Archive for June, 2011
Vee’s speech in Czech
June 30th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
A couple of weeks ago, I did a blog posting about the visit by my wife Vee and me to Pardubice in the Czech Republic to attend a an air display where she was awarded a medal to commemorate the wartime exploits of her father Flight Lieutenant Karel Kuttelwascher DFC & Bar. I reported that […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
My offer to become a London Ambassador (4)
June 28th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
As I have reported in previous postings, I have applied to become a London Ambassador for the 2012 Olympic Games – but my interview is not till the beginning of August. In today’s “Guardian” newspaper, there’s an article by some else who has applied. It seems as if, of the 33,000 people who originally registered, […]
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The First Amendment and the Supreme Court (1)
June 27th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
The combination has just blocked the state of Arizona’s effort to combat the influence of money in elections – see here.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
The First Amendment and the Supreme Court (2)
June 27th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
The combination has just blocked the state of California’s effort to block the sale of violent video games to minors – see here.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
1,000 days of Consumer Focus
June 27th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
As the Chief Executive of the organisation Mike O’Connor has highlighted in a note to all staff, today marks 1,000 days since Consumer Focus was created on 1 October 2008. For me , it is an even longer association, since I joined the Consumer Focus Board upon its creation in January 2008 and I was […]
Posted in Consumer matters | Comments (0)
The irritation of travel announcements
June 27th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
In the last couple of weeks, I’ve travelled to Oxford, Bristol, Manchester and Derbyshire – all by train. So I have considerable sympathy with David Marsh who explains in this article his objections to the strange language used in rail announcements. It’s not only the words that are used for travel announcements; it’s also the […]
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)
The amazing art of Ben Wilson
June 26th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
It was my birthday this weekend (thanks …) and I celebrated by going out for dinner with friends in Muswell Hill in north London. As we walked back from the restaurant, a piece of chewing gum on the pavement was pointed out to me as a strange work of art. The artist is a guy […]
Posted in Cultural issues, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
A review of “The Shallows”
June 26th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Is Google making us stupid? That was the headline for an article in 2008 which became a book in 2010 which I have reviewed here.
Posted in Cultural issues, Internet | Comments (0)
Where do four states or four countries meet?
June 25th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
I recently read about a location in the United States called Four Corners Monument. This is the only place in the United States where four states intersect at one point: Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado. It’s very remote and I’m not planning to visit it. There’s another spot on the globe where the boundaries […]
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (3)
Forgotten World (245): U.S. Virgin Islands
June 23rd, 2011 by Roger Darlington
The Virgin Islands are divided between Britain (the eastern 36) and the United States (the western 53 of which only three are inhabited). The US Virgin Islands with a population (a total of only 113,000) are St Thomas, St John and St Croix. Motor vehicles are driven on the left-hand side of the road in […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)