Archive for June, 2007
Me and my travels
June 24th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
Each weekend, the Travel supplement of the “Observer” newspaper invites a well-known person to answer a set of questions headed “Me And My Travels”. I thought that this Sunday I’d put those questions to myself for this blog. My favourite hotel is … The Royal Livingstone Hotel on the Zambian side of Victoria Falls [more […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (1)
Make It An Issue
June 23rd, 2007 by Roger Darlington
Some people whom I know and respect signed an advertisement this week to publicise a campaign called Make It An Issue. What’s it all about? “makeitanissue.org.uk is the campaign of The Power Inquiry. We believe that the the next phase of constitutional reform should be a more inclusive, democratic process that involves ordinary citizens. We […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
Pale blue dot
June 23rd, 2007 by Roger Darlington
I was a big fan of Carl Sagan, the American scientist who died in 1996, so it was a real pleasure to listen to him narrate this short piece on the importance of our planet.
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (0)
Mayhem in Muscat
June 22nd, 2007 by Roger Darlington
Friends of mine in Oman have sent an account of the devastation caused last week by tropical cyclone Gonu.
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (2)
Are you really happy today?
June 22nd, 2007 by Roger Darlington
According to the academic Dr Chris Arnall of the University of Cardiff, today is the happiest day of the year. The equation Dr Arnall devised to find the happiest day, in work commissioned by ice cream maker Walls, was O + (N x S) + Cpm/T + He. Here O stands for being outdoors and […]
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (5)
The top 100 films
June 22nd, 2007 by Roger Darlington
As a massive movie fan, I’m interested in the publication by the American Film Institute of its latest list of the top 100 films of all time. Yet again, “Citizen Kane” comes top. I admire the technical achievement of Orson Welles’ work but I don’t find myself particularly engaged by this movie. For me, “Lawrence […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (2)
Heard of Twitter?
June 21st, 2007 by Roger Darlington
As I explained in an earlier posting, I’m trying out the micro-blogging site called Twitter with some Dutch friends. To get some idea of the scale of the enterprise, have a look at Twitter Faces.
Posted in Internet | Comments (0)
The challenge of choice
June 20th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
The thing about competitive markets is that they offer the consumer choice – but is this enough and is it always what consumers want? The first question was addressed at a seminar at the London Business School which I chaired this week (more information here). The second question reminds me of a story … My […]
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A paucity of names
June 19th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
I went to school in Manchester with a Randal McRandall; I used to work at the Communication Workers Union with a Donald McDonald; the consumer body Postwatch, where I now work part-time, used to be headed by Gregor McGregor; and today I attended a media training session at Postwatch led by a consultant called Nel […]
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I’m a thirtysomething
June 18th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
Next year, I’ll be 60 – but, in a sense, I’ve always thought of myself as a thirty something. When I was in my 20s, I felt older than my peers. Throughout my 40s and 50s, I’ve felt much younger in attitude than my chronological age and really enjoy the company of people in their […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (1)