Archive for January, 2012


What bonfire of the quangos?

January 20th, 2012 by Roger Darlington

In October 2010, I did a posting about the new Coalition Government’s intention to abolish or merge some 300 so-called quangos, including both the ones on which I sit, the Communications Consumer Panel and Consumer Focus. Fifteen months later, only one merger has actually happened – Postcomm going into Ofcom which was in fact proposed […]

Posted in British current affairs, Consumer matters | Comments (0)


My reviews of books on the English language

January 18th, 2012 by Roger Darlington

I feel fortunate that English is my native language since it is the global language and so useful. I’m really interested in the use of the language and, over the years, I have read several books on the subject. There was “Mother Tongue” by Bill Bryson [my review here], “Eats, Shoots And Leaves” by Lynne […]

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Baby Catrin one year old today

January 17th, 2012 by Roger Darlington

Did I mention that i have a beautiful granddaughter called Catrin? I thought I might have made reference to her. Well, little Catrin is one year old today. I was present at her birth day [see posting here] and I will be there for her birthday (I’m babysitting while mom and dad go out for […]

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What is American exceptionalism?

January 17th, 2012 by Roger Darlington

In my web site essay “A Short Guide To The American Political System”, I mention the notion of American exceptionalism. When he read my latest up-date of this essay, my astute American friend Michael Grace picked up on my reference to American exceptionalism and made some interesting remarks on the notion in the context of […]

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Twenty predictions for 2112

January 16th, 2012 by Roger Darlington

The BBC has invited readers of its web site to make predictions for the world a century from now and asked a couple of futurologists to assess the likelihood of the 20 chosen by the BBC. Check them out here. If Prediction 3 is correct, come back in 2012 to see how well the forecasts […]

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How the Internet is impacting news and newspapers

January 16th, 2012 by Roger Darlington

The editor of the “Guardian” today tells his readers: ” .. we’re well aware that, increasingly, you tell us that what you want from the printed newspaper changes as you seek out, or absorb, breaking news from the web, mobile, TV and radio. Half of you now read the paper in the evening, by which […]

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A review of “War Horse”

January 15th, 2012 by Roger Darlington

Steven Spielberg’s film adaptation of “War Horse” opened in the UK this weekend and Vee and I went to see it with our friend Spence. They admired it more than I did. You can read my review here.

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Fans continue to raise funds for troubled Darlington

January 13th, 2012 by Roger Darlington

Am I in financial difficulty? No – it ‘s a different story.

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International Year of Co-operatives

January 13th, 2012 by Roger Darlington

In case you missed it (!), today marked the start of the United Nations International Year of Co-operatives. You can learn more here. My friend Ed Mayo is the Secretary General of Co-operatives UK and has written this interesting essay to make the case for more co-operation.

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Word of the day: entropy

January 12th, 2012 by Roger Darlington

The shortest – but not the easiest – examination question I ever saw read simply: “Entropy. Discuss.” A simple explanation of entropy is that it is the state of disorder in a system and the natural tendency for all systems to have increased disorder. A fuller explanation is here and a very full exposition is […]

Posted in Cultural issues, Science & technology | Comments (1)