2205 Christmas approaches

I have overwhelmed myself with what I need to write about: The Leveson Inquiry, the Home Affairs Committee Report on the August riots and the transcript when editors and senior executives of British newsprint were questioned by the Joint Committee on Privacy and Injunctions, recent films and TV, preparations and other activities associated with the season and my Christmas present to my self. The consequence is that I flit from one thing to another without being able to settle. It is sometime since I experienced such a situation. On the positive side I have not been tempted to indulge in comforting eating or alcohol. I then sat myself down on Sunday and worked hard on the 11th Leveson developments before collapsing into the evening stupor of tiredness and loss of will.

I arranged for the annual car service on line for a fixed price with a small discount to which was added a new pair of front windscreen wipers. I did not relish the walk from the garage or back to the garage but survived and I need to walk more as long as able to keep the cold from my chest.

The soft wool hat serves its purposes which I have now lost when collecting the car yesterday evening after a new petrol tank was fitted. Today a purchased a new set of hat and gloves for £6. The hat makes a significant difference regardless of how I look. I also bought a new small telescopic umbrella because my previous one had become damaged.

I have previously mentioned my irritation and concern when having taking my vehicle to the nearest dealer for the petrol tank repair or replacement as requested by a joint maker/DVLA notice I had first discovered the vehicle has an original registration which was changed to get the present individual tailored plate and on being told a new tank would be required became concerned when a month passed without news, and even more so on learning the required item was not in stock in the UK and it not clear how long it would be before the required numbers would be available.

I rang the UK customer service and warned of the potential criminal consequence if there was an accident because of the failure to replace the tank. This appeared to have the desire effect and a replacement was made available to the garage to the surprise of staff that drew my attention that their regular customers were still waiting. I decided not to reveal what I had said.

I misjudged the time from home to the garage arriving early. I had not worked out how to get home and debated going for a bus to Gateshead Metro interchange but then spotted what appeared to be a walk over the various ground level roads by an over pass which also went beneath the fly over from the Durham to Gateshead Road until just before the Tyne Bridge crossing into Newcastle.. The walkway brought me close to the district police headquarters and the Civic centre and across a couple of main thoroughfares to the interchange centre. Getting down to the Metro level requires ingenuity. On the way I noted that the Get Cart carpark has finally been demolished and the new shopping centre is underway. As I approached South Shields it commenced to snow.

The first of the winter and while it not look to settle it then quickly change into a mixture of slippery slush. I made a quick move across the road from the station to the Weatherspoons for a coffee and bacon roll. They had run out of coffee so I settled for a bacon roll at £1.19 and then made by way up the rest of the hill in a blizzard.

Fortunately it had stopped and mostly cleared by the time I was advised the vehicle was ready for collection. I was in no mood for the up hill walk from the Gateshead interchange to the garage and went for a taxi but the driver was not impressed with such a short journey commission. I enquired about a bus but after waiting several minutes noting that it had stopped raining I made the walk which I am sure did me good although the walkway was treacherous slippy and great care had to be taken. Job done.

Another task completed was to return the latest gas and electricity meter readings online fearing the worst. I am £20 in credit for electricity and while I have not checked the precise figures for gas the covering email advised that there will be about £50 reduction over the coming year in the monthly direct debit. Excellent news although there has not been a major cold spell until this weekend.

The good humour was destroyed when I received yet another you owe £1500 tax demand from Inland Revenue. I have previously received the same documentation, contacted my local occupational provider who advised the notices were a mistake and ignore them and in due course I received a letter of apology from the tax office, followed by the news that the senior tax man was taking early retirement and blow me down if the same set of papers arrived again just before Christmas and at the weekend. I contacted the occupational provider again who provided a new recorded message to say the mistake continues and that in due course each individual will be advised of the true position later to day Monday. The level of incompetence is extraordinary. Sack those responsible I say.

South Shields has been all over the front pages of the national newspapers because of Little Mix winning the X Factor. A group of four young girls, two from South Shields, were thrown together after not passing muster as potential individual singers at Boot camp. They quickly recovered from the disappointment of rejection to become the best diva and worked extremely hard successfully getting through the judges houses stage when eight groups were culled down to four. They also survive the first grand cull before a live audience when the 16 were reduced to 12 and then later with a double sending home. For the first half of the live series they enjoyed excellent comments from all the judges with forecast they could become the next UK girl group. There was then a blip when Garry Barlow and Louis Walsh expressed concern and even their first number in the semi finals did not please some of the judges. However whatever the judges said the public responded ending the girls into the final face off with a male soloist from Merseyside and a following day of continuous interview on TV, radio and photo shoots. The two girls from South Shields are Perrie Edwards and Jade Thirwell and it will be interesting to see if they become individual household names as Cheryl Cole from Newcastle and her X factor winner protégé Joe McEldery who won the competition two years ago,

I have previously reported that 20000 local turned up for his free concert in the park on a glorious July Sunday last summer although the audio system was not up to the size of the audience. He uniquely also won the from Pop Star to Opera Star competition this year, sung at the Remembrance Saturday concert and service at the Royal Albert Hall and for the Royals Christmas entertainment show. I did not get to his record signing for his second album at Azda a week ago.

All the Little mix girls came to South Shields for visits to the homes of the local girls at for a concert at the Temple Park Leisure centre. They returned during the week for a launch of their single bid for the Christmas Top twenty special. It is looking good for them.

I have also enjoyed this year’s Strictly Come Dancing competition which had an extraordinary line up of celebrities some biting the dust early on. Former Minister and John Major girlfriend Edwina Curry and impressionist Rory Bremner, the Olympic Boxed Audly Harrison lasted longer than expected, former East Ender’s Anita Dobson- married to Queen Guitarist Brian May at sixty years showed remarkable energy and enthusiasms with the comic star Russell Grant someone who I have not liked before came over as a good sport who never took himself seriously and enhanced his personal reputation no end. The footballer Robbie Savage also did well but did not recover from the death of his close friend Gary Speed.

The surprise of the series was another older competitor the Australian former Ramsay Street star and singer Jason Donovan reached the final and was runner up. The judges also took to another soap actress with a strong regional accent starring in the series Doctor. She showed the ability to perform traditional ballroom dances against her natural character which impressed the judges as well as firing on all cylinders in the fiesta dances such as the Jive and the Charleston. There is also a special word for Lulu who I first came across when she burst onto the a cinema screen singing Shout in new faces type special, went on to marry one of the Gibb brothers and to continue performing seeing her concert in South Shields three summers ago. She lasted to week 6. Alex Jones from the One Show and a former ballet trained dancer also reached the semi finals while Dan Lobb former tennis player and TV presenter made no impression leaving in week three. Another Australian also from Neighbours who became a singer and model Holly Vallance also reached the semi final. The misfit was Nancy Dell’olio who was the partner of former England national football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson and which only leaves the winner, a drummer in the group McFly who showed genuine talent and was a worthy champion of the Glitter Ball trophy.

I am having to leave various TV series until after Christmas as they end over the coming week notably Merlin and The Boardwalk Empire.

Blue Bloods has already ended with an episode Thanksgiving in which the grandfather has a stroke but survives and where the family arrange to hold the traditional dinner at the hospital. I cannot remember the other story lines although the Assistant DA is confronted with a challenge when a mutual attraction admirer turns out to be on the Feds closely watch list as an international alleged picture and artefact thief. This is a partial truth as he works returning stolen Jewish treasures by the Nazis to their rightful descendent family owners. I will do a separate piece on Romanzo Criminale and the Sopranos and catch up on some films.

Brother Sun and Sister Moon is the story of the early life of Saint Francis of Assisi in a Franco Zeffrelli production and which interested me because Donovan had contributed the song track including the title number.

There have been a number of films about the life of Saint Francis including the Flowers of St Francis in 1950 which I saw as a school boy as well as another film in 1961. Brother Sun Sister Moon came next with three others following the latest in 2007 none I can recall seeing.

Brother Sun \and Sister Moon accurately represents his early life as the young man about town son of a wealthy cloth merchant who together with his companions goes off in the finest armour to fight with Catholic church blessing. He had six brothers and sister who are not shown in the film.

The film telescopes his experiences of fighting in two wars during 1201 -1205 and becoming a captive during one for a year. The film does cover a period of illness and the apparent effect of armed conflict on his outlook on life. The film plays around with the chronological sequence. It tends to overdramatise his identification with the poor and beggars. In the film his father becomes excessively wealthy exploiting the wars controlling scarce resources and getting nobles to surrender their valuables in exchange of essentials. There does appear to have been conflict with his father because Francis identified with his mother, a French woman, learning her language and cultural interests. It is supposedly correct that he did give all his possessions at one point to a beggar and also sold off his fathers possessions in order to give to charity and fund the rebuilding of a derelict church outside of the city. The film ends with a mission to Rome to see the Pope and ask what he was doing wrong after being rebuked by the local bishop egged on by one of his former friends. Alex Guiness plays the Pope.

The film has a romantic sixties slant and introduces early on the daughter of another noble who Francis encounters giving alms to lepers and later during the film Francis and his small band are seen administering to the leper colony who live out of the town. There is the suggestion of romantic relationships early on between Clare and Francis but when he adopts celibacy she also joins the group and later he established an Order of nuns for her with the Little Clare sisters coming from daughters of the Poor. Much is made in the film of his visit to Rome when the Pope is portrayed with his court in great splendour and where the group dressed in the rags of the poor are met with ridicule and hostility and told to address the Pope with a prepared formal dress. However Francis decides to be his true self and impresses the Pope who is reminded of his original faith and gives his blessing

Francis is also known to have established a lay order for those who wanted to marry and this aspect is also covered in the film. The film covers his love of nature and animals and is beautiful shot in terms of the techniques of the era.
Zefrelli was known for his version of Romeo and Juliet and there are elements in this production coupled with the poetic romanticism of Donovan. The film creates a mood of peace and gentleness which appears appropriate.


I tested my Bluray player not with an H Day or 3D film but The Bridge over the River Kwai a film released in 1957 when many families, such my own extended network were still affected by the loss of sons in Japanese prisoner of war camps. The film is a fictional account of the building of the Burma Siam railway in which an estimates 80 to 100000 civilians perished and 13000 prisoners of war. The treatment of the prisoners was much worse than depicted in the film. Alec Guiness plays a tradition career British commanding officer who with his men is brought to a camp where the Japanese commander is under pressure to complete a bridge over the river in time for the arrival of a train.

Already at the camp is William Holden an American who spends his time trying to survive by bribing guards to get out of the work parties and get extra rations. He is bemused by the British Commander who immediately takes on the counterpart who insists that the officers should undertake manual labour with the rest of the men despite this being banned by the Geneva Convention. Guiness survives being imprisoned in the oven a corrugated metal box and eventually does a deal with the captors to complete the bridge to high standards as long as he is given control over the men. This brings concessions in terms of medical care and Red Cross deliveries.

Meanwhile William Holden has escaped and his would are treated by local villages before making his way to a British base in Ceylon. Here he is approached by Jack Hawkins to accompany small mission to return to the site and destroy the Bridge ideally with the first train. With Hawkins injured they managed to reach the camp just before completion and train arrival and mine the bridge to detonate as the train arrives. It is Guiness who spots that the bridge is mined as the water drops from the tidal flow revealing the network of explosives. Eventually Guiness realises he has put the mission in jeopardy and falls on the detonating box as he dies and the train arrives with successful and spectacular consequences.

The film won seven Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor Alec Guiness, and Screenplay. Editing Cinematography and Music with the theme Colonel Bogey a hit [parade success. The film also won three Bafta awards, Golden Globes and other awards and remains in several top 100 lists, 10th as recently as 100 war films in 2005.

2143 An intellectual Dr Who plus two films as summer rally comes to an end

Here in the North East the summer weather did not last the weekend although in fairness it has remained significantly warmer than normal despite heavy rain at times and a wind of some force. However today, Tuesday it is warm and was sunny when I rose later at 9.30. It was a difficult night full of wakenings, unsatisfactory dreams and perhaps was the after effects of the melancholy earlier which in part reflected the dissatisfaction with my present fate and knowing that I have only myself primarily to blame and because of past and more recent choices.

Yet yesterday was a productive day. I went for a swim and then enjoyed a read of the Honourable schoolboy. I cannot understand why I failed to read the book before now. It is significantly better than Tinker Tailor. It strikes me as more descriptive developing the main characters more fully and I can see the structure of suspense behind the writing.

I enjoyed some mushrooms and some cereal for breakfast yesterday and to day just mushrooms, with coffee in a moment when I finished rewriting the opening. I made a mess of lunch yesterday in that planning a curry and with the addition of chopped new potatoes and peas from Sunday lunchtime, I forgot the chicken. If the weather holds I will walk down and back up the hill for some stir fry otherwise it will be curry again and I will go by car this evening for fresh supplies or tomorrow morning if I am going again for a swim. I need to check to find out if I am paying in advance, as I suspect, or in arrears for the Marriott Leisure and decide to do this now after making a cup of coffee. I have checked and it is a month in advance so I will continue until the end of this month.

Last evening I settled for noodle pot, some prawns and some grapes. I am managing to keep just under 18 stone for the past few days and will continue to monitor the weight closely although this is more to prevent increases and the opposite.
I registered the new refrigerator and then horror of horrors discovered it is the same firm that had to recall appliances made 2002 2006 because of fires. I will try and not let this fact affect me especially as the appliance appears more effective and is better designed than the previous.

I completed the writing on the first season of the Borgias. I also completed 100 new sets for the money and got off for October with sufficient sets ready for registration to bring me up to date. In the evening I attended to me feet

I have watched two films in their entirety. I was singularly displeased with the 2010 film The Town which follows a number of recent similar capers using the latest technology to create super clever thefts but where the main character, sympathetically played by Ben Affleck who also Directed and contributed to the screen play escapes the consequences of his crimes which include attempting to kill legitimate pursuers and his girl friend then uses his share of the theft to restore the local skating rink as a contribution to reducing juvenile delinquency. She is the improbable bank manager of the bank from which the money was stolen. The other irresponsible theme, but frequently vaunted by Hollywood, to appeal to ghetto audiences, is that if only one was brought up in a different environment with different opportunities ones lives would be successful, happy and crime free, in sense of not becoming a criminal. The most well cry is that of Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront, ’I could have been somebody’ if only I had not been made to throw the fight. The basic premise is of course rubbish although I concede that peer pressure will play its part on those whose parents have been weak, inadequate or irresponsible. Harsh but true.

So here is the chronological plot: Ben has been brought up by the parents of a fellow gang member who operate on behalf of the local crime boss played by Pete Postlethwaite who runs a florist. They have undertaken a number of successful and lucrative robberies but without physical violence, of course, which again is another Hollywood mythology suggesting that armed robbery can take place without damaging the lives of those immediately involved. In the latest robbery on a bank the lifelong friend gratuitously beats up one of the senior staff and decides to take the female bank manager hostage. She is terrified when released blindfolded and told to go ahead slowly until she touches water. She fears she is being led towards some chasm to her death so she tips toes as the criminals intended.

To ensure that she does not reveal anything which might lead the police to them her identification with address is taken and she is warned that any suggestion she has helped the police will lead to her death. Ben’s friend wants to take responsibility for checking up but Ben insists that he will find out the position. In order to do this he meets with the woman who in her spare time is part of a local action group which includes work on a community garden. Surprisingly whenever there are shots of them or her in garden there is no one else present, some community garden! They fall in love and Ben hovers over abandoning his life of crime and telling her the truth about his life.

Meanwhile The FBI have been doing their homework and commenced surveillance on the gang waiting for them to attempt another robbery. I cannot remember if it the FBI or through meeting Ben’s friend that the woman Rebecca Hall as Claire Kingsley works out that he is a hardened criminal. He brings her round by explaining that he was raised by a criminal father in prison whose wife had disappeared and brought up by a foster family part of the sub culture neighbourhood when one does not stand a chance self justification garbage. She falls for this and agrees to run away with him to Florida for a new start.
When he tells Postlewaite and his foster brother of his decision they both react negatively. The friend explains that he once killed a man who was going to kill Ben and Postlewaite says he will kill Claire if the gang do not carry out a major theft of millions of dollars from the local baseball Park (as if the customers pay by cash these days for entry or merchandise. This suggests that everyone in a 50000 crowd buys 70 dollars of fast food, drink and programmes!) Postlethwaite also discloses that he was responsible for the death of Ben’s mother.

The heist appears to go well although the Feds have become aware of when and where through the former girlfriend of Ben, the foster sister who has a child by someone else but who Ben has raised as his own. She splits on Ben, her brother and the others, in part out of revenge for his rejection of her but also from self interest of being kept out of being charged and her daughter taken into public care. The lifelong friend dies in a shoot out rather than going back to prison and the performance by Jeremy Renner was nominated for several major awards as was Pete Postlethwaite who had died after the film was made and who looked ill in his performance.

Ben is the only member of the gang who escapes and the Feds keeps watch with Claire knowing that he will contact and demand she assists or become an accessory to murder. However while she follows the script she makes a comment which is sufficient to alert Ben that he would be walking into a trap. He departs on his own but before this undertakes two actions. The first is to kill Postlewaite and his henchman. He steals a bus to the railway station and takes the train to Florida. I said there were two actions. Claire goes to the Community Garden where she finds Ben’s share of the bank robbery which she puts to restoring the local ice rink. The audience are left to make the assumption that in due course the couple are able to meet up and live together despite the FBI warning that they are a national organisation. It is a well made film but!

The other film watched is Behemoth, the title given to the computer creature created for the film and the sea serpent mentioned in the Old Testament. The film is part of a monsters week on a film channel and but unlike The Town it cannot be described as well made film of its genre.

Unbeknown to the local inhabitants the USA government has noted a number of seismic developments around the world which cannot be explained in the usual way but appear to relate to an area beneath a mountain (Lincoln) near the town of Ascension in Canada and then send observer teams and amazingly take with them a shoulder launched multi loaded war head contained in a field carried box complete with shoulder straps. Gosh they knew it was some kind of monster. Fortunately for the sake of the film they are not alone in working out that if you destroy the monster you save the world.

The area is known for many minor quakes which resulted in many buildings being destroyed two generations earlier and this has led to a retired college Professor who suffers from mental health problems requiring medication constructing a great theory that from time to time when the world gets out of balance the earth has somehow corrected itself such as the Ice Age, the Flood, the Great Plagues and that there is a connection between these events and belief in the existence of monsters who are warning that human kind needs to get its act together or be destroyed. He is convinced something catastrophic is about to happen and that for some reason the centre is their community.

A local girl has become a scientist working for whom it is not clear but studying seismic activity is concerned that the readings form local ‘boxes’ is so odd that they must have malfunctioned as appears to have occurred six months previously. She does to check out and finds that the readings are correct and her assistant back is able to confirm the development of similar readings around the world which do not appear to have any explanation but which appear to relate to some underground activity at the mountain. She decides to stay in town, not clear where, as we do not see her with any family but her uncle is the local Sheriff who is sceptical about any suggestion that the volcanic mountain officially dormant is suddenly coming to life.

In town she meets the son of the ‘mad’ professor she meets a former boyfriend, family friend, someone with whom she had a relationship, called Thomas. We learn he had a military career but I cannot remember if we are told how he earns his living and who worries about the mental condition of his father demanding that he takes his medication. Thomas has brought up his young sister Grace who is embarrassed and frightened by the behaviour of her father. She has along standing boyfriend of four years and the two plan a weekend on the mountain where her family used to go for picnics and where she plans to lose her virginity and he plans to ask her to marry him complete with engagement ring.

There are other signs of an unusual situation as a local woman dies on the mountain and is found with marks on her face and a man part of a work crew dies suddenly although he has only broken in leg as a result of the most recent seismic activity. The scientist Emily works out that during the activity fissures of carbon monoxide escape and temporarily concentrate a few feet above ground causing asphyxiation to anyone who remains in the immediate area.

Another activity causes the death of a government man working on the mountain so another arrives and seeks help to go up the mountain to investigate, He has attempted to do so by the roadway but further activity has blocked the roadway. He tries to persuade Thomas to take him but he refuses. We also see a shot of someone leaving his home on the slopes because of activity outside only to see his home disappear to roof level because of further activity, but he survives, Before the young couple go off the girl’s father tries to explain his theory about what is happening to his daughter and that quoting from the bible the only way to defeat the monster is to fire something in his mouth into his belly to split it in two.

The Sheriff is eventually convinced that something is radically wrong and that the whole mountain top could explode and single handedly evacuates the area for town to 20 miles around the mountain. The mad professor is persuaded to go and stay with a relative but before he leaves he tries to persuade the owner of the local diner he visit regularly that she must also leave. She hesitates and they are caught in further activity which results in all but the roof of the building going underground in what emerges to be a vast cavern. Learning that his daughter has gone up the mountain with her boyfriend he goes to where he thinks they might be camping and Emily volunteers to go with him. It is at this point amazingly all the members of the family become involved with the Behemoth in addition to the Government agent.

It appears that the monster a creature with a giant head and several gigantic tentacles had been trying to break out from within the cavern under the mountain and so far it has only managed to release an individual tentacle. It breath instead of fire is carbon monoxide. At the moment the young man is proposing to Grace they catch sight of the monster through one of its tentacles. During their attempt to escape the young man is lost but fortunately the girl is able to meet up with her brother and Emily and instead of getting off the mountain quickly, having met up with the government agent they are persuaded to help him retrieve the weapon. The agent is wounded and dies but Ed manages to retrieve the weapon just avoiding falling into a great chasm off the mountain. Meanwhile back in town the mad professor and his friend the diner owner has also encountered the monster viewed though the plate glass front of the diner which has cracked and therefore letting the poisoness gas inside. They managed to escape into the loft of he building and amazing out of its roof. Back on the mountain Ed and the two women make for where he knows here will be an unmanned helicopter which amazingly Emily knows how to fly. She gets the craft going while Ed sets up the weapon not knowing it contains several warheads and is uncertain what part to aim for and it is then his sister remembers what their father has said and tells him to aims into its mouth. Because it is a multiple warhead they do not go directly to where aimed despite an official lock on and his body and but also one does enter the mouth and the creature and mountain top explodes. They see her father as they fly back over the town so there is happy ever after for the family and a blossoming relationship between Ed and Emily. So nice.

I have been neglectful of Dr Who this season but the last episode of the present season was exceptionally clever and thoughtful and I can do not better than use the Wikipedia entry,

The Doctor, aware of his death at the fixed point of time on 22 April 2011 at Lake Silencio, attempts to track down the order of the Silence, to learn why he must die. He encounters the Teselecta shapeshifting robot and its miniaturised crew who are currently posing as one of the members; through them, the Doctor is led to the living head of Dorium Maldovar, one of the Doctor's allies taken by the Order of the Headless Monks. Dorium warns the Doctor that the Silence are trying to prevent him from answering the oldest question in the universe "on the fields of Trenzalore, at the fall of the Eleventh". The Doctor continues to refuse to go to Lake Silencio until he discovers his old friend, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, has passed away. The Doctor then accepts his fate. To avoid crossing his own time stream, he gives the Teselecta crew the envelopes to deliver to Amy, Rory, River Song, Canton Everett Delaware III, and a younger version of himself, inviting them to witness his death.

As shown in "The Impossible Astronaut", the Doctor joins his friends at Lake Silencio and then approaches the astronaut, now known to be a younger version of River Song trained to kill the Doctor by the Silence and Madame Kovarian. River does not want to kill him but is unable to fight the suit's control. The Doctor shows her her future self, sentenced to Stormcage prison for killing him, as evidence that her killing him is inevitable and that he forgives her for it. River, in the astronaut suit, surprises the Doctor by draining the suit's weapons systems and averting his death, despite his warning against interfering with a fixed point. Time becomes "stuck", and all of Earth's history begins to happen all at once, fixed at 5:02pm 22 April 2011.

In a time-confused London, the Holy Roman Emperor Winston Churchill takes the Doctor, his "soothsayer," out from his locked cell to ask him about the stuck time. The Doctor explains the preceding events, but notices they have lost track of time and tally marks are appearing on his arms, indicating the presence of the Silence. After they observe a nest overhead, they are rescued by Amy, leading an army of soldiers; due to the effects of the crack in her bedroom, Amy is cognisant of the altered timeline, though she has failed to notice that her trusted captain is Rory.

Amy takes the Doctor to "Area 52", a hollowed-out pyramid among the Giza Necropolis, where they have captured over a hundred Silence (in fluid-filled tanks) and Madame Kovarian. River is also there, well aware her actions have frozen time and refusing to allow the Doctor to touch her, an event that would cause time to become unstuck. They all wear "eyedrives"--eye patches identical to the one worn by Madame Kovarian that function as external memories, thus enabling them to remember the Silence.

They soon come to realise that this was a trap arranged by Kovarian, as the Silence begin to escape confinement and overload the eyedrives, torturing their users to death. The Doctor and River escape to the top of the pyramid, while Amy and Rory fight off a wave of Silence and Amy realises who Rory is. Madame Kovarian discovers her own eyedrive is being overloaded; she dislodges it, but Amy forces it back in place with the intention of killing her, explaining that this is revenge for her taking Melody away.

Amy and Rory regroup with River and the Doctor. River tries to convince the Doctor that this frozen timeline is acceptable and that he does not have to die, but the Doctor explains that all of reality will soon break down. The Doctor marries River on the spot, whispers something in her ear, declaring that he had just told her his name. He then requests that River allow him to prevent the universe's destruction. The two kiss, allowing reality to return to normal. At Lake Silencio, River kills the Doctor.

Some time later, Amy and Rory are visited by River, shortly after the events of "Flesh and Stone" in River's own timeline. When Amy explains that she had recently witnessed the Doctor's death, River reveals that the Doctor lied when he said he told her his name, instead saying "Look into my eye". The Doctor had in fact enlisted the Teselecta to masquerade as him at Lake Silenco, with the Doctor and his TARDIS miniaturised inside it ever since, which River saw during the wedding ceremony.
The three celebrate the news that the Doctor is still alive. Elsewhere, the Doctor takes Dorium's head back to where it was stored; the Doctor explains that his perceived death will enable him to be forgotten and return "to the shadows." As the Doctor leaves, Dorium warns him that the question still awaits him, and calls it after him: "Doctor who?"
A prequel to this episode was aired after the previous episode, "Closing Time". It was the fifth prequel in the series, the first four being for the episodes "The Impossible Astronaut", "The Curse of the Black Spot", "A Good Man Goes to War" and "Let's Kill Hitler". The prequel shows Area 52, with a clock stuck at the time of the Doctor's death, Silence kept in stasis and River Song wearing an eye patch in the same fashion as Madame Kovarian. As all of this is happening, there is a voice-over of the children, the same as that from "Night Terrors" and the conclusion of "Closing Time". They sing "Tick tock / goes the clock" three times, and then "Doctor, / brave and good, / he turned away from violence. / When he / understood / the falling of the silence."

Several scenes from the episode reuse footage from "The Impossible Astronaut" leading up to and immediately following the Doctor's death. The Doctor tells Dorium Maldovar, "I've been running all my life, why should I stop?", a precursive echo of his early, pre-death dialogue in "The Impossible Astronaut": "I've been running all my life...and now it's time to stop". Following the death of actor Nicholas Courtney, the Doctor learns in this episode that Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart has died peacefully in a nursing home. The Brigadier last appeared in Doctor Who in Battlefield, and the character's final appearance came in The Sarah Jane Adventures story Enemy of the Bane.

When listing all the things he could do with the TARDIS' ability to travel in time, the Doctor suggests visiting Rose Tyler in her youth (which Jack Harkness admitted in "Utopia" to having done) to help her with her homework, attending all of Jack Harkness' stag parties in one night (several of his marriages are mentioned or alluded to in "Something Borrowed" and Torchwood: Children of Earth), and returning to Queen Elizabeth I, met in "The Shakespeare Code", and mentioned in "The End of Time, Part I", "The Beast Below" and "Amy's Choice").

When the Doctor awakens in Amy's rail car office, he tries to remind her of the crack in her wall ("The Eleventh Hour") and fiddles with one of her TARDIS models ("The Eleventh Hour", "Let's Kill Hitler"). Amy's sketches include a Cyberman's face ("The Pandorica Opens") a Dalek ("Victory of the Daleks", "The Pandorica Opens", "The Big Bang"), herself seated in the Pandorica ("The Pandorica Opens", "The Big Bang"), a Silurian ("The Hungry Earth", "Cold Blood", "A Good Man Goes to War"), herself wielding a cutlass and sporting a tricorn hat ("The Curse of the Black Spot"), a Smiler's face ("The Beast Below"), a vampire girl ("The Vampires of Venice"), the first time she met the Doctor ("The Eleventh Hour"), Rory and another centurion ("The Pandorica Opens"), a side of the Pandorica ("The Pandorica Opens", "The Big Bang"), a Weeping Angel's face ("The Time of Angels", "Flesh and Stone", "The God Complex"), and the TARDIS.

Winston Churchill and River Song describe Cleopatra as, respectively, "a dreadful woman but excellent dancer" and "a pushover". River posed as Cleopatra in "The Pandorica Opens". The Fourth Doctor claimed in The Masque of Mandragora to have learned swordsmanship from a captain in Cleopatra's bodyguard. Mickey Smith implied in "The Girl in the Fireplace" that the Doctor had had some romantic history with Cleopatra and that he affectionately called her 'Cleo'. River Song states that she used her hallucinogenic lipstick on President Kennedy; she used the lipstick on guards in "The Time of Angels" and "The Pandorica Opens".

A Silent calls Rory "the man who dies and dies again". Rory dies in "Cold Blood" and appears to die in "Amy's Choice" and "The Doctor's Wife". In reference to the Doctor telling River his name, she reprises the line "Rule One - The Doctor lies" from "The Big Bang" and "Let's Kill Hitler". In "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead", River whispers something in the Doctor's ear that makes him trust her, which the Doctor states just before her death was "my name" and that "There's only one reason I would ever tell anyone my name".

The Doctor also refers to the events and conversation shortly before her death in "Forest of the Dead", stating "You, me, handcuffs - must it always end this way?" when he is handcuffed in the pyramid and reversing part of his final exchange with her in the Library during their conversation by Lake Silencio ("Time can be rewritten" / "Don't you dare!", with the first line spoken by the Doctor in the Library and River by the lake). The episode's main plot centers around the damage caused by River when she tries to re-write a fixed point in time. The Doctor tries to do this himself in "The Waters of Mars" but fails when Adelade kills herself in order to keep history the same. Fixed points in time have also been mentioned in "The Fires of Pompeii" and "Cold Blood".

Charles Dickens describes his upcoming Christmas special featuring ghosts from the past, present and future, alluding to A Christmas Carol.

Within the alternate London several previous characters reappear, including Charles Dickens (Simon Callow) from "The Unquiet Dead", Winston Churchill (Ian McNeice) from "Victory of the Daleks", and the Silurian doctor Malohkeh (Richard Hope) from "Cold Blood". William Morgan Sheppard is credited for his brief appearance in the background of the Doctor's death scene, reprised from "The Impossible Astronaut".

Mark Gatiss previously played Professor Richard Lazarus in the episode "The Lazarus Experiment", and provided the uncredited voice of Danny Boy in "Victory of the Daleks" and "A Good Man Goes to War"[4] along with a number of roles in audio dramas based on the show. He has also written for the revived series of Doctor Who. He is credited in this episode under the pseudonym "Rondo Haxton".

American television hostess Meredith Vieira recorded her report of Churchill's return to the Buckingham Senate in front of a green screen while filming a segment for The Today Show’s "Anchors Abroad" segment.[5]

Dan Martin of the Guardian noted that the episode "moves along the bigger, 50-year story and effectively reboots the show. After seven years of saving the Earth/universe/future of humanity," the show now has new impetus. Martin stated that the revelation that silence will fall when the oldest question in the universe is asked - "Doctor Who?" - will safeguard the programme for future generations.

Gavin Fuller of the Telegraph called the revelation of the Doctor escaping death by using the Teselecta a cop-out and likened it to serials of the thirties where scenes were cut and shown later to create a cliffhanger. However Fuller praised the episode as visually clever and noted that the question "Doctor Who?" harkens back to 1963 and the original theme of the show. Fuller concluded by surmising that Moffat is obviously plotting story arcs in the episode, hinting that the question will be asked at the end of the Doctor's eleventh incarnation.

Gosh and you thought this was still the Saturday evening children’s adventure series.

1593 Christmas Time TV Highs

It was not until late in the morning that I was ready to go into a sunlight so intense that it was impossible to read the dashboard monitors and check my speed although I was wearing my prescription sun glasses. The crystal light continued out to sea for some distance before hitting onto a bank of cloud which appeared to be laying on the surface of the water. It was first genuine reminder of summer for several weeks. I longed to feel the warmth of the sun and though my spirits were raised it did not immediately lift the feeling of sadness which had gripped me earlier. I became unhappy with me not the world.

The first destination of the outing was Sunderland Football club for a ticket for Boxing Day. The match marked the first return of Sam Alladyce who had made public his interest in the Sunderland Manager’s job before accepting Blackburn. I got a ticket behind the goal but close to the away supporters and just below the main concourse. It is several decades since taking a seat behind the goal mouth so it will feel a new experience.

Foolishly, especially because of what then happened, I made my way from the car park around the one way system towards Wearmouth Bridge, but it quickly became evident that everyone was heading for the town centre and last minute Christmas shopping. I ought to have anticipated this. I had driven around the corner into the Wearmouth Bridge Road on the inside lane so I continued around to the Sunderland Newcastle Road, ignoring to the two lanes of stationery traffic for the Bridge, and then crossed over to the far side lane and found myself passing where I had started but not more than five minutes earlier. The printer cartridge replacement shop on the corner was shuttered. Perhaps they had closed early for the Christmas. A new computer store has opened where I bought my wood framed double bed some six, seven or either years ago. There was further traffic build up approaching the only other bridge crossing of the wear for vehicles and pedestrians. Too lazy to get the map from the car and not remembering the name of the Bridge I attempted to find the information but instead discovered a new £100 million road bridge crossing between here and the A19. Once over the present Bridge the traffic appeared to be going to the shopping centre to the west or to the southern residential areas avoiding the city centre. I was heading for P C World next to the large B and Q centre for a new USB memory card reader as the one recently acquired ceased to function from overheating.
The new unit appears more sturdy yet cost £5 less. I will take greater care, or at least try to do so.

I did not linger but on making my way homeward, again deciding to take the coast road I stopped in Fullwell for the post office and two books of first class stamps and then at a convenience store for vinegar and some ordinary mince pies, forgotten on my visit to the supermarket the previous day.

The sun had disappeared and on reaching the sea front at Shields it was evident there had been a brief but heavy shower. The work on the South Bent Parks remains to be completed although appears nearly done. It should have been ready for August. A giant bushy Christmas Tree has appeared on the banking above the new bandstand but is undercoated. There are also small Christmas trees added to the shrubbery which surrounds two sides of the park. It was after 2pm when I returned and enjoyed a ham salad followed by ice cream.

I thought I had closed the freezer door properly. I had not and this was not discovered until going to bed. I will be eating very well tomorrow with cold meats for Christmas day meals and Boxing Day. Fortunately it was only food at the front which had commenced to defrost sufficiently to make refreezing unwise and this was moved to the refrigerator to complete the process. It is going to be a morning cook.

I was not in the mood for serious work so decided to watch Batman Begins the 2005 summer blockbuster which critics for once agreed was the best film of those brought to the large screen. I agreed with their reaction nut the film is not great entertainment and if not entertainment what is there else? The film creates a believable back story for the comic strip character, orphaned as a child by victim of the Depression the boy feels a sense of guilt and escapes top find himself as soon as he is in position to travel the world mixing with the criminal underworld to find how they live and why.

As a child he had fallen down a shaft on the estate and been frightened by the bats. Taken to the opera he presses his parents to leave midway during a scene in which flying bats are recreated and it is this is the cause of their leaving early and encountering the lethal mugger. On his travels he encounters a mysterious seer and teacher who trains him in a monastic environment at the top of a mountain Tibetan style and on his return to Gotham City, a modern international city, with the help of his guardian played by Michael Caine, he determines to use his wealth to tackle the crime and corruption which has taken over the city during his absence. Conquering his fear of bats he adopts the creature as his persona, using his wealth to acquire the latest materials and technology, and his training and natural abilities to develop the concept into the legendary cartoon strip character. All this is needed as the his mentor visits the city with the purpose of cleansing its corrupt people and only Batman is able to thwart this plan as well as tackling the major figures and their henchman who are terrorising the good people. The action takes places at night and overall the film is very dark in every sense. Just as Superman is adored by an investigative reporter Batman has a childhood female friend who has become one of the few campaigners for good as a member of city justice department. As with Superman she has contempt for the say to day alter ego of her hero but comes to realise they are the same individual.

Strip away all the contemporary fantasy creating film techniques this is a simple story of the battle between the good and evil within all of us, cowardice and fear, courage and honour. Earlier there was an amusing science fiction nonsense in which the scientist who has discovered time travel tries to hide his device as the government plan to use for military purposes, thus it was ever so, and it is time the myth and illusion was ended that those who become scientists in any field of invention and originality are unaware that their work can be out to military and negative purposes as well as for the good.

For the past six years a group of animal welfare terrorists committed acts of physical and psychological violence against a company using animals for the developments of new medicines, turning their intentions to the workforce and the suppliers. The most alarming aspect of the case was why it took so long for the authorities to catch the gang involved and bring them to justice. I have sympathy with those who find the use of any beings for experimentation unacceptable especially when paid and death are part of the trial and error involved in search for new ways to assist and further the welfare of other beings, and can also understand the mind set which changes idealists into dangerous fanatics who do harm than good, to other beings, as well as to their cause.
Work which is designed to prevent premature death or deformity, whether natural through biology and diseases, or through economic and political systems, ignorance and accident is always to be commended, except when it causes harm to some beings and where the justification is the greater good. It is the understandable defence of all governments given responsibility for the protection and furthering of the interests of the majority that they will accept the sacrifice of some in the cause of the many, although it is also the responsibility of government to seek to protects the welfare of everyone, including those who are the critics of government. However if you use means which are incompactly with the ends then you become the same as those you oppose.

In my own instance I am fighting against the reality of old age and that I no longer have the physical energy to work for as long and as consistently as five let alone ten years ago, Instead of trying to maintain and improve physical ability, I compensate by over eating which in turn means less energy and ability to work. I resent using the decreasing time when I am mentally and physically fit in non work activities such as walking or exercise within the home even if it just for half an hour. I need to break out of my present cycle into a more constructive one.

There were three stories in the overnight online news media which aroused my interest. I can understand how those who feel they have no influence on a society which they believe, usually rightly, the odds are stacked of those who already have wealth and power against those who through no fault of their own do not. The New York Times had an excellent article on why serious university students, such as the one featured, are becoming Muslim activists. Aged 20 he was ambitious and with ability and wanted to study abroad but discovered that he lacked he connections to be allowed to do so. He found that by joining the Muslim Brotherhood at University his background and connections did not matter. The article uses this example who young people across the middle east and elsewhere are turning to fundamentalist Muslim beliefs because of its inherent sense of justice and as a means of fighting in the inherent conservatism of their government a conservatism which tends to protect the existing order of power and wealth.


This may be sp but it does not auger well for the future of the rest of us. The government‘s in question and Saudi Arabia is the one likely to be regarded as the worst offender by these young people and as they article by Michael Blackman argues, are unlikely to voluntarily give up their wealth and power, or promote moderate religious or secular movements. The consequence is that young people, who might have been attracted to democratic movements, genuine socialist developments now find themselves in the vanguard of preaching an intolerant fundamentalism which requires the state to reflect the religion in its worst as well as better aspects. One bright development is that of the educated young women who do not accept that adoption of the faith requires them to become slaves to an exclusively male view of religion although this will require considerable sacrifice and martyrdom from some, for just as those with the wealth and power oppose anything or anyone who could affect their position adversely young Muslim men, supported by their religious teachers and elders will oppose all suggestions of a religion or state in which there is equality between the sexes.

It is also unfortunately a truth that in all movements based on strict acceptance of a hierarchical structure the realistic compliance of the majority is required and the elimination of dissent becomes a priority. Recently I watched again the film of George Orwell’s Animal Farm in which the rules are revised in order to suit the changing needs of the new hierarchy as they become more and more like the people they initiated the revolution against. It is always those who question who are eliminated first and it is no accident that under Communism and Fascism and other Dictatorship hierarchies that the dissenter, the free thinker and the artist are the first to be persecuted, expelled or worse still executed.

I am still optimistic that president Elect Obama will use his ability to command a consensus to bring about real change. The way he distanced himself from the corrupt politicians mortgaging their integrity to the lobbyists and worse augurs well and it is encouraging that he has sown distance between himself and the transitional team and the State Governor only the last in a succession of corrupt men. It was right to release the findings of the internal investigation.

A more difficult test is the approach taken in how the billion age package of economic stimulation will be focussed. The understandable response of State Governments and Legislatures is to press for every road highway scheme on the books to be brought forward. The proposed Sunderland River Wear Crossing in Britain is an example of this. However I share in the view of the environmentalists that we do not need more road or more vehicles unless they can become carbon monoxide free. The same applies to new airport runways. The problem is that many of these projects are shovel ready while the new grids for wind and solar polar are in the early stages of planning and development. My local Council sent an email pressing residents to limit the extent of paper and other immediately wasted material used for Christmas presents. Well done. I had already taken heed.

1372 The Duke of Edinborough. On a Clear Day, and Sun

To-day, May 12th 2008 I needed to relax and reflect and get myself back into a working momentum. I watch some films and TV programmes.

The most significant event of the day occurred in Westminster when the Chancellor with the Prime Minister at his side admitted that the decision to abolish the 10 pence tax rate was wrong because of the subsequent political consequences and announced he was borrowing billions of pounds to give all standard tax payers a one off additional tax allowance which be worth about £120. As the opposition pointed out this is a bribe to prevent the significant loss of the bi election caused by the death Gwyneth Dunwoody. I do not expect this to stem the political tide away from the government but it might quell for the moment the pressure on the Prime Minister to give way to a candidate able to compete in the country with the Conservative Leader who is able to walk on water at the present time. However the damaged caused by the publication of books by Lord Levy and former Deputy Leader John Prescott coupled with the threat by Frank Field all built up the pressure in what will appear to have been a panic attack in the country at large. Gordon has got to stop giving the impression he is doing one thing for reasons of national interest and political conviction and then doing the opposite when expedient for his political survival.

Yesterday I watched part of the first part of a portrait of the Duke Edinburgh, Prince Philip, born 1921 of the Danish, Norwegian and Greek Royal households before marrying Princess Elizabeth and the Queen. Unfortunately I fell asleep and missed the end, but this was made up by giving full attention to the second part tonight. He has always been someone who although very different in personalities and interests to me, I have admired. I thought he was guarded and unusually reserved as he drove Trevor MacDonald around the Sandringham estate and where he has taken the lead management responsibility as well as for Buckingham Palace, Windsor and Balmoral, and any other properties owned and managed by monarch and which are separate from those owned and managed by their children and grand children.

The programme was designed to present the picture of the man amazingly active given that he is over 85, that is sixteen years older than me, and who after a long life supporting the Queen in her official functions as the Monarch and with a family four children and grandchildren (great grand children?) and personal interests cannot retire and give his remaining years to doing what he would like and in the way he would like. Such was the price when he married Princess Elizabeth, but never expecting that he would be required to give up his naval career and traditional role as head of the household through the early death of her father. It was also designed to squash once and for all the allegations concerning his relationship with Princess Diana and with her death.

The film yielded some remarkable facts such as that he has made over 200 visits to over sixty countries, about three a year, on his own to the Commonwealth showing the flag in addition to accompany the Queen on her visits. I cannot remember the 100's of organisations where he has agreed to be patron and where the film evidence his unique and direct involvement in their affairs, giving support such as to injured troops and widows and families of those who have died, commiserating with those who have preserved the Cutty Sark and have to start again after the recent fire, reminding of what happened at Windsor castle, and continuing with his promotion of the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme which has affected the lives of several million young people within the Commonwealth. He has also had his own interests from sailing and Polo which he only took up after joining the Royal Family, to his more recent carriage driving, where he has had three falls one of which was shown and where he got up and continued to finish the event. The programme uses the latest portrait by a young fashionable artist which I thought even through camera lens was brilliant and seemed to capture a man of great worldly experience and understanding with a wicked I can't stand those who take themselves too seriously humour. He came across as the kind of man who would get on with John Prescott and Ken Clark). The programmes did not attempt to covers some of the characteristics from his out of context comments which the media loved to use from time to time, to he and the Queen being strong character with their own views and having a traditional view of the man as head of the household and a Gordonstoun view of upbringing bearing in mind his mother was out of his life and appears to have had a distant relationship with him beforehand. Perhaps the insider's knowledge of public polls about him led to what I regard as the unnecessary attempt to portray a good image although I suppose it is required in days when an increasing percentage of the population have no idea of how the Uk and the its Empire has changed during last fifty years. When he married the future Queen Britain headed an Empire Commonwealth of two billion people.

Of similar absorbing interest was a programme about three youngsters whose a parents are sacrificing their own lives to enable their children to achieve their dreams although why the youngsters had dreams and why the parents were making sacrifices in time, money and their own relationships was as interests as whether the youngster would make it in later life. What impressed me about the 12 year old Trombonist who won Young Musician of the Year is how normal he was and how normal and cohesive appeared to be his family. In tonight's programme there was a racing skier, a Wimbledon hopeful and a stage school performer. On the basis of the film I would be surprised if any made international greatness although the young skiers was the most likely

He was a likeable boy with a remarkable family. His father had potential as a skier but his family were unable and possibly unwilling to make the changes which are necessary if someone form GB is to become a professional racing skier. You have to live, train and compete in the Alpine countries and the racing season. To do this his father was giving up lucrative work as a stunt man to live with his son in the villa of friend while his mother looked after their daughter back home. What the parents were doing was to give the son the opportunity to understand what was involved in terms of training and competition if he was to make his dream a reality and what was evident is that despite the financial commitment said to be in the region of £40000 a season in terms of lost income and expenses, the moment the son changed his mind and said he did not want the life or found that he could never be good enough, the family would move on and both parents would know that they had said yes to the dream, and knew that the venture had been a great experience for the family. I hoped the boy make's it where almost no one from the UK has succeeded before. I also hope the efforts of the family will be recognised with popshop to ensure than money is no obstacle.

It may be that the fourteen year old with a single parent mum has the talent and drive to reach the top fifty world tennis players in which to make the kind of living to compensate for spending the great part of the time around the world with all its implications for relationships and family life. He was talented enough to merit a Lawn tennis Association grant of £5000 a year but which was only a token of the costs of training, travelling and accommodation which meant his mother struggling with the financial costs and unable to be with her son when he was competing. The young man frequently loses it on court verbally attacking judges and opponents in such a way that it was evident that this is more than aggressive competitiveness and was a problem which if untreated would end his chances prematurely. There was little evidence in the programme that he would overcome his self destructive temperament before he reached the adult tennis playing world.

Very little also emerged of the talent of the third young person featured although I was confused about the position. My understanding is that this one girl from a family of six girls attends full time an established London stage school with separate theatrical agency involving a daily round trip of three hours, added to which the child receives additional coaching presumably to make up for the lack of natural ability, added to which he mother assisted by he father were managing a cabaret event which involved some or all of the other daughters plus those from the stage school which involved rehearsing during the day and family rehearsing into the early hours in what appeared to be an endless day of activity from dawn until late night. This all appeared to arise because the mother's career as a dancer was abruptly halted through an accident and her belief that if she kept her daughters fully occupied they would not become teenage mothers, a misguided recipe like to have the opposite effect because if I was the any of lasses in question I would get myself pregnant to escape from the life my parents were imposing upon me. This may sound hard but what the young girl communicated is that she was doing all this not because she enjoyed it or wanted to be the best at it, but because she wanted to be famous and have a better life than she could otherwise expect. She was shown doing some work involving an acting photo shoot for one of those comic like books picture books which some parents allow their daughters to read rather than literature. I appreciate that in order to fulfil potential one has to work hard but the evidence is that one needs to be an educationally and culturally rounded individual if you going to reach the top and sustain our position. I feared for the future of this girl and her sisters.

On a clear day was the most enjoyable of the three films which followed on from the Full Monty in following how one man made redundant from a ship yard after three and half decades faced up to the rest of his life and hit on swimming from Dover to Calais as a form of Atonement for being unable to save one of his sons from drowning two decades before. This was not however a film about following a dream regardless of the cost but an attempt to find a future for himself and re-establish relationships with his son and grand children. Billy Boyd of the Lord of the Rings played his natural self as a friend from work, as did Brenda Blethyn as his wife who passed her bus driving test at a third attempt. This film is a blatant attempt to reassure the working class that they can survive the occupational mobility require by Britain's changing position in the world, but also did not shirk from showing something of the reality of doing so. It is a better film than some critics gave credit and the characters were honest with integrity and with some depth, despite the feel good ending.

A very different film was Sun directed by the Russian Alexander Sokurov and part of a trilogy which looks closely into the personalities of Hitler, Stalin and Emperor Hirohito. It is a dark film in Japanese and attempts to get into soul of the man who was treated by his people as divine in the days before the use of atomic weapons (critic Mark Leaper showed his age by referring to nuclear) he was forced to spend his time in the bunker as the allies had successfully bombed the rest of his palace except for the equally fortified marine biology lab which was his interest. Although regarded as a God the portrait was of a man restricted and controlled by the ritual and outlook of the military and upper class establishment. With the film's Director making an interesting that Japan was a different culture from the rest of Asia just as Britain is from the rest of Europe because of our Island geographies, although as mentioned earlier it should never be underestimated the impact of the UK Britain effectively controlling a quarter of the world population from Queen Victoria through to the second world war.

I was struck by the differences in British approach to the German, Japanese and Russian Military in the second world war. The professional solders, airman and sailors of German were held in the highest esteem by British armed service professional throughout both world wars because they followed the same code. There was little respect of the Russians who used their population as cannon fodder and where the Japanese were regarded warrior fanatics, prepared to kill themselves than be dishonoured by capture. In this fil as in other and some histories, the Emperor is portrayed as a childlike innocent more interested in marine biology than what his generals were doing and imprisoned by a culture which regarded him as a God who had to eb protected to last drop of Japanese blood. I learnt that some historians have argued he was much more in control and willing supporter of Japanese imperialism than has been presented since his surrendeer to General McArthur.

The third film was also about World War 2 and unashamedly propogandist but designed for home consumption than influencing the enemy. The first message was that all branches of the American forces had essential parts to play in a whole team effort required if the war was to be won, and as insufficient point was made throughout the film Tyrone Power explains this in detail to the audience as the film ends. The second message was that the war task meant that men had to avoid emotional entanglements which might upset their ability to focus on their war jobs and for women to play fair and be loyal while their men were away and provide uncomplicated love and security when they came home on leave or at the end of hostilities. There was also a third message that if given the choice the older man should be prepared to sacrifice themselves for the younger, and a fourth that the previous standards and methods of warfare had to be put aside as the enemy was capable of using any and all means to win and that great courage and skill would be necessary by American forces. But the message was also optimistic in that follow the recipe and you will be successful in the war and come home to love of your life and the love of your family and the respect of your community.