Archive for October, 2016
Visit to Nairobi (2)
October 19th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Since my last posting, I’ve had three more very busy, but thoroughly enjoyable, days with my family in Nairobi. On Sunday, Richard and Emily took baby Kara for a stroll in the Karura Forest, while I took Catrin to an amusement park next to the Muthaiga shopping plaza She went on just about everything […]
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Visit to Nairobi (1)
October 16th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Almost 14 months ago, my son Richard and his family relocated to Nairobi when he obtained a job as Head of Strategic Communications for the consultancy arm of a media company called Well Told Story. I am now on my third visit to them and, as well as my granddaughter Catrin (now aged 5 and […]
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So how is Jeremy Corbyn really doing?
October 11th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Clearly the guy is very popular with party members: he has just been re-elected leader by an increased margin, record numbers of new members are flocking to join the Labour Party, his meetings are packed out, and they are even organising a series of concerts in his support. What do members see in Corbyn? Somebody […]
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U.S. presidential election (33): the second debate
October 11th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
I spent this evening watching a recording of every minute of the one and half hour second presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. It was an ugly business which probably had minimal impact on voting intentions because both candidates will have been seen to have done well by their supporters. For me, Clinton […]
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A review of the new movie “Deepwater Horizon”
October 9th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
This weekend, I saw the new disaster movie “Deepwater Horizon” which tells the true story of a blow-out on an oil rig that we all know caused the biggest environmental catastrophe in US history but we forget killed and maimed so many workers. Many films do not lose too much by being seen at home […]
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Was the pound’s flash crash caused by an algo?
October 8th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
The financial markets are a world unto themselves that ordinary people simply cannot understand – but we are all affected by movements in currencies and shares whether buying foreign currency for a holiday abroad or trying to maintain the value of our savings or pensions. So this week’s experience of the value of the pound […]
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A review of the Italian novel “Those Who Leave And Those Who Stay”
October 6th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
My summer reading project – which has extended into the Autumn – is to read the four works that make up the ‘Neapolitan Novels’, an acclaimed series by the Italian author Elena Ferrante. This is a saga of the 60-year friendship between two girls from a poor neighbourhood of Naples after the Second World War: […]
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20,000 days of the Darlington diaries
October 5th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Like many men, I enjoy counting things. So I know that today is the 20,000th day of my diaries. And why have I kept a diary so long and so consistently? I’ve tried to explain here.
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Cost of consumer detriment is £30 billion a year
October 3rd, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Citizens Advice has recently published a consumer report entitled ‘Consumer Detriment – counting the cost of consumer problems’. In summary, the researchers found that consumer problems cost UK consumers £22.9 billion in 2015 – on average £446 per UK adult. Consumers experienced 123 million problems and wasted 1.2 billion hours resolving these problems. More than half […]
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Visit to Athens (5)
October 3rd, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Our last day in Athens was a shorter one than the others because we flew back that evening. We visited the Ancient Agora at the foot of the Acropolis which is known as the centre of Athenian democracy. The most complete and impressive structure is the doric Temple of Hephaistos which was constructed between 460-415 […]
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