Is Boris Johnson racist?

To answer the question, no.

I do not consider Jeremy Corbyn to be antisemitic despite the way he has shared platforms with antisemites (and similar actions).

Boris Johnson has said racist things and has employed those who expressed racist views. And when it comes to this racist comments, they include the columns about African children looking like “flag-waving piccaninnies,” “watermelon smiles” and even describing a group of Ugandan children who once sang for him at a ceremony in Uganda as “Aids-ridden choristers?” And I know that this is controversial, but his deportation of foreign criminals was not racist in my view, but there is an argument that denying some of these people of colour, proper legal representation was.

Labour fell into his trap by fixating on the wrong matter when it came to those deportations.  Most members of the public will be in favour of the deportation of foreign criminals.  Labour should not have focused on that as they came across as being in favour of the rights of criminals and illegal immigrants (even though these people were not so) and the Tories came across as being tough on crime and also being firm on immigration.  What they should have discussed was denying people of the correct legal protections.  Most people will be against the denial of legal rights just based on skin colour and Labour should have focused on that.

So while I do not think that Boris Johnson is racist, he is guilty of using racist language in the past and he is certainly guilty of pandering to prejudice when it comes to gaining votes.

Storm Dennis

We had a weekend away.  After working on her dissertation it was the least that my wife deserved. So we went to Bicester for a the night.  But we had not taken Storm Dennis into account.  The drive there was fairly uneventful and we went to the shopping village.  

Afterwards it was a short trip to the hotel.  Our intention has been to swim, but my daughter had forgotten her swimming kit but when we realised that we would have to walk outside our enthusiasm dimmed.  However dinner there was amazing. The drive back was a bit draining and not as bad as the iconic plane landing that has been shared on social media.  We did see some flooding, but nothing compared to what a lot of the country has seen.  

Anyway, now relaxed I am waiting to watch the football and am looking forwards to work tomorrow.

Valentines 2020

Today has been one of the more interesting Valentines days.

I had taken a few days off this week so that I can help my wife with her dissertation.  On Monday, I still went into work to catch up with paperwork anyway, but my wife did not need me then.  My next day off was Thursday and while I did not help that much initially, I did have to proof read later in the day.

Our children were expecting us to have been arguing by the time they got back from school, but we were fine.  The arguments did not start till later.  And they continued until we finished, which was about 0230, Friday morning.  We had to wake at 0630 to put the bins out, and while my wife made some final amendments I went back to bed.

I woke again after the kids had gone to bed for I was to have a haircut and my wife and I met at GreyFriars in Colchester for our Valentines lunch.  It was great to spend the time together and the food was amazing, back to the standards that it was when it had opened.

Sadly, I went back to sleep again when we got home for I was to be a taxi service later.  My daughter had a party to go to and I was to drive her the thirty minutes to Groton in Suffolk for the party that she has been invited to.  On the way, we noted that we were driving in a convoy as several cars were making the same journey, though one took a wrong turn at the last moment.  We all went with her there, but I am to collect her in a moment.

Yo, I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want (February)

At the moment I am after a lucky trade for a high CP Shelmet and/or Karrablast.  But in addition to this, I am also after a lucky trade for a Altered Forme Giratina to use in PokémonGO player vs player battles.  

My list of additional Pokémon that I am after is below.  I am aware that I may not be able to get some of them in high CP forms, such as the Alola forms of the Meowth or Vulpix, or Klink, but I guess my view is if you do not ask, you do not get.  I do have some high CP forms of some of the Pokémon that are on the list but the actual statistics that they have are wanting. 

Abra

Absol

Aipom

Azumarill

Baltoy/Claydol 

Bronzor/Bronzong

Burmy

Clefable

Drilbur

Duskull

Foongus

Geodude (normal form)

Goldeen

Golett/Golurk

Growlithe

Heracross

Horsea

Klink

Magmar

Mankey

Meowth Alola form

Murkrow

Nidoran♀

Nidoran♂

Oddish

Onix

Pidove

Ponyta

Porygon

Scyther

Shieldon

Squirtle 

Tanglea

Tentacool

Vulpix Alola form

Yamask

Yanma 

Sadly, I do not have as many shiny Pokémon as I would like, and those that I have tend to be those that others have anyway.  Which means in general that I am after like for like trades.  However, after the December Community Weekend, while I do not have many, I have a few evolved Pokémon with community day moves available to trade, some of them being shiny ones!

Could ACE inhibitors offer some protection against catching coronavirus infections?

[Edit]Since posting this, it appears that ACE inhibitors increase the risk from COVID19.[\Edit]
Needless to say, working an a GP surgery, I have been concerned by the latest news that a surgery shut down and that two doctors have caught the strain of Coronavirus that has caused so much death in China.

Looking it up, I noted that, according to Wikipedia, when it came to SARS, another type of coronavirus, the primary human receptor of the virus is angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2).  With the current viral strain threatening the world, again according to Wikipedia, publication of the 2019-nCoV genome led to several protein modeling experiments on the receptor binding protein (RBD) of the spike (S) protein of the virus. Results suggest that the S protein retains sufficient affinity to the Angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor to use it as a mechanism of cell entry.

A link between a drug involved in this and a reduction in pneumonia has been noted in the past, this being ACE inhibitors.  It may be that the reason for the reduction in this is because of the ACE cough that can occur. But it may be that this has some protective effect by interfering with the entry of the Coronavirus into cells.

Sadly, I have good blood pressure control so am not eligible for treatment with an ACE inhibitor.  But for those who are on them, it will be interesting to see the outcomes when it comes to mortality compared to those who are not on one.

Colossal

I enjoyed this film.  Just a word of warning though, if you want to watch it, do not watch the trailer.  It does not spoil the film as much as other trailers do, but it does a bit.

For a science fiction film, this was different compared to what I normally expect.  It touched a few issues such as problem drinking and while it did not do well at the big screen, I would recommend this for sci-fi nerds such as myself who want something slightly different.

I was impressed with Anne Hathaway though, normally so glamorous, she fitted this part really well.

An alien civilisation

I have found the aliens who have put the rubbish down the side of my sons bed.

They had created a civilisation in the radioactive wasteland that exists there.  I suspect that there were several there making use of the unique ecosystem(s) in the world underneath his bed, but due to the great ‘Underbed war’ only one species survived.  But in a lesson that the rest of our planet must learn, they too destroyed the environment they lived in.  And now they too are extinct, and all that remains are the ‘Underbed wastelands.’