1 If the government is prepared to illegally film a union leader with his children, and even release that footage to the public, where does that leave everyone else? How far would the government go in a confrontation with a political opponent stronger than an ordinary union leader?

The issue of union demands is eternal. As long as capitalism has existed, so too have demands for higher salaries and workers’ rights. Every previous government has clashed with unions and accused them of acting as an extension of the opposition. Shocking, truly. A union dared to demand a higher minimum salary. That demand destabilised the country to such an extent that the government felt justified in following a union leader while he was driving his children around.

Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski may assess union leader Slobodan Trendafilov’s mental state all he likes, claiming he had “bloodshot pupils and whites of his eyes.” He may even demand an apology from him, because MP Dafina Stojanoska is “a woman, a mother and a wife” roles that Trendafilov was expected to consider before reporting her to the police for unauthorised filming. Meanwhile, Stojanoska’s female colleagues accused Trendafilov of exerting “brutal pressure on women in politics.” Naturally, filming “a man, a father and a husband with his children” isn’t brutal pressure.

We know that VMRO-DPMNE are masters at twisting a story. But the fact is that we saw a recording made in secret, and the recording was published by an MP from the ruling party. The MPs of that party even praised her for this criminal act, applauding her “the courage to publicly expose the wastefulness of the union leader.”

Truth be told, it does take courage to publicly admit you recorded someone without authorisation. From a position of power, mind you.

From the position of an MP, who collects thousands of euros a year from the state budget in travel expenses, it takes not only courage but considerable cheek to moralise about the wastefulness of the union leader who used the Union’s official vehicle privately and is now being asked how many litres of petrol he consumed. That may well be a legitimate question for the Union, but not for the state. Dafina herself, the bravest among them, collected 255,000 denars in travel expenses in 2025 because, when travelling from Gostivar, she doesn’t sleep in one of her mother’s four apartments in Skopje. And let’s not forget – this whole thing started with the topic: raising the minimum salary for workers. The very workers who fund MPs’ salaries. Along with travel expenses.

Imagine if someone from VMRO-DPMNE were recorded like this without authorisation and the footage played back to them like this. What a drama that would be. At the beginning of this government’s term, in July 2024, when a photograph emerged of the prime minister with his son at the NATO Summit in Washington, and he was asked the logical question of whether his son had travelled at state expense, he angrily replied: “Stay away from my children.” Apparently, however, it’s acceptable to follow and film other people’s children.

We’ve had unauthorised recordings before. But now, for the first time, the government – MPs and the prime minister alike – is publicly boasting about it. Plus, some may remember, some may have forgotten, but this is the same party under whose term ten years ago, 26,000 citizens were illegally wiretapped. I was one of them. I was wiretapped for two and a half years.

What’s the message in the bigger picture? Fear us.

2 The world is changing dramatically. There’s already widespread talk that Ukraine’s membership of the European Union could be bundled as a condition for ending the war.

Where are we in this story?

I have the feeling that the government is wasting our time when the main headline in the country is that the prime minister has inspected the construction of three additional rooms in a kindergarten. Not even a mayor is required to visit those construction sites, let alone the prime minister, ministers, MPs and presidents of municipal councils. What’s the next historic achievement? Newly installed taps in school toilets?

What goes through their minds when they pose for photographs at construction sites? That we don’t deserve kindergartens, schools and streets? That we haven’t paid taxes and utilities for them? That they’re treating us with something paid of their own pockets? How come they don’t pose for photographs when they sell off state land and issue building permits that turn individual houses into entire apartment blocks? Or when they legalise illegal constructions? Of course they have to build schools, kindergartens and streets, they’ve overpopulated the municipalities. We’ve paid utilities precisely so that infrastructure can be built. That’s their job.

If only some of those buildings were novel, an architectural achievement, an innovation, something that might justify the photo opportunity.

The world has turned upside down, and we’re bragging about extensions.

3 The entire situation with the marijuana, seized from warehouses of legal marijuana producers, is designed to create the impression that something is being done. The government has decided to conduct extraordinary inspections of legal marijuana producers. Apparently, routine inspections allowed five tonnes to slip across the border into Serbia.

Half their term will pass under the propaganda slogan: Let Zaev expain, let Filipche explain!

Zoran Zaev hasn’t been prime minister since December 2021. And VMRO-DPMNE and VREDI have been in power since June 2024. It’s now February 2026.

In VMRO-DPMNE, the only thing they do every day is gossip about the opposition.

Unlike SDSM, where they gossip about one another. Among the few people left there, they selected a man who publicly admitted to snorting cocaine at work in a public institution to represent them on the issue of marijuana.

SDSM leader Venko Filipche is a neurosurgeon. That doesn’t entitle SDSM to treat us as if we’ve all undergone brain surgery.

Translated by Nikola Gjelincheski