Kiwis

Have been in New Zealand for the past 3 days. Arrived in Auckland and then spent a day in Wellington before returning to Auckland yesterday. So far the trip has been good with so many good stories to listen and been learning a lot from the Kiwis.

Will provide an update once I am back...still have the Melbourne leg to go. :-)

Goodbye Paul

Was quite shock when I read on BBC the demise of Paul Hunter. For those who are huge snooker fans, you would definitely have remembered the "David Beckham" of snooker. With his boy-band looks, he could have made his millions in showbiz but instead he chose a career in snooker.

Snooker is a huge sport in UK. During the Masters and World Championship, BBC2 will show non-stop snooker for 2 weeks straight and my housemates and I got hooked onto watching the art of snooker. During the time when I was living in UK, Paul Hunter won consecutive Masters in Wembly and both victories were astounding come-from-behind victories. For a man only in his early 20s, he was able to dominate the table and also come from behind to beat his more illustrious opponents such as Ronnie O'Sullivan, Stephen Hendry, Mark Williams and many more.

It is unfortunate the sport has lost such a young and budding talent. Goodbye Paul

David Cameron's First Performance

Watched David Cameron's speech yesterday and found it rather refreshing. My personal favourite part of the speech is attached:

Think of any issue - not just crime - and then think of Labour's response.

This Government's way of doing things - the old way of doing things - is so familiar, and so depressing.

Ministers hold a summit.

They announce an eye-catching initiative.

A five-year plan.

Gordon Brown generously finds the money for it.

The money gets a headline, but no-one knows what to do with it.

So they create a unit in the Cabinet Office.

A task force is set up.

Regional co-ordinators are appointed.

Gordon Brown sets them targets - after all, it is his money.

Pilot schemes are launched.

The pilot schemes are rolled out across the country.

They are evaluated.

Then revised, re-organised and re-launched.

And then finally, once the reality dawns that the only people to benefit are the lawyers, accountants and consultants of Labour's quango army...

...with a pathetic whimper - but no hint of an apology - the whole thing is just abandoned.

We've seen too much of this in the past nine years.

Headline after headline but absolutely no follow-through.

It is a story of ignorance, incompetence, arrogance.

A story of wasted billions - and disappointed millions.

Somewhere out there, there is a place where Blair and Brown will never go.

It's dark.

It's depressing.

It's haunted by the failures of nine years of centralisation, gimmick and spin.

It is the graveyard of initiatives, where you'll find the e-University that died a death,
the drugs czar that came and went...

...the Individual Learning Accounts that collapsed in fraud and waste, the tax credits that were paid and reclaimed...

...the Connexions service that flopped, the Strategic Health Authorities that were dropped...

...the marching of yobs to the hole in the wall; the night courts that never happened at all.

And still they keep coming, those hubristic monuments to big government, the living dead that walk the well-trodden path from Downing Street and the Treasury to New Labour's graveyard of initiatives.

The NHS computer: delayed, disorganised, a £20 billion shambles.

Forced police mergers: the direct opposite of the community policing we need.

And then the perfect example.

ID cards.

When a half-way competent government would be protecting our security by controlling our borders...

...these Labour ministers are pressing ahead with their vast white elephant, their plastic poll tax, twenty Millennium Domes rolled into one giant catastrophe in the making.

One year old!

Ok, my blog has turned one! Not exactly one considering that this blog has been started in Dec 2004 but was never written till Sept 2005.

All the 2500 plus of viewership, thanks so much! This blog was started more to record some of my thoughts rather than attracting readers but still thanking everyone who has spent time reading this.

More comments in the future would be much welcome. To another year of writing...

David Who?

David Who?

Was flipping the Economist today and saw this picture of David Cameron, the recently anointed leader of Britain's Conservative Party. Hmm...still am not sure why the Economist used this picture, is it to cast him in better light, to show his casual side, showing that he is like any other man on the street, I wonder?

David Cameron has done well since he was appointed leader of the world's oldest political party last Dec. With the constant pickering between Blair and Brown at the other camp, David Cameron has been appealing to the people and showing them how a Conservative government would be like under his leadership.

In fact, Mr Cameron resembled Mr Blair when he first won leadership of the Labour Party 12 years ago. Young, rejuvenating, he has fired up the Tories. The other additional bonus for him is that he will not be facing Mr Blair in the next election but a rather drab Gordon Brown.

Today, he will deliver his first speech at the Tory Party Conference as leader of the party. We await what he has to say. Anyway, it's still at least 3 years before he can prove his worth!

Kyushu here I come!

So much to write but so little time! Ok first thing first, I AM GOING TO JAPAN! Could not resist the temptation to go back to the Land of Rising Sun once again. This time we are going to Kyushu for a more scenic view of Japan which will complement nicely to my 2004 trip to Japan.

A 7 day tour of Kyushu followed by a 6 day adventure on our own. Any Japanese contacts help will be greatly appreciated! So much to planned

Before that, a trip to Australia and New Zealand first next next week. Not sure how much leisure there will be but since it is my first time to the region, I am going to take it easy!