Archive for September, 2011


Visits statistics exceed 8,000 a day

September 10th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

Five months ago, I did a posting explaining that the number of visits to my web site had exceeded 7,000 in one day for the first time. Over the next few months, this became a regular occurrence. But my visits statistics always dip in the summer months as people take their holidays. I know that […]

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Is the world about to see the declaration of a new state?

September 9th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

Every few weeks, I have dinner with my half-brother Chris who is only a couple of years older than my son. He is incredibly bright and really interested in current affairs, so we always have fascinating discussions. Last night, he told me about the unsettling experience he had recently at the Royal Albert Hall when […]

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)


Could you survive on a pension of £224,000 year?

September 7th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

In the UK, the maximum state pension for a single person – after paying for 30 qualifying years – is £97-65 a week or £5,078 a year. Obviously many of us have an occupational pension as well. The average private sector pension is £9,568 a year but the average public sector pension is only £6,497 […]

Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)


Catrin & I brave a wet and windy London

September 6th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

My darling granddaughter Catrin – now almost eight months – is usually at nursery on weekdays but staff were on a training day today, so her mum and dad asked if I could help out. It was my fourth babysitting duty with her. In some ways, it was the most challenging. It was the longest […]

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Could you survive on pay of £4.5 million a year?

September 5th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

The economic recession has resulted in falling real incomes for most UK households. We are told that we are all in this together – but is that true? How are our most senior executives fairing in these troubled times? According to a study commissioned by the High Pay Commission, leaders of Britain’s top 100 companies […]

Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)


A review of “Wuthering Heights” (1)

September 5th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

My summer project in a quiet August was to read a couple of classic English novels. The first one was “A Tale Of Two Cities” which I’ve reviewed here. I’ve now just finished “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Bronte – a very different work which I’ve reviewed here.

Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (3)


What is this and where is it? (2)

September 4th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

A few days ago, I posted a photograph on this blog and asked what it was and where one would find it. The first question was in one sense very easy and the second question was impossibly difficult. Thanks to my friend Nick for having ago at answering them. Let’s start with the second question. […]

Posted in Cultural issues, Miscellaneous | Comments (0)


A review of “Cowboys & Aliens”

September 3rd, 2011 by Roger Darlington

A mash-up is a film combining two genres. As an example, the wild west meets sci-fi in “Cowboys & Aliens” which I’ve reviewed here.

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A cultural map of the world

September 2nd, 2011 by Roger Darlington

The World Values Surveys were designed to provide a comprehensive measurement of all major areas of human concern, from religion to politics to economic and social life and two dimensions dominate the picture: (1) Traditional/ Secular-rational and (2) Survival/Self-expression values. These two dimensions explain more than 70 percent of the cross-national variance in a factor […]

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A review of “Super 8”

September 1st, 2011 by Roger Darlington

Remember vintage Spielberg movies from the early 1980s? Well, we’re back on this satisfying territory with “Super 8” which I’ve reviewed here.

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