Archive for June, 2015
A short guide to how the European Union works
June 21st, 2015 by Roger Darlington
On my web site, I have short guides to the political systems of 13 countries. These are among the most popular pages on my site and I receive appreciative comments from readers around the world. One of them recently suggested that I do something similar for the European Union although, of course, the EU is […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
My weekend films could not be more different: reviews of “Jurassic World” and “Mr Holmes”
June 20th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
“Jurassic World” is the fourth in the franchise and took a staggering $500M in its opening weekend to set a new record. I’ve reviewed it here. “Mr Holmes” is Sherlock as you’ve never seen him before which will disappoint many but wait for it to come on television. You can read my review here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
An emotional Jon Stewart drops the comedy to talk Charleston: ‘We Still Won’t Do Jackshit’
June 20th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
My 15th short story: “Cinderella Rebooted”
June 19th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
The old fairy tales are constantly retold in writing and on television and in film. I decided I would make my own attempt to revisit a familiar story with “Cinderella Rebooted”. You can check it out here.
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo
June 18th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Today marks the 200th anniversary of the defeat of the Emperor Napoleon by the Duke of Wellington in the bloody Battle of Waterloo. I did a blog posting a couple of weeks ago in which I explained that we would be hearing more about this conflict and today the “Mirror newspaper has a short, but […]
Posted in History | Comments (0)
Contrasts between the American and British political systems – you will be amazed how different they are
June 17th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
On my web site, I have short guides to 13 political systems in different countries around the world. The two most detailed guides are those on the American and British political systems. Now these two systems are so different that I wrote a separate essay comparing and contrasting them. This has proved to be one […]
Posted in American current affairs, British current affairs | Comments (0)
Does trickle-down economics work? Guess who says that it doesn’t.
June 16th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
The idea that increased income inequality makes economies more dynamic has been rejected by an International Monetary Fund study, which shows the widening income gap between rich and poor is bad for growth. A report by five IMF economists dismissed “trickle-down” economics, and said that if governments wanted to increase the pace of growth they […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
U.S. presidential election (7): no less than 15 politicians now declared as candidate for their party’s nomination
June 15th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
The race to enter the White House in January 2017, as the successor to Barack Obama, is becoming crowded now. On the Democratic side, there are just four candidates and Hillary Clinton is the strong favourite to win her party’s nomination. Meanwhile, on the Republican side, no less than 11 candidates have declared and there […]
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (1)
800th anniversary celebration of Magna Carta
June 15th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Something as quintessentially English as Magna Carta was celebrated today at a memorial put up by Americans in the field at Runnymede where the document was agreed and which I have visited. But what was Magna Carta? Why was it called that? And why is it still important today? The BBC answers these questions here.
Posted in History | Comments (0)
The halving of trade union membership in Britain – and how the unions are fighting back
June 14th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
I was a national trade union official – with what is now the Communication Workers Union – for 24 years (1978-2002) but, in my working life, I have witnessed a sharp decline in trade union membership from a record of around 13 million in the mid 1970s to 6.4 million in 2014. It is not […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)