A COUPLE of days spent in Vilnius this week, attending a summit entitled ‘New Europe - Entering the Next Phase’ organised by investment firm East Capital.

It was an interesting affair for several different reasons. First of all, because it was held at the Reval Hotel Lietuva I couldn’t help being reminded of the Vilnius energy conference held at the same venue back in October last year. It seemed quite a novelty to be able to walk through the main foyer and into the conference centre without having your way barred by presidential goons and the rooftop snipers which the Russia Today correspondent had waxed lyrical about were on duty on the other side of town for the visit of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushenko.

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REGULAR readers may recall our sensational story from last year when we exposed the dual life of then-PM Kalvitis, acting as prime minister by day and ‘Cukmens’ the litter-collecting pig by night.

Now we must ask questions about Kaptein K’s successor, Ivars ‘Call me God’ Godmanis. It seems that like Kalvitis, Godmanis is not averse to earning a few lats on the side by moonlighting at another profession. Yet unlike Kalvitis, Godmanis is not hiding behind a porcine superhero mask. He even has the nerve to appear on posters in Riga city centre advertising his alternative life!

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IT SEEMS particularly appropriate that on St George’s day, our subject should be the problem of taking a leak in the Baltic - a problem which, it must be admitted, only ever seems to be experienced by English visitors. It has become a kind of rite of pissage for visitors to the fair city of Riga to leave a warm, wet memento of their visit somewhere near the Freedom Monument, much to the annoyance of the locals.

But there’s good news from the gutter - a solution is at hand and we can thank those suspiciously clever Estonians for providing it.

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