BBC’s Lefty Laura – Nice Accent, Nasty Bias!

I wasn’t going to comment on the disgraceful leftist bias shown by the UK publicly-owned broadcaster’s Laura Kuenssberg…

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….that shamelessly slanted question to Trump, carefully crafted to mislead viewers into thinking British people were in lock-step with the lousy left.

I quote from Breitbart, whose coverage was as ever to the point.

“Mr President, you’ve said before that torture works, you’ve praised Russia, you said you want to ban some Muslims from coming to America, you’ve said there should be punishment for abortion. For many people in Britain, those sound like alarming beliefs. What do you say to our viewers at home who are worried about some of your views, and are worried about your becoming leader of the free world.”

Bolshy BBC Claims To Speak For British Public

What did this pampered little posh girl learn about impartial journalism when she attended one of the most expensive private schools (Laurel Bank) in Glasgow?

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How dare she frame her question to The Donald in terms that constituted the dismissal of all Brits outside her leftist alternative universe as of no, or at least lesser, consequence than whining pinko creeps.

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I like Laura’s Scots accent – Scottish English – Wikipedia –  especially the way she pronounces ‘food.’

A lot of emigre Scots adopt the peculiar English Home Counties, so-called ‘Received Pronunciation,’ modulation of vowels, which makes the ‘oo‘ in food into an echo of the German umlaut sound. It is not.

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Scottish food

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Food rhymes with wood, should, good, could, etc., and ought to be pronounced similarly.

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But I detest her bias, which was just heard again, on BBC International, reporting from Turkey, where Theresa May had a nice wee visit with Erdogan The Islamist.

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No time for the guy myself, but I’m a blogger.

Little Posh Laura is meant to be an objective reporter.

So how come she ended her report with more snide bias, viz. a warning that political leaders are ‘often judged by the company they keep.’

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• Arguably so, or maybe not.
• But that’s not for Lefty Laura to lecture us, or our leaders, about.

Hari Ikan Nasional – It’s National Fish Day! 21/22 November

Very appropriate, that downpour earlier, another taste of this year’s musim hujan, the horrible rainy season, because today is Hari Ikan Nasional..

 

• ..it’s National Fish Day!
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Indonesians love to eat fish, and so do I – in my case if it’s served well-battered with loads of chips. Most locals, by way of contrast, prefer sea-food they’re used to, and being an archipelago, they’re spoilt for choice, crabs, lobsters, prawns and the finny sort, notably the popular gurame…

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 baronang

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…and the one I DO like, baronang, I think it’s called.

But speaking of spoilt for choice, I do find the outlook of some foreigners here just incredible. This week I heard one guy tell the others at his table that there were ‘only three’ places he could find a lunch at the south end of Jalan Fatmawati.

I used to live not far from there and believe me, there are HUNDREDS of eateries, large and small, at which one can find edibles… nasi goreng, masakan padang, gado2, ketoprak, bakso…

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• Not to mention all the grand fare I get  at my local warteg…tempe, berkadel, cap cay, pare..and which can be had at eateries all over the city too.

Aaah, but they are frequented, and of course run, by Indonesians, and serve Indonesian food.

I pointed out to the whiner that there were more than ‘three places’ to eat in his location.

‘Oooh, it’s the water they use!  I got the runs once, really bad.’

Oh, where?

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‘In Shanghai..’

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Go figure! I don’t do metric distances, but reckon Shanghai is thousands of miles from Indonesia. 

Why do some people come to this country at all, if all they can do is belly-ache about everyday life?

Anak2 manja! Spoilt brats!

 

Jakarta – AND Its Pockets – Empty!

It’s not unique to Jakarta, but it’s still tiresome, this manic shopping, with huge ‘discounts’ on offer in department stores while food prices appear to be rising steadily.

Back in The Old Country, if my memory serves me well, there were always similarly heaving ‘holiday’ crowds charging around, seeking ‘bargains,’ which made going into town a less than agreeable prospect from mid-December onwards.

Here, in the Big Durian, I was on Saturday regaled by my visitor with tales of sad scenes at one big mall, weeping children grabbed by their ears to quell their protests – ‘ mau pulang’ – ‘I wanna go home!’ Insatiably acquisitive parents dragged them mercilessly through stores – even while the exhausted staff were endeavouring to switch off the lights in preparation for closing the doors!

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‘Look, they’ve just reduced the price of those sandals by ANOTHER 10%!’

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Some managements are so greedy they keep employees toiling till the wee small hours.

I do go shopping, though I abhor it as a pastime. However, given the closure of eateries, thought has to be given to food, which must still be obtained. Aud that’s not getting discounted, quite the reverse. 

Nightmare stuff!

But this week, and next, the storm will lull. Some 80- 90% of Jakarta may well have vanished, either gone ‘home’ to their village of origin for a well-earned rest or, contemptibly, because the poor little rich girls, of all ages, lose their servants to the exodus…

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 leaving, on a jet-train…

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…and, incapable of fending for themselves, shift their idle butts to a hotel, within or without the city limits, holed up till the poor wee maid resumes her life of drudgery after a brief interlude of ease and fun.  

You do wonder why guys marry these gilded blossoms that can’t iron trousers without leaving tram-lines, or cook beyond the boiling of an egg.

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• Mind you, if they look like this, I suppose a degree of indulgence is comprehensible!

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• My own primary concern has been to get hold of the tukang aqua, the guy (or sometimes his wife) who delivers those big plastic bottles of drinking water. He responded to my summons earlier today, so that’s done, so I won’t go thirsty.
• But as to cooking?
• Of course the gas containers are not made of transparent plastic but of metal, so you can’t see how low the level is!
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• Alas, if it runs out on , say, Wednesday, there will be no tukang to summon for a re-fill. He will have taken his family off to a distant kampung.
• Never fear!

If the gas is used up, there’s always the microwave and the rice-cooker!

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All part of the character-forming aspect of Jakarta life. 

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Dangdut, Dinner and Drinking – A Day Out To Posh Kemang!

Another rainy morning, but yesterday we had the wonderful hot sunshine that more often characterises Jakarta.

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So off I went, into town, due to meet a friend I hadn’t seen for a couple of years, though we don’t live more than a few miles apart.

Rather than another post bemoaning the television scenes of moronic rioters in Pakistan, it seems more palatable to talk about my day out. 

As a special treat, not having spent a lot of money this past week, it was agreed to sample the Grand Kemang’s free-flow buffet, details of which you should be able to locate on their website: http://www.grandkemang.com

It’s not a bad deal, depending, of course, how much you can eat or drink. If your appetite resembles that of a mouse, skip it. If your notion of a decent drink is s couple of glasses and then home, forget it.

But if you are a bit of a trencherman (or woman) then go for it.

Kemang is not somewhere I normally hang out. No slight on its vast array of shops restos and bars, but it is –

A  – hard to get to, because of its narrow roadways and consequent traffic, and

B.  -..EXPENSIVE!

However, I left home in good time for the 6pm tryst and the ac34 got me to Blok M quite speedily.

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There, fortune again attended my outing, a kopaja 605A looming up soon after I disembarked from the big bus. The small vehicle dropped me right outside the Grand Kemang.

So my total fare amounted to Rp.10K – a taxi would not be far off ten times that sum.

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Before entering the hotel, I had time, an hour or so, to kill,  so took a wander into Kemchicks, almost opposite my intended destination. That fancy deli/store is always cool and pleasant and it generally affords me a good laugh, many of its prices absurd.

Fanta, for example, retails that at no less than 50% more than any of the other supermarkets or mini-markets I’ve been in recently. No problem with paying a lot for imported meats etc, but a soft drink manufactured right here in Indonesia?

On the other hand, some wondrous delights were on display, those big plastic bags full of mini-Bounty Bars, which were a feature of my domestic routine many years ago, when I shopped for offspring needs.

 

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Haven’t seen them anywhere else in town, here.

Anyhow, to the Grand Kemang.

When I first went there, more than a dozen years ago, it was downright ramshackle, but these days it’s very plush, a grand renovation job indeed. The staff in the resto area were most friendly and polite, with that super habit of re-filling glasses without needing to be asked!  

There was live music too, a band with a beautiful singer, who produced a mellifluous rendering of my request, the dangdut fave Jatuh Bangun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mACtpVE4RPg

I add a link to another lovely songstress’s version, which I hope foreign readers both enjoy and can use to gain a little insight into Indonesia’s most popular musical art-form. 

The buffet ran from potatoes to beef to tandoori chicken, a fair old variety, plus ice-cream, lots of cakes and – a surprise- bread n butter pudding.

For us drinkers, you had to choose whether to go with wine or with beer.

 

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We both of us chose beer, which meant a further, less challenging choice…Bintang or Bintang!

The buffet starts at 6pm then stops at 10pm, but we cherished our final beers and took them to the very comfy smoke-room, which is out by the pool. Since the rain had stopped, we progressed to the open air, by the pool, and chatted happily until late into the night.

 

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I got home around 1am, and today am staying home to conserve my energies for next week’s party.