Archive for April, 2010
The third leaders’ debate
April 30th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
Last night, I watched the third and last of the televised debates between the three main political leaders, this one hosted by the BBC. I’ve watched all three and generally they have been lively and illuminating events. I’ve learned some more about the manifestos and the polices of the three parties and the different approaches […]
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China trip (3): Shanghai/Wuzhen/Hangzhou
April 29th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
I’ve now written up for my web site an account of the third stage of our three-week trip to China. This covers our time in Shanghai, Wuzhen and Hangzhou and you can read it here.
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Does acupuncture work?
April 29th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
And, if so, how? The efficacy of acupuncture was one of many topics which we discussed with our Chinese friends as we spent three weeks travelling around China together [for an account of the holiday, click here]. Unsurprisingly our Chinese companions are convinced that acupuncture works; my wife is sympathetic to it; I am sceptical […]
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Expect a rise in VAT
April 28th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
In a piece in today’s “Guardian” newspaper, economics editor Larry Elliott provides a very accessible summary of yesterday’s assessment by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) of what sums of money the three parties need to save if they are to meet their declared deficit reduction target and what proportion of these savings the parties […]
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Sorry for the interruptions
April 28th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
Three times in the last month, my web site and blogs have gone down, so you won’t have been able to access them for a period. Sorry about that. Apparently the site has been hacked. I don’t think that I’ve been picked on; it seems that it’s just robots exploiting technical weaknesses which then requires […]
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How to use time well
April 27th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
The Life Skills part of my web site now has almost 30 sections. Today I had an e-mail from someone in Cairo that led me to revisit and revise my advise on “How To Use Time Well”.
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Should the Net be neutral?
April 26th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
I’ve just contributed my 60th column on communications issues for publication in the journal of the telecommunications union Connect (now part of Prospect). It’s on the tricky issue of Net neutrality and you can read it here.
Posted in Internet | Comments (0)
Visit to Bekonscot
April 25th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
Two weeks ago, Vee and I returned from a three-week trip to China with our Chinese ‘family’ Zhihao, Hua and Joshua [for an account, see here]. Today we all got together again for the first time since our holiday to celebrate Joshua’s third birthday and we were joined by three Chinese friends of Hua & […]
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Ever heard of Lollardy?
April 24th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
During my three-week trip to China, I read all 650 pages of the novel “Wolf Hall” by Hilary Mantel [my review here]. The book is a brilliant evocation of life in England in the early 16th century which was a time of terrible intolerance and religious persecution. An account is given of the burning alive […]
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Saint George’s day
April 23rd, 2010 by Roger Darlington
I’ve travelled to 53 countries all around the world and one thing I’ve found almost everywhere is pride in one’s nationality. People are proud to be American, Chinese, Indian, Iranian, Israeli … Here, in the United Kingdom, people are proud to be Scottish, Welsh or Irish and, if they are from that part of UK, […]
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