It is now clear that the UK is not going to achieve a “good result” in the coronavirus crisis
April 19th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
In mid March, the British government’s health advisers on the coronavirus crisis told Ministers:
- The modelling suggests that, without severe social distancing and isolation practices, the death toll could be around 260,000.
- The modelling suggests that, with the current severe social distancing and isolation practices, the death toll could be around 20,000 or lower.
Days later, the UK went onto national lockdown and we are now four weeks into this lockdown period. We were assured, that if UK deaths from coronavirus could be kept below 20,000 by the end of the pandemic, it would be a “good result” for the country. But the death toll in hospitals now exceeds 15,000 and, with an estimated 6,000 people having already died in care homes from Covid-19, the 20,000 figure is likely already to have been exceeded.
This is not the time to say what we should have done differently – but that time will have to come. Meanwhile we have to keep the death toll as low as possible and to acknowledge that the virus is not indiscriminate. Disproportionately, it affects older people, those with underlying heath issues, ethnic minorities, hospital workers caring for Covid-19 patients, and occupants and staff in care homes.
Clapping each Thursday evening is good, but we need more personal protective equipment, more ventilators, more testing – and a vaccine. Soon.
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (2)
A review of the 2014 film”Effie Gray”
April 17th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
In 1848, Euphemia ‘Effie’ Gray (portrayed here by Dakota Fanning) was 19 when she married the famous critic John Ruskin (Greg Wise), but he was a terrible husband and the marriage was never consummated, a further complication being her attraction to the Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais (Tom Sturridge). This famous Victorian love triangle is the stuff of drama, but sadly this version is slow and dull and languid to the point of limpness.
This is in spite of it being beautifully shot in English stately homes, Scotland and Venice and having a script from Emma Thompson plus a stellar supporting cast list including Thompson herself, David Suchet, Julie Walters, James Fox, Derek Jacobi and even Claudia Cardinale (now in her mid 70s). What a waste. What a disappointment.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Evolution got us here and hopefully science will get us out of here
April 16th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
For four weeks now, I’ve been providing a weekly online lesson in Victorian history to two nine year olds who cannot be at school, one a granddaughter and the other the son of a close friend. This week, we covered some developments in science and technology in the Victorian era.
The engineer we looked at was Isambard Kingdom Brunel, while the scientist we discussed was Charles Darwin. Now Darwin, of course, is most famous for his theory of evolution by natural selection involving the survival of the fittest.
We kept it simple for the little ones but, for those of you who are older, you might like to read a short essay which I wrote some time ago on the case for evolution. You can check it out here.
This is not a bad time to remind oursleves of the importance of science and of the need to be guided by the evidence.
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (0)
Coronavirus is not an enemy; it is a pandemic. This is not a war; it is a crisis.
April 12th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
It’s interesting how some politicians like Donald Trump and Boris Johnson talk of the coronavirus as if it is a person – a cunning arch enemy with evil intent that can be defeated like the Nazis.
On his discharge from hospital today, the Prime Minister declared “We will win”.
What does winning mean when already over 10,000 have died? The crisis will end in some way – but it will not be a victory.
Posted in Science & technology, World current affairs | Comments (0)
Word of the day: furlough
April 10th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
Until a couple of weeks ago, most people had never heard the word furlough. Now it is everywhere. But what does it mean? And where did it come from?
As a noun, it has three meanings:
- a vacation or leave of absence granted to an enlisted person
- a temporary leave of absence authorised for a prisoner from a penitentiary
- a usually temporary layoff from work
Clearly, in current circumstances of the coronavirus crisis, it is the last meaning that is relevant.
The origin of the word is the period 1615–25. It is a variant of earlier furlogh or furloff from the Dutch word erlof for leave, permission and the current pronunciation is by association with dough.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Political reform in Victorian Britain – and why democracy is always a work in progress
April 9th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
I have now delivered three online lessons on Victorian history for two nine year old that I know as their parents endeavour to keep the kids occupied while schools are closed. This week, we covered the challenging issue of political reform. After all, there were key development in the Victorian era and it’s never too early to start bringing up good citizens.
So I talked about the Peterloo Massacre of 1819 when 18 people were killed and some 600 injured at a peaceful rally to demand extension of the franchise and representation of the cities. I showed the children a very short video about Peterloo, but last year there was a major film about the incident which you might like to track down. You can read my review of the feature film here.
We also talked about the three pieces of legislative reform at this time which reluctantly and partially extended the vote to more and more men (women had to wait until 1918 and 1928): the Great Reform Act of 1832, the Second Reform Act of 1867 and the Third Reform Act of 1884. The battle over the Great Reform Act – legislation which was fiercely resisted by the Tories – was the subject of a fascinating book which I’ve reviewed here.
I tried to emphasise two key points to my young friends:
- Democracy has come slowly and only after many struggles and campaigns, not least that of the Suffragists and the Suffragettes.
- Democracy is never a done deal, but has to be constantly defended. Look today at countries like Poland, Hungary and the United States,
Probably these were not easy messages for nine year olds to take on board but I hope that readers of blog will do so.
Posted in History | Comments (0)
Ever heard of the Pilgrimage of Grace?
April 8th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
Neither had I – until I read about it in “The Mirror And The Light”, the 900-page novel by Hilary Mantel which is sustaining me during the period of lockdown as a result of the coronaviris crisis.
The so-called Pilgrimage was a northern rebellion against Henry VIII’s government in i536-1537, originally led by Robert Aske and later by Francis Bigod. The rebellion failed and its leaders were eventually executed.
You can check out a five-minute video on the Pilgrimage of Grace here:
Posted in History | Comments (2)
What were the five worst times and places to be alive in human history?
April 6th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
Life is tough now. Everywhere in the world is threatened by the coronavirus. I don’t want in any way to understate the challenges we all face, but maybe we now have the time and motivation to recall that, in the course of human history, things have often been worse, much much worse.
This video suggests five occasions in human history that must be among the worst to have experienced:
- The Black Death in Europe
- The Mongol invasions of China
- The Americas during colonisation
- China during the Great Leap Forward
- Europe in the first half of the 20th century
The video lasts 19 minutes – but you have more time than usually now, don’t you? If you watch it, at the least, you’ll learn some history. At best, you might actually feel better about being alive now.
Posted in History | Comments (0)
How has this week in lockdown been for you? The Internet has made it tolerable for me.
April 5th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
I live alone and I’m in a vulnerable group age-wise for the coronavirus. So I’ve been observing all the lockdown precautions, but still having a walk each day. What has made this experience much more tolerable though has been access to modern communications, especially the Internet.
On Monday, I used FaceTime to deliver an online session on Victorian history for my nine year old granddaughter in Milton Keynes. This week we covered developments in transportation and industrialisation and used a couple of short films on YouTube. On Tuesday, I had an online lunch with a young friend using Skype. On Wednesday, I repeated my session on Victorian history for the nine year old son of a good friend of mine in south London.
On Thursday, I should have been at a hospital for a routine consultation on a health issue, but instead the consultant phoned me at home. The same day, I used Zoom for the first time to attend a lecture on the American presidential election provided by the City Literary Institute which has now put 80% of its courses online. Over 40 students were part of the session.
On Friday, I had a Skype call with my Chinese ‘family’ in Oxford. They have family in Wuhan – the original location of the virus – which I’ve visited twice. On Saturday, I had an online chat with my granddaughter and we each used puppets or cuddly toys to give a little performance.
Also on Saturday, I joined an online launch of a new book by a very good friend. Thanks to the wonders of Zoom, there were participants from 14 locations around the world in seven time zones. There was a short slide presentation, a film clip, and a short video as well as discussion.
On a day to day basis, I’m part of a WhatsApp group of some residents in my block of flats. Throughout the week, I’ve been checking into Facebook several times a day and it’s been a comfort to see pictures and messages from many of the 300 friends with whom I’m connected.
Posted in My life & thoughts, Science & technology | Comments (5)
The importance of rivers to the earliest civilisations
April 3rd, 2020 by Roger Darlington
During the lockdown period of this coronavirus crisis, I’m running online lessons in Victorian history for a couple of nine year olds. This week, we covered developments in transportation and industrialisation.
For the transportation section, I suggested that the history of transport could be seen as having five stages: rivers & seas, roads, canals, railways and aviation. The Victorian period in Britain exhibited dramatic developments in canals and railways and we spoke a lot about this.
But first I pointed out that all the earliest civilisations formed on the banks of rivers. The most notable examples are the Ancient Egyptians, who were based on the Nile, the Mesopotamians in the Fertile Crescent on the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, the Ancient India on the Indus River, and the Ancient Chinese on the Yellow River.
Rivers were attractive locations for the first civilisations because they provided a steady supply of drinking water and made the land fertile for growing crops. Furthermore, goods and people could be transported easily, and the people in these civilisations could fish and hunt the animals that came to drink water.
Posted in History | Comments (0)