Archive for February, 2014


How to resolve conflict

February 28th, 2014 by Roger Darlington

I monitor the numbers visiting my web site and the sections that they most frequent. Each day, up to 10,000 visit the site as a whole, with my personal blog NightHawk and my professional blog CommsWatch being by far the most popular sections of the site. But, in recent weeks, there’s been a new entry […]

Posted in Miscellaneous, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)


The power of the placebo

February 27th, 2014 by Roger Darlington

I have long been fascinated by the placebo effect – the positive impact of a non-active substance or procedure which seems to mimic the effect of a drug or treatment. This evening, I got round to watching a television programme on the subject that I recorded 10 days ago. The BBC2 Horizon programme is called […]

Posted in Science & technology | Comments (3)


The view of an Englishman living in Scotland on the independence referendum

February 27th, 2014 by Roger Darlington

The Scottish Independence Referendum – Yes or No?  I am a mongrel of the British Isles. Self-exiled in Lancashire throughout their married life, my parents were defiantly Yorkshire in origin and spirit. However, my father’s great-great grandfather had migrated with his sheep from south west Scotland to the West Riding early in the nineteenth century. […]

Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)


The amazing life of Alice Herz-Sommer

February 25th, 2014 by Roger Darlington

Yesterday I did a posting noting the death of Alice Herz-Sommer, the oldest Holocaust survivor, at the age of 110. She was a remarkable person and you can read her obituary here.

Posted in History | Comments (0)


A review of a new film: “The Lego Movie”

February 25th, 2014 by Roger Darlington

Who would have thought that those little coloured bricks would have a film of their own? But they have – and it’s a great success. You can read my review here.

Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (1)


A review of an old film : “The Lion In Winter”

February 25th, 2014 by Roger Darlington

The film was released in 1968. I saw it on its release, again many years later, and once more last weekend.  You can read my review here.

Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)


Rest in peace Alice Herz-Sommer

February 24th, 2014 by Roger Darlington

Seven years ago, I did a blog posting about the utterly remarkable Alice Herz-Sommer. She was a Holocaust survivor with an astonishingly positive approach to life. Almost four years ago, I did another blog posting as a result of a television programme about her. Today comes the sad news that Alice – the world’s oldest […]

Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)


How many countries have you visited?

February 24th, 2014 by Roger Darlington

On my recent tour of Central America, two of our group had been to around 160 countries which is amazing, especially as the United Nations only has 193 nations as members. At the end of our latest holiday, which involved time in five countries, my personal total is 65 – one for each year of […]

Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)


An account of our visit to five countries in Central America

February 24th, 2014 by Roger Darlington

A week ago, Vee and I returned from a three-week holiday visiting five countries in Central America. If you are a regular reader of NightHawk, you might have been following the 25 daily blog postings that I put up as we toured the region. I have now put all of these postings into a continuous […]

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Five key questions about the current situation in Ukraine

February 23rd, 2014 by Roger Darlington

What happens next? What’s Russia’s beef in all this? Who are the protesters? What do they want? What now for Yulia Tymoshenko? You can find some answers here.

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)