Charlotte Ashtons: Because she was former BBC

I heard this discussed on FM 93.8 this morning. It was all over the place on Facebook. The PM got into it and so did some of his ministers. I was trying to understand what's the big deal. What had Charlotte Ashtons written that was revolutionary. Finally I concluded there was nothing new except that it was the BBC. Sigh!

Do you think Ms Ashtons would even be given that space for her article were she not previously with the BBC? I am disappointed. I expected more from the venerable organization. But it is also a reminder and wake up call that the BBC has over they years changed and frequently not for the better. So has every major media company. Viewers and readers have been lazy and apathetic. We have failed to hold them to account, to higher standards. Some do but there are too few of them. Over time our disappointment will grow. Eventually a threshold would be reached and then the day of reckoning.

Singapolitics article.

Update: March 18 9:35 am

A very irresponsible Charlotte Ashton but BBC is complicit for allowing this. The global low standards had infected the BBC and this is not the first time. Someone left a comment here reminding us of the occasion when the BBC went undercover in North Korea putting all the visitors at risk.

Most regrettable that our leaders fell for it. They should have avoided commenting. Listening to the radio this morning, our President's remarks at Chinatown Library on compassion showed he was as clueless.

The media have become very short term looking for eyeballs to the point of mortgaging their credibility. Journalists and editors do not care because the people who will suffer are those who haven't join the industry yet. In fact the industry will eventually lose its right to exist in its current form, but as the need for information remains, something else will replace them.

First time at Triple-Os

Dinner with wifey at Triple-Os tonight at her recommendation. First time for me and second time for her.

We had to wait quite a while to be served as only one guy was manning the place.

Quite nice but mustn't have too often. Also makes you wonder how McDonalds and Burger King could become so successful. They are bad compared to Triple-Os.

Wonderful to have Rain

How delightfully wonderful that it rained for the most part of today! I just had to get this picture. Bye bye drought.

SG in crony-capitalism index

Got this from the latest issue of the Economist newspaper.

We scored an awful position five from the top and we were there in 2007 but I don't remember that.

Some wonder if the ranking is accurate. I think that is the wrong question. The right question is over precision rather than accuracy.

Then they argue over this academically. They have left school long ago but remained stuck with what they had learned there. I supposed they were bright students who had done well and proud of their academic achievements. I wished they had more common sense. First ask yourself what is your interest in this. If you don't the street savvy sharks out there would and don't be surprised you end up the loser.

I think Singapore's case is unique. We are crony infested from the results but that is not obvious if we look at how our laws and regulations brought this about. Hong Kong is much easier to understand because he billionaire wealth is almost 80% of GDP. The less than 20% it is at for us allows plenty of anecdotal evidence to debunk we are not a crony state. Those are common but facetious arguments from the government and crony capitalists.

I wan to be practical here. From the personal point of view we just need to ask ourselves only one question: How much rent seeking is happening here? A lot! and it is suffocating us. What Khaw Boon Wan had done at MND to kill the golden goose for property developers was very good.

Koh Poh Koon on doctoring in SG tomorrow

I think I have worried aloud about the dark side of health insurance on healthcare here twice. It is good that Dr. Koh is also pointing out the risk of the path we are going down. Somehow I never have much faith in Gan Kim Yong as a minister. What had he done at MOM that was enlightened and farsighted? He presided over the deluge of foreign workers into this small island. Then his ministry never hand shake with Raymond Lim Transport Ministry to cater for the additional huge load on our public transport system. I even wonder if some ministers were competing rather than cooperating with each other!

I have every reason to worry where Gan guy is taking our healthcare system to. Under his watch we experienced third world crowding in a first world society in our hospitals. I am glad Low Thia Kiang punched them hard over this in Parliament recently. Unfortunately instead of feeling ashamed and taking responsibility they usually reacted defensively.

Give me the rain

I have not seen rain for a while and today's weather forecast is as optimistic as it gets that it will rain. Really it is time for rumors of rain to give way to the real thing.

Must remember to tell the girl to take a brolly with her to the NUS Open House. Perhaps how the sky look will be that cue. That would be nice.

And I hope not just the north and the west, but there would be rain everywhere. Spare us the floods though. Perhaps I can hit the PCN tomorrow morning eh? Wash the haze away. That would be good.

A Tom Clancy type conspiracy over MH370

As I read this article from Yahoo Singapore, I can't helped feeling that wifey could be right that the B777 was stolen. She must have recalled how Malaysian air force fighter engines was once stolen to have made that seemingly absurd suggestion. But you must know this is Malaysia!

Of course the search parties could not find any wreckage if it never crashed. The giveaway as the Americans suggested is the data transmission from the two engines to ground receivers which the thieves must have forgotten. So it probably flew at least a few hours more and to some unknown air field. As you can't sell this plane, perhaps they want to use it as a giant missile sometime in 9/11 style? Now if this speculation has more than a grain of truth, what have they done to the passengers? Also who were the thieves? I would think the most likely answer are the two pilots.

The Police should be calling on the pilots' families soon.

Update: March 14 9:10 am

I heard over the radio that the Americans are searching the Indian Ocean for the plane. Now that is putting action to words. Again the Malaysians look bad claiming there is no truth that the plane remained airborne for a few hours after disappearing from secondary radar.

The plot is thickening and I think the US is using the search operations as a cover to buy time whilst the intelligence agencies are hard at work looking for the stolen plane and fathoming its reasons.

Update: March 15 5:55 pm

We were waiting for our lunch to be served at Swensens' when I read this off my S3. For the next couple of hours I kept checking for PM Najib statement. Typically Malaysian, it didn't start on time. He was so late that I had time to watch parts of it on CNA after we got home.

How are they going to hunt for the plane now? The Chinese are understandably very motivated but do they have the assets? Thus far this episode has shown the overwhelming superiority of US military and intelligence capabilities over the Chinese.

Update: March 15 9:20 pm

A good graphic by ST making the two corridors Najib spoke about clearer. Time the great revealer will tell what actually happened. If the southern corridor is where the plane was headed then they could have crashed into the sea when the plane was out of fuel. I am more sympathetic to the scenario that the plane had landed. In fact the most reasonable guess is that the one or both pilots were the criminals behind it all. Closet jihadists you think? And everyone who hides must eventually comes out.