Du Plantier Murder

Of all the murders that have taken place in this country, solved and unsolved, and god knows there has been a lot, the murder of Sophie Toscan Du Plantier has intrigued me greatly. The fact that it still remains unsolved some 13 years later is at the heart of the intrigue I guess. There have been retracted witness statements, damning character assassinations and accusations of incompetence from the French authorities. As a nation we take very seriously the welcoming quality for which we are famed....

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Shutter Island

It was with great excitement that I went to see Shutter Island recently. I had devoured the book of the same title by Dennis Lehane in a weekend and was eager to see what one of cinemas great directors would do with such ripe source material. Thankfully Scorsese delivered the goods in a brooding psychological thriller. He stuck fairly rigidly to the novel except maybe for the dream sequences which were fleshed out a little more in the book. Di Caprio & Kingsley were both strong in leading roles...

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Cheltenham 2010

If you tear a betting docket in half, then again and once more for good measure you are left with twelve pieces of paper reflecting what could have been. The represent the hopes, the dreams, the plans for how the winnings might have been spent, but ultimately frustration. The frustration can oft be tempered by getting one up but this wasn't a week of getting anything up. By Friday evening my bin had 144 pieces of paper representing 3 losing bets a day. The two each way bets I did manage to get up...

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