Have you ever been to Tiananmen Square?

September 30th, 2019 by Roger Darlington

I have been to China four times and, on each occasion, I have visited Tiananmen Square in the heart of the capital Beijing. Inevitably, each time I have recalled the massacre of June 1989.

In my account of the first visit in 2000, I wrote:

“One advantage of seeing the palace [the Forbidden City] from north to south is that we came out into Tiananmen Square. The name means ‘The Square of Heavenly Peace’, but of course all of us associate it with the terrible events of 1989. Peter [our guide] was living in Beijing at the time and went to the square, so he was able to give us a very personal view of events.

He was convinced that it was a genuine mass movement with extensive support and not simply a student protest, but he felt that the demands were more economic than political. He doubted whether there were many deaths in the square itself, as opposed to the adjoining streets, and castigated the wild estimates of the number of deaths made by some western media commentators. However, he had no doubt that the Chinese authorities had exercised sophisticated media control over the presentation of events and that the whole episode had been the catalyst for the subsequent remarkable economic developments.

Tiananmen Square is simply huge and one has little difficulty accepting the claim that it is the largest inner city square in the world. Estimates of the number of people that it can hold vary between half a million and a million. On one side is an enormous portrait of Chairman Mao at the main entrance to the Forbidden City and on the other side is the Chairman Mao Mausoleum. One wonders how long these now rare commemorations of the Great Leader will remain [they are still there].

The huge picture of Mao Zedong
at the entrance to the Forbidden City

In the square, we had an official tour group photograph with Mao smiling benevolently behind us.”

In a blog posting on my latest visit tio China just last year, I wrote:

“On our first full day in Beijing, we visited two major locations in and around the enormously expansive Tiananmen Square. The security in the square is phenomenal: one can only enter through guarded points where Chinese citizens have their identity cards electronically scanned; at a further security point, all bags are x-rayed; and everywhere there are police and military, not to mention the plain clothes personnel.”

This evening, I watched a 90-minute documentary on BBC Four entitled “Tiananmen: The People v The Party” with moving testimony from some of those who were student protesters in the square. The programme explained the conflict between the reformist General Secretary Zhao Ziyang and the hard-line Premier Li Peng. Sadly today the line is harder than ever.

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One third fewer banks but much more online banking

September 29th, 2019 by Roger Darlington

The consumerbody Which? has just published its latest findings on bank branch closures.

Banks and building societies closed a total of 3,312 branches between January 2015 and August 2019, with an average of 55 closing each month. A further 100 branches are scheduled to close before the end of this year. The RBS Group, which comprises of NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland and Ulster Bank, closed 1,094 branches during the period. Lloyds Banking Group, made up of Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland, shut down 569 sites.

Bank branch closures reached their peak in 2017, with 868 sites lost around the UK at a rate of more than 70 a month. Similarly, some 794 branches closed in 2018. In the first seven months of 2019, the rate slowed, with 325 branches closed. This puts the current year on a similar footing to 2015 and 2016, when between 600 and 700 branches were lost.

UK Finance, the trade body that represents banks, reports a steep rise in the use of online and mobile banking over the past few years. Seventy one percent of adults used online banking in 2017, representing 38 million people. Almost 22 million people used mobile banking apps. Meanwhile, the average branch received 104 visits a day in 2017, compared to 140 per day in 2012. This represents a 26 percent fall in bank branch visits. According to banks and building societies, this has been the main driver of closures.

Which? points out that there are still plenty of people and small businesses that rely on local banks, who either do not want to or cannot engage with the digital revolution. This is particularly challenging in rural areas, where people suffer with poor broadband and mobile coverage, and higher populations of elderly customers.

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Visit to Iceland (4): South Coast Adventure

September 27th, 2019 by Roger Darlington

On our third and final full day in Iceland, Silvia and I left our hotel at 8.30 am and only returned at 7 pm as we went on an organised tour called the South Shore Adventure, a round trip of some 400 km involving five stops. The weather was so unseasonably pleasant that our female guide – who narrated everything in both English and German – described it “awesome”.

The first stop was at a waterfall called Skogafoss which is 62 metres high. Although the weather was generally mild, here the conditions were very windy and very chilly. Next stop was at a village near the coast called Vik where we had lunch.

A short ride from Vik on the coast itself we visited the volcanic beach of Reynisfjara. This looks amazing and has been the scene of shooting for “Game Of Thrones”. The black crystalline sand is overlooked by towering columns of white basalt with caves composed of black basalt. The beach is noted for its dangerous tides which claim victims on a regular basis.

Next we visited the glacier called Solheimajokull. This used to be much, much bigger but, over the last decade, global warming has melted so much of it. What remains in rendered ugly by black soot from the 2010 eruption of Eyjafjnallajokull.

Our fifth and final stop was to another waterfall – even more impressive than the first. Seljalandsfoss is 65 metres high and it is possible to walk right behind the thunderous downpour, although not without becoming pretty wet.

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Visit to Iceland (3): Reykjavik

September 26th, 2019 by Roger Darlington

On our second full day in Iceland, we spent the day in the capital Reykjavik (the name means “smokey bay”) which is the most northern capital in the world. There are many walking tours on offer, most of them expensive, but we selected City Walk which is “free” (at the end, you donate what you think the tour is worth). We were shown around by Tomas whose English was perfect (his father is American).

Unlike most other European capitals, there are no grand sites in Reykjavik but there are a surprising number of buildings in the city centre which are decorated in variety of attractive pastel colours. Also Tomas told us a good deal of the history and culture of the nation.

He explained that the key word is “isolation”. Global historical events – even the two world wars – have barely touched Iceland. Even today, the country has no armed services and minimal crime. Indeed it has no McDonald’s or Starbucks.

I was interested in the poltical system. The unicameral parliament has 63 members elected for a maximum term of four years. Currently there are eight political parties in the legislature but they are all Left-wing. There is high taxation but free education and free healthcare with no private education or private medicine.

In the afternoon, Silvia and I visited several locations on our own, including the tallest building in the country. Hallgrimskirkja is a Lutheran church which took 41 years (1945-1986) to build. It looks like a stone geyser in full eruption and stands at a height of 74.5 metres with great views of the city from the top of the church.

By the picturesque Old Harbour, we went to what must be the smallest cinema in the world. It only sits about 10 people and only shows three short documentaries made by the owner Valdimar Leifsson. We viewed a film about the 2010 volcanic eruption of Eyjafjallajokull and another on the phenomenon of the Northern Lights.

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Visit to Iceland (2): Golden Circle

September 25th, 2019 by Roger Darlington

On our first full day in Iceland, Silvia and I left our hotel at 8.30 am and only returned at 6.30 pm as we went on an organised tour called the Golden Circle, a round trip of some 300 km involving four stops. The weather was cool and sometimes misty but generally excellent for such a venture.

The first stop was at a place called Frudheimar which is a greenhouse cultivation centre specialising in growing tomatoes with no use of pesticides but the help of geothermal heat and 600 bumblebees.

Next stop was the Strokkur geyser which is the most energetic spout in Iceland erupting every 5-10 minutes up to 15-30 metres into the sky. All around is bubbling earth and the smell of sulphur. This is where we had a light lunch

The most spectacular destination was Gullfoss (Golden Falls). This is a 32 metre crevice made up of two cascades – one of 11 metres and and the other of 21 metres – with a thunderous flow of water and excellent vantage points.

Finally, we visited Thingvellir National Park which is a UNESCO world heritage site. The world’s first democratic parliament the Althing was established here by the Vikings in AD 930. At this point on the globe, the North American and Eurasian continental plates drift apart which creates some wonderful rock features.

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Visit to Iceland (1): arrival

September 24th, 2019 by Roger Darlington

For more than a decade now, my sister Silvia and I have had a tradition of most years taking a holiday abroad together without our partners and this year our 13th such trip is to Iceland with Regent Travel. It is a new destination for both of us and the 74th country that I have visited.

It is almost a three hour flight from London to Reykjavik. Thanks to the Gulf Stream, Iceland is not as cold as it sounds and it enjoys a cool temperate, oceanic climate with temperatures at this time of year about 12C.

Iceland is said to have been first inhabited in 874 AD and it has the world’s oldest and longest-running parliament. For most of its history, it was controlled by Norway and then Denmark and it has only been an independent nation since 1918.

The population is merely about 360,000 – something like the size of a London borough – and some two-thirds of the population live in or around the capital Reykjavik. Since the country now receives about 2.2 million tourists a year, that is more than six times the population.

The Icelandic language has hardly changed in 1,000 years. The alphabet has 32 letters and there are approximately 50 words for snow.

Iceland is the ninth most expensive country in the world because of the need to import so much and the high cost of labour. The cost of a cappuccino in a cafe in the capital is around £4-6 and a restaurant meal is anything from £45 upwards.

We are staying at the Hotel Reykjavik Centrum which has 89 rooms located in three colourful 18th century-style buildings.

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What’s happening with the choice of baby names in England & Wales?

September 24th, 2019 by Roger Darlington

Earlier this month, there Office of National Statistics (ONS) published its annual list for the choice of baby names last year. There are some interesting trends.

First of all, astonishingly the most popular boys’ name and the most popular girls’ name are essentially the same (Oliver and Olivia) – what is technically known as cognates – and these names have been in the top two for their gender for the last 10 years. Is this the case in any other nation?

Second, it is striking how traditional most of the names are for both boys and girls, although for the boys it is interesting that the familiar form of names rather than the original version is often preferred – Harry instead of Harold, Jack instead of John, Charlie instead of Charles. Third, in the case of girls, eight of the top 10 names end with the letter ‘a’ and six contain the letter ‘l’.

On the other hand, the name John (my father’s name), which was the most popular boys’ name until the end of the Second World War and is still the most common male name in Britain for the poulation as a whole, is nowhere in the top 100 names in the 2018 listings, while David – which is the second most common name in Britain – slipped out of the top 50 of names chosen for baby boys born in 2004 and has only recently come back (it is currently 49th).

Similarly Margaret – the most common female name in the population as a whole – does not even appear in the top 100 names chosen for girls these days, while Susan – the second most common name in Britain – is not even in the top 100 either.

These observations underline how much fashion shapes the popularity of different names. Fashion is a stronger influence with girls’ names than those of boys. So, for example, in the last decade or so, Ivy has soared to number 14 while Elsie has jumped to 22. Arthur has surged into the top 10 boys’ names for the first time since the 1920s, and Ada has jumped into the girls’ top 100 for the first time in a century too, both perhaps inspired by characters in the BBC television drama “Peaky Blinders”.

It should be noted that the ONS produces its ranking of the popularity of names using the exact spelling of the name given at birth registration. If one combines the numbers for names with very similar spellings, a very different picture is revealed.

For boys, combining the occurrence of Mohammed, Muhammad, Mohammad & Muhammed plus eight other spellings of the names would put it in first place – a reflection of the changing ethnicity of the British population and the powerful trend for Muslim families to name their son after the Prophet. Similarly, if one combines the occurrence of Isabella, Isabelle, Isabel and Isobel, one would find the name top of the girls’ list and, if one took Lily and Lilly together, the name would come fifth, while Darcie, Darcey and Darcy would boost that name’s ranking.

Also it is interesting to note that names are becoming more diverse: less than half (45%) of babies had a name within the top 100 lists in 2018, down from two thirds (67%) in 1996.

I’m fascinated by the choice of names and amazed at the variety of naming practices around the world. You can read my comprehensive study of this subject here.

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Greta Thunberg at the UN: What an incredible young woman. What a stunning speech. What a clear message.

September 23rd, 2019 by Roger Darlington

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What now for Israel: a new coalition government or yet another general election?

September 23rd, 2019 by Roger Darlington

The final results are now in for the second general election in Israel in 2019 – the first time in the history of the country that two polls have been held in the same year.

Incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – the longest-serving premier in the history of the nation – failed to lead his Likud party to the largest number of seats and so his main opponents Blue and White will now try to form a coalition with majority support in the Knesset. If coalition talks fail again, yet another general election is not out of the question.

For a guide to the Israeli political system and the results of this month’s election, click here.

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