Organic-Ally

This is my letter published in the Singapore Straits Times Forum page on 28th April 2007. 'Rubbish chutes' are hollow columns in high-rise flats in Singapore. Each flat has a 'flap-door' in the kitchen wall through which rubbish is disposed. The rubbish falls through these columns/chutes into a bin at ground level and these bins are emptied (usually by foreign workers) every morning. With the advent of plastic bags in the 1970s, Singaporeans have been asked to put their rubbish in plastic bags to reduce the amount of cleaning required in these chutes. Live without plastic bags? Here's how it can be done FROM some letters on the use of plastic bags, it appears that some Singaporeans think the world would end if they didn't get their 'free' plastic bags. And we take our rubbish chutes for granted. Here, in the United Kingdom, where we pay more than £2,000 (S$6,060) in annual council tax (for refuse disposal, etc), I have to sort rubbish into three differe...

It's the long-ish Easter break and of course there was no time to blog. But I do know that lots of working mothers have taken advantage of the long Easter weekend to go away with the family. Those who have not been able to take time off, well, their children have been organized to go to Easter camps. Me? I had son about, "Please may I play PSP?" every five minutes or so. He knows the answer is "no, unless ...." but he still tries. Then I have orders to fill, new exciting products to be launched (hopefully), etc. But that is another story. Recent news reports started me thinking -- again -- about the 'to stay or not to stay at home' question. First, an economist EQ in Singapore tried to analyze the cost of mothers staying at home. I found most of his arguments as holey as fishnet tights. But they wouldn't publish my response to his "essay". Then Leslie Bennetts in The Times noted that should a mother decide to stay at home and then face the...