Archive for January, 2019


What was the American civil war really about?

January 30th, 2019 by Roger Darlington

I have now viewed the second segment of BBC Four’s series “American History’s Biggest Fibs With Lucy Worsley” which dealt with the American Civil War.  Too many people think that the war was about the abolition of slavery. In fact, as Worseley reminds us, the war started when the Northern states insisted that new states should not […]

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How would a universal basic income actually work?

January 29th, 2019 by Roger Darlington

A new report published today by the Carnegie UK Trust sets out the key questions to be addressed to pave the way for a successful basic income pilot in Scotland.  A basic income is the concept of regular, unconditional payments made to all citizens, regardless of whether they are employed or seeking work. The report, written by […]

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Are you sometimes confused by text or online chat abbreviations? np

January 28th, 2019 by Roger Darlington

From A3 to ZZZ, this guide lists 1,500 text message and online chat abbreviations to help you translate and understand today’s texting lingo. The guide starts with a top ten.

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A review of the new film “Colette”

January 27th, 2019 by Roger Darlington

“I’ve been a fan of Keira Knightley since “Bend It Like Beckham” in 2002. She’s had her critics but she’s maturely nicely as an actress and, in the eponymous role, this is among her best work, together with films like “Atonement” and “The Duchess”.  Here she plays real-life writer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette in late 19th century/early […]

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A review of the Oscar favourite film “The Favourite”

January 26th, 2019 by Roger Darlington

By the time I went to see this film, it had already received 10 Acadeny Award nominations, so there was an incredible buzz around the work. Is this deserved? Well, it is an exceptional work but an odd one too. Losely based on actual events, this is a (very) black comedy set at the English […]

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Bacteria and viruses are fighting back, but will big pharma save us?

January 25th, 2019 by Roger Darlington

“An apocalypse is looming, warn the public health experts. The spectre of a benighted world where humankind again falls prey to bacterial plagues, wiping out the frail and the young, has been hanging over us for many years now. Infections we have conquered, such as pneumonia and typhoid, will return to kill us. Surgery and chemotherapy […]

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Was the Munich Agreement of 1938 inevitable or avoidable?

January 23rd, 2019 by Roger Darlington

Before I read the historical novel “Munich” by Robert Harris, I decided to reread the 1988 book “Munich: The Eleventh Hour” by Robert Kee. Was the betrayal of Czechoslovakia by Britain and France in September 1938 inevitable? Or should we have gone to war against Nazi Germany then rather than in September 1939? You can […]

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What really happened in the American War of Independence?

January 22nd, 2019 by Roger Darlington

I enjoy reading history books and watching television programmes on history and I recently caught the first segment of BBC Four’s series “American History’s Biggest Fibs With Lucy Worsley” which dealt with the American War of Independence. I don’t like the way Worsley feels compelled to dress up in period costume, but she has an […]

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How did most of the Jews of Denmark manage to escape the Holocaust?

January 21st, 2019 by Roger Darlington

In October 1943, Adolf Hitler ordered that all the Jews in Nazi-occupied Denmark be arrested and deported. Yet the Danes managed to evacuate 7,220 of the country’s 7,800 Jews plus 686 non-Jewish spouses, by sea to nearby neutral Sweden. How was this possible? In the last couple of years, I’ve been trying to go to […]

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Who will be the Democratic candidate in the US presidential election of 2020?

January 20th, 2019 by Roger Darlington

A good American friend of mine – a Democrat – believes that Donald Trump is best opposed by Bernie Sanders in the US presidential election of 2020. I ventured to suggest to him that Trump will not be the Republican candidate and Sanders will not be the Democrat candidate. So will be standing for the […]

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