Reform UK MP Sarah Pochin said seeing adverts of black or Asian people ‘drives me mad’ in a comment that has been seen (rightly) as being racist. I have listened to people argue that no offence should be taken as she did not mean to be racist. In fact, I have listened to too many people trying to minimise the racism in her comments.
I think that it would be wrong to have lots of people of colour in historical drama’s but shows like Bridgerton and My Lady Jane are fiction. I do not understand how people can be annoyed with a series which has a black King but are okay with it having a lot of the population being able to turn into animals! I think that the TV adaptation of The Witcher missed out on having a more realistic take as they could have had different nations having people of different colours.
I do think that it is okay to say or have the view that there are too many darkies on the television, in that someone who states that is allowed to be racist. But rather than deny their racism, they should be proud of it, not ashamed.
Today, our dog and I joined the weekly protest in favour of Gaza in Colchester. When there, different people spoke about matters. I have to disagree with how they view certain events, an example being how they said JD Vance was in favour of the Israeli Knesset voting in favour of the annexation of The West Bank, when he actually spoke out against it. Other issues of contention include Trump having a plan. The the mercurial Trump is best viewed as a pigeon playing chess. He struts around, knocks pieces over, and thanks to the economic and military might of the US, wins. While he has some ideas about the world that he sticks to, this including his insane views on tariffs, immigration, people have tried, and succeeded about changing his view that Gaza should be ethnically cleansed. The last bit was that Israel just does the will of the USA. There is no doubt the two aid each other a lot, but that forgets how Netanyahu attacked Qatar and we can see that about how he was forced to apologise for it. But there was a lot to learn from it. One lady in a wheelchair pointed out how that many of the population in Gaza will be disabled now, something I have to admit, I had forgotten.
I am amazed that the US has forced Israel to slow down the murder of those in Gaza and allow aid in after the release of the living hostages. We saw what happened to the ceasefire deal earlier this year when Israel got what they wanted. I am tempted to attend the demonstration while the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in The West Bank is continuing.
As for family, our daughter has returned for a few days. She had been to Cheltenham yesterday and this week is meant to be spent reading, so like many at university, she has decided to return to Colchester. It was nice to have the family together around the dinner table. We will be sad when she returns to Bristol on Friday.
My son had wanted to watch this, so we did. My wife hated it when she wanted it over twenty years ago and still did not like it, so left. There was a lot violence which is me of the things she had against it, more so than previous ones. She also pointed out that it lacks the humour and the dialogue seen n Pulp Fiction and True Romance. My son liked it more than Pulp Fiction, which is in contrast to my view of the film.
I do like it, but have to agree that while it is still funny, it is not as funny as True Romance and Pulp Fiction. But this is not meant to be the usual sort of Tarantino film, it is his homage to Japanese martial arts films/comics. And I do miss the dialogue of the previous films of Tarantino, but he has some very memorable characters!
If you don’t want to watch it, or don’t mind spoilers, this review from The Guardian may be of interest. I am looking forward to it being released again.
Come Friday, I predict that the by-election to the Welsh Parliament in Caerphilly will result in the demolition of Labour. I also think that this will continue for a year or two. Labour are toxic. They have been seen to fail on immigration, they have been seen to fail on helping the most vulnerable and they have been seen to fail on Israel and Gaza (depending on which side you are on).
When it comes to immigration, I think that Labour are wrong. I think that we need more immigration to help our nation, not just taking advantage of those who are leaving or are prevented from going to the USA, but also people to work in the care sector, the health service and other areas. However, the One-In-One-Out policy is working and is much more ethical than the Rwanda policy of the Conservatives. Reform and the Conservatives hate the policy as it involves taking refugees from France in return. If it is able to be expanded, it will bring about an end to those crossing The Channel as those who make the crossing will be sent back to France.
The benefits system does need to be reformed. Most people I see on benefits work or have genuine reasons why they cannot work. But I see too many people who could work, but do not. A lot can be supported into work, but that will require a carrot and stick approach to do so. However, we still have huge levels of poverty, and any reform to the benefits system needs to ensure that we take more people out of poverty as opposed to pushing more into it. And we will be able to see this when there is less of a need for foodbanks.
Gaza and Israel divides the nation, people picking one side as the villain and the other as the victim. We need to remember that Israel has been stealing Palestinian land since the Oslo accords, but also that there was no excuse for the October 7th attacks. There can never be any justification for the atrocities that took place in Gaza afterwards however.
But Labour have done a lot. Roads are improving with less potholes being an issue. The NHS, which I work in, is slowly getting better. And the economy, despite it being hamstrung by Brexit, is doing surprisingly well. Starmer basically has got down on his knees in front of Trump and 'earned' 10% tariffs, something few other leaders would be able to do. While Farage could do the same, he would sell out a lot more to reach the same goal.
What Labour are terrible at doing is communicating what they have done. Starmer should be honest and say that Labour are going to have some terrible years, but if Labour can continue to deliver, and more importantly, deliver more, then it can retain power at the next election. A change in leader would result in even higher debt repayments and I want tax payers money to go to making our nation better, not to bank shareholders.
Cheese eating surrender monkeys was a term that appeared to originate in The Simpsons. I would argue that we have a new term now, that being Tofu Eating Surrender monkeys.
After the end of The Cold War, a peace dividend took place. After German unification, NATO promised no further Eastern expansion, but after the Russian invasions of Moldova and Georgia to liberate Transnistria and Abkhazia, which happened to have a large Russian population, other former Warsaw Pact nations wanted to join NATO.
When it comes to people who are concerned about out climate, I agree that more action needs to be taken on this. However, if people argue that we should not increase our readiness to defend our NATO allies against Russia, or get rid of our nuclear weapons (as Ukraine did), I consider them fools.
Just in case anyone is wondering, my wife has an alibi. Of course it depends what time the break in happened. Last night we went to Nadu, a restaurant in Bristol. My son, wife, dog and I had been there before, my daughter had not. We loved the experience before, we loved it this time, and of course, we loved watching my daughter see the sharing dosa that they serve.
We returned to the hotel where my wife and daughter slept with the dog. My son woke early, the rest of us slept in, the dog enjoying having her older sister back. But the weekend had to end and after getting some shopping for us and our daughter, we drove back. We had used by electric car for the journey. We needed to stop once on the way to Bristol, the change over being at Reading to charge. On the way back, although it was raining, I would have been happy to drive a lot more, but we needed to charge again.
Now it is time to wind down, and for my wife, dream about what could have been if she was part of the gang who stole from The Louvre.
We have returned to Bristol and brought the dog along. This hotel is more central than where we stayed before and last night I did not sleep as well due to the noise outside. It is dog friendly, but also is not. The room has a dog bed but the rules here are strange. You are not allowed to take the dog to the indoor restaurants, which was the same when we stayed in Bristol before, but they will not accommodate you to eat just outside the restaurant.
Before, the place we stayed allowed us to eat in the bar area. Also, you have to sign to state that you will not leave the dog alone in the room! Which means that the only way to eat in the hotel is to pay extra for room service!
However, the hotel is a nice place to stay.meeting up with our daughter was great, we went a dog cafe where both children told me off for stressing out our dog by talking to others. Our dog even got stressed when I went to stroke the dog statues! She is very affectionate, loves other dogs and humans, but I am not allowed to pay attention to other dogs! After this, it was lunch and we returned to the pub where we had been to before. For dinner tonight, we are going to a Tamil restaurant. My son, wife, dog and I have been there before, it will be the first time for my daughter and we are sure she will enjoy it.
