How the Japanese bombed Darwin in Australia
February 16th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
In a couple of weeks time, Vee and I will be visiting Australia (and New Zealand) with stops in Bangkok and San Francisco that will literally take us round the world. To put us even more in the mood, this weekend, we rented the Baz Luhrmann film “Australia” [my review here].
The movie features the Japanese air attack on Darwin which took place on 19 February 1942. This was the first and the largest of almost 100 air raids which the Japanese made on northern Australia. Some 242 aircraft were involved, dropping more bombs than were used at Pearl Harbor, and the death toll was around 250-300.
I confess that this is an aspect of the war that was not familiar to me and you can find more details here.
Posted in Cultural issues, History | Comments (2)
Our Valentine’s Day: something very new and something very, very old
February 14th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
Vee and I today celebrated our 31st Valentine’s Day as a couple and did a couple of special things.
In the morning, we went to The View From The Shard. the top of the new building near London Bridge.
The Shard – which has only recently been completed – is already an iconic building on the London skyline, designed by Renzo Piano. At a height of 1,016ft (310m), it is the tallest building in Western Europe. The View – which only opened to the public two weeks ago – is situated at the top of The Shard, on floors 68 & 69 and (in the open air) 72 and it is almost twice the height of any other viewing platform in London – 800ft (244m).
Roger & Vee at 800 feet
We were fortunate that the weather was clear and the views were wonderful – but, at £25 a head, it is an expensive treat and, of course, we had to buy the £15 souvenir photograph.
In the afternoon, we went to the British Museum to see an exhibition entitled “Ice Age Art: Arrival Of The Modern Mind”.
Ice Age art was created between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago and many of the pieces are made of mammoth ivory and reindeer antler. Especially striking are the oldest portrait in the world (a small carving of a women’s head from what is now the Czech Republic which is 26,000 years old), the oldest ceramic figure ever found (the clay woman of Brno which is around the same age), and the Lion Man of Hohlenstein.
The Lion Man of Hohlenstein
As Laura Cumming put it in her review of the exhibits for the “Observer” newspaper:
“It’s not just that one cannot think of a single Renaissance sculptor to surpass them, it’s that the men or women who made them had no training, no knowledge of classical sculptures, no modern tools, and were working twice over in the dark.”
So what did you do for Valentine’s Day?
Posted in Cultural issues, My life & thoughts | Comments (2)
How Britain (and others) are enabling multinational corporations to undermine the tax base of nation states
February 13th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
“Companies have a responsibility to pay corporation tax in the jurisdictions where they operate. Citizens are already losing faith in their banks and the financial system. If big corporations fail to pay tax and leave it to SMEs and middle income groups, it will undermine democracy. This is about the survival of democracy.”
And who says this? Not a Left-wing anti-globalisation activist, but Angel Gurria, the head of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, as he launches an OECD report with the thrilling title of “Addressing Base Erosion and Profit Shifting” which is to be delivered to G20 finance ministers.
As explained in this article:
“The UK is at the centre of the debate after the OECD and International Monetary Fund found that former colonies and British crown protectorates were key destinations for funds that have avoided tax. Figures show that, in 2010, Barbados, Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands received more foreign direct investment than Germany or Japan.”
And who suffers? Every citizen in higher tax and poorer public services.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
The British lecturer and the Chinese students
February 12th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
Today I gave a lecture on broadband policy to postgraduate students at the London School of Economics.
A third of the almost two dozen students were Chinese. This tells us how international is the student population of LSE and how much Chinese students are seeking British education.
All the Chinese students sat together and they all sat at the back. Only one asked a question in almost two hours of teaching. This tells us how difficult Chinese students find it to adopt the British style of education where one actually thinks about the subject and engages with the teacher.
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Prediction not an exact science
February 12th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
Forecasting technological change is not just about whether, but when and how, such change will happen. This is the headline message of my latest column for the trade union Prospect. You can read it here.
I have been writing articles on information technology for the trade union movement since 1978 and all the ones written since 2003 – 76 of them – can be accessed here.
It’s fun to look back and see how right and how wrong I was in my assessments.
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (0)
Word of the day: metonym
February 11th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
This is a figure of speech used in rhetoric in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept.
For instance, Hollywood is used as a metonym for the US film industry and Westminster is used as a metonym for the UK Parliament.
You can find a list of common metonyms here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
The main contenders for the BAFTAs
February 10th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
As a massive movie fan, tonight I’ll be watching the BBC1 coverage of the British Academy Film Awards.
Seven films have dominated the nominations and I’ve seen them all:
- “Lincoln” has ten nominations – my review here
- “Les Miserables” has nine nominations – my review here
- “Life Of Pi” has nine nominations – my review here
- “Skyfall” has eight nominations – my review here
- “Argo” has seven nominations – my review here
- “Django Unchained” has five nominated – my review here
- “Zero Dark Thirty” has five nominations – my review here
Footnote (11/2/13): You can see the full results here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
How inequality is growing in the UK
February 10th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
“… the top 1% of earners have seen their slice of the pie increase from 7% in the mid-1990s to 10% today, while the bottom half have seen their share drop from 19% to 18%.”
This is the headline message from a report to be published this week by the Resolution Foundation, which is trailed in a piece in today’s “Obeserver” newspaper.
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
A review of the film “Lincoln”
February 9th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
Two of my great interests are history and politics and so I looked forward to seeing the Steven Spielberg-directed “Lincoln” which I’ve reviewed here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
The assassination of Nazi leader Reinhard Heydrich
February 8th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
The killing of the SS leader Reinhard Heidrich by Czechoslovak parachutists in 1942 was the most high profile assassination of the Second World War.
Who took the decision to mount the operation and why? How was the killing carried out and what were the consequences?
These questions are answered by historian Callum MacDonald in an excellent book which I have just read and reviewed here.
Posted in History | Comments (0)