Man Of Steel Is A Great Film, But There's One Thing That Jeffed Me Right Off

Yes, finally I saw it. Man Of Steel. In fully realised High Definition...on a fuzzy white TV, in our bedroom, with my wife who, as ever, was the voice of logic and reason in what is a massive fantasy film. 

I'm a huge Superman fan, and I've been waiting for a real Superman film since Superman II. The technology to show such a story was here in 2006, but instead of utilizing that technology to show a real Superman story, Bryan Singer decided to do exactly what had been done before. Superman Returns has it's merits. The plane scene.....okay that's it. But Brandon Routh was good, and it wasn't his fault that he was directed to follow exactly in Christopher Reeve's footsteps rather than take his own path. Kate Bosworth was about as convincing a Lois Lane as Rachel Bilson is a medical professional in Hart Of Dixie. (Yes I watch it. It's the wife, okay, not me. The wife. Honest!) But the story was the real let down. Superman Returns is at best a very expensive, wasted opportunity. And proof that a relaunch of a beloved character is actually warranted. 

I've read several reviews and articles and opinions on Man Of Steel over the last few months, taking them all with a pinch of salt. I refused to be wavered until I'd seen it for myself, and you know what? I LOVED it! Everyone else seemed to get annoyed at so many things in this film, but for me there was just one, gapingly massive problem with the film.

It was NOT Zach Snyder being director. I kinda like his work. I mean sure, 300 sucked balls. Lets be honest, without all the speed-ramping on that thing the film would've lasted 23 minutes and let me leave with at least an hour of my life back. But Watchmen was cool. Yes the ending was different to the comic book things change, but it made sense. I thought. 

It was NOT casting Englishman Henry Cavill in the main role. I mean the last Batman was Welsh for Jeff's sake!

"Tripod? No, just get me some drunk dude to hold this thing. That would be awesome!" - Zack Snyder

It was NOT the fact that despite that despite a reputed budget of $225 million Snyder couldn't get his camera team a decent Jeffin' tripod. I'm just guessing but I think the dude had been watching one too many classic episodes of NYPD Blue.

It was NOT that Clark didn't save Pa Kent (Kevin "Can I Show My Bum On Screen" Costner) from a freak tornado. That made sense in the scope of the story. His adoptive father didn't want Clark to expose his powers and put himself at risk, no matter the cost. People will doubtless argue that Clark can move really really really really REALLY FAST, but he was still learning his powers. 

It was NOT that Clark's biological father Jor-El (Russell "Can I Use A Phone To Hit That Person" Crowe) made his wife Lara (some woman who couldn't act. Sorry, she couldn't,) go through their planets first natural birth in centuries and NOT include her consciousness in the space craft. I mean sure, what a dick! But as we were always told, this is a story about fathers and sons. 

It was NOT that Superman was directly or indirectly responsible for the millions of dollars worth of damage to Metropolis and Smallville, and the multiple deaths of the people there. The dude did his best against a tag team of alien whoop-ass. Yes, he could've done the job when he was on the Phantom Zone prison ship, but then, well, that would've made a rubbish ending. And it's not like all conquering military trained aliens are just going to come down to Earth, throw a bus and blow some people down a street now is it!? They're going to want to conquer!

"Um...you think someone's going to make a joke about where your right arm is?"

It was NOT: that, at the end of the film, Lois Lane knows that Clark Kent is Superman. To be honest I actually like that. Now there's no need for the whole annoying Clark/Superman/Lois love triangle thing that has been such a crutch for previous Superman stories. It's just Clark and Lois. Remember Lois knew him (briefly) as Clark before everything kicked off. It's cleaner.

And it was NOT: that Superman broke Zod's neck. That made total sense. Zod's gone all Agent Smith from the Matrix on you, and declared either you die or he does. He's gonna kill humans right in front of you. There's no stopping him. *SNAP*. To be honest, I was down with the idea after Zod et'al beat up the dudes adoptive mum. And remember, he's still learning what it is to be Superman. No, in previous stories he's never killed, but here his hand was forced. Everything that happens in this film turns him in to the Superman we all know and love. And it'll be interesting to see if they use that grief in the future films. 

So now we meet the crux of this article. The one ad only thing in this film that had me so Jeffed off I...I...I can't put it in to words!

So anyway, Clark Kent. A dude who, before he became the whole Saviour Of The World thing, was a fisherman, a barman, a dude who managed to work for the US Government by forging paperwork, and who has demonstrated no where in the entire film that he has any writing credentials or experience of any kind, or has any desire to work in such an environment, lands a job as a reporter at one of the most famous newspapers on the planet??

"Why can't I write anything without fake glasses!"

NO! NO NO NO!!! 

What happened? Did Clark ask Lois to give him a reference? (#DoubleEntendreOfTheDay) If they'd shown Clark had written something, anything during the film clueing us in to his ability as any kind of writer, I'd have bought it. This one mistake has made me rage for the last day, although not as loud as I did after I'd seen TDKR, a film which I refuse to name in full for fear of a relapse. 

Man Of Steel is a brilliant Superman film, and worthy of keeping of keeping the character going. I'm dubious as to how he'll face off against Batfleck. I personally think it's too soon to bring The Dark Knight back in to the fold when there's clear scope for another good solo outing for Superman. But heh, I'm not in charge of Warner Bros. sat there panicking at how well Marvel are doing with their film universe and desperate to cash in on the superhero genre.

Right, all vented now. I'm spent! Think yourself lucky I haven't written my thoughts on the Vince Vaughan/Owen Wilson "comedy" The Internship. I mean seriously, who thought that film was a good idea? How did Google's value on the stock market not go through the floor?

And more importantly, who keeps giving Vince Vaughan chance to make films? 

Hunting For The Incarnations Of My Brain Babies

Hello. I'm back. And on the day a certain former leader of the UK was laid to rest. Not that that has any baring on what I did today, but just to put this post in some kind of historical context. Like I remember where I was when Mandela got released (round at my Nan's eating her home made cakes), Today, we hunted in earnest for actors to portray the characters I've had in my head for the last 10 years. Today was "M.A Day". Not Malformed Artichoke Day, as my brain first thought, but Main Audition Day.

The Day Begins

We'd only auditioned In-House up til now at work. We really landed on our feet with finding Scott Latty and John Cunningham. They get their parts, they jelled so well together, and they knocked their recent film stint so far out the park, I felt like we'd struck gold! This was different: we'd cast our net out on...well, the net, using StarNow and CastingCallPro. We'd had to whittle down over 50 applicants to a shortlist. And today was when we got to see those people.

You have to remember that everyone who'd come out came on the firm understanding there was no pay involved. Yes there were some cancellations, as I'd been told by colleagues on the team who'd actually done this before would happen. But those who came really impressed us all with their professionalism, openness and overall attitude towards the project. I'll be honest it's only now, after being through a genuine audition process, that this now feels like a real TV project.

The Lord Jeffer Almighty Stephen Paul Blanchard and
Duly Appointed King Jeffer Esteemed Director Richard Reay TM

As you know this basic idea is over a decade old now, and in all that time I've only ever come slightly close to seeing my characters come to life. The last time it was one character who doesn't even feature in the pilot. I've always hoped that I would see the day when my babies came to life but for one reason or another never truly believed it would happen. Now, through the support of my wife, meeting people like Esteemed Director Richard Reay TM and Scott "Thin White Latte" Latty, I found myself starting to see it. The actors that we met today have cemented that belief. We can actually do this. And you know what, we bloody well will.

Anyhoo, it was an awesomely good day. I'm still juddering from the multiple Joygasms throughout the day. You're probably, just like me, counting down the days until we announce who we have cast in the remaining roles. Your patience will be rewarded! In the meantime you'll more than likely be seeing some Behind The Scenes footage in the coming weeks, and the results of filming our comrades John and Latty. One thing I can leave you with is a side project Richard and myself are interested in pursuing, once again involving the delectable Scott. He can be a wave of inspiration, and today was no different as he stood out the front of our audition venue looking like...a Hobo. Thus I give you, for you viewing pleasure, the opening sequence of "The Latty-est Hobo".

Scott Latty, we salute you you Jeffer!

Butchering The Mind-Child

Yeah, I'm back. Sat here furious at "delivery" company UPS losing an order I placed for Mothers Day ages ago. Felt a rant coming on so I figured I'd come to this thing and keep y'all up to date on doing's with Expose'. 

In some respects it could feel like we've sat still for a while. We've had almost a week since the actors were told they've been short-listed for the pilot, so a whole load of scheduling is going on to figure out when to get them to come over. It's all really boring behind the scenes stuff. (Unless you include the creation of a new phrase - "Turd Fairy" - and yes it will be in the script!) What is interesting though, and what I wanted to concentrate on in this post, is having spoken with our Esteemed Director Richard Reay we've agreed some re-writes are needed on Episode One of the show. A re-write? On my awesomely perfect script? How very dare he!!

In all honesty I already knew. You'd be amazed at the amounts of re-writes I had to do for my first book "Getting Sync'd" (available now in all good book shops and for digital download - #PIMPED! Oh come off, you can't blame me for that! Some Jeffer on eBay is trying to shift copies for £35. (Yeah, good look with that by the way!) Get it on Kindle at the mo it's 77p! That's a saving of £34.23. Not just an awesome read but also good maths!) and even now there's things I would change. With Expose' it's different, at least in this incarnation it is. Richard is a clever guy, and gets where the show is coming from. He's not trying to make it something it's not, and that makes the re-writing an honest joy and not giving me the feeling like I'm butchering my beloved mind-child!

It wasn't the case with the previous incarnation "MidKnight Rising". Yes the script had to be expanded to make a full length feature, and with that I was lucky enough to have a good friend Nick Johnstone fill in a lot of the blanks. The script, as you would expect, was sheer bloody awesomeness. BUT we seemed to be fighting an up-hill struggle in terms of translating that script to the screen. The producer and director saw something different to what myself and Nick, and in all honesty the rest of the hired team saw. Where we saw drama/action/fantasy/comedy, they saw "Carry On Superhero". It was painful, agonising to watch these people pull apart the very premise of the film and reassemble it in to something even Frankenstein's monster would look at and say "you are really dicking around with nature now"! They wanted to make it a straight-forward comedy, and that's not what this is at all. Yes it's funny. in parts, but that's more down to how the characters react to the situations they find themselves in. It's also emotional, dramatic, action-packed, scary!  Them trying to make it something it wasn't was a surefire sign that I was working with the wrong people, and in hindsight I should have got out there and then. It wasn't their fault, they were going with their vision for the project. It just...wasn't the right vision!

With what we're doing now, it's a lot clearer. I'm able to work with people who get the concept. So when Richard says "re-write" I know it's coming from a good reason. It's not even that big a deal, more just "structural changes". Thing is what I've done in the last few days has merely increased the awesomeness, and I never thought that was possible. What was originally a 60 page script and should ideally be around 45 is now 63. Now that ain't good maths yo! So a severe amount of literary blood will be split (unless we decide to do a "Twilight: Breaking Dawn"...and by that I mean tell the story over two halves, not make a series of God awful films from a book you wouldn't use as toilet paper 'cos you'd wipe more on than you'd take off!) to try and get this right. I know it won't be perfect, not like it is in my head. In my head the show's already been seen by a billion people and I'm shooting the follow-up. In my head everything is as seen on the paper, every angle is right, every actor perfectly cast, every location perfectly lit. In my head. In the real world I know that won't happen. The characters will look different to what I have in mind because there more than likely isn't an actor that looks like the one in my head. There'll be restrictions on locations, time. Money. Did I mention money? No one's getting a penny for this pilot! There's no budget. We're doing this with nothing, so my mind will have to let quite a few things go. And who knows, maybe we'll see something even more awesome than what's on the page. 

I mean that's doubtful, cos I wrote the damn thing, but still Maybe... 

In the meantime we've got more rehearsals coming up on Monday with our two cast actors, and by the end of this month we'll be auditioning the rest of the cast (and there's a lot of Potentials there). 

Keep watching peeps. Things are heating up!

Blowing Up The Pigeon Hole - Moving In To TV Land.

So, I mean, like, Bloody hell how long has it been since I did this blog thing? Well it's half a year since the over-inflated suck fest of TDKR, so that long. Damn, a lot can happen in half a year. And has!

If you have a look back over previous posts you'll see at one point I involved in writing a film called "MidKnight Rising" (which, ironically, has Nolan-esq under-tones, and sucked just as much. Or more!) Well now that little brain-child of mine has grown up, mutated, and is getting ready to slap you repeatedly in the face. With a trout, for some reason. Not only have I written a script for a TV Pilot/Preview/Trailer type thing (It’s a new genre’!), but, in a shock turn of events that makes even my own eyes brows raise skyward, we're making the bloody thing!

Look - it's a script!!

You already know about my attempt to get it made as a film, and how that turned out. Well ever since I’ve been pitching it to people as a TV show, and all the time I would get the same response: “We like it, but…”. 6 months ago I pitched it to the commissioning team at Sky TV. Result: they “loved” it…..”but”. Another smelly, hairy “but” staring me in the face. They couldn’t “pigeon-hole” it, which isn’t a sexual act (as far as I know!). Basically they couldn’t classify it – was it a comedy? Was it a drama? My answer was “neither and both”, which probably didn’t help. Anyway, once again the answer was “no”.

So this time, instead of just sitting around thinking “why do I bother?” I thought “stuff it!” (Or words to that effect!). “I’ll make it myself”. I mean when you ignore the “but” (which is now a mantra of mine – “Ignore The But!”) and concentrate on the whole “we love it” bit, which I’ve heard loads over the last few years, then there’s clearly something good here. Great even! So I asked around to see if anyone else would be interested in getting involved. I quickly found a guy at work called Richard Reay who also happens to be a director with the same outlook on the project as myself. (He co-directed a zombie short film called "Z-Word" with another talented dude called Garry Douglass. Its bloody awesome!) I found musicians, trained TV technicians, actors, designers… Talent. You’ll be amazed how much there is if you ask around.

Left to right: Actor John Cunningham, Director Richard Reay, Actor Scott Latty

So now there’s this rag-tag bunch of people at my place of work who are making this Pilot/Preview/Trailer type thing that I wrote. Everyone working on something, away from their jobs, to make the best damn Pilot/Preview/Trailer type thing imaginable, with no money, no budget…Proper gorilla team.

We start filming some footage in the next few weeks. We've cast two of our main actors, and literally just now we've finished going through hundreds of actors CV's, show reels and photo's to come u with a short list of potentials we want to audition. Meetings are being held, music is being made, designs drawn, rehearsals organised. We’re aiming to get a 10/15 minute Pilot/Preview/Trailer type thing finished by the end of the year, hopefully with a big “Premiere” event right here in Newcastle which will be raising money for an as yet undecided charity. You can follow our progress on Twitter and on Facebook. Or you can just come back here for more. I'm sure I'll be back to rant soon enough. 

Me. Talking guff. After drinking too much coffee!
That bloke on the end, his surname's Latty.
Which sounds like Latte'. I did not drink him. 

#TISBIE

"Steve Reviews The Dark Knight Rises", or, "TDKR = Return Of The Jedi", or "Gotham Police Are Ewoks"

So, for the first time in probably two years, yesterday we went to the cinema. Not my suggestion – the wife’s. Even more amazing, she booked us tickets to go watch The Dark Knight Rises. My wife, the honorary geek. (Credentials later cemented as we watched the film and she saw “that guy who died in Torchwood”, and to a less geeky extent the main prowler guy from Queer As Folk). Yes, the last film in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Trilogy was here. To say I was excited is an understatement. Those of you who follow me on Twitter or Facebook will have seen the regular appearance of #Batgasm. I was excited, but I was being realistic. There was no way they could top its predecessor The Dark Knight. It couldn’t be done. With this frame of mind I felt I wouldn’t be disappointed with the end result, and if they did pull a miracle out the bag it would be all the sweeter. Imagine my surprise when I came out three hours later, answering my wife’s question of “did you enjoy it?” with the answer “I’m not sure”.

Before I get in to this let me say I’m a huge Batman fan, and maybe that’s the problem. Being a fan of these characters, no matter how hard you try to be realistic, you can’t help but have certain expectations. My wife came out and said she loved it! Let me also say that I’m a huge fan of what Nolan has done with Batman. I love Batman Begins. It almost gets swept aside by people saying “yeah well it’s just the origin story, yawn”. Thing is the origin story had never been told on film before. Yes we’d seen hints at Bruce Wayne’s parents getting killed and understood that was the reason for Batman’s existence, but up until this point he was just some rich orphan dude who’d taken a few martial arts lessons and liked running around with gadgets and a cape. We hadn’t seen the real tragedy of Bruce Wayne, the thought that he wanted vengeance for his parents at any cost and was considering murdering his parent’s killer. The years of training, suffering and sacrifice. This was a Batman story.

Everyone knows how good The Dark Knight was, so there's no debate there. The end of that film left an intriguing set up for a potential follow-up – Batman in exile, hunted by the police for crimes he took responsibility for but never actually commited. A lie to protect his less than fair city. Eight years later and the lie is intact but soon to be broken, requiring the return of The Batman. Sounds like a corker doesn't it?  The thing is, as you watch The Dark Knight Rises it doesn’t feel like a Batman film. It’s a film about a city being terrorised by some nutter.Batman is just a piece on the chessboard, and not even the King.

I know I'm coming across really negatively here, but there are things that work. Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne: brilliant as always. He doesn’t really play Batman in this film; rather Bruce Wayne dressed up in the suit. He doesn’t become the animal that we saw in the first and second films. He gets close at the end, but then…..nope, SPOILERS!

Tom Hardy as Bane:  one scary-as-hell mofo (even if he does sound like a cross between Darth Vader and a Smurf) who would kick your ass in three seconds and fire up a barbecue in the next two.

Anne Hathaway as Catwoman: m’eh. I mean I get why she was there, and despite what people say she was a key part of the plot. And I’m pretty sure all the pubescent boys were sat there thinking that for the first time they’d much rather be the Batpod than Batman, and thus leading to many double entendres around the word "Rise"! But be honest, she wasn’t as good as Michelle Pfeiffer. (There’s probably a reason I think this which I will explain soon!)

I love Gary Oldman as Commissioner  Gordon – perfect casting. With Gordon we get to see that Bruce Wayne wasn’t the only one that suffered in the aftermath of the events in the previous film. Riddled with guilt, wife and son gone, and yet he rises above all the chaos.

Alfred Pennyworth was always Bruce Wayne’s grounding - his conscience, the emotional centre of the Batman films. Michael Caine is barely on the screen for more than five minutes, but the emotion he put across in that time is simply heartbreaking.

Morgan Freeman serves his purpose as the Q style Lucius Fox, Marion Cotillard is effective but wasted in her role. And finally Joseph Gordon Levitt is an interesting addition, particularly when you consider what could happen after the last frame of the film.

The story. You know what, I liked the story. Batman comes out of retirement to stop Gotham going to hell. Brilliant. The concept and all of its branches – Bane, League of Shadows, Bruce Wayne going broke etc. – sounds epic and worthy enough of a conclusion to the Batman story that Nolan et’al claimed they wanted to tell. The problem is the translation and execution of the story felt rushed. There were bits where I couldn’t help but think “they could have done so much more with it”. Hathaway’s Selina Kyle is just one example, here’s another. Bruce Wayne bones Maria Cottilards character Miranda Tate, hinting at him having the chance of a normal life which Alfred is so desperate for him to have. But they bone, and that’s it. You don’t get to see any real emotional connection between the two. (Interesting side-note; in the comics Bruce Wayne is technically married to her. There’s a cue for Gods sake!) If this had been done the last few minutes of the film would have had much more of an impact on the characters and the audience. These are just a couple of examples – all hints but nothing more. They gave you the impression that there was so much more to tell about these characters but never followed through. This happened so much in fact that I couldn’t help but think we were watching a kind of Readers Digest version of the film. There was a big story to tell here, with lots of characters and despite the two and three-quarter hour running time it didn’t feel enough. I wanted to see more. This, along with many aspects of the film was a missed opportunity. This final chapter could have been done over two films. We could have had The Dark Knight Falls, where Bane breaks the Bat and chaos in Gotham ensues, and then The Dark Knight Rises, where Bats gets fixed up and returns to save the day. I mean if they can do it for the last two Twi-shite films, why not for Batman??

 

The visual flare of the previous two Bat-films also seemed lacking. Two examples for this: firstly the Breaking Of The Bat. For comic fans this is some serious shit – Bane is the one guy who can take the Batman out. Make no mistake, Bane does break the Bat in the film, but it’s just…m’eh. There’s no gravitas to the shot. I mean we see Bruce Wayne suffer for a little and then before you know it his back his fixed, he does a few press ups and sit ups and then he’s Batman again? No!

Another example: Bats returns to Gotham for another face-off with Bane. He’s announced his return by lighting a fire on a bridge in the shape of a Bat – a makeshift Bat-signal if you will, reminding Bane and his crew it’s not their town. Eventually we come to the rematch, and here was the opportunity for Batman to swoop in from the sky, one last grand entrance. No. Instead he walks in through a bit of smoke, exchanges some (frankly awful) dialogue with Bane, and they go at it. I guess it backs up my thought that it wasn’t ‘Batman’ fighting Bane, it was Bruce Wayne dressed as Batman. But you know what, I wanted him to give the people of Gotham that one last hurrah, reminding them of the awe and majesty of The Batman -  as if to say “Oi bitches, this is my town!”.

I could go on and on. Ultimately TDKR isn’t a bad film. No it’s not as good as The Dark Knight. It’s not as good as Batman Begins either, and thank Jeff it’s not Batman & Robin!. As I came out of the cinema I realised what it was – Return Of The Jedi. Whether that was because the hoards of Gotham police going to war in the final act reminded me of Ewoks, or that Liam Neeson Ra’s Al Ghul appeared to Bruce Wayne in a Force ghost type hallucination, or that, like I said, the execution of the story was nowhere near its potential. Or maybe like I said, my expectations were too high. At the end of the day TDKR ties the Trilogy of in a nice neat bow, while not leaving the people of Gotham unprotected still managing to give Bruce Wayne the happy ending he deserved. It’s just a shame the film-makers didn’t give the same grace to the audience

Christopher Nolan is an Oscar worthy director, but certainly not off the back of this film. He and his team have been in Gotham for 10 years and have finally moved out, and in watching their final instalment you can’t help but think they couldn’t wait to pack up their stuff and get the hell out of there. I’m not saying they didn’t care, they just didn’t care enough.

Verdict: The Dark Knight Rises, but never soars as high as it's two predecesors.

Open Letter To Cameron: NHS Killer

OK, it's been a while since my last post from way back when. The infamous post where I ranted and raved about Tom Cruise going essentially nuts. (OK, I say "infamous" - maybe "un-famous", but hey, it's in the top ten Google searches...when you search for Stephen Paul Blanchard - which incidentally also gives details on how to by my first book "Getting Sync'd" - and pimped!) Hey Tom, good to see you back on an even keel! M:I-4 looks awesome by the way! Now I'm not suggesting my rant and rave changed what was going on with dear ol' Tom, and I don't expect my next rant to do any different, but I need to do this - and it shall be done in the following way.....

Dear Mr. David Cameron PM,

I have a question: exactly how old are you? I have to ask because your recent behaviour is more characteristic of a spoiled seven year old boy not wanting to do what the other kids in the playground have unanimously suggested, instead deciding to cover your ears with your grubby hands singing "la la la" at the top of your voice. I am of course referring to your ridiculous decision to hold discussions on the future of the NHS without the presence of any health-care professionals. To quote the hip modern day phrase: WTF? Why would you not consult organisations like the Royal College of Nursing, or the British Medical Association? These organisations are made up of professionals in the health care industry, people who have spent their lives in the very organisation you seem determined to destroy.

You're not a doctor Mr. Cameron, neither is your Health Secretary. I mean, is Mister Lansley still pissed at being mis-diagnosed with an ear infection which turned out to be a "minor stroke", and so trying to get his own back? Yes, the NHS makes mistakes. No organisation is perfect. You being the head of this coalition "Government" (for want of a better word) should know this. But do you know how important the NHS is to people? This service saved my wife, they took care of my daughter, they're currently looking after my uncle, and you know what? Considering the conditions that these people work in and the lack of respect they receive (almost demonising the doctors and nurses) they do an AMAZING job. The amount of people I speak to who belittle the health service until they actually use it, by which point deciding it's a brilliant service, is frankly amazing.

I have friends who are doctors and nurses. Close family. My wife is nearing the end of her GP training. All of these people do this job, not for the apparent power/long holidays/golfing trips/high pay (all of which, by the way, are complete misconceptions!) - they do it because they want to help. They spent years studying and honing their craft, knowing that one day their skills would be able to save people. The hardest thing in the world for them is having to give the bad news to relatives, but they carry on, because they have to. These people know exactly what they're talking about and what is needed to keep the NHS on an even keel, so again I ask: WTF? The only thing I find more confusing is the fact that "Hollyoaks" is still being made!

You are fortunate to have this job Mr. Cameron, in more ways than one. Remember that it was hardly the landslide victory I'm sure you'd wanted. The people didn't want you as PM, but we as voters had to work with what we were given. Like you and your cabinet; you have to work with the situations as they were left by their predecessors, and the NHS is struggling to do the same, so why are you not doing everything you can to help? Your sheer arrogance in not giving health organisations the opportunity to give their valued and experienced opinions, instead turning to your friends and cronies who care more about the money then the health of the very people you claim to be serving, makes you the political equivalent of an ostrich sticking your head in the sand. Just remember the more you leave your head down there the greater chance there is of you getting your rear end blown off by a shotgun.

Regards

Stephen Blanchard

OK, I don't expect that to solve anything. I'm no politician, and I sure as hell ain't a doctor. I see a needle and faint. It's just the sheer audacity of this pompous, arrogant little jizz-weasel has me absolutely fuming. Please pass this on if you agree. I'm hoping over time this cannibalisation of the NHS will fade in to obscurity like the "Big (Idiot) Society".

This is kinda funny, check it!

In other news, BUY MY BOOK!!!

About Getting Sync'd by Stephen Blanchard-fReado

About Getting Sync'd by Stephen Blanchard-fReado