Guadeloupe’s economy is kept afloat by public salaries and credits from Paris. Unemployment has been a long-running malaise, although its effects are tempered by France’s generous social security system. Agriculture revolves around sugar cane and bananas; the latter is troubled by regional competition and the phasing out of preferential European quotas

The population is a mere 68,000, but the arrival of some half a million visitors each year, most of them from the US, further fuels the economy. This dependence on tourism makes the country susceptible to the ups and downs of the tourist industry. Visitors are attracted to the beaches, golf courses, colonial buildings and subtropical climate

Holocaust survivor Alice Herz-Sommer tells how, in Terezin concentration camp where she was imprisoned, she played more than 100 concerts, and credits music for saving her life during this horrific experience.

At the age of 104 she gained international fame after a book based on her life, “A Garden of Eden in Hell”, became a bestseller, and was also the star of prize-winning film “We Want the Light”. Now aged 106, she is the second oldest person in London and continues to practice piano every day.

In the BBC Four interview, she explains how, having survived the Holocaust, “Everything is a present”.

Civilian politics in Pakistan in the last few decades has been tarnished by corruption, inefficiency and confrontations between various institutions. Alternating periods of civilian and military rule have not helped to establish stability.  Since February 2008, there has been an elected government but it is weak and fragile.

Despite being a very poor country in 1947, Pakistan’s economic growth rate has been better than the global average during the subsequent decades. However, at least 20% of the population live below the international poverty line of US$1.25 a day and life expectancy is in the low 60s.

So does Russia no longer harbour intentions to extend its territorial influence and control? I was at a social evening yesterday evening hosted by very good friends who have just returned from a trip to Georgia. Most Georgians are unconvinced that the new Russia has no territorial ambitions, especially in relation to the Caucasus region.

Since almost one in five of the world’s citizens lives in India, it’s astonishing that the country features so little in world reports. It is the world’s second most populous nation (after China) but overwhelmingly the largest democracy on the planet [see my account of the political system here].

On the one hand, India is a nation in which more than 800 million people still live on less than $2 a day. According to the latest measure of the United Nations Development Programme, which includes such indicators of deprivation as education and health, just eight Indian states have more poor people – 421 million – than the 28 poorest countries of Africa. In fact, under-nutrition in India is twice as high as that in sub-Saharan Africa, with nearly half of India’s 120 million children exposed to early death.

On the other hand, India is much more stable and prosperous than Pakistan and Bangladesh (both part of India under British colonial rule), it has a huge army and nuclear weapons, the economy is growing fast, there are pockets of industrial excellence like IT, it has its own space programme, and Bollywood produces more movies each year than Hollywood.

I first blogged about Obama in April 2004. Then I blogged 11 times on the Illinois Senate race which he won in November 2004.  In my last posting on that election, I wrote:

“I was delighted to see Barack Obama become the junior senator for Illinois and the only black member of the new Senate. This blog has been tracking his progress for many months. He is an able and inspiring politician who is destined to go far and maybe even as far as the White House one day.”

So I read with alarm that apparently there is a growing view that Obama has failed as a president and will only serve one term in the White House.

Americans don’t know how fortunate they are to have a President with the calmness and compassion of Obama in these highly troubled times. Too few credit his considerable achievements in the face of a constitutional system that almost invites deadlock. And I believe that he will win a second term and a place in history as one of the best presidents of modern times.

Fortunately I’m not alone in this view. It is shared by Andrew Rawnsley, the political correspondent of the “Observer and one of Britain’s most astute political commentators. In his first column since returning from a summer break, he summarizes the very significant accomplishments of the Obama administration so far and why he deserves a second term, concluding the piece:

“My money is still on Obama winning a second term and probably handsomely. And if he doesn’t? He has already accomplished more in half a term than many presidents manage to achieve in two.”

Full details here.

I’ve recently been watching a BBC2 television series on “The Normans” which included the fascinating information that this king commissioned in 1138 a work known as the Book of Roger which was  finished in 1154.  It was the best world atlas and description of the world of the time and remained so for some three centuries.

The effort was called “the book of pleasant journeys into faraway lands”.  I like that and it resonates with my own travels.

I had a rather peripatetic childhood growing up in Manchester [personal notes here] and lived in eight places there. When I left university, I moved down to London [personal notes here] and my present home is my sixth here. So that makes 14 homes in the 36 years up to 1984 when I moved into my present abode.

I suppose that a relocation every two or three years is not unusual but it was more than enough for me. I’ve now been in my house for 26 years and have no plans to move.