I love Jaws. Such a great film.

Jaws must be one of my favourite films. It must be because I must have seen it more than a dozen times. Through choice I may add. I love it simply because it's such a great film. In that it's so well made. Every part of it is excellent. The script. The story. The music. The acting. The atmosphere. The setting. And of course the direction. It's just a wonderful film. And it was no surprise to hear Steven Spielberg say a lot of the time he was just a young guy playing it by ear, still learning his trade. A lot of the time he wasn't quite sure what he was doing. It's one of those works of art which becomes great when everything just comes together. And so often great works of art happen when a great artist does something by throwing stuff together and seeing what happens. Jaws is one of those times. A great film by a director learning what film is capable of.

P.S. I won't mention the rubber shark which is admittedly the films weak point. Then again even with a completely unrealistic shark it's still a great film.  

Why are dentists so expensive?

I went to the dentist the other day. What? Isn't that what blogs are for? To tell you I went to the dentist? What did you expect? That I'd tell you I met the Secretary General of the U.N to complain about the price of cigarettes? No, I went to the dentist. The point is how much it cost. I earn a low wage by the way. Just in case you didn't know. I expect you to feel sorry for me. But like I say the point is even though I earn a low wage I still pay the full amount. Is that fair? Is God a dentist or what? I mean I'm talking half a week's wages just to get a check up. It seems that in Britain, day by day, it gets harder and harder to just survive by doing an honest day's work. And by an honest day's work, I'm not including dentists.
Like I say I'm genuinely miffed.You know what parents should do with children? They should take them aside at a reasonably early age, like two, and say "Look son, this is what will happen if you don't brush your teeth every day. And instead of showing them a picture of some unfortunate person with black and missing teeth, they should just show them your average dentist's bill. "Yes, I know son, it isn't pleasant, but I'm showing you this for your own good. That's right, two hundred pounds for a spit and polish Children would rush to the bathroom in their thousands, scrubbing away for all their worth. I'm sure of it. Every dentist would go out of business and I would be happy for a change. So there.

What's the point of voting in Britain right now?

I really enjoyed watching the Intelligence Debates on Bloomberg this morning. The debate in question was whether the two party system was good or bad for America. This two party system debate is something which is also relevant to the UK I feel. Especially since the Lib-Dems have, for the moment at least, become part of the Tory party. But even without that recent development, Britain has basically had two choices when it comes to elections, Conservative or Labour. And over time I feel this has become bad for Britain. Over time I say because in earlier decades the two parties did more or less represent the two sides of Britain. It quite correctly reflected that Britain was divided between left and right. Not so much rich and poor or upper class and lower class because the Conservatives in certain places were known as the working class party for instance. But generally the choice between Tory and Labour was enough for most people. There was enough difference between the two parties to say there was indeed a choice to make. Yet in both parties desire for power they moderated their policies to try and encompass more people and gain more votes. And so as both parties moved towards the centre, by the time we get to the end of the nineties they as good as met in the middle. There was practically no difference between the policies. Which meant when the voters went to the polls in the election last year they were really voting for the personalities involved rather than the policies involved. This was no more apparent than when we had the three political leaders having a live TV debate for the first time. It was more like an X-Factor reality TV contest rather than intense political debate. It wasn't about what they said but rather how they said it. As such Nick Clegg was suddenly a front runner in the election. A man representing a party whose policies were still a mystery but what mattered was he talked a good game. So he was suddenly seen as a front runner. Surely such a situation where policies are secondary to personalities isn't healthy. And again this has simply came about because of the two/three party system. The possible changing of the voting system may help change the dominance of the the two parties in Britain. But even then who else is there to vote for in the UK? What other parties are out there ready to step up to the plate? The British National Party? The UK Independence Party? The Greens? These are parties which are based around one particular issue. They don't appear to be legitimate national parties with real national policies. That's why I feel more than ever before there seems to be no real choice when it comes to voting in the next election. We don't just need a new national third party. But we need a new national fourth, fifth sixth and party and so on. We need good legitimate national parties to spring up and blossom over time. Because if not there is a real possibility this present political personality contest will develop into a nothing more than who has the best hair, voice, jokes, smile, shape. If one of those taking part in the live TV debates was a very popular TV or film star, a stand up comedian or the latest winner of another reality TV contest, those with the real power know it would help their party win the election. The US perhaps has gone there already. And I feel there is a real possibility of that happening here in a couple of elections time. Those in power will say that everyone should vote. It's not just their democratic right but their democratic obligation to do so. But can you really blame people if they don't vote? What's the point when there is no real choice? There is no real choice because there is no real difference between the main political parties. And this is a result of the two/three party system we have in Britain. If it doesn't change then more and more people will be making the choice not to vote at all. Who can blame them?

There's been such an 'uproar' about the Rangers-Celtic match the other night. And quite right too. I love Glasgow but as with a lot of people and their home towns, there's many times I hate it too. Probably why I no longer live there. And when I see the mentality of certain people in regards to football and violence I'm glad I don't live there any more. There's a Glaswegian macho pride in being aggressive and in Glasgow being a violent town. And that same misguided, immature mentality is no where more prevalent when in comes to the rivalry between Rangers and Celtic. A rivalry once based on purely sectarianism is still just the same after a hundred years of violence pretending to be sport. The hate and aggression in the face of Neil Lennon squaring up to Ally McCoist tells you everything you need to know about the Old Firm and the violent side of Glasgow. But that hate reflected in the face of the Celtic manager is also reflected in the hospital casualty wards and the homes where drunken hyped up men come back and take out their pent-up aggression on their wives and family. Of course the very well-paid footballers in their luxury houses and comforted lives don't give a damn about that even if they had the intelligence to understand it in the first place. What I found really offensive today was the attitude afterwards summed up by Jim Jefferies the Hearts manager who said he found the whole thing 'quite tasty'. Alex McLeish had a similar attitude as well as all the ex-players who I seen interviewed. It was pathetic. They all had that same macho pride in thinking they were 'tough'. And that's an attitude many Glaswegian men have. They think they're tough cos they live in a tough town. It's quite sad and immature and a reason I wish Rangers and Celtic were banned altogether from football. But that ain't going to happen. They're not going to change either. Especially if there is money to be made out of violent sectarianism. Which is all Rangers and Celtic is about at the end of the day.

There's talk right now of whether Britain and some others countries should take military action against Colonel Gaddafi. This would be such hypocrisy on behalf on the British Government. Since for so long Britain was an active supporter of Gaddafi. Especially as now a lot more is coming out about the amount of atrocities Gaddafi committed over the years. Whilst all the time Britain with others was dealing with this tyrant for the sake of business and oil. As a Scot it also makes me reflect in particular on the disgraceful decision by the Scottish Government to free the Lockerbie bomber. A man who possibly received his orders direct from Gaddafi. The argument the Scottish government used at the time was that it was for compassionate ground. The government argued the decision to free him was in the spirit of Scottish law, if not the spirit of Scotland itself. That even though Megrahi murdered 270 people, because he was (apparently) dying of cancer, it meant he should still be released to die in his own country. Even in the face of this man committing the biggest atrocity ever known on British soil, the Scottish government said it was the Christian and Scottish thing to do to still show compassion towards Megrahi. Yet the logic of the Scottish government is fatally flawed. Because there is one vital ingredient needed to make the Scottish governments argument remotely plausible. That ingredient is remorse. Megrahi never showed remorse. And as such the Scottish government has shamed Scotland. The decision to free an unremorseful mass murderer was deeply immoral and actually goes against everything the majority of Scottish people believe and what Scotland itself stands for. For that alone Alex Salmon should find himself voted out of office at the next election. Yes, I do believe or I would like to believe, as a Christian and a humanitarian that there is no crime so evil that you still can't find it in your heart to forgive. But the first step in that long journey is for the perpetrator of that crime to show some kind of remorse. And I repeat this is something Al Meghrahi never showed. And therefore he should never have been shown compassion and been freed. It would be nice to think when it comes to everything associated with Gaddafi we've made enough mistakes already. Let's not make another by using military action in Libya.

Not impressed with the new Masterchef Format

I never thought BBC could change a programme so badly as they did with Film 2010 but I obviously underestimated the ignorance of the BBC. It's easy to be clever in retrospect but it's the job of whoever makes these changes to be clever in advance. To try and anticipate what will work and what won't. Just going by the reaction on this message board alone they got it badly wrong.

The reason for this is taking one programme and trying to make into something completely different. Namely trying to turn Masterchef into X-Factor. It's pathetic. People watch Masterchef for the personalities yes, but it's the cooking that really matters. Now it's all about the personalities, the crying, the families backstage, the dream, the auditions. It's X-factor with a bit of cooking thrown in. It's making John and Greg into Simon Cowell wannabees, demi-gods the contestants and ourselves are supposed to worship. So they now have a programme that's rubbish. It's absolute garbage. They've given it a face-lift and ended up making it look like Sylvester Stallone's mum.

I love Formula 1. I don't know why. I can't stand cars. That may sound like a contradiction but it's not really. Formula 1 is about a lot more than just cars. It's about colour, glamour, exotic and less exotic locations. It's about the history of the teams and the drivers. It's the ups and downs of the championship. It's about the technology and the speed. The cars for me are important but just one part of the whole Formula 1 experience.

But like I said in general I can't stand cars. I've failed my driving test five times. Not just because I'm a rubbish driver. Although that may have something to do with it. But I just don't really get the whole driving thing. I was spurred on to get a driving license by friends who told me 'oh once you have a car it means you have so much freedom.' 'You can go anywhere any time, no more waiting for buses.' 'I couldn't live without my car' etc. So I gave in and took lessons. I'm fine driving. I just feel that when it comes to taking the test I subconsciously want to fail it. I just can't stand cars. I see nothing but traffic jams everywhere. Pollution. Noise. I find it ludicrous there's so many cars on the road all with one person inside. And I cycle everywhere. I love cycling. Especially through traffic jams. I feel healthy, free, happy when I cycle. Something I don't feel when driving.

And now with the ever rising cost of running a car it seems in failing my driving test I had a lucky escape. Fuel, insurance and all the rest of it. No news bulletin is complete without interviewing a depressed and miserable sounding motorist in the midst of filling up his car while he bemoans the fact he is not dead.

Anyway in spite of not liking cars I like Formula 1. And I was looking forward to the first Grand Prix in Bahrain. Although I don't think it should go ahead at the moment. A regime that fires on it's own people doesn't deserve the honour of having a Formula 1 race. It deserves cars but not Formula 1. But when the Formula 1 season does start, possibly in Australia now, I'll be up at 5am watching and enjoying. Quietly glad I never did learn to drive myself.