On Everything

Yesterday I used British healthcare for the first time in my life. I had a wisdom tooth extracted at the RVI Dental Hospital. It was very straightforward, and I am actually looking forward to my next appointment in October when another wisdom tooth of mine will be shown the door. As it is now, I have to eat lighter food than usual as chewing is slightly tricky.

American Politics
Barack Obama. That is probably one of the most popular two word combinations in the world right now. Is the hype exaggerated? I do not think I want more hype, but Senator Obama is worth every single moment of attention he get. The Democratic party seems to me more socially aware than ever and they, somehow, manage to get the positive properties out of the descriptor 'liberal'. I can see the British Conservatives take a lot from the Democratic election machine if it turns out to be successful. I personally hope that Senator Obama, together with Joe Biden, will beat the Republican pairing McCain/Palin. I was excited when George Bush was elected the first time. I cannot say that I have been impressed by much during his two terms - apart from that he is extremely charismatic and funny. These two abilities are something that rarely is shown on Swedish television. Censorship at its best.



The Airline Industry
This is an industry which is extremely close to my heart. This morning Sky News greeted me with the headlines that the low fare transatlantic airline Zoom has gone bust. As an airline today, you need plenty of money in the bank. Young airlines as Zoom has rarely a credit worthiness that make lenders jump in sheer excitement. In a book written by Professor Rigas Doganis, who is a former CEO of the Greek flag carrier Olympic Airlines, it is described how the airline industry is highly cyclical. You get roughly seven bad years after seven good years. So I guess that the bad years are ahead.

The next European flag carrier to go bust will, of course, be Alitalia. Air France/KLM is a natural buyer as they are the major carrier in the Skyteam Alliance which Alitalia is a member of. I do not know though if AF/KLM is still interested as Berlusconi clearly has expressed that he would like the airline to remain in italian hands.

The library is closing now, so more later.




Today Simon has:

Listened to the Obama speech again
Read some on svd.se
Noticed that he will spend very little money next week