Broadsheet Rhetoric for a Small Country. Jan 2023

The rhetoric on the broadsheet where I live in Singapore ( which is hardly credible IMHO which is in the process of being nationalized in some shape or form) should liken to walking the tight rope in a circus and not take sides and risk getting caught in the cross hair of a proxy war (economically or militarily).

The first two PMs with their astute foreign policies (especially PM Lee Kuan Yew) and ministers have done well in the midst of Vietnam and Korean War. I cannot say the same for the current PM Lee Hsien Loong. He spent our precious diplomatic bullets by making jokes that the air and water quality in Beijing a few years back were grouse. These off the script comments didn’t go un-noticed in Beijing and perhaps the payback came in the Hong Kong custom impounding our armored vehicles enroute from Taiwan to Singapore whilst the ship took a layover in Hong Kong. That escalated quickly from ambassadorial to ministerial level. China has sent a message to Singapore that they were not amused about the joke.

Public Service Commission (PSC) should strongly consider putting more scholars in the likes of Tsinghua University and University of Peking to inject more stronger social network between the future bureaucrats of tomorrow rather than just Oxbridge and ivy leagues in USA. 

To date, I only have one friend who did post grad in Tsinghua on his family scholarship. The road ahead is foggy, and we need shrewd PM and foreign ministers. I rarely praise PAP but sidelining Tharman and George Yeo for the role was a really bad decision.

With the rhetoric between China and USA on a somewhat sour note on both military and economics, we should posture ourselves as friends to all and enemies to none.

Peter Lye aka lkypeter
lkypeter@gmail.com Safe Harbor. Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Peter Lye (c) Peter Lye 2023

Coffee/Tea - American/European/English Perspectives

Now that United Kingdom is officially out of European Union, I can safely differentiate between the English and the European without stepping into a political male-storm.

Tea is more of an English preserve whereas coffee is a more universal beverage.

Many years ago before Starbucks became popular, I used to travel to Europe and America for global meetings with people of many nationalities participating making it a cultural melting pot when it came to thing of the gut like food and beverage.

When the meeting is in America, the Europeans constantly complained that the coffee tasted too watery. When meeting venue moves to Europe, some American had a shock when they got the bill for each and every cup of coffee as refills are normally on the house in America. Europeans jibe back that coffee refills are 'free' because they are not fresh and made with love and passion.

This queer English man had an almost last laugh as he brought his own tea bags along and only needed hot water. No, he did not re-cycle his tea bags aka Mr. Bean.

Being the rare Asian at the meeting, I had the last laugh that in Singapore, coffee comes in a rainbow of varieties from Kopi Kau (thick) to adulterated with special blend of milk Kopi Si etc.....

A Pete's original joke...

Peter Lye aka lkypeter
lkypeter@gmail.com Safe Harbor. Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Peter Lye (c) Peter Lye 2019

German/British Parentage

An award show host who was of German/British parentage remarked that his German part would like to take over the world but his British part is too polite to say so.....(source not traceable but have a good laugh. The original joke I lifted from a show did not have the German and British as it was a BBC program. In this way we do not have to think too hard to have a laugh.

Cheers,,,,,, Pete

Safe Harbor
Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Copyrights of all contents in this blog belongs to Peter Lye unless stated otherwise.

British Conversations

The brits are generally more gentry in their ways as well as speech. Sometimes, it gets so diplomatic that both the speaker and the audience end up confused especially if both sides are brits. I really meant both. The speaker in his quest for form over matter has forgotten about the matter altogether. The poor audience is of course left to distill the facts out of the speech. And of course also to preserve a sense of self-respect, the audience, if they are brits as well, would be too proud to clarify as always.

©An original joke by Peter Lye

Winston Churchill and Nancy Astor at Blenheim

Nancy Astor to Winston Churchill "If I were married to you, I would put poision in your coffee." to which Churchill replied "And if I were married to you, I would drink it."

I find this very amusing as it reflects a certain thought line that is uniquely dry and humourous.

Originating from an American captialist with an Anglo Saxon upbrining for Astor against the true British Aristoracy in Churchill shows who is more capable of having the last laugh.

Cheers, Peter Lye