200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo
June 18th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Today marks the 200th anniversary of the defeat of the Emperor Napoleon by the Duke of Wellington in the bloody Battle of Waterloo. I did a blog posting a couple of weeks ago in which I explained that we would be hearing more about this conflict and today the “Mirror newspaper has a short, but informative, article by historian and former television presenter Peter Snow.
Meanwhile, on BBC2 television, we are two-thirds of the way through a three-part series on Napoleon written and presented by the Right-wing historian Andrew Roberts. He is presenting a very revisionist view of the Frenchman as a noble and progressive leader.
Certainly Napoleon was a brilliant military commander and introduced long-lasting legal and administrative reforms to France, but he was a despot and a megalomanic.
Posted in History | Comments (0)
Contrasts between the American and British political systems – you will be amazed how different they are
June 17th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
On my web site, I have short guides to 13 political systems in different countries around the world. The two most detailed guides are those on the American and British political systems.
Now these two systems are so different that I wrote a separate essay comparing and contrasting them. This has proved to be one of the top five sections of my web site in terms of visits with almost 200 every day.
I’ve recently updated this section, so you might like to check it out here. Comments or questions always welcome.
Posted in American current affairs, British current affairs | Comments (0)
Does trickle-down economics work? Guess who says that it doesn’t.
June 16th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
The idea that increased income inequality makes economies more dynamic has been rejected by an International Monetary Fund study, which shows the widening income gap between rich and poor is bad for growth.
A report by five IMF economists dismissed “trickle-down” economics, and said that if governments wanted to increase the pace of growth they should concentrate on helping the poorest 20% of citizens.
The study – covering advanced, emerging and developing countries – said technological progress, weaker trade unions, globalisation and tax policies that favoured the wealthy had all played their part in making widening inequality “the defining challenge of our time”.
This is the opening to a short article on a new IMF study that deserves special attention and appropriate action.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
U.S. presidential election (7): no less than 15 politicians now declared as candidate for their party’s nomination
June 15th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
The race to enter the White House in January 2017, as the successor to Barack Obama, is becoming crowded now.
On the Democratic side, there are just four candidates and Hillary Clinton is the strong favourite to win her party’s nomination.
Meanwhile, on the Republican side, no less than 11 candidates have declared and there might yet be more. There is no clear favourite, but Jeb Bush fancies his chances of becoming the third president from the family.
You can see the names and brief details of all the candidates here.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (1)
800th anniversary celebration of Magna Carta
June 15th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Something as quintessentially English as Magna Carta was celebrated today at a memorial put up by Americans in the field at Runnymede where the document was agreed and which I have visited.
But what was Magna Carta? Why was it called that? And why is it still important today? The BBC answers these questions here.
Posted in History | Comments (0)
The halving of trade union membership in Britain – and how the unions are fighting back
June 14th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
I was a national trade union official – with what is now the Communication Workers Union – for 24 years (1978-2002) but, in my working life, I have witnessed a sharp decline in trade union membership from a record of around 13 million in the mid 1970s to 6.4 million in 2014.
It is not that working people no longer need the support of trade unions. It is partly the relentless legislative attacks from Conservative Governments. It is mainly the profound changes in the structure of work: from manufacturing to services, from factories to offices, shops and homes, from long-term, stable work patters to flexible work arrangements including outsourcing, agency work, part-time work and zero-hours contracts.
Trade unions need to reinvent how they organise and service their members and how they work with other community groups. So I was pleased to see an interview with the appealing and effective General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress Frances O’Grady and the news of a new campaign which she calls “citizen bargaining”.
She states:
“We need to create new models of trade unionism, because there’s one thing about representing people in BT or BMW or the NHS, and there’s something else about organising baristas and cinema workers and shopworkers.”
and:
“Imagine if we could win systematic broad support from families, communities and the public. Collective bargaining almost becomes ‘citizen bargaining’ with the employer, to win fair treatment for workers.”
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
How many in Britain still smoke and what is it costing us?
June 13th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Fortunately fewer and fewer people are smoking in the developed world but, here in Britain, almost one in five (18.5%) is still a smoker. According to a new report entitled “Smoking Still Kills”, the annual cost is almost £13 billion – £2 billion to the NHS, £1 billion to social care, and the rest in wider costs to society. Of course, the human cost is even greater with 80,000 premature deaths in England each year and all sorts of ill-health experienced by millions.
A coalition of 120 public health organisations believes that we should be aiming to reduce the proportion of UK smokers to 5% by 2035 and that a levy should be imposed on tobacco companies to help pay for the harm that cigarette smoking causes. You can read more about the report here.
Posted in Social policy | Comments (0)
My 14th short story: “Letters From Above”
June 12th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Of all the 31 short stories that I have written and published on my web site, “Letters From Above” is probably the most enigmatic and mysterious. I invite you to read it and see what you think. You’ll find it here.
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Does Britain need a written constitution and, if it does, will it get one?
June 11th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
We have managed without one for 800 years and we are in a tiny select group of nations – including Israel and New Zealand – that does not have one. A recent article in the “Washington Post” appears to suggest that the time has come for us to codify and up-date our unwritten constitution into a single agreed document.
I’m not convinced that Britain needs a written constitution: although it would presumably make matters neater and clearer, it would reduce the flexibility that arguably is the genius of out current arrangements.
What I am sure of is that we are not going to get a written constitution any time soon: it is not a priority in these challenging economic times and there is just no way that we could achieve the necessary consensus.
Constitutions usually emerge from moments of historical discontinuity like a revolution or civil war or decolonisation. Since the notion of written constitutions emerged some two and a half centuries ago, Britain has never experienced such historical incidents which explains why we do not have a written constitution and will not agree to one.
Meanwhile, if you would like to understand better the British political system, you can check out my short guide here.
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (2)
How homosexuality was made illegal in Britain and the consequences of such an iniquitous law
June 10th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
On 6 August 1885, late at night in a House of Commons debate on the Criminal Law Amendment Act, the Member of Parliament Henry Labouchere suddenly produced an amendment to the Bill before the House. This amendment criminalised homosexual acts.
The only discussion was over the penalty to be imposed. Labouchere had proposed a maximum of one year. Sir Henry James suggested two years and Labouchere agreed. The whole debate had four speakers, including Labouchere. It lasted four minutes and consisted of a total of 44o words.
Before this measure was repealed in 1967, some 75,000 men were convicted. One of these was the brilliant mathematician and codebreaker Alan Turing whose story was told recently in the film “The Imitation Game” [my review here]. I have extracted the information on the 1885 law from a short biography of Turing [my review here].
Posted in History | Comments (1)