14 days in Singapore...

My first visit back to Singapore since moving back to the UK could hardly have been better: great weather, great food (naturally), wonderful company, and a general election which genuinely can be described as a watershed in the nation's history.  Others have written eloquently about the campaign and the aftermath.  For now let me say that, as a foreigner, a sometime political communicator, and a huge Singapore fan, I watched the events unfold with mixture of excitement, respect and wonder.  There's a book to be written about what happened.  Perhaps even a movie to be made.  Whatever - all agree that things will never be the same again.

Here's the one political rally I was able to attend - for a few minutes only, sadly.  It was at the UOB centre on Clarke Quay, a couple of days before the vote.  For those who don't know Singapore well, it is perhaps worth mentioning that gatherings of this sort don't generally occur.

The largest rallies of the election had tens of thousands of attendees, and were like - as a Singaporean friend of mine conceded, with a barely-concealed sense of awe - "rock concerts".

There has been nothing like this since the early days of independence, over 40 years ago.