Bits and bobservations
I think these heatwaves are making me dumberer.
Much as I love Vietnam because it’s beautiful, because the food is delicious, and because the people I’ve dealt with have mostly been wonderful, one of the things I love about the place is the opportunity I’ve had to watch its rapid growth over the past dozen or so years in which I’ve visited annually.
Living in the UK, I’m much more accustomed to stagnant Europe, where most people feel as though their quality of life is backsliding, and where it’s clear to all and sundry that a lot of our infrastructure is rather creaky and could do with some updating. In Vietnam, however — and elsewhere in Asia! — growth still feels like a rocketship, spending power rising alongside the towers of glass and steel that have come to dominate regional skylines.
But growth is never perpetual, and while most European countries would currently give their eye teeth for Vietnam’s 2026 growth forecast of 8.2 percent, the country is not immune from the wider shocks being suffered around the world thanks to Captain Tiny Hands and his former-BFF Bibi ‘It’s Not Genocide Honest’ Netanyahu.
