Film reviews

This week I watched two films that the critics raved over.

On Saturday night I watched Helen Mirren in The Queen. As we all know it won Mirren an Oscar but I didn't think I had watched an Academy Award-winning performance.

We knew the story - the royals' reaction to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales and how Tony Blair saved them.

It was an entertaining film but Oscar-winning? No. And one scene did make me laugh - when Alastair Campbell comes back from the meeting at the Palace to discuss Diana's funeral, he walks into Downing Street and exclaims, "Flipping heck!"

Alastair Campbell? Flipping heck? I don't think so...

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The other film was Borat.

I had seen clips and yes those clips did make me laugh but the whole film left an unpleasant taste in my mouth.

The Americans in the film were narrow-minded, bigoted or stupid but you can find those people in any country. And if some man tried to kiss me on a train, I think I would probably take umbrage as well. Similarly, if I was attending a function in a hotel, I would be shocked by the site of two naked men wrestling.

Good in small doses, not so funny in 1 hour and 20 minutes.

We have lost a sense of proportion 2

To return to my earlier post, I'd like to make two points.

Would Clive Goodman and Glenn Mulcaire be languishing in a jail cell this morning had they tapped only the phones of celebrities and not those close to the royal family?

And shouldn't Helen Asprey, personal secretary to Princes William and Harry, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, the princes' private secretary, and Paddy Harverson, Prince Charles's communications secretary - the three members of staff whose phones were tapped - be sacked for gross stupidity?

After Squidgygate and Camillagate, all members of the royal staff must know that mobiles are not secure, so why would they be daft enough to leave sensitive information on voice mails?

We have lost a sense of proportion

Today we learned that at Exeter Crown Court, paedophile 46-year-old Keith Morris, from Newton Abbot, Devon, escaped jail after pleading guilty to three offences of causing a person under 16 to engage in sexual activity without consent and one of sexual activity with a child under 16.

Judge Graham Cottle released Morris, facing a maximum of 14 years in jail, on bail pending a pre-sentence report because of prison overcrowding. "If this case had been here last week it would have been over by now and he would be in Exeter Prison," Judge Cottle told the court.

Also today, journalist Clive Goodman was sentenced to four months in prison after pleading guilty to intercepting phone messages. On 29 November 2005 Goodman pleaded guilty to conspiracy to intercept communications without lawful authority, under the Criminal Law Act 1977.

The charges related to three members of the royal household (Helen Asprey, the personal secretary to Princes William and Harry, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, the princes' private secretary, and Paddy Harverson, Prince Charles's communications secretary), but the investigation found that targets also included David Blunkett, then home secretary, the minister David Miliband, the footballer Sol Campbell, and The Sun editor Rebekah Wade.

Home Secretary John Reid has recently told judges to jail only the most dangerous and serial offenders to ease prison overcrowding. Or possibly, Mr Reid reiterated sentencing guidelines.

I would not seek to defend Clive Goodman's actions which have cost him his reputation, his livelihood and, today, his liberty as well his boss, Andy Coulson, his job as well.

However, will the public interest be served by jailing a tabloid hack and letting a paedophile walk free?