janvier 2013

(Photo source) Well, it was sure to happen and it has. Hurrah! A very bright Romanian campaign has hit back in style at the proposed negative ad absurdity in Britain aimed at keeping Romanians and Bulgarians OUT. Oh-You-Tee. That's right. OUT. Concerned about a possible (and groundless) influx of new arrivals when immigration restrictions for Bulgaria and Romania are lifted at the end of 2013, the British media is reporting that ministers are considering a negative ad campaign that would dissuade wannabe migrants from heading to the... [Lire la suite]

  (Photo source) Here's a post I wrote back in 2009 on my lesser-used Back in Paris blog. Seems like nothing has changed for the better. Right now, ministers in the UK are trying to come up with negative publicity for living in Britain at an attempt to keep Romanians and Bulgarians away. I'm not sure they have a full understanding of 'what' Romanians and Bulgarians actually are. Only what they presume they are. Here is the post I wrote more than three years ago. Seems the parallels are overwhelming: The other day as I was... [Lire la suite]

(Photo: The Sofia Globe) Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day across the globe although in Romania, it is observed on 8th October marking the murder of 250,000 Jews after deportation to Transnistria in 1941. I began today listening to THIS beautiful Kaddische by Ravel, played by Steven Isserlis. The morning dawned with heavy, black clouds and torrential rain - very fitting for such an anniversary. As Isserlis played, the sun came out - soare cu dinti - equally fitting. The faint, fragile rays of hope, perhaps...? Back on... [Lire la suite]

(Photo source) I have just seen this post on Norman Lebrecht's blog Slipped Disc written by Romanian pianist Raluca Stirbat on the appalling neglect and frighteningly imminent destruction of George Enescu's mother's house where he spent time during childhood, youth and adulthood, in Mihaileni, Moldova. Please distribute the article below (or any of the others linked) far and wide. If anyone has ANY connections that may be of help in either Bucharest or Brussels, please, please lean on them. Romania's two greatest national... [Lire la suite]

An abuse signed in 2008 for a period of 10 years by the Prefecture in partnership with the BOR, this time in Sibiu, to take money from people sitting their written drivers licence tests came to my attention today. What does the church have to do with drivers licences? Well, it seems that the prefecture rented a space that was property of the Archbishopric. The Archbishopric didn't offer it for free of course, and charged a tax of 5 lei a pop for each candidate, representing 'expenses and upkeep' of the aforementioned space. ... [Lire la suite]