Oooh, you can't watch that!

My post of 26th November seems to have taken on a life of its own  Students at Cambridge University have picked up on the idea and come up with a list of films which they consider contain examples of non-consensual sexual interactions.  Many are pretty obvious - Last Tango In Paris for example - but also included are some films which have always been considered "family films".  It's A Wonderful Life, anyone??

So-o-o?

I'm with Richard Hammond (the hamster) in wondering why some people make such a big thing out of coming out, or others coming out as gay.  Why are we so hung up about a person's sexual preferences?  I have many friends (believe it or not) and for the most part, there's plenty of things I don't know about them - I don't know their heritage, or their religious persuasion for instance, and I wouldn't think they would see any need to tell me these things.  So why would they see the need to tell me that they're straight, gay, bi or whatever?  Is it because knowing where a person stands on the sexual spectrum can avoid awkward social misunderstandings - or rather not knowing can involve you in such misunderstandings? Only reason I can think of.

Our Father...

I imagine that most people have a working knowledge of The Lord's Prayer, whether they class themselves as religious or not.  So it comes as something of a surprise to find that the Pope wants to change the wording.  The bit he's worried about is the part that says "lead us not into temptation".  Now the basic concept of this, like any prayer, is that we are talking to God - so we are asking God not to lead us into temptation - and it can be argued that the inference is that - unless we ask him not to - God will lead us into temptation. which of course goes completely against the basic Christian belief in a benevolent God.  The Pope would rather we copied the French, and changed the wording to "do not let us fall into temptation" which makes it clear that it is us who are in danger of falling into temptation, rather than it is God who might lead us there.

Compare and contrast

Started writing my Christmas cards this week.  Food for thought - cost of a card 10p (£3 for a box of 30)  Cost of a second class stamp to post it - 56p

R.I.P.

Christine Keeler and THAT photo of her sitting astride THAT chair.  Feel I've lost part of my personal history.  

Here we go again!

Throughout my life, the one constant fly in the ointment has been Ireland.  And obviously this is a sequence not meant to be broken.  Here we are, on the cusp of an agreement with the EU which will enable the Brexit talks to progress and guess who's intent on throwing a spanner in the works?  Of course it's all our fault - we created the Ireland "problem" and it's only fair really that it keeps tripping us up.

How much???

I wonder what those who were swayed by the big red bus with its implied promise that leaving the EU would free up £300-odd million a week to potentially spend on the NHS, now feel about the prospect of leaving, far from bringing money in, will cost us something like £60 billion, and maybe more.

Hush, hush, whisper who dares...

Really??  Did an Anglican minister really suggest that people should pray that Prince George - who remember is only four years old - is gay?  This seems wrong and inappropriate on so many levels - not least that if there is in fact such a thing as the power of prayer, this surely devalues it.

You want chilli sauce with that?

If you're a fan of the doner kebab better look away now, or hope that we get a lightning Brexit.  Why - well, it's all to do with phosphates apparently.  These are additives which keep cooked meat moist and flavoursome, but have also been associated with cardiovascular disease, so the EU are considering banning their use.  But only for kebab meat it seems - which has produced howls of outrage from the Turks, who see it as a deliberate attempt to disadvantage Turkish-owned businesses.  And what are we supposed to eat at 1.30 in the morning when we're kicked out of the pub??

And the moon is made of green cheese

It appears there are still those who believe the earth is flat.  Hard to believe now we have pictures from satellites showing a very round earth.  But you don't have to go into space to prove it - the ancient Greeks realised that simply observing approaching ships as they appeared over the horizon - top of the mast first - could only be explained if the ship was travelling uphill relative to the observer. And as this phenomenon was observable irrespective of where the observer was and which direction he was facing, the only possible explanation was that the earth was a sphere.