Archive for August, 2026
A review of the new book “Israel: What Went Wrong?” by Omer Bartov (2026)
August 30th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
Bartov is a Jew who was born and raised in Israel in a resolutely left-wing kibbutz and served in the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) for four years which included the 1973 Yom Kippur War. He took his first degree at Tel Aviv University and his doctorate at Oxford University. Since 1987, he has been teaching […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (1)
A review of the classic 1980 film “The Shining”
August 28th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
Confession time: it took me 46 years to see this movie. I’m a massive fan of Stanley Kubrick, who produced, directed and co-wrote it, but I don’t like horror and I’m adverse to the supernatural. Although it initially had mixed reviews, The Shining has come to be regarded as one of the greatest horror movies ever made […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (1)
How was the state of Israel created?
August 28th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
Many people seem not to know or to have forgotten. Israel was not created by the British (in spite of the Balfour Declaration of 1917 or the British Mandate of 1920-1948) and it was not created simply through a takeover by Jewish settlers (although the Nakba was an expulsion of some 750,000 Palestinians). It was […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
A review of the classic Italian movie “L’Avventura” (1960)
August 20th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
How would you characterise an art house film? Probably foreign, likely black and white, little action, people behaving oddly, striking visuals, opaque messaging, and s-l-o-w. The Italian “L’Avventura” is then the archetypical art house film. The story was composed by the director Michaelangelo Antonioni. At first, it looks as if the main character is the […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the classic movie”Bonnie And Clyde” (1967)
August 19th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
Loosely based on the exploits of bank robbers Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker in Depression era America of 1932-1934, this is very much Warren Beatty’s film: be bought the rights to an early script, he made uncredited contributions to the screenplay, he was producer and he took the role of Clyde. Equally look-looking Faye Dunaway […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (1)
Obama’s missing memoir
August 18th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
Long before Barack Obama became President of the United States, I read his two books: “Dreams From My Father” [my review click here] and “The Audacity Of Hope” [my review click here]. Then, more recently, I read Michelle Obama’s work “Becoming” [my review click here]. I’m a huge fan of the Obamas and looked forward immensely to Barack […]
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (1)
A review of the classic Spanish film”All About My Mother” (1999)
August 17th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
Internationally, this was the breakout movie for the Spanish Pedro Almodóvar who both wrote and directed it. It won him the Best Director prize at Cannes Film Festival and it won Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards. Famously, Aldomóvar is a gay man who adores women. He was brought up in a household […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (1)
Does Israel have a written constitution?
August 15th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
Israel is one of a tiny number of countries in the world – the others are the United Kingdom and New Zealand – that does not have a written constitution in the sense of a single, codified constitutional document. On 14 May 1948, as the British mandate was about to expire, the Jewish People’s Council […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (1)
A review of the 1944 classic movie “Meet Me In St Louis”
August 9th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
I’m not keen on musicals and I can’t identify with a rich, white family in the America of 1903, but it’s hard not to be caught up in the exuberance of the Smith family of St Louis, as the city prepares to host the Louisiana Purchase Exposition to celebrate the centennial of the acquisition of […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (1)
A review of the new blockbuster movie “Spider-Man: Brand New Day”
August 9th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
Four years have elapsed since the last Spider-Man movie and this film is presented as a reset. A new director, Destin Daniel Cretton (“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”), takes over the franchise in a scenario where, thanks to Dr Strange’s powers in the last film, the identity of Spider-Man (once again played […]
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)