Archive for March, 2018
It’s World Consumer Rights Day
March 15th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
For the last 16 years, I’ve worked part-time with an portfolio of appointments to various consumer bodies operating in regulated sectors like communications, water, energy and financial services. So I’d like to highlight that today is World Consumer Rights Day, an event promoted by Consumers International. Each year has a theme and this year it […]
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The death of Stephen Hawking
March 14th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
I am saddened by the news of the death of the British scientist Stephen Hawking, although pleased that he managed to live such a long and productive life in spite of the diagnosis in his early 20s of a wasting disease that was expected to kill him in years. I once attended a lecture he […]
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What would really help consumers of essential services?
March 13th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
This week, I chaired a day-long conference at the iconic BT Tower in central London on behalf of the Essential Services Access Network (ESAN). The theme of the event was “What would really help consumer of essential services?” and we focused particularly on the water, energy, communications and financial services sectors. We had 10 excellent speakers […]
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The raid on Entebbe: a story you probably don’t know
March 12th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
I remember vividly the raid on Entebbe when Israeli special forces freed the hijacked passengers of an Air France flight in 1976. Indeed I remember subsequently seeing two films about the audacious episode. Now a new film, entitled simply “Entebbe”, is about to hit our screens in April and this has prompted “Guardian” columnist Hadley […]
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A review of the new super-hero movie “Black Panther”
March 11th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
A mainstream American movie with a black director, a black writer and a largely black cast is a rarity. Last year (2017), we had “Moonlight” which won the Academy Award for Best Film. This year, we have “Black Panther” with Ryan Coogler as director and co-writer and an amazing array of black thespian talent from […]
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Encouraging news on North Korea – but beware of false dawns
March 9th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
The most encouraging world news in a while is the surprise revelation that North Korea is willing to negotiate giving up its nuclear weapons programme and that the presidents of North Korea and the United States will meet in the next couple of months. There have been no significant negotiations between the US and North […]
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Stumbling Block and Last Address – remembering the past and its victims
March 8th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
In the 1990s, an initiative started in Germany called the Stolpersteine project. Stolpersteine (stumbling blocks) are brass plaques the size of a cobblestone laid into the pavements of German towns and cities, outside the houses where the victims of Nazi atrocities had lived. Each plaque bears the name of the victim as well as the […]
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All the president’s men and women who have resigned or been fired
March 7th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
Gary Cohn, Donald Trump’s Chief Economic Adviser, has quit, the latest in a series of high-profile departures from the Trump administration His decision to go comes after Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, a move he and the Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, have reportedly vehemently opposed. Cohn was a registered Democrat […]
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A review of the new action thriller “Red Sparrow”
March 6th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
A beautiful and talented actress decides to branch out into an action thriller in which she plays a tough secret agent, but this is not Charlize Theron in “Atomic Blonde”, rather it is Jennifer Lawrence who has been making some bold choices since completing the “Hunger Games” franchise: “Joy”, “Passengers”, “Mother!” and now “Red Sparrow” […]
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The 90th annual Academy Awards – and me
March 5th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
For a couple of months now, I’ve been attending a Monday evening class at the City Literary Institute in London where we have been discussing some recent successful films and comparing them to earlier movies. This evening, we’re scheduled to discuss last night’s Academy Awards. But, the film of the night is one of the […]
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