What Did I Tell You?

 Mote details of Greta Gerwig's adaptation of the Narnia novels have been released over the weekend. And as predicted when I first heard about it, it's gone down like a sold cup of sick with fans of the beloved children's novels. 

Predictably, the luvvies are riding to Greta's rescue, scoffing at the idea that an artist has any responsibility to adapt a work of literature faithfully. But that’s not why she’s doing this, is it? This is why:

Will I watch it when it launches? Sure, because I always have the Disney versions to fall back on. They were perfect!

It’s Never Been About ‘Representation’…

...it's been about rubbing everyone's nose in it.

Criticisms that Doctor Who has become too “woke” prove the series is doing the right thing by being inclusive, its new star Varada Sethu has said. Sethu plays the Doctor’s latest travelling companion, Belinda Chandra, in new episodes airing this month. With Ncuti Gatwa returning as the Doctor, the pairing marks the first time a Tardis team will comprise solely people of colour.

And as Tim points out, this is something people not having to face market pressures can say with impunity. Those facing commercial pressures learn the hard way.  

Speaking about the milestone, Sethu told the Radio Times: “Ncuti was like, ‘Look at us. We get to be in the Tardis. We’re going to piss off so many people.’”

“Woke just means inclusive, progressive and that you care about people. And, as far as I know, the core of Doctor Who is kindness, love and doing the right thing.”

And nothing says 'kindness' more than gloating that your presence will upset and annoy people you don't like, I'm sure we can all agree. 

But this is a trend in entertainment now - it's no longer sufficient to make a classic, beloved book or story if you aren't also using it to stick your thumb in the eye of the people you despise. 

I suppose we should be greatful for small mercies, and that the sex of Lewis's main character is the only thing they are changing...

Meet the new Aslan! 

 

Do You Want People To Just Let Illegal Immigrants Go Free?

A couple who discovered a boy hidden on the back of their motorhome after their journey from France to Essex have been fined £1,500 by the Home Office.

Adrian and Joanne Fenton called the police when they found the person zipped inside the cover of a bike rack after pulling up on their drive at their home in Heybridge.

The couple had been travelling in France with friends and returned to the UK by ferry on 15 October.

Because if you really did, what would you do differently?  

Joanne Fenton, 55, said border officials in Calais and the UK had not inspected the bike rack or the cover before or after the crossing.

The Home Office said penalties were “designed to target negligence rather than criminality”.

Clearly, not the negligence of the BF staff, who have the duty to deter these people, not a duty that should ever be laid on the innocent holidaymaker. 

This is not the first such case, either:

In October, a retired ambulance driver and his wife were fined £6,000 after UK Border Agency staff found a man in a trailer attached to their mobile home in France. Peter Hughes and Anne Lawton, from Droylsden, Greater Manchester, told the BBC they had no idea a young Sudanese man had concealed himself.

The government has shifted the duty to deter illegals to you, the public.  

Something Starmer Should Take Note Of…

President Nicolás Maduro said he had ordered a 10-day block on access to X in Venezuela, accusing the owner, Elon Musk, of using the social network to promote hatred after the country’s disputed presidential election. Associated Press (AP) journalists in Caracas found that by Thursday night posts had stopped loading on X on two private telephone services and the state-owned Movilnet.

Another thin-skinned socialist dictator who hates the very thought that ordinary people have an outlet? 

Electoral authorities declared Maduro the winner but had yet to produce voting tallies. The opposition claims to have collected records from more than 80% of the 30,000 electronic voting machines nationwide showing the winner was its candidate, Edmundo González. Musk used the social network to accuse the self-proclaimed socialist leader of a “great electoral fraud”.

“Shame on the dictator Maduro,” Musk said in a post on Monday.

It seems Musk is the only one speaking truth to power these days. No wonder those with reason to have a guilty conscience and who are precariously clinging to power are frothing about it, eh, Kier?