lunes, 30 de enero de 2012

Garzón y las fantasmas del pasado.

España tiene un gran problema, y es que le resulta imposible pasar página.  La reconciliación de las dos Españas parece aplazarse generación tras generación. Quizás porque el régimen de Franco duró tantos años y no fue solo un episodio en la historia, sino una etapa. De todos modos conviene leer esto, La Noche Mas Larga. Hay que mirar al pasado sin miedo, sin juicios previos, sin rencor. Solo así podemos avanzar. Sigue este enlace para ver el cuento. http://www.ariadna-rc.com/numero51/lab56.htm

sábado, 28 de enero de 2012

Europe

In 1982 applying for a work permit, by a British citizen, was administrative hell. Solicited in September, it finally arrived in May, one month before the contract was due to expire anyway. The following year the whole ridiculous procedure was repeated, with the same result.
Now Spain is Europe, and fellow Europeans can come and go, and stay, pretty much as they please. THAT is progress. Not independence, ruptures, or nostalgia for a romantic past which never really existed as such.

lunes, 23 de enero de 2012

Crumbling Parliament

It seems that the Palace of Westminster is cracking and crumbling and about to fall into the Thames (Guardian, 23/01/2012). I say no more.

martes, 17 de enero de 2012

Queenie, queenie, who's got the gall?

I am a great believer in inherited wealth and status- Geroge Bush and Dubbleya, PapaDoc and BabyDoc,Thatcher and Blair. It is a long and noble list. Therefore I urge you all to contribute a florin to the Queen's new yacht. It's only 60 million pounds! If you are Scottish, please ignore this appeal.

miércoles, 11 de enero de 2012

Scotland, their Scotland

They say Scotland wants to be independent - I thought it always was!
An anectdote.
My Scottish friend met a fellow Scot in a bar. ‘I'm Scottish too' he claimed. 'Where from?' asked the man. 'Greenock'. 'Well, that's hardly Scotland, is it?'
Anyway, as the Mad Hatter would say, it’s a step forward. With so much European Union maybe a little old style fragmentation is in order. I think the Tyneside Terrorists should form an alliance with the King of Cumbria to try and break free from the tyrannical influence of the Edinburgh-London axis.
Long live Rutland. Bring back the florin. And remember that yesterday today was tomorrow.

martes, 10 de enero de 2012

ENGLAND, THEIR ENGLAND

I am a rat. I left the sinking ship and managed to scramble aboard a boat bound for the Mediterranean. It was not a shipwreck, was not as spectacular as that. Rather It was that the vessel, a battleship turned cruiser, then reconverted once more into a ferry, was too old for the job, and leaked more than  soldier Manning. It was sinking slowly, and is sinking still.
I am a rat, but not a dirty one.  I was fortunate enough to see it coming, and said so. As the Spanish say, ‘el que avisa no es traidor’, he who gives warning is no traitor. There was not one great hole through which the water came flooding in, but a thousand little cracks seeping seawater.
Britain is not a Police State; it is an Administrative State. The four pillars on which this great land now rests are the Law, the Banks, the Social Services and Health and Safety (please read insurance companies and their lawyers). Another fine mesh you’ve gotten me into.
An anecdote.
In Spain the Three Wise Men, known as The Three Kings, come bearing gifts on the 6th of January. There is a traditional parade on the 5th where men in disguise throw sweets to the thousands of children and parents that line the streets. It appears that one King threw his sweet missiles with too much impetus and struck a woman in the face. She decided to take the incident to court, no doubt in search of some kind of compensation. The Judge assigned to the case gave his ruling. He had been unable to ascertain the whereabouts of said King, as he was a foreigner and had no fixed abode in Spain.  Case closed.
Now I wonder what would have happened in Britain?