A poem from my niece Saskia
July 20th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
”The Dragon Eye”
Bright as the moon
fierce as the sun
as delicate as a rose
weighs just about a ton
Yet its foot steps are silent
so he wanders late at night
fighting other dragons
and using his special power flight
He’s delicate and cunning
but fierce and enchanted
as he landed gracefully
he loudly panted
Bright as the moon
fierce as the sun
as delicate as a rose
but amusing and fun
Saskia Darlington
9 years old
Chorlton CE Primary School, Manchester
My beautiful and clever niece Saskia
Posted in Consumer matters | Comments (1)
A review of the film “The Impossible”
July 20th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
When this film about the tsunami of Boxing Day 2004 was released at the beginning of the year, I did not manage to catch it at the cinema. But I have just seen a Blu-ray version from Lovefilm and was very impressed. You can read my review here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
The decline and decline of Detroit
July 19th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
The city of Detroit used to be one of the most dynamic in the United States, but it has suffered a steady decline over a period of 60 years and it has now filed for bankruptcy. Detroit is the US’s 18th most populous city and the largest by far to go into bankruptcy. The figures are shocking:
- Detroit has long term debt of $18.5 billion (£12 billion).
- In 1950, it was a city of 2 million but it is now home to about 700,000.
- Since 2000, the unemployment rate has nearly tripled and is now more than double the national average.
- Some 36% of Detroiters live below the poverty line.
- The city’s murder rate is at the highest level in nearly 40 years.
- It has been named one of the most dangerous cities in America for more than 20 years.
- Citizens wait 58 minutes for the police to respond to calls compared with a national average of 11 minutes.
- Only a third of ambulances were in service in the first quarter of 2013.
- Around half of all the 85,000 street lights are out of service because thieves have stripped them for copper.
- There are about 78,000 abandoned buildings in the city.
- One third of its 140 square miles is vacant or derelict.
Clearly there has been industrial decline and municipal mismanagement on a large scale, but I can’t help feeling that the basic collapse of a major city in the world’s richest nation tells us something about the economic and political governance of the United States. Perhaps my American friends can shed some light on the appalling situation.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (5)
“So, what exactly do you do, Roger?”
July 19th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
I am regularly asked this question, but it is not an easy one to answer. Since I took early retirement from the Communication Workers Union 11 years ago, I have not have a full-time job, but I have had a changing portfolio of appointments in the field of consumer affairs. You can check out my current mix of responsibilities here.
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
A British Government programme to combat modern day slavery
July 18th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
A very close friend of mine is Cindy Berman who is Senior Social Development Adviser, Asia Regional Team, at the Department For International Department here in the UK. She has been working on a programme to tackle modern day slavery which was launched this week.
There are an estimated 21 million people living in forced labour – or modern day slavery. The financial loss for families and communities who are trapped in forced labour amounts to over £13.8 billion annually in unpaid wages and illegal recruitment fees. This is money that could otherwise be used to help lift families and communities out of poverty. While most international efforts have focused on tackling sex trafficking, labour trafficking which is far more common has been relatively neglected.
The Work in Freedom programme will help to tackle known labour trafficking routes between countries of South Asia (Bangladesh, India and Nepal) to Gulf States including Jordan, United Arab Emirates and Lebanon.
The programme aims to:
- Provide 50,000 women with skills and pre-departure training and other support to help them avoid being trafficked and secure a legal contract and decent wage
- Help 30,000 women achieve greater economic empowerment so they are better able to support themselves and their families. This will be done through helping women understand their rights, enable them to organise collectively and vocational training to help ensure access to decent work opportunities
- Help thousands more migrant women to avoid paying extortionate, illegal recruitment fees by cracking down on unscrupulous recruitment practices and encouraging recruitment agencies to sign-up to ethical principles and practices
- Prevent child labour by helping thousands of girls under 16 years to stay in school, so they aren’t compelled to migrate for work.
This three-minute video brings the issues to life:
Posted in British current affairs, World current affairs | Comments (0)
A very happy 95th birthday to Nelson Mandela
July 18th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
Over the last few weeks, many of us feared that it would not happen, but today we celebrate the 95th birthday of Nelson Mandela, the most inspirational leader of my life time.
I have visited Robben Island where Mandela was imprisoned [my account here] and where I bought his biography “Long Walk To Freedom” [my review here].
Since the summer of 2007, there has been a statue of Mandela in London’s Parliament Square.
Statue of Nelson Mandela
in London’s Parliament Square
But I actually got to see Nelson Mandela for real on 3 February 2005 when – aged almost 88 – he spoke in Trafalgar Square in support of the Make Poverty History movement.
Stay with us as long as you can, Madiba.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Does the British electorate know what it wants – and can the opinion pollsters actually measure it?
July 16th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
As a lifelong Labour supporter, I was disconcerted by today’s news that apparently Labour and Conservative are now equal in the polls at 36% each. Last month, the same opinion poll (ICM) gave Labour a lead of 7% and currently the YouGov poll gives Labour a lead of 11%.
What is almost certaintly true is that the UKIP share of the poll is falling. According to ICM, it has dropped from 18% in May to 12% in June to 7% now (although the party is likely to do very well in next year’s European elections).
Regular readers of NightHawk may recall a posting I did two months ago headed “The rise and rise of UKIP – and why it won’t last”.
This weekend, I attended the 40th anniversary celebration of our good friends Jim and Ruth Moher who are both Labour councillors in Brent. One of the other guests was Dawn Butler who was MP for Brent South (now effectively Brent Central) until the last General Election. We talked together about the next General Election which I hope she will contest and when my daughter-in-law Emily Darlington will be standing for Labour in Milton Keynes North. We agreed that the electorate is fluid in its allegiances and the results are really hard to predict.
Footnote: in this piece, Peter Kellner explains how the difference between the ICM poll and the YouGov poll has come about. He concludes:
“My judgement is that Labour’s support has declined in recent months, from 43-44% last winter to 39-40% now. (The party seems to have dipped below this a fortnight ago, before recovering slightly.) The Conservatives are on 31-32% now, roughly where they were six months ago, having slipped back after May’s local elections.”
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (1)
Sometimes I think that Britain needs a revolution
July 15th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
Here in Britain, we are experiencing a heat wave – mild by the standards of many other countries around the world, but temperatures that are unusually high and consistently so for us. So, in London where I live and work, most days recently the temperature has been around 30C (86F).
Now I normally wear a jacket and tie – if not a suit – to my work meetings but, in current climatic circumstances, such dress is just too hot for travelling on the London Underground and walking around central London, so I have been wearing simply a shirt with rolled up sleeves and no jacket or tie.
This morning, however, I ran into problems when attending a gathering of Chairs of Customer Challenge Groups of water companies in the south of England (I chair the CCG for South East Water). We held in the meeting in the club of one of our number which is conveniently located in the heart of London: the Athenaeum.
On arrival at the entrance to the building, I found that my dress was unacceptable. Thanks to the temporary suspension of a club rule, my lack of jacket was overlooked. But I was not going to be allowed inside without a tie and had to be loaned one by a member of staff on reception.
What archaic balderdash, Sometimes I think this country needs a revolution.
Notice at entrance of the Athenaeum
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (3)
Lie and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
July 13th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
In AD 79, the volcano at Mount Vesuvius erupted, destroying and burying the two Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Since the rediscovery of the cities in the 1700s, the cataclysmic event has had a special fascination for many around the world. I have always had a particular interest because my mother was born and raised in Naples which is overlooked by Vesuvius and she was living in the city at the time of the last major eruption in 1944.
Some years ago, I read the novel “Pompeii” by Robert Harris which I have reviewed here. Currently the British Museum in London is hosting an exhibition on Pompeii and Herculaneum which has proved to be one of the most popular in the long history of the institution. This week, I went to see it with my sister Silvia and we were entralled and moved by the exhibits from cabonised furniture to moulds of some of the thousands killed.
Mould of a female victim
Casts of father and mother and two children
Posted in Cultural issues, History | Comments (0)
Malala Yousafzai’s address to the United Nations
July 12th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
Malala Yousefzai, who was shot in the head by Pakistani Taliban last year, today addressed the UN Youth Assembly on her 16th birthday and made an impassioned call for children’s education and women’s rights.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)