But it's traditional - part 2

The last post under this heading was serious; this one is.....hmmmm

Italian men have a habit of touching their groins. Don't all men, I hear you cry? In Italy the story is that they do it to ward off bad luck. So where other people touch wood in the form of their desks or their skulls, Italian men touch their ..... attributi.

And why not? We all know what is there, and sometimes one gets an itch (I used to work for an elderly lady who often had an itch; her male employees did not know what to do with their eyes); other times one's clothes need to be adjusted, so that things fall ...just so.

It would seem, though, that this is no longer legal in Italy. Read all about it here (the link includes the word 'internationalcrime' - is that not going a little bit too far?). It might offend other men, the judge said (and women?). I suppose it might depend on how the guy carried out the offending action exactly; 'lasciviously', 'absent-mindedly' or 'obsessively' are some of the possible adjectives that come to mind. Reminds me of the story of the Irish schools, where only Irish should be spoken - when a girl sneezed and said 'excuse me' she was expelled.

Do Italian judges have nothing more to worry about? Here's a small hint: 'Mafia'.

State Ballet of Georgia - on tour in the US!

Here's the review. Kind of middling, but praising 'my' Lasha Khozashvili (as well they should!). I reviewed this set of performances here.

Did not know Ananiashvili had danced for the American Ballet Theatre. I had seen their Cinderella a couple of years ago at the New York Met - it was brilliant! But that explains the strong links between Ananiashvili and Balanchine.

I hope, as the new director of the company, she gets the show on the road. Hope she does not lose lovely Lasha, but who would want to stand in the way of a career in the US, should it be offered to him?

Says Putin to Saakashvili

'I wonder if you will be in the shape that I am in, when you are my age'.....(thinks...just look at that double chin....)

There is talk of direct air traffic being resumed between Georgia and Russia. Let's see what happens.

Was chatting to a taxi driver yesterday; he used to work in Moscow and bought his car on the proceeds. It's now (very) clapped out and he is thinking of going back to Russia to work some more. Meantime one of his daughters works in Austria as a paediatrician, his other daughter is a lawyer (not sure if she is in Germany now or has been), and the son, the youngest, is studying to become a film producer.

People are Georgia's most successful export? Don't tell that to the member of the Vienna Philharmonic whose fiddle was nicked from his home by a gang of Georgians.

(picture from Georgia Today).

The Yacoubian Building

This is not a funny way of spelling 'Jacobean'. Forget half-timbered cottages. This very grand Cairo building, described in the eponymous book by Alaa al Aswany, was built by Mr Agop Yacoubian (could also be transliterated 'Agopian', 'Yakopian', 'Hakopian' – basically translates as 'Jacobson'), the Armenian, for the cream of Egyptian society in 1934, naming it after himself (there's a similar custom in Istanbul, where many buildings have the names of the original owners, eg the 'Pamuk Buildings'). At that time Cairo was like any European capital, clean, tidy and 'everyone knew their place'. Educated Egyptians had gained their education abroad and many had a secret hankering for life in France.

A revolution and many changes in society later, the building has come down in the world during the period of the first Gulf War described in the book. Shacks on the roof, used for storage by the first tenants (whose servants lived in their flats) were later used as accommodation for servants, and later still lost their association with the flat they belonged to and are now rented out to all comers – who still have a very posh address. Some of the flats continue to be rented by the original tenants, others have new residents, such as the mistress of an ambitious capitalist or a gay newspaper editor.

The book follows the lives of a number of people in the building, over a (slightly unclear) period of a few months. Some people take benefit of opportunities offering themselves to them – even at some considerable price; others, prevented from achieving their dream for seemingly unjust reasons, change their lives completely; some get very close to disaster but manage to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat; others, out of greed or ambition, get themselves into very expensive hot water indeed. The level of violence perpetrated within the building, or to its residents in other locations, is quite high. I would worry about renting a flat there!

The book offers a fascinating, and rather scary, insight into life in modern-day Egypt (has anything changed in the last 15 years?). There's the contrast between the elderly, and sometimes not so elderly, western-oriented people on the one hand and the young Islamists and their desire to become martyrs for the cause, if they have to, on the other; there's the police who, it seems, can be bought by anyone, and whose methods of investigation/interrogation are far from sensitive; there are employers who satisfy their needs with the young female employees; and there are the many fly-by-night dodgy characters who you shouldn't trust with anything. But there are some decent people, too – though they seem to make themselves vulnerable to abuse by all the other groups.

At one stage you think that the book might be a bit disappointing, and that it might only give a snapshot of people's lives; but in fact most situations are resolved by the end, though not always as you might like. It's very readable and would be quite nice to read on a flight from London to Cairo, though it is a bit denser, more intense, and much better written than the average airport novel.

(Book reviews normally go into my Viola in Vilnius blog, but this fits better here).

Bakuriani

Went for a run yesterday morning; what with all that freshly fallen show it was probably not that long in kilometres, but hard work! Later did a walk to explore the rest of the village.

It's a very widespread village consisting mainly of individual houses in their gardens, and now increasingly big hotel (both increasing numbers of hotels and increasing size). There are a few ski-lifts and there is potential for many more. Though, environmental factors......

There are lots of little stalls selling tat, and a number of houses have a selection of skis and boots for rent outside them; the local shops sells tampons individually, not by the packet (so they are lined out in front of you and everyone else to make sure you get the number you asked for....). Some people have the snow variation of powered jet skis; jeeez, they are a nuisance – using a two-stroke engine they are incredibly noisy, and, oh dear, the smell!!!

Update Friday evening - when we left today at lunchtime, the village was nicely filling up with skiers. May they bring much wealth to the village.

The Trip to Bakuriani

It’s good that our team chose Bakuriani for our retreat starting on Wednesday, seeing as the other Georgian ski resort (and all places beyond it including Kazbegi) had been cut off due to heavy snow for the last three days.

Mind you, the journey to Bakuriani was hellish, too. It was snowing a little in Tbilisi – as we left, the snow got heavier and heavier. The wind blew and blew and blew…..at Gori we were told the roads were closed, but really, sometimes the Georgian police can be more forceful (though the Zugdidi doctor who was tortured by the chief of police there a few weeks ago might disagree). In our situation they should just have made us go back. It was white-out conditions for a good 50 km or so, with at times the traffic stuck completely. We motored on and on; once beyond Khashuri and in forest roads the wind was much less forceful and we could drive, albeit in thick snow. Journey took about 6 hours. Some people’s husbands, back in Tbilisi, were very distressed to hear where we were……

Now in the hotel, where all my colleagues complain about the heat in their rooms. Not a problem for me, seeing the amount of ice on the inside walls of my room (on steel girders between badly fitted windows – I can see the countryside through the gaps). Shame; it’s a beautiful room otherwise, and the bathroom is lovely and warm. Changed the room after a night, and the new room was fine temperature-wise. The bed was so hard that the top of my shoulders and my behind had contact with the mattress, everything else had to support itself somehow, but who's quibbling.

Everything was Chinese made (and helpfully thus labelled), with sometimes matching quality. Oh dear, the reputation of things Chinese. It makes me wonder about the building quality (quite apart from the ill-fitting windows) in an earthquake zone.

But generally the Prima Hotel, at 87 Agmashenebeli, opposite the hotel Eurika, was a nice hotel, people spoke English, and everything we needed was laid on...

Made a small bit of a difference

As a consultant, one is not spoilt for successes. When one begins this career, one thinks that wow - I can really make the difference here which I always wanted to do at home, but there I was always thwarted by civil service rules etc.

Abroad you are instead, most of the time, thwarted by other people's fear, dodgy political systems where a policy problem might cost someone their career, lack of understanding, you are running too fast for people to keep up or they don't quite understand where you are coming from (study tours are wonderful for helping people to see things differently, and suddenly identifying the potential (also barriers) of their own society).

So I was a little bit gratified to hear that a bit of research I did last year, and a few calculations I made, will actually increase the income of possibly the 1000 poorest families in Georgia (about another half million poor families to go, but they are beyond the scope of my project).

British Trust Fund

('Trust' - in the UK? Ha!)

Latest hare-brained idea on improving the Britishness of Britain is that applicants for citizenship pay a higher fee for those needing more public services (ie the elderly and children) - this must be the only place anywhere where these groups have to pay more. Should people's children then wait with their applications until they are, say, 18? Cock-eyed idea, no? This money then goes into The British Trust Fund which will support local authorities who have many immigrants (though funding formulas, certainly for the benefits agency (may she rest in peace) did include this, but it's a bit of a bummer when those formulas are based on censuses (last one in 2001) and the heavy influx started in 2004).

Also the intention is that people who contribute to society through voluntary and community activities get in faster than those committing serious crimes. I would have thought that people committing serious crimes would be deported, and, like, have no chance? Community and voluntary work is of course fine for people in low-paid jobs who have to work all the hours God sends to just make ends meet, quite apart from looking after their children. Maybe they just want the rich people, some of whom might have the leisure to do this?

Wasn't so easy in my day, either, 25 years ago. Cost 150 GBP, took two years, got police interviews of my friends, employer and educational establishments. And I was a Christian white kind of person....

Opposition to Blair leading Europe

Yeah! It's working! Today's article in the Guardian suggests that he is hitting some fierce opposition to the idea, including some puzzlement why a Briton should lead Europe, quite apart from his personal record on Iraq. Rock on, Stop Blair!

Fidel's retiring!

Fidel Castro has just announced his retirement. His brother Raul will continue to lead the nation.

Let's hope stability will continue, and if Cuba changes, it will change carefully and for the better. (After post Soviet experiences, what kind of hope is that?)

I suppose Mr Bush will be dancing on his table!

Prize for Madame Thatcher...and languages

The President of Lithuania has given Mrs Thatcher the grand cross of the order of the Lithuanian grand duke Gediminas (grandness all round) during a visit to London. Presumably for her efforts in bringing down the Soviet Union. And why not.

Here's a speech he made during the same visit to the UK. It's nice. He talks about the Lithuanians in the UK and the 18 Lithuanian language schools (Saturday schools) for the 30,000 Lithuanian children living in the UK, including my friend Grazina's grand-daughter who lives in London and is doing very well in her English school. He says:

'In my view, the greatest potential in this regard lies in the new emerging powerhouse of our relationship: the almost 150,000-strong Lithuanian community in the United Kingdom. They work in financial services and farms, research institutes and supermarkets, hotels and construction companies. Many of them study at British universities. By bringing here their knowledge and skills, their energy and passion for work, they also brought dynamism to the British economy. They contribute to the diversity, cultural and academic life of British society. They build local economies and form new communities. They participate and vote in local elections. The energetic Lithuanian community in Britain forms a direct and essential link in the human chain that connects our two nations and creates unlimited opportunities for bilateral cooperation.' (This is from effectively a Republican, speak Conservative. Not exactly Daily Mail speak, is it?)

He's asked for a GCSE to be developed for Lithuanian - there's been a petition signed by 9000 parents (30,000 Lithuanian children in the UK). And why not [again]? Which reminds me of the story I read about the GSCE's and A-levels in languages like Urdu, Arabic and Mandarin. It's about the fact that native English speakers who decide to take these languages for their GCSEs and A-levels, learning them as foreign languages, should get a 'fair deal' - in other words, allowances should be made so they have the same opportunities to get a high mark as those having these languages as their mother tongue. The Girls' [private] Schools Association is pushing for this.

Well, excuse me! Using this kind of logic, then, all those children whose mother tongue is not English, should get similar compensations when taking exams in English, no? Can't quite see that happening.

Running Prisons, Georgian-style

UK (English) prisons are full to bursting point, with about 100 places left out of 80,000 plus. On the one hand people are wringing their hands, asking 'what are we going to do', on the other hand the government plans a crackdown on violent crime.

Things are much easier in Georgia. The president has just charged the Justice Minister with DEMOLISHING Ortatchala prison in central Tbilisi (where exactly???) within 50 days. The 2650 (in words - two thousand six hundred and fifty) prisoners resident in the prison will be distributed around the country to prisons with better living conditions.

Did someone ask: 'Where's the plan? Where are the staff going to go? How will prisoners be selected for specific prisons? Are there enough vacancies in other prisons?' No, I did not think so, either.

Oh, power is a wonderful thing!

Tell me something I don't know... or fur coat and nae knickers?

The British journalist Carole Cadwalladr was at the Moscow Millionaire's Fair, where millionaires can buy those essentials that they would not want to live without. However, she comments:

'It's not always a pretty sight watching Russia's rich at play. At the end of the evening, I watch as a few men who cannot wait any longer push their way to the front of the cloakroom queue and demand their coats; a Hummer circumnavigates a traffic jam by simply wheeling up and across a central reservation; and in the lobby, three young children run around a delicate crystal tree in the lobby, tugging at its translucent branches. Their mother sits and watches them until the inevitable happens, the branch snaps, and she simply turns away and the children play on, without a hint of a reprimand. Later, in the toilets, I enter a cubicle from which a stunning 6ft supermodel type in an immaculate designer dress, make-up and fur coat emerges. There is piss all over the seat.'

Anyone who has been in Moscow will recognise this description. The rich, they piss all over you!

But it's traditional! That makes it all right, then...

Two articles about traditional practices in Lithuania which make my blood boil a little, and ask myself - have they learnt nothing?

At carnival (Uzgavenes) in Lithuania people dress up, like anywhere else, fancy dress, masks, that sort of thing. Except in Lithuania the masks are of Jews (or of Roma people [formerly described as 'gypsies]). See here for the full story (from whence the photo). The much diminished Jewish community does not like to complain, because they don't like conflict with the Lithuanians. The article goes on to quote ethnologist Inga Krisciuniene, of the Centre of Ethnic Activity, as explaining 'how she believed that in earlier times, Jews and Gypsies dressed alike. Revellers wore the same mask on Uzgavenes to depict them, so that the characters were distinguishable only by performers’ actions. When asked whether it could be seen as offensive to mock them, Ms Krisciuniene replied, “No one has ever complained.” The intent, she said, is humorous. “Besides,” she added, “it’s true that Gypsies steal.”'

I would sack her on the spot for that little parting shot.

Cafe Babel, Vilnius, in principle an internationalist sort of blogging affair, has some interesting articles, though often it goes a little into the twee and into the 'oh how lovely the ancient customs are'. Of course, many ancient customs are very interesting, and worthy of study. My neighbour, whose name I can never remember when I need it, is an ethnomusicologist, and she is certainly doing extremely important work in preserving a heritage which will soon die out.

Lithuania, having become Christian only recently (in the 1300s) has a faith group called the 'Romuva' who 'have swastikas on their necks and calm in their eyes', according to this story. (Foto of the faith chief from their website; I tried to only show the chain but the technology defeated me). Now, to be fair, the swastika on this guy's neck is actually a bit different from that used by the Nazis.

An article about the Romuva shows a further slightly different swastika, like this. So I am partly wondering whether the delightful Indre, who wrote this article, got it a bit wrong with the vocabulary....When I started a bit of a discussion with the cafe babel group they mentioned that it is an Indian symbol of fortune and happiness, too (remember that the Lithuanian language is linked to Sanskrit). I think we all know about the Indian symbol. I also remember that I saw a more Hitlerian swastika on a floor somewhere quite unexpected recently, possibly a holy building, but can't think where that was.

I'm surprised that the swastika, if this is really what it is, is not illegal in Lithuania, or maybe only the Hitlerian one is? A dark chap could come across a white Lithuanian of a dark evening, spot the swastika and make a very wide body swerve. The Lithuanian might say, 'don't worry, I am a very peaceful Romuva'. So the dark chap would come up to him, only to be bipped on the head or worse by the Lithuanian and his friends.

Relating to the delightful Indre one or two incidents in this direction of which I was part, she said that it was mainly the old people who had this problem. No, Indre, I don't think so. Yes, the old people may have prejudices, but they are usually too polite to say them into someone's face, and if they were offered a dark hand to shake, they would shake it - I have been in plenty of those situations. It's the young ones that worry me - young men are always more prone to violence in any case. But I have also heard such totally offensive questions, based on total ignorance, coming out of the mouths of highly educated young people that I think much needs to be learnt. I hope those young ones who come back from the UK have learnt something.

As for those Jew costumes - not sure they can be technically made illegal, though I am sure there is some incitement to racism legislation - what's the difference between these costumes, and anti-semitic graffiti (or breaking menoras, as happened in Siauliai, a notoriously antisemitic place, last year). But the church could give a strong lead, no? (Then we'll hear - but this mask has been used since my grandfather's day...).

In parts of Africa female circumcision is traditional. That does not make it right.

The Poles are leaving the UK

suggests a headline in today's Times. There are no official data, what with no immigration control for people for the European Union, but this seems to be the general impression. It is suggested that this is partly due to the falling pound (10% against the Euro since last year, though the Polish zloty is not linked to the Euro - I see it has risen against the Euro; that presumably means that it has risen even more than 10% against the pound) and also to the improving economic circumstances in Poland. Seeing as in Lithuania we are now having to employ German builders because our own are elsewhere, I can understand that. So those people who have saved up in pounds are rapidly losing the value of their savings (but it's really expensive to transfer small sums of money abroad every month).

Like the Polish workers I'm in a similar mixed economy, having expenses in the UK and in Lithuania (plus Georgia where people still love the USD). Some people pay me in GBP, most in EUR, and some in USD. Last year someone accidentally double paid me in GBP and blithely said - just treat it as an advance. Some of this I have worked off since, much of the rest I have been using to pay UK expenses. If, in the end, I will have to repay the sum (not that keen on that bit of work) I now need to pay back less since the Lithuanian currency is fixed to the Euro. It would make sense to pay off my British mortgage even faster.... On the other hand, though, my main pensions are in GBP, so when I come to retirement age and I continue to live outside the UK in Euroland, my income will be less. My experience with the GBP for the last 40 years has not suggested a great capacity for recovery in strength. Of course if the Lithuanian currency should get devalued against the Euro....

This business of being a migrant worker is really very complex.

Interestingly (you would not get this in all UK papers, and Times readers can be fuddy-duddies, too) the readers' comments on the article are on the whole positive about the Polish workforce in the UK.

American politics

Lovely Bushism in Simon Hoggart's week in today's Guardian, where Bush is talking about China: '"America is trapped in this notion that we respect human life," he said, then caught himself on, as always, a beat too late: "Er, that's not a trap, that's a right."'

I've been wondering about these primaries, and how they work. So it's not the party members who choose the presidential candidates, it's the people? And how does it work - they just vote for whoever they like most, only one person, and the highest of each political party has won the primary?

But couldn't people be strategic, and vote en masse for the greatest plonker of the opposing party to make sure their own person gets in?

Come to think of it, that's what Democrats must have done last time, but somewhere the strategy broke down....

The (toilet-paper) rose revolution - or fakes all around?

Oh dear, after making some dismissive comments linking the fake trees opposite the opera house to the type of democracy practised here, now this.

On Sunday we had a special Valentine's hash, which included roses and chocolates planted all over the trail. Lovely thought by two lovely guys.

This evening someone asked me - did you get a toilet paper rose? When I got home I had a look at my rose (which I had never put in water....), and right enough, a few rose petals were wrapped around a lump of toilet paper, and all that was on top of a twig, attached with nice cellophane and a beautiful pink ribbon.

To be honest, during the run I thought the stem was a bit frail, but I put that down to the roses being out overnight. As a gardener I ought to have twigged (oh no, what a pun!), also if I had bought the roses - but honestly - would you expect to buy fake roses? The leaves on the twigs were a bit long, and of course not whatever-it-is-you-call-it-and-I-should-know divided into little leaves,and the twigs were definitely on the thin side. No thorns, but people de-thorn roses; I've done it myself.

The labour involved is awesome, of which making the toilet paper ball is the least; it also means having enough rose petals available, picking the right twig, fixing the petals so the have the shape of a rose flower, doing the cellophane and the pink ribbon. Much easier to just grow a rose, really. I wonder for how many fake flowers one real flower would suffice? Plus the inner petals are smaller, so you would be able to produce a new rose from each real rose every couple of days or so.

What is real in Georgian nature?

Unfortunate timing

I assume that the demonstrations planned by the opposition for in front of the Parliament from tomorrow until 25 February (yes, 10 days!) were planned before the unfortunate Patarkatsishvili's death. The opposition, as far as I understand, still boycotts the parliament.

Patarkatsishvili death suspicious

tells us the Guardian here. I see the link involves the words 'internationalcrime'.

Patarkatsishvili died

News just in is that Badri Patarkatsishvili has died of a heart attack in London. He was only 52 .

Patarkatsishvili had recently been much under fire by the Georgian government. His TV station Imedi was raided and closed down during the November 7 disturbances in Tbilisi, and he himself was under court investigation for an alleged coup conspiracy - there appeared to be a recording of him offering a lot of money to someone (in the interior ministry?) to facilitate a coup. He was one of the candidates in the recent presidential election and came third (thank God, under the circumstances). On 25 January the Tbilisi court froze his considerable assets.

Patarkatsishvili was the richest man in Georgia, making his millions in Russia after 1991, as many other people did, too (apparently he was an Aeroflot apparatchik). At one stage he was on Russia's wanted list, too - as a mate of Boris Berizovsky's he would be, I suppose. He owned lots of property here, including a rather stunning glass building, with a helipad, above the town, and was the chair of the Georgian business federation. Wisely, he lived in the UK. Should be said, though, too that he is also well-known as a considerable philanthropist in Georgia, of which there are several, eg also the singer Paata Burchuladze.

His death removes a focus of attrition for Saakashvili, the Georgian president. Where will it leave Patarkatsishvili's property? Why does the name 'Robert Maxwell' come to mind? Though not sure if RM did philanthropy.

(Photo from BBC website)

Future of Lithuanian Music Education

see here - it covers both blogs....

Culture clashes

Out running the other day, with the hash. It was a dreich Sunday, overcast, around 1 degrees C, and generally ....almost....miserable. Hash bunch was small, therefore. It was scary - I was worried in case we'd go somewhere steep.

In actual fact we ended up running around fields flat as a pancake. Ok, so they were either muddy or under snow (someone apparently was not happy with that. I mean, what do you expect, in February, in Eastern Europe?). The running was great, lots of ground to cover, no-one fell over, ok, so we brought back half the fields under our shoes (the next morning my cleaning lady asked 'may I clean these?'). There was a moment at the start when I found myself surrounded by a pack of rather displeased, very aggressively toothy dogs, but I survived.

A Swedish lady and I ran in first, way ahead of everyone else. She's the picture book Swedish lady, tall, blond, that sort of thing. As we got home she said 'Oh, I've got to get changed or I'll get cold'.

I had not appreciated that that meant 'changing all my clothes'. Nor had the Georgian shepherd who happened to stroll along behind her just as she took off all her tops. Suspect he is still recovering.

'GPs have got Britain hooked on painkillers'

today's Observer screams. Well, excuse me.

Could it be something to do with the lack access to health services in the country? When someone has a pain and is sent away with painkillers (oh for god's sake, don't use any diagnostic tools!), after three months is finally sent for an x-ray, the results of which she waits for a month for (how difficult is it to look at an x-ray?) and she is given by the practice receptionist - surely a breach of protocol, and then she gets an appointment to see the GP almost four weeks later....moving to almost 6 months after this all started.... I'd like to nail that healthboard to the wall!

So GPs have got Britain hooked on painkillers? (Which must also mean a number of accompanying complications in the stomach department).

Has anyone thought of curing people, rather than maintaining them in the poor state of health they are? If they are of working age, such negligent 'treatment' (how can you call it 'treatment') could cause all sorts of consequences starting with loss of job. But people beyond working age have the same entitlements as those who are still working.

The health spending in Scotland has doubled in the last 7 or 8 years. Has it had any effect? A crisis is already developing in child surgery where many surgeons will retire in the next 10 years. What's being done about this? Maybe there are more managers?

How come this is an Eastern European blog and I keep having to complain about the UK?

Taking care of its people

In Bristol the body of an old man was found today, in his flat. He had not been seen for 8 years. But his flatmate continued to live around him. The neighbours complained about the smell. The flat, wait for this, was in a warden-controlled block of flats.

This means that a warden might be living on the premises, but in any case, should attend the block of flats daily. One would have thought they might have noticed something, or the neighbours might have complained to them and ACTION MIGHT HAVE BEEN TAKEN.

Probably the residents of the block of flats pay a premium for 'being looked after'.

Apart from the many obvious questions there is of course the problem that the living chap might not have allowed access into the flat. Human rights and all that. But in a situation like this, wouldn't there come a point when you'd have to force entry?

Stopblair.eu

Sign this petition.

What are they doing to our children?

Reactive Attachment Disorder is a condition that afflicts infants who are either cared for in institutions (ie children's homes) and who get no consistent affection from a carer, or who experience the loss of a primary caregiver for other reasons (death, imprisonment, separation). If a child is, say, adopted after no more than 6 months, the damage can to some degree be overcome; beyond that it becomes more difficult.

It can affect people throughout their lives, leading to problems with relationships. This can either occur through being inhibited and not knowing how to form attachments - if they lost their primary caregiver, or had a very inconsistent primary caregiver, and had no opportunity to form a good relationship with another one. Alternatively they can be disinhibited to such a degree that they form loose relationships with anyone - if they have had a series of carers throughout their young lives - fluttering on from person to person. Anyone who has worked with young people with a background of being passed around (think of children of drug users who regularly go to (different) foster carers as their parents go through crises) can recognize the signs. Actually, it's a form of child abuse, and the state pays for it in countries where children are put into orphanages easily. What's more, if people themselves had problems with attachment, they won't always appreciate the need of providing consistency to their children.

So I was rather surprised to come across the Bucharest Early Intervention Project, a piece of research carried out by the Tulane Infant Mental Health Institute between 2000 and 2004. It was a trial of foster care in Romania, as an alternative to institutional care. Apparently 'one hundred and thirty children between the ages of 6 and 31 months were assessed at baseline and then randomized to routine institutional care or to placement in foster care'.

Read that again. An American research institute experimented on Romanian children to see if foster care worked for them, by placing them randomly in different scenarios. Now we know that generally fostering or adoption is better for children, which is why many countries no longer have infant homes (though consistently being with Mum or another permanent carer is nearly always best).

How dare they mess about with the children of other countries? Where's the consideration of 'in the best interests of the child' when making decisions on people who cannot give their consent? Where was the ethics committee that should assess all research? (I've written to the institute to ask!) I realise that much experimental research used to be carried out by causing distress to infants (apparently in the US 35% of infants [people] have insecure attachments) , which can only be identified by separating the infants from their parents for a brief period (minutes, hours [?]), and of course you can't interview a small child easily, but I would have thought that nowadays there are ways other than distressing experiments to assess such factors.

Utter brinkmanship - or the perrish cooncil at its best

(Looking west for a change). Alex Salmond, the leader of the Scottish National Party and Scotland's First (ie Prime) Minister managed to get his budget passed, even though he has a minority government. For the opposition all I can say is 'wimps'!

He had threatened to resign and call a new election if his budget, the first of his period in office since last May, was not passed - and call a new election. Labour, in opposition, apparently had their own amendments, which were accepted, before the vote on the budget overall was taken. From which Labour, the Greens and some others abstained - getting the budget passed and keeping wee 'Eck in a job. (A vote on an amendment before a vote on the whole thing - is that quite the right sequence?).

Of course, what with oor Wendy (Alexander, leader of the Scottish Labour Party) having her own troubles over donations to her campaign (the prosecutor's office is looking at them), maybe Labour would not have been in a good shape to face an election.

Now we have (I don't, not living or paying taxes there) a budget which not only allows free traffic across the main firth bridges in Scotland (contributing nicely to global warming), but also vastly increases spending on health. Health spending has doubled since I was there (in 2000/2001).

But more than 4 weeks after having her back x-ray taken my friend is still waiting to hear what the x-ray said.

'Unpleasant with embassies'

Who translated this article (found in Jonathan Kulick's daily mailing)?

'The
Financial , February 1

According to Georgian news agency "Pirveli", president of Georgia
Mikheil Saakashvili is unpleasant with works of Georgian embassies abroad.

“Inter- action of embassies with internal and outward life of the country is
importantly reduced, what is not right resolution” –Saakashvili said at the
Foreign Ministry while today` s presenting of new minister David Bakradze.

“For today, the embassies do not face effective work, as they have been done it
before. Their financial supplement increased, staff is better salaries,
therefore we maintain them to try their best in work, but I am not satisfied
with work of no one diplomatic corpus” –Saakashvili said.

But he pointed out that “most effective works are provided by accredited
embassies to EU, UN and Washington D.C.”.'

Do we get the drift?

Funny, though, how the embassies doing the best work are those in those countries/organisations which Georgia wants to get married to most....

Had to smile today...

...when among a heaving crowd of skinny, chubby, old, young, heavy-bosomed, flat-chested, scarred, unscarred naked women in the sulfur baths I spotted a chubby little boy of about 4. Reminded me of the story some writer (Orhan Pamuk? - not sure - the hamman does not sound quite like his childhood world) tells of when he went to the women's hamman at about the same age, and his dad's friends afterwards asking him all about it. He did not accompany his female relatives for much longer after that....

Running's off!

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In these conditions - consider that these are semi-vertical surfaces covered in a thick layer of ice - there's no way I can go for a long run. The only safe place to run (for the feet) is in the middle of the road, but for the rest of the body that's incompatible with Georgian drivers!

First outing into town after my arrival; on Rustaveli Avenue, opposite the opera house, noticed artificial little trees that can be lit up. Did someone say 'that'll be a symbol of Georgian democracy, then'?

The woman at the opera house ticket office spoke English today and looked very proud. I was happy to indulge her.

Hyper Populi, the supermarket, is having a Kellogg's cornflakes season. Made the most of it, though the bill, also for replenishing the freezer, was eye-watering. The woman who guides people to the taxis appears to have a fractured wrist. Not surprisingly, really.

Brrrrr.....

Back in Georgia, and back into winter arrangements. Ohh, it's cold! Only minus 1 degrees C, but it's the flat that is freezing. After sliding into bed at about 6 am and never getting warm, found out that it might have had something to do with the open bedroom window, perhaps. Will be better prepared tonight!

The one thing that should really have been freezing, and was not, was the freezer. 'eck! When I left my landlady and I had a conversation and it might have involved the word 'elektra'. In my usual 'fake the understanding' way I must have nodded assent, and apparently, it now turns out, the question was 'do you want me to turn the electricity off'. When I first opened the (working) fridge last night, I thought I had left some chilli con carne in the fridge instead of the freezer. Then I spotted a tub of mouldy icecream in the fridge and some other stuff. Obviously someone has been along and rescued what was rescuable at some stage. But my nice frozen baked plums, which are still in the freezer, and some lumps of meat - how are they? Jeeez.

Outside it's nice and sunny, with a huge pile of snow in the garden. The three Alsation puppies seem to sleep outdoors and do the other dog(s). Not sure about the running - there are quite a few icy places; need to scout the situation out - as I go out to re-fill my freezer.....

(Everything looks very quiet...)