1938 The new politicians speak

The House of Commons continues to discuss the coalition government policy and programmes announced in the Queens speech to Parliament and the debates are also providing the opportunity for new members, some two hundred and fifty, to make their first speech in the chamber.

These follow a pattern which the retiring members, and the older members, attempt to control. On Monday twenty two new members spoke on a day when the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg covered Constitutional matters, and the Home Secretary, Theresa May, covered Home Affairs. Each new Member was allocated seven minutes. While the majority followed the set structure and content, several attempted to change the order in which they thanked the people who had voted for them and promised to listen and represent their views and the views of everyone else. This is clearly impossible to do in practice and against human nature.

What the Member is actually saying is that they will take up matters where there are indications of injustice at home or abroad or there is a failure of service, after the individual or individual family has followed the procedure for taking up the matters directly with those responsible. It is understandable that the Member, and whoever undertakes constituency work for the Member if they hold a position in Government or on the opposition front benches. I estimate that over a third of the membership of the House of Commons are engaged directly in government, around 100 or in opposition 150 given that all the representatives of the minority parties will, undertake more than one subject interest and become the lead speaker in debates, in committee and asking questions. While the Member of Parliament will hold surgeries where they will meet individual constituents, the issues are usually followed up their staff and this is where the Minister’s or Shadow Minister’s Parliamentary Private secretary will have an important role in following through referrals which require the attention of other Ministers and their departments. There was reference to one or two outstanding cases which have received national media attention during yesterday’s session which commenced at 3.30 after the conclusion of questions and ended at 10pm when the House divided and the Coalition had a majority of close to 100 350 votes to 250. Thus revealing the reality of the ability of the coalition to get its business agreed throughout the Commons and why there is the threat to create a sufficient number of new members to ensure the second chamber reflects the democratic vote.

The second constituency function of individual Members of the Commons is to raise issues which affect their communities in general, usually maters affecting employment opportunities, the replace of an old hospital or school with a new building, or some, often long standing issue, such as in Northumberland the creating of a dual carriageway through the rural areas of the A1 to Edinburgh has remain an objective on the agenda of successive government but only after a large number of other priorities, including the ongoing maintenance of existing motorways is covered. One new member yesterday, I think from Suffolk mentioned his intent to gain a stretch of dual carriageway at one end of his constituency but admitted a lack of optimism in having learnt that the same intent was included in the first speech of the former Member who was first elected in 1997.

A major part of the every speech by a new Member is to mention the achievements of their predecessor. This is an easy task for many if their member held office in government or opposition front bench, or both, or had a known record of achievement as a backbencher. It is obviously more difficult to praise members who were disgraced because of the expenses scandals.

The next function of the first speech is to promote the constituency as a place to work and to visit because of its beauty and attractions. There was a good rivalry between the new members as to whether their constituency was paradise within Gods on Country, a sentiment directly expressed by the son of Lord Rees Mogg, Jacob, in relation to the west country although he was challenged by Members from areas as north Glasgow which included Loch Lomond, South Wales and Dylan Thomas country and Suffolk. Several Members also put in bids for a piece of the new environmental initiatives, including the promise of the previous government to contribute £20 million to Nissan for the development of an electric car. The Prime Minister confirmed the funds are to be released in Question time on Wednesday morning

One device to attract attention which several new Members followed was to praise their local newspapers, thus ensuring what they had to say would be reported to their constituents.

There are two other important purposes for the first speech of new Members. They try to attract the attention of their front benches and their colleagues in the House by telling jokes that are funny, by their passion, or their confidence and fluency and with the best achieving all three. The other purpose is to indicate their special knowledge or interest and which is why they choose to make their speech during one debating session rather than another. To describe the situation as a debate is a misnomer given the required format for these speeches and it is a very brave individual who decides not to make the attempt to cover the required approach. It has not to be forgotten that all but one or two members have been selected to represent political parties and will be expected to follow the agreed party line when it comes to voting and in broad terms to support or oppose the actions of the executive.

I know turn to the substantive features of the debate which was opened by the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. It is evident that there is considerable resentment on the Labour benches about his rise to power and decision to form a coalition with the Conservatives. There is also resentment and caution on the Conservative benches about the way he was able to hold the party to ransom in the negotiations which led to his appointment as second to Mr Cameron.

His main contribution was to emphasis government determination to proceed with the reform of the House of Lords given that it is nearly 100 years since any government proposed to abolish heredity peers from sitting in the chamber. In order to expedite, a committee has been formed agree on a model to be presented as a draft legislation to Parliament and to the people of Britain. This will comprise the political managers from the three Parties which included the abolition and replacement in their election manifestoes, and therefore exclude the nationalist parties for Ireland, Wales and Scotland who were incensed especially at being presented with a fait accompli. There are those who would like to see the House of Lords remain in its present form without the executive being able to take full control and therefore limit further its power to revise legislation and keep the executive under scrutiny

Later at 10pm with around 600 members still in the chamber the deputy Leader of the House introduced the orders which enabled the setting up a new standing committee of the Commons to monitor the role and the powers of the Deputy Prime Minister not covered by other Standing Committees. The role of the Cabinet office in general is already covered. The introduction and questioning lasted one hour.

The other burning issue raised by Conservative, Labour and other members was the decision to create a situation where the House of Commons cannot be dissolved and a general election without a request by 55% of the House of Commons instead of 51% as now. This is a device to ensure that in the event of Coalitions continuing, it is not possible for the majority Party to force the minority party into accepting a minor role with the threat of dissolution within the fixed Parliament term. Understandably the Labour Opposition and hard lime Conservatives do not want the Coalition to last a full Parliament because there would be a greater likelihood of the electoral changes being implement which in turn will make future coalitions more likely. I can see the government having to accept at 51% vote if following a defeat of particular legislation a vote of confidence is carried and a new government made out of a new coalition is not possible.

The other area of contention is the proposal to create a fairer distribution of votes in constituencies in a situation where there is one constituency in Scotland for an Island with a population of 20000 and another in England. The Island of Wight, which is a constituency of over 100000. This is clearly not fair. However achieving a better balance while reducing the total number of MPs will pose problems. Part of the value of the Member of Parliament is to represent a defined area with individual characteristics.

The session also covered Home Affairs and here the issue which concerned many speakers, not all female, is the plan to give anonymity to those accused of rape until the point of a conviction. The Government, with some support from members of the Commons Committee who examined the subject had responded those who felt that because of media interest, individuals subsequently found not guilty found their lives and those of their families significantly adversely affected. However critics rightly in my judgement believe that in selecting these defendants for special treatment it creates the wrong signals, making it more difficult for victims to come forward and casting doubt in the kinds of juries from the outset of any trial. Moreover it is disclosure of the name of the accused that can lead to other women coming forward although in response to an adjournment debate, the Government Minister offered to hear evidence on this point. My impression is that the government has been affected by the widespread concern from members across the Parties about this proposal and may consider some concession such as anonymity between arrest and the decision to prosecute.

There was also concern at the decision of the Coalition to bring in further controls on CCTV cameras although the emphasis is on control rather than removal of existing camera. In a situation where Britain has more cameras than anywhere else. However I do not see this as a valid argument given the widespread popularity among the public of the use of cameras to provide security and help solve crimes and find or help in, missing people. I suspect this is more cost cutting than a major issue with the electorate.

This afternoon the Government introduced the Bill to abolish Identity cards. This again is something I had no quarrel with but I also appreciated that it was part of a number of authoritarian measures which the Labour Part introduced. I accept that criminals and terrorists would find ways to bypass any new system but the idea of keeping an ongoing register of where people are and their status between the ten year census was a good one.

I also had no quarrel with the widening of the DNA database which has been instrumental in solve past as well as current crimes and similar with the biometric passport which would carry a fingerprint. My objection is to the intrusion and misuse of powers by local authorities and other bodies using the Terrorist legislation for their own purposes, and the attempt to end some trials and inquests by jury.

The last day of the Queen’s speech debates revealed that Newcastle Central has elected its first black Member of Parliament. in fact the first black Member of Parliament in Newcastle and I suspect the whole North East. Moreover although she was born in the UK, her father came from Biafra, and she moved to Nigeria when a baby but when the Biafran civil war broke out her mother brought their children back to England while he remained in the Biafran army. Chi Onwurah gained an Engineering degree from Imperial College and an MBA from Manchester Business school and has worked abroad as well as head of Telecom technology at OFCOM. Her maiden speech left several people Gob smacked and the Government Minister replying to the last debate on the Queen's speech singled her out of all the 22 new members for special praise, and hopefully not a kiss of death predicated she would quickly become a major figure for the Opposition, I also thought the brother of Boris Johnston was self deprecatingly funny but best of all the new Conservative Member of Parliament for Grantham praised the labour government for their approach to equal opportunity and rights as a Gay man! I wonder what Mrs Thatcher thinks of that!

1440 Not a memorable day

How can I describe my Sunday. It was a good day but not a great day, nor one to be remembered. Dissatisfaction with myself was minimal and dissatisfaction with others was limitrgf to the English cricket team who once again failed to perform and are clearly heading for a humiliating defeat. In contrast Durham won again this time in the 40 over mini league where eight games are played. The significance of the win is that they were playing Middlesex CC away from home, the tem they will play in the semi finals of the 20 20 competition if they win the quarter final at home against Glamorgan. It was early on Sunday that I realised that I had misunderstood the form which said it had to be returned to the Box Office before start of play and immediate thought in terms of having to arrive for the 3.30 opening of gates on the day of the match. I realised that I could have posted back, or better still taken the form immediately to the box office on the Saturday morning. I therefore made the trip on Sunday just after lunch only to find there was no posting box for the main reception area so had to bring the form back home! During the afternoon and early evening I kept in contact with the Durham game at Middlesex via teletex although between 1pm and 3 while I watched Louis Hamilton win the German grand Prix, his second win in succession and which resulted in giving him a four point lead at the top of the table. Both events watched on TV engendered a good feeling.

The second George Gently, (played by Martin Shaw), police detective mystery set in 1960's North East failed to engage, despite an appearance by Geordie actor Tim Healey as a Pig Farmer. There was nothing original, quirky or startling about the programme or any sense of achievement in working out who did it, although not why, about half an hour before the end. I stayed on channel to watch the Vicar of Dibley where the highlight was a Marmite cake.

Although the sun came out early afternoon there was no inclination to attend the afternoon oldies rock concert in the park, the wisdom of which was confirmed with several harsh showers. A late lunch of roast chicken and the Formula One race out paid to going when the weather was at its best, I enjoyed a olive pasta in the evening with a ham sandwich for tea, with a Cornetto type ice cream, some grapes and a banana at various times during the day.

The main activity involved project work, planning the mini trips in weeks ahead and some work on photographs. It was a non descript day and therefore there is little, to say.

1439 My second most Favourite film and a good Emperor of sorts

I watched again the Shoes of the Fisherman, my second most favourite film to Casablanca. I watch every time it is shown on television, and I have a second printing in 1965 of the 1963 Australian edition of the Morris West novel. He is also the author of the more book also made into a commercially popular film, the Devils Advocate. There are several reasons why I can watch the shoes of the Fisherman time and time again and find new profundity.

Kiril, recently created Cardinal Lakota, spent twenty years in Russian Labour Camps in Siberia, before being released in a deal between the new Russian Leader, Kiril's former chief interrogator, and the Vatican, in the belief that he could act as a bridge in a world increasingly at the brink of catastrophe as the capitalist nations are unwilling to allow a China facing starvation to buy grain in their market. The reluctant Arch Bishop is first made a Cardinal to fulfil his allotted role and then is pressed into being the Pope when the incumbent suddenly dies. He quickly finds himself called upon to act as a bridge between China and Russia, and between China and Russia and Capitalism. At his inauguration ceremony as Pope he announces that the church will divest of its wealth to help feed the starving and he calls up everyone else to do likewise. So a romantic and idealist swipe at the way the Catholic Church has become corrupted by power and the money lenders? It is that and so much more.

It is a film which also explores the nature of Christianity and Catholic faith in the contemporary material and scientific world and achieving a balance between the forces of reaction and revolution, and between change and stability at a time of great threat and crisis. Today the environmental threat and the terrorist threat has replaced the communist threat as the means by which states can hold power over their people. Although this is not imply that the threats do not exist and require states to take action in defence of the prevailing values and power structures as the Roman Emperors once did against Christians and the against the Jews, Christian then fighting against Muslim, Non Conformist against Conformist, Muslim against Jew and on and on and on and on.

It is a film about so much more, the loneliness of hold office, the imprisonment by systems with their innate and healthy conservatism, the relationships between men and women and the nature of love and marriage, and the complexity of having principles and sticking to them whatever the circumstances.

Had I not noticed the showing of the film later into the evening I would have given first priority to Hadrian, a comprehensive consideration of his role and lasting influence in an excellent BBC documentary to mark the holding of a British Museum exhibition about the Roman Emperor. Like most people, I suspect, if I had learnt more about his life than he was responsible for the seventy odd miles of wall between Wallsend on the north bank of the Tyne a little way up river across from where I live at South Shields, and which continued on towards the Solway firth on the West Coast in what is now Cumbria. I had forgotten if I ever knew that this wall, stretches of which survive and are conserved along with the remains of the forts used to guard the British boundary to the Roman Empire, was the second shorter length of a wall which marked the northern limits of the empire across the rest of Europe, and that through North Africa and the middle east there were the southern stretches, shorter because of the natural boundaries of nature, desert and mountain, Nor had I known that he spent the greater part of his time in office touring the empire, not just improving the defences but development the 400 or so cities not just as places of power but also of recreation and culture. However his public works were designed to strengthen his own power and regard during his lifetime and in the belief that he was not just divine but a great one. Although he has come to be regarded as one of a group of five overall good Emperors, such an opinion is only held by non Jews because of the way he put down their rebellion against his determination to turn Jerusalem into a Pagan city, killing over half a million people, destroying their towns and villages by the hundreds. Despite his standing today he would have rightly been condemned and convicted of racist war crimes,

It was for me also a great day for sport as Durham had a tremendous win at the Oval and now heads the championship and with a game in hand over several close rivals I received through the post an application form for a ticket for 20 20 final which if deposited at the Box Office before play and we win the match could mean getting one of the 1000 allocated seats at Finals Day. I have only just realised that the sooner I get the application to the ground the better, so will make the trip later today, having previously considered waiting until Tuesday. Louis Hamilton also gained the first spot on the grid in the German Grand Prix, but England toiled at Headingley. There was also a great little film about six of the cars which have dominated races held at Silverstone, showing the changes in power and performance as well as safety over the years. This brought back many memories with Fangio and the Maserati, the Ford Lotus, the Benetton's and the recent lightweight electronic wizardry which makes the car react like wearing a glove.

I enjoyed the first of the semi finals of The last Choir Standing ion which five choirs competed for two places in the public week by week knock out phase. There were two programmes, and in the first the choirs sang twice with attention paid to choreography and to virtuoso performances within the choir, followed by one selected to the final and one eliminated. The three remaining choirs then sang again once in the second programme of the evening and one of these was selected, The judges went for a Liverpool community choir and younger choir from Wales. I thought a Scottish group edged the sing off, but what do I know. I certainly do know that those participating in the USA talent show are not as good as in the British series although again it is the singers who dominate.

I also took the first steps about understanding wireless internet technology and continued two days of odd meal mixtures with on Friday eating a Cornetto type cream before two bream fishes and for the evening meal on Saturday having a large plate of Chinese starters with a barbecue dip as the main course! It was that sort of day, cold and wet and which much reflection on the end of days.

1438 More films

Friday 18th July has been a day of slow and solid working in preparation for the activity over the next fortnight, weather permitting, and then a film a significance and then a failure to progress for several hours. I will talk first of After Life, a film made in Japan

Twenty two people of varying ages have died and find themselves in a decaying and poorly furnished building when they are informed they have three days to select the one memory they would like to remember for eternity at the exclusion of all others. Having selected the memory it is recreated as a film with actors and cinematography effects to ensure it is as they wish to remember. It has to be an authentic memory and the organisers of the situation are able to provide video tapes of all previous experience for anyone who has difficulty in deciding or remembering. On the seventh day the films are shown and then they go to where they may well spend eternity.

Anyone who has read anything of what I have said about my work will understand that this film is at the core of my concept although as with two of the twenty two in the film I baulk at having to select just one memory and I recreate as much as I can, everything both happy and sad, interesting, unique, everyday and boring, while also adding to the total of experience, attempting to outweigh the bad with the good, as I do my overall contribution to humanity. even if I don't write about what I do and think because it is confidential or too painful to attempt to put into words. I am obligated to what I believe to include all experience.

I suppose if one only has a good memory or a memory that is important to you and no others there is no sense of loss, emptiness, guilt, failure, disappointment, fear on pain. It is therefore impossible to make a judgement whether this form of being would be better than my present all embracing experience recreation.

In the film there three souls when they died, one towards the end of World War II who help the new arrivals to select a memory and then ensure that it is recreated as they would wish on film and therefore are crucial facilitators into the passage of the newly dead into a good eternity. It emerges as the film progresses that these three failed to come to a decision, hence their role in this limbo, in which it is evident they continues to remember their lives. It is presumed that those whose life end without redefining qualities have moved straight into a hell where they are locked into a bad memory, where ones sense of justice hopes it will be appropriately horrific and painful according to the weight of their sins.

Only of secondary interest was the moments which individuals selected and which reflected the overall nature of their lives and personalities. I found that the film had a bleak view of life, albeit a realistic one. Although also realistic in its appraisal of individual lives and human behaviour, the Russian film The Wedding was a much more enjoyable affair, confirming my long held view that the communist or any from of ideology is doomed to failure when imposed upon an uneducated and predominantly. peasant population because all they want to do is eat, have sex and make merry and will support any individual or group who promises this in the present or in a future life. Appealing to Christian and socialistic values is something which will only having meaning and significant to a minority.

I continue to marvel at the Royal Albert Hall as a building and as place to celebrate good music. I should must check to see if there is a tour on my next visit to London was well as the promenade concert. My three days where the highlight was to have been the visit to Lords begins to have as good an appeal. The sight of the Royal Albert hall at the first night of the Promenade concert brings back the memory of that first time as a seventeen year old when I purchased a first half seasons season ticket with entry to the first night and where I then went to most concerts arriving home for bed to get up in time for a trip back to London and work for the day. Last night I only caught the second half of the programme which feature music of the musical mind rather than the romantic soul, especially the solo piece on the renovated organ with its thousands of pipes and I was taken back to a church in the South of France on a very hot summer's day where the organist whether intending to do so or not gave a recital to the otherwise deserted building for an hour or so.

After midnight it was a replay of the best of last weekends T in the Park, the Scottish Glastonbury and where it became evident that there are a small group of A list bands who are doing the festivals across Europe, with Amy, The Ting Tings. The Kings of Leon, the Fratellis. The Raconteurs, all appearing this year and with the exception of the Tung Tings listed for next. This appears to be much more of a Rock fest than an environmental harking back to flower power days with approaching 200 bands listed on some nine stages over the three days. Such is the amazing support for this festival and 40000 early bird tickets for the 2009 event were sold out within ten hours of launching yesterday. The style of the fest voted the best of 2008 is on safety and security. Young people aged between five years and sixteen can only attend if they pay the full price and have appropriate guardianship documentation and there is strict regulation designed to ensures that everyone enjoys the music with the minimum of the usual side problems associated with such gatherings. For around £1000 there is a Tip ready erected tent available with car parking and hospitality passes still available for the weekend for two with the option of additional 4 tickets at the rate of £230, so the total cost for a party of six sharing a tent is around £2000, around £340 which is not bad.

I managed to get the alarm clock to work but as is usual in such situation I awoke beforehand. Although there was a light rain I decided to walk down arriving first in line around 8.15 am and there were at least five waiting when called in just after 8.30. The sample would be marked urgent so it was hoped the results would be available on line in time for my appointment on Monday. The sporting highlight was Will Smith getting a double century at the Oval, but Surrey responded well as at present it looks as if there mat h could result in a draw unless Durham get a breakthrough of a couple of wicket before lunch time and finish of the rest quickly afterwards. England struggled woefully in the Test on a challenging Headingley wicket and the failed to strike back with their new opener with only 11 county matches, having lived most of his life in Australia. This all smacks of a power battle going on between the Cricket Board and the Players over the development of huge money earning private cricket league in India earlier and the refusal of the Board to allow current registered players to participate. I am guessing but my intuition about such situations is usually right.

1437 Abbe's film, a Japanese film, and cricket

To-day Thursday July 17th will be remembered as Mamma Mia Day. Between the mid nineteen seventies and 1982 I adored Abba, the Swedish Group Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny and Anni Frid. I have a CD and a Video of their greatest hits, enjoyed the film of their stage performance and rarely miss a programme about the group and their music. I have wanted to see the stage show although I knew little about its construction, except it was built around the 1968 film caper Buena Sierra Mrs Campbell which starred Gina Lollobrigida who is confronted with her past twenty years after the end of World War 2 when the three GI's who could be the father of her daughter return on a reunion trip.

I had forgotten this when I went to see the film Mama Mia at lunchtime today and found the theatre over half full although the film it is over a week since its opening. Given that a significant percentage of the audience were born after the group ended and their music is rarely played on the radio I was interested by what had brought them to theatre, especially as afterwards I discovered that the film has had mixed reviews. Perhaps they have seen the stage show on a visit to London or when it has been on tour. I assumed that any story was a loose framework for a celebration of the songs. I was wrong and contrary to several reviews that I have read, I thought it was a wonderful film and a great musical film which I now place alongside the Sound of Music, Cabaret, Evita, Moulin Rouge and the Phantom of the Opera. However the two best musicals I have seen on stage are Les Miserables and my favourite Miss Saigon which I saw at least three times and where in both instances I have the full show on tape and still listen from time to time on long journeys.

The story has been updated to the eighties when the music when Abba music was at its peak but the basic storyline remains that of a young woman who became a sixties hippy on a Greek Island, whose twenty year old daughter is having a formal wedding, and discovers from her mother's diary that her father could be one of three men. The weakness in the story is how after twenty years, the daughter manages to track down all three men in time for them to arrive just before her big day to enable her to work out which is her father and walk her down the aisle. Leaving this question to one side I marvelled at the way the lyrics were effectively built into the story and how the strong cast managed to combine several well acted and serious moments especially involving Pierce Brosnan and Meryl Streep with genuine humour, a sense of fun and having a party. There are 24 hits in the 108 minute film which I plan to see again and buy the DVD when it becomes available as a special offer. I might even see if I can get a special offer ticket for the London show when I am next in Town.

This morning I delayed going for a blood test in order to then do a shop, and have a sandwich lunch before the cinema visit on what has remained a poor weather day with regular drizzle and on the cold side. Unfortunately I had not read the form which I was told to take in the advisory letter and which stated that I should not eat or drink anything from 10pm the night before. The penalty is that I have to get there first thing in the morning, preferably first in the queue before 8.30 in order to get the results back in time for my health check on Monday. I will need the alarm so will do a test after the evening meal.

I did find out that the Japanese film about two brothers where one is charged with the death of a their shared love interest is called Sway. I watched the third and fourth parts of the Elizabeth Gaskell's story Wives and Daughters, another brilliant BBC adaptation along with the best of Bronte and Jane Austin. I saw the second part yesterday but missed the first.

The activity and going out when there is good weather is all unsettling my working rhythm so there is a certain amount of conflict every day between what I need to do and want to do. I have a busy and interesting two weeks ahead to look forward to so I must get my head down and work hard tomorrow after the blood test although there is the Test on Sky and the Open Golf on BBC as well as keep abreast with Durham's progress against Surrey where after a shaking start to their first innings Smith and Mustard have given a lead with their own wickets intact one scoring over 120 and the other over 60. Hopefully they will survive the early morning attack to build up a lead which will make victory and a return to the top of the championship .

1436 Films, More on the Durham fiasco and some politics

I experienced Pan's Labyrinth again. The DVD arrived over a week ago but I delayed viewing until I felt in the mood to give the work my undivided attention. Usually when the story is familiar I lose the emotional engagement. Afterwards I attempted to obtain the Wikipedia review as a marker that I had seen the film again but was unable to find one, but what caught my eye was a review or Blog headed one of the greatest films of the 21st century. That is a premature boast given we are yet to completed its first decade, and in fact a judgement only possible in about a century from now. I suspect that by then it will be possible for everything we do and say to be experienced by anyone, anywhere, anytime with the technology and the only difference between what I do now and that situation is that there will have been a comprehensive record from birth and until death. Will the fictional film have been abandoned as all the real life events of everyone everywhere become viewable?

Pan's Labyrinth is a brilliant film combining the impact of the Spanish Civil War upon a small local community with the imagination of an unhappy young girl who has lost her father and whose mother has taken up with a previous acquaintance who becomes a ruthless local commander of the fascists, but he could just as well as have been a ruthless local commander of the communists. The mother character would have been happier living among the Maasai tribe which was the subject of Tribal Wives last night.

In the traditional Maasai Society which he film attempted to portray the female from girlhood is a slave of the men uneducated, doing all the work, circumscribed and a baby making machine as the position of the males is determined by the number of cattle and the number of children. Thus a successful and powerful male will continue to take girls from their puberty as wives until he drops dead. There are attempts to bring them into the modern world and provide education and health services and the clothing is commercially produced and he biggest cattle owner provide their first wives with a prefab type home compared to dung made wicker and thatched smoke filled hut of the nomadic cattle herders.

The subject of the film appeared to feel guilty at hating the lack of Hygiene and seemed to think that keeping young girl's in ignorance of how others lived was Ok . It seemed to centre on finding out that she had maternal instincts when holding a newly born child. Only at the end of the film did the truth strike her when the divorced sister of the local big wig destroyed her home and through her out of the village because he needed the space to house the cattle in safety from the approaching cattle fever.

The purpose of these films is to show the emptiness, isolation and unhappiness of the lives of Western liberated women. The more I think about this film and the series I conclude that it is evil in continuing to promote the mythology that the virtues of a tribal society outweigh its horrors. This is what the communists and fascists tried to create and which some politicians tend to embrace whatever their Party beliefs as soon as they get power. The trouble is that there are so many partially educated and gullible people who continue to accept developments which inevitably result in the horrors of tribalism, but I suppose there is always need for a quantity of such people to make any form of government work.

I was much happier dozing through the Black Knight during the afternoon after a lunch of beef stir fry. There is a film of the same name opening this week in theatres but I was and remain too lazy to find out the connection. In this film which appears to be part of a comic book type of series Ivanhoe and his mate Rebecca enter a monastic citadel when called in by the Abbot because his star pupil has been taken over by 1000 year old Black Magic demon out to destroy Ivanhoe and his good deeds. The core of the story is a labyrinth maze game in which Ivanhoe as the white knight races with the monk and his accomplice as the Black Night to reach the centre area of the board and gain power over a super demon devil. Nothing the Abbot can do will stop the game playing board until the good guys and gals realise that board game is merely the representation of events going on in the labyrinth below the citadel. The film is risible and it is difficult to see who would take it seriously now given that Abbot and Ivanhoe and his mate are educationally challenged as they give up their weapons to the monks because "we have no weapons in this place" and then set off to combat black magic and real devils with only their courage and their stupidity, Lara Croft was turning in her fictional grave throughout.

It was a contest between grey knights at end of term Prime Ministers Question Time. For once it was easy to predict what would happen. Grey Knight Cameron used the occasion to remind everyone about the failures of the Prime Minister and his administration, the failure to call the election which they could have won, the failure of the 10 pence tax and the latest gaffs one minute saying the majority of people would gain by the proposed changes to car tax levels then correcting the position by saying the majority would gain or experience no difference because in reality nearly twice as many people will pay more as those who will gain so that overall this is an increase in taxation until the cars are swapped for the lower taxed models. He opened the charade by asking who had thought up the bright idea expressed by the Home Secretary that those guilty of knife crime should be made to go hospital and see what they had done to their victims. What was said on live TV was clear and unambiguous and the subsequent retraction only underlined the Minister's failure to think of the implications of what she was saying before it was said. On the bright side because the questions were predictable the other grey knight, Prime Minister Brown was well briefed and well prepared and gave the Cameron a bruising verbal lashing which had it been delivered by Blair would have been more wounding. For once the part of the White Knight was well played by the Liberal Democrat Leader, what's his name? My money remains on Ms Harriet Harman though. The Glasgow by election result will govern if she is to become Labour's White Knight before or after the next General Election. Meanwhile the Winter of discontent begins as the Local Government workers hold a two day strike before the summer recess and school holiday to protest at being asked to take a wage cut with a less than inflation. This is a clever ploy by the anti government local authority employer organisations to lay the blame with the government while hoarding efficiency savings achieved over the past couple of years.. Labour is again caught in a trap of its own making.

The media last night was interestingly cool on Durham's move to placate its Members and supporters over the fiasco of the 20.20 match a week ago. The game, now against Glamorgan will take place next Tuesday and Durham announced on its website that it has decided to donate all proceeds to Charity and to charge adults £5 and for children to go free. Everyone who purchased tickets for the original night is to be reimbursed automatically the full amount or on submission of their ticket if they made a cash purchase. This is an excellent move both in accepting that the situation was badly handled on the day, however much it was the fault of Yorkshire and the English and Welsh Cricket Board and that without such a move it was unlikely the game would attract a good crowd. Although scheduled for 5pm because there are floodlights the game could be played until 10.45 if there is a weather governed difficulty in reaching a result. Neither regional TV evening news programme mentioned these developments although they may decided to leave publicity until the weekend and on Monday.

Meanwhile Yorkshire lost their second division 40 over televised match. Gough appeared in good spirits despite a couple of knocks but the rest of his team were clearly demoralised after being thrashed by Essex again. Essex are already playing Kent in the 50 over final at Lords but either the fall of the toss or the manipulation by the ECB has resulted in the two teams playing each other in the first semi final the following Saturday. This means that Middlesex will play either Durham or Glamorgan at 3pm giving these times more time to travel down, although the with the final not commencing until 7 it will be along days night return homeward, although little different from those who travel away to football games held in the evenings.

I have deliberately left until last that yesterday morning two TV repair men arrived and after pressing some buttons on the handset got it to work effectively. I slipped up at second level chess with as second loss although my win rate is 94% against 23% at Hearts.

1435 The Jane Austin Book Club film and Japan's, Let's Live,New glasses and problems with the TV

What a day. It commenced late deciding to sort out the TV remote control for the widescreen multi function TV channel 1 Terrestrial and Freeview Digital, channel 2 DVD Player, channel 3 Sky and Video, channel 7 PC link. Although I can use the handset on Terrestrial TV channel 1, I have to use manual controls for other functions although the handset will alter sound. I have spent days trying to find the paperwork, the original receipt and the 3 year insurance certificate which came with the set purchased from Argos. Today is the 15th of July and the insurance comes into effect tomorrow so technically according to the provided information I had to contact Hitachi as the set was still under warranty. The Customer Service telephone number was easy to find and I got through to someone immediately suggesting they did not experience a great volume of calls.

I explained that the handset was only operating on the first channel after I had changed batteries and a notice to change them had appeared on screen. As I was watching Sky I assumed this was for Sky handset and changed batteries. Then the Hitachi handset ceased to function so I change batteries and still the problem persisted. I was advised to remove batteries, hold any key down for 30 seconds, replace batteries and hopefully it would work. If it did not then the problem was the infra red unit within the TV and require a repair visit.

I was given a second telephone number to contact in this event which suggested it was a problem which others had experienced. When I mentioned to this number that the TV was bought through Argos I was told that Argos had bought out the Hitachi warranty and therefore I needed to contact Argos, so I contacted the number given on the free three year warranty extension insurance certificate who advised they only not dealt with breakages as Argos did the repairs themselves direct.

I therefore contacted Argos customer services, the number provided and was referred to the Argos repair telephone number who took the information and telephoned back within 15mins to say someone would call the following midday. Thus the morning had passed by.

The next task was to arrange for new glasses. I decided to return to the Sunderland branch of Specsavers who had provided the present pair after I had dropped the old ones and one lens had been smashed, during the time when I was still living at Seaburn, (there is also a branch in South Shields). Specsavers is a well organiser professional and commercial enterprise. At reception I discovered it has been four years since the previous test and although I had experienced no sight problems and the fall was my own fault I decided on a retest which could be rearranged with a wait of only 15mins. I suspect I was given the red carpet treatment because I go for the most expensive lens which are glass and slim at least half the previous thickness in frames which are also strong and light weight.

The eye test is very different from that in the surgery of the family doctor and the local optician of my youth and who continued to practice for many years and where my mother and aunt used to continue to visit the firm into their late eighties. I had taken my care mother to Specsavers to have vary focals fitted to the frame of her good eye with a plain glass lens in the sightless damaged eye and which helped her a great deal in the three years before her admission to hospital and the premature and preventable death. Today an assistant takes some images with an eye scanner as well as testing the existing glasses so that the optician has the original test information plus the latest information upon which to check the condition of the eyes, involving blowing puffs of air into the eyes before checking for different types and strengths of lens. The process reduces errors and enables a constant flow of customers without having to book and appointment.
The test again revealed a slight improvement in short sight which is interesting given the direction which everything else of the body is progressing. Then the consideration was the frame and quality of lens which go together, vanity vanitas, or something similar. I go for the thinnest vary focal lens but the glass is still thick best disguised within a full frame than a half frame which I also like to be lightweight. I have gold titanium frame at present which I like but all the latest frames are more oblong than rounded and eventually I settled for a black coloured frame which would take the required lens and which in turn would take three weeks to complete the order.

The next issue was the pricing approach where the choice was between a 30% reduction single pair or a 2 for 1 offer but where the second pair has standard lens. I only found this second pair recently and the glass is heavy and exposes the shortness of my sight. I still use my prescription sun glasses as a reserve pair and because they are a stronger prescription are ideal for watching the cricket or other sports where there is sun, as well as driving.

I had not eaten lunch, deciding first to travel to Sunderland by bus and although feeling like some food I decided to wait return home as I had defrosted prawns for a salad the night before and had also defrosted some Southern fried coasted chicken pieces for a main meal. It continued to be warm and sunny and having my camera with me, I commenced to photo Sunderland city centre of today remembering what it had been like when first arrived in 1974. I covered the area between the shopping centre, the university and the bus interchange centre. There are pubs and clubs, bars and bistros and restaurants of several European cuisines but also some new, some looking closed. I also discovered a Gentleman's club tucked away next to a new Weatherspoons built into one side the city centre Travel Lodge. More about Sunderland's city centre when I make a second visit and perhaps third and fourth visit to cover what needs to be covered, taking account that I have already photographed Seaburn and old Sunderland Riverside.

On return around 4pm I had the salad and the two remaining Danish pastries. Later a glass of wine although I had to decant as the cork went back into the bottle. Later still I had three chicken pieces and the remaining strawberries, followed by still water, created Artman signature card and did some set making and watch not one but two new films after watching the Jane Austin Book club DVD last night.

This is a curious film where a knowledge of the novels will add to the enjoyment but is not essential. The story is of five diverse women who come together to discuss the six novels once a month with each leading a discussion. The sixth, is man brought in to comfort the wife deserted by her husband after twenty years of marriage. The core of the film is to show how individuals, (including a French teacher at High school who has never been to France) react to literary art or all art work for that matter, according to their own personalities and experience. Thus the jilted wife concentrates on the aspects of characters who are loyal and face up to their responsibilities. She has a good ending because her husband sees the light. I was not quite sure about the authenticity of their lesbian daughter, but she served to underline the belief of those who look in the novels for great meaning about the role of women in society, their relationships with men and with each other. This theme of the past and present roles of women in society is covered by one character who has been married six times and continues to have the time of her life, again a fictional creation because life is never like that, Then there is the character played by the delicious Emily Blunt whose normal male in business husband has to give up a trip to Paris with his wife because his boss requires him to go elsewhere but in the USA. He is portrayed as think and uncaring. This is the excuse for the Emily to start an affair. A friend of the six times married women is a dog breeder grieving over the loss of her special canine companion and it is she that brings in the male as the sixth member of the club. She has never married because she needs to have absolute control over every aspect of her life but is attracted to the man she brings into the club to befriend the grieving jilted wife. He is again a creation without authenticity single handsome., wealthy and clever and the ideal modern woman's concept what she wants all men to be like except the man she wants to control her natural emotional and manipulative instincts. I thought the characters were rubbish and the story a fictional contrivance to show off a knowledge of the works of Jane Austin

The best way to read any book of fiction, in my experience, is to submerge yourself in the experiences described by the author, no different from any play or film or work of visual art. Do you enjoy, are you stretched and challenged? It is only on the second experience that you should, if you wish. take the work apart and try and establish what the creator intended and perhaps why, and if the creator was successful in their intention. Most people do not have the time or inclination to do this. I thought this was silly film about people who were primarily self centred and self satisfied seeking only their own pleasure and well being with little regard for the world at a large. However they were all much more worthwhile than the sub human single dimensional creatures who inhabited perhaps the worst film experience of the year called the Summer of Sam. In 1997 a single man living alone at Yonkers went on the rampage killing young people at random who were mostly in their cars and or walking alone at night in the white Italian area of Brooklyn although there is one killing within the black district.. He was eventually caught after the efforts of 100 strong task force failed as is the resources of the local crime boss which appears to be an acceptable part of every American city along with crime related unions.

New York is shown as populated by primitive and uneducated drug taking and fornicating yobs and I could not resist the passing thought that Son of Sam as he became dubbed in the media would have been awarded a community service medal if he had been more discriminate in his executions. He is serving six consecutive sentences of 25 years to life The film is a pathetic attempt to commercially exploit the disco club mania which swept western civilizations promoted by Joan Collins films and John Travolta with the gore genre designed almost exclusively for young men who want to frighten their girl friend's a little before trying out their seduction techniques. The genre opened up our cities to the development of clubs and bars for young people, and the very politicians and civil leaders who allowed the development have now the gall to complain about the consequences. The trouble is that it is the sons and daughters of everyone else who understandably become curious and get harmed through the misuse of drugs and alcohol and to the misuse by men.

I only half watched this film as I came too having slept through the ending of a fascinating Japanese film called Let's Live or let's Stay alive, or similar. The film is about a young woman who mistakenly joins a coach tour planed by a group of men who all wants to end their lives and because they want their deaths to appear an accident rather than a suicide the organiser insists that the girl must join them. The tour provides an insight into the reasons why each man wants to die and something of contemporary Japanese culture. Just as the finale was reached I went to sleep and will have to watch again to find the outcome.