Ruminations on Rome (1)
November 13th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
I’m off to Rome for a weekend break – not with my wife Vee but with my sister Silvia. For about a decade now, my sister and I have tried to have a short holiday together without our spouses and this is our ninth such break.
It will be my third visit to Rome, but the previous trips were years ago – in 1978 for a family holiday and 1992 for a trade union congress. I think that this is my 11th visit to Italy – as well as Rome, I’ve been to Venice, Florence, Milan, Turin, and Naples (where our Italian mother was from).
I have no idea how the Italian state functions, but I love Italians and Italian food and the country has so much history and culture to enjoy. Our weekend should be fun …
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How to get a good night’s sleep
November 13th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
I am fortunate: I can sleep almost anywhere almost anytime and invariably have around eight hours sleep a night. But so many people struggle to sleep well. You can find some useful advice here.
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Have you ever seen the mid 1980s movie “Out Of Africa”?
November 12th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
If not, you should. If you have, you might want to revisit it – as I have recently done. You can read my review here.
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The s-l-o-w decline in the use of cash
November 11th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
A couple of decades ago, I assumed that by now we would be moving rapidly to a much less cash, if not actually a cashless, society. But we are still using a lot of cash for a great many payments in spite of debit cards, credit cards, and contactless payment systems.
The number of branches in the UK has halved in the last 30 years. The total fell from 13,349 20 years ago to just under 9,702 in 2013. Some 650 bank branches are due to close this year. Compared to the size of population, the UK has far fewer bank branches than France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Meanwhile the use of bank branches fell by 6% last year as customers channelled more transactions over phone networks and the Internet.
However, the use of ATMs has continued to grow steadily and is now over 70,000. And surprisingly the total cash withdrawals from these ATMs is still rising.
in 2012, 7.2 million consumers relied solely on cash for all regular payments. There is a major difference in the use of cash between consumers on different incomes. For people on incomes of less than £9,000 a year, over 70% of payments are in cash. For those on incomes above £50,000, the figure falls to less than 50%.
It seems that, especially in this age of austerity, low income consumers find it easier to manage their budgets by using cash, so that they can physically see the notes and coins involved in the transactions
These figures emerged from a discussion I chaired recently of the Post Offices Advisory Group run by Citizens Advice where we had a presentation from the LINK Scheme UK.
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The remarkable story of Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi
November 10th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
It’s exciting news that in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), the National League for Democracy (NLD) looks set to have won a stunning election victory, although there are many constitutional, economic and ethnic problems ahead.
The NLD leader is the remarkable Aung San Suu Kyi who has a special connection with the UK because her late husband was British. Her story was told four years ago in a moving, but little-noticed, film called simply “The Lady”. You really should try to view it. You’ll find my review here.
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Sooner or later, the Internet changes everything
November 9th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
This is the title of my latest column on Internet matters.
I look briefly at three sectors: one sector where the changes as a result of the Net have already been dramatic (mail); another where the changes are still in progress (e-commerce); and a third where the changes are not yet too significant (broadcasting).
You can read my piece here.
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U.S. presidential election (13): the astonishing rise of Ben Carson
November 8th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
To almost non-Americans – and, I suspect, many Americans – the current success of Ben Carson in the race to become the Republican candidate for the US Presidency is simply amazing. The retired neurosurgeon with no experience of politics has now overtaken Donald Trump – himself a political outsider – who has previously been in the lead for six months.
A profile in today’s “Observer” newspaper notes of Carson:
“He has … coined some of the most outlandish statements ever uttered on the national stage, a purveyor of bizarre conspiracy theories and a provocateur who compares abortion to slavery and same-sex marriage to pedophilia. This week, Carson restated his belief that the pyramids were built by the biblical Joseph to store grain, and not by Egyptians to entomb their kings. He believes that Vladimir Putin, Ali Khamenei and Mahmoud Abbas attended school together in Moscow in 1968. He believes that Jews with firearms might have been able to stop the Holocaust, that he personally could stop a mass shooting, that the Earth was created in six days and that Osama bin Laden enjoyed Saudi protection after 9/11.”
And yet:
“Carson’s favorability rating among Republicans, at 74%, towers over the field. His devout Christianity has made him a darling among evangelicals, who count for about a third of caucus participants in Iowa, the first state to vote. And in the last quarter the Carson campaign reported contributions of $20m, more than any of his rivals.”
You can read more about the enigma that is Ben Carson here.
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A review of the classic crime movie “Heat”
November 7th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
In 1995, Michael Mann wrote and directed a terrific film called “Heat” which was the first to feature the stars Robert De Niro and Al Pacino together. I have just revisited it and reviewed it here.
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A week in the life of a consumer advocate
November 7th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
As I have a portfolio career currently working with six organisations, my schedule is very varied and some weeks are fuller than others in terms of meetings and events. This past week has been especially busy, with meetings every day, and three occasions in which I have chaired events.
On Monday, I chaired the Customer Panel of South East Water. The company provides water to 2.1 million customers in the south east of England and the panel monitors how well the company is performing against tough performance standards agreed with the regulator Ofwat.
On Wednesday, I chaired a conference organised by the UK Council on Deafness. This addressed the telecommunications needs of the deaf and hard of hearing and looked especially at BT’s Next Generation Text Relay and various video relay services.
On Friday, I chaired the Post Offices Advisory Group of Citizens Advice. Post Office Limited is currently refurbishing or relocating almost all the 11,500 post offices in the country but faces tough competition for most of the services it provides.
All companies and regulators claim that they put the interests of consumers at the heart of their operations, but the consumer voice is often weak in discussions about service and regulation. Together with many able colleagues, I work to strengthen that voice.
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A tribute to my university friend Dan Filson
November 6th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
I have just learned the sad news of the recent death of Dan Filson.
In the late 1960s/early 1970s, Dan and I were at university together, both of us studying Management Sciences at the then University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST). In the academic year 1969-70, we both served as full-time sabbatical officers in the Students’ Union – me as President and he as Secretary. At that time, we saw each other every day and often spent hours working and talking together.
After university, our lives went in different directions: I became a national trade union official and he became a tax officer. But we both retained our interest in politics and Dan came back to my attention when last year he became a Labour Councillor in my London Borough (Brent), having previously spent 12 years as a Councillor in the Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham.
Having not seen Dan for perhaps 40 years, I reconnected with him this year when we got together twice to team up with some fellow UMIST students of our time at university [i blogged about the first occasion here]. Then, thanks to e-mail and his contributions to Twitter, I was able to follow some of his political activities and thoughts.
I knew that he had suffered ill-health, but his death comes as a real shock. I pay tribute to him for the support he gave me at UMIST Students’ Unions, his professional work as a tax officer, and his many years of service as a Labour Councillor. I offer my condolences to his family and friends.
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