Should JK Rowling comment about everything on the planet?

As stated before, I do not go onto Twitter as much. Bluesky is so much nicer, quieter, but is a much nicer place to post.  

I have noted though that many have said that JK Rowling is wrong not to speak out about the execution of Renee Nicole Good.   But today, I watched a video from Novara Media commenting how she did not speak out against the war in Gaza.  

The thing is, JK Rowling did comment about the conflict referring to 'snivelling apologists for rape and murder' but there is a reason why Novara Media may not discuss that. Notably because of the crimes of Hamas against women in the attack. Some have denied that this happened but Hamas has form when it comes to discrimination.

Women's rights in Gaza have been curtailed under Hamas, an example of this is how the UN marathon was cancelled due to Hamas banning women taking part in it.

I did agree with the essay JK Rowling wrote about women and segregated spaces.  I do not agree with some of her views on this matter now as I think that she has been radicalised.  But she has been vocal in speaking out about women's rights in Afghanistan, Iran and also in the USA.  I challenge anyone to say otherwise.  

People We Meet on Vacation

This is a film that we watched as the family had wanted to.  My son has been revising for his mock exams and has been unwell recently, but is now better.

As a family film, it was enjoyable.  I would rate is as an average film.  It had a decent soundtrack and also had a memorable character.  As a romcom, it was predictable and unless it is on when I am channel hopping, I am unlikely to watch this again.  The rest of the family enjoyed it more than I did and it is spending time with them which was more enjoyable than watching the film.  

All in all, it was nice to watch it.  If you have not watched it, I would not go out of your way to do so, but it is not a film to avoid. 

Paedosky or Pedosky?

Last year, when I used Twitter more, I was told that Bluesky should be called paedosky. The post was made from an account that is now suspended (and I am not going to sign up for Twitter chat to share the conversation). 

The irony is that Elon Musk has allowed it to be used to alter images of women and children to undress them. Twitter has yet to take decent action on this, but as more leave it, I suspect it wants to keep features that will stop incels from moving to Truth Social. 

When it comes to banning Twitter (or X as my wife and much of the world calls it) over deepfakes, that is a decision I am against. Deepfakes have been around for a few years now and have been used to create sexualised images of women, and children but not to this extent.  I use an AI image generator for my hobby of role playing and when I have used it, it will rightly delete images that it considers too rude. Just for the record, I have not tried to create such images, but occasionally it will self censor images it deems inappropriate. In addition to this, the main AI engines I have used will not allow images of real people to be altered or created. But I have not tried Grok for my hobby as I don’t use Twitter that much. 

Sadly, I think that the only thing to do, to ensure that Twitter is punished for this, is for users to switch to Bluesky. Legislation has been suggested on this matter in the past, and acting now to single out Twitter when this matter has been ignored for years is morally and legally dubious. Actions against all software which do this is overdue.

Venezuela and the abduction of Nicolás Maduro

Let me first of all say that the abduction of Nicolás Maduro is wrong and is a breach of international law.  

He is rightly regarded as an illegitimate president and I shed no tears about the end of his regime.  However, due to the need for the UK to keep on the good side of Trump, I understand why Starmer has not condemned this. 

There are many who have called him out over this, and I see why, but when you peel back the layers of his decision not to do so, you can understand why.

One is the Trump Tariffs. If we annoy The Orangutan, then we risk having higher tariffs which will harm British jobs and affect the growth our nation needs.

The other is Ukraine. If Putin gets his way, he will be able to take what he wants of Ukraine, weaken it for the next invasion and will have sanctions dropped allowing him to prepare for the invasion of The Baltic States.

While there is concern that Trump will invade Greenland, I doubt the US Congress would allow this to happen without consequences.

Politics, Labour and the Democrats

I like Jimmy Carr.  I think that while he is very controversial (the rest of my family cannot stand him), he has some interesting views on life.  He has been doing a round of interviews and on one of them, he talks about how Labour are not the party of the working class.  He is wrong, they are.  Like in the USA where Trump has sold himself as representing the working class, Farage and Reform PLC have managed to pretend that they are the party of the workers when they are not. 

In the UK, Labour were given a growing economy built on undeliverable spending promises which had been made by the Tories.  Hard decisions had to be made and while Reform, The Greens and Your Party have economic polices from Planet Truss, Labour have got on with making our nation better.

An example of how Reform pretend to be the party of workers when they are not are the way they have opposed renters and employment rights. 

A big problem with Labour is communication.  They have been useless at communicating about the flaming turd of debt that they were given and Labour have been inept at stating what they have done.  But, like with the Democrats in the USA, Labour are the party of the working class.

Israel hates Starmer

I met one of my friends on a dog walk with my daughter.  He is someone who is responsible for my job change to what I do now, and while I do not see him as often as I would like, it is always enjoyable to see him.

We have similar views on politics, but I am more centrist than he is.  One issue where we disagree is about Starmer and Israel.  I do not back the appalling ethnic cleansing that Israel is carrying out in The West Bank, and considering the land grab in Gaza, there as well.  But I am aware of the pressure that Starmer is by both sides of the debate to pick one side over the other. 

What may forget is that Benjamin Netanyahu does not like Starmer and has spoken out against him over the recognition of a Palestinian State. Starmer said Netanyahu criticisms over UK export suspension were wrong, and in August 2025, said that Israel’s plans to escalate the "war" in Gaza would ‘only bring more bloodshed’ all of which has not endeared him to the current Israeli leadership. They would prefer it if Kemi Badenioch or Nigel Farage were in charge. Mind you, thanks to Labour, Benjamin Netanyahu cannot come to the UK to meet them for the support they have given his government. 

Like voters in the UK, Starmer has united most of those for and against Israel in the UK in their dislike for him over how he has dealt with the matter. 

Novaria Media and the threat of Russia

I like Novara Media.  They provide a different view of the world, one which is interesting, though not one I always agree with.  But they are biased and this video is an example of that.

People forget the aggression of Russia towards its neighbours. At the end of The Cold War, a peace dividend took place. Following German unification, NATO promised no further Eastern expansion, but then Russia invaded Moldova and Georgia to "liberate" Transnistria and Abkhazia, both of which happened to have large Russian populations. After seeing this, other former Warsaw Pact nations wanted to join NATO.  We have seen expansion continue with Sweden and Finland joining NATO following the second invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

So while Novara Media has a paranoid view of the threat of war, they forget that Russia has been the aggressor.  Many may cite the actions of the west in Kosovo, Lybia, Iraq and Afghanistan, but none of those military interventions were acts of colonisation to recreate an empire.