Archive for July, 2020


We know that there is lots of life on Earth, but is there any lyfe on Mars?

July 30th, 2020 by Roger Darlington

For centuries, there has been speculation about whether there is any life on our nearest planet Mars. After all, there are those ‘canals’ and there is some kind of atmosphere. Of course, it depends how you define “life” and, believe it or not, there is no absolutely agreed definition, but the American space agency NASA […]

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A review of the NEW film “Clemency”

July 25th, 2020 by Roger Darlington

After four months of the coronavirus lockdown, I was desperate to visit a theatre and see a new movie on the big screen. So I went to view whatever was showing on the first evening of the first cinema to open in central London. “Clemency” is hardly the most uplifting choice for such an occasion, […]

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A review of the 1944 movie classic “Gaslight”

July 23rd, 2020 by Roger Darlington

This is the film which gave rise to the term ‘to gaslight’, meaning to cause someone to doubt his or her sanity through psychological manipulation. In the film itself, a husband played by Charles Boyer seeks to undermine the sanity of his wife portrayed by Ingrid Bergman through – among other things – repeatedly dimming […]

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What did you do in the coronavirus lockdown, granddad? Well, one of the things I did was deliver over 30 online history lessons.

July 22nd, 2020 by Roger Darlington

When the country was suddenly plunged into lockdown and schools had to close their doors to most of their students, I was asked if I would help out with my nine year old granddaughter by doing an online history lesson with her once a week. When a young friend heard about this, she asked if […]

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A review of the film “A Good Day To Die Hard”

July 21st, 2020 by Roger Darlington

After the considerable success of “Die Hard” (1988) and “Die Hard 2” (1990) and the more restrained reception for “Die Hard With A Vengeance” (1995) and “Die Hard 4.0” (2007), it must have been just too tempting to milk the franchise a bit more with this fifth (and surely final) outing in 2013 by independent-minded […]

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Was it right to have a local lockdown in Leicester?

July 20th, 2020 by Roger Darlington

Here, in the UK, we have been easing lockdown restrictions for weeks now and, for most parts of the country, life is easier, although the coronavirus threat is still very real. However, for the people of Leicester, many restrictions have been reimposed rather than lifted. This local lockdown – the first of its kind in […]

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A review of the new film “Radioactive”

July 16th, 2020 by Roger Darlington

When was the last time that you saw a film devoted to the life of a distinguished female scientist? Exactly. And how many movies do you see directed by a woman? Far too few. We need more stories about women told by women, so this bio-pic of Polish-French physicist/chemist Marie Curie, directed by the Iranian […]

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What happens when the world’s population stops growing?

July 15th, 2020 by Roger Darlington

Most adults around the globe – me included – have contributed to the relentless rise in the world’s population which has devastated the planet. Today the world population stands at 7.8 billion and it is still growing – but this will not always be the case with huge consequences. You can find a good estimate […]

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A review of “Girl, Woman, Other” by Bernardine Evaristo

July 12th, 2020 by Roger Darlington

As a white, straight male, I might not be considered as an obvious reader for a polyphonic novel in which almost all the 12 voices are women of colour, several are lesbian, and one is trans gender. But this work by a Nigerian-British female author was (joint) winner of the Booker Prize in 2019 and […]

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Should Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia be a church, a mosque or a museum?

July 11th, 2020 by Roger Darlington

There are some locations which are so special that, although they are in a particular country, the world is concerned about them. Examples which I might suggest would include Stonehenge in Britain, St Mark’s Square in Italy, Auschwitz in Poland, Machu Picchu in Peru, the Giza pyramids in Egypt, the Taj Mahal in India, Uluru […]

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