West Ham are so bad that even Arsenal can beat them!

First of all, Arsenal are top of the table.  This being the Women's Super League.  The Arsenal Men's team need to learn more about commitment, passion and how to defend as a team though.

I was sad when Unai Emery started to fail at Arsenal.  He had after all overseen an amazing unbeaten run.  But we lost Aaron Ramsey, a player that any team should be glad to have and a player who is going to be very hard to replace.  And our defence was 'strengthened' by a player who is no longer able to make it into the Chelski first team.  While we had bought Kieran Tierney, by the time he was fit enough to play for the first team, the confidence of our defence was destroyed.  I am in favour of the policy of Unai Emery to play football from the back, but there is a time and a place for this and if opposition teams know that you are always going to do this, they will not try to defend against a long ball from defence and put the Arsenal defence under pressure.

I had high hopes for Freddie Ljungberg, an Arsenal legend, but sadly he has not had that good a start.  I was dreading the game yesterday against West Ham as we started the game closer to being relegated than finishing in the top four.  But we won, West Ham being so bad that they could not even beat us!

If he is not able to make the job, that no other manager seems to want, his, then I think that we should approach Chris Wilder from Sheffield United to be manager.  He has risen through the leagues, and is able to ensure his teams can defend.  And that is something that Arsenal needs to do.

How I beat Giovanni in Pokémon GO (again)

I have managed to beat Giovanni again.  Learning from my last battle against him, I started with my Rhyperior to face his Persian, my Pokémon being able to last long enough to take down the shields of Giovanni which allowed my Kyogre to take down his Dugtrio.  However, this time I forgot that I would be facing a Zapdos as the final opponent and my Blaziken was pummelled.  But, using a Mewtwo with Icebeam, I was able to defeat him once more.  I just need to save up on the stardust to purify it as I was able to capture it afterwards.

I am after high CP Pokémon, but just these ones in any lucky trades.  I am aware that I may not be able to get some of them, such as the Alola forms of the Meowth or Vulpix, or a Burmy 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 many of the Pokémon that are on the list but the actual statistics that they have are wanting. 

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.

Abra
Absol
Aipom
Burmy
Chikorita
Clefable
Drilbur
Duskull
Electabuzz
Foongus
Geodude (normal form)
Goldeen
Growlithe
Heracross
Horsea
Klink
Litwick
Magmar
Mankey
Meowth Alola form
Murkrow
Nidoran♀
Nidoran♂
Oddish
Onix
Pidove
Ponyta
Porygon
Scyther
Shieldon
Slowpoke
Squirtle 
Tanglea
Tentacool
Vulpix Alola form
Yamask
Yanma

Jumanji

Today involved a trip to the movies.  My son met up with an old school friend and watched Jumanji, the next level.  Which left my wife and I with the opportunity to leave my daughter at home and watch a film together.  And of all the films available until we had to collect my so, there was only one we both were happy to watch, that being Jumanji.  And on hearing this, my daughter decided to tag along as well.  A quick drive to Ipswich and we parked and watched it.  Ipswich has changed a bit since we were both in the town centre in daylight.  My wife used to work there before she was effectively sacked for daring to fall pregnant.  And a good friend used to live there as well.  But that is a tale for another time, possibly.

Jumanji was good.  Not as enjoyable as the remake, but close.  The development of the characters continued, not as much as in the remake, but it continued, but overall, it is an action film, and an enjoyable one.  Good special effects, a decent plot without too many plot holes and an enjoyable story with likeable characters. My wife and I disagree about how it compares with the original film, but as I found out on taking a quiz to see who we should vote for, that is not the only thing we disagree on!

How the Conservatives have made the NHS ‘better’

Yesterday morning I was listening to Radio Four and listened to Jeremy Hunt talking about the NHS.  The reason for this was the concern that the Conservatives are to sell the NHS to Donald Trump. He has denied any interest in this, despite having been interested before.  And considering the funding ‘challenges’ that the NHS faces, this is not surprising.  What is concerning is the risk of drug costs increasing, well those from the USA.  Despite the report that Jeremy Corbyn has obtained, I see no huge danger with that.  There is no doubt that the Conservatives have hidden the truth about negotiations from the public, and with an election coming up, it is a bit hard to work out why...

What angered me was how he talked about the NHS.  Jeremy Hunt oversaw the decline on the NHS which has taken place since 2010.  He has continually told those working in the NHS that while is black and that black is white.  Thanks to him, doctor vacancies have risen as have nursing vacancies.  He cut the numbers of medical students being taught and thanks to ending the nursing bursary, the numbers of nurses being trained has fallen.  Let alone how this is affecting others like physiotherapists, radiographers and the like.

Cancer waiting times have worsened.

The numbers of GP’s in the NHS have fallen. And this is despite a promise to increase numbers!

More operations have had to be cancelled.

More people are waiting in A&E than ever before

While the NHS has had more money spent on it, it has not had enough money spent on it. 

And of course, there is the issue with social care under-funding putting even more pressure on the NHS.

So, if you want these figures, and more importantly, patient care, to continue to get worse in the next few years, vote Conservative.

Cooking with my son

It has been a while since my last post, too long.  

Anyway, today I got to cook with my son.  A while ago, we bought a cookbook.  He loves noodles and Japanese food.  And when he found a cookbook which offered recipes for both, he was smitten.  So we bought it, on the proviso that we would use it.  Normally, I am meant to cook on a Wednesday, something that I did more before.  For one reason or another, I have hardly cooked, and when I have, I have enjoyed it most when doing so with the children.  

It was a bit touch and go as we did not have all the ingredients.  And we did make quite a bit of a mess.  But the good thing was that my wife and daughter loved it.  However the best thing was the bonding my son and I had.

Sadly I annoyed my daughter afterwards on a walk.  And has refused to cook with me. But I can live in hope.  Anyway, my son and I need to plan what we are making for next week. 

Gender and safe spaces

This is going to be a controversial post.

There has been, and will continue to be controversy over gender and the rights of those who identify as one gender, but were born as another to use safe spaces for another.  Such safe spaces are felt to include toilets, changing rooms, single sex prisons, schools and refuges.

Personally, I am against this.  I an in favour of safe spaces not being based on gender, but genitalia.

And my main reason for this is that it is now accepted by many that there is more than two genders.  I was a sceptic when it came to this, but after listening to Piers Morgan my views became clear.  His argument was an interesting one, but thanks to his rejection of there being more than the conventional two gender's, it allowed me to come off the fence (for that is where I sat) and the debate cleared doubt in my mind.

But, accepting that there is more than two genders means that safe spaces would have to accommodate all, if based on gender.  However, if safe spaces are based on genitalia, it makes life easier and such spaces become easier to define.  

Such a view no doubt will offend many, but that is my view at least for now) and it would be interesting to hear views on this.

We don't need no education

Just a quick post in the run up to the elections.  The Conservatives state that they are the party to educate our children.  They are not.  If people elect them into power, they are going to elect a party that has overseen a major funding shortfall in the education of the children and therefore the future of this nation.

I had written to my MP about this, and to be fair, he has discussed this in Parliament, but it is not enough.

If we want our children to have a substandard education, one where too many attend schools which are not able to open for five full days a week, then vote Conservative.