South of West

• Covering Pakistan’s Floods

  Posted: November 30, 2010, 8:32 am by Rob Crilly

  This comparison between money raised for Pakistan and Haiti’s natural disasters this year is pretty stark. As the graphic above shows, the response to Pakistan’s floods was muted compared with the response to Haiti’s earthquake. The analysis of why this … Continue reading →

• Corrections for the Record

  Posted: November 24, 2010, 5:05 pm by Rob Crilly

  Being spokesman for the US Embassy in Islamabad has to be something of a thankless task. Take this offering today… Correction For The Record: No Airstrip On U.S. Embassy Compound Islamabad, November 24, 2010 – There was a story in … Continue reading →

• Peshawar’s Loot

  Posted: November 23, 2010, 10:20 am by Rob Crilly

  The Afghanistan Campaign Medal was created by George W Bush (under Executive Order 13363) in 2004 for American service personnel who have served in Afghanistan (or Afghan airspace) for 30 consecutive days or 60 non-consecutively. It is however much easier … Continue reading →

• Women Cricketers on Top

  Posted: November 21, 2010, 4:06 pm by Rob Crilly

  This cartoon, in today’s Daily Times, nicely sums up the state of Pakistan cricket. The men face an uphill struggle against South Africa, who have declared just shy of 600 runs, so let’s enjoy the success of the women’s team … Continue reading →

• Butt on Haider

  Posted: November 18, 2010, 2:33 pm by Rob Crilly

  To Lahore last week, on the trail of anyone who could shed light on Zulqarnain Haider’s odd defection, and who should I bump into at Model Town Green’s Cricket Club but Salman Butt, the Pakistan cricket captain currently suspended over … Continue reading →

• The Ghee Club

  Posted: November 12, 2010, 8:56 am by Rob Crilly

  Noticed this sign in Lahore yesterday. I’d be interested to know what benefits are available to members. Their website had precious few answers. But I can’t also help thinking that there may well be a good reason why no-one has … Continue reading →

• Sudan: Blimey it’s complicated

  Posted: November 10, 2010, 7:02 pm by Rob Crilly

  Heartened to read a piece in The Christian Science Monitor suggesting that the threat of war in Sudan may have been exaggerated in the run up to January’s referendum… Having listed a series of hyperbollock stories, Maggie Fick, a journalism … Continue reading →

• What I did at the weekend

  Posted: November 7, 2010, 8:24 pm by Rob Crilly

  Spent the weekend watching bull racing in a field somewhere near Gujar Khan. It was quite a thing cheering on the locals as they took it in turns standing on a dustbin lid to be towed (at high speed) behind … Continue reading →

• America’s Not-So-Covert Drones

  Posted: November 2, 2010, 10:36 am by Rob Crilly

  It is difficult to keep a CIA programme “covert” when it involves regularly destroying buildings and cars in Pakistan’s tribal areas. People tend to notice that kind of stuff. And the deaths. However, President Obama’s drones have been exactly that … Continue reading →

Blah blah blah

Fish cakes

Alas a fish cake.

Yet more fish cakes

Guess what ... yeah ... fish cakes.

The end of the fish cakes