Archive for March, 2012
A review of “John Carter”
March 11th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
This weekend saw the opening of the sci-fi blockbuster “John Carter” and I went to see it in 3D and IMAX on the largest screen in Britain. You can read my review here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of “The Bang Bang Club”
March 10th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
I’m a keen movie fan and have a strong interest in politics, so a film with a political subject always attracts me. “The Bang Bang Club” is set in South Africa during the last days of the apartheid regime and you can read my review here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Hostage taking in Nigeria
March 9th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
I think that hostage taking is a particularly cruel and abhorrent crime and I was saddened by the news that Briton Chris McManus and Italian Franco Lamolinara died in the attempt by UK Special Forces and Nigerian military to rescue them from an Islamist group in Sokoto. One of the earliest short stories that I wrote […]
Posted in British current affairs, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Word of the day: backronym
March 8th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
The word ‘backronym’ is a combination of backward and acronym and has been defined as a “reverse acronym”. A backronym is a phrase constructed purposely, such that an acronym can be formed to a specific desired word. One of my favourites comes from the James Bond books and films: the organisation SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion or SPECTRE. For more information on backronyms, see […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (1)
Ever heard of virtual water?
March 7th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
No, neither had I – until, on a recent train journey from London to Sheffield, I found myself sitting next to an environmental activist who works for Friends of the Earth. We spent the whole trip talking about environmental issues and she introduced me to the concept of virtual water. Water use and scarcity is […]
Posted in Environment | Comments (0)
Are you interested in being a volunteer?
March 7th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
I am not a volunteer as such. But, as a portfolio worker, I have a mix of paid and unpaid appointments, so I guess the unpaid appointments – the majority – represent a form of volunteering. Certainly I am a great supporter of volunteering and a good website to get involved is called Do-it. I […]
Posted in Miscellaneous, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
The case for more social equality
March 5th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
The Equality Trust has just released its fourth quarterly Research Digest. This Digest deals with the relationship between high income inequality and low levels of social mobility. The main points are as follows: Social mobility is higher in societies with smaller income differences between rich and poor. If we want our children to have equal […]
Posted in British current affairs, Social policy | Comments (0)
A year of revolution in Syria
March 3rd, 2012 by Roger Darlington
Exactly one year ago today, my wife and I flew to Damascus to start a 10-day holiday in Syria and Lebanon. Some of our friends thought that we were crazy. But we had booked the holiday six months before, nobody had told us there was going to be an Arab Spring, and at the time […]
Posted in My life & thoughts, World current affairs | Comments (0)
How should America cut its deficit?
March 3rd, 2012 by Roger Darlington
“The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget recently published an overview of the budget proposals of the four “major” Republican candidates and, in a separate report, examined the latest Obama budget. .. And here’s what it tells us: According to an “intermediate debt scenario,” the budget proposals of Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Mitt Romney […]
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
My first visit to the Online Centres Foundation
March 2nd, 2012 by Roger Darlington
Almost a month ago, I did a posting about my appointment as a non-executive director at the Online Centres Foundation. At my interview for the position, I explained that, if appointed, i would be keen to meet the staff and visit an online centre as soon as possible and, in the last two days, I have done […]
Posted in Internet, My life & thoughts | Comments (2)