The American tragedy: when black anger lashes out at the labour movement
June 1st, 2020 by Roger Darlington
A relative of mine in Seattle has suggested that I blog about the death of African-American George Floyd and the resultant protests and rioting. I hesitated because I’m aware of being British and of my white privilege.
But an American friend of mine on Facebook has posted photographs of the Washington DC headquarters of the AFL-CIO – the equivalent of the Trades Union Congress in Britain – which has been trashed by rioters in the city. Now I was a professional trade union official for 24 years and, on one of my visits to the US, I visited the AFL-CIO building, so the images spoke to me.
Of course, the protestors probably didn’t specifically target the building. It is in downtown Washington DC and it was perhaps seen as a symbol of the establishment. But the American labour movement supports the Black Lives Matter movement. The AFL-CIO tweeted: “The Labor Movement is much more than a building. We’ve said it before and will will say it again: Black Lives Matter.”
The murder of George Floyd – for that is what it was – is just the latest in a long line of incidents in which unarmed black men have been killed by white police officers. It comes on top of centuries of racial discrimination and disadvantage in the United States. It comes at a time when over 100,000 have died from the coronavirus and some 40 million have been made unemployed as a result of the pandemic.
All these problems exist in Britain and many other countries, but the United States is especially blighted by its poor coverage of health provision, its weak social security entitlements, its small trade union movement, its flawed system of political representation, and – perhaps above all just now – its appalling political leadership.
There are no quick or easy answers but, if the Democratic Party does not take back the Presidency (and hopefully the Senate) in November, black lives, Latino lives, poor lives, LGBT lives, and many other lives will not matter.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (5)
A review of the recent film “Allied”
May 31st, 2020 by Roger Darlington
Brad Pitt plays French-speaking Canadian pilot Max Vatan and Marion Cotillard is the French resistance fighter Marianne Beauséjour who team up for an audacious mission in Vichy-controlled Casablanca in 1942. The action then moves to London and occupied France.
Apparently inspired loosely by actual events, this film – scripted by the British Steven Knight and directed by the American Robert Zemeckis – presents all the British characters as cardboard cut-outs and sadly it is often too slow and overall increasingly implausible with a weak ending.
Yet it looks really good: as well as the watchable two stars, the costumes and sets are authentic and clever special effects render the aircraft of the time in convincing form.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the recent film “The Gentlemen”
May 29th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
You know what you’re getting with Guy Ritchie and this is a quintessentially Guy Ritchie movie: he co-created the story, co-wrote the script, and both produced and directed. So unsurprisingly this crime story, set in London, has a convoluted plot with plenty of violence and bad language plus a fair bit of humour.
What makes it particularly entertaining is the casting. Matthew McConaughey – always a class act – is the American with a highly lucrative marijuana business which he wishes to sell. Framing the whole narrative with his own story is a British geezer played by Hugh Grant as you have never seen and hear him before. Supporting cast members include Michelle Dockery from TV series “Downton Abbey” and Colin Farrell from everything.
It’s all rather silly but diverting fun.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression, Census Bureau finds amid coronavirus pandemic
May 27th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
One of the countries with the worst record of handling the pandemic is the United States but, as well as a death toll approaching 100,000, there is massive impact on mental health in a nation with poor social programmes and institutions compared to most of Europe.
A third of Americans are showing signs of clinical anxiety or depression, Census Bureau data shows, the most definitive and alarming sign yet of th e psychological toll exacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
When asked questions normally used to screen patients for mental health problems, 24 % showed clinically significant symptoms of major depressive disorder and 30 % showed symptoms of generalised anxiety disorder.
Some groups have been hit harder than others. Rates of anxiety and depression were far higher among younger adults, women and the poor. The worse scores in young adults were especially notable, given that the virus has been more likely to kill the elderly or leave them critically ill.
More information here,
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
Which countries are doing best and worst in tackling the coronavirus? Is Britain really doing that badly?
May 27th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
Of course, it depends on how you measure this.
Do you use the number of confirmed cases which depends massively on the testing regime in that nation? Or the number of deaths confirmed as caused by or involving Covid-19? Or the number of excess deaths over and above what would be expected for the time of the year compared to the average for say the previous five years?
And what period of time are we talking about? The situation now or say on the basis of a rolling seven-day average? Or from the beginning which might be when we first knew about the virus or when a country first had a confirmed case or when a country first had a confirmed death?
And, finally, of course one has the take the raw data and express it as some proportion of the population of different nations.
The figures compiled for the site Our World in Data are based on a rolling seven-day average and are updated daily. On Monday, the British rate was the worst in the world at 4.54 deaths per million per day. It has since slipped down the table.
Nevertheless, Britain’s status as one of the worst-hit countries continued to be underlined from Office for National Statistics (ONS) data released on Tuesday, which showed there had been 53,960 excess deaths in England & Wales from the start of the outbreak to 15 May. Scotland recorded 4,434 excess deaths between 23 March and 17 May and Northern Ireland recorded 834 excess deaths between 21 March and 15 May, giving a total for the UK of 59,228 up to 17 May.
So the number of excess deaths registered in the UK during the Covid-19 outbreak has almost reached 60,000, Whichever way you look at the statistics, Britain currently has one of the worst records in the world. We had the warnings from Italy and Spain and we were supposed to have one of the best health systems in the world, but we have been failed by our political leaders.
If you want a richer source of relevant data for all countries updated constantly, check out the Worldometer site.
Posted in British current affairs, Science & technology, World current affairs | Comments (0)
A review of the 1941 classic film “Citizen Kane”
May 24th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
I’ve just used lockdown to view “Citizen Kane” once more.
Widely considered – at least by critics – as the greatest film ever made and nominated for nine Academy Awards, at the time this film actually failed to recoup its costs at the box office and in fact only won one Academy Award (that for Best Writing). It was very much an Orson Welles creation: at the age of only 24, it was his first feature film but he was its producer, co-writer, director and star.
The quasi-autobiographical film examines the life, loves and legacy of American newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane, a character based on a number of real personages, most notably William Randolph Hearst (who tried hard to prevent it from being made and then from being distributed).
The structure is non-linear with a series of flashbacks representing the points of view of various Kane associates – a technique unusual at the time – and the plot is driven by something called Rosebud as a MacGuffin (an object that shapes the narrative but is itself unimportant).
Having seen “Citizen Kane” several times, I always admire it but never warm to it. I admire it for its technical brilliance with use of deep focus photography and a whole series of unusual camera angles. But I find it a dark, even unpleasant, work because Kane is such a vain, cruel and unsympathetic character.
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)
In the age of Covid-19, how far should we be physically distancing?
May 23rd, 2020 by Roger Darlington
Ever since the UK started social (or, more accurately, physical) distancing in the face of the coronavirus crisis, we have been observing a 2-metre rule. But where does this guidance come from and is it the ‘right’ measure?
In fact, most older people – who are the most vulnerable – are not so familiar with metric measurements and therefore we are often told that 2 metres equates to 6 feet but in fact it is just over 6.5 feet. I suppose the government felt that a whole number was presentationally clear and that 2 was better than 1.
In recent days, however, the authorities have acknowledged that 2 metres is a “precautionary approach” and accepted that 2 metres is out of line with the advice in most other countries and with recommendations from the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Other countries have opened for 1.5 metres. These nations include Australia, Germany and The Netherlands. Some countries have judged that 1 metre is sufficient. These nations include China, Singapore and France. The WHO advice is 1 metre.
For some reason, Korea has gone for an approach that is equivalent to 1.4 metres.
The varied advice on physical distancing may or may not have made a difference during the lockdown phase with minimal outdoor activities allowed. I suspect that, in clinical terms, the difference between 1 metre and 2 metres was tiny.
But the varied advice matters a good deal now that we are planning a return to work and the opening up of businesses including shops, cafes, restaurants and pubs. The difference between 2 metres and 1.5 and especially the difference between 2 metres and 1 metre would make a massive difference to the economic viability of many financially vulnerable businesses.
Expect the advice in the UK to be reviewed and revised.
Posted in British current affairs, Science & technology | Comments (1)
Who should presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden choose as his running mate? (2)
May 22nd, 2020 by Roger Darlington
I have done a posting on this subject before with my own view (Kamala Harris).
Now we have the ranking of the “Washington Post” as follows:
| POSITION | POTENTIAL VP | CHANGE OVER LAST VP RANKING |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Kamala D. Harris | — |
| 2. | Amy Klobuchar | DOWN 1 |
| 3. | Elizabeth Warren | UP 5 |
| 4. | Gretchen Whitmer | UP 1 |
| 5. | Tammy Duckworth | UP 4 |
| 6. | Val Demings | ADDS TO RANKING |
| 7. | Stacey Abrams | DOWN 4 |
| 8. | Michelle Lujan Grisham | DOWN 4 |
| 9. | Tammy Baldwin | UP 1 |
| 10. | Gina Raimondo | ADDS TO RANKING |
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
The meaningless of so much management and political language
May 21st, 2020 by Roger Darlington
Have you ever heard of …
… a problem that was not challenging
… a target that was not stretching
… a solution that was a silver bullet
… a solution that is one size fits all
… an organisation that was not on a journey
… a situation that was not going forward
… progress which was not at pace
… a sector that was not experiencing unprecedented change
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)
Word of the day: anosmia
May 19th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
The word means a loss of the sense of smell. This is often accompanied with loss of a sense of taste.
One of my grandmothers had this on a permanent basis which meant that she could not smell if she had left on the gas cooker and she did not really enjoy her food.
The word is in the media today because the four chief medical officers of the UK have now added this as a warning symptom of Covid-19.
This has been general knowledge for a couple of months and I don’t understand why it has taken so long to be highlighted by the government.
Posted in Cultural issues, Science & technology | Comments (0)