A decisive election victory in Moldova for Maia Sandu’s pro-EU Action and Solidarity party (PAS) against the Putin-friendly grouping led by former president Igor Dodon,will have come as a terrible disappointment to James Delingpole, oddball columnist for the increasingly odd Spectator.
Delingpole has recently returned from Russia, having been invited there by the Russian Orthodox church “because the organiser is a fan of my podcast”. And guess what? He’s decided that life under a murderous dictatorship whose bloody and brutal invasion of Ukraine continues to disgust and appal is far preferable to living freely and making your own decisions about whether or not to join the European Union.
After discussions with his hosts – who, like their Moldovan counterparts, oppose LGBT rights, abortion and ordaining women – Delingpole learned that “the Chisinau government wants to join the EU and is busy sucking up to its future overlords by harassing the Moldovan Orthodox Church… Do we really want to be siding with the EU progressives on this one?”
Happily, the Moldovan people have now decided that yes, they do want to be siding with the EU progressives on this one. But like a demented right wing Jim Bowen, Delingpole is here to tell them what they could have won.
“Russia is great,” wrote the credulous hack. “The streets are clean and safe, with no danger of London-style stabbings or mobile-phone jackings; public transport works…
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“There are covered markets selling delicious organic produce (from raw milk to fresh fish, pomegranates to wild mushrooms)… and, judging by the bustle in the many excellent restaurants along the Arbat and Bolshaya Nikitskaya, the shape of the economy isn’t half as bad as we’ve been led to believe.
“Perhaps the 13 per cent tax rate for the vast majority of the population has something to do with this… Russia doesn’t have much time for net zero, so it’s not waging war on motorists, air travellers or affordable heating.”
Wow – it’s a low-tax, zero-woke haven with excellent restaurants and wild mushrooms for all! All that stuff about not being able to vote in free elections and the tendency of political opponents to fall out of high windows seem like mere trifles in comparison!
But seriously – what is happening to the Spectator under Michael Gove? Jonathan Sacerdoti’s bizarre piece whitewashing Tommy Robinson’s fascist London march as a day out at a village garden fete, then Freddy Gray’s chummy interview with the Tate brothers, a pair of alleged sexual abusers, and now this? Can a tearful and sympathetic interview with Ghislaine Maxwell be far away?
Delingpole’s remarkable piece concludes with this telling account of him meeting an ordinary Muscovite. “How do you like Moscow?’ he asked via his mobile phone translator. ‘Amazing!’ I said. ‘You surprise me,’ he replied. Sad. Even the Russians believe the nonsense that things are better in the West.”
Earlier, Delingpole had written: “Everyone at home thinks I am either dangerous or mad.” Oh, come off it, James. No-one thinks you are dangerous.
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