Archive for May, 2007


Blogging for Madeleine

May 31st, 2007 by Roger Darlington

The father of missing four-year old Madelaene McCann is blogging here. This is a terribly heart-rending case and all the publicity – including this web site – are clearly totally well-intentioned. I’m just not sure about the efficacy of it all.

Posted in Internet | Comments (0)


Forgotten World (84): Bhutan

May 31st, 2007 by Roger Darlington

Bhutan is a tiny, remote and impoverished kingdom nestling in the Himalayas between its powerful neighbours, India and China. Almost completely cut off for centuries, it has recently tried to let in some aspects of the outside world while fiercely guarding its ancient traditions. The population is only 672,000 and national dress is compulsory – […]

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)


The death of the Cabinet

May 30th, 2007 by Roger Darlington

It is reported today that the former Cabinet Secretary Lord Butler claims that, in the first eight months of the Blair Government, the Cabinet only took one actual decision. I can believe it. First, Tony Blair had found it necessary in Opposition to adopt a powerful system of control to restore credibility to a party […]

Posted in British current affairs | Comments (2)


Vietnam loses half of Net connections

May 30th, 2007 by Roger Darlington

My friend in Hanoi tells me in a recent e-mail of a major reduction in access to the Internet for the citizens of Vietnam: “My worst news about the Internet is that Vietnam has just lose half of its Internet connections because of some uneducated fishermen in Ca Mau (the south-east point of Vietnam). They […]

Posted in Internet | Comments (0)


Forgotten World (83): Peru

May 30th, 2007 by Roger Darlington

I once spent a week in Peru [click here]. The country – the 20th largest in the world – gained its independence in 1821 and today it is a nation of some 29 million. In its recent past, Peru has alternated between democracy and military dictatorship. Also, it is deeply divided politically and economically. The […]

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)


Is Britain now a more equal society?

May 29th, 2007 by Roger Darlington

Taking up the challenge made by Peter Mandelson in 1997 to judge the Labour Government in ten years time on their equalities record, centre-left pressure group Compass has launched a new report examining progress on a range of social policy areas. The report “Closer to equality? Assessing New Labour’s record on equality after ten years […]

Posted in British current affairs | Comments (1)


First triathlon

May 29th, 2007 by Roger Darlington

Not mine! – do you think I’m crazy? No, this was swum, cycled and run this wet weekend by one of Vee’s nephews David Rowe. I am mega impressed – and so will you be when you read about it here.

Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (1)


Forgotten World (82): Namibia

May 29th, 2007 by Roger Darlington

What is today called Namibia was in the late 1800s taken over by Germany which it called South West Africa. South Africa seized the country during the First World War and administered it under a League of Nations mandate. Namibians finally achieved independence in 1990 after a bush war of almost 25 years. Namibia is […]

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)


Forgotten World (81): Switzerland

May 28th, 2007 by Roger Darlington

A major theme of NightHawk is that we live in a wide and varied world and we should know more about other countries and other cultures and learn to respect them. Therefore, on 16 occasions now, I’ve had a week-long feature devoted to parts of the world that tend to be under-reported or even forgotten. […]

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (2)


Family reunion in South Wales

May 27th, 2007 by Roger Darlington

Vee (known to her family as Vera) and I have spent much of this (wet) Bank Holiday weekend in South Wales and the highlight of the visit was a family reunion on Vee’s side. The venue was “The Thomas Arms” in the town of Llanelli. The town’s name – which means in English “Church of […]

Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (2)