Listening
to one of the religion podcasts I mentioned yesterday, I was struck
by this thought – Given that Christianity accepts the Jewish
prophet Abraham and Islam accepts both Abraham and Jesus as prophets,
at what points did God/Allah decide that the holy book he'd
previously sponsored was no longer fit for purpose and that a few
people in the Middle East has strayed sufficiently from the precepts
he'd revealed that he needed to get a new holy book written and
published? Secondly, why did this process stop with Islam? Did humans
suddenly get better at doing what they were told, so that the celestial printing press could be dismantled for eternity? Of course, there are
people who believe the process didn't end with Islam – the Ba'hais,
for example – but we don't really take much notice of them.
Possibly because, in Iran for example, they're regarded as heretics
by Muslims and worthy of serious punishment. Possibly, even, the
death merited by apostates. So they are not vociferous. And certainly don't come knocking on your door.
The
French President, M Hollande, is said to be a master of 'creative
vagueness'. So much so that “Even some of his closest colleagues do
not know what he wants. He reveals little as he listens and delays
decisions.” Interestingly, this is the same approach to political
leadership favoured by the Spanish President, Sr Rajoy. Separated at
birth?
In
the 1990s there were a lot of rural properties in Galicia worth
absolutely nothing. Essentially because they'd been abandoned and no
Spaniard was interested in buying them. But as foreigners, mostly
Brits, started coming here from 2000 onwards, the owners/inheritors of
these properties realised they could charge 10, 20 even 50,000 euros
for them because what they thought of as a fortune was regarded by
the guiris
as a bargain. Then came the agents - charging outrageous commissions
– and prices rose still further. But even then you could come across an
entire village (of 5 or 6 houses and barns) for sale. Since the end
of the (phoney) property boom and the disappearance of buyers, prices
have naturally fallen. And entire villages are still for sale. Here's
a BBC report on one of them, bought by an Englishman for a total
of 45,000 euros.
Another
prominent British politician (well, ex-politician) has come out in
favour of the UK leaving the EU – Michael Portillo. According to
him: The
euro is a disaster. It has created hardship, unemployment and
division on a dangerous
scale. It is the result of an ideology; and the ideologues who pursue
the goal of union do not count the cost in human misery. Why should
they, since it is paid by others? Europe’s political elite is so
self-satisfied with its self-proclaimed virtue in uniting Europe that
it never doubts itself nor tolerates those who point out the damage
that it does and its sheer incompetence. We are on a one-way ratchet
to a federal state of Europe, and any populace that votes against the
onward march is simply told to vote again. The
eurozone will be intellectually absorbed by its currency for 20
years. Either the euro will gradually collapse or member states will
enter economic and political union. Either way, Britain should be
nowhere near, and as the eurozone expends its energy on integration,
it will slip further behind the competition from outside Europe.
Integration
is a word easily said. Its implementation would be vastly more
difficult than creating the single currency, which the EU has so
manifestly botched.
Corruption
in Spain: Here's an overview from the USA.
A nice cartoon in this month's Prospect magazine: A young boy is belting a young girl, reducing her to tears, and the mother of the former is saying to the mother of the latter:- "It's not his fault. He's got SMBD - spuriously medicalised behaviour disorder."
Finally
. . . Credit where it's due – The Samsung agent called me earlier
this week and today brought a new door for my fridge. He needed a
small set of steps to install it but fortunately I've got some.
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