How Sez Sees It

Batman - Tim Burton - 1989 - starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. The first time on film that Batman was shown dark and brooding and closer to his graphic novel side. Classic Burton in style with gothic imagery, the effects never did look that great. Nicholson took on the Joker and this remains one of the best performances of this role ever. Totally unhinged and out to cause chaos on the streets of Gotham, Batman eventually tips him over the edge...quite literally. Bruce Wayne struggles with his guilt at creating the Joker monster while seeking to bring an end to the man who murdered his parents and so created his own monster. Batman Returns - Tim Burton - 1992 - starring Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito and Michelle Pfeiffer. Again dark and brooding with Burton's gothic touch. Keaton's Batman meets his rival in terms of villains and love match in the beautifully deadly Catwoman. DeVito's Penguin, meanwhile, has lofty ambitions for Mayor and some deadly plans for Gotha

It has been a while but with all the events going on at home and across in France I felt that I had to make a comment. Starting at home.  This week saw heavy losses for both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in the local council elections and some great gains for Labour.  In fact Labour took over 800 seats when their target was 300 and gained control of 32 councils including important areas such as Southampton and Birmingham.  The Lib Dems saw their number of seats drop nationally to below 3000 for the first time since c.1988 and the Tories lost around 400 seats nationally as well.  Even in my area Labour added a seat to the one gained last year and support seems to be up generally. With this news comes a warning though.  For a start the national turn out was just around 32%.  This is one of the lowest on record and may highlight a number of issues.  For a start it could show that people are fed up with mainstream politics and for lack of an alternative decided not to vote.  

So it turns out that there is still roughly 40% of the population that would still vote Tory in the next General Election.  This comes after massive public spending cuts (more of which in a moment), scandal (by more than one politician) and the dodgy News International connections that have come in light of the phone hacking scandal. This week alone we were given the perfect headline "Cameron rode Rebekah Brooks' Horse" (truncate it and have some laughs).  Incidentally I would like to thank my very good friend Dan for the following:  http://hasdavidcameron.com/  Have a good LOL at that!  This shows the deep connection between the staff of NI and surely shows that the media has had (and I suspect still does have) a lot more sway in politics than I would care to have.  Who is influencing who?  We have surely come to an age where politicians would rather court the press than the public as it is the press that tell the public what to believe.  In some cases such as NI and i

Yesterday a good friend left the employment of local government.  Yes the choice in some ways was theirs to make, but the reality meant they really had no choice.  This person would have suffered a pay cut running into the thousands.  This person was not an executive or manager, but a hard working front end, normal, average worker.  I can only say that doing the same work in the private sector, they would have been earning a darn sight more than they were. The decision was forced on them by the budget cuts.  To loose that amount of money in their pay would have made it impossible to live.  So it worked out that in the short term it was more cost effective for them to go on job seekers and look for employment else where.  Being young and with experience I would hope that they will go on to great things and I wish them luck in the future. I know I have said it before, but in times of economic trouble past governments of both Tory and Labour have increased public spending so that ther

The internet.   It has been around far longer than we care to remember.   First used as a military system it became   a commercialised tool that was available in every home   from the early 1990s and has since become the most powerful tool in the world (or just a way to look up stupid cats: http://icanhascheezburger.com/ ). However, the US Congress   wants to   put a block on free speech on the internet.   They want tighter controls over what can be viewed and written on the internet.   This probably explains what they intend to do best: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:SOPA_initiative/Learn_more .   Basically, the short version is that SOPA and PIPA are set up to control online piracy, but unfortunately they go about it in a way that restricts freedom of speech.   Wikipedia are leading the protest on behalf of smaller sites that would not be able to defend themselves against big media companies.   If you wish to support what they are doing you can do so here: http://en.wikipe

When I was a child I really couldn’t wait for the moment that I would become an adult and have the responsibility to look out for myself.   I honestly thought that I would enjoy it and that I would be somehow significant in the grand scheme of things, that I would make a difference to people’s lives and that I would take their breaths away. The trouble with growing up is that it happens too quickly.   I now have a greater understanding of the world and I yearn for those halcyon days when I had not a care in the world and so little responsibility.   It has become clear to me over recent years that I am not the significant human I thought I would be.   I can’t expect to make an impression for nothing, I have to make an impression for myself. Don’t get me wrong.   The basics of my life are wonderful.   I have a wonderful boyfriend, I have a wonderful job that I am about to start with much excitement and a wonderful family who loves me.   Essentially my life is grand.   So why do I seek