Archive for October, 2011
Manchester City vs Manchester United
October 24th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Growing up in Manchester in the 1950s and 1960s [some recollections here], I could not fail to be aware of the rivalry between supporters of Manchester City and fans of Manchester United, although personally I had little interest in football (which is still the case). I particularly remember in 1956 (when I was almost eight) […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (1)
My world has changed
October 22nd, 2011 by Roger Darlington
In the beginning, I had an iPod; then I was a very early adopter of the iPhone; and then I was an immediate adopter of the iPad. Today I finally went over to Apple totally by abandoning the world of the PC and switching to a Mac computer. I’ve had my latest PC for six years […]
Posted in Internet | Comments (2)
A day with the young and the old
October 21st, 2011 by Roger Darlington
I continue to delight in seeing my granddaughter Catrin whenever I can help out her parents with some childminding. She is now nine months old and at nursery and sometimes – like this Tuesday – I collect her from nursery and look after her for a couple of hours till her parents return from work. […]
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A review of “RED”
October 19th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
RED = Retired: Extremely Dangerous. That could describe me, but in fact it’s the title of a movie from last year filled with older stars. You can check out my review here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Google’s ‘Good To Know’ campaign
October 19th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
In a welcome act of social responsibility, Google has this week launched an information campaign You can check out the advice here.
Posted in Internet | Comments (0)
Where now for stem cell research?
October 17th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Eleven years ago, Vee and I were flying from Beijing to London after a trip to China and found ourselves talking to a 25 year old Chinese student who had never been out of China. She was on her way to Oxford University to start a PhD in biochemical engineering. Dr Hua Ye is now […]
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (0)
Blog Action Day: this year, it’s food
October 16th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Today is Blog Action Day when bloggers around the world are encouraged to blog on the same chosen topic. In 2007, it was the environment; in 2008, it was poverty; in 2009, it was climate change; and in 2010, it was water. This year’s theme is food. Now two centuries ago, there was a fashion […]
Posted in Social policy, World current affairs | Comments (0)
How happy are you?
October 15th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shares the concern of many that standard macroeconomic statistics like Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fail to give a true account of people’s current and future well-being. The OECD has been addressing the issue of measuring progress since 2000, with its latest work publication “How’s Life?” out this […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Where now for consumer advocacy in the UK?
October 14th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
As I explained in a posting at the time, a year ago today, the Coalition Government announced it’s so-called ‘bonfire of the quangos’ and the public servants who run and staff these bodies are still working through the consequences. My particular interest concerns the consumer movement. The Government announced that Consumer Focus and the Communications […]
Posted in Consumer matters | Comments (0)
The differences between rich and poor in the UK
October 13th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
This week, the Equality Trust released its third quarterly Research Digest. Unlike previous releases this is comprised of original research done by freelance researcher Anna Barford. The digest deals with how living standards, education, health and social mobility vary across quintiles (fifths). In brief: Social gradients: Incremental increases in income correspond to incremental improvements in […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (1)