Cuba

No I missed it crimson but thank you for recommendation I will try and catch it on iplayer later. I love this kind of documentary .

Oh, I missed it! I had seen a trailer and it looked fascinating. I'll find it on iPlayer. Thanks.

Loved Cuba when I went there a few years ago. People seemed free of the stresses of relentless competition. Poor country in part due to USA embargo on imports into Cuba including medical supplies.

Also last night Imagine was about Simon and Garfunkel making their last album Bridge Over Troubled Water. Missed the beginning and fell asleep towards the end, but what I saw was rivetting. S&G to me are the musical equivalent of The Haywain; so used to their music I don't really notice it. But they were very innovative in their approach and quite anarchic in many ways. Had such a deep love and respect for each other but, like so many musical collaborators now don't speak [unelss they've made it up recently]. My iplayer is going through one of it's stoppy starty modes but will try to piece together the bits I missed. On top of all this it was The Dark Ages on BBC4 which, thankfully is repeated on Thursday. T'were a good night on the box, last night .

Friend of mine stayed there for quite a while; she was totally enraptured by the place. Had a bit of cosmetic surgery done there, which quite alarmed me when I heard about it till I saw last night how good their hospitals are. Supposedly the Soviet Union withdrawing their support has caused major problems as well. Must say I'd love to go there.

I watched this programme on Cuba and enjoyed it, for what it was, but I thought it 'Cuba light'. I don't feel it's a socialist utopia, (and it never was in my eyes). Now the Soviet's subsidies have dried up there is much poverty, and housing is dire.
Imagine living on a island where one is not allowed to leave. Nor vote.
Prostitution is rife - a working girl can get more money in one hour with a sex-tourist than one month on her state salary.
What was once the black-market is now developing into free enterprise - which is a good thing - yet it's still covertly controlled by the state.
Being a tourist is one thing - and I would find it fascinating to visit.
Living under the suppression of Castro is quite another.

I thought it was very clever, though, how Simon got these points across without upsetting the powers that be. And how it started off as, what seemed to be a programme about a Socialist Utopia, and then moved on. Certainly a programme with a lot of political issues to think about.

crimson Yes, Simon did well with the subtle build up. Having thought about it a bit more, he couldn't have told it how it is really. Yep, lots of political issues to address, not least Cuba!