Season of goodwill absent in Italy

Since Alan Rickman's Sheriff of Nottingham, in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, declared, “Christmas is cancelled!” anyone who uses the phrase opens themselves up to mockery. This is particularly true of football managers who suffer a disappointing result in the last game before 25th December (Christmas in the western calendar, anyway) and promise to punish their squads.
A headteacher in Italy, although not actually uttering the sentence himself, has found himself the subject of a ferocious protest across all Italy, which culminated in condemnation from the Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, himself. Already in the wake of the Paris terror attacks, many nurseries in Tuscany have opted against installing Nativity scenes for fear of offending non-Christian families. The decision of Marco Parma, 63, to postpone a Christmas concert until January, rebrand it a ‘Winter Concert’ and denude it of songs with religious content, while turning away two parents who wanted to teach carols to schoolchildren in their lunch breaks, gave the media a personality around which the outcry could crystallise.
In Italy, though Roman Catholicism remains strong (despite not being the state’s religion since 1984), there is still a strong hard-left presence, especially among the professions. When the billionaire and roguish former prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, raged against ‘communist judges’ presiding over corruption cases of his, he was tapping in to a suspicion in Italian society towards the motivations of those in authority. There are many in Italy who would assent to George Bernard Shaw’s line “all professions are conspiracies against the laity” (in the play The Doctor’s Dilemma), though probably not for the reasons the socialist playwright had in mind.
Unlike behind the Iron Curtain where imposing secularism was a fact of life, Italy being a democracy needs accountability for decisions taken. The head of the Garofani school in the town of Rozzano, near Milan, Parma said it was simply an administrative policy to avoid exclusion of non-Christian pupils that occurred last year. “In a multi-ethnic environment, it causes problems,” he explained. “Last year we had a Christmas concert and some parents insisted on having carols. The Muslim children didn’t sing, they just stood there, absolutely rigid. It is not nice watching a child not singing, or worse, being called down from the stage by their parents.”
Istituto Garofani, which comprises primary and middle school, has around 1,000 pupils enrolled with an estimated 20% of non-Christian faiths, primarily Islam. But far from promoting multiculturalism, Parma was implementing distinctly monoculturalism (or no culturalism at all) through secular inventions of the school staff (who overwhelmingly backed Parma). Instead of ‘cancelling Christmas’, a more inclusive approach would be to try and integrate the traditions of the various backgrounds of the children into a festive extravaganza. For instance, in December 2015, both Sunni and Shia Muslims celebrate Mawlid (‘Birth of the Prophet’).
Headteachers anywhere can make some gauche, if well-meaning choices, such as the head of a primary school in Kent, Britain who insisted that each academic year of pupils raise a lamb and then witness if being slaughtered after a year, so they know from where their meat comes. Few though attract the ire of the leader of the government. Prime Minister Renzi told Corriere della Sera, “Christmas is much more than a headmaster being provocative… Discussion and dialogue does not mean to say we can drown out identity for the sake of a vague and insipid form of political correctness. If he [Parma] thinks he is promoting integration and co-existence in this way, he appears to me to have made a very big mistake.” He went further: “Italians, both non-religious and Christians, will never give up Christmas.”
Strong stuff and it did not stop there, with the education minister asked to lean on Mr Parma to change his mind. For his part, Mr Parma would not back down and carried out his threat to resign, his valedictory statement concluding, “I believe that respecting the sensitivities of people of different religions or cultures is a step forward towards integration.” However, parents of different faith backgrounds were unhappy with Parma’s approach to ‘integration’ and resented the decision to stop the carol service, as surveys upon surveys across Europe and the USA when atheists try to remove or block Christianity from the public sphere – other faith groups prefer the display of Christianity as it means their own religious practices are more likely to be tolerated. Disingenuously citing the faiths of others when really it is their own discomfort they are considering, public support towards atheists may be more understanding if this was openly stated.
In such a febrile atmosphere, it was rumoured that crucifixes were to be removed from the classrooms of Garifano. Parma denied this but a petition was set up to ensure their station. The irony is that the law mandating crucifixes in classrooms dates from the time of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, Il Duce being a proud atheist, who also signed into sovereign existence the Vatican City. Clearly, modern-day parents in Rozzano approve of the modern ends, if not the historical means.

Striking Syria

All this talk of 'we're going to war' is crass and immature, but it's certainly caught the imagination of the British public, who have forgotten we already are at war with Daesh, dropping the occasional bomb on them in Iraq.  If we do so in Syria, we will be trampling on the sovereignty of another country, even if Bashar al-Assad is officially in charge.  There must be a compelling reason to add eight (yes, just eight) RAF planes to the lacklustre Franco-American campaign (with the Russians preferring to go after non-Daesh rebels).  Nothing David Cameron outlined in parliament justified it, unless what he said was true - it manifestly was not and he has misled parliament.  A bombing campaign extended to Syria will not make us any safer - it will not dislodge Daesh and the latter can still strike us: the bomb placed in the Russian plane, destroying it over the Sinai, was meant for a British plane until the Kremlin decided to intervene directly in Syria.  Plucking a figure out of the air of a force of 90,000 Syrians ready to fight Daesh cannot be verified and the rebel groups in Syria are hopelessly divided and impossible to co-ordinate (unlike, say, the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan in 2001).  If Cameron possessed the ability to have shame, his cheeks would burn.
Francois Hollande's appeal to show solidarity with France changes the calculus.  Hollande may be a hawk regarding foreign policy but France is the country that - wisely - opposed the invasion of Iraq in 2003.  For the reason of supporting an ally that is not as fatally hubristic as the George W Bush administration is probably what tips the scales for me into supporting it.
It is still loaded with hubris.  Air campaigns are always over-rated in their effectiveness.  NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 didn't bring Milosevic to the table - it was Russian intervention that did that.  The dumbness of many British people was summed up by one Labour voter in Leeds who cited the Blitz as the reason the British wouldn't crumple in the face of adversity.  So why would people in Daesh-controlled territory be any more susceptible.  It is a view at best parochial and at worst racist.
Nor is there a political plan in place (another Cameron lie) for a post-Daesh situation.  Throughout World War Two, allied leaders met regularly to plan the post-war world.  Don't see that here.  But any political resolution is hypothetical without boots on the ground.  Absolutely no point in half-arsed air strikes (save sticking with the French).  There is a legal argument for self-defence and that takes into account the migrant crisis.  I would be in favour of sending in the army to smash Daesh and then, for good measure, turning around and taking down Assad too, no matter what Russia, Iran and Hezbollash protest.  Assad has killed ten times as many of his own people as Daesh and people are fleeing the country primarily because of him.  It would be a show of vigour to show the Russians post-Crimea that the West can be decisive.  The USA won't commit its soldiers - Obama is too stand-offish to make such a bold move.  So it should be British and French troops fighting side-by-side to implement a political settlement.  I think Hollande would be up for that, given French intervention in Mali but we can't allow Syria to descend into Libya-style chaos.  None of this will happen though since Cameron indulges in the worst kind of gesture politics and can't even be honest about it.

Historical irony amidst pomp and ceremony

Last night, a banquet was held at Stationers' Hall for Prince Napoleon where he was awarded the Freedom of the City of London to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo.  So whereas his ancestor lost the chance to award himself another -admittedly long - shot at being master (and therefore having the freedom) of London, His Imperial Highness manages to achieve it by winning the admiration of the social set.  To be given such an honour at an event remembering the lowest point of his distant predecessor (and thus the family in general) is more than a little odd though.  It's not quite on a par with the son of Napoleon III dying in the service of London in the British-Zulu wars for irony, but it's up there.  Quislings assisting the foreigner (or as they would prefer to be known 'the proposers of the Freedom') were the hosts Sir Gavyn Arthur and Sir Anthony Bailey.  Of those who also spoke were the good-looking Prince himself (a New York investment banker being his 'Clark Kent' occupation), Sir Rodney Williams, Governor-General of Antigua and Barbuda, Sir Ben Kingsley and Bishop Angaelos (General Bishop of the United Kingdom for the Coptic [Egyptian] Orthodox Church).
Also in attendance was a gaggle of royalty from other defunct ruling houses Grand Duke George of Russia, Princess Elena of Romania (and Mr Alexander Nixon), Princess Katarina of Yugoslavia, Princess Beatrice of Bourbon Two-Sicilies, Princess Annunziata of Bourbon Two Sicilies and Count Fredrik Creutz, Prince and Princess Constantin of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Princess Marie Therese von Hohenberg, Prince Joachim Murat, Princess Katharina von Hohenberg (and Don Carlos de Mendez Vigo) and Princess Cristina Tchkotoua. Prince and Princess Louis of Luxembourg were the only bona fide members of royalty, though were Prince Louis to ascend to the throne of his realm, he would become a Grand Duke.
Of lesser importance (Socially) there were Lady Williams, Lady Bailey, Mr Alexander Livingstone, The High Commissioner of Grenada, the Ambassadors of Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, Kosovo and Slovakia, The Chargé d’Affaires of The Netherlands, The Earl and Countess of Erroll, Admiral Lord West of Spithead and Lady West, Lord Watson of Richmond, Diana, Lady Farnham, the Hon. Lady de Zulueta, the Hon. Mrs Teresa Adderley, the Hon. Mrs Bernard Lever, Count and Countess Florian Hartig, Countess Olympia von und zu Arco-Zinneberg, Countess Maximiliana von und zu Arco-Zinneberg, Baron Henry von Blumenthal, Baron and Baroness Vincenz Stimpfl-Abele, Sir Paul Jenkins, Sir Michael and Lady Craig-Cooper, Sir Tony Baldry, Sir Christopher and Lady Sweeting, Sir Kenneth Knight, Dame Judith Parker, Lady Davis, Sir Michael and Lady Griffiths, Sir Nadhmi and Lady Auchi, Professor Sir Mansell and Lady Aylward, Sir William Jeffcock, Lady Davies (Master, the Chartered Surveyors’ Company), Mr Ian Makowski (Master, the Tin Plate Workers’ Company) and Mr John Rowsell (Master, the Lightmongers’ Company).  It isn't exactly clear why the ambassador for Kosovo had good reason to attend, given that the others could fairly claim to be involved in some such way in the struggle against (or in Denmark's case nominal alliance with) Napoleon (Belgium and Slovakia belonging to Austria, Finland belonging to Sweden until 1809 and then part of Russia, Grenada part of the British Empire), but it was a jolly so why not.

Debate being choked off in Kosovo

South Korea, Taiwan, Georgia, Ukraine, Russia, Jordan, India, Bolivia, Mexico and the Alabaman state legislature are just some of the luminaries where verbal fireworks in parliament have tipped into the physical. Kosovo sought to join their number in October, with opposition politicians unleashing not just a smoke bomb on the debating floor but following it up in the days after by throwing eggs, blowing whistles, releasing tear gas and firing pepper spray. In November, it erupted again with the gas and the spray, while more than 100 protesters outside hurled stones and paint in a show of intimidation.
Sandi Toksvig, the British-Danish comedian and presenter, said on the BBC’s The News Quiz that the former Yugoslavia was like a collection of matryoshka dolls: inside Yugoslavia is Serbia and inside Serbia is Kosovo and inside Kosovo is Serb-dominated Mitrovica. Despite severe corruption (including the construction of a ruinously expensive ‘road to nowhere’, legislation for it piloted via the ‘good offices’ of the then US ambassador, Christopher Dell, who subsequently took a consultancy role with the contractor), the political system is gradually becoming more responsive with a general election in June 2014 deemed relatively free and fair though Freedom House, the political and civil rights promoter, still rates it as only Partly Free for 2015.
To aid Kosovo’s development, the European Union brokered talks with Serbia, of which Kosovo was formerly attached until 1999, in an aim to normalise relations between the two. On both sides, much suspicion still remains after the war 16 years ago, which began with the authoritarian Slobodan Milosevic ethnically cleansing the non-Serb population, which drew NATO in with a bombing from the air war and descended into full-scale genocide by the Serb forces, although ethnically Albanian Kosovars also committed war crimes. After the ceasefire, the EU ran Kosovo as a protectorate until the latter unilaterally declared independence in 2008, another red line crossed for Serbia which has deep historical connections to Kosovo. Thus on both sides immense political capital has to be spent by the governing parties to formalise their borders in the hope of joining the EU later.
In Kosovo, Vetevendosje (Self-Determination Party) leads all those who oppose the creation of an ‘association of municipalities’ which would impart greater autonomy to Serb-majority areas and the right to some financial links to Serbia. Vetevendosje developed from a grassroots youth movement into a political party that claims to affirm and defend Kosovo’s national sovereignty. Their nationalist cause opposed the negotiations from the outset, throwing eggs at the prime minister, Isa Mustafa, in September and is stepping up the pressure to stop legislation on the outcome of the talks, which the EU hailed as ‘landmark’. “Only the withdrawal from these agreements will bring back social and institutional normality in Kosovo,” read a joint declaration issues by the parties of the opposition bloc.
Ironically, given the stance of Vetevendosje (which polled third in 2014, the two main parties forming a grand coalition), the municipality association agreement would reinforce the country’s sovereignty. At the moment in Mitrovica District, a parallel administration operates which does not recognise the authority of the government in the capital Pristina. The new association would replace this, binding Mitrovica into Kosovo with the glue of significant autonomy. Already, preliminary implementation is being met with passive resistance by the ethnic Serbs. Only 17 per cent voted in the June 2014 elections.
However, the idea of official (as opposed to unofficial) Serb-run municipalities is anathema to the strident members of Vetevendosje, who see compromise as a sell-out of principles. Even the promise by Mustafa that the municipalities would have no executive powers is not enough. One of the nationalists’ leading lights, Glauk Konjufca, said, “The opposition has enough gas to block any session.” He made this statement after two MPs fainted and had to be taken to hospital. As occurred in Thailand, some protests are inimical to both the letter and spirit of democracy.

Boys with their toys

In the James Bond film Goldeneye, the Bond 'girl' verbally chastises both 007 and the Russian minister who are engaged in a heated argument (stemming from Cold War holdover suspicions), "You're just like boys with toys."  After Turkey shot down a Russian fighter-bomber that probably deliberately crossed into its airspace (to thumb its nose at Ankara), both Turkish and Russian presidents have engaged in mutually recriminations over who really was to blame.  I can just imagine Putin and Erdogan as two little boys squaring up to each other as they excessively bawl their eyes out, each holding a toy fighter plane, the toy in Putin's hand broken.
It is rich of Putin to talk of being 'stabbed in the back by accomplices of terrorists' (although why you would turn your back on those you regard as accomplices of terrorists is a mystery - but don't expect Putin or his cronies to talk rationally), given that, bar a few desultory strikes against Daesh, most Russian bombing has taken place against non-Daesh rebels, significantly entrenching Daesh and even allowing it to advance closer to Aleppo.  As with the Moscow Theatre Siege and the Beslan Siege, mass civilian casualties from the destruction of the Sharm el-Sheikh airliner has not ostensibly changed Russian policy in Syria (as analysts predicted), which is to eliminate the non-Daesh rebels so as to embarrass the West into a binary choice between Assad or Daesh. 
Russian provocations into Turkish airspace may not be of the scale of Sir Francis Drake 'singeing the beard of the King of Spain' but Moscow had been warned on two previous occasions that incursions would be shot down and in the five minutes before yesterday's encounter, the Russian pilots were warned more than a dozen times to change course.  They didn't and so they were blown out of the sky, killing one of the pilots who fell into the hands of rebels (apparently the other pilot is safe but we only have the Russian word for that and after years of misinformation, nothing the Kremlin says is credible - even if a man is paraded on TV, we have no way of verifying if this is that pilot).  The corollary was that the Russians also lost a helicopter and a soldier that gone out to recover their comrades in a rebel attack.  Such is the price paid for being a dick in foreign relations.

Nationalism on the rise in Poland

As France grieves and the world with them but with demonstrations against terrorism discouraged as Paris deals with ongoing anti-terrorist operations, Poland’s newly elected government, led by the hard-line right-wing, European Union-sceptic Law and Justice Party (PiS), has sought to generate political capital by refusing to take Syrian refugees on still undetermined evidence that one of the attackers held a Syrian passport. As in certain sections of American society (and among Republican presidential hopefuls), this chimes with parts of the Polish electorate who at the end of October returned a parliament with no left-wing party for the first time since 1989. Two days before the atrocities in the French capital, tens of thousands took part in a massive march – the largest since the fall of communism - through Warsaw, the Polish capital, displaying themes that reject the liberal ethos championed by much of France and the latter’s admirers abroad.
It has often been noted that communism with its repression apparatus and internationalist credo kept a lid on nationalism, which tore apart Yugoslavia, separated Czechoslovakia and disintegrated the USSR. Poland is a relatively homogenous society with few geographically specific clusters of Poles outside the country (e.g. Hungarians in Romania) but since 2005 when PiS won the most votes, there has been a steady upswing in nationalism. The leader of PiS, Jarosław Kaczyński (along with his late twin brother, the former president Lech Kaczyński), became a pariah of Europe in 2007 when he and his brother said publicly at an EU conference that Poland would have a bigger voting bloc inside the EU if Germany had not murdered so many Poles during World War II, imputing ‘sins of the father’ to Angela Merkel and her government and using the Holocaust as a political football. Kaczyński, who nominated the moderate Beata Szydlo as prime minister, was on record recently as saying that Muslim migrants might carry diseases and parasites, perhaps inspired by the surge in conservative support Donald Trump got from ranting against Mexicans in similar terms.
The march on 11th November, which marks the moment Poland became independent again after World War One, was separate from the official, state-organised celebration of National Independence Day and has dark overtones. In the unofficial demonstration, placards emblazoned with ‘Poland for the Polish’, ‘Stop Islamisation’ ‘EU macht frei’ (an Auschwitz reference) were wielded. A conservative Christianity element was illustrated with ‘Great Catholic Poland’ banners – PiS itself has forged strong links with the Roman Catholic Church and some pastors are as influential with their own radio shows inside their country as Rush Limbaugh and other right-wing radio hosts in the USA.
Some on the march seized the photo opportunity to burn an EU flag, but despite that, smoke bombs and numerous firecrackers, the protest passed off peacefully – several thousand riot police ensured that. Unlike English Defence League (EDL) demonstrations in Britain however, which target multicultural areas, it is Poland’s very homogeneity that spawns such a militant nationalism – as many studies in the UK have shown, those most hostile to immigration are those who have had the fewest meaningful contacts with actual immigrants.
Were a member of parliament in this country to address an EDL rally, they would soon be drummed out their party. But Tomasz Rzymkowski, elected in the recent parliamentary ballot, comes from National Movement, a party founded only a year ago – one that has slogans like “European Union is the cancer – Nationalism is the answer.” The surge in support for such a fledgling political outfit is astounding. Also speaking was Adam Andruszkiewicz, head of the All-Polish Youth (with strong connections to National Movement) – an organisation that declares itself opposed to “doctrines promoting liberalism, tolerance and relativism,” i.e. opposed to the bedrock of Western civilisation. If anyone was in any doubt as to the far-right credentials of those in the rally, there was a guest speaker from the Hungarian Jobbik party – frequently labelled as ‘neo-fascist’.
Such a gathering makes PiS look centrist by comparison, giving it a freer hand in policy than would otherwise be the case. In its previous incarnation in government, PiS orchestrated a vicious judicial witch-hunt against anyone who had worked with the communist party, 16 years after its fall – having no truck with peace and reconciliation. With rumours already of Szydlo being replaced by Kaczyński, the ‘moderate’ mask would slip.
Many nationalist movements flourish in tough financial climes, blaming outsiders and although Poland has experienced prolonged economic growth (including being the only major EU country to grow during the 2008-09 global financial crisis), there are many in Poland who feel they have not benefitted, any extra income from trade undercut by implementing EU rules aimed at raising manufacturing and agricultural quality and latterly by the counter-sanctions Russia undertook in response to EU sanctions over Ukraine. When there are chants as at the rally of “Yesterday it was Moscow, today it’s Brussels which takes away our freedom,” it finds a resonance with little pushback.

Mr Rugby RIP

When I was growing up, I wasn't that familiar with Rugby, let alone the distinction between Union and League, but there was one undoubted superstar who cut through it all - Jonah Lomu, as towering in reputation as he was in stature and humility.  The only other rugby player I knew and at a considerable remove from Lomu's awesome presence was Will Carling and the latter mostly through his dalliance with Diana, Princess of Wales.  Jonah Lomu was simply to me Mr Rugby.
Lomu was a role model to all and to think he has died aged just 40 is unthinkably tragic, especially for his young family.  His sense of being a good sport was in a humourous advert for Heineken where he hid inside a Dublin pub arcade machine and doled out signed rugby balls when players got the right answers, usually with personalised messages that made the punters bemused (the prank was revealed at the end of the advert).  Now, some might take issue with respected legends appearing in commercial adverts, but everyone is doing it (doesn't make it right but it's the new normal and so long as you can do with humour it's not so bad) and I don't begrudge Lomu earning some extra money for his family.  Cut short in his prime because of a rare kidney disease, he remains the leading try scorer in a World Cup without ever winning it.  He died just a day after touching back down in New Zealand in his sleep after an extended stay in England but at least he saw New Zealand win the World Cup again before he left us.

Jeffrey Bernard is awry

But not alright.  His name famously suffixed with "is unwell" for a comedic one-man tour de force for the enterprising actor fancying the part, Bernard's reputation for wit and alcoholism is legendary.  But with the death of Cynthia Payne AKA Madam Cyn, the brothel keeper and "best hostess in London", his cleverness dips a level.
At Madam Cyn's trial where she displayed her formidable unabashed nature in 1978, Bernard was moved to call her in The Spectator, "the greatest Englishwoman since Boadicea."  Leaving aside the niceties of how to spell the name of the queen of the Iceni, anyone who knows their onions about the history of this island (which would include Bernard) is cognisant that the warrior monarch was a Celt (or Romano-Celt), the English still at least 400 years away.  Maybe in his sozzled state, he was beyond caring (and sub-editors too terrified of him) but humour springs from a familiarity with the truth (even absurdity reveals facts about us) and being slipshod with your details leads to be lazy with your wit, undermining the effect of your words.  A far convincing candidate would be Lady Godiva (who did exist) and her legendary naked horse-ride through the streets of Coventry.  Bernard's original phrase is a celebrated bon mot for those whose adherence to history is not solidly adhesive - Bernard would have revelled in being described as lowbrow, even though the aim of his quip was not.

Friday the 13th

After an incredibly slow news day on Thursday 12th November, Friday was excruciatingly packed, the despicable attacks in Paris justifiably crowding out everything else, with Russia being provisionally banned by the IAAF from all athletics a distant second (the Kremlin could not have asked for a better day to 'bury bad news', as was once catastrophically quoted by a former Labour special advisor in the transport department).

Of course, we must commemorate but continue to operate our lives as before, the ultimate defeat of the terrorists.  Theresa May, the Home Secretary, has wisely avoided seeking to make toxic political capital out of it for her 'snoopers' charter', unlike George W Bush and his team after 9/11.  But, leaving aside whether we get a 13/11 to add to the news lexicon, there is a law and order issue here and sadly if reflects badly on a Schengen system already creaking at the seams (it gives me no pleasure to articulate, as with the Euro, that British pragmatism has triumphed over idealistic integrationist policies).  You can go to, say, the Czech Republic and buy a high-powered automatic rifle, travel (back) to France without once being stopped and shoot up a town or city, no matter what gun laws are in place in France (as Illinois in the USA struggles).  If France is to have greater security, its temporary closure of its borders may have to assume a more permanent status.

Going abroad broadens the mind

With the allegations contained in the World Anti-Doping Agency, primarily towards Russia and the withdrawal of accreditation for a WADA laboratory in Moscow, it reminds me that Vladimir Putin spent the crucial years of Glasnost and Perestroika as a KGB officer in East Germany.  While there, did he become familiar with the GDR's state-sponsored doping of athletes, leading him to instruct the likes of Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko (Muttley to Putin's Dick Dastardly) to proceed with just such a Russian programme to score easy nationalistic victories?  The coincidence is striking.

Doped up to the eyeballs

In some ways, it is understandable that the public voices in Russia see an anti-Russian campaign every time Russia is criticised because there is so much criticism.  The trouble is, policymakers in the Kremlin and their pawns in the state media are believing their own propaganda because almost always the criticism is justified.  Whether it be stifling democracy at home, fostering chaos in neighbouring states, backing to the hilt the murderous Assad and now being accused of state-sponsored doping of its athletes by the respected World Anti-Doping Agency, Russia generates negative headlines because their activities are overwhelmingly negative.
Trying to spin the aircraft bombing as Britain's fault when the UK grounded all British-bound carriers from Sharm el-Sheikh was ludicrous, especially when it did a humiliating about-turn, evacuating 11,000 Russians from Egypt by military aircraft and banning all future flights to that country.  It was another case of reality crushing Kremlin rhetoric - 'we will fight in Syria because it is better to do the fighting there rather than on home soil' exposed by slack checks at a Sinai airport.  Putin and his cronies got it wrong in trying to play a clever game in Syria but can't admit so.  Russian authorities haven't admitted to getting it wrong since the sinking of the submarine flagship Kursk in 2000.  It is the messenger who is always shot.
WADA have variously been accused as being 'idiots' (from head of anti-doping in Russia), writing 'nonsense' (Russian sports minister and FIFA executive committee member Vitaly Mutko) and making 'groundless' statements (Russian sports ministry).  Russian officials have gone on state television to talk about the anti-Russian nature of it all.  At no point, do they actually address the accusations with humility.  For WADA isn't just accusing Russia; Kenya and Jamaica too come in for some stinging criticism.  Also, much of the WADA report had to be withheld because it directly pertained to the former head of the International Association of Athletics Federations, Lamine Diack, who has been arrested by French police on conspiracy to cover up doping tests; thus the report could have compromised a criminal case and will have to wait for that to be concluded before it can be released in its entirety.
Sebastian Coe, Lord Coe, the new head of the IAAF, has always been a 'company man' - always loyal to his body (in this case sport) than outside pressures.  He ran in the Moscow Olympics in 1980 when Margaret Thatcher demanded that they join the American boycott - in doing so, he won the undying support of Juan Antonio Samaranch, the (corrupt) supremo of the International Olympics Committee.  Samaranch's support came in handy when he transferred his support to London after Madrid was eliminated in the bidding competition for the 2012 Olympics.  And now, Lord Coe's beloved London Olympics has been besmirched by drugs cheats, at the apex of whom was Russia.  Maybe that 1980 connection was why he refused to throw out Russia before WADA released its report but sport being above politics cuts two ways and Coe cannot ignore WADA's demand to be thrown out of the 2016 Olympics and the World Athletics Championship, for if he did that would be putting the politics of sport above sport itself.
There should be lifetime bans for drug cheats, no its, no buts.  A lifetime ban for Russia as long as Russia exists as currently configured may be harsh but once Putin steps down (and maybe before that), the edifice will totter.  It will take a while and waiting for democracy to return, to avoid any chance of a repeat of East German tactics (Putin served in East Germany as KGB liaison officer in the 1980s), will also be a long time in the making.  Logically, why would Russia stop with its track and field athletes?  Why not its national football team too?  Will we have the first nation to host a football World Cup whose own national team has been banned from competing?  Now that would be a humiliation Putin could not sidestep.

Curtain call for Last Post

Just a couple of days to Remembrance Day but after Remembrance Sunday, mentions of the Last Post (or horror of horrors, The Last Post) will subside.  It is as gauche as saying Lake Windermere and if you are paying respect to the fallen, you might as well do it properly.  In this, Wikipedia is no help, having it as "the 'Last Post'" (though thankfully has 'Reveille' without the definite article).  To be fair, I too was unaware of this linguistic disposition but having read The Telegraph Style Guide, it has stayed with me, indelibly imprinted, thus to be forever frustrated by the non-cognoscenti.

Colectiv anger sets Romania ablaze

Although it seems inherently foolhardy to set off pyrotechnics within an indoor setting, there are still plenty of nightclub owners willing to chance their arm (and the lives of their patrons) with close-up fireworks. Nine disasters occasioning mass fatalities with just such a cause have occurred since the turn of the millennium; only one of these has struck the West though. Romania, despite being a fully paid up member of the European Union and NATO and rated by Freedom House as a semi-consolidated democracy, is often seen as not East but not yet West. A nightclub blaze setting in motion the fall of its government will contribute to outside eyes still seeing it in this limbo zone.
On 30th October, outdoor fireworks were used in the Colectiv nightclub in Bucharest, the venue hosting a free concert by metalcore (a mixture of heavy metal and hardcore punk) band ‘Goodbye to Gravity’. 45 died and a further 166 were injured, three of the band among the dead. Three days of mourning were declared in Romania, the first period of such length since catastrophic flooding in 2000. Prime Minister Victor Ponta cut short a trip to Mexico but it was not enough to save him and his government.
On 1st November, 12,000 people marched in Bucharest out of respect for the victims. Other demonstrations took place in major cities around the country such as Braşov, Ploieşti and Iaşi. This proved the catalyst to change the marchers’ motives from one of commiseration to one of anger. On 3rd November, 15,000 protested outside the headquarters of the Romanian government, demanding the resignation of Ponta, Minister (and former acting prime minister) Gabriel Oprea and Cristian Piedone, the mayor of the sector of Bucharest where Colectiv was and who had granted a nightclub licence without a fire department permit. Ponta and his government were seen as fostering corruption. When gendarmes (Romania being a Francophone country) prevented the activists from advancing on the building, hydraulics came into effect, the crowds diverting to the Interior Ministry, still chanting slogans and holding placards emblazoned with ‘corruption kills’. Moving on to Constitution Square, in front of Nicolae Ceauşescu’s gigantic architectural monstrosity that now houses the Romanian parliament, numbers swelled by some estimates to 30,000.
Given corruption by its very nature can only be perceived rather than officially measured, Transparency International’s report on Romania from 2013 could be construed as depressing but also gives rise to hope. Two-thirds of Romanians thought corruption had got worse, the same as the UK but whereas the UK was ranked 14th least corrupt in 2014, Romania was ranked 69th (joint with Italy, Bulgaria and Greece), explaining why 98% of Romanians believe that corruption is a systemic problem and three-quarters think that political parties are corrupt or extremely corrupt, with severe negative ratings for parliament, business, judiciary, health services, the police and civil servants. When I lived in Braşov, central Romania, I knew a man (who will remain anonymous on his own request) who refused to pay bribes to advance his career in the Romanian foreign ministry – not only was he denied promotion, he was eventually hounded out and forced to resort to taking oddjobs. Despite all this, 61% of Romanians are of the opinion that ordinary people can make a difference in the fight against corruption, as was shown throughout Romania this November.
Proving less resilient than the controversial fellow Balkan leader of Montenegro, Milo Đukanović, the Ponta government resigned en masse on the morning of 4th November, followed an hour later by Piedone falling on his sword, with expressions of regret both for granting the licence and not stepping down immediately after the tragedy. Ponta himself remained as acting prime minister until the formation of a new government.
Dubbed the #Colectiv Revolution by Romanian media, activists of 35,000 still congregated in Bucharest, some of their ire focused on the Romanian Orthodox Church for its apparent indifference to the club fire (an attitude governed by church leaders associating the event with an anti-Christian persuasion and so unmoved, plenty would say coldly, by what unfolded). There were further marches - 10,000 in Timişoara (spark of the 1989 revolution against Ceauşescu), 5,000 in Craiova and Iaşi, 4,500 in Cluj-Napoca (another scene of rebellion in 1989), 4,000 in Sibiu, 3,000 in Galaţi, Constanţa and Bacău, 1,000 in Focsani, with associate protests of solidarity in London, Paris and Madrid. The demands were for fresh elections and a complete overhaul of the political class, a message endorsed by the Romanian president, Klaus Iohannis, who invited street representatives to consultation talks and indirectly hinting that street pressure must be kept up. The protests continue but with the fall of the Ponta government, numbers have dwindled, 7th November bringing out 3,000 people demanding a transformation of politics in Romania, driven by the Romanian branch of the Occupy movement. People power has worked in the short-term but it must be sustained.