The Buddha’s LaughForeign Desk · Letters to the Abbot from the Laughing Buddha
Morning WireMonday, November 2, 2026
True Satire
Daily

Side by Side

One question, several capitals, the same measuring stick. The monk lines the answers up and lets the contrast do the talking. Nobody wins every time.

  1. Side by Side: What Does It Cost Not to Vote?November 2, 2026Americans choose a new House on Tuesday and any of them may stay home free of charge, so it is worth asking which other countries send a bill to the voter who never turned up.
  2. Side by Side: How Long Does a Lower House Last?November 1, 2026Americans elect their entire House of Representatives again on Tuesday, two years after the last time, so it is worth asking how long the other democracies let a lower house sit before handing it back to the voters.
  3. Side by Side: Which Day of the Week Do They Vote?October 31, 2026Americans vote for Congress on Tuesday, a working day, and so many have already voted early that it is worth asking which day the other democracies chose, and why.
  4. Side by Side: What Does Money Cost at the Central Bank?October 30, 2026Ottawa raised its rate on Wednesday and Washington, a few hours later, declined to, so it is worth lining up what the big central banks were charging by the end of that day.
  5. Side by Side: How Many People Are Online?October 29, 2026Fiji’s government says more of its people use the internet than know how to, which is today’s letter from Suva, so it is worth checking how many are online elsewhere.
  6. Side by Side: How Many Seats Do Women Hold?October 28, 2026Latvia’s prime minister sits down with his coalition partners today, more than three weeks after the election, so it is worth counting who fills the chambers that coalitions are built from.
  7. Side by Side: What Does a Gigabyte Cost?October 27, 2026Bangladesh’s mobile operators have asked the regulator for deeper cuts in spectrum prices, saying spectrum takes 15.7 per cent of their revenue, so it is worth asking what a gigabyte costs the customer elsewhere.
  8. Side by Side: How Many Years of School Does the Law Require?October 26, 2026A forged graphic in Manila this week abolished two years of senior high school by fake decree, so it is worth asking how many years governments make compulsory in the first place.
  9. Side by Side: Who Still Changes the Clocks?October 25, 2026Europe and Britain turned their clocks back an hour this morning, so it is worth asking who else still does it, since when, and who has tried to stop.
  10. Side by Side: At What Age Does the State Pension Start?October 24, 2026Chile’s labour minister has asked savers near retirement to hold off for a few months, so it is worth checking how long other governments already ask everyone to wait.
  11. Side by Side: How High Can a Privacy Fine Go?October 23, 2026Coupang has gone to court over Korea’s largest privacy penalty, so it is worth measuring how high the ceiling sits elsewhere.
  12. Side by Side: How Many Ministers Sit at the Table?October 22, 2026Quebec’s new premier has sworn in a cabinet of 22 ministers, six fewer than his predecessor’s, to show he means to shrink government, so it is worth counting the chairs elsewhere.
  13. Side by Side: How Hard Is It to Change a Constitution?October 21, 2026Fiji’s government is pushing a new constitutional amendment bill through Parliament, a year after the last one fell a single vote short, so it is worth asking how often anyone else manages it.
  14. Side by Side: How Much of the Grid Do Data Centres Take?October 20, 2026Kazakhstan is offering data centres electricity at about 2.5 US cents a kilowatt-hour, a quarter of Virginia’s price by its minister’s count, so it is worth asking how much of the grid the machines already use elsewhere.
  15. Side by Side: How Much Digital Cash May You Hold?October 19, 2026Frankfurt pressed for its digital euro law this week, London said it was in no hurry for a digital pound, and Beijing unveils new digital yuan plumbing today.
  16. Side by Side: What Does the Public Broadcaster Cost a Month?October 18, 2026London is weighing a licence fee for people who watch on YouTube and Netflix, and says “no final decisions have been made.”
  17. Side by Side: How Old Must You Be to Vote?October 17, 2026Estonia voted this week to let 16-year-olds choose its members of the European Parliament, starting in 2029.
  18. Side by Side: What Tax Rides on a Foreign Subscription?October 16, 2026Ghana’s banks began taking 20 percent on Netflix and ChatGPT this week; most of the focus countries sent that bill abroad years ago.
  19. Side by Side: How Old Must You Be to Have an Account?October 15, 2026Manila’s lower house voted for 13 this week and its Senate prefers 18; elsewhere the answer depends on whether you ask about the door, the data or the clock.
  20. Side by Side: Who Sets the Price of Petrol, and How Often?October 14, 2026Pakistan now resets it every working day. Others prefer the month, the decade or the market.
  21. Side by Side: Who Is Growing, According to the IMF?October 13, 2026The fund’s new forecasts, country by country, with the revisions it hoped nobody would line up.
  22. Side by Side: Who Owns the Sky Above Your Phone?October 12, 2026One country is approving satellites by the thousand. Everyone else is still counting theirs.
  23. Side by Side: Who Lets You Bet on Your Phone?October 11, 2026Brazil has tried every answer in two years. Elsewhere the dice are licensed, taxed, banned or run by the state.
  24. Side by Side: Who Holds the Votes at the IMF?October 10, 2026The world’s money is gathering in Bangkok. The monk counted the chairs.
  25. Side by Side: Who May Call a Car Self-Driving?October 9, 2026Six jurisdictions, one kind of machine, and a long argument about what to call it.