United 93

I have just finished watching the film "United 93" which charts the flight of the doomed United aircraft on 11th September 2001. I can honestly say that the final few scenes were amongst the most harrowing I have ever seen. Few films make me feel the way I do now, and I am sure that is what the directors intended. Louise has never wanted to see the film, so I chose to do it with her not about. I knew it would be a tough film to watch even before I started but nothing could prepare me for the immortal words, "let's roll." The passengers and crew on board are real heroes but it was so hard to watch people making phone calls to their loved on. What would I have said to my loved ones in that situation? Would I have fought back? I like to think so, but I like to think I'll never find out. An amazing film, well made, well acted - but don't watch it unless you have a few hours more to reflect.

Door Knocking & Bond

Today was a mixed bag with a relative lie-in (well up at 7.30 and back into bed by 9) followed by a trip with the UEA Conservatives to offer some mutual aid to the Norwich North Conservatives. We went door knocking on one of the new housing developments in the area and two things struck me - firstly the sheer volume of property turnover in such areas, much worse than it ever was in Bowthorpe in my humble opinion. And the second was how many people are now willing to stop and talk politics on the doorsteps on a freezing November afternoon. Overall very good for the Conservatives but with a noticeable number of Green voters too - on today's canvass they beat the LibDems for third. Interestingly we had Iraq re-appear as an issue (it had died down) but also the state of local parks, housing and anti-social behaviour are consistently topping the list.

This evening Lou & I managed to get out and see the new (well, re-made) Bond film. We both think that Craig made an excellent Bond and it was a great film. Much less formulaeic than other Bond films with loads of twists and turns - plus a bevvy of beauties and gun fights galore. Obviously I loved every moment, but the fact that Lou enjoyed it too (and she doesn't "do" Bond films) says a lot for how well it was made. Plus you get to hear Dame Judy Dench's opinion of backbench committee MPs...