Talking
of court cases . . . The organisation which seems to be making most
recourse to Spain's infamous denuncia system is a far-right
group, Manos Limpias (Clean Hands). It was these who
initiated actions against the celebrated left-wing judge, Báltazar
Garzón. And who have now done so in respect of one of the King's
daughters, after the state had displayed a singular lack of appetite
for doing so. Strange bedfellows (benchfellows?). And I, for one, don't understand
the logic. Unless they are far-right republicans. The Tea Party of
Spain?
Talking
of the royal family . . . A French TV channel recently aired a pretty
damning exposé of their current plight, under the title of The
Twilight of a King. You can view it here with either French or
Spanish subtitles. Though you may have to fiddle a bit with icons to
get the latter on their own, as opposed to superimposed over the
French subtitles. One of the key points emerging is that, under the
post-war Constitution, the King is above the law and able to do just
what the hell he likes. Which he has and does. So, no Rule of Law in
21st century Spain. Another point emerging - from fotos never seen in Spain - is that the lovely Letizia really is anorexically skinny.
Down with the plebs at street level . . . It had to happen. Reports are now emerging of
the Spanish traffic police fining people for such things as talking
to their passengers or having a drink. It's just possible that their
financial incentive scheme has something to do with this. As one of
my Spanish friends has said - "You just have to regard the fines
as part of your tax burden". So, nowt to do with being dangerous
behind the wheel.
My
connection with Spain goes back further than I thought. Close to the
town in the UK where I used to live was a village called Havannah. This,
I discover, was created back in 1763 to mark the capture of Havana
from Spain the previous year. For some reason, we didn't keep it but gave it back to Spain at the end of that particular war. Unlike
Gibraltar, of course. Incidentally, for some reason or other, the
Spanish garrison in Havana included the Edinburgh Dragoons. Perhaps
they, too, had a financial incentive scheme.
Finally
. . . Thanks to watching videos yesterday, I learned the following
have entered the Spanish languages:-
-
Un gag: Meaning 'gag', 'joke'. With the un-Spanish plural of
gags, instead of gages.
-
Fashion: Meaning 'fashionable'. As in Estás muy fashion.
You're very 'fashionable'.
I
suspect both of these have been around for a while but that you won't
find either of them in the dictionary of the Royal Academy.
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