Fury against foreigners is usually based on two (mutually incompatible) notions: that because so many migrants claim welfare they are a drain on the public purse; and that because they are prepared to work harder for less pay they will depress the wages of those at the bottom of the pile.
The first is usually not true (in Britain, for instance, immigrants claim benefits less than indigenous people do), and the second is hard to establish either way. Some studies do indeed suggest that competition from unskilled immigrants depresses the wages of unskilled locals. But others find this effect to be small or non-existent.
I’m home! While I try to catch my breath (and get through email and news feeds), here’s a photo of me and Mila from last week, doing what she does best:
Click on the photo — it takes you to my sister’s weblog.
I’m currently spending a wee bit of time with my sister and brand new niece, Mila. Things have been getting a bit emotional lately with the new arrival, so here’s a song that — for some reason — always makes me cry.
I know my brother-in-law will approve of the song. Heh.
I love that someone reports what’s going on in the Chinese language press in Singapore, our version of The Sun. Apparently Singaporeans aren’t as conservative as my mother thinks — ‘More Singaporeans hiring strippers for parties‘.
I’d heard a few things about Wetlands, mainly that you needed a strong stomach. But I was going into it sort of blind, because I knew nothing else about it. I can be pretty good at ignoring the hype that goes with the publishing business.
Wetlands is the story of Helen Memel, who has checked herself into hospital following an accident with her razor. We get a highly intimate look into what goes on in her head — and man, is she fucked up. It’s probably the Singaporean in me that’s horrified that someone of that tender age should have had such experiences, and to have revelled in them, too!
There’s definitely something broken in Helen. Is it her parents’ split that’s partly to blame? I have no idea. But kids can be royally screwed up by events at home that have nothing to do with abuse.
While the graphic descriptions of what Helen gets up to and her deliberate lack of hygiene did take me aback somewhat, what struck me was how her audacity, her boldness was really a shield to hide her extreme loneliness and emotional fragility. It was hilariously funny and shocking and sad all at once. I devoured the entire novel in a day.
(I read it while I was eating lunch. I grew up with a family of doctors. Nothing grosses me out.)
Details:Wetlands by Charlotte Roche, Fourth Estate, £7.99
A significant number of property advertisements on rental websites such as Singapore-based Property Guru or Craigslist specify that no Indians, ‘PRCs’ (from the People’s Republic of China) or Malays be allowed to rent various properties. Some ads also specify that Japanese, Caucasian or Chinese tenants are preferred.
Singaporeans are incredibly bigoted. You barely need to scratch the surface to hear terrible remarks about groups deemed as ‘Other’. It’s not just about race. All I’ll say is, before Singaporeans bitch about being discriminated against when they’re abroad, they need to take a look at how they treat their fellow residents when they’re at home.
But to address real estate in particular, what I’d say to an agent would be to get proper references from all previous landlords and make sure they’re clean and pay their rent on time. That’s all I care about.
I’m not sure why there is a problem with e-cigarettes. No one’s going to quit unless they want to quit, and those who truly want to quit should use whatever aids are available. I went cold turkey and it worked for me, but it’s not necessarily for everyone.
Neil and I were returning Business Reply envelopes with junk mail from other companies for a while a couple of years ago. I guess we could restart our little prank. It is quite satisfying.
Our global system is unsustainable. It is undemocratic and unjust, driven by profit in the interest of the few.
An economic system based on infinite growth, but which relies on finite resources, is leading humanity and the environment to destruction. As long as this system remains in place, people of the world continue to suffer from an increasingly unfair share of income and wealth.
We seek a global system that is democratic, just and sustainable. The world’s resources must not go to the military or corporate profit, but instead go towards caring for people’s needs: water, food, housing, education, health, community.
An international, global collaboration has started, and is working on a statement that will unite the occupy movements across the world in their struggle for an alternative that is focused on and originates from people and their environment.
If what you need to be a top dude at a huge media company is to know nothing, be told nothing, and read nothing, sign me up. Think of the word disingenuous and the Murdoch’s faces should pop right up.
