Holiday in Sri Lanka (1): introduction
May 10th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
Top of my bucket list is the wish – so long as I have reasonable health and adequate wealth – to have visited as many countries as my age. I am 69 next month and my latest holiday is to my 70th country: the island of Sri Lanka. It is a two-week organised tour with Voyages Jules Verne. My only previous visit to the Indian sub-continent was a holiday in India and Nepal in 2003.
Following successive colonisations by the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British, in 1948 (the year of my birth) Ceylon gained its independence from Britain and, in 1972, the country was renamed Sri Lanka.
From July 1983 to May 2009, there was a ferocious civil war between the majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamil with the government’s military pitted against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) or Tamil Tigers. The 26 year long war cost up to 100,000 lives. Then, in the final bloody weeks, some 40,000 non- combatants were killed in what many have classed a war crime by the Sri Lankan army. The Tamil word for the war was ‘prachanai’ which simply means ‘the problem’.
In preparation for my trip, I have been reading “This Divided Island: Stories From The Sri Lankan War” by Samanth Subramanian.
Sri Lanka today is a country with a population of approaching 22 million, 75% of whom are Sinhalese who are mainly Theravada Buddhist and 15% of whom are Tamil who are mainly Hindu. Then there are Moors who comprise 9% of the population and are Muslim.
Sri Lanka has a parliament of 225 seats elected every five years. The island’s politics is dominated by two political parties, the socialist Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the conservative United National Party (UNP). The SLFP is the main constituent of the currently ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) headed since 2015 by the current President Maithripala Sinisena. He replaced the controversial Mahinda Rajapaksa who served for 10 years of increasingly authoritarian rule, so politically the situation in the country is now more stable and encouraging.
Posted in My life & thoughts, World current affairs | Comments (0)
How well does the British Parliament scrutinise legislation?
May 9th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
In the British political system, almost all legislation is proposed by the Government and much of it comes from promises made in the manifesto of the relevant political party at the last election. At the beginning of each annual session of the Parliament, the main Bills to be considered are announced by the Queen in a speech opening that year’s session of Parliament.
All legislation has to be approved by both Houses of Parliament.
In each House of Parliament, a proposed piece of legislation – called a Bill – goes through the following stages:
- First Reading – the Bill is introduced with simply a reading by a Minister of the long title of the Bill
- Second Reading – the general principles of the Bill are debated by all the members of the House and a formal vote is taken
- Committee Stage – each clause and schedule of the Bill, plus amendments to them and any new clauses or schedules, is examined in detail, in the Commons by a small, specially chosen group of members meeting as Public Bill Committee
- Report Stage – the changes made to the Bill in the Committee are reported to and debated by the whole House which is invited to consider the Bill as a whole, approve the changes by the Committee, and consider any further proposed changes that might be suggested
- Third Reading – the final version of the Bill is considered by the whole House in a short debate
- Royal Assent – the Crown gives assent to the Bill which then becomes an Act
This process of enacting legislation applies to what is called primary legislation which starts as a Bill and finally become an Act. Another type of legislation is called secondary (or delegated) legislation which is usually more detailed. The power to make specific pieces of secondary legislation comes from specific pieces of primary legislation. A piece of secondary legislation – formally called an Order-in-Council – is not even debated unless it is particularly controversial and then it cannot be amended but simply approved or opposed. In practice, the last time Parliament rejected a piece of secondary legislation was in 1979.
In recent years, the number of Bills passed by Parliament has remained broadly constant at around 50 a year. However, these Bills have become longer and, in the past few years, about 3,000 pages of primary legislation, as well as around 13,000 pages of secondary legislation, have been processed by Parliament. The reality, therefore, is that Parliament provides increasingly less scrutiny of a lot of legislation. This situation could become even worse as Parliament attempts to deal with all the legislation needed to take the UK out of the European Union (Brexit).
Of course this problem of elected politicians struggling to scrutinise effectively proposed legislation is not unique to the UK, but an an issue for all legislatures around the world.
You can find more information on the British political system here.
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
A review of the new horror movie “Get Out”
May 7th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
OK, so this is a horror film which is not a genre I normally entertain and I would probably have never seen it if friends had not taken me. But this is a horror film which is as smart as it is scary, featuring a clever plot with some sharp twists, a political satire on liberal views of race, and even some humour. Made on a tiny budget of $4.5M, the movie has been a spectacular success earning over $200M at the box office.
“Get Out” is the directorial debut of African-American Jordan Peele who also wrote the script and who is an actor and comedian as well as a film-maker. Following an opening sequence which is only explained at the end, we join black Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) and his white girlfriend Rose (Allison Williams) on a trip to meet her parents whom we are told are Obama-supporting liberals. So what could possibly go wrong?
The title hints that plenty could – and it does in a work that could have been called (except the title has already been used) “There Will Be Blood”.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the 1982 classic film “Gandhi”
May 5th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
When I first saw this classic film at the cinema, the audience applauded at both the intermission and the end (it is a long work of 188 minutes). Although the narrative covers over five decades in Gandhi’s life, a major segment concerns the the process by which independence of India and Pakistan was brought about and the huge loss of life and massive migrations that resulted. When I saw the events of 1947 portrayed in the 2017 film “Viceroy’s House”, I was encouraged to revisit the earlier film which I think deals with these events more powerfully.
“Gandhi” was a triumph both for Richard Attenborough, as producer and director, who worked for 20 years to bring the story to the big screen and for Ben Kingsley, a man whose father was Indian but who had until then had a minor profile, proving to be a superlative choice for the eponymous role. The cinematography is wonderful, making superb use of local filming in India and evocative of some of the work of David Lean.
The huge cast represents a rich array of British thespianism (as well as American and Indian actors) with cameo roles for stars such as John Mills, John Gielgud, Trevor Howard and James Fox and even a tiny role for Daniel Day-Lewis who would go on to be a towering talent. Finally the script by John Briley works well in communicating essential information with some effective lines.
Arguably the film is a little too reverential and at times it is a trifle ponderous, but these are minor reservations. It went on to win no less than eight Academy Awards.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Ever heard of the notion of nominative determinism?
May 3rd, 2017 by Roger Darlington
Nominative determinism is the hypothesis that people tend to gravitate towards areas of work that fit their names.
The term was first used in the magazine “New Scientist” in 1994, after the magazine’s humorous Feedback column noted several studies carried out by researchers with remarkably fitting surnames. These included a book on polar explorations by Daniel Snowman and an article on urology by researchers named Splatt and Weedon.
You can read more about the idea here.
What on earth has led me to think about this notion now? Well. a few days ago, I watched a play called “The Philanthropist” in which a character who was a philologist was called Phil and another character who was an academic was called Don.
My sister – something of an expert on language – told me about the concept of nominative determinism which was new to me.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (1)
A review of the play “The Philanthropist”
May 2nd, 2017 by Roger Darlington
I don’t go to the theatre anywhere near as often as I should like but I’ve resolved to change this. I recently became one of the last people in the UK to se the musical “Les Miserables”. Then, this weekend, I went to see a play at the Trafalgar Studios in London.
It was “The Philanthropist” which was written by Christopher Hampton when he was just 23 and first produced in 1970. In this revival directed by Simon Callow, the cast is apparently younger than is normally the case with this work. I recognised Matt Berry from the television series “The IT Crowd” and Lily Cole from media photographs.
It is a simple play to put on with merely one set which is just a living room. There are only seven characters and one says absolutely nothing while another has a dead short appearance. None of the characters are endearing, with the main one declaring “I’m a man of no convictions. At least I think I am”.
It is moderately funny but dated in its satirisation of academia and overly cynical for my taste. I’ll do better next time …
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Weekend cinema (1): a German horror film from 1919
April 30th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
“The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari”
This wonderfully radical German Expressionist work from director Robert Wiene is unusually wordy for a silent film but then it has quite an intricate plot with a surprise ending. It is not just the story that is original; the stage sets are full of disorientating features such as unnatural angles and and weird shapes. The whole idea is to draw the viewer into the madness at the heart of the narrative.
But this was a very political work: the all-controlling Dr. Caligari (Werner Krauss) represents the authoritarian figure that has so often dominated German politics, while the somnabulist Cesare (Conran Veldt) who blindly does the doctor’s bidding – even when it involves murder – stands for the German populace that allowed itself to be marched into the Great War.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Weekend cinema (2): an American sci-fi movie from 2017
April 30th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
“Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2”
In 2014, the original “Guardians”was a surprising hit and, like many others, I was totally won over by its original bunch of characters and fresh tone with rich colours, witty script and zippy action. Three years later, the next outing for these space heroes is again directed and co-written by James Gunn so it is very much a case of back to the future.
This sequel does not have the novelty of the initial film but the reprising of style will ensure that it is another massive success. One thing that has changed is that, whereas the first “Guardians” was the break-out role for Chris Pratt as Peter Quill (aka Star-Lord), since then he has become a major star with hits like “Jurassic World” and Passengers”.
There is a wonderful opening with a background battle between four of our superheroes and a giant squid while – a minor twist on the original lineup – Baby Groot dances to ELO’s “Blue Sky”, the first of a succession of musical tributes to the 1970s. The closing credits provide much more than the traditional single clip of other Marvel movies with a host of textual and visual tit-bits.
In between, the action rarely stops with a luscious use of colour for both characters and sets, but for much of the time I had little idea what was going on. I mean: a demi-god called Ego who has trouble sleeping. Rollover, Freud. Best just to enjoy the ride.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Canadian trial for universal basic income
April 29th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
I’m interested in the political idea for an universal basic income and, a couple of months ago, I blogged about the proposal here. Also I’m a believer in evidence-based decision-making including in the sphere of public policy, so I was pleased to see this news:
“The Canadian province of Ontario will launch a trial run of universal basic income with about 4,000 participants this summer, making it the first North American government in decades to test out a policy touted as a panacea to poverty, bloated bureaucracy and the rise of precarious work.
Participants in the three-year, C$150m pilot program will be drawn from the cities of Hamilton, Thunder Bay and Lindsay. A randomly selected mail-out will invite applications in the coming months, with participants screened to ensure they are between the ages of 18 and 64 years and living on a low income.
The pilot will include a mix of those who are working in low-paying or precarious jobs and those on social assistance, with participants able to opt out at any point during the three years.”
This is an extract from a news item which you can read in full here.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (1)
A review of the 1942 film “Went The Day Well?”
April 28th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
“Went the day well?
We died and never knew.
But, well or ill,
Freedom, we died for you.”
This week, a friend persuaded me to join him in seeing a British wartime film at the BFI Southbank cinema in London.
“Went The Day Well?” is a British black and white film of 1942 which is an oddity in so many respects. The strange title comes from a short epitaph written about the First World War which appears at the very beginning of the film and the plot was based on a short story by the author Graham Greene entitled “The Lieutenant Died Last”.
We see a takeover of an English village called Bramley End (it was actually shot in part in Turville in Buckinghamshire) by German paratroopers pretending to be English soldiers preparing for an imminent large-scale invasion. In fact, the underlying message of the movie – beware of fifth columnists and strangers – was essentially redundant by this stage of the war since a German invasion was no longer anywhere near likely.
Nevertheless, I guess for a wartime audience it provided an interesting and entertaining storyline which presented the plucky British at their communal best. However, the actors playing the Germans have such perfect English accents and their characters lack basic combat skills, while the action sequences are weak when they are not silly. A similar tale was represented much better by the 1976 film “The Eagle Has Landed”.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)