SAGA OF ANATAHAN

“Men cluster to me like moths around a flame, and if their wings burn I know I’m not to blame” So sang Marlene Dietrich, one of the screen’s first femme fatales in Josef Sternberg’s The Blue Angel, (1930), one of seven films he made with her.

Twenty three years later he revisited the theme of the lethal siren with his last, and reportedly favourite film, The Saga of Anatahan, based on a true story and charting the sad decline in morals and humanity of twelve Japanese male sailors shipwrecked off the tiny three mile by one mile rocky, jungle-covered island of Anatahan in June 1944 after their ship is sunk by American planes. Continue reading

THE NUTTY PROFESSOR

An extra film review for September and a personal tribute.

Film buffs, especially fans of comedy, will know that American comedian Jerry Lewis died on Sunday August 20 in Las Vegas, Nevada, age 91.#

He was also an actor, director, producer, screenwriter, singer, humanitarian and no bad dancer, playing in films, and on radio, television and stage, and all of his talents were showcased, for us, in the best film performance he ever gave, and he gave thousands. This was his 1963 film The Nutty Professor, and we say his because he co-wrote it, produced it, directed it and starred in it as Professor Julius Kelp, a shy, gormless, buck-toothed disaster area of a chemistry professor who got tired of being a pushed-around nonentity and hit on a potion that would, when drunk, turn him into something very different. Continue reading

RACIAL OR RACIST?

Telling the truth and siding with justice can be tough calls in the UK when they involve racial aspects.

Ask Labour MP for Rotherham Sarah Champion who told the truth when she said that “Britain has a problem with British Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls” She should know given that 1,400 girls from Rotherham were groomed and assaulted between 2007 and 2013 by several Muslim gangs. Ask the police officers, council workers social workers and others who could have stopped it, but who, fearful for their jobs if they were deemed racist, turned a blind eye and let it happen.

Since then similar happenings in Derby, Oxford and Peterborough have come to light, as have the 108 victims of a gang of 17 men and one woman in Newcastle Upon Tyne, mostly from Bangladesh, India, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan, recently convicted of grooming and abuse.

Question is should we accept such obvious male contempt for females, along with human trafficking and female genital mutilation, as just a cultural difference which regrettably offends our human decency and coincidentally breaks our laws? And can we honestly condemn others for abuses of human rights when we allow, by turning a blind eye, the above atrocities to go on in our own back yard?

SAD IT HAS TO BE

The stupid and thoughtless actions of a few charities have now made it harder for all to fundraise.

The Fundraising Preference Service allows any and every member of the public to block phone calls, texts, letters and emails from specific charities they do not wish to support. Charities that ignore the wishes of the public can be fined by the Information Commissioner.

The imposition of these important new controls was sparked by the tragic case of 92-year-old Olive Cooke, who killed herself after receiving more than 200 written requests a month from charities for donations, as well as numerous telephone calls.

The day after the service was introduced more than 100 people per hour signed up. A poll by Pro Bono Economics has found that trust in charities is at an all-time low with 45% trusting their hairdressers against only 26% trusting charities.

CURBING ABATTOIR CRUELTY

CCTV cameras are to be installed in all slaughterhouses, to ensure that animals to be killed are treated with compassion.

The move has been welcomed by Animal Aid following the horrific cruelty at the Dunnocdkshire Farm halal slaughterhouse near Burnley, Lancs, one of Britain’s largest.

SICK TV DROPPED

Stan Kroenke, the American billionaire who owns 67% of Arsenal Football club has swiftly shelved plans to run a subscription bloodsports channel after sick footage showing trophy hunters killing lions for entertainment emerged to widespread public repugnance.

The League Against Cruel Sports described trophy hunting as “brutal and shameful” and Kroenke’s TV channel as “sick”.

Could it be that the mighty Mr Kroenke was alarmed by thoughts that the nickname “Sicko Stan” might just catch on with cruel football crowds and affect his financial health?

We’ll never know.

CHARITY THIEF SPARED JAIL

A manager at the Simon Community charity for the homeless has been spared jail after stealing nearly £10,000 from his employer.

Jamie Nailton, 41, raided petty cash and had invoices altered to divert money to his own account to feed a serious gambling habit. He received a nine month suspended sentence and has been ordered to pay £2,400 compensation to the charity within two years.

BREACHED FOX HUNTING LAWS

The first convictions for breaching fox hunting laws in Scotland have been handed down to a father and son team.

John Clive Richardson, 67, and his son Johnny Riley, 24, both from the Jedforest Hunt have been fined a total of £650 after a video filmed by investigators from the League Against Cruel Sports in 2016 showed a fox being dug out of a hole and then chased by a pack of hounds.

MOVING ON

The head of the National Trust, Dame Helen Ghosh, 51, is leaving the UK’s biggest charity after a controversial five year tenure to become master of Balliol College, Oxford.

Under Ghosh the popular annual Easter Egg Trail became the very much more commercial Cadbury Egg Hunt, with very strong Cadbury branding in the posters and printed material. It is not known whether any extra money was paid by Cadbury for the very obvious, and naff, branding which many feel took the Trust downmarket.

TALLY HO HO HO

Could we ever see a situation where those who hunt, and/or support the hunts are placed on a special animal cruelty register, flagging them up as possible people abusers too?

We ask this noting the findings of the Centre for Crime Prevention which advises of the strong links between those who abuse animals and those who carry out violent acts on people. Apparently in the decade 2005-2015 a total of 1421 violent crimes, 17 murders, and 175 sex attacks plus 19 rapes of adults and eight of children were carried out by those who had a conviction or caution for animal cruelty. Nearly 100 child cruelty offenders had previously tortured animals.

The Centre has called for an animal cruelty register, similar to the sex offenders register, on which those convicted could be placed and monitored, and an increase in maximum jail terms, from six months to five years.