Posh Boys by Robert Verkaik

In a time when unelected Prime Minister Alexander Johnson (Eton) and fellow snob Rees-Mogg (Eton) in combination with the 'intellectual powerhouse' Dominic Cummings (Durham) are currently trying to subvert UK Parliamentary democracy by 'taking back control', Posh Boys by Robert Verkaik reminds us that they represent establishment power.  They learnt of their entitlement via the Public School system in the UK.

Verkaik tells the story of how Public Schools came into being to educate the poor but now cater to oligarchs and the aristocracy with fees of up to £40,000 per year.  'Did you go to school?', the semi-masonic question that one old Etonian may ask of another suspected Etonian underlines the elitist belief that only those educated privately matter.  I was interested to learn that Cambridge Analytica was founded by two old Etonians.

Posh Boys describes how the real 'elite', in place due to inherited wealth and not merit, feel that they have the right and the ability to subvert our democracy and take back control for themselves.

Worth reading.

Diagnosis - TV series

Diagnosis is a Netflix TV series based on the New York Times 'Diagnosis' column written by Dr Lisa Sanders.  Lisa Sanders is an attending physician (a consultant in the UK) who previously contributed to House MD as a medical advisor.  House MD is one of my favourite medical TV shows.

In Diagnosis she looks at 8 diagnostic challenges.  The majority of these cases are neurological in origin.  To reach diagnosis in these cases she published a column online and invited people from around the world to make suggestions.  In several cases a diagnosis is reached.

This is almost an exercise in folk medicine, with random strangers making diagnostic suggestions.  Unsurprisingly Lyme disease is mentioned a lot and unsurprisingly positive Lyme tests suddenly appear.  In some cases I was not satisfied with the ultimate diagnosis and in at least one case I think the patient was unsatisfied.  A lot of mistrust of doctors is vocalised which is common.  Some doctors are good and some doctors are bad.  All doctors make mistakes and all doctors get things wrong.  Some diagnoses are hard to understand and will be refused by the person with the symptoms.

As a medical TV show, I enjoyed this, partly because it was mainly neurological problems and partly because it is what I see in clinic on a regular basis.

Worth watching.

Spiderman - Far From Home

This was the first time I'd been back to the cinema since my film buddy died a few months ago.  He was a big Marvel fan and I'm sure he would have liked this.  I managed to persuade my partner to come along with me but she likes Spiderman and enjoyed the last film so it was OK.  She hasn't seen the last two avengers films so some thing were a bit odd but she did enjoy it.

Far from home features Mysterio, one of my less favoured Spiderman baddies.  Mysterio worked fairly well in the film although the plot was bubblegum, a but dumb.  Spiderman basically goes on a European tour and becomes Night Monkey (a property that should be developed).

There are some nice city scenes and some big fights.  The characters are funny.  It's an 'up', cheery film after the doom and gloom of the last couple of Avengers film.  It's probably the superhero film I needed to see today.

There will be more Spiderman films and they will probably be better but I enjoyed this.