61 photographs of Mexico added to the account of our holiday
April 17th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
It’s a fortnight now since Vee and I returned from a wonderful two-week holiday in Mexico. I was blogging about the trip each day during the journey and then, when I came home, I pulled together all the blog postings into a continuous narrative for my web site, adding some links to further information.
It’s quite a long account and not everyone will want to read all of it. But I’ve now added 61 photographs which illustrate every location that we visited. You can check them out here.
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (2)
The world’s newest country: Czechia
April 16th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
As Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic, I’ve visited the country 26 times because my wife is half-Czech and we have many relatives and close friends there. Indeed I regard the capital Prague as my favourite city.
But this week the nation rebranded itself as Czechia. Why? All is explained here.
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Fact checking the Government’s statements on the European Union
April 16th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
I’m very much in favour of British membership of the European Union and I’ll be voting in the referendum for us to stay in the EU. But I think it’s good that 38 Degrees has organised for the statements in the Government’s booklet to all homes to be fact-checked independently. This is the result:
The leaflet says: “The UK is not part of the EU’s border-free zone – we control our own borders which gives us the right to check everyone, including EU nationals, arriving from continental Europe”
- The UK isn’t part of the EU’s border free zone—the Schengen area—and it retains control over its borders.
- This means it can check passports at its borders and refuse entry to people without any valid identity documents, including EU nationals. This isn’t the same as saying the UK can refuse anyone from other EU countries, if they do have valid documents. The UK also cannot directly control levels of immigration from other EU countries.
The leaflet says: “The Government has negotiated a deal that will make our benefits system less of a draw for EU citizens. In future, new EU migrants will not have full access to certain benefits until they have worked here for up to four years.”
- It’s not clear how much of an impact the new deal will have in terms of affecting the likelihood of citizens from the rest of the EU wanting to come and work in the UK. It’s far from certain that in-work benefits ever acted as a significant pull factor for EU migrants coming to the UK.
- The new deal means that in-work benefits can be restricted to new migrant workers from other EU countries for up to four years after they start working if a so-called ‘emergency brake’ has been applied.
- An EU member country can apply for a brake if it notifies EU authorities that it has experienced an inflow of workers of “exceptional magnitude” over “an extended period of time”.
- The size of that inflow has to affect its social security system, lead to difficulties in its employment market, or be putting “excessive pressure” on public services.
- The European Commission has already said that the UK would be justified in triggering the emergency brake, but it does require the approval of the Council.
The leaflet says: “EU cooperation makes it easier to keep criminals and terrorists out of the UK. Since 2004, using the European Arrest Warrant, over 1,000 suspects have faced justice in UK courts and over 7,000 have been extradited.”
- Around 7,100 suspects were extradited from the UK using the European Arrest Warrant between 2004 and 2014, and about 1,100 suspects were sent to the UK on the same basis.
- The UK has ‘opted in’ to various security arrangements that the EU has, such as the European Arrest Warrant (EAW), Schengen Information System (SIS), and European criminal records system.
- If the UK decides to leave the EU, it might not be able to access these arrangements directly. The EAW for example doesn’t currently apply to countries outside the EU. But Norway for example does participate in the SIS and something like the EAW without being a member of the EU.
The leaflet says: “The EU is by far the UK’s biggest trading partner. EU countries buy 44% of everything we sell abroad, from cars to insurance.”
- About 44% of UK exports in goods and services went to other countries in the EU in 2014. That compares to about 21% to countries in the Americas, 19% to Asian countries, and 11% to non-EU European countries.
- That share has been declining, as exports to other countries have been increasing at a faster rate.
- It’s sometimes argued that these statistics overstate the proportion of UK exports that go to the EU, as a lot of goods pass through ports like Rotterdam before being shipped to a final destination outside the EU. Both the ONS and the government’s review of our EU membership have concluded that it’s hard to quantify the extent of this ‘Rotterdam effect’ or establish whether it’s a serious problem for the statistics.
- It’s not clear what would happen to this trade if the UK votes to leave the EU. If the UK leaves the EU, the future rules on trade would depend on what kind of agreement, if any, the UK reaches with the EU after its departure.
The leaflet says: “No other country has managed to secure significant access to the Single Market, without having to: follow EU rules over which they have no real say; pay into the EU; accept EU citizens living and working in their country.”
- Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein have full access to the single market despite not being members of the EU. This includes accepting free movement of people (except for Liechtenstein) and paying.
- They do have to follow EU rules which they don’t vote on, although they are consulted about proposed laws and reserve the right, at least in principle, to refuse new EU laws they object to. Doing so would have political consequences, though.
- Switzerland has partial access to the single market. Its relationship with the EU is based on lots of different treaties, including one on free movement of people, and it also makes payments linked to the relationship.
- The Swiss also take on EU laws, but instead of laws constantly flowing into its legal system as with Norway, they change their laws where a treaty requires or if they think it’s a good idea anyway.
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Where is Dabiq and why is it so special?
April 15th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Media reports suggest that Syrian Government forces are close to retaking the ISIS-occupied town of Dabiq in north-west Syria close to the Turkish border, but ISIS is putting up a strong resistance. Before the war, this was a small town which had a population of only just over 3,000, so what makes it so special?
This is a location with a special place in history. The town was the site of the battle of Marj Dabiq in 1516, in which the Ottoman Empire decisively defeated the Mamluk Sultanate.
It is also a place that Islamic fundamentalists believe will have a special place in the future. It is one of two possible locations for an epic battle between invading Christians and the defending Muslims which will result in a Muslim victory and mark the beginning of the end of the world.
So Dabiq is special and indeed ISIS has named its English-language magazine after the town.
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How to be a good listener
April 15th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
You might think that listening is easy; after all, we are kind of doing it all the time. But really listening is a skill that often has to be learned.
As I revive my Friday tradition of blogging on my life skills advice, I venture to offer this guidance on “How To Be A Good Listener”.
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A review of the “Batman v Superman” movie
April 14th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
At last, I’ve managed to see the blockbuster film “Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice”. It’s not as good as I had hoped but not as bad as many critics have suggested – and it’s doing well enough at the box office. You can read my review here.
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How do you tell the story of black America in one museum?
April 13th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
In November, I’ll be making my ninth visit to the United States. The main reason will be for Vee and me to celebrate Thanksgiving with special American friends Mike and Laura. Thanksgiving is an event we have seen in so many American movies and television programmes but it is something we have never witnessed, so it is on my ‘bucket list’.
As it happens, it will be a fascinating time politically to visit the USA because, 16 days before, Americans will have voted for a new president and the era of Barack Obama will be coming to an end. We might have the nation’s first woman president or – perish the thought – we might have Trump in power.
Our friends live outside Washington DC and Vee and I love visiting the capital’s wonderful museums. Two months before our trip, a new museum will open on theWashington Mall: the National Museum of African American History and Culture. We are really looking forward to experiencing this museum.
But, as the “New York Times” has explained in this article, curating the exhibits for this museum has been a very difficult task.
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A review of the new children’s movie “Zootropolis” and why all adults should see it
April 12th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Some the best movies of recent years – think of “Frozen”, “Big Hero 6” or “Inside Out” – have been made for children, but thankfully I have a granddaughter (now five) who gives me the excuse to see them.
The latest success is the wonderful “Zootropolis” which I have reviewed here. If you don’t have a child or grandchild, borrow one and go see this clever and uplifting film.
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A wonderful weekend with our granddaughter Catrin
April 11th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Regular readers of NightHawk will know that I have a granddaughter called Catrin whom I used to see every week for the first four and a half years of her life. But then, last summer, her parents moved to Nairobi and so I see her much more rarely these days. I’ve been over there twice and Catrin spent this weekend with us while she was over in the UK with her mother.
She was as good as gold and, as always, we had lots of fun.
On the first day, we were in central London where we started by visiting “Hamley’s” toy shop. We explored every floor and observed lots of demonstrations of some amazing toys. I offered to buy her one present and, out of all the options, she chose a pink poodle that – with the aid of batteries – barks and walks. I’m not sure what her parents will make of that – or the two dogs back in Nairobi.
Then we went to see the wonderful new Walt Disney film “Zoopolis” with my young friend Jen and her son James who is the same age as Catrin and known well to her. It is a beautifully executed movie with a very strong message of tolerance and inclusion.
That night, Catrin climbed into bed with me around 2.30 am which was a reminder of my days as a parent four decades ago.
Our second day was spend locally. So we went to Harrow shopping centre where Catrin went on some rides, ate an ice cream, and chose a multicoloured summer dress to wear back in Africa. Next we had lunch in a lovely tea room called “The Doll’s House” which is on Harrow-on-the Hill.
For all the fun that kids can have with grandparents, in the end kids love playing with other little ones. As it happens, we have a next door neighbour with a son George just a little younger than Catrin and, in the afternoon, we went round there for two hours and took advantage of his extensive toy collection. George has a toy kitchen and the best part of the afternoon was when the two of them ‘cooked’ a three-course with me as the waiter and George’s dad as the customer.
It must have ben an exhausting day because Catrin slept through the night and only came into our bedroom at 7 am.
It was a wonderful weekend and I adored spending time with the cheeky monkey come little angel.
Roger & Catrin at “The Doll’s House”
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The Panama Papers story has been over a century in the making
April 10th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
It is amazing that the Panama Papers were leaked almost a year ago but the story was only broken when journalists had done the necessary research.
Originally an anonymous hacker handed the files to journalists on “Süddeutsche Zeitung” who shared the information with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Then 400 reporters working in 80 different countries and 75 different languages piled through 2.6 terabytes of material. Nobody leaked anything.
Everybody piled in on the appointed day, producing stories so far and so wide they couldn’t be stopped, but also targeted from region to region and country to country. This is why in the UK Prime Minister David Cameron has been targeted.
But the origin of the whole scandal lies in the origin of the state of Panama itself.
In 1903, the administration of Theodore Roosevelt created the country after bullying Colombia into handing over what was then the province of Panama. Roosevelt acted at the behest of various banking groups, among them JP Morgan & Co, which was appointed as the country’s ‘fiscal agent’ in charge of managing $10m in aid that the US had rushed down to the new nation.”
The reason, of course, was to gain access to, and control of, the canal across the Panamanian isthmus that would open in 1914 to connect the world’s two great oceans, and the commerce that sailed them.
Full story here.
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