Here
in Spain, there's not much laughter about. Today's papers were
naturally full of comment and analysis around the secret multi-million euro fund managed by the Treasurer of the governing PP party over the
last 20 years or more. The opposition PSOE party - itself infamous for the
corruption of Spain's first democratic administration – has inevitably
announced it'll be initiating legal processes. On this, the joke doing
the rounds is that the Treasurer
will be tried and, after several years, be found guilty, sentenced to
a term in jail, then pardoned and appointed to the Telefónica board.
A well-worn track.
It
hasn't taken long for the suggestion to emerge that this whirlwind
has been created by those within the PP party who don't regard Rajoy
as the legitimate president and want to bring him down. At any price,
it would seem. But, then, one often feels that politicians in Spain
don't give a damn what is thought about them. Which reminds me, the
demand for an inquiry into the croneyism and nepotism of the ex (PP)
President of the Ourense provincial government has been rejected by
the current President. His son.
Talking
of pardons . . . El País today reported – in English – on
the case of the kamikaze driver who last year killed someone when
driving the wrong way down an autopista. He was given a 13
year sentence, which was later commuted to a 4,000 euro fine. This
was done by the Cabinet, who felt it was persuasive that the guy had
“given two irrevocable, sympathetic apologies.” As I say,
politicians here seem oblivious to public opinion. Or just arrogantly dismissive. More on this here.
Finally
. . . I quite like drawing up lists and here's one I did a month or
two ago. It's an attempt to identify where Spanish uses capitals and
where it doesn't, in the process highlighting the differences with
English. It's a work-in-progress, so incomplete. And possibly wrong
but, what the hell, it's Sunday:-
YES
The
Government
The
Army
The
Navy
The
State
The
Council
The
Civil Guard
History
Cities
Countries
Forenames
Surnames
El
Supremo - Supreme court
Oriente
Proximo - Near East
Defensa - Ministry of Defence
Embassy
NO
british,
polish, spanish, etc.
monday,
tuesday, et.
january,
february, etc.
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