Why has Mitt Romney revealed so few tax returns?
August 18th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
Republican presumptive presidential candidate Mitt Romney has only produced two tax returns so far. That’s many fewer than any presidential candidate has disclosed in decades. So what’s he hiding?
Read about the speculation here.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
A review of “Catching Fire”
August 16th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
One of my projects for the quiet month of August is to read all three novels in the “Hunger Games” trilogy by Suzanne Collins given to me by by daughter-in-law.
I have previously mentioned “The Hunger Games” which I reviewed here and I have now read the second part of the trilogy “Catching Fire” which I’ve reviewed here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
As the world watches Syria, don’t forget little Lebanon
August 16th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
For almost a year and a half, Syria has been sliding inexorably into civil war. The smaller next-door state of Lebanon had its own bloody 15-year civil war from 1975-1990. What is increasingly worrying is whether the growing violence in Syria will start to spill over into Lebanon.
In March 2011, I travelled throughout both Syria and Lebanon and you can read the account of my trip here. During my time in the Levant, I read a book about Lebanon called “Beware Of Small States” written by David Hirst and you can read my review here.
As accounts now appear of kidnappings in Lebanon, David Hirst has today written a piece for the “Guardian” in which he explains:
“Syria has assumed the role that Lebanon itself used to play: as the battleground of a regional and international proxy war that will shape the destiny of the entire Middle East. Basically, it pits the Syrian regime, along with Iranian and Russian backers, against the Syrian rebels, Arab regimes (led by Saudi Arabia and Qatar) and the US.
With Syria as the main arena, Lebanon’s role in this proxy war can be only a subsidiary one. But that will render it no less real, and potentially unpleasant, for the Lebanese. The country’s main fault line – once Christian versus Muslim – now mirrors that of the region at large, Sunni versus Shia Islam.”
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
The 10 most embarrassing place names in the UK
August 15th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
You’ll find them here.
Can you suggest others from around the world? My favourite is Foggy Bottom, a district of Washington DC.
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)
What is the worst opening sentence to a novel?
August 15th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
There is an annual competition to determine the answer and you can see this year’s winner here.
I’ve never written a novel, but I have crafted 28 short stories and I hope that none of them has such a terrible opening sentence. You can be the judge here.
Posted in Cultural issues, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Which city in the world is the best in which to live?
August 15th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) in its latest survey, the answer is still Melbourne in Australia. My home city of London only rates 55th. What about your city?
The EIU’s “Liveability Ranking and Overview” assesses living conditions in 140 cities around the world. A rating of relative comfort for 30 indicators is assigned across five broad categories: stability; healthcare; culture and environment; education; and infrastructure. The survey gives an overall rating of 0-100, where 1 is intolerable and 100 is ideal.
More information here.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (1)
The day after the London 2012 Olympic Games
August 13th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
There has been a sense of anticlimax in my home city of London today after all the excitement of the last 16 days of the city hosting the 2012 Olympic Games. Even the weather has been duller than it was during the Games when it stayed fine after months of exceptional rain.
For all the frequent doubts and characteristic cynicism in the years and then months before the Games, the passage of the Olympic torch all around the UK started to swing opinion behind the event and excite interest in it. The Games themselves have been phenomenal – brilliantly organised, with none of the transport and security problems that were feared, and terrific results, for both the sports themselves and especially for Team GB.
There were 70 Olympic records and 32 world records. Great Britain won 29 gold medals, 22 silver and 10 bronze – a total of 65 medals. This placed us third in the world with only the United States and China – much, much more populated countries – surpassing us.
Those 65 medals compared to 47 in Beijing in 2008, 30 in Athens in 2004, 28 in Sydney in 2000, and a mere 15 in Atlanta in 1996. It was the nation’s best Olympic result since 1908 when the Games were first hosted by London. It is very hard to see how this achievement could be exeeeded in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 or any other time.
I’m not really interested in sport, but even I watched key events on television, including the spectacular races of Jessica Ennis, Mo Fahar and Usain Bolt. Last night, I watched a BBC one and a half hour review of the highlights of the whole Games and then live the three-hour closing ceremony when I especially enjoyed the reunion of the Spice Girls and Eric Idle singing “Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life”.
I would have loved to have been a volunteer for the London Olympics. I applied and was shortlisted but not chosen. I pay tribute to the 70,000 volunteers who gave the Games such a friendly face.
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
Why Obama needs to make history – again
August 12th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
As we run up to the American presidential election consider these two facts.
Fact 1: Since the Second World War, no incumbent president has ever won an election with unemployment higher than 7.2% (Ronald Reagan in 1984 managed to win re-election when unemployment was at that 7.2% figure).
Fact 2: The unemployment rate has been above 8% for 42 straight months – its longest period ever.
You’ll find more analysis with a couple of graphs here.
So, to win a second term, Barack Obama will have to make history. But then that’s what he did four years ago by becoming the first African-American president.
Currently Obama and Romney are very close in the national polls, but the election will be determined by the Electoral College vote and here Obama looks stronger as revealed by Real Clear Politics.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (1)
What do you know about Finland? (2)
August 11th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
I’ve just returned from a short break in Finland with my sister Silvia. One of the reasons that I love travelling to new places is that I learn so much. In no particular order, here are some of the things that I learned on this trip:
- Finland had a civil war in four months of 1918. It was between the Reds (supported by the Soviet Union) and and the Whites (supported by the German Empire) and the Whites won. About 37,000 people died out of a population of 3 million.
- As a consequence of the Second World War, Finland lost more than 10% of its territory to the Soviet Union, following the Winter War of 1939-40, the Continuation War of 1941-44 and the post-war settlement. We visited a fascinating military museum which told the story of the first war in which the Finns valiantly defended their country against Soviet invasion, but failed to mention the second war when the Finns temporarily recovered the lost territory and invaded the Soviet Union.
- Finland was due to host the Olympic Games in 1940 but, of course, the Games scheduled for 1940 and 1944 were never held because of the Second World War. The 1948 Games was hosted by London and Finland was host for the 1952 Games. We saw the stadium that was used.
- The Finnish language is one of the most complicated of all Western languages. Finns decline their nouns and there are no fewer than 16 cases.
- The Finnish national epic is a 19th century poem called the Kalevala. There are lots of cultural allusions to this work but very few Finns have actually read it.
- Although only around 5% of Finns have Swedish as their first language, all public signs in the country are in both Finnish and Swedish.
- Finland is one of the very few countries in the world with a unicameral parliament. Others are Israel and New Zealand.
- The most famous Finnish company is Nokia which produces world-class mobile phones, but many non-Finns think the company is Swedish. It actually started its life in 1865 manufacturing rubber boots.
- A famous Finnish food is reindeer meat which I sampled and enjoyed on our break.
- Another Finnish delicacy is a small fish called vendace which is served fried with potatoes and other vegetables plus garlic sauce. We had this for lunch in the open air fish market in Helsinki.
- A famous Finnish cartoon character is called Moomin which was created by the Swedish-Finn Tove Jansson. There are shops everywhere selling merchandise of every kind featuring this family of trolls and the Japanese especially are mad over the creature – but I’d never heard of it.
- There is mechandise everywhere featuring Angry Birds. And I thought it was just a game in the form of a smartphone app.
- Many people think of the Finns as a healthy lot and there really are loads of cyclists around, but many Finns – especially young people – are now seriously overweight.
- Finland has a serious problem of alcoholism with Finns of all ages and classes drunk in the streets at the weekend.
- Finland has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. Those long winter nights do not help.
So, did you know all this?
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (2)
What do you know about Finland? (1)
August 4th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
Not many people outside of Finland know much about the country, but I’m about to make a short trip there for the first time, so I’m reading up about the country. I always like to get to know a new place and this will be the 57th country that I have visited.
In fact, as an independent nation state, Finland – called Suomi by the Finns – is a relatively new nation. Finland was a part of Sweden from the 12th to 19th century, and from 1809 to 1917 was an autonomous Grand Duchy within the Russian Empire. The Finnish Declaration of Independence from Russia came on 6 December 1917 so, as an independent country, it is less than 100 years old.
This year is the 200th anniversary of Helsinki – which was founded in 1550 – as the country’s capital, since in 1812 the Russian rulers moved the capital from Turku. This year Helsinki is also World Design Capital.
In population terms, Finland is a small country with a total population of 5.4 million. Helsinki has a population of around 600,000.
In geographical terms, however, it is a large country in European terms – almost the size of Germany. Two-thirds of the country is covered in forest and the far North forms part of the Arctic Circle.
Currently the Finnish economy is one of the most robust in Europe. While unemployment is 7.5% and inflation is 2.9%, the country has generous welfare provision and income per capita is among the highest in Europe.
At the moment, it is the only country in the Eurozone with a stable triple-A credit rating. This is partly because, on a net basis, the country has no debt since annually it raises in taxes just more than the level of government debt.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (1)