Santander; Scotland; Drugs; Fabra; & Cool.

The president of Santander Bank died suddenly today, at 79. From the Spanish media reaction, you'd have thought it was God. Or at least his son. See here for a more cynical view of his achievements. Need I say that one of his children will succeed him, even though it's a public company. Presumably he left instructions for the passing of the baton.

So, whither Scotland? Anybody's guess, I guess. I've long thought that the Scots would have more sense than to leave the UK but it now looks increasingly likely that most of them have fallen for Salmond's pollyanna tosh and his stupid anti-London rhetoric. The worst outcome, I suspect, is that the vote will be narrowly in favour of Scotland staying in the Union. For a long time, the English attitude - based on a belief break-up wouldn't happen - has been: Let the subsidised, whinging buggers go if they really want to. But if only a small majority vote to stay, this will surely change to: Let's get rid of the ungrateful, money-sucking, whinging bastards. Especially now they're going to get even more devolution and even more of our money. So, any outcome is rife with more problems than anyone can think of, without immediate solutions of any sort, let alone easy ones. So all-in-all, a disaster. For which, of course, Conservative and Labour parties will blame each other. Unless they can agree to all blame Tony Blair, who started it all off. Without giving much thought to it, it was said at the time. I suppose the only good news is that Britain doesn't have either a written Constitution or a Constitutional Court. So, some common sense might be possible during the fraught negotiations to come.

One thing's for sure - Not many in England will be sympathetic to any requests for financial assistance for Scotland - e. g. to shore up its banks - if Scotland were to go and then later realise it wasn't all plain sailing. Worse, that they'd made a mistake, selling their heritage for a mass of potage.

But back to daily life in Spain - "Three soldiers, one Civil Guard officer and a policeman have been arrested in connection with a highly sophisticated cocaine and hash smuggling ring busted on Tuesday in different parts of mainland Spain."

And one of Spain's most colourful crooks - Carlos Fabra - will not have to go to jail, says a judge, pending resolution of the question of a pardon from the government. Who can be surprised?

Finally . . . You might be tempted to think that the adjective 'cool' - meaning, clever, admirable, etc. - is of recent origin. Actually, it was already in use in the 14th century, when Chaucer wrote:

Thow thynkist in thyn wit that is ful cole You think in your wit that is full cool

That he nys but a verray propre fole That he is nowt but a very proper fool

Or maybe this is an urban legend.