The result of Britain’s EU referendum debate changes EVERYTHING
June 24th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Yesterday, I voted in a referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union. I voted to remain in the EU – as I did in the referendum of 1975. We now know the result.
On a turnout of 71.8% (the highest turnout in a UK-wide vote since the 1992 general election), 51.9% voted for us to leave the EU and 48.1% to remain in it. Some reactions – on stock exchanges and currency markets for instance – were immediate, but the full implications will take weeks, months. years, indeed decades to unfold and with affect not just Britain, but the rest of Europe and indeed the world economy.
Sadly the conduct of the referendum campaign and the results of the actual voting reveal deep divisions in British society.
We are divided in national terms – outside of London (where I live), much of England and Wales voted to leave, whereas Northern Ireland and Scotland voted to stay with serious implications for the Irish peace process and Scottish independence respectively.
We are divided in age terms – the younger the voter, the more likely he or she voted to remain, but the older the more likely he or she voted to leave in a very stark age profile.
We are divided in economic terms – most middle-class voters did not feel threatened by immigration and have coped with the challenges of free trade, but working class voters are really worried by immigration and globalisation and voted against the views of almost all establishment figures.
We are divided in political terms – the Conservative Party will soon have a new leader which will mean a new Prime Minister and a new Government with a significant shift to the Right, while many in the Labour Party will feel that the lukewarm support for EU membership from Jeremy Corbyn further calls into doubt his capacity to lead the party and the nation.
Later on, I will try to be my usual optimistic self. But today I feel shocked and saddened and I see this very unfortunate result as part of a wider crisis in our older democracies which I have written about here.
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (19)
So just how fast is the world’s fastest computer?
June 22nd, 2016 by Roger Darlington
The answer is a mind-numbing 93,000 trillion calculations per second.
The computer that can do this is the Sunway TaihuLight which is installed at the National Supercomputing Centre in Wuxi in China. You can learn more here.
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (0)
A review of “The Girl On The Train”
June 21st, 2016 by Roger Darlington
At last, I’ve read the best-selling novel “The Girl On The Train” by British author Paula Hawkins. It’s a very readable thriller with women as the main characters and more than a few twists. You can read my review here and you should look out for the film with Emily Blunt which will be released on 7 October.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
The weather – like our politics – has gone mad
June 20th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Technically, today is the start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere as explained in this short note. But it seems that nobody told the weather. Here in London, we have grey skies and heavy rain and a temperature of 15C.
On Thursday, the UK holds a referendum to decide whether the country will remain a member of the European Union or leave. Although the overwhelming majority of senior politicians, business leaders, trade union leaders, and economists favour membership – as I do – the result currently looks too close to call.
It’s my birthday two days after the referendum. Boy, it’s going to be quite a week.
Posted in British current affairs, Environment, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
10 of the best films about fathers
June 18th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
I’ve been a father for 40 years now and a movie fan for around 60 years, so I was attracted to a piece in today’s “Guardian” newspaper headlined “10 of the best films about fathers”. Which of the film characters would I like to think best represented me? No contest: Atticus Finch in “To Kill A Mockingbird” [my review here].
Posted in Cultural issues, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Celebrating the life of Jo Cox
June 17th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Today the one subject on the mind of everyone in Britain is the appalling murder of Labour Member of Parliament Jo Cox. As we mourn her death, we should celebrate her life and it was a life dedicated with passion to the cause of social justice, as is explained in this profile.
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (2)
One less thing to worry about in this troubled world
June 16th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
I drink a lot of coffee – especially cappuccino. Since 1991, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, has classed coffee as “possibly” carcinogenic. But the expert group has now decided there is insufficient evidence to say whether it causes cancer or not. I’ll drink to that.
More information here.
Posted in Miscellaneous, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
73 thoughtful stories, motivational tales, and pieces of wisdom from around the world
June 14th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
I like to collect stories that make you think and my collection is one of the most visited of the 200 or so pages on my web site. I’ve just added a new story titled “The battle of the beetles”, so you might like to check out some of the stories here.
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)
President Barack Obama reacts to the killings in Orlando
June 13th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
For the 15th time in his occupancy of the White House, President Barack Obama has made a statement on a mass shooting and this time the massacre in Orlando is the worst incident of its kind in US history. What can he say that he hasn’t said before? What can he do that he hasn’t already tried to do?
No wonder that he sounded full of resignation and despair and sadness. The key part of his statement is surely this:
“This massacre is therefore a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that allows them to shoot people at a school, or a movie theater, or a church or a nightclub.
“This could have been any one of our communities … We have to decide whether that’s the kind of country we want to be. To actively do nothing is a decision as well.”
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
Where is the ‘Windsor hum’ coming from?
June 11th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
In the summer of 1966, I was 18 and had just finished secondary school. I was selected, with a group of other British schoolboys, to make an educational tour of eastern Canada. It lasted about month with a week-long sailing from Liverpool to Montreal and a return week-long sailing from Montreal to Southampton.
In Canada, we visited wonderful cities like Quebec, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Niagara Falls and Sudbury plus some smaller towns like a place called Windsor in Ontario. Now this week, I learned that the poor citizens of Windsor have been plagued on and off for six years by a mysterious hum. It is believed that the cause of the noise is a US Steel plant on the island of Zug which is American territory.
But so far there is no certainly of the cause and no plan for a remedy.
You can read more here.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)