A spectre is haunting Europe

Not communism, but the spectre of fake Europe.

Fake Europe is the penumbra of countries that pretend to be European when they clearly aren't. Imitation may be the greatest form of flattery, but it gets irksome when these people are indulged in their delusions.

Is anyone else annoyed that this year's European city of culture isn't even in Europe, never mind in the EU?

It's just another example of a mouthy demanding country outside of Europe seeking to associate itself with a continent it doesn't belong to.

Previous exponents of this include Israel, who despite blatantly being part of the Middle East nevertheless are in the European Broadcasting Union and compete in UEFA.

And the EU has had to entertain hilarious membership applications from both these countries, plus other distinctly non-European places like Morocco.

I really wish the EU would produce a map of the world and give some of these people a basic lesson in geography instead of indulging their reality-defying fits of pique and envy.