Even from the azure waters of New Zealand I hear that Sofia’s mayor is again where he wants to be – in the eye of a mini-media storm at least within the Bulgarian Diaspora.

Boyko Borisov, that proud Bulgarian prototype, travelled to Chicago in the belief that addressing a cross section of Bulgarian expat “great and good” would somehow enhance his statesmanlike reputation at home.

Chicago is in the State of Illinois – reputedly the most politically corrupt state of the Union, boasting the largest number of impeached governors including the most recent incumbent Ron Blagoevitch. The city is run by Mayor Richard Daley who follows in the footsteps of his infamous father in carrying on the city tradition of Irish machine-politics.

Coincidentally the city has attracted large numbers of enterprising Bulgarian emigrants who strive for success within the American dream.

On his way to compare notes with his fellow mayor, Richard Daley, Bulgarian man of the moment, Boyko Borisov had a speech prepared for this young and thriving community. What could they have expected from a compatriot who enjoys speaking his mind and aspires to be leader of the homeland they left behind.

Like Christo Stoichkov without the football skills, Borisov charged his problem head on. He was a leader of men fated to live in a country that failed to meet the mark. He wished to compare his fortunate New World audience with the bulk of those living back in the home country. So he described the 7 million Bulgarian population as “bad human material”. He went into detail: what could you expect from 2.5 million pensioners so stupefied by nostalgia that they could only vote for the Socialist party over and over in the vain hope that those days of Communist wine and song would return? What could you expect from 1 million gypsies who voted for the party that paid them the most on election day? What could you expect from the 800,000 ethnic Turks who voted for the DPS no matter what? The unspoken supplementary question was what could you expect from the surviving middle class who had become so cynical that they would not vote – even for such a splendid specimen as stood before this enthusiastic audience in Chicago?

How could the audience not feel the pain of a leader disappointed by his troops? It was as if before battle Asparukh had suddenly realised his Bulgar horde had sent away their horses and were squabbling over whether they should return to the Azov sea.

Describing your potential voters as “bad human material” ought to be a fatal mistake and of course leaders of the Socialist and Turkish parties have raised a cacophony of predictable protest. As with the controversy over the depiction of Bulgaria as a toilet, there is a desperate appeal to political correctness – that most withering of EU imports.

However political correctness is not a feature of Bulgarian political life and there is every likelihood that the brash bold Mayor will have enhanced his reputation for the kind of straight talking usually associated with Taxi drivers. If George Bush could be elected president twice as the man Americans would most like to have a drink with – so Bulgarians may well still choose as leader the man they would most like to be forcefully interrupted by.

On Bulgarian internet chat rooms a transatlantic row has erupted as to who are the biggest cock suckers – Chicago expats or Bulgarian citizens of the EU. This is reminiscent of British 18^th century politics at its most pungent and entirely suits the style of Sofia’s mayor.

In contrast in 21^st Century UK, right wing professional infant Jeremy Clarkson has called the British prime minister a one eyed idiot and has been forced to apologise after a storm of protests from the disabled community. Daughter of the Iron Lady, Carol Thatcher has been sacked by the BBC because in an off-air conversation she commented that a tennis player looked like the gollywog she used to have as a toy in her non-politically correct childhood.

Clearly the ethics of the Stasi are alive and well in the BBC.

The UK is currently covered in snow and the blood is being drawn from its cultural, financial and political life. Bulgaria can rejoice in its colour and occasional stupidity.