Archive for the ‘My life & thoughts’ Category
The treatment of water
May 19th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
I am really enjoying my new appointment as Chair of the Customer Challenge Group at South East Water [for details, see here]. The issues are complex but fascinating and my new colleagues are very professional and supportive. But you would not believe how much there is to learn. I’ve now been to the Snodland Head […]
Posted in Environment, My life & thoughts | Comments (1)
Free speech – American-style vs European-style
May 14th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
I’ve been discussing with friends the issue of free speech as it is understood in Britain and the United States. I’m sure that I’ll have some similar conversations when I visit the USA shortly. There is a cultural difference between the United States and Europe on freedom of speech which I believe has its roots […]
Posted in Miscellaneous, My life & thoughts | Comments (7)
Top 25 destinations in the world
May 1st, 2012 by Roger Darlington
I love travelling and have visited a total of 56 countries as you’ll see here. So I was interested to see that the web site Trip Adviser has produced a list of the top 25 destinations in the world here. Number one is the city in which I live and work: London. In fact, I […]
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Wettest April for a century
April 30th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
It’s the last day of April and the news is now confirmed that in Britain it has been the wettest April for over a century with some areas receiving three times the normal rainfall. Now, on 1 April, I started a four-year contract with South East Water to chair the company’s Customer Challenge Group [further […]
Posted in Environment, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
The world of the Special Adviser
April 25th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
Special Advisers – or SpAds as they are known in Whitehall and Westminster – are in the news this week because of the publication of e-mails from the advisers to Cabinet ministers Jeremy Hunt and Vince Cable concerning the News Corporation bid for BSkyB and the resignation of Hunt’s adviser Adam Smith. During the Wilson/Callaghan […]
Posted in British current affairs, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Not silent about silent calls
April 19th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
When I was on the governing bodies of the Internet Watch Foundation and Postwatch, I did lots of media interviews – both radio and television, both recorded and live. But, in my eight years on the Communications Consumer Panel, I’ve not done one – until today. Normally the Chair of the Panel picks up any […]
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Film appreciation course – part 2
April 15th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
Today I was back at the “Guardian” offices for the film appreciation course run by the critic Danny Leigh. Before the day’s programme began proper, we were shown the famous Odessa steps sequence from “Battleship Potemkin” which was copied in the much more recent film “The Untouchables” [my review here]. Section 1 on Opening Sequences […]
Posted in Cultural issues, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Film appreciation course – part 1
April 14th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
As regular readers of this blog will know, I am a massive movie fan and have written hundreds of film reviews for my web site. I’m spending this weekend at the offices of the “Guardian” newspaper attending a two-day film appreciation course. Most of the event is hosted by Danny Leigh, “Guardian” film writer and […]
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That’s one small step for Catrin …
April 12th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
Since the weekend, my granddaughter Catrin has been walking and she is now up to four or five steps at a time. It’s taken a little while – she is almost 15 months – but, of course, all children develop at different paces and she is such a happy and fun baby. She and I […]
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My contribution to a Pesach seder
April 8th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
Vee and I are not religious, so Easter is nothing special for us, but many of our closest friends are Jewish and this year the Passover or Pesach festival almost coincides with Easter. We were invited to take part in a special meal called a seder to celebrate the festival of Pesach and felt honoured […]
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