It’s freedom, Russia-style ....
YOU know a story is serious when the BBC sends a Dimbleby to cover it, so we can now all safely assume that Russia and Putin are officially serious stories.
In this one-off special, David of the Dimblebys travels to Moscow for Putin’s Russia (BBC1, tonight, 9pm) to get to the heart of the Russian bear – well, good luck with that.
He examines the rather different approach to free speech and democracy as practised by the Russians and it seems to go like this – of course you can protest! Russia is a free country!
But, for security reasons you are only allowed to protest as a solitary individual. In fact, groups of three or more may be liable for arrest for ‘breaching the peace’ and causing a public disturbance.
That particular nugget shows that while a lot has changed in the formerly communist countries, old attitudes die hard (I remember being brought as a child to a football stadium in Ceausescu’s Romania which was packed even though the match wasn’t due to start for hours – but it was the only way for people to gather safely in crowds without the hated Securitate arresting them).
As for democracy? Well, as a certain Irish TD said a few years ago in relation to Cuba: “They have democracy, it’s just not the kind of democracy we’re used to.”
That would seem to apply here as well, where it seems easier to vote twice for Putin than to vote once for anyone foolish enough to oppose him.
Of course, the presence of a Dimbleby always adds a degree of gravitas to any Beeb programme, but Putin’s Russia has already been accused by Putinsupporters of being part of the nasty, Western, Russophobic propaganda.
As always, one man’s propaganda is another man’s uncomfortable truth, but this is the kind of programme which will make some Irish football fans breathe a secret sigh of relief that we’ve missed out on this particular tournament...
Speaking of which, all eyes will be on the World Cup Opening Ceremony (UTV, 2.30pm/RTÉ2, 3pm, tomorrow) which takes place in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium, where the final will also take place on Sunday, July 15.
Oddly enough, the headline act is Robbie Williams, and one suspects that will be the closest any Englishman gets to the World Cup final.
Sadly, there will be no repeat of the greatest moment from any opening ceremony, when Diana Ross fluffed a penalty at the launch the USA ‘94 tournament.
I was going to make another joke at English expense, this time about pennos.
But it’s going to be a long tournament, and we should all pace ourselves...