That occurs to me is perhaps we are seeing a return towrds national parties instead of regional ones. The last election had a stark split between the provinces: PTI in KP, PML(N) in Punjab, PPP and MQM in Sindh and ostensibly PML(N) in Balochistan but in reality a mix of local powers and parties. This […]
Distant manzil
It is the day after and Imran Khan is on his way towards becoming prime minister. We Pakistanis are really ahead of the game; we’ve had our proto-Trump for about ten years. Fortunately Imran will be more constrained than Trump, and certainly have less power to cause damage. With any luck, they’ll run Pakistan as […]
Congregation of pain
Today is the day. Dozens dead already in bomb blasts and shoot outs and car accidents; imagine if there had been a death toll to a US election! In some ways the best outcome would be a PTI government – to paraphrase Asma Jehangir quoted on How to Pakistan, so the bastards learn what it […]
Four votes
I met a longstanding client for lunch at the British Library. I’ve worked with him for years now, but this is the first time we met. He studies Ethiopia and was lamenting that he had to redo bits of his recently-completed monograph after the political changes in the country, with Abiy taking power. Fortunately none […]
Blimp overhead
Yesterday was Friday and after lunch the Gentleman Friend and I went to Westminster. On the way out of the house I glanced at the news to see his press conference with Teresa May had begun and he claimed that the awful interview he’d given the previous night (of which audio recording was online), was […]
Party flags VII
And, not a minute too soon, the final set of Malaysian party flags. There is nothing much to say.
Party flags VI
Now we’re at the tail end. A hornbill that, unfortunately, looks like roadkill, competes with a bull.
Party flags V
Now we get to the religious parties, and what I think is the best flag qua flag, that of PAS, the religious party. It was all over Terengganu a couple of months ago, and looked quite impressive. Also impressive, in a different way, is the flag with a brain on it.
Party flags IV
Ah, finally we get to the Pakatan, previously the underdogs and eventual winners. A couple of good ones here, starting with the Eye of Sauron that is the coalition and PKR flag, and the superb rocket. The rocket is one of the best, and had it not been for the fact that it doesn’t look […]