Meet Uruguay, A Football Powerhouse

It has won two World Cups although it has only 3.4 million people. That's a lot of World Cups per capita if you ask me. 0.59 per million people as shown in the above chart if you want to know. Which is almost 9 times the number for the next country in the list: Italy. And 22 times that of Brazil which has yet to win one at home. From what we have seen in the Copa America, the Selecao has still a lot of work to do to avoid a repeat of the 1950 Maracana final in 3 years.

FIFA Ranking: Does Population Size Matter?

To some extent yes if you consider that three-fifths of the Top 20 spots are occupied by countries with less than 50 million people. This proportion drops to half for the 10 best teams. Mauritius is at spot 189 in case you're wondering. In Africa, only Seychelles and Djibouti do worse than us.

Long live the Doing Business ranking!!!

So, How Big is The Toohrooh?

We know from our previous conversation that it's in the billions. But how good an estimate can you come up with? And how quickly?

I am starting my stopwatch now.

Minister Loses Son in Car Accident

20-year old Shiva Chedumbrum was on his way to school when his car was involved in accident.

I have stopped counting the number of fatal road accidents. It seems that Mauritius is putting an increasingly smaller value on the life of her citizens.

Host and Defending Champ Exit Copa America

Messi's side beaten by a splendid Uruguayan team at penalty shoot-out yesterday and tiny Paraguay embarrasses uninspired selecao at penalty kicks a little while ago to advance to the semis. In fact Brazil did not even get one penalty past an in-form Villar.

And Japan has defeated the US to clinch her first women World Cup by scoring two extra penalties.

Jugnauth: Second Miracle On Its Way

That's what he said in parliament this week. The trouble is that a year has already gone by since he's been in the driver seat and nobody has seen anything yet. Save water cuts for almost 12 months and an inflationary budget in November.

Don't hold your breath.

Kozelidir Breaks Through 2,500-Comment Barrier

So I have to say a big thank you to the fans of this blog for the conversation.

Do I have to issue a little note as to what kind of comments don't get through? Nah, you have a pretty large sample here to figure out the DNA of this blog.

And as far as posts go this one is number 729. Which makes reading the guide an interesting stop for many. I have also cleaned up some of the labels so that the experience becomes still better. Here is one sexy baby: all the charts on Kozelidir.

Yahoooooooooooooooooooo!

Duval Wants Poverty Line Redefined

Rs5,000 per month per family may be ok for small families but not for larger ones says the Minister. With that in mind he wants to talk with his colleague at the Finance Ministry about some adjustment for family size.

What do you think about this?

Understanding Resilience: Part 3

We know that too much foreign debt can make a country bankrupt: ask Thailand. Here too we've been taking up too much of it for the past 5 years. Indeed, the share of foreign debt in the total debt of the central government has literally doubled between 2006 and 2010. That's all the more worrisome given that these monies have not been used to improve our competitiveness or reduce frustration levels of the common citizen. Far from it.

Berenger is Disciple of Goebbels Says PM

At an impromptu press point at the Treasury Building yesterday. He was responding to allegations made by the Leader of the Opposition an hour earlier that he had met Dr Malhotra, the owner of the Medpoint clinic, and had then called the chief government valuer.

The Prime Minister forcefully denied these accusations and said that he would come back to them once the visit of the President of Congo-Brazzaville comes to a close.

Joseph Goebbels was Propaganda Minster for the little guy with the moustache.

CFA Institute Offering Free Primer For Trustees

This handy 120-page document offers a nice coverage of topics including governance structure, investment policy, investment objectives and risk tolerance and ethics in investing. And if you want to delve deeper into the ethics part of it then you should go for the Institute's Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice Handbook. These will help you navigate safely through ethical dilemmas. Both are them are also available for a free download.

Happy reading!

168-Year Old Newspaper Closed

By the Murdoch family. News of the World apparently hacked phones of thousands of people and paid police to get private information. Andy Coulson, its former editor and until recently the chief spokesman for the British Prime Minister is expected to be arrested today.

Petals of Dust Turns 30

So reminded us Le Mauricien on Monday. I for one recall being told by the management of Gangatarang to show up at The Triveni appropriately dressed on that Tuesday. Had a front-row seat, saw the familiar faces, listened to speeches, checked the book-signing part, had a few snacks along with a Fanta in between. Got back home. Camera crews followed a few days later to interview SKJ.

It's only way after that I got to appreciate the contents of the book. And the fascinating road travelled by its author. I still do. Haven't fully digested it yet. But that doesn't mean you cannot start enjoying it. Nope. We have already placed 8 chapters on its own blog so that your blood get stirred in the right way.

Enjoy!

Audit Report Confirms PBB is An Eyewash

It's that period of the year again when the audit report affords us an opportunity to become totally outraged at how our tax rupees are wasted. And why bean-counters cannot hide under the cover of PBB to mask their miserable failure.

It's not getting better is it?

Understanding Resilience: Part 2

Halving top tax rates and easing the purchase of big cars may have provided Ramgoolam with bragging rights: Ferraris, Lamborghinis and loads of other expensive cars routinely slide on our velvet roads.

But as we don't make these gas-guzzling vehicles we had to import them. And we've paid for these babies essentially by selling our land to rich foreigners probably after telling them that we're building a society for the few not for the many. That's not sustainable. And what's not sustainable cannot make us resilient.

And this folly has come at a heavy cost: a carefully crafted masterpiece, our welfare state, has been upset. So that Mauritius has become a less exciting place and FDI has collapsed in the first quarter of the year.

Looks like the toxic party that was sold to Ramgoolam is pretty much over. He should now revert to basic governance. Right away.

Rafa To Meet World No. 1 Player on Sunday

That's Novak Djokovic who's been having a terrific year so far including beating Nadal no less than 4 times. But before make sure to watch the Maria Sharapova-Petra Kvitova match-up tomorrow.

I am betting on Rafa and Maria.

Minister Baichoo Good With Synonyms

This was clearly visible in his speech during the inauguration of the access road to the Reduit Triangle yesterday: Mo bizin remersye promye minis, Dr. Navin Ramgoolam, san so vizyon, san so sutyen, san so kolaborasyon, san so sipor, san so ed nu pa ti pu kav fer li.

Not bad, eh? Having trouble with synonyms? Don't despair, you can get some help here.

Mauritians Visit Blogger More Often Than Orange

According to Alexa: they are at positions no. 8 and 9. The first newspaper in the list is L'express at 11th spot. Defimedia.info is at 16 while Wordpress, blogger's competitor, at 22. Gov.mu is at 15, MCB at 13, SBM only 99 (but it has another entry at 102). Le Matinal is at 28 while lemauricien.com (this includes weekend and turf magazine) at 36. Liverpool is at 48, Manu at 54. Google Mauritius is no 2. And the winner is... Facebook!

You can have fun with the full list here. But read this before getting too excited.

Deerpalsing Wants A Planning Unit Under PMO

Essentially for the same reason it's the PM who appoints the Governor of the Central Bank. If the latter produces too much inflation by giving in to the GLDs who love the worst enemy of the poor the former's political position may weaken. In fact that's the case with all positions of huge responsibility: we have seen how two bean-counters have squandered Ramgoolam's historic 2005 majority.

It's all about picking the right people and avoiding groupthink at all cost. Stuff that leaders should excel at.

Looks like we've regressed by half a century.

Lagarde Appointed First Female Boss of IMF

And has agreed to continue the reform of the governance structure of the Bretton Woods institution to reflect the shift in economic power underway. She will be at her new desk the day after the US independence holiday.