Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category


And … we’re back

January 21st, 2024 by Roger Darlington

Sorry we’ve been offline for a few weeks, but the tech problems now seem to be sorted.

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A review of the new film “Triangle Of Sadness”

November 5th, 2022 by Roger Darlington

The title is obscure if not downright confusing. It is a term referring to the area above the nose and between the eyebrows which is most prone to wrinkles. The title starts to make sense when the term is used very early in the story and becomes more relevant when it becomes apparent that the […]

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A review of the 1931 classic German film “M”

September 30th, 2022 by Roger Darlington

German cinema in the 1930s gave the world some striking and innovative work and this thriller directed by Austria-born Fritz Lang is one of those classics. It is notable both for the unusual subject matter and the humanistic approach to that subject and for the original use of sound in its storytelling. Loosely inspired by […]

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Holiday in Central Asia (18):  Shakhrisabz in Uzbekistan 

September 19th, 2022 by Roger Darlington

Today (Day 17) was technically a day at leisure but, although I had been there in 2006,  I had previously signed up for an optional excursion to Shakhrisabz for an extra £50.  In fact, but one of the group decided to make the trip (the odd one out had been before) and we made the […]

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Holiday in Central Asia (11): Bishkek to Osh to Fergana 

September 12th, 2022 by Roger Darlington

It was Day 10 and we are one third into our tour. In Bishkek, we were up at 4 am and out at 5 am for an early morning flight to Osh in the very west of Kyrgyzstan. On the minibus to the airport, it sounded as if another challenge was on the horizon when […]

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Holiday in Central Asia (7): travel to Lake Issyk-Kol in Kyrgyzstan

September 8th, 2022 by Roger Darlington

Now in another country: Kyrgyzstan is a thinly-populated nation bisected by mountain ranges and the north-south divide has always bedevilled the country’s politics. Since independence, there have been three revolutions (2005, 2010, 2020) and six presidents. The Kyrgyz language has two dialects, one in the north influenced by Russian and the other to the south […]

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Day three in the Balkans

May 13th, 2022 by Roger Darlington

Day three was in Albania where we had a local guide called Kledi who explained some of the dramatic recent changes in his country. Under the dictatorial rule of Envo Hoxha from 1944-1985, Albania was the most closed and poorest countries In Europe. Following the collapse of communism in 1991, great efforts are being made […]

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A review of the new movie “Don’t Look Up”

January 3rd, 2022 by Roger Darlington

Director Adam McKay is responsible for some fine films, notably “The Big Short” which dissected the sub-prime housing crisis in the US and “Vice” which shone a bright light on the administration of the second Bush president. Here he presents a hugely ambitious and often sharp satire of the current failure of so much of […]

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26 people to watch in 2022

January 2nd, 2022 by Roger Darlington

The “Observer” newspaper has done us a favour in highlighting 26 people who will play an important part in shaping the next year ranging from UK politics to world politics and from media to sports. Check out the piece here.

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My last three movies – so utterly different

November 16th, 2021 by Roger Darlington

Readers of this blog will know my love for films and my wide-ranging tastes, but the last week was something special. I went to the cinema three times and saw three films that could hardly have been more different from one another: The Japanese black and white classic “Throne Of Blood” – my review here […]

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