Holiday in the Balkans (1): arrival
October 5th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
What we knew as Yugoslavia from 1918 to 1992 broke up into what are now seven separate nations. I have previously visited two of them – Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia – and on this holiday I will be visiting two more – Serbia and Montenegro – with a quick look inside next-door Albania. This will bring the total number of countries that I have visited to 77.
This holiday is organised by Voyages Jules Verne and is called Secret Balkans and I am travelling with my friend Kathleen. We flew from London Heathrow airport to Belgrade Nikola Tesla airport on the airline Air Serbia which was a flight of two hours, and since Serbia is one hour ahead of UK time, effectively this occupied the first day of our trip.
Serbia has a population of 7 million (almost all of Serbian ethnicity) and its capital is Belgrade (1.2 million) located at the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers. We are staying for the first two nights at the Belgrade Art Hotel.
The travel company itself admitted in its briefing: “As capitals go, Belgrade wouldn’t rank among the beauties but it isn’t all soulless Soviet-era severity”. Let’s put it this way: it beats Bucharest but does not compare with Prague or Budapest.
On our first evening (Saturday) in Belgrade, there were loud demonstrations against the government of President Aleksandar Vucic. These demos – called “one in five million” – have been taking place every Saturday for six months.
We wandered down the long, cobbled street of Skadarlija which is very popular for all the restaurants and cafes which line both sides and side streets and where Kathleen and I had dinner outside.
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Five ‘countries’ that I have no plans to visit
October 4th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
A new publication by the Norwegian Helsinki Committee and the Foreign Policy Centre draws attention to the human rights situation in some of Europe’s most contested but least well known places: Transnistria, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Crimea.
The publication brings together local and international experts to set out the current political situations in these disputed territories and what it means for human rights within them, as well as for other communities effected by them, including those living near unrecognised borders or who were displaced by the conflicts.
It brings together a range of different viewpoints but raises concerns about the human rights situation in all five disputed territories, particularly about the shrinking civic space in South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Crimea; the treatment of ethnic Georgians and Crimean Tartars; as well as the efforts by the de facto authorities and the Russians to create borders.
You can learn more here.
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Remembering Gandhi 150 years after his birth
October 2nd, 2019 by Roger Darlington
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on 2 October 1869 and this 150th anniversary will be celebrated around the world today.
I recall seeing the 1982 film “Gandhi” and this is my review of that work:
“When I first saw this classic film at the cinema, the audience applauded at both the intermission and the end (it is a long work of 188 minutes). Although the narrative covers over five decades in Gandhi’s life, a major segment concerns the the process by which independence of India and Pakistan was brought about and the huge loss of life and massive migrations that resulted. When I saw the events of 1947 portrayed in the 2017 film “Viceroy’s House”, I was encouraged to revisit the earlier film which I think deals with these events more powerfully.
“Gandhi” was a triumph both for Richard Attenborough, as producer and director, who worked for 20 years to bring the story to the big screen and for Ben Kingsley, a man whose father was Indian but who had until then had a minor profile, proving to be a superlative choice for the eponymous role. The cinematography is wonderful, making superb use of local filming in India and evocative of some of the work of David Lean.
The huge cast represents a rich array of British thespianism (as well as American and Indian actors) with cameo roles for stars such as John Mills, John Gielgud, Trevor Howard and James Fox and even a tiny role for Daniel Day-Lewis who would go on to be a towering talent. Finally the script by John Briley works well in communicating essential information with some effective lines.
The film is a little too reverential towards its subject and at times it is a trifle ponderous, but these are relatively minor reservations. It went on to win no less than eight Academy Awards.”
I remember my visit to India when. almost the first stop on our tour, was the location of the killing of Gandhi:
“We proceeded to the Gandhi Smriti Memorial Museum. This is located on Tees January Marg in the grand house previously owned by the industrialist B D Birla where Mahatma Gandhi always stayed on his visits to Delhi and where he was assassinated on 30 January 1948. Inside the museum are informative panels and models concerning the life of this charismatic leader of Indian nationalism. Outside in the garden, a set of concrete footprints mark his last steps before he was gunned down by a Hindu extremist, enraged by his support for the Muslims.”
Today, more than ever, our politics and our communities need Gandhi’s understanding and tolerance.
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Women substantially underrepresented in the movies both before and behind the camera
October 1st, 2019 by Roger Darlington
The Gina Davis Institute on Gender in Media has analysed the 56 top-grossing films of 2018 in 20 countries in North America, Scandinavia, Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe.
Almost half of the characters across the films analysed, which collectively earned $21bn (£17bn) at the box office, were white. Only one of the 60 female leaders in the films was LGBTQ+. None of the films was directed by a woman, only a quarter had at least one female producer and one in 10 had at least one woman on the writing team.
Male characters were shown as being more effective and more respected when in leadership positions, while female presidents and prime ministers were portrayed as struggling with the job. Where female characters were portrayed as strong, it was in the home.
Gina Davis starred in the film “Thelma And Louise” which failed to alter Hollywood production and she had the leading role in the television series “Commader-In-Chief” which was cancelled after just one series.
More information here.
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Have you ever been to Tiananmen Square?
September 30th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
I have been to China four times and, on each occasion, I have visited Tiananmen Square in the heart of the capital Beijing. Inevitably, each time I have recalled the massacre of June 1989.
In my account of the first visit in 2000, I wrote:
“One advantage of seeing the palace [the Forbidden City] from north to south is that we came out into Tiananmen Square. The name means ‘The Square of Heavenly Peace’, but of course all of us associate it with the terrible events of 1989. Peter [our guide] was living in Beijing at the time and went to the square, so he was able to give us a very personal view of events.
He was convinced that it was a genuine mass movement with extensive support and not simply a student protest, but he felt that the demands were more economic than political. He doubted whether there were many deaths in the square itself, as opposed to the adjoining streets, and castigated the wild estimates of the number of deaths made by some western media commentators. However, he had no doubt that the Chinese authorities had exercised sophisticated media control over the presentation of events and that the whole episode had been the catalyst for the subsequent remarkable economic developments.
Tiananmen Square is simply huge and one has little difficulty accepting the claim that it is the largest inner city square in the world. Estimates of the number of people that it can hold vary between half a million and a million. On one side is an enormous portrait of Chairman Mao at the main entrance to the Forbidden City and on the other side is the Chairman Mao Mausoleum. One wonders how long these now rare commemorations of the Great Leader will remain [they are still there].
The huge picture of Mao Zedong
at the entrance to the Forbidden City
In the square, we had an official tour group photograph with Mao smiling benevolently behind us.”
In a blog posting on my latest visit tio China just last year, I wrote:
“On our first full day in Beijing, we visited two major locations in and around the enormously expansive Tiananmen Square. The security in the square is phenomenal: one can only enter through guarded points where Chinese citizens have their identity cards electronically scanned; at a further security point, all bags are x-rayed; and everywhere there are police and military, not to mention the plain clothes personnel.”
This evening, I watched a 90-minute documentary on BBC Four entitled “Tiananmen: The People v The Party” with moving testimony from some of those who were student protesters in the square. The programme explained the conflict between the reformist General Secretary Zhao Ziyang and the hard-line Premier Li Peng. Sadly today the line is harder than ever.
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One third fewer banks but much more online banking
September 29th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
The consumerbody Which? has just published its latest findings on bank branch closures.
Banks and building societies closed a total of 3,312 branches between January 2015 and August 2019, with an average of 55 closing each month. A further 100 branches are scheduled to close before the end of this year. The RBS Group, which comprises of NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland and Ulster Bank, closed 1,094 branches during the period. Lloyds Banking Group, made up of Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland, shut down 569 sites.
Bank branch closures reached their peak in 2017, with 868 sites lost around the UK at a rate of more than 70 a month. Similarly, some 794 branches closed in 2018. In the first seven months of 2019, the rate slowed, with 325 branches closed. This puts the current year on a similar footing to 2015 and 2016, when between 600 and 700 branches were lost.
UK Finance, the trade body that represents banks, reports a steep rise in the use of online and mobile banking over the past few years. Seventy one percent of adults used online banking in 2017, representing 38 million people. Almost 22 million people used mobile banking apps. Meanwhile, the average branch received 104 visits a day in 2017, compared to 140 per day in 2012. This represents a 26 percent fall in bank branch visits. According to banks and building societies, this has been the main driver of closures.
Which? points out that there are still plenty of people and small businesses that rely on local banks, who either do not want to or cannot engage with the digital revolution. This is particularly challenging in rural areas, where people suffer with poor broadband and mobile coverage, and higher populations of elderly customers.
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Visit to Iceland (4): South Coast Adventure
September 27th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
On our third and final full day in Iceland, Silvia and I left our hotel at 8.30 am and only returned at 7 pm as we went on an organised tour called the South Shore Adventure, a round trip of some 400 km involving five stops. The weather was so unseasonably pleasant that our female guide – who narrated everything in both English and German – described it “awesome”.
The first stop was at a waterfall called Skogafoss which is 62 metres high. Although the weather was generally mild, here the conditions were very windy and very chilly. Next stop was at a village near the coast called Vik where we had lunch.
A short ride from Vik on the coast itself we visited the volcanic beach of Reynisfjara. This looks amazing and has been the scene of shooting for “Game Of Thrones”. The black crystalline sand is overlooked by towering columns of white basalt with caves composed of black basalt. The beach is noted for its dangerous tides which claim victims on a regular basis.
Next we visited the glacier called Solheimajokull. This used to be much, much bigger but, over the last decade, global warming has melted so much of it. What remains in rendered ugly by black soot from the 2010 eruption of Eyjafjnallajokull.
Our fifth and final stop was to another waterfall – even more impressive than the first. Seljalandsfoss is 65 metres high and it is possible to walk right behind the thunderous downpour, although not without becoming pretty wet.
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Visit to Iceland (3): Reykjavik
September 26th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
On our second full day in Iceland, we spent the day in the capital Reykjavik (the name means “smokey bay”) which is the most northern capital in the world. There are many walking tours on offer, most of them expensive, but we selected City Walk which is “free” (at the end, you donate what you think the tour is worth). We were shown around by Tomas whose English was perfect (his father is American).
Unlike most other European capitals, there are no grand sites in Reykjavik but there are a surprising number of buildings in the city centre which are decorated in variety of attractive pastel colours. Also Tomas told us a good deal of the history and culture of the nation.
He explained that the key word is “isolation”. Global historical events – even the two world wars – have barely touched Iceland. Even today, the country has no armed services and minimal crime. Indeed it has no McDonald’s or Starbucks.
I was interested in the poltical system. The unicameral parliament has 63 members elected for a maximum term of four years. Currently there are eight political parties in the legislature but they are all Left-wing. There is high taxation but free education and free healthcare with no private education or private medicine.
In the afternoon, Silvia and I visited several locations on our own, including the tallest building in the country. Hallgrimskirkja is a Lutheran church which took 41 years (1945-1986) to build. It looks like a stone geyser in full eruption and stands at a height of 74.5 metres with great views of the city from the top of the church.
By the picturesque Old Harbour, we went to what must be the smallest cinema in the world. It only sits about 10 people and only shows three short documentaries made by the owner Valdimar Leifsson. We viewed a film about the 2010 volcanic eruption of Eyjafjallajokull and another on the phenomenon of the Northern Lights.
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Visit to Iceland (2): Golden Circle
September 25th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
On our first full day in Iceland, Silvia and I left our hotel at 8.30 am and only returned at 6.30 pm as we went on an organised tour called the Golden Circle, a round trip of some 300 km involving four stops. The weather was cool and sometimes misty but generally excellent for such a venture.
The first stop was at a place called Frudheimar which is a greenhouse cultivation centre specialising in growing tomatoes with no use of pesticides but the help of geothermal heat and 600 bumblebees.
Next stop was the Strokkur geyser which is the most energetic spout in Iceland erupting every 5-10 minutes up to 15-30 metres into the sky. All around is bubbling earth and the smell of sulphur. This is where we had a light lunch
The most spectacular destination was Gullfoss (Golden Falls). This is a 32 metre crevice made up of two cascades – one of 11 metres and and the other of 21 metres – with a thunderous flow of water and excellent vantage points.
Finally, we visited Thingvellir National Park which is a UNESCO world heritage site. The world’s first democratic parliament the Althing was established here by the Vikings in AD 930. At this point on the globe, the North American and Eurasian continental plates drift apart which creates some wonderful rock features.
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Visit to Iceland (1): arrival
September 24th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
For more than a decade now, my sister Silvia and I have had a tradition of most years taking a holiday abroad together without our partners and this year our 13th such trip is to Iceland with Regent Travel. It is a new destination for both of us and the 74th country that I have visited.
It is almost a three hour flight from London to Reykjavik. Thanks to the Gulf Stream, Iceland is not as cold as it sounds and it enjoys a cool temperate, oceanic climate with temperatures at this time of year about 12C.
Iceland is said to have been first inhabited in 874 AD and it has the world’s oldest and longest-running parliament. For most of its history, it was controlled by Norway and then Denmark and it has only been an independent nation since 1918.
The population is merely about 360,000 – something like the size of a London borough – and some two-thirds of the population live in or around the capital Reykjavik. Since the country now receives about 2.2 million tourists a year, that is more than six times the population.
The Icelandic language has hardly changed in 1,000 years. The alphabet has 32 letters and there are approximately 50 words for snow.
Iceland is the ninth most expensive country in the world because of the need to import so much and the high cost of labour. The cost of a cappuccino in a cafe in the capital is around £4-6 and a restaurant meal is anything from £45 upwards.
We are staying at the Hotel Reykjavik Centrum which has 89 rooms located in three colourful 18th century-style buildings.
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