Plucky Little Balkans

Sunday, 29th November 2009

Many thanks to Christopher Snowden for alerting me to this little piece by Euan Ferguson in the Observer today. It begins with this photograph:

Photo: Nikola Solic/Reuters

As Euan says, only one small detail gives this photo any glamour at all:

A whirl of tutus in a Zagreb cafe-bar during a break in ballet rehearsals: poise, and skin, and fabulous discs of swan-white tuile, and yet what are our eyes drawn towards? Exactly. A little paper tube, being happily smoked.

The smell will be of black Balkan tobacco, yes; but it is also the smell of rebellion and the first successful example of people-power since the idea of smoking bans began sweeping the developed world.

How so? Well, it seems the Croats are made of better stuff than we are:

What have the Balkans ever done for us? Until I saw this picture, I would have said pretty bloody little. Anger, wars, vampires, evil food, poisoned rivers, dictators, distrust, revenge and fear and it still features the only part of the world – mad northern Albania – where I've been offered a handgun for protection in a hotel because they'd lost the bedroom key. But Croatia rebelled against its bar/cafe smoking ban and simply kept on smoking. The ban has now been revoked. Plucky little Balkans. There is hope.

So there is. But will this catch on in Britain? Don't be silly. Will the Tories demonstrate their commitment to localism and the "post-bureaucratic age" by repealing the awful smoking bill (in England)? Don't hold your breath, even though doing so would be a pretty simple, cost-free demonstration that they do take these matters seriously. A non-trivial, trivial indicator if you like.

Filed under: Britain (313 more articles) , Croatia (1 more articles) , Smoking (34 more articles) , Tories (104 more articles)

Previous Back to Alex Massie Next

Blogs: Martin Bright | Susan Hill | Melanie Phillips | Coffee House | Faith Based

Actions: Print this article | Email to a friend | Permalink | Comments (9)

Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit

Post comment

Beer Moth

November 29th, 2009 7:26pm Report this comment

"What have the Balkans ever done for us?"

Resisted the Islamic tide and got bombed by NATO as thanks.

Olaf Rye

November 29th, 2009 7:52pm Report this comment

Very good point Beer Moth. We decided to punish the Serbs for our inaction in Bosnia when they justifiably resisted the terrorism of the Kosovans. Another example of cynical politics to assuage the conscience of the dinner-party flotsam and jetsam.

John Edwards

November 29th, 2009 8:11pm Report this comment

Oh dear, the Croats won't like being labelled as being in "the Balkans", that's where the other lot come from.

MattF

November 29th, 2009 8:26pm Report this comment

Um, wow. I'm a bit taken aback that anyone is (in effect) defending ol' Slobodan Milosevic. Is his badness considered an actual issue over yonder across the pond?

ndm

November 30th, 2009 12:02am Report this comment

I see that the Islamophobic pigswill is once again flowing in from Melanie Phillips's pig sty.

Beafeater

November 30th, 2009 12:22am Report this comment

Far more impressive, culturally, than smoking ballerinas is the issuance of the hand-gun by the hotel in lieu of a room key.
What happened to the locksmiths?