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Farewell Mr Spock

Leonard Nimoy - you portrayed one of the greatest and most iconic characters of all time.

Rest in peace.

Heads in the trough... Again!



"A fresh row erupted over MPs' pay today as a senior Tory caught in a 'cash for access' scandal said he sought extra business deals on top of his £67,000 salary to secure the standard of living he is 'entitled' to enjoy.


Sir Malcolm Rifkind, who chairs the Intelligence and Security Select Committee, has been suspended from the Conservative party after bragging that he could see any foreign ambassador in London and has 'useful access' to every British ambassador in the world.


But in a series of disastrous media interviews, he claimed today that it was 'quite unrealistic' to expect backbench MPs with professional backgrounds to 'simply accept a salary of £60,000'.

Sir Malcolm and former Labour foreign secretary Jack Straw were secretly filmed discussing how they could use their contacts to benefit a private company and both boasted about charging at least £5,000-a-day. Mr Straw has also been suspended by the Labour party over the 'disturbing' allegations." -- Daily Mail website.


"Quite unrealistic to simply accept a salary of £60,000"... But Malcolm is it realistic for the public to accept you using the contacts you acquired whilst in public office to line your own pockets from benefitting a private company?


I think not.


Completely out of touch with the world the rest of us live in!


Rant over.



Oh to be an Oscar nominee...



The annual backslapping luvvies awards ceremony is on this evening and no doubt someone you’ve never heard of will come away with a gong for appearing in a film you never have the intention of watching… But what gets me is that just for being nominated you receive a $125,000 goodie bag.

Yes… $125,000 worth of freebies for being on a list.

Why?

Rant over.

Fortitude


Three episodes in and I am still undecided whether I actually like Sky Atlantic’s new homegrown drama series Fortitude.

My first question is… Where is the town of Fortitude?

We know it is within the Arctic circle with a population of 700… But in what country is it located?

Why does it have a multinational population? Scandinavians, British, Spanish… Why? What is the reason for people living in such an inhospitable environment?

Does it really matter? Probably not.

It is difficult to feel much sympathy for many of the characters though and the writers employ the usual unsubtle tactic in making us believe a couple of them are the prime suspects where as they are almost certainly red herrings.

Stanley Tucci is by far the best actor and portrays the most interesting character. Michael Gambon is his usual overrated self: cynical, slightly drunk, a chip on his shoulder and starts speaking common every so often (much like his role as The Singing Detective). The philandering black guy with the son in hospital is crap. Christopher Ecclestone was hardly in it before becoming the victim.

Anyway… It’s not great but I will probably watch the remaining episodes simply because I am intrigued to discover who the murderer is.

Rating: 6/10

Helena Bonham-Carter gets naked with a giant tuna...



Now that is what I call disturbing!

Weird.

Amazing Spider-Man 2


A truly terrible film.

I finally got around to watching this the other night and dozed off midway through it. Jamie Foxx was appalling. In fact everyone was pretty dreadful... all except Andrew Garfield's portrayal of Spider-Man (not as Peter Parker though).

Don't bother watching it.

Rating: 2/10

Cara Delevingne... GO AWAY!!!


I don't know who this woman is - except that every time you go online you see her bloody picture... usually with some other mediocre "celebrity".

And as for those Denis Healey caterpillar eyebrows! Bleurghhh!!

Rant over.

Birthday dinner at The Grove



As it was N's birthday we decided to splash out and have dinner at The Grove Hotel & Spa over in Watford. Funnily enough we went there last year for breakfast along with the girls.

This time (without the girls who were being babysat by MO) we plumped for the huge buffet they serve there every evening. And when I say huge... I mean HUGE!!! There was so much on offer it was difficult to decide what to start with.

I managed to devour four courses which included a fish course, followed by cold meats etc, a vast roast dinner including pork, beef and duck and then concluding with three different desserts and by the end of it I felt as if my stomach was literally going to explode! I think the trouble I have with buffets is that I want to get my money's worth and that results in stuffing myself stupid!

Pure greed!

Do I care?

Nope!

Would I recommend The Grove? I most certainly would!

Rating: 8.5/10