It
being summer, all the 'academies' which teach English are closed for
3 months. So, suddenly several of my neighbours want me to give their
kids English conversation classes. Strangely, all of these are female, aged
between 17 and 23. It's tough being the token male but it's a mantle
I've agreed to assume, more or less willingly.
Well, the main scandal of this month - who can say for August? - just gets bigger and bigger. The latest person said to be on the list of black money recipients is the President of the Constitutional Court, no less. Of course, he's denied receiving brown envelopes but has admitted to the criminal offence of being a member of the PP party despite the judicial requirement for impartiality. No wonder the Spanish rate the judiciary almost as low as other institutions. My guess is he won't resign. Though he may apologise. Insincerely.
Well, the main scandal of this month - who can say for August? - just gets bigger and bigger. The latest person said to be on the list of black money recipients is the President of the Constitutional Court, no less. Of course, he's denied receiving brown envelopes but has admitted to the criminal offence of being a member of the PP party despite the judicial requirement for impartiality. No wonder the Spanish rate the judiciary almost as low as other institutions. My guess is he won't resign. Though he may apologise. Insincerely.
The
Anglo-Spanish Connection.
Well, the Basque connection, at least: Everyone
has heard of Celts, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. And most of us are
familiar with the idea that the English are descended from
Anglo-Saxons, who invaded eastern England after the Romans left,
while most of the people in the rest of the British Isles derive from
indigenous Celtic ancestors with a sprinkling of Viking blood around
the fringes. Yet
there is no agreement among historians or archaeologists on the
meaning of the words “Celtic” or “Anglo-Saxon.” What is more,
new evidence from genetic analysis indicates that the Anglo-Saxons
and Celts, to the extent that they can be defined genetically, were
both small immigrant minorities. Neither group had much more impact
on the British Isles gene pool than the Vikings, the Normans or,
indeed, immigrants of the past 50 years. The genetic evidence shows
that three quarters of our ancestors came to this corner of Europe as
hunter-gatherers, between 15,000 and 7,500 years ago, after the
melting of the ice caps but before the land broke away from the
mainland and divided into islands. Our subsequent separation from
Europe has preserved a genetic time capsule of southwestern Europe
during the ice age, which we share most closely with the former
ice-age refuge in the Basque country. The first settlers were
unlikely to have spoken a Celtic language but possibly a tongue
related to the unique Basque language. Another wave of immigration
arrived during the Neolithic period, when farming developed about
6,500 years ago. But the English still derive most of their current
gene pool from the same early Basque source as the Irish, Welsh and
Scots. So,
bear in mind that, if you're English and going to visit the
Guggenheim in Bilbao, you're going home.
Finally . . . If
you missed Sunday's Top Gear and the protagonists' race around
Spain's abundant empty spaces, you can catch it here. You need to go
through the segments to see it all. Enjoy.
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