Cuba

Two prophetic dreams in the past week - possibly on the same night.

In the one, I inadvertently smash my current favourite tea vehicle (a red "McVitie's Digestives" mug). Two days later while washing up I noticed the handle flexing…. Ok, possibly my subconscious noticed the crack first, and fortunately I could bust it off and Araldite it back on. This anecdote may have more to do with Cuba than even I realise.

In the other dream, Fidel Castro is present by the casket at the funeral of Raúl, his brother, who is presently in power.

Would such an occurrence make the transition of power in North Korea look like, well, what it looked like?

Raúl is has lately been sounding the trumpet of party reform - the party founded in 1965, following the revolution - and their annual conference is about to commence as I write. What might the reform entail? Only the separation of Party and State. Only the abolition of the de facto requirement for party membership, the imposition of five year term limits, an end to corruption, and the elimination of discrimination by race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation - the first ever mention at a communist event of that last barrier, according to el Público, a left-wing Spanish daily newspaper.

If Raúl can pull all that off without his ticker suddenly failing, good on him. One can easily imagine encountering some resistance to changing just the carpet on which so many entitled persons are standing, let alone the floorboards. Best of luck with that.