Ferdinand News

The world over, spring time is associated with fabulous weather, lush green trees and a landscape teeming with blooming flowers.

My heart sank. As courtiers set up a hand-jiving ballet on a sparse set behind the wicked Duke Ferdinand, I remembered with a shudder an old production that set The Magic Flute under a motorway flyover among hand-jiving drop-outs. Maybe that was the point.

Ponte Vecchio, the oldest of Florence's six bridges, is one of the city's best known images.

Thank God for Rio. This has been the most boring, depressing, empty, dreary, pointless weekend since, since, since, er, let me think, the last time all Prem games were cancelled.

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev has told the BBC that the interim government he appointed on Tuesday must turn Bulgaria in a new direction, towards transparency, efficiency, and cooperation.