Not slogans but action

Both sides seem to campaign on the premise that voting for the other side means a dubious future. But what I would really like to know is how voting for any side would lead to a bright future. SOMETIMES I am prone to wonder what politics, and politicians, are for. Are they there to make life better for...

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The fuzzy side of human perception

We often like to believe what we want to believe, often because the real facts challenge us too much. It is far easier to wallow in our prejudices than to seek out the truth in anything. LANCE Armstrong is no ordinary cyclist. He has won seven Tour de France trophies after having recovered from testicular...

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Guilty, unless proven otherwise

The newly-inserted Section 114A of the Evidence Act is another example of a law that was rushed through Parliament without much debate and discussion, to the detriment of us all. AS often happens, e-mails pop up in my inbox with interesting headlines. While I usually save them to read later, I had...

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There’s art and there’s sleaze

Kuala Lumpur may not be Paris, and we may not yet be ready for fashion photographer Helmut Newton’s nudes, but to ban ballet seems a very unsophisticated thing to do. I WAS in Paris recently and with some free time one Sunday afternoon, I decided to see an exhibition at the Grand Palais, one of the city’s...

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Net video the modern PA system

If mass conveyance of messages is unclear or late, then one is likely to get the wrong message and make the wrong decision. I WAS at the airport the other day waiting for a flight. As always, I kept my ear out for announcements about boarding times and was surprised to find the public announcement system...

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Stork talk is no child’s play

Nobody disagrees that we should have sex education. But with the impasse that we have now, the more aware and concerned parents have to do their own educating. I MAY be getting long in the tooth these days but I’ve always held high hopes for the youths of today. Everywhere I go, whether here in this country...

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Common sense not so common

We learn much folk wisdom – some couched in semi-superstition – either from other people or simply from experience. I USED to muse that there seems, these days, to be a lack of common sense, the wisdom that comes from basic knowledge and experience. Everyone seems to be more interested in fantasising about...

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All awash with phobias

If ever there’s a phobia one can promote, it should be a true loathing of graft in any form, regardless of it being the petty everyday variety or the major million dollar ones. I’VE been thinking about phobias lately because there seem to be so many around. I have a phobia about snakes; I simply don’t like...

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Free speech goes both ways

Howls of protest are heard when attempts are made to block hate speech, which is ironic because very often the speaker has no interest in respecting anyone else’s rights either. I JUST returned from a symposium on social media, freedom of expression and incitement to hatred in Asia. Forty Asian delegates...

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No fresh start to 2012

The last year was one where there were particularly high levels of obliviousness. Why not, in 2012, for the sake of doing something different, have a campaign called “End Stupid Statements”. IT’S 2012 and if the Mayans are to be believed, the world ends this year. For me, the world didn’t start well because...

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