Archive for September, 2015


My Apple Watch is very unforgiving

September 30th, 2015 by Roger Darlington

It doesn’t let an hour of sitting go by without reminding me to stand for a few minutes. It doesn’t let a day go by without encouraging me to do a set period of walking. I think my Apple Watch loves me – but it’s tough love.

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Jeremy Corbyn’s speech to the Labour Party Conference

September 29th, 2015 by Roger Darlington

We were told that it was not going to be a long speech, but it lasted an hour. We were told that it was his first use of the autocue and that went well enough. Corbyn certainly thanked a lot of people, he name-checked a lot of colleagues, he made a special point of welcoming […]

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What is a “Good Kill”? – my review of the film with this title

September 29th, 2015 by Roger Darlington

Very few people – me included – will have seen the film “Good Kill” at the cinema, but it is worth searching out on television or DVD because it is a work which raises important issues about the military use of drones. You can read my review here. Seeing this film, I recalled a short […]

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John McDonnell’s speech to the Labour Party Conference

September 28th, 2015 by Roger Darlington

At today’s Labour Party Conference in Brighton, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell made a serious speech with no jokes, no knockabout, none of his usual colourful language and a remarkably mild delivery. He called it “the new politics”. There were lots of good ideas in the speech but very little detail. Hopefully he will listen to […]

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Over half the world still offline

September 28th, 2015 by Roger Darlington

A report from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) suggests that 57% of the world’s population remain offline. The annual “State of Broadband” report from the UN agency suggests that the number of people online over the world has grown to 3.2 billion, up from 2.9 billion last year, but that some 4 billion still do […]

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A review of the new film “Everest”

September 27th, 2015 by Roger Darlington

I once tried hard to fly over Mount Everest – but failed, as you can read here. Flying over it is one thing; climbing it is another- but that is what hundreds of people attempt each year. In May 1996, lots of climbers were at the top of the mountain when it was hit by […]

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At last, we have switched our gas and electricity suppliers

September 26th, 2015 by Roger Darlington

Although most of my work is as a consumer advocate in regulated industries, I am not a very canny consumer myself. I’ve always been so reluctant to switch suppliers, fearing that something could do wrong. So, after all the years that energy suppliers have been privatised, I have never switched either our gas or our […]

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My 29th short story: “This Life Business”.

September 25th, 2015 by Roger Darlington

Many of my short stories are loosely inspired by some experience in my life. Almost five years ago now, I became a granddad with the birth of my granddaughter Catrin. This got me thinking about memory and when it begins and how temporary it is. As a result, I wrote a short story called “This […]

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Series 1 of “Homeland” – we’ve finished it

September 24th, 2015 by Roger Darlington

Recently, I did a posting explaining the circumstances in which Vee and I had started to watch series 1 of the American television programme “Homeland” – some four years after the series was first broadcast. Thanks to having a box set, we’ve been able to watch all 12 episodes of the series in just six days. […]

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How many characters has James Bond killed in the movies so far?

September 24th, 2015 by Roger Darlington

As we await eagerly the 24th Bond film, “Empire”magazine has a round-up of facts and figures about the earlier films. Apparently Bond has so far killed 378 characters. The break-down by actors is as follows: Pierce Brosnan – 135 Roger Moore – 90 Sean Connery – 72 Daniel Craig – 53 Tomthy Dalton – 23 […]

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