5th February 2021 Things are certainly on the move in Myanmar. Health professionals, doctors, nurses and ancillary workers have withdrawn their support from the military government. They will still treat the populace, delivering the rudimentary health care available to an ordinary Burmese as best they can, but adopting a policy
4 February 2021 The South China Morning Post carried an opinion piece on China’s relations with the world. The SCMP is owned by Alibaba, Jack Ma’s company, and should be read with that perspective in mind. Last week, the small nation of New Zealand managed to cut a
My previous pieces raised a few questions, so I will attempt to answer a few of them here. Where Does Myanmar Source Its Military Hardware? Many of these date back to the early 1990s but are well maintained. The fighter aircraft are mostly ground attack and support versions used internally.
As yesterday’s events in Myanmar settle down it’s time for an appraisal. Apparently, it wasn’t a coup. According to Chinese state media, it was merely a major cabinet reshuffle (which involved the detention and incarceration of ministers, MPs and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi). The Global Times,
Below is part of a piece that I wrote for The BFD on 13 November last year following on from the Myanmar election. “Despite its deep flaws, we’re approaching an election that will in all likelihood deliver a government with a strong popular mandate – something that would be difficult
EU Miracle Workers In an unprecedented act of political stupidity, the EU Commission managed to produce something that has never before been achieved. In one swift act they united the Irish Government, the DUP and Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland and the UK government. Faced with a shortfall in the
January 27th 2021 In a departure from my normal letter, I thought it appropriate to write a small piece to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the 27th of January. It was designated as such by a resolution of the United Nations in 2005; one of the few good things to
Why Carbis Bay? More on the G7 meeting in Carbis Bay. It just gets stranger by the day. It transpires that Carbis Bay is where Boris Johnson’s grandmother went into labour before being rushed to Penzance where she gave birth to Stanley, his father. The next issue is the
Where’s Carbis Bay? As a welcome diversion, we started off the week with the announcement that the June G7 meeting of world leaders will be held in Carbis Bay, Cornwall. In typical Cornish fashion, the news was greeted with self-congratulations by local politicians and total disdain and apathy by
January 11th 2021 A happy new year to all my readers (both still in the North Island). Well, what has happened since my last letter on Christmas Eve? Brexit came and went, and the UK has a trade agreement with the EU. The apocalypse promised by the remainers failed to
December 23rd 2020 The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) recently conducted a survey of their members’ views on the subject of taking the knee before all professional football games in the UK. Over 400 players responded to the survey and around 80% expressed their support for taking the knee. This was
December 19th 2020 A different kind of disaster became imminent following on from my letter of two days ago. Below is a picture of the Fowey river at Lostwithiel, Cornwall in normal times. Last night we stayed indoors, sheltering from the torrential rain and being told about even heavier rain
December 17th 2020 Below are the results of a survey carried out by Business West in the UK. It covers responses made to a survey carried out in the south-west region of the UK. It makes for sobering reading and makes me worry for the future of the region, parts
16th December 2020 I apologise for the delay in sending this letter, but like most of the country, I was waiting for news on deadline day as to the outcome of the Brexit negotiations. Silly me!! I forgot that when the EU is involved there is no such thing as
LETTER FROM THE NORTH 1st December 2020 The great scotch egg debate captivates the UK. The new tier system starts this week and pubs in most of the country will only be able to serve alcohol with a “substantial meal“. The Environment Secretary, George Eustice was being interviewed on Radio
LETTER FROM THE NORTH 26th November 2020 I have restrained myself from commenting on events in the UK because so much has been happening so quickly and it was hard to decide on what to include in the letter. The government is now splitting into two camps: first, the Boris
