How to think critically
January 7th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
Once again, I have just given permission for the use of my advice on how to think critically to the Maritime Advanced Warfighting School of the US Naval War College who will issue it to course students as a handout. If the advice is good enough for the American military, you might like to take a look here.
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A review of the new sci-fi movie “Passengers”
January 6th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
Guys, how would you like to be all alone with Jennifer Lawrence? Girls, how would you like to be all alone with Chris Pratt? The next best thing is to see the film “Passengers” which is absolutely carried by Pratt and Lawrence. You can read my review here.
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Think Christmas is well and truly over? – it’s not if you’re Italian
January 5th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
Today is the Feast of the Epiphany in Christian countries. My mother was Italian and Catholic and she introduced we three children to the character of Befana – the Good Witch who brings presents for children on the eve of the Epiphany. It made some sense; after all, the three kings did not bring gifts to the baby Jesus on the day of his birth which we celebrate as Christmas Day, but some time later on the day we mark as the Epiphany. You can learn more about Befana here.
It’s on a day like today that I particularly remember my mother who died in 1999. Of course, I still miss her very much. One my my short stories was inspired, not so much by the life she led (which was a tough one), as by the life I would like her to have experienced. You can read it here.
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It’s Fat Cat Tuesday – a national disgrace
January 4th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
The UK’s top bosses will have made more money by lunchtime today than the typical UK worker will earn all year, according to an analysis that exposes the gulf between executives and the rest of the workforce. On “Fat Cat Wednesday” campaigners say that public anger with elites will intensify unless action is taken to tackle excess among executives at a time when pressures on household budgets are rising.
The High Pay Centre calculated that the average FTSE 100 boss now earns more than £1,000 an hour, meaning they will pass the UK average salary of £28,200 by around midday today. The think tank said that after enjoying rapid earnings growth in recent years, leading bosses now typically earn 129 times more than their employees.
More information on this story here.
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“Stuck: How Labour is too weak to win, and too strong to die”
January 3rd, 2017 by Roger Darlington
This is the title of a report published today by the Fabian Society on the state of the British Labour Party. It is a sobering but fair analysis of the current challenges facing the party.
The one paragraph summation is as follows:
“The Labour Party is too weak to win the next election – whether it takes place in 2017 or 2020. But it is also too strong to be displaced as the UK’s main party of opposition. When an election comes Labour may end up winning only 140 to 200 big city and ex-industrial constituencies, but it will have a platform from which to rebuild. On the other hand, if Labour’s fortunes recover sooner, while there is no chance of a majority, the party might be able to gain sufficient MPs to govern in partnership with other parties. That should be Labour’s goal.”
You can read a one-page summary of the report here and access the full 12-page report here.
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Volunteering with Crisis at Christmas (7)
December 31st, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Earlier, I have blogged about my three shifts as a volunteer with the charity for the homeless Crisis at Christmas (CAC).
The 45th CAC is now over. Collection of accurate statistics and data is still taking place, but the charity has shared with volunteers some highlights of the event to demonstrate what we contributed to this Christmas.
From 22-30 December, CAC welcomed thousands of guests in 10 centres across London (CAC was also delivered in Newcastle, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Coventry). This was made possible thanks to the more than 10,000 strong army of volunteers that attended shifts in London. 38,000 meals were served across the week and more than 5,600 meals across centres on Christmas Day.
From 23-28 December, 620 guests accessed doctors, nurses and pharmacists via the healthcare clinics. On 28 December alone, the healthcare service saw 127 guests, their busiest day. From 23-28 December, 325 guests accessed the podiatry service.
Teams of advisors were helping with everything from housing to immigration issues. 4 dental units and dozens of dentists were working flat out every day. Foot care and eye care teams were sorting guests’ feet and issuing free prescription glasses.
Hundreds of guests had their hair cut and hundreds more enjoyed a massage. Clothes were being repaired at a furious rate. There were thousands of sessions in the 10 IT cafes (a total of 300+ pieces of kit) provided by the IT supporter AIMAR. 71 hours of international phone calls were made.
Many guests just relaxed in the cafes and libraries or played chess and board games and many more just sat and chatted into the early hours. There was some wonderful art created, creative writing and poetry written and performed, films watched in the 10 cinemas, bands and performers enjoyed, and karaoke endured. The musical highlights the guests enjoyed included a clarinetist playing beautifully during breakfast, a steel pan band and the London Bulgarian choir. Oh and Chris Martin from Coldplay made an unannounced appearance and sang some songs with guests.
Backstage, the Catering, Operations, Resourcing and Transport teams were adapting to life in the new CAC Warehouse and coped extremely well. A fleet of 100 vehicles ferried warehouse supplies and guests across London to and from the centres. The catering team were operating 24 hours a day to make sure every centre had its meals and the Operations Centre made sure that each centre had the supplies and support it needed to run efficiently.
A magnificent effort all round. It was good to be a tiny part of this amazing operation.
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A review of “The Danish Girl”
December 30th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander and Tom Hooper consolidate their success in this moving story about a genuine transgender experience. I’ve reviewed the film here.
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Volunteering with Crisis at Christmas (6)
December 28th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Yesterday (Tuesday) was the third and last of my shifts as a volunteer with the charity for the homeless Crisis at Christmas.
As I waited for the briefing to begin for the expected 170 volunteers, I spoke to two other volunteers: one guy who works in the travel sector and another doing a PhD in molecular chemistry. Since, by now, most volunteers had attended a briefing, the shift leader decided to jazz up the presentation of the instructions and messages. They were written down on four pieces of paper and the volunteers were divided into four groups, so that each group could role play the text on their paper and the other volunteers had to guess what was being communicated. Good fun.
For the guests, there were all the usual activities with singing and bingo proving popular and the film of the day being “Aliens”. Dinner, when it arrived, was gammon or ratatouille followed by bread pudding. But, on this shift, I barely got to talk to any guests and I did not serve dinner. Instead I had a lot of standing around outside and some sitting around inside.
So my first duty was to ‘guard’ a back entrance for vehicles. Absolutely nothing happened, but I got to wear a high visibility jacket and hold a walk talkie and to talk to my fellow volunteer. She was a recent English graduate now working in publishing, so we spent the time discussing novels. I was saddened to hear that her debts as a graduate are £35,000 which apparently is quite typical.
Next I had a so-called “gap duty” inside. A gap duty simply involves sitting in front of doors or desks or toilets making sure that the wrong people do not go to the wrong area. The way to survive gapping is yapping, and once again I had a young woman with whom to converse. She had worked with Crisis at Christmas as an 18 year old, when she was estranged from her family and – as she put it – “sofa surfing”. That was seven years ago and, since then, she had got her act together, re-established relations with her family, and obtained a degree in drama and dance.
We were visited by a full-time membar of staff from Crisis who wanted to know about our experience and views. Also one the homeless guests wanted us to sign his green goalkeeper’s shirt before he signs with the second team of a noted London football team. Another guest who engaged with us was a Dutch guy wearing a giant leprechaun hat. Sometimes Crisis at Christmas is surreal …
My final duty was another outdoor stint, this time on the main doors where I worked for a time on Christmas Day. Again there was little to do. Two guests – a white man and a black woman – who apparently were a couple stood a little way from us engaged in a ferocious argument that had something to do with the use by the man of the N word. I spoke to a Polish guest who ran a small business back in his home country but was really struggling to start a similar operation here.
As always, there were other fascinating and affable volunteers with whom to engage. One was a solicitor of a Greek Cypriot background who specialises in mental health law. We were lamenting the political horrors of 2016 and I was trying to put a favourable view on possibilities for 2017, but he he told me that he feared for “the whole direction of western society”.
On the this sombre note, my three seven-hour shifts with Crisis at Christmas 2016 came to an end. We did not solve homelessness; we did not change the world; but hopefully we made life a little better for a short period for people in real need. I met some wonderful people – both guests and volunteers – and found the experience satisfying and sobering. I will certainly remember it.
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Remembering George Michael in concert
December 27th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
The sad and premature death of singer/songwriter George Michael reminds me of when I saw him in concert. It was the first non-sports event at the new Wembley Stadium in London and the date was Sunday 10 June 2007.
I wondered why I could not find an account of the concert on this blog but, when I checked, I found that my blog was down for 10 days because of a massive spam attack. However, I was able to find a note on the event in my daily diary which I have maintained for over 50 years.
I recorded that “the venue was excellent and the singing brilliant” while overall “it was fun”. My favourite songs from the concert were “Careless Whisper” and “Freedom”. The ticket was £75.
2017 has been a tough year in so many ways.
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Volunteering with Crisis at Christmas (5)
December 26th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Yesterday (Christmas Day) was the second of my three shifts as a volunteer with the charity for the homeless Crisis at Christmas. In London, there is no public transport on Christmas Day so, to reach my centre in the middle of town, I had to use my local cab company. This is staffed overwhelmingly by Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who are mostly Hindus so they do not celebrate Christmas. In fact, my particular driver into town was a Bangladeshi Muslim.
Once at the centre, I mingled with other volunteers as we waited for our briefing and duties. The volunteers are an eclectic bunch of wonderful people. I chatted to a young Canadian woman from Nova Scotia who works in the City as an insurance broker for rockets and satellites. I met a young Vietnamese woman who speaks fluent Romanian. The briefing was done by the shift leaders and, as last time, I was impressed at the energy and commitment of these people. You could hook them up to the National Grid and switch off a few power stations.
Outdoor duties are not necessarily the most popular, so I thought I should volunteer for one. Six of us – three men and three women – were allocated to the front doors of the centre to check if people coming in were volunteers (wearing a badge), registered guests (wearing a wrist band), or new guests (needing to be checked in). One of the volunteers was from Germany, another from New Zealand and a third from the Isle of Man (the only one of these ‘countries’ that I have not visited). The weather was surprisingly mild for Christmas Day and I was wrapped up, so it was fine.
The problem was that many of the volunteers took so seriously the injunction to “dress down” that it was not always easy to distinguish a volunteer from a guest and we had to ask to see the badge or wristband. Then, with the new guests, we were supposed to conduct something called “a verbal pat down” which meant establishing that the individual had no alcohol, drugs or weapons. I don’t think any of us quite worked out how we were meant to do this, so we just used our judgement.
One of the guests came out, working on his smartphone and was a bit upset that we had no WiFi. Another of the guests who came out for a smoke told me how the previous evening he had accompanied a friend to hospital because the friend – also homeless and on the streets – had had his faced bashed in. To my amazement, he dived into a satchel, pulled out an expensive-looking, lap top, and proceeded to show me a video of the two of them in the accident & emergency section of the hospital (his friend’s face was covered in blood and bruises). Then this guest told me that he was member of Anonymous – I always thought that members of this cyber-hacking group were, well, anonymous … He went on to announce that he was also a soothsayer …
After an hour and half on outdoor duties, I was brought inside to staff the entrance barriers together with the German volunteer. I had to click a counter every time someone entered the building and she had to do the same every time someone left. I suppose this was to assist with a body count in the case of an evacuation or fire, but I can assure you that our counting was not an exact science. I took the opportunity to have a long chat with one of the guests. He was about my age, very well-spoken, genuinely charming, and had managed a moderately successful career as a technical designer – but his life story and health issues were tragic. He fled from his home as a teenager to escape an abusive father, had never married, had looked after his mother as she was slowly killed by dementia, had many acquaintances but no real friends. He was seriously obese and suffered from high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and fluid retention and he could only walk by pushing his wheelchair.
Meanwhile all sorts of other activities were going on for the entertainment or support of the guests, including sewing, manicuring, computing, carol singing, addiction advice, natural healing (whatever that is), and even a showing of “Star War VII: The Force Awakens”.
After two and a half hours on my feet constantly, I took a short break before volunteering – as I did on my first shift – to serve dinner. I really enjoyed this because it was so satisfying, but it took longer (two hours) and was even more intense than last time because Christmas dinner involved so many items. For most guests, it was turkey, pork, stuffing, gravy, potatoes, carrots, parsnips and of course sprouts. For the vegetarians, it was a butternut squash dish or a vegetarian chilli. Dessert was Christmas pudding, mince pies and cup cakes. One of my tables had a bunch of Poles on it and they were delighted when I offered a few phrases in Polish.
Dinner time at the Crisis centres is quite an occasion. Most guests are polite and appreciative, but some become quite agitated, complaining that they are not being served quickly enough or later that some others or should be allowed to serve themselves. It’s actually a miracle that hundreds of hot and nourishing meals are cooked and served so quickly and efficiently.
I made myself an omelette before leaving home and took to the centre a couple of cakes and apples. That was enough for me. I love a traditional Christmas meal, but missing it was massively compensated by the amazing comaraderie at the centre.
My cab ride home arrived for me before the debrief was complete, so I don’t have any statistics for this shift, except one which I picked up later: 628 meals were served at the centre on Christmas Day. Whereas normally I can reach central London for free on the bus and tube because I have a Freedom Pass, this time I had to pay – with tips – £70 for my travel. But it was worth every penny.
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