Food delivery services are hot stuff in the UK and elsewhere and have been going for a long time.  Instead of going to the supermarket in the middle of a long day you order online and choose a time for delivery and that’s it.  The van turns up, the nice driver takes your shopping into your house or apartment, and that’s it.  You have paid, you can return anything you don’t like the look of, and if they don’t have stock you don’t pay.

Busy busy busy Isn’t it strange that when we think we have nothing to do, and lots of time to do it in, somehow the diary fills up and you wonder what on earth you did when we weren’t in semi lockdown! We must value this time, though. I can’t remember having had this sort of space to think, write, read, without being rushed. I have taken up painting again and I am watching lots of good You Tube videos with the aim of getting better.  I have managed to paint my sons; the older one looks as he should, but the younger says (rather unkindly I feel) that he looks as if he has been squeezed from a toothpaste tube. I am doing my best to improve him (in all sorts of ways!) but so far I have to confess that there is the tiniest bit of truth in what he says.

There are few useful lessons for Sabahans from the on-going HK’s political/economic developments over the introduction of security law by Beijing. From these lessons, hopefully we can avoid some pitfalls and gain some benefits.

THE Covid-19 pandemic has put the spotlight on decision-making capabilities of registered companies due to the difficulty of convening and attending board meetings and annual general meetings.

Goods in transit I need advice please. Official or otherwise. What is the best way to have goods (simple ones, like clothes you have forgotten, or some water mixable oil paints which are not available in Malaysia) sent to Sabah from UK without a long delay? A courier is fine, but very very expensive. Ordinary post doesn’t work – my record is a birthday card for March which arrived in June. Recorded from this end is fine, but I am at a loss about the other. I don’t order much, but I have not had much luck. This can’t be right, can it? What’s the best way to send stuff? Do I have to pay duty?  After Customs in KL does it have to go through Customs in KK?  How do I find out – the Post Office checked but was unable to give me any more information than I could find on the web.

Covid19 has dealt a devasting blow to the world. This pandemic has blown open some strengths and numerous weaknesses of all countries. Outstanding and least affected are some northern European countries, China, South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia. Surprisingly Singapore is the exception.

Minneapolis could not have happened at a worse time for the US elites. While violence perpetrated against African Americans by White police officers has happened a number of times before, its occurrence right in the midst of a huge health emergency that has already claimed more than a 100,000 lives and a related massive economic disaster that has robbed 30 million people of their jobs, is truly unprecedented. The mayhem and chaos accompanying the violence have spread to a number of other cities right across the United States of America.

Sylvia Howe We seem to be getting back to almost normal frighteningly quickly. Gone is the blissful silence of the roads, and the birds have to sing much more loudly to be heard over the traffic. The air seems clearer, and last weekend I went out into the bay on a boat. I have never seen water so clear, so turquoise and blue, so clean – not a plastic bottle or dirty nappy in sight. It won't last, of course, but it was heaven. .

FOR those interested in political leadership and governance, Three Kingdoms is essential reading. One of four great Chinese classical novels, Three Kingdoms depicts the struggle among Cao Cao of Wei, Xuande of Shu and Sun Quan of Wu for supremacy after the fall of the 426-year Han empire, China’s longest-reigning dynasty, with three interregna.

I thank some politicians and well-wishers who have phoned or messaged on my last week’s article in the Daily Express, “Another great injustice done to Sabah”.