Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Surf's Up.

It's the surfing season now in Cherating, Malaysia. So here we go, loading the boards onto that mini car. Getting there takes 5 hours, just like going to KL If we drove fast enough, our car would fly! The surf boards were like wings on the car.Joining an entourage of 4 other cars, it was an adventure.My beach essentials: Redken hair protective spray- smells kinda funky, got it free. Not sure if it's really effective. Couldn't tell a difference.Sunblock-...

World Cup Debacle - Win Win Win

Is this what we pay our taxes for?Let's agree one point straight away - bringing the 2018 World Cup to England would cost taxpayers a packet. How much? Frankly we have no idea. Just like with 2012 Olympics, nobody seems to have worked out anything as mundane as precise costings. All we can glean is:"The cost of staging the tournament between now and 2018 is being put at just under £1 billion. The Government has already signed guarantees worth £300 million while the 12 host cities have guaranteed funding of £400 million. The bid itself...

Monday, November 29, 2010

Facing Up To The Doomsday Machine

So what have we learned from today's autumn fiscal report from the Office for Budget Responsibility?First, the OBR under Chote still thinks George is on track to deliver what he promised in June:"Our best judgement is that the Government has a better than 50 per cent chance of meeting its mandate for a cyclically-adjusted current budget balance in 2015–16 and of achieving its supplementary target of seeing public sector net debt fall between...

Sunday, November 28, 2010

All A Question Of Breeding

Not everyone can have the Major's breedingNo sooner had the Tylers returned from the frozen wastes of Swindon, the Major came steaming round. He simply cannot believe the way Lord Flight was slapped down over his "perfectly sensible remarks re breeding". "I mean everyone knows the socialists have landed us with a huge problem. Everyone knows it's insane to reward feckless teenage girls for having kids they can't afford to support, and won't...

Friday, November 26, 2010

The Chattering Teeth Classes

At age seven Tyler was scarred for life by his primary school teacher's tale of her great grandad being frozen to death on a stagecoach crossing Salisbury Plain. Now that was real weather.And as it happens Mr and Mrs T will be spending tonight in Swindon. That is, if they make it through the weathergirl's promised whiteout hell.Luckily the weathergirl's right hand girl in the Met Office global warming department has just...

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Very Unhappy

You're no happier than him - want to swap?So WTF is Dave making us spend £2m measuring happiness? To be honest I can't face blogging it. The whole business of so-called "happiness economics" makes me want to leave the tent and wander off alone into the blizzard. We've blogged the dismal "science" of happiness several times (eg here and here). In brief, it is based on the ludicrous idea that happiness can be measured, and that you can compare...

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Just How Scared Should We Be?

Sorry kittyCould it happen here? When the markets have finished their sport with Ireland, Portugal, Spain, etc, will they turn on us? Let's compare our situation with Ireland's.Both of us have governments that are currently borrowing far too much. Theirs is a bit worse than ours, but setting aside this year's extra binge to bail-out their banks (equivalent to an eye-watering 20% of GDP), they're not that much worse. According to the OECD, even before...

Skin Woes

AdvertorialI was born milk coffee colour like Pocahontas while my elder brother came out like fresh milk. My mum couldn’t resist kopi-o after her first child you see. Not only did I not come out as Snow White, I inherited my mum’s bad skin. She had bad acne as a teenager which then later turned pockmarks like Mark Lee. All that was salvaged later on in her adult years, thanks to facials and skincare.That's a studio shot of mother & daughter,...

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Bizarre Mating Rituals..demonstrated with animation

I once heard a true story whereby a social worker went to Africa to educate the Africans on family planning and protection from sexual diseases. They introduced the condom and demonstrated how it was put on with the end of a broom stick. They then distributed dozens of condoms to all participants. 6 months later, they did a review of the campaign, disappointed to find increasing figures still on birth and victims. The same social worker then did...

Set Sail with Royal Caribbean

Disclaimer: This is not representative of Royal Caribeean's crew or any sea crew. Simply a figment of my imagination.For people who have a case of wanderlust, their ambition is to become part of the air crew. I myself, have tried and failed in my attempts of becoming one. But i didn't try hard enough! Because i only interviewed for Singapore Airlines. I only wanted to be part of the SIA crew, and no one else. Simply because SIA is known to be the...