Archive for July, 2010


My role in the London Olympics

July 31st, 2010 by Roger Darlington

This week marked the point at which we are exactly two years away from the holding of the Olympic Games in London in 2012. Now I confess that, atypically for a man, I’m not very interested in sport.  But I’m delighted that London will be hosting the Games in 2012 because I think it will […]

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“The Day Of Reckoning”

July 30th, 2010 by Roger Darlington

I’ve just put my latest short story on my web site. It’s entitled “The Day Of Reckoning” and you can read it here. Please let me know what you think. I’ve been writing short stories for a year now and this is my 23rd. You can check out the others here.

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World statistics updated in real time

July 29th, 2010 by Roger Darlington

You’ll find some fascinating statistics here.

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The cull of UK quangos

July 27th, 2010 by Roger Darlington

The term ‘quango’ has come to be almost an insult, but it is simply an acronym – short for quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation. Most of these organisations do really good work and give value for money, although there is always a case for looking at roles, rationalisation and savings. Perhaps some of the functions could be […]

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Defending “The Spirit Level” (1)

July 26th, 2010 by Roger Darlington

The authors of the book “The Spirit Level”, Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett, have now published detailed responses to all the criticisms made of their argument that societies with large levels of income inequality suffer many poor social outcomes. You can read the rebuttal here. Just a reminder that you can read my review of […]

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Defending “The Spirit Level” (2)

July 26th, 2010 by Roger Darlington

In an editorial today, the “Guardian” newspaper defends the work of Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett in their important work “The Spirit Level”: “Perhaps some dark corners of the soul arrive with the human condition; many others emerge in lives that have little in societies where others have lots. After a budget that made the […]

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The 20th century: the century of violent death

July 26th, 2010 by Roger Darlington

I’m in the process of writing my 23rd short story [you can access all the previous stories here].  As background research for this particular story, I wanted some estimate of the scale of violent death in the 20th century. We all know that it was an unprecedented period of human history in terms of wars […]

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A stately home and a stately lord

July 25th, 2010 by Roger Darlington

It was an interesting day for Vee and me as we visited a new location and an old friend. The new location was Osterley Park and House on the outskirts of west London. The park and the house are owned and managed by the National Trust and both are very well maintained. Osterley House is […]

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Word of the day: syncope

July 24th, 2010 by Roger Darlington

The word has two meanings: 1) It is a medical term for blacking out or fainting. 2) It is a linguistic term for the shortening of a word by removing letters or syllables from the middle such as fo’c’sle instead of forecastle.

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“The Spirit Level” debate

July 23rd, 2010 by Roger Darlington

I’ve already blogged several times about a fascinating book called “The Spirit Level” by Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett. In my review of the work, I commented: “This is one of the most important books that I have read in five decades of reading because its scope is so wide and its message so compelling […]

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