Dawn

Dawn

Thursday, January 08, 2009

I see the newspaper ABC has echoed my comments about Sarkozy’s role in the Middle East. Of course, it doesn’t really matter what’s going on if the objective of peace is furthered. But ABC suggests that Sarkozy running an initiative parallel to the - rather less publicised - one led by the Czech president in his capacity as head of the EU – is confusing everyone and is, therefore, counterproductive. As the paper points out, it certainly raises the question of whether there is a unified EU stance. And allows the cynics to say that even two European initiatives don’t amount to a row of beans when there’s no US involvement.

But back here in Spain the key question of the moment is whether the Ministress of Defence was right to appear at an annual military event in a trouser suit rather than the dress demanded by protocol. The most asinine comment has been that soldiers can be arrested for being improperly dressed. Personally, I thought she looked pretty good. But not as fetching as the lovely Leticia in her silk bodice and long skirt. Which may or may not the correct description.

Talking of clothes . . . I read that Amy Whitehouse is in negotiations with the Fred Perry company about a label under her name Presumably the jeans won’t be so much pre-washed as pre-stained. And will they, I wonder, drop the line if she succumbs to an overdose.

In his New Year address, the president of the Galician Xunta gave thanks that we have two languages here, Spanish and Galician. Nothing untoward in that, you might think. But a columnist in the Voz de Galicia points out that it’s a bit of a [pre-election] cheek when he’s spent the last four years acting as if we only had one, Galician. And has only recently gone so far as to accuse his political opponents of mounting a campaign to get rid of the local language. It’s enough to make one a tad cynical.

In France, the government is removing ads from the public TV channels during peak viewing hours. Here, the government is in trouble with Brussels for turning a blind eye to regular infringement of the rules about how many minutes per hour are permitted. So, I guess it’ll be a while before we have ad-free evenings here. Or even before they stop switching to ads a mere five minutes after a film starts.

After the latest batch of economic data, the question on [almost] everybody’s lips here is – Is Spain heading for the nightmare of deflation? I haven’t the faintest idea but I can tell you that, if you think I’m negative and pessimistic, this is definitely one site you should stay away from . .

No comments: