A nice cup of tea

I was elated to discover that a cup of tea was good for the heart - and a very healthy option. I was then depressed to discover that all this goodness was destroyed by the addition of a splash of milk (whether semi skimmed or full fat). You just can't win! My preference is for the caffein free option of redbush tea - all the result of reading the wonderful 'Number One Ladies Detective Agency'

Christian discriminators

There are proposed regulations going through Parliament at the moment preventing discrimination in the provision of goods and services on the grounds of sexual orientation. Various religious groups are campaigning to stop the introduction of these regulations. They are claiming that these regulations stop them from expressing their religious opposition to gay sex. So a Christian hotel owner should be allowed to refuse a couple of the same gender from renting a double bedroom. I would ask if these same hotel owners request the production of a marriage certificate before they hire a double room to a couple of different genders? Does the fact that two male (or female) friends request a double room mean they will be indulging in gay sex? After all a double room is cheaper than two singles.
These regulations are aimed at stopping homophobic people from discriminating against individuals or couples and humiliating those who happen to be gay (or look gay, or might be gay, or these people want to take against).

Special Education

I was a teacher a long time ago. In those days special education was kept apart from 'normal' schools. Then there was a big campaign to get all pupils into 'mainstream' education. Our school (just outside Newbury) had a unit introduced into the school. Pupils spent part of the week being taught, and receiving medical attention, in this unit. The remainder was spent with classes of about 30 students. There were variable results. More recently parents, and educationalists have argued both for and against integration - some talking of educational apartheid and neglect, others talking about those with special needs being overlooked with the mainstream system. How can teachers possibly cope with these students in classes of thirty?
Ruth Kelly has a difficult choice, and how can a state system truly afford to be flexible enough to provide for the needs of every pupil of a full range of educational abilities.

The Portrait - Iain Pears

This is probably the most pointless book I've read in ages. It is written as a monolgue between a portrait painter and an arts critic.
This seems like an interesting device but not in this particular author's hands. I was bored, and was not engaged by the two characters. Because it was a monologue I couldn't picture the second person - I couldn't engage with either of them. I didn't care about why the critic was about to be murdered, and taking 210 pages over a simple matter of pregnancy and suicide appears excessive. This is not a well written or constructed book. My rating 2/10

Executions

I am totally against capital punishment. The judicial system isn't good enough to always convict the right person. It isn't a deterrent. There are too many people prepared to confess to a crime they didn't commit. However horrible a crime is taking life is not justifiable. If a crime is horrible the more likely it is that newspapers and public opinion will encourage the police to 'get their man'. Life should in some cases mean life though.
Now to Saddam Hussain. He should not have been executed - it solves nothing. The manner of his departure was appalling. The films just play to the worst kind of public prurient behaviour. Iraq is now worse than it was before. The government there is now outdoing the worst aspects of Saddam's regime - and Iran will be the beneficiary.

The Queen

I was so pleased to discover that this film was still showing. I saw it with friends at the Gate Picturehouse, Notting Hill Gate. I was very impressed by this film. It brought the whole hysteria of Diana's death back to me. I admit that I was a part of it - I laid flowers in Sale, Manchester. I cried on the day of her funeral. My friends still can't understand how the UK was overcome by this outpouring of grief. The public demonstration of this sadness was atypical of the UK.
The film was really superbly produced. Even though the content is so fantastical, the film convinces you that the conversations could so possibly be true. Helen Mirren is superb. She isn't like the Queen in any way. However, her mannerisms are so good belief is suspended. The other characters are well depicted too. Tony Blair's character is so credible. Lets face it this is a man who was loved - the person who so clearly worked out the mood of the nation and tapped into it. You realise how quickly he betrayed his initial hope for the nation. Cherie Blair's character was his conscience, but failed in her aim to prevent him from being seduced by the establishment. Paradoxically my affection and regard for the Queen was enhanced. She truly is the unifying force of this country and I cannot imagine what the nation would have been like without her. My rating 9 out of 10.

Brick Lane

I've just finished reading this book for one of the reading groups I belong to. It is an impressive first novel. It is an accurate portrayal of life in a specific part of the East End in the past thirty years - although I have a feeling things have moved on in recent months and years. Like many contemporary novels it is flawed. The style is experimental. One section is written as supposed letters from the central character's sister from Bangladesh. The English is poor, and extremely irritating because I found it almost impenetrable. However, towards the end I was totally drawn in by the characters, and their decisions about returning to Bangladesh. Were they and their actions believable? Totally. Did it outline the dilemmas faced by Muslim families in an increasingly secular Britain? Completely. Rating: 7/10

Bad Dogs or Bad Owners?

Personally I think the recent problems with savage dogs are mainly the fault of the owners. Many see these 'aggressive' dogs as a status symbol or a security measure. Some are being trained to enter dog fights. How appalling is this? Either way it is time these 'dangerous' breeds were neutralised. Stop breeding and trading in these 'fighting breeds', NOW!

London in January

It is cold today. But bright. Blue sky, but the clouds are scudding by. I went out on the bus and could feel such a cold wind.
I'm reading Michael Cunningham's 'Specimen Days'. Rather like 'The Hours' it is three stories interleaved into one. Walt Whitman features throughout. I have a problem with understanding poetry, but this book is worth a read. It needs reading several times probably, but I'm reading fast for a reading group tomorrow. If anyone else has read this please compare notes!

Welcome to 2007

A new resolution - do a daily blog.
Wonderful blue skies in London today. I'm feeling tired and breathless and there were so many fireworks to keep me awake last night.
Bizarre vision today - a string of horses being ridden up the slip road to the A13.
Current book I'm reading is 'Specimen Days' by Michael Cunningham. I need to finish it in time for a reading group on Wednesday. Very easy book to read.

The Night Listener

Robin Williams doing a 'serious' role. Based on an Armistad Maupin novel of the same title, this is a slightly weird tale of lies, deceit and betrayal. There is suspense - and Robin Williams is rather good as a gay man investigating a mystery. It is very atmospheric, and scary in parts. A bit of a thriller. But I did come away feeling slightly disappointed - but I can't quite tell you why!

Little Miss Sunshine

Wonderful quirky film with superb performances from every member of this small cast. Funny, moving, thought-provoking, lovely!
The tale of an ordinary family - an uncle who has just attempted suicide after a failed gay love affair and demotion to be No 2 Proustian Expert. A father who is attempting to launch a nine-step self help programme to success (A very unsuccessful programme). A grandfather who snorts coke and is about as foul-mouthed and as bigotted as you could imagine. He is 'training' his grandaughter to win the Little Miss Sunshine competition in California. There's also a mute son - failing to talk until he gains his ambition to enter flight school. They are all joined by a remarkably normal mother (well normal in comparison to the rest of the family) in a dash across America in an aging VW Dormabile Camper Van with no clutch. There are some trult hilarious moments and the film is quite a satire on American life. Go see it!

Driving Lessons

I went to see this film with my new friend Aaron. We both absolutely loved Julie Waters. Also starring Rupert Grint (in his first adult role after all that Harry Potter stuff) and Laura Linney, this is a tale of an aging actress resolving and confronting her demons whilst a 17 year old enveloped and smothered by his mother discovers that there is life outside the restrictions of the vicarage. It is a role incredibly well suited to Julie - playing a part way beyond her years - she seems younger as the film developes under the often silent influence of Rupert. He becomes (accidentally) her support and mentor. They have a wonderful tour of Britain and both 'grow up' in different ways.
Truly excellent film.

Volver

Superb new Spanish language film by the same director as 'Talk to her' (his name escapes me).
This film (featuring gale force winds throughout) stars the wonderful Penelope Cruz and features, ghosts, incest, murder, dark humour and very moving scenes in a fast moving dramatic story of dysfunctional families and poor communication of emotions. Many reviewers have expressed themselves disappointed - but I really enjoyed this vignette of current Spanish life and mores.

Foreign Hordes?

What is it about the British & xenophobia? We seem to be obsessed with the 'hundreds of thousands' of immigrants who are: taking our jobs (ie those no British person wants to do or is qualified to do - or can be bothered to get qualified for); taking our homes (despite the fact that we're also obsessed with getting our house prices to rise rapidly, and everyone seems intent on buying two or three houses for holidays, retirement, etc); and horror of horrors - destroying our culture. But then no one knows what British culture is - apart from spending the entire weekend getting smashed out of our minds on alcohol and then fighting in the streets. Am I the only person who loves diversity, enjoys the variety of people I see in the streets and on the tube, is grateful to have interesting conversations about other countries and cultures. I'm quite often the only white man at social events - does this bother me? Not at all. Lets get a grip here - Britain has always benefitted from a wide variety of peoples populating this country. It makes us what we are.

Post Retirement

Since I retired in May I seem to have been busier than ever. One of the guys from my book group has also taken a 'career break' and so I've done loads of those tourist things London residents never do. My favourites have been: Che Exhibition, Constable Exhibition, Apsley House, loads of obscure films in Greenwich, St Paul's Cathedral, Eltham Palace, and just getting to know London.
Even with mad bombers waiting to kill everyone London is still a great city.
BTW my friend Danny is doing a superb blog that you should all see - I'll get his http and post it on here.
I don't seem to have been doing this as much as I should though - so now the weather is getting worse maybe I'll be able to do more posts.

Passenger Choice

There is a report in today's London press that on a flight from Malaga to Manchester the passengers refused to fly until two 'Arab looking' men were ejected. These two men were clearly terrorists because 'they were talking in a foreign language'. Obviously Ali Desai is right - the UK has invented a new offence : 'Travelling whilst Asian'.
Made me think of a list of people I'd like to exclude from planes:
Anyone who starts a conversation with 'I'm not a racist but you must agree...'
Fat people taking up part of my seat
People who insist on reclining their seat when I'm trying to use the table.
All children (especially babies who scream)
People who spread their newspapers across me.
Anyone sitting next to me
Any others you'd like to add?

Talk to Her

Wonderful film directed by Pedro Almodovar. Quirky bizarre dramatic tragic and superb. Oh so moving story of two women in comas and the men who support and love them.

The Wind that Shakes the Barley

Didn't really want to see this film - but I'm glad I was persuaded
The first part is too much of a polemic. British oppression/brutality against the plucky Irish. I didn't engage with the principal characters enough. But then suddenly things perked up - you could begin to feel the tensions of creating a new country - the compromises that were required. The paradoxes inherent within a very conservative rural society.
There are some powerful scenes - exploring the political debates of the early 1920s, and this is a well filmed, almost beautiful film. However, it is flawed. You end the long film detached from the central characters - Damien and Teddy. I do not have a heart of stone, but the ending scenes failed to move me.
A pity

The Cave of the Yellow Dog

It isn't often that I go to see a Mongolian film - in fact this is a first! Delightful is the best word to describe this documentary about a family of five living a nomadic life. This is a way of life that will surely become extinct before long. The plot is minimal but shows how the family copes with herding and living, picking up a few Mongolian folk stories along the way, and a dog that turns out to be a hero (of course!). Extremely enjoyable and fascinating stuff. The family are so natural and non-Hollywood - something to be admired!