bluedave

I watched the last episode of Giri/Haji on Netflix last night, about a Japanese cop who comes to London to hunt down his Yakuza brother. I found the series a bit far-fetched and illogical at times but still enjoyed it a lot.

It was definitely being reported that way but only in some places. No idea why. This is from The Times: A police statement yesterday said: “Police and London Ambulance Service were called at 3.53am on Sunday, May 17 to a report of an unwell woman. When emergency services attended, a woman reported that she was raped. She was taken to hospital. A man... It goes on after that but it's behind their paywall.

I don't think I saw Hell or High Water but it seems like the sort of thing I'd like. The storyline sounds comparable to Biutiful, although I suspect Biutiful might be a more difficult film to watch for some people.

I saw Rush at the cinema when it came out with a friend who knew nothing about F1 and we both enjoyed it. Last week I saw "Biutiful" from Alejandro González Iñárritu, who also directed Birdman and The Revenent. It's about a well-intentioned criminal in Barcelona who is diagnosed with terminal cancer and spends most of the film trying to make sure his two kids will be ok after he's gone (the mother is still around but is too mentally unstable to look after them herself). It's probably one of the bleakest films I've ever seen but I thought it was excellent and shows a dark side of Barcelona that you won't often see.

I tried to find some reliable information about what happened yesterday but it's impossible. I found quotes of statements from the MET, one saying "arrested on suspicion of rape", the other just saying "arrested." with no mention of rape, and both quotes supposedly coming from the same person at the same time. If there really was a rape accusation then I just hope it is all handled properly. The girl should be treated as a victim and have her privacy/dignity protected, and at the same time CHO should not be treated as a rapist until he has been convicted following a fair trial. No matter what happens with the rape allegations, CHO is definitely guilty of breaching lockdown and should be disciplined for that by the club straight away. At the very least he's an irresponsible f**king idiot, at the worst he's a rapist, but for now we should hold judgment.

I suspect that such a nuanced system might have been beyond the capability of the UK government, but I have seen it mentioned as a way to bring the UK out of lockdown more safely. It sounds like a good idea but it would require competent leadership that people actually have faith in. This system is probably one of the factors that helped Germany keep the outbreak in check. Each state was able to decide exactly how and when to introduce lockdown measures and also when to reverse them. Actually it goes beyond that, individual lockdown measures can differ from city to city even within the same state. This kind of decentralised decision-making is normal for Germany though, and I find people are generally more socially responsible and more inclined to trust the government, so although it seemed to work here that doesn't necessarily translate to the UK. I could imagine that people in certain regions being in uproar if, for example, the lockdown was eased in London first and then extended in their region for another two weeks, even if that is objectively the sensible thing to do.

The raising morale argument doesn't wash with me at all. We all want things to go back to normal but football is clearly pretty low down on most people's lists, and there is an understandable concern that restarting the football could even contribute to a resurgence in infections that would mean lockdown restrictions have to be extended or tightened again. Nobody wants that so why risk it. The Bundesliga is about to restart but only a minority of 36% are actually in favour, according to a survey done by the German equivalent of the BBC. People generally don't want the good progress being made jeopardised for the sake of two hours entertainment on a Saturday afternoon. I'll probably watch some of it but only to see how dull and lifeless it is without fans.

The media do like to go after big-name players from time to time. Sterling is another recent example that springs to mind. With the Terry/Ferdinand thing I think the FA were probably just desperate to be seen to take a tough stance on racism and so Terry didn't stand a chance, even though his version of events is plausible (as shown in backbiter's video) and it was impossible to prove anything either way.

That was in my city (Dresden). Two players tested positive last week and now the entire squad is under two weeks quarantine. The first match after the restart was supposed to be on Sunday 17th but that's now cancelled. Dresden is actually one of the least badly affected major cities in the country (zero new cases yesterday), so if happened here then I can easily see it happening again with other teams.

Kalou went and got himself suspended at Hertha Berlin by being a big idiot.

I'm assuming sarcasm...

Lampard talking sense, as always.

I bittorrented it, unfortunately that often seems to be the most convenient way to access older stuff. Apparently you can find whole episodes on youtube as well, not that I've tried it.

That's not really true, the infection rate is pretty stable with the usual weekly fluctuations (below). My understanding is that the DFL have submitted a proposal to restart with 'ghost games', and the decision should come next week. It's not a sure thing because it's understandably quite a controversial issue here.

I've been rewatching King of the Hill lately. I haven't watched it since I was a teenager so it's almost like watching it for the first time. If anything, it's even better now that I'm a bit older and understand the characters better.