Archive for October, 2024
Kamala Harris vs Donald Trump: who will win?
October 31st, 2024 by Roger Darlington
This evening, I attended online a 90-minute presentation on the US presidential election given by Mark Malcolmson, the Principal of London’s City Literary Institute and an expert on American politics. Here are my take-aways with some key quotes. Following Joe Biden’s eventual withdrawal from the race thanks to the decisive intervention of longtime ally and […]
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A review of the new film “The Room Next Door”
October 29th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
An internationally acclaimed director: the Spanish Pedro Almodovar making his first English-language film in his distinguished canon of 23 movies and one where he is writer as well as director. Two very talented actresses: Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore who are rarely off the scene in what is effectively an impressive two-hander. A serious social […]
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A review of the ambitious work “Why Empires Fall”
October 27th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
John Rapley is a political economist at the University of Cambridge and Peter Heather is Chair of Medieval History at King’s College, London. Together they have written a work which essentially argues that currently the Western Empire faces the kind of challenges that led to the collapse of the Roman Empire around 500 AD. The […]
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Holiday in India & Bhutan (14): back to Kolkata
October 16th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
On Tuesday, we started the return home by leaving Bhutan for India, so it was another early start as we left our hotel at 7 am. In all my years of travel, I’ve never experienced an airport which is so calm and so beautifully decorated and so gloriously located as Paro in Bhutan. It was […]
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Holiday in India & Bhutan (13): Thimphu
October 15th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
Monday was the day of the least travel and the most sightseeing of the entire trip. All our day was spent in Thimphu and we had no less than eight events. We started with the Memorial Chorten which was built in 1974 in memory of Bhutan’s third king, Druk Gyalpo, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck (1928-1972) who […]
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Holiday in India & Bhutan (12): Punakha
October 13th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
Sunday too was part sightseeing and part travel. Leaving our hotel at 9 am, we walked through rice fields to the village of Lobesa and up steps and slopes to the Chimi Lhakand Temple and Monastery which was first built in 1499. It has two really odd dedications. First, it is dedicated to a guy […]
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Holiday in India & Bhutan (11): Paro To Punakha
October 12th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
Saturday was part sightseeing and part travel. According to the original programme, this morning we should have visited the National Museum – something recommended to me by a friend. But the museum was closed, so we were taken instead to an archery contest. Now archery is the national sport in Bhutan and astonishingly these guys […]
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Holiday in India & Bhutan (10): Tiger’s Nest
October 11th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
Today – it was Friday – I experienced the toughest climb of my life and the most stunning view of my life. This was because we visited the so-called Tiger’s Nest. Paro Taktsang, the proper name for the Tiger’s Nest Monastery, is a sacred Vajrayana Himalayan Buddhist site. According to legend, Guru Padmasambhava flew to […]
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Holiday in India & Bhutan (9): Paro
October 10th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
Thursday was largely a travelling day, but a much easier one than our other travelling days. The journey was from Phuntsholing, just inside Bhutan, to Paro, a town south of the capital of Bhutan in the west of the country. Our guide in Bhutan is called Jigme (which means fearless) and our driver in Bhutan […]
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Holiday in India & Bhutan (8): journey to Bhutan
October 9th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
Wednesday was totally a travelling day. In our convoy of six SUVs, we left the Mayfair Hotel in Darjeeling, India (where we had spent three nights) at 8.45 am and finally arrived at the Phuntsholing Hotel in Phuntsholing, Bhutan (where we will spend one night) at 6.30 pm India time and 7 pm Bhutan time […]
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