Archive for February, 2010
Minaret collapse in Meknes
February 20th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
I’m saddened to hear the news of so many deaths in the Moroccan World Heritage site of Meknes following the collapse of a four centuries old minaret. My wife and I visited Meknes during a tour of the country in 2004 and I’ve described our time in the city here.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
“Up In The Air” – the movie
February 19th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
A few days ago, I did a blog posting about a book – co-authored by a long-time friend – called “Up In The Air”. Now I’ve seen the movie of the same title which I’ve reviewed here. The explicit message of the book and the implicit moral of the film is that, if you want […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
What happened after Gleneagles?
February 18th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
So often, we hear something in the news – some agreement, some promise, some announcement – but there is very little follow-through by the media to tell us what happened next. Cast you mind back five years to the massive Make Poverty History campaign leading up to the G8 Summit hosted by the UK in […]
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My 19th short story
February 16th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
I’ve now posted on my web site my 19th short story entitled “A Lucky Escape”. It’s different from any of my other stories, so I’m interested to know if it works. Do let me know what you think.
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (9)
“The Virtual Revolution”
February 16th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
I’ve been recording the BBC2 television series “The Virtual Revolution” presented by London-based American Dr Aleks Krotoski and I’ve just watched the first of the four programmes entitled “The Great Levelling?” Clearly it’s a fascinating series and this first programme explores the unresolved tension between those who want the Internet to be totally free and […]
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“Up In The Air” – the book
February 15th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
Was it an HR Book Launch or a Book-of –the-film Launch? It was a “full house” at the launch in Sydney, Australia for a new book, Up in the Air, also published by Cornell University Press. This book is by Greg Bamber, Jody Gittell, Tom Kochan and Andrew von Nordenflytch. Did some of those there […]
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Happy Chinese New Year
February 14th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
Today, as well as being Valentine’s Day, is the start of the Chinese New Year. Vee and I spent the day in Oxford visiting our Chinese ‘family’: Zhihao, Hua and their young son Joshua. Next month, we will travel to China with them which will be a very special experience. This is the year of […]
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Fighting for disabled people
February 13th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
The British Government is failing to fight for the rights of disabled people at a European level. Help to put pressure on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to tell his ministers to fight for the rights of disabled people at home and across Europe. You can take action now as part of the joint Sense, RNIB, […]
Posted in Consumer matters | Comments (4)
How old is your cat?
February 13th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
According to this site, experts generally agree that the first two years of a cat’s life are roughly equal to the first 25 of a human. Thereafter, each additional year equals approximately four ‘cat years’. There’s a useful ready reckoner on the site and this suggests that our cat Honey is 88 in human terms. […]
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What is this blog about?
February 12th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
One of the benefits of moving NightHawk from Movable Type to Word Press is that I can instantly see how many of the 1700+ postings have been made under each category. So this blog is far from all about me – just 17% of the postings are categorised “My life and my thoughts”. Mostly this […]
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