Should Ed Miliband be replaced by Frances O’Grady as Leader of the Labour Party?
June 8th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
My good friend Eric Lee thinks so. I believe his case is fantasy politics – there is no chance and no need.
You can see his case and my answer here.
Feel free to comment on Eric’s blog or mine or both.
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
Some interesting facts and figures about the world’s 7,000 languages – and how we’re losing languages fast
June 8th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
- Around 7,000 languages are spoken in the world, 90% of which are used by fewer than 100,000 people.
- Languages are grouped into families that share a common ancestry. English is related to German and Dutch, and they are all part of the Indo-European family of languages. Romance languages, which include French, Spanish and Italian, come from Latin.
- 2,200 of the world’s languages can be found in Asia, while Europe has 260.
- The world’s most widely spoken languages by number of native speakers and as a second language are: Mandarin Chinese, English, Spanish, Hindi, Arabic, Bengali, Russian, Portuguese, Japanese, German and French.
- Some of the oldest languages known include Sanskrit, Sumerian, Hebrew and Basque.
- Around 2,500 languages are at risk of extinction. One-quarter of the world’s languages are spoken by fewer than 1,000 people.
- The United Nations uses six official languages to conduct business: English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and Arabic.
- Communities isolated from each other because of mountainous geography sometimes develop multiple languages. Papua New Guinea has 832 different languages. In Mexico, there are 68 different indigenous languages, further subdivided into 364 variations.
- At least half of the world’s population are bilingual or plurilingual. While there are “perfect bilinguals”, who speak two languages equally well, most bilinguals do not.
- South Africa has 11 official languages – the most for a single country.
- The pope tweets in nine languages: English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Polish, Arabic, Portuguese and Latin.
Those facts are taken from an article in today’s Observer” newspaper which explains how one in four of the world’s 7,000 spoken tongues is now at risk of falling silent for ever as the threat to cultural biodiversity grows.
On my web site, you can find:
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
The seven digital deadly sins.
June 7th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Find out what pride, lust, greed, gluttony, envy, wrath and sloth mean in the digital world – and cast judgment on the guilty.
Check it out here.
Posted in Internet | Comments (0)
Eight lessons on the use of social media
June 7th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Do you use social media? Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn …
Well, Tom Phillips who is a senior writer at Buzzfeed, has some lessons for us social media types which you can check out here.
Posted in Internet | Comments (0)
My first experience of a webinar: talking about a water company’s prices and performance
June 6th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Ever heard of a webinar?
A webinar is an online event that is hosted by a company and broadcasts to individuals through their computers via the Internet. A webinar allows a presenter/speaker from the hosting company to share PowerPoint presentations (or other multimedia content) with audiences that can be located anywhere.
A webinar also allows the hosting company to interact with the audience. The audience can ask the presenter/speaker, who is leading the webinar, questions in real-time through an instant messaging tool.
This week, I took part in my first webinar in my capacity as the independent Chair of the Customer Challenge Group at South East Water which supplies drinking water to 2.1 million customers in Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire.
The event was ably facilitated by Jane McLaughlin, a PR professional with a lovely Edinburgh accent, with me giving a PowerPoint presentation, commenting on polls of the participants, and answering questions from the participants. Jane and I sat in an office in the company”s head office in the delightfully-named town of Snodland, while the 14 customers who took part sat at home in front of their computers.
The audio was one way: from Jane and me to the customers. The text was one-way: questions from the customers to me. It only lasted three-quarters of an hour, but we covered a lot of ground and I found it intense but fun. Certainly I commend South East Water for trying a new approach to engage customers in an interactive way and hope that the company will develop this approach further.
You can check out how the webinar looked and sounded here.
Posted in Consumer matters, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
The 70th anniversary of D-Day: remembering how it happened and the price that was paid
June 6th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
The D-Day landings at Normandy on 6 June 1944 was the largest maritime invasion in world history. It was a success but at a heavy cost in lives.
The “Mirror” newspaper has a summary of the timeline of the invasion and a map showing the locations of the attack and the death toll at each beachhead – see here.
Posted in History | Comments (0)
Is Britain still really a Christian country? And, if not, how can we be good?
June 5th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
According to the research by Peter Brierley, whose second edition of “UK Church Statistics” is due to be published soon, in 2013, there were 5.4 million church members in the UK, a mere 10% of the adult population, taken as 15 and over, 300,000 fewer than five years previously in 2008, when it was 12%. This low proportion is likely to continue to decline at about the same rate for the next 12 years, reaching 9% by 2020 and a mere 8% by 2025, if present trends continue.
Further information here.
Does this decline in Christian church membership matter? Can one be good if one is not religious? I think so, as I have argued in this short essay.
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
A record time with my wonderful granddaughter Catrin
June 3rd, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Regular readers of this blog will know of my affection for my granddaughter Catrin who is now three and third years old. I’ve been so fortunate that, since the day of her birth, I’ve been able to see her approximately once a week and regularly babysit for her parents.
On several occasions, I’ve looked after Catrin overnight for one or two nights. Last week, however, was something special: I looked after her for four nights and five days as her parents were away.
It was tiring (I slept ten and half hours afterwards) and sometimes exasperating (she can be somewhat obstinate as can all kids of her age), but immensely joyful because she is so chatty and cheerful. A tickle with her or a hug from her is worth everything.
The first two days, I moved into her parents’ place, so that Catrin could continue to attend her nursery. It was strange to be woken, not by an an alarm but by a smiling face by the bedside.
Granddad makes porridge for breakfast
and Goldilocks insists on having it in three bowls
James & Catrin find a platform in the park
The first morning, we went to our local shopping centre where Catrin enjoyed a children’s ride and an ice cream before we bought her a “Frozen” balloon, a “Rapunzel” novel, and a set of four jigsaws. That afternoon, we drove over to a family gathering to celebrate the sixth birthday of little Lucas. His eight year old sister Yasmin was wonderful with Catrin – they played on the trampoline in the garden and did roleplaying in the house. That evening, Catrin had a couple of readings of “Rapunzel” – another girl with long, golden hair.
Bath time – with millions of bubbles
Catrin admires her 24-piece jigsaw
Catrin on her police motor bike
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (3)
The tale of an unsung hero
June 2nd, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)
Why racism is on the rise in so many democratic states
June 2nd, 2014 by Roger Darlington
“The limited ability of national governments to pursue any agenda that has not first been endorsed by international capital and its proxies is no longer simply the cross they have to bear; it is the cross to which we have all been nailed. The nation state is the primary democratic entity that remains. But given the scale of neoliberal globalisation it is clearly no longer up to that task.”
So writes Gary Younge in a piece in today’s “Guardian” which asks who’s in control – nation states or global corporations? As citizens feel increasingly out of control, they are persuaded to blame various minorities.
“The targets of this intolerance shift according to the context: Roma in Hungary, Romanians in Britain, Latinos in the US and Muslims almost everywhere in the west. But the rhetoric and the true nature of the crisis remain constant. Parochial identities describe the protagonists, but it is global economics that shapes the narrative.”
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)