Could candidates pall against Paul?

The US presidential primaries always make good copy and this time is no exception. A merry-go-round is under way as Republicans jostle to settle on a candidate. There's a guy who seems to be named after baseball equipment (Mitt Romney), another with two first names (Ron Paul), yet another who should probably be institutionalised (Rick San(a)tor(i)um) for his extreme views on private rights, and one who sounds like a small, aquatic animal (Newt Gingrich). US politics are increasingly polarised just when compromise between the parties has become critically important. 2011 saw unseemly stand-offs on the debt ceiling and the extension of unemployment benefits and payroll tax reduction. Last-gasp compromises did materialise but to the outside observer the system is dysfunctional, with the political class apparently incapable of addressing long-term issues. The great American democracy doesn't work anymore. Sure, the economy is now coming out of its dip last year at quite a robust pace but the fiscal situation remains dire. At some point this must be confronted. On many issues Ron Paul is an attractive candidate to an economist like me. He is for small government and against US military intervention abroad. He has an Austrian school approach to the Federal Reserve i.e. dump it. The question of course is that, with the US society so layered with distorting incentives and vested interests, how likely is it that Paul could ever take Congress with him? Ironically, the Tea Party doesn't really like him precisely because of some his liberal views e.g. on the military and religion. This week's primary is in New Hampshire. The business card attached is from Frank Fontaine at WSMN, Nashua, NH on AM 1590 with 5kW, heard in Sheigra, Scotland in 1996. Frank was on the air at the time and sent a nice letter.

London explodes against its own silhouette

2012 marches in at a rate of knots. In London, New Year really arrived with a bang, ushered in by a fireworks display that took the breath away. This was a hi-tech explosion the likes of which we've not seen before. The intensity and synchronisation were stunning. At times it looked like a hundred huge white palm trees exploding in unison above the Thames. The London Eye was used to brilliant effect with rockets cascading out in spirals as well as streaking inwards. How did they manage to load so many crackers on to that steel grid? Big Ben also played a key role with multi-coloured tracers shearing out in pods from the top of the tower while the cameras would periodically zoom in on its looming shape against the dark silhouette of London behind. To get to the front of the barriers for the best view, people started queuing at 1pm but they sure got what they waited for. It took us back to Millenium night when we stood on the roof garden of the Liffe building where I used to work and had a magnificent view of the iconic display that ushered in the next 1000 years. But this latest one was on another level. The QSL is from LBC, London, heard in Johannesburg on AM 1152 in 1986, long before we ever thought we'd be living here.

New Year Ceylon longings

Holidays - yay! A very complicated year draws to a close and we are all taking time off. The markets delivered a fine Santa rally in the closing days before Christmas as everyone just got fed up with the nagging issues of the Eurozone. In the US the economy continued to self-medicate with a long series of above-consensus data coming out over the past few months. Labour data in particular, key to any sustainable recovery, has surprised on the upside and there is a good chance of another 200 plus private payrolls release some time in the next month or two. But we must stay vigilant for disaster-myopia - the natural human desire to relegate thoughts about a major market dislocation to the nether regions of the brain. Europe remains on course for disaster. Back in SA the touring Sri Lankan cricket team is in the process of extracting revenge for the crushing defeat in the first test by building up an unassailable lead in the second test in Durban. It looks like they'll win this one, meaning that the decider in Cape Town in the New Year could be a nail-biter. New Year's test match in Cape Town - ahh such great memories over the years! The pic is from a QSL from the Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation, heard in Cape Town in 1971 on shortwave 19mb.

Fussing in the Falklands

Another spat is brewing in the Falkland Islands. Argentina has banned boats flying the Falklands flag from entering its ports and succeeded in persuading Uruguay, Brazil and Paraguay (its Mercosur partners) to do the same. Britain has taken a dim view of this. It's not that important really; after all there are only about 25 boats that fly the Falklands flag and they could swap that for the British flag and enter these ports without problems. We are coming up to the 30th anniversary of the Falklands war when Britain under Maggie Thatcher repelled an Argentine invasion force. The confrontation comes just a few weeks after the UK announced plans to create a Marine Protection Zone on 1 million sq km around the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, aimed at greater protection for killer whales, penguins, walruses and seals. Although South Georgia is about 800 miles from the Argentine coast, Argentina responded angrily that this was an invasion of its sovereignty. It's amazing that these two countries, UK and Argentina, can get so upset about these tiny islands. The QSL is one of my best - Falkland Islands Broadcasting Service, heard in Cape Town on short-wave 90mb in 1972. It was one of those beautiful things: the station was playing record requests and I knew several of the songs played. Heard using a Trio 9R-59 receiver with a 30m wire antenna in the garden in Kenilworth, Cape Town.

Brits bashed, Hungary hesitates, France fabulates

Last weekend the British press overflowed with coverage of David Cameron's veto of the Eurozone deal to tighten monitoring and surveillance rules for fiscal disobedience. The Brits feared that a treaty change drawing in the wider Europe-27 countries was the wedge to open the door to further incursions by Brussels in areas like banking regulation, labour laws and tax harmonisation. Granted, Cameron's veto was not the most diplomatic of moves. But the reaction by Germany and France was a convenient cover for the fact that the deal struck did nothing about the underlying debt and austerity problem which is steadily pushing the Eurozone towards disaster - one that could affect the global economy. Other non-European Euro economies also had their doubts, including Hungary and Sweden. Hungary is particularly opposed to any tax harmonisation. This is also true of countries within the Zone like Ireland and Malta which have very favourable tax regimes for investors. However, they elected not to make a stand at the time. Even France will baulk at having the man from Brussels interfering with its fiscal sovereignty. Much water will still pass under this bridge and the British will soon find themselves much less isolated. The QSL is from Radio Budapest, heard on shortwave in Cape Town on the 25 mb way back in 1967. This is one of the more attractive cards from the communist countries of the day.

Kabila by return post

For the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, plus ca change..... nothwithstanding the Arab Spring leading to sweeping change across the top of the African continent, the latest elections in DRC resulted in another win for Joseph Kabila, in power since 2001. DRC has a long history of flawed elections and this was no exception. Kabila gets another 5-year term having apparently won  49% of the vote. Independent observers gave this election a report card of 40% with wide-scale corruption alleged. Hundreds of polling station results in the capital, Kinshasa, a stronghold of opposition candidate Etienne Tshisekedi, were 'lost' while at some Kabila bases voter turnout was close to 100%. This is a poor ending for elections on the continent in 2011 and a possible harbinger of disappointment in the year ahead, with many African countries due to hold polls, including: Angola, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya and Senegal. My link with DRC is Charlie the parking attendant at Muizenberg corner, my favourite surfing spot in Cape Town. He's a friendly chap and I always get a chance to practice my rudimentary French with him while zipping up my wetsuit and taking the ski and paddle out of the car. The QSL is from the Office Congolais des Postes in Kinshasa. This was a voice mirror utility transmission heard in Cape Town on 23 mHz back in 1972. It was broadcasting towards Athens. In those days you could write to 'Office Congolais des Postes, Kinshasa' and get a full pre-printed card like this one, if you were lucky!

Cashing in early for Christmas in Connecticut

Just back from a week in the USA seeing clients. I arrived last Saturday in NYC in the middle of Thanksgiving weekend. It was unseasonably warm and people just poured on to the streets. I took a stroll down 5th Avenue and was almost crushed to a pulp. The whole Christmas accelerator is pushed up to max  - one lady pepper-sprayed her way to the front of a sale queue at Walmart in LA. I mean you know that Americans love to spend but this is ridiculous. You can't walk anywhere and there's Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Jingle Bells et al blasting out. Salvation Army everywhere. Actually I love their kerbside bands but.... Even in the delis where I prefer to get my supper to paying over the odds in the hotel, carols are pumping out in dreary sequence even though half the deli owners don't even celebrate Christmas, except when they're tallying up the day's sales. Three fund managers from Connecticut made the news by winning $254m in the lottery, with over $100m cash up front. This happened to be more than their business had under management so quite a change of life for them. No one was quite sure if it was really their ticket or they were collecting on behalf of someone else who wanted to remain anonymous. I've often thought it makes sense for a money man to win the lottery because he has the best clue about what to do with the cash. The QSL is from WPOP Hartford, Connecticut on 1410 kHz - a low-powered AM station heard in Cape Town in 1968 and still going strong today.