No to swimming

 Rupert didn't want to go swimming today. This was a little odd as he usually loves it. He got in and started crying straight away. I had a feeling before we even set off that this would happen as he didn't eat his breakfast either. We decided straight away to take him home. I think this was the right decision as I personally think forcing a child to do something when they don't want to (within reason) is a bad course of action. Anyway, we went home and he was a little off all day, not ill, just a bit off or maybe tired. I'm glad we didn't force him. Obviously I think differently over school as that is something they must do whether they like it or not and it is the teacher's responsibility to make school as fun as it can be. 

Ben Stokes' new England brand of play- basically being overly aggressive- has taken a hit. India finished on about 410 all out. Jasprit Bumrah of all people took Stuart Broad for 35 off one over- a new test record. England in response, facing a much better attack than the New Zealand one that they took apart last month, languished on 89-5. In my opinion, you can't always play test cricket by trying to blast your way out of trouble. There are far too many variables for that to play out every time. The variable here being a decent attack which they were facing. Joe Root, people forget this, when he took over as England captain, tried to play in a similar way. However, it fell by the wayside as countless players got out in moronic ways. So they paid too much attention to the media and turned full circle and went too defensive and couldn't get the ball off the square. Then they lost their identity completely and were a shell of a side. I hope that doesn't happen to Stokes but I| hate to say it, but it will.