Egypt builds new wall along Gaza

Unfortunately, walls do work, whether to keep people in or keep people out, they do work. Walls are characterised by three aspects. One, who makes them, where is it built and what is the point of the wall? The last item relates to whether you want to keep people in or out (or both...).

This this case, it is to keep the Palestinians out of Egypt, unfortunately, the same as that of the Israeli's. And dont forget, the Sinai can be termed as disputed land as well. I have yet to find a good consistent reason why that line on the sand between Gaza and Egypt is there. The consistency has to lie between all the boundaries around Israel and when? But I am drifting from the point.

Again, this wall will work and keep people out. For people who point to the smuggling aspect going on, yes, so was the same with the Berlin Wall. Generally it is not possible to prove a negative but in the case of the Berlin Wall, you can with a greater sense of confidence. You saw the difference even with the same regime on the East German side when the wall came down. So yes, these walls do make a difference. Also see my other general essay on walls as well as how another country, Pakistan, is being fenced in.

Technorati Tags: Security,Israel,Palestine,Egypt,immigration

Weep, dear readers, read and weep, 10p or ten pea?

Two of the most powerful leaders in the world, one completely incompetent in managing the bloody 10p basic rate of taxation in the UK and the general economy and the other idiot thinking its a ten pea problem.

I do not have any words to describe this story.

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

FDI causes child labour, yes? Wrong!

It is almost a truism in the modern day and age that FDI is bad, and one ways that it shows up is that it causes child labour. What nobody see's is the impact on the child itself (see here for an interesting email discussion that I partook in). Blame the foreigner for making our children work, while we are quite happy to have children work as servants or not to provide any other economic way to allow the children to actually study. But its better to kick out the foreign investor, no?

But here's a study which checks what is the impact of FDI on child labour. The authors find that FDI is negatively correlated with child labour and even after controlling for per capita income, the effect totally disappears. Nothing, no impact, zilch, zero, nada.

Another very interesting conclusion that the authors come to is and I quote, "A key policy implication of this finding is that policies that increase the income effects of FDI may be especially useful in combating child labour. Such policies include payroll tax reductions that encourage multinationals to increase employment and wages. Thus, rather than interpreting these findings as an indication that FDI has no effect on child labour, we believe that our results point towards the need for nuanced policy that exploits these indirect effects."

This was a very curious conclusion to draw. I can understand concluding that dont swear at FDI, guys, if nothing, there is no relationship to child labour at all. But why talk about income effects? How will reducing payroll taxes actually help improve child labour? Well, the fact remains that child labour exists because of a variety of factors, not least because their parents are not gainfully employed. Get their parents into employment and you will lop off a very large number of children having to work. Which parent would want to see their children work when they could be playing and studying? But, all those payroll taxes do is to make it difficult to increase employment.

Ronald B. Davies and Annie Voy, The Effect of FDI on Child Labor, Journal of Development Economics In Press. 

Technorati Tags: Childrens Rights,Employment,Labour

Dramatic Increase in Private Schools in Pakistan

I quote:

A new report released today by the World Bank calls for a reevaluation of education policies in the context of a dramatic increase in private schools for primary education in Pakistan. Between 2000 and 2005, the number of private schools increased from 32,000 to 47,000, and by the end of 2005, one-third of enrolled children at the primary level was studying in a private school.

While overall enrollments increased by 10 percent between 2001 and 2005, the report says quality of education is lagging. Children in private schools score significantly higher than those in government schools, even when they are from the same village. In fact, it will take children in government schools 1.5 - 2.5 years of additional schooling to catch up to where private school children are in Class 3.

This is indeed good news, more schooling and enrolment can be nothing but good. See the problem of expecting the government to do something about this? even if they do, their performance is poorer comparatively to private education.

Technorati Tags: Schooling,Education,Pakistan,World Bank

Terrorists also want educated youth

For those who think that education is a panacea for all terrorism ills, read this. I quote:

Terrorists and banned extremist groups are no more the sole headaches of
anti-terrorist squads and special operations groups of police departments in
eastern and north-eastern states. Rather, their main headache of late has been sleeper cells, whose members, though not directly involved in terror acts, form the information backbone of underground subversive outfits.
An IB (Intelligence Bureau) review reveals that in the recent past, most banned terror groups have overhauled their sleeper cells to bring in educated youth who do not have police records. The sources said, apart from overhauling sleeper cells, banned outfits had made them more broad-based to place moles in various institutions so far untouched.
“We have specific information that these groups have agents in schools, colleges, universities, hospitals, courts, clubs, hotels and big recreational centres, among other places,” a senior IB officer said. The agents are a wide variety of personnel from medical and engineering students, NGO workers, hotel and club employees and teachers to court clerks. The IB officer said none of them has a criminal background and banned outfits do not involve them in their day-to-day operations. “Their job is to update terror groups on the developments in their respective areas of operation and residence. While some sleeper cell members share ideology with banned outfits, a majority does the job for money,” he said.

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

Transparency will always be fought by vested interests

Here's a classic example of this adage. More transparency, better it is for citizens and consumers.

Despite opposition from the unions, the state will replace mechanical meters
with electronic ones in all the taxis and autorickshaws in the city.

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

Mosque Desecrations.....

Remember these two photographs about the desecration of the mosque? The huge amounts of vituperation and anger?

Now see the event today? I quote:

A suicide bomber killed 24 people and wounded more than 30 as they prepared
for evening prayers outside a mosque in south-west Afghanistan yesterday. Most
of those killed and wounded were civilians, including children and old men.

So who is desecrating? And let us not talk about the interesting reactions (or the lack of it anyway....).


All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

Very amusing travelogue

I was near tears after reading this very funny and amusing travelogue.

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

Corporate Blogging rules - learn from the military

With more and more corporate blogs around the world popping up, there is even more discussion about how to manage these blogs. For those who are looking for guidance, here's a great list. I liked the last but one rule:

4. Ignore your wife to write that one extra post. There's a reason she's
been lying next to you in lace for the past hour. If that doesn't distract you,
maybe the government needs to relook your security clearance and/or next
promotion!

Perhaps one day I will learn...

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

Workplace racists get jail sentences

I read this in the morning rag and was furious. These buggers are seriously the scum of the earth. I quote:

The men tied their 29-year-old victim to railings, hosed him down with cold
water and even tried to force-feed him bacon – forbidden in his religion, their
trial heard. Some of the bullying, which also included racist comments and
placing an item made to look like a bomb on the victim's locker, was filmed on a
mobile phone camera. The hate campaign against Amjid Mehmood at Amey Mouchel motorway maintenance depot in Bescot, Walsall, had lasted for ten months, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard. Other incidents included setting Mr Mehmood's trousers on fire.

Forget about racism, would you seriously do something like this to your colleague? What are these people? animals? not civilised at all. Absolute barbarians. There is a difference between taking the mickey and blatant barbaric treatment.

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!