Oh No...

Is there any more horrifying sign than a film you've been looking forward to for ages getting a favourable review in 'The Guardian'?

It is a fantasy adventure in Laika’s distinctively crafted stop-motion animation, written by Chris Butler from the bestseller of the same title by Carson Ellis and Colin Meloy, the latter being a band member of The Decemberists, one of whose tour posters we duly glimpse in this film. The director is Laika’s lead animator Travis Knight. It’s a forthright, exuberant, good-natured and old-fashioned children’s tale which CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien might have recognised, a story about the mysterious glory of going on a quest and the terrible fear and wish-fulfilment euphoria of being called upon to confront secret forces that the grownups know nothing about.

The trailer is brilliant and I plan to see it at the Vue after work on Friday. I can't go to the Everyman because the only showing is 7pm, and that's too late.

The setting is modern-day Portland, Oregon, a groovy city whose hipster-ish stores (there’s a coffee shop actually called Dripster) and Woke 1.0 signage are affectionately mocked.

‘Affectionate’ mocking is ok, then? 

The stop-motion animation style has, as with Coraline, a robust and pleasing directness, and results in, for me, a more organic character and physical immediacy than Pixar’s ubiquitous digital look, to which it makes a welcome change.

*sigh* They have to get in a dig, don’t they? ‘No, the films I like are hand-made artisan ones, not gorrible artificial CGI ones, like you peasants’

 

Why Do The Underclass Want These Dogs?

This is why:

A letting agent was attacked by an XL Bully after its owner commanded it to 'get him'. John Walkden, 62, had been residing at a rented property in Bolton but had been experiencing problems with cleanliness.

Thats a very modern way of saying he made his rented property a haven of filth. Almost like it was some sort of natural occurrence that he had no part in. 

Consequently, James Melly, the letting agent, had raised concerns with him on several occasions. During one particular visit, Walkden became hostile towards Mr Melly before instructing his dog, Tank, to assault him.

And the police couldn’t pass on this one: 

Tank was seized on the same day and has remained in kennels ever since, the court heard. Ms Brooksbank-Laing revealed that those caring for Tank reported he was behaving 'perfectly', however there was no safe environment for him to be returned to.The total cost of his time in kennels since the incident stood at £8,565.

If they’d taken the right action on the day, the taxpayer wouldn’t now be on the hook for the kennelling costs! He’s a serial offender who’s used dogs as a weapon before! 

Walkden was reported to have 44 previous convictions for 89 offences, amongst them a comparable attack in 2019. Bolton Crown Court had previously heard that Walkden's bulldog, Shadow, bit his neighbour on the arm as he made his way through the front yard of a property to reach his flat while seated in his mobility scooter.

He received a 12 month community order in 2020 and the dog was due to be destroyed. In mitigation, Graham Rishton said: "62 - how regrettable it is that he still finds himself in and out of prison."

Not at all surprising, though… 

He explained that Walkden had long-standing problems with drug misuse and had 'shown discontent for the unsavoury incident'.

For the incident or for the bother of getting caught again? 

Imposing a suspended sentence, Recorder Sarah Griffin stated that Walkden had shown 'limited remorse' and poor compliance with court orders. Issuing a destruction order for Tank, she noted that he did inflict injury to Mr Melly, and that she did not consider Walkden to be a fit and proper person to care for him.

It’s right the mutt gets put down (though predictably the nutters don’t agree) but the owner should see jail time, without question!

He was prohibited from owning dogs for five years.Walkden, of Purcell Close, Bolton, received a nine month prison sentence suspended for a year, a 12 month probation service requirement and 120 hours unpaid work. He must also fulfil a six month drug rehabilitation requirement.

He won’t be any more responsible in five years time, will he? 

Well, They WERE an Invading Force Of Foreigners....

.. so it seems appropriate methods, after all we all saw the videos.

French lawyers and rights groups have said that several teenagers have suffered war-like injuries from police weapons used during school protests, and an unprecedented number of children have been held in police custody, some of whom reported being hit or racially insulted.

The 'students' in question...

Police have opened internal investigations into 36 allegations of officer violence against demonstrators, including four children allegedly being “mutilated” by explosive weapons, and six sustaining “significant injuries”, as well as other complaints over physical blows, insults or alleged sexual assault, the interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, told the senate.

Lock and load… 

Evan, a 15-year-old studying carpentry at a vocational high school, had a hand blown off in the explosion of a police stun grenade outside a school protest in Lens, northern France, on 5 October. His lawyer, Bertrand Wattez, said: “His injuries resemble war injuries.”

And his lawyer disputes the reason for his injuries. 

Wattez said Evan had gone to school to attend class and discovered a protest under way. He said Evan had not taken part in violence and denied the Béthune state prosecutor’s assertion that the grenade had been picked up from the ground.

It's hard to see how he'd have got those injuries if he hadn't, but you do you, Bertrand...

Another boy, Eden, 14 – who had been near a school protest in Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône, north-west of Paris – suffered extensive facial injuries, including two fractures to his jaw, the loss of his bottom teeth and all his top teeth broken after he was allegedly hit by a shot from a grenade launcher.Eden’s parents said he had gone to school but found it blockaded and had wanted to go home. Video footage appeared to show him facing three riot police officers. One officer hit out in his direction with a truncheon and Eden kicked in the direction of the police before a grenade shot was fired.

Ah, video footage! It's been worth its weight in gold, hasn't it? 

                                     

Since the school protests began in mid-September, a total of 6,773 under-18s have been taken into police custody after they were arrested, the justice ministry said. For more than 1,000 of those children, no charges were brought; 2,190 are facing legal action and almost 2,000 were handed an alternative to further legal action, such as a citizenship course, without their case being heard at trial and without a conviction.

And President Macron has has the temerity to say 'How can French people do these things?'. Well, you ansered your own question there. 

Well, Of Course He Did...

Michael Bogle, 38, from Brent, who was assessed as a “high risk offender”, was captured on CCTV stealing from two supermarkets in north west London within 24 hours of being freed last Thursday from HMP Wandsworth.

Who’s surprised by this turn of events? 

He reportedly had 16 previous convictions and to have been linked to more than 100 investigations.

Definitely someone who should have been kept behind bars. 

Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams, borough commander for Barnet, Brent and Harrow was so concerned about the case that he has raised the matter with local MPs and councillors.

Why? What can they do..? It’s Andy Burnham’s policy, not some local decision! The scofflaw even had the nerve to thank him for the chance to go robbing agin!

Bogle was released from the south west London prison last Thursday where he had served 78 days in prison after breaching a 32-week suspended sentence for shoplifting.Asked at the time for his message to Andy Burnham, Bogle said: “Keep the early release going. It’s good.”

DCS Williams added: “The concerning nature of the Early Release Scheme in this case was a known prolific offender being put back into the community, only to immediately re-offend. “Not only does this place communities at risk but puts demand straight back into policing who must arrest, investigate and put the individual into custody. “In this case, 27 officer hours were needed, leading to a cost of £1,887.”

But it’s only taxpayer  money, Luke!

As Ever, 'The Guardian' Is Wrong...

It’s hard to think of a published author in living memory who risked arrest in the UK for their political beliefs, hard to think of one whose books could be published anywhere but here. Sally Rooney went into this debacle with her eyes open: she said last July that royalties from her books, and their BBC adaptations, would be used to support Palestine Action.

The ‘Guardian’ knows full well that she’s not risking arrest because her novels are puerile crap, nor because she hold progressive political beliefs, though it hopes you, the reader, might believe this… 

Rooney’s courage is not so much in risking imprisonment, since there is a fix for that, which is what she’s doing – avoiding the UK.

But not avoiding the reason for her publishers to run scared, of course.

Rather, she has chosen the thorniest possible path for this cause. Authors can write essays and sign letters in support of the Palestinian people; actors can voice it in interviews, musicians can say it from the stage, and there is always a cost to it, whether it’s in plain sight and they’ve been kicked off a global tour, or it’s behind closed doors and they are simply excluded from opportunities. But such actions, even if they logically suggest support for a proscribed organisation, don’t entail actively breaking the terrorism laws.

Eventually, even the ‘Guardian’ can’t hide the truth forever. 

She’s never been an apolitical author. Normal People was razor sharp on class, Conversations With Friends wasn’t shy of a Marxist analysis.

There are countless thousands of political authors but they aren’t subject to any consequences for their politics. Hell, I still read Stephen King… 

It was from a reputation of delicately challenging but everyday subtlety that Rooney assumed her outrider position, and in so doing, took on the idea that caring about Gaza is somehow a crank’s life choice; insisted that it is a human response, as natural and quotidian, as passionate and important, as friendship.

She can care about Gaza as much as she wants, donate her entire book revenue to charities caring for Palestinians if she feels that strongly. What she can’t do is fund a proscribed organisation.

It also, come on – surely at some point we’re allowed to say this – makes an absolute mockery of the terrorism legislation thus applied. Nobody anywhere thinks Sally Rooney poses a danger to the British state, or any state, just as nobody anywhere thinks a 94-year-old human rights barrister who was a friend of Ed Miliband’s late mother does. Keir Starmer, paradoxically, given that the two things in his favour were his caution and his legal hinterland, painted himself into an absurd corner, where terrorism arrests went up between 2024 and 2025 from 250 to nearly 3,000. On demos where anyone crunched the numbers, more of them were over 80 than under 20.

Elderly terrorists and terrorist sympathisers are still dangerous, and the state is entitled to take action against them.

See, What It Takes To Stop A Bad Man With A Gun...

...really does turn out to be a good man with one. Not necessarily a cop.

Schools in Bend, Oregon, will be closed on Friday after a 16-year-old shooter opened fire at an elementary school in the city on Thursday, killing three children and a teacher before he was shot dead by a community member.

How did he get in? Simple!  

He shot his way through a locked gate into the school grounds and through locked doors to gain access to the premises, the authorities said.

The police did turn up eventually.

At 1.02pm, police responded to Silver Rail elementary school after receiving several reports about an active shooter. One 911 caller reported an individual armed with a long gun firing at their car.

By the time officers arrived on scene, the suspected assailant had been shot and killed by the bystander, who apprehended him inside.

See, when seconds count, the police really ARE only minutes away.

Gun control advocate Gabrielle Giffords, ⁠a former congresswoman who survived a mass shooting in 2011, said in a statement she was “heartbroken” by the shooting.“This cannot continue to be a reality ​in our country. Leaders at every level must step ​up and act,” Giffords said.

Leaders weren’t there, they never are - a citizen stepped up, with the means to stop it that you would deny to him if you could. 

🎶Oh, Those Russians....🎶

 Matt can't resist a double, and nor can I....

Now how do I get rid of this earworm? 

Sunday Funnies...

 The real scary movies....

Confession Time!

Well, I was wrong, sort of. 

You really can't go back, not when you secured your account with an authenticator that's now run out of battery and the instruction at the site for removing it don't work! 

So it's farewell to my night elf druid, human hunter and shadowpriest, and the various low level alts  I had on that account. 

So, I registered a new account, spent a day and a half downloading it all again on my gaming laptop, and I was back in Azeroth! And straight away slaughtering murlocks on my new main, a Worgan Warlock.

Will certainly create another feral Druid and a Hunter alt for old times sake, but for now, I’m just revelling in nostalgia!

It’s #FishandChipFriday!

…and look, the 'Guardian' has an article on it -  what will they get right?

But what really makes a good chippy? One man has the answer – Andrew Crook is president of the National Federation of Fish Friers, which runs the annual National Fish & Chip Awards.

Well, he must surely know his…err, onions? 

For industry expert Mr Crook, there's one particular quality in top fish and chip shops that help them stand out against others.

What it’s cooked in, perhaps? 

Mr Crook adds: 'The thing that makes an excellent fryer is they're always changing something. They've always got a desire to improve. They're always constantly tweaking things, and I think that's what drives the industry forward.'

No no no! We don’t want change, constant change isn’t good. When you’ve a good local chippy, like mine, you want it to stay exactly the same forever!

Where does he stand on the perpetual debate over whether you should order cod or haddock? After 27 years in the industry, the Lancashire-raised frier has developed a well-rounded take. 'I think it’s a very regional thing, there are lots of fantastic species out there but in fish and chips on the whole people want cod or haddock,' he says.

Now he’s talking - as a southerner, my usual is cod, with an occasional haddock or plaice or even cod roe for variety or maybe when I can (sadly my local doesn’t offer it) skate! Always with a wally (gherkin). But I’ve noticed the further north one travels, the less often the option of cod is available. 

The chippy expert dubs Whitby, in North Yorkshire, as the 'spiritual home of fish and chips'.

 Now he’s talking! The Magpie Cafe in Whitby is the best!

As for Mr Crook's go-to order? Despite being from Lancashire he sides with the 'Yorkshire way of doing fish and chips'. 'It would be haddock battered, not lightly battered just normal batter, chips, mushy peas,' he says, adding that he prefers it to be cooked in beef dripping too.

Now he’s spot on - vegetable oil in the south and beef dripping in the north, and I have to give it to the northerners on points!

Roll on dinner time!