How did Bletchley Park break Nazi Germany’s Enigma code?
November 6th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
I’ve read the novel “Enigma” written by Robert Harris [my review here]; I’ve seen the film directed by Michael Apsted [my review here]; and this weekend, I visited Bletchley Park where a British team built on the work of Poles to break the Enigma code used by the German army, navy and air force during the Second World War.
But I still don’t understand how they did it. I mean 159 million million million ways of changing one letter for another. And the Germans changed the settings every day. The analysts were heroes as much as those on the frontline.
Posted in History, Science & technology | Comments (0)
What are the most popular baby names in Britain?
November 4th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
Of course, names change in popularity. According to the data compiled annually by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) and published each September, the most popular names for children born in England & Wales during 2020 were as follows:
| Position | Boys | Girls |
| 1 | Oliver | Olivia |
| 2 | George | Amelia |
| 3 | Arthur | Isla |
| 4 | Noah | Ava |
| 5 | Muhammad | Mia |
| 6 | Leo | Ivy |
| 7 | Oscar | Lily |
| 8 | Harry | Isabella |
| 9 | Archie | Rosie |
| 10 | Jack | Sophia |
There are some patterns here.
First of all, astonishingly the most popular boys’ name and the most popular girls’ name are essentially the same (Oliver and Olivia) – what is technically known as cognates – and these names have been in top for their gender for the last five years. Is this the case in any other nation? Second, it is striking how traditional most of the names are for both boys and girls, although for the boys it is interesting that the familiar form of names rather than the original version is often preferred – Harry instead of Harold, Jack instead of John, Archie instead of Archibold. Third, in the case of girls, seven of the top 10 names end with the letter ‘a’ and five contain the letter ‘l’.
On the other hand, the name John (my father’s name), which was the most popular boys’ name until the end of the Second World War and is still the most common male name in Britain for the population as a whole, is nowhere in the top 100 names in the 2020 listings, while David – which is the second most common name in Britain – slipped out of the top 50 of names chosen for baby boys born in 2004 and is still only 60th. Similarly Margaret – the most common female name in the population as a whole – does not even appear in the top 100 names chosen for girls these days, while Susan – the second most common name in Britain – is not even in the top 100 either.
These observations underline how much fashion shapes the popularity of different names. Fashion is a stronger influence with girls’ names than those of boys. So, for example, in the last decade or so Ivy has soared to number 6, while Elsie has jumped to 19. Arthur has surged into the top 10 boys’ names for the first time since the 1920s (it is now 3rd), and Ada has jumped into the girls’ top 100 for the first time in a century too (it is now 38th), both perhaps inspired by characters in the BBC television drama “Peaky Blinders”.
It should be noted that the Office of National Statistics (ONS) produces its ranking of the popularity of names using the exact spelling of the name given at birth registration.
If one combines the numbers for names with very similar spellings, a very different picture is revealed. For boys, combining the occurrence of Mohammed, Muhammad, Mohammad & Muhammed plus eight other spellings of the names would put it in first place – a reflection of the changing ethnicity of the British population and the powerful trend for Muslim families to name their son after the Prophet. Similarly, if one combines the occurrence of Isabella, Isabelle, Isabel and Isobel, one would find the name top of the girls’ list and, if one took Lily and Lilly together, the name would come fourth, while Darcie, Darcey and Darcy would boost that name’s ranking.
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
What does Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No 3 mean to you?
November 3rd, 2021 by Roger Darlington
I recently listened to the piece on Classic FM and the music always reminds me of the Australian pianist David Helfgott whose struggle with this piece – and indeed with life – is depicted in the film “Shine” starring Geoffrey Rush as Helfgott (see my review here).
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the new blockbuster sci-fi movie “Dune”
November 2nd, 2021 by Roger Darlington
Frank Herbert’s classic science fiction novel of 1965 was first filmed by David Lynch in 1984. I found that adaptation visually impressive but hard to follow plot-wise. So I was looking forward to seeing this second attempt to translate the novel and determined to see it soon and in IMAX; indeed it proved so popular that I had to go to the cinema in the morning to see it on the date and in the format that I wanted.
But ultimately French-Canadian director Denis Villeneuve – who thrilled me with “Blade Runner 2049” but left me rather flat with “Arrival” – has disappointed me again. In terms of cinematography, the movie is outstanding with splendid locations and dramatic settings but, as entertainment, the pacing is poor and the narrative is ponderous with too little genuine excitement. After two and a half hours, the film ends with a character declaring: “This is only the beginning”. In fact, this “Dune” is only about half the novel and “Dune: Part Two” is still to come. I will certainly view the second part, but I can’t say that I’m overly excited about the prospect.
The cast is splendid, led by Timothée Chalamet as messiah figure Paul Atreides and Oscar Isaac and Rebecca Ferguson as his parents Duke Leto and Lady Jessica, with some familiar supporting actors including Josh Brolin, Jason Momoa, Javier Bardem, Dave Bautista and Stellan Skarsgård. It’s rather a male-dominated world but it’s good to see veteran actress Charlotte Rampling and young Zenaya. However, the cast is let down by the leaden script. Lines like “Dreams make good stories, but everything important happens when we’re awake” do not exactly stir the blood.
Even for a science fiction movie, spectacle and special effects are not enough; one needs a decent script and livelier direction.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the 1954 classic Japanese film “Seven Samurai”
November 1st, 2021 by Roger Darlington
This Japanese film is for many one of the very best movies not made in the English language and certainly one of the most outstanding works by the great director Akira Kurosawa. Set in 16th century Japan, it tells the tale of farmers who are brought close to starvation by the repeated raids of bandits who take all their produce and decide to engage the services of a disparate group of samurai warriors with Takashi Shijmura in the leading tole.
This black & white work is a masterclass in cinematography and linear storytelling: the plight of the farmers, the recruitment of the samurai, the preparation for resistance, and a battle of attrition. It is a classic action/adventure movie but with elements of social comment, some humour, and even a romance.
Kurosawa takes his time to tell the story and, in the uncut version, the film runs to just three minutes short of three and a half hours (when shown in the cinema, there is an intermission). Apparently the Japanese director was inspired by the westerns of John Ford and, in turn, “Seven Samurai” was remade by Hollywood as “The Magnificent Seven” in 1960 and again in 2016.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
It’s exactly 50 years since I moved from Manchester to London
October 31st, 2021 by Roger Darlington
On Sunday 31 October 1971, I moved from Manchester – where I was brought up and went to school and university – to London – where I had a job as Accommodation Officer at what was then the Polytechnic of North London.
I only held that post for around six months and then followed a three-part career as a Political Adviser in Westminster and Whitehall (6 years), a national trade union official with what is now the Communication Workers Union (24 years), and then a consumer advocate with a variety of organisations in regulated sectors (17 years).
In the 50 years that I’ve now been in London, I’ve had seven homes, two wives and one son and – so far – survived a global pandemic. For the last two and a half years, I’ve lived on the South Bank and really come to know the city very well. I hope that I have a few more years to enjoy it.
Click on the links for my short notes on Manchester and London.
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (2)
When and how did the Internet start?
October 29th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
International Internet Day is marked annually on 29 October. The day commemorates the anniversary of the first message that was sent between two computers on 29 October 1969 through ARPANET, the predecessor of the Internet.
They intended to transmit the word “LOGIN,” but the system crashed just after they had sent the first two letters. Hence, the first message on the Internet was ‘LO’ — as in ‘Lo and behold!’
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (0)
A review of the novel “The Plot Against America” by Philip Roth
October 28th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
This work of fiction essentially poses two questions: could America become fascist? if it did, would it do so through a popular non-politician becoming president with the secret manipulation of a foreign power? When this novel was first published in 2004, these questions must have seemed fantastical. When I eventually read the work after a four-year term in the White House by Donald Trump, these questions seemed not merely very much less theoretical but almost prophetic.
The narrative is located in the period June 1940 to October 1942 in a Jewish suburb of Newark in New Jersey and the viewpoint is that of Philip Roth himself as a child of between seven and nine. The central proposition of this counterfactual history is that in November 1940 Franklin D Roosevelt failed to secure a third term when he was roundly defeated by Charles A Lindbergh, the famous aviator and noted Nazi sympathiser. Almost all the characters mentioned in the 360-page story were real-life individuals and, extraordinarily for a work of fiction, the novel concludes with 28 pages of historic notes consisting mainly of pen portraits of 39 personages.
At one point, the narrator’s father states of Lindberg supporters: “They live in a dream and we live in a nightmare”. At another point, FDR is made to refer to “a plot being hatched by anti-democratic forces here at home harboring a Quisling blueprint for a fascist America or by foreign nations greedy for power and supremacy”. Roth – who died during Trump’s occupation of the White House – could have been writing about Trump’s fanatical supporters and Putin’s nefarious interference.
Roth’s focus is very much on one Jewish family – ostensibly his family – but his sweep of characters and events is considerable. In spite of repeated use of very long (but perfectly formed) sentences, this is an easy – if unsettling – read, although the ending does seem rather sudden and somewhat contrived.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Some more reviews for my book of short stories
October 25th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
“A little gem.”
“These stories from the many rooms in the author’s mind are so interesting, topical, yet vividly animated by ‘look backs’ on the characters’ lives.”
“An incredible read with meaningful lessons.”
“Loved the interesting read, lots of variety and an extraordinary grasp on the art of writing short stories, with each one containing a moral, and plenty of wit and humour.”
This is what they are writing on Amazon about my book of short stories titled “The Rooms In My Mind”. If you haven’t purchased it yet or think it would make a little gift to a relative or friend, please check it out here.
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
A review of an impressive new book: “Exponential” by Azeem Azhar
October 24th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
Around a decade and a half ago, Azeem Azhar – what a wonderfully alliterative name – and I served together as members of the Consumer Panel of Ofcom. the UK’s regulator of telecommunications and broadcasting. He is much younger and much smarter than me and went on to become a tech entrepreneur and tech analyst. Now he has written as good a book as you will find on the current state of technological change and the profound issues raised by the technology.
Azhar’s main thesis can be simply stated: some of our most fundamental technologies are changing at an ever-faster pace so that, if plotted on a graph, they would follow a steeply-rising or exponential curve, while our institutions – whether governments, corporations, service providers or armed services – are responding in a much slower fashion that, again if represented on a graph, would show essentially a straight or incremental line. The result is what he calls the ‘exponential gap’.
Of course, rates of change are hard to measure but he concentrates on technologies such as microelectronics where change can be measured and he defines an exponential technology as one that can, for a roughly fixed cost, improve at a rate of more than 10% per year for several decades. He writes particularly about change in four key sectors: computing, energy, biology and manufacturing. He explains what is driving this exponential revolution: the power of learning by doing, the increasing interaction and combination of new technologies, and the emergence of new networks of information and trade.
One very visible outcome is superstar companies or tech giants – the likes of Amazon and Google – who may be serving consumers well but are – in his view – exploiting smaller-scale producers and making economies progressively less dynamic. Additionally, of course, they do not pay their fair share of taxes, they control access to information and opinion, and they act beyond the control of governments and regulators.
Azhar is a first-time author but this is a really impressive work. He has been well-served by both his editor (it is immensely readable) and his research team (the range of sources is considerable). The sub-title of the book is ‘How Accelerating Technology Is Leaving Us Behind And What To Do about It’. As with all such books, there is much more on the ‘How’ and than on the ‘What’. Azhar proposes a range of sensible suggestions – such as the mandation of interoperability between comparable networks, the adoption of the Danish system of ‘flexicurity’ and the devolution of political power to cities – but is hesitant about other ideas – such as a universal basic income or a digital bill of rights.
I cannot help feeling that the totality of Azhar’s policy proposals are not adequate to the huge challenges that he so eloquently describes. It seems to me that, as well as an ‘exponential gap’, there is a ‘comprehension gap’. Most tech analysts do really understand politics or like politicians, while almost all politicians have very little understanding of technology and are rather in awe of technologists.
Ultimately these tech challenges require some big and bold political and regulatory solutions with radically new approaches to taxing corporate income and personal wealth, the empowering of worker and consumer bodies, and clever integration of human and artificial intelligence in a whole range of sectors including child care, education, training, health and social care.
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