Archive for May, 2008
“My name’s Bond ..”
May 22nd, 2008 by Roger Darlington
As a teenager in the 1960s, I read all 14 of the James Bond novels and saw every one of the 007 movies as they were issued. When I became a father, I always took my son Richard to see the latest Bond film and today the two of us when to see a special […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
The American presidential election (35)
May 21st, 2008 by Roger Darlington
After yesterday’s primary contests in Kentucky and Oregon, Associated Press projects that Barack Obama has 1,956 of the 2,026 pledged delegates and super delegates needed to claim the nomination, compared to Hillary Clinton’s 1,776 total delegates. Obama’s campaign estimates that, if he simply held his own in the three remaining contests (Montana, South Dakota and […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (3)
Negroponte’s new $75 e-book
May 21st, 2008 by Roger Darlington
I blogged earlier about my encounter with the original green version of the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) computer at a House of Lords event addressed by Nicholas Negroponte. Initially Negroponte set a target of selling 100 million machines by 2008, but so far OLPC has only sold about 600,000 machines. In an announcement today, […]
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (0)
The 2008 Global Peace Index
May 21st, 2008 by Roger Darlington
The Institute for Economics and Peace think tank has just produced its 2008 Global Peace Index which is based on a total of 24 indicators. For an overview, check out the map, while you can see the full rankings here. Again Iceland comes top, followed by Denmark, Norway and New Zealand . The UK is […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
A new version of Prime Minister’s Question Time
May 20th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Gordon Brown is offering to answer questions from the public via YouTube as you’ll see here. It won’t do anything to reverse his spectacular fall in popularity but, if it helps some people to engage more in political debate, then that can only be a good thing. Of course, it would have been a little […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (1)
Welcome to behavioural economics
May 20th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
No economics course that I have ever done has mentioned behavioural economics. Yet today I attended a meeting of the Ofcom Consumer Panel at which we had a paper and a discussion on the subject and coincidentally today the “Guardian” had a feature on the topic. So what is? Behavioural economics incorporates insights from psychology […]
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)
Farewell to Billy Blease
May 20th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
In my 60 years (OK, short of a few weeks) on this earth, one of the most decent men I have ever met was Billy Blease, otherwise known as Lord Blease of Cromac. He has just died aged 93 and today his obituary appears in the “Guardian”. At the time I knew Billy best in […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (1)
The music of Mor Karbasi
May 19th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Sometimes I buy a CD without hearing a single track and without even knowing the performer because I have read a good review and want to try something new. This is why I listened for the first time this weekend to “The Beauty And The Sea” by Mor Karbasi. She is a London-based Israeli singer […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
The American presidential election (34)
May 18th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
The “New York Times” has an aricile giving six reasons why Barack Obama may actually be a stronger candidate after the battering he has received in his fight against Hillary Clinton. The piece contrasts this tough experience with the easier primary races of Michael Dukakis and John Kerry.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
How much does Labour care about inequality?
May 17th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
In my posting on the day of the recent local elections, I affirmed my belief in a fairer and more equal redistribution of power and wealth in our society. Given this belief, I found myself in full support of a letter which my friend Jeremy Mitchell wrote recently to the Secretary of State for Business, […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (2)