2013-05-20T23:44:16-04:00 Terry Marsh http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=terry-marsh Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Terry Marsh Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.1019817 2011-10-19T12:25:03-04:00 2011-12-19T05:12:01-05:00

Terry Marsh http://www.huffingtonpost.com/terry-marsh/
These people are disempowered. None of them are clients of lobby groups who can guarantee you direct access to our political masters if the price is right. Many felt disenfranchised at the last general election and probably the elections before because they don't want either of the principal parties; a choice between being run over by a bus or a train.

Our political system doesn't permit None Of The Above as an option. If NOTA were an option on the ballot, people would truly be able to withhold their consent. As it is now, silence is taken as consent by elected representatives. Even for those of us who vote it is, only for 1 day in every 1,826 that democracy prevails. And how many of us voted for the least bad party? Then 38% of the electorate gets 100% of the power for the next 1826 days. That's a dictatorship although elected.

In many ways the occupier's voice is our voice. The bankers have been bailed out by the government and the people have to pay the price. Socialism for the connected and Capitalism for the unconnected.

The Occupiers are trying very hard to keep their base tidy, hygienic and safe for all. The camp is reminiscent of a refugee site. Portable toilets that were there at the weekend, supplied by authorities, have since gone. Because of the circumstances, they presently have the church grounds as a sanctuary but the cobbled ground is not conducive to pitching tents or sleeping on and this is apparent as the cold wind and weather bites.

Once it is no longer a novelty and becomes an eyesore, the authorities, I fear, under the pretence of health and safety, will get the camp cleared. To misquote Benjamin Franklin, if you have to give up democracy for health and safety you deserve neither.

Whenever our political masters use H&S or security to further an aim there invariably exists a hidden agenda. That's why you should support the occupiers.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.1010315 2011-10-14T04:08:34-04:00 2011-12-13T05:12:01-05:00

Terry Marsh http://www.huffingtonpost.com/terry-marsh/ Real Steel was meant to be some time in the future. Not quite Blade Runner, more Mad Max. The US appeared to still be in recession and cash was king. It may prove prescient. The biggest cost for a boxing promoter is the fighter - one Floyd Mayweather payday would be enough to buy a 100 Robo-Boxers . So as a business model it has legs. How many do you want?

As a former boxer, I must admit there was a Luddite-type resistance to the idea. I was also resistant to the concept as a film. I sat there waiting to be entertained but not with much expectation. Bring it on. Is Real Steel the real deal?

The opening gambit was unable to make a dent in my cynicism. A robot was pitched against a bull at a rodeo. Come on, get real, steel! When the bull won, my stolidity took a brief count, it quickly recovered - mainly due to the principal character, Charlie Kenton, also an ex fighter. To his credit, he embraced the technology, yet that was found wanting against the bull. There was not much else to his credit.

A very absent father to Max, aged eleven. Anyway, Max was better off without him. However, circumstances, and a wad of cash for the bad dad, brought father and son together. A friend referred to Kenton as a "bad bet". Like most ex- fighters he was.

Like father, like son. Max too embraced the technology and happenstance delivered to them the boxing equivalent of a washed up fighter. He scrubbed up well, just like the tin man in the Wizard of Oz. Atom, as he was called, also lacked courage and brains.

Like Kenton, Atom was a bad bet. But outsiders do win and win and win - very occasionally. Atom is finally matched with the uno numero, Zeus. Zeus versus Atom. It could be a series of the Apprentice. But Kenton & Son are no wallflowers in this David and Goliath battle. Their contribution is integral. It is a Rocky moment in many ways.

The verdict? Somewhere in the film, my cynicism and stolidity was knocked out of me; I didn't see it coming. My emotions were on the ropes a number of times. Excuse the cliché, it knocked me out.

Real Steel is in UK cinemas from today, Friday 14th October.]]>