Corona-zona

  [Today's post is by Corona-zona Senior Southeast Asia Correspondent PBR] A report from Singapore? On COVID? You got it! Why? Because I am bored out of my brains. Unlike others , I can’t embrace boredom. Humanity is a doing thing. And boredom is doing my head in.   COVID-19 is not as much of a problem if you are on a roomy island with awesome outdoors and can manage incoming folk (like New Zealand, but certainly not the UK ).  COVID-19 sucks if you are on an island that is 280 sq miles with a population of almost 6 million.  For perspective, that’s about a quarter of the size of Rhode Island and with almost six times the population. With fewer White folk. Socially, things are a tad rubbish for interaction, but it’s not like the rest of the world. Cinemas are open if you want to be in an enclosed space with folk for an hour and a half. Alcoholics can rejoice as early shutting hours for pubs have led to beer deals in the afternoon .   Beaches are open, though y...

Today's post is by Corona-zona Senior Southeast Asia Correspondent PBR Hello from the S’pore!!! Or SIN as the International Air Transport Association ( IATA) airport code labels this place. That code has gotten some folk in a tizzy in the past. Weirdos. This update, using the parlance of the young ‘uns, may be considered a flex. But hey, it is an update about this City in a Garden ™ and I’m just sharing a couple pieces of pandemic-related information. First, we are where all Asian parents want their kids to be—Number One baby! Bloomberg’s Covid Resilience Ranking puts us there and we are not turning it down. Bloomberg claims we are the place where the pandemic is being handled most successfully while avoiding significant social and economic disruption. The U.S. is number 17 as it stands. Now that I have stated it, I worry I may have jinxed the situation. Sorry Singapore. (Of course, when rankings in other areas are bad, we just ignore it. The gag here is that the pro-gov...

Today's post is by Corona-zona Senior Southeast Asia Correspondent PBR Alright folks! Keeping it tidy ? Still here, stuck on a tiny island where nature is creaking at the joints  because folk are trapped. My wife maintains that the cupboard I am using as an office smells of teenage boy. I'd like to take a different angle from all the excellent posts from other Senior Foreign Correspondents that have been featured here. Let’s talk about branding.  Branding is something I know little about, bar the Pepsi Challenge back in the day. By the way, Coke is the way to go. Pepsi is foul. But—and I am not sponsored in any way—my plug for a soda is Irn-Bru. Look out for it since I suspect you have time on your hands. It outsells Coke in Scotland . And rightfully so because it is awesome. Ah, sorry, I digress. Back to branding. Countries have been trying to  brand themselves for a fair while. Thanks to such measures we get terms like  sportswashing —here’s looking at y...