Now
that its realities are a little clearer, the EU seems to be losing
aspirant applicants hand over fist. The applications of Norway and
Iceland are apparently on ice. Turkey has switched off and now the
Ukraine has stunned the EU Commissariat by aborting its
near-completed process and said it'll be looking again at a closer
relationship with Russia and her satellites. All of which should, of
course, mean some some redundancies in Brussels but won't.
There
will be protests throughout Spain this weekend about the cuts made by
the government in the last year or two. Bang on cue, President Rajoy
has announced there won't be any more next year and there might well
be a reduction in income tax. Trouble is, no one believes him.
Possibly not even his wife. Rajoy looks so unhappily impotent these
days, I've come to wonder whether he isn¡t merely a frontman for the
right-wing powers who are currently running the country.
Talking
to a Spanish friend about the draconian new laws about to be
introduced in the doublespeak name of Citizen Security, I was
told that Spanish law incorporates the concept of respect for
authority, of which these new crimes are a logical extension. I don't
know whether this is true of not but I can say that some of them are
inconceivable in other countries. Taking a snap of a policemen, for
example. But, anyway, here's a good review of the legislation and the
fines attached to the new or expanded offences. The question is - Are
we going to see serious demonstrations against these anti-freedom
laws? Perhaps even some serious rioting, a la Francaise.
Talking
of liberty . . . I see that Latin is going to be a compulsory subject
in secondary schools, stealing time from far more relevant subjects.
Why, for God's sake. True, I studied Latin until I was 18, but only
because it was then compulsory for taking a Law degree. I hated it
and very much resented that it cost me English literature as an A
level subject. Who or what lies behind this nonsense? Opus Dei??
Is
it just a coincidence that the army says it's cleansing itself of
'radical personnel'. Meaning those whose views are the wrong side of
the line of "ideological, religious or criminal'. Is the
institution preparing to repel rebels? Por si acaso.
English
as she is writ: Two things annoyed me in one of the UK's leading
papers this morning:-
1.
Down in Oz, it was reported that "England was bowled out in 52.4
overs." and
2.
A woman teacher "has been struck off for having sex with a
16-year-old pupil."
Since
when were teachers 'struck off', like errant doctors and dentists?
Can it really be true that papers these days are mostly written by 16
year old unpaid interns, copying and pasting agency reports? It's
beginning to look like it.
I
sent birthday cards to both of my daughters yesterday - November is
an expensive month - and I noticed that the 75 cent stamp bears the
legend I need Spain. I guess this is meant to strike home with
overseas recipients but I wonder if it really does. Still, it must
make sense to someone.
Finally . . . This is a certain Colonel Gaston Palewski, a Frenchman who's been described as "looking like a unpeeled potato and having breath that could stop traffic." He also seems to have had a Hitler-style nostril-to-lip-moustache.
Despite these apparent handicaps, he was in his day a notorious womaniser. One of his numerous conquests was the writer and socialite Nancy Mitford.
And women still don't understand why we poor men can't figure them out.
Finally, finally . . . Am I the only person on the planet not remotely interested in Dr Who and the BBC's self-congratulatory 50th anniversary overkill?
No comments:
Post a Comment