Archive for December, 2009
Forgotten World (194): Tunisia
December 10th, 2009 by Roger Darlington
The north African state of Tunisia gained its independence from France in 1956. It then endured the rule of “president for life” Habib Bourguiba until 1987. Since then, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has continued to move the country away from Islamic extremism but the path to democracy remains painfully slow. Although Tunisia has […]
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Empty book shelves
December 9th, 2009 by Roger Darlington
I love books and I thrill to see shelves lined with books whether in a home or a shop. So it’s been very odd this week to visit several Books etc stores. The chain is part of the Borders group of companies which is now bankrupt and in receivership. This means that the stores are […]
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Forgotten World (193): Poland
December 9th, 2009 by Roger Darlington
Following the collapse of Communism in Poland in 1989, the country joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004. Unlike the case before the Second World War, Poland has a very homogeneous population of 38 million, with 98% being ethnically Polish and religiously Roman Catholic. Poland is considered to have one of the […]
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Is there any other life in the universe?
December 8th, 2009 by Roger Darlington
There’s good discussion of this question here. When you’ve read that, try my short story “Letters From Above”.
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Forgotten World (192): Guam
December 8th, 2009 by Roger Darlington
The tropical island of Guam, a US territory in the western Pacific, is a keystone of American military strategy in the region. It is an important staging post, allowing rapid access to potential flash points in the Koreas and in the Taiwan Strait. The US plans to move 8,000 Marines and 10,000 dependents from the […]
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Common editorial on climate change
December 7th, 2009 by Roger Darlington
As representatives of all the world’s nations gather in Copenhagen for the climate change summit, today 56 newspapers in 45 countries using 20 languages take the unprecedented step of speaking with one voice through a common editorial on the need for an early and effective agreement. You can read the text here.
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Forgotten World (191): Bosnia and Herzegovina
December 7th, 2009 by Roger Darlington
It’s time once more for one of my regular weeks of postings in my long-running series called Forgotten World – a look at parts of the world that hardly feature in our media or thoughts. You can check the previous 190 entries here. Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1992 and […]
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Web site of the day: Hunch
December 7th, 2009 by Roger Darlington
My attention has been drawn to Hunch. I particularly liked the page entitled What things should I do before I die?.
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Margot Fonteyn and me
December 6th, 2009 by Roger Darlington
It was only this evening that I got around to watching a recording of the BBC 4 drama-documentary on the life of British ballerina Margot Fonteyn that was broadcast on Monday. It starred Anne-Marie Duff as Fonteyn. I always remember that I once saw Fonteyn perform but I couldn’t recall the details so I looked […]
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Ever heard of a Chief Belief Officer?
December 6th, 2009 by Roger Darlington
No, neither had I – until a friend drew my attention to an 18-minute talk by Devdutt Pattanaik who takes an eye-opening look at the myths of India and of the West and shows how these two fundamentally different sets of beliefs about God, death and heaven help us consistently to misunderstand one another. Check […]
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