1 Fire experts, based on their analyses and risk assessments, had predicted the disaster caused by the wildfires in Los Angeles as early as 2018.

“Entirely foreseeable,” said Char Miller, a professor of environmental analysis and history. “We have been building homes deep into the fire zones. We know they’re fire zones, we know they’re dangerous, and yet City Hall and county government has constantly greenlit development in places of greater and greater risks. All of the factors you don’t want to see combined combined,” he added.

God forbid, I don’t want to jinx it, I stood up from my seat several times, touched wood a hundred times, spat three times,  but sitting in this very spot, I’ve written about the risks of unchecked construction in our county at least twenty times. Look around you. No matter if you’re at home or at work. And just imagine if, at this very moment, the Fire Brigade or an Ambulance had to come to your rescue urgently, would you be safe? Or would a tow truck first need to clear the way of illegally parked cars, blocked pavements, and makeshift outdoor smoking areas.

Even in America, where private capital reigns supreme, there are still some people who went to school, who know something, who analyse and offer warnings. They’re not just naysayers, neutral scum, or whatever else the authorities here like to call those who openly warn about the unchecked construction that threatens our everyday lives. Those warnings aren’t instinctive, unlike the instincts of constructors who are always looking for locations to build, and mayors who instinctively sell off state land and issue permits.

We’ve already experienced such a cataclysm in the summer of 2016 in the village of Stajkovci, near Skopje, when 22 people died in a flood caused by torrential rain. The year before, in the village of Shipkovica, near Tetovo, five people died, again due to a flood. Because the canals hadn’t been cleaned and the streets had been taken over. What about the wildfires from last summer? And what about the previous years, when fires reached the first row of houses in Kochani and Bitola? But they don’t seem to remember that, do they?

Out of greed, they’ve made our country an inhumane place to live. Our everyday lives have been turned into a hazard by the corrupt alliance between greedy local authorities and greedy constructors. To be honest, I don’t give a damn about the constructors, the so-called investors. They have their own interests. But the local authorities, whom we elect ourselves, are the ones who should be protecting the public interest and safety. The only thing they care about is the profit of the constructors. In other words, they only care about their own personal gain.

And when it comes to the apartments they’ve bought all over the world, they soothe their conscience by claiming they’re for their children. Are they not aware that because of their corruption, their children will also live in a city where they won’t be able to save even their own parents when they take them to the hospital?

How the hell are they not concerned about their own life?

2 Why are people surprised that Sasho Mijalkov, the head of the secret police during Nikola Gruevski’s time, showed up in Monte Carlo, considering the fact that there were six court cases against him, he was once convicted, and served part of his prison sentence in Struga? Mijalkov is a free citizen. He paid his debt to the state and went on holiday abroad.

Wasn’t it strange when SDSM and DUI changed the law to reduce the sentences for high-ranking officials convicted of abuse of office and corruption, and shortened the statute of limitations for those crimes? And wasn’t it strange that VMRO-DPMNE MPs formed a quorum in Parliament when that law was being voted on, despite blocking everything that was proposed before? So now, people find it strange that Mijalkov parked in front of an expensive hotel in Monte Carlo in a red Ferrari.

How did they expect Mijalkov to get to Monte Carlo? Not in a red Ferrari, but riding on a white horse? Like some kind of duke.

3 I was overjoyed when I heard the president of the Union of Administration, Judiciary and Citizens’ Associations (UPOZ), Trpe Deanoski, tell TV Telma that if the Government doesn’t raise the salaries of state officials by 30 percent, “there will be a huge exodus from state and public institutions.”

They won’t settle for 2, 3, or 5 percent, and demand 30 percent right away. As if the quality of services they provide to citizens has improved by a third. Do those people who aren’t employed in private companies even understand what a 30 percent salary increase means? That this 30 percent has to come from somewhere? That to provide them with a raise, cuts will have to made from roads, kindergartens, and schools? And that, for their 30 percent, someone else who doesn’t have unlimited breaks will have to work 100 percent harder?

But they say there are people in the state administration who actually earn their salary. Well then, let the hardworking employees refuse to show solidarity with the work-dodgers. Let them report them. And let them fire 30 percent of them. That way, the money saved could be used to increase their salaries.

In our country, only those on a state salary go on strike. That means that their employer has the money to endlessly increase their salaries. And they can easily blackmail him, especially before elections. So, he’ll have to take out another loan from Orban.

Just in time. The people who will be part of the exodus can find work in companies that will create jobs with the money from the Hungarian loan. They’ll certainly need only administrative workers.

4 Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski stated that he would dismiss the deputy director of the Public Enterprise “Macedonia Road,” Sasho Drango, if it’s proven that he killed the bear from the photo where he’s holding a rifle and binoculars.

The investigation is ongoing. The Prime Minister can’t simply dismiss a deputy director just because he posed for a photo with a dead bear. It has yet to be determined whether the bear was killed by the rifle held by the member of the ruling party, or if it was struck by a car. And that requires time and professional expertise. Mickoski can’t just admit a mistake in personnel selection. VMRO members can’t just be dismissed or asked to resign. We all know they’re the best and infallible.

That’s why, they might need to send the bear to a reference laboratory abroad. And then the Prime Minister will wait for the forensic results. Naturally, the decision regarding the possible dismissal of the deputy director of “Macedonia Road” must be based on scientific evidence.

5 A Christmas Eve bonfire was lit in the patio of the Institute and Museum building in Bitola.

We’re talking about a unique space that’s part of the former 178-year-old military school where the reformer of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, once studied. The patio was reconstructed a year and a half ago through a project funded by the EU and the Ministry of Local Self-Government, and now cultural events are held there.

The director of the Bitola Museum said that he and the staff wanted to honour the tradition, so they lit a bonfire in a barrel that was propped off the ground, but first they insulated it with tarpaulin and sand. So, a controlled fire.

Next year, the Ministry of Culture should light a Christmas Eve bonfire at the Aqueduct in Skopje. Since Americans are paying for its restoration, just as the  EU paid for the museum in Bitola, the donors should see that active work is being done to protect our cultural heritage. As the Bitola director would put it: “There wasn’t even a spark, everything was protected and nothing was damaged.”

A highly controlled fire zone.

Translated by Nikola Gjelincheski