Nalaka Gunawardene, the well-known Sri Lankan journalist, makes an interesting point as to why every banker should see Mary Poppins, the famous 1964 Walt Disney movie. As he says: “For it holds a very important and fundamental lesson for their profession: the need to win every customer’s trust and confidence… “The movie has many interesting scenes, but one that is directly relevant to bankers is when Mr Banks takes his daughter Jane and son Michael to his work place, the Dawes...

The US presidential elections have this time evoked great public interest worldwide. The Economist has invited the public to vote online for their favourite candidate. The voting has already begun. It is interesting to see the voting trend from Bangladesh to Australia…More here…

In the midst of the fear psychosis and frenzy created by the US/global economic meltdown, a grave and dramatic encounter between the US and the Pakistani troops went almost unnoticed. The Economist reports that although both the US and Pakistan deny it; “but it appears that on September 15th they fought a short war. “America started it. Local reports suggest that, under cover of darkness, two helicopter-loads of its soldiers crossed on foot from Afghanistan into the Pakistani tribal...

Although US President George Bush and Henry Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary have stated that “Washington was committed to minimising the impact of the painful economic shifts of the present crisis”, the shock resulting from the abrupt demise of the Lehman Brothers investment bank sent the world share market into a nasty downward spin. A recent report says that “Asian stock markets tumbled Tuesday amid growing fears of a global financial crisis as investors reacted to the demise...

Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd recently unveiled his vision for making Australia the most “Asia-literate country” in the West. In continuation of this theme Rudd would be the keynote speaker at the fortnight-long OzAsia cultural festival at Adelaide that showcases arts, music and dances of Asia-Pacific region. A special symposium would be held on the occasion “to explore the challenges and opportunities for closer cultural engagement with Asia in the 21st Century.” According...

The US federal government’s takeover of mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac not only “exposes the worst possible face of capitalism, one where a taxpayer guarantee is substituted for the old adage of buyer beware”, but also indicates the tough financial challenges ahead for the new president of America. Whether it is Obama or McCain, whoever makes it to the White House at the end of this year would have to find ways to extricate the USA from the fiascoes that Iraq...

When Indira Gandhi (photo above) was a candidate for the post of prime minister in India she was harshly described as a “dumb doll’ by even the strong men in her powerful party. Later, when Gandhi ruled with an iron hand she was described by her detractors and admirers as the “only man in her Cabinet of Ministers”! The Times takes a look at the top women leaders with reputations for raising hackles. “It’s disgraceful what passes for controversy these days. From...

After three days of acrimonious debate, the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group meeting at Vienna lifted the 34-year-old embargo on nuclear trade with India. “An India-specific exemption from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) was won only after a flurry of phone calls from President George W. Bush and secretary of state Condoleezza Rice to leaders of a handful of countries opposed to the deal, reports The Tribune. “Given the time and energy it has invested into the civilian nuclear agreement,...

Asif Ali Zardari’s decisive victory in the Pakistan’s presidential election, despite media allegations about corruption and the state of his mental health, proves that the political leadership in Pakistan has clearly opted to hand over the reigns of power to the late Benazir Bhutto’s husband. Zardari won by a convincing 481 out of a possible 702 votes in the electoral college made up of members of the national and provincial parliaments. The Australian notes that “only Punjab,...

Cartoon by Bill Leak in The Australian

First, who are Australian ‘Diggers’? Briefly, the words ‘mateship’ and ‘diggers’ are interchangeable in Australia. See here… To his delight the US army chief in Iraq, General David Petraeus, found them to be different and has a special word of praise for them. The Australian has a story under the heading ‘Give me more Aussies, pleads general’. The report says: “David Petraeus would like more Australians to work alongside him as he assumes...

Well, the media has begun to scream about the mental health of the would-be president of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari. We are told that he is not only corrupt but is “mad” too. Pray tell us which leader in the world is sane and not corrupt??? Maybe the “corrupt” and the “mad” are better equipped to rule us all in the present times!!! Here is a sample of the hysteria in The Newsweek…please click here.

I recommend a recent write-up on Barack Obama by Greg Sheridan, foreign editor of The Australian. Sheridan writes: “He (Obama) is technically a member of generation X, born just too late to be a baby boomer. Yet his consciousness is quintessentially that of the baby boomer. “The best guide to who Obama is politically comes not from the millions of hagiographic and densely uncritical words penned by adoring media across the world but from Obama’s autobiographies and his legislative...

Nalaka Gunawardene, Sri Lanka’s leading journalist, asks an interesting question: “From Chris Rock to Barack Obama: Will electoral life imitate Hollywood art?” Gunawardene recalls that “while the Democratic Party convention was underway on the other side of the planet, I re-watched the 2003 Chris Rock movie Head of State – and realized how prescient it has been in some respects. “But where life does imitate art is in how the Washington establishment conspires...

Sri Lanka is today known more for the performance of its fine cricket team and the conflict between the government and the LTTE. The passing away of its highly talented and sensitive journalist Mallika Wanigasundra went almost unnoticed. I came to know of her passing away while going through the website of another dedicated and respected Sri Lankan journalist Nalaka Gunawardene. I met Gunawardene in the late 1980s at Vestras, Sweden, where we had gone to attend an international semniar on “Media...

The Economist pays a tribute to Denver’s Jack A. Weil who died on August 13th, aged 107. “Until he created his shirts, there was no distinctively western look in American couture.” “His shirts, sold after 1946 through his company, Rockmount Ranch Wear, became extremely famous. The Premium Blue Flannel Plaid was worn by Ronald Reagan, and the Pink Gabardine by Bob Dylan. “Eric Clapton liked the diamond-snap number; Robert Redford in ‘The Horse Whisperer’...

For the past two or three years that I have been blogging, I had been under the impression that one contributes to the blogs only out of conviction or for personal satisfaction, thrills, kicks, barking or whatever…because there isn’t any money in blogging. There maybe some exceptions…but I would presume that more than 90 per cent bloggers don’t find it monetarily rewarding. However, an NYT story tells us about people who made blogging a financial success…See here.

While it is curtains for the great world event the Beijing Olympics, the sports lovers all over the globe are today celebrating the 100th birth anniversary of the Australian cricketing legend, Sir Donald Bradman (1908-2001). As the ABC News says: “Bradman will always be remembered for his cricket, but as Richie Benaud (another cricket star) said when delivering the eulogy at Bradman’s funeral, he was also a sportsman.” More here… The former Australian prime minister John...

The recent ban on advertisements on “longer lasting sex” is being described as the triumph of public opinion in Australia. And the best part is that the advertiser has accepted the ban in good grace. “Three weeks after billboards advertising ‘longer lasting sex’ were banned in Western Australia, the slogan has been outlawed nationwide,” says a news report. A company representative said “his company would comply with the ruling. He said it was a fair decision,...

The Beijing Olympics is over, and the world seems to have forgotten Tibet and its exiled leader, the Dalai Lama. But not France. It recently witnessed an exotic event — “a mixture of religious service, saffron diplomacy and Woodstock-like happening. The venue: The Lerab Ling sanctuary, home of Europe’s biggest Tibetan temple.” The French president Nicolas Sarkozy sent his supermodel wife, Carla Bruni, to meet the Dalai Lama (photo above) and join the Tibetan spiritual leader...

The aggressive/obscene/trivial performance of the TV channels in India during the past decade created a public disquiet/uproar. Despite government efforts/threats these channels continued to compete in trashing the basic tenets of journalism. Finally, the private television broadcasters have realized the folly inherent in such a strategy and have announced their own code of conduct. India, like elsewhere, has a “toothless” media regulatory authority. India’s leading TV channel...

Pakistan’s democratically-elected government, despite the dire predictions/propaganda in the western world, is functioning no better or worse than under the military dictator Pervez Musharraf’s regime. However, a democratically-elected government has a moral and popular platform to wage a war on terror. “The Election Commission on Friday set September 6 as the date lawmakers will elect a new president, after the resignation earlier this week of President Pervez Musharraf,”...

The Economist pays tribute to Mahmoud Darwish, “the voice of Palestine”, who died on August 9th, aged 67, three days after heart surgery at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, Texas. “In his last poem, Mr Darwish described Palestinians and Israelis as two men trapped in a hole: He said: Will you bargain with me now? I said: For what would you bargain In this grave? He said: Over my share and your share of this common grave I said: Of what use is that? Time has passed us by, Our...

Who has been the greatest prime minister of Australia? An academic who undertook this ambitious exercise says the verdict is: Robert Menzies (20 December 1894 – 15 May 1978). “Australia has had four great prime ministers and four failures. The other 18 have been successful (to a lesser or greater extent) without being great. That adds up to 26, the number of prime ministers we have had so far, including Kevin Rudd. “These are the conclusions to which I have come after studying a great...

With the hormone levels peaking at the Beijing Olympics, what would the young participants from the world be up to when they mingle freely for the last time before heading home? Here is the peep show…