Archive for November, 2016
Thanksgiving in the USA (5)
November 23rd, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Everyone knows that the American Civil War was a key period of US history that arguably still has resonances today and many Americans – including Mike – are fascinated by the personalities and engagements that made up that titantic struggle. Most non-Americans though would struggle to identify more than one of the civil war battles […]
Posted in History, My life & thoughts | Comments (2)
Thanksgiving in the USA (4)
November 22nd, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Today (Monday), Mike and Laura had things to do, so I headed off to downtown Washington DC on my own to visit a couple of favourite museums. Laura drove me the 20 minute ride to Glenmont metro station, which is at the end of the red line, and an hour later I was at my […]
Posted in American current affairs, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Thanksgiving in the USA (3)
November 21st, 2016 by Roger Darlington
My base for this trip to the USA is the beautiful home of my American friends Mike & Laura Grace. Mike bought three acres of woodland with tulip poplar trees and had the house built in 1979 and then in 2004 they had the place extended. It now occupies over 4,000 square feet with everything […]
Posted in American current affairs, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
How many executive orders has Barack Obama issued?
November 20th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
On my flight from London to Washington DC to spend Thanksgiving with American friends, I met an intelligent and articulate Anerican who voted for Donald Trump, who hated Hillary Clinton, and who told me that Barack Obama had issued more executive orders than the previous seven presidents combined. I told him that he was absolutely […]
Posted in American current affairs, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Thanksgiving in the USA (2)
November 20th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
On Saturday, I flew to the United States in a British Airways Airbus A380. The aircraft was absolutely packed and I had to content myself with a window seat instead of my usual preferred aisle seat, but the two passengers to my side were fascinating. One was an American cyber security expert who voted for […]
Posted in American current affairs, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Thanksgiving in the USA (1)
November 19th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
For some time, it has been on my bucket list that I should enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner in the USA. I’ve seen this event in so many American television shows and movies and it looks such a lot of fun, so I persuaded my good American friends Mike and Laura Grace to invite me over […]
Posted in American current affairs, My life & thoughts | Comments (3)
Will we ever see a moron in the White House?
November 18th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
After every recent presidential election, this quote does the rounds on the Net: “As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House […]
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
I’ve been thinking about Naples …
November 18th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
My mother, Anna Maria Romano, was born and brought up in Naples, Italy, and did not leave the city until in late 1946 she married my father who was stationed there with the post-war Royal Air Force. Over this summer and autumn, I have been reading all 1700 pages of the four ‘Neapolitan novels’ written […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Zadie Smith’s “NW” novel and television adaptation
November 17th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Zadie Smith is one of Britain’s finest novelists and her work is distinguished by the multicultural nature of the milieu of. and characters in, her work. Her fourth novel was titled simply “NW” – a reference to the part of London featured in the book – and I read and enjoyed it almost three years […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Have we lost control of the Net?
November 16th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
It may be that we never really had control but, in the last few months, there have been some major danger signs that control is becoming less and less meaningful. That’s not a reason not to use the Net, but it is certainly a reason for Governments, companies and end users to be really careful […]
Posted in Internet | Comments (0)