The Royal Wedding

This is what Britain does well.

The pomp, the ceremony, the rules, the arguments over implementing the rules, the slightly barmy conditions on who is and isn't invited (as he is not the heir to the throne it is not a state occasion) and the questions over the weather.

It makes me proud to be British to see the enthusiasm with which it has been received and the crowds that have been collected with all the bunting.

It maybe sentimental and a bit soppy but they seem to genuinely be in love and well suited from what you can tell from the outside so lets celebrate the union and if you are not interested keep quiet and don't spoil their special day.

The blog is back

So after moving house and having no internet for a while the blog is back and this is the first blog from a phone so there maybe mobile blogging as well.

Celebrity Teaching Programmes

I am a big fan of Jamie Oliver. He has taken 15 unemployed people and created a restaurant giving people careers and he has tried to improve diets within schools in both the UK and the USA. These are both areas that he is familiar with and has an expertise in. I am less impressed with his latest venture where he gets experts in their field to teach a group of children who have been failed by mainstream education. There are a number of reasons why the idea does not really work.

1. The "teachers" have access to unrealistic budgets and facilities. To help making drama more real they get to use the Globe theatre stage and to teach history they use part of the Anglo-Saxon horde.

2. They appear to have one class to deal with rather than 5 classes per day, 5 days a week

3. By introducing the cameras they behaviour of all is fundamentally changed. Some kids will improve as they don't want to look like an idiot whilst others will see it as opportunity to play up to the cameras (if they are really noticeable this might lead some doors opening in other places)

4. After a while everyone leaves and the support and interest fades, a lot of these issues can't be addressed in a short-term piecemeal approach.

I suppose there is a bit of annoyance on my part. I have been to restaurants but won't lecture Jamie on how to run a kitchen/ restaurant and I guess I don't like the arrogance of people who think because I went to school once I can successfully teach a group of children. My hope is that at least one kid benefits from the experience.

Never Let Me Go

A film about a group of clones that are produced to provide body parts for regular humans but this and the moral, ethical and spiritual questions that are raised are used as a backdrop for an unlikely love story that seemed unlikely and never really convinced me they were more than friends. The film also did not quite seem to make enough of the original premise leaving far too many unanswered questions like "Why did they not run away" or have enough emotion to sustain a love story meaning the film fell between the two. I suspect that the book on which it was based may address some of these questions in more detail but the film did not have the time or energy to do so in sufficient quantity to make a good film.

Propeller Company do Comedy of Errors

The all male cast of the Propeller theatre company brought their version of The Comedy of Errors to the Theatre Royal in Norwich. A farce by William Shakespeare using two sets of twins separated at birth and the mishaps that occur when they meet up in a series of coincidences throughout the city bringing in a wife, goldsmith, a merchant and an abbess. Propeller have two main aims, the first is being faithful to the text and the second is having a fairly minimalist set with most people on stage in some role at some point (this year it was mainly as Mexican tourists!). All of the cast also play a musical instrument that is used to emphasis words or phrases in the script.

In review it was a bit uneven. Some bits of it were really funny and some of the modern additions to the script and set really worked however some of the lines were delivered so quickly that the became incomprehensible and despite the nature of the farce some of it was too manic and some of the themes that they wanted us to get did not really work. An example of this was a lunatic who is supposed to cure other lunatics portrayed as a US TV evangelist who ended up running through the audience naked with a sparkler in his bum!

At the end the cast came on stage to do a question and audience which was quite interesting and in the break came into the foyer at the interval to do a concert in aid of Save the Children so fair to the cast for being good sports.

6 Nations

My prediction is

France
England
Ireland
Wales
Scotland
Italy

Top try scorer Chris Ashton
Most Swallow dives - Chris Ashton
Most tellings off - Chris Ashton

I love the way that Chris Ashton scores his tries and tweaks Martin Johnston's nose. It has also allowed MJ to show his more human side in the way he man manages the squad. Too often he is seem as dour but he was handed a squad going nowhere and has turned it around with some amazing back play and dummy runners everywhere.

Korfball

Generally this has been going badly with a number of losses, some bad some worse than that until last week we met UEA2. UEA students are generally fit and bouncy but lack tactical knowledge and some inherent skills. There tactic was so predictable it was easy to intercept or work out who was going to shoot and out team could counter. When they did get a shot off it was in a basketball style which is different to the two handed shooting korfball is known for. This leads to a slight inaccuracy as usually you are shooting higher and without the help of a backboard.

I also scored twice from the half way line which were so deflating for the opposition they let us win.