Category Archives: Blog
Celebrating Sadiq Khan
As a Londoner this past weekend, I hot foot it to my nearest human cooperative and patch of nature to enjoy a rare outburst of sunny and warm weather. It is a particular joy to have within walking distance of where I live in south London , one of the most inspiring and uplifting of London’s green spaces –Battersea Park. With late blossom flowering, plains and chestnuts loaded with young leaf, flower beds in full bloom, swans and moorhens nesting on the lake, and excited birdsong hung on every …
La Mujer en La Vida de Francisco
En un futuro difícil de pronosticar . me cuesta imaginar que la BBC pueda darse la enhorabuena por una primicia sobre el Papa Francisco que tenga que ver con una amistad duradera con una mujer, detalles de los cuales al parecer fueron ocultados por el Vaticano, enterrados en un archivo de biblioteca y pasados por alto por los historiadores. Yo no intento aquí emitir un juicio sobre el descubrimiento de cartas íntimas y fotografías de la amistad que tuvo el Papa ‘Santo San Juan Pablo Segundo con Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, una …
Francisco o la Nemesis de Trump
Francisco o la Nemesis de Trump Bienvenido a México, Papa Francisco, tierra de la Chingada, donde te acercas a esa frontera con el Norte, a la periferia, a la riqueza, a la intolerancia de Trump. Como escribo en mi libro Papa de La Promesa (Stella Maris, Barcelona) , que se publica esta semana : Francisco representa la mayoría de todo lo que Donald Trump encuentra objetable. Me gustaría enumerar todo esto, sin ningún orden en particular: La amabilidad y la tolerancia hacia las minorías, y otras razas y religiones. La …
Podemos – Spain’s Joker in the Pack
If there was an enduring legacy of the Spanish Civil War, it was that whatever its outcome, Spain was fated for decades subsequently to be divided between winners and losers-and Franco imposed his victory, brutally, with little sense of reconciliation. Seen against this historical background , perhaps the best thing that can be said about Spain’s general election is that there were no clear winners or losers, at least not to the extent of any one party being able to claim the moral authority to impose its governance unilaterally. Indeed …
Reasons to be Positive
Looking back on the last few months of 2015 and some of the events that make me feel positive about the future 18th June Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ – Care of our common home, emphasises the connection between environmental degradation and poverty, between the love for creation and poverty reduction and the interconnection between human dignity, human development and human ecology. http://www.cafod.org.uk/…/UK-…/pope-francis-first-encyclical Ist July The U.S. and Cuba have reached an agreement to restore diplomatic relations and reopen embassies in each other’s capitals, a senior administration official said Tuesday, …
Laying the Ghost of Peron
Laying the ghost of Perón 10 December 2015 by Jimmy Burns The Tablet This week the newly elected Mauricio Macri was sworn in as president of Argentina, replacing a generation of Peronists. Can he unite a country troubled by poverty and corruption, issues that Pope Francis frequently highlighted in his days as Archbishop of Buenos Aires? A new chapter in Latin American politics has been opened up with the election of Mauricio Macri, a businessman and former football club boss, as president of Argentina . It follows a historic victory …
One-sided El Clasico
A one-sided affair This evening’s El Clasico was a one-sided affair and therefore not a match worthy of the greatest rivalry in football. But this is not to take away the performance of Barca-its energy, skill, and team spirit- all factors evidently lacking in the team fielded by Rafa Benitez. Real Madrid played like a team emerging from a long summer break. With the exception of Marcelo and Ronaldo, the players in white were outpaced and out passed, not least on the left flank where Neymar, Iniesta, and Jordi Alba …
Football against the real enemy
Football against the Enemy, as my good friend and colleague Simon Kuper titled his seminal book on the political and cultural passions generated by the game, could well take on new meaning later this week. With an admirable sense and sensibility not common in the football world, the French and English football authorities have agreed to go ahead with the match between their respective national teams. While the game might have been cancelled on grounds of extended mourning, not to have gone ahead with it would have been an admission …
