The Moon of Liberty

The Simpsons The Movie (2007) First watched by me on Thursday 26 July

Starring - Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavney, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith

Directed by David Silverman

The Simpsons The Movie. 17 years in the making. After the hit TV show spanning a whole generation, would The Simpsons appearence on the big screen live up to all the pre-show hype? Would Simpsons fans get the show they all went into the cinema yearning for?

Of course only the Simpsons could begin it's own movie by insulting all of it's own fans and dare to get away with it. They did this through the form of Itchy and Scratchy, while Springfield is in a cinema watching their movie, Homer goes on a mad rant about how people who pay to go and watch something on the big screen we can see for free on the small screen are strange. We are all suckers, great start to the film.

This had a storyline, this was for me the main problem with this film, it had too much storyline and not enough of the faces, sights and sounds of the Simpsons we all know and love. For what it's worth the storyline went something like this, Due to an environmental crisis emerging from Lisa Simpson's 'An Irritating Truth' the Mayor declares a ban on dumping waste into Springfield lake. When Marge tells Homer he must get rid of the waste created by 'Spiderpig,' Homer dumps the waste into the lake. This creates a huge problem. To combat this, 'President' Arnold Schwarzenigger authorises a plan to place a dome on top of Springfield, in fact, he picked the plan at random from 5 possible options, he was afterall elected to 'Lead not read.'

The dome means nobody gets in or out, but the Simpsons escape while the rest of Springfield are after Homer's blood. They run to Alaska, but when a TV add hosted by Tom Hanks reveals a new plan to blow up Springfield to create 'A New Grand Canyon to replace the boring old one.' The Simpsons are in a race against time to return and save their home.

Roughly a third of the film was conducted around the run to Alaska, in my view adding little to the enjoyment. There are plenty of good jokes and it is not a disaster. But Mr Burns and Smithers had only one scene of note (excellent one though it was), there was nothing from Marge's sisters (Who would have been perfect for a scenario like this.) There was nothing from Springfield school and far to much of Schwarznegger's cabinet member Mr Cargill who just was not funny.

This is a film that started well but lost it's way. The storyline took over too much and it was not a very good one. There is plenty of subtle humour to amuse and clever ideas in there, but we could have had more from the fringe characters, less in Alsaska, more from Springfield and less of a too serious storyline that appeared determined to ram an environmental theme down our throats that was inappropriate for this movie.

THE MOON OF LIBERTY VERDICT - RATING 'C+' Worth seeing to a point, but don't expect too much. This should have been much better, and failed to deliver what we all wanted to see

 

 

The British Open Golf Championship Final Day

Venue - Carnoustie, Scotland

Televised - BBC 1, commentators Peter Alyess & Sam Torrence.

So the scene was set early with a nast downpour of rain. WOuld this make it easier for Sergio Garcia to maintain his three shot lead as it surely would make it difficult for anyone to make a charge. In reality, the conditions did not have a huge negative effect, and a magnificent final day was in store.

The bar was set by a fine round of 64 by Andrew green of Australia. He had a score of -5 par and set the standard everyone else still out on the course. The big American names in the frame failed to fire today. Jim Furyk never got going, Steve Stricker had many chances but his putting let him down on as many as four occasions. Tiger Woods, aiming for his third straight title, has to settle for a dissappointing score of -2 for the four days.

Garcia too had a dissappointing day, dropping back to -6. He was caught by Padrig Harrington of Ireland and the ever dangerous South African Ernie Els. Els later hoever lost another shot towards the and his challenge fell away.

A major suprise was in the offing when Argentinian Andreas Romero, a man who only had played four tournaments outside South America before this, went on a late charge and took the lead going -9 after 16 holes. His inexperience however got the better of him down the final strectch losing 3 shots and finishin with -6. At that moment Garcia birdied the 15th to go -7 and Harrington landed a birdie at 17 to go -9.

Harrington went down the 18th 2 shots ahead. However, he pulled his tea shot into the water, then hit his next shot into the water too, losing two shots in the process. He recovered however to get up and down for a double bogey, a good result in the circumstances. He therefore finished on -7, to add to the drama, Garcia birdied the 17th to go -8. Was Harrington's disaster on 18 going to cost him the title.

As it happened no it wasn't. Garcia missed a 10 foot put on the 18th and dropped a shot, so he too finished -7. This would send us into a playoff between Harrington and Garcia. We had a slight delay a this point as the playoff would be over four holes, the 1st, 16th, 17th and 18th. However they could not find a flag for the first hole for around 10 minutes, eventually this arrived via a man on a golf cart, to ironic cheers of the crowd.

Harrington drew first blood in the playoff. He birdied the 1st and Garcia could only bogey to give Harrington a two shot lead. Both men parred the next two holes sending them down the 18th with a two shot difference. Harrington played safe on 18, laying up his second shot leaving 90 ards to the green after two. Garcia played a fine second shot out of the light rough to give himself a long birdie chance.

Harrington pitched onto the green but he too was some distance away. Harrington putted to within 6 feet with his first attempt. Harrington now could do no better than bogey, so if Garcia managed to birdie his long range put he would at least tie. He missed however and the put went passed 4 feet. Garcia putted out for par, leaving Harrington with a six foot put for bogey to maintain a one shot lead and land the title. He duely sank the put to become the first Irishman in 60 years to take the British open golf title.

RESULT - FINAL LEADERBOARD - British Open 2007

Harrington (Ire) -7

Garcia (Spa) -7

Romero (Arg) -6

Els (SA) -5

Green (Aus) -5

 

Last Thursday two by elections took place for two vacant seats in the House of Commons. One was due to the standing down of Tony Blair in Sedgefield in County Durham. The other took place in Ealing Southall in London, where the Labour MP there recently passed away.

In Sedgefield Labour held the seat comfortably as had been expected. The Liberal Democrats came second but well behind and the Conservatives third. Nothing out of the ordinary happened there as this was the expected result. The more unpredictable election was in Ealing. Labour began with a majority of 11,000 and by the end of the night they held the seat with a majority of only 3,000. The Liberal Democrats came second and the Conservative, who put a huge amount of effort into this seat, including speculating they may even win it or at elase come a close second, ended up a fairly miserable third.

For Labour there will be some releif they have held both seats. A Governemnt defending seats in a by election is always very difficult. It reinforces the polling evidence that while new PM Gordon Brown is doing well with a steady as she goes approach and is not yet at least scaring anyone away as some in the Labour party had feared, some his opponenets had hoped he might do.

For  the Liberal Democrats it is a mixed bag. They will have hoped to run Labour closer in Sedgefield as it was clear from the off they were the main challengers there. In Ealing they will have been pleased to secure a resonable second, cutting Labour's majority and holding off the Conervatives push to move ahead of them. Having said that, passed experience shows this is the sort of seat that in the past they have actually won in by elections. There by election strategy is a formidable one but on this occasion had not had any huge impact. Liberal leader Ming Cambell will still have plenty of critics on the back of this, but has done just about enough for now to remain leader.

The biggest impact of these results will be on the Tories. Leader David Cameron has from day one tried to make the Conservatives approach a softer and in many ways more Liberal approach. His right-wing critics are already getting the knives out. They state the Conservatives are being punished for not being Conservative enough and state Cameron must do this to get his act together.

Are these critics correct however. In the last couple of weeks the Conservative coverage in the news has been all about exactly the sort of issues these critics have been going on about. I discussed the alcohol tax in a previous entry on here, an attempt to stop 'binge-drinking,' exactly the sort of issue the moral right like to talk about. Cameron has also committed himself to tax breaks specifically for married couples, something these same people fully support. Since these measures were introduced, Labour have taken the lead in the polls and the Consevratives have fallen behind.

Why would this be if traditional Conservatove polices are needed as Cameron's critics suggest? The reality is probably that the sort of voters Cameron has been targeting with his new approach, do not like the moralising that goes with the sort of measures that came out of Iain Duncan-Smith's report. These ideas of the moral right are why the Tories are behind, are why they did so badly on Thursday. The irony of Thursday is those who cirticise Cameron for Thursday, are actually the people who have pushed Cameron into backing ideas that have come out in the last couple of weeks. It is they who are to blame for Thursday's failure, not what Cameron was doing before this point.

We are in a strange position in politics right now. Usually the Governemnt and what it does drive the political temperature. Not now though. Brown is a caution man and will continue to play safe, it is what the opposition leader Mr Cameron does that will be the key. The right will use this result as a means of trying to push the Conservtives towards more of the sort of ideas we have seen in the last two weeks, they don't understand that this is the reason why Cameron is now struggling. Now we will see if Cameron is really fit for Governemnt. Does he have the courage to decisively ignore and defeat his critics, or will he cave in some more, and hand Gordon Brown an easy ride on a plate?

 

Prime Ministers Questions - 18th July 2007

Venue - House of Commons, The Palace of Westminster

After Terrorism, which Cameron took the honours, and the NHS, in which Brown hit back, today's test for the two party leaders would be Law And Order. The topic is chosen by the opposition leader, where as the Prime Minsiter has the advantage of the last word. It is debatable which is the bigger advantage in this parliamentary game, today it was with Mr Cameron.

The topic was the early release scheme. Cameron began by asking how many prisoners released on the early release scheme had been convicted of violent offenses? Brown was on the back foot from the start. He had been given a brief, but it was clearly written by an adviser and had no official substance behind. He attempted to claim the answer to the question was that nobody covicted of violent offenses had been released early, reading from a script, his voice gradually got higher and more panicked, almost as if he knew the information he had been given was complete nonsense, and hoped by shouting the answer nobody would realise this, sadly for Mr Brown it made the real position perfectly clear.

Cameron came back and gave us the figure from the probation service themselves, 334 criminals convicted of serious violent offenses had been released early. He then went on to ask about a circular from the head of the probabtion service stating that thier views were ignored, and many they still considered a danger to the public were released against their advice. Brown's response was to claim the Governemnt had increased prison places and the Tories opposed the investment, trying the old 'Tory cuts' trick from last week, fine when your performing well, but when you are the Prime Minister givng the impression you have no idea whats going on in the prison service, the line falls rather more flat.

Cameron was on a roll. The only glitch was an annoying tendency to say 'right' or 'now' and pause before moving on to the next part of his argument. It stopped the flow and will look very bad if he does this on a bad today, today was not a bad day for him however. He asked if the Prime Minister had anything to say to the victims of those who had suffered crime at the hands of those released early and had re-offended. Brown merely went on a flustered rant about crime under the Tories doubling, he had nothing to say, his credibility from that moment was shot.

Cameron finished with a flourish. The Prime Minster did not know what was going on, had nothing to say to victims, 'same old incompetence, same old Labour.' The benches were the reverse of a week ago, Tories cheering, glum Labour faces. Brown ended the exchange with a lame pre-rehearsed line about Cameron not being the future but talking about the past. Given Cameron had talked about things going on now and the victims that are suffering from the policy now, and Brown talking about Crime doubling under the tories 10-15 years ago, the hollow line summed up the Prime Minsters miserable show.

THE MOON OF LIBERY VERDICT

DELIVERY - Brown was flustered and simply terrible today, Cameron had some excellent moments, but has to stop the 'right' and 'now' pauses which are annoying.

STRATEGY - Good move to go on this issue by Cameron and the quotes from others he selected to back up his argument were much better worked out than last week. Brown relied on a clearly inaccurate briefing and gave the impression of not telling us the whole story, so much for the end of the age of spin.

ARGUMENT - Cameron destroyed any attampt at a defense from Brown of the way this scheme has worked. Brown's refusal to say anythign in regard to the victims of re-offenders ensured nothing he had to say today seemed credible.

QUOTES - Cameron's flow at his last visit to the dispatch box produced many quotes that summed up how Brown came across. watch for more of the line 'Same old Labour.' tying Brown to Old Labour's failed past, and Tony Blair, at the same time. If that sticks it will be bad news for Brown. Brown's line about Cameron 'wanting to talk about the past' was the opposite of what occured today, and was feeble as a result.

MISC - Back to Brown's refusal to say anything about the victims of re-offenders. This type of error will reinforce the view Brown is a technocrat with no sense of the emotional side required to reach out to people. This flaw could become a major issue in a full length election campaign.

MOON OF LIBERTY SCORE - Gordon Brown 0 David Cameron 4, - Good subject, delivery and line of argument from Cameron, Brown needs to go back to the drawing board. The 'Big Clunking Fist' was well and truely nullified today.

Another retrospecive film review.

Walk The Line (2005) - First watched February 2006

Starring - Joaquin Phoenix, Risse Witherspoon, Ginnifer Goodwin, Robert Patrick

Directed by James Mangold

Walk the Line, a story of the rise and fall of Johnny Cash. Cash made his debut in 1955 walking into Sun Studios and delivering a performance that began the process of of the creation of a superstar who would change the sound and face of American music, and the industry itself.

Of course, like many a genius, and musically most would say Cash was one, he was also seriously flawed. This film tells the story of the rise, fall and rise again of Cash. Nothing is spared, as the life of Cash and his volitile relationship with June Carter is covered in a very balance way, warts and all.

The film is neither a vindication or a demolition of Cash, and the film does take a little time to warm up, mainly because while Phoenix does a good job as Cash, the real star of this show, Risse Witherspoon as Carter, does not show up later. Witherspoon delivers a masterclass performance, every scene between her and Phoenix is electric and she creates an energy that takes the film to another level.

Withersppon said this was a role she has long wanted to play and it shone through the screen. The issue deals with the gritty reality of Cash's drug taking and the extent of his decline as a result. Carter helped Cash gradually recover and regain his position at the top of the music world. The intense relationship between the two, and Carter's refusal to stop believing in Cash is a story exceptionally well told.

There is plenty of music too and if you are a Cash fan this alone will see you through the movie, but don't let that get in the way of the fact this is also a well told and directed story of the life of a music legend, along with the probably the finest acting performance of the year from Risse Witherspoon. This is well worth seeing.

MOON OF LIBERTY VERDICT - RATING 'B+' - Witherspoon went on to win the Best actress OSCAR, a fantastic story well told, get the DVD if you have not seen it.

So it's official, the Conservatives finally have a candidate to take on Mayor of London Ken Livingstone next May. It took them a long time to get here, several bizarre daliences with certain people, and finally it comes down to what we now know.

First the Tories tried to team up with the Lib Dems to get Greg Dyke to run, a man as far away from Conservatiism as it gets. Then they tried to get Digby Jones, then Director General of the CBI, to stand as their candidate. He is now of course a Labour minister in the Lords, how fickle political allegences can be in the modern day and age.

And now, tep up none other than Boris Johnson. He has today confirmed he will make a bid for the biggest office in London. If he wins he will become the most powerful conservative in Britian, Boris Johnson, fancy that.

Boris of course came to national fame after being given a complete mauling on the TV comedy show 'Have I Got News For You,' particularly by Ian Hislop. Thsi went down so well, he appeared again, and then again, and before long Boris was a national phenomonon, with many university groups up and down the land claiming our Boris should by PM.

Before his appearences on the show, he was a little known Daily Telegraph journalist with a Tory edge to his articles as many Telegraph journalists tend to do. By now however he was on any TV show that would take him. He has since even hosted on a number of occasions the show that made him famous and he has driven cars with Jeremy Clarkson on 'Top Gear.'  

He is gaffe prone too. His well publicised affair with Petronoella Wyatt did not go down too well with traditional Tories. His attack on the people of Liverpool infuriated then leader Michael Howard, he has also managed to alienate the people of Portsmouth, Papua New Guinea and been not too nice about Jamie Oliver's healthy eating campaigns.

But the people of Liverpool, Portsmouth and Papau New Guinea don't get a vote in the contest for Mayor of London. Whats more Boris Johnson is the sort of man whom, to his fans, pretty much gets away with anything. His opponent is gaffe prone to, Mr Livingstone's comparison of a Jewish journalist to 'concentration camp guard' was not exactly good manners, and deeply offensive to many in the Jewish community.

So Boris Vs Red Ken. Can Boris really win? Go on any news site where readers are invited to add comments and you will get an inevitable split down the middle. Everything from 'Boris you are great, Boris for mayor, GO Boris!!!' to 'Boris is a complete buffoon who stands no chance.' and every possible view in between. Some say they would rather vote for a prize pig rather than Red Ken, others retort if they vote for Boris, they are close to doing just that. One thing is for sure, the early signs are Boris Johnson has raised the passions and tempreature of this debate. This may just be the most facinating political battle in the UK for over a decade. Mr Livingstone, Mr Johnson, bring it on!!! I can't wait!!!!

 

Screened between ITV1 and ITV4

Commentators - John Rawling and Duke McKenzie

Venue - The O2 Arena, Old Millenium Dome Site, London

Vacant WBO Fetaherweight Championship

Nicky Cooke (Eng) Vs Stephen Luevano (USA)

The first of three fights kicked off with the only World title fight on the bill. The fact this is considered the undercard, even though in terms of class it was the highest level fight of the night, shows how much hype and personality count for, sometimes in favour of quality when it comes to modern boxing.

The Californian away from home started strongly, clearly taking the first round and knocking the Londener down for the first time in the second. It set the tone of the fight, the American was consistantly sharper throughout the first five rounds and clearly built up a big lead.

In rounds 6 and 7 Cooke staged something of a comback, suddenly looking like he had some energy and caught the American with a good range of head shots. It was not to last however. Come the eighth Luevano re-establsihed his position with two knockdowns. He took Cooke down again in the ninth for the final time as Cooke failed to beat the count.

Cooke's attempt to become World Champion on home turf failed, he gave a reasonable account of himself but was outclassed by the American who can now move on to bigger and better things.

RESULT - Luevano wins by 9th round KO and wins the WBO Featherweight Championsip

Commonweath Lightweight Championship

Willie Limond (champion) (Sco) Vs Amir Khan (Eng)

This was Amir Khan's first shot at a proffessional title after 12 straight wins. Critics have said he has not been tested yet, Limond would prove to be such a test.

Unlike in so many of Khan's previous fights, Limond was not overwealmed by the task. He stood his ground when the early Khans onslaught came, and even landed with some fine shots of his own in the openeing rounds.

The longer the fight went the more Limond gained in confidence. Khan was looking uncharacteristically slow and Limond beat him to the punch again and again. As we moved into the second half of the fight, would Limond's extra experience at long distant fights tell.

In round 7 it seemed so, Limond let go an onslught of four head punches that eventually sent Khan to the canvass. Khan got up but looked completely disorganised for the rest of the round. Limond however, is not a big puncher and did not put his man away when he had the chance.

In the eighth Khan turned it around. Almost as if the knockdown was a wake-up call. He scored a kncokdown himself with punches that it later emerged broke the jaw of Limond. Limond managed to get up and survive the round but from here there was only one winner. Khan dominated the ninth and at the end of round nine, Limonds corner withdrew their man, leaving Khan with his first title.

Result - Khan wins due to Limond withdrawal at the end of the 9th round and is the new Commonwealth Lighweight Champion

Commonwealth Heaveyweight Championship

Matt Skelton (Champion) (Eng) Vs Michael Sprott (Eng)

By contrast to the previous two fights, this supposed heaveyweight world title eliminator was a real stinker. On the evidence of tonight putting either of these two in against a real champion would frankly be a joke.

Sprott actually started quite brightly, landing some good shots in the first to take the round against an opponent who barely threw a single punch. From round 2 the fight descended in a farce.

Skelton held on to Sprott at every chance he got, using this to then throw boddt punches from the clinch. Being the bigger man Skelton got the better of these ugly exhanges. When they did box from distance, barely anyone threw a punch until Skelton was able to hold on again.

By round 4 the boos around the arena summed the fight up perfectly. Neither man can shirk the blame, Sprott was bearly throwing a punch, Skelton was happy to just hold and turn this into a wrestling match. Boring does not even begin to describe it.

Most rounds were impossible to score as neither man did anything. Skelton landed with a couple of good body shots in the 6th and the nineth, Sprott landd one good shot in the 4th, thats how tedious the fight was, that one good shot would take the round.

As we got to the 12th, the announcer told us it was 'the last round', cue ironic cheers. Neither man put any more effort into the last round than the rest of the fight and thankfully the bell sounded to chants of 'What a load of rubbish.' Saddly we had to have the scorecards decide a winner, shame as in reality both men were losers. I personally scored it 118-117 to Skelton with 7 drawn rounds due to the tedium, the real cards had it 117-113 and 115-114 to Skelton, with one drawn at 114-114, so the middle card agreed with my one round analysis, few will disagree this was a simply terrible fight.

RESULT - Skelton wins by majoirty decision on points and retains the Commonwealth Heaveyweight Championship

 

Today the lead story in the Mail, the Telegraph, the Times, the Guardian and the Independent, five pillars of our newspaper establishment, in unison lead on the same story. You may think therefore the stroy must have been of some huge significant importance for these competing forces to all agree on one thing.

Could it be Iraq, or Afghanistan? How about the state of schools or the Health Service? Maybe it is the aftermath of flooding or further such wanrings about, and the potential consquences to the planet of such a change to the climate. Perhaps, if they wanted some more light hearted, they could feature David Beckhams arrival in the United states.

But no, all of these papers lead with the story of the demise of former Daily Telegraph owner Conrad Black. I'll link one of the links to the stroy here in case any of you really want to read it. Now if this was amongst the smaller stories you could understand it, but is this really front page news? Is this really what the people of Britain are most interested in? Somehow I doubt it.

Newspapers have long had a love of themselves and their own self importance, none more so than in 1992 when The Sun claimed it was the newspaper, not the thirteen million people who voted for John Major, that won the Conservative's the election. Few will forget the 'Its the Sun what won it' claim. The Sun also had a long standing war with The Mirror, especially in the days of the editorial battles between David Yelland of The Sun and Piers Morgan (now a superstar of 'Britains Got Talent' fame) at the Mirror, to the point where tha battles amongst each other almost overshadowed the news in the paper itself.

So today we have Conrad Black, facing a jail sentence according to most reports, as front page news. Such newspapers should be careful, in the age of the internet, you can argue the newspaper industry needs to adapt as it offers only a once a day experience where you can get updates on a 24/7 basis through TV and the internet. For newspapers to be relevent in this environment it must ensure the front page stories are of interest to those who go into the newsagent and by the paper. Spending it's front pages talking about one of it's own, someone few of the people reading it have ever heard of, will only send circulation figures falling and reinforce an emerging view that the newspaper is out of date.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) - First watched Today

Starring - Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Ruper Gint, Ralph Finnes, Gary Oldman

Directed by David Yates

The fifth installement of the film based on JK Rowling's best selling series, Harry saves the ghastly Dudley Dursley from an attack from a dementor, and ends up in the dock of the fact he used a spell in front of a muggle to save him. The Head of the Ministry of magic, Cornelous Fudge, refuses to believe Potter's story as it would mean accepting the return of Lord Voldermort, which Fudge is unwilling to do. 

Hogwarts Headmaster Dumbledor also states Voldermort is back, and Fudge through paranoia, believing Dumbleor is using Voldernmort as cover to oust him, condemns Hogwarts to the rule of Proffessor Umbridge, acting on his behalf. She bans the students from learning to defend themselves against the dark arts, so Potter, after eventually pursuding his friends he is telling the truth about Voldermort,  takes the role of teacher on himself.

Potter also learns about 'The Order of the Phoenix.' Set up to fight Voldermort the first time around, this time Potter will be the key. Sirius Black returns to aid Harry and advises him of his family history, that Black's own family were pureblood fanatics and disciples of the Voldermort view of the world. Maybe this holds a few clues to how all this will end. It becomes clearer and clearer Voldermort is back the longer the film goes (we already knew of course from the Goblet of Fire), but can Sirius, Dumbledor, or anyone stop him? Maybe Harry, we shall have to wait for the other films to wait and see.

This film pieces the jigsaw together nicely from the last film. It flows, with a good balance of appropriate humour too. This film is only around 2 and 20 minutes long, so I expect greater exponents of the books than I will complain plenty has been missed out. but as a continuation of the journey towards the inevitable final clash between Potter and Voldermort it does the job very well. The acting in this film is good too, and huge credit to Imelda Staunton for her role as Umbridge, there were times when she was so horrible you wanted to give her a slap, that was her job, and she did it exceptionally well.

The final dramatic scenes did an exceptional job, with flashback scenes documenting what was going through Potter;s mind exceptionally well directed and edited. A key character dies in the final fight of the film, most of you will know who but I wont spoil it for those who have not read the books. There was an impressive battle between Voldermort and Dumbledor, the flashing colours as they tried through their spells to destroy each other looked like a modern version of Obi Won Kanobi verses Darth Vader. There was also further evidence of Harry having love for other people being the key to his battle against Voldermort, as love stopped Voldermort infiltrating his mind.

It is an ecapsulating film from start to finish, and has me thoroughly looking forward to the Half-Blood Prince. Overall this is not quite as good as the Goblet of Fire, but it more than did the job and leaves you optimistic that when it comes to the big finale, they have a formula to get it right.

THE MOON OF LIBERTY VERDICT - MY RATING 'B+' A Very good film, good acting and a smooth story telling moving the series nicely on towards the Half-Blood Prince

 

Ealrier today a little known politican from Wales, a man few outside of Wales or the political anorak community (like myself) knows who he is, was elected Deputy First Minister of the Welsh Assembley. His name is Ieuan Wyn Jones. You may ask, the Welsh assembley? It's not even a parliament, surely that doesn't matter.

It's true to say this will little impact on your everyday lives, or indeed, given how little power the Welsh Assembley has, a huge affect on the everyday lives of even the people of Wales. This election however is the start of a trend that began when devolution was first introduced. in 1997 Tony Blair's newly elected Governemnt promised a Scottish Parliament, a Welsh assembley and a Northern Ireland assembley. All these were delivered.

Blair and Labour argued that for years the Scots and Welsh, who had voted Labour in election after election, still got a Tory Minsiter who they had not voted for running their affairs. At that point they did not know they would become a three term Govenrment, so to guard against this in the future devolution would ensure key decisions in the other nations of the United Kingdom would be made by the devolved bodies. Some in Labour also took for granted that they would have big majorities in Scotland and Wales, ensuring their hold on power there.

The Tories were opposed to this (except in Northern Ireland which they saw as a special case), arguing it would lead to the break-up of the United Kingdom. The Nationlist parties in Scotland and Wales agreed, and obviously supported the proposals seeing them as a trojen horse to independence.

Referendums were won and the bodies were eventually set-up. One promise at least you can't accuse Blair of breaking, but should he have done? At the time the Scottish Parliament referendum was won the then defense secretary George Robertson stated the setting up of the Scottish Parliament killed the argument 'dead.' The Nationalists scoffed. 10 years on, where are we now?

In Northern Ireland things are slighly different. Nationalists and Republicans there don't want Northern Ireland independence of course, but want the province they call 'Ulster' to be under the rule of Dublin. Their opponents, the unionists support the union and Northern Ireland's place in it. In the early days of Northern Ireland devolution, the moderate Ulster Unionsist Party and SDLP from the Nationalist side dominated, the hard line Democratic Unionists and their Republican counterparts Sinn Fain (who many argue have links with the IRA) were very much in the background. Today Ian Paisley of the Democratic Unionists is the leader of the assembley, his deputy is Martin McGuiniss.

McGuiniss leads Sinn Fain in the assembley. With the IRA effectively dispanded, Sinn Fain have one aim, a united Ireland. As part of the devolution package it has been agreed a referendum will be held once a generation, and if a majority want it, Ulster will return to Dublin. Demographics suggest the nationlist/republican side of the argument, currently around 46%, could soon become the majority, this means McGuiniss, the Sinn Fain Presindent Jerry Adams and company, have not only grown as a result of devolution, they may not be far off getting what they want.

Across the sea in Scotland there is another story of Nationalist gains.  In the recent Scottish Parliament election the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP for short) became the biggest party for the first time. The results break down also suggest that if the wind is against Labour next time, there is scope for a new series of SNP gains at the next election too. There are as many as 16 constituencies where if Tory or Lib Dem voters can be pursuaded to tactically vote against Labour, the SNP could win the seat next time.

The SNP leader Alex Salmond does not have an overall majority, but has for the first time been elected First Minister of Scotland. If his support grows further, he could soon be in a position to push for an independence referendum. It may take one more election for him to be in this position, it may even take two, but Salmond and his party are not going away and support for them is growing. The SNP have unquestionably benefitted from devolution, the independence argument is far from 'dead.'

That brings me back to Mr Wyn Jones. He is the leader of Plaid Cymru (Welsh for 'The Party of Wales') They are the Welsh Nationalists. In his election as Deputy first minister, Mr Wyn Jones has negotiated a refurnedum to give the Welsh assembley offical law making powers, effectively making it a parliament. Not only this, but Labour as part of the agreement are committed to supporting this. If the pattern with Scotland having a Parliament is anything to go by, this is a great opportunity for Plaid Cymru.

This is little evidence for support for Welsh independence now, but today's election of Mr Wyn Jones may be the first step for Wales to follow Scotland down the same path. It also means all three devolved bodies have people commited to the end of the United Kingdom as leader or deputy leader of the body. Nothing will happen overnight, but this could be the beginning of the end for the United kingdom. It is not clear what will stop the path towards this, maybe nothing can. So if in five, ten,  twenty, event thirty or forty years time, Northern Ireland is under Dublin rule, Scotland and Wales are independent and the United Kingdom no longer exists, remember the day I introduced you Ieuan Wyn Jones, he may be far more significant than you may have first thought.

I kick off my parliament section with today's PMQ's. I will score all sessions (PMQ's and any debates) with the performaces of the main players out of 5. Again, just my opinion and just for fun. I'm sure many will disagree with my view.

11th July 2007 - Prime Minster Questions 12:00 start

Venue - The House of Commons at the Palace of Westminster

After what most agree was a bad performace last week, new Prime Minister Gordon Brown hit back today with a much more solid performance, helped by some poor judgement by Conservative Leader David Cameron, to regain credibility in this hothuse atmosphere.

He began by offering condolences to service men killed in Iraq, but the NHS was the issue Cameron decided to lead his attack on. A report published by Lord Darcy into hospital services in London suggested, at least Mr Cameron claimed, that hospital services across London would be under threat.

Brown countered with a passage which clearly concluded that no hospitals or services would be closed as a result of the review. He also argued many more hospitals were being built due to Labour investment, something the Conservatoves would not match. 'Who is closing the hospitals, it's the Conservatives.' Brown claimed. This seems a strange claim as Labour are the Governemnt and Cameron cannot close any hospitals, even if he wanted to. Surely Cameron would nail this down.

No, he actually did not. He pressed on with quotes from the repot Brown had already refuted. Last week when faced with Brown countering with question over the Tories opposition on ID cards, Cameron demolished the argument, today Cameron said nothing. The casual observer would be left to wonder if Camaeron's silence means he is indeed planning cuts. It will reinforce a strong Labour card, cries of 'Tory cuts' have dogged the Troies for a decade, today that (In reality) weak argument was able to win the day.

With Cameron's silence, Brown gained more confidence. Cameron had given Brown a full free shot at the 'Labour invest in hospitals, the Tories cut services' argument, and he smacked the invitation well over the boundary. He finished with the best line 'you do the PR, I'll carry on being PM.' The Tory bench looked miserable for the rest of the session, Game set and match.

THE MOON OF LIBERTY VERDICT

DELIVERY - Both men delivered their lines well, although Brown's lines were better.

STRATEGY - Cameron was one dimensional regarding the speciifcs of the report, unlike last week, Brown took great pleasure in taking advange.

ARGUMENT - Brown, partly due to Cameron's own fault, was able to establish the 'Tory Cuts' argument, and reminded us all who was the PM, great approach when you are already on top.

QUOTES - 'You do the PR, I'll carry on being PM' from Brown was the best line of the day.

MISC - The Labour benches were calling for more at the end, the Tories looked miserable, sometimes this is pure partisanship and not a reflection of what happened, today this was a true reflection.

SCORE (OUT OF FIVE) Gordon Brown 4 David Cameron 1 - After last weeks let down, Brown evens the score with a clear victory.

I'm going to kick off my film section with a film I saw and loved a couple of years ago. I will throw in reviews of films I have seen in the past as this blog is new, along with reviews of new films as and when I see them. As a result most of the retrospective reviews will probably be rated higher in general, as I will be positng more my my favourites than duds. I rate each film on an A+ to F rating, this of course, is only my opinion, but on my blog, it counts for rather a lot :)

The Constant Gardener (2005) - I saw this first in November 2005

Starring Ralph Finnes, Rachel Weisz, Danny Houston, Bill Nighty

Directed by Fernando Meirelles

This film at a glance is one I did not expect a huge amount from, as this sort of storyline tends to work better in books rather than films. This however, well and truely delivered. The lead characters, Ralph Finnes as diplomat Justin Quale, and Rachael Weisz who plays his activist wife Tessa, deliver outstanding performances.

The basis of the plot is Justin is parachuted in to deliver a lecture on the diplomats role in Government foreign policy. After the lecture Tessa delivers a diatribe against the Governemnt. Justin finds her passion attractive and the meet up later. Eventually Justin agrees to marry Tessa which allows her to go to Africa to pusue work with poverty stricken children in Africa. Her outbursts however are an embarrasment to the British Government. Eventually on on of her trips to Africa, Tessa is brutally murdered.

Justin is told his wifes death was suicide. Justin does not believe this, and his wifes readicalisation engulfs him in a search through three continents to search for the truth. He finds a deal between the Governement, and a pharmacutical firm making money out of selling dubious medicine to Africans may have been the link to his wifes death, in the process, his own life is now at risk.

The major trick of this movie is the sequencing. It moves back and forward in time, then back again. This allows the film to give hints of whats to come, then explain how it gets there.This clever decice is at its most powerful at the end, allowing the movie to finish in the only way it could, while still being able to show the consequences of Justin's actions afterwards.

It also has the advantage of the third world eye of Fernando Meirelles, this gives the film a true feel of the reality in Africa in the scenes filmed there. The directing and editing in this film is simply beautiful to watch, and gets the balance between beauty and sadness, power and emotion, absolutely right.

This film has politics, romance, cover-up, great acting, great directing and an emotional intensity few films can match. If you have not seen this film, I urge you to do so.

THE MOON OF LIBERTY VERDICT - MY RATING 'A+' - I voted this my own favourite film of 2005, Rachel Weisz went to to win best Supporting Actress at the OSCARS, and deservedly so. I love this film, in my top few films of all time.

Straight Talk - BBC News 24 22:30pm

Andrew Neill Interviews Dame Shirley Williams

Dame Shirley Williams, former cabinet Minister, one of the gang of four who set up the Social Democrats, now a Liberal Democrat peer in the House of Lords. Also a controversial figure as she is extreamly proud in her role pushing the Comprehensive school system, a truimph to most on the left, a disaster to most on the right.

We begin with Dame Shirley's early life. Her mother was a feminist and a Labour activist. Shirley stated it was her who inherited her mothers political passions, apprently her brother had little interest and in what little he did have, he tended to side with the Conservatives.

She went to the United States during the war and spent time in Minnesota. She states in that part of the USA in the 40's there was virtually no class system, she believes this is where her passion for Comprehensive education came from as she came to dislike the class system in the UK, and saw a classless education system as key to changing this.

Dame Shirley joined the Labour party at 16 and eventually became an MP. She states she encountered little sexism in her early life and does not consider herself on a feminist mission. Eventually she became a Cabinet Minister and was passionate about pushing Tony Crossland's comprehensive school agenda on.

She stated she is proud of pushing this. Then she encountered the weakest point of the interview, she said she regretted that this had become a political football in England, and pointed to Scotland, where it was less so, as the true triumph of comprehensivism. Andrew Neill is a Scot who knows plenty about he Scottish system. He pointed out Scottish results had risen recently, in line with a huge increase in private education, and the two biggest universities in Scotland, Edinburgh and ST Andrews, were dominated by priviately educated pupils. During this part of the interview Dame Shirley was on the defensive, her critics will argue this is proof the Comprehensive argument does not stand up to scrutiny.

They move on to her leaving the Labour Party after the 1979 election. She stated 3 reasons, the Labour Party were becoming anti EEC (now the EU) which she was not, they wanted to leave NATO which she was against, and the left wanted MP's to be accountable to the party not the electorate. She pointed out it is amusing how some of these people parade themselves as great parliamentarians because they oppose the party whip today, when they used to condemn those who did so back then.

She stated she believed it took the Derek Hatton issue in Liverpool before Neil Kinnock saw what was required, and even then it was another 10 years before the battle to move the party back to sense was won. She does not regret not going back to Labour at that point.

Dame Shirley confimred she would be available to advise the Governemnt on issues that go beyond party politics in her view, as long as she retained her independence. She would advise the Government on nuclear issues as long as certain conditions about the direction of policy were met, but this would mean a commitment to eliminate neuclear weapons at the earliest opportunity.

We finish with Dame Shirley admitting her weakness was her love of detail and taking on too much. She accepts Neill's premise that this may have cost her the chance to be Britain's first female PM instead of Margaret Thatcher. 

News Knight 22:00 ITV1

Hosted by Sir Trevor McDonald

The idea is Sir Trevor McDonald does the news in a comedic way. The first thing to note is it has an 'Have I got News For You' feel without the Gameshow element. Sir Trevor is reading his jokes from an autocue. He begins with a joke about where were you when you heard about 9/11. Sir Trevor was of course telling us about, so what a stupid question.

He has a panal of guests to add some off the cuff comedy, this week featuring Marcus Brunswick, comedian Frank Boyle and a welcome return to a TV screen for Clive Anderson, who I have not seen on the box for a while.

They discuss the terror attacks in Glasgow. Boyle, a Scot, points out how silly it is to try and bring holy war to Glasgow as it has been happening there for 100 years already. This is followed by strange features on fury animals and children who are 'idiots.' This apprently is a regular feature of the show.

Next up for lampooning is Cherie Blair, her interview this week is ridculed and they make fun of her hairdo. Sir Trevor then tells us about security measures at Wimbledon, and how one concrete block that has been erected beat Tim Henman in the 2nd round. Prince Charles visit to flooded areas is discussed, including charles on his own personal dingy.

We finish with the Serena Willimas award for over doing it, an NBC reporter falls and milks the injury for all it's worth, and she is awarded the award by Sir Trevor.

This is mildly amusing, low budget entertainment. Worth a look if you can't find anything else on. I doubt it will take off and make it to the big time however.

8th July 2007 14:00 pm

Venue - Centre Court, Wimbledon 

Nadal (Spa) (seeded 2) Vs Federer (Sui) (Seeded 1)

This final turned out to be a great one. Federer, unbeaten in 34 matches and 4 years at Wimbledon, was aiming to equal Bjorn Borg's record of five consecutive titles. Nadal, who lost to Federer in last years final, was aiming to become the first Spanish Men champion since Manuel Sanana in 1966.

With Borg and Santana sat next to each other in the Royal box, the finalists traded a first set that went all the way to a tie break. Federer was mixng his serves well while Nadal had a clear strategy of trying to hit deep to Federe's backhand and then switching direction. In the tie break however Federer's abilty to get quick points won out while Nadal began to rush and could not set the points up as well. Federer therfore took the first set 7-6

The second set was more of the same. Nadal lead 5-4 on serve, then Hawkeye intervened. At 30 all Nadal challenged a line call that would have given Federer game point, the challenge overruled the call. The point had to be re-played, Nadal won it then then went on to break to take the 2nd set 6-4.

The third set went once again all the way to the tie break. Federer prevailed again to take a 2 sets to 1 lead. Then early in the fourth Hawkeye struck again. Nadal challenged another call successfully, this seemed to upset Federer who had a row with the umpire and quickly went 3-0 down in the fourth set. He lost this 6-2 to take the match all the way.

Unfortunately Nadal sustained a knee injusry that appeared to hamper his serving in the fifth set, but he managed to get to 2-2. Federer then held serve and then broke the next game, with Nadal clearly slowing down as he was struggling. This allowed Federer to take a 4-2 lead. Federer then saw out the next two games, finishing it with an overhead smash to seal his fifth title.

Federer's abilty to gain cheap points (24 aces to 1) espeically when Nadal was struggling and therefore had to work harder on his own serve than normal, was the key to victory today. The injury also meant Nadal was not able to go to Federer's backhand as much in the final set. having to change his tactics and playing into Federer's hands as he was able to set up more forehand winners.

So Federer deservedly in the end equals Borg's record, next year it will be all about if he can beat it.

RESULT Federer (Sui) defeats Nadal (Spa) by 3 sets to 2 - 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 2-6, 6-2  

After the smoking ban it's a good question as to how far the nanny state can or should go. Labour is already planning a clampdown on alcohol, with new warnings and the banning of aclohol sponsors on replica football shirts. These measures are the brainchild of Caroline Flint, who for those who don't know (and it will probably come as some suprise to her that anyone wouldn't) is the Minister for public health. She is the current nanny of the nation, she know whats good for us, because of course we don't. In the light of Miss Flint, it would be nice if we had an opposition that did not want to lecture us all on how to live our lives.

Well I'm sorry to inform you that we can only dream. This morning samples of a new report commissioned by the Conservative Party, a report that David Cameron, the Conservative Party leader, has said he supports 'the thrust of' suggests a new tax on alcohol that would increase the price beer by 7p a pint, 20p on a bottle of wine and 70p on a bottle of whisky. Apparently this alcohol tax is, according to Tory MP for Chingford and Woodford, Iain Duncan Smith, 'required to improve the health of the nation.' Mr Duncan Smith did of course lead the Conservative Party once, and many argue he was the worst leader in the history of the party.

It should said this idea has not yet been adoprted as party policy. But given opinon polls now put Gordon Brown and Labour back in the lead, it will be interesting to see what Cameron does. Cameron set this report up in the first place, if he rejects these proposals he will be open to ridcule about his judgement of setting the report up, but the idea that forcing low income people to pay more for the night out through higher alcohol taxes is going to reduce alcohol consumption is nonsense. All it will due is add to the financial pressures which create the very social breakdown this report claims it wants to get to the heart of. It also smacks of moralistic undertones that have damaged the Conservative Party's image for so long, and reverses the trend Cameron himself has been trying to move into over the last year.

After the devisive Grammar schools row, and the new Prime Ministers impressive start in his new role, the fair wind Cameron has had so far is now turning cold. The positions is not a disaster, but it depends on him holding his nerve. This report is one of a number of traditionalist forces trying to move Cameron into a more old-fashioned direction, which will only lead to the wilderness of a fourth election defeat. Enraging drinkers (of which there are plenty) into voting against him, will not help his cause.

Hello, I'm Kevin Alcock, and your somebdoy else. I begin here, this blog will deal with anything I wish. Politics, news, sports events, films and cinema, television, newspaper articles and any other random concepts I feel worthy of my time. Welcome to the ride. I hope you enjoy.

Of course being my blog this whole thing will be shamelessly biassed at times. But it's my blog so tough luck.

Regards

Kevin Alcock