Postcard from Bishkek

Seneca had a point when he said Quam bene vivas refert, non quam diu; It’s how well you live, not how long (… I confess that I don’t know Latin … but that’s I was told it means). Every year, (well, for the last eighteen years), the American consulting firm Mercer has conducted its Quality of Life survey […]

I never cease to be amazed by the number and range of special commemorative days that are recognized around the world.  Think of a cause, an animal, a food … and there is probably a day that has been declared in order to promote it … and every day seems to be dedicated to one […]

The IMF, (International Monetary Fund), have just issued their latest Country Report for the Kyrgyz Republic, (that is, Kyrgyzstan), prepared by a team of their staff members as a background paper for the regular consultation with the government. It costs USD18 for a copy but the text is freely available online in pdf format … which is […]

One of the great names of Kyrgyz fine arts is Kubanichbek Amankzhoev … a landscape artist who produced a number of notable paintings in the 1960’s and 70’s. He was born in the village of Chaek in the Naryn region in February, 1934 – but there seems to be some doubt as to on exactly […]

A headline brought a smile to my face … but it soon disappeared as I considered the full implications of the story. It was above a short article reporting a survey carried out by the National Statistics Committee … the government’s bureau for collecting, analyzing and reporting on all measurable aspects of Kyrgyz society. Eight […]

The name Aleksander Kerensky has not always been looked upon favourably in the countries that made up the former Soviet Union. That’s down to his role as the Chairman of the Provisional Government at the time of the Great Socialist Revolution in November 2017 … a government that came to power in a wave of […]

Happy New Year!!! … Yes, it’s New Year once again … the third one of 2016.  This time it’s Chinese New Year. Actually, although we call it Chinese New Year … it is marked throughout all  of Asia … even here in Kyrgyzstan – although it is not an official holiday.

Every year. for the two months from the middle of December until the middle of February, in the hotel (the Silk Road Lodge in downtown Bishkek), we have a myortviy season, (which literally translates as … a ‘dead season’ … but, in the business it’s usually referred to as a a ‘quiet season’, ‘low season’ […]

He’s been described as Britain’s “best-kept comic secret since the late 1970s” – at last that’s how the publishers described him … and his correspondence with a host of public figures. Henry Root wasn’t a real person … it was the nom de plume adopted by the satirist William Donaldson who wrote letters to a wide […]

Kyrgyzstan declared its independence on 31st August, 1991.  After that the new country started to build up all the structures and procedures that a sovereign country needs but that hadn’t been necessary for it as a constituent republic of the Soviet Union. That included establishing a foreign policy and a network of international relations; joining international […]