A review of “The Lady In The Van”
July 17th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
First a book; then a stage play; then a radio adaptation; and finally a film. It is a remarkable, and mostly true, story that slowly unfolds to portray a character as damaged as she is eccentric. Check out my review of the movie here.
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Trying to understand the phenomenon of global political Islam
July 16th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
We don’t yet fully understand the motivation behind the terrible attack at Nice, but it seems that the perpetrator, as well as being mentally ill, was inspired by Islamic fundamentalism. We don’t yet know the background to the attempted coup in Turkey, but it seems that sections of the military are concerned about a shift by the government to a more Islamic society.
Against this background, this week I started a short course at the City Literary Institute in London with the title “Global Political Islam”. Our lecturer is Dr Nomaan Hanif whose family comes from the Indian part of Kashmir although he was born and brought up in the UK.
It was immediately apparent that this is going to be a difficult course, not least because of the problem of language.
Dr Hanif told us that the term “global political Islam” is a western construct based on secular notions of separation of church and state. In fact, there is no such thing as non-political Islam because there is no distinction between politics and religion in traditional Islam. The lecturer admitted that he used the course title as a kind of marketing tool. Then, having said that really there is no such thing as global political Islam, be argued that “it is the fastest growing phenomenon in the world”.
This problem of language is everywhere in a discussion of Islam. Indeed the very word ‘state’ means different things in English and Arabic and no country would claim to be an Islamic state. That term is reserved in Islamic thought for the caliphate that existed in the first 30 years after the death of the Prophet Mohammed. This is why the name ISIS is so evocative and powerful.
Dr Hanif explained that the Arabic language is fundamental to Islam. It was the language of Mohammed, the Koran and the Hadith (the collected sayings of the Prophet). The problem is that the Arabic of the Koran and the Hadith are different. The Koran is said to be the purest form of Arabic and, in meaning, style and grammar, so perfect that it can never be imitated.
Furthermore there is a difference between Sharia Arabic and linguistic Arabic. So a term like ‘jihad’ means a military conquest in the former but simply a personal struggle in the latter. The term ‘peace’ means peace under the submission of Islam in the former and the more western notion of non-violence in the latter. This is one of the reasons why there is a debate about whether Islam is or is not a religion of peace.
This is going to be a tough course.
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Why I visit Snodland so often
July 15th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
You’ve probably never heard of Snodland which sounds like somewhere in a story of Noddy and Big Ears. In fact, Snodland is a village in Kent where the company South East Water is headquartered.
For the last four or so years, I have chaired the company’s Customer Challenge Group – now called Customer Panel – so I’ve visited the location often and had many discussions about the performance of the company.
Just in case you wonder what I discuss in Snodland or have some interest in the regulation of the water sector, I thought that you might like to know that today the Customer Panel published an Annual Report which I wrote on behalf of the members. You can access it here.
Posted in Consumer matters, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Some odd choices in Theresa May’s new Cabinet
July 15th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
In the last three weeks, British politics has been a whirlwind of surprises. The latest shocks come with the appointment of a new Cabinet by the new Prime Minister Theresa May.
Most shocking of all is Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary. He is infamous for his many gaffes and insults denigrating various foreign figures and groups. I wonder how many occasions of faux pas (apparently he is fluent in French) we will have to witness before he is forced to resign.
Then we have Andrea Leadsom as the new head of the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. This is a woman who wondered as energy minister whether climate change is real, once called for the abolition of farming subsidies, and now wants to repeal the ban on fox hunting.
Priti Patel is now Secretary of State for International Development even though she has a history of scepticism about foreign aid and even called for the Department to be abolished.
And then there were the appointments that were not made.
There is no Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change because there is now no such department. Energy has gone into the Department of Business and Climate Change does not figure in the title of any Government Department.
There is no Cabinet post for former Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb. One minute he is standing to be Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister; the next moment he is leaving government altogether for “personal reasons”.
Eight other Cabinet Ministers have simply been dropped – banished to to the backbenches. They include George Osborne who as Chancellor has been the second most powerful person in Whitehall. Ouch!
You couldn’t make it up ….
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (3)
How can we use behavioural economics to better understand customers ?
July 14th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
In my capacity as Chair of the South East Water Customer Panel, some months ago I met Julien Lancha, Chief Customer Officer and co-founder of a company called Advizzo which advises companies on how to use behavioural insights to better serve their customers. I’ve met him several times since and we’ve had some fascinating discussions.
Following that first meeting though, I was so impressed by Advizzo’s thinking that I put them in touch with SEW. I’m pleased to say that this week South East Water publicly announced a collaborative programme with Advizzo.
One of the areas where Advizzo will be working with SEW is on communications with customers on issues like water saving. One of the behavioural insights which will be used is that customers respond better to water savings messages if you compare their water usage with that of their neighbours rather than an emphasis on cost savings or environmental impacts.
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Reasons to be cheerful
July 13th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Most of my personal and professional acquaintances voted – like me – for Britain to remain a member of the European Union and are – like me – deeply troubled by the narrow decision to leave the EU. But there are still many reasons to be cheerful that we live at this special time in history.
I am currently reading a fascinating book called “Age Of Discovery” written by Ian Goldin and Chris Kutarna. The theme of the book is that we are living in a time which is in effect a New Renaissance and we should learn some of the lessons from the original Renaissance some 500 years ago.
In the introductory chapter, the authors write:
“For the first time ever, the number of poor people in the world has plummeted (by over one billion people since 1990) and the overall population has swelled (by some two billion) at the same time. Scientists alive today outnumber all scientists who ever lived up to 1980, and – in part thanks to them – average life expectancy has risen more in the past fifty years than in the previous 1,000.”
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
The curse of Brexit
July 12th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
As soon as we knew the result of the referendum on British membership of the European Union, I did a posting arguing that it changed EVERYTHING. It will take months, years, decades before we understand all the implications and consequences but, in the intervening three weeks, the impact on our political leaders has been huge.
Let’s start with the losers.
David Cameron called the referendum because he thought he would win it and that it would resolve the divisions in the Conservative Party on the issue of EU membership. He was wrong on both counts, he immediately announced his resignation as Prime Minister, and this resignation will come into effect tomorrow. His political career is over and his legacy is a terrible one.
As leader of the Labour Party which backed EU membership, Jeremy Corbyn was judged – rightly in my view – to have been lukewarm in his campaign for a Remain vote and shown yet again to lack the leadership skills necessary to win a General Election and occupy No 10. He has suffered massive resignations from his Front Bench, an overwhelmingly vote of no confidence by his MPs, and now the activation of a leadership election in which even his candidature is in doubt. The entire future of the Labour Party is on the line.
So what could be worse than losing the referendum? Winning it.
The most high profile campaigner against EU membership was Boris Johnson. Literally one day, he was the runaway favourite to become leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister and the very next day he was not even a candidate, having (oddly) decided to pull out because Michael Gove had decided to stand.
Michael Gove – the Conservative with the second highest profile in the Leave campaign – wielded the sword that finished Boris’s ambitions but did badly himself in the leadership election and could not make the final two to go before the Conservative Party membership. His reputation is in tatters.
Previously unknown Junior Minister Andrea Leadsome – another major Leave campaigner – surprised everyone by becoming one of the two leadership finalists on the ballot. Yet, within days, she pulled out without even starting to win over Conservative Party members. She has proved to be weak.
And then there’s the leader of the UK Independence Party Nigel Farage. He has achieved his lifetime ambition to put Britain on the unstoppable (?) process to leave the European Union. And now he resigns the leadership of his party (again).
Who needs “House Of Cards” or “Game Of Thrones”? British politics has become a bloodbath with almost a victim a day. And this is just the start of working out the consequences of Brexit …
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
The day that Bruce Springstein met my four year old friend Hope
July 11th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Four years ago, I did a posting about meeting baby Hope for the first time. Four years on, Hope was with her mother at a Bruce Springstein concert in Oslo when something wonderful happened. You can see the video made by a member of the audience here:
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Muslims and modernity: the road from jihad to Brexit
July 10th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
As a believer in lifelong learning, I regularly attend short courses at a London further education college called the City Lit. This weekend, I attended a one-day course entitled “Hope And History: A Short Introduction To Contemporary Issues In Muslim Contexts”. Our tutor was Pakistani-born Dr Farid Panjwani, a lecturer at the Institute of Education, who was very informative and balanced.
Dr Panjwani gave a few basic facts about contemporary Islam:
- About 22% or one in five of the world population is Muslim
- Of all Muslims, Sunnis are around 85% and Shias are 15%
- Most Muslims are not Arab but Pakistani or Indonesian
- In the UK, there are 2.7 million Muslims or 4.5% of the population
- The largest component of UK Muslims (40%) are of Pakistani origin
He emphasised that there are huge cultural differences between Muslims around the world and warned against the Western tendency to see Muslim societies as monolithic.
Dr Panjwani explained the major consequences of colonialism and modernity for Muslim nations:
- A displacement from political power with the fall of old, long-standing empires such as the Ottomans
- The marginalisation of the Islamic legal tradition governing largely personal matters (sharia law)
- A challenge to social structures with new modern occupations and new gender roles for women
- Social conditions such as the power of political elites and high levels of unemployment that nurture rage and a sense of injustice
He explained that a key question for most Muslims around the world is: “How does one remain true to one’s religion while living a successful modern life?”
I found it interesting that Dr Panjwani mentioned a book which was published 20 years ago: “Jihad vs McWorld” by Benjamin R Barber. I read this book at the time and reviewed it here.
Today we tend to use the word ‘jihad’ (which actually means ‘struggle’) in the context of Islamic fundamentalist movements like ISIS but, in the sense that Barber used the term, it could be seen as referring to the anti-establishment, anti-globalisation, anti-immigrant movements that we see today in so many European countries and in the support for Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders (in different ways) in the United States.
Indeed, on one interpretation, there is even an element of similarity between those Muslims who reject Western values and seek to assert their distinct identity and those British voters who supported Brexit in order to oppose the political and business establishment and express antipathy to immigrants.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (6)
Wonderful new revolving sculpture at London’s St Pancras station
July 9th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Yesterday, I started and ended the day at St Pancras railway station in central London, meeting my sister from her train from Leicester and then taking her back there for her train home. St Pancras is always an exciting place, but this time I was captivated by a revolving and twisted blade of aluminium hanging over the arrival point for the Eurostar trains.
My sister and I had dinner at a restaurant just opposite the sculpture and it was apparent that everyone loved the simplicity and magic of it. I made a short video and put it on my Facebook page. But I wanted to know more about who created the work and what the artist intended. I found the answers – and you can see a picture – here.
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