NightHawk

It depends enormously on life style which in turn is substantially influenced by class and wealth which in turn is shaped very much by upbringing and education.

In the UK, on average, a middle-class man will live around 10 years longer than a working class man and, in all classes, women live a bit longer than men. And the class gap in life expectancy is widening.

Also the later you are born, the longer your life expectancy - how long people will live is, on average, extending at the rate of one month every six years.

There's some new data to confirm these trends here.

Posted by Roger Darlington at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This video clip is about 11 minutes, but you should watch it because it tells a remarkable story.

Posted by Roger Darlington at 08:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I suppose that, like most non-technical people, I first became aware of the Internet around 1995 when world-wide the number connected to the network doubled. Besides e-mail, for me the great benefit of the Internet was the Web (I’ve never been interested in social networks, newsgroups or gaming).

The more I used the Web, the more I thought that I should like to generate my own content on my own site. Indeed I was convinced that soon most Internet users would want to have their own site and I’ve been surprised at how few people have a site.

So, on 2 July 1999, I started my own site with the help of my wife’s nephew Martin Rowe – the first piece of content was the Darlington newsletter for Christmas 1998. In succeeding months, I taught myself Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML) with the aid of my then CWU colleague Jane Taylor and developed the site with the encouragement of my good friend Eric Lee.

From the beginning, I have believed in the principle of simplicity, so the site is designed that any part of it can be reached with one click from the home page. Also I firmly believe that content is king, so I have concentrated on adding well-written material rather than decorating the place with spinning symbols. Finally I’m a great believer that the Web is all about links to other sites and therefore throughout my site there are lots of links to other sites relevant to the particular topic under discussion.

I confess that my site has now become something of a passion and I’ve asked myself why I love the exercise so much. My answer involves the four Cs:

* It is creative, encouraging me to develop my IT skills and my knowledge of the Internet, the links especially taking me to corners of the Web that I might not otherwise explore.
* It is continuous, enabling me to work on it whenever I have time and incrementally to build up the content and develop the format.
* It is comprehensive, allowing me to bring together all my interests from aviation to the cinema, from technology to literature, from trade unionism to travel.
* It is cohesive, permitting me to bring into one place previous as well as current work, such as extracts from my book “Night Hawk”, book and film reviews, and of course the famous Darlington Christmas letters.

Ten years ago, my web site was literally one page and had no visitors. Ten years later, it is a huge site with 120 sections and two blogs and it has between 5,000-6,000 visitors a day. Thanks for visiting.

Posted by Roger Darlington at 07:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What November election? And why has it taken eight months to conclude?

At the beginning of November 2008, the Americans elected a new President, all of the House of Representatives and a third of the Senate. But one Senate seat was so closely contested that only this week has the final result been declared. The Democrat Al Franken beat his Republican opponent Norm Coleman by a mere 312 votes out of a total of 2.9 million in the state of Minnesota.

It is not just the people of Minnesota who have been holding their breath. The resut has profound implications for the US Congress and indeed for the world.

When Franken takes his seat in the Senate, the Democrats for the first time in three decades will potentially have 60 of the 100 seats in the chamber, possibly an unassailable majority that means they can overcome Republican blocking tactics, such as filibustering. This is because Franken will bring the total number of Democrats to 58 and there are also two independents who normally vote with them.

But on some issues Obama cannot be sure of the support of all 58 Democrats or the two independents. About 20 Democrats, though socially liberal, are conservative on fiscal matters. Also another reason why the 60-seat majority is not as solid as it seems is the ill health of two Democrats, Edward Kennedy and Robert Byrd, both of whom are often absent from the chamber.

Nothing is simple or stable in politics.

Full story here

Posted by Roger Darlington at 09:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

During the US presidential election campaign, we all knew that expectations of Barack Obama were so high that the reality was bound to disappoint. On the inauguration of Obama as president, we all knew that the honeymoon period could not last for ever. At the end of his first 100 days in the White House, we all knew that the challenges he faced were unprecedented: the economic recession, health care, climate change, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran. Given all this, some criticism from faint-hearts and even concern from supporters was inevitable. But this is a guy who is barely half a year into what should be an eight-year term of an historic and transformational nature..

So, how is Obama doing? The signs are good. On Friday night, the president achieved a political breakthrough when the House of Representatives passed a historic bill to combat climate change, binding the United States to cut levels of carbon emissions. I share the positive assessment of Michael Crowley, a senior editor of the "New Republic Magazine", as expressed in this article.

Posted by Roger Darlington at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What each of us knows and doesn't know is very varied and very personal, but I've been surprised and saddened at how few people I know have heard of the Katyn massacre of 1940.

The Wikipedia page on the subject introduces it as follows:

"The Katyn massacre, also known as the Katyn Forest massacre (Polish: zbrodnia katyńska, 'Katyń crime'), was a mass murder of thousands of Polish military officers, policemen, intellectuals and civilian prisoners of war by Soviet NKVD, based on a proposal from Lavrentiy Beria to execute all members of the Polish Officer Corps. Dated March 5, 1940, this official document was then approved (signed) by the entire Soviet Politburo including Joseph Stalin and Beria.

The number of victims is estimated at about 22,000, the most commonly cited number being 21,768. The victims were murdered in the Katyn forest in Russia, the Kalinin (Tver) and Kharkov prisons and elsewhere. About 8,000 were officers taken prisoner during the 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland, the rest being Poles arrested for allegedly being "intelligence agents, gendarmes, saboteurs, landowners, factory owners, lawyers, priests, and officials." Since Poland's conscription system required every unexempted university graduate to become a reserve officer, the Soviets were able to round up much of the Polish intelligentsia, and the Jewish, Ukrainian, Georgian and Belarusian intelligentsia of Polish citizenship."

The reason I mention the subject of the Katyn massacre now is that an impressive and moving Polish film on the subject has just been given a very limited release in Britain and I have recently seen it. You probably won't get the chance to see the film yourself, but you can read my review and I would encourage you to read more of the Wikipedia article.

Posted by Roger Darlington at 01:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've just had a text message from a British friend who is currently working in the United States. He told that he was in the lobby of a hotel in Connecticut where 'SiteCoach' would not allow him to access my web site on the grounds of 'white supremacy'.

Check out whether you think I'm that evil by accessing the offending material.

Posted by Roger Darlington at 03:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Four international trade union organisations (ITUC, ITF, IUF and EI) have declared today as the international day of solidarity with Iranian workers to support their struggle for their basic rights. Members of these confederations around the world will organize practical support towards workers in Iran today. Further details of the day of action here.

This initiative was decided long before the recent presidential election and the protests which followed but clearly it could hardly be more timely. There are, of course, massive media restriction in Iran, but it looks as if there have been at least 17 deaths in the course of the demonstrations. The BBC reviews the current impasse here.

Posted by Roger Darlington at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today's my birthday. This is surprising to me because I'm sure that I had one last year - but they seem to keep coming. As my wife says, it's better than the alternative.

Last year, it was a special birthday; this year, it's a routine one (I'm 61). In fact, so routine was it that I was working: chairing a meeting on the mobile sector for Consumer Focus. However, colleagues at CF were really kind and delivered a birthday cake with candles. Thanks, guys!

Posted by Roger Darlington at 04:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

For 12 weeks now, I've been taking a "polypill" each day as part of an international pilot trial for the treatment of people at raised risk of cardiovascular disease such as as heart attack or stroke. So this morning, I made my fifth and final visit to the International Centre for Circulatory Health at St Mary's Hospital at Paddington in London.

For the last time, I had my blood pressure taken three times, a blood sample was taken, and I was weighed. Throughout the trial, I have not felt different at all. This either means that I have not experienced any side effects from the "polypill" or that I have been not taking the pill at all but a placebo. I won't know till the results if the trial are published in Spring 2010.

Interestingly, I'm currently reading "Bad Science" by Ben Goldacre. He explains how the trials of medicines and treatments are conducted and the pilot trial in which I have participated has followed all the key principles, such as equal numbers of people being allocated on a random basis to take the pill or a placebo and 'double-blinding' where neither the person conducting the trial nor the person who is the subject of the trial knows whether the subject is taking the pill or the placebo.

All medicines approved for use in this country have to undergo such rigorous testing and yet so-called alternative and complementary medicines can be sold with amazing claims without any scientific testing.

Posted by Roger Darlington at 08:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the early part of this week, I visited Manchester to speak at a conference on next generation broadband. Now I was brought up in Manchester and went to school and university there, so it's always a pleasure to return to the city which has undergone enormous redevelopment since I left in 1971. Also I still have relatives there, so I spent the night before the event with my brother, his partner and their delightful daughter (my niece) and then, after the conference, I had dinner with my step-mother and her partner.

My brother drove me through the part of Manchester where we lived as kids more than 40 years ago. We lived in a district in the south of the city called Fallowfield which was always popular with students and is now dominated by them. More specifically, we lived behind and above a dry cleaning shop on Wilmslow Road called "Silver Wings" where our mother - a single parent with three children - was the shop manageress. All the shops in the parade have now changed ownership and where we used to live is now a Kentucky Fried Chicken!

Posted by Roger Darlington at 07:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I bought an iPhone within days of its release in the UK as I blogged here and, in no time at all, I was enthusing about its wonderful features here. However, it's only recently that I've started to use the e-mail facilities and to download applications.

Now along comes version 3.0 of the Operating System which became available this week and which I downloaded this weekend. It makes over 100 changes to the operation of the iPhone - some 13 of which are described here. As far as I'm concerned, the smart phone has changed the world - well, mine anyway. It simply rocks.

Posted by Roger Darlington at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Regular readers of NightHawk will know about my recent loss of connection problems with my Internet service provider Pipex, but you can remind yourself here.

Once I obtained my Net connection back again, I lodged an immediate and detailed complaint with Pipex. I was not satisfied with the response so I took the matter to the ombudsman Otelo. They would not accept the appeal because they said that I had not exhausted Pipex's own procedures.

So I escalated the complaint within Pipex in a letter sent on 3 June 2009. What do you think happened?

I had a response in a letter dated 12 June 2009. Bizarrely this stated that three out five specified items of information were not available in my original letter and that therefore the company was unable to act upon my complaint. What were these five items of information?

Customer account number:
I was astonished that Pipex needed me to supply this information since the company's own customer systems ought to provide this from my name and address.

Customer's full name:
This was of course contained in my original letter.

Customer's address including postcode:
This too was of course contained in my original letter.

Customer's date of birth:
I have no idea why Pipex requires this information (except perhaps as a security check).

Customer's contact telephone number or e-mail address:
Since Pipex is my Internet service provider, it provides my e-mail address and, since my loss of service resulted in frequent calls between me and the various lines of support in Pipex, I thought that my contact number was well-known to the company.

Is it any wonder that so many people choose not to complain or give up when faced with this Byzantine response? I've now supplied Pipex with all the information it requested and now await a speedy and helpful response. Well, I can hope ...

Posted by Roger Darlington at 05:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Is Iran on the verge of another revolution? The complete rejection of the protesters' concerns by the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei suggests that either the demonstrations will collapse or they will be put down forcibly or they will ignite a revolutionary movement.

Where does the reformist leader Mir Hossein Mousavi stand in all this? It is difficult for him now to speak publicly and freely. So it's especially interesting to have this view from Mohsen Makhmalbaf, an Iranian filmmaker and spokesman for the Mousavi campaign.

Posted by Roger Darlington at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)