Dawn

Dawn

Tuesday, June 19, 2012


There's quite a lot of corruption in Spain. The latest seems to involve a cove who diverted 40 million euros - yes, forty million - in the wrong direction. But the scandal which is currently thrilling the Spanish centres on the President of the General Council of the Judiciary and the Supreme Court. He's a man in his sixties who's long postured as a pillar of Catholic society and as a good husband and father. At weekends, though, he's been jetting off to spend time with his young boyfriend, one of his bodyguards. With the emphasis on 'body'. As if this wasn't dim enough, he's been using public funds to finance the trips. To the tune of 28,000 euros. Which is, of course, peanuts compared with the 40 million siphoned off by the guy I mentioned earlier. But it's like the old joke about lawyers in Heaven, we get a lot of politicians fiddling millions but we don't get many judges living a double life of such a colourful nature.

I've mentioned a couple of times over the years that Spain may be the only country in the world where yellow is considered an aggressive colour for a car. But, truth to tell, I saw a yellow car being driven very aggressively in the UK last week. Almost inevitably, though, it was a Seat León.

I thought that GLT (goal line technology) was being introduced in the Euros. Apparently not, much to the irritation of the Ukrainians. Who deserved not only to equalise against England but also to win the match. England, of course, played their traditional game of Here's-the-Ball-We-Don't-Want it, though even more than usual. Surely they can't beat Italy next Sunday. Unless they do a Chelsea.

I haven't watched Spanish TV for a long time but I tuned in tonight for the England-Ukraine game. And it was good to see that the verities are as eternal as ever. Before the game, there was minimal discussion, slotted in between endless adverts; at half time there was nothing but ads; and as soon as the ref. blew the final whistle there were yet more ads. Oh, and the commentators before the game also broke off from their pronouncements to promote the sponsors' products. It'll be a while before I watch any more.

The euro: Well, the Monday morning euphoria lasted only a couple of hours and shares came down as quickly as they'd gone up. But the news on the street tonight is that Mrs. Merkel is softening her line and that enough funds may be made available to finance a firewall for both Spain and Italy. I, for one, will believe it when I see it. Even though logic dictates that she will.

As we wait on this, why not enjoy some wine from Galicia? The one cited here sells for 8 euros here in Spain, say 6.40 pounds. Which makes it 56% more expensive in the UK. Good health!

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