Monthly Archives: September 2013
Barca: Is there a method in the madness?
Blame me for being a romantic cule , but what I always thought set us Barca fans apart from ordinary mortals was that they followed a team that not only won games and trophies but did so in a way that was exemplary in terms of solidarity, creativity, and general human conduct- it is what makes FC Barcelona mes que un club. Of late, I am struggling to retain this sense of association. Not only does the politics of the club seemed characterised by egos – witness the totemic …
Why La Sra Clegg has my vote
It’s party conference season in the UK , and once again Miriam Gonzalez, the wife of the deputy-prime minister, Nick Clegg, has provided a better photopportunity than any other figure in her husband’s lack-lustre Liberal Democrat party could imagine in his or her dreams. Ms Gonzalez looks and acts as a woman where duty and ambition co-exist in perfect harmony, being-as she is- perfectly in tune with her commitments as mother, lawyer, and wife of a leading politician, with that extra touch of style and natural human warmth, that …
Catalunya: Encuentros callejeros y el seny de mi amic Carles
Catalunya :Encuentros Callejeros y el seny de mi amic Carles Hoy fui acosado verbalmente y por separado sobre el tema de Catalunya por dos personas que considero amigos pero que al parezer-uno por telefono desde Madrid, el otro, mas directamente, cuando los dos caminabamos por la Calle Mayor de Sitges- pierden los estribos. En vez de eschuchar y dialogar se lanzaron por seperado a un discurso monologo miopico y separatista- dejando anulado mi intento de hablar de una via constructiva y consensual a la manera anglo-sajona. Gracias a dios …
Catalunya: Seny must prevail in Madrid before the rauxa dominates Barcelona
Catalonia: Seny must prevail in Madrid before the rauxa dominates Barcelona My Catalan neighbour and friend Joan could not contain his euphoria last night. He had spent part of his day helping form the human chain that had linked arms from the French Pyrennean border to the southern point of the Mediterranean coast that marks the end of autonomous region of Spain, Catalunya. “We are on our way to independence”, he proclaimed. I am, to remind you, born in Madrid to a Scots father and a Spanish mother. I …
Sense & Sensibility in Catalonia
Thousands of ordinary citizens making a human chain across Catalonia this wednesday-Catalan national day-will be intended to show world opinion that the cause of independence is hurtling towards fruition. A great photopportunity it will certainly be, and one that will once again serve as a reminder that the unity of Spain-constitutionally defined as a nation state made up of autonomous regions under a King-remains a controversial concept in need of reform. But a mass demonstration, whichever form it takes, does not represent a democratic mandate. The party that wants …
