Archive for March, 2014
Who was Giordano Bruno and what did he believe?
March 17th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
This weekend, I watched the first episode in the new television series “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey”. The programme mentioned an Italian called Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) who believed that the sun was merely one of many stars. I confess that I had never heard of Bruno. There has been some controversy over the selection and representation of […]
Posted in History, Science & technology | Comments (0)
A review of “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
March 16th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
This weekend, Vee and I went to see – her choice – the new Wes Anderson movie “The Grand Budapest Hotel”. I’ve reviewed it here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A fun day with my little friends Catrin and James
March 15th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Earlier this week, I spent the day in central London with my granddaughter Catrin (now three years and two months) and her little friend friend James (just three months older). Together with James’s mother Jen, we went on the Emirates Airline cable car and to The Crystal building [see more details here] before taking them […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
A review of “300: Rise Of An Empire”
March 15th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
In an earlier posting on the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC, I said that I would review the new movie “300: Rise Of An Empire”. My review is now here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
The strange language of Harrow School
March 15th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
For the past 30 years, I have lived at the foot of Harrow-on-the-Hill in north-west London . We drive over the hill constantly. When I go for a walk, it is usually up the hill. Our favourite cafe, “The Doll’s House”, and our favourite restaurant. “Incanto”, are on the hill. Inevitably, therefore, we are always […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
How to make our cities much more sustainable
March 14th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
About half of the world’s population of 7 billion now lives in cities and the proportion is expected to be 70% by 2050, but currently urban living uses too much of the globe’s scarce resources. There is great new location in London called The Crystal which claims to be one of the world’s most sustainable […]
Posted in Environment | Comments (0)
The importance of the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC
March 12th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
After a morning conference on radio at which I spoke on digital radio switchover [see my posting here], I wanted to unwind. so I went to see a movie: “300: Rise Of An Empire”. I’ll review the film later but, at that this stage, I just wanted to comment on the centrepiece of the movie […]
Posted in History | Comments (0)
Word of the day: paladin
March 11th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
I have just come across this word in a book I have started to read called “Deep Time” by David Darling. The word means ‘heroic champion’. In the case of the book, the unlikely paladin is a sub-atomic particle, a proton. The origin of the word is the Italian word paladino which comes from the Late […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
White House taken over by bad guys – twice
March 10th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Last year, two movies were released with the same plot: the seizure of the White House and the US President. I saw “Olympus Has Fallen” at the cinema on its release and I reviewed it here. This weekend, I caught up with “White House Down” on DVD and I have reviewed it here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Only two water companies fast-tracked by regulator Ofwat in price review
March 10th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
For the past two years, I have been working hard chairing the Customer Challenge Group of South East Water which has had to submit views on the company’s business plan for 2015-2020 to the water regulator Ofwat. Each water company in England & Wales has a CCG which has been doing the same thing. This is an important […]
Posted in Consumer matters | Comments (0)