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Something strange happened to me last week.  I was at the recycling bins with my 7 year old son Luca (who likes to practice karate chops on chunks of polystyrene) when a garbage truck pulled over. Two fat guys got out, wandered over and helped us to load our Ikea waste into the containers. I couldn’t understand it, what on earth had got into them? I’m used to garbage men being morose and sarcastic, reluctantly moving the waste they’re hired to shift but never lifting a finger to do more. Why were they suddenly being helpful? Could it be because of the crisis? Are they afraid for their jobs? read more…

Romania’s Ministry of Health stands accused of abandoning those who are suffering from the HIV virus as the “anti-retroviral” medical supplies that have been keeping them alive for many years are about to run out. In addition, the needle exchange programme that has been supplying thousands of injecting drug users in Bucharest is about to end.

“We are extremely alarmed by information from Romania” writes the EU HIV/AIDS Civil Society Forum (an advisory body set up by the European Commission), “the supply of antiretroviral treatment for People Living with HIV is not assured – with some patients having treatment interruption of over a month now, and patients living in rural areas travelling to the capital to queue up in front of the main hospital to obtain treatment”. read more…

Whenever the words “tourism” and “Romania” are mentioned in a discussion the word “potential” is sure to follow: it is generally agreed among those who know and love this country that Romania has huge potential as a tourist destination, but it is equally clear that Romania has failed miserably to build on this potential over the last 20 years. read more…

When discussions about promoting Serbia take place the following comment often comes up: “shouldn’t we develop a country brand?” The short answer is “NO”.  I am from Scotland, I now live in Romania, and I would like to share my opinion of branding countries.  I hope that Serbia can learn from the mistakes of others.

A lot of money has been wasted by successive Romanian Governments in developing absurd country brands and it certainly hasn’t resulted in more tourists or investors.  Their most recent slogan was “Romania – Land of Choices” and I am still trying to work out what it means. read more…

I was asked to write an article for Dilema Veche on the theme “what can we expect in 2010?” and this is what I think.  But what do you think? Please leave your comments below. Rupert Wolfe Murray

This year will be much like 2009: political infighting, economic crises and passive discontent.  Nothing new or useful can be expected from the new government and the media will be filled with the arguments and illicit affairs of Romania’s irresponsible leaders. read more…

This article was also published in the EU Observer in November 2009

Ever since Romania prohibited international adoptions in 2001 it has been pressurised by the leaders of France, Italy, Israel, Spain and the US to lift the ban.  Behind these politicians are private adoption agencies, adoptive parents and others interested in getting children for whatever reason. read more…

Preparing for disasters is an industry and also an attitude. There are lots of professionals flying around the world advising governments how to prepare for earthquakes, floods and natural disasters; thousands of humanitarian aid agencies rush in when disaster strikes and there are public officials everywhere whose job is to prepare the public for the worst — not to mention firemen, policemen, medical workers and soldiers who invariably form the front line of any disaster relief efforts. I have some experience of this profession. read more…

Last Christmas I bought myself an 80 megabyte iPod. This was a bit of a cheat considering it cost more than the presents I got for my loved ones, but I bought it through the company and justified it that way. Although iPods look amazing they are a pain in the butt because in order to use them you must download iTunes, Apple’s software, and this takes up 80 megabytes. And iTunes has its own way of organising your music, which I have still failed to understand, and this bugs me as I spent a long time thinking up a good filing system for my music. read more…

I am sitting in a Ministry of Culture seminar about film making and it has all the hallmarks of a rotten event: a huge queue at the registry desk (but nobody saying hello), nowhere for coats, coffee servers arguing among themselves, an electrical fault that the secretary of state loudly complains about, doors that squeak horribly every time someone comes in (and there was a constant flow of latecomers), a loud buzzing noise from the speakers and technical problems with the presentations.
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One benefit of the current economic crisis is that financial news is now interesting; we’re all trying to find out why our banking system crashed and why the whole system is so vulnerable (at least I am).  Until recently I would rarely read an article about business but now it’s like reading adventure stories.

Eventually I worked out my own theory of what is wrong with our economic system.  The key word in understanding the crisis is leverage. read more…