Archive for August, 2007


Forgotten World (100): Norway

August 31st, 2007 by Roger Darlington

In at least one respect, Norway is an unusual European country: it is not a member of the European Union and has currently no wish to become a member. Referenda in 1972 and 1994 failed to secure a majority in favour of EU membership. Norway is happy to stand alone in large part thanks to […]

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)


Nelson Mandela in London

August 30th, 2007 by Roger Darlington

South Africa’s former president Nelson Mandela was in London this week for the unveiling of a new statute of him in Parliament Square. I lost no time in going down to have a look today. Statue of Nelson Mandela in London’s Parliament Square The statute is on a much lower plinth than the others in […]

Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)


Forgotten World (99): Abkhazia

August 30th, 2007 by Roger Darlington

The break-up of the former Soviet Union has led not just to 15 new independent states but to a host of territorial disputes and conflicts, some of which – like Chechnia – are well-known and others of which – such as Abkhazia – are virtually unknown. Now Abkhazia may be formally part of Georgia and […]

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)


How any sub-atomic particles are there?

August 29th, 2007 by Roger Darlington

I ask because currently I’m reading a book by John Gribbin called “In Search Of Schrödinger’s Cat” and subtitled “Quantum Physics And Reality”. When my parents went to school in the 1930s, they were taught that the smallest particle was the atom, although the electron was discovered in 1897, the proton was discovered in 1918, […]

Posted in Science & technology | Comments (0)


Forgotten World (98): Sierra Leone

August 29th, 2007 by Roger Darlington

Sierra Leone was a British colony until 1961 and the location of one of the most brutal civil wars in Africa’s history from 1991-2002 when some 50,000 died and many had limbs hacked off. More than 17,000 British and UN troops helped to stop the conflict. However, most of the problems that existed before the […]

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)


A tasty finger for Joshua

August 28th, 2007 by Roger Darlington

Regular visitors to NightHawk will know about our dear Chinese friends Hua and Zhihao who are like a daughter and a son to us and they have shared their four-month old baby Joshua with us to the extent that we see him as our Chinese grandson. When we last saw Joshua a few days ago, […]

Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)


Forgotten World (97): Taiwan

August 28th, 2007 by Roger Darlington

When is a country not a country? perhaps when it is the island of Taiwan. Legally Taiwan – which formally calls itself the Republic of China (ROC) – is a province of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and most nations – and the United Nations – acknowledge the position of the Chinese government that […]

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (2)


A special wedding in a special place

August 28th, 2007 by Roger Darlington

This August Bank Holiday weekend, two of my great loves – friendship and films – came together when Vee and I attended a wedding at Pinewood Studios, some 30 miles west of London. It was the wedding of the elder son Oliver ‘Olly’ Sloboda of our very close friends Ivan and Ros. His bride was […]

Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)


Forgotten World (96): Ghana

August 27th, 2007 by Roger Darlington

On 19 occasions now, I’ve had a week-long feature devoted to parts of the world that tend to be under-reported or even forgotten. You can check out the previous 95 entries here. This week, I am going to run another series of postings on this theme. Ghana was the first former British colony in Africa […]

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)


Are you a typical comms user?

August 26th, 2007 by Roger Darlington

A few days ago, Ofcom published its annual Communications Market Report for 2007 which reveals new trends in the UK’s £50 billion electronic communications sector. UK consumers now spend 50 hours per week on the phone, surfing the internet, watching television or listening to the radio. Average daily Internet use in 2006 (36 minutes) was […]

Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)