What’s your favourite James Bond film?
September 25th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
I see that the choice of the “Guardian” film critic Peter Bradshaw is the same as mine. Our similar age might explain this. We both select “From Russia With Love”.
You can read Bradshaw’s comments here and my review here.
So, what’s your favourite 007 movie?
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Do we need a wealth tax?
September 24th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
The talk at the Liberal Democrat Conference this week in Brighton is of the need for the richest in our society to make a larger contribution to thr resolution of the country’s financial problems. Even without the economic crisis, I would favour this because the UK has too great a spread of income and wealth as I blogged here.
One option is a wealth tax and this was a theme in one of my short stories. It was called “The PM And The MP” and you can read it here.
Posted in British current affairs, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
64 insights into the Internet and related phenomenon
September 23rd, 2012 by Roger Darlington
I’ve just finished reading a book with the catchy title “64 Things You Need To Know Now For Then” which is mainly about developments in the online world. You can read my review here.
Posted in Internet | Comments (0)
Inequality likely to grow even sharper
September 23rd, 2012 by Roger Darlington
A recurrent theme of the political postings on this blog is that inequality of income and wealth in the UK (and even more so the USA) is too sharp, that on current policies is likely to become even sharper, and that such deep inequality produces poor social outcomes for those at all levels of income. These arguments are particularly well evidenced in the book “The Spirit Level” which I have reviewed here.
A new report shows that the middle class in Britain is being hollowed out (this is even truer of the United States) and that, when the UK economy recovers, economic growth will further accentuate the division between rich and poor in our society – unless we promote new political policies.
The report is called “Who Gains From Growth? Living Standards In 2020” and it is published by the Resolution Foundation. The findings are the work of the independent and respected Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and the Institute for Economic Research (IER).
What policies might alleviate these pernicous trends? The report sets out a number of them including more investment in vocational education, heavily subsidised childcare, and the mandation of a living wage, You can read an editorial in today’s “Observer” newspaper summarising the issues here and you can access the full report here.
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (1)
Are we alone in this great big universe?
September 22nd, 2012 by Roger Darlington
Some people say that it would be arrogant to think that humankind is the only intelligent life in the universe, but this is is not a matter of emotion, rather one of sccience – and the science is complicated.
In a recent article, Astronomer Royal Martin Rees wrote:
“We know too little about how life began on Earth to lay confident odds. It may have involved a fluke so rare that it happened only once in the entire galaxy. On the other hand, it may have been almost inevitable, given the right environment. In the next two decades we can expect progress in understanding the biochemistry of life’s origins: this is one of the great unsolved problems – fascinating to the most Earth-focused biologist, but also crucial in guiding astronomers on how and where to search for alien life.”
I am impressed by the argument of Enrico Fermi which Rees summarises as follows:
“The great physicist Enrico Fermi famously argued that advanced life must be rare. Many stars are a billion years older than our sun. Life, were it common, would have had a head start around these more ancient stars. Why then, Fermi argued, haven’t aliens already come here? Why aren’t their artefacts staring us in the face?”
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (1)
We just don’t know what’s going on inside the people we meet
September 21st, 2012 by Roger Darlington
I saw this on someone’s Facebook page:
I explored this theme in one of my short stories entitled “The Away Day”.
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)
Riding high in post-Olympic London
September 19th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
Earlier this week, I saw my good friend Jen with her baby boy James who is almost two and therefore just a few months older than my granddaughter. At Jen’s suggestion, we went on the Emirates Air Line cable car which opened just before the Olympics and it was terrific fun with great views of the O2 building, the Thames Barrier, the Olympic Stadium, Canary Wharf and London City airport. You can see some photographs of the cable car on the web site and here are some of ours:
“Come on, Uncle Roger. I want to get going.”
“Whooo, whooo … this is fun, mum.”
Next challenge: walking across the top of the O2 building
The cable car runs between North Greenwich and the Royal Docks. On the north side, there is a new building called The Crystal which has been designed to be one of the most sustainable buildings in the world. It will open to the public at the end of this month.
I visited the O2 building three times when it was called the Millennium Dome and housed special exhibitions to mark the year 200o and last year I attended at film festival at the location. Jen and I had a good lunch there after our cable car ride – there are lots of cafes and restaurants – but I want to go back one day to take advantage of the opportunity to walk across the top of this iconic building [details here – check out the video!].
Posted in Environment, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
The makers versus the takers in Republican Party mythology
September 18th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney keeps shooting himself in the foot, toe by toe, so that by polling day he may no longer be standing.
His dismissal of the 47% of Americans who do not actually pay federal tax is astonishing for all sorts of reasons including the facts made very clear here.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
Should Israel attack Iran to block its nuclear ambitions?
September 16th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
I’be blogged several times opposing such a notion, as in this case, but it’s always good to see the argument put by an Israeli.
Bernard Avishai is Adjunct Professor of Business at the Hebrew University. You can read his piece here.
Not many people can say this, but I have visited both Israel [my account here] and Iran [my account here].
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Three wonderful films that you have never heard of
September 15th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
In each case, there is no plot, no actors, and no dialogue but stunning cinematography and imagery and a pulsing soundtrack with the guiding hand of Ron Fricke.
The three films are:
- “Koyaanisqatsi” (1982) – my review here
- “Baraka” (1992) – my review here
- “Samsara” (2011)- my review here
If you live in a major city, you might just catch “Samsara” in the next few weeks, but almost everyone will only get to see these movies by buying or renting them. It’s worth it. Enjoy.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)