Cuba

Beautiful country - well, most of it.

Beautiful people - well, most of them anyway.

But how can a country and a people with so much going for them become so seriously fucked up? Power cuts. Water supply problems. Dismal public transport. People living in buildings literally rotting and disintegrating around their heads. Beggars on the streets. Hustlers on every corner of Old Havana - "You wanna buy cigar? Charlie? Girls?" Food is a choice of pork, chicken or fish served with rice and peas, but no interest in adding a bit of flavour. I mean, Mexico's just down the road - can't they be bothered to import a little bit of spice and imagination?

Cuba could be so much: a fiercely proud people; soil that throws up abundances by the waggonload. And yet their major export today is doctors to Venezuela in exchange for cheap oil - what the fuck is that all about?

Cuba's going to change soon - the Old Regime is dying. I really, truly hope that when change comes the Cubans grasp the opportunity with both fists to build a better country - one that provides them with incentives and innovation to make them proud of their history and gives them confidence for their future. They can't afford to have their future shaped by outsiders any longer - they deserve better than to become just another client state (most likely to the US multinationals) again.