Archive for November, 2019
How green is your energy tariff?
November 12th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
A recent examination of the UK energy sector by the independent consumer body Which? commented as follows: “A third of customers believe that if an energy tariff is marked ‘green’ or ‘renewable’ then they expect to get 100% renewable electricity supplied to their home. Another 11% expect that the supplier generates some of the renewable […]
Posted in Consumer matters, Environment | Comments (0)
Five things to know about the artist Bridget Riley
November 11th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
This weekend, I went to the Hayward Gallery on London’s South Bank to see an excellent exhibition of the British artist Bridget Riley. The gallery’s web site has a short article highlighting five facts about Riley: Her abstract paintings explore perception and the way in which we see. Much of her work is inspired by […]
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A review of “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood
November 10th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
“The Handmaid’s Tale” was published in 1985 and I eventually read it in 1994. When the sequel “The Testaments” was published in 2019, I was keen to read it, but I wanted to reread the original work first. The first book is a record made by a Handmaid called Offred who serves a senior Commander […]
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A review of the latest Ken Loach film “Sorry We Missed You”
November 10th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
Nobody produces screen work like British television and film director Ken Loach. Now in his 80s, ever since the 1960s – with “Cathy Come Home” and “Poor Cow” – through to “I, Daniel Blake”, he has created a series of trenchant pieces of social commentary that dissect the causes of the darkness faced by so […]
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A war to end no wars
November 9th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
This evening, I was returning home in the dark when an elderly couple asked me for directions to a location on London’s South Bank and I took them to the place they were seeking to link up with their son. The husband told me that a short animation had been made about his wife’s grandfather […]
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How did Britain’s two-party system come about?
November 7th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
I’m doing a six-week evening class at London’s City Literary Institute entitled: “The Making Of The United Kingdom 1603-1801: Restoration, Revolution, and Political Unions”. This week’s session – the second – was all about the reign of King Charles II, a period which saw the emergence of the two-party system of politics in Britain. The […]
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Enjoying the different versions of “His Dark Materials”
November 4th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
It’s great that at the weekend BBC One began broadcasting an eight-part television adaptation of the first novel in the brilliant “His Dark Materials” trilogy by Philip Pullman. I really admired the books: “Northern Lights” – my review here ‘The Subtle Knife” -my review here “The Amber Spyglass” – my review here The first novel was turned into a […]
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Did you know that the Italians bombed Britain in the Second World War?
November 3rd, 2019 by Roger Darlington
I didn’t – even though I know a fair bit about World War Two and my mother was Italian. Check out this short video:
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A review of the Depression-era musical “Gold Diggers Of 1933”
November 2nd, 2019 by Roger Darlington
The gold diggers of the title are New York chorus girls struggling to eat and pay the rent during the Great Depression who are not above seducing older men with more money than sense. If this seems an unlikely theme for a romantic musical, it managed to raise the spirits of its contemporary audience and […]
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Why the English civil war is a misnomer
November 1st, 2019 by Roger Darlington
This week, I started a new six-week evening class at London’s City Literary Institute. The course – deliver by Dr Jamie McDougall – is entitled: “The Making Of The United Kingdom 1603-1801: Restoration, Revolution, and Political Unions”. I thought it would be a good time to understand how the UK was created when we are […]
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