She is back!

My daughter is back after almost two months away.  The dog is very happy, as are the rest of us. There was a worry yesterday when we work up to this message. I relaxed more when I found out that the airport itself was not on fire and I was confident that the airport would be open the next day and that she would get back, but there was always a worry. 

I was under the mistaken impression that as the volcano was to the east of Bali, that flights to Singapore, which is to the west of Bali, would be unaffected, but again this was not the case as some flights were cancelled.

We all missed her, but the dog has expressed it the most.  Anyway, she is asleep on the sofa so I need to wake her up so she can sleep in her own room, 

The oldest profession should be legal

I have discussed this before, notably after Lily Philips had filmed her exploits.  Since then, her 'body count' has been surpassed by Bonnie Blue.  But this is not about that.  It is about how I think that prostitution should be legal.  And not just prostitution, but other forms of sex work as well.

As I have stated before, I do not want any woman (or man) to have no choice but to resort to working as a prostitute, but like it or not, for some men and women, this is how they earn money. What I want is a system to support sex workers, so that they can get the help and support to work in a safe manner, but more importantly, the help and support to get out of the trade if needed. Making sex work legal may also help to reduce sex trafficking as sex workers would be given rights. 

 

There are websites for men to be sugar daddies and many men seek ‘love’ from abroad in a way that many consider to be transactional for too many women. 

In a nation where we are looking at having to cut payments to the most vulnerable, legalisation and regulation of sex work may actually help the economy.  After all, lets face it.  Keeping the current situation has not stopped things.

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.