Archive for September, 2008
The speech of his life
September 23rd, 2008 by Roger Darlington
They say that today Gordon Brown has to make “the speech of his life” to the Labour Party Conference in Manchester. Actually, I don’t think he needs to – he’s safe for a few weeks. And I don’t think he will – he’s actually not that great a speaker. I wouldn’t presume to tell him […]
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (1)
Last post for Postwatch (1)
September 22nd, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Postwatch – the watchdog for postal consumers – was created almost eight years ago, but it closes next week when it merges with two other consumer bodies – Energywatch and the National Consumer Council – to form Consumer Focus. For the past two and a half years, I’ve been the Chair of the Greater London […]
Posted in Consumer matters | Comments (0)
The ToUChstone blog
September 22nd, 2008 by Roger Darlington
The ToUCstone blog is a new on-line forum for policy people at the Trades Union Congress (TUC). The organisation has some really excellent people covering different policy areas, but you only tend to hear from them whenever they’ve finished a huge new report, which isn’t so often, so they’ve created a blog where they can […]
Posted in Internet | Comments (0)
Earth from the Air
September 21st, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Today Vee and I drove over to Oxford to see our dear Chinese friends Hua & Zhihao (and their new teenage lodger Jiayu). They live close to the city centre so, after a home-made Chinese lunch, we walked around to Oxford Castle where we found a photographic exhibition called “Earth from the Air”. Now, five […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Ever heard of a MacGuffin?
September 21st, 2008 by Roger Darlington
I count myself as something of a film fan, but I confess that i hadn’t heard of a particular cinematic term until it was used by my erudite Postwatch colleague Howard Webber in his speech to a conference this week. The term is “MacGuffin”. The word refers to “a plot device that motivates the characters […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Why are the markets in a such a mess? (2)
September 20th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
At the end of the most tumultuous week on capital markets since the Wall Street Crash of 1929, there is a sense of utter bewilderment – and powerless – from ordinary citizens. Is it possible to give a short and layperson’s explanation of why all this has happened? It all started about a decade ago […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (1)
The American presidential election (65)
September 18th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
An American friend of mine is a full-time worker in the Barack Obama election campaign. He’s just drawn my attention to this video from the campaign manager David Plouffe which shows why Obama’s position is stronger than the overall polls are suggesting:
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
“From War To Windrush”
September 18th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
This week, I had a meeting at the postal regulator Postcomm in my cpacity as a member of the Council ofthe postal consumer watchdog Postwatch. I had some time to spare and, since Postcomm is located close to the Imperial War Museum, I called into the museum and viewed one of ts current temporary exhibitions. […]
Posted in History | Comments (1)
Visit to Number 10
September 17th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
I had occasion to visit 10 Downing Street today. Now, over the past 35 years, I must have been there around 20 times – but only when the office has been occupied by a Labour Prime Minister: Harold Wilson, Jim Callaghan, Tony Blair and (for the first time today) Gordon Brown. However, I could not […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
Anniversary of the US Constitution
September 17th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
As we watch the blood sport that is the American presidential election, let us mark today the anniversary of the Constitution under which the election is being held. The United States Constitution was adopted on 17 September 1787, by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and later ratified by conventions in each state in the […]
Posted in History | Comments (0)