Election night

I went to sleep around midnight. There was still traffic on the roads, and when I looked out of the window towards one of the city’s main roads, I saw motorcycles and cars zooming past with party flags fluttering. I watched for a few minutes and counted dozens flying the red, blue and white Pakatan […]

Amazed

I’m amazed at Serzh Sargsyan’s resignation in Armenia, and sad that it feels so unusual for a leader to say he is wrong and to step down in the face of popular opposition. I hope it goes well.

Train drain

Yesterday was Saturday and, aside from working and getting myself some seekh kebabs for lunch, I had decided to go to Midvalley, a mall, where (rumour had it) rashguards can be purchased. Midvalley is located in a sort of island with limited points of access and the traffic is always obscene on weekends. The only […]

Shit holes

I am amazed at the fuss about Trump calling the non-white world a shit hole. It is not as though the US and Americans generally do not consider us shit holes for not being American, whether or not their own ancestors are originally from those shit holes. Moreover, it is hardly the vilest thing that […]

Gift

A late gift arrived this morning, so still technically yesterday in the US, with the Alabama election result. The Democrat narrowly beat the accused child molester and racist Republican. Phew. We went for dinner to Sushi Azabu last night. We’ve been there many times, so I wondered if it was a cop out, but as […]

Golden sparrow

A couple of fairly busy days at work, so consequentially little to write about. Today I finally managed to complete and send what I had hoped to – an education report that I think is not too shabby, a presentation based on the report, and some academic editing. And some press materials for which the […]

Sadness

The resolution of the Faizabad interchange sit-in has left me, along with many others, feeling bleak and full of sadness. It feels a defeat, and not one that will spur one forward. Such a sense of despair across Pakistan, at least amongst the ‘liberal fascists’/ ‘fake liberals’ as they like to call us. It did […]

Gilead on its way

Finished The Handmaid’s Tale last night. After a circular path towards TV series-dom it ended as the book did. The final episode was very good, a reversion to the earlier ones after a few which did the backstory thing that caused the middle bit to sag. The worst of these was the backstory of how […]

Feminist credentials

My feminist credentials suffered a body blow upon watching Melania Trump’s UN speech. That said, I am not sure that one can’t be a staunch feminist and be critical of a bad dress, bad botox job and bad barbie doll style. A rude feminist, perhaps.