Once again, the British show their predilection for sneering at Romania for being an ex-Communist hellhole of Gypsy poverty while simultaneously embracing it for its traditional rustic charm in a new piece by The Guardian.
Hats off to the journalist for actually going to Romania. And for speaking to a guy who once did me a kindness that I failed to appreciate (Cristian Lupsa). And for more or less accurately summarizing what ill-informed British people think of Romanians. The only thing missing was an interview with a British person who arrives at Otopeni and thinks he is literally the first person to go, “Wow, everything is so cheap! And the country is not as horrible as I expected!”
On the other hand, it’s hard to have much respect for a one-day trip to the capital when you speak to a grand total of one bartender, one Romanian journalist and one Irish guy.
Ah well, read and enjoy!
All Things Romania 
This article from the Guardian doesn’t sneer at Romania at all. It simply states that Britons know very little about Romania and if they are right wing they tend to think it’s a very backward place OR if they are middle class lefties (ie Guardian readers) think it’s “all traditional rustic charm”. The author simply says it’s neither of these extremes and is in fact steadily modernising.
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The Guardian article isn’t really that bad. I think I counted about five or six people interviewed. And the bartender she talked to was actually working in London. She was arguing that if the possibility of Brexit grew in reaction to fear of oncoming Romanian hordes stealing their jobs, it’s misplaced.
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