Archive for January, 2025
Where the Trump presidency came from and where it might go to
January 31st, 2025 by Roger Darlington
This week, Mark Malcolmson, the Director of the City Literary Institute in London gave one of his popular online lectures on the current political scene in the United States. Here are some take-away points with a bit of extra information from me.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
A review of the new book “Naples 1944” by Keith Lowe
January 21st, 2025 by Roger Darlington
My Italian mother was born in Naples in 1920 and lived there until she married my British father – an RAF fighter pilot – in 1946. So she lived through all the events described in this fascinating book. She died in 1999 and how I would have loved to discuss with her the contents of […]
Posted in History | Comments (0)
What is incoming President Trump up to with all his Executive Orders?
January 21st, 2025 by Roger Darlington
In a posting on this blog just over four years ago, I explained the nature of executive orders in the American political system and provided some data on their historical use. I’m reproducing that posting here: “This time of year four years ago, I was on a flight to Washington DC. The Americans had just […]
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
What should we understand by President Trump’s references to American exceptionalism
January 20th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
In his inauguration speech today, Donald trump used the word ‘exceptional’ quite deliberately as a reference to the notion of ‘American exceptionsalism’. But what does this term mean? In my website guide to the American political system, I provide this explanation:
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A review of the new movie “Babygirl”
January 19th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
This is such a watchable film: glitzy (smart clothes, cutting-edge technology, pounding soundtrack) and erotic (solo sex, marital sex, transgressive sex). It is also such an interesting film, raising so many issues around relationships: age-inappropriateness, power and powerlessness, domination and submission. I was struck by the number of young women at the screening I attended […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the 1955 classic “Rebel Without A Cause”
January 19th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
I confess that – other than clips on film courses – it took me 70 years finally to view this classic, but the delay meant that I caught it at the British Film Institute where I could view it in the original CinemaScope and Warnercolor. The work is famous as the third and last of […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
When and where was the world’s first railway line?
January 18th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
The world’s first public railway to use steam locomotives ran between Stockton and Darlington in the north-east of England. Since my family name is Darlington (although I’ve only visited the town once – in 1983), this historical event has always had a special resonance for me. The line was officially opened on 27 September 1825. […]
Posted in British current affairs, History, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Which British politician was responsible for the introduction of the world’s first zebra crossing?
January 12th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
The answer might surprise you – as it did me when the question was recently put to me by a friend over dinner. The answer is Jim Callaghan who, at the time, was a junior minister in the Ministry of Transport in Clement Attlee’s postwar Labour Government and subsequently became Prime Minister himself. In 1948, […]
Posted in History, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Normal service will now be resumed
January 6th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
I’ve had a personal blog called NightHawk for 22 years now but, for the last three weeks, I’ve had a technical problem which has prevented me from blogging. This has been one of the longest down times in the life of my blog and it has been deeply frustrating. But, thanks to an IT wizard, […]
Posted in Internet, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)