Games on my doorstep

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It is kind of nice when the biggest event on the planet is brought to your doorstep – in my case literally.

28

Olympic torch, yours truly and Andriy Maksymovych at his charity fundraiser at the EBRD

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EBRD’s own Andriy Maksymovych brought the Olympic torch to work to let people have their picture taken with it and to raise some money for charity. He raised about £1000 for Marusia, a Ukrainian girl with cancer currently treated in London (more at http://www.mfa.gov.ua/uk) Hundreds of bankers queued for hours! He plans other events with the torch in London, to raise money for equipment for Ukrainian children’s hospital – I will announce when more details are known.

27

Olympics, fish and poor people

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Olympics in Tower Hamlets smells of rotten fish and fresh manure. Fish smell greets me every morning as I walk to Whitechapel tube; but manure is something new. If I wasn’t in a rush, I’d look around for signs that police horses had been there earlier in the morning.

30

Let’s not be racist towards Ukrainians and Poles

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Watching the BBC’s Panorama about racism on Ukrainian and Polish football terraces, I was shocked. Both by the terrible scenes shown by the reporter Chris Rogers, and by the fact that the BBC sounded so much like the Daily Mail.

16

My interview on Voice of America (video, in Ukrainian)

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A conversation about Ukrainian publishing, the future of books and BBC book of the Year http://www.voanews.com/ukrainian/news/ukraine/Pyrkalo-10-10-2011-131470448.htmlC

13

Svitlana takes the US by storm

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Please tell your friends in Harvard, New York and Cincinnati or near about this unique opportunity to come and hang out!

I am speaking in the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute about the language and media in today’s Ukraine on Friday, 14 October 2011, 1 pm. See link for details.http://www.huri.harvard.edu/calendar.html#2011_10_14

I will discuss: why the media speak the language they speak? Why did Ukrainian literature take off in Ukraine, and Russian did not?