Onwards and upwards

‘Tradition’ is often used by conservatives in Slovakia and elsewhere as a rallying cry. Their problem, in a democracy, is that most people quite like new stuff. So politicians normally avoid coming out publicly against all things new.
But Andrej Danko – speaker of Slovakia’s parliament, bearer of exalted military rank, erector-in-chief of magnificent flagpoles, and author of a famously rigorous thesis – is no normal politician.

During a recent visit by Russia’s foreign minister to Bratislava, the TASR news agency reported, Danko described Sergey Lavrov as a “close person” with whom he often discusses how to combat a deadly scourge: “new trends”.