[Inspired by a Latvian commentator whose column I read a few days ago but can’t find the link now]

We should stop turning sports competitions and song contests into military campaigns. This kind of attitude is indicative of a serious insecurity at best and a deep inferiority complex at worst. It is time we said to ourselves: let the little ones worry about their raison d’être. Let’s admit the obvious: We are a great nation. Tragically great, for there is no grandeur about comicity, close as they come according to the Corsican Cannibal. And there is no great nation (except India perhaps) that has not committed unspeakable atrocities.