Archive for January, 2011
Say hello to my first grandchild (4)
January 22nd, 2011 by Roger Darlington
It’s Day Six in the life of Catrin Darlington, my beautiful new grandadaugther, and proud parents – mum Emily and dad Richard – are being really good in keeping us up-to-date with developments. This morning they got the baby gym out and she is captivated by it – as you can see. “I really like […]
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How David Cameron is behaving like Henry VIII
January 22nd, 2011 by Roger Darlington
A cull of quangos might superficially sound attractive but, as someone who sits on two of those to be abolished, I know that many of them do excellent work, fulfilling vital roles in a cost-effective manner that is independent of political prejudice and whims. The Public Bodies Bill, the chosen instrument of the Coalition Government […]
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My web site hits 6,000 visits a day
January 22nd, 2011 by Roger Darlington
The average number of visits to my web site for the five working days of this week was 6,000 a day, the first time that such traffic levels have been sustained – previously the 6,000 mark was only passed for a day or two at a time. This blog is by far the most popular […]
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Tony Blair’s “A Journey” (2)
January 21st, 2011 by Roger Darlington
On the day on which former Prime Minister Tony Blair makes a second appearance before the Chilcot inquiry into the invasion of Iraq, let me offer you a few more, brief quotes from “A Journey” by Tony Blair which I am currently reading. “She ran the diary with a grip of iron and was quite […]
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Forgotten World (235): West Papua
January 21st, 2011 by Roger Darlington
The western half of the island of New Guinea, north of Australia, has been called Netherlands New Guinea (1895–1962), West New Guinea (1962–63), West Irian (1963–73), Irian Jaya (1973–2001), and Papua (2002–2003), but West Papua is the name preferred by the 3 million indigenous Papuans. The region was incorporated into the Indonesian republic in the […]
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Say hello to my first grandchild (3)
January 21st, 2011 by Roger Darlington
My darling granddaughter now has a name; in fact she has rather a lot of them: Catrin Dorothy Ceri Darlington. I was able to see Catrin (Welsh for Catherine) for an hour and a half this afternoon and give her another cuddle. She’s doing really well and Rich & Emily are great parents. “I wanna […]
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Forgotten World (234): Tokelau
January 20th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Three far-flung coral atolls – Atafu, Nukunonu and Fakaofo – make up Tokelau, a Polynesian territory of New Zealand in the South Pacific. Lying between New Zealand and Hawaii, Tokelau has few physical links with the wider world. There is no airport and it takes more than a day at sea to reach its southern […]
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Forgotten World (233): French Guiana
January 19th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Only around 200,000 live in French Guiana, but the ethnically-diverse population enjoys one of the higher standards of living on the South American continent. The French social security system is in force and subsidies from Paris prop up the economy. It is perhaps not surprising, therefore, that in January 2010 voters rejected the option of […]
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Say hello to my first grandchild (2)
January 19th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
I’ve been away for a couple of days attending the Oxford Media Convention, but I can now up-date you on my darling granddaughter. She was born at 8.30 am on Monday morning in St Thomas’s Hospital opposite the Houses of Parliament. That evening, Vee and I spent three hours in central London helping Emily and […]
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Forgotten World (232): South China Sea
January 18th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
We think of the Middle East as the most likely location for global conflict, but the South China Sea is the scene of many worrying developments. China has declared that it views the South China Sea as a “core” interest and is beginning to deploy more military muscle in the area, while the United States […]
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