Archive for the ‘British current affairs’ Category
Why do so many migrants wish to reach Britain?
October 9th, 2022 by Roger Darlington
As I regularly do, I spent the day in Milton Keynes entertaining my two granddaughters. Now the local taxi company that I use in the city is staffed by drivers who normally hail from Pakistan. But not today. This time my driver was from Afghanistan. There are many ethnic groups in Afghanistan and I was […]
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We don’t just need a new Prime Minister or even a new Government. We need a new constitutional settlement.
July 13th, 2022 by Roger Darlington
The Conservative Party is in the process of electing a new leader who will become Britain’s new Prime Minister. The outcome will result in a new personality and perhaps a new style of governance but fundamentally it will be the same set of policies. This is why people like me – a life-long member of […]
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When will Britain have a new Prime Minister? It might be sooner than you think.
July 11th, 2022 by Roger Darlington
The new Prime Minister will, of course, be the person who wins the election for the new leader of the Conservative Party. We probably know the list of candidates and we now know the rules of the election. There are no less than 11 declared candidates, all you might expect (and more) except Ben Wallace […]
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So when will Boris Johnson actually leave 10 Downing Street?
February 10th, 2022 by Roger Darlington
For months now, almost every day has seen a new scandal associated with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Government. Surely his time is up? Last weekend, I had a friendly bet with a good friend. My friend said that Johnson would be gone by Wednesday, but I thought that he wouldn’t. So it’s […]
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If a substantial sum of money unexpectedly appeared in your bank account, what would you do?
December 4th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
This is what happened in August 2020 to Helen Peters [not her real name] when she found that Her Majesty’s Revenues & Customs (HMRC) deposited in her bank account the sum of £774,839.39. She decided to wait and see what would happen but found herself spending almost £20,000 before contacting a newspaper to ask what […]
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A review of “Beyond A Fringe”, the memoir of Conservative politician Andrew Mitchell
November 21st, 2021 by Roger Darlington
In 1971, for the first time I read a memoir by a Conservative politician: “The Art Of The Possible” by Rab Butler. As a lifelong member of the Labour Party, it has taken me exactly 50 years to repeat this experience. My ‘excuse’ is that my son – who works in the international development sector […]
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What are the most popular baby names in Britain?
November 4th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
Of course, names change in popularity. According to the data compiled annually by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) and published each September, the most popular names for children born in England & Wales during 2020 were as follows: Position Boys Girls 1 Oliver Olivia 2 George Amelia 3 Arthur Isla 4 Noah Ava 5 […]
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The growing death toll from covid in the UK
October 7th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
It troubles me that the announcement each day of the previous day’s deaths from Covid-19 disguises the size of the cumulative figure. The number of deaths within 28 days of a positive covid test now totals 137,417. The number of deaths with covid 19 mentioned on the death certificate now totals 160,824. These figures compare […]
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Word of the day: hecatomb
October 4th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
Say what you like about British Prime Minister Boris Johnson – and I’ve said a lot that is not complimentary – but his Oxford University education has given him an impressive vocabulary. In an interview this week about shortages in the British marketplace, he commented: “If I may say so, the great hecatomb of pigs […]
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The local elections: definitely bad news for Labour – but maybe not that bad and certainly far from unique
May 10th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
As a lifelong member of the Labour Party, naturally I am extremely disappointed by the results of the elections held on Thursday. But I’m not despondent. The most dramatic result was the loss of a Parliamentary by-election in Hartlepool. This certainly underlines a loss of support in the north-east, but Hartlepool is a bit special. […]
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