Dawn

Dawn

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Understandably, there was little but comment on the ETA development in yesterday’s Spanish press. Maybe I imagined it but I sensed a majority view the opposition should resist the temptation to gloat and humiliate the government by demanding an apology and an explicit change in strategy. Far better for Mr Rajoy to be statesmanlike and to throw himself into behind-doors attempts to restore an all-party approach to the challenge of defeating the terrorists. Or, as the BBC calls them, the ‘separatist group’ - a label which would also apply, I suspect, to bits of the Galician Nationalist Block. Who are decidedly not terrorists.

I was right and wrong about the incidence of domestic violence in Spain. Since 2002, the annual totals of women murdered have been 52, 70, 72, 62 and 68. So no consistent increase after the leap in 2003. However, this year’s 5 month total sadly suggests a new high of c. 78.

I touched on Spanish inconsistency yesterday. How about this for a good example . . . Despite generally displaying, in my view, lowish levels of concern for others, the Spanish are the best in Europe when it comes to organ donations. Which is pretty noble.

Spanish experts are predicting that, within 50 years, global warming will turn the Galician climate Mediterranean. Too late for me, of course. But I’m less than distraught as they say the rainfall isn’t going to reduce. On the other hand, wider cultivation of wine will be possible. Isn’t life a bugger? Or death, to be more accurate.

The latest fraudulent product to be advertised by Sunday’s El Mundo is a miraculous apple vinegar capsule. This will cure you of every imaginable condition whilst simultaneously and permanently removing all the weight you don’t want. You can get it by mail from a company in where else but Spain’s badlands, Andalucia.

Finally, hands up those who didn’t – like me – know the Spanish sent a second Armada against the British Isles in the 1590s. This time to invade Ireland. Like its 1588 predecessor, it failed to achieve its objectives. Especially if these centred on strengthening Celtic links between Ferrol and Dublin. Presupposing anyone used the word Celtic in the late 16th century,

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