Soon to say goodbye

We are in Bristol. My daughter moves into university accommodation tomorrow. My wife booked a hotel for us to stay in, she has been here before, this being when we had come for an open day. Then she used the spa with a friend.

This turns out to be the hotel the England Rugby squad are using, but I have no idea who the star players are as I don’t watch rugby that often and have not watched any of the women’s games.  I will be letting one of our friends know as his daughters play rugby and he loves the sport having played rugby himself when younger. 

We are all going to miss her, but I am also envious and excited that the next stage of her life is to begin. 

Charlie Kirk and the costs of school shootings

Let me start by saying that the murder of Charlie Kirk is wrong.

I have listened to The Newsagents discussing the murder of Charlie Kirk. On the day he died, another school shooting took place in the USA, but this was not discussed.  This is because yet another school shooting in the USA is no longer news.

His comment about how it is “worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment” is a price many advocates of Gun Rights do not pay. Sadly, this price was also paid by students at Evergreen High School, and I suspect that like many Americans, they did not agree with the price to pay for “Gun Freedom” in the USA.

I do feel a bit sorry for Charlie Kirk and the huge grief his loved ones feel, but my thoughts and prayers are with the victims of the school shooting that day, and the many other Americans who were murdered by gun violence yesterday, the deaths of whom are not getting the coverage of Charlie Kirk. 

Trump, the Epstein Birthday Card and the image that is meant to be a woman.

Trump is someone who loves being the centre of attention.  I try not to post about him too much (now) as there is so much to post, and while he is getting our attention, his government is taking advantage of the distraction to cause chaos elsewhere.  But, this image has to be commented on.  Many are saying it is the image of a woman.  It is not.  It is the image of a teenager, and a young one at that.  The allegation is that Trump sent it to Epstein.  This means that if true, Trump knew that Epstein had an interest in underage girls because that is what he drew for his friend.  

The released documents do not just affect him, others, including our ambassador to the US have been named in it, though our ambassador admits it is him and regrets his association.

 

Organising a drinking meeting in a brewery

It is surprising that Your Party has yet to launch.  There are those who have commented at the chaos around its launch.  There have been two interviews, one with Jeremy Corbyn, the other with Zarah Sultana.  What surprises me more than the delay is the statement that they are "not creating a party that was just about winning elections. "

The quote may be taken out of context, but the power to change things comes about by winning elections.  Being pure to the core did not work in 2017, it did not work in 2019.  All it did was give the Conservatives more time to make things worse for our nation.  Saying that, it is unlikely that Labour are to win the next election, and if that is the case, at least the members can campaign for the country they want, even if that country rejects them, again.   

Vaccines and Darwinism

There has been some debate about vaccinations thanks to Reform UK.  There are many who argue that they are spreading fake news (they are) and that this is a bad thing. My view is that I respect the right of people not to be vaccinated, and that I am more than happy for Reform UK supporters to decline vaccines.

During the heat of the COVID pandemic, vaccines were developed and given.  Not all decided to take vaccines or engage in social distancing.  As a result, more Republicans died of COVID than Democrats.  If Reform UK wish to repeat that in Great Britain with COVID and possibly other conditions, that is up to them.  

For those who watch the video's, the COVID vaccine was never intended to stop people catching COVID, the outcomes were a reduction in death and hospital admissions. 

Sadly, the downside of reduced vaccinations will be more dead and disabled children.  Working in the NHS, I have seen the consequences of not being vaccinated.  But that has been happening before the latest story.

A night at a wedding

Yesterday my wife and I went to a wedding reception in London. The day was a bit tense at the beginning, her hair appointment ran over and I had not used to time to iron. We had decided to stay over in London and I had to hunt for our parking which my wife pre-paid for. I took a guess about which car park it was, today finding out that it was the right one. The hotel was great, my wife noting that outside each room it had a clock, the time indicating which room was which. 

The reception was amazing, the bride looked beautiful, and there was an open bar. No cocktails, but free flowing alcohol. It was great to meet up with those I had not seen in a while, and it we had time to let our hair down and relax. The best man did a speech but sadly it was lacking as he was very nervous, spoke too quickly and mumbled. The sister of the bride did the best speech, the groom following close behind.

A memorable night and a relaxing day with my wife.  Cannot really ask for more. Though the video of me drunk dancing being sent to my kids could not have been recorded… 

Why I admire Angela Rayner

Sadly, Angela Rayner has had to resign. I have a lot of respect and admiration for her with what she has overcome to become deputy PM. One of the many things that won me over was her scum comment, and while I can understand the offence it caused, I still love her for it. Comparisons have been made with Nadhim Zahawi’s tax issues but she did not issue a legal threat to The Independent to try to stop her tax revelations from being discussed. My wife said that she should have known that she was going to be a target and should have taken even more precautions than other MP’s, an example of this being when she was accused of being a temptress to Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister with numerous children from numerous affairs. 

This will not be the last we have heard from her. I wait with interest to see what she will say in the future.