Dawn

Dawn

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Headlines; Whither Cataluña; Spanish Mayors 1 & 2; Saudi Arabia; Illegal parking; & Marriage.


A couple of interesting Spanish headlines this week:-

  • Woman accused of snorting cocaine off the bonnet of a police car found not guilty.
  • Half of Spain's internet users download illegally. Only half??

  • The Catalan drive for independence is going somewhere and nowhere. Now that we have the finality of the parliamentary veto of November's referendum and a much-belated indication from President Rajoy that talks on constitutional change can begin, we might just see a sensible dialogue between Madrid and Barcelona. Otherwise, it looks like Rajoy (or some crazy general) sending troops onto the streets of the Catalan capital to prevent the citizens from getting to the polling booths. The leader of the opposition PSOE party has called for " a transparent, two-sided, participative and legal" conversation on how to reform Spain's federal constitution. Which one would have thought was the minimum. But passions - central and regional - run high here.

    Talking of Spanish mayors . . . To the astonishment of all, the mayor of the village of Reíllo has just re-named one street Generalisimo, one of Franco's honorifics. He is, of course, from the right-of-centre PP party. Everyone else is outraged and the street will inevitably return to its previous name when the PP loses power in the village. Only in Spain?

    Human Rights Watch tells us that Saudi Arabia has introduced a series of new laws which define atheists as terrorists. Western government really should follow Canada's lead and condemn and oppose such laws. But, then, there's the oil . . .

    Talking of laws . . . I've finally seen a British driver parked on yellow lines with the car's warning lights flashing. But it was a taxi driver, waiting for his fare. Not someone who'd gone for a 15-30m coffee. Which reminds me . . . Here's El País in English on the case of Esperanza Aguirre, who last week fled the scene of a parking offence, knocking over a police motor-bike as she went. "Just an everyday Madrid scenario" she insists. And you thought Maria Miller was arrogant!

    Finally . . . For my sins, I've been divorced twice - once after a long marriage and once after a short one. So I was amused by the line of a British comedian with a similar background - to the effect that he wouldn't be marrying again; he'd just find a woman he hated and buy her a house.

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