Things that matter

Not a word in the official Cuban media on Fidel Castro's state of health. Seriously.

But those inquisitive, hard-hitting journalists at Juventud Rebelde, the official newspaper of the Union of Communist Youth (UJC), have found time and space for news that really matters to its readers.

The paper reports grand plans by the Castro regime to increase the number of honey-producing beehives on the island from 140,000 at present to 200,000 by the year 2015.

Apparently, Cuban bees produced 6,900 tonnes of honey in the past year. Sounds like a lot, right? In fact, it means that honey production is now back to 1990 levels. How is that for progress? More importantly, what were those bees up to?

I blame the US "blockade", of course.