Dawn

Dawn

Monday, February 08, 2016

Thoughts from Ponters.

Spanish Government: After the failure of the right wing PP party, the PSOE socialist party leader is now trying to put a coalition together. Not too successfully it seems, as the relevant parties seem far more intent, Spanish style, on insulting each other than in sinking their differences. This could well be because they some of them see themselves achieving an even better negotiating position after a second election - now widely expected for the end of June, at the earliest. Meanwhile, the country, like Belgium, survives in the absence of a (corrupt) government.

The EU: Two more articles for those interested:-
  • This is a rather tendentious overview from a religious perspective. It goes too far in its anti-German tone but contains at least a couple of truths: The real villains are the elites who designed the euro. . . . The eurozone is fundamentally incompatible with democracy. . . . The elites who designed the euro knew it would lead us here.
  • An excellent article entitled:The EU no longer serves the people: Democracy demands a new beginning. This is by the Greek ex-Finance Minister, a man who, incidentally, has more reason to be anti-German than most. He, too, recognises – who doesn't? - that Brussels disdains democracy and luxuriates in unaccountability. But adds that, in respect of Britain, David Cameron’s hollow compromise will do precisely nothing to address this.
The cartoon below indicates just how much most Brits agree with him, even though (because?) the government is trumpeting a negotiating triumph, ahead of a Brexit referendum. Interestingly, for the first time, the electorate is showing a large majority in favour of this. But there's a way to go yet and lots of British and EU dosh to be spent on dissuading the fools from this perceived folly. They must be quite worried in Brussels right now.

The Latest Spanglish?: Glamur for 'glamour/glamor'.

Bloody Atlantic Weather: Wednesday to Friday were beautifully sunny days here in Pontevedra but Saturday brought gale force winds and rain. The Carnaval events of the day were postponed until next week and I had one side of me drenched to the bone as I walked across the bridge from town midst horizontal precipitation. The other side stayed bone-dry. Ironically.

Finally . . . A treat for aficionados of Tony Hancock. Here's the interview he did in with John Freeman on Face to Face. The actual 3-part interview should be visible to the right of the YouTube screen, after this intro by the lovely Joan Bakewell. At the time, It was remarkable (and, to some, offensive) for its now-obligatory confessional nature. Now, it's remarkable for his lighting up and for the teeth no star of today would sport. Hancock topped himself at the age of only 44 in 1968 and a tribute can be seen here. Drink - and failure in films - had taken his career downhill for a while. As I've noted before, he did much of his famous Blood Donor sketch by reading cue cards, such was his inability to learn his lines. The joy of selectively surfing the internet.

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