Archive for the ‘American current affairs’ Category


Three quotes from three US presidents

February 13th, 2024 by Roger Darlington

“Ich bin ein Berliner.” — President John F. Kennedy, June 26, 1963 “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” — President Ronald Reagan, June 12, 1987 “I would encourage [the Russians] to do whatever the hell they want.” — Donald Trump, February 10, 2024

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Trump could be back in the White House

November 22nd, 2023 by Roger Darlington

“Public opinion polls in the United States are the stuff of nightmares. The website RealClearPolitics aggregates all the major polls. The eight most recent polls regarding the 2024 elections — from respected pollsters including NBC News, the Economist, Reuters and others — all show the same thing. Trump defeats Biden. In one of those polls, […]

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America is not the greatest country in the world

May 25th, 2022 by Roger Darlington

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Let us hail Madeline Albright, the first female US Secretary of State

March 24th, 2022 by Roger Darlington

I was saddened to hear of the death of Madeleine Albright at the aged of 84 following her diagnosis of cancer. She was an outstanding public figure in American politics and the first woman to hold the post of Secretary of State (in European terms, Foreign Minister) in the Clinton administration. You can read an […]

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Joe Biden has now served a year as US President, so how’s it going?

January 20th, 2022 by Roger Darlington

I’m massively interested in American politics and regularly attend relevant courses and lectures – currently online – provided by London’s City Literary Institute and delivered by the college principal Mark Malcolmson. Today marks the first anniversary of Joe Biden’s tenure as U S President and this evening’s lecture reviewed the events of the last year […]

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In American politics, what is the filibuster and why does it need to change?

January 11th, 2022 by Roger Darlington

Historically, activity in the Senate has tended to be less partisan and more individualistic than in the House of Representatives with a degree of cross-party co-operation called working “across the aisle”. But this situation has changed dramatically in recent decades with most voting now strictly on party lines. Senate rules permit what is called a […]

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The grim record of covid deaths in the United States

December 15th, 2021 by Roger Darlington

The US death toll from Covid-19 has passed 800,000, a once-unimaginable figure seen as doubly tragic given that more than 200,000 of those lives were lost after vaccines became available last spring. The figure represents the highest reported toll of any country in the world and is likely to be even higher. The US accounts […]

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What does it take to stop a US President going rogue?

September 16th, 2021 by Roger Darlington

So now we learn that the United States Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had to reassure the Chinese that America was not about to launch a pre-emptive attack on them. This is an astonishing story to emerge about the last days of the presidency of Donald Trump. It reminds me a a novel […]

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How diverse is the United States now?

August 13th, 2021 by Roger Darlington

America’s white population has declined for the first time, while US metro areas were responsible for almost all of the country’s population growth, according to groundbreaking data released on Thursday by the US Census Bureau. The rapid diversifying of the US was among the most notable findings of the census. Nationwide, the number of people who identified as white […]

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Who is the most powerful man in the United States?

April 17th, 2021 by Roger Darlington

This is not a trick question, but a serious one. Let’s start with the answer: Joe Manchin, Democratic senator for West Virginia. You could have been forgiven for thinking that the answer to the question is President Joe Biden. But Biden can achieve nothing substantial without getting legislation through Congress. That requires a majority in […]

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