Was Napoleon a hero or a villain?
May 5th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
If you’ve ever visited Paris, you might have been to Les Invalides and see the tomb of Napoleon. I have never seen a more majestic resting place. But, if you’ve ever visited London, you might have used Waterloo Station or crossed Waterloo Bridge. Both commemorate the final defeat of Napoleon in 1815.
Today is the 200th anniversary of the death of Napoleon on the British-owned island of Saint Helena. How should we remember this controversial figure? On the one hand, he was a brilliant military campaigner who dominated most of Europe and a clever administrative reformer who has left an indelible mark on French. On the other hand, he was an imperialist abroad and a megalomaniac at home and was both a supporter of slavery and a misogynist.
This article is a brief summary of the arguments for and against his greatness, while my book review looks at how Napoleon compares to his nemesis the Duke of Wellington.
Posted in History | Comments (0)
Word of the day: flâneur
May 3rd, 2021 by Roger Darlington
A friend used this term today to describe me. I’d never heard of it and had to look it up.
Flâneur is a French term meaning ‘stroller’ used by nineteenth-century French poet Charles Baudelaire to identify an observer of modern urban life.
I guess this captures the essence of my Facebook page, especially since I moved to central London two years ago, and most especially during the three lockdowns in London during the coronavirus pandemic.
Posted in Consumer matters, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
A review of the 2013 film “Lone Survivor”
May 3rd, 2021 by Roger Darlington
In the summer of 2005, Operation Red Wings was an attempt to take out a Taliban leader in Afghanistan mounted by a team of four Navy SEALs. It is not a spoiler – check out the title of the film – to explain that only one of the SEALs made it alive. He was Marcus Luttrell who in 2007 wrote an account of the operation in a work with a title borrowed by the 2013 film written and directed by Peter Berg. And it is hardly a spoiler to set out that, in the cinematic version of the story, Luttrell is played by the best-known actor in the cast Mark Wahlberg.
Luttrell has been challenged as a not entirely reliable witness and the film is not a straight adaptation of the book, but essentially this is a true story of remarkable heroism. What it lacks in characterisation or plot, it makes up for with blistering action. The only other movie that represents a firefight in such realistic terms is “Black Hawk Down’ which likewise was an American military intervention abroad that went terribly wrong.
Details of Operation Red Wings click here
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the 2014 French film “Gemma Bovery”
April 30th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
In the beginning (1856), there was the classic French novel “Madame Bovary” by Gustave Flaubert of which there have been many film versions in French, English and even Hindi. Then, in 1999, there was an English-language graphic novel “Gemma Bovery” by Posy Simmons which reworked the story into a satirical tale of English expatriates in France.
Finally, in 2014, we have a (largely) French-language film version of the novel by Luxembourger director Anne Fontaine. The point of view is that of Martin (Fabrice Luchini), an ex-Parisian with something of an obsession for Gustave Flaubert’s work, who has settled in a village in Normandy as a baker (lots of gorgeous countryside and delicious bread on display). He becomes overly involved in the life of a British couple who have just moved into the village, Charles Bovery (Jason Flemyng) and his bewitchingly beautiful wife Gemma (Gemma Arterton).
The success of the film is due to Arterton’s looks and acting. Originally Fontaine rejected Arterton for the role because the British actor had starred in another film adaptation of a Posy Simmonds graphic novel, “Tamara Drewe” (2010). Also Arterton didn’t speak a word of French when she was cast in the film, but she learned to speak her French lines with the help of her then boyfriend Franklin Ohannessian who also worked on the production.
The story is presented as both comedy and drama which might confuse some viewers, but I loved the movie as an under-appreciated gem (sorry for the pun).
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
The joy of writing and the challenge of the short story
April 29th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
I’ve always enjoyed writing.
For 59 years now, I’ve kept a daily diary. Some 36 years ago, I even wrote a book: a biography of a Second World War night fighter pilot. I write a lot on my website – especially book reviews and film reviews. But all this is non-fiction: my life, someone else’s life, and other people’s books and films.
Twelve years ago, I wondered if I could write fiction and set out to write a short story or two. In the end, I wrote 31 short stories. Since then, they’ve just been sitting on my website.
But I’ve decided that it might be fun to have these stories collected into a book so, over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been busy editing and curating the stories. Given the events of the last year, I particularly enjoyed rereading “The Day Of Reckoning”.
You might like to check out some of my stories, maybe starting with the one that I’ve highlighted (remember: it was written in 2010). If, as a result, you think that you’d be interested in the book, just let me know.
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (2)
What do you remember about your childhood?
April 28th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
I was brought up in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s, so I have a particular set of memories.
Do you remember early closing of shops on Wednesday and early release from work on Friday? These days, shops are open all the time and people work all the time.
Do you remember being sent home early from school because of fog, thalidomide babies being born with deformed limbs, or people dying from tuberculosis? Some things have got better.
In fact, I feel that the timing of my birth has led me to be part of a blessed generation, as I explain here.
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Word of the day: synesthesia
April 23rd, 2021 by Roger Darlington
Synesthesia is an anomalous blending of the senses in which the stimulation of one modality simultaneously produces sensation in a different modality. Synesthetes hear colours, feel sounds and taste shapes.
What makes synesthesia different from drug-induced hallucinations is that synesthetic sensations are highly consistent: for particular synesthetes, the note F is always a reddish shade of rust, a 3 is always pink or truck is always blue.
More information here.
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (0)
A review of the novel “Moonstone” by Sjón
April 17th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
This novella – it runs to a mere 100 pages of actual text – is the product of Icelandic writer Sigurjón Birgir Sigurðsson (Sjón is his pen name). The setting (the Icelandic capital Reykjavík) and the period (October-December 1918) are unusual and the central character – 16 year old Máni Steinn or the titular Moonstone (an Anglicised version of his name) – has some unconventional habits.
Sjón tells three interwoven stories: a young man’s discovery of self, the devastation of so-called Spanish flu on a community, and the impact of the early years of cinema. It is not a tale that will be to everyone’s taste and, if I’m honest, it wasn’t really to mine, but the novel has won prizes and was recommended to me by very close friends. .
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Who is the most powerful man in the United States?
April 17th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
This is not a trick question, but a serious one. Let’s start with the answer: Joe Manchin, Democratic senator for West Virginia.
You could have been forgiven for thinking that the answer to the question is President Joe Biden. But Biden can achieve nothing substantial without getting legislation through Congress.
That requires a majority in the House of Representatives (which the Democrats have) and a majority in the Senate (which is much more problematic).
Most non-Americans know that the Democrats now have 50 seats in the 100-seat Senate and that the Vice-President (Democrat Kamala Harris) has the casting vote. What most non-Americans do not appreciate is that not all of those 50 Democrats can be relied upon to support Biden’s agenda in a vote.
The most conservative and independent of the Democrat senators is Joe Manchin. He represents West Virginia which is usually seen as a Republican state (it voted for Trump in the presidential election). So currently Manchin is hesitating to support Biden’s infrastructure investment bill and there will be other legislation in which his support will be uncertain but decisive.
Hence my suggestion that currently he could be seen as the most powerful man in America. Want to know more about Manchin? Click here.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
Word of the day: ecocide
April 16th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
International lawyers are drafting plans for a legally enforceable crime of ecocide – criminalising destruction of the world’s ecosystems – that is already attracting support from European countries and island nations at risk from rising sea levels. The panel coordinating the initiative is chaired by Professor Philippe Sands QC, of University College London, and Florence Mumba, a former judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The aim is to draw up a legal definition of “ecocide” that would complement other existing international offences such as crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide.
The project, convened by the Stop Ecocide Foundation at the request of Swedish parliamentarians, was launched in November 2020 to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the opening of the Nuremberg war crimes trials of Nazi leaders in 1945.
Already, citizens, scientists and youth activists including Greta Thunberg are calling on global leaders to introduce ecocide at the ICC. Following the lead of climate-vulnerable ocean states Vanuatu and the Maldives in December 2019, President Emmanuel Macron of France vowed to champion it on the international stage and has proposed a version of it in French law.
Finland and Belgium both expressed interest during the ICC’s annual assembly, and Spain’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee has issued recommendations to consider it. The EU has also voted to encourage its recognition by member states.
The Stop Ecocide Foundation has recently convened a panel of heavyweight international lawyers to draft a robust legal definition of ecocide which this growing list of states can seriously consider proposing as an amendment to the ICC’s Rome Statute.
Posted in Environment | Comments (0)