Two reviews of “Life Of Pi”

December 28th, 2012 by Roger Darlington

Nine years ago, I read the Yann Martel novel which I’ve reviewed here.

I’ve now seen the Ang Lee film which I’ve reviewed here.

Both book and movie are highly recommended.

Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)

Sense and nonsense about science

December 28th, 2012 by Roger Darlington

Celebrity figures can influence others in attitudes to science but many have such fragile egos that they are ready to believe all sorts of nonsense. My favourite this year was Simon Cowell employing someone to introduce good energy into his new home.

Every year, the organisation Science About Science publishes a review of the previous year’s worst cases of public figures talking rubbish about scientific matters. You can read the 2012 review here.

Posted in Science & technology | Comments (0)

Boxing Day quiz: what do these names have in common?

December 26th, 2012 by Roger Darlington

Jack Reacher
James Bond
Jason Bourne
Jack Bauer
John Connor
Jack Ryan
John Carter

Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (1)

Could there be a negotiated settlement to the Iran nuclear threat?

December 26th, 2012 by Roger Darlington

The danger to the world of Iran acquiring the capacity to manufacture and launch nuclear weapons – seen by Israel especially as an existential threat – seems to have been running for ever. It was six years ago that I did a posting about serious predictions that Israel would launch an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming year. It hasn’t happened – thanks goodness.

But, in the intervening years, we have had constant forecasts – especially from Israel – that a point of no return was approaching which would make a military strike inevitable. I have blogged regularly about the issue – insert ‘Iran’ in search box to see all these postings.

Now, as a constrast to all these warnings and threats, in an article published today, Shashank Joshi argues that there is the opportunity for a negotiated settlement to the international dispute but he warns that the window of opportunity for such negotiations is only a matter of months in the first half of 2013. It sounds as if it is worth a serious effort.

While I am writing about Iran, let me remind readers that I have visited the nation [my account here] and this inspired me to write a short story featuring the country [text here].

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)

How was your Christmas?

December 25th, 2012 by Roger Darlington

Ours was great. This year, all of Vee’s family came over to us: her twin sister Mari and husband Derek, their sons Martin and David, the sons’ wives Isobel and Sharon, and Martin & Isobel’s children Yasmin (7 later this week) and Lucas (4). So 10 of us sat down for lunch of turkey with all the trimmings followed by Christmas pudding.

Before the meal, we opened all the Christmas presents. I acted as Father Christmas, handing out the presents to Yasmin and Lucas who took them to the recipient. As usual and as wanted, I received lots of books, including “A History Of The World” by Andrew Marr.

Chief of presents Roger
with his little helpers Yasmin and Lucas

Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)

A review of “Thursdays In The Park”

December 24th, 2012 by Roger Darlington

A romantic novel in which the lead characters are in their 60s and have sex? Yes, it’s true – and why not?

You can read my review here.

Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)

Whatever happened to Meg Ryan?

December 23rd, 2012 by Roger Darlington

Remember the blonde-haired, blue-eyed cute actress who appeared in such hits as “When Harry Met Sally” [my review here], “Sleepless In Seattle” and “You’ve Got Mail” [my review here]?

Well, you haven’t seen her in a film for a decade have you? Why not?

I discuss this, in course of reviewing the film “In The Cut”, here.

Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)

What can the US President do to mitigate the impact of the so-called fiscal cliff?

December 22nd, 2012 by Roger Darlington

I’ve had an interesting e-mail from a guy who asks me:

“I would like to learn about the extent of Presidential powers, as granted by the Constitution, to deal with situations in which the cooperation of Capitol Hill may be suboptimal. For example, can the President issue and enact executive orders aimed at avoiding the fiscal cliff? Would that be legal?”

Now, although I have a page on my web site entitled “A Short Guide To The Amercican Political System”, I was not sure of the answer to Charles’ question and sought advice from my good American friend and adviser on all US political matters Michael Grace. Mike has offered this insightful response:

“This is a really great question concerning the constitutional powers of the president to act without congressional authority, one that as you know citizens and constitutional scholars have argued about since the founding of our republic.

His question is really in two parts: 1) what powers does the president to overcome a recalcitrant Congress; 2) what executive authority does the president have concerning the specific issues involving the so-called “fiscal cliff.”
In general, the 21^st century U.S. president is far more powerful and central to the workings of government than originally envisioned by the framers. These “implied” powers have been assumed, seized and expanded by presidents over the centuries from Washington to Obama. The courts and Congress have, from time to time, placed limits on executive authority. But ambitious and aggressive presidents are constantly testing these limits to varying degrees of success. The conflict between presidential and legislative authority will continue as long as the “separation of powers” remains the fundamental principle of the U.S. Constitution.

In regard to the second question, the best answer is: Nobody knows what President Obama on his own authority can do if nothing happens to avert the so-called “fiscal cliff.” Personally, I’m sure that President Obama has a team of constitutional lawyers right now hard at work trying to determine what he can and cannot do through executive authority to ameliorate the effects of a failure to get a deal through Congress. I’m sure they will stretch the limits as far as they can. We will learn more about these arcane maneuvers after the first of the year.

Part of the challenge is the issues are complicated and involve a series of legislative matters that coincidentally converge at the end of the year. One issue is the “sunset” provisions of the massive tax cuts enacted under President Bush in 2000 that were set to expire in 2010. They were renewed twice under Obama and are now ready to expire again Dec. 31 2012 unless Congress passes legislation to extend or modify them. Obama campaigned on raising taxes on everyone over $250,000 while preserving them for those below.

Another issue concerns something called “sequestration.” In 2011, Congress with Obama’s support passed a bill to raise the nation’s debt ceiling that included an incentive for both Republicans and Democrats to come to a bi-partisan agreement on a plan to reduce the nation’s long-term debt. The incentive was this: If Congress failed to produce a deficit reduction bill with at least $1.2 trillion in cuts, across-the-board cuts (“sequestration”) of billions of dollars in government would automatically go into effect on January 2, 2013. Congress failed to produce a deficit reduction bill and now those cuts will go into effect unless legislation is passed to repeal them.

There are other issues, but tax cuts and sequestration are the two major ones. Of course, all revenue bills must originate in the House which is why President Obama and Speaker Boehner have been the main players in getting a deal that will pass Congress.

Please note that the “cliff” is more like a slide than a precipice. The effects of a failure to act by Dec. 31 might take up to 60 days to be fully felt, so there will be time for the new Congress to take action. But business and people are uncertain about what taxes they will pay, government agencies don’t know their funding and the economy could suffer. And the so-called “tax season” begins in late January when Americans can start filing tax returns and hopefully get refund checks. The biggest impact is psychological and the perception that the U.S. government is dysfunctional. The crazies in Congress have not taken over, yet, but they are running amok.”

Meanwhile the President and Congressional members have gone home for Christmas with no agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff. Barack Obama is hoping that they will return to Washington DC after Christmas more willing to do a deal. But the clock is ticking and market confidence is ever more fragile.

Posted in American current affairs | Comments (2)

So the world didn’t end today which means that …

December 21st, 2012 by Roger Darlington

… views on YouTube of the Gangnam Style video by South Korean’s Psy could pass the one billion total, a new landmark in the evolution of the Internet: