The Guardian and I agree with this film. Forgettable. My wife and I watched it on Apple TV and while we have watched worse films, there are better ones out there. Do I regret watching this? No. Would I watch it again? No. Even if channel hopping, this is a film I would move on from.
When it comes to directing and plot, they are fine for an action film. The plot could be better, but this film does not aim to be a blockbuster. It is an easy film to watch, it is enjoyable, it has some laughs, but it is nothing memorable.
There are many gender identities, but my view is that a woman cannot have a penis, however a trans-woman can. As I have posted before, I do not think that it is right, or polite, to misgender someone. Many will consider me rude and wrong for refusing consider India Willoughby to be a woman, but I do consider her to be a transgender woman, not as JK Rowling as tweeted, a man. I have tried to debate this, but sadly ended up blocked (repeatedly). My views on this have evolved with time and I will summarise them.
Just because you identify as something does not mean you are it. Rachel Dolezal identified as being black, despite having two white parents. Very few people accept the way she identifies herself as correct.
Other than in schools, the use of toilets by someone who identifies as a different gender is fine. The only time I have seen genitalia in toilets was using the urinals as a child (as an adult, we do not look). However, if women are exposed to male genitalia in that situation, the perpetrator should face the full weight of the law.
Communal changing areas should be subject to segregation based on genitalia. I have seen to shops where changing areas are unisex and there was an attendant to ensure no theft took place who also would have been a witness if anything untoward happened.
A child who wishes to socially transition at school without informing their parents should be allowed to do so, but just as this applies to a teenager seeking an abortion, that child should be encouraged to involve their parents. But, that child should still use facilities based on biological sex.
I thought The Newsagents covered this really well. Not everyone does. But as has been stated before, I am transphobic for having my views. But if anyone is happy to debate this, I am happy to do so on BlueSky.
I knew we could beat them, but I also knew this tie could still turn against us. The advantage we had in this tie was the desire of our opponents to play football against us. As under Arsene when we beat them before, few teams can play football against us and if they play a tactical game, it is harder for us to win.
I watched the highlights not knowing the score and took a while to calm down afterwards. While we have beaten PSG before, they will be hard opponents, but I consider us to be the favourites for that game.
Today was busy. I went to work to try to catch up on paperwork before taking my son to his open day at The University of Essex. He doubts that he will go here, but it gave him the opportunity to find out about courses.
We met one of his friends for part of it and got to tour the campus. He has been using the library for revision, much like his sister did, but has started to come here at an earlier stage in his A-levels. I have brought the dog here on several occasions for her walk and my wife studied here for her Masters.
Still it was a nice day. I am not sure how useful it was for him, but it was better to go rather than not. What was noticeable was how well it was organised. The only open day I attended with my daughter was in Bristol and that included a terrible presentation. This was much better, all those presenting to the audience being enthused and being great adverts for the university. It is easy to see why it is a popular place to come when it is sold so well.
Anyway, I need to keep my fingers crossed for the game tonight.
This walk was recommended to me by a colleague at work. When I say a colleague of mine, technically, as my daughter and I work in the same place, it is a colleague of ours.
I did ask my son and wife if they wanted to come, but both declined. Which is a shame as it was a lovely walk. With a bit of up and down, it was actually more exhausting than my normal walks which are a lot flatter. My daughter came and we talked about matters, including how she coped with having to do much harder walks on her travels. Leia, our Cockapoo, loved it. This is almost certainly a place we will return to and I will need to thank our colleague for the recommendation.
On to Arsenal and their draw. It was disappointing after our midweek victory, but fans like me would prefer a midweek win, and if we go through to the next round, this draw will be tolerable.
Growing up in the UK, I have had to live with the threat of terrorism thanks to the IRA. In Northern Ireland, once The Troubles ended, the peace dividend has helped communities. When I was in Sri Lanka, I saw how thanks to peace, how the infrastructure of the North of Sri Lanka was developed and how peace has made things better. Nations who gain through peace have less reason to resort to war.
China, which has developed its military might, has benefitted from peace. But it has its eyes on Taiwan. It has seen the response of Europe and the USA towards Russia when it invaded Ukraine (again) and the cost to the nation. But if the trade war between Trump and China escalates, we could see China being in a position where it has little to lose through western economic sanctions, if it decides to invade Taiwan.
There are other ways that China can retaliate towards the USA, but it may decide that it is nothing to lose if things continue to get worse.
I was meant to go for a dog walk with my son today, but issues with our dishwasher meant that plan was scrapped. When I did go for a walk, Leia met of of her friends on the way back, so we went for a long walk together. That was Louie and his human, Nick. It was longer than I have done in a while and tired the dog out.
During the walk, we talked about many things. Nick has stopped listening to politics podcasts as they are too depressing, thanks to The Orangutan. We also talked a little bit about football. While he is not a fan of the game, he appreciated the victory of Arsenal. I discussed my view that few teams can play football against us and that this was the mistake Real Madrid made in the past, and how I feared playing against Athletico Madrid more as they would play a more tactical game.
The tie is not over. We have to travel to Madrid and they can turn us over there. But we have given ourselves a great chance of going through to the next round.
