How Sez Sees It

The Tories accused Labour of having a magic money tree for all their plans but they are the ones using it for the Queen and DUP when everyone else is suffering. It has made me so angry that the Tories voted down a motion to remove the freeze on public sector wages. In real terms those wages have actually been a pay cut as prices of everything continues to rise. This means our teachers, firefighters, nurses, doctors, police, local government officers and many more are doing the same job for less. Actually, in some cases they are doing more for less as there has been a huge reduction in job numbers over the last few years. Meanwhile, the Queen, an unelected head of state, gets a pay rise which constitutes multi-millions so that she can refurbish her home. Compare that to one case study (because we have heard a lot about it) Grenfell Tower. This is a place where people were in social housing and it was re-clad with something highly flammable to save a couple of quid for each p...

What is happening in British politics? Who the hell knows? Well this should be a little round up of how I have viewed the last few weeks and in particular the election on 8 June 2017. Actually, let's start at the beginning shall we? Brexit. What is Brexit? A good question. To Theresa May, Brexit means Brexit. So that clears that up.  In reality this is what happened. In 2015, following five years of coalition between the Conservatives (Tories) and the Liberal Democrats (Lib Dems), there was a General Election. The coalition was formed because the Tories didn't get enough votes to win a majority and take power back after 18 years of Labour Governments. They needed to team up with the Lib Dems to make them the most powerful in the House of Commons and so the then leader of the Tories, David Cameron, became Prime Minister and the then leader of the Lib Dems, Nick Clegg, became Deputy Prime Minister. There was an agreement in the House of Commons that elections would n...

Things that get my goat this week It could be that my period is due this week but some things have really pissed me off. I have decided, like any decent human, that the best place to air this annoyance is on the internet. Everyone else seems to do it so I am going to give it a go as well. Here we go then... Trump and Syria This week Donald Trump, reality TV star and somehow President of the United States of America (!) has bombed a (not especially strategic) Syrian airbase in retaliation for a chemical attack the Syrian army did on Syrian civilians . The attack itself is disgusting and wrong. It used a combination of chemicals believed to include mustard gas and sarin gas (sarin was the gas used on the Japanese underground by Aum Shinrikyo in the mid-90's which killed around a dozen people and left hundreds more with life-long injuries and health problems).  It was right that Trump spoke out against the attacks and we have to give him the benefit of the doubt that his ...

There seems to be a shift in global politics at the moment. Everything seems to be shifting to the right and this is something we should probably be scared of. UK I guess there has always been a slant to the right (certainly reasserted itself in 2010) but things have gathered pace over the last few months. First of all there was the referendum that, in my opinion, should never have been which led to a vote for Britain to leave the EU. This was led by groups from the far right of the Tories and UKIP mostly. The main concerns are that there were some Labour strongholds that voted to leave too where voters cited concerns with immigration as a main factor in making a decision. The big problem might be the rise of the right wing press in the UK. Papers like the Daily Mail, Daily Express, etc. all pushed for 'Brexit' (which to me sounds like the sort of thing an unimaginative teen would come up with when trying to 'ship' things together). These papers have a wide reader...

2016 is a year that should be remembered for a VERY long time. There has to be a reason that it is so shit and I will try and figure it out so bear with me because I am by no means an expert, but I will give it my best shot. Death: First of all there are all the celeb deaths. We have lost some great people this year like Bowie and Rickman but actually there seem to have been more than ever before. The reason for this, as I think I have previously mentioned, is that they were all baby boomers. They all started their careers around the same time and they all lived a certain hedonistic lifestyle in their earlier years. The 70's in particular were a time of experimental drugs, booze and sex. A time when these people dying now were in their 20's and that is a time when you feel indestructible. The reality is that this behaviour can have an effect years later. That of course and we consider people in their 60's to be young nowadays because we have the ability to keep peopl...

Just a round up of things that we should all be aware of. Although if you haven't heard this stuff then you have been living under a rock. 1. Brexit is still rubbish Since the vote two weeks ago the pound is still at a 31 year low. There are now worries that the pound will reach parity with the US dollar if leaders and banks do not act fast. On top of that the people who were in charge of bringing about this economic mess have all jumped ship. Boris Johnson has decided he doesn't want to be leader of the Tories (and by extension PM). This could have something to do with the fact that he never really wanted Brexit in the first place. What Bo Jo really wanted was the PM's job with a slight majority remain so he could say he tried to bring us out of Europe but the people wanted to stay and no one likes Cameron anymore so he had to be PM but it is ok really because he can see benefits in remaining. The actual result was a shock for him and now he doesn't want to clean...

There are 1.6 billion Muslims in the world. Honestly, if they were all terrorists do you think any of the rest of us would be alive or living the way we are now? Seriously? There were some odd, dangerous and hurtful comments after the latest wave of attacks in Ankara, Turkey and Brussels, Belgium. All along the lines of all Muslims being terrorists or freedom of movement in the EU leading to arms and terrorists moving around too easily. This kind of comment only incites hatred and not just from the groups you would think. For a start it is totally inappropriate to use the attacks in Belgium on 22 March to make comments like ‘free movement means free movement of Kalashnikovs’, which was a wonderful comment by Nigel Farage of UKIP just moments after the news broke. Of course he is hoping that Britain comes out of the EU but when so many people lost their lives or were injured that was really not the time to make a comment like that. Totally heartless and not at all funny. Of...

If you have been living under a rock for the last couple of weeks you may have missed a few things. Here is a bit of a round up for you. People are giving cancer the finger: January 2016 was the worst month in terms of high profile deaths from cancer. I can't think of another month in my life time quite like it. First of all, just before the year actually started we lost Motorhead front man (and ultimate rock star) Lemmy at the age of 70 to cancer. Then the year started and it got worse and worse. First of all David Bowie, the wonderful and creative musician and actor, passed away at the age of 69 from cancer immediately following the release of his album Blackstar. Then actor and total legend Alan Rickman passed away at the age of 69 from Cancer. Lastly, on the very final day of the month, we lost the veteran and beloved broadcaster Sir Terry Wogan at the age of 77 to cancer. What a crappy start to the year huh? These people meant so much to so many around the world. They al...

It's that time of year again when I look back at all the things I have done and compare them to things that were going on in the world at the time. Here we go then. January: I had the flu over Christmas and it only left me at the beginning of January. This means that I was still recovering for a lot of the time. Back to work for me though. I do discover a new favourite band though in SID (said: shido) who are a visual kei band from Japan. They did the theme for Black Butler among others and are amazing! 3-7 January Boko Haram kill more than 2000 in Nigeria. 7 January Islamist terrorists kill members of left-wing satirist French paper, Charlie Hebdo, in Paris. February: Dave and I started house hunting and got our mortgage approved in principal. We also found Scoops, a brilliant little ice-cream place in Portswood highstreet. House hunting began and this was most of our lives to be honest. We celebrated 6 years together on Valentine's Day with a trip to Bournemouth a...

So this week I did the unthinkable and bought a Southampton football shirt. This may not seem like the unthinkable to you but it is to me. You see, I was a life long Chelsea supporter. Actually, let's back up here, I still am a Chelsea supporter. Let's start this again or rather go in to more background detail. I have lived most of my life in a small village in Hampshire which is about 6 miles from the city of Southampton . Recently I moved to the city itself and this is likely to be my permanent home now as I have no intention of moving for many years if I can help it. My fiancé was born in Southampton and raised in the nearby town of Eastleigh and has been a life long Saints supporter himself. I have been to more Saints home matches than Chelsea (I have never been to a home Chelsea match actually and only seen them play when at St Mary's against Saints). I can even name more Saints players than Chelsea players (though we are not doing that one right here an...

Two of the biggest stories of the week in Britain have been the Labour leadership election and the leaking of personal data from the hacking of Ashley Madison, the dating website that encourages people to have affairs. Depending on who you believe, and what stance your paper of choice takes politically, Jeremy Corbyn will either be good for Labour or bad. If you have been living under a rock for the past few months since the disastrous UK election (I am a Labour Party member so you would expect me to have this view), and I don't blame you if you have been living under a rock since then, you will be unaware that this election is taking place. There are four candidates in the running: Liz Kendall, Andy Burnham (who stood in 2010 when Ed Milliband won), Yvette Cooper and Jeremy Corbyn. There has been 'Corbyn mania' in the press. The right wing press seem to think that Corbyn will make the party un-electable and the left wing press think he is the greatest thing ever. Corby...

Every week I am going to try and say five things I learned each week either through the news, or my own experience. 1. The guy who voices this character (Makoto) in Free is also the vocalist who sings the opening themes for both series (Iwatobi Swim Club and Eternal Summer).   2. Creme Eggs don't taste the same now Kraft changed the recipe...they just don't! 3. I should be more patient with my poor car as it has been cold lately and now the thing is pissed at me and won't work properly. 4. The Sun are not to be trusted. One minute they are ending Page 3 and the next they are not. Arse. 5. This is a real fashion thing! Having your penis on display! http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/news/rick-owens-puts-penises-on-show-at-paris-fashion-week-show-9997472.html 

Before I begin I would like to explain that I am no expert or 'Ripperologist' I am simply interested in this case and have done very limited research into the events that follow. This is ' Jack the Ripper ' for beginners so to speak. I have even linked some websites in that should help and this is a good place to start for more information: Casebook Ever since I can remember I have had a weird obsession with 'Jack the Ripper'. In fact I know when it was. I was 11 years old and I went to the London Dungeons where there was an actor playing the part of 'Jack the Ripper'. He took us on a 'tour of London' and showed us the 'Ripper' sites. At each stop along the way he told the story of what happened to each victim. Obviously this was in a way that would make us squirm, but the real details are even worse. I was chosen to be the last victim, Mary Kelly . My body was 'mutilated' and my entrails removed. What actually happened to this ...