Category Archives: Blog
Can Catalonia learn something from Scotland?
I was in the Scottish capital Edinburgh, an elegant, relaxed , welcoming world heritage city, earlier this week and was struck by the peacefulness and civility of Scotland’s devolutionary process compared to the shambles that has come to characterize the Catalan issue in Spain. In the impressively located and historic Edinburgh Castle, one of Scotland’s most popular tourist attractions, there endures a sense of cultural identity that is both British and Scot. Visiting it I was reminded of the “Better together”, slogan which unionists used successfully to win the ‘no’ …
The Spanish Government’s Own Goal
Few images circulating globally from earlier yesterday (October 1) seemed to risk being more damaging to the Spanish government’s attempts to woo over a majority of Catalans to its concept of a lawful constitutional democracy than that of helmeted Civil Guard officers using a hammer to break a window and a lock cutter to break open a door at a sports centre near Gerona. Tougher tactics have been used before by British and other European police including Catalonia’s own force the Mossos D’Escuadra to deal with violent protestors, criminals, and …
Catalan History & Choreography
Few sights in Catalonia claim to be as emblemic as La Seu Vella on a hill above the city of Lleida,the region’s second largest city . The group of semi-ruined and restored buildings include the sight of a former conquered Moorish castle, a Cathedral and a military barracks whose last extended use as such was during the early years of the dictatorship of General Franco during the 1940’s. In this “place of suffering” as some locals call it , there are remnants of plunders as a result of religious …
GoodBye, Buenos Aires Herald
Era por los años setenta y yo comenzaba a ejercer de principiante en la sede Londinense de agencia de noticias Interpress cuando entro en mi oficina un barbudo vestido de abrigo de trinchera y cara de luto. Se me presentó como Andrew Graham-Yooll, periodista anglo-argentino , recién llegado de Buenos Aires, habiendo recibido una amenaza de muerta por parte del régimen militar. A partir de ese momento me unio una amistad para la vida con Andrew, gran persona, y el desarrollo de una relación profesional con el diario para el …
Brexit-the Banquet’s Uninvited guest
In an evening marked by customary tradition, hospitality, and good cheer, the comment by the London’s Lord Mayor Andrew Parmley that ” Britain, Spain, Europe are the essence of what we are” resonated across the banquet room of the Guildhall last night It drew spontaneous applause from the more than 700 guests- City of London councillors and officials, businessmen , ambassadors , and a representative sample of the Spanish diaspora from journalists, actors and academics, to scientists, retailers, and bankers. Noting that the magnificent hall where the guests were gathered …
Diary of a Royal Love In-Day One
It’s coming up to midday and a stationary Guards band along the Mall is playing the James Bond 007 tune, presumably to remind the world that however diminished the UK may seem, no one does it better than the MI6 legend, the world’s most popular spy. The film music is a sufficiently familiar theme for nearby tourists to break into applause. Such recognition does not initially appear to extend to the State visit to the UK of the King Felipe and Queen Letizia Spain. The most public part of …
A Vital European Bridge
A true story I owe to my late Spanish mother, a post-war immigrant to the UK , involves a state visit of the the Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, to the UK in October 1954. I was a young child then and with one my first life-time passions that of watching the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. The precision of the proud British soldiers in red coats and the uplifting music of their band stirred my imagination, making me feel one of them, as if I’ve stepped into …
Anglo-Spanish Royals
The Spanish Royal visit to the UK An Enduring Relationship Revived Ask your average English schoolboy what he knows about the relations between the Spanish and British Royal families, and the likelihood is that he will mention Spain’s Philip 11nd, and the heroic defeat of his Armada by Queen Elizabeth Ist. A less selective and superficial history will show that relations between British and Spanish royals have been mutually respectful, if not immune to occasional crisis, for over five centuries. As the recent biography of Spain’s great Queen Isabella …
Time for Uk to win back hearts and minds
The United Kingdom has hardly found the world at its feet this last year. The Brexit vote last summer, which was supported by over half of the population, but not by me and the rest of the population, left not only the UK’s European partners, but most of its democratic and accountable allies wondering just what kind of madness had gripped the English and Welsh (for the Scots voted against) who by a slim majority had voted to leave the European Union without really thinking how this could be done …
A Spanish hero in London: Ignacio Echeverria
A Spanish hero in London: Ignacio Echeverria As part of a former imperial power that has punched above its weight for most of its history, there are some British who do not easily look outside their own people for heroes. Ask your average Anglo-Saxon English primary school pupil about iconic heroes they have heard about and they are likely to mention two warrior Queens-Boadicea and Elizabeth I -, two warrior prime-ministers Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher, among an assortment of military icons from Wellington and Nelson to Montgomery, and James …
