Archive for the ‘My life & thoughts’ Category
Back from Inverness
October 17th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
I’ve returned from a couple of days in Inverness where I was attending an out-of-London meeting of the Ofcom Consumer Panel. This is the furtherest north that I’ve ever been in the United Kingdom. The local constituency goes by the catchy name of Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey and we met the constituency MP, Liberal […]
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Remembering the great storm
October 15th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
Twenty years ago this morning, Britain suffered the most ferocious storm since 1703. In the South-East of England, 19 people were killed and 15 million trees were uprooted and damage ran to £1.5 billion. I always sleep soundly and we had new double glazing, so I slept throughout the entire storm. However, when I rose, […]
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Back from Prague
October 8th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
Vee and I have just returned from five days in Prague – her 16th visit and my 21st. This time, we were there to attend the graduation ceremony of our dear friend Vojtišek (Vojta) Horváth whose family we have known for 22 years. Vojta has recently completed a six-year degree in medicine and his degree […]
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Off to see my Czech mates
October 2nd, 2007 by Roger Darlington
Thirteen years ago, one of my closest friends – a Czech doctor from Prague – died of leukemia here in London. You can read my tribute to Pavel Horvath here.Vee and I have retained a deep friendship with his family who are like our own and we exchange visits between London and Prague on a […]
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Welcome to Sarajevo
September 30th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
A week ago, I was in Sarajevo for a weekend break with my sister Silvia. I’ve now written up an account for my web site and included 24 photographs. Usually my holidays are all about enjoying local architecture and culture with little opportunity or need to focus on politics, but this trip was different. Every […]
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What is truth – and does it matter?
September 24th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
On my web site is a short essay that has stimulated some thought and discussion by visitors to my site. The essay is entitled “The Reason For Truth” and you can read it here. The fullest response has come from my former colleague and good friend Derek Bright. I’ve appended it below together with my […]
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Back from Bosnia
September 23rd, 2007 by Roger Darlington
Anyone who knows me or who reads this blog knows that i love travelling to different countries and meeting people from different cultures. I haven’t blogged for a few days because I’ve been on a short break to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia. This is the 47th country that I’ve visited but very special in […]
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The New Europe
September 16th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
This evening, I watched the first programme in a series of seven called “Michael Palin’s New Europe”. The series is being shown on Sunday evenings on BBC1 and they will cover 20 countries in Eastern Europe. I have an intense interest in this part of the world, mainly because my wife is half Czech and […]
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Thoughts wing around world
September 16th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
For eight years now, I’ve been sending out by e-mail a “Thought For The Week” – usually on a Sunday. More than 400 have now been dispatched and you can read them all here. I started the practice when I was Head of Research at the Communication Workers Union and at first it only went […]
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Anyone for a game of conkers?
September 10th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
One really notices the change of seasons by observing the trees and, in my part of London, there are fortunately quite a few trees. On the main road near my home, there are some particularly fine horse chestnut trees and I noticed today that they’ve just started to shed their conkers. I wonder if children […]
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