Archive for December, 2007
Christmas news (2)
December 15th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
On a wall of my study, there is a framed photograph of the Students’ Union Council of 1969-70 at the then University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. I’m there at the front in the middle as the sabbatical President for that year. Standing behind me is a Council member who is mentioned in […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (5)
Anniversary of the Nanjing massacre
December 13th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
Today marks the 70th anniversary of the infamous rape of Nanjing in China by the armed forces of Japan. I visited Nanjing during a tour of China in 2000 [my account of time in the city here]. For the people of China, the incident is still a raw and and bitter issue. For many in […]
Posted in History | Comments (1)
Some sort of justice for Sarajevo
December 13th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
A few months ago, my sister and I spent a long weekend visiting Sarajevo [my account here]. We heard Bosniak and Serb accounts of the siege of the city – the longest siege in the history of modern warfare, lasting from 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996 or a total of 1,335 days. This […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
English as she is rittin
December 12th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
A relative of a friend is thinking of setting up a proof-reading service for hotels, restaurants and suchlike in mainland Europe so they can be confident their menus and signage are free of terrible or offensive bloopers in the use of English. I wonder if readers of NightHawk have encountered examples of poor use of […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (4)
How much child poverty is there in Britain?
December 12th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
In the week in which the Government has issued a 10-year Children’s Plan running to 170 pages, it is salutary to appreciate that, although new research shows nearly 41% of the British public believing that there is “very little” child poverty in this country, official statistics reveal that around 3 million child are still in […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (4)
Political blogging in the UK and the USA
December 10th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
In this article, it is suggested that political blogging is strongest on the Left in the United States but more vigorous on the Right in Britain.
Posted in Internet | Comments (0)
The American presidential election (1)
December 9th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
As someone with a close interest in politics, I’ve been following the early stages of the race to be the next President of the United States. Of course, the race seems to have been going on for ages already, but the first real results in the primaries – as opposed to vacillating opinion polls – […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (2)
Keeping in the picture
December 8th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
This week, our dear friends Hua and Zhihao bought us an exceptionally early and incredibly generous Christmas present in the form of a Hitachi 32″ LCD television and this weekend our IT guru Eric came over to fit it all up for us. The picture quality is excellent and it is a whole new viewing […]
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (0)
Forgotten World (115): European Union
December 7th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
In a sense, the European Union (EU) is always in the British media, but there is very little talk of the institution itself and how it works – instead we have (often misinformed) stories about a row over the budget or the latest proposal from the Commission. The EU is now an organisation with 27 […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Forgotten World (114): Malta
December 6th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
Malta is an archipelago of seven islands including Malta itself, Gozo, Comino, Comminotto and Filfla and has a population of 400,000. Located south of the Italian island of Sicily between Europe and North Africa, it has been occupied by Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs and latterly France and Britain. Independence from Britain was achieved in 1964 […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)