Archive for February, 2011


Which is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world?

February 21st, 2011 by Roger Darlington

Of course, it depends what you mean by ‘city’ and by ‘continuously inhabited’ but, however you define these terms, there are many claimants for the title. When I visited Israel, I went to Jaffa just outside the modern city of Tel Aviv and this place claims to have been inhabited for the last 4,000 years […]

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Who is Dido?

February 20th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

She is the 39 year old British singer whose original name is Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O’Malley Armstrong. Dido is not a professional or stage name but one she was given as a child by her family, as explained here. Dido has created three acclaimed albums: “No Angel” (1999) “Life for Rent” (2003) “Safe Trip […]

Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)


Can a nation be cut off from the Net?

February 19th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

If we had any doubt about this, the answer has come from a little-known feature of the recent revolution in Egypt. As explained in this article in the “New York Times”, it seems that, in the space of merely an hour or so, Egypt was effectively cut off from the global Internet and that this […]

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Why Wales is moving to England

February 19th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

It’s totally free to use; yet it has 3.6 million articles in English alone and has material in a total of 278 languages; every month, there are 11.6 million edits and over 400 million visits; it is funded largely by donations and has just raised $16 million in 59 days; it’s probably worth in the […]

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Tony Blair’s “A Journey” (5)

February 18th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

It’s taken me a month, but I have now finished Tony Blair’s 700-page memoir “A Journey”. You can read my review here.

Posted in British current affairs | Comments (2)


Baby Catrin: progress report (4)

February 18th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

Well, last night I had a new experience: for the first time in my 62 years, I babysat alone for a one month old (I don’t remember doing that even for my own son Richard at such a tender age).  The baby was, of course, my beautiful granddaughter Catrin and the occasion was the first […]

Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (5)


Change in the Middle East

February 16th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

I continue to enjoy my evening class in International Relations led by our lecturer Dr Dale Mineshima-Lowe. The last few weeks have been incredibly topical because sessions on the Arab world have coincided with revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt and demonstrations in many other countries in the region. This evening we discussed parts of the […]

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)


The Iraqi who lied about WMD

February 16th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

“The defector who convinced the White House that Iraq had a secret biological weapons programme has admitted for the first time that he lied about his story, then watched in shock as it was used to justify the war. Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, codenamed Curveball by German and American intelligence officials who dealt with his […]

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Baby Catrin: progress report (3)

February 15th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

Vee and I had a lovely time on Sunday when Richard & Emily came over with their baby Catrin. They gave us a hinged double frame – one side had a photograph of Catrin and the other had a plaster mould of her foot print and hand print. The five of us went for a […]

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What exactly is the Big Society?

February 14th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

American leaders think big. Franklin D Roosevelt had the New Deal, while Lydon B Johnson had the Great Society – both of which changed the face of America.  British politicians are not quite in the same league. Tony Blair had The Third Way (whatever happened to that?), while David Cameron struggles to advance the Big […]

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