Archive for the ‘World current affairs’ Category


Is the state of the world really as bad as we think?

April 16th, 2018 by Roger Darlington

I’m currently reading a fascinating book titled “Enlightenment Now” written by the American professor of psychology Steven Pinker. The theme of the work is that, if you follow the trend lines rather than the headlines, you will see that we are making spectacular progress on every measure of human well-being. But most people don’t know […]

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)


Could China invade Taiwan?

April 4th, 2018 by Roger Darlington

As if the world needed any more to worry about, the “Guardian” today has an article which begins: “China could do to Taiwan what Russia did to Crimea if Beijing’s relations with Washington, strained by an expanding trade war and military rivalry in the East and South China seas, deteriorate further. The warning from maritime security […]

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)


Congratulations to Andria Zafirakou, the best teacher in the world

March 19th, 2018 by Roger Darlington

I am delighted by the news that Andria Zafirakou has become the first British winner of the Global Teacher Prize, beating teachers nominated from more than 170 countries. The prize of $1million (£720,000), launched in 2015 by an education charity, the Varkey Foundation, was created to give more status to the teaching profession, with an Oscars-style awards […]

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)


Encouraging news on North Korea – but beware of false dawns

March 9th, 2018 by Roger Darlington

The most encouraging world news in a while is the surprise revelation that North Korea is willing to negotiate giving up its nuclear weapons programme and that the presidents of North Korea and the United States will meet in the next couple of months. There have been no significant negotiations between the US and North […]

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)


Stumbling Block and Last Address – remembering the past and its victims

March 8th, 2018 by Roger Darlington

In the 1990s, an initiative started in Germany called  the Stolpersteine project. Stolpersteine (stumbling blocks) are brass plaques the size of a cobblestone laid into the pavements of German towns and cities, outside the houses where the victims of Nazi atrocities had lived. Each plaque bears the name of the victim as well as the […]

Posted in History, World current affairs | Comments (0)


How would one summarise the current Chinese political system?

March 2nd, 2018 by Roger Darlington

In my recently updated short guide to the Chinese political system, I conclude: The Chinese Communist Party is almost schizophrenic in its economic policies. On the one hand, China is still a communist society but, on the other hand, its economy is more capitalist than most European countries. This contradiction is blurred by language with […]

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)


Television in China

February 26th, 2018 by Roger Darlington

I’m just back from a two week trip to China – my fourth visit to this fascinating country..  I stayed in six hotels and visited five family homes, so I saw a fair bit of local television.  I think you can learn a lot about a country by watching its television   All the hotels […]

Posted in My life & thoughts, World current affairs | Comments (0)


Which are the best and the worst countries in terms of the rule of law?

February 1st, 2018 by Roger Darlington

The World Justice Project produces a Rule of Law Index which measures – across eight factors – rule of law adherence in 113 countries and jurisdictions worldwide based on more than 110,000 household and 3,000 expert surveys and it has just published its latest annual report for 2017-18. More countries’ overall rule of law score […]

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)


Flooding in Paris and drought in Cape Town

January 27th, 2018 by Roger Darlington

If I ever doubted the centrality of water to humankind (you could write a history of civilisation around the theme of water), the importance of H2O was underlined for me when I spent five years chairing the Customer Challenge Group for the regional company South East Water. So I can’t help but noticing two current […]

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)


New Oxfam reports reveals that 82% of all of the growth in global wealth in the last year went to the top 1%

January 22nd, 2018 by Roger Darlington

“In 2016, annual share dividends from the parent company of fashion chain Zara to the world’s fourth-richest man, Amancio Ortega, were worth approximately €1.3bn. Stefan Persson, whose father founded H&M, is ranked 43 in the Forbes list of the richest people in the world, and received €658m in share dividends last year. Anju works sewing […]

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)