Seven charts that show the world is actually becoming a better place
January 11th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
So many people think that the world is becoming a worse and worse place when actually the opposite is the case. How can there be such a divergence between perception and reality?
In short, it’s because we concentrate on the headlines – which are overwhelmingly negative – instead of looking at the trendlines – which are generally very positive.
Two recent books have argued this case in detail: “Enlightment Now” [my review here] and “Factfulness” [my review here].
If you don’t have time to read the books, at least read my reviews and this blog posting on seven charts that show that the world is becoming better.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
What next for Brexit?
January 10th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
This was the title of a discussion which I attended last night hosted by the “Guardian” newspaper at Kings Place in central London. The panel participants were Jessica Elgot, Martin Kettle, Aditya Chakrabortty, Lisa O’Carroll and Polly Toynbee.
All the speakers were Remainders who were close to despair at how the Brexit process was unfolding and at the unpleasantness of the debate. Nobody had a clear idea how it would all work out. However, there was deep concern that, unless Parliament approves something, the UK will crash out of the EU with no deal on 29 March.
The nearest that there was to a consensus on what is likely to happen is that we could be driven to a second referendum or people’s vote. It was suggested that the Leave campaign won the last referendum by making it about more than Europe and having the brilliant slogan “Take back control”.
Apparently the Leave team has already decided on a slogan for any second referendum: “Tell them again” – which would feed into the anger of Brexiters that a second vote had been called and evoke the sense that an elite was not listening to the people.
A suggestion was made for the slogan to be used by supporters of EU membership: “Remain and reform”. I think that this would be a terrible slogan: it would beg too many questions about what reforms are sought and how they could be achieved by one EU member state among 28. But it is certainly true that the EU needs reform and that UK continued membership would help that.
I would offer an alternative slogan for the Remain campaign: “Better together”. It is hard to oppose something which is ‘better’ and the slogan could have the double meaning of Britain and the EU being together and the people and nations of Britain being together.
Over a month ago now, I was rash enough to make 16 predictions on how the Brexit crisis might work out. One of the predictions has come true and some of the others could yet come to pass, although the precise sequencing that I envisaged is not happening, thanks to Theresa May postponing the meaningful vote.
As one panellist stated: “Brexit is not an event but a process”. This story will run and run …
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (1)
A review of the film “Disobedience”
January 9th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
Like the earlier film “Apostasy”, “Disobedience” is a story of the restrictions and repression in an ultra-religious community in England told largely through the viewpoint of female protagonsists. Whereas “Apostasy” looked at members of Jehovah’s Witnesses living in Manchster, this film is set in an Orthodox Jewish community in north London.
It is an adaptation of the novel by Naomi Alderman which, while not biographical, was shaped by her upbringing in such a location. She has said: “I went into the novel religious and by the end I wasn’t. I wrote myself out of it”.
“Disobedience” is a fraught love triangle between Ronit (Rachel Weisz), who has left the faith and the community in spite of her father being the religious group’s rabbi, Esti (Rachel McAdams) who once had a relationship with Ronit but has now settled for marriage with a man set to take over as rabbi, and Ronit’s friend and Esti’s husband Dovid (Alessandro Nivola). These three leads give fine, nuanced performances and the outcome is not obvious.
The lesbianism scenes are not up there with “Blue Is The Warmest Colour” for length and explictness, but Chilean director and co-writer Sebastián Lelio presents images of convincing passion in a sensitive manner.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Is the decline of social democracy reversible?
January 7th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
In a short but wide-ranging article that starts with the current weakness of the Labour Party in Israel and then goes goes on to look at the standing of social democratic parties and movements in Europe and the USA, Eric Lee – an American friend of mine living in London – sees a common trend: the abandonment of a focus on the needs and aspirations of the working class.
In his piece for the Times of Israel, he writes:
“In the beginning, a century or more ago, all those parties were basically labour parties. They represented not so much a specific platform or polices, but a particular social class. You voted for a social democratic or labor party because you identified as part of the working class. You believed that whatever policies the party would stand for would represent your interests.
But over many years, and after many years in power, most of those parties made compromises with reality (as they saw it) which weakened the link between party and class. This has been particularly true in the years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, when general acceptance of what has been called “neo-liberalism” has severely hurt the parties of the moderate left.
Those parties have often led the way with austerity budgets, rivatization of public services, and costly bail-out programs for the finance sector. Their natural constituencies — the working classes — have felt, and in fact were, left behind.”
You can read the article here.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Thought For The Week
January 6th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
“For the first time in human history, starvation kills fewer people than obesity; plagues kill fewer people than old age; and violence kills fewer people than accidents.”
Author and historian Yuval Noah Harari in “The World In 2019”
This is actually Thought No 970 in my long-running series. You can see all the previous thoughts and/or subscribe to future thoughts here.
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)
What does federalism mean in the context of the American political system?
January 6th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
In the Autumn of 2018, I attended a series of six lectures at London’s City Literary Institute which examined the history of the American federal system.
I have used some of this information to update the section of my guide to the American political system that explains the nature of federalism which is so important to American politics. You can check out the section here.
Posted in American current affairs, History | Comments (0)
A specially inclusive performance of “A Christmas Carol”
January 5th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
This week, I finished the holiday season in style by seeing a special performance of “A Christmas Carol”.
Charles Dickens’ classic story has arguably come to define Christmas in the 175 years since its publication and there have been numerous versions, both on stage and screen.
The Chickenshed theatre in Enfield in north London has updated, renewed and refreshed the tale for 2018/19 in an entirely brand new musical version, set in 1930s Britain. The show has a cast of over 200 people on stage for each performance and there have been four cast teams making a total of 800 participants throughout the run.
Chickenshed is noted for its approach of inclusive theatre. So the performance featured mostly young performers, some with different physical and mental disabilities, and from a variety of ethnicities and backgrounds.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
The most diverse House of Representatives in American history
January 4th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
“Among the historic class of new congresspeople who took the oath of office in the US House of Representatives on Thursday are the first Native American women, the first Muslim women, the first black women elected from Massachusetts and Connecticut, the first Hispanic women elected from Texas, and the youngest woman to be elected to Congress.
There is a former NFL linebacker, a doctor and a climate scientist. There are a number of former members of the military and intelligence services, many of them women. There are seasoned veterans of past presidential administrations and a handful of political neophytes who never held office before running for Congress in 2018.
A record 102 women were sworn into the House on Thursday, 35 of whom were elected for the first time in November in a historic wave of success for female candidates.”
This is the introduction to a piece in today’s “Guardian” newspaper celebrating the exciting diversity of the new membership of the House of Representatives.
What is not new is the Speaker of the House. Democrat Nancy Pelosi is back with the gavel. Pelosi, who had previously served as Speaker from 2007-2011, became the first former Speaker to win re-election to the post since Sam Rayburn in 1955.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
Some international events and anniversaries in 2019
January 3rd, 2019 by Roger Darlington
Countries with more than a third of the world’s population will hold nation-wide elections. They include India, the planet’s largest democracy, plus the populous Indonesia, Nigeria and South Africa. The European Union – presumably down from 28 to 27 Member States because of Brexit – will have an election to the European Parliament,
China will be nervous about the number ‘9’. This year is the centenary of the May Fourth Movement, which the Communist Party celebrates, and the 30th anniversary of the demonstrations in Tiananmen Square, which the Communist Party never mentions. It is also the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic and 60th anniversary of the uprising in Tibet that led to the exile of the Dalai Lama.
Britain will or will not leave the European Union.
And maybe President Trump will resign.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Word of the day: obesogenic
January 2nd, 2019 by Roger Darlington
The Obesity Health Alliance, an umbrella group that includes charities and medical organisations, said more urgent action than messages on swapping high-sugar foods for low-sugar alternatives was needed.
“Today’s children are growing up in obesogenic environments, bombarded by adverts and promotions for junk food online, on TV and in our supermarkets,” said Caroline Cerny, the alliance lead.
For more on this “Guardian” story, see here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)