Archive for January, 2008
Ever have trouble connecting to the Net?
January 31st, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Weeks go by and my Internet connection works like a dream. Then one day – like this morning – it takes ages to obtain a connection. And I never know why. Spare a thought then for the tens of million in the Middle East and Asia who are having trouble now connecting to the Net […]
Posted in Internet | Comments (1)
What have the unions ever done for us?
January 30th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
As someone who was a national trade union official for 24 years and is a fan of the film “Monty Python’s Life of Brian” [my review here], I really enjoyed this Ozzie video:
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (1)
Starting a new role
January 29th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Just days after the Government announcement of the membership of the New National Consumer Council on which I will serve for the next four years, we had our first Board meeting today – almost five hours discussing over 100 pages of papers. A really great team of colleagues – but a lot of complicated procedural […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
The American presidential election (8)
January 28th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
My favoured Democratic candidate Barack Obama won a decisive victory in South Carolina and the fight now moves to Super Tuesday, when 22 states vote, in a week’s time. Meanwhile you can hear Obama’s inspiring victory speech here.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
I’ve seen the future – and it’s Dutch (2)
January 26th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
I mentioned in an earlier posting that I’ve just returned from a two day visit to a small town called Nuenen in the south of The Netherlands which is outstanding for having wired up all its 8,000 households with optical fibre providing up to 100Mbit/s. I’ve now produced a report on the Nuenen scheme which […]
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (1)
My new public appointment
January 25th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
On 30 September 2008, three statutory consumer bodies – energywatch, Postwatch and the National Consumer Council – will cease to exist. They will be merged into a body currently called the New National Consumer Council which will come into effect on 1 October 2008. At the end of July 2007, advertisements were placed seeking applicants […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (4)
The American presidential election (7)
January 25th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
As regular readers of NightHawk will know, I’ve been a big fan of Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama since even before he entered the US Senate. Today’s “Guardian G2” section devotes no less than nine pages to the man – examining the theme of what African-Americans think of Obama. The main article is by author […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
I have seen the future – and it’s Dutch (1)
January 23rd, 2008 by Roger Darlington
I’ve just returned from a two day visit to a small town called Nuenen in the south of The Netherlands which is outstanding for having wired up all its 8,000 households with optical fibre providing up to 100 Mbit/s. The workshop was organised by Close The Gap which facilitated the building of Ons Net (Our […]
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (0)
Your place in the scheme of things
January 21st, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Put your speakers on and click here.
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (1)
The American presidential election (6)
January 20th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
It can be hard – especially for non-Americans – following the fortunes of the various candidates in the US Democratic and Republican primaries. When all is said and done, though, it is all about delegates to the national conventions – so where do the main candidates stand on actual pledged delegates? These are the latest […]
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