Castro

Rather like one of his speeches, you rationally knew it would come to an end at some point, but had trouble really believing that it. The sickening thing is, of course, that we will now be bombarded by endless hagiographic encomia from the BBC and Channel 4 about the great liberator. Frankly, Castro's retirement is at least forty years too late, not that you would know about the mess he has made of Cuba by reading the BBC's reaction:

In power since he led a communist revolution which ousted the regime of President Fulgencio Batista in 1959, Mr Castro has been a dominant force in Latin American politics and a thorn in the side of the United States. Under his leadership, Cuba underwent an economic and social transformation. Most foreign and local businesses were nationalised, land reform was introduced, and education and health care for the poor improved.

I suppose transformation is one word for what he has done to the economy. Destruction might be another. But then this is the BBC, whose perspicacity on this subject is obvious:

The BBC's Michael Voss in Havana says nobody knows whether Mr Castro's decision not to seek another five-year term has been prompted by a decline in his health.

Hmm, what do you think?