Archive for the ‘British current affairs’ Category
10 reasons why the UK should remain a member of the European Union
April 30th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
One of my Members of the European Parliament Seb Dance has put together an informative but succinct case on why we should vote ‘Yes” in the referendum on 23 June. You can check out his 10 reasons here.
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The shame of modern Britain – in one of the richest countries on the planet …
April 27th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
… over a million live in destitution, as explained in this piece from today’s “Guardian newspaper”: “More than a million people in the UK are so poor they cannot afford to eat properly, keep clean or stay warm and dry, according to a groundbreaking attempt to measure the scale of destitution in Britain. A study […]
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The wonder of Palmyra – revisited
April 22nd, 2016 by Roger Darlington
This week, a monumental recreation of the Arch of Triumph in Palmyra, Syria, which was destroyed by ISIS, has been unveiled in London’s Trafalgar Square. The 1,800-year-old arch was destroyed by Islamic State militants last October and the 6-metre (20ft) model, made in Italy from Egyptian marble, is intended as an act of defiance: to […]
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Fact checking the Government’s statements on the European Union
April 16th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
I’m very much in favour of British membership of the European Union and I’ll be voting in the referendum for us to stay in the EU. But I think it’s good that 38 Degrees has organised for the statements in the Government’s booklet to all homes to be fact-checked independently. This is the result: The […]
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These days, at almost every event I attend, there is some reference to Brexit
March 16th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
On 23 June 2016, there will be a referendum in the UK to determine whether the nation should remain a member of the European Union or whether we should leave (so-called Brexit). This is a huge issue for the future of the country and understandably it comes up at almost every meeting I attend. Yesterday […]
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When will we have a balanced assessment of the premiership of Tony Blair?
March 13th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
“Broken Vows: Tony Blair – The Tragedy of Power” by Tom Bower is a newly-published hatchet job on Blair’s record in office that has rightly been criticised by many reviewers. The political editor of the “Observer”, Andrew Rawnsley, opens his review of the book by pointing out: “History, so it is often said, is written by the […]
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Did Conservative candidates cheat on election expenses to enable return of a Tory Government?
March 1st, 2016 by Roger Darlington
“Two dozen Tory MPs failed to declare thousands of pounds spent on their winning election campaigns in marginal seats, a ‘Mirror’ [newspaper] investigation has found. None of the 24 Conservative candidates whose constituencies were visited by the controversial RoadTrip battlebuses included the cost within their election budget locally. And 20 of them could have breached […]
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How the 7% privately-educated elite continue to dominate the UK professions
February 24th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
The Sutton Trust report “Leading People 2016″ shows very clearly that the UK’s top professions remain disproportionately populated by alumni of private schools and Oxbridge, despite these educating only a small minority of the population (estimates suggest about 7% attended private schools, less than 1% Oxbridge): In the military, nearly three quarters (71%) of the top […]
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Back from Kenya to find Britain divided by Europe
February 23rd, 2016 by Roger Darlington
At 5 am this morning, I landed at London’s Heathrow Airport after a near nine hour overnight flight from Nairobi. It was wonderful to spend almost a week with my son Richard, his wife Emily, and their daughter Catrin (now just five). It was Catrin’s half term and we able to spend a lot of […]
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Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership: it wasn’t supposed to be like this
January 24th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
When Jeremy Corbyn was elected overwhelmingly as the new leader of the Labour Party, his supporters told us that people would flock to join the Party (which they have) and voters would get behind a radical new Labour (which they haven’t). Already, as this “Observer” article explains, Corbyn’s supporters are offering excuses for why Labour […]
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