The biggest Bollywood movie you’ve never heard of
November 7th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
It’s called “Bajirao Mastani”. See, I told you that you’ve never heard of it.
But it was mega in India and it’s certainly worth tracking down. You can read my review here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
U.S. presidential election (35): the world holds its breath
November 7th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Tomorrow is polling day in a US presidential election which is widely judged to have been the most bitter and divisive in modern times. In fact, about a third of the ballots likely to be cast have already been made in early voting. That is at least 41 million votes across 48 states.
The latest polls show Clinton leading Trump by 48% to 43% (Washington Post/ABC), 44% to 40% (NBC/Wall Street Journal), and 45% to 42% (Politico/Morning Consult). So Clinton should win the most votes.
But the US President is not chosen by popular vote but by the Electoral College. According to the HuffPost Pollster database, Clinton is pretty certain of 269 electoral votes, while Trump probably has 164 in the bag. That leaves 105 up for grabs. Trump would need to win all of them to draw level with Clinton. So Clinton should win the College much more decisively than the popular vote.
But the world is holding its breath.
I’ll be staying up all night to watch the coverage of the counting and I’ll be joining a whole bunch of American Democratic activists living in London to see the story unfold.
I’ll be holding my breath.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (2)
U.S. presidential election (34): how does the electoral college work?
November 6th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
On Tuesday, at long last, American voters go to the polls in the Presidential election – as well as the election of the whole of the House of Representatives and a third of the Congress. What non-Americans following the election need to understand is that constitutionally the President is not elected by the voters but by an Electoral College whose delegates are chosen by the voters on a state by state basis. This means that the candidate who wins the largest number of votes overall may not necessarily win the largest number of delegates in the Electoral College.
Confused? In my short guide to the American political system, I have explained the process as follows:
“The President is not elected directly by the voters but by an Electoral College representing each state on the basis of a combination of the number of members in the Senate (two for each state regardless of size) and the number of members in the House of Representatives (roughly proportional to population). The states with the largest number of votes are California (55), Texas (38) and New York (29). The states with the smallest number of votes – there are six of them – have only three votes. The District of Columbia, which has no voting representation in Congress, has three Electoral College votes. In effect, therefore, the Presidential election is not one election but 51
The total Electoral College vote is 538. This means that, to become President, a candidate has to win at least 270 electoral votes. The voting system awards the Electoral College votes from each state to delegates committed to vote for a certain candidate in a “winner take all” system, with the exception of Maine and Nebraska (which award their Electoral College votes according to Congressional Districts rather than for the state as a whole). In practice, most states are firmly Democrat – for instance, California and New York – or firmly Republican – for instance, Texas and Tennessee. Therefore, candidates concentrate their appearances and resources on the so-called “battleground states”, those that might go to either party. The three largest battleground or swing states are Florida (29 votes), Pennsylvania (20) and Ohio (18). Others are Virginia (13), Wisconsin (10), Colorado (9), Iowa (6) and Nevada (6).
This system of election means that a candidate can win the largest number of votes nationwide but fail to win the largest number of votes in the Electoral College and therefore fail to become President. Indeed, in practice, this has happened three times in US history: 1876, 1888, and 2000. If this seems strange (at least to non-Americans), the explanation is that the ‘founding fathers’ who drafted the American Constitution did not wish to give too much power to the people and so devised a system that gives the ultimate power of electing the President to members of the Electoral College. The same Constitution, however, enables each state to determine how its members in the Electoral College are chosen and since the 1820s states have chosen their electors by a direct vote of the people.
The United States is the only example in the world of an indirectly elected executive president.”
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
A review of the Italian novel “The Story Of The Lost Child”
November 5th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
It’s taken me almost three months, but I’ve finally completed my summer/autumn reading project: to read the four works and 1700 pages that make up the ‘Neapolitan Novels’, an acclaimed series by the Italian author Elena Ferrante.
This is a saga of the 60-year friendship between two girls from a poor neighbourhood of Naples after the Second World War: the narrator Elena Greco, known as Lenu, who becomes an accomplished writer and Raffaella Cerullo, known as Lila, whose never leaves Naples.
The first novel in the series is called “My Brilliant Friend” and I reviewed it here. The second novel is titled “The Story Of A New Name” and you can read my review here. The third novel is “Those Who Leave And Those Who Stay” and I reviewed it here.
I’ve just concluded the fourth and final novel in the chronicle which is called “The Story Of The Lost Child” and you’ll find my review here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Which country does the most good for humanity?
November 5th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
You may not be surprised to hear that the answer – again – is Sweden. You might be surprised to learn that the UK comes in at 4th place. The USA is only 20th. Here are the top and bottom scorers:
The top 5:
1. Sweden
2. Denmark
3. The Netherlands
4. United Kingdom
5. Germany
The bottom 5:
159. Iraq
160. Central African Republic
161. Mauritania
162. Ecuatorial Guinea
163. Libya
These rankings come from the latest annual report of the “Good Country Index,” which ranks 163 countries by their contributions to the global community. You can check out all the scores here.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Some good news: the Paris climate agreement is now official
November 4th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
As the “Guardian” newspaper puts it:
“The significance of the Paris agreement coming into force today is easy to miss: it may seem like an anti-climax, given the travails that led up to its signing last December.
But the moment is of huge importance. This is the first time that a legally-binding agreement, signed by all of the world’s functioning governments, has laid down a commitment to limit the growth of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere with the goal of preventing global warming exceeding 2C above pre-industrial levels.
This figure was not plucked out of the increasingly carbon-rich air. It is the limit of what scientists regard as safety, beyond which climate change will run out of control, unstoppable in its damaging effects.”
More information here.
Posted in Environment | Comments (1)
Where the heck is Matt Harding now?
November 4th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
I love the videos created by American traveller Matt Harding.
This is his latest:
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)
The top ten candidates for Collins word of the year
November 3rd, 2016 by Roger Darlington
The English language is very fluid and dynamic with new words coming along all the time, not all of which stay the course. Collins Dictionary has announced that Brexit is its word of the year – this year, use of the word has increased by 3,400% – but the other words on its list of finalists were:
- Hygge
- mic drop
- Trumpism
- throw shade
- sharenting
- snowflake generation
- dude food
- uberization
- JOMO
If you’re not sure what these terms mean, you’ll find more information here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the latest super-hero movie “Doctor Strange”
November 1st, 2016 by Roger Darlington
“Doctor Strange” is the fourteenth film to be released by Marvel Studios for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and it’s another success for the company – sheer entertainment with some visual pyrotechnics. You can read my review here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Whatever happened to Halloween?
October 31st, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Last year, almost 60 children came to our door for Halloween. This year, it was less than 30. I blame Brexit. Now what am I supposed to do with all those chocolates?
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)