Archive for May, 2025


A review of the blockbuster movie “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning”

May 31st, 2025 by Roger Darlington

For the eighth time in almost 30 years, Ethan Hunt completes an impossible mission, this time saving the entire global population from death or control by a super version of AI called The Entity. If the basic premise seems familiar, that’s because – in spite of a title change – this movie is narratively a […]

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Fika – what does it mean and why is it so important in Swedish culture?

May 30th, 2025 by Roger Darlington

Fika is often translated as “a coffee and cake break”, which is kind of correct, but really it is much more than that. Fika is a concept, a state of mind, an attitude and an important part of Swedish culture. Many Swedes consider that it is almost essential to make time for fika every day. It means making time […]

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A review of the book “Four Thousand Weeks” by Oliver Burkeman (2021)

May 29th, 2025 by Roger Darlington

For many years, Burkeman wrote a column on psychology for the “Guardian” newspaper entitled ‘This Column Will Change Your Life’ which I read often. This work could be subtitled ‘This Book Will Change Your Life’ and it was recommended to me by a friend who works for Facebook. The title rests on the calculation that, […]

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Would you want to know if you are at risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease?

May 19th, 2025 by Roger Darlington

In the UK, there are currently around one million cases of people with dementia. Some 60-70% of all cases of dementia are a form of Alzheimer’s disease. In Alzheimer’s disease, certain proteins build up in the brain. One protein called amyloid forms sticky clumps called ‘plaques’ outside the brain cells. Another protein known as ‘Tau’ […]

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A reminder on VE Day:

May 8th, 2025 by Roger Darlington

About 2.5 million personnel from the Indian subcontinent, more than 1 million African-Americans, 1 million people from Africa and tens of thousands of people from the Caribbean fought for the allies during World War Two.

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A review of the new superhero movie “Thunderbolts*”

May 4th, 2025 by Roger Darlington

The hugely successful (over $30 billion in revenues) and massively prolonged (17 years and 36 films) Marvel Cinematic Universe has been looking rather lame of late, but this movie has brought some freshness to the franchise. With the Avengers officially history, a new team was required to save the world if not the universe and […]

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