Political predictions are a perilous activity – but …
May 14th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
On a turbulent day in Labour Party politics, as a lifelong member I boldly offer what I think would be the best and the worst outcomes.
My dream scenario:
– Prime Minister Andy Burnham
– Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner
– Chancellor Ed Miliband
My nightmare scenario:
Keir Starmer stands for the leadership and, because of the preferential voting system, wins the ballot.
Let’s see what happens …
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A review of the novel “The Rose Field” by Philip Pullman
May 14th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
Published in 2025, this is the third part of the trilogy “The Book Of Dust”, following the original trilogy of “His Dark Materials”. The interval between publication of the first and second novels in the “Dust” trilogy was only two years, but the wait between the second and third novels was an uncomfortable six years. Pullman explains this as a result of both the global pandemic and his ageing (he was 79 in 2025).
“The Rose Field” is the sequel to the second book of the second trilogy, set some 10 or so years after the first trilogy. Almost the whole of the text is set in the same universe as that occupied by Lyra Belacqua/Silvertongue, which we were originally told is like our own universe “but different in many ways”, and the narrative picks up exactly at the conclusion of the second novel in the trilogy “The Book Of Dust” titled “The Secret Commonwealth”.
All the leading characters – Lyra herself, her estranged daemon Pantalaimon, her close friend Malcolm Polstead, the wicked head of the Magisterium Marcel Delamare, and the evil reader of the alethiometer Olivier Bonneville – are heading to the Far East, looking for The Red Building and The Rose Field, both of which are connected to this thing called ‘dust’. We meet some wonderful characters and there is plenty of action in this most enjoyable adventure which brings to an end both the “His Dark Materials” trilogy of 1,300 pages and “The Book Of Dust” trilogy of a further 1,900 pages (not to mention four, very short novellas).
The six books represent a brilliant and monumental endeavour, a veritable tour de force in storytelling with so many amazing characters and fascinating ideas. But “The Rose Field” does not take us much further forward in understanding the nature of ‘dust’. It seems that it is “related closely to human consciousness” and that it “permeates everything in the universe”. So: “There is consciousness everywhere”.
In Pullman’s view, the manifestation of ‘dust’ is ‘imagination’ or free thinking. He is fiercely opposed to organised religion, especially the Catholic Church, which is represented in the novels by the Magisterium, the opponent of dust, imagination and free thinking. So the notion of ‘dust’ in Pullman’s writing is ambiguous which is intentional. We are supposed to think.
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A review of the 1967 French classic film “Belle de Jour”
May 14th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
It took a long time for the 1928 French novel of the same name by Joseph Kessel to be made into a film and, when the French language adaptation was produced, it came from Luis Bruñuel, a Spanish filmmaker known for his surrealist work. But then this unusual story is told in a dream-like fashion from the point of view of sexually repressed, middle class housewife Séverine, played by the doll-like beauty that was Catherine Deneuve, who becomes a daytime prostitute in an effort to make herself available eventually to her doctor husband Pierre.
Like so many great films, the opening and closing scenes are especially memorable. The fantasy sequences are striking. The film may be all about sex, but sex is never shown and neither is nudity. In this engrossing but enigmatic film, the cause of Séverine’s repression is never explained and neither are her masochistic sexual fantasies. Yet we never doubt her good intentions: she loves Pierre and wants to please him. However, her strategy is inherently risky and rightly the viewer fears for how it will work out.
The film won the Golden Lion award for best film at the Venice Film Festival.
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A review of the new film “The Devil Wears Prada 2”
May 13th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
ou can wait wait a long time for a movie sequel these days and it’s 20 years since we first visited the fashion magazine “Runway”. This enables the new film to feature some of the consequences of the dramatic shift from print publications to the online world and to hint at recent efforts to make modelling a little more inclusive and production less scarred by sweatshops.
But the strength of this enjoyable sequel is not in its narrative, which is rather silly, but in its wonderful casting. All four stars of the original movie are back: Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci and Emma Blunt. Additionally there are cameos from Kenneth Branagh and Lady Gaga and a host of public figures, mainly from the world of fashion, playing themselves.
So visually the work is a treat: the actors, the clothes and the locations (New York, Milan, Lake Como) dazzle in this fast-moving romp. Just – as before – don’t expect anything thoughtful or biting in this comedy of terrors.
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The eighth five-star review of my new book “Everyone Has A Story” available on Amazon
May 12th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
“What a brilliant book, and what a great idea. Maybe more of us should follow Roger Darlington’s example and take an avid interest in our close friends, listening to them carefully and asking just the right questions that get to the very heart of their personal story. These vivid accounts are just the right length for a quick coffee- or tea-time read. Roger’s concise style, ability to muster key facts, and appreciation of his interviewees’ special qualities guarantee you’ll be eagerly turning the pages to find out how each memorable story resolves. And what a diverse range of people there are, too! You’ll be whisked around the world and to past eras, witnessing stories of deeply human struggles, highly challenging circumstances, incredible courage and much more.”
If you don’t already have the book, you might like to obtain a copy. If you already have it, perhaps you could consider it as a gift for family and friends. Many thanks.
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Major changes in the size and election of the Welsh Parliament
May 5th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
The Welsh legislature came into operation in May 1999 as an Assembly and in May 2020 was renamed aa a Parliament and it covers the 3 million citizens of Wales.
Prior to May 2026, the Welsh Parliament had 60 members elected by a system of proportional representation known as the ‘mixed member system’. As a result, 40 members represented individual geographical constituencies elected by the ‘first past the post’ (FPTP) system, with a further 20 members returned from five additional member regions, each electing four members.
Since May 2026, the Welsh Parliament has 96 members in a new system is called a ‘closed proportional list system.’ Wales is divided into 16 areas called constituencies and each constituency has six seats. Voters have one vote which is cast, not for an individual member but for a political party. Only if a voter wishes to support an independent candidate will the vote go to an individual.
The size of the Parliament was increased to reflect the greater powers since creation in 1999. The new electoral system was introduced to create a more proportional allocation of seats to parties.
The Parliament meets in the Senedd in Cardiff and is popularly known as the Senedd. When first created, the Assembly had no powers to initiate primary legislation. However, since 2006, the Assembly has had powers to legislate in some areas, though still subject to the veto of the Westminster Parliament. The Assembly originally had no tax-varying powers but the renamed Parliament does.
The Welsh Parliament still has less power in some respects than either the Scottish Parliament or the Northern Ireland Assembly because – unlike Scotland and Northern Ireland – Wales does not have a separate legal system from England.
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Suez in 1956 and Iran in 2026 – are there any parallels?
May 2nd, 2026 by Roger Darlington
This week, I watched a television documentary on the Suez crisis of 1956, a period that I knew too little about as I was only eight years old at the time. In this crisis, Britain and France, together with Israel, concluded that Nasser’s acquisition of the Suez Canal represented some kind of existential threat. They wanted to seize control of the waterway but also to affect regime change.
It set me thinking: are there some parallels between what happened then and what is currently happening in the attack by the United States and Israel on Iran? I see three similarities.
First, the Suez fiasco represented a turning point in British politics and global affairs, since it made clear that Britain was no longer a major world power, resulting in a significant scaling back of its aspirations and diminution of its standing. In the same way, the current stalemate between the US and Iran may come to be seen as recognition that America is not all-powerful and cannot always achieve its objectives by military force alone.
Second, the British and the French expected their intervention to so reduce Nasser’s hold on power that he would be overthrown. It didn’t happen; indeed Nasser emerged as a stronger figure both at home and in the Arab world. Similarly, the Americans and Israelis appeared to be convinced that wiping out the theocratic and military leadership of Iran would lead to an uprising and regime change. Again, this hasn’t happened; the country has proved far more resilient to attack that was imagined.
Third, the assault on the Suez Canal would never have happened if Israel had not concluded a secret deal with Britain and France and made the first military incursion into Egypt. It way well be that the most recent bombing of Iran by the US was provoked by Israelis’ determination, whatever the Americans thought, to take out the previous leadership of Iran at a time they viewed as propitious, since their intelligence identified a meeting of so many of the leaders in one place at the same time.
The Iran crisis is far from over, but already – comparing it to Suez – perhaps several lessons have been reinforced:
- the claim of an existential threat should not be made lightly and needs to be supported by clear evidence
- great powers should not allow smaller powers to push them into military action which is not thought-through and likely to be decisive
- the resilience of authoritarian regimes should not be underestimated and military power alone may be insufficient to to dislodge them.
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A seventh review of my latest book “Everyone Has A Story”available from Amazon
April 29th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
“What a wonderful read ! This is an account of the life journeys of the author’s friends. It is extremely well written, absorbing and thought provoking. “Show me your friend and I will tell you who you are ” is an old saying. On this evidence Roger Darlington is a thoroughly decent man and an excellent author.”
I don’t know the reviewer but I’m most grateful to him. If you don’t already have the book, you might like to obtain a copy. If you already have it, perhaps you could consider it as a gift for family and friends.
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A review of the classic 1927 film “Metropolis”
April 19th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
This black and while silent movie was directed by the great Fritz Lang in Weimar Germany and is regarded as the first science fiction epic with huge sets, thousands of extras, and groundbreaking effects. Set in a dystopian future, it depicts a city with the rich above ground in great skyscrapers and the masses labouring below ground on massive and dangerous machinery.
A central role is performed by Maria (Brigette Helm) who is both a saintly figure preaching conciliation and a robot inciting the workers to rebellion. She is assisted and saved by Freder (Gustav Frolich), the pampered son of the Master of the Metropolis. The film’s message is encompassed in the final intertitle: “The Mediator Between the Head [the Master] and the Hands [the workers] Must Be the Heart [Freder]”.
At the time of its release, “Metropolis” was controversial and a box office disaster. Consequently, it was cut substantially after its German premiere. Therefore, over the years, the film has been shown at different lengths and with different sound tracks. It was the subject of a major restoration in 2010, so the version now exhibited runs to 149 minutes and is very close to the original work.
I’ve seen it several times and regard it as a flawed masterpiece: visually stunning and inventive, but with exaggerated acting and an overly simplistic message. However, its future status is secure and, in 2001, the film was inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World International Register, the first film to be so distinguished.
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A review of the 1985 classic movie “Back To The Future”
April 18th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
Television heartthrob Michael J Fox was perfectly cast as teenager Marty McFly who accidentally finds himself transported from 1985 to 1955 when his patents have not yet married and his future existence is not certain. This spectacular act of time travel is achieved through a modified DeLorean sports car, with its gull-winged doors and a plutonium-powered engine, invented by nutty scientist Emmett ‘Doc’ Brown (a wonderful Christopher Lloyd).
Can Marty get back to the future and will his adventure change the destinies of his family members? This hugely enjoyable science fiction comedy has a clever narrative with witty dialogue, crafted by director Robert Zemeckis and his friend Bob Gale.
Ironically, the project was rejected more than 40 times by various studios but, backed by Steven Spielberg, the movie was made and became the highest-grossing film of 1985. There were sequels in 1989 and 1990 and it became a multimedia franchise with video games, theme park rides, and a stage musical.
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