We Do Adventure

My next post was to be about the football but I saw this today I had a feeling this was important news not to be overlooked. Sure enough I got home and Rowan was reading about the civil servant strike in Mostar. The reason for this action is “the city council failed for the seventeenth time to elect a city mayor or to adopt a budget.” It’d be nice to say this was unbelievable but even St Thomas – patron saint of doubters – would have to concede that when you’ve been there, seen it and snapped the photo you know they’re not making this stuff up. The ‘they’ in this instance is Balkan Insight, and if you’re interested in the political challenges facing this part of the world their article is well worth a read.

The High Representative was in Mostar today to bash some heads together (metaphorically one assumes) over the inexcusable stalemate local politicians seem happy to maintain. The OHR issued a press release on Tuesday. This extract will give you a flavour of the problems the city is engulfed in. “Since the local elections more than nine months ago, the leaders of these parties have failed to hold any serious talks aimed at overcoming the situation in Mostar, despite the fact city council has yet to elect a mayor and adopt a city budget. Instead of pursuing political dialogue, the parties have sought to deflect blame from themselves and direct it towards each other and the OHR.” We heard that if the meeting today did not produce any resolution then protestors would blockade the road to Sarajevo for the next couple of days. There is but one main north/south road so this would be a fairly crippling action. However, the situation should never have been allowed to get to this point. As I writ...

An Englishman, a Welshman and a Bosnian walked into a kitchen shop. It could be the start of a joke. It happened today, and it honestly felt like we’d stumbled into a retail version of The Office. I had decided I’d regale you with this comedy of errors and customer disservice when I remembered I actually have something sobering, something of substance to write about. We may have just had May Day, the widely recognised holiday for workers, but there is little to celebrate for Mostar’s municipal workers. They have yet to be paid this year. This somewhat unbelievable situation has been allowed to happen because Mostar has no Mayor. Why Mostar has no Mayor is anyone’s guess. I know the Mayor is not directly elected but appointed by elected politicians. It’s probably six months since those responsible for making an appointment were elected themselves. The ensuing political deadlock has lead to one group of activists fly-posting the town with various slogans and suggestions – like appointing...