Archive for July, 2010
Redesign of BBC news website
July 14th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
The BBC – which has one of the best news websites in the world – has redesigned it to make it even better. You can check out the changes here.
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Forgotten World (213): Montenegro
July 14th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
Montenegro emerged as a sovereign state in Europe after just over 55% of the population opted for independence in a May 2006 referendum. The vote heralded the end of the former Union of Serbia and Montenegro – itself created only three years earlier out of the remnant of the former Yugoslavia. The EU-brokered deal of […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Should the full veil be banned?
July 13th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
The news today is that the French National Assembly has voted to ban the wearing of the full veil in public. I’ve debated this issue with various friends who have taken different positions on the matter. My own position is against a ban. On the one hand, I am both a secularist and a feminist, […]
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Forgotten World (212): Eritrea
July 13th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
A former Italian colony, Eritrea was occupied by the British in 1941. In 1952 the United Nations resolved to establish it as an autonomous entity federated with Ethiopia. However, 10 years later the Ethiopian emperor, Haile Selassie, decided to annex it, triggering a 32-year armed struggle. This culminated in independence after an alliance of the […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (1)
What was the start of Thought For The Week?
July 12th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
I had an e-mail today, thanking me for my Thought For The Week, and asking me how the practice started. In reply, I explained that, on 18 April 1999, I was Head of Research for the Communication Workers Union and saw an article in the “Observer Business Section” that contained a sentence that I thought […]
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Forgotten World (211): Ascension Island
July 12th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
It’s been a month since I had 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 210 entries here. Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island in the equatorial […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
What caused the economic crisis?
July 11th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
Professor David Harvey is a genuinely radical academic from a Marxist perspective and it’s hard to escape his analysis that we haven’t yet got to the root cause of the economic crisis that is still raging around the world and assaulting the living standards of the poorest in our societies. Check out this 11 minute […]
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“To Kill A Mockingbird”
July 11th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
Fifty years ago today saw the publication of the wonderful novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. You can read my review of the book here and another reader’s perspective here.
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The Battle of Britain (1): the opening day
July 10th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
Seventy years ago today, the Battle of Britain began: the struggle between the German Luftwaffe and the British Royal Air Force to control the skies over south-east England. The pilots of the time did not know that this period would be called the Battle of Britain; still less it they know that this day would […]
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How long will you live?
July 9th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
I’m prompted to pose this fascinating question by two interesting media items: 1) The news that a woman in Georgia claims to be 130 which, if true, would make her the world’s oldest person. 2) A feature in the “Daily Mail” which reviews various advances in medical science that could allow children born today to […]
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