A review of “The Next Three Days”
June 10th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Having watched this film, I now know what to do if my wife is accused of murder (unless, of course, it is mine). See my review here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
The world’s most and least peaceful states
June 10th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
The Global Peace Index (GPI), produced annually by the Institute for Economics and Peace, is the world’s leading measure of global peacefulness. It gauges ongoing domestic and international conflict, safety and security in society, and militarisation in 153 countries by taking into account 23 separate indicators.
The 2011 report is now available. The most peaceful country is Iceland, while the least peaceful is Somalia. The UK is 26th with neighbouring Ireland 11th. The USA comes 82nd with next door Canada as 8th. The Czech Republic – where I was last week – comes very high in 5th place. Russia – which is the worst-rated nation that I have visited – is placed at 147th (seventh from the bottom).
You can check out the 10 most peaceful states and the 10 least peaceful states plus an interactive map of the world here.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Is Iran really building a bomb?
June 9th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
It is widely assumed – and much Western foreign policy is based on this assumption – that Iran is actively and urgently working on the creation of an arsenal of nuclear weapons that would represent an existential threat to its neighbours. most obviously Israel.
But is this true? In this article, Six former ambassadors to Iran from different European countries challenge this assessment and argue that so far Iran has done nothing unacceptable in international law. Are they being dangerously naive or are they demonstrating a measured, evidence-based approach to foreign policy in these highly troubled times for the region?
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
The tinderbox that is the Middle East
June 8th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
For anyone remotely interested in international affairs (and I am very interested), events in the Arab world this spring have been both fascinating and exciting. Dictators have been overthrown in Tunisia and Egypt, the leader in Yemen may not return from hospitalisation outside the country, and it should be only a matter of time before Gaddafi falls in Libya.
But, in all these countries, the forces of democratisation are fragile and internal tensions are rampant. Meanwhile the situation in Syria – which I visited just before the demonstrations and killings started – is dire and becoming worse daily.
This is having consequences for neighbouring countries. Lebanon – which I visited immediately after Syria – has not had a government for months and the political situation – always fractious and complicated – is being impacted by events in Syria. Meanwhile the regime in Syria is trying to divert attention away from its brutal actions by promoting demonstrations against Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights (which I visited a few years ago).
Working behind the scenes, we then have Iran – another country I have visited in the last couple of years – which has internal tensions between the president and the ayattolah and major connections in both neighbouring Syria and in Lebanon through its sponsorship of Hezbollah.
It’s a frightening political and ethnic cocktail as underlined by Simon Tisdall in this article.
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Is Internet access a human right?
June 7th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Presenting a report to the Human Rights Council of the United Nations General Assembly, Special Rapporteur Frank La Rue concludes:
“While blocking and filtering measures deny users access to specific content on the Internet, States have also taken measures to cut off access to the Internet entirely.
The Special Rapporteur considers cutting off users from Internet access, regardless of the justification provided, including on the grounds of violating intellectual property
rights law, to be disproportionate and thus a violation of article 19, paragraph 3, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.The Special Rapporteur calls upon all States to ensure that Internet access is maintained at all times, including during times of political unrest. In particular, the Special Rapporteur urges States to repeal or amend existing intellectual copyright laws which permit users to be disconnected from Internet access, and to refrain from adopting such laws.”
France and Britain are being particularly criticised here in relation to their recent laws seeking to prevent breach of copyright.
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A weekend visit to our Czech mates: day 2
June 7th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
The reason for our visit to the Czech Republic this time was to attend the second day of an air display at Pardubice where Vee would be awarded a medal to commemorate the wartime exploits of her Czech father Karel Kuttelwascher. Now Pardubice is 58 miles (94 kms) east of Prague and the organisers had promised to transport us to and from the display.
We had assumed that this would be by car, so imagine our surprise when we were told that it would be by light aircraft. It was a four-seater plane – a Cessna 182 – so there were three passenger seats and our Czech friend Tamara came along with us. Take off was at 8 am from an airfield called Letnany.
Tamara and Vee with our Cessna 182
The actual flying performance commenced at 12 noon, so there was plenty of time to check out the static display. For the first time in Central & Eastern Europe, the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight was present with a Hurricane, a Spitfire and a DC-3. Vee befriended the Officer Commanding and she was soon seated in the cockpit of the Hurricane like her famous father 60 years earlier.
Karel Kuttelwascher in his Hurricane 1942
KK’s daughter in ‘her’ Hurricane 2011
At 1 pm, there was a ceremony at which Vee was presented with a medal to mark the 95th anniversary of her father’s birth and to commemorate his 18 victories with the wartime Royal Air Force. Bravely she gave a short speech of thanks over the loudspeaker system in Czech.
Vee speaking in tongue-twisting Czech
The medal presented at Pardubice
Indeed, throughout the day, Vee was a real attraction – she was asked for autographs and photographs all the time and she kept meeting people who knew her or wanted to meet her including leading members of the Czech Spitfire Club and the mayor of her father’s home town. Even one of her two dozen Czech relatives turned up (ahoj, Mirku!).
We were literally treated as VIPs with coloured wrist tags and had constant access to the food and drink in the VIP tent. Although we spent some time in the tent, the heat and wind outside meant that the three of us finished up with red – but very happy – faces.
If you’re an aviation enthusiast and want to see photos of all the aircraft that made up the display, check out this collection.
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (5)
A weekend visit to our Czech mates: day 1
June 6th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
It’s two years since I’ve been to Prague [my blog posting here], but this weekend I made my 23rd visit in as many years [my notes on city here]. The reason for all these trips is partly that my wife Vee is half Czech and her father was a famous wartime night fighter ace [brief biographical details here] and partly because we have friends of 26 years in Prague who are as close to us as family [my obituary to our friend Pavel here].
I wasn’t supposed to be going to the Czech Republic this weekend. For many months, the plan had been that Vee and her twin sister Mari would attend an air display in Pardubice where they would receive a medal commemorating their father’s exploits. But Mari’s husband Derek fell off a ladder and fractured a bone in his spine, so Mari pulled out of the trip and Vee asked me to accompany her instead.
We flew over late on Friday and spent the whole of Saturday with our Prague ‘family’: Tamara (Pavel’s widow) and her three ‘children’ Vojta, Kaca and Martin.
Tamara (back) with (L to R) Vojta, Martin & Kaca
On Saturday morning, Vee and I went for a walk with Vojta and his partner Kacenka around the city centre of Prague. The weather was unbelievably hot – 36C/97F in the sun.
View of Prague Castle from the Charles Bridge
Then, in the afternoon, we all drove an hour or so outside Prague to a place called Blanik to meet an aunt of Kacenka’s and celebrate her birthday. Blanik is a hill of 638 metres (2,093 feet) and the celebration was at the summit. It was quite a tough climb in such hot conditions.
Vee climbs Blanik hill looking for dormant knights
I rarely drink beer but at the top I was never so pleased to have a cold bottle. Among the family and friends at the summit, there were five school children whom I befriended. They were very keen to try out their school English which was fine by me because the Czech I learned over two decades ago is very weak now.
Roger with five new Czech mates
There is a famous Czech legend about the hill at Blanik which promises that, when the country is at the time of its greatest need, knights will arise from the mountain and come to the nation’s rescue.
However, they did not appear in 1938 when the Nazis invaded or in 1948 when the Communists took over or in 1968 when the Warsaw Pact invaded or in 1989 when the velvet revolution took place. Clearly they are waiting for some real trouble.
Back in Prague, we visited Tamara’s mother Jarmila who will be 90 this week. Then Vee and I took the family out for an Italian meal and a catch up with all the news since our last visit.
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
How many texts do you send each day?
June 2nd, 2011 by Roger Darlington
According to this story, a typical UK mobile phone user sends 10 texts a day. It seems that many people use their mobile more to send texts and e-mails than to make calls.
I send fewer texts than the average but I’m typical in sending more texts and e-mails from my mobile than making calls from it. What about you?
Of course, I blog every day as well – which is why you’re here …
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (2)
A review of “Winter’s Bone”
June 1st, 2011 by Roger Darlington
This is not a film that many people would go to the cinema to see, but it’s well worth catching on DVD or television. You can read my review here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Is the world warming? England is!
May 31st, 2011 by Roger Darlington
The world’s oldest continuous weather record covers a triangular area in England between London (where I live), Manchester (where I was brought up) and Bristol – it dates back to 1659.
This record reveals that the average day and night temperature in central England between 1 March and 29 May this year was 10.32C. Previous average highs were 10.20C in 1893 and 10.10C in 2007.
So this spring has been the warmest since records began more than three and a half centuries ago. More information here.
Posted in British current affairs, Environment | Comments (0)