My offer to be a London Ambassador (6)
October 3rd, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Fourteen months ago, I did my first posting about my wish to be a London Ambassador for the 2012 Olympic Games. Today I received this e-mail:
“Thank you for attending your recent London Ambassadors recruitment event. The recruitment events closed on Friday 5 August, after 195 days of interviews, and we were extremely impressed by candidates’ quality, enthusiasm and energy.
Interest in the London Ambassadors programme has been incredibly high, with applications far exceeding the number of roles available. With such a positive response, we’ve been unable to offer a role to everyone who attended a recruitment event, and unfortunately you haven’t been chosen to be a London Ambassador.
We appreciate this may be disappointing news, and that you may wish to receive feedback on why you haven’t been successful. However, due to the large number of candidates we saw at the recruitment events, we are unable to provide individual feedback on interview performance.”
I am genuinely surprised and very disappointed.
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (6)
It’s hot! hot!! hot!!!
October 1st, 2011 by Roger Darlington
The British weather is so variable that it provides an endless source of (usually fatuous) conversation.
We had the coolest summer since 1993 BUT:
- Thursday was the hottest 29 September since 1895
- Friday was the hottest 30 September since 1908
- Today was the hottest 1 October ever recorded – it reached 29.9C or 85.8F [more information here]
Posted in British current affairs, Environment | Comments (0)
A tax whose time has come
October 1st, 2011 by Roger Darlington
It goes by various names. For a long time, it was called the Tobin Tax, after the Nobel prize-winning economist James Tobin who first proposed it some 40 years ago. British campaigners have called it the Robin Hood Tax because it would take from the rich and give to the poorer. It is now called the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) and has been proposed by the President of the European Commission as a way of tackling budget deficits.
I blogged about it two years in this posting. Since then, a lot of work has been done on the practicalities and a lot of political support had gathered behind the idea. Put simply, the financial markets played a major part in getting us into this economic crisis, so they should play at least a small part in getting us out of it.
As originally envisaged by Tobin, the tax would have been global and set at 1% of each international financial transaction. As proposed this week for the European Union alone (the Americans are against such a tax), there would be a minimum tax rate on trading of bonds and shares set at 0.1% and at 0.01% for derivative products, levied on trades where at least one of the institutions is based in the EU.
There’s a good discussion of the new tax here.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (2)
Ever heard of a Potemkin village?
September 30th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
This week, I attend a meeting of a Board on which I serve and on this occasion we were addressed by a very senior civil servant. At one point, he used the term “a Potemkin village”.
I have never heard the term before. Once the civil servant had departed, I inquired of my colleagues and none of them was familiar with the term either.
As so often, Wikipedia comes to the rescue with this explanation.
So now I know that the term is a reference to “fake settlements purportedly erected at the direction of Russian minister Grigory Potemkin to fool Empress Catherine II during her visit to Crimea in 1787”. Except that the subterfuge may never have happened. Fascinating ….
Posted in Cultural issues, History | Comments (0)
Reviews of recently-seen films
September 28th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
I love the movies and my latest four films are very contrasting:
- “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” – my review here.
- “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” – my review here.
- “Killer Elite” – my review here.
- “Drive” – my review here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Granddaughter Catrin starts her political career
September 27th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
I took my son Richard to Labour Party Conference in Blackpool when he was just three and half months old in 1976. At the time, I was a Special Adviser to a member of the Labour Government’s Cabinet.
Thirty five years later, Richard and his wife Emily have taken their daughter Catrin – aged eight months – to this year’s Labour Party Conference in Liverpool. Both parents were Special Advisers in the Blair and Brown Governments.
Little Catrin is obviously networking early …
Catrin offers special advice to Labour leader Ed Miliband
Catrin discusses Welsh devolution with former Labour leader Neil Kinnock
Catrin debates endogenous growth theory with Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (1)
Portuguese item (1): Martim Moniz
September 25th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
A week ago, I returned from a short holiday in Lisbon with my sister Silvia. The intervening week has been full of meetings, so only now can I share with you a few interesting things I learned on the trip.
First, our hotel was located in a downtown square called Martim Moniz. I looked up the name and found that he was a soldier who died heroically in 1147. At least, that’s the story – it may be apocryphal. Check out the story here.
Posted in History | Comments (0)
Portuguese item (2): the language
September 25th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
The first thing you notice in Portugal is the language: it looks like Spanish but it sounds (to a European ear) like a Slavonic language. In fact, the distinctive sound is the influence of Arabic from the one-time Islamic occupation.
Very little is pronounced as it looks – even the vowels. So, ‘thank you’ is ‘obrigado’ (for a male speaker) but is pronounced ‘obrigardu’. The special music of Portugal is called ‘fado’ but pronounced ‘fardu’.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Portuguese item (3): bolo rei
September 25th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
On our trip to Lisbon, my sister and I discovered a delicious cake called bolo rei. Literally the name means King Cake and it is a traditional cake for Christmas.
However, I’m noted for my love of sweets things [more information here], so I was delighted to discover the bolo rei [more information here] in September.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Portuguese item (4): the alliance
September 25th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
The Anglo-Portuguese Alliance between England (succeeded by the United Kingdom) and Portugal is the oldest alliance in the world which is still in force. It was signed in 1373.
This alliance, which goes back to the Middle Ages, has served both countries. It was very important throughout history, influencing the participation of the United Kingdom in the Iberian Peninsular War (the UK’s major land contribution to the Napoleonic Wars), among other things.
Posted in History | Comments (0)