It’s a boy, it’s a girl, no hold on we’re not saying!!

Okay, so this week everyone seems to be talking about the gender neutral baby. I have to be honest, when I heard the story my first reaction was – what? After a couple of more minutes of thinking and reading the articles, my brain was able to move – if not slightly reluctantly, from what to why?

Now I should first point out that I don’t have children and so I’ve never been in the position of deciding whether or not to tell people that I have had a boy or a girl. I have though had to buy congratulation cards, and I would have been properly miffed if one of my friends had said; “we’re not saying!” Let’s face it, Clinton’s just doesn’t do a card for; “congratulations on your gender neutral baby”, which means I’d have to have resorted to Moonpig and what colour would I have gone for – yellow, green!! Oh no, hold on I may be falling prey to the gender stereotype!

I also understand that there will be some people out there that will be firm advocates of this being entirely the parent’s decision, and no one else’s business. People, I am sure, will say that so long as the parent’s are looking after the child then it’s really no one else’s business. The problem is I disagree. Going public with this story and decision, has rightly or wrongly made it other people’s business. On hearing a story like this, it is nigh on impossible not to have an opinion about it.

Now whilst I don’t have children, I was once a child and I do also have parents of my own. I personally think that parent’s have, without doubt, the hardest job in the world. From the moment that they are handed their child they are responsible for absolutely everything that happens to them and this will mean having to make hundreds, if not thousands, of decisions. This is no mean feat!

No one can be expected to get every decision right. So all therapists should breathe a massive sigh of relief, I can only imagine the effect on their revenues if everyone was suddenly blissfully happy and had absolutely no parent issues whatsoever! Also, what would teenagers do? I’m so moody, my mum and dad really understand me! It doesn’t quite have the same effect as the visual that Harry Enfield provided in his sketch of Kevin and Perry.

Life also isn’t anywhere near that simple, and as we get older we change and not only define who we are, but we also re-define who we are. Look at Madonna or maybe Lady GaGa! So what I suppose I am trying to say is that parents don’t really stand a chance in the grand scheme of things. At some point they will inevitable be blamed for something, just as I am sure that they inevitable blamed their parents for something in the past. It’s just the way it goes.

We all rely on our parents in the beginning and I honestly don’t think we can say that all parent’s over the past millennia, that have been raising sons as boys and daughters as girls have had it all wrong. I’m also not sure I see the point of trying to be gender neutral. It’s perfectly acceptable in this day and age – in the West at least, to completely defy stereotypes. Does it matter if a boy has long hair and likes pink, or if a girl likes playing with cars and dressing in blue? I don’t think it matters what a child does so long as they are happy. They are after all only children.

Yet I don’t think this includes making a child gender neutral, mainly because this isn’t actually possible. Every child has a gender; male or female, and deciding from day dot that a child will be gender neutral to me just seems ludicrous. I hope that I’m wrong and that the child will prove every nay sayer wrong and grow up and be well balanced, happy, and not at all confused or angry at his / her parent’s decision. I however think I’d be pretty annoyed at the fact that it was made known that I was referred to as “it” or “the infant”. 

Am I the only one whose mind immediately jumps to Edith Nesbitt’s book; Five Children and It, or worse the Addam’s Family??

www.nataschaholloway.co.uk

Impossible, improbable, who cares, I love the BBC Series of Sherlock

I sat down this morning to write this and I have to say a little part of me feels a bit sad. Yes, I do know that I shouldn’t feel sad about the fact that a particular BBC One program that ran for just three short weeks in the 9pm slot on a Sunday night is all over. Yet there it is.

Sherlock is I believe an example of not only brilliant BBC entertainment, but also wonderful writing that brings the stories and the legendary character created by Arthur Conan Doyle up to date and contemporary for today. It is also a display of great acting by all involved.

In my lowly and irrelevant opinion, Benedict Cumberbatch’s take on the master detective and Martin Freeman’s on the everyday man Dr John Watson are fantastic and far surpass the portrayals of the same characters by Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law in the Hollywood big budget Sherlock extravaganzas.

Last week’s episode has caused a media and social networking frenzy of speculation and intrigue. The question being how did Sherlock fake his own death? I love reading people’s theories and ideas and it’s almost as good as watching the program. No it’s really not, but it is pretty good.

I have to say though that I was surprised at the amount of people that think Mycroft is on it. I too thought that the bike rider that knocked Watson off his feet was not just an unfortunate coincidence, but is it really believable that Mycroft orchestrated that? He seems to work on much larger scales than London cyclists. In fact we are led to think that he “is” the British Government.

We also know that Sherlock is not without his own cunning in being able to foil his, I want to say, intellectually superior older brother – I fear this comment make spark outrage. Let us not forget what happened in episode one of this series.

My money, were I gambling woman, would be on backing those tweeting Molly’s involvement. She seems by far the more likely to have helped Sherlock. Yet I think the bigger question to be answered and I am sure that the writers have all the answers, is where does the story go next?

We all know that following the outrage of Arthur Conan Doyle’s decision to kill off his main character that he bought him back, but are the stories that he wrote after “The Final Problem” as good as the ones that went before? Again this may be a contentious point amongst the most loyal of Doyle’s readers.

Yet I wonder after two such short series and with the faked death plot done and dusted and never to be used again, what is next? Also the last episode saw the end of the great, yet without question psychopathic, Jim Moriarty. I have to say as well though, hats off to Andrew Scott, he really pulls off crazy and has played a great nemesis to Cumberbatch’s Holmes.

I suppose I must accept that the series is complete and find another program to fill the void. Yet having eliminated the impossible notion that I will be turning over to ITV’s line up of Dancing on Ice and Wild at Heart, and knowing that despite having hundreds of channels I still rarely find something that I really want to watch and have not seen before, I must accept the truth. It will be a much duller Sunday evening this week without Sherlock on air for ninety minutes to entertain me, and rumours are that a third series won’t be on air till 2013!

www.nataschaholloway.co.uk

Iron Lady, more like Old Lady!

The most important thing to say about this entire film is that the performances given by Jim Broadbent as Denis Thatcher and even more notably by Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher are phenomenal. If Meryl Streep isn’t the odds on favourite for an Oscar then I will be very surprised. Her portrayal of the former Prime Minister, her accent, and even her demeanour seems at times uncanny. The make-up and ageing effects are extraordinary, and the film is a Streep masterpiece with her acting skills on full display.

Yet beware as this is where my admiration of the film comes to an end. Based on the title and from having seen the trailer, I was excited and looking forward to seeing a film about the only female parliamentarian leader that Britain has ever known.

I had assumed, perhaps hoped that the film would show and unseen side of Thatcher at the height of her power. I had hoped for a blend of artful fiction combined with facts and perhaps opinions of those who governed alongside her or in opposition.

I had hoped to glimpse a side of the women that ruled with rigour and a firm hand. Too young myself to remember the times clearly I had thought that the film would focus on the most contentious issues of her time in power, the miner’s strikes, the battle with the unions, the Falklands war, the IRA, and how this lower middle class grocer’s daughter managed to find a way to the top of the greasy pole and remain in power for more than a decade. However, after twenty minutes in it was clear that the film was not going to deliver on any one of my expectations.

The early years of Thatcher’s career are glossed over, her struggle to become the first female Prime Minister in a rise up within a sea of men is hardly touched upon, and the most infamous policy decisions that she made are barely footnoted. Anyone wishing to see this film for any kind of reference to the events of the late 70s and throughout the 80’s will be severely disappointed. This film is less a look at the Iron Lady herself, but more on the brutal and cruel effects of dementia.

The film’s focus is on Thatcher as an old lady, struggling with the cruel and degenerative effects dementia has on the mind. She struggles to accept that her husband has died and any political drama in the film is seen as flashbacks in the declining mental agility of Thatcher. Whether intended to illicit sympathy, or intended as a profound look at the effects of this disease or age on even the most influential of figures, I am unsure. Given that Baroness Thatcher is still alive, I feel there are a number of elements in this film that cut to close to the quick and leaves the viewer wondering just how much of what is portrayed in a true representation and what is purely artistic licence and fictional writing.

Whether an advocate or opponent of Thatcher’s politics, I think the majority of people will be hoping that this is a film about the woman behind the politics of the time. It is not. This is not the hard hitting film that I had expected or even anticipated, and given its subject matter I felt a little let down.

Streep is truly spectacular and the film is reflective in many ways of the nature and effects of dementia.  All I would say though is that if you are looking for West Wing style political drama or a better understanding of the Iron Lady herself then this film is not going to meet your needs. I know no more of the politics, the decision making that went into the policy decisions, or how Thatcher made it as leader of the Conservative Party and then Leader of the country than I did before I went to see the film.

This is a depiction of an Old Lady more than it is of the infamous Iron Lady.    

New Resolutions, same old outcome!

Seven days into 2012 and according to statisticians, 74% of women and 58% of men will have made a New Year’s resolution. I opted for my usual, which is that I resolutely decided to go to the gym more frequently and get value out of my monthly membership fee. The problem is though, I know my newly found gusto won’t last long, by May I’ll most likely have returned to being really annoyed that I’m paying a month membership to a gym that I haven’t seen the inside of for months!

Now I may be weak willed or potentially just a little on the gym going lazy side, but it seems that we are all prone to being strong willed in January. How many people do you know trying out a new detox, or aren’t drinking or eating any carbs this month? Let’s face it, we all do it.

Yet I do have to wonder, if I weren’t pulling myself away from the fridge (for the bottle of wine I know is in there) or away from the bread bin and over to the gym, what else would I be doing? January is notoriously a dull month. We have poor weather and everyone is grumpy at having to settle back into the work cycle, with no light (in the form of the next bank holiday) until April!

So it seems that January really is the month in which to make a fresh start and turn over a new leaf. Most of us over did it at Christmas, most of us are broke until pay day arrives again, most people are staying in, and the BBC, ITV and most of the other free view channels seem intent on driving us insane with excessive repeats. I do wonder how many times ITV and ITV2 are planning on showing “You’ve got mail” – although this is a great film to show your kids, teach them what the internet used to be like in the days of dial up, when your landline was permanently engaged!

So with no one going out and finding it boring to stay in, it seems only too easy for me to make the short journey to the gym – well, you would think! Yet this is all only well and good until January ends, your friends give up on their detox, everyone starts drinking again, and spring and light nights start to draw near. Then, it is surely a case of did I make any New Year’s what now?

I had a quick look at some of the top New Year resolutions and I have to say some of them made more sense to me than others. Two that really could, in my opinion, be summed up into one were; fit in fitness – this obviously made sense to me, and tame the bulge – although am I the only woman assuming that this was a man’s resolution? I feel sure that if it had been a woman it would’ve been phrased much more nicely, maybe; resolve to lose a couple of pounds (meaning probably a stone!)

Some of the others were; quit smoking – I can see the appeal, but then it’s easier for me to say as I’m not a smoker. Also is it wrong to encourage friends to quit so that when January ends and we’re back in the pub, we can sit inside and not all huddle around a heater outside? Enjoy life more – doesn’t seem the timeliest of resolutions, does anyone really enjoy January (assuming that is that you don’t have a skiing / exotic winter break planned or birthday?) Quit drinking – the part missing though is surely, for now?

The last few were; get out of debt – really in January? Granted I suppose it could be a long term resolution. Learn something new – maybe I could adopt this one as well and finally find out what zumba is? Help others – maybe I’ll find the time while “You’ve Got Mail” is on again or I’m waiting for dial up! Get organised – how soon is too soon to start planning on when to use my annual leave?

The final resolution that made its way onto the list though was a complete surprise to me. Spend more time with my family. I have to assume that this was written by someone who was (a) not home over Christmas and (b) is not dependent on January payday, free view or dial up!