Archive for May, 2007
Forgotten World (78): Mali
May 9th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
The landlocked West African country of Mali was the core of ancient empires going back to the fourth century. It was conquered by the French in the middle of the 19th century and gained its independence in 1960. Since then, it has suffered droughts, rebellions, a coup and 23 years of military dictatorship. However, since […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Stories from Israel (2)
May 8th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
Many thanks to those of you who have been kind enough to compliment me on the travelogue which I’ve written for my web site on our recent trip to Israel. I’ve now added 43 photographs to the narrative, so check them out here.
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (2)
Forgotten World (77): Andorra
May 8th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
For more than 700 years, Andorra has been ruled jointly by the leader of France and the Spanish Bishop of Urgel. The first Andorran Constitution was passed in 1993, establishing a parliamentary co-principality based on a 28-member parliament.. The co-princes remain Andorra’s heads of state but the roles are largely honorary. Almost hidden on the […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Welcome to the world, Joshua (2)
May 7th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
A couple of weeks ago, I did a posting about the birth of Joshua, the son of our dear Chinese friends Hua and Zhihao. They live in Norbury in south London and we live in Sudbury Hill in north-west London, so driving over there can take a while, but we’ve managed two visits now to […]
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (2)
Forgotten World (76): Costa Rica
May 7th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
A dominant 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 15 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 (0)
Visiting the Spinnaker Tower
May 6th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
In Britain, it is a Bank Holiday weekend and Vee and I have been seeing family and friends. We spent a day visiting my half-brother Chris and his partner Janine who live in a village called South Wonston just outside Winchester. They took us to Portsmouth, somewhere we haven’t been for years and years, and […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (1)
“Luke, I am your father”
May 5th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
This exhibition – which opens in London today – is simply unmissable. I will, of course, blog about it when I’ve been. Meanwhile which “Star wars” character are you most like? Find out here. Apparently I’m like R2D2.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (1)
The Arab-Israeli conflict
May 4th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
How did it start and how will it finish? These are HUGE questions but, when I was on holiday in Israel recently, I read a very interesting book on the subject which I’ve now reviewed here.
Posted in History | Comments (2)
A chip off the old blog
May 3rd, 2007 by Roger Darlington
At least for a few hours, my son Richard is to become a blogger too. Richard is Media Manager at the think tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research, and a former Special Adviser to Ruth Kelly. A fuller profile is here. The “Guardian” newspaper has asked him to provide the Labour perspective on the […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
Questions about the UK political system
May 3rd, 2007 by Roger Darlington
Today there are elections in the UK at local level in some parts of England and at country level in Scotland & Wales. Although we are likely to have a new Prime Minister shortly, we don’t need to have a Parliamentary election for three years. Now some months ago, I gave a lecture to a […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (2)