I got fed up with the weather in England so I’m in Kuala Lumpur. That’s not quite true – I was going there anyway – but the weather was getting me down and it’s a nice opener for a sentence. Anyway, true to form I’m awake at 3.00am. Weird stuff. One thought was weather a country’s electrical system is a soft form of power. In Malaysia, for example, the electrical sockets are the same as in the UK, a legacy from its colonial heritage I suspect. Does this give the UK any form of political power? I don’t think so, but that’s the kind of thing I start to thinking about when I have breakfast at dinnertime and can’t sleep.

I’ve also been thinking about whether it’s just me or have newspapers, especially in the UK, got really bad recently? There never seems to be any news I can use. No analysis of anything meaningful beyond wild speculation about the EU and North Korea and no pure thought in the sense of thinking for the sheer hell of it. The New York Times is still good, but even here I’m struggling to find original material.

Malaysia, I should report, is buzzing. New buildings galore and lots of weird stuff (or maybe not) such as people photographing (and taking videos!) of their breakfast. Also women in heir fifties wearing t-shirts with the word Lexus on with the logo in fake diamonds.

BTW, if you’re recently sent me an email (e.g. Bradley) thanks but I’m having problems….