I just realised that many countries are going to the polls in the next few months and the opinion polls are showing (Germany, Trinidad, Jamaica) that these countries are virtually split down the middle - seems as if (like the US in 2K) no-one wants to elect a government with a strong mandate anymore. Trinidad has been "kind of" functioning with an 18-18 electoral tie for 9 months now,(voting AGAIN on Oct 7) and there are predictions of 30-30 in Jamaica on October 16. Germany's election was a dead heat until the end... Do you think that it is a defnite move by voters to deny governments the ability to rule with a strong majority, and always keep the upper hand? Or is it a reflection on the ethnic and other divisions and tribalism that seems to be starting to infect the world? Let me know what you think!

So I haven't written anything here for almost a month. It is difficult sometimes. So - now we're into election mode again - it's the 3rd general election in 33 months. Should we call it the annual election? There are apparently 102 people going up for the election in 36 electoral districts. Of course, the main 2 parties will most likely win all the seats. The main new party - Citizen's Alliance - has a lot of very intelligent middle-class people going up, but ... it seems strange that we hear nothign about what they're planning, what they stand for - or against. We don't even know who is backing them financially. That is definitely disturbing to me, as my main issue is the increasing lawlessness, exemplified by the overt corruption at all levels of society. I think that this country will become ungovernable if people don't start obeying laws - we don't even obey traffic signals, and the Police don't stop us. If the ex-Prime Minister can say that it's no-one's business where he suddenly got 100,000 UK pounds while in office, and another Minister won't say where he got $52 MILLION while in office, and nothign is done about them, then... should we find it strange that one has to pay a fee to the cashier to cash a cheque in less than 1 day of standing in line? What also disturbs me is that the population has reached the point where they seem to take this behaviour for granted. This is NOT hte way things are supposed to work One is NOT required to pass a bribe to get basic Government services that are provided for free, or for the clerk to do the job that s/he is getting PAID to do!