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I always found the Welsh national anthem beautiful. But it never brought tears to my eyes until I heard it sung by Shirley Bassey, who brings a quality of passionate nostalgia to it that makes it not only grand but also affecting. A wonderful performance, even for the Land of Song.

This is something that occurred to me a few years ago, when Russia shamefully assaulted Georgia. Georgia is a small, distant country, with its own alphabet and its own church, and a language that nobody else in the world can understand. And yet, from everything I could see of it on the screen, I knew that I felt at home there. And I realized ( Read more... )