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Although this blog's name is inspired by Sauti Kubwa ("Big Voice"), the late lead singer of Rumba Japan, a band that played in Nairobi in the early years of this century, it won't focus unduly on Swahili nicknames, rumba music or indeed any other African issues.

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Monday 30 August 2010

Pakistani cricket

In today's FT, James Lamont and Farhan Bokhari say this about the Pakistan-cricket-and-betting-scandal:

The response to the latest apparent breach of the game’s rules will probably follow a pattern similar to Pakistan’s response to deadly terrorist attacks. There will be a hue and cry, promises of discipline and then nothing. The country, after all, has been unable to track down the killers of Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister, and the villains who made off on motorcycles after the daylight attack on the Sri Lankans in Lahore.

As I have observed more than once before, my usual expectations from Pakistan are of a Captain Renault-style response:


Sunday 29 August 2010

Do you laugh or cry...

... when you see sloppy writing?

Reading this about events in my second homeland, this leapt out at me:

"canons broke into a 21-gun salute"

I wondered whether they were also wearing their clerical vestments.

Friday 27 August 2010

Why British premierships fail

It's not a new idea - I remember Robert Harris mentioning it in the Sunday Times perhaps 20 years ago. It's the theory (paradox?) that British prime ministers are brought down by what was supposed to be their greatest strength.

Thus:

Eden: huge foreign policy experience, Middle East expert, Persian and Arabic speaker - resigned following self-inflicted Suez crisis.

Wilson: brilliant academic economist, technocrat - remembered now for presiding over a notably stagnant and crisis-ridden period in British economic history.

Heath: A meritocrat from a modest background, seen as someone who could connect the Tories to a wider public - his premiership saw very poor industrial relations and even concerns that British democracy might collapse.

Thatcher: Ruthless Iron Lady, crusher of Galtieri and Scargill - laid low by the plotting of backbench non-entities.

Major: A moderate, a conciliator - his time in office was characterised by Conservative Party factionalism and infighting.

Blair: Darling of the bien-pensant classes - now reviled by them.

Brown: All-conquering clunking fist, supremely assured economic maestro - we know how it ended.

So, how will it end for Cameron? In other words, what's seen as his greatest strength?