The Londoner

By Sikander Hayat  It is fascinating to understand the creation of money out of thin air by the central banks and governments across the world. How a fiat currency gains credence and what is it backed by is a very interesting subject. How piece of paper or some digits on computer screen can be called money and can be exchanged for physical goods is fascinating to observe. Off course value of such a currency is only valid as long as people trust it. Is there a future for current paper currencies or these are going to be replaced by digital ones. With the meteoric rise of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies , it is a matter of time before central banks will have to come up with a mechanism to integrate these into fabric of current currency universe and find a way to regulate them. I assume that the currently cryptocurrencies derive their value from the use by money launderers and criminal element of our societies as it is possibly the best way to make their b...

By Sikander Hayat I  usually  do not provide reviews for service levels at different business establishments but this one business has now forced my hand and I have decided to review any good or bad service I  received  on  this blog so that my  readers  have some sort of idea of what they getting into  before they commit.    This place is run by an  Italian  guy. This is a "cash in hand" place where no  receipts  are given.   The manager is not very welcoming to people of colour so if you are an  Asian  or brown/black person of any  nationality , try to avoid this place. I took my boys  to this place  not knowing about the credentials of this place and he & his  colleague   intentionally  made of mess of their hair just to make sure that I don’t turn up their again.     He is successful in this scheme and we don’t go to this pla...

Who Knows Tomorrow Will Bring   by Marion Black

By Sikander Hayat  This is a beautiful poem by Faiz Ahmad Faiz in which he asks the humanity to come together, to leave our egos at the door, to go and conquer the stars, to make this world a peaceful place.  Faiz wanted us to stop wars and look at the stars and our place in the galaxy, this universe. We humans are nothing but a spec of dust among all the stars, planets, solar systems, galaxies and all which surrounds us.  Listen to this beautiful poem as Iqbal Bano has done justice to it.

By Sikander Hayat  Donald Trump is behaving like a Nazi by banning people from a particular religion from entering United States . This is what Hitler did by targeting Jews living in Europe .  A whole continent is witness to the barbarity and senselessness of collective punishment.  In 1940s, United States was on the right side of history but in 2017, America is on the wrong side.  Jews of Germany, Poland, France, Russia, Belgium, Netherlands and other European countries suffered because of one man’s obsession with one religion.   Hitlerblamed all the problems of Germany on Jews and found them responsible for the ills facing Europe.  Trump is dishing out same form of collective punishment toAmerican Muslims . Even people who have green cards and have lived most of their lives in US are being deported from airports. Although American civil society is fighting back by challenging his arbitrary executive orders in courts of law and one New Yo...