Last week was a week of grumbling guts and an even bigger week for international relations with the visits of the Port Royal (a US Navy cruiser), the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon and the new OZ PM Kevin Rudd. Personally, I have always wanted a PM called Kev … or Barry (ie Baz) … or even better again, Les.

But my award for international diplomacy goes to the President for claiming that Dili is the dirtiest city in the world. I am humbled that he has obviously analysed my recent post on the subject of garbage. However, there are plenty of cities with choking air pollution, obnoxious drains and horrendous noise pollution, all which would put Dili in the shade.

The President does regularly walk in the parts of town out east where garbage has been a problem on the beaches which is also near to where he lives.

He points out that contractors have been paid to do garbage collection but a weak supervision process in many public works contracts means things just don’t get done as well as they might. That needs to be improved and systems put in place to make it easier for people to dispose of garbage neatly. But lay off the pigs – the hardest working garbage processors in town.