Word of the day: kilonova
October 26th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
I’m endlessly fascinated by the size and complexity of the known universe. We seem to know so little and are regularly discovering new objects. So I know about the type of object called a supernova. But today is the first time that I’ve heard of a kilovova.
A kilonova (also called a macronova) is a transient astronomical event that occurs in a compact binary system when two neutron stars or a neutron star and a black hole merge.You can read more about the recent discovery of one of these objects, and how it creates heavy elements, here.
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What is the origin of the knickerbocker glory?
October 25th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
I’ve just returned from a break in Edinburgh and, on the first night, I enjoyed a knickerbocker glory at a local Italian restaurant. This set me thinking about the origin of the dessert, so I looked it up on Wikipedia which states:
“A knickerbocker glory is a layered ice cream sundae that is served in a large tall conical glass, and to be eaten with a distinctive long spoon, particularly in Great Britain and Ireland.See alsoThe knickerbocker glory, first described in the 1920s, may contain ice cream, cream, fruit, and meringue. Layers of these different sweet tastes are alternated in a tall glass and topped with different kinds of syrup, nuts, whipped cream and often a cherry. The existence of these layers, which create red and white stripes, distinguishes the dish from a tall sundae and lends the knickerbocker glory its name. In the United States this dish is more commonly known as a parfait.
An early form of the knickerbocker glory is believed to have originated in New York in the early 1900s. The name knickerbocker (as it pertains to the dish) is thought to be named after The Knickerbocker Hotel in Manhattan, New York. During the early 1900s the hotel was pink-and-cream colored and well known to the denizens of New York. After it closed in 1920, a tall pink-and-cream colored dish was created in honor of the hotel and the word glory was appended to the name of the dish.
At some point in the 1920s the dish was introduced into the United Kingdom, where it attained great acclaim.”
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A review of the philosophy book “How To Be Good” by John Harris (2016)
October 24th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
I don’t read books about philosophy very often because I find them too abstract and removed from the real world, but this book was given me by the author (Emeritus Professor of Bioethics at the University of Manchester), it is commendably short (less than 200 pages), and the title intrigued me. It is a thoughtful and thought-provoking work. However, it is a rather academic text (the publisher is the Oxford University Press) written in long, if carefully constructed, sentences with some specialist terminology.There are many references to past works and previous differences with other academics, notably Ingmar Persson and Julian Savulescu, and yet Harris eventually concedes “I do not think P&S and I are, all things considered, so far apart” and acknowledges “It may well in the end come down to a clash of values” (which, I find, is often the case in arguments).
Harris is noted, in the world of philosophers, as being a libertarian-consequentialist. He favours the maximum freedom of choice and believes that a decision can only been regarded as moral is there is choice. What is the best choice? It is the one that, inter alia, best promotes justice, the rights and interests of persons, animals, and the planet and which best protects sentient individuals from suffering and harm”.
And how should one make choices? He insists that ‘ethical judgements involve, almost always, a combination of evidence and argument”. He believes – as I do – that “science is our chief hope for the future of humankind”.
I have myself written a layperson’s guide on “How To Be Good” [click here].
Posted in Cultural issues, My life & thoughts, Social policy | Comments (0)
Why did Scotland join with England in 1707?
October 22nd, 2023 by Roger Darlington
I sometimes wonder how well the peoples of the United Kingdom understand how that union was brought about and I really recommend the new BBC television series “Union” written and presented by David Olusoga.
I am in Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital, for a few days. Today I went on a walking tour that I postponed from yesterday when it was still wet because of Storm Babet.
It was enjoyable but, when I asked the guide about the Darien Scheme, he confessed that he had never heard of it. Yet the venture of 1698-1699 was a major factor in the union of Scotland with England in 1707 – a union which is now contested.
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A review of the classic Indian film “Pather Panchali”
October 19th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
The story of the little Bengali boy Apu started as the first of three bestselling novels by Bhibuti Bashan Bannerjee and became the first of three films by acclaimed Indian director Satyajit Ray: “Pather Panchali” (“Little Song Of The Road”) in 1955, “Aparajito” (“The Unvanquished”) in 1956, and “Apur Sansar” (“The World Of Apu”) in 1959. Astonishingly, the first film in the Apu trilogy was Ray’s debut and it took him a couple of years to make because of lack of funds.It is a black and white work of some two hours shot in the Bengali language with evocative music from Ravi Shanker and I was fortunate enough to see a restored version at the British Film Institute. The story is one of grinding poverty and repeated misfortune, but it is told in a loving and humanist way. Much of the photography – especially the use of water, wind and reflections – is magical and the only sign of modernity is a famous scene where Apu and his older sister Durga have a glimpse of a passing train.
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A review of “Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zevin
October 18th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
I was attracted to this novel by its intriguing title, its wonderful cover, and the awareness that it has become a global bestseller. The title is a reference both to the possibility of infinite rebirth offered by video games and to the soliloquy about the meaninglessness of life in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”. Spanning two and a half decades, the narrative is about the working and personal relationships between three young pioneers of the American video gaming industry and alludes to many real and imagined games.Now I have never played a video game in my life, the story begins slowly and the text runs to almost 500 pages, so at first I was not sure how I was going to get along with it, but I found that I really enjoyed the novel and did not want it to end. The author knows her gaming, having two parents who worked in computers and being a lifelong gamer, but the novel is as much about love and friendship as it is about the gaming industry and there are some astute observations about ethnicity and disability, so it has wide appeal.
One of the leading characters, comparing his troubled life with that of the gaming character Ichigo that he created, laments: “He wanted Ichigo’s life, a lifetime of endless,immaculate tomorrows, free of mistakes and the evidence of having lived.” When he gives a TED Talk, he insists: “What I believe to my very core is that virtual worlds can be better than the actual world. They can be more moral, more just, more progressive, more empathetic, and more accommodating of difference.”
“Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow” is going to be a film and I look forward to seeing it.
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A review of the bizarre new movie “Poor Things”
October 15th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
I confess that I struggled with the last work from director Yorgos Lanthimos, the 2018 film “The Favourite”, as I found the treatment of historic British characters just too off-beat and his whole style just too dislocated. But I warmed much more to “Poor Things”. Aurally, visually and narratively, this is an unsettling film but I found it stunning: always fascinating, frequently sexy and funny, and ultimately quite profound.Lanthimos’s odd angles and curving wide-angle shots suit this bizarre tale of a Dr Frankenstein-type figure (a grisly-looking Willem Defoe) who has brought back to life a female suicide Bella Baxter (Emma Stone) by replacing her brain with that of her unborn child. Stone’s unconventional looks are perfect for this evolving role and, in a magnificent performance, she reveals all, both physically and emotionally. As two very different suitors of Bella, Mark Ruffalo and Ramy Youssef rise to the occasion.
The radically unconventional story – set in Victorian times – comes from a novel by Scottish writer Alasdair Gray published in 1992, but the treatment is pure Lanthimos, while the sound, sets and costumes all help to create a world that is overwhelmingly theatrical (it was shot in studios in Budapest). At almost two and a half hours, it is the longest work by Lanthimos but it is never less than captivating.
I saw “Poor Things” at the 2023 London Film Festival and it will be released in cinemas on 12 January 2024.
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A review of the coming film “One Life”
October 15th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
The 2000 documentary “Into The Arms Of Strangers” was a harrowing account of the Kindertransport, the transfer from the Nazi terror of Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia to Britain of some 10,000 unaccompanied Jewish children in the nine-month window of opportunity between Krystalnacht and the outbreak of war. “One Life” is the story of how one young British businessman, called Nicholas Winton, organised evacuations that saved the lives of 669 of those children.Veteran actor Anthony Hopkins plays Winton in old age, thinking back to his rescue efforts when he is portrayed by Johnny Flynn. Hopkins, as always, is wonderful and the scenes where, on the television programme “That’s Life” he meets as adults some of those whom he saved as children, brought tears to my eyes. A strong support cast includes Helena Bonham-Carter, Jonathan Pryce and (a personal favourite) Romola Garai.
The 1939 scenes are shot in Prague, from where the Kindertransport children boarded the trains, so there is a strong sense of verisimilitude. Sadly the problem of refugees fleeing a tyrannical regime is all too contemporary.
I attended the European premiere of the film in the presence of the director, writers and crew (the actors were on strike), an event held at the Royal Festival Hall as part of the 2023 London Film Festival. I was privileged to be accompanying my friend, 95 year old Gerda Svarny, who was one of 11 surviving Kindertransport children at the screening.
“One Life” will be released in cinemas on 1 January 2024.
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A new film honouring the lifesaving work of Nicholas Winton
October 14th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
This week saw a very special occasion as I walked the red carpet at London’s Royal Festival Hall and attended the European premiere of the British film “One Life”. The film tells the story of Nicholas Winton who, in 1939, saved the lives of 669 Jewish children by organising kindertransport from Czechoslovakia.I attended the event with my remarkable friend Gerda Svarny who was one of those children and who is now aged 95. I will be telling Gerda’s story in my next book.
Also at the screening was another of the children of the Kindertransport, Labour peer Alf Dubs, with whom I renewed an old acquaintance. In all, there were 11 surviving members of the 669 plus at least a hundred relatives of those whom Winton saved.
“One Life” is being shown this week as part of the 2023 London Film Festival and will go on general release in January 2024.
Posted in Cultural issues, History | Comments (0)
A review of the new film “The Old Oak”
October 6th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
Ken Loach is a singular British director who addresses social issues that few others consider and does so in a characteristically humanist, even socialist, style. so it’s rather sad to learn that this is probably the last work from the 87 year old filmmaker.Following “I, Daniel Blake” (the benefits system) and “Sorry We Missed You” (the gig economy), “The Old Oak” – the title is the pub where much of the action unfolds – looks at the way some working class people (the story is set in the north-east of England) react to the arrival of refugees from war-torn Syria (the sitting is 2016). Like the previous two films, the mood is almost unremittingly grim, although this time there is an attempt to manufacture an uplifting ending.
As with all Loach’s work, the director highlights an important social issue with force and passion, but his approach is didactic. As so often, the characters are one-dimensional and the dialogue is rather leaden (the script is from Loach’s regular screenwriter Paul Laverty) and the cast is mostly unknown and inexperienced (it often shows). So a worthy, but ultimately rather underwhelming, finale from Ken Loach.
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