Archive for June, 2010


A day as a tourist in my own city

June 29th, 2010 by Roger Darlington

I’ve lived and worked in London since 1971, but I still enjoy being a tourist in the city. I spent today with my Chinese ‘daughter’ Hua and Chinese ‘grandson’ Joshua (who live in Oxford) together with Hua’s cousin Nan (who lives in Phoenix in the USA). We started by watching the changing of the guard […]

Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (3)


Remembering the displaced Tamils

June 28th, 2010 by Roger Darlington

I live in north-west London where there are a lot of Tamils who came here to escape the bitter and long-running war between the Sri Lankan Government and the Tamil Tigers.  That war is now over and the world’s media has largely forgotten the island’s problems, but I’m regularly reminded by conversations with local Tamils. […]

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Why the budget is regressive rather than progressive (3)

June 27th, 2010 by Roger Darlington

As more and more study is made of the totality of the government’s measures to tackle the deficit – so, not just the tax and benefit changes in the budget, but also the likely impact of spending reductions – it becomes clearer and clearer that the poorest will suffer the most. A piece in the […]

Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)


Ask Ed Miliband a question

June 26th, 2010 by Roger Darlington

My son Richard is currently working for the think tank Demos on its Open Left project. The project is running an online question & answer session with each of the five candidates for the Labour Party leadership. In the first of the Open Left’s online Q &As, Ed Miliband, the Shadow Climate Change Secretary and MP […]

Posted in British current affairs | Comments (1)


I came, I saw, iPad

June 25th, 2010 by Roger Darlington

A few weeks ago, I did a posting about my first experience with the iPad and said that I would treat myself to one as a birthday present to me. Well, today is my birthday and I’ve just unpacked and activated my very own iPad.  It synchronised with the contents of my iPhone, so I’m […]

Posted in Science & technology | Comments (7)


Korea: the unfinished war

June 25th, 2010 by Roger Darlington

Seventy years ago today, my parents were celebrating my second birthday and North Korea commenced the invasion of South Korea. It is astonishing how little people today know about the Korean War. It lasted three years and, in territorial terms, finished exactly as it had started with the 38th parallel dividing the two Koreas.  Technically […]

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Why the budget is regressive rather than progressive (2)

June 24th, 2010 by Roger Darlington

Further evidence is now emerging that the tough budget is not as fair as the Chancellor was pretending. The respected Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has produced this analysis. As explained in this “Guardian” editorial: “As the IFS pointed out, the reason the measures looked so fair was because they took into account the announcements […]

Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)


Why the budget is regressive rather than progressive (1)

June 23rd, 2010 by Roger Darlington

As the dust settles on the budget statement and the implications start to be understood, it is clear that, while this Conservative Chancellor has made more effort that his Tory predecessors to be fairer to the poor (presumably under pressure from his coalition partners), the overall impact of the measures will still be regressive. In […]

Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)


What does it mean to be English?

June 23rd, 2010 by Roger Darlington

Although I am the Member for England on the Communications Consumer Panel, I don’t feel particularly English. In fact, I’m half Italian. My wife does not feel English either, but that might be because she’s half Welsh and half Czech. Most of our closest friends are not English either – they are American, South African, […]

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Can God stop the BP oil spill?

June 22nd, 2010 by Roger Darlington

The Louisiana Senate unanimously passed a resolution declaring a day of prayer in an effort to invoke God’s help in stopping the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. You can read the full text here. So, did it work? Well, the day of prayer was last Sunday. Noticed any difference at the spill? I […]

Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)