Archive for the ‘World current affairs’ Category
How can you understand what’s really going on in the world’s conflict zones?
October 30th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
There are so many conflicts around the world and each has its own complexities which are rarely covered in the media. Recently, a briefing was put together for British Parliamentarians by a significant number of international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) under the leadership of the Humanitarian and Conflict Policy groups of the organisation Bond for which my […]
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What’s going on in Kenya’s (second) presidential election?
October 26th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
In the last two years, I’ve been out to Kenya four times because my son has been working there. So I have more than a passing interest in the political situation in the country. On 8 August 2017, a presidential election was held in which the incumbent was declared to have won by nine percentage […]
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A fascinating course on the rise of social movements
October 14th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
Today I attended a one-day course on social movements held at London’s City Lit college. Social movements have a long history around the world, but over the past few years we have seen a significant rise. The day provided an opportunity to hear about, explore and discuss some of the key ideas of contemporary social […]
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Do some religions have a higher birth rate than others — and how does this affect global population growth?
October 2nd, 2017 by Roger Darlington
This TED lecture is fascinating and only 13 minutes:
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The result of the German federal elections
September 25th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
Angela Merkel has won a fourth term as Chancellor of Germany but the far Right has representation in the Bundestag for the first time in the post-war period. How many seats has each party won, who do the parties represent, and which ones are likely to come together to form a government coalition? All is […]
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What is this thing we call a nation?
September 23rd, 2017 by Roger Darlington
Recently, we have been commemorating the 70th anniversary of India achieving independence from Britain which, at the last moment, resulted in the creation of Pakistan as well as India and subsequently – following a civil war – to the creation of another nation state Bangladesh. I have just returned from a short trip to Georgia. […]
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Election. election, referendum, referendum
September 22nd, 2017 by Roger Darlington
There are a lot of interesting polls going on around the world just now. Tomorrow (Saturday), there is a general election in New Zealand and the next day (Sunday) there is a federal election in Germany. In both cases, the incumbent party is a Right of Centre one: the National Party in NZ and the […]
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Climate change + urban development = massive flooding worldwide
September 3rd, 2017 by Roger Darlington
“Houston may have broken the US rainfall records, but lost in the dramatic worldwide coverage of Texas has been the plight of tens of millions of people across Asia and Africa who are also counting the human cost of equally intense storms in which months of rain has fallen in just a few hours. One […]
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Ever heard of the Suwalki Gap?
August 24th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
I doubt that you have – but many people in the Baltic States and in the Russian military are well aware that this is a short stretch of land which is the only connection between the Baltic States and the rest of the European Union. On one side is Lithuania and on the other side […]
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The modern resurgence of China
August 13th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
At this time of year, my professional commitments are light, so I sign up for a number of short courses at the City Lit further education college in central London. My sixth such course of this summer was delivered by a lecturer called John Berryman and it was titled “China: sphere of influence”. The course involves […]
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