Archive for December, 2014


British general election (2): 2015 will be a tough year for election candidates, party workers, and the voters themselves

December 31st, 2014 by Roger Darlington

Many election candidates have been working away for a couple of years already, but the General Election campaign proper will begin in the New Year and, since we know the exact date of the election rather than having to wait for the election to be ‘called’, it’s going to be an exceptionally long campaign of […]

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The funniest sketch by the brilliant Julie Walters

December 30th, 2014 by Roger Darlington

I am a massive fan of Julie Walters. She is a fine actress and a brilliant comedienne. So I was delighted to see on television over Christmas a programme in which she was both interviewed and profiled. There were many clips of her performances and this is my favourite one:

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A review of the epic movie “Exodus: Gods And Kings”

December 29th, 2014 by Roger Darlington

Any film directed by Ridley Scott is worth seeing. This is not up there with “Gladiator” but certainly enjoyable enough. You can read my review here.

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Where did the great world religions come from?

December 29th, 2014 by Roger Darlington

Over Christmas, I bought “The Times Concise History Of The World” which is a wonderful book to browse, full of colour maps and fascinating facts. It is interesting – and no coincidence – that the great religions of humankind originated in the same part of the world and a number of them were either established […]

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British general election (1): the most uncertain election in living memory

December 28th, 2014 by Roger Darlington

OK, Christmas is now over. Let the General Election campaign begin. For the first time ever, we’ve known the exact election day almost  five years in advance, thanks to the introduction of fixed term parliaments. So effectively we now have ‘a long campaign’ of four months or so until polling day on 7 May 2015. […]

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U.S. presidential election (2): will Elizabeth Warren really run?

December 28th, 2014 by Roger Darlington

Haven’t we been here before? Eight years ago, it looked pretty certain that Hillary Clinton would win the Democratic primaries to become her party’s candidate in the US presidential election of 2008. Then along came Barack Obama, a former professor, a newly elected senator, a charismatic speaker, more radical than Hillary. And we all know […]

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“Herostratus” – a review of a film you’ve never heard of, let alone seen

December 27th, 2014 by Roger Darlington

Indeed you might well not want to see this film but, if you’re seriously interested in cinema, you should know about it. You can read my review here.

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Where did civilisation begin?

December 27th, 2014 by Roger Darlington

Over Christmas, I bought “The Times Concise History Of The World” which is a wonderful book to browse, full of colour maps and fascinating facts. One can see very clearly how civilisation emerged in the so-called “lucky latitudes”. The first civilisations arose in the alluvial basins of four major rivers which drain from the mountain […]

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The chariot race sequence in the 1959 film “Ben Hur”

December 26th, 2014 by Roger Darlington

While visiting relatives for the Christmas period, I caught some of “Ben Hur” on television, a film I have of course seen before. But I wanted to see the famous chariot race sequence again. It is a terrific piece of crinematography, created at a time when there were no computer generated effects. You can read […]

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Why is it called Boxing Day?

December 26th, 2014 by Roger Darlington

“Employers used to give presents to servants on Christmas Day. But because they were working, they would open those gifts – presented in boxes – the following day, giving Boxing Day its name. Another theory is that the name comes from boxes left in churches filled with coins that would be distributed to the poor […]

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