Archive for January, 2009


Evian – not just (in)famous for water

January 31st, 2009 by Roger Darlington

As I mentioned in an earlier posting, I’m reading a book entitled “The Nazi Holocaust: Its History And Meaning”. I’m learning a lot that I didn’t know. For instance, I was not familiar with the Evian Conference which was held from 6-15 July 1938. This was convened at the request of Franklin D Roosevelt to […]

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“Consumer Kids”

January 30th, 2009 by Roger Darlington

After all my years living in London, yesterday was my first visit to the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green. I was there for the lauch of a new book called “Consumer Kids” and subtitled “How big business is grooming our children for profit”. The authors of the book are Ed Mayo and Agnes Nairn. […]

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After four decades …

January 30th, 2009 by Roger Darlington

Last night, in a central London restaurant, I attended a small reunion of some of the people I studied with at university in the late 1960s. We were all in the Department of Management Sciences at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (now part of the Manchester Business School). It was slightly […]

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The Diet of Worms

January 28th, 2009 by Roger Darlington

If ever there was an historical event that captures the imagination, it is the Diet of Worms. To English-speaking school children, it must sound like the worst meal ever. Of course, a ‘diet’ is simply a gathering (the word comes from the Latin ‘dieta’) and Worms is a city – arguably the oldest – in […]

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Holocaust Memorial Day

January 27th, 2009 by Roger Darlington

In the UK, today is Holocaust Memorial Day. I have visited Holocaust museums in London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Washington and Jerusalem and I have been to Terezin in the Czech Republic and Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland. One weekend, I attend a fascinating course on the Holocaust run by an impressive teacher called Ronnie Landau [my […]

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Happy Chinese New Year

January 26th, 2009 by Roger Darlington

Around one in five of the world’s population – but I’m sure less than that proportion of my blog visitors – today celebrates the Chinese New Year [more information here]. This is the Year of the Ox or Ji Chou 己丑 or year 4706 in the Chinese calendar. So, to all my Chinese visitors – […]

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My dear friend Joshua

January 25th, 2009 by Roger Darlington

This week, I attended the Oxford Media Convention as I do each year. Since I live in London and the convention had an early start, I stayed the previous night in Oxford which gave me the opportunity to visit my special Chinese friends Hua and Zhihao. They have an adorable boy of a year and […]

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Return to “The West Wing” (2)

January 24th, 2009 by Roger Darlington

At the beginning of the month, I did posting about how Vee and I had received DVD sets of series six and seven of “The West Wing” for Christmas. We watched the 22 episodes of series six in just 12 days, concluding with the Latino Matt Santos winning the Democratic candidacy after a contested convention. […]

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A message from Osama to Obama

January 24th, 2009 by Roger Darlington

I can exclusively reveal that somehow Osama bin Laden has already managed to obtain the secret address of the Blackberry that newly-inaugurated President Barack Obama has been permitted to retain. Osama has sent a coded message to Obama. “3 7 0 H S S V 0 7 7 3 H” Barack was baffled. Unfortunately the […]

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The first three days

January 24th, 2009 by Roger Darlington

Barack Obama finally became US President at noon on Tuesday Washington DC time. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were very busy days for him and very satisfying ones for those of us who supported his candidacy: He stopped the legal proceedings involving detainees in Guantanamo Bay He took the first step in the closure of Guantanamo […]

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