Archive for June, 2019


Word of the day: irenic

June 28th, 2019 by Roger Darlington

This adjective means “tending to promote peace or reconciliation; peaceful or conciliator’. So why do I choose to highlight the word now? It’s because the frontrunner for the leadership of the Conservative Party and the post of Prime Minister Boris Johnson has just used the word in the latest hustings with members of the Conservative Party who have the vote in the leadership […]

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Word of the day: ensorcell

June 28th, 2019 by Roger Darlington

I confess that I had never heard this word until today – and I regard myself as reasonably proficient in the English language. I saw the word in a comment about British politician Boris Johnson by the former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstad: “To Johnson’s followers, however, he is more prophet than politician: only he […]

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So is GATT 24 the answer to our no-deal Brexit worries?

June 27th, 2019 by Roger Darlington

Not according to all the experts including Chris Grey, a professor of Organisation Studies at Royal Holloway.  He writes on his blog: “In my previous post I made reference to the recent upsurge of Brexiter interest in GATT Article XXIV. As noted there, it was mentioned as a way of avoiding the damage of no-deal Brexit by […]

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Some ideas for spreading kindness

June 26th, 2019 by Roger Darlington

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A review of the enjoyable new film “Gloria Bell”

June 23rd, 2019 by Roger Darlington

It is not easy, being a person of maturer years who has been single for some time, to start a new relationship and I can testify to that from personal experience. It probably helps if, as a woman in her late 50s, you have the body, the clothes and the confidence of the titular West […]

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At last, I retire completely

June 23rd, 2019 by Roger Darlington

Technically, I finished working 17 years ago when I took early retirement on health grounds from the Communication Workers Union after 24 years as a national official with that organisation. In practice, in time I was able largely to address my health issues and continue working part-time through a portfolio of appointments in the consumer […]

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Seminar to celebrate the work of Bob Fryer

June 21st, 2019 by Roger Darlington

Today I attended a seminar at the National Education Union in London to celebrate the work of Professor Bob (Rob) Fryer.  Bob has spent 50 years working in higher and adult education as a teacher, researcher, policy advisor, practitioner and leader in relation to employment, industrial relations, trades unionism and lifelong learning.  The aim of […]

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Trade union rights under attack worldwide

June 19th, 2019 by Roger Darlington

I spent 24 years working as a national trade union official and I regard independent trade unions as an essential component of a genuine democracy. But worldwide trade unions and trade unionists are under attack. Today in Geneva the International Trade Union Confederation is releasing to the world the results of its annual Global Rights […]

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A weekend visit to Lille

June 16th, 2019 by Roger Darlington

For our first foreign trip together, Kathleen and I decided to visit Lille, a location neither of us had been to before. Lille is a city of some 230,000 in the north-west of France in an enclave jutting into Belgium and it is the country’s fourth largest city. It is a mere one hour 20 […]

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A review of “The President Is Missing” by Bill Clinton and James Patterson

June 13th, 2019 by Roger Darlington

“Billed as “With details only a president could know and the kind of suspense only James Patterson can deliver”, this political thriller has been a best-seller and is set to to be turned into an ongoing drama series for television. So does it justify the hype? Of course, not.  On the plus side, it is […]

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