Archive for January, 2012
What are we going to do about Iran’s nuclear intentions?
January 12th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
I am especially interested in the future of Iran since I visited the country only two years ago and know how much people there would like a more liberal regime. You can read my account of the trip here. This week, we have the news that a fourth attack has been made on a scientist […]
Posted in My life & thoughts, World current affairs | Comments (0)
The scandal that is the WCA
January 12th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
Nine months ago, I did a posting about how I had accompanied a good friend of mine with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) to an interview as part of a Work Capability Assessment (WCA) because he had applied for the new Employment & Support Allowance (ESA). He was refused the ESA, he appealed, and he has now been […]
Posted in British current affairs, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
How to think critically
January 11th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
The United States Naval War College at Newport, Rhode island has just approached me for copyright permission to reproduce my web site advice on “How To Think Critically”. Of course, I was happy to agree. If it’s good enough advice for the US military, you might want to check it out here.
Posted in American current affairs, My life & thoughts | Comments (4)
The day I ‘found’ £328,000
January 10th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
In today’s G2 supplement in the “Guardian”, there is an article about how journalist Leo Benedictus found that £250,000 was accidentally paid into his bank account. I can beat that. I once received a bank statement that included two payments into my account that were totally unknown to me: one for £3,246.10 and the other for £324,610.00 making […]
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An up-date on baby Catrin
January 9th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
Until today, I hadn’t seen my granddaughter Catrin for a month because she was away in Canada with her parents celebrating Christmas with her mom’s relatives in Montreal. She saw her first snow and experienced temperatures as low as – 17C. When I collected her from nursery this afternoon, I found that, even in four […]
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Would you bungee off a bridge?
January 9th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
No – neither would I. But my wife Vee would and has. I was reminded of this by the amazing news that a bungee jumper at the Batoka Gorge at Victoria Falls experienced a break in her line and fell into a crocodile-infested river with her feet still strapped up. You can view the video of the […]
Posted in Miscellaneous, My life & thoughts | Comments (3)
Word of the day: reduplication
January 8th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
This is the technique of taking a word and saying it twice in quick succession but changing one of the vowels or consonants in the process. Among the many examples in English are: dilly-dally, zig-zag, pitter-patter, criss-cross, helter-skelter, hurly-burly, happy-clappy. And what leads me to mention this? I’m currently reading a fascinating book – one […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
How democratic is your country?
January 7th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
In its annual review of the state of democracy in the world, the Economist Intelligence Unit finds a mere 25 countries to be “fully democratic” with the UK coming in 18th and the USA at 19th. The compilers of the survey comment: “In 2011 there has been little change at the top of the rankings, […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (2)
How democratic is Hungary now?
January 7th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
In a recent article for the “New York Times”, Kim Lane Scheppele explained: “In a free and fair election last spring in Hungary, the center-right political party, Fidesz, got 53% of the vote. This translated into 68% of the seats in the parliament under Hungary’s current disproportionate election law. With this supermajority, Fidesz won the […]
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What makes you happy?
January 6th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
Today the “Mirror” newspaper quotes the result of a survey by PruHealth on what makes people happy. Top of the list is: spending time with family. You can check out the top ten activities here. All the factors highlighted are obvious, but no less important for that, and the survey chimes well with my own […]
Posted in Miscellaneous, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)