Category: World
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War and peace Greek-style
This area is so peaceful today that it’s hard to realise it’s been a theatre of wars and conflict for millennia. But a chance encounter on a sleepy day brings it home. In search of a sandy beach we set off for Stoupa, some 40kms to the south. The trip through the mountains is hair-raising…
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Touchdown in lotus land
There’s something about the soporific atmosphere because I keep forgetting what day it is. I had to ask Judith whether it was Wednesday or Thursday and she seemed uncertain too. It’s very hot during the day with temperatures above 30 degrees, but that doesn’t fully explain our slumberousness (new word). We are staying with friends…
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On the Gulf of Messinia
It’s evening. From our hillside terrace we look down across olive groves and cypresses to the calm waters of the Gulf of Messinia. The light is golden; the heat has finally gone out of the day. Our landlord, coming up the hill in his tractor, waves a greeting. It’s blessedly peaceful. We arrived on Monday…
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Why I feel like an outsider in Paris
SO many of our well-travelled friends say, “Paris is my favourite city in the world.” I wish it were mine too, but it isn’t. I love its charm, excitement and layers of culture but, on other hand, I feel an outsider. No, the Parisians don’t make me feel an outsider even though they have a…
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The day they stormed the Bastille
From the window of our little hotel in the Marais I look down into the fire station. The fire brigade are a fine bunch of fit-looking young Frenchmen. Before the weekend, in between callouts, they spent hours climbing up fire-truck ladders in fetchingly tight t-shirts and running shorts, to put up tricolor bunting. I was…
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The minister and the prostitutes
Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, the minister for women’s rights in President François Hollande’s new Socialist Party government, is by any measure an extraordinary person. The Moroccan-born daughter of a building worker, she is 34, has three children, became a councillor in Lyon in her early twenties to oppose Le Pen’s fascists and earned her political spurs as…
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The Euro-fantasy crashes into a wall
As our Euro-Star train from St Pancras was pulling into the Gare du Nord, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was arriving for dinner at the Elysee with the new Socialist Party President Francois Hollande. Today (Thursday) they both trooped off to Brussels for yet another Euro-summit. The whole Euro thing has become part circus, part nightmare.…
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Children in custody
A high-powered delegation of UK lawyers backed by Britain’s Foreign Office today released a report, “Children in Military Custody”, detailing violations by Israel of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in its treatment of Palestinian detainees. Led by retired high court judge Sir Stephen Sedley, who is Jewish, the delegation, which…
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Ecuador protects Aussie Assange
Julian Assange remains lodged in the Ecuadorian Embassy in Knightsbridge while the Correa Government decides whether to grant him political asylum. Meanwhile, the WikiLeaks founder remains committed to standing for the Australian Senate whenever the next Federal Election is called. Whether he can campaign on the ground or not will depend on his circumstances but…
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Celebrating a persecuted genius
Alan Turing, born 100 years ago this week, was one of the scientific geniuses of the 20th century, a key codebreaker for Britain in the Second World War and a pioneer of computing. In 1952 he was prosecuted for being gay, chemically castrated and died two years later from cyanide poisoning. Today London’s Science Museum…