There’s nothing special about war damage in the Balkans, but most of it is what the locals have done to one another over the years. This isn’t:
It’s in Belgrade, which was bombed by NATO in 1999, during Kosovo’s war of independence. Most of it’s been repaired or rebuilt, but there’s a few things like this [...]
I had a piece in Crikey on Thursday about the Lisbon treaty, which is all set to come into force, but I wouldn’t want to let the occasion pass without a comment on the actual concession that secured its final ratification.
Czech president Vaclav Klaus only agreed to sign the treaty after he was promised that [...]
It’s the Piazzetta della Fontana, in the old city in Ventimiglia, where it looks as if nothing much has changed in centuries.
Certainly no money seems to have been spent on things. The sort of medieval-looking streetscapes that in France would have been tarted up – or at least kept clean – for the tourists, have [...]
In a rare interval of sunny weather in London I went for a walk in Hyde Park. I didn’t spot the besuited unemployed that Sophie prompted me to look for, but I did, more or less by chance, find the new Australian war memorial. Here it is. It’s horrible.
Stylistically, it’s obviously derivative of the Vietnam [...]
Nice piece on the evening news tonight (Sunday) in London, about the Greenpeace protesters on the roof of the Houses of Parliament. The BBC report just says “More than 40 climate protesters”, but ITV news spelt it out: “Greenpeace say there are 55 protesters on the roof; police estimate 20 to 30. We counted [...]
The thing that strikes me is that Britain is the first country I’ve been to where the global financial crisis really seems to be biting. In Germany, Sweden and of course Australia, it’s an incovenience rather than a serious social problem. Britain certainly could be worse – it’s not Latvia – but with bank failures, [...]
Hi everyone – welcome to blogland. I’m on a European tour, currently in London, so I’ll be using this space to draw attention to interesting things that I encounter along the way.
The big news in Britain this week is the annual Conservative Party conference, with David Cameron’s speech to wrap it up later today.
For some [...]
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