Archive for April, 2015


The world’s languages in seven maps and charts

April 30th, 2015 by Roger Darlington

Just seven maps and charts, visualised by the “Washington Post”, will help you understand how diverse other parts of the world are in terms of languages. You can access this fascinating material here.

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British general election (12): when Russell Brand met Ed Miliband

April 29th, 2015 by Roger Darlington

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“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for The Martian”

April 29th, 2015 by Roger Darlington

I’ve just read a cracking novel about an astronaut stranded alone on the red planet Mars. By the end of the year, the film of the book will be released and you’ll hear a lot about “The Martian”. Meanwhile you can read my review here.

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So what happened about all those dire forecasts of disaster as a result of Obamacare?

April 29th, 2015 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. At first, media reports on the implementation of the legislation concentrated – at least outside the US – on the initial IT problems and on […]

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Starting a new television series: “Madam Secretary”

April 28th, 2015 by Roger Darlington

I’m a bit of a political junkie and I love political dramas in the movies or on television. “The West Wing” was my all-time favourite TV series – I watched all 155 episodes as they were broadcast and every episode again when it was out in a box set. So I thought that I would […]

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How happy are people in your country? Check out where your nation comes in this list of 158.

April 27th, 2015 by Roger Darlington

For three years now, there has been an attempt to rank nations by how happy they are. In the latest report, the UK comes 21st, while the USA is 15th out of 158. It is noticeable that, all the top 13 countries, have small populations. Where does your country come in the list? Switzerland (7.587) […]

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Feeling for the people of Nepal

April 26th, 2015 by Roger Darlington

Nepal has suffered its worst earthquake in more than 80 years with at least 1,500 deaths. One always feels more acutely for the tribulations of a country, when one has actually been there. In 2003. Vee and I made a visit to Nepal, staying in the capital Kathmandu. We met some lovely people but the […]

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A review of the 2011 film “Carnage”

April 25th, 2015 by Roger Darlington

I’ve seen two films this week and they could not be more different. The first was an action movie called “John Wick” with fast and furious combat and shootings [my review here]. The second was the film of a play set entirely in a small apartment – it is called “Carnage” and you can read […]

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The crisis in the older democracies

April 25th, 2015 by Roger Darlington

Many of the trends that we have seen in recent British General Elections – such as lower turnout, differential turnout, less support for the established parties, more support for an extreme party, and greater volatility in the electorate – are common to several other older democracies in Europe and North America. I have written a […]

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My 7th short story: “A Moment In Time”

April 24th, 2015 by Roger Darlington

Continuing my Friday practice of linking to one of my short stories, today I invite you to read my seventh which is entitled “A Moment In Time” – you’ll find it here.

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