Archive for August, 2012
The London Labour Film Festival
August 19th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
Anna Burton, a friend of mine, has put together an excellent programme of 18 works for the London Labour Film Festival. It will be held at the Prince Charles cinema from 13-15 September 2012. You can check out the full programme here and you can book any of the films here. There are not enough […]
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Reviews of four Jason Bourne movies
August 19th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
I thought that “The Bourne Ultimatum” would be the end of the story but, five years later, the Bourne movie franchise has been rebooted and this weekend I saw “The Bourne Legacy”, a work in which Bourne is constantly referenced but never appears. You can read my reviews of the four Bourne films here.
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Why has Mitt Romney revealed so few tax returns?
August 18th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
Republican presumptive presidential candidate Mitt Romney has only produced two tax returns so far. That’s many fewer than any presidential candidate has disclosed in decades. So what’s he hiding? Read about the speculation here.
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A review of “Catching Fire”
August 16th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
One of my projects for the quiet month of August is to read all three novels in the “Hunger Games” trilogy by Suzanne Collins given to me by by daughter-in-law. I have previously mentioned “The Hunger Games” which I reviewed here and I have now read the second part of the trilogy “Catching Fire” which […]
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As the world watches Syria, don’t forget little Lebanon
August 16th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
For almost a year and a half, Syria has been sliding inexorably into civil war. The smaller next-door state of Lebanon had its own bloody 15-year civil war from 1975-1990. What is increasingly worrying is whether the growing violence in Syria will start to spill over into Lebanon. In March 2011, I travelled throughout both […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
The 10 most embarrassing place names in the UK
August 15th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
You’ll find them here. Can you suggest others from around the world? My favourite is Foggy Bottom, a district of Washington DC.
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)
What is the worst opening sentence to a novel?
August 15th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
There is an annual competition to determine the answer and you can see this year’s winner here. I’ve never written a novel, but I have crafted 28 short stories and I hope that none of them has such a terrible opening sentence. You can be the judge here.
Posted in Cultural issues, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Which city in the world is the best in which to live?
August 15th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) in its latest survey, the answer is still Melbourne in Australia. My home city of London only rates 55th. What about your city? The EIU’s “Liveability Ranking and Overview” assesses living conditions in 140 cities around the world. A rating of relative comfort for 30 indicators is assigned across five […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (1)
The day after the London 2012 Olympic Games
August 13th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
There has been a sense of anticlimax in my home city of London today after all the excitement of the last 16 days of the city hosting the 2012 Olympic Games. Even the weather has been duller than it was during the Games when it stayed fine after months of exceptional rain. For all the […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
Why Obama needs to make history – again
August 12th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
As we run up to the American presidential election consider these two facts. Fact 1: Since the Second World War, no incumbent president has ever won an election with unemployment higher than 7.2% (Ronald Reagan in 1984 managed to win re-election when unemployment was at that 7.2% figure). Fact 2: The unemployment rate has been above […]
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (1)