OK, William and Kate, but we were there (jet boating on the Shotover River) first
April 14th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
William and Kate – otherwise known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge – are pictured in many newspapers today enjoying a jet boat ride on the Shotover River in New Zealand. You can see some pictures here.
A year ago, Vee and I thrilled to exactly the same ride and you can read our account here.
Posted in My life & thoughts, World current affairs | Comments (0)
Is this the most important book that you (and I) will never read?
April 13th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
It’s called “Capital In The Twenty-First Century” and it is authored by the French economist Thomas Piketty. Politicians and economists around the world are calling it a stunning critique of the capitalist system. But you and I will never read it because it is more than 700 pages long with footnotes, graphs and mathematical formulae.
In an interview for today’s “Observer” newspaper, Piketty states:
“I began with a straightforward research problematic. I began to wonder a few years ago where was the hard data behind all the theories about inequality, from Marx to David Ricardo (the 19th-century English economist and advocate of free trade) and more contemporary thinkers. I started with Britain and America and I discovered that there wasn’t much at all. And then I discovered that the data that did exist contradicted nearly all of the theories including Marx and Ricardo. And then I started to look at other countries and I saw a pattern beginning to emerge, which is that capital, and the money that it produces, accumulates faster than growth in capital societies. And this pattern, which we last saw in the 19th century, has become even more predominant since the 1980s when controls on capital were lifted in many rich countries.”
He goes on to explain:
“When I began, simply collecting data, I was genuinely surprised by what I found, which was that inequality is growing so fast and that capitalism cannot apparently solve it. Many economists begin the other way around, by asking questions about poverty, but I wanted to understand how wealth, or super-wealth, is working to increase the inequality gap. And what I found, as I said before, is that the speed at which the inequality gap is growing is getting faster and faster. You have to ask what does this mean for ordinary people, who are not billionaires and who will never will be billionaires.
Well, I think it means a deterioration in the first instance of the economic wellbeing of the collective, in other words the degradation of the public sector. You only have to look at what Obama’s administration wants to do – which is to erode inequality in healthcare and so on – and how difficult it is to achieve that, to understand how important this is. There is a fundamentalist belief by capitalists that capital will save the world, and it just isn’t so. Not because of what Marx said about the contradictions of capitalism, because, as I discovered, capital is an end in itself and no more.”
So what’s the answer? As a solution to inequality, Piketty proposed an annual global wealth tax of up 2%, combined with highly progressive income tax reaching as high as 80%.
His advocacy of a wealth tax reminds me of a short story I wrote five years ago called “The PM And The MP”. I know you won’t read Piketty’s book but you might like my short story which you can access here.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (5)
A review of the new movie “Noah”
April 12th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
We never expected director Darren Aronofsky to stick to the Biblical text but we did hope for something more impressive and coherent. You can read my review here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
“War. What is it good for?”
April 12th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
These were the opening words of a song from Edwin Starr in 1969. It is now the title of a new book by Professor Ian Morris. This week, I went to a meeting at the House of Commons, organised by the Henry Jackson Society and chaired by the Conservative MP Julian Lewis, where Morris set out the main themes of his book.
Morris grew up in Britain and studied at Birmingham and Cambridge Universities before moving to the University of Chicago in 1987 and on to Stanford University in 1995. He is now Jean and Rebecca Willard Professor of Classics and a Fellow of the Archaeology Center at Stanford University.
At the meeting, he put forward the four claims in his book based on a study of the whole of human history:
- War has created larger and safer communities.
- War has been responsible for making more prosperous societies.
- War seems to have been the only way to create such bigger societies.
- War is now in the process of putting itself out of business.
Expanding on these themes, Morris acknowledged that war is one of the greatest human evils. It has ruined livelihoods, provoked unspeakable atrocities and left countless millions dead. It has caused economic chaos and widespread deprivation, and the misery it causes poisons foreign policy for future generations. Yet, in his view, there is a case to be made that it is thanks to war that we live longer and more comfortable lives than ever before.
He pointed out that a person born 20,000 years ago would have faced a one in ten or even one in five chance of dying violently. But in the century since 1914 — despite its two world wars, atomic bombs, and multiple genocides — that risk has fallen to barely one in a hundred.
This analysis poses many questions. Is war then in fact a good thing? Without war, would we never have built the nation-states which now keep us relatively safe from random acts of violence, and which have given us previously unimaginable wealth? Is war perhaps the only human invention that has allowed us to construct peaceful societies? And yet, if we continue waging war with ever-more deadly weaponry, are we running a risk destroying everything we have achieved?
His conclusion is a controversial one. He supports the notion of the USA as a global cop and argues that the best option for the world over the coming decades is to support and bolster the strength of America so that it can continue effectively in this role.
Posted in History | Comments (0)
How much has changed in British politics over the last two centuries?
April 11th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
I am currently reading a book called “Perilous Question” – subtitled “The drama of the Great Reform Bill 1832” – by Antonia Fraser.
She quotes a tale of the times:
“A little girl asked her mother, ‘Mamma, are Tories born wicked, or do they grow wicked afterwards?’
To which her mother replied, ‘They are born wicked and grow worse.'”
Posted in History | Comments (0)
Where are the most dangerous places on earth? If, you’re a man: the Americas and Africa. If you’re a woman: home.
April 11th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Almost half a million people (437,000) across the world lost their lives in 2012 as a result of intentional homicide, according to a new study by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Globally, some 80 per cent of homicide victims and 95 per cent of perpetrators are men. Almost 15 per cent of all homicides stem from domestic violence (63,600). However, the overwhelming majority – almost 70 per cent – of domestic violence fatalities are women (43,600). Over half of all homicide victims are under 30 years of age, with children under the age of 15 accounting for just over 8 per cent of all homicides (36,000).
Almost 750 million people live in countries with the highest homicide rates in the world – namely the Americas and Africa – meaning that almost half of all homicide occurs in countries that are home to just 11 per cent of the earth’s population. At the opposite end of the spectrum, 3 billion people – mainly in Europe, Asia and Oceania- live in countries where homicide rates are relatively low.
The global average murder rate stands at 6.2 per 100,000 population, but Southern Africa and Central America recorded more than four times that number (30 and 26 victims per 100,000 population respectively), the highest in the world. Meanwhile, with rates some five times lower than the global average, East Asia, Southern Europe and Western Europe recorded the lowest homicide levels in 2012.
Worryingly, homicide levels in North Africa, East Africa and parts of South Asia are rising amid social and political instability. In an encouraging trend, South Africa, which has consistently high rates of homicide, saw the homicide rate halve from 64.5 per 100,000 in 1995 to 31.0 per 100,000 in 2012.
Homicides linked to gangs and organized criminal groups accounted for 30 per cent of all homicides in the Americas compared to below 1 per cent in Asia, Europe and Oceania. While surges in homicide are often linked to this type of violence, the Americas saw homicide levels five to eight times higher than Europe and Asia since the 1950s.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (2)
Some of the many myths in our understanding of history
April 10th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
- Offa’s Dyke was not King Offa’s.
- Admiral Nelson did not wear an eye patch.
- Napoleon was not short.
- King Harold did not get an arrow in the eye at the Battle of Hastings.
- The Salem witches were not burned at the stake.
- Feminist protestors did not burn their bras.
- Cleopatra did not die of a snake bite.
- Vikings did not wear horned helmets.
- Marie Antoinette did not say “Let them eat cake”.
More information in this article.
Posted in History | Comments (0)
A review of the film “Thor: The Dark World”
April 10th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
I saw the original “Thor” movie at the cinema and reviewed it here.
But I have only just caught up with the sequel on DVD and you can read my review here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
We’ve had two little ones staying with us
April 8th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
My wife Vee has two nephews and one of them has two children: Yasmin (8) and Lucas (almost 6). Since they have now begun their Easter break from school. we have just had the two kids to stay with us for two days and two nights (only their second sleep-over with us).
Together with their mummy and daddy, we started with a dinner out at a local branch of “Frankie & Benny’s” in Harrow where both the children enjoyed spaghetti bolognese and ice cream sundae. The first night with us is always a little bit of a trial in getting them to sleep, but mummy and daddy helped before leaving them to us and it was lovely to have little ones asleep in the house again.
Next day started when the youngsters woke us up at 7 am. We spent the day visiting the Natural History Museum in central London which was crowded but fun. Both kids came away with a gift: a cuddly toy – a long-eared rabbit christened Bella – for Yasmin and a 23-piece plastic dinosaur adventure set for Lucas. Back at home, they watched a DVD which we had bought them to keep: the wonderful Walt Disnety animation “Frozen” [my review here].
Both kids are very creative. So, after the film, Yasmin designed a special “Frozen” cake on my iPad and Lucas built a Lego Star Wars V-19 Torrent Starfighter. Dinner was yummy fish & chips. The second night actually proved no easier at getting them to sleep but, in the end, I lay down with them for a while to calm and comfort them and that did the trick.
Vee with Lucas & Yasmin at South Kensington
underground station which serves three museums.
Yasmin & Lucas in the mammal section
of the Natural History Museum
Two species of monkey in the
Natural History Museum
The next day was an even earlier start: 6.40 am. We went to a morning showing of the 3D version of the animated film “Rio 2” [my review here] which we all found colourful and joyful. Still in Harrow, we had lunch at a local branch of “Prezzo”. Yasmin demolished a large calzione followed by ice cream, while Lucas has spaghetti again (this time with meat balls) and then profiteroles (his first time).
Yasmin & Lucas about to see their first film in 3D
At this point, it was time for Vee to drive the kids back home to Egham before she drove to visit her twin sister near Bognor Regis for a couple of days. For me, it was back to work after a most enjoyable interlude – the children were a sheer delight.
The best exchange of the visit –
Roger:”Lucas, did you hear what we said?”
Lucas: “I heard – but I wasn’t listening.”
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (1)
What’s the connection between London Mayor Boris Johnson, recently deceased union leader Bob Crow, and my brother?
April 7th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
All is revealed here.
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)