Dawn

Dawn

Monday, January 06, 2014

Immigration attitudes; Unhealthy Spanish expats; Abortion twists; Nice words; & Sacerdotal art.


There was an article in El País the other day in which an anglophile-ish writer bemoaned the fact that the British state - long a beacon of morality, in his opinion - should have sunk to the level of trying to restrict the numbers of immigrants from Rumania and Bulgaria able to settle there from Jan 1. Spain, he pointed out, had taken in 4 million immigrants in the last 10 years and had not sought to restrict or mistreat them. Well, he's right and wrong, course. The British government should not be pandering to the right-wing nutters of UKIP but, at the same time, it has to contain and repair the damage done by years of rampant multiculturalism under the previous Labour governments. For the main difference between Britain's immigrants and Spain's is that the latter don't come from very different cultures with different customs, religions and values. And some of them, at least, can be safely dispatched to the modern equivalent of wage slavery down in southern Spain's plastic tents. The others, coming primarily from South America, acculturate into Spanish society pretty easily. And don't demand the institution of Sharia law on a municipal or even national level. Or openly call for the murder of British citizens. Or practice female genital mutilation. So, different problems and different solutions.

Talking about the benevolence of the Spanish government . . . It's just sneaked in a new (and undiscussed) measure under which people who leave Spain to work elsewhere after their dole has finished, won't be entitled to healthcare back here in Spain if they spend more than 90 days outside the country. Here's David Jackson's view/explanation of this bizarre step. And here's an expatriate Spanish view. Incidentally, my own experience (with my daughter) of trying to get a health card if you're sin recursos (i. e. not earning) was, to say the least, a calvario. Which ended in failure.

On the abortion law revision - Madrid's Cardinal Rouco, has said the proposed new law is insufficiently restrictive, as 'the gift of life' must be respected in every case. This is hardly in tune with the zeitgeist but is probably a more intellectually honest position. For if abortion is murder of a human being, then why permit it merely because, for example, the mother's health is at risk? Or because the child's life will be a nightmare. As a Catholic, once you start making any exceptions, you're in deep trouble.

A couple of nice words from Tristram Shandy, referring I think to pub games - Chuck-farthing and Shuffle-cap

Finally . . . I've seen the interiors of a lot of churches in the last 2 weeks. The works of art have included at least 2 pictures of a priest holding the hand of a child and leading him or her off somewhere. I have to admit that, each time, the words "Trust me, I'm a priest" have sprung to mind.

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