Category Archives: Asia

Anti-Bribes

The Afghani policeman paying ‘anti-bribes’ reminds me of the Indian Zero Rupee bank-note. Continue reading

Posted in India, Law and Order | Leave a comment

Another Demo for Aung San Suu Kyi

Photos of the demo at the Burmese Embassy Continue reading

Posted in Asia, Human Rights, London | Leave a comment

64 words for Aung San Suu Kyi

I didn’t know that Salman Rushdie and Aung San Suu Kyi shared a birthday: On this day, my birthday and yours, I always remember your long ordeal and silently applaud your endurance. This year, silence is impossible. It is not … Continue reading

Posted in Asia, Human Rights, Liberal Conspiracy | 5 Comments

Lobby the UN for Aung San Suu Kyi

The Burma Campaign have a handy form that allows you to quickly lobby the UN Secretary General, asking him to send an envoy. Continue reading

Posted in Asia, Human Rights | 1 Comment

Mightier than the Sword

Today I start a new job, as Campaigns Manager at English PEN, promoting literature and human rights worldwide.  A dream job for a blogger, I reckon. As before, consider this full disclosure to the bloggers’ register of interests, and sufficient … Continue reading

Posted in Asia, Diary, Human Rights, Literature | 1 Comment

The Himalayan Challenge

Browsing a hard-drive from a long decommissioned family computer, I found this report of a Himalayan trek that my Dad wrote in 1999. He did the walk in aid of the Frimley MacMillan Nurse Appeal. Continue reading

Posted in Nepal | Comments Off

Coverage 2.0

In a mirror of the Election Twitter, which captured the global exhilaration of the Obama victory, this Mumbai twitter conveys something of the confusion caused by these attacks. Continue reading

Posted in Globalisation, India, Internet Philosophy, Media, Terrorism, Visual | Leave a comment

Sowing Division, Reaping Unity

Back in 2006, after the Malegon bombings, I was struck by the defiant attitude of the locals who refused to divide themselves along religious lines, as the terrorists obviously intended. Continue reading

Posted in Asia, Terrorism | 1 Comment

India’s Olympic Shame

Here’s an interesting alternative medal table (h/t KiwiClaire). It ranks the countries not by how many Beijing Olympic medals they have won, but by their ratio of medals to population, and to GDP. Britain does not do quite as well … Continue reading

Posted in Asia, Sport | 3 Comments

Four billion!?

Surely these media claims that four billion people watched the ceremony is stinking hyperbole Continue reading

Posted in Art and Cultures, China, Sport | 2 Comments