Baby Catrin: progress report (7)
March 31st, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Today I babysat my granddaughter Catrin for the second time in her 10-week life. I was with her for five hours and, while her parents were working, alone with her for three hours . I took her out in her pram and walked along London’s South Bank, stopping for me to have a coffee at the Royal Festival Hall.
Although she is not yet three months, she can only just fit in clothes for three-six months and now weighs 14 lb. She is already smiling and, though I’m no expert on baby matters these days, I think that’s pretty advanced. I may be biased but I think she’s a Super Baby.
We had great fun together and she smiled a lot at me which melted my heart. When I tried to photograph her smiling though, it didn’t work. The iPhone comes between us and I think that she is responding to her granddad’s smile. But here are a couple of photos from today …
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (3)
The meaning of the Arab Awakening
March 31st, 2011 by Roger Darlington
This week, I attended the last session in my 12-week course on “International Relations And World Conflict” led by lecturer Dr Dale Mineshima-Lowe and held at the City Lit in central London. The course has coincided with an explosion of dissent in north Africa and the Middle East which has been called the Arab Awakening, so we have had some fascinating discussions about the causes and consequences of these historic and transformative events.
There is a perceptive article in the “Guardian” today by Soumaya Ghannoushi who makes the important point that:
“… people are not only rebelling against an internationally backed political authoritarianism but against the economic model imposed by the IMF, World Bank and, in the case of Tunisia and Egypt, the EU’s structural reform programmes. Millions have been left to fend for themselves as state-owned firms have been sold to foreign investors and a cabal of local partners: corruption flourished as a result.”
Posted in My life & thoughts, World current affairs | Comments (0)
A history of Lebanon
March 30th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
As regular readers of NightHawk will know, I have recently returned from a trip to Syria and Lebanon – you can read my account and view photographs here.
During the holiday, I was reading a book on the modern history of Lebanon entitled “Beware Of Small States”. I’ve only now managed to write a review of the work which you can read here.
Posted in History, World current affairs | Comments (0)
The Greek scholar Hypatia
March 30th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
This week, I saw a film called “Agora” which tells the story of the fourth century female philosopher and mathematician Hypatia. The film is a disappointment [my review here] but the life it portrays is fascinating [a short biography here].
Posted in History | Comments (0)
If Saddam Hussein was still in power
March 29th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
… this year’s Arab uprisings could never have happened, states Christopher Hitchens in this interesting article.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Read this – and be grateful for your life
March 29th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
An interview with a victim of locked-in syndrome.
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)
The Canadian general election
March 29th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
The minority Conservative Government in Canada has just fallen and a general election will now be held on 2 May, as explained here.
If you want to know the background to the election process, check out my “Short Guide To The Canadian Political System”.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (1)
The relationship between income inequality and violent crime
March 28th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
I have blogged a number of times about the really important book “The Spirit Level” which I reviewed here. The core message of the work can be simply stated: on a whole range of significant social indicators, countries with less inequality do markedly better than those with greater inequality.
The arguments in the book are being promoted on a wider and longer-term basis through a charity called the Equality Trust. This week, the Equality Trust released its first quarterly Research Digest – a review of what the wider academic literature is saying about income inequality and its effects.
Issue #1 focuses on the effects of income inequality on violent crime. In brief:
You can read the digest here.
Posted in Social policy, World current affairs | Comments (0)
Walking from Tarifa to Budapest
March 28th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
John Hayes, husband of my Consumer Focus colleague Christine Farnish, has recently started a 5,000 kms walk along the E4 from Tarifa in Spain to Budapest in Hungary.
I’m enormously impressed by such a feat and delighted that he’s blogging about each stage of the enterprise. You can check out his blog here.
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (1)
What does the USA have in common with China, Iran & North Korea?
March 28th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
It still carries out capital punishment.
According to the latest statistics from Amnesty International, China accounts for more such deaths than the rest of the world put together, although the precise figure (probably several thousand) is unknown because China – which uses the death penalty for no less than 68 offences – refuses to release the actual figures.
Setting China aside, Amnesty said at least 527 executions were carried out last year. Almost half of those took place in Iran (252). North Korea executed 60, Yemen 53 and the USA 46.
Posted in American current affairs, World current affairs | Comments (0)