How the world can work together when it wants to: the Svalbard Global Seed Vault
November 11th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is a secure seedbank on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen near Longyearbyen in the remote Arctic Svalbard archipelago, about 1,300 kilometres (810 miles) from the North Pole.
The purpose of the vault to preserve a wide variety of plant seeds that are duplicate samples, or “spare” copies, of seeds held in gene banks worldwide.The seed vault is an attempt to insure against the loss of seeds in other genebanks during large-scale regional or global crises.
The number of varieties of plant seeds now stored in the vault is around 400,000 and the total number of seeds in storage is over 20 million. The vault contains samples from approximately one-third of the world’s most important food crop varieties.
You can learn more about the vault here.
Posted in Environment | Comments (0)
The man they call Britain’s Oskar Schindler: Nicholas Winton
November 10th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Although I have never met him, I have a special respect for the British businessman Nicholas Winton who saved 669 Czechoslovak Jewish children from the Holocaust by organising their evacuation by train from Prague just before the outbreak of the Second World War. I supposed it’s partly because I’m British, partly because so many of my closest friends are Jewish, and partly because my wife is half-Czech so we know the country and its history well.
I have blogged about Winton twice before: here and here. He has been in the news again recently because of his award of the Order of the White Lion in Prague. Today’s “Guardian” newspaper carries an interview with him in which he states:
“I know crowds of people who go to church and the synagogue who aren’t religious. What is needed is something in which they can all believe irrespective of religion, which in most cases, dare I say it, is a facade. We need something else, and that something is ethics. Goodness, kindness, love, honesty. If people behaved ethically, no problem.”
You can read the interview here.
And you can learn more here.
Posted in History | Comments (0)
South East Water becomes first company in sector to commit to the Living Wage
November 9th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
I am the independent Chair of the Customer Challenge Group at South East Water which supplies drinking water to 2.1 million customers in Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire. So I am pleased that this Living Wage Week South East Water has been announced as the first water company to receive accreditation from the Living Wage Foundation for paying its employees the Living Wage.
The Living Wage commitment will see everyone, regardless of whether they are permanent employees or third-party contractors and suppliers; receive a minimum hourly wage of £7.85 – significantly higher than the national minimum wage of £6.50.
The Living Wage is an hourly rate set independently and updated annually. The Living Wage is calculated according to the basic cost of living using the ‘Minimum Income Standard’ for the UK. Decisions about what to include in this standard are set by the public; it is a social consensus about what people need to make ends meet.
Caroline Fife, Unison Regional Organiser, said: “We are delighted to see South East Water become the first water company to sign up to the Living Wage. We asked for this during pay claim negotiations and are pleased to see the company has taken this step.”
Living Wage Foundation Director, Rhys Moore said: “South East Water is the first water company to sign up to the voluntary Living Wage movement, joining SSE within the utilities sector. We hope that the leadership shown by South East Water will encourage others in their industry to find out more about both the business and people benefits that becoming a Living Wage employer can bring to an organisation.”
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
A review of the new film “Mr Turner”
November 9th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
If you’re only interested in films with sex, violence, a thumping soundtrack and lashings of action. “Mr Turner” is not for you. If you are discerning enough to accept its length of two and a half hours, its pace which is languid and unhurried, and its narrative which is about character rather than action, this is a gem of a movie – see my review here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A couple of days in my old home city of Manchester
November 8th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
From time to time, I’m invited to lecture to visiting delegations from China, usually in London. This week, I was asked to go to Manchester to give a couple of such lectures and I agreed since I was brought in Manchester (I left when I was 23) and still have relatives there.
So I went up the day before and caught up with my step mother Marjorie. She only gets to the cinema if i take her, so we went to see a film she was keen to view: the wonderful “Mr Turner” directed by Mike Leigh and starring Timothy Spall. This is a work which is set deservedly to win many awards and we saw it at the independent Cornerhouse cinema [see my review here]. Afterwards we had a really good meal at an Italian restaurant called “Giorgio”.
I stayed overnight in the same central Manchester hotel where the Chinese delegation was staying and where I would be giving my lectures next day. The Britannia Hotel was opened in 1982 in a building dating back to 1858 when it was the Lancashire cotton industry’s most famous warehouse.
The following morning, I met the Chinese delegation from the Hangzhou Municipal Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervsion (I’ve actually been to Hangzhous, one of the 15 cities I’ve visited on three trips to China). My two lectures were entitled “The British Political System” and “The Regulation Of Markets In The British Economy”.
I encouraged them to ask questions and I was pleased that they did because, when I first started such lectures to Chinese delegations, they were reluctant to raise issues with me. I am always respectful of China on such occasions, but I do politely point out some of the challenges that China is going to face if it is to reconcile its free market approach to the economy and its strict political control of society and I highlight some of the inconsistencies in China’s current role in the international community.
I spent my second evening in Manchester staying with my younger brother Ralph and his family. That evening, i took Ralph and my niece – 11 year old Saskia [see her latest poem here] – for a meal at a good local restaurant called “Croma”.
Next morning, Ralph and Saskia took me back into central Manchester. In his car, my brother played some of a new CD of jazz music: “Animalia” by Mammal Hands and I liked this so much that, back at home, i ordered it from Amazon.
They wanted to show me the recently reopened Central Library in St Peter’s Square. The building has been transformed in a revamp which has taken four years and cost £48M. As a university undergraduate, I spent hours and hours and hours in this building and it was fascinating to see how the iconic circular Wolfson Reading Room is still there but so much has changed with terrific use of new technologies.
I really enjoyed my couple of days back in Manchester – a veritable trip down memory lane. It rained all the time – but I that was the case for most of Britain.
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (2)
A poem by my niece Saskia Darlington (aged 11)
November 8th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Remember the cracks of light between the trees.
Remember the Christmas mushy peas.Remember the snowflake floating down in a flurry.
Remember he squirrels collecting nuts in a hurry.Remember the plectrums against the guitar strings.
Remember the persistent microwave ping.Remember the sunset on a summer dawn.
Remember the snow cold ice and rain.Remember the smile when the baby was born.
Remember the sharp cold summer air on your face.
Roger with the young poetess Saskia
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Why much of the rest of the world still respects Barack Obama
November 6th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
The poor showing by Democratic candidates in this week’s mid-term elections is being blamed in part on the low approval ratings for Democrat President Barack Obama. But, in many countries of the world, there is still immense respect for a president who has never embarrassed his office by language or conduct, has never rushed to war or military intervention, and really cares about inequality and injustice at home and abroad.
“Outside America, little has changed. Obama is admired for his integrity and statesmanship and world leaders still queue up for visits to the White House, hoping the old Obama kudos will rub off.
And a survey this year by America’s Pew Research Center found the USA’s reputation has soared around the world since he took over. Approval ratings are up by 29% in Spain, 22% in Germany and France and 19% in Japan since the reviled Bush Jnr left the White House.
Ordinary people in most other Western nations still believe he is a man who will do the right thing in world affairs and many voice general approval for his policies.
His attempts to address inequality and his cautious use of America’s military power have earned him respect on the international stage.”
This is an extract from an article in today’s “Mirror” newspaper.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (1)
American political institutions (1): the mid-term elections
November 6th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
This autumn, I am doing a six week (five session) evening class at London’s City Lit on the subject of “American Political Institutions”. The lecturer is Malcolm Malcolmson who is also the Principal of the City Lit (good to see someone leading from the front) and I have heard him lecture before (see this posting). He is incredibly knowledgeable about American politics and a very clear presenter.
The first two sessions will be about the context for the institutions and the last three will look at the executive, the legislature and the judiciary respectively. So this week, after a broad introduction to the three institutions and the notion of the separation of powers, we looked at the results of this week’s mid-term elections when all the House of representatives, one third of the Senate, and a clutch of State Governorships and other local officials were up for election.
Whichever way you look at it, the Democrats did very badly and the Republicans now control the Senate as well as the House. But our lecturer pointed out with long-term data that the party of the incumbent president usually does poorly in mid-term elections, especially in the second mid-term elections if the President is serving a second term (as Obama is). The only real exception in recent times was in the case of Bill Clinton’s second term when Democrats did well in the mid-terms, probably as a reaction to the fierce Republican hostility to Clinton over the infamous Lewinsky affair.
Malcolm made it clear that the 2016 elections start now and, of course, the focus will be on the Presidency. He is convinced that both Democrats and Republicans will have a woman on the Presidential/Vice-Presidential ticket. He expects Hillary Clinton to be the Democratic presidential candidate and he speculated that Susana Martinez could be the Republican vice-presidential candidate.
I know that this course will help me give more depth and colourt to my web site guide to the American political system.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
Is there other intelligent life out there or are we the alone in the universe?
November 5th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
If it is suggested that humankind is probably the only intelligent life in the universe, some people condemn this as an arrogant thought. But this is not a matter of attitude or emotion; it is a matter of science and probability.
On the one hand, it seems impossible that humans can be alone in the universe. A typical galaxy can contain around a billion stars and there are thought to be approaching 200 billion galaxies in the observable universe. On average each star has two or three planets revolving round it, so there must be millions in the ‘goldilocks zone’ where it is not too cold or too hot for liquid water to exist (which is the basis of any life that we can understand).
On the other hand, the existence of humankind on planet Earth revolving round the Sun is the result of a whole series of highly importable variables. One of these is the ‘jump’ from single cell organisms to multi-cell organisms, something which is sometimes known as ‘the fateful encounter’ that has happened only once in more than 3 billion years of the existence of bacteria. Such an encounter does not guarantee the evolution of intelligent life forms; after all, Earth has experienced five great extinctions when substantial proportions of life on the planet were wiped out. So us being here is quite improbable.
There is actually something called the Drake Equation that attempts to give some sort of guidance as to the probability of intelligent life. It consists of seven key variables. The last of these is the length of time for which intelligent civilisations release detectable signals into space. Humans have only existed for a tiny fraction of the past life of the universe and may not continue to exist for long in the future life of the universe. So, even if other intelligent life has existed, maybe it did not coincide with our existence as a species.
I find the detectable signals variable of the Drake equation the most compelling in terms of deciding whether there is any other intelligent life out there. Any intelligent life must use parts of the electromagnetic spectrum to communicate – as we do with telecommunications, radio, television and the like – and, even if they had no wish to communicate with other intelligent life in the universe, these signals would travel through the universe for ever. Forget flying saucers and the like – how is it that we have never detected any such signals? Even ET phoned home.
On the balance of current evidence, I think that our working assumption has to be that we are alone. If we are the only intelligent life form that exists or has ever existed, we have a tremendous responsibility to preserve humankind and make it as civilised as possible.
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (2)
How big is the American national debt?
November 4th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
The short answer is approximately $18 trillion.
But most people have no idea what a trillion is. In most English-speaking countries (usage varies around thew world!), a trillion is 1,000 billion and a billion is 1,000 million, so a trillion is 1,000,000,000,000. Therefore $18 trillion is a LARGE number.
But it still means little unless one has some context. You’ll find some useful ways of looking at the figure here.
As Americans go to the polls today in the mid term Congressional elections, I wonder how many candidates have said anything meaningful about the US national debt.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)