A daughter mourns and warns

January 11th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

“My father’s assassination was a hate crime fuelled by jihadist fervour, abetted by some irresponsible sections of the media and sanctified by some political actors. All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing. The loss of one good man must not deter others. Pakistan’s very future depends on it.”

This is how Shehrbano Taseer concludes an article about the recent killing of her father by his own bodyguard because he supported reform of the blasphemy law in Pakistan.

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)

The sinking of the “Laconia”

January 10th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

I’ve now managed to watch the two-part, three-hour television drama on the sinking of the “Laconia” which was broadcast in Britain on BBC2 on 6 and 7 January. The film is a British-German co-production written by Alan Bleasdale.

It tells the remarkable story of how, on 12 September 1942, the German submarine U-542 sank the British ship the “Laconia” but then endeavoured to rescue many of the survivors until an American B-24 Liberator bombed them.

The well done and ably acted dramatisation shows how messy war is both operationally and morally but presents the Germans in an uncharacteristically humane light.

You can find out more about this incident here.

Posted in History | Comments (1)

How to build progressive activism online

January 10th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

This past weekend, I spent a whole day attending a conference to discuss how political and social activists can better use online tools to advance progressive causes and messages – the first such event in the UK. If that seems an odd way to occupy a Saturday in a cold and dark January, all I can say is that the event was a sell-out with some 350 in attendance.

The title of the conference was “Netroots UK” which borrowed from the successful Netroots Nation campaign in the United States. The venue was Congress Hall in central London.  Many of the attendees had laptop or tablet computers (I had my iPad) and the event had free WiFi and a Twitter hash tag, so  there was lots of note-taking and twittering.

As well as two plenary sessions, there were two workshop sessions offering a total of 18 workshops which, together with five lunchtime fringe meetings, provided an incredible range of topics to consider.

Polly Toynbee of the “Guardian” gave a detailed account of how planned public expenditures cuts will impact in practice on both typical families and those on benefits. Two Labour MPs spoke: Tom Watson who was the first Parliamentarian to blog and Stella Creasy who is one of the party’s youngest and brightest legislators and a possible future party leader.

Some of the great campaigns that were described include the following:

Posted in Internet | Comments (3)

Will culling quangos work?

January 7th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

I declare an interest: I sit on three bodies – the Communications Consumer Panel, the Ofcom Advisory Committee for England and the Consumer Focus Board – that are to be abolished under the terms of the Coalition Government’s so-called cull of the quangos which is to be given effect by the Public Bodies Bill that is currently before Parliament.

But, in a report published today by the House of Commons Public Administration Committee, it is argued that the proposals are unlikely to save money or improve accountability while the whole process has been poorly managed.

The report – which you can read here – states:

“The Government did not consult properly on these proposals. When undertaking such a fundamental review of the machinery of government it is desirable and sensible to do so. We welcome that fact the Government is now taking steps to rectify this, but question how useful consultation can be, given that decisions on the future of many bodies have already been taken. Having agreed to amend the Bill to allow for more consultation we expect these consultations to have real effect on the outcome of the review; even if this means reversing decisions that have already been made. We expect the Government to give us such an assurance in its response to this Report.”

Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)

How the polypill will save lives

January 6th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

There was a report this week of a new trial to test the so-called polypill which combats heart disease and strokes. This is good news and hopefully, within a few years, this pill will be on the market. It could make a real difference to millions of lives.

Two years ago, I participated in a much larger, international trail of a different version of the polypill and I was glad to do so. I blogged about the experience at the time and this was my last posting.

Posted in Science & technology | Comments (1)

Israel: the politics and the land

January 5th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

I’ve just added an 11th entry to the short descriptions of various political systems on my web site.  Israel has a very different political system than most democratic states as explained here.

Almost four years ago now, I spent a fascinating week in Israel touring the country and talking to lots of people. You can read my account here.

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)

Ed Miliband’s first 100 days

January 4th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

So how is Ed Miliband doing as Labour leader three months into the job? It’s not been an outstanding period but conversely, at the same point in Gordon Brown’s leadership, most people misjudged the man (the other way of course). Given the electoral arithmetic, this is a marathon and not a sprint.

In this assesment in today’s “Guardian”, Allegra Stratton suggests that: “Miliband could be said to have been really good when it was clear he was really concentrating, but not, so far, reliably good”.

Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)

The rise in VAT

January 4th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

Eight months ago, I did a posting on why value added tax (VAT) would go up whoever won the then impending General Election. Today VAT rose from 17.5% to 20% – the highest ever level.

The tax is regressive and will hit hardest low income families and it comes at a time when the economy is fragile and demand is already threatened by public expenditure cuts and rising unemployment.

Posted in British current affairs | Comments (1)

New year and new thinking

January 3rd, 2011 by Roger Darlington

One of the most visited sections of my web site is my advice on “How To Think Critically”. Over the holiday period, I’ve revised the advice a bit, so you might want to check it out here.

Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)

The future of Gaza

January 2nd, 2011 by Roger Darlington

“We do not want to hate, we do not want to feel all of this feelings, we do not want to be victims anymore. ENOUGH! Enough pain, enough tears, enough suffering, enough control, limitations, unjust justifications, terror, torture, excuses, bombings, sleepless nights, dead civilians, black memories, bleak future, heart aching present, disturbed politics, fanatic politicians, religious bullshit, enough incarceration! WE SAY STOP! This is not the future we want! We want three things. We want to be free. We want to be able to live a normal life. We want peace. Is that too much to ask?”

This is quote from a remarkable new statement from a group of young people in Gaza who hate the oppression of Hamas almost as much as they despise the incarceration by the Israelis.

You can read the full text here and you can read more about the development here.

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)

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