Archive for September, 2006
USA and Vietnam
September 4th, 2006 by Roger Darlington
E-mails from friends in the United States and Vietnam reveal that unusually today both countries have a public holiday. In the USA, it’s Labor Day when many of my trade union colleagues are marking the importance of an organised labour movement in a country which is so hostile to unions. Meanwhile, over in Vietnam, Saturday […]
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“His Dark Materials”: the film
September 4th, 2006 by Roger Darlington
Two summers ago, I read all three books – a total of 1,300 pages – in the trilogy “His Dark Materials” by Philip Pullman: “Northern Lights” (my review here), “The Subtle Knife” (my review here) and “The Amber Spyglass” (my review here). I enjoyed the works enormously and subsequently saw the two-part stage production at […]
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Who brought down the Twin Towers? (1)
September 3rd, 2006 by Roger Darlington
I’m sure that it was Al-Qaida – not Iraq, not Iran, not Israel. According to an item in today’s “Observer” newspaper, however: “One recent survey showed that a third of Americans believed their government played some role in 9/11 or allowed it. The theories usually suggest the World Trade Centre was demolished by explosives, triggered […]
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Would you go to Uzbekistan?
September 2nd, 2006 by Roger Darlington
In 2002, British career diplomat Craig Murray was delighted when he rceived his first ambassadorial appointment which happened to be to Uzbekistan at the beginning of the ‘War on Terror’ and he threw himself into his new responsibilities. Soon he found himself charged with 20 allegations of misconduct and seriously ill before his marraige broke […]
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Jameel Gallery of Islamic Art
September 1st, 2006 by Roger Darlington
I have long been fascinated by Islamic art and architecture and seen some wonderful work in southern Spain and northern Africa (Morocco and Eygpt). Soon I will be visiting Uzbekistan to see more magnificent examples of this style. This week I went to see for the first time the newly-opened Jameel Gallery of Islamic Art […]
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August a record month
September 1st, 2006 by Roger Darlington
When I had to change the hosting arrangements of my web site and weblogs in July. I feared that I would lose visitors and for the first few weeks, the traffic statistcs were erractic, but they soon settled down. The number of visitors for the month of August was a record at just under 91,000, […]
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