Author Archives: Jimmy Burns

La reina Isabel y El papa Francisco

  La reunión de la reina Isabel 11 con el Papa Francisco – oficialmente descrita como una visita de cortesía – pudo haber carecido de  la cobertura mediatica y estatus político de la de Obama , pero no era menos cargada de simbolismo potente. Este fue el primer viaje al extranjero en más de dos años del monarca reinante que a pesar de su notable buena salud física y mental ha optado sabiamente por una agenda oficial menos agitada acorde con su edad – Ella cumplirá 88 en poco más …

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When the Queen met Francis

  Queen Elizabeth’s meeting with Pope Francis- officially described a courtesy visit- may have lacked the razzmatazz or political status of Obama’s but it was no less charged with potent symbolism. This was the first trip abroad in over two years by the reigning monarch that despite her remarkably enduring physical and mental good health has wisely opted for a less hectic official diary befitting her age- She is 88 in just over three weeks’ time. A rescheduled day trip to Italy-at the invitation of the anglophile Italian president-afforded an …

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Obama and Francis: A worthwhile encounter

  In the feverish information highway of instant  mass communication it was perhaps inevitable that the meeting in Rome  between Pope Francis and Barak Obama should lend itself to a plethora of comment, not always conceived or delivered in a spirit of generosity Leading the cynical charge was the hawkish Fox TV whose panel of commentators   suggested that the meeting has exposed a huge political and ethical gap between the two men on issues like abortion and contraception while failing to find common ground on anything of substance. One of …

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Obama y Francisco- un encuentro valioso

Teniendo en cuenta la naturaleza de  la autopista de la información febril de comunicación de masas  era quizás inevitable que el encuentro en Roma entre el Papa Francisco y Barak Obama se prestase a una gran cantidad de comentarios, no siempre concebidos o entregados en un espíritu de generosidad. Liderando la carga cínica fue la línea dura Fox News TV cuyo panel de comentaristas sugirió que la reunión habia puesto de manifiesto una enorme brecha política y ética entre los dos hombres en temas como el aborto y la anticoncepción …

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A Clasico worth savouring

  Not for the first time politics rather that football drew out my  earlier blog on last night’s El Clasico. But on the night I did share the following further thoughts with my followers on twitter. I counted only two Spanish flags- good to see Bermabeu stadium depoliticise nationalist issue with both teams paying respect to Adolfo Suarez hugely enjoyable thriller at the Bernabeu between two great teams   pity Barca won with disputed penalties. this was a high octane match deserving of a clear win This was a match …

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Suarez, Barca y el Bernabeu (English & Spanish versions)

  The death of Adoldo Suarez will be remembered in many ways but for me perhaps one of the most moving tributes was paid at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium on Sunday night. And I write as someone who was born in Madrid but is a Barca supporter. For all the hype preceding El Clasico  , with its customary pre-match mythological antagonisms- ‘The War of the Worlds’ ,  Sky Sports dubbed it- this encounter  was touched by a rare moment of shared emotion as players on both sides joined in the …

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El Clasico-behind the hype

  A Spanish colleague writing in El Pais suggested earlier in the week that tomorrow’s El Clasico could be an era defining match, with Real Madrid players determined to give FC Barcelona such a thrashing as to leave no doubt that supremacy has shifted back to the men in white as in the pre-Laporta era.  It’s the kind of hype, not entirely unbiased ,  that one expects from the Madrid and Barcelona media  in the run up to an El Clasico but a prediction which nonetheless is worth considering. On …

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Esperanza Aguirre en la cuna de la democracia

  Palabras de agradecimiento   a Esperanza Aguirre pronunciadas por el periodista y autor Jimmy Burns, Marañón , presidente de la BritishSpanish Society , en la cena de gala de la Sociedad , en el Palacio de Westminster, 14 de marzo 2014 Este es un importante evento de recaudación de fondos para nuestra fundación y me cuesta pensar  un español mas idóneo para hablar con nosotros que Esperanza Aguirre , quien ha promovido constantemente , de manera eficaz y lo más elegante posible la amistad entre España y el Reino Unido …

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Pensando en el Mundial

  Al final de esta semana sabremos la lista dejugadores que iran a Brazil este verano para defender la corona de la Selección Español. El periódico Londinense hispano El Iberico me ha entrevistado sobre el tema. Aquí van mis respuestas. Brasil, por su historia futbolera y por el hecho de ser el anfitrión, tiene toda las ganas de proclamarse el nuevo Campeón del Mundo. Perder sería no solamente un desastre en términos futboleros sino que provocaría una crisis política en un contexto en el cual la inversión y la organización …

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Paco de Lucia: The Death of a Musical Wizard

  World music is in mourning following the unexpected death , aged 66, on a Mexican beach,  of  Paco de Lucia, one of the greatest guitarists of modern times, a truly musical wizard. Born Francisco Sanchez Gomez, to a Portuguese mother and an Andalucian father, de Lucia (a name he adopted professionally) spent his childhood  in a poor neighbourhood of Algeciras where his talent for playing guitar better than his father  flourished amidst the sounds, and legends of the gypsies. Paco –who was not of pure gypsy blood but carried …

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