What you’ve got over there (wherever that is) that you take for granted…

Peace and tranquility. Doesn’t exist in Brazil, anywhere.

Education.  ditto

Intelligent debate. ditto

Decent television. ditto

Fast, reliable, cheap internet. ditto

Safety and security. ditto

Planning. ditto

Roads you can drive on. ditto

Pavements. ditto

Initiative. ditto

Critical thinking. ditto

A political system that works. ditto

A legal system that works. ditto

A banking system that works. ditto

Quality in anything. ditto

Separation of church from state. ditto

Curry. ditto

Decent cheese. ditto

Tea. ditto

Competence. ditto

Fairness. ditto

Consumer protection. ditto

Accountants who understand that a Balance Sheet should balance. ditto (I kid not).

My favourite two quotes are “Brazil is the country of the future…and always will be” and “corruption in Brazil is endemic”. Having lived here on-and-off now for over a decade, I can see nothing that has put the most microscopic dent in the fundamental truth of either of these two statements. Of course, it’s not all bad. In fact my next post will try to consider things from the opposite perspective. That should be fun.

Thanks to Pete and to events of the past few weeks for the inspiration for this outburst.