Our round the world trip (1): getting to first base

March 6th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

We have been together for over three decades now and done lots of wonderful travelling as a couple, the last decade and a half mainly outside of our home continent of Europe. We have long harboured a wish to visit Australia and New Zealand, the one continent we have never experienced, but knew that it was so far away and would take so much time and money that it was probably something we would do only once and would have to be carefully scheduled into our busy lives (plus we would have to wait for the cat to die).

Four years ago, we decided that we would definitely make the trip; a year ago, the cat finally departed this world after almost 20 years; and, six months ago, we booked an escorted tour with Kuoni so far ahead that Roger could minimise the number of missed meetings in his portfolio career.

We were always clear that we did not want to make the flight out or the flight back in one journey – the distance is just too great and the jet lag would be just too severe. Therefore we decided to break the journey out with a few days in Bangkok and to break the journey home with a few days in San Francisco, so we would literally go round the world. This is indeed going to be the trip of a lifetime – the BIG one.

Day 1 (Tuesday) was very short – just final domestic arrangements, careful packing for a month, and getting to London’s Heathrow Airport. Our British Airways Boeing 747-400 lifted off at 10,30 pm, so technically it was a night time flight to Bangkok but, since we were flying east at speed, it was soon light outside and we had to draw the window shutters, pretend it was night, and try to manage some sleep.

Day 2 (Wednesday) was effectively another short one. The flight was ten and a half hours, so we landed at 9 am London time but – since Thailand is seven hours ahead of UK time – it was 4 pm in Bangkok. Suvarnabhumi Airport is uber-large and ultra-new (opened in 2006). We were delighted to be met by a Kuoni representative but, since it was rush hour, our car from the airport to the hotel took almost two hours to make a journey that normally lasts about 45 minutes.

Once at the LIT Bangkok Hotel near to the National Stadium, there was only time, therefore, to unpack in our spacious “Extra Radiance Room”, have a light meal in the hotel cafe, access the free Wi-Fi with Roger’s iPad and Vee’s iPad mini, and head for bed.

Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)

Best ever week for my web site

March 4th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

I state on the homepage of my web site that each day I receive over 8,000 visits to the site. In fact, last week, visits on the five weekdays averaged 9,000 a day. Around half of all the visits are to NightHawk. So many thanks for your interest and support.

The coming month will probably be different because I will not be in a position to blog each day as I normally do. Vee and I are off on a holiday to Australia and New Zealand, stopping on the way out in Bangkok for a few days and stopping on the way back in San Francisco for a few days – so, literally round the world.

Note to any burglars: the house will be occupied throughout by a friend who is going to be doing some building work for us. Note to our bank manager: be kind to us.

If I can master the technology, while we are away I will try to post regular reports on this blog – so do please check it out.

Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (2)

A review of the new film “Arbitrage”

March 3rd, 2013 by Roger Darlington

Richard Gere gives one of the best performances of his career in the movie “Arbitrage” which I’ve reviewed here.

Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)

So the US has now gone over the fiscal cliff – but the world does not seem to have noticed

March 2nd, 2013 by Roger Darlington

The cuts – known as the sequester and drawn up two years ago – will take $85 billion (£56 billion) from the United States federal budget this year. This will hit the American economy and in turn the world economy, so the failure of Congress to agree a more sensible tax and cuts package will affect us all.

More information here.

Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)

10 + 1 things we’ve learned from the Eastleigh by-election

March 2nd, 2013 by Roger Darlington

According to a feature in today’s “Guardian” newspaper, there are 10 key things we can learn from the result of this week’s Parliamentary by-election in Eastleigh:

  1. The Liberal Democrats are more resilient than perhaps they realised.
  2. British voters are not certain to reject austerity in 2015.
  3. Voters do not punish parties for the misconduct of individual MPs.
  4. There are two “one-nation” parties in Britain, but neither of them is Labour.
  5. Conservative attempts to counter the threat posed by Ukip are failing.
  6. The Conservative brand remains tainted.
  7. “Real people” and celebrities don’t always make good election candidates.
  8. Organisation is the key to winning an election.
  9. Grand national policies don’t necessarily win elections.
  10. National Health Action does not (yet?) pose a threat to the main political parties.

The article which fleshes out these 10 lessons is here.

Let me add one lesson of my own. The Lib Dems cannot replicate the organisational effort of the Eastleigh by-election in a General Election. Their by-election machine was formidably impressive but, come a nation-wide election, they will not be able to pour thousands of volunteers into everyone of the seats that they will be defending, let alone those they would like to take from other parties. Eastleigh was special.

Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)

Why are elections so volatile these days?

February 28th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

In Israel, we have seen the sudden rise of  the party ‘There Is A Future’ and a general election result which is so messy that five weeks later we still do not have a new coalition government. In Italy, we have seen the party of a comedian take a quarter of the vote and a general election result that is so unstable that a new election may be necessary within the year. In Britain, we had a general election in 2010 that resulted in the first coalition government since the war and today we have a by-election in Eastleigh where UKIP is expected to do spectacularly well.

Around the world, elections are becoming more volatile and voters are becoming more promiscuous. In the past, there was more stability in voting patterns with most voters always voting for the same party on class grounds. You could write a book on the causes, but some factors may be the following:

1) The decline in the role of ideology – Class identification has become less pronounced as abject poverty has been substantially reduced in most developed countries, membership of – or at least identification with – the middle class has grown, and – rightly or wrongly – people feel that there is more social mobility. So now, many voters do not see themselves as Left- or Right-wing because they have a particular view as to how society should be run, but instead decide how to vote on narrow, pragmatic considerations (let’s punish the government for messing things up! who can best handle the economy at the moment?).

2) The decline in the power of national parliaments – In the 27 Member States of the European Union (and especially the 17 Member States in the Eurozone), electors feel that the crucial decisions are not taken in their own parliaments. Both inside and outside Europe, there is a recognition that many of the most serious political challenges of the day – the state of the global economy, the stability of the financial system, the war on drugs, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. and – perhaps most notably – climate change cannot be solved on a national basis through a national parliament.

3) The power of the media – Politicians used to be quite distant figures who were generally respected because we knew so little of their private lives. Now, with the explosive growth of radio stations, television channels, web sites and social media, every misdemeanour or inconsistency of public figures is laid bare. Meanwhile it is now possible to create a political movement without having vast funds or elaborate organisation by clever use of the Net and especially social media, as television personality Yair Lapid has shown in Israel and the blogger Guseppe Grillo has shown most recently in Italy.

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (2)

“Who run the world? Girls!”

February 27th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

I’ve recently bought the Beyonce CD called simply “4”. I’m taken by the final track called “Run The World (Girls)”. Check out the lyrics here.

Then watch the video:

Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (6)

From Israel to Italy, democracy is complicated

February 26th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

Israel has one of the simplest political systems in the democratic world [my explanation here] – a single legislative chamber and a national list method for electing it – and yet the outcome of the recent general election on 22 January was so messy that five weeks later the country does still not have a new coalition government.

By contrast, Italy has one of the most complicated political systems in the democratic world [my explanation here] – two legislative chambers, each with its own bizarre method of election – and the outcome of the general election of Sunday and Monday is that one party has a bare majority in the Chamber of Deputies but nothing like a majority in the Senate (“the worst of nightmares,” said a columnist in the ‘Repubblica’ newspaper).

Generally, first-past-the-post electoral systems are thought to produce clearer results, but Britain – my explanation of its political system here – has its first coalition government, since the Second World War because no single party obtained a majority in the General Election of 2010, and the United States – my explanation of its political system here – has legislation gridlock because the Democrats control the Presidency and the Senate but the Republicans control the House of Representatives and have a filibusting minority in the Senate.

The lesson? Democracy can and does take many forms, each system has its strengths and weaknesses, and all systems have their own complications.

Posted in American current affairs, British current affairs, World current affairs | Comments (0)

A sign at my local underground station

February 25th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (3)

A review of a new biography of Adolf Hitler

February 25th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

A N Wilson is perhaps more accomplished as a novelist than an historian, but I have just completed his short biography “Hitler” which I’ve reviewed here.

Posted in History | Comments (0)

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »