Europe’s newest independent country was born the other day.

Not Scotland, sadly, but Kosova or Kosovo, depending on who you talk to. And also, whether it is actually now independent also depends on who you talk to. Some will recognise the new country, others won’t. And as is reported here, here and here, “independence” is going to cause as many problems in that corner of Europe as it solves.

Having visited Kosova (I’ll call it what the majority of Kosovans call it) twice and the Balkans as a whole three times, I’m fascinated by the politics and history of the area, and the Kosovan issue is complex and probably quite irresolvable in the short to medium term, and so it will be interesting to see how the situation at the moment shapes up.

I’d reflect more about my experiences there, but it’s a busy week. Maybe I’ll come back to it another day.

And in other news, the “Berwick question” has been opened again.

The borders they are a-changing.

And apologies if you saw the title of this blog and expected a discussion about bookstores.