Archive for October, 2008
Waiting for POCA 2
October 6th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
The last year has seen a substantial programme of post office closures – some 2,500 nationally – in order to make the network more sustainable in the face of many fewer customer visits and rapidly rising financial losses. As a member of the Council of Postwatch – the watchdog for postal customers which merged last […]
Posted in Consumer matters | Comments (0)
Delphiniums in New Zealand
October 6th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
I’ve just had an e-mail from someone in New Zealand who grows and sells delphiniums. For those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere and encountering the cold and wet of Autumn, his web site has some enjoyable photographs.
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The end of capitalism as we know it?
October 5th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
“A 30-year experiment has come to an end. The world of go-getting investment banks has gone forever. The danger is that we go from feast to famine; debt remains a vital element in any economy, and if we too suddenly try to live without it we will crush ourselves economically. What we are witnessing is […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
The American presidential election (73)
October 5th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Should Americans vote?
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Are you a ‘to do list’ person?
October 4th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
I confess that I’m an inveterate – possibly even compulsive – ‘to do list’ person. I think that it all started with my university studies when I kept lists to ensure that I completed all my projects on time and had a good revision timetable for exams. These days, I still do my daily ‘to […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Brown’s new Cabinet
October 3rd, 2008 by Roger Darlington
I just love politics – never a dull moment. The reshuffle of the Cabinet today makes really interesting news. The headline appointment is clearly the return of Peter Mandelson. This is as inspired as it is unexpected. It shows that Brown is big enough to put past hurt behind him. I met Mandelson a couple […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
The American presidential election (72)
October 3rd, 2008 by Roger Darlington
The second of the four debates between the US presidential and vice-presidential candidates – the only one between the No 2s on the slate – was held at 2 am British time, so we recorded it from CNN and watched it over breakfast this morning. I found it even more riveting than the first debate […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
The American presidential election (71)
October 2nd, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Can Americans trust John McCain with their economy?
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Are you feeling lucky?
October 1st, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Check out this set of clips.
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)
Welcome to Consumer Focus
October 1st, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Nine months after I joined the Board of the newly created Consumer Focus, the organisation comes into effect today with the merger of Postwatch, Energywatch and the National Consumer Council. It is the largest and best-funded body in the history of the UK consumer movement with an economy-wide remit. As the credit crunch and the […]
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