Ever heard of the Overton Window?
August 28th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
The Overton window is the range of subjects and arguments politically acceptable to the mainstream population at a given time. It is also known as the window of discourse. The key to the concept is that the window changes over time; it can shift, or shrink or expand. It exemplifies “the slow evolution of societal values and norms”.
The term is named after the American policy analyst and former senior vice president at Mackinac Center for Public Policy, Joseph Overton, who proposed that the political viability of an idea depends mainly on whether it falls within an acceptability range, rather than on the individual preferences of politicians using the term or concept. According to Overton, the window frames the range of policies that a politician may recommend without appearing too extreme, in order to gain or keep public office given the climate of public opinion at that particular time.
More information here.
It’s an interesting concept that you might like to apply to your own country in recent times. Here, in the UK, ideas like a wealth tax or increased tariffs or a return to EU membership are not currently in the Overton window, but ideas like assisted dying and renationalisation of the water sector and withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights have moved into the window.
Posted in Social policy | Comments (0)
A review of the book “The Laws Of Connection” by David Robson (2024)
August 19th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
Let’s be honest, there is some hyperbole here, starting with the title (social sciences, like psychology and sociology, do not have ‘laws’ in that the sense that physical sciences, such as physics and chemistry, do) and continuing with the subtitle “13 social strategies that will transform your life” (it will take more than reading this book to transform, rather than to improve, your life.)
Having said this, there is an enormous amount of practical advice in this work about building connections and maintaining connections and it is all evidenced, not just with anecdotes from some famous individuals but, more importantly, by an enormous amount of recent research (mainly American), all of which is carefully referenced by this British science writer.
A lot of the problem in connections is misunderstanding:
we overestimate how well we are understood by others in our conversations and how well we think we understand them; we overestimate the difficulty of starting a conversation with a stranger and underestimate how rewarding this connection is likely to be; we overestimate the difficulty in providing a compliment and underestimate how good those receiving a compliment will feel; we overestimate how difficult we would find it to ask for help and underestimate how pleased people would feel to provide help; we overestimate how hard it would be to ask for forgiveness and underestimate how liberating it can be to make amends for our transgressions.
Often small changes in how we express ourselves can make all the difference:
when the message matters, check that you’ve been understood and/or that you have understood; when you want it to be understood how you feel, make an effort to articulate your emotions; to deepen a conversation, ask more questions; value honesty over kindness (but practice both, if possible); practice confelicity which is sharing of joy at another’s success or wellbeing; address disagreements through dialogue rather than diatribe; show compassion (not just to those close to you) and be willing to express vulnerability; reach out to the people who are missing in your life.
Robson has organised his material really well: each chapter deals with one ‘law’ and there are plenty of subheadings; each chapter concludes with a summary and suggested action points; there is a final chapter listing all the ‘laws’; there is is a glossary and references to all the research quoted.
Reading this book may not transform your life, but it can hardly fail to enhance your social connections and therefore make you a little happier.
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)
The dramatic poverty reductions in Mexico
August 18th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
So much of the news could lead one to think that we live in the worst of times, so we sometimes need to be reminded of good news. We’re told that all politicians are the same and that governments never achieve anything.
Well, the last president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (known as Amlo), achieved a substantial reduction in poverty levels in his country during his time in office, as evidenced by the most recent data.
In 2018, there were nearly 52 million people living below the poverty line: by the time he left office six years later, that number had dropped by 13.4 million, a decrease of almost 26%. Extreme poverty also dropped from nearly 9 million people to just 7 million. You can read more here.
You might want to understand the political context in which Amol achieved this success. You can read my short guide to the Mexican political system here.
You might wonder why I’m so interested in Mexico. I visited this fascinating country in 2016 and you can read an account of my trip here.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
A review of the new rom-com with an edge “Materialists”
August 17th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
“Past Lives” (2023) was written and directed by Korean-Canadian Celine Song as a wonderfully-assured debut feature film. I loved it and have now seen it three times. In her second work, Song is again writer and director and, for me, it is another delight.
The structure of the two movies is essentially the same: a young woman makes a choice between two men who each have their attractions. What made the first film so distinctive was that the choice rested on two very different cultures. This time, the choice is fundamentally between two markedly different life styles.
“Past Lives” featured a cast of appealing unknowns, but now Song can deploy the attractions of some winsome stars: Dakota Johnson as a New York matchmaker and Pedro Pascal (“Gladiator II”) and Chris Evans (“Captain America”) as rivals for her affections. The film is a kind of rom-com, but the humour is really a light satire on materialism and, along the way, there is discussion of why we date and what we can expect when we marry.
Once again, Song’s work is loosely autobiographical in that she was herself briefly an NYC matchmaker. Once more, we have a meditation on the nature of relationships. Here she provides an rom-com that, while hardly unpredictable, is thought-provoking about the choices we make and the consequences we face. Recommended.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the latest “Superman” blockbuster movie
August 11th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
If since the 1980s, three actors can portray Spider-Man and no less than six can play Batman, then I guess we can have four representations of Superman: Christopher Reeve (1978-1987), Brandon Routh (2006), Henry Cavill (2013-2021) and now David Corenswet. More significantly, we have a new writer and director James Gunn, who did such a fine job with the “Guardians Of The Galaxy” trilogy, and has done a major rebranding of the caped crusader.
We are plunged straight into a geopolitical crisis with Superman controversially supporting the fictional nation of Jarhanpur against the much stronger fictional invader Boravia (more than a shade of Ukraine and Russia here), while somehow losing a fight for the first time and being rescued by a cute addition to the world of Krypton.
Rachel Brosnahan plays a feisty Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult is the baldy nemesis Lex Luthor in an extensive, and sometimes confusing, character line-up which includes various super-powered men and women and a range of winsome robots (look out for one designated 4 who would rather be called Gary).
It’s all rather silly, but fast-paced and witty with plenty of action and special effects, so I enjoyed it well enough and it’s been successful at the box office.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
“Late Shift”: a foreign film with a universal message
August 5th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
This is an unusual film, wonderfully made and with a powerful narrative. It is Swiss and located in German-speaking Zurich. In fact, virtually the entire film is set in one building, a local hospital, and over just one night, the titular shift.
We follow the work of one dedicated nurse Floria (played magnificently by Leonie Benesch) as she copes with demand after demand from a variety of adult patients. For much of the film, it has the feel of a documentary but, as the pressure mounts, it becomes something else. The camera follows Floria up close and the viewer feels by her side, sharing the tension as the pacing and the music become more urgent.
The message is clear: nurses are heroes, we need many more of them, and meanwhile we make impossible demands of them. The film is a really impressive work by director Petra Volpe and highly commended.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the novel “Intermezzo” by Sally Rooney
July 24th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
I’m a fan of Rooney’s work and have read all of her novels. This is her fourth, longest, and most ambitious.
As always, the setting is contemporary Ireland. Unusually, however,the leading characters are both men: brothers Peter (32, a successful lawyer) and Ivan (22, an aspiring chess champion).
The novel explores the relationship between the brothers, who are dealing with the grief of losing their father, and their respective relationships with women: in Peter’s case, a former lover of his own age (Sylvia) and a much younger and newer lover (Naomi) and, in Ivan’s case, a divorced woman 14 years his senior (Margaret).
The style of the book is to have alternate chapters presenting the points of view of the two brothers.
The perspective of Ivan, who is on the autistic spectrum, is represented as quite literal and straightforward. That of Peter, who consumes a lot of alcohol and has panic attacks, is much more fractured and involves sentences that have an odd word order and even missing words (reminding one of James Joyce) with lots of esoteric allusions to other texts (there are three pages of attributions at the end).
It took me a little while to become comfortable with Ivan’s ‘voice’, making this ‘harder’ than Rooney’s other novels, but it is an impressive and enjoyable work that burnishes her already formidable reputation.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
The sadness and the beauty of Ha Long Bay
July 19th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
I was saddened to hear the news of the loss of life in Ha Long Bay in northern Vietnam.
The location is a spectacular one and I have fond memories of my time there in 2006.
Posted in My life & thoughts, World current affairs | Comments (0)
A review of the classic film “Barry Lyndon” (1975)
July 19th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
There is a sense in which any Stanley Kubrick film could be a candidate for classic and it is a mark of his genius that each of his films represents a different genre. Here we have a period drama, based on William Makepeace Thackeray’s novel of 1844, where Kubrick is writer, producer and director.
It is a really long film – 185 minutes – but, in the cinema, it is shown with an intermission, neatly dividing the rise of the eponymous rogue (the first two-thirds) followed by his tragic downfall (about a third). It is a work which should be seen on the big screen because it is visually sumptuous with gorgeous sets, costumes and locations. I’ve seen it in that format twice – once in Paris and, four decades later, again in London- and it is a joy to behold.
“Barry Lyndon” was not an immediate or critical success and remains the least-seen of Kubrick’s major works, but it was nominated for no less than seven Academy Awards (it won four artistic ones).
Perhaps the sign of a true classic is that it scores in so many ways: here, as well brilliant direction and those period clothes and ancient buildings, we have atmospheric lighting (use of the ‘magic hour’ and candlelight), breathtaking cinematography (John Alcott), classical music (Bach, Handel, Mozart) and a large and distinguished cast led by Ryan O’Neill, as the opportunist who betrays every relation or friend, and Marisa Berenson as his noble, but long-suffering, wife.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the 1928 classic film “The Passion Of Joan Of Arc”
July 13th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
This story of the most French of characters, the defender and patron saint of the nation – Joan had been canonised just eight years earlier – was in fact directed by a Dane, Carl Theodor Dreyer, as a black & white production with no sound. Indeed the French had problems with it: the Archbishop of Paris demanded several excisions and French Government censors made further changes.
This classic work was almost lost to history: the original negative was destroyed by a fire, a second negative was lost to another fire, and a print of the original version was only finally discovered in 1981.
A restored version became available in 2015 and, ten years later, I saw that version on the screen at the British Film Institute with a live piano accompaniment. At the end, the audience applauded.
The film is an astonishing work of great power. It is based on a transcript of the 1431 trial of 19-year old peasant girl Joan who claimed to have had visions inspiring her to oppose English domination of her country. The French ecclesiastical authorities were not ready to accept that such a lowly figure was in communication with the divine and the English occupying force saw her as a insurrectionist. She stood no chance and was burned alive at the stake.
Much of the film consists of close ups of faces, often from below or above, most notably the tearful visage of Joan herself, portrayed movingly by Renée Falconetti, a theatre actress making her first (and essentially last) film appearance. The work is full of memorable imagery: crosses, birds, shadows, smoke, and over and over again those faces. Truly, a classic.
Posted in Cultural issues, History | Comments (0)