Archive for the ‘British current affairs’ Category
Let me assure my American readers: I have no problem at all visiting Birmingham (UK)
January 13th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
“There are actual cities like Birmingham that are totally Muslim where non-Muslims just simply don’t go in,” This was the absurd comment made at the weekend on Fox News by the so-called terrorism expert Steve Emerson who amazingly has advised all sorts of Congressional committees. Birmingham is not totally Muslim; some 22% identify themselves as Muslim. […]
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The love that lasted 65 years before they died only days apart
January 9th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
It’s a story that sounds too romantic and tragic to be true. The wife of a World War Two veteran who left his nursing home to go to France for D-Day commemorations has died just days after her husband. Bernard Jordan sparked a police search when he left the care home in Hove to join […]
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It’s Fatcat Tuesday – and that’s nothing to purr about
January 6th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
By the end of today, Britain’s top bosses will have made more money in 2015 than the average UK worker earns in an entire year, according to calculations by the High Pay Centre think-tank. The calculations show that earnings for company executives returning to work this Monday will pass the UK average salary of £27,200 […]
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There is more to the record of Tony Blair than Iraq
January 4th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
“He was Labour’s most electorally successful leader and by a long way. He took a party that had lost four elections in a row and turned it into a winning machine that secured three consecutive terms. He is one of only two people to have achieved triple back-to-back election victories since the introduction of universal […]
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British general election (3): has the government really halved the deficit?
January 3rd, 2015 by Roger Darlington
The election campaign has begun and already a controversial claim has been made by the Conservative Party. The first Conservative election poster, due to be on billboards around the country, has slogans superimposed over a long straight road running through countryside, which is blended into a union flag. It lists the party’s achievements as being […]
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British general election (2): 2015 will be a tough year for election candidates, party workers, and the voters themselves
December 31st, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Many election candidates have been working away for a couple of years already, but the General Election campaign proper will begin in the New Year and, since we know the exact date of the election rather than having to wait for the election to be ‘called’, it’s going to be an exceptionally long campaign of […]
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British general election (1): the most uncertain election in living memory
December 28th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
OK, Christmas is now over. Let the General Election campaign begin. For the first time ever, we’ve known the exact election day almost five years in advance, thanks to the introduction of fixed term parliaments. So effectively we now have ‘a long campaign’ of four months or so until polling day on 7 May 2015. […]
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It’s way time for corporations to pay their fair share of tax
December 14th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
In an article in today’s “Observer” newspaper, Will Hutton puts the case very clearly and concisely: “If companies in Britain paid, proportionally, as much tax as they did in the last year of Mrs Thatcher’s prime ministership, the country would be £30bn better off. There would still be a deficit, but the fiscal situation would […]
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What is the most popular boys’ (and girls’) name for new babies in Britain?
December 2nd, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Sections of the British media have been excited about this question over the last few days. Various Right-wing newspapers have asserted that the most popular name is Mohammed and variants of it and implied that Britain is somehow being taken over by Muslims. More liberal sections of the media have reacted in ways which arguably […]
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South East Water becomes first company in sector to commit to the Living Wage
November 9th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
I am the independent Chair of the Customer Challenge Group at South East Water which supplies drinking water to 2.1 million customers in Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire. So I am pleased that this Living Wage Week South East Water has been announced as the first water company to receive accreditation from the Living […]
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