NightHawk

No - neither had I until a friend of mine became a sufferer.

Polymyalgia Rheumatica or PMR is a rheumatic condition which attacks twice as many females as males aged 55 and over. The average age of onset is round about 70 years. It affects 1 in 2000 people. It can start slowly with flu like symptoms and it can start so suddenly that one morning you find you cannot get out of bed because you are so stiff and sore.

Giant Cell Arteritis, GCA or Temporal Arteritis affects the same group of people as PMR. You can have it without PMR but they often go together. GCA is characterised by severe headache, inflammation of the temporal arteries, pain in the muscles of the head and sometimes jaw stiffness

I am pleased to be able to give some publicity to this local support group (to which my friend belongs) whose web site contains useful information and contacts. Maybe someone you know will find it helpful.

Posted by Roger Darlington at 03:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

On 18 February, veteran Cuban leader Fidel Castro announced his formal transfer of power to his brother Raul. On 6 March, I started a 10 day visit to Cuba [my account here].

On our trip, we could not fail to record a deep yearning for change and a strong expectation that such change was coming, although nobody knew when and how. The first sign is the announcement that Cubans can now subscribe to a mobile phone service - although at present only in convertible pesos which are worth 24 times the standard peso in which Cubans are paid [more information here].

Posted by Roger Darlington at 01:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There is an interesting think piece here about how we determine the appropriateness of a particular life span.

My wife lost her brother when he was 21, her father when he was 42, and her mother when she was 63. When people complain about growing older, she rightly points out that those who reach maturer years are the fortunate ones.

Posted by Roger Darlington at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

In my capacity as Chairman of the London Region of Postwatch, I've attended no less than four meetings today to discuss the proposals to close 169 post offices in the capital:

1. I was at the House of Commons for an hour to meet a Member of Parliament to talk about two proposed closures in his constituency.
2. I was at Postwatch Headquarters for an hour to review the London programme with our London Regional Manager.
3. I was at the Oversight & Scrutiny Committee of Haringey Council for over two hours to given evidence on six proposed closures in the Borough,
4. I was at a public meeting in Kensington & Chelsea to speak on the proposal to close two offices in that Borough. This last meeting was the most exciting. There were around 250 people filling a hall and the speakers included former Conservative Cabinet Minister and local MP Malcolm Rifkin and former Labour Cabinet Minister and local resident Tony Benn.

Posted by Roger Darlington at 09:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In between attending my son's wedding in South Wales, reading papers for the New National Consumer Council Board meeting, and trying to reduce further all the outstanding e-mails, I used some of this cold Easter weekend to write up an account of our time in Havana as part of my web page on our recent trip to Cuba. You can check it out here

Posted by Roger Darlington at 08:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

It's Easter Monday and, here in London, it's snowing - crazy!

Posted by Roger Darlington at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

This Easter weekend was very special for the family because our son Richard married his partner Emily after some five years together. The wedding took place at the Cwrt Bleddyn Hotel ('cwrt' means court and 'Bleddyn' was a Welsh prince) in South Wales.

It was a wonderful occasion with 122 guests from as far away as Montreal (where Emily was brought up), Vancouver, New York and Los Angeles. Richard entered the room to the main theme from "Gladiator", Emily appeared accompanied by the Princess Leia theme from "Star Wars", and at the end the two of them left the room to the triumphal march from the conclusion of "Star Wars".

Fortunately the rain held off but the weather was literally freezing and at one point there was even a flurry of snow. However, this did not stop photographs being taken in the hotel grounds. Terrific speeches were made by Emily's father David, Richard, Emily and best man Doug respectively - a total of 43 hilarious minutes (there was a sweepstake). The dancing was started by Richard and Emily who had trained to accompany the James Bond theme tune "Nobody does it better". Later there was even a fireworks display.

Truly it was a fabulous occasion.

Emily and Richard sign the wedding register

Roger and Vee - the proud parents

Posted by Roger Darlington at 10:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Most of our Western festivals are simple to predict. They either occur on the same date each year or at a fixed position such as "the first Sunday". Easter on the other hand is what is called a moveable feast. As such the date changes every year and Easter Sunday can fall on any date from 22 March to 25 April.

Why? The reason for this variation in the date of Easter is its origins in pagan festivals. The date is actually based on the lunar calendar rather than our more well-known solar one. The official definition of Western Easter is that it takes place on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox.

So this year it is today: 23 March. But next year it will 12 April.

Who decided this system? It's complicated but it was probably the Council of Nicaea in AD 325 - see explanation here. There have been some attempts to change the date of Easter away from the old pagan-inspired lunar calendar, but these have met with little support.

In 1928 the British parliament even got around to passing an Easter Act, which declared that the holiday should come on the first Sunday after the second Saturday in April. It went on to say that the new rule would not come into force against the opinion of "any church or other Christian body", which is why, 80 years later, Easter has fallen on a cold, snowy weekend in late March. It will not be so early again until 2160.

Posted by Roger Darlington at 09:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Since I arrived back from our holiday in Cuba on Monday [some preliminary notes here], I've had a furiously busy week with events morning, afternoon and evening every day.

The three evening events have all been public meetings on post office closures which I have had to address as the Chairman of the Greater London Region of Postwatch. The meetings were held in a social club in Redbridge, a council office in Hammersmith and a Pentecostal church in Battersea respectively. All of them were fraught and emotional occasions.

I'm off with Vee now to spend the weekend in South Wales. Our son Richard is getting married to his partner Emily tomorrow in a hotel just north of Newport. It promises to be another emotional, but much happier, occasion.

Posted by Roger Darlington at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

You can listen here to Barack Obama's major speech on race:

Posted by Roger Darlington at 10:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm just back from a 10 day holiday in Cuba so now I can resume blogging on NightHawk. The trip was absolutely fascinating and of course I'll be writing a full narrative for the travel section of my web site. First though:

a) I have to get over the jet lag
b) I have to look through over 1,000 e-mails
c) I have to do public meetings every night this week on the post office closure programme
d) I am attending my son's wedding in South Wales on Easter Saturday

I'll build up the Cuba account section by section and you'll be able to follow it here.

Posted by Roger Darlington at 05:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm about to go off for a holiday to Cuba so I won't be blogging on NightHawk for a while.

While I'm a way, please take the opportunity to browse some of the 120 sections of my web site.

Posted by Roger Darlington at 02:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

There has never been a more exciting US primary race in my lifetime.

You have to give Hillary Clinton credit - she's a fighter and she keeps coming back. But Barack Obama - whom I support - still has a clear lead in the delegate count.

You can check out exactly who won which states and the current delegate counts here.

Posted by Roger Darlington at 07:52 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

This is the title of a new book by Charles Leadbeater.

There's a clip on YouTube which illustrates the main themes of the book:

Posted by Roger Darlington at 07:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

In the race to secure the Democratic nomination for the presidency, tomorrow is what some call Super Tuesday 2. It's not as big as the real Super Tuesday - which was 5 February when some 22 states voted in Democratic primaries or caucuses - but four states, two of them huge, do go to the polls tomorrow and, given the closeness of the Obama/Clinton contest, the results could be decisive. Indeed I suspect that we could see real tears from Hillary.

The two big states are Texas with 228 delegates and Ohio with 161, while the two smaller ones are Rhode Island with 32 delegates and Vermont with 23.

Now the system for choosing presidential candidates is complicated and I've attempted an overview here. Texas is even more complicated than the typical state.

While most states allocate delegates to the Democratic convention in August proportionally based on the popular vote, and some hold caucuses where supporters must openly declare their support for a candidate, Texas does both. The Lone Star state selects its 228 Democratic delegates using a two-thirds, one-third combination of voting and caucus.

Those who have voted - and voting started weeks ago - using a ballot can return when the polls close tomorrow to caucus, traditionally one of the Obama campaign's strengths. For this reason, the Clinton campaign has been handing out flyers at its Texas rallies telling supporters: "Don't forget to vote twice."

Additionally, delegates are apportioned according to turnout in the two previous elections, votes in which African-American and urban turnout was significantly higher than that in Latino areas. So, a congressional district in a Latino border area which had a low turnout in 2004 and 2006 might offer just three delegates, while an urban, heavily African-American district such as Houston could offer as many as eight delegates.

Posted by Roger Darlington at 06:45 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I've just finished reading a huge work which in effect is the autobiography of Fidel Castro who has just stepped down as president of Cuba after an incredible 49 years. You can read my review here.

Posted by Roger Darlington at 08:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As the Russians go to the polls to 'vote' for their next President, we all know the result.

You might like to take this opportunity to read my "Short Guide To The Russian Political System".

For a real election, wait no longer than Tuesday for Texas and Ohio ...

Posted by Roger Darlington at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Since it's Sunday, let's have a posting with a religious them.

Check out the site of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Posted by Roger Darlington at 07:05 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

A third of the food we buy in the UK ends up being thrown away. This is a waste of money and a contributor to climate change. For ways to reduce your food waste, visit this site.

Posted by Roger Darlington at 09:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)