Barca Win Offers Precious Lessons

They don't stop at putting great talent together. No, everybody sticks to the discipline of how they play football including that 1m69 fellow from outer space.

Humility is the way to go: that saves your head from swelling too much so that you can keep your eyes on the prize. And get better.

So much class and humanity: an injured Puyol, the usual captain, is sent on the pitch in the closing moments of the game when it was unlikely that Manu would come back. And then he gives the captain band to Abidal who had a tumor removed from his liver a mere two months ago.

Reminds me of a comment of Ilie Nastase about Bjorn Borg: We're playing tennis, he's playing something else.

To Our Mums

Jaysen Reaches Roof of The World

The first Mauritian to be atop Mt Everest reached there about 8am local time today, exactly 58 years after oxygen problems delayed Hilary and Tenzing history-making final ascent by an extra 3 days. Congratulaions Jaysen and have a safe return!!!

Weird Toast At Buckingham Palace

Implanting A Life

Maigrot Arrested Again on Strength of New Evidence

In connection with the murder of wealthy stylist Vanessa Lagesse which happened more than 10 years ago. Apparently the advanced forensic analysis done in France have discovered his DNA on a bedsheet in the bathtub where the body was found.

Le Mauricien published a handy timeline of the decade-old case yesterday.

Is the TINA Disease Spreading To The CNT?

That's a potential conclusion on reading Le Matinal which is announcing that the state has decided to privatise the organisation because it is making losses and has debt. The article adds that planning is not needed: only vision is needed. Really?

I disagree. For sure people differ in their ability to read the tea leaves and peer into the future but planning is a building block of basic management. If you're not gonna -- or are not able to -- do anything else you should plan.

Do We Need Singapore To Solve Our Water Problems?

Only if we're all brain-dead.

The Chimp of Competitiveness

Honour-Based Abuse

Like forced marriage and killings. I briefly watched a discussion that was aired on the BBC this evening. In it one Jasvinder Sangheera of Karma Nirvana told how she had ran away from home to escape forced matrimony. Here's a clip from The Guardian about this.

DSK Taken Off Plane To Face Attempted Rape Charges

Minutes before take-off at JFK. The IMF boss apparently tried to abuse a maid as he stepped outside of the bathroom of his hotel suite in the Big Apple. Some are already concluding that he won't be able to run in the French Presidential elections due next year. DSK was way ahead in recent polls.

Manu 1 Point Away From Premier League Record

Winning 19 titles that is or one more than current record-holder Liverpool. For sure money plays a role in winning titles but you still need an outstanding manager to assemble million-pound purchases into a great side. And a hungry Alex Ferguson has been doing this consistently over the past many years. There is a depth in United's bench that is simply amazing.

Another place where you can see this is in Apple's leadership: although there is a risk that Steve Jobs may not return from medical leave the company he built is unlikely to crash overnight. He has recruited enough obsessed talent to keep it going for a long time.

Here too we had someone with an extraordinary ability to build strong teams: Seewoosagur Ramgoolam.

Wantan Kills 8-year Old Boy

Christian Chang Chuan Lin is dead after eating home-prepared wantans for two successive meals. His parents suspect the pork meat purchased at the central market is the culprit although they are not excluding medical negligence.

That's the latest of a seemingly unending string of food-poisoning cases. Water-cuts seem to have helped transform a nation-wide attitude of bate-bate to one of avoy ferfut.

A2A Completes First Year

Would you believe this? One year has gone since Mauritius voted for a new government. 

What did you think of the first 20% of the mandate?

Policy Blunders Responsible For Robust Poverty

That's what you take away when you compare our recent inflation performance with that of Singapore. See, our inflation increased sharply when the university buddies took over and started messing up Mauritius and stayed high for 3 years before shrinking to a reasonable 2.5% in 2009 -- the year the Great Recession ended. In contrast inflation in Singapore stayed low up to 2007, spiked at 6.6% the following year and collapsed to 0.6% in 2009.

Put differently inflation in Singapore, save 2008, never exceeded 3% in the last 6 years while that of chota Bharat was always higher than that -- in half of those years it was about 3 times higher -- except in 2009.

It's also funny that union bosses -- who are now complaining about increases in the cost of living -- did not request that the authorities set an inflation target when inflation hit a historical low in 2009 as per article 5.2a of the Bank of Mauritius Act. The next best time to ask for it is now.

US Kills Bin Laden

Yesterday in Pakistan. Osama Bin Laden, a 54-year old Saudi citizen, was America's most wanted person after 9/11. President Obama gave details of the operation in the East Room of the White House last night.

MP Victim of Protocol Faux Pas

That happened on Thursday during a function organised for India's President. MP Aurore Perraud broke down when she was denied the red carpet and a seat, at least initially, with fellow MPs.

Some people have been quick to say it's because of her braids and have reduced the matter to a race issue. Just like they waste little time to accuse us Mauritians of disliking both Paul Berenger and Rama Sithanen not because we disagree with their regressive plans for our country but because we have a serious problem with their skin colours. That even though these two politicians don't exactly have the same skin pigmentation.

I rather think that people may genuinely not know Ms Perraud because she's way too quiet in the Parliament and she's been there for only one year. Bet you that the Passport Office has a solution to prevent these kind of incidents from happening again.