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.
How so? Well, it seems the Croats are made of better stuff than we are: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.
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.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 The ban has now been revoked.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.
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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 commentVery 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 commentOh 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 commentUm, 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 commentI see that the Islamophobic pigswill is once again flowing in from Melanie Phillips's pig sty.
Beafeater
November 30th, 2009 12:22am Report this commentFar 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?
Keith D
November 30th, 2009 8:39am Report this commentndm..Its not a phobia when you fear that which does want to destroy you.
Snowman
November 30th, 2009 9:36am Report this commentFact: spending a year in a room filled with tobacco smoke equals to smoking one single cigarette in that year. Nuffsaid.
Beer Moth
November 30th, 2009 9:20pm Report this commentndm
Did you have a point you wanted to raise? Or are we supposed to clam up at your big bad word?
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