Archive for August, 2006
The dark world of Scientology
August 25th, 2006 by Roger Darlington
In the week that the world’s most famous scientologist Tom Cruise is dropped by Paramount Pictures because of the actor’s strange behaviour, I attended my first meeting of an informal gathering known as Skeptics In The Pub when the subject for debate was cults with particular reference to scientology. Scientology – the term means “the […]
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Forgotten world (30): Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
August 25th, 2006 by Roger Darlington
Today let’s look at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. I know – you’ve never heard of it, but it is an organisation of considerable geo-political importance. It was founded by China five years ago. As well as China, the members are Russia and the central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. Observer members are […]
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Remembering the Grunwick dispute
August 24th, 2006 by Roger Darlington
Thirty years ago this month, there was the start of the Grunwick dispute, one of the bitterest industrial conflicts of my time. The location of the dispute was Willesden in north-west London, close to where I now live, and my local Trade Union Council will be holding an anniversary event next month. I visted the […]
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Forgotten world (29): The Philippines
August 24th, 2006 by Roger Darlington
The Philippine Islands – there are more than 7,000 of them – were a Spanish colony for more than 350 years and an American colony for almost 50 years. As a result, the Philippines today is one of the two predominantly Roman Catholic countries in Asia and is among the most Westernised. The Philippines is […]
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Boys and their toys
August 23rd, 2006 by Roger Darlington
I’m on an O2 contract so I can up-grade my mobile every 12 months. I’ve had a Sony Ericcson K750i for just over a year and my Czech mate who’s staying with me fancied it, so I up-graded and gave it to him. My new mobile is a Nokia N80. Boasting a 3 megapixel digital […]
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Forgotten world (28): Tonga
August 23rd, 2006 by Roger Darlington
Nations don’t come much smaller than Tonga with a population of a mere 110,000. However, countries don’t come much fatter with 92% of all over 30s overweight or obese and almost 20% of adults suffering from diabetes. As a result, the death rate from nutritional conditions is 10 times that of the UK. Why is […]
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The “Times” take on PiP
August 22nd, 2006 by Roger Darlington
Totally licked – Postman Pat meets the Royal Mail’s new pricing-in-proportion scheme “Good morning, Mrs Goggins,” said Postman Pat in his cheerful way as he did every morning. Mrs Goggins, on the other hand, did not seem her usual self at all, distinctly frazzled in fact. Perhaps it was the queue, Pat thought; he had […]
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A new US energy policy?
August 22nd, 2006 by Roger Darlington
The USA consumes a quarter of the world’s oil supply but has just 3% of global oil reserves. It is therefore forced to import over 60% of the oil it needs and this dependency is growing. Most of the states from which it imports this oil are unstable, undemocratic and directly or indirectly funding Islamic […]
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Forgotten world (27): Luxembourg
August 22nd, 2006 by Roger Darlington
Of all the 45 countries that I’ve visited, Luxembourg is the smallest and the most boring. Yet this is a nation that was one of the six founder members of what we now call the European Union in 1957 and it gets to hold the Presidency of the EU as often as the UK. It […]
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PiP and me (3)
August 21st, 2006 by Roger Darlington
When I was the independent Chair of the Internet Watch Foundation, I often did a couple of media interviews on the same day and once did four on the same subject. However, today I set a new personal record. In my new capacity as a member of the Council of Postwatch, I’ve been speaking to […]
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