Archive for September, 2015
How much do you know (and care) about world poverty?
September 23rd, 2015 by Roger Darlington
One billion people across the world live in extreme poverty, struggling to survive on the equivalent of about $1 a day. The United Nations aims to lift every single one of them out of this category within 15 years. It’s an ambitious target, and this weekend 150 world leaders will meet to work out how […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
What’s the more dangerous: a shark or a selfie?
September 22nd, 2015 by Roger Darlington
According to this article in the “Daily Telegraph”, there have been twelve recorded selfie deaths in 2015 so far, compared to eight people dying because of shark attacks. Most of the selfie-related deaths have been due to falling. The next most common is when people are trying to take a selfie, and they’re hit by a […]
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)
Can British politics get any weirder?
September 22nd, 2015 by Roger Darlington
First the Labour Party elects a Leader of the Opposition who, in 32 years as a Member of Parliament, has never sat on the Front Bench. Then the Prime Minister is savaged by a biography co-authored by someone who is a principal funder of the PM’s political party. Amusing though the tales of Cameron’s university […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
So, a week after Jeremy Corbyn’s election, where does Labour stand with the wider electorate?
September 20th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
An Opinium/Observer poll today shows that the wave of “Corbynmania” which swept him to the leadership has not spread across the wider voting public. The Conservatives (on 37%) remain five points ahead of Labour (32%) with Ukip on 14% and the Lib Dems on 6%. When voters were asked who they would choose to be […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
How late can one be to the party? Just started to watch “Homeland”.
September 20th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
The nights are drawing in and there seems to be little of interest on television. So, this weekend, Vee and I finally pulled out the box set of series 1 of the American television programme “Homeland” which was a present ages ago. It seems that almost everybody else – including Barack Obama – has been watching […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (2)
The history of 13 countries in 15 words or less
September 19th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
A web site issued the challenge of summarising the history of a country in a sentence. The offerings are amusing and sometimes insightful. For the United States: “Freedom* *terms and conditions may apply.” For the United Kingdom: “Had the largest empire ever, but lost it due to drinking too much tea.” You can check out […]
Posted in History | Comments (0)
My 28th short story: “The Girl With The Crimson Scar”
September 18th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Another Friday; another of my short stories. This one is located on the London Underground and you can read it here.
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
U.S. presidential election (12): Trump attacked at second Republican debate
September 17th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Donald Trump’s exchange with Jeb Bush: JB: “To subject my wife into the middle of a raucous political conversation was completely inappropriate and I hope you apologise for that Donald.” DT: “Well, I have to tell you I hear phenomenal things, I hear your wife is a lovely woman. I don’t know her.” JB: “She […]
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
The 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain and our family’s part in the original conflict
September 15th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Today we celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain in 1940 and commemorated the bravery of the almost 3,000 Royal Air Force pilots who flew in the conflict. Around 40 World War Two aircraft – Spitfires, Hurricanes and Blenheims – were brought together to fly over southern England, creating some amazing sights and […]
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What Jeremy Corbyn and I have in common
September 15th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Apparently the new Leader of the Labour Party frequents a central London cafe called “Gaby’s” which is one of my favourites too. All is explained in this news clip. In fact, such is my love of “Gaby’s” that I set my first short story there. It is called “Making A Difference” and you can read […]
Posted in British current affairs, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)