A review of the classic novel “All The King’s Men” by Robert Penn Warren
March 31st, 2021 by Roger Darlington
This 660-page work, published in 1946, is a classic example of the great American novel. Indeed it won the Pulitzer Prize and is often rated as one of the greatest novels of the 20th century. It has twice been made into a film: first in 1949 (winning the Academy Award for Best Picture) and much more recently in 2006. In fact, it was only after seeing both movies that I used the third lockdown of the global pandemic to tackle the novel, but I’m pleased that it did because it is a finely-written and cleverly constructed work – although of its time (so one has to overlook a few uses of the N-word).
It is set in the !920s and 1930s and written from the point of view of Jack Burden, a political reporter who covers the ascent to power of charismatic populist Willie Stark and then becomes the right-man man of the dynamic but corrupt governor of the unnamed southern state. It is widely believed that the story was inspired by the record of Huey Pierce Long (1893-1935) who was the radical populist governor of Louisiana (whom Warren was able to observe closely while teaching at Louisiana State University), a controversial character who was eventually assassinated.
Although the focus of the novel is initially Stark (usually called “the Boss”), it increasingly becomes about Burden who states: the story of Willie Stark and the story of Jack Burden are, in one sense, one story”.
“All The King’s Men” presents a deeply cynical view of “poly-ticks”. Willie Stark insists several times: “Man is conceived in sin and born in corruption and he passeth from the stink of the didie to the stench of the shroud. There is always something.” The ‘something’ is the part of a man’s record that permits him to be bullied into submission or bribed into compliance.
The novel reads like a Shakespearean tragedy with the unexpected consequences of various characters’ actions leading to a succession of deaths. Indeed a major theme of the work is that life is all about consequences. As Stark puts it: “politics is always a matter of choices and a man doesn’t set up the choices himself. And there is always a price to make a choice.” As the final words of the book put it, we all have to accept “the awful responsibility of Time”.
These days it is impossible to read the novel or view either of the film adaptations without thinking of Donald Trump.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
How does the current global pandemic compare with the influenza pandemic of 1918?
March 30th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
The influenza pandemic is usually called the Spanish flu. However, it was only called that because it came to the attention of the media more in Spain since this country was neutral and had a freer media than the Great War combatant nations of Britain, France and Germany where the flu was initially prevalent.
We don’t know for sure the origin of that pandemic but recent research suggests that it might have been a military establishment in the USA. It is highly likely that Covid-19 originated in Wuhan in China, but we can’t yet be totally certain of that. The virus might have been present in other countries before being detected in China.
The technical term for so-called Spanish flu was the H1N1 influenza virus. The technical term for the coronavirus currently rampaging through the world is SARS-CoV-2.
The Spanish flu lasted from February 1918 to April 1920, so approximately two years. The current pandemic started in December 2019 and therefore, so far, it has been running for almost a year and a half.
The Spanish flu infected around 500 million people which was about a third of the world’s population at the time. So far, Covid-19 is believed to have infected 127 million out of a current world population of 7.9 billion .
We don’t know the death toll from the Spanish flu. It is usually estimated as between 20 – 50 million, but the lowest estimate is 17 million and the highest is 100 million. The current pandemic is far from over but currently the death toll stands at 2.78 million.
The flu of 1918-1920 was experienced in four successive waves. The present pandemic is not over, but the UK and USA have had two waves and much of Europe is currently experiencing a third wave.
Most flu epidemics disproportionately kill the very young and the very old, but the Spanish flu caused a higher than expected mortality rate for young adults aged 20-40. So far, Covid-19 has disproportionately killed the over 70s.
In 1918-1920, there were no antiviral drugs and no vaccines. Already a range of treatments exist for Covid-19 and a number of different vaccines have already been developed and approved.
A final thought: the Spanish flu may have killed as many as the Great War, almost every town and village in Britain and France has a memorial to the war dead, but when was the last time you saw a memorial anywhere to the flu victims of 1918-1920? Indeed the event hardly seems to figure in history books or people’s consciousness. Which begs the question: how will the pandemic of 2019-2021(?) be remembered and memorialised?
Posted in History, Science & technology | Comments (0)
Joe Biden could well become a truly transformational president
March 27th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
Supporters of Joe Biden’s primary challenger Bernie Sanders were convinced that he was too moderate; Biden was branded as ‘Sleepy Joe’ by his presidential opponent Donald Trump; and even many of his supporters thought that he would would Obama Mark 2, that is decent but cautious even conservative.
But, after only a couple of months in the White House, Biden is proving surprisingly successful and radical. He has already overseen the inoculation of 100 million Americans against covid and secured a $1.9 trillion economic recovery package. As Jonthan Freedland states in this article, this could be just the beginning of a performance that could rank him with FDR and LBJ:
“If he can get the pandemic under control and the economy on track, Biden is signalling that he’s ready to act big, and fast, in other spheres. In the pipeline is a green energy and infrastructure plan that, coupled with an education bill, carries an astonishing $3tn price tag. He’s also under pressure to fend off Republican voter suppression efforts, aimed chiefly at keeping black Americans away from the ballot box, by passing a voting rights act, and to make other democratic reforms, whether granting statehood to the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico or scrapping the filibuster mechanism – both of which would offset the inbuilt advantage the current system gives to America’s white, rural minority.”
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How I survived a year of lockdowns in this crazy year of a global pandemic
March 23rd, 2021 by Roger Darlington
As soon as the breakout of Covid-19 in Wuhan became news, I was following events there with great interest, not least because I have visited the city twice [some notes here].
Then, exactly a year ago today, Britain went into its first national lockdown. I noted in my diary: “Although this was widely expected and I am already more-or-less in compliance, it is a truly shocking development.” The television news that evening announced that the UK death toll was 335 of which 148 were in London where I live.
A week earlier, we had been warned that, if the country went into lockdown, a death toll of 20,000 would be “a good outcome” but that, without a lockdown, deaths could be up to 260,000. A year later, the official figure for deaths is just over 126,000 – one of the worst records in the world.
I don’t really know how long that first lockdown lasted because the restrictions were eased gradually, but I suppose it was around three months before we were able to have a reasonably normal summer. Then, in November, we had a second lockdown – this one for a month. At the beginning of January, we went into a third lockdown and are now almost three months into this.
I find myself reflecting how it has all been for me. The bottom line is : 1) I am alive; 2) I’ve not had covid; 3) I’ve had a first dose of the vaccine and next week with have my second dose; 4) I’m in good health physically and mentally. But it has been tough. Since I live alone and I’m gregarious, there has been some loneliness, isolation and boredom – nothing compared to the experience of many, many other people, but enough to make me reflective.
So, how have I coped with all these lockdowns?
I’ve walked a lot – every single day, whatever the weather. To give my walks some direction and purpose, I’ve taken photographs of many corners of central London and posted them on Facebook. The response of my FB friends has been a source of real encouragement in these isolated times.
I’ve read a lot – including some huge books such as “The Mirror And The Light” by Hilary Mantel (900 pages), “Churchill” by Roy Jenkins (900 pages), “A Promised Land” by Barack Obama (700 pages) and “All The King’s Men” by Robert Penn Warren (650 pages).
I’ve watched a lot of television – not all these series about crime and violence which seem to have been so popular with so many, but the BBC and CNN news, “The Daily Show” with Trevor Noah, a Sky Arts series on film directors, and as many films that I can find that I haven’t seen already. I even appeared on television – in a Valentine Day edition of “First Dates”!
I’ve written a lot – my daily diary, my blog, my website, Twitter, Facebook.
Perhaps above all, I’ve done a lot of video calls on Zoom, FaceTime, and WhatsApp. Since I’m retired, I’ve had no work calls unlike most people. Instead, in the first lockdown, I gave 26 history lessons to two 10 year olds who were away from school. In the first and third lockdowns, I’ve done a weekly film quiz with a young friend (we’ve now clocked up 16). And, of course, throughout there have been lots of chats with family and friends for which I’m deeply grateful.
But I am SO looking forward to seeing all these family and friends, to drinking and eating in cafes and restaurants, to seeing films in cinemas, to visiting art galleries and museums, and – one day – to travelling abroad again. Also I badly need a haircut.
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (2)
A review of the new film “Judas And The Black Messiah”
March 21st, 2021 by Roger Darlington
This is a true story set in Chicago in the late 1960s. This was an especially terrible time to be a protestor – particularly a black protestor – in the United States as previously set out in films like “Detroit” and “The Trial Of The Chicago 7”. In this case, the messiah is the Chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party (BPP), the young, charismatic agitator Fred Hampton, while his nemesis is equally young black petty criminal Bill O’Neal who agreed to infiltrate the BPP to escape a jail sentence.
British actor Daniel Kaluuya plays Hampton. We already knew that he was a fine performer as shown in such work as “Get Out” and “Queen & Slim”, but here he is simply outstanding, by turns mesmerisingly vocal and tenderly caring. In a deeply unsympathetic role, Lakeith Stanfield (“Get Out” and “Knives Out”) is utterly convincing as the informer who is himself a victim of the corrupt criminal justice system.
The film was co-written, produced and directed by Shaka King whose heritage is largely from Panama and whose upbringing was in diverse neighbourhoods in New York. It is only his second feature film – the first was eight years earlier – and represents a triumph that will rightly win many awards. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, its release is so timely and so relevant. Hampton’s partner and son were both consultants on the film which gives it added authenticity.
I only have two reservations about this wonderful movie: one continual and the other occasional. The first is that the dialogue and its delivery are so authentic that an older white Britisher like me could not catch it all. The second is the odd casting of Martin Sheen as FBI director J Edgar Hoover which involves distracting prosthetics.
Most true life films finish with some text explaining what happened afterwards. In this case, there is even more text than usual plus some amazing archive footage. Be sure not to miss it.
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When is a majority not enough – or will the Democrats abolish (or at least amend) the filibuster?
March 19th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
So the Democrats in the United States now hold the White House with Joe Biden and have a majority in the House of Representatives and a majority in the Senate (once Vice-President Kamala Harris uses her casting vote). So they should be able to progress their large and radical agenda, right?
If only American politics was so simple. The Senate has a provision called the filibuster which enables any Senator to block legislature effectively as long as he or she wishes. The only way to override a filibuster is with a vote of at least 60 which is 10 more than the Democrats hold in the Senate. But the filibuster is a rule that can technically be overcome by a simple majority and the Dems have that majority once one includes the Vice-President’s casting vote.
So why don’t the Democrats scrap the filibuster? It’s partly a matter of convention – the rule has existed for so long (it was created in 1806 in a limited form) that some think it is a fundamental part of American democracy. It’s partly self-interest – if the Dems abolish it now, the Republicans will not have to worry about it when they are next in control of the Senate. It’s partly because not all 50 Democratic Senators are willing to take what is seen as the nuclear option – moderate Democratic Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona won’t back the move.
So what is to be done? Newly-installed President Joe Biden has drawn a distinction between how the filibuster used to work when he first became a Senator and how it has evolved since. In his day, a Senator had to mount the filibuster on the floor of the Senate by talking continuously. These days, enough senators (40) simply have to make known their opposition to the legislation in question. Biden has recently and publicly mooted that the Senate should return to the “talking filibuster”.
So watch this space …
More information on the filibuster here.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
10 years of death, destitution and devastation in the Syrian civil war
March 15th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
On 9 March 2011, I passed from Syria into Lebanon after a week touring the main sights of Syria. Just six days later and exactly ten years ago today, the Syrian civil war began – although, at the time, the first protests were barely reported and nobody would have imagined the resultant scale and duration of what would soon become a full-scale civil war with eventually the participation of a whole variety of foreign-backed militia groups and later foreign forces directly.
Visiting this troubled part of the world was always going to be different from a conventional holiday, but events took a dramatic turn between booking the trip and when we took it. In the month before the visit, the Arab world was set alight by demonstrations of unprecedented size and consequence, leading in the case of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya to full-scale revolutions. But, at the time of our visit, Syria was eirily quiet.
In totalitarian Syria, I had little to discuss politically, partially because there is little conventional politics to discuss and partially because there was nobody willing to discuss it with me. In total contrast, the confessional political system of Lebanon provided plenty to debate and people there were ready to explain it.
In Syria, the security presence was virtually invisible; all one saw was traffic police but one was aware that in plain clothes there was a formidable apparatus at work. Again in complete contrast, in Lebanon the security was ‘in your face’ with troops, APCs and road blocks all over the place but nevertheless a feeling of freedom that was absent in Syria.
Nobody knows the true scale of the death toll as a result of the ten-year Syrian civil war. Estimates vary between 400,000-600,000. Many millions have been forced to flee their homes. It is an absolute tragedy and my heart bleeds for the Syrian people.
You can read about my visit here and you can learn more about the war here.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
A review of “21 Lessons For The 21st Century” by Yuval Noah Harari (2018)
March 14th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
Harari is an Israeli academic specialising in world history who is best-known for his books “Sapiens: A Brief History Of Humankind” and “Homo Deus: A Brief History Of Tomorrow”. I have not read these earlier works but I understand that his latest book reworks many of the themes of his previous writing and indeed he acknowledges that earlier versions of some segments were previously published as essays and articles. So, fascinating and enjoyable though this book is, there is a sense that it is something of a smorgasbord of earlier material.
This sense is underlined by the title and structure of the book. Convenient though it may be for the title, it is difficult to divine each chapter as a lesson, rather than a knowledgeable rumination, and the division of the book into 21 chapters is something of an artifice because the chapters vary substantially in length from five which are fewer than 10 pages to one which is 45 pages. Having said all this, “21 Lessons” is a genuinely impressive and very readable work. The author displays a stunning breadth of knowledge of different subjects, different nations and different periods of history.
Harari points out that “For the first time in history, infectious diseases kill fewer people than old age, famine kills fewer people than obesity, and violence kills fewer people than accidents”. So he is not so worried about the dangers of terrorism and conventional war, both of which he views as minor threats compared to the existential challenges of nuclear weapons, ecological collapse and technological disruption (especially biotech and infotech).
He has no faith in religion (he is especially hard on Judaism) and doubts the capacity of liberal democracies to survive in their present form, but he offers few practical solutions (he is sympathetic to the idea of a universal basic income and supports stronger regulation of big data). He is very much a globalist arguing that “we need a new global identity” and that global problems need global solutions (he is a major supporter of the European Union and the United Nations).
The penultimate chapter – by far the longest – addresses perhaps the most important of existential questions: what is the meaning of life?
First, he addresses a popular story told for thousands of years which explains that “we are all part of an eternal cycle that encompasses and connects all beings”. He mentions two examples of this circle of life story: the Hindu epic the Bhagavad-Gita and the Disney epic “The Lion King”. Next he looks at religions and ideologies that believe in “a linear cosmic drama which has a definite beginning, a not-too-long middle and a once-and-for-all ending”. Such religions include Christianity, Islam and Judaism and such ideologies include nationalism and communism. Harari rejects all such deterministic stories as lacking in evidence and failing to explain the world as we find it.
Eventually Harari comes to the view that: “The meaning of life isn’t a ready-made product. There is no divine script and nothing outside me can give meaning to my life”. He is very attracted to Buddhism and explains that “According to the Buddha … life has no meaning and people don’t need to create any meaning”. He argues that “The big question facing humans isn’t ‘what is the meaning of life’ but rather ‘how do we get out of suffering?’”
And how do we do that? He is passionate about Vipassana meditation which involves observation of the present moment with concentration on breath and sensations throughout the body. So keen is he on such introspection that he meditates for two hours each day and each year takes a meditation retreat of a month or two.
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Word of the day: biome
March 13th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
A biome is a collection of plants and animals that have common characteristics for the environment they exist in. They can be found over a range of continents. Biomes are distinct biological communities that have formed in response to a shared physical climate. Biome is a broader term than habitat; any biome can comprise a variety of habitats.
I confess that I had never heard this word until today when I had my weekly video chat with my 10 year old granddaughter. She went back to school a week ago and this is one of the things she learned this week. How come a 10 year old knows more than a 72 year old? It’s called education.
Posted in Environment | Comments (0)
The meaning of life – according to Yuval Noah Harari (and me)
March 12th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
I’ve just finished reading “21 Lessons For The 21st Century” by the Israeli writer Yuval Noah Harari. The penultimate chapter – by far the longest – addresses perhaps the most important of existential questions: what is the meaning of life?
First, he addresses a popular story told for thousands of years which explains that “we are all part of an eternal cycle that encompasses and connects all beings”. He mentions two examples of this circle of life story: the Hindu epic the Bhagavad-Gita and the Disney epic “The Lion King”.
Next he looks at religions and ideologies that believe in “a linear cosmic drama which has a definite beginning, a not-too-long middle and a once-and-for-all ending”. Such religions include Christianity, Islam and Judaism and such ideologies include nationalism and communism. Harari rejects all such deterministic stories as lacking in evidence and failing to explain the world as we find it.
So he turns to other views on the meaning of life. There is the ‘leave something behind’ approach, the ‘something’ ideally being a soul or one’s personal essence. Again there is a paucity of supporting evidence. Another version of this story is leaving ‘something tangible’, either cultural (such as a poem or a book) or biological (such as children and grandchildren). Of course, many people do not achieve this, so can this really be the meaning of life?
He goes on to consider briefly other ideas such as providing kindness or finding romance. But he regards all such ideas too limited to represent genuine meaning. Indeed he concludes: “Any story is wrong, simply for being a story. The universe just does not work like a story”.
So Harari comes to the view that: “The meaning of life isn’t a ready-made product. There is no divine script and nothing outside me can give meaning to my life.” He is very attracted to Buddhism and explains that “According to the Buddha … life has no meaning and people don’t need to create any meaning”. He argues that “The big question facing humans isn’t ‘what is the meaning of life’ but rather ‘how do we get out of suffering?'”
And how do we do that? He is passionate about Vipassana meditation which involves observation of the present moment with concentration on breath and sensations throughout the body. So keen is he on such introspection that he meditates for two hours each day and each year takes a meditation retreat of a month or two.
So where do I stand on all this? I am sceptical of all metaphysical concepts and all deterministic philosophies. I choose to concentrate not on a release from suffering but on the acquisition of joy. Like Harari, I believe that life has no intrinsic meaning, but I do not accept that we don’t need to create a meaning and I find the notion of excessive meditation something of a retreat from reality.
In the absence of any intrinsic meaning of life, I believe that we can and should create our own meaning and live consistently by that vision. I choose to give my life meaning through creativity (constantly discovering, learning and sharing) and community (giving to family, friends and the global society).
Posted in Cultural issues, My life & thoughts | Comments (2)