Archive for December, 2011
Family reunion in Leicester
December 11th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Today Vee and I drove up to Leicester for a pre-Christmas family reunion. There were 23 of us in total, including four children (two of whom were not born last Christmas). The older I become, the more I value and appreciate these family gatherings and my sister Silvia – in whose home we met – […]
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The famous Darlington Christmas letter
December 11th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Each year at this time, like most families, we send out Christmas cards to our friends at home and abroad. In many cases – especially those in other countries – we have not seen them in the course of 2011 and would like to share our experiences of the last 12 months. So we enclose […]
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Have we found the Higgs boson particle? (1)
December 10th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Almost four years ago now, I did a posting speculating that the discovery of the Higgs boson particle might be imminent. Well, it wasn’t. It has proved even more elusive that scientists thought. But, this Tuesday, there will be a statement on the latest information arising from the search for the particle at the Large […]
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And now we have the CHUKS
December 10th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
In an earlier posting, I explained which nations made up the BRICs, the PIGS, and the CIVETS. From this week, we have a new acronym for a group of countries. It is CHUKS which means: Czech Republic, Hungary, United Kingdom and Sweden. And what do they have in common? They are the four members of […]
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Who is waging a “war on religion”?
December 9th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
According to Rick Perry – who wants to be the Republican presidential candidate – this is a war being perpetrated by President Barack Obama who is, of course, a committed Christian, even if so many Americans still think he is a Muslim. This is the level of politics in the democracy that is the United […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
What are the “probabilities of precipitation”?
December 9th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
The Plain English Society would prefer the expression “rain is likely”. But the Meteorlogical Office explains: “Precipitation covers a wide range of stuff falling from the sky including rain, sleet, snow, hail, drizzle and even cats and dogs – but sums it up in just one word.” So, what matters more: simplicity or precision? More on […]
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Word of the day: Christingle
December 8th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
As a humanist, I don’t spend much time at religious events or ceremonies and, when I do, they are usually Jewish ones (so many of my closest friends are Jewish). But this week I accompanied my son and daughter-in-law to Southwark Cathedral in central London because they wanted their 11- month old daughter (who has […]
Posted in Cultural issues, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Gap between rich and poor becoming even wider
December 6th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
A recurrent theme of this blog is that inequalities in income, wealth and power are damaging to social cohesion and individual life chances. Therefore an up-dated transnational study of income inequality in developed countries – including the UK and the USA – provides compelling messages. The gap between rich and poor in OECD countries has […]
Posted in British current affairs, World current affairs | Comments (0)
A new look at the world’s financial crisis
December 6th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
The evil that was the Khmer Rouge
December 5th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
“Pol Pot’s deputy has told a court the Khmer Rouge were not “bad people”, blaming deaths of Cambodians under the Maoist regime on neighbouring Vietnam. Nuon Chea made the comments at his genocide trial at a UN-backed court in Phnom Penh.” This is the opening of a news report from the BBC’s web site on the […]
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