Kindness

I received some really very sad news today – one of my university professors had died, and he was someone I was really very fond of. His kindness to a quiet, awkward Pakistani student who was going through the tumult of a difficult transition to and through university, as well as all the chaos and […]

The world is American

A grump-inducing moment in the Guardian today: Responsible production has become the hallmark of a respectable brand. To the people of Idaho, Washington and Oregon, who recently endured intense heatwaves, the fact that it takes 2,700 litres of water to produce a single cotton T-shirt in a world where droughts are becoming more common probably […]

The Fall

So, the fall, more quickly than anyone seems to have expected, even the Taliban. Their return feels unbelievable, the end of an era that began on 9/11 and that for those of our age defined our understanding of the world. Certainly without 9/11 my life would have been different as I doubt the GF would […]

Honour guard into hell

Rumsfeld surely has one of the more substantial honour guards into the afterlife with tens of thousands of Iraqis, Afghans and Pakistanis killed because of him. As Afghanistan teeters on the brink of America’s latest abandonment it’s hard not to remember that this man’s hands are covered with blood. I saw something on Twitter some […]

Hooray

Second dose booked, yay! And I’ve been told that in the UK at least worsened skin conditions have been widely reported as a side effect of the vaccine, so hopefully the eczema will settle down soon. And also not recur with the second dose. Donald Rumsfeld is dead. A man who loomed large over my […]

Angry Americans

At coffee in Cihangir today we sat next to an American on the phone and, of course, eavesdropped with great interest. He was talking to some sort of helpline in the US, to find out if he could get his first dose of the vaccine here in Turkey and then the second dose in the […]

What I noticed

Coronavirus ravages India Pakistan next? The trial of the murderer of George Floyd Football Super League rises, falls Pakistan, India overtures on Kashmir Downing Street sleaze – I wish they’d just call it corruption US refuses to send vaccine precursors to India US recognises Armenian genocide Attacks on Arabs in Jerusalem President of Chad falls […]

What I noticed

1. Pandering to the furious right in Pakistan 2. Coronavirus raging in India, Turkey, Pakistan 3. US troops are to be withdrawn from Afghanistan 4. Dodgy dealings in Whitehall 5. Trial for the murder of George Floyd 6. Blood clots, vaccines and the pill 7. Volcano in St Vincent 8. Buildup on the Ukrainian border […]