The most diverse House of Representatives in American history
January 4th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
“Among the historic class of new congresspeople who took the oath of office in the US House of Representatives on Thursday are the first Native American women, the first Muslim women, the first black women elected from Massachusetts and Connecticut, the first Hispanic women elected from Texas, and the youngest woman to be elected to Congress.
There is a former NFL linebacker, a doctor and a climate scientist. There are a number of former members of the military and intelligence services, many of them women. There are seasoned veterans of past presidential administrations and a handful of political neophytes who never held office before running for Congress in 2018.
A record 102 women were sworn into the House on Thursday, 35 of whom were elected for the first time in November in a historic wave of success for female candidates.”
This is the introduction to a piece in today’s “Guardian” newspaper celebrating the exciting diversity of the new membership of the House of Representatives.
What is not new is the Speaker of the House. Democrat Nancy Pelosi is back with the gavel. Pelosi, who had previously served as Speaker from 2007-2011, became the first former Speaker to win re-election to the post since Sam Rayburn in 1955.
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Some international events and anniversaries in 2019
January 3rd, 2019 by Roger Darlington
Countries with more than a third of the world’s population will hold nation-wide elections. They include India, the planet’s largest democracy, plus the populous Indonesia, Nigeria and South Africa. The European Union – presumably down from 28 to 27 Member States because of Brexit – will have an election to the European Parliament,
China will be nervous about the number ‘9’. This year is the centenary of the May Fourth Movement, which the Communist Party celebrates, and the 30th anniversary of the demonstrations in Tiananmen Square, which the Communist Party never mentions. It is also the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic and 60th anniversary of the uprising in Tibet that led to the exile of the Dalai Lama.
Britain will or will not leave the European Union.
And maybe President Trump will resign.
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Word of the day: obesogenic
January 2nd, 2019 by Roger Darlington
The Obesity Health Alliance, an umbrella group that includes charities and medical organisations, said more urgent action than messages on swapping high-sugar foods for low-sugar alternatives was needed.
“Today’s children are growing up in obesogenic environments, bombarded by adverts and promotions for junk food online, on TV and in our supermarkets,” said Caroline Cerny, the alliance lead.
For more on this “Guardian” story, see here.
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A review of the new Mexican film “Roma”
January 2nd, 2019 by Roger Darlington
This is a deeply personal film from Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón whose previous work was the stunning “Gravity”. He has said that 90% of the narrative is autobiographical and accordingly it is set in a very particular place and time.
The place is a district of Mexico City called Colonia Roma – hence the title – which, at the period of the story, was a decadent area of middleclass families down on their luck. The time is a 10-month period from late 1970 to mid 1971 which included an earthquake and a student revolt.
Cuarón tells his personal story in a pronouncely personal style as writer, director and cinematographer, shooting in black and white, largely on location, and often using his signature long shots. The authenticity extends to the dialogue which is in both Spanish and Mixtec – the language of the Oaxaca region from where the domestic staff hail – plus (not subtitled) a bit of indigenous language.
From the opening credits – a lengthy view of a driveway being mopped by soapy water – to the closing shot – a sky traversed by the occasional aircraft – you know that you are in the hands of a true artist.
This understated film begins slowly, painting an intimate portrait of a professional family consisting of parents, a grandparent, four children and two housekeepers. But, as the story unfolds, there are scenes of profound impact which have life-changing import for all the characters.
Most unusually, the point of view is that of one of the servants Cleo who in real life was the Libo to whom the film is dedicated and who is still alive. The Paco boy character is director Cuarón who was 10 at the time of the incidents represented. Amazingly, only the person playing the mother (Marina de Tavira) had previous acting experience and yet the debut performance of Yalita Aparicion as Cleo is simply mesmerising.
“Roma” has rightly received rave reviews and it is Mexico’s entry to the Academy Awards for 2019. You can catch it on Netflix.
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For me, a new year means a new diary
January 1st, 2019 by Roger Darlington
I have a near-lifelong practice of writing a diary and I have an entry for every day since I started. As 2018 ends and 2019 starts, I have now kept a diary for 57 years and the total number of daily entries now stands at 20,817.
I find comfort in keeping a diary: I record everything I have done and I can note whatever I am feeling. Also I think that keeping diary makes me more reflective about my life.
I’ll keep going as long as I can …
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Why it’s fun to be in one’s 60s or 70s in today’s Britain
December 29th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
Since I was 70 this year, I’ve had to change the title of my light-hearted look at some of the advantages of being a pensioner in Britain. Check it out here.
Posted in British current affairs, History, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Binge-watching the television adaptation of “My Brilliant Friend”
December 28th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
Two years ago, it took me almost three months, but I completed my summer/autumn reading project: to read the four works and 1700 pages that make up the ‘Neapolitan Novels’, an acclaimed series by the Italian author Elena Ferrante.
This is a saga of the 60-year friendship between two girls from a poor neighbourhood of Naples after the Second World War: the narrator Elena Greco, known as Lenu, who becomes an accomplished writer and Raffaella Cerullo, known as Lila, whose never leaves Naples.
The first novel in the series is called “My Brilliant Friend” and I reviewed it here. The second novel is titled “The Story Of A New Name” and you can read my review here. The third novel is “Those Who Leave And Those Who Stay” and I reviewed it here. The fourth and final novel in the chronicle is called “The Story Of The Lost Child” and you’ll find my review here.
Over the last couple of months, I’ve been recording a couple of television series so that I can binge-watch them over the Christmas/New Year period and I’ve just started working my way through the eight episodes of the adaptation of “My Brilliant Friend”.
This is a wonderful Italian production with all the dialogue in Neapolitan or Italian and it’s available in the USA on HBO and in the UK on Sky Atlantic. You might not be able to catch the television series but I do recommend the novels.
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“Listening at Christmas – and always” by Roger Darlington
December 24th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
A few years after I left my secondary school in Manchester, I was invited to help out with the school’s Christmas Fair and I decided to have a go at being Father Christmas. I had recently grown my first full beard and thought that I would enter into the role by rubbing flour into my growth. Though I say it myself, I looked rather splendid and certainly I attracted lots of custom.
I was enjoying myself enormously, bringing a sense of magic to so many young children, but I was mystified by one young boy who paid for a second visit and then astonishingly for a third. The presents on offer were really pretty pitiful, so I asked him why he was coming to see me so often. He answered simply: “I just love talking to you.”
It was then that I realized that, in many households, parents do not encourage their children to talk and really listen to them. This was a lesson that I have taken with me throughout my life. So, at home, at work, socially, always encourage family, friends, colleagues to talk about themselves and their feelings – and really listen.
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How Jeremy became Paddy
December 24th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
Why was th deceased Liberal Party leader Paddy Asshdiwn called Paddy rather than Jeremy like the current Labour Party leader? This explanation is taken from the “Guardian” obituary:
John Ashdown, an Ulster Protestant who was an Indian army captain and his Ulster Catholic wife, Lois (nee Hudson), who had been an army nurse. The family did not return to Northern Ireland until after the end of the war, when his father invested his savings in a pig farm and then a market garden, both of which failed. Ashdown was christened Jeremy John Durham but gained his nickname, Paddy, from his Irish accent when his father managed to obtain a place for him at Bedford school, where he himself had been educated. The accent was soon lost, though the nickname never was, and there Ashdown obtained a military scholarship, which paid the school fees.
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My review of the award-winning film “Shoplifters”
December 24th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
Winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, this wonderful Japanese work was written, directed and edited by Hirokazu Kore-eda. Set in Toyko, it presents a vision of Japanese society that we rarely see: a disparate group living in real poverty and surviving through a mixture of irregular and insecure work, benefit fraud and the eponymous shoplifting.
The literal translation of the original Japanese title is “”Shoplifting Family” which is a better appellation because it more accurately conveys what the film is about. This is not a story about criminality but an examination of the nature of the family unit.
We never see a genuine family genuinely happy, but we do observe a gathering of different ages and origins who manage to create a support group imbued with sensitivity and care, although the motivations may be opaque and even selfish.
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