Archive for June, 2023


A review of “Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny”

June 30th, 2023 by Roger Darlington

In 1981, the film world was presented with a new hero, except that in fact Indiana Jones was a reprise of, and a homage to, the 1940s action men so beloved by then wunder-kids George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Almost unbelievably, some 42 years later, Indy has donned his leather jacket and fedora and picked […]

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Word of the day: chuckleberry

June 30th, 2023 by Roger Darlington

A chuckleberry is a hybrid between a redcurrant, gooseberry and jostaberry (a jostaberry already being a hybrid of a gooseberry and blackcurrant). This large mix of different flavour profiles has resulted in a dark red/purple fruit around the size of a blackcurrant, with a complex, yet delicious taste. It provides vibrancy and sharpness to cooking, […]

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A review of the 1964 epic war movie “Zulu”

June 23rd, 2023 by Roger Darlington

No less than 11 Victoria Crosses were awarded to the British defenders of Rorke’s Drift at the battle in Natal which took place on 22-23 January 1879. Amazingly some 150 British soldiers, around 30 of them sick or wounded patients in a field hospital, held off a force of about 4,000 Zulu warriors. Inevitably there […]

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The case for a wealth tax becomes stronger every day

June 20th, 2023 by Roger Darlington

“Tax extreme wealth to pay for the climate-related damage to the poorest, a group of more than 100 leading economists have urged. A wealth tax on the fortunes of the world’s richest people would raise trillions of dollars that could be spent on helping poorer countries shift their economies to a low-carbon footing, and on […]

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A review of the new action movie “The Mother”

June 17th, 2023 by Roger Darlington

This is a Netflix effort to produce a female version of the traditional action movie, so women fill the roles of director (New Zealander Niki Caro), writer (African-American Misha Green), star (dancer, singer and actress Jennifer Lopez as a retired assassin and the unnamed Mother) and support (Mexican-born Lucy Paez as the Mother’s daughter Zoe […]

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Samuel Ryde photographs Roger Darlington

June 15th, 2023 by Roger Darlington

London photographer Sam Ryde has just completed a photographic project hosted by the Bankside Hotel in central London where Sam was the artist in residence. As part of this project, he photographed a number of people living close to the hotel in their own home. I was one of his subjects and this what he […]

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A review of the Len Deighton novel “Winter”

June 8th, 2023 by Roger Darlington

Sometimes a book sits on the shelf for such a long time before it is read. This novel was bought for me in 1988 but it took me until 2023 before I actually read it. The Winter of the title is not a season of the year but the name of a German family and […]

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A review of the 2019 film “Le Mans ’66”

June 7th, 2023 by Roger Darlington

I’m no petrolhead. I don’t own a car and I don’t even drive. But this car-racing movie is a cracker. That’s because it’s a well-written, character-driven film pitting corporate bureaucracy against individual flair. The corporation is the American Ford motor company which decides in the mid 1960s that it wants to make its image more […]

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Would a universal basic income work? Let’s try it.

June 6th, 2023 by Roger Darlington

“A universal basic income of £1,600 a month is to be trialled in England for the first time in a pilot programme. Thirty people will be paid a lump sum without conditions each month for two years and will be observed to understand the effects on their lives. Two places in England have been selected […]

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A review of the 2020 film “23 Walks”

June 5th, 2023 by Roger Darlington

The title could be off-putting but, in fact, there is very little counting, although there is a lot of walking (and talking) in this London-based relationship movie. Dave (played by Dave Johns who was so good in the eponymous role in “I, Daniel Blake”) and his large dog Tillie come across Fern (played by Alison […]

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