Who is waging a “war on religion”?

December 9th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

According to Rick Perry – who wants to be the Republican presidential candidate – this is a war being perpetrated by President Barack Obama who is, of course, a committed Christian, even if so many Americans still think he is a Muslim. This is the level of politics in the democracy that is the United States.

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)

What are the “probabilities of precipitation”?

December 9th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

The Plain English Society would prefer the expression “rain is likely”.

But the Meteorlogical Office explains: “Precipitation covers a wide range of stuff falling from the sky including rain, sleet, snow, hail, drizzle and even cats and dogs – but sums it up in just one word.”

So, what matters more: simplicity or precision?

Word of the day: Christingle

December 8th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

As a humanist, I don’t spend much time at religious events or ceremonies and, when I do, they are usually Jewish ones (so many of my closest friends are Jewish). But this week I accompanied my son and daughter-in-law to Southwark Cathedral in central London because they wanted their 11- month old daughter (who has been unwell recently) to hear music and see lights in a ceremony called “Christingle Service and the Lighting of the Christmas Trees”.

Now I’d never heard of the word ‘Christingle’ before. What is it? Well, it’s an orange with a candle stuck in the top and a red ribbon around it with four cocktail sticks added each with a sweet on it. And what does all that mean? The explanation is here.

Posted in Cultural issues, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)

Gap between rich and poor becoming even wider

December 6th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

A recurrent theme of this blog is that inequalities in income, wealth and power are damaging to social cohesion and individual life chances. Therefore an up-dated transnational study of income inequality in developed countries – including the UK and the USA – provides compelling messages.

The gap between rich and poor in OECD countries has reached its highest level for over over 30 years, and governments must act quickly to tackle inequality, according to a new OECD report. “Divided We Stand: Why Inequality Keeps Rising” finds that the average income of the richest 10% is now about nine times that of the poorest 10 % across the OECD.

The income gap has risen even in traditionally egalitarian countries, such as Germany, Denmark and Sweden, from 5 to 1 in the 1980s to 6 to 1 today. The gap is 10 to 1 in Italy, Japan, Korea and the United Kingdom, and higher still, at 14 to 1 in Israel, Turkey and the United States. In Chile and Mexico, the incomes of the richest are still more than 25 times those of the poorest, the highest in the OECD, but have finally started dropping.

The situation is particularly bad in the UK where the average income of the richest 10% of earners in the UK was almost twelve times that of the bottom 10% of the population by 2008, up from eight times in 1985 and above the European ratio of nine to one.

In today’s “Guardian” newspaper, an editorial states:

“All countries are unequal, but some are more unequal than others. In a report which ranged across the rich countries that make up its membership, the OECD has said that the rich-poor gap had widened across the developed world, but that it had grown especially fast in Britain. During the last quarter of the 20th century in particular, a period dominated by the 18 years of Conservative rule that began in 1979, the UK witnessed the sharpest of rises in inequality. Reading between the lines of the report made plain that this was, in no small part, a matter of political choice.”

Political choices continue to be made and the speed and nature of the Coalition Government’s deficit reduction programme will undoubtedly increase further the economic inequalities in the UK.

Posted in British current affairs, World current affairs | Comments (0)

A new look at the world’s financial crisis

December 6th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)

The evil that was the Khmer Rouge

December 5th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

“Pol Pot’s deputy has told a court the Khmer Rouge were not “bad people”, blaming deaths of Cambodians under the Maoist regime on neighbouring Vietnam. Nuon Chea made the comments at his genocide trial at a UN-backed court in Phnom Penh.”

This is the opening of a news report from the BBC’s web site on the trial of Khmer Rouge leaders an astonishing three decades after their regime resulted in the deaths of some two million Cambodians. Incredibly Nuon Chea blames the deaths on the Vietnamese but it was Vietnam that brought the killing to a halt by overthrowing the regime.

I visited both Vietnam and Cambodia a few years ago and, while in Cambodia, I visited the site of one of the Khmer Rouge prisons [my account of the trip here]. Also I read the moving work “River Of Time” by Jon Swain [my review here].

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)

Word of the day: persimmon

December 4th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

It looks like a cross between an apple and an orange and it tastes like a cross between a melon and a mango. It is a fruit which is very plentiful and popular in China but hardly known in the UK.

Today Vee and I visited our Chinese ‘family’ in Abingdon and we finished out lunch with persimmon – more details here.

Posted in Cultural issues, My life & thoughts | Comments (3)

Will Obama win a second term?

December 4th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

I certainly hope so, but it’s far from a foregone conclusion. I was speaking earlier this week to a British guy who now lives in the USA and always votes Democrat and he was explaining to me how seriously Obama has disappointed his electoral base. The critical issue, of course, is the economy and the latest news on jobs was modestly encouraging – but it’s going to be a tough fight.

In a recent article on the forthcoming battle, the “New York Times” commented:

“Obama has gone from a modest favorite to win re-election to, probably, a slight underdog. Let’s not oversell this. A couple of months of solid jobs reports, or the selection of a poor Republican opponent, would suffice to make him the favorite again.

Nevertheless, this is an unusual circumstance. Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, Clinton and both Bushes all looked like the favorite to win a year in advance of their re-election battles, either having strong approval ratings or good-enough ones accompanied by robust economic numbers.

When we look at the last eight elected presidents, only Carter faced a situation worse than Obama’s: approval ratings in the low 30s rather than low 40s, the likelihood rather than the mere possibility of a recession, a primary challenge rather than a clear path to renomination and a crisis in Iran rather than a string of foreign-policy victories.”

Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)