Happy St George’s Day – but he was not the character you might have thought
April 23rd, 2020 by Roger Darlington
There is nothing more English than St George, right? And today we celebrate him and all things English.
St George might be hailed as a national hero, but he was actually born – in the 3rd century AD – more than 2,000 miles away in Cappadocia (modern day Turkey).
He is thought to have died in Lydda (modern day Israel) in the Roman province of Palestine in AD 303. It is believed that his tomb was in Lod and was a centre of Christian pilgrimage.
You can find nine things you didn’t know about St George here.
Posted in History | Comments (2)
Word of the day: quarantine
April 22nd, 2020 by Roger Darlington
The current coronaviris crisis is highlighting certain words. My last word of the day was ‘furlough’. Today I want to look at the word ‘quarantine”.
The word comes from the Italian word for 40: quaranta. Originally, when a ship was suspected of being infected with some contagious disorder, it was obliged to lie off port for a period of 40 days.
Now the term is applied to any period of segregation to prevent infection.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
And in other news … this year’s World Press Freedom Index is published and it’s not good for the UK or the US
April 21st, 2020 by Roger Darlington
At this time of crisis and lockdown, many of us are deprived of some basic freedoms – but hopefully this is temporary. Meanwhile media freedom around the world is under challenge. The latest World Press Freedom Index shows that the United Kingdom has slipped to 35th and the United States is no better at 45th.
The top ten countries are as follows:
1. Norway
2. Finland
3. Denmark
4. Sweden
5. Netherlands
6. Jamaica
7. Costa Rica
8. Switzerland
9. New Zealand
10. Portugal
You can check out there full list of 180 countries here.
Posted in American current affairs, British current affairs, World current affairs | Comments (0)
It is now clear that the UK is not going to achieve a “good result” in the coronavirus crisis
April 19th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
In mid March, the British government’s health advisers on the coronavirus crisis told Ministers:
- The modelling suggests that, without severe social distancing and isolation practices, the death toll could be around 260,000.
- The modelling suggests that, with the current severe social distancing and isolation practices, the death toll could be around 20,000 or lower.
Days later, the UK went onto national lockdown and we are now four weeks into this lockdown period. We were assured, that if UK deaths from coronavirus could be kept below 20,000 by the end of the pandemic, it would be a “good result” for the country. But the death toll in hospitals now exceeds 15,000 and, with an estimated 6,000 people having already died in care homes from Covid-19, the 20,000 figure is likely already to have been exceeded.
This is not the time to say what we should have done differently – but that time will have to come. Meanwhile we have to keep the death toll as low as possible and to acknowledge that the virus is not indiscriminate. Disproportionately, it affects older people, those with underlying heath issues, ethnic minorities, hospital workers caring for Covid-19 patients, and occupants and staff in care homes.
Clapping each Thursday evening is good, but we need more personal protective equipment, more ventilators, more testing – and a vaccine. Soon.
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (2)
A review of the 2014 film”Effie Gray”
April 17th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
In 1848, Euphemia ‘Effie’ Gray (portrayed here by Dakota Fanning) was 19 when she married the famous critic John Ruskin (Greg Wise), but he was a terrible husband and the marriage was never consummated, a further complication being her attraction to the Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais (Tom Sturridge). This famous Victorian love triangle is the stuff of drama, but sadly this version is slow and dull and languid to the point of limpness.
This is in spite of it being beautifully shot in English stately homes, Scotland and Venice and having a script from Emma Thompson plus a stellar supporting cast list including Thompson herself, David Suchet, Julie Walters, James Fox, Derek Jacobi and even Claudia Cardinale (now in her mid 70s). What a waste. What a disappointment.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Evolution got us here and hopefully science will get us out of here
April 16th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
For four weeks now, I’ve been providing a weekly online lesson in Victorian history to two nine year olds who cannot be at school, one a granddaughter and the other the son of a close friend. This week, we covered some developments in science and technology in the Victorian era.
The engineer we looked at was Isambard Kingdom Brunel, while the scientist we discussed was Charles Darwin. Now Darwin, of course, is most famous for his theory of evolution by natural selection involving the survival of the fittest.
We kept it simple for the little ones but, for those of you who are older, you might like to read a short essay which I wrote some time ago on the case for evolution. You can check it out here.
This is not a bad time to remind oursleves of the importance of science and of the need to be guided by the evidence.
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (0)
Coronavirus is not an enemy; it is a pandemic. This is not a war; it is a crisis.
April 12th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
It’s interesting how some politicians like Donald Trump and Boris Johnson talk of the coronavirus as if it is a person – a cunning arch enemy with evil intent that can be defeated like the Nazis.
On his discharge from hospital today, the Prime Minister declared “We will win”.
What does winning mean when already over 10,000 have died? The crisis will end in some way – but it will not be a victory.
Posted in Science & technology, World current affairs | Comments (0)
Word of the day: furlough
April 10th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
Until a couple of weeks ago, most people had never heard the word furlough. Now it is everywhere. But what does it mean? And where did it come from?
As a noun, it has three meanings:
- a vacation or leave of absence granted to an enlisted person
- a temporary leave of absence authorised for a prisoner from a penitentiary
- a usually temporary layoff from work
Clearly, in current circumstances of the coronavirus crisis, it is the last meaning that is relevant.
The origin of the word is the period 1615–25. It is a variant of earlier furlogh or furloff from the Dutch word erlof for leave, permission and the current pronunciation is by association with dough.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Political reform in Victorian Britain – and why democracy is always a work in progress
April 9th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
I have now delivered three online lessons on Victorian history for two nine year old that I know as their parents endeavour to keep the kids occupied while schools are closed. This week, we covered the challenging issue of political reform. After all, there were key development in the Victorian era and it’s never too early to start bringing up good citizens.
So I talked about the Peterloo Massacre of 1819 when 18 people were killed and some 600 injured at a peaceful rally to demand extension of the franchise and representation of the cities. I showed the children a very short video about Peterloo, but last year there was a major film about the incident which you might like to track down. You can read my review of the feature film here.
We also talked about the three pieces of legislative reform at this time which reluctantly and partially extended the vote to more and more men (women had to wait until 1918 and 1928): the Great Reform Act of 1832, the Second Reform Act of 1867 and the Third Reform Act of 1884. The battle over the Great Reform Act – legislation which was fiercely resisted by the Tories – was the subject of a fascinating book which I’ve reviewed here.
I tried to emphasise two key points to my young friends:
- Democracy has come slowly and only after many struggles and campaigns, not least that of the Suffragists and the Suffragettes.
- Democracy is never a done deal, but has to be constantly defended. Look today at countries like Poland, Hungary and the United States,
Probably these were not easy messages for nine year olds to take on board but I hope that readers of blog will do so.
Posted in History | Comments (0)
Ever heard of the Pilgrimage of Grace?
April 8th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
Neither had I – until I read about it in “The Mirror And The Light”, the 900-page novel by Hilary Mantel which is sustaining me during the period of lockdown as a result of the coronaviris crisis.
The so-called Pilgrimage was a northern rebellion against Henry VIII’s government in i536-1537, originally led by Robert Aske and later by Francis Bigod. The rebellion failed and its leaders were eventually executed.
You can check out a five-minute video on the Pilgrimage of Grace here:
Posted in History | Comments (2)