Well, the
new Spanish king may have inherited legal immunity from his father
but Queen Letizia hasn't. He can sue her for divorce but she can't
sue him. Meanwhile, 2 people are trying to get the courts to prove
they are illegitimate offspring of the old king but time isn't in
their favour; the Spanish government is racing to restore the
immunity he lost when he abdicated.
There comes
a point in every bullfight when the matador turns his back on the
exhausted bull and struts arrogantly towards one section of the
crowd - usually after he's triumphantly placed his sword on the bull's
lowered brow. I guess the theory is that the beast is now too
confused, weakened and exhausted to take advantage of the situation
offered him. But this week José Tomás - widely considered Spain's best living torero - painfully discovered he'd
committed the tyro's mistake of turning his back on an angry and
resentful beast who still had the strength to go for him. And poor
José was severely gored as a reward for his misplaced presumption.
Sic transit gloria mundi, as they say in the bull pen.
El Espía
en el Congreso tells us that the Minister of Health, Ana Mato, is
implicated in the so-called Gurtel corruption case, having had
numerous luxury hotel bills paid for around the world, as well as the
hire or purchase of 8 luxury cars for herself and her husband. None
of this, he says, has appeared in the Spanish media "for fear of
publicity reprisals'. Which means withdrawal of finance, I guess. A
free press?
If you
follow the "EU, In or Out" saga in the British media,
you'll know from Richard North that a Brexit - however
desirable - is almost certainly a lost cause. Which is odd. As, if
you read Matthew Parris in today's Times (sorry, paywall) you'll
find he's convinced that a Brexit is virtually certain.
"Britain is heading for the exit", he says. "Something
seriously impressive has to be achieved to change our course".
Which is exactly what North believes, except in the opposite
direction. Confusing or what? One possible explanation for this
dichotomy is that Parris is talking about the 'promised' 2017
referendum, whereas North says this is logistically impossible, if
Cameron is to achieve real changes to the British settlement with
the EU. Not long now.
In tonight's
World Cup game, the ITV commentator - Clive Tyldesley - informed us
that "Lots
of the Iranian players display their Christian names on their
shirts". Really, Mr Tyldesley? Players representing The Islamic
Republic of Iran have Christian names?
Talking of
footballing stupidity - I see that the highest paid World Cup coach
is one Fabio Capello, who gets 6m quid a year for coaching Russia,
after failing with England. It must make sense to someone. The
oligarchs, I assume
Finally . .
. There's said to be a great to-do in Spain about the sale in El
Corte Inglés of books advising parents how to prevent or stop their kids
being homosexual.
However unscientific these may be, it strikes me that, in a country
boasting free speech, there's little one can or should do about them.
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