The Daily Opinion

Tennis tech could be a game changer

The tennis season is upon us, with the French Open already under way and Wimbledon right around the corner. Viewers can expect to see some of the useful decision aiding technology that has been around for years, but behind the scenes there is other new technology emerging that could be about to change the game.

Over the years, tennis has evolved massively in terms of the way it is played. Newer designs of balls, rackets, and courts, along with a higher level of fitness among players have made the game we know now a lot faster paced than the games of the past. For example, Rafael Nadal’s average serve speed in 2014 was 185 kilometres per hour, whereas players in the 80s like John McEnroe served around 20 kilometres per hour slower. McEnroe has stated, though, that using the rackets of today he can hit at much higher speeds than he used to in his playing days.

Technology has also improved decision making in tennis. Hawk-Eye is an accurate slow motion video that pin points exactly where the ball landed, so there can no longer be any disputes over whether the ball was in or out. It could be argued, however, that tennis was more entertaining before this, as it sparked huge rows such as the famous occasion on which McEnroe called the umpire a jerk (see video below) during his outburst.

Along with technology to improve the viewing experience on the court, there is now technology in production that should enhance the players’ performance even further. A lot of sports have already embraced new technology to try to improve fitness levels and strategy, but tennis looks as though it’s about to take things a step further. The PlaySight smart tennis court uses a combination of cameras that cover every inch of the court surface. These cameras are used to track all the player’s movements and racket strokes. This information is linked to computers that are situated next to the court, so players and coaches can look back and analyse the footage instantly. This footage can also be sent to smartphones, so the player can examine it later, or send it to other experts to analyse and gather opinions. The technology has been backed by some of the biggest names in tennis including Novak Djokovic and Pete Sampras.

With Andy Murray being the only British male to win Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936, tennis in the UK needs to embrace improvements in tech like this to try to raise the standard of its players. Murray, who is 3/1 to win in the Wimbledon betting odds as of late May, will have a tough time following up his 2013 title against an in-form Djokovic this year, but he will give it a good shot, as he is also playing well. If British tennis academies start using new software to train their players, there could be a crop of young talent set to take Murray’s place in the coming years.

How to access your psychic abilities

Today, getting a psychic reading is more popular than ever, especially as you now can have them done online, over the phone or via an email. It’s getting to be something that is as normal as having a counselling session or going for a massage, whereas it used to be more of niche activity.

Some people are very aware of their psychic sense from a young age, but they may not be sure of how to control and use it to its full potential. Others may like the idea of being more intuitive or being able to communicate with a loved one who has passed away, but believe that psychic skills are only for the gifted few.

This, however, is not true; anyone can develop and deepen their psychic abilities. It may take some people more time and practice than others, but with a little perseverance, anyone can tap into their psychic side. If you want to develop your psychic skills, try the following ideas:

Learn to meditate

“Meditation” (CC BY 2.0) by Moyan_Brenn

In order to create some space for our psychic abilities, it’s necessary to be able to switch off from our everyday thoughts and concerns. This leaves room for our intuitive subconscious to expand and this is an essential feature of psychic development. We need a clear pathway for spiritual messages or our intuition to come through to us.

Regular meditation can help create this clear path and can create a window of opportunity for your spiritual guides to ‘speak’ to you. By having a consistent time slot for meditating, you’ll be able to focus on your psychic side then, rather than having it distract you when you have other things to focus on – such as work or getting the kids to school. There are lots of different meditation techniques, some people will need a quiet and darkened room, while others will be able to meditate in an armchair while they listen to some calming music.

Understand your energy and the energies around you

All of us give off and take in different forms of energy. Through the electro-magnetic fields that surround us, we can become the equivalent of a radio transmitter and receive and pass on psychic information. In order to develop a psychic ability, you need to understand how our energies and the energies around us work, how we can use these energies to understand the world around us. In order to improve your psychic abilities, you need to open, close and ground, and protect your energies. Grounding is a key element – and will be very useful when you feel like you can’t focus or concentrate. Try this technique to become more grounded:

“centered” (CC BY-ND 2.0) by Lucy Maude Ellis

Stand with feet hip width distance and arms loosely at your sides. Allow your knees to bend and sink your weight down into your feet. Rock gently to find a balanced position. Bring the focus of awareness to the balls of your feet and imagine your whole weight being there. From this point, visualise roots extending and going deep into the ground. Stay like this for a few minutes, breathing deeply and letting your body relax.

Experiment with remote viewing

Remote viewing is a form of clairvoyance. It’s the skill of being able to view something with the mind’s eye and it has been likened to an out of body experience. If someone can remote view, they can picture and describe a place that is separate from them. Psychics often use remote viewing when reading for a client. For example, if someone asks if they will move house, a psychic could describe the location, look and feel of the house that their client will move to via remote viewing.

Remote viewing is something we can all do, if we tap into our psychic abilities. You can practise and develop your remote viewing skills by pairing up with a friend.

One of you (the ‘sender’) thinks of a place and writes it down. To begin developing your skills, choosing a local place will help. The sender then focuses on what the place would look, smell and feel like. At the same time, in another room, the other person (the ‘viewer’) should sit quietly in another room and try to empty their mind. Then the sender should pass information telepathically to the viewer, but only in a non-verbal way. The viewer should write down or draw the images they receive and when ready, close off their mind and relax. The viewer can then share with the sender what they saw and see if they have identified the correct location.

Remote viewing is not something you’ll be able to do immediately, but just practising the skill can be quite a lot of fun, and you’ll gradually become more accustomed to interpreting the psychic messages you’re receiving.

Of course, remote viewing is just one type of psychic skill, but it’s a great one to make a start with if you want to develop the psychic within you.

A new generation for casino movies?

With the news of the remake of The Gambler set to hit our screens this Christmas, the genre of casino movies is a trend that’s not going to go out of fashion any time soon. But what exactly is it that makes these movies so popular? Whether it’s the glamour of the Hollywood sirens or the excitement of the casino heist, there is a reason that the movie industry continues to churn out blockbusters of this genre.

Perhaps one of the most definitive movies of this genre was Ocean’s Eleven, the 1960 classic which was so popular that it became a hit remake once again in 2001. The film had every kind of ingredient for a hit: the glamorous Hollywood siren in Julia Roberts, the heart throb in George Clooney (and Brad Pitt) and the thrill-a-minute mission that any other clan would fail: to simultaneously rob three Las Vegas casinos.

Of course, the 2001 hit very much brought the heist up-to-date, using modern day bomb devices to blow up casinos, along with faster guns, better guns and bigger prizes. With Ocean’s Eleven spawning two more equally successful sequels, the proof is in the pudding when it comes to modern casino movies making huge amounts of money.

But with technology ever advancing, could we be in for a new generation for casino movies? Away from the big screen, the casino industry has evolved considerably over the years – whereas 10 years ago people would make the trip to a land-based casino, today, people would much rather play online. This has in part been thanks to the advances of technology making online casinos far more desirable – affiliate sites like Fortune Palace are showing customers how to play with live dealers, another advance in technology that has proven how far things have come.

With these technological advances, it begs the question as to whether movies could be moving in the same direction. Whereas at the turn of the century, directors were having their cast members stealing cash from land-based casinos, could we soon see scripts which have online casinos being robbed?

Indeed, it makes for a very engaging subject and has been touched upon before, with 2011’s Moneyball telling the true story of a man who tried to assemble a baseball team based on algorithms. The film was a Hollywood hit, scoring a 7.6 rating on IMDB and starring casino veteran Brad Pitt.

Computer hacking is nothing new in the movie stakes either – with films like The Matrix or 2013’s Her showing the true potential of computers, a new genre of online casino heists could be in the pipeline. With so much potential for today’s technology, there’s no telling what we could be seeing in the next 10 years.

Film Review: Where Eagles Dare

So a glance at the TV guide yesterday and I happened to notice it was on. And like an ‘aholic’ of some kind, I simply couldn’t help myself. The number of times I’ve watched this 1968 WWII classic over the years must be close to double figures now. But I was on my own so there was nobody around to roll their eyes and tell me in a slightly derogatory tone how sad I was being. Having said that, even if there had been someone around to point that out, it probably wouldn’t have made any difference. For honestly, I simply cannot help it. It’s a corker of movie – real ‘Boy’s Own’ stuff.

Sure it’s got its flaws, I know that but what movie hasn’t. If you wanted to point out its errors and inaccuracies you’d probably end up with a list as long as your arm but if you just want to be entertained, taken on an action-packed adventure that’s as spectacular to look at as it is intriguing to comprehend then it has everything: fabulous alpine scenery, an enthralling plot, an accompanying soundtrack that stirs and soars and a fine cast headed by two compelling leads – Richard Burton at his grim, authoritative best and Clint Eastwood, as laconic and relaxed as you’ll ever see him. Burton was already well on his way to legendhood (I know there’s no such word but perhaps there should be) at the time of filming and Eastwood was riding the wave of success following a fistful of hit westerns. It’s difficult now to imagine Eastwood playing second fiddle to anyone (post Rawhide) but here he seems quite happy to let Burton take command. And take command he does. His gruff acting stance and inherent screen presence is the backbone of the ensemble and there are one or two moments where he delivers his lines with that sublime baritone of his that’ll either remind you of warm honey or a serrated blade. Other fine performances from the cast come from Anton Diffring as Colonel Kramer, Derren Nesbitt as Major Von Happen, Michael Hordern as Vice Admiral Rolland and Patrick Wymark as Colonel Turner.

By 1968, (the year of this film’s UK release) Alistair MacLean had enjoyed significant success with a number of thrilling adventure novels and with The Guns of Navarone having been made into a box office hit in 1961, it was Burton who approached film producer Elliott Kastner for ideas who in turn persuaded MacLean to write something in a similar vein to Navarone with Burton in mind. It was MacLean’s first screenplay with a title taken from a line of Shakespeare’s Richard III (Act I, Scene III – “The world is grown so bad, that wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch”) and he wrote it in tandem with the novel. The screenplay differs slightly, the characters are less defined, less humorous and more brutal but only to give the cinema audience what they craved. Action, violence and bullets! (Indeed, in all of Eastwood’s films and all the ‘blowing away’ of bad guys he’s done over his long career, this is the film with his highest body count.)

Brian G. Hutton took on the task of directing and he was a man who, at that point in his career had spent more time in front of the camera than behind it. His only other notable work as director (and there are only a total of nine) is another Eastwood led film set during WWII – Kelly’s Heroes – which was made in 1970.

The pacing of Where Eagles Dare is brisk rather than rapid and at two and a half hours, it’s quite a long film (some would argue a tad too long) but Hutton builds the tension masterfully and spreads the action so that there never seems to be a dull moment. As I said earlier the high alpine scenery is just breathtaking and cinematographer Arthur Ibbetson, whose other credits include Whistle Down the Wind (1961) and The Railway Children (1970) captured this magnificently. Snow covered mountains and dense forests of fir have rarely looked more enticing.

Ron Goodwin who scored over 70 films during a fifty year career including Battle of Britain (1969) and 633 Squadron (1964) gives us arguably his most memorable one here. It’s a simple military-sounding theme with variations that run throughout the entire film and it’s made up of an orchestra of quivering strings, rolling drums and soaring brass. There’s no doubt it intensifies one’s enjoyment and adds mood to the scenes in a similar way to perhaps Bernard Hermann’s score to North by Northwest or Elmer Bernstein’s The Magnificent Seven. The music seems to lift us up to that high alpine village, to draw our eyes up to that mountaintop castle with its cable car and to worry our nerves like an ever-present threat of being captured or killed.

The film opens sometime during the winter of ’43-’44 and an elite group of British commandos led by Major John Smith (Burton) and one U.S. Army Ranger Lieutenant Morris Schaffer (Eastwood) are preparing to jump out of a plane over the Bavarian Alps. In a brief flashback we learn of their identities and their mission. To infiltrate a mountaintop castle, the Schloss Adler, and rescue a captured U.S. Army Brigadier General who holds crucial information about the Allied planned invasion of northern Europe – hopefully before the Germans have a chance to interrogate him. But even as the parachutists assemble from their scattered landing positions, knee deep in the thick snow, it becomes apparent that there’s a traitor amongst them. The group’s radio operator didn’t survive the jump and Smith quickly realises that it wasn’t the fall that killed him.

At this early stage there’s an overwhelming sense of mystery about the group as it becomes apparent that Smith isn’t telling the rest of them everything – for instance, he is the only one who’s aware that an MI6 agent Mary Elison (Mary Ure) accompanied them on the plane and jumped out soon after all the men did. He is also the only one aware of another MI6 agent named Heidi (Ingrid Pitt) operating in deep-cover as a barmaid in the village close by the castle. Both women have crucial roles to play in the mission.

And so the scene is set. A rescue mission by British commandos on a mountaintop castle accessible only via a cable car with the aim to prevent the plans of D-Day becoming known to the enemy. But with MI6 involved, agents and double agents, is the mission all it seems?

For a brief moment I was reminded of another film I reviewed recently – I Was Monty’s Double – but I won’t say why just in case you’ve not had the pleasure yet. I’ll let you figure that out for yourselves if and when. And I strongly recommend when.

For me, there’s much to like about this Alistair MacLean written yarn, hence why I’ve seen it as many times as I have. And it’s clear I’m not the only one. There’s an unofficial website for the film on which I’ve just read this little snippet of info – Steven Spielberg admitted in a Channel 4 survey of the top 100 war films that this is his favourite. The film also has its own Facebook page with over 55,000 likes. Not that any of this makes a difference, of course for it’s all down to what we as individuals like. And I for one like and will continue to like (and most likely watch) Where Eagles Dare.

Great Expectations: The Cost of Misunderstanding the NHS

The NHS has a big problem. I’m not talking about questionable financial management, the dangers of excessive entanglement with the private sector, or even superbugs on the wards. The biggest problem I see in the NHS today is a chronic lack of understanding on the part of the public. The very group of people it was set up to assist is contributing to its downfall.

Sitting in a waiting-room in a hospital department recently, I couldn’t help but overhear some of the comments made by other patients. One gentleman, perusing the reading material set out by the water cooler, complained that the magazines available were old issues. Another voiced the opinion that the department’s nurses didn’t ‘look professional enough’. Yet another, upon hearing that she would be seen by a locum doctor as her usual clinician had been called away on an emergency, demanded to know why she should bother turning up for her appointment if her doctor didn’t.

Expensive uniforms. Robotic medical professionals. Magazine subscriptions. Such are the expectations of a service set up first and foremost to provide decent and affordable healthcare for all who need it. Of what possible relevance would the latest issue of Heat be to your health? How could the last-minute substitution of one doctor for another equally well-qualified one be less convenient than having your appointment cancelled? And why on earth would you think that spitefully missing your appointment would be hurting anyone but yourself?

It’s on this last point that I would like to concentrate – because, actually, you aren’t only hurting yourself. Each missed appointment has a knock-on effect on patients, doctors, and hospital services. Allow me to take you through the process.

Imagine you have an ongoing health problem of some kind. Let’s say it’s a skin condition. It flares up like eczema, but the usual creams and ointments don’t seem to have any effect. You’re scratching your elbows down to the bone and climbing the walls in frustration, so your GP refers you to Dermatology. You are sent an appointment letter from your chosen hospital, asking you to attend on a certain date.

At this point, the following people are already involved in your care:

Your GP, who referred you
A Consultant Dermatologist, who checked over your referral letter to assess whether you had been referred to the correct department
A secretary, who scheduled your appointment, created the letter and sent it to you

These people are paid to work in the NHS. The NHS is paid for through taxes. Taxes are paid by you.

Let’s continue.

So now the wheels have been set in motion. You have your appointment date, but – glory be! – your inflamed skin has miraculously cleared, and you see no need to attend your appointment. Fair enough. It’s your health, it’s your decision. At this point, according to the information detailed in your hospital appointment letter, you contact the Dermatology department to let them know that you no longer need the appointment. They now have an empty slot in that day’s schedule, which they fill by offering it to another patient who needs it, which helps to cut down their waiting-list.

Only… you don’t contact Dermatology. It’s only the NHS, after all – it isn’t like a private medical clinic, or even the dentist, who would charge you if you didn’t give at least twenty-four hours’ notice of cancellation. The NHS doesn’t charge anyone, because it doesn’t actually cost anything.

Before we debate the ridiculousness of that viewpoint, let’s return to our scenario.

We now have two conflicting realities: one, in which you have decided you won’t be attending your appointment, but haven’t let the hospital know this; and two, in which the hospital has arranged for a highly-trained specialist in skin complaints to review you and offer their expert medical opinion in order to help you.

The day of your appointment arrives. Over in the Dermatology department, the receptionist has created a file for you in anticipation of it being filled with notes about your condition. Down the hall, a trained medical professional is waiting in his (or her) office to help you, not knowing that you won’t be turning up. He can’t just call in the next patient, because perhaps you’re running a few minutes late. Perhaps he could use the time to answer some of the many written queries that arrive from GPs and patients every day, but again, he can’t really get stuck into anything, because you might be about to walk through that door.

Any minute, now.

Had you attended your appointment as planned, the clinician would have then dictated a letter to your GP, which would then be typed by the departmental secretary and sent out. Your lack of attendance doesn’t mean that this doesn’t happen. The clinician still dictates a letter to let your GP know that you didn’t attend, and the secretary still types it and sends it. This is part of what is called continuity of care. Communication keeps everyone informed.

Let’s just remind ourselves how many people are currently involved because you asked for help:

Your GP
One secretary
One receptionist
One Consultant Dermatologist

And now for some very rough numbers (because I’m no statistician) – please take the following as averages:

A GP earns around £100,000pa (call it £50/hr) – 15 minutes spent seeing a patient and making the referral therefore costs around £12.50
An NHS secretary earns £23,500pa (call it £12/hr) – 20 minutes spent typing a couple of letters, scheduling an appointment, and printing and sending said letters costs £4 (not counting the cost of stationery and postage)
An NHS receptionist earns £16,500pa (call it £8.50/hr) – 10 minutes making up a file costs around £1.50
A consultant earns around £100,000pa – the initial consultation (or, in our scenario, the vacant slot intended for it), plus time to dictate a letter and make any necessary onward referrals within the hospital network, takes about one hour (often longer, in fact) of their time, at a cost of £50.

That’s £68 wasted, according to this rather conservative estimate of time and money spent. That doesn’t include all those little extras like postage, stationery, electricity. I guess if we wanted to include those we could round this figure up to £70. So that’s £70 of public money – your money – down the tubes every single time a patient does not attend an appointment and doesn’t let the hospital know. Taking into account NHS England’s recent estimate that 6.9 million hospital appointments are missed every year in the UK, that’s a sizeable chunk of public money gone for no good reason.

If we, the public, thought of the NHS as a “real” business, rather than a fantasy world where doctors and nurses toil merrily all day and night for free just for the warm fuzzy feeling of knowing that they’re doing good, we’d more easily be able to compare costs and make the right decision – to spend a few minutes and less than 50p cancelling an appointment by phone, or to waste £70 and a good couple of man-hours by not doing so. It’s a financial no-brainer.

And yet the status quo persists, the NHS continues to haemorrhage money, and many people continue to complain about the services. But is it any wonder some of the waiting-lists are so long if patients habitually miss their appointments and fail to give any notice that a slot has become available? And is it any wonder that so many departments are grossly overspending, given the amount of money wasted on empty appointment slots, rescheduling, and extra letters?

I think so many people miss their appointments because they take the NHS for granted. They see it as a free service that they can take or leave. The money that funds it is taken out of our wages straight off – we never see that money so we don’t see it as a loss when it’s inefficiently spent. It isn’t perceived as being the same as missing a private appointment, where you’re charged for it if you don’t cancel in time and the money comes straight from your own pocket. But it is, in a very real, if less direct, sense, money taken out of your pocket and tipped down the drain. And in the case of missed appointments, it’s a very preventable waste of money.

We take the NHS for granted because we don’t think about how it works. We don’t understand it and we only talk about it when it disappoints us. We make demands of it as if it has limitless funds; we complain about the money being wasted, yet we refuse to acknowledge our part in that wastage. This is our own money we’re throwing away! These doctors and admin staff are here to help you, but they can’t help you if you don’t turn up and they certainly don’t deserve your vitriol when the service you receive is inevitably less than perfect. We need to meet the NHS halfway for it to work efficiently and cost-effectively. We have a responsibility for our own health and a responsibility for our public services. It’s time for each and every one of us to recognise our part in it.

Film Review: The Quiller Memorandum

The spy film genre has been thrilling cinema audiences for over a century now and with certain franchises still flourishing, it’s likely to continue to do so for a while yet. Way before “Bond, James Bond” saved us from SPECTRE’s first attempt at world domination and even before the “talkies” allowed fans to hear their favourite actors’ voices, tales of espionage and government agents captured our collective imagination.

Like most (perhaps all) film genres, this one has its roots in literary works of fiction and these date back to a time shortly before the First World War when writers such a G.T. Chesney and William Le Queux imagined French or Russian invaders attacking Britain. As the fortunes of Europe’s major powers began to shift and colonial rivalries grew, new alliances were formed as new threats loomed and soon Germany became the number one foe in these literary tales.

Films like Peril of the Fleet (1909) and Lieutenant Rose and the Stolen Code (1911) tell of foreign attempts to attack the British Navy, the country’s single greatest defence against invasion. It’s interesting to note that in all these films leading up to the outbreak of WWI, the foreign spies are never given a country of origin because the films’ distributors were reluctant to close the door on a large cinema-going market. But once war had been declared, the enemy was named.

The genre grew even more popular during the 1930s when tensions once again began to rise in Europe and directors such as Alfred Hitchcock had many a hit with titles such as The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), The 39 Steps (1935) and Secret Agent (1936).

For many, the popularity of spy films peaked in the 1960s when the Cold War had pushed the bar of tension between east and west to its greatest height. This is where the action-packed adventure movie carved out a niche for itself and began to break box office records. Fantastical and ludicrous the plots may have been but in terms of entertainment, they were dynamite.

But there were also less stylised – but no less stylish – films being made, grittier, more realistic and equally suspenseful. Films like The Ipcress File (1965) and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965) both adapted from gritty spy novels (Len Deighton and John le Carré respectively) were low on action but high on procedure and intrigue.

And so we come to The Quiller Memorandum from 1966 starring George Segal, Alec Guinness and Max von Sydow. A fine example of a grittier type of spy film this time set in West Berlin during the Cold War.

Quiller played by Segal is sent to Berlin by SIS (Secret Intelligence Service) to investigate the murders of two British agents by a mysterious neo-Nazi organisation. His controller there Pol (Guinness) warns him that a new generation of Nazis has emerged who are difficult to spot because they no longer wear uniforms. He orders Quiller to locate the organisation’s headquarters. With his only clues being three items found in the murdered British agent’s pockets, Quiller – clearly resourceful and laconic – sets out to do just that.

There is much shaking off of people following him and questioning people who may or may not have known the murdered agents – all simple investigative procedures – and yet the ever present threat in the perfectly photographed city (it was shot in Berlin) looms like an approaching storm. You feel as though Quiller’s every move is being watched by those he’s trying to investigate. The pacing is excellent and the tension builds nicely. And my God – it’s all so cool. Typical 60s cool but so subtly captured. The cars. The clothing. And John Barry’s superb soundtrack – surely nobody at this time was composing cooler film music.

Soon Quiller is captured by the neo-Nazi organisation and “persuaded” by means of a truth serum to tell their leader Oktober (von Sydow) the location of SIS HQ so that the bad guys can annihilate the good. Quiller may not be a musclebound tough guy but he’s nonetheless a tough nut to crack and he just about manages to deflect Oktober’s questioning so that Oktober, fed up with having his time wasted, orders him to be killed. But of course, he escapes his would be assassins and….no, that’s all I’ll say. Because it really is worth a look if you’re a fan of thoughtful spy dramas.

It was directed by Michael Anderson whose credits include The Dam Busters (1955) and Around the World in 80 Days (1956) and adapted by Harold Pinter from the 1965 novel The Berlin Memorandum by Elleston Trevor (under the pseudonym Adam Hall). It was nominated for three BAFTAs while Pinter was nominated for an Edgar Award but it failed to gain a win. But that really doesn’t matter.

My only complaint, if I could call it that? How the hell is it that I’d never seen it before last week! I’m amazed that such a classy spy flick had escaped my radar all these years. George Segal is perfectly cast as the quietly confident American who ends up with more trouble than he hoped as is Alec Guinness’s rigidly unemotional Pol, (he of course would eventually go on to play another spymaster character, George Smiley). Max von Sydow is suitably menacing as are his henchmen and Senta Berger (the love interest, of course) is wonderfully enigmatic and oh so alluring.

A very nice and sadly underrated film that is quite likely closer to how it really was than the majority of spy films ever made.