British general election (8): the first leaflet of the campaign
March 31st, 2015 by Roger Darlington
I have just had an exchange on Facebook with Luke Parker, my Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Brent North.
I wrote:
“Thanks for your election leaflet received today – the first from any party in this election. Twice you refer to “compassionate reform of the benefit system”. I am wondering if this is an oxymoron or a euphemism. Can you explain which of the retiring Government’s welfare reforms you regard as compassionate and what future compassionate reforms you advocate?”
He responded:
“Thanks for getting in touch. As a quick overview, I feel strongly that we need to help people move from benefits to work. To achieve this we need to fix both sides of the equation: ensure that we make benefits unattractive by actions such as lowering the cap, whilst simultaneously making work more attractive by supporting policies like the London Living Wage. I believe that the process of freeing people from the benefits trap is inherently compassionate and I’m delighted that thanks to this government’s reforms, 1166 fewer people are now on Job Seekers Allowance in Brent North than in 2010 (a 43% reduction).”
My own view is that benefits should be paid on the basis of genuine need and that recent reforms have been far from compassionate. But at least my Tory candidate uses social media and responded immediately to my query.
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (2)
Why we need a DOT EVERYONE (4)
March 31st, 2015 by Roger Darlington
In my three previous postings, I have highlighted the Richard Dimbleby Lecture delivered this week by Martha Lane Fox which called for the creation of a new body to promote digital inclusion and debate Internet issues.
Somebody who heard the speech live is Lord (Jim) Knight who chairs the Tinder Foundation on whose Board I sit (we are meeting this afternoon). He has blogged his reactions here.
Posted in Internet | Comments (0)
Why we need a DOT EVERYONE (3)
March 31st, 2015 by Roger Darlington
In my previous posting, I provided a link to the full text of the Richard Dimbleby Lecture given this week by Martha Lane Fox. If you don’t have time to read the speech. you can read a summary of her views in this column in today’s “Guardian” newspaper.
She begins her piece:
“Britain could be brilliant at digital, but we’ve been too slow, too incremental – in skills, in infrastructure, in public services. We need to be bolder. We need a new national institution to lead an ambitious charge – to make us the most digital nation on the planet.”
She highlights the problem of digital skills:
“There is a crisis in skills and the understanding of the digital world’s power and potential, but it is not limited to the corridors of Whitehall or the boardrooms of the City. It’s also the case in some of our most disadvantaged communities. We must ensure that the 10 million adults who can’t enjoy the benefits of being online because they lack basic digital skills no longer miss out.”
The article concludes:
“I have started a petition calling for the next prime minister to start building this idea. Please sign it. Britain invented the BBC and the NHS. Let’s not have a poverty of ambition in this new century: we can, and should, be inventing the definitive public institution for our digital age. Let’s encourage the winner of the next election to focus on making Britain the most digitally powered up country on the planet.”
Want to sign the petition (I have)? You’ll find it here.
Posted in Internet | Comments (0)
Why we need a DOT EVERYONE (2)
March 31st, 2015 by Roger Darlington
In my previous posting, I linked to a preview by Martha Lane Fox of her planned Richard Dimbleby Lecture. The speech was delivered at the Science Museum and broadcast on the BBC. It contains much food for though and one big idea: the creation of a new institution called DOT EVERYONE.
You can read the full speech here.
Posted in Internet | Comments (0)
Why we need a DOT EVERYONE (1)
March 30th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Martha Lane Fox, formerly the Government’s Champion for Digital Inclusion and now CEO of Go ON UK, is giving the Annual Richard Dimbleby Lecture this evening. She will call for the establishment of a new public body to debate Internet issues which she has dubbed DOT EVERYONE and she has provided a blog preview of her proposal.
You can read her blog posting here.
Posted in Internet | Comments (0)
How do the ‘dabbawallas’ of Mumbai deliver more than 350,000 home-cooked lunches to office workers every working day?
March 30th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
I confess that I had never heard of the ‘dabbawallas’ of Mumbai until I read reviews of the 2013 Indian film “The Lunchbox” and only very recently did I manage to see the film [my review here]. So who are these ‘dabbawallas’ and how do they work?
“Mumbai’s committed contingent of 5,000 dabbawallas delivers over 350,000 lunches per day to office workers across the megacity. Typically the lunches are packed in stacked metal lunchboxes which lend this collection of culinary couriers their name: dabba = tiffin, container; walla = worker. Each tiffin is picked up at the client’s home, delivered to his office, and then returned, a trip during which it will typically pass through the hands of at least 12 dabbawallas across an elaborate zoning system. Somewhere in the middle—far away from the fast-paced delivery antics—a home-cooked lunch is enjoyed.”
This is the opening of a fascinating online article about the ‘dabbawalla’ system which you can read here.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
A review of the book “Zone Of Crisis: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran And Iraq”
March 29th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
How much do you know about these four countries? You know that they are constantly in the news headlines and are deeply troubled states. but what are the root causes of these troubles and how well have local leaders and the international community tackled the issues?
Amin Saikal is an Afghan-born scholar of international affairs who has written an accessible and thoughtful book examining each of these four states. You may not read the book, but you can at least read my review of it here.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
British general election (7): if there is just one difference you need to understand
March 28th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
“At the last general election, 12% of voters did not support Conservative, Labour or Lib Dem candidates: on average, in the polls during March this year, the number of respondents saying they intended to vote for other parties was 26%.”
This is a quote from a piece by David Cowling – someone I knew 45 years ago in student politics (we were both president of our students’ union), The theme of the article is how difficult it going to be for the pollsters to call the result of the coming General Election, now less than six weeks away.
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito acquitted of Meredith Kercher murder
March 28th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Like many people around the world, since the appalling murder of Londoner Meredith Kercher in 2007, I’ve read a lot about the case and followed the incredible twists and turns of the Italian judicial process. I never felt that the case against American Amanda Knox and Italian Raffaele Sollecito was sound or fair and I was astonished when they were both convicted and later reconvicted. Three and a half years ago, I made my view clear in this blog posting.
So I am delighted that these two young people have now been acquitted and can start to put their lives back together, but I am so saddened that the family of Meredith Kercher still do not have the answers they want and deserve. The Italian judicial system – aided by a sensationalist and prejudiced media – has failed Knox & Sollecito and the Kercher family. The case needs to lead to some major revisions in police and court practices in Italy
The BBC website has some useful information here and the Knox campaign website is here.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
The mellow fruitfulness of Diana Krall
March 27th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
I always try to try out new films, books, or music and I know I’m coming very late to Canadian pianist and singer Diana Krall, but I saw her on a recent Jonathan Ross show and decided to buy her latest CD “Wallflower”. The songs are very familiar, but Krall’s interpretation is wonderfully soothing as I work on the computer.
Would you recommend some of her earlier work to me?
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)