Fred Pearce, writing in New Scientist:
After all, [Lant Pritchett, JFK School of Government, Harvard] says, a Vietnamese labourer would have nine times the purchasing power if she did the identical job in Japan. A Kenyan could be seven times better off in Britain. Tongan workers earn four times more in New Zealand, Mexicans seven times more in the ( Read more... )

I liked this shout-out to the tired, the poor, the huddled masses, wretched refuse etc.:

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world - our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is ( Read more... )

Today a gentleman from the Bürgerrechtsbewegung Solidarität (BüSo) was outside the LIDL here, holding signs saying in effect "Earthquake in Puerto Rico; Hillary had the nomination stolen from her by the DNC". (I wish I'd had a camera ( Read more... )

This morning the German news bugs me. Important Media Experts are expounding on the supreme importance of the Iowa caucuses. They laugh at the incongruity of a small farming region having a disproportionate impact on the fate of the free world as we know it. They attempt to compare this to a village here holding an election which results in ( Read more... )

Australia has a complicated preferential voting system for electing its Senate. ( If you're not voting in SA
later this month, skip here. )

On Saturday night I dreamt that the late, and missed, Sam was preparing to give an interview as part of his campaign for the Presidency.

For alexwinolj, mainly:

Greens MLC Mark Parnell says "SA lags behind rest of nation on instrumental music"
http://www.markparnell.org.au/mr.php?mr=353