clacton

We have not been in Clacton.  

My wife has had her cousin come from abroad with his wife and two children.  We both like him, having looked after him when he was at university and we genuinely got on with him then, and still do now.  What is nice, is that the children all get on, even though ours are teenagers and his have yet to reach that milestone.  His wife is lovely and I spent time on walks with her and our dog Leia.  On one of the walks, which my daughter came along with, my daughter noted that the signs implied that we were in Clacton, which my wife was adamant that we were not in!

To be fair, if we walked far enough, we would have been in it, and my cousin got an idea of what it was like when he and my wife and got a takeaway from the outskirts of Clacton.

Anyway, now time to rest and relax.

Diane Abbott and racism

Diane Abbott has faced terrible abuse based on her gender and her race.  She does not deserve to be subject to racist or misogynist hatred, no one does.  However, she is someone who is prone to repeated gaffes. 

One such one is where she refuses to accept that during the time that Jeremy Corbyn was in charge, too many of his supporters ignored his words on Kinder Gentler Politics.  Emily Maitlis explained that she was subjected to vitriol because of her job as a Jewish female journalist. Diane Abbott dismissed her experience of this saying that she did not recognise the toxic atmosphere that may experienced.  Considering the issues that she has created for herself when it comes to her comments on racism, I am surprised that she decided to ignore the abuse others face.

  

I will admit, I do not like her.  I respect what she has achieved, I respect her apologies for her repeated gaffes on racism.  But she keeps making them and for that, I do not respect her. 

We was robbed

If anyone had told me we would have a point in this game before it, I would have settled for it.  But I ended up disappointed. Last night, we returned to our local pub quiz where we did not even finish in the top three. Afterwards at home, I watched the highlights of the Arsenal game on iPlayer. I put my headphones on in bed, but disturbed my wife with swearing once we went a goal down, then with the cheering for our two goals.  And then lots of bad language as we went down to ten men and then failed to win after SEVEN minutes of time added on.

At work, Larry, who as much as I appreciate him, is a miserable sod with Arsenal, was in a cheerful mood, while I had a scowl instead. We were so close to the much needed three points. Not getting them gives the Team That Rhymes with City the advantage over us.

Keir Starmer, Sue Gray and the perception of corruption

Sue Gray is in the news because she is earning more than the Prime Minister.  It is strange how this story leaked when the main issue I am concerned about are the gifts that the Prime Minister has been given.  

I actually trust Keir Starmer.  Well, mostly.  I know he lied about the party not lurching to the right when it came to the Labour Leadership campaign (which is why he was not my first or even second choice to be Labour leader), and concerns about donations were raised when it came to the Labour Leadership campaign.  But this issue of donations and gifts, does not look right, even if they were innocently given. 

I hope that the leak of the wages of Sue Gray was not a way of (successfully) getting the media to focus on her and not him.