How processed food is killing us
May 17th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
“Strange as it may seem, food has replaced tobacco as the leading cause of early death globally. Each year, more people die in America from illnesses caused by poor diet than were killed fighting in every war in US history combined. In the UK the situation is equally dire.Officially, the health effects of food are entirely due to its nutritional content – the amount of fat, salt, sugar and fibre it contains. The current system leaves it up to you to read the detailed information on the pack and decide how much to eat based on recommended values, and if you have children you’ll need to know the values for them too.
This is nigh-on impossible for most people – but even if you were able to calculate exactly how much fat, salt and sugar you were consuming in each mouthful, you would still be neglecting one vital determinant of health – how the food was processed.”
This is the opening of a “Guardian” article on processed food.
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Do aliens know that we’re here? They should.
May 15th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
Aliens on nearby stars could detect Earth through radio signals leaked from the planet, new research suggests. Scientists from The University of Manchester and the University of Mauritius used crowd sourced data to simulate radio leakage from mobile towers to determine what alien civilisations might detect from various nearby stars, including Barnard’s star, six light years away from Earth.The research, published in the “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society journal”, found that only more technologically advanced civilisations would be able to detect the current levels of mobile tower radio leakage from Earth. However, as most alien civilisations are likely to have more sensitive receiving systems and as we move towards more powerful broadband systems on Earth, the detectability of humans from other intelligent beings will become more and more likely.
Professor Mike Garrett, Team Leader of the project and Director of Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at The University of Manchester, said: “I’ve heard many colleagues suggest that the Earth has become increasingly radio quiet in recent years – a claim that I always contested.
“Although it’s true we have fewer powerful TV and radio transmitters today, the proliferation of mobile communication systems around the world is profound. While each system represents relatively low radio powers individually, the integrated spectrum of billions of these devices is substantial.
“Current estimates suggest we will have more than one hundred thousand satellites in low Earth orbit and beyond before the end of the decade. The Earth is already anomalously bright in the radio part of the spectrum; if the trend continues, we could become readily detectable by any advanced civilisation with the right technology”.
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A review of the Korean-set film “Return To Seoul”
May 14th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
This is a work that underlines the international nature of modern film production. It is set in South Korea and filmed there and in Romania. The story concerns a French-Korean woman but it is written and directed by a French-Cambodian man. The dialogue is in both French and Korean with some English. The funding is even more diverse. And it was the Cambodian entry for the Best International Feature Film at America’s Academy Awards. But the subject matter – the struggle for personal identity – is a universal theme and rightly the work has spoken to audiences around the world.Davy Chou was inspired to make the movie by the experience of his friend, a French-Korean adoptee called Laure Baoufle, who is credited at the end. The central role is taken by another French-Korean adoptee, but a young woman whose previous work has largely been as a visual artist and here makes her acting debut. It is a tour de force performance in which she is rarely off the screen and portrays a wide palette of emotions.
The film starts with the arrival in South Korea of Frédérique ‘Freddie’ Benoît in the bustling city of Seoul apparently “by accident”. Whether or not this was her original intention, she decides to try and connect with her biological parents, but will they want to see her after an interval of 25 years? If they do, how will they and she respond? The narrative jumps from a long ‘present’ section to two years later, then five years further on, and finally one year later. This eight-year period ought to be enough to clarify things but the ending is still enigmatic.
We are used to protagonists, perhaps especially young, female ones, being sympathetic characters, but Freddie by turns is amusing, engaging, irascible, manipulative and even cruel while always being insecure, confused and selfish. Yet her story – shot with cinematic flair and striking music – is never less than mesmerising.
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A review of the new Japanese film “Plan 75”
May 11th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
In 1973, there was a film called “Soylent Green” which depicted a future Earth (it was set in 2022!) in which rapid population growth and deficiences in supply of food had combined to necessitate that the working classes be provided with artificial nutrients and voluntary euthanaesia. There is a very moving scene where an aged character played by Edward G Robinson takes part in assisted dying to the music and imagery of his choice.In 1976, another fearsome vision of the future was offered in “Logan’s Run” where, in a post-apocalyptic society with scare resources, those reaching the aged of 30 (I was 28 at the time of viewing) are required to take part in a death sequence that they are told will lead to reincarnation. Michael York plays a character called Logan who goes on the run.
Now we have the Japanese film “Plan 75” which is set in a near future where the Japanese government offers financial and social incentives to anyone aged 75 or over who will sign up to an euthanasia programme. It is no accident that the film is set in Japan and is presented in such coldly realistic terms: almost 40% of the country’s population is over 60 and the average longevity of its citizens is 87 for a woman and 81 for a man.
The film is written and directed by a middle-aged woman called Chie Hayakawa and she has chosen a slow and subtle presentation with no drama or tears. We see the Plan 75 programme through the eyes of three characters: an unemployed and lonely woman of 78 who volunteers for the programme (she is played movingly by the veteran 81 year old actress Chieko Baisho), a young staffer on the programme who starts to see things differently when a relative comes forward for euthanasia, and a middle-aged woman from the Philippines who sorts out the belongings of the deceased.
Many people – including me – would support a legal option of assisted dying with appropriate safeguards, but envisage this as an opportunity to die with dignity when pain and suffering are the alternative realities. We don’t want the old or the ill to feel unwanted or unsupported but, as this film underlines so poignantly, this is too often the case when lack of support and absence of companionship can make life feel like little more than a waiting room for death.
PS: I am 75 next month.
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Do you do Wordle each day?
May 10th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
Wordle is a bit like life. Each day, it looks impossible. But most days, you find the answer. And there is always tomorrow.Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)
A review of the movie “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3”
May 8th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
I’m a loyal fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), so I wasn’t going to miss this 32nd contribution to the long-running and ever-sprawling saga. Also the Guardians of the Galaxy (GOTG) characters have always been the funniest in the MCU and this volume was billed as their final one as the current team.There was three years between the first two movies and then six between the last one and this one, so it’s been almost a decade in which Quill, Gamora, Drax, Groot and Rocket have become like friends with other many characters joining along the way.
Director and writer James Gunn always loads up his superhero movies with multiple characters and storylines with acres of action sequences and tons of loud music (often at the same time), so I frequently struggle to follow all that is going on and to remember all the relationships between the different characters but, this time, the central theme is clear and appealing: Rocket – always my favourite character – is dying and to save him the team has to tackle Rocket’s creator, a character called the The High Evolutionary.
In the process, we are given Rocket’s back story and meet more cute animals than you’ve ever seen in a MCU movie. It’s mayhem, it’s mad, but it’s a blast.
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A review of the book “A Duty Of Care” by Peter Hennessy
May 6th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
I used to know Peter Hennessy in the 1970s when I worked for the Wilson/Callaghan Labour Government and he was the Whitehall Correspondent of the “Times” newspaper. He is now a Professor of Contemporary British History and a crossbench member of the House of Lords. Like many of us, he has thought about the impact of the global pandemic on Britain but, in his case, he has actually written short book on the subject. His central proposition is that, following the production of Sir William Beveridge’s fundamental report of November 1942 and the implementation of most of its far-reaching recommendations by a succession of post-war governments, the impact of the Covid-19 has shown the need for a similarly comprehensive and radical social settlement for post-Covid Britain.The first two-thirds of Hennessy’s narrative is a summary of why and how the Beveridge reforms came about. For Hennessy, the package as whole constituted what he calls “a duty of care” which government has for its citizens and he singles out the National Health Service as “the closest we have ever come as a country and a people to institionalizing altruism”. He sees the decade or so of Margaret Thatcher as a regrettable break with that post-war consensus which augured in the slimmed-down benefits system of the 2010s. He laments Brexit which he insists “carved great chunks out of our national solidarity” and he worries about the possible departure of Scotland from the United Kingdom. In short, he wants to see a more modern and inclusive duty of care.
The final third of the book argues the case for, and indicates some desirable outcomes from, a new Beveridge-like review. He lists 15 government reviews of defence/foreign policy in 71 years and highlights that, by dramatic and neglectful contrast, “we haven’t mounted a single national welfare strategic exercise since Beveridge reported in 1942”. The background to such a review should be a public inquiry into how Britain handled the Covid crisis: “It needs to be one of the greatest, most incisive and authoritative reports of modern times”. Then what we might call Beveridge Part 2 would need to address the long-term funding of our health and care systems and the role of education, training, housing, and transport systems in reducing the present unacceptable inequalities in our society.
It is a highly laudable aim but Hennessy is very thin on specifics. Behind the sound and thunder of party politics, this is what the next general election will really be about.
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
Which countries have the freest media and which nations have the most controlled media in the world?
May 3rd, 2023 by Roger Darlington
You can find the answers, according to the organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF), here.Out of 180 countries, top is Norway and bottom is North Korea. The UK is 26 (on a par with South Africa) and the USA is 45 (on a par with Tonga).
Media freedom is in dire health in a record number of countries, according to the latest annual snapshot, which warns that disinformation, propaganda and artificial intelligence pose mounting threats to journalism.
This year’s World Press Freedom Index reveals a shocking slide, with an unprecedented 31 countries deemed to be in a “very serious situation”, the lowest ranking in the report, up from 21 just two years ago.
Increased aggressiveness from autocratic governments – and some that are considered democratic – coupled with “massive disinformation or propaganda campaigns” has caused the situation to go from bad to worse, according to the list, released by the advocacy group RSF.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Holiday in Namibia (10): conclusion
May 2nd, 2023 by Roger Darlington
Namibia is a huge country with a tiny population. The country and the people are poor. Those in work are subject to a national minimum wage of a mere 65 Namibian dollars a day which is about 3 British pounds or 3.5 US dollars. In fact, almost half the population is unemployed with youth unemployment being a particular problem.
But everywhere we went, people were very welcoming and the nation is an interesting ethnic and tribal mix. Tourism is important to Namibia and, now that Covid is ‘over’, tourists are very much wanted. The country is a photographer’s dream, with endless opportunities for great shots, and I reckon that I took about 450 photographs.
There is so much to see: natural features like Fish River Canyon and the sand dunes of the Namib Desert, the fabulous Etosha National Park where so many types of game come to the waterholes, the German-flavoured town of Swakopmund, the glorious sun rises and sunsets and the spectacular night skies of multitudinous stars.
There is something special about Africa and something particularly special about Namibia.
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Holiday in Namibia (9): Otjiwarongo
April 28th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
It seems that this holiday is going to end as it has largely progressed – with early morning starts.
At the Etosha King Nehale Lodge on Thursday morning, I had to set the alarm for 5 am and put out my luggage at 6 am, so that I could have breakfast and be ready for the group departure at 7 am. In fact, we left a few minutes early because Carlos wanted to be at the Nehale Lya Mpingana Gate for the 7 am opening time since he needed to cross a section of the Etosha National Park as soon as possible for a tight timetable today.
The park entrance is very close to the lodge, so we were there at 7 am. Unfortunately it took 20 minutes for the relevant member of the park’s staff to turn up and to find the key to the gate. Carlos was not amused and, for the rest of the morning, set a cracking pace on what fortunately were good roads.
After an hour crossing this corner of the park, we exited at the Von Linquist Gate and headed south-east to the quaint town of Tsumeb. Here we had some time to visit the local museum which covers the ethnography of local tribes, the period of German colonialisation, German-British conflict in the area during the two World Wars, and the town’s modern experience of copper mining. We stopped briefly at a little town called Otavi to buy some lunch to eat on the coach.
Then we rushed south-west, all the way to the Okonjima Private Gamed Reserve. It was another 10 km from the entrance of the reserve to the AfriCat Foundation Day Care Centre. The Foundation was founded in 1991 with a mission to contribute to the conservation of Namibia’s large carnivores. It started with the conversion of Okonjima from a cattle farm to a conservation project and, since then, three adjacent farms have joined the project to create a nature reserve of some 50,000 acres (20,000 hectares).
We were driven in an open vehicle to a nearby section protected by electrified wire fencing. This was home to five cheetahs who had been found with no parents and relocated to the project. We easily found these magnificent creatures basking in the sun. Then trouble hit: one wheel of our vehicle became stuck in a deep hole created by an aardvark and nothing that our driver/guide could do would release the vehicle.
The five cheetahs surrounded us on all sides, their mouths salivating and their muscles tensed to leap upon us (actually, I made up that bit). Our driver radioed to base to advise them on our dilemma, another vehicle was dispatched to the section, it pulled along side our vehicle, and we all climbed from one vehicle to another, avoiding the need to step on the ground. Another adventure.
After more time at the project being briefed on their work of preservation (the actress Angelina Jolie is a major patron), we moved to our ninth and last accommodation of the holiday where we arrived at 3.40 pm after a journey of nearly nine hours. This was Otjima Game Ranch just south of the town of Otjiwarongo (Otjiwa means ‘the place of the baboons and Otjiwarango means ‘the place of fat cattle’) and which, like all the other lodges where we have stayed, consists of a main building with reception, restaurant and shop and then a collection of chalets spread around nearby.
It was all very civilised and comfortable: coffee/tea and cake in the afternoon and a three-course dinner in the evening with seven young women in near identical dress clapping rhythm and dancing to the beat.
Friday was our last full day in Namibia. On Wednesday, we saw lions; on Thursday, we observed cheetahs; and today we set off at 7 am on a rhino hunt.
It took us 50 minutes, but then we found a group of seven white rhinos. We stopped our open vehicle and walked closer to these powerful creatures for a magical encounter. Among the other animals we saw were the ubiquitous springboks. There is little more charming among African wildlife than to see springboks doing their special jump known as ‘pronking’ which apparently they do for sheer fun.
We were back at the ranch soon after 9 am for a cooked breakfast. Then the remainder of the day was free to catch up on rest and relaxation before our return home. At our final dinner, I ran a little quiz and, on behalf of the ‘golden girls’, Dolly read out a specially-prepared poem.
On Saturday, we had a relatively late departure when we left at 8.30 am. We drove further south, stopping for a break at the town of Okahandja (which means ‘place of a short and wide river’). For the section of the journey from Okahandja to Windhoek, we drove on Namibia’s newest and best road: a modern dual carriageway. If only all of the country’s roads could be so smooth.
The return to Britain was a five hour flight from Windhoek to Addis Ababa and then a near eight hour flight from Addis Ababa to London Heathrow. Back to the coronation in a week’s time.
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