Back 37 years to South Woodford
December 2nd, 2011 by Roger Darlington
This morning, I took the Central Line out all the way to South Woodford to see a colleague for a discussion. When I left the tube station, I realised that I had not been there for 37 years. I fought the two General Elections of 1974 as the Labour candidate for the then constituency of Wanstead and Woodford and I used to do leafleting at this station.
The February 1974 election was held against the background of a miners’ strike which had led the country to a three-day working week, but these days we have hardly any miners because we have virtually no coal mines. The October 1974 election resulted in the return of the minority Labour Government with a majority so small that, within a few years, it was forced to conclude the Lib-Lab pact – the nearest thing to a post-war coalition until the real thing in 2010.
Posted in History, My life & thoughts | Comments (1)
The link between social mobility and income inequality
November 30th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
“The idea that anyone can, by their own merits and hard work, improve their social and economic position is one of the dominant political themes of our times. Encouraging social mobility, both within a person’s lifetime (intra- generational social mobility) and from one generation to the next (inter- generational social mobility), has become a key objective for all the UK’s main political parties. However, evidence shows that in order to achieve greater social mobility we must first tackle the UK’s high level of inequality and reduce the income gap between rich and poor.”
This is a quote from a new fact sheet produced by The Equality Trust, the organisation formed as a result of the publication of the seminal work “The Spirit Level” [see my review here]. The fact sheet features a graph with a very clear message.
Posted in British current affairs, Social policy, World current affairs | Comments (0)
How old are you? How happy are you?
November 29th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
One of the most popular sections of my web site is the page entitled “How To Be Happy”. It’s also the section of the site that generates the most e-mails. Many readers seem to find the advice useful.
I’m struck though by how many of the writers are in their teens or 20s. In fact, many studies have shown that a major factor in individual happiness is age. If one plots age against self-reported well-being, a distinct U-bend is seen. From late teens to mid 40s, happiness falls and then rises constantly as age increases.
You can see the graph and an explanation here.
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (1)
Smarter economics: investing in girls
November 28th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
I had occasion today to visit the Department For International Development (DFID). Currently the atrium is adorned with a huge banner carrying an illustration called “The Girl Knight” by Kenyan graphic artist Eric Muthoga. You can see a version of the picture here.
The banner depicts a young black girl armed with a ‘shield’ in the form of a book attacking a monster labeled ‘poverty’ with a pen which is plunged into its eye. The illustration has divided staff at DFID. Some find it bold and believe that it stimulates discussion. Others believe it is over simplistic and unnecessarily aggressive.
‘The Girl Knight’ is the face of a campaign called ‘The Girl Effect’ promoted by the multinational Nike in collaboration with a variety of partners. The message is that investing in the 600 million girls in developing countries will help to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty and lead to better, fairer, and more productive lives.
You can check out some key facts ands figures here.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Day Two with baby Catrin
November 26th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
I was awake several times in the night, wondering why I hadn’t heard Catrin – but it was because she was still asleep. In the end, she slept straight through without waking all the way to 7.30 am. Is this the perfect baby, or what?
Once we were both up, I gave her another banana. Later I changed her nappy and dressed her for the day in a top announcing “Mommy rocks” (true) and multicoloured leggings. Then I presented her Christmas present one month early (she will actually be with another set of grandparents in Montreal for the festivities): a large box of Lego duplo items. Next I served her breakfast: cereal with milk and more blueberries.
Vee and I took turns looking after Catrin while we each in turn had our own breakfast and got washed and dressed. It was time for another nappy change and this one was another incredibly smelly and sticky one (how long does it take for sweetcorn to work its way through?). Then she slept for about three-quarters of an hour. When she was awake, she had her lunch: a different main course and a different dessert.
At this point, the three of us went down to the local Anglican church for the Christmas fair. On the way there, at the church, and on the way back, we met no fewer than six neighbours, all of whim declared that Catrin was gorgeous (such good taste our local community). Catrin herself had no interest in the cooing neighbours but she gurgled loudly when she came face to face with Kitty the cat and Charlie the dog.
At the fair, we bought Catrin a hand-knitted scarecrow character and a baby’s book with flashing lights (I never had that as a kid). Vee and I each had a glass of mulled wine which went straight to our head and Catrin had to help us home. Back at the house, she ate a lemon muffin that we purchased at the fair and still more blueberries. While she slept for about an hour and half, we had our lunch. When she woke, she finished off the last of the blueberries.
We played and played. Then it was time for the last supper – still a different main course and still a different dessert – and one last nappy change, so that she was fed and clean for the arrival of her a parents about 5 pm. When they all left at 5.45 pm, the house seemed suddenly empty. Throughout her 29 hours with us, Catrin had been so good-natured and playful. As my grandmother used to say of me, she was “as good as gold”.
Footnote: Just heard from Catrin’s dad. It’s official – she’s now a blueberry.
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (2)
Day One with baby Catrin
November 25th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
As I explained in a posting four weeks ago, my son Richard and daughter-in-law Emily wished to leave their daughter Catrin with us overnight so that they could go away and celebrate Emily’s birthday. A month ago was the trial run as I stayed with them overnight and took responsibility for Catrin. It worked out fine and this weekend is the real thing.
So, about 12.30 pm today, Richard and Emily arrived with Catrin – now 10 months old – and enough baby food and baby clothes and other baby bits to last us weeks (I hope that they are coming back tomorrow and it’s not just a ploy). At 1 pm, they were off to a health spa to enjoy a couple of days break and Vee and I took over the little one.
Catrin learned to crawl last week and she is now a really fast mover and an adventurous explorer, so we have had to redesign our house for the weekend. We started with lunch and then I changed the smelliest and stickiest nappy of my experience since she was born. I think the output had something to do with her devouring of corn on the cob in “Nando’s” yesterday, but perhaps Catrin wanted to give me an early test.
I then took her to our nearest park where she absolutely loved being on the swings.
“I love this swing, granddad”
On the way back, she ate a whole banana – a fruit she enjoys both for the taste and the ability to feed herself. Back at the house, she was ready for a sleep and went down for about three-quarters of an hour.
Once awake, it was tea time. As well as main course and dessert, she kept eating more and more blueberries for which she is crazy. It’s possible that her parents will not be collecting a little baby but a large blueberry tomorrow. All afternoon, we played a lot. I had bought her a new toy: nine “jungle wonder cubes” from the Early Learning Centre. These are supposed to be used to build coloured towers but Catrin thinks it thrilling to knock down any tower I create just as fast as she can.
Finally it was bath time – she loves the water – followed by more more gentle play and yet more blueberries. She went down about 8.45 pm and, when Richard called around 9 pm to check on her, I was able to assure him that the little darling was fast asleep. Wonder how long that will last ….
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
What sort of Internet do we want?
November 24th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
For nine years now, I’ve been writing a regular column on communications issues with particular reference to the Internet. These pieces are for the magazine of Connect, a trade union representing professionals in telecoms and now part of the larger union Prospect.
I’ve just contributed my 70th piece and it’s all about the pressures to limit – or at least shape – how we use the Net and what we access on it. You can read the column here.
Posted in Internet | Comments (0)
Who is Grover Norquist?
November 23rd, 2011 by Roger Darlington
The United States is suffering a ballooning budget deficit that threatens the stability of the world’s largest economy and therefore the global economy itself. In the face of such a challenge, most countries would see the obvious solution as a mixture of cuts in public expenditure and increases in taxes with tax hikes focused on those most able to pay.
That’s not the way it works in the bitterly divided Congress where a special super committee on the national deficit has failed to reach agreement in large part because all six Republicans have signed a pledge to oppose any tax increase.
The pledge was organised by an individual with the unlikely name Grover Norquist. He heads a powerful lobbying group called Americans For Tax Reform, but his influence in the Congressional deadlock has been such that he has been dubbed the 13th member of the super committee.
You can read more about his efforts here.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
First, the BRICs; then, the PIGS; now the CIVETS
November 23rd, 2011 by Roger Darlington
BRIC = Brazil, Russia, India and China. These are countries that for some years have been declared as about to become major commercial powers.
PIGS = Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain. These are countries identified a couple of years ago as having major problems of sovereign debt.
CIVETS = Columbia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa. These are countries recently suggested as the second tier of energy economies.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (1)
How are we going to curb excessive pay?
November 22nd, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Today the High Pay Commission publishes its final report, “Cheques with Balances: Why tackling high pay is in the national interest”, shows stratospheric pay increases which have seen wealth flow upwards to the top 0.1% away from average workers. It sets out a 12-point plan based on transparency, accountability and fairness to halt spiralling high pay that is creating inequalities last seen in the Victorian era.
The report’s recommendations include:
• Greater transparency in the calculation of executive pay to end the “closed shop” on pay decisions.
• Putting employees on remuneration committees, a move included in the government’s own consultation remit.
• Publishing the top 10 executive pay packages outside the boardroom.
• Forcing companies to publish a pay ratio between the highest paid executive and the company median.
• Requiring companies to reveal total pay earned by the boardroom members.
• Establishing a new national body to monitor high pay.
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)