Two days ago, the Georgian town of Gori, close to the South Ossetian border, was attacked by Russian jets. None of the reports I have seen mentioned that Gori is the birthplace of Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, better known as Stalin. It is one of the few towns, if not the only one, where his statue still stands.  

The Joseph Stalin museum contains classic Soviet propaganda. Stalin’s top marks in school, his poetry and his close friendship with Churchill are covered in great detail, but no mention is made of the Gulag. Outside the museum is the small hut where he was born, and where you can see his father’s workshop and his mother’s samovar, neither of which give any clue as to how their son would turn out. You can also go into his personal railway carriage, in which you can see his personal toilet - this man of the people could not be expected to share a toilet with others – but again this gives little away. There is no art to read the mind’s construction in a toilet.