Archive for October, 2010
A day out with a difference
October 7th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
If you live in the UK and you love movies, you might be interested in these tours.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
My international relations course (3)
October 6th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
It’s week 3 on my course at the City Lit in central London entitled “International Relations And World Conflict”. This evening, we discussed the definition and the role of the state and were given this article to read. Helpfully our lecturer Dr Dale Mineshima-Low puts all the course handouts and further reading on a section […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Redrawing our Parliamentary boundaries
October 6th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
Some weeks ago, I did a posting about the consequences of the Coalition Government’s wish to reduce the number of constituencies represented in the House of Commons from 650 to 600 and to make these constituencies more equal in terms of the number of electors. As I reported then, in some parts of the country […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
How much do American elections cost?
October 5th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
The last American presidential election in 2008 cost around $1 billion; the last mid-term congressional elections in 2006 cost about $2.8 billion; this November’s mid-terms are estimated to cost approximately $5 billion. That’s $5,000,000.000. How come? Thanks to a recent decision of the US Supreme Court, effectively corporate interests can spend as much as they […]
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
Three simple tests
October 4th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
A bat and ball cost £1.10 in total. The bat costs £1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost? If it takes 5 machines 5 minutes to make 5 widgets, how long will it take for 100 machines to make 100 widgets? In a lake, there is a patch of lily pads. […]
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (2)
Britain in the sixties in the movies
October 4th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
This weekend, I saw two films, both set in Britain in the sixties and both based on actual events. “An Education” [my review here] featured the early 1960s, while “Made In Dagenham” [my review here] was located in the late 1960s. There is even the same actress (Rosamund Pike) in both. Aaah, the sixties. I […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
It’s “Jai Ho” again
October 3rd, 2010 by Roger Darlington
If today you watched the opening ceremony for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, you will have heard in the final segment the song “Jai Ho”. This blog receives few comments and rarely more than a couple for a particular posting but, when I blogged about the meaning of the “Jai Ho” a year and […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
First World War finally over
October 3rd, 2010 by Roger Darlington
Of course, in military terms the First World War – or the Great War, as it was known at the time – concluded on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. But financially it only ended today in a sense with the payment of the final interest on loans […]
Posted in History | Comments (0)
What do Americans know about religion?
October 3rd, 2010 by Roger Darlington
It’s Sunday so let’s have a posting with a religious theme. We all know that Americans are very religious, right? But just how much to Americans know about religion? The answers come in a recent survey of religious knowledge conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life. The survey found that […]
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (3)
When the machines take over
October 2nd, 2010 by Roger Darlington
As a massive movie fan, I’m familiar with the theme of the machines taking over, whether it is “War Games”, “Terminator” or “The Matrix”. But that’s science fiction, right? Well, no. Financial markets are now so fast-moving and complex that increasingly decisions to buy or sell certain stocks or derivatives are made by computers using […]
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)