Dawn

Dawn

Monday, May 30, 2016

Ponters Pensées 30.5.16

Bullfighting: Oops! Que te de!


Spanish wine: Although the country's reputation has been improving for years, there's still a huge amount of bulk wine produced here, much of it is exported to – would you believe – France. As this article reports, Spain has displaced Italy in Europe as regards this (cheap) stuff and now sells about 500m litres a year to the French, 90% of which is in bulk at an average price of €0.40[!!] a litre. And the bloody Frogs then re-export some as the real McCoy at 3 times the price. Bastards.

Education in Europe: Here's table which shows how often kids are subjected to exams. 


Only in the UK does this seem to happen every year. And guess which country has been sliding down the international rankings for years now. No wonder British teachers are unhappy and – like my younger daughter – vote with their feet in huge numbers every year. Finland's pupils have very few exams, the fewest hours in school and no homework but, despite all this, they regularly head said rankings. Conclusions???

Gibraltar: The Rock has threatened that, if the UK votes for a Brexit, it'll talk to Spain about joint sovereignty. Does anyone in Britain really care one way or the other? In my view, it's one of the best reasons for being an Outer. And the UK government would be delighted to get shut of the troublesome place. Unlike Spain in respect of Ceuta and Melilla, which are somehow not part of Africa but of Spain. I guess that makes sense to someone.

Finally . . . Sub-editing: So strange is the brain that, when I'm reading over (2 or 3 times) what I've drafted, it can 'sense' there's something wrong but still can't see it. Which is why there'll sometimes be a word typed twice, for example. This happens most often when I change something and my brain only sees what I intend it to see. Anyone want a job?

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