Archive for February, 2008
The American presidential election (21)
February 24th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
As if the American presidential election was not already exciting enough – with the Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton battling it out for the Democratic nomination and John McCain still being harried by Mick Huckabee – today 73 year old Ralph Nader announced his candidacy for the fifth time [more information here]. Nader is renown […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Welcome to the world Harvey
February 23rd, 2008 by Roger Darlington
A new generation in my family started yesterday when my nephew Dominic and his partner Emma became proud parents of a baby boy Harvey. He arrived at 1.20pm weighing 6lb 5oz. You can view his slide show here. I am so thrilled for Dom and Emma and wish them and Harvey all the luck in […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (1)
Back to Sderot (1)
February 23rd, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Two weeks ago, I blogged about the small Israeli town of Sderot which is being constantly targeted by Qassam rockets fired from Hamas-controlled Gaza. This week, a child lost a leg in a rocket attack. Over the past two months, an average of 50 rockets a week have been hittingthe town and its residents. This […]
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Will they ever find the original Amber Room?
February 22nd, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Five years ago, I visited the Catherine Palace at Pushkin – until 1937 called Tsarskoe Selo (Tsar’s Village) – 25 km south of St Petersburg [my account here]. A major historic feature of the palace was the Amber Room which originated from a gift of amber from the Prussians. It was taken to Germany and […]
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)
The American presidential election (20)
February 21st, 2008 by Roger Darlington
I am a huge fan of the American television series “The West Wing”. I have seen every episode of the seven series and viewed the first five series twice. Now, in the last two series, we see the non-white character Matt Santos win the Democratic candidacy and then the Presidency itself. One cannot help but […]
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After Fidel … what?
February 21st, 2008 by Roger Darlington
This week’s announcement by Fidel Castro that he is stepping down as President of Cuba after half a century of power was of much more than passing interest to me. I’m travelling to Cuba for a holiday in two weeks time and, over the last month, I’ve been working my way through a huge 700-page […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Post office closures
February 20th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
This is proving to be a particularly busy week with meetings morning and afternoon every day. What makes it especially challenging is the publication of the Post Office’s plans to close 169 post offices – around one in the five – in the capital. As Chairman of the Greater London Region of Postwatch, the consumer […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
Who wrote these words?
February 18th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare. We all know the words? But who wrote them?
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
The American presidential election (19)
February 17th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Which candidate for the US Presidency is “an irresponsible tax-and-spend liberal”, has “the most liberal voting record in 2007 of any senator”, is “the most left-wing candidate to run since George McGovern” and has “the voting record of a hard-left socialist”? According to certain excitable Republicans quoted in this piece in today’s “Sunday Times”, it’s […]
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The wonder of wu xia
February 16th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
I’m a massive film fan and four of the most visually stunning movies I have ever seen are wu xia films. I viewed one of them again this weekend with enormous pleasure. The four films are: “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” [my review here] “Hero” [my review here] “House Of Flying Daggers” [my review here] “Curse […]
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