Nuno Tavares and his potential

MASSIVE win ⚡🔴 #COYG pic.twitter.com/RJ6bigpYlI

— Nuno Tavares (@NunoTavares) May 1, 2022

Nuno Tavares looks like he may be a good addition for Arsenal, but he is going to have to improve, a lot, if he is to keep his place when Kieran Tierney returns from injury. Winning this game was very important in our drive to finish in the top four, and if Chelski keep slipping up, the possibility to finish in third place. I was dreading this game, I am glad we won (a silly comment really), and hopefully our form will continue to win until the end of the season.

The Rising

My wife and I finished watching this tonight. We had been watching it as a box set and my daughter joined us for bits of it. My son, however decided against it, which was a shame. Leia, being a dog did what she wanted, which in general was to sit near us. When it comes to the series, it does make me want to return to the Lake District, the last time my wife and I went there being when we were just friends. My wife thought that it was slow going, but still wanted to watch to see who the murderers were. 

 

My daughter is still revising, my son I suspect is messing up his room. Hopefully it will not revert to the tip it became during the last two holidays.

Transnistria and how Russia is going to have to 'defend' it

Transnistria is back in the news. I had discussed this earlier in Putin's War as Alexander Lukashenko had stood next to a map that included its involvement in the war. Many thought that this was to indicate an invasion was to be launched from the Russian troops who occupy it, but I thought that it was to be 'liberated' in Putin's drive to create a Greater Russia. From what it appears, Transnistria is to be attacked, and Russia will have "no choice" but to defend it.

For those unaware, Transnistria was occupied by Russian forces as part of a ceasefire agreement in 1992 involving Moldova which it has declared independence from. This is of concern as Russian occupation also has taken place in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, both parts of Georgia, and what happens in one Frozen Conflict Zone may happen in another.  

White Privilege in the USA

I am amazed at white privilege in the USA. Donald Trump is in a court case about incitement to violence and has come up with a defence only a white person in the USA may get away with that fruit may be dangerous. Likewise, Marjorie Taylor Greene has relied on a defence that she cannot recall what she has said or tweeted. I do not imagine that this defence would work in the UK but I suspect both will be found innocent.

Legs

My daughter thought that the headline was a spoof. And to be fair to her, it is understandable. The allegation that Angela Rayner is deliberately distracting the Prime Minister using her legs is just as insane as the allegation that Boris Johnson, the man who repeatedly does not answer questions in PMQ's and lies, has good debating skills. 

 

I do think that professional dress code is important, and I disagree with my daughter when I say that the one shouldered dress that Tracy Brabin wore in 2020 was inappropriate for parliament (just as it would be in many work places), but I have never thought that what Angela Rayner has worn in parliament has been unprofessional.

In addition to this, there is the mention that Angela Rayner fell pregnant as a teenager.  That is a fact along with her achievement in becoming deputy leader of the Labour Party.  We can compare Boris Johnson who was born with an easier path in life, going to the school that has produced more Prime Ministers than others, and has had at least seven children and is on his third Catholic marriage despite his numerous affairs.

  Needless to say, it was no surprise which paper published this...

Wanderlust

We watched this yesterday.  By we, I mean my wife and daughter.  My son has been isolating in his room from us due to our COVID infections.  His room is a tip and while normally I would be going through it with a bag tomorrow, I am going to miss out on this as I do not want to bring my infection into him.  

So first of all the film, it was not as bad as I expected.  It had a star filled cast and ultimately was a simple feel good comedy.  When it comes to the tests which I apply, I would not have wanted to have paid to watch this, and I doubt I will take the time to watch it again, though if I was bored and this was on the television, I might continue to watch it if I found it on.  

My son has tested negative so went into school, my daughter having continued to test positive has not though her period of isolation is less than mine and if she has no symptoms, she can return to school after three days which is tomorrow.  I can return to work on Saturday if I test negative on Friday and also on Saturday.  When it comes to our symptoms, we are all tired, my wife no longer being infectious has a cough and while doing a lot around the house has to stop more often than normal.  I worked in the morning, but crashed in the afternoon.  Not sure how much energy I am going to have for the rest of the week.

An Inspector Calls

We watched this last night, my daughter studying this for her GCSE. I remember reading this when it came to my GCSE, and before I watched it, I did say it was quite left wing. it was a shock for my wife who was not expecting something so depressing but it did lead to some intersting discussions about the characters. I considered the issues raised by Arthur Birling to be that of the importance of unions and union laws to protect workers rights, a contempory example of how important this is being the way P&O sacked their workforce and replaced them with cheaper labour. My daughter also pointed out how women were treated as the factory paid women less than men would have been paid. To me, Sheila Birling showed how without workers rights that people could be fired on a whim, but also could be denied the refernces needed to get a new job afterwards. In the film, hunger is how the affair starts with Gerald Croft, and this is poignant when we consider how foodbank use has increased, this being before the increases in the cost of living thanks to fuel price increases and the rise in national insurance payments. My wife was not happy with how Sybil Birling acted, but in 1912, the charitable organisation that she ran would have had to make choices about who they could fund and who they could not. Being an unmarried mother had even more stigma then than it had in 1945 when play premiered in the Soviet Union, but even then, thanks to the numbers of unmarried mothers after the war, things started to slowly change. This raises the importance of the Welfare State in helping support those who have fallen on hard times considering the lack of help otherwise. Last of all, Eric Birling the rapist. He did not mean to be one, but the victim did not want to be raped, or fall pregant due to this. Both tried to be honourable afterwards, but only one faced and died due to the consequences. I consider Inspector Goole, after watching the film, to be the dead father, though I cannot recall what I felt in the past. 

 

Even today, there is a view that the poor deserve to be poor and could have not been so if only they worked hard. This shows otherwise.

On a different note, my COVID symptoms are that of a cold. I did my work telephone calls this morning but now need to chill as I have run out of energy.  My son has continued his isolation in his room.  Hopefully he will not get this.