“I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know,” yes, it true we used to have plenty of white festive seasons when I was younger and living 2,300 km to the north.

And who knows I might get another white Christmas this year, as by the time you are reading this I will be lost in a London airport. I guess I could have used a Chris Rhea lyric to open, but this time we aren’t driving home for Christmas but flying, thanks to Scrooge Airlines (AKA Ryanair).

Driving home for Christmas - Photo Mark Thomas 

Ryanair really reminds me of catching the school bus when I was a child, it does the job but is a little lacking in luxury. More practical than plush. But they are the only one flying to London this Christmas so I shouldn’t really knock them.

So this year it’s turkey and stuffing for me, followed by Christmas pudding and mince pies. To be honest I am not really a great fan of any of this festive food but it’s Christmas so I go with the flow.

There will be only a few presents under the Christmas tree and we’ve all agreed to go down the route of a Secret Santa, although I’m pretty sure it won’t be that secret for long.

I don’t know about you but I believe that presents at Christmas should be reserved only for children. If you want to give to an adult then give to a charity instead, I assure you that they need the money more than your relative needs another bottle of perfume.

Not to mention the tradition of pretending to love your presents. Nothing beats that awkward moment when you unwrap socks with Santa hats on them and have to muster the enthusiasm of someone opening a winning lottery ticket. “Oh, wow! Just what I needed!” you exclaim, while mentally filing them under "emergency dusting cloths."

I tell you the one thing that I won’t miss about Christmas in Dubrovnik, those bloody fireworks. Christmas for our pets is a nightmare. “I thought they were banned,” said my wife. “They were, but making a law and enforcing it are two completely different things,” I replied. “But you don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to catch them, they are firecrackers!” she answered.

She had a point.

Firecrackers are openly on sale in many stores and presumably parents are giving their children money to buy them. There is a lot of stupid going on in that last sentence! How long will be before there is a Tik Tok Challenge involving fireworks that children will sheep-like follow just to get likes. Again we will read about a child who has been blinded or suffered third-degree burns.

If you are a store owner selling firecrackers to children, you are an utter moron.

Thankfully I will have a break from the festive madness this year. There’s something uniquely comforting about Christmas Day in England. For one day, the usual clamour of daily life seems to take a collective pause, and the country, bustling and chaotic 364 days a year, is wrapped in an unusual stillness.

Even the constant hum of motorway traffic fades to a whisper, the hustle of shops and cafés is silenced, and for once, the relentless pace of modern life slows to something resembling serenity.

Yet, Christmas Day isn’t without its complexities. For some, it’s a stark reminder of loss or loneliness, a day when the world seems to magnify absences. The pressure to meet the ideals of a “perfect Christmas” can cast a long shadow, and the day’s stillness, for some, brings not peace but a deafening silence. Remember, above all, that Christmas is a time to think of others and to put others first. So, as I swap the mild winters of Dubrovnik for the frosty charm of England, I’m reminded that Christmas isn’t a place or even a specific meal—it’s a feeling.

It’s the cosy comfort of a shared laugh, the cheesy carols everyone pretends to hate, and the moment of quiet reflection when the chaos settles. Even with all its clichés, chaos, and inevitable calorie overload, Christmas Day in England has a charm that’s hard to beat. It’s not about perfection or Instagram-worthy moments; it’s about shared experiences, laughter, and maybe a little too much brandy in the custard.

So wherever you are this festive season, whether in England, Croatia, or somewhere in between, I hope you find joy in the little moments, the unexpected laughs, and the people around you. I wish you all a very merry and peaceful Christmas. Cheers!

I wish you all a very merry and peaceful Christmas.   

Read more Englishman in Dubrovnik…well, if you really want to

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About the author

Mark Thomas (aka Englez u Dubrovniku) is the editor of The Dubrovnik Times. He was born and educated in the UK and moved to live in Dubrovnik in 1998. He works across a whole range of media, from a daily radio show to TV and in print. Thomas is fluent in Croatian and this column is available in Croatia on the website – Dubrovnik Vjesnik

Maybe I’ve been watching too many holiday rom-coms, but I feel like it’s high time we brought back the idea of miracles.

Especially at this time of year, when it all seems to be about the material than the magical nowadays.

As kids, Christmas was all about the magic. We believed in Santa Claus, and we imagined him being pulled in his sleigh by reindeers that we even had names for.

Even when I realised that the presents may not actually come from The North Pole, it still felt comforting to believe in some kind of force for good. Even if we can’t see it.

To be honest, I think I lost that for a while - my belief in magic and miracles. I’d stopped talking about angels and the ethereal.

I’d taken what I thought was a more “grounded” approach, because in the end, I thought, we are having a physical experience here on Earth, and we’ve got to get s**t done”.

One of my most-used mantras for getting through life had become:

“No one’s coming to save you”.

It’s a quote by Nathaniel Brandon, in his book “The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem”, the purpose being that it helps empower us to take responsibility for our own lives.

I’ve never actually read the book but I’d adopted this mindset somewhere in my car through the Austrian Alps, when I decided I “don’t want to play anymore”, and I wanted to give up and go home.

When I realised it wasn’t an option and literally, no one could come and save me, it did help me put my big girl’s pants back on and get back on the road.

I’d seen this moment as my tipping point, it had helped me in my “warrior training”, so I’d kept it as a mantra for getting through this thing we call life.

Now I realise how utterly depressing it is to think that way. It can be helpful in some situations, but not as a long-term strategy.

Doing it all yourself, never having to rely on others, being a “lone wolf”, are these really badges of honour? Or actually just leading us further towards loneliness and disconnection?

Smart wolves travel in packs, and like us, they rely on each other for survival. We are literally designed to connect and co-operate.

Not only is it necessary for our survival, but also for our sense of wellbeing. It’s good for our health to be around others, and it’s good for us to have a little faith too - in life and each other.

It took a small miracle just a couple of months ago for me to start seeing the flaws in my thinking.

We’d taken a small boat to an uninhabited island. It was the end of the season, the last trip until next May. No one lives there, no one goes there, and there was just us on the island for a little wild adventure as part of one of my retreats.

Then a tiny little kitten appeared; she was no more than 8 weeks old. There wasn’t any sign of any others or a mother cat, and we had no idea how she got there. She was all alone, and just trying to survive, eating insects and weeds.

I think about how unhelpful my mantra would have been in this situation. Being told no one was coming to save her would have been not only unkind, but untrue.

Because miracles do happen.

A group of animal-lovers had appeared to save her, and she was taken back to the care and safety of the Korinjak Hotel on Iz, where she was loved and fed, and given a home.

Within 24 hours, she was transformed. The healing power of love and connection playing out right in front of our eyes.

My Christmas miracle is that I have her with me over the holiday period, whilst the hotel is closed, and every morning I wake up to a paw gently patting my face to tell me it’s time to get up. It beats the iPhone alarm that’s for sure!

Star, as she’s been named is a daily reminder that miracles do happen, that maybe there is someone is coming to save you, and sometimes there really is a happy ending.

My thinking has completely changed.

I believe we’re all saving each other every day, even if it’s just a smile from the person bringing your coffee or driving the bus.

I believe there are angels watching out for us, whether it’s our loved ones or furry friends here on the Earth, or those that have passed to the other side.

We’re not alone.

There are things in the world that we can’t see, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

What’s more, I believe in miracles again, and it’s the best Christmas present I could have asked for - my faith has returned. 

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About The Author:

Gillie Sutherland grew up in the Lake District on the border between England and Scotland, but has now made Croatia her home. As well having her own online yoga and well-being business, Gillie plays an active role in the International Community here in Croatia, running events, activities and holidays. She is passionate about nature, wellness and adventure, swimming in the sea all year round and spending weekends hiking.

Social Media Links:

Website: gilliesutherland.co

Facebook: www.Facebook.com/wild-with-gillie

Instagram: www.instagram.com/gilliesutherland

Croatian Ivan Jurić, 49, has been appointed manager of Southampton after parting ways with Roma. He signed an 18-month contract, taking over from Russell Martin, who was dismissed following a 5-0 defeat to Tottenham.

Southampton, recently promoted to the Premier League, sits at the bottom of the table with five points and has not won a match since November 2. The squad is valued at €306 million.

“I’m very pleased. This is a big challenge, but I’m optimistic because I see a team that can improve. It’s important to connect with the fans right away. I want an aggressive team, and I believe Southampton supporters will appreciate that. I want us to play more aggressively and apply more pressing. We’ll need to quickly change the mentality because that’s my football philosophy,” Jurić said after signing the contract.

Jurić could make his debut on Sunday against Fulham, provided his work permit is approved, with a match against West Ham to follow.

Just days into the European Commission’s new mandate, Moldovan President Maia Sandu met with her EU counterparts in Brussels for high-level talks at a decisive moment in her country’s  geopolitical journey. Held on 10 and 11 December, Sandu’s discussions with EU executive chief Ursula von der Leyen and enlargement commissioner Marta Cos notably concluded with the Commission’s approval of a €50 million funding package to support Moldova’s governance reforms, public financing needs and macroeconomic stability.

Both sides view this Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA) for Moldova programme as a key facilitator of the country’s European integration – an ambition which received an important, if hard-fought, boost in October with the successful EU membership referendum despite Russia’s interference. Yet, in paving the way for Moldova’s EU accession and offering a bold Kremlin alternative, the Commission must address its own governance lapses in an area of particular relevance to Moldova – the rising illicit tobacco trade.

Fragile progress towards EU dream 

Over the past year, Moldova has achieved major milestones in its EU journey, with the Commission officially opening accession negotiations last June and von der Leyen suggesting that the EU executive would be “opening a pivotal cluster of accession negotiations in 2025.”

Sandu’s spirited fight for Moldova’s European future, boosted by the government’s recent progress in bolstering the rule of law, tackling corruption and reining in the informal economy, have been cited as vital in progressing the country’s EU integration. While its recent EU referendum has seemingly confirmed this momentum, Sciences Po researcher Florent Parmentier has rightly observed that the uncomfortably-thin 50.38% majority “weakens the pro-European image of the population and the leadership of Maia Sandu.”

Although Sandu defeated her Kremlin-aligned presidential opponent in November, evidence has emerged of Moscow’s widespread interference in the EU referendum. Beyond Russia’s typically-aggressive misinformation campaigns, a Kremlin-funded vote-buying scheme is believed to have tainted up to a quarter of the ballots. Moldova’s vulnerability to Russian manipulation reflects its population's deep discontent over soaring inflation, rising energy prices and persistently-high poverty, meaning the EU’s rebuttal must enhance Chisinau’s capacities to support its citizens.

Illicit tobacco at heart of Moldova’s challenges

As a major drain on public finances, health and socioeconomic well-being, Moldova’s rising illicit tobacco trade represents a key area for cooperation. This is doubly true considering that the country’s breakaway Transnistrian region – essentially a Russian military protectorate along the Moldova-Ukraine border – has long impeded progress in curbing cigarette smuggling, as well as the fact that Russia’s war in Ukraine has driven demand for illicit tobacco from Moldova to EU countries.  

This emerging dynamic in Europe’s illicit trade was notably highlighted at EUBAM’s annual Task Force Tobacco meeting in Chisinau on 31 October. EUBAM has consistently described Transnistria as a “hotspot for cigarette smuggling,” with its porous borders, lack of Moldovan authority oversight and overprovision fueling the region's illicit market.

In 2020, nearly half of the 3.3 billion cigarettes imported to Moldova went to Transnistria, which represents less than one-fifth of the population – a staggering imbalance which cost Moldova nearly €60 million in unpaid import taxes. Moreover, these figures suggest the tobacco industry’s well-documented practice of oversupplying small, under-regulated markets to facilitate smuggling to larger countries – exactly as EUBAM has found in Transnistria. 

Avoiding anti-smuggling pitfalls  

In this climate, EUBAM has rightly called for enhanced collaboration and technological solutions to tackle Moldova’s illicit tobacco trade, which rose nearly 4% last year, causing a doubling of tax losses to €23 million while maintaining its status as one of the EU’s largest sources of “illicit whites” – particularly for eastern member-states. Yet, recent proposals in this space leave much to be desired. 

Speaking at the Chisinau-hosted TAXCON’24 conference in September, Swiss-based international trade consultant, Viktor Zemlicka, notably advocated for Moldova to gradually adopt the EU’s track and trace system – this despite the considerable controversy this solution has generated over its tobacco industry links and the European Commission’s lack of transparency in the contract’s tender process.

A former Philip Morris International (PMI) employee, Zemlicka’s praise of EU track and trace and assertion that Moldova, “as a country aspiring to EU integration,” must learn from and start implementing the system, should perhaps not come as a surprise considering that its core operators have inherited the PMI-developed Codentify technology. In 2004, PMI agreed to pay €1.25 billion to the EU and member-states to settle contraband charges – a deal which Brussels refused to renew in 2016 over its ineffectiveness, making any PMI-related endorsement of the EU system far from reassuring. 

Dubious presence of industry-linked firms 

Given Codentify’s rejection by public health authorities and researchers for failing to meet the WHO Framework Convention for Tobacco Control's (FCTC) industry independence requirements, Big Tobacco continues to push its implementation through private companies that obscure the technology’s industry connections. 

Swiss firm Inexto, for instance, provides key components for the EU’s system despite deriving 70% of its revenue from tobacco companies – considerably above the WHO FCTC-imposed limit. What’s more, several Inexto executives, including former CEO Philippe Chatelain, helped develop Codentify while employed at PMI, before falsely promoting Codentify as an independent, compliant technology and pushing its implementation in countries such as Lithuania, notably in collaboration with French IT company Atos, which has equally been given a key role in the EU’s flawed track and trace system.

Along with Inexto and Atos, Swiss firm Dentsu Tracking remains a key provider in the EU track and trace, despite its own deep ties to Codentify via its acquisition of Codentify co-developer, Blue Infinity. Concerningly, Dentsu was selected in shadowy conditions, with its initial five-year contract from 2018 extended late last year without an open tender process – a fact that has generated significant conflict-of-interest scrutiny since its hiring of former Commission official Jan Hoffman shortly after initially winning the lucrative contract.

MEPs and NGOs lighting path forward 

Earlier this year, a group of MEPs, leading researchers and anti-tobacco NGOs published a White Paper exposing this Big Tobacco weaponisation of firms like Dentsu and Inexto to undermine the EU’s tobacco control efforts. Crucially, the report calls for the EU to implement a WHO FCTC-compliant track and trace as part of the upcoming Tobacco Products Directive revision – an urgent need underscored by the surge in Europe’s illicit trade.

Until it does so, the EU will be in no position to lecture Moldova on track and trace, with Zemlicka’s recent claims about the EU and UK systems’ effectiveness blatantly disregarding the data. Indeed, since the system’s launch in 2019, France’s parallel trade has grown annually due to industry oversupply in neighbouring countries like Andorra, while Belgium’s concurrent smuggling spike has primarily stemmed from manufacturer-driven overproduction in Bulgaria. Unlike the WHO FCTC’s ITP Protocol, EU track and trace fails to address these major sources of illicit tobacco.

As Moldova moves forward with its plans to develop a track and trace system, following last year’s parliamentary approval to join the ITP Protocol, it must remain vigilant and avoid replicating the EU’s flawed approach. In parallel, the Commission must remedy its major transparency flaws if it wishes to retain legitimacy in integrating its eastern neighbours. Looking ahead, this undertaking will be critical for Moldova’s fiscal health and European accession. By working together and tackling their respective challenges, Chisinau and Brussels can build a foundation of accountability and economic stability crucial for a shared European future.