Cracks in the Facade

Available for over a year

In Skopje, Lucy Ash finds out why the Macedonian capital is now so festooned with graffiti - and finds it is nothing to do with art, but a visual part of a widespread anti-government protest movement. Richard Lim notices some ominous signs of economic stagnation amid the apparent optimism of Iraqi Kurdistan. Erbil might seem like a haven of peace to Iraqis from outside the region - but can it really draw visitors from further afield? Contributors to From Our Own Correspondent often end up having a drink with their interviewees - but in the gritty mining town of Portovelo in Ecuador, Joe Gerlach was not expecting to find that even his shot of firewater had a strong metallic after-taste. And in Japan, Juliet Rix recently sat down for tea and polite conversation with a couple of modern geisha - and ended up learning some very unexpected facts about their much-mythologised world. (Photo: Anti-government graffiti marks a monumental arch in Skopje, Macedonia. June 2016)