The Shoe Lady v Albert Steptoe in the Non-Debate

I have been waiting for this the May/Corbyn event but unlike many, mostly TV and print media I prefer this format of debating than the head-to-head confrontation. Without the hostility of a face-to-face set-up, we are listening to the only two people who could win the election.

I am a Labour supporter, which I have mentioned on more than enough occasions on my blog but I am no fan of Corbyn, again I have put out there my vote was shaky. I have already voted via postal vote and who got my vote you will have to wait for Election Day.

Jeremy Paxman was in the chair to interview both separately with Corbyn facing Faisal Islam moderating members of the audience questions first. I was expecting him to walk out to the Steptoe and Son theme tune with the dress sense of Albert Steptoe but he smartened himself up for this programme. All the questions asked were as expected with no real surprises and answered them like a politician.

A small business owner in the audience attacked Mr Corbyn's "ruthless short-sighted policies" such as increasing corporation tax and putting VAT on private school fees.

"This country is badly divided between the richest and the poorest," the Labour leader replied, asking the man whether he was "happy" that children were going to school hungry and being taught in "supersized" classes.

Jeremy Corbyn moved on to Paxman who when straight for the jugular waving around the manifesto asking were his core beliefs on Trident that he has campaigned for years to get rid of but in the manifesto the Labour will replace it with a new system and submarines. He said something like, “The party in conference voted to renew Trident and he would like to open discussions on ridding the world of the nuclear threat”

He was also pressed on his support for the IRA, an Irish paramilitary group at the time of the ‘Troubles in Northern Ireland’ which was also brought up during the audience section with an audience member accusing him of attending a commemoration for members of the IRA.

He was asked if he was told his authorisation for a drone strike was needed within 20 minutes to attack terrorist plotting overseas to attack the UK would he give permission.

"I would want know the circumstances," Corbyn said. "You can't answer a hypothetical question without the evidence. It is a completely hypothetical question."

He was also asked back-to-back questions on Brexit - one from a Leave voter calling for immigration controls and another from an unhappy Remain supporter.

Answering the first, he refused to set a target for migration numbers, saying Labour would act to prevent the undercutting of wages.

He then told the Remain supporter Labour had to "accept the reality of the referendum".

Prime Minister Theresa May entered stage left and I was disappointed in her choice of shoes I was hoping for some full on stripper heels, oh well.

May often found herself on the defensive as the audience members grilled her on cuts to the police, National Health Service and education, and a so-called "dementia tax" that might make it harder for elderly Britons to pass on their property to their heirs.

At one point a heckler yelled, "You've clearly failed. “

Before she could warm her seat Paxman was at her like the Beaufort Hunt chasing a fox, sorry a scent line, foxhunting is banned for now.

The Prime Minister seemed to have sorted out her 'line' on the dementia tax after the U-turn explaining the need to put more money into the social care system and protect the assets of those entering residential care and didn't get bogged down in claiming "nothing has changed". As a policy it still has huge flaws, and there's no word on where a cap on costs might be set, but there's no longer the sensation of pulling a brick from wall whenever someone asks about it.

Brexit was always going to feature in any chat with the Prime Minister giving her a chance to remind the watching viewing of her ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’ mantra. That’s the phrase that got Theresa May her only applause line in during her tricky appearance in front of Jeremy Paxman last night, and the theme that the Conservatives hope will allow them to recover from their difficult fortnight and get them back on track in the election campaign.

One point to make Corbyn won if you wanted to judge on audience on clapping and the Prime Minister was heckled. But pundits on the whole are calling the event a draw with neither receiving a killer blow.

Election, TV, Cardiff, Personal - I'm Back

I have been on a short break from blogging well since last Wednesday anyway. Have I missed much to write about in the period? Manchester was the big story but who could write about that and I think it could have been the reason for the break.

If you believe the polls May and her Tory landslide is off the cards with Corbyn and Labour poll figures improving as days go by and could he catch her before the election in 10 days. Can we believe the polls though they got it so wrong last time, but my postal vote is ready to post?

Everyone knows how much I love my TV but Manchester and the aftermath has been filling our screens making it hard work to watch at times. To lighten my mood in particular I have been watching a lot of vintage comedy over the internet, still it was hard to lighten my mood.

On the plus side with Manchester in mind with security, my home city of Cardiff will be the centre of the football world with the men and women’s Champions League Final being played on Saturday and Thursday respectively. It is a worldwide event with news crews from around the world in the city and more of which I will write about later in the week.

On a personal note, I was out at a “bit of a do” Saturday night with this couch potato dragging himself out to go to my nieces 21st Birthday. Has someone who avoids parties like the plague, even family ones, I had a surprisingly good night sitting with dad watching the family go by. Has the night went on I started to think of all the family missing.

My uncles, Joe, Mancio, Johnny and Tony thinking how my father would have love to be sitting around a table with them, baby Peter with his big brothers. There are also his sisters and all the brother and sisters in law he must find it lonely without them being the only one left. We his children cannot replace that kind of love but we stand with dad.

He is missing mum who like me was not one for parties but like me would have made the effort I am sure and like dad she would have loved to be surrounded by her missing family. But it was great to see the new generation of the family build their own lives and some new life coming soon.

So I am back for what it is worth.

Confession of an Armchair Potato

I am a couch/armchair potato and that is a fact. To prove that statement in this moment in time I am sitting in MY armchair, it is mine. While typing this for my blog this morning, I was watching Frasier out of the corner of my eye in-between eating some toast, and reading The Star newspaper, I feel very much the couch potato.

This is not some kind of lazy time for me it is 24/7 something I have developed into a fine art this couch potato technique which I have truly sorted. Any good couch potato, can sit watching TV for hours and with a laptop the world belongs to you, it’s a radio, a newspaper and so much more meaning you don’t have to leave your position in front of the television.

I really do not have a favourite show those I do have I make sure I save them to watch later because I channel hop, I am a serious hopper much to the annoyance of the family but I own the TV remote control.

I have over 245 channels to pick from and sometimes I cannot find anything worth watching so I retreat to the internet and the likes of YouTube. There is no need in this day and age to sit there watching something you do not like. I switched the TV on this morning at just after 6am and it will be on until maybe midnight even when no one is watching.

I would like some kind of man den/cave, a space for me. With a top of the range TV and lots of other gadgets and toys to keep me happy which is just one in a long line of fantasy all to be funded my some magical lottery win that will never happen.

Why bother with all this, you say? If you are sleepy or THAT lazy, go to bed! Obviously, you do not understand the point. Years of practice are needed to perfect a couch potato technique. The point is NOT to go to bed but to catch forty winks elsewhere.

Some might consider snacks or drinks essential for perfect potatoing (is that a word! Well it is now), however, much to the surprise of those who know I am not one for stuffing ones face while watching TV.

Too much time on my hands? Yes and then some! The best hours are those stolen when I should absolutely be doing other activities. Actually, I feel a bit drowsy right now. I think I’ll finish this post now I feel a nap coming.

Flat Pack Mansions - I have a Dream

Last night was my kind of heaven on Channel 4. First Flat Pack Mansions followed by Cabins in the Wild a build-it-yourself feast with lots of wood but for this post, I am going to concentrate on Flat Pack Mansions because this is where my heart belongs.

In the programme, three couples were followed from the arrival of their flat pack homes to the signing off on completion. I have a dream that will need a sizable lottery win so it is likely to stay a fantasy. However, I am a nerd who has researched the possibility of a project even picked the company I would like to use, sad really but that is me all over.

Lucky for me one of the couples used the company I would use myself if my fantasy were ever become reality. Pizza restaurant entrepreneurs Richard and Nikki Cooper plan to build a 5000-square foot home in just four days, using a German company. Their lavish pre-fabricated house built in a factory in Germany was shipped over complete.

Finished 

It only took three days not four days to have a watertight property that on a normal build would take months for a similar size house brick and block built. Upon arrival, the first floor was successfully installed on day one, the second on day two and by day three, the roof was added. It came with all the electrics and plumbing fixed in place with all the large items like a kitchen, bathroom available from the same company. In fact, just about everything from flooring to a letterbox is available via your personal consultant.

Yes this was a mansion but why don’t local authorities look to pre-fab housing as an idea to help with the chronic housing shortage. The new pre-fab housing as left well behind the image of those built after the Second World War and with the quick build the council’s and the like could really make a dent in the homeless figures.

Sunday Crush - Jilly Johnson - Page Three

I know I have said before I was never really interested with page three (for those with no idea what I am talking about. A national newspaper produces a topless picture on their page 3). Well back in the seventies you could not help but notice Jilly Johnson.

She was a smoking hot blonde and one of Britain's first page 3 models in the Sun newspaper in 1970, and was the first model to appear topless in the Daily Mirror 1975. She was roundly acknowledge to be one of the most famous topless models to appear in these publications. During this time along with fellow page three model Nina Carter they formed the pop duo Blonde on Blonde, with very limited success but secured a No 1 in Japan unsurprisingly. I say unsurprisingly because western woman singers were popular in the Far East.

For a time she was better known as a serial date of Rock stars of the time and men in the music industry.

She was rarely out of the papers so there was plenty of time for my crush to develop. At the beginning, she looked the innocent, the whole butter would not melt, but soon she became a full on rock chick and more. She had a body most woman would die for this teenage boy would love to grapple with leading to some X-rated thoughts as a teenage it was about all I thought about beside football and Cardiff City.

Blonde on Blonde

National Sandwich Week - My Top 10

This week has been National Sandwich Week and I do love a sandwich but you will not be surprised to hear, I am not adventurous when it comes to fillings, pretty bland really. I am a simple man who enjoys simple things.

The below are my favourite sandwiches home made because they are not available in shops, where mayo as a spread is king. Outside on the high street only a few shop sell pre-packed without mayo. When in Cardiff town centre it could be heart-breaking looking for a non-mayo sandwich but then there is the indoor market where their sandwiches a spread with butter or margarine.

First white bread is the best and I prefer it over brown bread or this seedy nut bread stuff all the rage with some health conscious people but good hold white bread is my preference, which my waistline can testify to, bad Peter.

Here are my top ten sandwiches in no particular order

• Salmon and pickled onions – that is tinned salmon with chopped up picked onions
• Chopped Pork with sliced tomatoes – Chopped Pork = Spam but not the trademark American the difference is small but do I care! I like them both
• Ham/Chicken with sliced tomatoes, salad option – Many opinions here where I normally like a plain sandwich with some sliced tomatoes as a compliment. But I do from time to time enjoy a salad.
• Princes Chicken paste spared – You know the one the small jar of paste we find in most shops always consider by me as the poor man sandwich.
• Sausage/Bacon – Heaven in a sandwich no matter which one you put between two slices of bread. Bacon is by far the most popular with the British public. If I had to choose one of the two, it would be a sausage sandwich you just cannot beat a good sausage.
• Ham with pickled onions – I like a good slice Ham and it is always good if there are a few pickled onions laying around in the cupboard.
• Boiled Egg with sliced tomatoes – again with the sliced tomatoes Petey …. I like them what can a say! It has been awhile since I have had the pleasure of one of these sandwiches, maybe this weekend.
• Ham and Boiled Egg – As above

Breaking Glass - Film Review - (Link to Film)

I was up early again this morning listening to music and while watching the video ‘Will You’ by Hazel O’Connor realised I had not seen the film ‘Breaking Glass’ for donkeys years something I was hoping to rectify with a search of the internet.

Danny (Phil Daniels) is trying to gain a foothold in the record industry by becoming a manager, but this is easier said than done as the best he can muster is being paid to buy singles to fix their chart positions for a record company in London.

He meets a young woman Kate (Hazel O'Connor) after being kick out of some music event for people in the industry as she is pasting up posters for her own gig on the walls.

With Danny now representing her the first thing he does is chuck her present band out the window and recruits a new band, Breaking Glass. The plan is simple in Danny’s eyes to highlight the anarchist-type tendencies of Kate. The streets of Britain are getting meaner with the end of Jim Callaghan's government, industrial disputes and strikes everywhere and high unemployment, and collapsing public services all part of the time.

Left and right organisations clashing at concerts and in the streets with the police on hand to mix it up with both. A mad time for those who lived it. In the film a developing love affair between Kate and Danny always looked doomed. A tour of the country for the being to build a fan base and attract slippery music promoters all feature prominently during the ensuing events but at the heart of the film is the increasingly futile attempts to maintain a semblance of control over her career.

A major music manager played by Jon Finch, Woods, marginalises Danny and the band begins to fall apart despite becoming more and more successful. On tour again, the agents start sowing seeds of discontent among the band, hinting heavily that Danny is the problem. This leads to a confrontation on the tour bus after which Danny storms out and quits. Woods now moves in as the band's manager and becomes Kate's new lover.

Record company pressure sees Kate give in to demands to change lyrics to avoid offending people before spiralling out of control. That leads to a mental and nervous breakdown and the final scene shows Kate recuperating at a hospital, Danny comes to visit her and to bring her a synthesizer.

Breaking Glass is undoubtedly representative of certain elements of social unrest in 1980, and the music business story lines of manipulation and commercialisation of young artist’s dreams are depressingly familiar in rock history right back to the 1950s. I cannot remember the last time I have seen it on TV but I enjoyed the catch up this morning.

A Labour victory with 200 seats?

Jeremy Corbyn as let it be known that if the Labour party lost the election he would be keen to stay leader and now one of his key allies, Unite boss Len McCluskey and one of the biggest party paymasters has been reported as saying he cannot see Labour winning the election.

He suggested winning 200 seats - nearly 30 fewer than in 2015 - would be a "successful" result for Mr Corbyn a performance, which would be Labour's worst since 1935. In away I am glad someone in the high echelons can see past dreamland where they see Corbyn walking up Downing St to the door at number 10. That fills me with dread as much as a Tory victory putting me in a no win situation.

And the union chief said, 

"The scale of the task is immense. People like me are always optimistic ... things can happen. But I don't see Labour winning. I think it would be extraordinary.

“I believe that if Labour can hold on to 200 seats or so it will be a successful campaign. It will mean that Theresa May will have had an election, will have increased her majority but not dramatically.”

All being denied this morning or been give the play down.

UK-wide opinion polls show the Tories under Prime Minister Theresa May have a 20-point lead over Labour and are on course for a landslide win on June 8.

From the Labour back benches Former shadow Business Secretary Clive Lewis believes Jeremy Corbyn should remain leader of the Labour Party “whatever happens” in the general election.

Labour politicians dragged into the studios this morning were full of optimism of an election win for Corbyn using the crowds at his election speeches and blaming the bias media reporting as stone around his neck.

I would like to point out that I personally have never thought it was about winning this election. More about who will be in control of the party after the election with the left of the Labour party are hell bent on keeping hold.

They will also have their fingers cross that the parliamentary party will be more Corbyn friendly, as we know the membership is full of Corbynistas. With many of the big unions held by left leaning bosses, the overthrow of Corbyn may be difficult after the election anyway.

American Pickers Mega Pick - Reality TV

I love ‘American Pickers’ on the History Channel 9pm on a Monday and last night the new series hit the road running with a mega pick that had Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz all aflutter. While Mike and Frank are on the road together, they both have their own stores but work together on the bigger costing items like in last night’s programme.

We only see Mike’s store ‘Antique Archaeology’ run in his absent by Danielle Colby Cushman. She searches out contacts for them to visit spending a lot of time cultivating them.

In this episode we see them head to the Pacific Northwest to what can only be described as gearhead guy heaven, and one of the rarest motorcycles in the world. The pair need to raise the roof money wise to seal the deal.

When Frank and Mike get to the location in Oregon, we meet Zane and his mom Linda whose husband Larry was a keen collector of motorcycles and cars.

This is the perfect pick for the guys who love hard-to-find cars and bikes. The first barn building we go into with the guys and Zane is filled to the rafters with all kinds of bikes and cars. A rare Frazer Vagabond car bought for $99 and a shot of whiskey is shown first.

Fans of this series like me know that anything pre-WWII in motorbikes lights up Mike’s brain. He spies an Indian! Zane says he is willing to sell. The guys begin to dance around a price. Mike adds: “This would be such a great bike to do!”

Then things quickly go from great to wow! The guys hit another barn on Zane’s property filled with old Indian motorcycles and Mike spots a rare Ace four-cylinder bike considered the Holy Grail of antique motorcycles. Frank knows Mike wants this bike. With some more motorcycles, related stuff Mike and Frank plan to laid out $85,000, a lot but in the end, it cost them just over $90,000.

They would hope to later find a buyer and recoup their cash, but these guys know each pick is an educated gamble.

In the next pick it was more your smalls shopping trip with a mother and daughter having a clear out of the grandmothers property. There were toys and other small items but the two were surprised with Mike’s interest in six old denim jeans.

After sending some pictures to an expert Mike knew, the ladies were shocked to find a pair of 1930 Levi jeans were worth $1000/$800 and five other pair of jeans whose condition were not the best demand prices of $200/$300 each.

This show never fails to entertain me.

Severance - Film Review - Spoilers

A rainy Monday morning the wife on a hospital appointment and not much on the TV so I went YouTube looking for a film and came up with Severance starring Danny Dyer.

Severance is a British horror about a group of employees from Palisade Defence’s a high-profile international-arms supplier on a corporate team-building retreat somewhere in an Eastern European forest. The trip takes a turn for the worst when a deadly enemy infiltrates the retreat with the singular goal of ensuring that no one gets out alive.

It is a rare quality for a horror-comedy: the horror is unsettling and the comedy is genuinely funny, and both exist cheek by jowl without the balance ever tipping too far on either side.

A tree interrupts the coach journey that is across the road and when the driver refuses to drive along a woodland track, the group decide to walk to the lodge. They find a rundown "lodge", where the boss Richard (Tim McInnerny) decides that despite the smelly, deserted and basically ominous appearance of the venue that the show must go on, and plans out the following day's activities.

During the night they "sit around spouting scary stories", each of the stories somehow provides a reason as to why someone might hate their company. The brilliant scene where the characters discuss the history of the lodge. Harris (Toby Stephens), says it was a mental institution where the patients took over and Palisade were sent in to restore order, Jill (Claudia Blakley) says that it housed war criminals who held a vendetta against Palisade for arming their enemies. While Steve (Danny Dyer) says that it was a sanatorium for the elderly run by a sexy female nursing staff all stockings and push up bras.

They find a pie and believing it was left for them some tuck in for a nosh. That is until one of the group finds a human tooth in his share of the pie. And after questioning it is revealed the pie was "found" and simply heated up.

The next day Richard sends two of the group to seek contact with the outside world, the rest of them head off to play good old team building paintball. The two seeking help find the coach and the driver killed, so rush back to the others in the coach. Meanwhile, at the paintball, one of the team Gordon (Andy Nyman) steps into a bear trap and has his leg cut off nasty but there is a fun side to this with Steve trying to jam the severed leg into the small coach fridge.

They all board the coach the make a dash for safety realising something was wrong here but they crash hitting spikes scattered over the road. The driver Harris (Toby Stephens) earlier was joking about what happens if your head were cut off making out your head would stay alive for a few seconds. Of course, we all know what happens next.

Another very disturbing part is where one of the team Jill (Claudie Blakley) dazed and wonders off and is captured. She tied to a tree and gets petrol poured all over the body and finally is burned to a crisp with a flamethrower.

The remaining group manger to get back into the lodge and lock themselves in only Maggie, Billy, Richard, Gordon, and Steve are left. While Maggie and Steve are sharing a cigarette, one of the stranger comes in and takes away Gordon. The four look around the bowels of the lodge, following Gordon's screams as the stranger vivisects him. Lovely. They find the stranger, who puts a shotgun blast into Billy's chest. Billy finds he still able to fine-control his movements, even with the gaping hole in his chest, before he passes away.

Maggie, Richard, and Steve are left. Steve stays in the lodge; Maggie runs for the hills and is nearly raped, as does Richard. Of course, they are not together. Maggie returns to the lodge, Steve puts a long knife through one of the strangers, and Maggie gives him a shotgun blast through the head.

Maggie and Steve go outside the lodge, only to find that more strangers await them. Maggie drops one, but she is out of ammunition. They find Richard, who knows that he is standing on a mine. Richard distracts the strangers for a bit before he steps off the mine killing himself.

Maggie and Steve who have left the lodge are being chased find George, the corporate CEO, who is at the real lodge have a whale of a time partying with two hookers Steve had ordered at the start of the film. Steve and Maggie explains to George who grabs a missile launcher goes outside and fires at the strangers gathered at the edge of the field. Problem is the missile is a surface to air missile and when fired locks on to a passing jet liner, bang.

Everybody runs including the two hookers/escorts who fall into a large trap in the ground in the woods and strip to try and make a rope to pull themselves out . George meets a nasty end hanging from a tree. Maggie is caught but gets the better of her attacker while Steve takes out two of the attackers, but is badly wounded in the process. He helps the two women out of the hole.

While looking for a way to get help, Maggie sees a lot of Palisade ordinance. She telephones for assistance, but the stranger with the flamethrower who killed Jill catches up with her. The women with Steve find her before she is hacked to death. The foursome makes it to the lake and presumably to freedom.

Crush Sunday - Sylvia Syms

I was watching the film Ice Cold in Alex (1958) the other day thinking how hot was Sylvia Syms. I already knew because she is a long-time member of my crush list. I like woman and always have this list could turn out to be endless.

I have seen the film about 100 or so times from way back to my youth to date and still marvel how much she still “gave me the horn” in this film in particular. It is a war film in black and white but she looks so stunning and the uniform helps.

The film is a war film, set during WW II in North Africa, an alcoholic army officer travels to Alexandria in an ambulance with his trusted sergeant. His travelling companions are two nurses and a South African officer. Mid-way one of the nurses is killed. The drunk and the other nurse get romantically involved and the South African turns out to be a German spy.

We see her in the opening of the film ready to board the last ship out of Tobruk while under bombardment looking rather sexy in her uniform. Has she progress through the film she became more and more the hottie it must have been the desert heat. She was well up for some desert naughty with John Mills character switching from a quaint English rose to a lustful man-eater at the drop of a hat.

In one scene has they are rolling about in the sand she can be heard saying, “In a few days you would have forgotten we had ever met”. With his reply “I wouldn’t forget” as his motor was starting to rev up. I think I may have used the same line with ‘what’s her name’ many years ago.

Even playing a nun a few years later in Conspiracy of Hearts (1960) she looked stunning.

Tonight, it is all about “The Eurovision Song Contest”

Get your flags out and at the ready! Tonight, it is all about “The Eurovision Song Contest” and those great European countries of Australia and Israel. No one wants the dreaded nil points, could that be earmarked for the British entrant to receive the accolade. I personally think the British song from Cardiff girl Lucie Jones is pretty good better than most but in this competition it doesn’t matter.

She will be up against some classic Eurovision acts like one favourite an Italian with a dancing bear and not a real bear but a guy in a bear costume and there are a few other nut jobs to keep the viewing audience amused. Watch out for the striking Azerbaijan's entrant Dihaj with a man in the horses head on top of a ladder.

It is the 62nd musical extravaganza with Graham Norton in the commentary box ready with the one-liners with a large dose of sarcasm making him a great choice to replace the late great Terry Wogan. This year it is coming from Kiev, Ukraine who won the last competition so giving them the opportunity to host the event.

Last year, Ukraine’s Jamala won Eurovision with her political number, 1944, about Stalin’s mass deportation of Crimean Tatars.

The last UK winner was Katrina and the Waves I say British the lead singer was American it this mixed band that was in 1997 with "Love Shine a Light". Before that, we were regular top ten finishers and winners after 1997 the rest of Europe fell out of love with us at a time of the rise of Eastern Europe where they have a share vote policy.

Wars did not help or being besties with America and now Brexit poor Miss Jones getting into the top 10 would be some kind of a victory in the current climate.

A bit of nostalgia I remember sitting there with mum and my brother and sisters watching being the nerd I have mention before I would sit there picking who I thought would win. I would keep a tally of the votes. Even if I did not like the music, I could and still can turn my ears off.

I am older and the music is about the same so it is the ladies catching my eye now and I would not mind seeing the milkmaids back on the screen. But then not forgetting the Dita Von Teese burlesque appearance for a German duo.

Is Eurovision really 'all political'? Really, just look at the voting for the last decades Greece and Cyprus have regularly exchanged the top votes whilst awarding few points, if any, to Turkey. 

The contest has been hi-jacked by those annoying Eastern Europeans is the cry from ‘billy no mates’ like the UK. Recent studies have found that voting patterns do indeed exist; former Soviet, Scandinavian, and Balkan countries all tend to vote for each other.

Truth be told it is about the voting at the end of the day.

Upcoming Films for New Week - My Films

There are some cracking films hitting the small screen next week. If there is one thing I love it is a good film in the evening, well any time really. Other people’s thoughts and reviews can be helpful but I like what I like.

Below are movies for this upcoming week I am looking forward to watching. I like a wide range of films. This week earth will be invaded by nasty aliens who forgot they got there ass kicked the first time around and come back for a second go. Than some Sunday night late horror before bedtime with the following day, I take to the skies with the story of the World War 2 fighter plane the Spitfire.

I have been trying to catch up with the film ‘Filth’ but always managed to miss it for some reason or another. Some late night horror Thursday night and I have not seen it before so I am looking to be entertained and come Friday the Suicide Squad premiers on Television. I have really been looking forward to its airing.

Premiere Sky Cinema - Saturday … 8pm Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)

Two decades after the first Independence Day invasion, Earth is faced with a new extra-Solar threat. But will mankind's new space defences be enough?

Horror Channel – Sunday … 9pm Quarantine (2008)

Gory thriller about a television reporter and her cameraman are trapped inside a building quarantined after the outbreak of a mysterious virus.

Spike - Monday … 2:40pm The First of the Few (1942)

The story of the creation of the Spitfire fighter aircraft which follows the creator, R.J. Mitchell, and his battle against failing health and material odds to design and build his airplane before the war he knows is coming.

Film4 – Tuesday … 10: 55pm Filth (2013)

A corrupt, junkie cop with bipolar disorder attempts to manipulate his way through a promotion in order to win back his wife and daughter while also fighting his own borderline-fuelled inner demons.

Premiere Sky Cinema - Thursday … 10:10pm The Neighbour (2016)

Set in Cutter Mississippi, the film follows a man who discovers the dark truth about his neighbour and the secrets he may be keeping in the cellar.

Premiere Sky Cinema –Friday … Suicide Squad (2016)

A secret government agency recruits some of the most dangerous incarcerated super-villains to form a defensive task force. Their first mission: save the world from the apocalypse.

The Labour Party did a Boo Boo

I am by conviction a Labour supporter but this party lead by Jeremy Corbyn is making it so hard to vote this time. No one could call me some kind of far left Corbynistas I am more a centrist with a touch of mild left in me.

A draft of the Labour manifesto was leaked last night in The Daily Telegraph and Daily Mirror newspapers a week before its official release. As it was being reported on late TV news, it lit up social media like a Christmas tree.

Renationalise was the big buzzword in the papers with railways, the Royal Mail, and a public run energy industry high on the books if he (Corbyn) is elected Prime Minister. For those who can remember pools winner Viv Nicholson, she famously shouted SPEND SPEND SPEND from the rooftop. I am getting this kind of feeling with this outline draft manifesto. No one from the Labour party have smashed the doors down of TV and Radio stations to deny it and read into that what you want.

A spokesperson for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: “We do not comment on leaks. We will announce our policies in our manifesto, which is our plan to transform Britain for the many, not the few.”

The 51-page document also outlines promises of £6bn a year extra for the NHS and £1.6bn a year for social care. There are also commitments to abolish university tuition fees and order local authorities to build 100,000 new council houses a year and they are still spending.

Other commitments include private rent hikes capped at inflation together with proposals for a new Ministry of Labour to strengthen workers’ employment rights and not to forget scrapping strike laws. I get the feeling the paymaster of the Labour Party, the unions, have their fingers all over this proposal.

The manifesto commits Labour to Trident, but Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s is opposed to the nuclear deterrent and if he gets enough of his supporters into Parliament that could change.

In education £5 billion for schools and the abolition of university tuition fees. On Brexit, the party promises to rule out leaving the European Union without a deal. Local authorities ordered to build 100,000 new council homes a year. Policing – 10,000 extra police officers. Prisons should be a place “of last resort”.

Immigration there are plans to abandon rules stopping British citizens bringing in non-European spouses. The minimum income threshold will be dropped, replaced with an obligation to live in Britain without reliance on public funds or benefits

.

There is more to soak up I have just cover the big ticket items in this post but there was no costings. All we know is the rich, bankers and big business are the chosen payment option but how hard he will shake that tree

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Will these trees stand still.

I was watching Channel 4 news yesterday and there was a news report from Dublin who are ready with open hands to the banks. One paper runs a monthly big crane count and last month there were 60 across the Dublin skyline building offices to attract the city jobs. The same is happening over most of Europe. If they hammer down on big business most have factories outside the UK they could transfer jobs away to the cheaper Far East or Eastern Europe. People say “no they will not” but they could everything is changing no one can be sure of what will happen next these days.

The return to the seventies has been targeted at the Labour manifesto and I love the seventies but I did not enjoy some of it. Strikes almost daily and the three-day week and with the strikes came mountains of rubbish in the streets, blackout, and fuel shortages along with no bread, sugar, or milk and the Winter of Discontent that brought down a Labour government. So the seventies where not all that good.

I am obsessed with the Seventies

It was brought to my attention I am very nostalgic for the seventies to an extent that I am obsessed. Well it is true I love the seventies it is the decade that made me who I am and I turned out ok compared to some. So there is plenty of love about those 10 years.

It was a time of Growing, Learning, Lusting, Love, Sex, and Rock ‘n’ Roll! Well maybe not Rock ‘n’ Roll I was very much chilled out on Reggae, Ska, Two Tone with a sprinkling of Lovers Rock yes I was well chilled out in the seventies.

I often wonder what drives my passion for all things seventies. I guess, at its most base level, it is a way of escaping the present and retreating to a seemingly innocent era. I plonked neatly into the seventies as I was 10 years old in 1970 and 20 at the end of the decade covering the end of infants, secondary school, and early adulthood.

My blog is full of memories of the time from TV, films, music, and me.

I just love fantastic TV and cannot get enough of it, so investigating the vast back catalogue of archive material gives me the best chance of finding TV that I adore. In particular, having been born in the beginning of the sixties there was a lot I missed due to other activities like going out to play with my friends.

With the outset of the internet with sources like YouTube, bringing back nostalgia could not be easier. With many channels to feed, many archive shows are being rehashed much to my joy mostly. Recently I watched On the Buses the full series was shown on ITV 4 and thanks to YouTube I have been catching up with Please Sir!, and I Didn't Know You Cared.

Clothing back in the time was important but being active, it was about dressing for the occasion. If it were 1973 today, I would probably be wearing a butterfly collar shirt, tan top, patch pocket flairs, and platform shoes. Does not sound to good does it. But today in the right setting, you could look cool. Hair wise I would have been a bit of a mullet guy well as far as I could get in school before being spotted and told to get it cut.

Things changed slow I was allowed to wander further from home and with secondary school my friends base grow because I was meeting more kids from outside my area/neighbourhood. Leaving school things took a big step forward now I was a the door of adulthood and looking for work.

I, of course, am but one man, so the reasons behind my love of TV nostalgia and the seventies cannot be taken as the definitive word on the subject. Now, if you will excuse me, I am about to watch episode one of Survivors (1975 TV version series).

What’s on TV? May 8 1972 ITV Monday

The morning on ITV was dedicated to school programming and my favourite was ‘How they used to Live’ the programming finish at 2:30pm, five hours of viewing.

More grown up TV got under way at 2:30pm with ‘Good Afternoon’ for those who are at home a talk show for women and it was followed by ‘Houseparty’ at 3pm. Again programming for the fair sex. Once you heard the doorbell a group of ladies would sit about chatting about home stuff on this day the programme had only a running time of 15minutes but was so popular it was later extended.It was the Loose women of the 1970’s..

‘Jokers Wild’ (3:15pm) was the next offering a comedy panel game hosted by Barry Cryer. Each week two teams of three comedians each played for points by telling jokes on a certain subject chosen by the host, who would pull the selection from a box on his desk.

After ‘Yoga for Health’ and some local News it was time for programming for the young members of the household. From 4:15pm to 5:50pm, it would start with cartoons and then ‘The Romper Room’ a TV show run like a playgroup - all the four-year-old children sat around and Miss Rosayln would play games and sing them a song.

Stepping up a few years in viewing age it was time for ‘Clapperboard’ a programme about cinema, hosted by Chris Kelly. The show often went behind the scenes of popular TV shows and films to see how they were made. Before the evening news, ‘Pardon My Genie, at 5:20pm. The premise was that a magic genie appeared in present-day Britain (1972), summoned by a young apprentice named Hal Adden. Various comical misunderstandings arise, primarily aimed at youngsters.

National news and an extended local newe take up the next 45minutes before some light entertainment with ‘The David Nixon Show’ show featuring magic performed by the conjuror and celebrity guests.

Coronation Street 1972 8th May

Len arranges to see Rita again. Archie is proud as the porch nears completion. Albert complains that the Corner Shop is closed with Maggie away. Councillor Warburton calls on Len and is annoyed when he won't back a housing plan to do up a building in a run-down area, Len preferring a series of old people’s bungalows. Lucille worries about a dental appointment. Len arrives at Harry Bates’s house to return a scarf that Rita left in his van. They flirt. Betty thinks that someone should tell Archie about the need for planning permission. Len tells Jerry and Ray to stay out of the house that evening as he’s entertaining a lady but to tidy up before they go. Ray delays going until Rita arrives so he can see who his woman is. Rita tells Len that her husband is away often working on building motorways. She obviously isn’t happy in her marriage.

Len tells her how much he likes her but Alf interrupts them. He tells Len that Warburton is out for his guts. Rita is surprised to find that Len is a councillor. Billy suddenly realises that the shop and, more importantly its flat are empty. Archie completes the porch. Hilda is pleased and tries to show it off to the neighbours but Jerry and Ray tell her they'll need planning permission and they’ll probably be told to demolish it.

A flagship programme on ITV World in Action 8pm in-depth discussion and investigation of the important issues of the day. Its campaigning journalism frequently had a major impact on events of the day. Its production teams often took audacious risks and gained a solid reputation for its often-unorthodox approach. Comedy at 8:30pm with ‘Bless this House’ where travelling stationery salesman Sid Abbott (Sidney James) and his wife Jean live with their teenagers Mike fresh from art college and more pre-occupied with protests than finding a job and trendy schoolgirl Sally/ He (Sid) is uptight about this generation's permissive ways and he is usually out-of-touch.

Six Days of Justice occupied the 9pm time slot and was a television drama series of single plays. As suggested by the series title, the plays set in and around a courtroom and the corridor and waiting area outside. Focusing on the magistrate and children's courts rather than the High Court, the series was praised for its naturalistic setting, lack of melodrama and low-key approach to minor crime.

News at Ten

Aquarius was arts television series it had a magazine-style approach, with several features each week and aired from 10:30 pm for an hour. The night ended with Theatre of Stars and The Big Question.

Sunday Crush - Senta Berger

Berger, Segal and von Sydow

Senta Berger is an Austrian actress who first came to my notice in the British film spy thriller The Quiller Memorandum that I caught late in the early seventies on TV. Her looks are stunning, there was a hush surrounding her on the screen and innocents, but she was far from that in this film.

She casts a tremendous charm as sweet and helpful teacher Inge Lendt but she is playing a double hand she is part of whom Quiller (George Segal) is looking for, the neo-Nazi organization in West Berlin headed by Max von Sydow. Unsurprisingly Quiller beds her and starts to full in love with her ever so slowly but unbeknown to him, she is sleeping with the head of the Nazis organization.

Captured, tortured Quiller stands his ground and managers to escape.

That the end of the film most of the Nazis are rounded up by British intelligence. At the end, Quiller walks into Inge's classroom. Inge explains that she "was lucky they let me go", but Quiller appears to have concluded that she is not who she seems, saying 'we got them all... well, maybe not quite all', the implication being that Inge is one of them

She came across the unsavoury side of Hollywood when film producer and studio executive Darryl Zanuck attempted a less-than-subtle attempt to get her on his casting couch, and of all the shallow people, she met in Hollywood. But that a side she starred in a number of Hollywood film projects before returning more or less to the European film and TV scene.

The stunning Senta Berger

Local Elections next General Elections

The big winners in the Local Elections have been the Tories and the big losers UKIP but Labour have nothing to smile about they took a big hit. The political pundits are pointing at Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for the party losses while Labour officials skip around the question when asked.

The BBC are saying if these results were transferred to the General Election, the Tories would have a decent majority. I say decent because of the low turnout at a number of polls it is difficult to make comparisons on low numbers.

The Tories have made gains in Wales with 80 seats while Labour is down over a hundred and it is no better in Scotland with plenty of smiles for the Tories. British Prime Minister Theresa May and her party have made gains in Scotland from both Labour and the SNP to a smaller extent. The gains made to date have been 152 seats with Labour and the SNP down 115 and 14 respectively. The SNP would have expected to pick up many of the Labour party losses before the surge in support for the Tories.

Labour hold Cardiff still and my local constituency remain Labour as well and even with my dislike of Corbyn, I voted Labour this is about local politics not national. I have still not decided where my General Election vote is going. In the bin or to the Labour party.

The first ever-competitive transatlantic game

Tomorrow history will be made with the first ever-competitive transatlantic game when Toronto Wolfpack face Oxford RLFC. This is not a friendly or some tournament but a Kingstone Press League 1 fixture. This will be the Wolfpacks first home game having played five league games in England. They are currently sharing top of the league.

They are based in England and themselves will have to fly into Toronto and will need to return to their North of England base for a Friday fixture against Newcastle Thunder.

With Rugby League, way down the radar in Canada the owners of the Wolfpack are hoping to attract a crowd of 10,000 with curiosity of the sport hopefully attracting the sports mad Toronto public. They also need to get the local media on-board the game will be shown live in Canada.

There opponents flew out yesterday which will be the normal day for all teams to fly and make the 3,500 mile journey ahead of Saturday’s fixture. The trip to North America is fully paid for by their hosts a similar deal to that provided last season by French side Toulouse Olympique, who now play in the Championship.

In football Guernsey FC from the Channel Islands who play in Isthmian League Division One South, have the same deal paying the expenses of visiting teams. Could some rich executive with money burning in his pocket consider the same in football? At the moment Americans, Chinese, Far and Middle East money men are beating the doors down of Premiership and English league teams looking for a club the latest being Southampton.

The cost of buying a Premier League club is more than 100million and taking on any debts the whole venture could come at a hefty cost. However, could someone decide to form a new club in some non-league division and fight their way through the divisions? It could be cheaper an buying into the Premier League and to be honest, more fun.

The world is getting ever-smaller time wise with planes flying longer like now you can fly Australia to UK in 24 hours direct and North America is closer. So like Guernsey FC being based outside the UK could it be a problem if some rich moneyman had the same idea but from a bit further afield?

The precedent has been set by Guernsey so would The Football Association give any credence to someone coming up with such a plan.

A problem would come if someone try to buy a club like Notts County recently put up for sale and wanted to move them to the USA. First, there is no way I believe the FA would allow it out of principle and no way would fans stand for it. There would be protest throughout football remember the Wimbledon debacle and the never-ending tale still going on to this day.

Voting Tomorrow ... I Have .... Postal Voting the way to go

A fair chuck of the country goes to the polls tomorrow in the local elections with the pundits and political strategists running the numbers to make the jump from local voting patterns to national with the General Election weeks away.

On the BBC, the battle map will be dusted down while discussing battlegrounds and predicting and forecasting results to possible General Election outcomes.

Ok I vote Labour but if they did, something locally I did not agree with I would simply not vote for them. My vote is non-transferable it goes Labour or nowhere. But I understand what cut backs in funding is going to mean, services tweaked and the loss of some like the argument surrounding ‘Play Centres’ locally.

I do not think any councillor walks into the council hall happily shutting down or reducing funding to any project. But like in national politics the opposition can always find money to spend but at a costs to something.

I must say it has been quiet here just Plaid Cymru have knocked the door and I gave them short shrift. My letterbox has been particularly unused with leaflets from Plaid Cymru and Labour not a word or piece of paper from the others.

In Wales party leaders in the most have spoken on the eve of the polls.

First Minister Carwyn Jones emailed Labour Party members asking for their help with a final push for votes.

Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood said her party was best placed to defend local services and "clean up" communities.

Conservative local election campaigner, MP Byron Davies, said he was surprised by the number of people ready to back his party.

The Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Mark Williams promised to lead "real change" in communities.

UKIP AM Gareth Bennett highlighted plans to clamp down on "fat cat" salaries for council bosses.

Wales Green Party leader Grenville Ham said his party brought "new ideas and new energy to the table".

American Gods - TV Review

While checking out my twitter feed this afternoon I noted some of my twitter acquaintances were talking about a new series ‘American Gods’. It sounded interesting but there was a problem … it was on Amazon Prime Video and I am not a subscriber so I was going to need an iffy stream.

It was not easy these iffy streaming sites are being blocked or shut down but I found one.

In its premiere episode, It begins with the brutality of history upon the story is built, a gory prelude of stranded Vikings pleading and praying with the silent All-Father for wind to take them away from this foreign and barren land.

They sacrifice more and more in a constant wager of blood until they are finally granted their wish. When they set sail back to their homeland, they have no idea that they are leaving a corrupted version of their beloved god on the land they abandoned, a god who craves the worship and war that he has been denied for centuries.

Mr Wednesday and Shadow Moon

The episode then follows our protagonist, Shadow Moon. He starts in a jail cell, days from the end of his sentence, and the hope that he will return home to his loving wife. When he is given the news that he is going to be released early, his happiness is followed by something far more distressing – later the previous night his wife had died in a car crash.

The rest of the story follows his journey to his wife’s funeral and along the way; he meets the volatile Mr. Wednesday, who wins his services as a bodyguard with a toss of a coin. We find out his wife had been having an affair with his best friend while he was locked away. We were also introduced to Bilquis who I would never hope to meet on Tinder. She swallows a man whole with her vagina while having sex a new way to die for me.

Mad Sweeney is a leprechaun, and did you know not all are short and then there was and Technical Boy is the first of the new gods we meet, and he certainly makes an impression. Well I an hooked and cannot wait for the next episode.