As we all know, India is almost perfect. The economy is booming. The human resource is adapatable and plentiful. The food is outstanding. However, every institution can improve and I have four recommendations to put to the Indian Parliament.

1. Move the time zone 30 minutes forward or backward so that dimwitted and jet-lagged foreigners know what the time is when they wake up. Try subtracting 5 and a half hours from the local time.

2. Abolish lakhs (100,000) and crores (10.000,000) except for literary and poetic use.

3. Introduce the New Rupee which is 100 Old Rupees.

4. Persuade British Airways to invest in more than one phone per check-in staff.

I estimate these amendments would increase India's GDP by at least one percentage point.

I am indebted to Tim Coates for the following costs of borrowing a book from libraries in various parts of London. The cost is derived by simply dividing the total costs of library provision in the area by the number of loans. Both the absolute costs (it would be cheaper simply to give the books away?) and the variations suggest that there are huge savings to be made which could lead to enhanced book stocks and even better service.

Camden £11.50
Greenwich £7.14
Hackney £10.07
Hammersmith £6.63
Islington £10.46
Kensington £8.54
Lambeth £10.29
Lewisham £5.77
Southwark £6.89
Tower Hamlets £9.90
Wandsworth £3.64
Westminster £5.91

And finally the mission statement from the only cafe in Bangalore Airport:

To be the best cafe chain by offering a world class coffee experience at affordable prices.

I'm thinking of adapting this for the Baldons Cricket Club which has been obliged by some new regulation to invent a constitution. To be the best village cricket team offering excellent teas at affordable prices. Shame about the pavilion and the pitch.