Voting: you think you know when it’s over and you think you know when it’s going to take place
December 10th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
It’s over a month since the Congressional mid-term elections took place in the United States but we still don’t know all the results. In North Carolina, the outcome of the election in the 9th House District is still in dispute. Check out the problem here.
Meanwhile, for days, we’ve been told that the House of Commons would vote tomorrow on Theresa May’s Brexit deal. We knew that it would be rejected by MPs but thought we could then focus on the way forward. But now the vote has been postponed and we don’t know when it will take place, Check out the news here.
Democracy, eh? Kinda messy. But, heh, it’s better than the alternatives, right?
Posted in American current affairs, British current affairs | Comments (0)
A review of the new film “Creed II”
December 6th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
This film could almost as fairly been titled “Rocky VIII” since once again it stars Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa and Stallone both co-wrote and co-produced. What’s more the central plot device is a essentially a re-run of “Rocky IV” as the son of Apollo Creed – Michael B Jordan as Adonis – accepts the challenge of the son of Ivan Drago – Florian Munteanu as Viktor – as the first seeks to avenge the death of his father and the second attempts to restore the honour of his father.
Of course, Rocky is no longer a fighter but a trainer, the Russian characters are very one-dimensional, and the final outcome is never in doubt, but young, black director Steven Caple Jr. does a decent job taking over from Ryan Coogler, another young and black director who did so well with “Creed”. We have all the familiar “Rocky” tropes, including fearsome training techniques, and this time multiple father-son relationships in a very satisfying sequel in which the actual boxing matches are genuinely visceral.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Have you heard of the Holocaust?
December 5th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
Of course, you have. I believe (and I hope) that people who read this blog are at least averagely well-informed. But a new survey has revealed an astonishing (and very worrying) lack of knowledge of the Holocaust and widespread prejudice against Jews.
A recent survey by CNN found that about one European in 20 in the countries surveyed has never heard of the Holocaust, even though it’s less than 75 years since the end of World War II, and there are still tens of thousands of Holocaust survivors alive today.
Lack of Holocaust knowledge is particularly striking among young people in France: One out of five people there between the ages of 18 and 34 said they’d never heard of it.
In Austria — the country where Hitler was born — 12% of young people said they had never heard of the Holocaust. Austria also had the highest number of people in the survey saying they knew “just a little” about the Holocaust. Four out of 10 Austrian adults said that.
Across Europe, half of respondents said they know “a fair amount” about the Holocaust, while only one out of five people said they know “a great deal.”
[Americans do not fare any better: A survey carried out on behalf of the Claims Conference earlier this year found that 10% of American adults were not sure they’d ever heard of the Holocaust, rising to one in five millennials. Half of all millennials could not name a single concentration camp, and 45% of all American adults failed to do so.]
I can recommend an informative and accessible book on the Holocaust which I have reviewed here.
Posted in History, World current affairs | Comments (0)
How is the Brexit crisis going to work out? I venture 16 predictions …
December 4th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
- In the House of Commons “meaningful vote” on Theresa May’s Brexit deal, there is no majority for the deal.
- The Parliamentary Labour Party tables a vote of no confidence in the Government. It fails.
- The 1922 Committee tables a vote of no confidence in May as Conservative Party leader. It fails.
- May seeks to tweak elements of the deal with the European Commission. She achieves no substantive changes.
- A group of MPs puts forward a ‘Norway plus’ deal. The European Commission is not interested and no real progress is made.
- A group of MPs puts forward a ‘Canada plus’ deal. The European Commission is not interested and no real progress is made.
- The UK asks the other 27 Member States of the European Union for an extension to the Article 50 process to allow time for the holding a second referendum. A few extra months is granted.
- Parliament passes the necessary legislation for a second referendum. The only real debate is the choice to be presented on the ballot paper. The choice is Brexit on the terms negotiated by May or continued UK membership of the EU on current terms
- The Electoral Commission tightens up the rules on spending in the referendum.
- May campaigns hard for her deal. Corbyn campaigns much less hard for staying in the EU.
- The referendum campaign is a bitter and divisive one.
- Turnout is even higher than for the first referendum.
- The result of the second referendum is almost a mirror image of that of the first one: 53% to stay and 47% to leave.
- May resigns as leader of the Conservative Party. There is a battle for the soul of the party.
- Labour demands of the new Prime Minister that a General Election be called. There is no election.
- Corbyn resigns as leader of the Labour Party. There is a battle for the soul of the party.
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (6)
Ever heard of the idea of a fecal transplant?
December 3rd, 2018 by Roger Darlington
No, me neither. Until this weekend when I was happily eating a delicious Chinese meal with Czech/Mexican friends over from Prague and the subject came up of basically eating someone else’s poo.
Apparently it is a serious and – in some circumstances – useful process. You can read more about it here.
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (0)
A review of the new independent film “Wildlife”
December 1st, 2018 by Roger Darlington
This is a small story but one about a common occurrence – an imploding marriage – and it is told in a manner which is largely slow and quiet (the pace and action only pick up towards the end). Consequently it is not a film that will appeal to everyone but it is wonderfully acted and beautifully shot.
Set in a small town in Montana in the 1960s, this is the directorial debut of actor Paul Dano and he co-wrote the script with his partner Zoe Dano, the tale being an adaptation of the novel by Pulitzer Prize-winner Richard Ford.
The marriage in question is that of Jerry (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Jeanette (Cary Mulligan) but the viewpoint is that of their teenage son Joe (Ed Oxenbould) who reacts with his eyes more than with his words. All the performances are impressive but Mulligan is outstanding as a wife and mother who needs to find herself.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
What would it take for Britain to have another snap General Election?
November 29th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
We are close to a constitutional crisis if, as widely expected, British Prime Minister Theresa May fails to achieve a majority vote in the House of Commons for her Brexit deal. Many – including Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn – are calling for a General Election. But how likely is that?
In the past, elections to the House of Commons had to be held within five years of the previous General Election, but the Prime Minister had complete discretion over the actual date which was often the subject of considerable speculation and frequently a year or more before an election was legally necessary.
The Conservative/Liberal Democrat Coalition Government agreed to the establishment of five year fixed-term parliaments and the necessary legislation was enacted in the Fixed Term Parliament Act of 2011.
Therefore, subject to either a vote of no confidence in the Government (following which there is 14 days to attempt to form a new government that does have the confidence of the House) or a two-thirds majority vote (which effectively means both major parties supporting the motion), a General Election will now be held on the first Thursday of May five years after the previous election.
In my view, even if the Brexit deal goes down (as I want). the Government would win a no confidence vote and, even if it did not, Conservative MPs would not vote for an early General Election (turkeys rarely vote for Christmas).
The best resolution would be a second referendum with a straight choice between May’s Brexit deal or remaining in the European Union on current terms. This way, hopefully we can stop the madness of the last two and a half years and stay in the EU.
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (4)
Discovery of an intact Spitfire after 76 years
November 28th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
A long-lost Second World War Spitfire flown by a pilot who was part of the “Great Escape” has been found almost entirely intact on a Norwegian mountain – 76 years after it was shot down by the Germans.
The discovery is the first time for more than 20 years that a substantially complete and previously unknown Spitfire from this period has been found anywhere in the world. Its pilot was captured and ultimately executed by the Nazis for taking part in the war’s most famous prisoner-of-war breakout, immortalised in the classic movie “The Great Escape”.
Of substantial historical importance, the find highlights a normally ignored aspect of the Second World War – the RAF’s ultra-secret aerial wartime espionage missions.
You can read more about this aircraft here.
A television documentary on the discovery and recovery of Spitfire AA810 will be broadcast, as part of the “Digging for Britain” archaeology series, on BBC4 at 9 pm today Wednesday 28 November.
Posted in History | Comments (0)
A review of the latest “Robin Hood” film
November 27th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
Following Kevin Costner (1991) and Russell Crowe (2010), we now have a much younger actor – Taron Egerton of the two “Kingsman” films – in the hands of a new film director – Otto Bathurst, all of whose previous work has been on television – attempting to do something new with this mythic hero of 12th century England.
A major problem is that the work does not feel English: it was shot by an Hungarian crew in Croatia and we have actors from Ireland, Australia and the United States. Also it does not feel authentic: the Sheriff of Nottingham (Ben Mendelsohn) in particular looks and sounds out of place, wearing contemporary clothing and giving a speech which could have been uttered by a modern populist politician when he isn’t hinting at child abuse.
Where the film does score is in its action sequences which are plentiful and owe a lot to CGI. The plot is an origin story and the producers clearly hope that they’ve created a new franchise, but I’m certainly not holding my breath for a sequel.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Seven of the many things I learned from Joshua (aged 11)
November 26th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
I spent last week in Oxford looking after 11 year old Joshua, the son of my close Chinese friends, while both his parents were in China on separate business trips. In the course of the week, Joshua and I had many discussions and I learned so much from this clever young man including the following:
- One of the greatest heroes in Greek mythology was someone called Bellerophon – see here.
- There is a town in Turkey called Batman – see here.
- Three men have won the Victoria Cross twice – see here.
- There is a song naming all the elements of the periodic table – see here.
- A popular children’s novel is “Goodnight Mr Tom” – see here.
- The smallest unit of measurement is the yocto – see here.
- The word anatidaephobia means a fear of being observed by a duck – see here.
Posted in Miscellaneous, My life & thoughts | Comments (1)