Archive for August, 2014
An election to the House of Lords? Surely not!
August 4th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
The House of Lords is a very strong contender to be the most bizarre legislative institution in the world. As I explain my “Short Guide To The British Political System”: “Historically most members of the House of Lords have been what we called hereditary peers. This meant that years ago a king or queen nominated […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (5)
A few fascinating facts and figures about Wikipedia
August 3rd, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Wikipedia was founded by Jimmy Wales who is the subject of a profile in today’s “Observer” newspaper. It is a not-for-profit organisation. It is funded by some $50 million a year in donations. The site went live on 15 January 2001. In 2007, I devoted one my regular columns on Internet matters to the question: […]
Posted in Internet | Comments (0)
A review of “August: Osage County” – and why I love Meryl Streep
August 2nd, 2014 by Roger Darlington
This weekend, I saw the film “August: Osage County” based on the acclaimed play by Tracy Letts. You can read my review here. My main reason for wanting to see the movie was that it stars Meryl Streep. I’ve been a massive fan of hers since “The Deerhunter” (1978) and “Kramer vs Kramer” (1979) and […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
“Hard Choices” (4): “Gaza: Anatomy Of A Cease-fire”
August 1st, 2014 by Roger Darlington
The headline “Gaza: Anatomy Of A Cease-fire” could easily be from a news article on the cease-fire announced today between Israel and Hamas. In fact, coincidentally it is the title of a chapter I have read today in “Hard Choices”, the memoir of Hillary Clinton’s four years as US Secretary of State. Clinton assumed her role […]
Posted in History | Comments (0)
How, 300 years ago today, a German princeling became the British monarch
August 1st, 2014 by Roger Darlington
He was 52nd in line to the British throne. He was the Elector of Hanover. Although he was fluent in German. French, Dutch, Italian and Latin, he could barely understand English. So how come, 300 years ago today, the British Parliament invited Georg Ludwig to become our King? It had everything to do with the […]
Posted in History | Comments (0)
American presidents (4): Jimmy Carter
August 1st, 2014 by Roger Darlington
This week, I was back at the City Lit to resume the course on post-war American presidents. For Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, our lecturer was Paul Hadjipieris (his parents are Cypriot and his wife is American). His approach was rather different from the lecturers on Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. He focused very much […]
Posted in History | Comments (1)