Abortion and Savita Halappanavar

I watched an interesting video today.  It reminded me of the case of Savita Halappanavar, a dentist who died in Ireland due to the laws it had on abortion.  Her unnecessary death was the catalyst which brought about the change in Ireland which ended the laws banning abortion there.

When the US decided to allow states to make their own choices, many banned or placed huge restrictions on abortion.  And since then, women have died.  

We in Europe do find it strange that the pro-life lobby are willing to allow mothers to die.  But then this is the nation which prefers to have school shootings rather than decent gun controls...  

The Railway Tavern Kelvedon

My wife and I had a pleasant afternoon here.  I had been for a walk with Nick and on the way back, my wife, who was driving back home asked about lunch together.  We discussed different options.  It being a sunny day, one option was to eat in the garden after getting some food locally, but we settled on going somewhere new.  

The location was pleasant, or would have been but for the ducks, or rather Leia, our dog, wanting to kill the ducks.  I enjoyed my food, but my wife chose poorly and did not enjoy hers as much.  But parking was easy and I would return again.  

The best bit was spending time with my wife though. 

Reforming welfare

The government want to cut welfare and reduce the cost to the state of supporting people.

I agree and disagree with them. In my job, I do come across a few who can work and do not seem to want to. But most of those who are on benefits need them, either because they are in low paid jobs, or because they are not able to work.

Poverty increased under the Conservatives, not just for those out of work, but for those working as well. Yes, the government is right in that we should be helping people to come off benefits and back into work, and yes the government is right in that too many need “encouragement” to do so. BUT the Conservatives oversaw a huge rise in Foodbanks, and too many people have health issues preventing them from working properly. While waiting lists are coming down, it is hard to get people back into work when it takes so long to have health issues (that limit the work they do) addressed.

What I would like to see is a Universal Basic Income for adults born in the UK. 

The pub quiz

Nick and I presented our local pub quiz last night. My wife did not attend as she was tired from a weekend of spring cleaning. Sadly I did not present it as well as I would have liked. In general the quiz was too hard, something I will need to rectify if we get to present it again.

And doing this meant that I did not get to watch the highlights of the Arsenal game. We won, which is good, but the question of if we would have beaten better opposition comes to mind. Like us, Chelski has no striker, but we adapted to that better than they did.

It was good to score again from a set piece, this time it was a corner. That may be how we defeat Real Madrid when we face them in the European Cup. 

Captive

There are several films with this name. This film was made in 2023 and is not worth going out of your way to watch. 

When I watch a film, I am looking for several things. Is it made well? Does it tell a different story? Those are just two things I look for, there are others, but basically this film offered next to nothing new.  There are many better films out there, and while there are also worse ones, few horror films have so little scares. This review gave it two out of five and I would have to agree.  I would not go out of my way to watch it, but if there was nothing else to watch, it is an almost adequate time filler. 

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

This film is not too bad.  In fact, if you consider that this is a silly Rom-Com, it is made quite well.  I can see that many are not going to like it, but this is not a cerebral film.  It is one where the character is lovable but annoying with the two main characters being stereotypes, but well executed ones.  If you do not like the other films in the series, you are not going to like this one.  I would not go out of my way to watch it again, but I would watch it if I found it on television while channel hopping.  

The look of love

Another interesting film. Not one I would watch again, and one where it would have been more interesting to have a female perspective when it came to making it, considering the topic relates to pornography (and related matters). 

The Guardian rated it three out of five, and I would say that is fair as is the description of it being “shallow but watchable” which is surprisingly accurate.

I am not sure that anyone who is not interested in the area of Soho, or remembers the influence that Paul Raymond had with publishing. It is amazing to see so many British stars making the film. So, yes, shallow, but watchable.