A review of the film “What Maisie Knew”
January 23rd, 2014 by Roger Darlington
A film that sees the action through the eyes of a six year old girl? That’s unusual and the story is very moving – and for me evocative. You can read my review of “What Maisie Knew” here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
The astonishing, moving and inspirational story of Malala Yousafzai
January 22nd, 2014 by Roger Darlington
How many 16 year olds get to write an autobiography? But Malala Yousafzai is a remarkable young woman who almost paid with her life for her passion that all girls should have an education. I have reviewed her book here.
Posted in Cultural issues, World current affairs | Comments (0)
A new addition to my collection of motivational stories
January 21st, 2014 by Roger Darlington
I like to collect little stories that make you think. I’ve put them all on a page of my web site which is one of the most popular of the whole site.
I’ve just added the 58th. It’s titled “The last ride” and you can read it here.
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My interview in “Utility Week” on my role in the water sector
January 21st, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Last month, I did a blog posting about the report I had drafted for the water regulator Ofwat on the business plan for 2015-2020 of the regional water company South East Water . This work was done in my capacity as the independent chair of the Customer Challenge Group of South East Water.
The magazine for the energy and water sectors is called “Utility Week” and the Features Editor Karma Ockendon has just conducted a interview with me about our CCG report, highlighting my view that this is a model of consumer representation which could apply to other sectors and companies.
You can read the interview here. And you can check out the actual CCG report here.
Posted in Consumer matters | Comments (0)
The varying use of first and family names in different countries and cultures
January 20th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
What first started as simply an exchange of e-mails between a close Chinese friend and me has become an extensive essay on my web site exploring how the naming of children around the world is so varied. You can check it out here.
Most of the essay is about first names, but I also have some information on family names, especially in Britain, which I have just expanded here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
The world’s 85 richest are worth as much as the 3.5 billion poorest
January 20th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Wealthy elites have co-opted political power to rig the rules of the economic game, undermining democracy and creating a world where the 85 richest people own the wealth of half of the world’s population, worldwide development organisation Oxfam warns in a report published today.
“Working For the Few”, published ahead of this week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, details the pernicious impact that widening inequality is having in both developed countries and in developing countries, helping the richest undermine democratic processes and insist on policies that promote their interests at the expense of everyone else.
The report says that there is a growing global public awareness of this power-grab. Polls carried out for Oxfam in the UK, Brazil, India, South Africa, Spain and US show that most people in all six countries believe that laws are skewed in favour of the rich. The UK polling carried out by Research Now, found that two-thirds of people thought ‘the rich had too much influence over the direction the country is headed’ and only one in ten disagreed. The UK is one of the most unequal countries in the OECD club of rich nations.
The report says:
- Globally, the richest individuals and companies hide trillions of dollars away from the tax man in a web of tax havens around the world – it is estimated that $21 trillion is held unrecorded and off-shore;
- In the US, financial deregulation directly correlates to the increase in the income share of the top 1 per cent which is now at its highest level since the eve of the Great Depression;
- In India, the number of billionaires increase tenfold in the past decade, aided by a highly regressive tax structure and the wealthy exploiting their government connections, while spending on the poorest remains remarkably low;
- In Europe, austerity has been imposed on the poor and middle classes under huge pressure from financial markets whose wealthy investors have benefited from state bailouts of financial institutions;
- In Africa, global corporations – particularly those in extractive industries – exploit their influence to avoid taxes and royalties, reducing the resources available to governments to fight poverty.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
A review of the stunning film “12 Years A Slave”
January 19th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
You can read my assessment of the movie here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Do you really want to be happy? (3)
January 19th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Earlier this week, I attended a packed-out seminar at the London School of Economics” entitled “Measuring Happiness?” which was addressed by four experts on this subject.
The third speaker was Paul Dolan who is a professor of behavioural science at the LSE. He told the story of a friend who criticised so many specific aspects of her work life but insisted that overall she loved her job. His main point was that happiness should not be assessed in overall impressionistic terms but in terms of specific personal experiences. His secondary point was that policy makers need to think more about the use and valuation to time. You soon get used to the benefits of a pay rise at work but you appreciate more having greater time with family and friends.
The fourth speaker was Elaine Fox who is director of the Oxford Centre for Emotions and Affective Neuroscience. She argued that, rather than simply asking people if they are happy, one can actually measure happiness as a result of chemical changes in the brain. She suggested that there are two types of intervention that can affect neural indices of well being: 1) One can actively try to change a person’s bias by giving them positive information or messages; 2) Mindfullness medication can improve a person’s sense of well being.
In the question and answer session, some of the points that came out were as follows:
- Is happiness an end goal or is it a route to something else?
- Happiness of itself is a goal worth pursuing
- Additionally happiness has other by products such as more productiveness, fewer accidents and greater longevity
- The Easterlin paradox posits that more money does not necessarily mean more happiness
- Happiness is not so much absolute as relative – we like to feel we are doing well compared to others
- Happiness can be about expectation as well as actuality – we really look forward to a holiday
- Optimists are not less happy because they have higher expectations that are not always met, but happy because they foresee obstacles but believe that they can be overcome
- Happiness can be related to choices – some choice provides a sense of control, which is a crucial ingredient of happiness for many, but too much choice can confuse and depress
I found the LSE seminar stimulating and I am happy I attended.
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Do you really want to be happy? (2)
January 18th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Earlier this week, I attended a packed-out seminar at the London School of Economics” entitled “Measuring Happiness?” which was addressed by four experts on this subject. The second speaker was Anthony Oswald who is professor of economics at Warwick University.
In a fascinating 10 minutes with lots of slides, some of the points he made were:
- Simon Kuznets was the originator of the notion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) but he had pointed out that GDP is not the only measure of a nation’s progress
- The Stiglitz Report commissioned by the French President Sarkozy had set out the case for a wider measure of a nation’s progress
- Following David Cameron’s support for the idea, the UK now measures happiness through surveys commissioned by the Office of National Statistics (ONS)
- Out of score of seven, most UK citizens rate their happiness as around six
- There is a pronounced U curve in the relationship between happiness and age – generally peak happiness occurs in one’s early seventies
- The probability of experiencing depression and taking anti-depressants relates to age in a similar way
He posed the question: What makes countries happy? He identified the following factors as among the important variables:
- Higher social spending
- Unemployment insurance
- Clean air and access to countryside
- Low unemployment and low inflation
- Low crime and low corruption
- Openness to global trade
- Genetic factors
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)
Do you really want to be happy? (1)
January 17th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
I have always been interested in happiness. I think it is ‘a good thing’ – and I would like to see more of it, at both the individual and the societal level. A few years ago, I read a fascinating book on the subject, called simply “Happiness” [see my review here], and one of the most popular pieces in the Life Skills section of my web site is entitled boldly “How To Be Happy” [check it our here].
Earlier this week, I attended a packed-out seminar at the London School of Economics” entitled “Measuring Happiness?” which was addressed by four experts on this subject. The first speaker was Ben Page who is Chief Executive of Ipsos MORI, the pollsters who conduct the personal well beingsurveys for the British Government’s Office of National Statistics (ONS).
In an entertaining 10 minutes with lots of slides, some of the points he made were:
- The UK and France are now measuring happiness and well being
- Not all richer countries are happier
- The Danes seem to get happier and happier
- Spending more time with your family is the top thing that people say would make them happier
- The older you get, the less money matters and the more health matters
- Gardening and sports appear to makes you happier
- The married and the educated are happier
- Those who go to church are happier
- The middle-aged are the least happy
So his slightly tongue-in-cheek advice for improving one’s happiness included such tips as:
- Get married
- Be richer than your friends but stay friends with them
- Spend less than you earn
- Get religion
- Stay healthy
- Avoid middle age
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (2)