Which is bad news for anyone hoping to rent a place to live.
Showing posts with label Our World. Show all posts
Who Needs Tony Blair for British P M Any Way?
In the olden days, not so long ago, heads of states used to look older, wiser, indomitable and even formidable. These days a G8 summit photo has many baby faces of leaders who don't have a clue of not only how to deal with the Euro crisis but even of the price of milk they still drink. Gone are the days when the British voices of Churchill, Wilson and Thatcher were carried along as far as the waves of Britannia reached.
If France's Sarkozy shuns extending a hand or Germany's Angela Merkel throws a disapproving glance, at a British Prime Minister, only we, the voters who put too much confidence in young blood, disregarding the need for time and experience for human development, are to be blamed.
Unfortunately, the British don't have much of a choice. All they have to show the world is another dour young face which shows no intention to put on a smile in the near future. The poor taste the leader of the Labour party has shown in challenging his brother didn't hold much promise as no one needs a potential sibling rivalry in the Downing Street, hurting national interest. By failing to disprove the skeptics by pulling out any signs of a spectacular leadership, the Labour leader has already lost hismagic.
The recent candid admission of Tony Blair, that he will accept the post of the Prime Minister again if offered, raises the question if the British don't have an alternative. However, judging from the avalanche of abusive comments and reactions Tony receives to his posts in the Huff post, one would agree with him that he has only fat hopes of that ever happening.
Our memory is getting easier to erase and rewrite than the fastest micro chip, especially when instant self gratification is the only thing everyone seems to want anymore. Who does bother to reflect on a decade which passed by in which the British pride came across as tolerable to the rest of the world because it was backed by an appearance of leadership, stability, achievement and a feel good factor in the British Isles ?
For example, we have forgotten the Euphoria of winning the rights to hold the 2012 Olympics making the French very sore indeed and how Tony Blair, David Beckham and Prince Charles and others won that for us. If we failed in translating the hard won victory in to a much bigger fame, prosperity and throbbing flow of enthusiastic tourists to London, we can of course blame the British weather.
No one remembers how the bombs of Omagh were doused slowly but surely thanks to the determination of a British Prime Minister and parliament aided by a helping hand of a U.S. president. Thankfully those who had to fight the war on terror no longer had to face a pointing finger at them and a decade later hands could be held out to forgive and forget.
When we whisk through the widened motor ways and newly built bridges from Land's End to John o' Groats, we tend to forget the long road works and delays which took a decade and meant nothing but investment and employment under stable and equitable governance.
When we drive in to the suburbs more and more towns all over the United Kingdom and reminded of London with big signs of prosperity like the bill boards of supermarkets and other commercial outlets, we know wealth and development indeed has arrived in the remote corners during the last decade.
Lying on a hospital bed waiting for a heart procedure in modern Heart Lung centres and other advanced facilities across the country, many people wonder how lucky they are to receive the type of care they get, but forget where it came from.
For those who left the country in the middle of the miner's strike and returned, a decade without strikes and disruptions must have made the UK an unreal land. With happier, nurses, teachers and police men and women and numerous other public sector staff, no wonder life in the UK appeared better and easier with a smashing housing boom as poof of the pudding.
Who can forget the Spice Girls, David Beckham and Manchester united and many other feel good contributions all of which add to the icing on the cake of three labour governments, which in many ways turned the eyes of the world on the UK with the respect it deserved.
Not that all of these were achieved by Tony Blair alone, but he was the Prime Minister and leader, despite the unfortunate circumstances he had to turn away from a fourth term.
For those who believe he let us down in his decision to go after WMD, what are we to do with another dictator in another country who flaunts another pile of those after a decade?
Tony Blair may never be elected again to become the leader and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, but with Hollande of France, Merkel of Germany, and Obama of the United States, who are going to lead the world in this decade, there will be a gaping hole in the British chair around the table.
Article first published as Who Needs Tony Blair for British PM Any Way? on Technorati.
If France's Sarkozy shuns extending a hand or Germany's Angela Merkel throws a disapproving glance, at a British Prime Minister, only we, the voters who put too much confidence in young blood, disregarding the need for time and experience for human development, are to be blamed.
Unfortunately, the British don't have much of a choice. All they have to show the world is another dour young face which shows no intention to put on a smile in the near future. The poor taste the leader of the Labour party has shown in challenging his brother didn't hold much promise as no one needs a potential sibling rivalry in the Downing Street, hurting national interest. By failing to disprove the skeptics by pulling out any signs of a spectacular leadership, the Labour leader has already lost hismagic.
The recent candid admission of Tony Blair, that he will accept the post of the Prime Minister again if offered, raises the question if the British don't have an alternative. However, judging from the avalanche of abusive comments and reactions Tony receives to his posts in the Huff post, one would agree with him that he has only fat hopes of that ever happening.
Our memory is getting easier to erase and rewrite than the fastest micro chip, especially when instant self gratification is the only thing everyone seems to want anymore. Who does bother to reflect on a decade which passed by in which the British pride came across as tolerable to the rest of the world because it was backed by an appearance of leadership, stability, achievement and a feel good factor in the British Isles ?
For example, we have forgotten the Euphoria of winning the rights to hold the 2012 Olympics making the French very sore indeed and how Tony Blair, David Beckham and Prince Charles and others won that for us. If we failed in translating the hard won victory in to a much bigger fame, prosperity and throbbing flow of enthusiastic tourists to London, we can of course blame the British weather.
No one remembers how the bombs of Omagh were doused slowly but surely thanks to the determination of a British Prime Minister and parliament aided by a helping hand of a U.S. president. Thankfully those who had to fight the war on terror no longer had to face a pointing finger at them and a decade later hands could be held out to forgive and forget.
When we whisk through the widened motor ways and newly built bridges from Land's End to John o' Groats, we tend to forget the long road works and delays which took a decade and meant nothing but investment and employment under stable and equitable governance.
When we drive in to the suburbs more and more towns all over the United Kingdom and reminded of London with big signs of prosperity like the bill boards of supermarkets and other commercial outlets, we know wealth and development indeed has arrived in the remote corners during the last decade.
Lying on a hospital bed waiting for a heart procedure in modern Heart Lung centres and other advanced facilities across the country, many people wonder how lucky they are to receive the type of care they get, but forget where it came from.
For those who left the country in the middle of the miner's strike and returned, a decade without strikes and disruptions must have made the UK an unreal land. With happier, nurses, teachers and police men and women and numerous other public sector staff, no wonder life in the UK appeared better and easier with a smashing housing boom as poof of the pudding.
Who can forget the Spice Girls, David Beckham and Manchester united and many other feel good contributions all of which add to the icing on the cake of three labour governments, which in many ways turned the eyes of the world on the UK with the respect it deserved.
Not that all of these were achieved by Tony Blair alone, but he was the Prime Minister and leader, despite the unfortunate circumstances he had to turn away from a fourth term.
For those who believe he let us down in his decision to go after WMD, what are we to do with another dictator in another country who flaunts another pile of those after a decade?
Tony Blair may never be elected again to become the leader and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, but with Hollande of France, Merkel of Germany, and Obama of the United States, who are going to lead the world in this decade, there will be a gaping hole in the British chair around the table.
Article first published as Who Needs Tony Blair for British PM Any Way? on Technorati.
Does Obamacare Make The Americans Mere Third World Citizens?
Americans may not see it because they may not want to. But when it comes to basic human rights at least, the world is coming to see little to differentiate the U.S. from the Taliban it wants to get rid of in Afghanistan. The Taliban thinks women shouldn't go to school; the Americans think 32 million of them shouldn't have a mandatory health cover. What is the difference?
The United States of America may be the richest country in the world without universal healthcare for all, a situation Obamacare (Affordable Care Act) will certainly change. For the rest of the world, with no easy access to facts and figures to compare and who is unaware of the historical U.S reticence towards human rights, the United States of America, which wants to challenge and repeal Obamacare is looking more like a third world country.
That is the take away from the recent Obamacare judgement by the U.S. Supreme court, the dissentand the ensuing political battle cries, all of which have brought the U.S politics and the legal system to world focus, with some disbelief. Hey, is this the America everyone looks up to?
To many foreigners, thanks to its legal system, the U.S. had been the "Never Never Land" which gives shudders down your spine, nearly the same feelings an American family, who is offered a free holiday in Iran, gets in the guts at the thought of a trip.
The general apprehension about the U.S. attitude towards human rights might not be entirely without justification:
• When an Australian citizen seeks asylum in a third world country's embassy out of fear of incrimination and death penalty from a U.S. court if extradited to the U.S.?
• When an ex president of a "friendly" nation with a population of 1.3 billion can be stopped andfrisked at the airport because of his name and racial profiling?
• When a president of the World Bank is handcuffed and thrown in the prison cell overnight withoutrecourse to any legal aid because an illegal immigrant cried foul?
• When recent cases of miscarriage of justice have sent innocent people to the death row which all civilised countries have abolished by now?
• When Guantanamo and stories of renditions are still a reality?
That is to say that there is certainly a 'disconnect' between how the Americans see their justice system from a lot of other people around the world, who are apprehensive, or at least can't understand the way Americans think.
It was not surprising that the entire world, like the President himself, had resigned to the reality and waited for the U.S. Supreme Court, with a conservative majority, to throw the Obamacare, proposed by a democratic administration, in to the bin. That would have been treated as an internal matter and the fate of the U.S citizens.
However, how one judge decided to change history by passing the law has brought the issue to the attention of the world and its scrutiny. Whether Judge Roberts acted to avoid the Supreme Court verses elected representative controversy or out of conscience and a desire to bring the United States of America in synch with the social values the rest of the developed has long since taken for granted has become immaterial.
What gives credence to the question whether the U.S. has really evolved in its human rights view is the vehement and destroying fury of the dissent by the four judges, who have chosen to ignore the human rights implication, in their fervour to uphold the U.S. constitution and the free market.
But what is even more shocking and raises the question if the U.S. indeed cares a toss to be viewed as a third world country is the intransigent politics which has turned the Obamacare, which brings the Americans closer to civilised societies, in to the bone of contention of the next presidential election, with the GOP and its candidate Romney wowing to destroy it at any cost.
Twenty five years back as an immigrant from India in France, I was shocked by a scene when a nearly paralysed lady arrived in a supermarket for her weekly shopping, flat on her back, in a stretcher, being carried by two attendants. That day I had realised what universal healthcare really means in a caring society.
Today, I wonder what would have happened to that person if she lived in the richest country after the next presidential election of the U.S.A.
| Article first published as Does Obamacare Make Americans Third World Citizens? on Technorati. |
If Only Barack Obama Could Win The Presidency By Negativity, Like Pranab Mukherjee of India.
Perhaps it is time the Americans considered changing their electoral system for something 'funnier' like the Presidential election of India. In the Indian Presidential election a candidate some parties refuse to declare their support for has more of a chance to be elected as the President of the country than others they chooses to support. It is merely the negative political sentiments which come in to play irrespective of the calibre andsuitability of the individual.With the trend of latching on to the 'negativity' in every statement, every faux pas the president or his opponents make and blowing it out of proportion, the American democratic process also beckon the question if it is a desirable trait for a free and fair electoral process of a leading democratic nation.
In India everything, especially politics assumes ridiculous and illogical character during the elections. With numerous peculiarities and idiosyncrasies only the Indians can tolerate, like the 'X factor' unique to Indian politics, the Indian democratic process is reduced to a mere democratic mantle.
In terms of political power, the two presidencies have no comparison, except in an emergency when the Indian President can assume unlimited and unprecedented executive powers like those of the US president. Yet,the electoral processes which decides the president by an election or a unanimous choice can reflect the political balance in the Indian context.By all counts, Pranab Mukherjee, India's finance minister fit the bill to be elected unanimously as the country's president. If Mukherjee, despite his three decades of service to the country as part of various governments including that of Indira Gandhi, is not well known outside India it is his own fault for being a thorough, non controversial and soft spoken gentleman politician, which has made him universally acceptable. Yet In the Indian system even an eminently suitable candidate like Mukherjee has to be propped up by negative and partisan vagaries of the political class.
Four years back, when the congress party president Sonia Gandhi chose to install Pratibha Patil as the first woman President of the country, perhaps with a vision in to the future for herself, it was the refusal of BJP, the main opposition, to support the incumbent President Kalam which led to her success.
Interestingly, an open declaration of support of BJP to Kalam this time has simply precluded his chances of ever becoming the president again, as practically ever party rejected the suggestion.
A few weeks back the Indian communists declared their support for Pranab Mukherjee, a native of West Bengal and India's minister for Finance, as the new president. Though this had increased the support for Pranab, Mamta Banerjee, chief of Thrinamool Congress who rules West Bengal did not support, merely because of her opposition to the communists. Such is the nature of egoistic negative politics of India.
However, the communists now have changed their mind and are clamouring for someone outside the ruling congress party as the new president. This no doubt has increased the fortune of Pranab Mukherjee as Mamta Banerjee now has no excuse but to support him.
What is interesting is the credentials and capability of a person to be the figurehead of the largest democracy of the world has no relevance in this incredibly idiotic process which, every Indian needs to be ashamed of.
These ridiculous vagaries of the Indian politics which several regional players play out, may never infect the American system, clearly established in a two party political debate and balance. However, the bickering and wrangling amplified by the media and social web certainly take the sheen out of a process which may inside and outside the country believe must be a model for the fledging democracies of the world.
Article first published as If Only Barack Obama Could Win The Presidency By Negativity, Like Pranab Mukherjee of India. on Technorati
Who Can Stop Anna Hazare and His Motley Fools from Taking India to Where Gandhi Left it?
Not without some reason. The "poor" nation of half a billion people Gandhi bequeathed has made impressive strides and record growth even when the rest of the world was reeling under crisis after crisis. Now, along with several other distracters, the very disciple of Gandhi has succeeded to drag the country back several years to where it started from.
The Indian Rupee has touched the lowest ever exchange rate to the US Dollar, the growth has plummeted from the heady 10% India boasted about in the past decade to a 5% range India was stuck with for ages and most of the foreign investment which brought in the growth and prosperity has all but withdrawn.
It is hardly surprising that the investor confidence has taken a flight from a country whose Prime Minister and 15 of his ministers have been accused of corruption without any basis by the Anna Hazare team, crippling any decision making power left with a government held together with finicky regional parties. More disgustingly, it has brought a world renowned economist to offer his resignation as the prime minister of the country. This is a more serious issue affecting not just India but global economy, given the globalisation which render growth in any part of the world vital for the rest of us as well.
The latest accusations of corruption is based on a report the CAG of India has produced which claims loss of astronomical sums to the government by allocation of coal fields to private companies. What the CAG hasn't taken in to account is that the coal the government offered to reluctant and risk-averse entrepreneurs to excavate was worth the mud it was covered with, without the massive inflow of foreign investment. It is different matter that in a fast developing India coal has become a scare and costly commodity. If the ruling government took a view and acted upon it in the interest of developing the Industry, it becomes corrupt act only in the lopsided logic of Indian accountants. What if the companies didn't find any useful coal when they had excavated?
In effect, there was no governance in India for the last 3-4 years because Anna Hazare and several insane politicians refused to let the government or the parliament function. More than Anna Hazare, the people who have ganged up around him, in the name of fighting corruption, must be made answerable for this plight.
Unfortunately it doesn't look like the Anna team can understand that the deliverance of a billion poor citizens of India from poverty will only happen from sustained economic growth. But this motley crowd who use his popularity to stir up emotions and obstruct all efforts of a hard working and well meaning government, by casting aspersions and raising baseless allegations, eroding investor confidence, must surely share the responsibility for the downfall of India
| Article first published as Who Can Stop Anna Hazare and His Motley Fools from Taking India to Where Gandhi Left it? on Technorati. |
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