Sarin Gas

Went to the Businessman of the Year thingummy this year at the Regent. Dragged myself an hour and a half across town because, actually, Anand Mahindra does deserve the damn thing and is a nice man to boot.

His acceptance speech was well enough written though the odd metaphor was overwrought. What was clear was that he wrote it, he meant what he said and what he said affected him, which is why he probably wrote it. Circular enough for you, that? He may have inherited his crown but no one can call him, who has so enlarged his kingdom, an unworthy King.

Mr. Sarin of Vodaphone fame on the other hand was trite, platitudinous, loud and hectoring, having no doubt learned his speechifying a the knees of some consultant.

Let him remember, as we all should, that he is merely an overpaid minion of a multinational whose only claim to fame is buying a large business in India. He did not build it; it was sad therefore to see the man who had built it, from scratch and on the cheap, kowtowing to the new Chief.

Global warming will drive us all to live on the coasts just as they submerge

As carbon is priced the heaviest hit will be to transportation and remote living. Let's face it the interiors of most countries are heavily subsidized by cheap fuel - you can live cheaply in Gary, Indiana because raw material can get to the metal bashers stationed there and then the bits and pieces they make can get out again. Since we cannot dismantle the global economy and since sea freight is way more carbon efficient (that means really really cheap once we have a carbon price) the only way to cope is to cut the percentage spent on hauling stuff around the continent by relocating more industries near ports. This has the added benefit of pushing up housing prices, which means smaller homes which means less energy is used to light, heat and cool them. High prices mean high building which means public transport.

And you thought there was no God.

Terminate Turbanator for Cause

Let's face it. Either Harbhajan is lying or he should turn in his turban and get that shave. The reason? No self respecting Punjabi would ever say 'Teri Ma Ki'. The term is 'Teri Ma Di' as in Ma Di Daal.

Obama and the removal of the Opiates of the Mass Market

The US is about to hit its toughest problem - the intersection of its long undeclared war against the poor and USD 100 per barrel of oil. How do you tell the poor bastard who works at McDo(ugh) that 1) he can't afford to pay for gas to get to work; 2) his work may not be there anyway; 3) the lack of heat in his home may give him pneumonia for which he will not be able to afford treatment and 4) the price of food will rise because of subsidies to corn fed f***wits and the higher price of transportation and 5) cheap stuff from China sold at Walmart won't be so cheap anymore. Oh yeah, let me not forgot, how the shysters from Wall Street conspired to take away her home and leave her further in debt.

The average Joe may not be quick enough to figure out the economics of how he's been had, but know he does.

The vote for Obama in an all white state is not some message of racial tolerance. It is rather the solidarity of class - the subtext being "that poor black bastard is more likely to know what life is like for me". Maybe he will even do something about it.

One cannot but be keen on the return of healthcare, education and public transportation to the US. It was once a great country. Alas, I fear it is too late for the US to recapture its lost glory - it is too indebted and likely to be riven by internal strife for the next decade to be much of a world player (except by its death throes causing the rest of us pain). I do not mean its deficit, but its rather too large environmental footprint and the likely result of its reduction.

There is no longer doubt that US consumers must reduce their use of world resources - the repricing of the dollar and oil will see to that, as will the rise of China and India. The question that will exercise America is who within that country will bear the brunt? Will the poor and disenfranchised find a way to keep some of their standard of living?