I leave today, on July 2, having seen Elton John and Queen on 30 June in Independence Square;
and Kyiv throbbing to the excitement of a classic European Championship
final between Spain and Italy on 1 July. I’d like to say thanks to all
those, including the readers of this blog, who have helped me to
understand, interpret and enjoy Ukraine over the past four years.
I hope Ukraine can continue to demonstrate in the long term the
immense friendliness and hospitality to people of all nationalities,
ethnicities and sexual orientations that we’ve seen during these past
terrific four weeks of Euro 2012. On that front I commend the piece in the Guardian by Elton John yesterday.
Finally, on democracy, the EU and the future of Ukraine:
A man walks into a running club and asks to join. The existing
members of the club gather together. “We’re happy to accept new
members,” says a spokesman. “But we have rules: no more than 10 units
of alcohol a week, a strict diet, no smoking, and a tough fitness
regime, supervised by our own people, before we’ll accept your
application.”
The would-be new member scratches his head. “Those are tough conditions. Can we negotiate about that?”
“No,” the existing members say. “The rules aren’t open to
negotiation. You have to demonstrate fitness, weight loss, and healthy
habits – so that you can keep up when you join, and, before then, to
show us that you’re serious about membership.”
“I’ve heard there are other clubs,” the man says, “which have no fitness requirements at all.”
“It’s your decision,” say the members. “We’d really like to have you
in the club, as you clearly have the potential to be a great athlete.
Just to be clear, we’ll explain again exactly what we need for you to
begin to move towards membership. We’ll offer you a huge amount of
support if you can show us you’re serious about joining.”
“There’s no need to keep repeating the conditions,” the man says.
“This looks like the club for me. I can see the results you’ve
achieved, and I’m keen to join.”
“OK,” the members say. “Show us.”
