Archive for March, 2008


Ever heard of PMR or GCA?

March 31st, 2008 by Roger Darlington

No – neither had I until a friend of mine became a sufferer. Polymyalgia Rheumatica or PMR is a rheumatic condition which attacks twice as many females as males aged 55 and over. The average age of onset is round about 70 years. It affects 1 in 2000 people. It can start slowly with flu […]

Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)


First sign of change in Cuba

March 29th, 2008 by Roger Darlington

On 18 February, veteran Cuban leader Fidel Castro announced his formal transfer of power to his brother Raul. On 6 March, I started a 10 day visit to Cuba [my account here]. On our trip, we could not fail to record a deep yearning for change and a strong expectation that such change was coming, […]

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)


Too young to die

March 29th, 2008 by Roger Darlington

There is an interesting think piece here about how we determine the appropriateness of a particular life span. My wife lost her brother when he was 21, her father when he was 42, and her mother when she was 63. When people complain about growing older, she rightly points out that those who reach maturer […]

Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (1)


Keeping you posted

March 26th, 2008 by Roger Darlington

In my capacity as Chairman of the London Region of Postwatch, I’ve attended no less than four meetings today to discuss the proposals to close 169 post offices in the capital: I was at the House of Commons for an hour to meet a Member of Parliament to talk about two proposed closures in his […]

Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (1)


Our time in Havana

March 25th, 2008 by Roger Darlington

In between attending my son’s wedding in South Wales, reading papers for the New National Consumer Council Board meeting, and trying to reduce further all the outstanding e-mails, I used some of this cold Easter weekend to write up an account of our time in Havana as part of my web page on our recent […]

Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (3)


It’s snowing!

March 24th, 2008 by Roger Darlington

It’s Easter Monday and, here in London, it’s snowing – crazy!

Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (1)


A very special wedding

March 23rd, 2008 by Roger Darlington

This Easter weekend was very special for the family because our son Richard married his partner Emily after some five years together. The wedding took place at the Cwrt Bleddyn Hotel (‘cwrt’ means court and ‘Bleddyn’ was a Welsh prince) in South Wales. It was a wonderful occasion with 122 guests from as far away […]

Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (9)


Why is Easter so early this year?

March 23rd, 2008 by Roger Darlington

Most of our Western festivals are simple to predict. They either occur on the same date each year or at a fixed position such as “the first Sunday”. Easter on the other hand is what is called a moveable feast. As such the date changes every year and Easter Sunday can fall on any date […]

Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)


Off to the wedding

March 21st, 2008 by Roger Darlington

Since I arrived back from our holiday in Cuba on Monday [some preliminary notes here], I’ve had a furiously busy week with events morning, afternoon and evening every day. The three evening events have all been public meetings on post office closures which I have had to address as the Chairman of the Greater London […]

Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)


The American presidential election (24)

March 18th, 2008 by Roger Darlington

You can listen here to Barack Obama’s major speech on race:

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)