Archive for February, 2012
Visit to the land of Hope and Ellie
February 11th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
Just over a month ago, I did a posting about the birth of Hope whose mother Ellie had struggled so much to have her first baby at the age of 47, following miscarriages, IVF treatment in Spain, and numerous medical complications and interventions. Hope is now five weeks old and doing well and Ellie is […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (2)
Should I apply to be the next England football manager?
February 9th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
I have just completed my term as a board member of Consumer Focus and I will shortly complete my term as a member of the Communications Consumer Panel, so I am looking for a new paid appointment. I see that there is suddenly a vacancy for the role of manager of the England football team […]
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Ever heard of Camp Ashraf?
February 8th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
No – neither had I. However, when I was in central London recently, I was approached by an Iranian dissident who is now living in exile in The Netherlands and wanted to talk to me about Camp Ashraf in Iraq. Since I visited Iran two years ago [see my account here], I was interested in […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
A small victory over an unfair system
February 7th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
Ten 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 today he had […]
Posted in British current affairs, My life & thoughts | Comments (1)
My new opportunity to promote digital inclusion
February 6th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
I was not an early user of the Internet and indeed for a while I really lacked confidence online – as I’ve explained here. But, when I became more familiar with the Net, I became passionate about how it could transform lives, organisations and societies and the desirability of achieving the highest possible number of […]
Posted in Internet, My life & thoughts | Comments (1)
Bicentenary of birth of Charles Dickens
February 5th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
The wonderful English writer Charles Dickens was born on 7 February 1812 – exactly 200 years ago this week – and died on 8 June 1870. I confess that, like too many people, I have read very little Dickens since I left school but, last summer, I did read “A Tale Of Two Cities” which […]
Posted in Cultural issues, History | Comments (1)
Now we have snow too
February 4th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
The last week has seen bitterly cold weather here in London and today as forecast the snow arrived. Of course, in the last couple of weeks most of Europe has suffered an exceptionally cold spell. How are things with you?
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Word of the day: stelliferous
February 4th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
So what does such a strange word mean? It is in fact a reference to a period of time – but a period the length of which you will struggle to comprehend. It all comes from the book “The Five Ages of the Universe” which discusses the history, present state, and probable future of the universe, […]
Posted in Cultural issues, Science & technology | Comments (0)
The political power of “The Lady”
February 3rd, 2012 by Roger Darlington
“The Lady”, the bio pic of the Burmese democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi, was released in Britain in December but it was too political and too personal for it to attract a large audience. I saw it and was very moved and you can read my review here. The film has still not been released […]
Posted in Cultural issues, World current affairs | Comments (0)