Daryl West – Google

Nominated for a Saturn Award (2021) for Best International film, the result of which is still pending - Offical Secrets (2019 - Bernstein, Bernstein & Hood) is a British film adaptation of the true story of Katherine Gun a UK GCHQ intelligence analyst, who discovering an illegal plot by both British and US intelligence services to eavesdrop on certain members of the UN Security Council, to gauge their sentiment on voting for the resolution to proceed with the invasion of Iraq in 2003, divulged her findings to the press, noteably The Observer. What came to light in the follow up of Katherine Gun's whistleblowing, was that this war was essentially illegal. Now of course - common knowledge, yet the perpetrators still remain unchallenged and free, instead of being charged for war crimes. Based on the book - The Spy Who Tried to Stop a War by Marcia & Thomas Mitchell. Kiera Knightly (Gun) delivers a powerful performance, along with the supporting roles from the legendary Ralph Fiennes (Ben Emmerson) and Matt Smith (Martin Bright) to name a few. As topical now as it was at the break of the events following the 'Coalition War on Terror', of which the Iraq conflict was but one chapter in an ever expanding nightmare of war on humanity, at the behest of the all too pervasive Western Military Industrial Complex. If you a rationalist and humanitarian, this is must see. I wish the producers, production staff and cast of this gem of truth all the success in the pending awards. And Katherine Gun should have received the NPfP for her bravery and moral fortitude - although ironically, the NPfP went to Ex Prime Minister Blair, who appears still immune to his crimes against humanity. And the fugitive Edward Snowdon and Julian Assange still illegally incarcereted for doing the same. Freedom of Speech has effectively been gagged.

Let It Be was perhaps the watershed for the 'Fab Four' - it signaled the end of an era and the start of fractures that would ultimately break-up the band. Yet much of the recording took place on the rooftop of Abbey Road Studios, live takes that had minimal editing before being included on the final album. Anyone who has seen the video of that performace could not help but notice how much the lads were enjoying themselves that day.... The video was recently posted (Jan 2021) by someone on YouTube, yet it was removed by Apple Corp from the YouTube listing after 24 hours... Such Mean Mr Mustards greedy music corpses. In the short while that video was up, it garnered a lot of loving response and clearly made people happy, people scared, confused and under pandemic lockdown. The Beatles ended 50 years ago, yet these avaricious music 'tycoons' still want to milk every penny out of the legacy of one of the greatest bands ever to have graced our airwaves and turntables. Let It Be is a superb album (my personal favourtie alongside Abbey Road) and epitomises the song-writing talent of all four. The title track has become something of an anthem to many, be they of religious persuasion or atheist. If you love The Beatles, you have to have this album in your collection.

Absolutely cracking series. Great acting, very cool story. Although I appreciate that some found the first season slow, not for me. The post apocalyptic has always been a favourite genre of mine. Propbably because now, I see how periiously close to extinction our species is becoming. How incredible it is, that we have not already reduced this planet to a cinder, though of course, there is still time. We are merely a mote in a gods eye...

Aside from the implied 'modern' vurnacular, that is so often written into the script of modern representations of historical events, I thought is was generally a good film. CGI was good. Portrayals of ACM Dowding and AVM Park were pretty close, as far as I could tell. The main thrust of the story, the prejudice that these young men went through, just to prove to the WO that they were serious about shooting down Nazis was well covered and accurate. An expansion of what was already given the nod in the famous 60's movie - The Battle of Britain. I think the title was a bit odd... This was not so much about the valiant Hawker Siddely Hurricane, so it should have been called something like - 'The Unspoken of Few' or simply 303 Squadron. It was entertaining and might help to remind people, especially British people, that it was not just the British RAF fighter pilots that helped to win the day in the skies above southern England, during the summer of 1940.