Sicily I - Mafia

The man leading his daughter to the altar was wearing dark wraparound sunglasses. Was it only my imagination or was he really also wearing a bulletproof vest under his suit? He could, of course, also have been a fat blind man, but when in Sicily...

My next Mafia meet was at the Temple of Concordia in Agrigento. This 5th century BC Greek temple, that was turned into a church in the 6th century AD (and thereby preserved) was taken over by the Sicilian State Police for a ceremony in which certificates of merit were handed out to policemen who have shown special valour.

Policemen singled out for arresting a Mafioso

Sicily II – Living Church

To take his mind off the continuing saga of his scandalous priests and bishops, the Pope should travel to Sicily. He would be mighty pleased. In Sicily, the Church is still getting it right and Mass, even midweek, still fills the churches. Even the young in their 20s and 30s – those you rarely see in church nowadays – attend mass in Sicily. 

Holidays, such as that of Santa Rita are even more festive:  

The church is overflowing; priests are taking confessions wherever you look.

Reporting a full house to the Papa di tutti Papi?

Sicily III – Jesus Christ Super Star

I don’t know where Tim Rice got his inspiration for naming his musical Jesus Christ Superstar, but he may well have gotten it after visiting the Basilica of Monreale, near Palermo.

It is a splendid 12^th century Norman cathedral with an enormous depiction of Christ that reminded me of the huge propaganda placards of communist dictators. I could not take my eyes of Him. This is propaganda fide at its best. 

Sicily IV – Bread

They make wonderful bread in Sicily – unusual for Italy, where it is rather difficult to get hold of decent bread. Wherever we ate, the bread that was served in restaurants was delicious.

I have yet to find out what the secret is.

Sicily V – Palermo

I did not quite know what my Italian neighbour meant when she warned me, before I left for Sicily, that Palermo was a bit like Cairo. 

Main entrance to Palermo’s opera house, 

Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele, 

just before the performance begins. 

Street scene in the old city of Palermo

What should Germany's President Say in Israel?

Germany’s newly elected President, Joachim Gauck, is off on a four-day state-visit to Israel today. At a time when German public opinion of Israel is increasingly negative, the purpose of Gauck’s visit is to “demonstrate German solidarity and support for the Jewish State.”

I expect that Angela Merkel will have briefed Gauck and given him her view about Netanyahu, who is considered by world politicians to be a liar. I imagine that the German Embassy in Tel Aviv will have similarly painted a bleak picture of the deterioration of Israel into a country run by extremists. If he will meet representatives of German NGOs, they may well tell him of the harsh and hopeless reality of life for Palestinians under Israeli rule.

Gauck’s Israeli hosts, however, will doubtlessly remind him of Germany’s special responsibility to support Israel because of the Holocaust. They will warn about increased anti-Semitism in Europe. Netanyahu will paint Iran as a threat comparable to Hitler and his hosts may also try to engage him in the debate over Günter Grass’ recent “poetical” attack.

Will Gauck be allowed to tell his Israeli hosts what most Germans think of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank? Will he tell the Israeli people that Germany supports Israel’s right to exist but cannot and will not support Israel’s hold on the Occupied territories? Will Gauck tell Israel that unless Israel gets out of these Territories, Europe including Germany, will cease supporting Israel altogether?

He should, but he probably won’t. 

Lufthansa Experience

I took a Lufthansa flight from City airport to Frankfurt. It was a morning flight and the flights attendant had just passed through with coffee and breakfast croissants.

The woman in this photo is not the flight attendant, but the young woman who sat in front of me changing the nappy of her child.

“No”, she explained when I asked her to use the nappy changing table in the toilet.  “There is not enough space in the toilet, my boy is too big.” She would not stop and continued to wipe her son’s ass whilst the people around her were having their breakfast.

Perhaps Lufthansa could bar this woman from future flights? Who knows what she will be up to when she flies with her incontinent grandmother? 

Lucian Freud

My friends Ls are in town and as is their habit they berated me for not taking advantage of the rich cultural opportunities on offer in London.

Had I already been to the Lucian Freud at the National Portrait Gallery, they wanted to know. And I am really grateful to the Ls for asking. I had meant to go when the exhibition opened and had totally forgotten about it.

It is a wonderful big exhibition full of Freud’s powerful portraits. Moreover, it is a rare opportunity to see so many Freuds, many of which are in private collections, in one place.

The exhibition is running until 27 May. If you have not yet been – Go. It is worth coming to London just for that. 

Putsch in Israel?

A week after Israel’s army’s chief of staff opined that the Iranian leadership was “very rational” and expressed doubt that Iran would continue to develop its nuclear weapon to completion, Netanyahu and Barak, the duo that leads Israel into a collision course with Iran, were given another blow, this time by the former head of shabak, Israel’s internal secret service.

Yuval Diskin, until a year ago, head of the shabak, has just come out with an unusually strong-worded warning. Diskin warned of the risk posed – not by a possible Palestinian terror attack but - by no less than Netanyahu and Barak, the country’s prime minister and minister of defence.

Diskin said: "I don't believe in either the prime minister or the defence minister. I don't believe in a leadership that makes decisions based on messianic feelings." According to him, Barak and Netanyahu are misleading the public and unfit to hold power.

He is not alone. Meir Dagan, until a year ago, a feared and well-respected head of Israel’s mossad, is also making his voice heard against an Israeli attack of Iran’s nuclear facilities. Dagan referred to such an attack as “stupid”, explaining that it would be ineffective and that it could lead to an all out war.

These people are evidently worried.  

It is not a putsch, but it is an – in all likelihood - concerted attempt by heads and former heads of the security establishment to prevent Israel’s democratically elected government from carrying out its policy vis-à-vis Iran, by warning the Israeli population and the world about the mental state of Barak and Netanyahu. 

See also what I wrote last month about the Barak-Netanyahu team.

Only in Ireland

For years, Belfast was best known for mutual killing and maiming – Catholics and Protestants, Nationalists and Loyalists killed each other and made everybody’s life hell.

Things have quietened down since the Good Friday Agreement but Northern Ireland evidently wants to continue to be known for disaster. It perhaps misses the reputation it had during the bloody years. The wise men of Northern Ireland have come up with a brilliant idea: They spent 100 million Euros to build a sort of Titanic amusement park and named it The Titanic Experience. We are now being invited to “visit the birthday of the Titanic and experience the story”. 

Who the hell wants to experience the Titanic story? 

Well, evidently some do. Some Irish couples are said to be booking “Titanic themed wedding nights.” Can I suggest prenuptial agreements stipulating who gets the place in the lifeboat?