How many people work in the UK Government’s climate adaptation team?

May 18th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

Thanks to the “Guardian” newspaper, we have the revelation that the number has been cut by the current Goverment from 38 to just six.

Globally we have to act decisively to slow down and then reverse CO2 levels in the atmosphere but, in the meanwhile if we do not act to mitigate the impacts of climate change, the cost – personal, societal and financial – will be catastrophic.

Posted in British current affairs, Environment | Comments (0)

How many Native Americans are there?

May 18th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

I have recently received this e-mail from the United States:

“I enjoyed your article about use of names until I reached the section on
Native American name usage in the US, in which you stated that very few
Native Americans remain in the US. In fact, according to the most recent census:

Out of the total U.S. population, 2.9 million people reported American Indian or Alaska Native alone. In addition, 2.3 million people reported American Indian or Alaska Native in combination with one or more other races. Together, these two groups totaled 5.2 million people. Thus, 1.7 percent of all people in the United States identified as American Indian or Alaska Native, either alone or in combination with one or more other races.

I think your misconception is one commonly found among Europeans, but that you would be glad to correct it.”

I am suitably chastised, I have corrected it, and I share my learning with you.

Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)

121 photos of our recent holiday round the world

May 17th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

Vee and I spent all of March on a month’s holiday that was the longest and furthest we have been away: Australia and New Zealand with stop-overs in Bangkok and San Francisco, making it truly a round the world experience.

Since I was blogging about the trip each day, when I came home, I was able quickly to stitch together all the blog postings into a continuous narrative for my web site. It has taken me until today, however, to add all the photographs that I want to the account.

But now you can view 121 pictures here.

Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)

The future of think tank communications

May 16th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

My son Richard Darlington has made this fascinating presentation:

Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)

Access all the paintings in all galleries in the UK

May 15th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

Your Paintings is a web site which aims to show the entire UK national collection of oil paintings, the stories behind the paintings, and where to see them for real. It is made up of paintings from thousands of museums and other public institutions around the country.

Your Paintings is a joint initiative between the BBC, the Public Catalogue Foundation (a registered charity) and participating collections and museums from across the UK. There are an estimated 212,000 oil paintings in the UK’s national collection.

You can check out the site here.

Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (2)

Revealing the Government Art Collection

May 15th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

I recenetly chaired a meeting in a Government building in central London that I previously never knew existed: the Government Art Collection (GAC). For over 100 years, the UK Government Art Collection has collected works of art to display in British Government buildings around the world, promoting British art and culture.

The majority, about two-thirds, of the works of art in the collection are on display in Government buildings, while the rest is held at the GAC premises awaiting reselection and display. You can visit these premises by booking one of the regular evening group tours.

You can find out more here.

Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)

The rise and rise of UKIP – and why it won’t last (2)

May 14th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

It’s less than two weeks since the UK Independence Party did so well in the English local council elections [see my comments here] and the British political political scene has gone crazy.

The Conservative Party is falling apart over the idea of a referendum on British membership of the European Union in 2017 and yet the negotiations promised by Prime Minster David Cameron have not even started and all the polling evidence is that understandably this issue is far from top of voters’ minds when they are facing a deep and prolonged economic recession.

This week, the splits in the Tory ranks will become especially manifest when there is a vote on an amendment to the Queen’s Speech seeking legislation now mandating a future referendum. There is no realistic possibility of such legislation reaching the statute book this side of a General Election and, even if such legislation were passed, it would probably have minimal impact on the Conservativews’ position in the polls.

Meanwhile, just to underline how British politics has gone into a spin, the latest opinion poll suggests that support for UKIP has soared from 9% to 18%. Clearly the publicity for UKIP and the aura of success has attracted a swath of new supporters – but it won’t last. Political parties build sustainable support by new personalties, new policies, improved organisation, and grass roots campaigning.

A doubling of support almost overnight is not sustainable. It is a bubble – and it will burst. Maybe not immediately. Maybe after some more madness and next year’s European elections when the proportional representation system of election will strongly favour UKIP.

Finally, ponder this thought. IF somehow UKIP was able to maintain a level of support of 18% and that support was spread evenly throughout England (they have very little support in Scotland and Wales and none in Northern Ireland) and IF the major parties performed as suggested in the latest poll, the result – thanks to our first past the post voting system – would according to one estimate be that the next parliament would end up with 228 Tory seats (down 79), 359 Labour (up 101, and enough for an overall majority of 68), 35 for the Lib Dems (implying 22 losses), and not a single seat for UKIP.

But none of this is going to happen.

Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)

Ofcom. Ofwat. Off to both …

May 13th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

This morning, I have an appointment at the London headquarters of Ofcom, the communications regulator. We have a meeting of the 4G/TV Coexistence Oversight Board of at800, the body responsible for the mitigation measures for interference of 4G mobile services on digital terrestrial television, and I shall be there in my capacity as the Non-Executive Member with a special interest in consumer issues. We will be discussing how much interference the use of 800 MHz for 4G services will cause in practice and how best to resolve the problems.

This afternoon, I have a meeting with the Chief Executive and others from Ofwat, the water regulator. Ofwat is headquarted in Birmingham, but the workshop is in London, and it will convene representatives of the 20 regulated companies and the chairs of their Customer Challenge Groups. I shall be there as the independent Chair of the Customer Challenge Group at South East Water. We will be discussing the regulator’s price determination process for 2015-2020 and the role of companies and CCGs in producing business plans for the regulator’s examination.

Complex, but interesting, stuff this portfolio working.

Posted in Consumer matters, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)