A review of “The August Uprising, 1924” by Eric Lee
November 29th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
An earlier book by Lee, “The Experiment” (2017), described, comprehensively and fairly, something unique in Eastern European history: the successful establishment of an independent Georgia, governed on the basis of democratic socialism, from 1918-1921 when it was brutally subjugated by the Bolshevik forces of revolutionary Russia. Now he revisits this place and period to examine the short-lived but consequential uprising against Communist control of Georgia in the summer of 1924.
It is an astonishing story in so many respects. The uprising was known in advance by the secret police, it started a day earlier than intended, it lasted mere days, it was very quickly suppressed, and it achieved very little internally beyond many deaths of the supporters of democratic socialism. Yet, Lee skilfully uses this ‘small’ event as a prism to shed light on major, contemporaneous shifts in the European balance between totalitarian communism and democratic socialism, a disruption in political tectonic plates that reverberates through to today when Russia and Ukraine present such different visions of how society should be run and other European powers have to decide whether and how to become involved.
So Lee’s fascinating work is a wide and deep look at early 20th century socialist history, starting with the so-called October revolution (which he prefers to call – more accurately – the coup d’etat of November 1917) through to the founding meeting of the Socialist International in 1951. The book is meticulously researched and clearly written with a honest assessment of different versions of certain events and an admission about what is still not clear on key features of the uprising.
We inevitably ponder. Why did the uprising take place at all when it was, so obviously, doomed to fail? Why did the Soviet leadership react so prominently to such a seemingly minor event? And how many actually died in the uprising? Lee offers his answers but the death roll is the subject of estimates varying from 320 to 12,578, both equally improbable. What is certain is – in Lee’s words – “That uprising, which was quickly and bloodily suppressed, would be just a footnote in history but for one thing: it provided the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back, leading to the final split between the world’s Socialist and Communist parties.”
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The plans for my next book
November 28th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
It’s taken me 13 months, but today I finished writing my next (the fifth) book “Everyone Has A Story”. There are 33 profiles of friends of mine with interesting stories. The profiles are typically around 2,000 words and the total word count is 73,000.
I now have to check through all the text (December), have it proof read by some friends (January), and have it set up and printed by another friend (February). I plan to have a book launch on 19 March 2026 by which time it will be available for purchase on Amazon.
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
A review of the important new film “Nuremberg”
November 26th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
Nuremberg: the German city where Hitler held his infamous rallies from 1923 to 1938 and where 22 Nazi leaders were put on trial in 1946-1947. This film centres on the interactions between two men at that trial: Hermann Göring, effectively Hitler’s deputy, and Dr Douglas Kelley, a US army psychiatrist assigned to determine the mental state of the Nazi defendants. The psychological interplay between these two characters is reminiscent of that between Hannibal Lector and Clarice Starling in “The Silence Of The Lambs”, except that the conversations between Göring and Kelley actually happened and were the subject of a book by Kelly. Chillingly, both Göring and Kelley ultimately met the same end.
Göring is portrayed by Russell Crowe in a performance a million miles from “Gladiator” and he has clearly put on a lot of weight which fits him well for this role which he fills with aplomb. Kelly is played by Rami Malek as the moral opposite to his earlier appearance as a Bond villain in “No Time To Die”. in a starry case, there is also Leo Woodall, John Slattery and Richard E Grant.
Shot in Hungary, this is a work with high production values and the use of some actual footage from the liberation of concentration camps and scenes from the trial add to the impact of the work. In the first two-thirds of the narrative, much of the dialogue is expository and often a little melodramatic, but one has to forgive this in a work which attempts to inform and entertain and is, after all, a film and not a documentary. The final third of the film is compelling and much of the wording of Justice Robert Jackson (Michael Shannon) is verbatim from the actual record of the trial.
The writer and director of this two and a half hour Sky Original product is James Vanderbilt. The messaging of the movie is not subtle but it is hugely important: that the Holocaust is a historical fact that must not be forgotten or forgiven and that Nazi Germany was not uniquely evil but a phenomenon that could happen in other times and other places. “The Zone Of Interest” made the same points more obliquely, but these uncomfortable messages need to be repeated loudly and clearly at a time of growing tendencies to totalitarianism.
Posted in Cultural issues, History | Comments (0)
What the best year to have been born?
November 22nd, 2025 by Roger Darlington
The “Guardian” newspaper this week published this letter:
I agree with Julian Richer: the circumstances into which we are born affect how we get on in life (It’s time to bust the meritocracy myth – I’ll be first to say I’m lucky, 18 November). I had a relatively ordinary background and worked in the public sector, but the security I had allowed me to have a good life. As he says, these things are not available to so many children. Considering the wealth in this country, that is a disgrace.
In 2009, the Guardian published an article about 1948 being the best year to have been born. This was based on every aspect of life you can think of: free education, NHS, availability of work, final-salary pensions and opportunities to buy houses at sensible prices. I was born in 1948. What a total privilege.
Mary Mullarkey
I was actually born in 1948. I’ve offered sone notes on “Why it’s fun to be in one’s sixties or seventies in Britain”.
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
A review of the new film “The Running Man”
November 21st, 2025 by Roger Darlington
I haven’t read the 1982 novel by Stephen King, on which this film is based, and I haven’t seen the 1987 movie version, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, but it was one of those evenings when I fancied some mindless entertainment and I found that big-time by viewing this 2025 adaptation on an IMAX screen.
The central idea – a mass entertainment television programme that brutalises its players for the enjoyment and escapism of the masses – reminded me of the 1975 film “Rollerball”, but the world it imagines (ironically the novel was set in the year of the release of this new version) is all too redolent of today’s America, a society controlled by media corporations in which surveillance is ubiquitous and inequality and greed are totally dominant.
The female roles are underwritten and the sharpest performances come from Josh Brolin and Colman Domingo in hugely manipulative roles. The eponymous hero, the blue-collar worker Ben Richards, is played by Glen Powell, a rising star who some are calling the new Tom Cruise. He is immensely watchable but, in a messy plot, it is far from clear how Ben has the skills to beat the system and inspire revolution, while the ending is morally nasty.
The film is co-written, produced, and directed by Edgar Wright who has done better work (think “Baby Driver”), but here has a bigger budget that he splashes on noisy action sequences while failing to provide a better script.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
How can you prevent dementia?
November 10th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
Many dementia cases might be preventable.
The biological processes that may lead to dementia can begin 20 to 30 years before diagnosis. While some factors, like age and genetics, are beyond our control, many others are modifiable through changes in health habits and disease management. Scientists have identified 14 major risk factors for developing Alzheimer’s disease.
By addressing these factors early, we can take meaningful steps towards protecting long-term brain health. But it is important to emphasise that it is the probability (or likelihood) – not the possibility – of dementia one is decreasing with all the suggested actions. One can still get dementia after addressing all of them, but it is much less likely.
The 14 risk factors are:
low-level education
diabetes
head injury
obesity
air pollution
smoking
high cholesterol
hearing impairment
hypertension
physical inactivity
untreated depression
untreated vision loss
infrequent social contact
excessive alcohol consumption
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (0)
A review of the radical new film “Bugonia”
November 10th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
Yorgos Lanthimos is one of the most unconventional and exciting directors around today and Emma Stone is one of the most talented and audacious actresses in the current firmament. So any film which combines their skills is a must-see for any serious fan of cinema. “Bugonia” – actually a remake of the 2003 South Korean film “Save The Green Planet!” – is a challenging view, both narratively and visually, and will not appeal to all, but it is never dull and I rate it highly.
Stone plays Michelle Fuller, a high-powered CEO of Auxolith Biosciences, who is kidnapped by two conspiracy theorists, the maniacal Teddy (Jesse Plemins) and his mentally challenged cousin Don (Aidan Delbis). Stone and Plemons have almost all the lines in the script and literally throw themselves into the roles (Stone is given a buzz-cut for real on camera) and they will rightly receive nominations for their performances.
Teddy believes that Michelle is an alien who is out to destroy the human race and, in his imprisonment of the executive, the power dynamic between them and the viewer’s comprehension about what is going on vacillate wildly. As with any Lanthimos film, the shooting and the sound are key ingredients in a story that is often shocking, occasionally funny, and always gripping.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the classic film “Kind Hearts And Coronets” (1949)
November 4th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
This deliciously black comedy from Ealing Studios is loosely based on the novel “Israel Rank: The Autobiography Of A Criminal” (1907) by Roy Horniman. The work, co-written and directed by Robert Hammer, is regarded as one of the best British films ever made and remains a popular piece of entertainment.
Set in the class-ridden times of Edwardian England, the central character, Louis D’Ascoyne Mazzini (the suave Dennis Price), is the narrator who tells his murderous and fantastical story while in prison awaiting execution the following morning. Denied the family’s dukedom, he needed to eliminate the eight people ahead of him in the line of succession to the title, all of them portrayed by the versatile Alec Guinness (in one shot, Guinness appears as six of his characters at once in a single frame). The plotting is inventive and the ending is simply wonderful.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Is the United States the greatest country on earth?
November 3rd, 2025 by Roger Darlington
According to a new report from Oxfam America, over 40% of the US population, including nearly 50% of children, are considered low-income, with family earnings that are less than 200% of the national poverty line.
When pitting the US against 38 other higher-income countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the US has the highest rate of relative poverty, second-highest rate of child poverty and infant mortality, and the second-lowest life expectancy rate.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
A review of the French film “The Tasting”
November 2nd, 2025 by Roger Darlington
This is a small French film from 2022 that would never be shown in most British cinemas, but I managed to catch it at the Ventnor Film Society on the Isle of Wight. It is a romantic comedy which has much humour in the first half but then progressively features more serious issues of life and death. It is set in the beautiful medieval city of Troyes, situated within the Champagne wine region, and there is some smart cinematography such as use of reflections.
The love match is not the classic one of the rom-com genre. The couple are middle-aged characters who have issues: Hortense is a midwife in his forties who longs to have a child of her own, while Jacques is a wine merchant in his sixties who is not supposed to be drinking and hosts the wine-tasting of the title. These lost souls are played convincingly and affably by Isabelle Carré and Bernard Campan and you just long for their happiness.
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