Archive for September, 2014
How do you explain the British political system to Chinese Government officials?
September 15th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
This morning, I spent four hours in a hotel in Croydon, south London, giving a presentation on the British political system to 22 senior Chinese Government officials from Beijing. I had to explain that our political system has evolved over many centuries and is therefore particular to our history and culture. It is simply not […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
A review of last year’s movie “Her”
September 14th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
How much do you love your technology? Could you actually fall in love with it one day? After all, even Eve went for the Apple. In the movie “Her”, a guy has a deep relationship with his operating system. You can read my review here.
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)
A review of the novel “Unexpected Lessons In Love”
September 14th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Not many novels have cancer as a central theme and not many authors die of cancer months after the publication of their novel. But that’s the case with “Unexpected Lessons In Love” and Bernadine Bishop. Yet this is ultimately an uplifting novel about how we can all find love in forms we might not have […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Taking “Pride” in that some films actually show the struggles for workers’ rights
September 13th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
This weekend, I went to see the brilliant film “Pride” which proudly proclaims both the need for equal treatment for the gay community and solidarity with strikers in a industrial dispute. You can read my review here. There are not many films that show trade unions at work and people fighting for rights at work, […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Violence at home costs $8 trillion a year – worse than war
September 12th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Domestic violence, mainly against women and children, kills far more people than wars and is an often overlooked scourge that costs the world economy more than $8 trillion a year, experts working on a study for the Copenhagen Consensus Centre said this week. The study, which its authors said was a first attempt to estimate […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
You just never know what’s going on in people’s lives – and we should make allowances
September 11th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
I was recently talking to a colleague who explained that he had just been diagnosed with something called celiac disease – a condition of which I had never previously heard. It reminded me that so often I have found that people have a physical or psychological issue with which they are coping privately and colleagues […]
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)
Whatever the Scots decide in the referendum on independence, the United Kingdom will never be the same
September 10th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
In my lifetime, I have never known a period of such political high drama as we approach the referendum on Scottish independence next Thursday and the polls show the ‘yes’ vote and the ‘no’ vote neck and neck. It has been inspiring to see serious issues debated seriously (although not always honestly or respectfully) and […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (2)
If you thought Obamacare had failed, think again
September 8th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
The official name for Barack Obama’s reform of the American healthcare system is the Affordable Care Act but it has been dubbed – usually by his opponents – as Obamacare. Reports on the implementation of the legislation have concentrated – at least outside the US – on the initial IT problems and on continued legal […]
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
My two movies this week
September 7th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
As regular readers of NightHawk will know well, I’m a big film fan and try to see at least one movie a week. This week, I’ve seen two: one at the cinema: “Magic In The Moonlight” [my review here] the other on DVD: “All Is Lost” [my review here]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Word of the day: quotidian
September 6th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
This word is normally used as an adjective. In the first sense, it means daily. So I recently ate breakfast in a branch of a French chain called “Le Pain Quotidien” (“The Daily Bread”). In a more literary sense, however, quotidian means usual or every day or commonplace.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)